Columns

“The courage it takes to share your story might be the very thing someone else needs to open their heart to hope.” — Unknown My hands were clammy and my heart was racing as I waited to meet a prospective new primary care provider (PCP). I sat in the…

A woman driving home from work becomes severely short of breath and dizzy. She pulls over into a “No Parking” area, which draws the attention of a parking enforcement officer. He calls for help, and she is rushed to the hospital. Five days and many tests later, doctors diagnose the…

When I checked into urgent care in 2016, I was supposed to be preparing a member of Congress for a summit at the White House. But instead of going to work the next day, I sat in the hospital for nearly two weeks and left with a pulmonary hypertension diagnosis.

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) might look and sound like asthma, croup, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or a panic attack — but it’s not. It’s a rare, incurable, and life-threatening condition. The color of the PH awareness ribbon might look purple, lavender, violet, or blue — but it’s not. It’s a delicate…

The day you get called in for a transplant is a strange one, filled with all sorts of extreme experiences. Something most people might not know is that, in an attempt to execute the transplant procedure efficiently, patients are taken to the operating room before the donor organs even arrive…

The words I wasn’t prepared to hear went something like this: “Mrs. Cueva, it seems that you have a rare and life-threatening illness.” My mind immediately flashed back to months earlier, when a local doctor had told me that if I had pulmonary hypertension (PH), it would be “a death…

I enjoy hot peppermint mochas year-round. Going through the Starbucks drive-thru is my favorite daily routine and the only line I don’t mind waiting in. I use it as an opportunity to relax, pray, listen to music, scroll through my phone, read, or gaze out the window. The…

The pandemic has been especially hard on people with disabilities, chronic illness, and rare diseases. Our community has faced ongoing ableist attitudes toward safety measures and protocols meant to keep disabled, immunocompromised, and other high-risk individuals protected from a pandemic with a death toll in the United States…

Living with pulmonary hypertension (PH) requires a great deal of self-awareness and analysis to distinguish between PH symptoms and treatment side effects. This effort becomes even more challenging when comorbidities come into play. Roger Bliss, a Pulmonary Hypertension News forums member, provides an example of such challenges. He…

“There were nights of endless pleasure. It was more than any laws allow.” Celine Dion’s “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” is a classic. As I sang along, I couldn’t help but wonder, what kind of sex is Celine Dion having, and where can I sign up? One of…

My family loved dogs before I even came into the picture. My parents’ first child was a golden retriever named Sadie. Although I don’t remember her, she lives on through our family’s dog stories. The first dog I remember properly, the one I’d consider my childhood pet, was Chester. We…

I’ll never forget the day I knew something was wrong with my body. It was sending me warnings. The symptoms included increased shortness of breath from minor activities like talking, presyncope, which is the sensation of nearly fainting, heart palpitations, and swelling in my abdomen and lower extremities. I…