Coffee, Tea or Me

The Hagia Sophia. The only reason I did not confuse it with the Blue Mosque was because of the scaffolding.



The Blue Mosque. At least I think it is.



Inside the Blue Mosque.

Now I know why my BP is high. That soup in that basin there is nothing but fat and every known part of a sheep thrown in.

The view of the city and the mountains from my bedroom window.

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Maybe lamb chops and beef too.

I took off my ring to play volleyball last weekend and later put it back on my left ring finger, just to give my right ring finger a rest. After a few days the finger began to hurt a bit, and I could not take the ring off. My secretary says that is not good, it usually means high blood pressure. She meant, if the ring can go in but after a few days, I can't take it off, something is not right. Greeeaaaat......... as if I don't have enough problems. Well, she could be right, my head feels stuffy and I have this lingering headache........ As the days go by, it got worse and I still couldn' t get it off. Using soap didn't help. And my finger began to glow - it got red. I rested it for a few days and a colleague at the office suggested I use vaseline, of which she has right there in her office. So, with an ample supply of vaseline, with another colleague's help, after a lot of pulling, turning and pain, lots of pain, I managed to get it out. I knew I had one chance before I would be left with only one option - cut the ring off. But I got the happy ending I wanted, the ring in one hand and a glowing, painful, swollen but ring-free finger on the other.

The only thing left to do was see our resident doctor, Dr. Durli, to check on my blood pressure. Yup, we got a doctor in the house. She wasn't employed for her medical skills but we don't put that to waste. She wasn't in but Jennet was there. Jennet is not a doctor but she said, "Mr. H, my mother is a children's doctor and my father is a famous surgeon". Meaning, her mother is a paeditrician and her father is a famous surgeon. OK, I guess that's OK.

"140 over 100, you have high blood pressure... Normal 120 over 90. You have high blood pressure. No coffee, tea, lamb chops or beef for you. Green tea OK. Fish, chicken OK."

Later Dr. Durli came over and repeated the whole process.

"140 over 100, you have high blood pressure... Normal 120 over 90. You have high blood pressure. No coffee, tea, lamb chops or beef for you. Green tea OK. Fish, chicken OK."

She puts on her doctor face and continued, "I give you medicine, you take and you tell me how you feel OK?"

Great, my medical check-up before I was transferred here said everything was OK. Must be the beef, mutton, coffee and the work, especially dealing with the state authorities here. So, for the last four days, I have been on a diet of what was approved by the good doctor. Well, the headache is gone, the stuffiness is gone and I'll see her again next week.

I just had some drugs, compliments of the good doctor.

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