Bob Drake in Florida

Bob Drake has arrived in Florida for his annual stay. He asked me to post the following message for him:

ON THE SECOND DAY OF OUR TRIP TO FLORIDA WE STOPPED FOR LUNCH AND AFTER A QUICK "STAND UP" I WAS FEELING DIZZY AND DISORIENTED. AFTER THAT HAPPENED A SECOND TIME AND I WAS HAVING TROUBLE CHEWING LUNCH THEN WE CALLED 911. I WAS TRANSPORTED TO THE HOSPITAL, MY HEART RATE WAS VERY LOW AND THEY SUSPECTED A SMALL STROKE. THEY DID A CT SCAN OF THE HEAD AND AN XRAY OF MY CHEST AND COULDN'T FIND ANY PROBLEMS. THE DIAGNOSES WAS EXTREMELY LOW BLOOD PRESSURE. THE DOCTOR. SAID WE COULD CONTINUE THE TRIP BUT HAD TO STOP EVERY 2 HOURS TO EXERCISE AND I WAS RELEASED. AFTER A GOOD DINNER I WAS FEELING MUCH BETTER. THE DR. SUGGESTED I STOP TAKING ATENOLOL, A BETA BLOCKER, AND SEE MY HEART DOCTOR. I CALLED MY DIET DOCTOR AND ASKED IF THIS WAS A PROBLEM WITH HIS DIET. HE SAID HE WASN'T SURPRISED. THE DIET WAS SUPPOSED TO MAKE THE ARTERIES BIGGER AND MORE FLEXIBLE AND MAYBE MY HEART COULDN' T KEEP UP WITH A SUDDEN "STANDING UP" AFTER A THREE HOUR DRIVE.
I AM TRYING TO GET IN TOUCH WITH MY HEART DOCTOR NOW.
I AM FEELING FINE NOW AND ENJOYING THE 80 DEGREE FLORIDA WEATER.

BOB

I would like to add that we had a micro Walker reunion in San Diego on Monday with Dwight. We talked for 3 hours and Dwight feels much better, in part due to the antibiotics for the urinary tract infection. So, here I am in San Diego talking to Bob by cell phone in Florida. Then my sister calls from Honolulu to say hi and tell us she packed warm clothes expecting to go to London or Frankfurt and ended up on Waikiki Beach. Now if anybody had told me 25 years ago that all of this was going to happen, I would have laughed at them.

Tom