In My Shoes: Waiting Room Torture

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Waiting Room Torture

You know it is never fun waiting for a long time for your next appointment but having to do it with a looping commerical was too much for even me. Our insurance provider has their own TV station and they broadcast public health information. Some of them are really quite interesting but not Friday. Yes folks, it was truly disturbing. This was a commerical on making coughing into your elbow not only socially acceptable but the PATRIOTIC thing to do. So for 4-5 minutes they showed us how to cough/sneeze into the "cloth" and how not to cough in your hands. Then they took a group of people and rated their "coughing into the cloth" techniques. This public service educational announcement was on a loop, playing over and over and over again. The first 3 or 4 times were OK but after 40 minutes I was about ready to harm someone. Checking with the other people in the waiting room if it was OK if I just turned the TV off, they all agreed, applauded. Of course, I couldn't find the buttons to do so. One gentleman more annoyed than I actually proceeded to get up and went back and brought out a nurse to assist us. She explained it was the only channel and was a little miffed that we asked for the TV to be turned off. "This is good stuff," she told us. People need to be following these new techniques of controlling their coughs and sneezes. We all together said, "Turn it off!" I bet the Pentagon would like to get their hands on this public service announcement as it would make great torture for terrorists!

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Biliary Atresia

Biliary atresia is a condition in which the ducts that carry bile from the liver to the gallbladder and small intestine are not normal. These ducts can be injured, blocked, or missing. When the ducts that carry bile out of the liver are closed, bile backs up and damages liver tissue. In time the liver can develop scarring or cirrhosis. The gallbladder may also be abnormal or missing. The cause of Biliary Atresia is unknown. It occurs in one infant in every 15,000 live births. It is a serious disease which requires immediate surgical and medical treatment.

Arteriovenous Malformations AVMS

I have been diagnosed with AVMS in my lungs do to my liver disease. These have caused me to have 2 lung bleeds which were very scary. I still have more AVMS and they are causing me breathing problems. Below is an explanation of what the AVMs are and a picture of what is happening in my lungs.

Arteries and veins are part of the human cardiovascular system. Normally, the arteries in the vascular system carry oxygen-rich blood at a relatively high pressure. Structurally, arteries divide and sub-divide repeatedly, eventually forming a sponge-like capillary bed. Blood moves through the capillaries, giving up oxygen and taking up waste products from the surrounding cells. Capillaries successively join together, one upon the other, to form the veins that carry blood away at a relatively low pressure. The heart acts to pump blood from the low pressure veins to the high pressure arteries.
If the capillary bed is thought of as a sponge, then an AVM is the rough equivalent of jamming a tangle of flexible soda straws from artery to vein through that sponge. On arteriogram films AVM formation often resemble a tangle of spaghetti noodles. This tangle of blood vessels forms a relatively direct connection between high pressure arteries and low pressure veins.
The result is a collection of blood vessels with abnormal connections and no capillaries. This collection, often called a nidus, can be extremely fragile and prone to bleeding.