This page is going to be about AVM's.
I was diagnosed with this condition about
1 1/2 years ago. An AVM stands for
Arteriovenous Malformation.
They can happen in various parts of the body
but this page will be about AVM's in the brain.
Some are operable and some are not.
Luckily mine was and things are
getting back to normal for me. I noticed
in talking to people they were really not
sure what an AVM is. I had never heard of it
until it happened to me. I wanted to
do this page to give a little
info about this and some links to good
sites dealing with this condition.
I hope this helps and if there is
anything I can do, please email me!
What is an AVM?
AVM's are masses of abnormal blood vessels which grow in the brain.AVM stands for Arterionenous Malformation. This is an abnormal communication between the arteries and veins in either the brain or spinal cord. It forms a "tangle" of blood vessels that serves no useful purpose, and can be harmful. The risks an AVM poses include: 1. The potential for rupture resulting in possible stroke and/or death, 2. Seizures, 3. The AVM steals blood from surrounding tissues. This can result in ischemia (poor oxygen delivery), and/or infarction (death of the tissues). 4. Altered flow of the brain or spinal cord's blood supply.
Now I am going to tell a little about me and my story. First I would like to say that I know God is the reason I am here today. This was such a frightening thing for myself and even harder for my family. You see I was a 28 year old mother of a beautiful 7 year old. And my baby was literally petrified that something terrible was going to happen to her mommy. That was the toughest thing for me... not to be able to make everything okay for her.
The way it happened...
My husband is in the army and had been sent to Korea for a year and my daughter and I had gone to stay with my mother. That is the first part where I see God's hand in this. You see I wasn't going to go stay with my mom. My daughter and I were going to stay in Louisiana were my husband had been stationed, but something kept pushing me to go home to Arkansas, so we went. About two months after my husband had gone I started to notice that people were having touble understanding me. My speech was slurred but not bad yet so I really didn't know what was going on. I went to the Dr. and was told that I had an inner ear infection and it was affecting my speech and causing me to lose my balance some. In three days it was apparent that wasn't what was wrong. I got to the point that I could not even hold a pen in my hand and was showing all the signs of having a stroke. I went to another Dr. who immediately sent me for an MRI and this was discovered. First thoughts were that I had a tumor but had an arteriogram done and it showed what it was. You see it had hemorraged so bad that it showed as a huge tumor in the MRI. Surgery was quickly decided on and the Red Cross got my husband home from Korea. I had my surgery and am doing well now. There is another spot that my Dr. wants to keep an eye on but am doing really quite well. I still have some fine motor loss in my right side and the thought process is a little slow. I can think what I want to say but can't always get it out. I have no speech problems so to look at me you could never tell that this has happened. This experience has done so much for my faith and I am not sorry that it happened. It has taught me that everyday is not a promise and you must live each day to the fullest. It has taught me what is important in my life, and as you know if you have looked at my pages that is my family. We were so close before but now it is amazing! I am so lucky to have each and every one of them! I know this story was long but thank you for reading it. As I said before if I can do anything to help you please let me know!
Links: Some links have pictures provided
Dr. Tim: AVM Survivor
AVM Support
AVM Discussion
Brain Arteriovenous Malformations
Terms-AVM
AVM Pictures
Frequently asked questions
Dr. Kartsonis' Video Clips
AVM Bulletin Board
Brooke Bushell
Maggie's Star
copyright 1998 Tammy's Place