ECLAMPSIA: ONE OF THE MOST DREADED IN PREGNANCY AND LABOUR.
DO NOT WAIT TO HAVE SEIZURES AT HOME BEFORE YOU TREAT THAT RAISED BLOOD PRESSURE IN PREGNANCY
Walk with me... Will you?
...Long read.
When Danger Whispers Before It Screams: Eclampsia, and the Women We Are Still Losing
Dear Women and Men,
My dearies, no pregnant woman should convulse before we care, and this is not poetry, this is policy, this is science, this is humanity. When I watched that video, a woman convulsing in pregnancy, I felt my heart splinter, just a little, because I have stood in that room before, and I have fought that fight, and I have watched a shaking body argue with death. It is never sudden. It only looks sudden to those who arrive at the last sentence without reading the earlier chapters.
That lifeless stare, that chaos of limbs, that trembling cry, it is the final paragraph of a story that could have been rewritten much earlier, and much more gently.
We call it eclampsia, a name that sounds almost elegant, and yet it is one of pregnancy’s most ruthless murderers. It is what happens when blood pressure rises and rises, and then decides it wants more, more damage, more danger, more destruction. The brain rebels, the liver strains, the kidneys falter, and the woman, the woman who is carrying life, begins to lose herself. Sometimes it announces itself with blurred vision, and sometimes with swelling feet we excuse, and sometimes with a headache that drums and drums and refuses to be ignored. And then, suddenly, the body convulses, and the room fills with panic, and everyone asks,
How did this happen?
But before eclampsia, there is pre-eclampsia, and it is quiet, and deceptive, and almost polite. It comes with numbers slightly raised, with symptoms easily dismissed, with discomfort we normalize because women are taught to endure. We say, It’s stress, and It’s pregnancy, and It will pass. And we forget that danger rarely knocks loudly; it prefers to whisper first. And so we miss it. And then we mourn it.
This is why antenatal care is not ceremony, not routine, not something to be postponed. It is a rescue mission. When a blood pressure cuff tightens around your arm, and when urine is tested for protein, it is not box-ticking, it is listening. It is watching. It is standing between a whisper and a scream. It is the difference between prevention and tragedy.
So, my dear women, do not wait for your body to convulse before you seek help. Do not cradle pain in silence, and do not let culture, or fear, or false reassurance convince you that everything will be fine. Sometimes it will not unless we act, and unless we care, and unless we pay attention.
Because truly, no pregnant woman should die. Not in a world that has magnesium sulphate to still the storm. Not when blood pressure can be controlled and babies can be delivered safely. Not when knowledge exists, and care can save both mother and child.
And so, when next you see that video, do not scroll past, and do not sigh and move on. Let it interrupt you. Let it remind you to check a blood pressure, to attend that appointment, to insist on care. Let it remind you that antenatal care is not only about the baby, it is about the woman carrying life itself. Because eclampsia is not destiny, and it is not punishment, and it is not inevitable. It is preventable. And no pregnant woman should convulse before we care.
BREAST CANCER: AUNTY ESTHER, YOU MUST WIN. COME MAKE WE YARN
When Body Matter and Spirit Still Dey Stand Gidigba: A Love Letter to Aunty Esther
My dear Aunty Esther,
Come, abeg come sit near me, not only as your doctor wey dey talk big medical grammar, but as your pikin wey understand the trembling of your heart and the quiet strength you hide inside your laughter. Let me hold your hands as I dey yarn, because sometimes the world shifts suddenly, and sometimes we must steady ourselves with truth softened by love.
You said, 'Nah my breast and armpit the cancer dey'... And you are right. And you dey brave.
And you are not walking this road alone.
The doctors don see say the cancer don waka reach the lymph nodes for your armpit, like visitor wey refuse to sit for parlour and carry body enter kitchen join. And when cancer start that kain waka, we no dey delay. We plan. We attack. We hold your fear with one hand and hold your faith with the other.
Why We Dey Start With Chemotherapy
There is one kind treatment wey we dey give before surgery, dem dey call am neoadjuvant chemotherapy, but forget the big name. E simply mean: 'Make we shrink this stubborn thing first, so that when knife enter theatre, the work go be smoother.'
Chemotherapy go help:
Make the tumour small
Reduce wetin dey your armpit
Make surgery safer, cleaner
Give you better long-term outcome
This one no be punishment. Na strategy. Na medicine wey tie wrapper and enter battlefield.
Wetin Chemotherapy Fit Bring
My dear Aunty, I no go hide truth under wrapper, but I go give am with cushion:
Tiredness wey heavy like stone
Nausea (we get drug wey go handle am)
Hair loss (and e go grow back sometimes fuller, sometimes finer, sometimes like say e sef don learn courage)
Dark nail
Mouth soreness
Low immunity wey mean infection fit reason you anyhow
Na why your blood must strong. Your red cells, white cells, platelets ... all of dem must stand gidigba, because chemo no dey like low fuel.
And Because Say You Be Jehovah’s Witness
Hear this part with your spirit and your sense: We dey respect your faith. We dey honour am. Your belief no be problem. E be part of the journey map.
We go:
Check your blood steady steady
Use iron, erythropoietin(if e dey safe) and other boosters
Apply blood-saving strategies
Plan every step with your conviction in mind
But Aunty, make we talk am as e be... these medicines dey try, yes, but dem no dey raise blood quick-quick. And cancer, this kind one, no dey wait for anybody.
So if blood ever drop too low, na there your spirit go whisper courage to your body. Na there you go face that hard decision wey dey hide behind curtain:
YOU FIT NEED TO DECIDE ABOUT TAKING BLOOD. I NO GO LIE GIVE YOU.
I no go force you. But I go tell you truth. With love. With honour.
After Chemotherapy, The Road Still Long but Clear
When chemo don do im work and we go monitor am like hawk wey dey watch chick, we go move ahead.
●Surgery
Remove the tumour and the lymph nodes. Depending on response:
Mastectomy. Or breast-conserving surgery
● Radiotherapy
To chase away any small-small cancer cells wey dey hide like quiet gossip.
● Hormone or Targeted Therapy
The long-term protection steady like evening prayer from a mother wey no dey joke with her children.
Aunty Esther, Abeg Hear Me Well
This thing no be full stop.
Na comma. A pause before continuation.
This na beginning of a structured, dignified, faith-conscious journey. A journey where science stretch hand to faith and both of them walk with you as you choose life, boldly, tenderly, stubbornly.
I dey with you. With love wey no dey shout. With truth wey no dey wound. With respect wey no dey shake.
@Owiggy_ "You literally sell food for a living. I am not in your category sweetheart."
90% of girls that sell food for a living will buy you, that your fake hisense TV, 2003 mac book, fake JBL and China phone, you showing off.
The way you were talking down on her i thought..... smh