Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 34, Number 4, 1 April 2017 — Don't Monkey With High Blood Pressure [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Don't Monkey With High Blood Pressure

This is a lesson I want to pass on to those who want to live, share and enjoy a long life with those you aloha and love dearlv.

I have spent an inordinate number of hours thinking in the year gone by about what could have been on the evening of March 19th of 2016 and how very blessed I am. My wife and I were in San Francisco (her home) for a week to visit her aged mom, whieh we did that morning. We then cabbed it to the California Academy of Sciences at Golden Gate Park, after whieh we did some shopping,

retuming to our hotel in midaftemoon. Just the week before I was with a delegation from Hawai'i in Wellington, New Zealand (OHA, Bishop Museum and Hawaiian Air) to retrieve Kalaniopu'u's 'ahu 'ula and mahiole from the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. I got home from Aotearoa and packed up for San Francisco. All systems were working well. So it seemed. I felt flne but I was I will admit packing some extra barrels of 'whale blubber.' In refreshing my travel bag I stupidly forgot to paek my high blood pressure medication. For years I'd been over indulging, munching to excess, not exercising and as a result growing wider not taller. The tires on my car (metaphorically speaking) went flat on the evening of May 19 in Room 738 at the Huntington Hotel while waiting for room service to deliver my hamburger cheese sandwich. We were watching the ladies from UConn play the Rice University wahine in the NCAA playoffs. Something was dreadfully wrong. I didn'tknow whatthough. Kathywason the phone. She was calling 911.1 was telling her to hang up. And now more than a year later I thank her for not listening to me (one of a few times). In minutes, four

flreflghters were at our hotel room. And I vividly remember a tall muscular flreflghter standing over me lying

on the floor saying, Srr, you re havinu a stroke (later determined

to be hemorrhagic - my luek the clot stopped in my brain - had it not it would have reached my heart and it would have been lights out)." He then tumed and said to his crew, "Fet's get him to St. Francis Memorial." That was the start of my journey home from Califomia to Hawai'i after three amhulanee rides and three different hospitals (St. Francis Memorial, Kaiser San Andreas, Kaiser

Vallejo) in flve weeks where I was treated like a Chief. I have many to mahalo as so many have helped with my recovery. Kathy who stood by me through thick and thin. I ean never thank her enough for the many sleepless nights she endured and the comfort she gave me. Our sons Eono and Imiola and their wives. The four flreflghters who responded with lightning speed. The amhulanee drivers and attendants. The many, many doctors, nurses, aides and therapists too numerous to mention by name. All those who prayed for my restoration (Father David-St. James Church, Kahu Billy-MCO, Imiola Church, our FDS friends, Franco Aquaro and his Amide Buddha 'ohana). I'd be remiss if I didn't mention North Hawai'i Community Hospital, Kohala Home Care, Dr. Gregg and Samantha-Kaiser Waimea, Jim and Fynn, Carter and Sandy, Ben and Nancy, my OHA staff. My take away messages: don't fuss with high blood pressure, take your medication. Eat well. Go easy on the sugar and the salt. Exercise. Manage your stress. Get eighthours sleep. Be grateful. Pray often. Be positive. Serve others. Do things in moderation. ■

Rūbert K. Lindsey, Jr. Trustee, Hawai'i