Bill, Tues. October 1: family history

I finally heard back from one of Bill's blood relatives "on the other side," a son of my first husband. This young man is probably about 31 years old; I'll call him Junior. He had not realized until now I sent a message; apparently when you are not friends on Facebook, it goes into an "Other" purgatory, a spot I don't even see on Facebook.

Background: Junior called Bill's grandma a couple years ago, wanting to know if Bill would connect with him. The answer was no. The other side is a group of strangers to Bill, as he was a baby when his birth father and I divorced (nasty and scary events I won't detail here). My father was the main male figure throughout Bill's life. Bill was inspired to change his name in high school, and has been "Bill III" nearly 20 years.

Getting any meaningful information from Junior was difficult. He still wants to connect with Bill, so his answers to my questions kept going sideways into how many kids he has, where he lives, where his dad lives with his stepmom "Z."  His dad does have high blood pressure, (and anxiety, he felt compelled to tell me), but Junior didn't know how long he had it, how high it had been before medications, what meds he might be taking. But his sister, who would be 33 or 34, has a clot in her brain which they are working on dissipating through blood thinners.

I told Junior there would be genetic testing, and I would be sure to let him know when we have the results so he can let his side of the family know if there is a risk. "You really don't want to go through this."

So dear Readers, do you know your blood pressure? Find out, and if it's elevated, follow your doctor's directions to take steps to control it. You really don't want to go through this.