Living with PH means trying to avoid stress. Stress takes a major toll on our health and can make us sicker and keep the meds from working properly.

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The Ideal Day

Once again, it's that time of month for dear Judi's Artsy Essay Contest! Please see the rules and regulations for this month here . I entered a couple month's ago when Judi decided to revive this wonderful contest, and decided I'd like to give it a shot this month! Here goes! My Ideal Day My ideal day would start out at 7am to get ready for work, instead of getting up to take a pill. My ideal day would be going to work as a teacher, instead of wondering if I'd feel well enough to do anything for that day. My ideal day would be working out at a gym, instead of hoping to have enough energy to just walk for 6 minutes on the treadmill at home. My ideal day would be to freely walk about around my home and in public, instead of being tethered to a plastic tube going into my nose, providing oxygen to keep me going. My ideal day would be remembering meeting times with friends or family, instead of keeping track of the 8 different times I need to take a pill or vitamin in ...
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A Holey Affair

When I was 9 months old, I was diagnosed with congenital heart disease (atrioventricular canal, to be exact, and pulmonary hypertension. I was most likely born with the 2 holes in my heart, and the PH developed very soon after, or I could've had both at the same time and it was missed until I was 9 months. Who knows really? I guess it doesn't really matter at this point! Anyway, for my entire childhood and young adulthood, the main focus was always on my heart. I had plenty of appointments with my pediatric cardiologist, and if I had to guess, over 150 echoes in my life so far. My heart has been in pretty stable condition for a very long time, and I'm so thankful for that! I find it ironic that after we started focusing on the pulmonary hypertension part of my condition in 2002, I sometimes forget about the congenital heart disease I've got going on. When I talk to people, I always describe PH, the symptoms, the treatments, etc, but I forget to say WHY I have PH in the ...
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PH-related News of the Week

Last Tuesday, my parents and I made the trip to the Cleveland Clinic , so I could have my 6 minute walk and assess how I've been doing since I was last there in April 2006. My walk wasn't as good as the last time, and I knew it wouldn't be. I've been rather tired the past several months, and my exercise capacity hasn't been as good either. A few years ago, I was able to walk 2 miles on the treadmill, and nowadays, I'm lucky if I can go past a 1/2 mile. So I asked my PH doctor about Revatio , and he said I could try it. Yes, if you clicked on the link to see what Revatio is, you'd have noticed that it has the same ingredient as Viagra . Now after you stop snorting and thinking all sorts of silly thoughts, I will tell you that Viagra originally wasn't intended for the sole purpose it's being marketed for today. It was being tested for helping with heart-related issues. They just discovered a wonderfully "uplifting" side effect along the way ...
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