Managing the Unmanageable: New Treatment Options for Pulmonary Hypertension – Karla's Story
Managing the Unmanageable: New Treatment Options for Pulmonary Hypertension – Karla's Story
Learn about the University of Iowa’s innovative Pulmonary Hypertension Program, the only center in Iowa and one of only 26 comprehensive care centers in the United States for this rare and complex disease. This video provides an overview of how the disease presents medical treatment options. Learn more about UI Heart \u0026 Vascular Center at http://www.uihealthcare.org/heart/
Please note: We made this video before the COVID-19 pandemic. UI Health Care staff follow our most current guidance to wear the appropriate personal protective equipment when seeing patients. For more information about our safety efforts, please visit uihc.org/covid-19-health-and-safety-information-our-patients.
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1.1 -> (calming music)
11.21 -> She went down the hall of the offices and she said, "They're admitting Karla! They're admitting Karla!"
16.38 -> (laughter) So everybody was very supportive, they came to see me.
21.67 -> "What happened?" "I don't know,"
25.119 -> it just happened. My name is Karla Starckovich
28.39 -> I'm from Parnell, Iowa, which is down by
Williamsburg
32.66 -> and I work in the heart and vascular center of the hospital.
36.71 -> I walk in from Ramp 3 and into the main
41.02 -> fountain area and I would just barely
get there and have to stop
46.34 -> and get my breath. I was so short of
breath and it was
50.23 -> a lot of pressure, and I knew that wasn't
right.
54.11 -> I've been very active all my life.
57.26 -> My mother had just had a triple bypass
61.15 -> and I had spoken to her also on
64.829 -> what I was feeling and she said that that
sounded like how she felt
69.47 -> when she was having a heart attack. And
so then I thought, "Well, I
73.45 -> definitely should get one of those heart risk
assessments. And there was something
77.09 -> not right there, so they immediately took
me downstairs to the Heart and
81.409 -> Vascular Clinic.
82.369 -> We end up admitting me and having a
86.299 -> heart cath done on both sides of my
heart
89.96 -> right and left. They determined that
the pressures on the right side of my
94.899 -> heart were extremely high
96.509 -> because they were concerned about
98.99 -> heart failure. And then I had some
102.119 -> other tests; done some breathing tests, um,
106.22 -> what's called a PET Scan, and they
determined that it was pulmonary
110.939 -> hypertension.
112.259 -> Don't know where it came from because
there's no family history
115.95 -> of that. I was part of a study
119.83 -> where they use two drugs
123.14 -> to, um, treat the patient and
126.59 -> you either had -- you always got one drug
130.22 -> or there were somedays you may have
133.29 -> two actual drugs. I had great results, I
always
136.76 -> was better, um, I didn't go backwards
140.519 -> I always went forward as far as how I
felt,
144.6 -> how I could breathe. So I completed that
147.87 -> and was on a positive end, and so now I--
151.48 -> I continue with, um, they tell me what
two drugs are and I continue with those
155.459 -> now.
155.92 -> I thought I was too active to ever have
anything wrong with my heart,
160.239 -> my lungs, or anything. I didn't have any
pain in my
163.89 -> arms or anything, it was just all in my
chest, and it just was a lot of pressure
168.829 -> so I-- I think the symptoms are different
for everyone.
174.07 -> If you have something that doesn't feel
right and you know it doesn't feel right,
177.98 -> you need to ask questions and you need to
181.7 -> be your own doctor, in some ways as far
as
185.48 -> "Well, if it doesn't seem right," you need to see somebody, you need to tell someone.
189.739 -> The best thing of having my treatment at
the University of Iowa
193.5 -> is the nurses, the doctors,
196.68 -> everyone I dealt with was very nice,
200.18 -> kind, supportive. They really cared,
203.319 -> you know, you could tell they care.
207.11 -> They're all my friends now.
213.17 -> (Calming music)
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Mk0Hj0jseE