Follow up

I wanted to follow up from my last post about my stats. When I try using oxygen, my oxygen saturation does not increase and I get a really bad headache. Trying to increase my heart is like a double-edge sword. I walked up the stairs and back down which as you can see in the picture increased my heart rate to 53 bpm, but my oxygen saturation dropped to 62%. Not exactly what we're looking for here.

Notice the slight tint of purple/blue color on my lips?

One of my biggest insecurities is my fingernails and toenails. I hate drawing attention to them. So, I am really making myself vulnerable here. I have what is called clubbing. My nails are rounded due to the lack of oxygen in my body.

Here is a better description of nail clubbing from the Wikipedia and the Mayo clinic. Nail clubbing, also known as digital clubbing, is a deformity of the finger or toe nails associated with a number of diseases, mostly of the heart and lungs. Nail clubbing occurs when the tips of the fingers enlarge and the nails curve around the fingertips, usually over the course of years. Nail clubbing is sometimes the result of low oxygen in the blood and could be a sign of various types of lung disease.

FYI: Some of you may already heard that I was in the ER most of the day yesterday. I was there for sharp pains in my chest and shortness of breath. I was told that it was most likely caused because of my pulmonary hypertension and that they would like a cardiac catheterization. Since I already have one scheduled with the congenital specialist from Primary Children's Hospital they felt I was fine to wait until that appointment tomorrow.

Tomorrow is the big day. I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous or scared. It is never comforting to hear "bring your advance directive if you have one." Thank you for all the prayers and support. I truly appreciate it. I guess if I tell my daughter that she can do hard things, then so can I.