In My Shoes: My Big Belly Story

Monday, June 9, 2008

My Big Belly Story

I have been wanting to do this story for awhile. Now I hear there's some people out there that are getting made fun of for having a big belly and here's what I have to say for that.

When I was younger, like in 1st grade, I got punched in the stomach by one of the friends that I was playing with. Well because of that I had to wear this huge plastic turtle shell looking thing over my stomach to help protect my spleen. And I remember all the the proctors and kids at my elementary were asking if I was pregnant and also commenting that I looked pregnant. So here's the moral to this story: We ALL get crap for having big bellies and it's not our fault. It's just part of the disease. And when it comes to kids at school making fun of us just know, one, as you get older that will all eventually calm down. I don't get that kind of crap from people in college anymore. And two, kids are kids and even if we didn't have big bellies we would still get made fun of for something because kids can just be immature like that and we've all been made fun for something whether we have liver disease or not. But just because us liver kids tend to have swollen stomachs, like I call it, we get picked on for that more than anything else. I mean go on that you're pregnant. Ok how rude was that! It was totally rude and all women should know NOT to ask those things. I mean men too but especially women. That kind of stuff can be really offensive and for a stranger to say that it was. But I still get comments on looking pregnant and I will say I have grown into my stomach as I got older. When I was a baby I looked like football. Ok I was sorta slim on the top had a huge stomach and then slim on my legs and stuff. So you guys are not the only one who gets this kind of crap and sometimes it can be hurtful and sometimes you just got say "their immature and have no idea what's it's like so just take these things with a grain of salt. We can't control what other people say and what other people do but we can control what we say and do. So as long as we ignore those things and just move on and not say anything, which I have always found to be the best kind of response to those things, and just know there are people that will always be rude and snobby no matter what it's just life. But I really hope this helps any of you who are going through a hard time with this and you guys can always email me if you need to talk one to one because I've been there too and I do know what it's like and you guys are not the only ones.

Fiona

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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.