I’m Aware That I’m Rare: KC Yates (331)

The phaware® interview

Pulmonary hypertension patient, KC Yates discusses her PH diagnosis, thoughts on motherhood, and the art of listening to what her body is telling her.

My name is KC Yates. I really didn’t know what was going on. I’m like, “Okay, I have bronchitis.” So I went over to the doctors and they did a chest x-ray, and they were like, “Well, you don’t have bronchitis. You have pulmonary arterial hypertension. That’s why your heart is four times larger than it should be.”

I got diagnosed November 15th, 2018. They were like, “You have to go on Sildenafil, Opsumit.” I’m newly on Orenitram [as well.] I was on the subcutaneous pump for about a year and then I transferred to the oral meds, which is amazing.

[My doctor said], “Oh, you can’t have kids. You can’t walk by yourself. You can’t exercise by yourself. You can’t be alone. You can’t take a shower. You can’t do this. You can’t do that.” I’m like, “Uh, okay. I do all that, and now you’re saying that I can’t do that? I can’t get pregnant? I can’t do this, I can do this? What am…