The Story ~ The End, Part 5 ~ High Blood Pressure

As the pressure was building up to put pounds on Yousef, I was struggling to lower down my blood pressure. What should have been resolved through Yousef’s delivery proved to be more complicated than to be waved away with a stitch. The doctors were concerned about my still high blood pressure readings and I was urgently rushed back into close monitoring and regular tests. No sooner had the catheter and the I.V. removed from my body that I found myself pinned down to them again. And again the process of engaging them to my being brought on pains of massive proportions and the hands of the attending physician when the nurse’s repeated efforts failed to achieve the desired outcome and my pleas of mercy rang loud.

Here we were one more time anxiously awaiting the end. But the end of my blood pressure issue was not near. For hours I was a testing zone for the right combination and dosage of medications. My blood pressure was measured at regular intervals. My urine and blood were an ongoing testing source. The readings were still not satisfactory. I could not sleep. We were in limbo: remain in this high profile, more expensive room, or get transferred to the maternity ward where I would receive less supervision but relatively more rest. We ask to be transferred; the doctor was hesitant. Finally at midnight she made her decision: although my condition was still unstable, she could not “justify financially” keeping me on these premises. I would get moved to the mother and baby unit and she would check-in on me.

We moved and spent the next four days alternating our worry between Yousef’s health and mine. We both went home that Sunday afternoon. We both needed medical attention. My need proved to be longer and more serious. I went on to see a nephrologist after a regular physician failed to tend to my condition. I had hypertension and required medication, monitoring and testing. This went on for close to six months. The final visit to the specialist brought on some good and some not so good news: my blood pressure was lower but there seemed to be some damage to my kidneys. I still required supervision but not medication. We moved to Morocco. I took my doctor’s notes with me. At the time of writing this I am off all kinds of medications and waiting for the six months period to elapse to undergo more testing to check the health of my kidneys.