The Pulmonary Hypertension Association’s (PHA’s) The Right Heart blog brings you a story chronicling just how rigorous, uncertain and time consuming the road to a proper pulmonary hypertension (PH) diagnosis can be. Just ask this week’s contributor to the blog, Gail Merz, who has experienced her share of difficulties along her journey. As if three major operations, a knee replacement, a mesh implant in her lower abdomen and spinal fusion in a year was not enough to bear, a lung doctor noticed a strange “spot” on Gail’s lungs. Gail saw multiple doctors over two years and was subjected to all sorts of tests. No concrete answers were found as Gail’s health began to deteriorate. Just as the situation seemed to be taking a turn for the worse, a breakthrough lead to Gail’s proper diagnosis of hypoxic respiratory failure, carcinoid lung cancer, hypersensitive lung disease, right heart disease and PH secondary to carcinoid cancer. Read more about the breakthrough that led to Gail’s correct diagnosis.
