Lifesavers for Latasha

In 2006, my sister Kim and her family moved to Utah after she gave birth to my niece Trinity. I was in my mid-20s and had been diagnosed with Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension that year, so I was still adjusting to the diagnosis and wrapping my head around all the changes happening in my life.

My nephews Jaden and Jacob had been part of my life for their entire lives. They lived either in the same city or just a few hours drive away, and I spent time with them all the time. Having them move away was a huge change for me, and knowing I wouldn’t see Trinity on a daily or weekly basis was heartbreaking.

Monica and I decided to go visit them in October of that year. Everything was okay on the flight, but that all changed when we landed.

As soon as I exited the plane and entered the jetway, I breathed in air, coughed, and heard and felt a crackling in my lungs. Immediately, I started coughing more and could feel something in my mouth. I don’t know if I said anything to Monica or not. I just made a beeline for the first bathroom in the airport, doing my best to stifle my coughing.

Once I got to the bathroom, I went to the sink and spit, while still coughing. Bright red is what I see in the sink. Blood. I was coughing up blood!

“Oh my God! Are you okay?” Monica shrilled. “Do I need to get help? What do I do?”

In between coughs, I tried to calm her down and tell her I just needed a minute. I was burning up now, so I was trying to put cold water on my face and neck, while also trying to fan myself. After a few minutes, once I started to cool down, the coughing finally started to calm down and blood stopped coming up.

“Do we need to go to a hospital?” Monica asked.

“No. I’ll be okay,” I said.

“What happened?” she asked.

“As soon as I breathed in the air, I just started coughing up blood,” I replied.

“Are you sure you’re okay? Has that happened before?”

“I’ve coughed up blood before, but I’ve never felt the blood vessels burst like that before. I think I’m okay,” I said as we grabbed our bags and left the bathroom to head to baggage claim and meet Kim. “I think I’m going to need something to drink, though,” I said.

Ginger ale, of course, was my drink of choice. Once I had bought it and taken a few sips, I started to feel a little better. I was still very hesitant to breathe in deeply, because I didn’t want another coughing fit to happen until I was out of this airport.

Every time I coughed, I braced myself, hoping I wouldn’t cough up more blood.

Throughout the trip, I tried to do things with the family as best I could, but I was having a hard time breathing and still coughing up blood here and there.

After the trip was over and we went back home, I could tell when I would cough up blood, because that crackling feeling and noise would happen. Each time it happened, I would begin to cough incessantly and my body temperature would rise.

At my next appointment with the Emory Adult Congenital Heart Center, I told them about going to Utah and coughing up blood. That’s when I found out I couldn’t just go to a place like Utah that had high elevation. They told me I shouldn’t go there, or any other place, with high elevation. I told them that my sister and her family lived there, and I would be going to visit them.

So, they told me everything I would have to do in order to mitigate the effects of the high elevation on my PAH.

One thing I would need is oxygen on the plane ride. They said I should have oxygen every time I was on a plane, no matter where it was going. The second thing they said I would need is oxygen 24/7 while I was in Utah.

So, for my next trip to Utah a few months later, I booked my plane ticket and called the airline about needing oxygen. That’s when I was told how much extra money it costs to have. I paid the extra money and had it on the flights.

I was using oxygen at night at home, so I was already a customer with a company. I contacted them about my trip and scheduled a delivery of portable oxygen tanks to be at my sister’s house.

On that trip, even with the oxygen, I still coughed up some blood and had altitude sickness. I could barely get out of bed and felt so sick every day. It was not a fun trip, especially given all the extra money I had to spend in order to try to make it safer for me.

My sister lived in Utah for a few years before moving back to Alabama. Every time I went to visit after that first time, I made sure to have oxygen on the plane and oxygen tanks at her house for me to use. The altitude sickness wasn’t as bad the other times as it was the second time I went there. But, the coughing up blood always happened when I went to Utah.

Because of those experiences with my PAH, I can’t live in a place with high elevation. It’s hard enough to visit there for a few days. I can’t imagine how it would be living there and feeling that way all the time. I’m not sure if it’ll be different when I have my transplant, though.