In My Shoes: Liver Doctor Visit

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Liver Doctor Visit

Let's just say there were a lot of smiles and phone calls that need to be made. He was very pleased that this particular doctor has taken an interest in Fiona and her problems. Nothing was specifically said in the report the transplant center sent to him but they are still going to conference about her. So we wait....fingers crossed....hoping, hoping, hoping. On the down news, Fiona is still not allowed to drive. Her potassium and magnesium levels are still too low so more drugs. We will take anything we can get to make her feel better.

In just a little under a month she will have been listed for a year. Maybe soon they will MEAN it! As of today there are 155 adults with the same blood type waiting for livers at our transplant center. One of those is Fiona! 59 are at roughly the same level of need. 4 are inactive so there are roughly 151 waiting.
Peg
Even the cat is smiling!

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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.