Too Much Pressure

Too Much Pressure

It was just about 7:00 when the door opened. She came in with the baby and a slight frown on her once happy face. Why was she sad, she had the baby? Shouldn’t that make her happy? She sat down and addressed her parents. She had some bad news for them. The pregnancy had caused some major problems for her. She had pre-eclampsia, liver problems, kidney problems, and very low potassium. Her parents were horrified with this news. You could almost see them age right in front of your eyes. This would mean she might not live a normal life again. She could have to take pills for the rest of her life.

A few days had passed and Cassie still wasn’t showing improvement. She wasn’t able to get out of bed but she still wanted to take care of her daughter Ceomania. She didn’t like this feeling of helplessness. She had always done every necessary thing by herself for her entire life. She had a hard time being helpless.

Cassie woke up around mid-day feeling a little better. She decided to try and get out of bed. She tightened up her face getting braced for the movement. She sat up slowly to lessen the pain when she realized that the pain was minimal. She sat all the way up and crawled out of bed. She forced herself to take a shower. After her shower she felt energized. She felt like she would be ready for school soon. But her doctor had other plans for her. With the damage done to her heart from the bad pregnancy she might not be able to handle the stress of school. This would mean that all her plans for the future wouldn’t work out. She would need to take potassium, prenatal, iron and heart pills. It was a stretch but if the pills did their job then she might be able to go back to school.

Cassie had her blood pressure taken every day since then to see if it was progressing. It was, but not enough. If she were going to go back to school then she would need much more of an improvement.

Today was judgment day. If it were not at a good level than she wouldn’t be able to go to school this year. Her mom strapped the cuff onto Cassie’s wrist and pressed the start button. The cuff tightened. By the look on Cassie’s face it would seem as though it was too tight but it was just the nervousness as she awaited this final moment. This moment would decide the rest of her life. In what seemed like slow motion the numbers appeared on the screen. Cassie couldn’t look. She forced her head to look at the little numbers. She glanced quickly at the machine and the numbers slowly sunk into her brain. Her blood pressure was 116 over 53. Good enough to go back to school. Those numbers will stay with Cassie for the rest of her life as the happiest moment ever.



* A little update on this true story: My sister made it through her senior year while still raising her baby and went to UVM. She finished her first year with a 3.97! However, she couldn't get the funding to go another year. Now she is living at home trying to earn enough money to rent an appartment. And she is pregnant again.