Almost out of options, a patient is saved
by a unique procedure
BREATHING
ROOM
Caren Birdwell should have been in the prime of her life. She was 44, running a
successful business with her husband in Graham, TX, with a son in college and
family nearby. However, an unexpected reaction to a drug taken years ago left her
with a dismal diagnosis, and she was told to “get her affairs in order because she
didn’t have much time.”
iagnosed with pulmonary
hypertension in 2004 as a result
of taking a diet drug, Ms.
Birdwell had been hospitalized in Wichita
Falls after going in for a routine test to
check the damages to her heart. After
going into cardiac arrest twice, being
intubated both times, and developing
pneumonia, she was flown to Dallas with
serious cardiovascular problems. “I was in
and out of intensive care units for two
months. It became very hard for me to
breathe because my airways were
progressively getting smaller,” she says.
D
Unmatched Pulmonary
Expertise Was Nearby
After specialists in Dallas tried several
times to expand her airways, Ms.
Birdwell’s outlook was very grim, but then
hope was restored. “The team in Dallas
knew of an interventional pulmonology
program in San Diego, CA, and they were
planning to fly me there. One of the
doctors in San Diego asked why, when one
of the most comprehensive interventional
pulmonology programs in the country
was located in Temple, Texas!” she says.
That program is at Scott & White, led
by Dominic deKeratry, MD, director of
Interventional Pulmonary and Pulmonary
Procedures. He is also an assistant
professor of Internal Medicine at the Texas
“I will never forget it. Dr. deKeratry came into my
room, held my hand and said, ‘I am going to fix
you.’ And he did, the next morning.”
— Caren Birdwell
Winter 09 THE CATALYST
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