In My Shoes: Sometimes Bad News Can Be Good News

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Sometimes Bad News Can Be Good News

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We might have some help coming our way. The culture from the bronchoscopy showed that Fiona's lungs are bleeding all the time in very small amounts, just enough that her cells can "gobble" it up. This explains the coughing up blood on a daily basis and the constant lower blood levels...her lungs ARE BLEEDING. We now have proof of what Fiona has reported to the doctors. Since this report just came in everyone will be alerted Friday. The pulmonologist thinks this makes another case for hepatopulmonary syndrome non-standard. Funny how bad news can sometimes be the good news you need. At some point the doctors can no longer ignore this lung problem. Again this may not be the "proof" they need but we are definitely getting closer. Just praying that we can prove our case before it is too late and her lungs are permanently damaged. At this point all or most of these lung problems will go away once she gets her liver transplant. We just need to get it.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Let tomorrow be a day of peace, thanks and praise.
Peggy

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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.