Red flags

Went for my appointment at SGH for my blood pressure. I have been on meds for sometime already and have been seeing Dr C at SGH for about a year. All this time my BP has been kept pretty stable thanks to the meds I am taking (except for the times when I forgot and then everything went haywire!). And when at the clinic, BP also measured good levels - usually 120/80 or thereabouts. Dr C was happy enough with my progress that he lengthened the time in between visits - from three monthly intervals to six.

But this time, things did not go so well. The BP tested showed an increase - 155/80. He tested it twice just to be sure. I mentioned that once in a while, I did have scores like that at home - 150/100 - but those were recorded usually in the evenings and I assumed, were probably just due to fatigue. But Dr C was not happy. He scrolled through my records again and zeroed in on my urine test results from a year back. Said that although the renal ultrasound showed no abnormality, the pee had trace amounts of protein, trace amounts of white blood cells (which indicate infection, but I am asymptomatic).

So he wanted to test the pee again. Geez. Now I have to return on Thurs with pee collected. And if the results showed positive again, he would change my meds and add one more. Yikes. Not looking forward to that! Tried to dissuade him, saying that it was only 'trace' amounts so er, no big deal right? Tried to say that this was 'normal' because I always get the 'trace' results every time I go for a medical. But all these arguments cut no ice with him - he said ANY amount of protein in the urine is not normal. I've just got to go and re-test the pee.

To make myself feel better (and you can tell I am in some denial here), I headed for Central after that and stuffed myself with slurpilicious ramen from Marutama Ramen (thanks to Cory's recommendation on her blog). The slice of pork was of the melt-in-your-mouth variety, the braised egg nicely half-done in the middle and the chicken-based stock was a lovely bright yellow, generous with the smell of chick and with a nice sheen of invitingly twinkly oil on the surface. Very Yum. Very. Since I am going back to SGH to see the doc on Thursday, I think I will pop in to Marutama again.