Check up on your friends.....in the hospital. Check up on yourself... at the hospital.

Good morning and happy Tuesday to all my good read.cashers! ❤ First I apologise for not visiting you all articles and comments yesterday. Those who viewed my short post know about this already. I was so busy with the feeding programme. Yesterday, I was part of both cooking and distributing team and afterwards, I went to visit my sick friend in the hospital. As at now, we're cooking for today and I just took a very short break to post. I will visit your articles and read your comments when I am done. Thank you all for your understanding ❤.

As expected, I was so exhausted after the distribution program, having been part of the cooking team you'd expect me to be extra exhausted. However I had to visit a sick friend at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, university's teaching hospital. My friend, who's name is Hannah, did not go home for the strike. She had been in school since the strike because she lives quite far away from the state and also because, according to her, she still has a lot of academic work to cover and she wouldn't be able to do so if she went home. Hannah was reading in the female reading room at night and when, for no known reasons, she collapsed and had a seizure. She was lucky they were other people around when this happened and she was immediately rushed to the hospital. She happened to have developed some sort of heart complications which I, neither does she, know how it came about. She was also recorded to have a blood pressure of about 140/90! That's real high! I deliberately postpone my visit beyond when the whole class visited so that I can be with her alone. I wanted to let her know that I am there for her and reassure her that she will get better... By God's grace she will.

Hannah's sudden collapse was caused by a sudden heart attack.... probably due to atrial arrhythmia as she said she missed like two beats before she collapsed. She reported to have been feeling severe pains in her chest sometimes but she just takes jelosil tablets because she thought it was just an indigestion. Sometimes it is cluster headaches or terrible migraines. I personally give her massages on her head when they come but maybe they are all symptoms we ignored. Although we have been to the school clinic several times but even they never predicted something like this could happen... especially when they pass these as being a result of stress as a student due to excessive studying.

It was so shocking indeed. Hannah looked healthy. You wouldn't think something was wrong with her if you saw her before the attack. It is enough for one to begin suspecting whether he or she is truly okay. You see, there's a need for us to go for routine medical check-up from time to time. The importance of this cannot be overemphasised. You may not be aware of something that needs to be taken care of. These symptoms appear subliminally and we tend to pass them for stress and sometimes they can be even asymptomatic. That's when it's truly deadly. You just wake up one morning and see yourself on a hospital bed or..... God forbid, in an early grave without even knowing how you got there in the first place.

Heart diseases are very notorious for their stealthiness. They creep in slowly and slowly without you detecting that you have an abnormal heart. Sometimes at the ealry stages you might not e able to detect it even with an electrocardiogram. That's how terrifying they can be. The heart has a special way of adjusting its beats to function properly in cases of irregularities.

Let's normalise having check ups once in a while please. It can go a long way. You never know if that thing you ate on a friend's party got lodged somewhere it shouldn't be. You never know if that minor hit from a bicycle injured some blood vessels that could result in internal bleeding, you never know if that head-butt you mistakenly gave the wall has had an effect in your brain, worse case, you never know if your own body cells have conspired to begin producing cancerous ones.... God forbid.

Our body just like any other thing, when ignored and devoid of proper care, deteriorates. Sometimes we can correct it when it begins showing signs of deterioration. Sometimes it doesn't even show signs. The best we can do is to keep watch, make sure we try our best to maintain our internal environment, as well as our external environment. Your health is the only thing you've got so do not say you don't have the time or money to go for a check up. If something happens that neither your time or money could be of help....then what's the use?

Blood pressure is something we should always check. The world is getting busier, bustier, noisy, and annoying each day. Check you moods, Check your thoughts, check you food, check the way you react, check yourself.

I believe every one should own a sphymomanometer and stethoscope in their home to check their blood pressure from time to time. You don't have to be a doctor to know how to use these as they are quite easy to learn to use....if one is taught..

Stay healthy guys! And thanks for reading.

Yours Layly,

❤❤❤❤❤😘