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Janel’s Story

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Doctor Finds Hope at Temple for CTEPH, a Life-Threatening Condition

Right-sided heart failure and CTEPH patient Janel who received PTE, a life-saving surgical treatment.

As a doctor, Janel is trained to recognize when something is wrong with one of her patients. That skill proved useful in 2012 when she passed out three times while climbing the stairs in her house.

Knowing something wasn’t right, she called out to her husband. An ambulance trip to the local ER followed, and an unexpected diagnosis was made. Janel had a pulmonary embolism – a clot that blocks the arteries in the lungs.

She was put on medication to break up that clot and keep more from forming, but over the years they kept coming back. As her doctors struggled to understand what was causing the clots, Janel’s health worsened.

“I slowly became less and less active,” she says. “I used to love going on long walks with my dog but that had to stop. I couldn’t use the stairs at work. I couldn’t grocery shop. My world was getting progressively smaller because I was short of breath and fatigued.”

Receiving a CTEPH Diagnosis

After her fourth pulmonary embolism, Janel was diagnosed with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension, or CTEPH for short. This serious condition can cause debilitating breathing problems, heart failure and even death. In Janel’s case, doctors found that CTEPH had already damaged the right side of her heart. For the first time, she began to think she might die.

It was then that someone at another hospital gave her advice that would change her life — Go to Temple, they said.

The Right Team, Close By

Within 2 weeks, Janel had an appointment with the Temple CTEPH team, which she quickly learned is one of the most experienced in the nation. She was also told about a treatment option that only a few hospitals in the country offer – pulmonary thromboendarterectomy (PTE), a procedure that surgically removes the clots from the lungs. Temple has the largest PTE program on the East Coast.

“I went online and realized that there are only a handful of hospitals in the world that offer this surgery,” she says. “I was so grateful that Temple was one of them and that it was right here in my own backyard.”

By now, Janel was on oxygen 24/7 and knew that PTE surgery was her best option. She admits to being afraid, but she had confidence in her Temple medical team.

A Return to a Normal Life

Leading up to surgery, Janel describes her experience at Temple as “amazing from day one.”

“The whole team walked me through everything,” she says. “All my tests were coordinated and efficient, and everyone was so helpful. We had a doctor sit with us for an hour and go through the surgery step by step. How often does a doctor spend an hour with a patient like that!?”

I'm not tethered to oxygen anymore, and I don't feel exhausted all the time. I just feel great.

Janel

Janel's PTE surgery was a success, and today she is enjoying a quality of life she thought she had lost forever. Her breathing has returned to normal and her heart is functioning better.

“The little stuff is now the big stuff,” she says. “I’m walking the dog again. I go grocery shopping, I see a movie, I go to parks. I’m not tethered to oxygen anymore, and I don’t feel exhausted all the time. I just feel great.”

She is also back to seeing her patients.

“My patients mean a great deal to me. It’s a privilege to serve them,” she says. “I wouldn’t be here today to help them if it wasn’t for Temple.”


 

Watch Her Video to Learn More

janel
Following a pulmonary embolism, Janel was diagnosed with right-sided heart failure and CTEPH (chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension). Janel was referred to the experts at Temple Health where she received a life-saving surgical treatment called pulmonary thromboendarterectomy (PTE).
Following a pulmonary embolism, Janel was diagnosed with right-sided heart failure and CTEPH (chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension). Janel was referred to the experts at Temple Health where she received a life-saving surgical treatment called pulmonary thromboendarterectomy (PTE).

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