{"id":32268,"date":"2020-06-02T15:46:52","date_gmt":"2020-06-02T21:46:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?p=32268"},"modified":"2021-09-07T20:17:42","modified_gmt":"2021-09-08T02:17:42","slug":"mysterious-breathing-difficulties-solved-through-expert-collaboration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/mysterious-breathing-difficulties-solved-through-expert-collaboration\/","title":{"rendered":"Mysterious breathing difficulties solved through expert collaboration"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>
\"Aunjane
Once the root of her breathing difficulties had been identified, Aunjane Ayers faced serious surgery. Her UCHealth team fortunately had uncommon experience with such cases. Photos by Cyrus McCrimmon for UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Irma Ayers had gotten her daughter Aunjane into kickboxing. The child was on her own sometimes because Irma was a single mom working full-time, and being able to protect yourself is a good thing. Aunjane found that she liked the intensity of the sessions and learning what she called \u201ccool stuff\u201d to the point that she even got into mixed martial arts training. But soon, she found her workouts cut short by shortness of breath.<\/p>\n

The culprit, more than one doctor concluded, was exercise-induced asthma. When Aunjane\u2019s inhaler had no effect at all, anxiety became the prevailing theory. Aunjane neither felt particularly anxious nor seemed so to others. Her breathing difficulties led her to abandon combat sports, and over time less and less exertion led to labored breathing. This went on, and grew gradually worse, for years, to the point that walking to the bus stop had her gasping for air. Finally, she arrived at the Multidisciplinary Complex Airway Clinic, part of the Comprehensive Lung and Breathing Program<\/a> at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital<\/a> on the Anschutz Medical Campus<\/a>.<\/u><\/p>\n

Breathing difficulties<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Aunjane\u2019s was a case that very good doctors had not cracked. This UCHealth clinic also had very good doctors \u2013 not to mention speech-language pathologists and experienced nurses and other staff. But even the elite surgeons who would lead Aunjane\u2019s care admit that they wouldn\u2019t have figured out and ultimately fixed the very real problem that ailed Aunjane if they and other specialists had not collaborated closely, thought creatively, and been determined not to leave her without an answer yet again.<\/p>\n

Stairs as medical device<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Aunjane\u2019s first stop was with Dr. Matthew Clary<\/a>, a University of Colorado School of Medicine ear, nose, and throat surgeon at UCHealth. Clary specializes in voice, airway, and swallowing disorders. He looked at her chart and recognized a patient who had been dealing with worsening symptoms for a solid decade, \u201cbouncing around from one doc to another, into the ER and out of the ER, with nobody talking to each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Aunjane
Aunjane Ayers waited for a long time for what turned out to be a very tricky diagnosis for her breathing difficulties. (Photos by Cyrus McCrimmon for UCHealth)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With a flexible laryngoscope \u2013 used to examine the vocal cords and adjacent windpipe \u2013 Clary saw nothing out of the ordinary. He wondered if the problem wasn\u2019t something called paradoxical vocal fold movement<\/a> (also called vocal cord dysfunction), in which the vocal cords close rather than open when one breathes. He sent Aunjane straight to Juliana Litts<\/a>, a UCHealth speech language pathologist, to check on that. Aunjane took the Anschutz Outpatient Pavilion stairs on the way. She was having a hard time breathing by the time she got there.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Dr. Juliana Litts<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But when Litts examined Aunjane, she concluded that the vocal cords weren\u2019t the culprit. When she got back to Clary\u2019s office a bit later, he realized that, if the stairs were triggering symptoms, he could employ them as an impromptu medical device. Together with a nurse, Aunjane jogged up and down a hospital stairwell a few times, which triggered symptoms that were clear as day when she walked back into the exam room. Clary performed another flexible laryngoscopy.<\/p>\n

This time, there it was. Once the scope was back out, they checked out the video together.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhoa,\u201d Clary said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSee \u2013 I knew it!\u201d Aunjane said.<\/p>\n

The next step was with Dr. Robert Meguid<\/a>, a CU School of Medicine and UCHealth cardiothoracic surgeon with whom Clary works closely. With Aunjane under anesthesia, Meguid checked her airway with a bronchoscope, which reaches past the larynx and into the lower windpipe and, if need be, the lungs.<\/p>\n

