When I was recently discharged from the hospital following a stint with COVID-19 and norovirus, my team automatically scheduled me for an in-person follow-up. As the date in July approached, I double-checked the appointments in my online portal and noted a few things. First, I had been scheduled for…
Columns
There’s a sentiment that a book finds you at the right time in your life. Sometimes, when you have a chronic illness like pulmonary hypertension (PH), that book finds you when you’re sitting on a bench outside of a hospital. Recently, that book for me was “Famesick,”…
In May, I wrote about my optimistic plan to help care for my mother after a minor surgery. We were keeping our fingers crossed, hoping for only minor complications for both of us during the upcoming weeks. Unfortunately, that’s not how things turned out. In fact, the hit of…
I live with pulmonary hypertension (PH), and I frequently ignore my own advice. As time goes on, those of us with PH become more in tune with our bodies and learn how to pace ourselves. We remember to take our medications as directed, manage fluid retention, and maintain…
If you were fixin’ to connect with pulmonary hypertension (PH) patients in June, you would’ve found a whole contingent of us camped out in Dallas. The PH community took the Lone Star State by storm for the Pulmonary Hypertension Association’s biennial International PH Conference and Scientific Sessions. Alongside…
At the Pulmonary Hypertension Association’s (PHA) biannual conference, it is easy to feel like you should be able to do more. There are sessions to attend, people to meet, dinners to join, and late-night moments you don’t want to miss. There is a kind of magic in being surrounded by…
In a recent column, I shared something I’d been too stubborn to say before: Pushing through fatigue with pulmonary hypertension (PH) almost always costs me more than it gives. The harder I push, the harder I crash. After that column, several readers reached out to say they sometimes…
I lived in a rural area at the time I was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension (PH). I didn’t meet another PH patient for nearly a year, and even then, we didn’t get to chat because we were both bouncing from one appointment to another. That distance can make an…
I live with both idiopathic pulmonary hypertension (PH) and scleroderma, and earlier this month, I was taught a lesson in how quickly things can unravel when you’re with people who are well-versed in one condition while you’re dealing with symptoms of the other. I traveled to Washington, D.C., to…
Tomorrow, a surgery is taking place, but for once, I won’t be the person counting back from 10 as they’re put to sleep. Instead, it’s my mother who will be undergoing a minor procedure. Fortunately, it’s low risk, but we’ve still had a lot to consider regarding her recovery, which…
Living with a rare disease like pulmonary hypertension (PH) brings sudden, overwhelming changes. If you or a loved one recently received a diagnosis, you likely know the intense emotional weight that follows. Fear, stress, and anxiety frequently accompany the physical symptoms in those early days. Because May…
Recent news from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics confirmed what many of us have likely felt while grocery shopping — prices are going up. The Consumer Price Index rose 3.8% year-over-year in April, and is higher than the 3.3% measurement in March. As inflation continues to climb,…
