In My Shoes: ER Visit

Saturday, October 25, 2008

ER Visit

Took Fiona to ER this morning for more coughing up blood. They were all very nice and in fact weren't busy so all the testing was done quickly and the results came back really fast. No standing blood seen in the lungs. So where ever the bleeding is coming from in her lungs she is able to get rid of it on her own.

A new pulmonologist has joined the team and he was there in a flash as soon as they paged him. It is felt that her viral bronchitis is just giving her enough lung irritation on top of her lung problems to increase her bleeds. So we had an option to stay over night or come home with the orders if anything worse happens to go to ER immediately. So Fiona and I looked at each other, decided we wanted an good lunch and choose to come home after a stop at MiMi's for great soup and salad. Always fun and never dull in our house. Thank you, God for looking over us.
Peggy

MyHotComments

Fiona always loved to dress her kitty up in clothes and this so reminds me of our poor cat and what she had a endure

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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.