PHighting Words — Mike Naple

On a recent rainy fall day in Washington, D.C., you could find me in my small kitchen apartment cooking up a hearty beef stew. I prepped all the vegetables — the carrots, the celery, the potatoes, and the onions. It was after I started peeling an onion and…

Did you know that I have a new appreciation for street corners? I remember when I would attempt to cross the street as a red No. 2 flashed into a blinking hand, and my foot would touch down on the opposite curb just as a car flew by.

As the seasons change and we inch closer to Halloween, I have found myself reading the works of the great gothic writer Edgar Allan Poe, and am captivated by “The Tell-Tale Heart.” His story is about a man who does his best to convince the police, himself,…

It was like any other morning commute. Stand on the platform with crowds of people, all waiting for the delayed metro train, a more-than-common occurrence in Washington, D.C. When the train arrived around 8, its doors opened and I stepped aboard. Not more than 15 seconds later, a…

One holiday season a few years ago, I was sprinting through the Atlanta airport desperately trying to make a flight home to San Diego. I ran right up to the gate and was one of the last passengers to board the plane. Winded, yes, but I didn’t feel…

At the start of pulmonary rehabilitation, I was asked to write out a goal to work toward throughout the three months of sessions. Without realizing how unrealistic it sounded, I jotted down that I would like to run a 5K race. At this point, I was newly diagnosed…

“If you’re paying out-of-pocket, Mr. Naple, that will be $1,600 for the one month of sildenafil. Is that something you will want to pay today?” the pharmacist inquired over the phone. You probably know my answer. Sildenafil is one of three medications I take to keep my pulmonary hypertension…

Going back to the hospital in Fairfax, Virginia, felt in some ways like returning to the scene of a crime. I walked by the gift shop, toward the elevators that would take me down to the basement to Pulmonary Diagnostics. I couldn’t shake the sense that I had left something…

I’m tired just from typing these words. A rare disease like pulmonary hypertension doesn’t operate in a vacuum — side effects run aplenty. One of them is a feeling of chronic fatigue. Exhaustion seems ever-present in my life; like the shadow cast imposingly from the bag that carries my oxygen…

When we’re growing up, I imagine many of us are not thinking about the costs of healthcare. For many kids, healthcare means a Band-Aid with disinfectant and a kiss on the knee, and a few trips to the doctor’s office for dreaded shots. A child’s focus never wanders beyond the…

Sometimes when I think about the symptoms of pulmonary hypertension — dizziness, shortness of breath, dry cough, and chest pain — I wonder if my diagnosis had just been waiting a decade to hear its name. When I was in my teens and early 20s, I loved the rush of…

The office looked like an Ikea showroom. I didn’t know what I was going to say, or how he would respond. It was my first time seeing a therapist and I found myself there at the urging of loved ones. At this point, in May 2016, I was a little…