\"women
Her trachea now stable and her breathing difficulties over, Aunjane is back at work, back in the gym, and taking classes with the ultimate aim of becoming a doctor herself one day.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Without the stress imparted by the stairs, the trachea looked fine. Afterward, Meguid called Clary. \u201cI don\u2019t see anything I can correlate with her symptoms,\u201d he told his colleague. They agreed that an awake bronchoscopy would be the next step. A few days later, Aunjane took to the stairs again, then Clary performed an awake bronchoscopy on Aunjane with local anesthesia in his clinic.<\/p>\n

Clary met with Meguid shortly thereafter so they could check out the bronchoscope video together. A section of Aunjane\u2019s trachea just below her voice box twisted and collapsed with each breath. The weak section was less than an inch long, and, unusually, on the side rather than the front or back of her windpipe. After so many years, Aunjane\u2019s condition had been discovered..<\/p>\n

\"\"
Dr. Robert Meguid<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Challenging surgery<\/strong><\/h3>\n

There were a couple of ways to fix it. The first was to use a laser to scar the inside of the trachea, thereby firming it up and, ideally, preventing its collapse. Clary tried this minimally invasive procedure first; it didn\u2019t take. Aunjane faced a big decision.<\/p>\n

The way forward now would be a surgery involving the resection of the damaged part of the windpipe and anastomosis of the now-separated trachea. In other words, Meguid and Clary would cut out the problem section and sew the resulting open ends back together. They have done many of these surgeries together and are counted among the few U.S. surgeons with such experience. With complicated cases like Aunjane\u2019s, they\u2019ve found that they can get better outcomes when they work together.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a challenging procedure, and there are risks, Clary says. The nerves that control the voice box can be damaged. With time, the point of repair can narrow into tracheal stenosis<\/a>. The freshly sewn airway can come partially undone, possibly leading to, as Meguid put it, \u201clife-threatening complications and tracheostomy<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"voice
UCHealth laryngologist Dr. Matthew Clary removed a vocal cord cyst that seriously impaired Vidal\u2019s ability to speak. Photo by UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By now it was early 2019. Aunjane was 22 and had exhausted all other options. Her mom Irma worried about the risks but left it up to Aunjane. She decided to have the surgery.<\/p>\n

Before the March procedure, Clary and Meguid met with Aunjane and Irma. The surgeons walked through what would happen, the possible complications, and the recovery process. They then asked if there were any questions.<\/p>\n

Meguid and Clary performed the surgery together, and it went well. Its last step was simple and strange: Meguid temporarily sutured Aunjane\u2019s chin to her chest \u2013 necessary to help ensure the trachea\u2019s healing. At one point, while walking around the inpatient unit, Aunjane stopped at a vending machine. A medical student observed her chin-to-chest posture and asked, \u201cAre you alright?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I just want my Snickers,\u201d Aunjane replied.<\/p>\n

