My name is Bev Winzoski. I have been married for 38 years and have two married sons. We have 4 Grandchildren....all under the age of 2. One set of twin girls and a little boy and the newest is a little girl.

I started not feeling well when I was around 49. I thought it was menopause. I made an appointment with my GP and he put me through a battery of tests, including ekg, lung xray, blood tests. I told him I thought it was just the stage of my life that I was going through plus the fact that I was overweight and out of shape. But little things were happening........I walk up a flight of stairs and get dizzy, If I tried to do anything out in the yard such as rake or work in the garden I would have to come in and lie die until I could breathe again. The exrays were what caught my Doctors attention. Orginally they thought my lymph nodes were enlarged. He sent me for a cat scan and also referred me to Dr. Warren at the HSC . I was afraid it was cancer, but I had 2 cat scans done in the matter of a couple of months and they said the lymph nodes were ok, but really couldn't tell me anything else. Dr. Warren put me through all kinds of tests. It was almost like they had to test you for everything else before they could say definitely that you have Primary Pulmonary Hypertension. Dr. Warren gave me the news in the fall of 98, never did I realize that I was so sick it was difficult to come home to my husband and tell him that I had a life expectancy of maybe 3 years. Dr. Warren then referred me to Dr Bshouty and his clinic. He did a few more tests and then finally the right heart catherization. My pressures were high and Dr. Bshouty suggested that I go on the flolan. I asked Doctor Bshouty if there wasn't some other treatment out there that I could try first. They all seemed to help for a while. Then along came the Bosentan and now the viagria. Hopefully there will be something new out there soon. Every drug that they come up with just gives us all a little more time.

My family are a great support to me. They understand that I get tired and have to lie down for short naps. My husband has been so supportive. A lot of the things I use to do on a daily basis are just too much for me now and he does them without complaining.

It is really difficult to bump into people with whom you have worked and they tell you how great you look and you can see behind those eyes...........weren't you suppose to be dead a long time ago? I guess if I was missing a limb or something else that was visible they wouldn't get that questionable look in their eyes.

So I have learned to take each day as it comes. Always say I love you. Hopefully with the new medications coming on line I will have time to spend with my beautiful Grandbabies and my wonderful children and of course my husband Ken.