Tension

Posted on October 12, 2009 in Body Language Coronary

From my journal, dated 8 October 2009:

Yesterday, a hood of deadened nerves encapsulated my head and shoulders. Dr. Ip’s nurse put the cuff on my arm, listening until the sound of my pulse stopped before releasing the pressure. She announced that my blood pressure was 150 over some awful number. I could feel the insensitivity clasping my neck. Into the night it bothered me, shook me, mangled my equanimity. It was impossible to sit comfortably to watch television. It hurt. I was broken, flattened, squeezed. My eyelids fluttered. Heavy as they were, I could not relieve myself by sleeping. The flattening numbness wouldn’t let me go.