In My Shoes: Prayers Doctor

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Prayers Doctor

Tomorrow Fiona finishes up her allergy testing and then Friday we see the liver doctor where she will get really serious as to what is going on, what the game plan is. We are praying to get some answers: at last being put on the road to getting more exact answers. This will be a no-holds barred appointment and we pray her doctor will really step up to the plate and get her to the next step. We are trying to remember that it isn't her doctors letting her down but the transplant teams that are just giving up. They are the ones that we just can't seem to keep on her side. So a lot more medical information is needed to prove her case better. We are tired of falling between the cracks. This isn't quality of life! So we light our candles of hope, praying for our medical teams to find the strength to keep looking for answers and solving this mystery.
Peg

2 comments:

Anonymous said...: Send many prayers your way!!!; June 19, 2009 at 1:48 PM
Lisa Hawk said...: I am praying each day for you. I don't know why so many trials have been slung your way. I pray for strength and wisdom! We love you!; June 19, 2009 at 5:14 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.