Her breathing was far better. Irma was relieved.<\/p>\n

Aunjane’s\u00a0chin was freed again after a week. It was three months before Aunjane was working again as an endoscopy technician at a local hospital. By November, she was\u00a0back at the gym, though lifting weights rather than kickboxing \u2013 at least for now. \u201cI feel good. I\u2019m pretty sure I can probably get back into it again,\u201d Aunjane said.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s busy between work and taking college classes with the ultimate aim of being a doctor herself. If she does so, one would expect her to embrace multidisciplinary collaboration. She\u2019s a living case study of the benefits it can bring, and she\u2019s grateful to the team at UCHealth that has her breathing deeply again.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re awesome,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re the people that listened to me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Irma Ayers had gotten her daughter Aunjane into kickboxing. The child was on her own sometimes because Irma was a single mom working full-time, and being able to protect yourself is a good thing. Aunjane found that she liked the intensity of the sessions and learning what she called \u201ccool stuff\u201d to the point that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":32271,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[4202,315],"class_list":["post-32268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-innovative-care","tag-sleep-disorders","tag-uchealth-longs-peak-hospital"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAirway surgery solves woman\u2019s breathing difficulties - UCHealth Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Her breathing difficulties had been identified, but she faced serious surgery. Her UCHealth team fortunately had uncommon experience with such cases.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/mysterious-breathing-difficulties-solved-through-expert-collaboration\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mysterious breathing difficulties solved through expert collaboration\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Her breathing difficulties had been identified, but she faced serious surgery. Her UCHealth team fortunately had uncommon experience with such cases.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/mysterious-breathing-difficulties-solved-through-expert-collaboration\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UCHealth Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uchealthorg\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-06-02T21:46:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-09-08T02:17:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/02152926\/Aunjane-trachea-hands-heart2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Todd Neff, for UCHealth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@uchealth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@uchealth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Todd Neff, for UCHealth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/mysterious-breathing-difficulties-solved-through-expert-collaboration\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/mysterious-breathing-difficulties-solved-through-expert-collaboration\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Todd Neff, for UCHealth\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/da7733ff5562e48e55c027d111ee5911\"},\"headline\":\"Mysterious breathing difficulties solved through expert collaboration\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-06-02T21:46:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-09-08T02:17:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/mysterious-breathing-difficulties-solved-through-expert-collaboration\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1340,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/mysterious-breathing-difficulties-solved-through-expert-collaboration\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/6\\\/2020\\\/06\\\/02152926\\\/Aunjane-trachea-hands-heart2.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"Sleep disorders\",\"UCHealth Longs Peak Hospital\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Innovative care\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/mysterious-breathing-difficulties-solved-through-expert-collaboration\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/mysterious-breathing-difficulties-solved-through-expert-collaboration\\\/\",\"name\":\"Airway surgery solves woman\u2019s breathing difficulties - UCHealth Today\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/mysterious-breathing-difficulties-solved-through-expert-collaboration\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/mysterious-breathing-difficulties-solved-through-expert-collaboration\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/6\\\/2020\\\/06\\\/02152926\\\/Aunjane-trachea-hands-heart2.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-06-02T21:46:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-09-08T02:17:42+00:00\",\"description\":\"Her breathing difficulties had been identified, but she faced serious surgery. Her UCHealth team fortunately had uncommon experience with such cases.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/mysterious-breathing-difficulties-solved-through-expert-collaboration\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/mysterious-breathing-difficulties-solved-through-expert-collaboration\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/mysterious-breathing-difficulties-solved-through-expert-collaboration\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/6\\\/2020\\\/06\\\/02152926\\\/Aunjane-trachea-hands-heart2.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/6\\\/2020\\\/06\\\/02152926\\\/Aunjane-trachea-hands-heart2.webp\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":834,\"caption\":\"Once the root of her breathing difficulties had been identified, Aunjane Ayers faced serious surgery. Her UCHealth team fortunately had uncommon experience with such cases. Photos by Cyrus McCrimmon for UCHealth.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/mysterious-breathing-difficulties-solved-through-expert-collaboration\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Mysterious breathing difficulties solved through expert collaboration\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/\",\"name\":\"UCHealth Today\",\"description\":\"UCHealth Today\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"UCHealth\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/6\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/24135149\\\/UCHealth-square-logo-1000x1000-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/6\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/24135149\\\/UCHealth-square-logo-1000x1000-1.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":1000,\"caption\":\"UCHealth\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/uchealthorg\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/uchealth\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/uchealth\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/school\\\/14839\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pinterest.com\\\/uchealthorg\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/channel\\\/UC41SJI79yjZIe96OajzN22g\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/da7733ff5562e48e55c027d111ee5911\",\"name\":\"Todd Neff, for UCHealth\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ba17a8f1358d39c104ff6cb59da7fe21b9bfc792948447c3ac964e93b37aa49f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ba17a8f1358d39c104ff6cb59da7fe21b9bfc792948447c3ac964e93b37aa49f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ba17a8f1358d39c104ff6cb59da7fe21b9bfc792948447c3ac964e93b37aa49f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Todd Neff, for UCHealth\"},\"description\":\"Todd Neff has written hundreds of stories for University of Colorado Hospital and UCHealth. He covered science and the environment for the Daily Camera in Boulder, Colorado, and has taught narrative nonfiction at the University of Colorado, where he was a Ted Scripps Fellowship recipient in Environmental Journalism. He is author of \u201cA Beard Cut Short,\u201d a biography of a remarkable professor; \u201cThe Laser That\u2019s Changing the World,\u201d a history of lidar; and \u201cFrom Jars to the Stars,\u201d a history of Ball Aerospace.