In My Shoes: Happy Birthday Fiona

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Happy Birthday Fiona

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I can't believe you are 21! Time has past so quickly that it is hard to believe you have grown and matured and are now 21. You have been so busy with medical appointments and procedures and not feeling well that is just doesn't seem like you are at another birthday but we are going to party today and have a lot of fun.

You bring sunshine to our lives and I can't even imagine what it would be like without you. You make us laugh and you make us stop and enjoy life. You see the world in a different way and we have learned to love things that otherwise we would have never even seen. You bring a special flair to our family and we love you very much. God knew what he was doing when he gave us you.

Happy Birthday

Love
MOM

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...: Happy Birthday!! May all your dreams come true. Enjoy everyday!; March 14, 2009 at 6:16 PM

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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.