“She’s [mother] been experiencing difficulty breathing for eight years, but her cardiologist told us it was because of her age — 80 years —and it was only in her mind.”

“My mother has pulmonary hypertension with COPD and dysfunction of left valve or artery of the heart. She’s been experiencing difficulty breathing for eight years, but her cardiologist told us it was because of her age — 80 years —and it was only in her mind. Almost quarterly we visited her cardiologist and pulmonologist because of difficulty of breathing with the same diagnosis — it’s because of her age. Her blood pressure, according to her cardiologist, is ideal (160/50) for her age.

“One day we decided to see her cardiologist. Unfortunately, she had a meeting to attend so her reliever, Dr. Rod Castro, took the position. He requested that Mom have a 2D echo. When he saw the result, he told me that “delikado na lagay ni mommy” —your mom has a perilous condition. That’s why she needs to confine.

“Here comes a big trial for us. She was prescribed Bosentan once a day along with other medicines. After three weeks, Dr. Rod told us Mom should take it twice a day. Her medicines cost us $30,000 a month. It’s a big burden for us because we can only sustain this cost for three months.”