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/author\\\/tneff\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Airway surgery solves woman\u2019s breathing difficulties - UCHealth Today","description":"Her breathing difficulties had been identified, but she faced serious surgery. Her UCHealth team fortunately had uncommon experience with such cases.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/mysterious-breathing-difficulties-solved-through-expert-collaboration\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mysterious breathing difficulties solved through expert collaboration","og_description":"Her breathing difficulties had been identified, but she faced serious surgery. Her UCHealth team fortunately had uncommon experience with such cases.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/mysterious-breathing-difficulties-solved-through-expert-collaboration\/","og_site_name":"UCHealth Today","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uchealthorg\/","article_published_time":"2020-06-02T21:46:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-09-08T02:17:42+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/02152926\/Aunjane-trachea-hands-heart2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Todd Neff, for UCHealth","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@uchealth","twitter_site":"@uchealth","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Todd Neff, for UCHealth","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/mysterious-breathing-difficulties-solved-through-expert-collaboration\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/mysterious-breathing-difficulties-solved-through-expert-collaboration\/"},"author":{"name":"Todd Neff, for UCHealth","@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/#\/schema\/person\/da7733ff5562e48e55c027d111ee5911"},"headline":"Mysterious breathing difficulties solved through expert collaboration","datePublished":"2020-06-02T21:46:52+00:00","dateModified":"2021-09-08T02:17:42+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/mysterious-breathing-difficulties-solved-through-expert-collaboration\/"},"wordCount":1340,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/mysterious-breathing-difficulties-solved-through-expert-collaboration\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/02152926\/Aunjane-trachea-hands-heart2.webp","keywords":["Sleep disorders","UCHealth Longs Peak Hospital"],"articleSection":["Innovative care"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/mysterious-breathing-difficulties-solved-through-expert-collaboration\/","url":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/mysterious-breathing-difficulties-solved-through-expert-collaboration\/","name":"Airway surgery solves woman\u2019s breathing difficulties - UCHealth Today","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/mysterious-breathing-difficulties-solved-through-expert-collaboration\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/mysterious-breathing-difficulties-solved-through-expert-collaboration\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/02152926\/Aunjane-trachea-hands-heart2.webp","datePublished":"2020-06-02T21:46:52+00:00","dateModified":"2021-09-08T02:17:42+00:00","description":"Her breathing difficulties had been identified, but she faced serious surgery. Her UCHealth team fortunately had uncommon experience with such cases.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/mysterious-breathing-difficulties-solved-through-expert-collaboration\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/mysterious-breathing-difficulties-solved-through-expert-collaboration\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/mysterious-breathing-difficulties-solved-through-expert-collaboration\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/02152926\/Aunjane-trachea-hands-heart2.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/02152926\/Aunjane-trachea-hands-heart2.webp","width":1200,"height":834,"caption":"Once the root of her breathing difficulties had been identified, Aunjane Ayers faced serious surgery. Her UCHealth team fortunately had uncommon experience with such cases. Photos by Cyrus McCrimmon for UCHealth."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/mysterious-breathing-difficulties-solved-through-expert-collaboration\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Mysterious breathing difficulties solved through expert collaboration"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/","name":"UCHealth Today","description":"UCHealth Today","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/#organization","name":"UCHealth","url":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/04\/24135149\/UCHealth-square-logo-1000x1000-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/04\/24135149\/UCHealth-square-logo-1000x1000-1.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"caption":"UCHealth"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uchealthorg\/","https:\/\/x.com\/uchealth","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/uchealth\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/school\/14839\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/uchealthorg\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UC41SJI79yjZIe96OajzN22g"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/#\/schema\/person\/da7733ff5562e48e55c027d111ee5911","name":"Todd Neff, for UCHealth","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba17a8f1358d39c104ff6cb59da7fe21b9bfc792948447c3ac964e93b37aa49f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba17a8f1358d39c104ff6cb59da7fe21b9bfc792948447c3ac964e93b37aa49f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba17a8f1358d39c104ff6cb59da7fe21b9bfc792948447c3ac964e93b37aa49f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Todd Neff, for UCHealth"},"description":"Todd Neff has written hundreds of stories for University of Colorado Hospital and UCHealth. He covered science and the environment for the Daily Camera in Boulder, Colorado, and has taught narrative nonfiction at the University of Colorado, where he was a Ted Scripps Fellowship recipient in Environmental Journalism. He is author of \u201cA Beard Cut Short,\u201d a biography of a remarkable professor; \u201cThe Laser That\u2019s Changing the World,\u201d a history of lidar; and \u201cFrom Jars to the Stars,\u201d a history of Ball Aerospace.","url":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/author\/tneff\/"}]}},"coauthors":[{"id":23,"name":"Todd Neff","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/author\/tneff\/"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32268"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32268\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41749,"href":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32268\/revisions\/41749"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}