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#1
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07-24-2015, 07:03 AM
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| My Rank: PRIVATE Poster Rank:13441 Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 7 Mentioned: 0 Post(s) Quoted: 2 Post(s)
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Facial Arteriovenous Malformation, Necrosis, and Exposed Skull.
I like sharing my nasty health problems. Pictures will include a photo of my facial AVM, the necrosis that resulted from treating the AVM, the massive hole in my head that resulted from treating the necrosis, and the failed skin graft that my surgeon tried to put over the hole in my head.  I'll also throw in a picture of the craniotomy incision because why not. I did turn out looking okay after all of this, my face doesn't look like it's melting off anymore, though I'm still undergoing treatment.I'd also like to add that I did touch my bare skull, because really, who could pass up that opportunity?  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  · |
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#3
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07-24-2015, 01:26 PM
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| My Rank: PRIVATE Poster Rank:13441 Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 7 Mentioned: 0 Post(s) Quoted: 2 Post(s)
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Re: Facial Arteriovenous Malformation, Necrosis, and Exposed Skull.
AVMs are congenital birth defects. I usually dumb it down and call it a "vascular tumor" because most people have no clue what an AVM is. It's a mass of tangled veins and arteries lacking capillaries. Since there are no capillaries to slow the flow down, the blood just rushes through and causes the veins/arteries to become engorged, hence the swelling. This all puts me at an increased risk of hemorrhaging and heart failure. My AVM was inside of my skull, but it had "eaten" its way through the bone, into my face and within my sinus. The necrosis happened because the AVM was being treated by embolization. They would inject a glue-like substance into the feeder veins to stop the flow into the AVM. Since so many of the veins were very close to the surface of my skin, it killed the oxygen flow and the tissue died. My surgeons managed to remove the necrosis but so much of the contaminated embolic agent was left behind, causing staph infections and all kind of nastiness. They decided that the best course of action was to just remove a massive chunk of my forehead. After all of this was taken care of, I had the craniotomy, an effort to remove the entire AVM. It wasn't totally successful, there was some inside of my sinus that they couldn't reach, so I'm currently undergoing radiation therapy. |
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#4
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07-24-2015, 01:57 PM
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 ✝Mudderator from Hell✝ Poster Rank:10 e-mail Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 95,060
Contributions: 817
Mentioned: 472 Post(s) Quoted: 10091 Post(s)
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Re: Facial Arteriovenous Malformation, Necrosis, and Exposed Skull.
holy crap, what a story.  wish you lot of luck with the radiation treatment and keep us updated  |
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#7
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07-24-2015, 11:22 PM
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 ★ Legacy Member ★ Poster Rank:184 female Join Date: Oct 2013 Posts: 8,138 Mentioned: 19 Post(s) Quoted: 1185 Post(s)
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Re: Facial Arteriovenous Malformation, Necrosis, and Exposed Skull.
You are a trooper! Thanks for posting this and educating us at the same time. Looks incredibly painful. I would have had to touch my own skull, too!  |
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#10
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07-25-2015, 07:56 AM
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| My Rank: PRIVATE Poster Rank:13441 Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 7 Mentioned: 0 Post(s) Quoted: 2 Post(s)
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Re: Facial Arteriovenous Malformation, Necrosis, and Exposed Skull.
After treatment they give me steroids to manage the swelling. Day to day, I just take pain killers. Usually percocet and dilaudid, though sometimes it gets really bad and I end up in the ER on fentanyl. I am also anemic after the craniotomy. I lost a ton of blood and needed transfusions, so now I take iron as well. When I had the necrosis and staph, I was on antibiotics for a solid six months. Keflex, Cipro, and a bunch of others I can't really remember off the top of my head. With the head wound, we used silver sulfadiazine and packed it with gauze and saline. This was all done at home with twice daily packing changes, my aunt is a nurse, for which I am thankful. By far, the worst of all the medication I've been prescribed is Prednisone. It gave me awful insomnia and it turned me into an emotional wreck, all I could do was eat and cry. 0/10, would not recommend. |
