Jeanette M. enjoyed life as a newlywed, going for walks, taking photos, and caring for her dogs. Strolling along the Schuykill River recharged her mind and body. Photography started as a hobby and blossomed into her side gig. Being a wife kept a smile on her face and taking care of her four dogs kept her on her feet.
But all that changed one morning in March 2023. That day, Jeanette began feeling short of breath on her way to work.
“It felt like I was running a marathon when I was just walking,” says Jeanette, now 44. “It took me so long to get from the parking lot to my office.”
An ambulance rushed Jeanette to a local hospital, where tests revealed blood clots in the arteries of her lungs.
“The doctor said, ‘Obviously, you’ve been dealing with this for a long time,’” she recalls.
After undergoing additional tests, Jeanette was diagnosed with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). The condition develops in people who’ve had chronic blood clots in their lungs that stem from a pulmonary embolism (PE). Many CTEPH patients don’t even know they’ve had a PE.
CTEPH raises blood pressure in the lungs and strains the right side of the heart. Often silent at first, as it progresses it can cause symptoms such as shortness of breath, fatigue, chest pain, and a racing heartbeat.
Jeanette worked with her local physicians to try to manage her CTEPH, but her symptoms were getting worse. Her body also began to accumulate fluid. By then, she wasn’t able to drive or do much of anything without losing her breath.
One day, feeling desperate, Jeanette asked her doctor: “Am I ever going to get better?”
That’s when her doctor told her about the advanced CTEPH treatments available at Temple Health.
Temple offered a life-changing procedure
The Temple Heart and Vascular Institute is home to the Advanced Pulmonary Hypertension, Right Heart Failure & CTEPH/PTE Program. There, Temple’s experienced doctors, including nationally renowned heart and vascular experts, offer leading-edge treatments for CTEPH.
One option is an open-heart surgery called pulmonary thromboendarterectomy (PTE), which removes blood clots in the lungs.
But for patients who aren’t eligible for PTE, either because of other medical problems or because their blood clots can’t be reached with surgery, there is another option: balloon pulmonary angioplasty (BPA). This minimally invasive procedure widens the narrowed pulmonary arteries in the lungs to relieve heart strain and allow patients to do more physical activity in their everyday lives.
To perform BPA, a specialist inserts a balloon-tipped catheter into the groin and threads it to the lungs. After locating blockages with x-rays, the balloon is expanded to open them.
Multiple BPA treatments are typically needed to open blockages throughout the lungs. Jeanette had six treatments between August 2024 and February 2025. Each time, she says, everyone — from the registration desk to the procedure room — made her feel cared for.
