Surviving The Wait

Happy birthday Nicholas

https://t.snapchat.com/5eKNljKd

His picture downtown Chicago over the genie print is inspiring.

Have you seen how the lungs work?⁣ These lungs are inflated like a balloon! ⁣ This is an impressive demonstration of inflation of the lungs from a collapsed state!⁣ ⁣ This pair of lungs get inflated like a balloon, they fill the complete expanse of the thoracic cavity thanks to the elastic properties of the alveoli.⁣ Inflating the alveoli in the process of respiration requires an excess pressure inside the alveoli relative to their surroundings. This is accomplished by making the pressure in the thoracic cavity negative with respect to atmospheric pressure.⁣ One remarkable phenomena in respiration is the role of the fluid coating the walls of the alveoli of the lungs. This fluid, called Pulmonary surfactant is a mixture of lipids and proteins which is secreted into the alveolar space by epithelial type II cells. The main function of surfactant is to lower the surface tension at the air/liquid interface within the alveoli of the lung. This is needed to lower the work of breathing and to prevent alveolar collapse at end-expiration.⁣ ⁣ What about exhalation?⁣ Alveoli act like balloons. There’s effort involved to inflate them, but when the inflating pressure is released, the recoil of the elastic walls provides the pressure to deflate them.⁣ The lungs are suspended in the thoracic cavity at a slight negative pressure. When the diaphragm is lowered, that pressure becomes more negative and the lungs expand into the cavity. Atmospheric air moves into the resulting partial vacuum and inflates the alveoli. One is aware of the effort.⁣ Once the alveoli are fully inflated, exhalation can be accomplished by merely relaxing the diaphragm, since the wall tension in all the tiny alveoli will act to force the air out of them.⁣ By forcing the diaphragm upward, we can exhale forcefully by adding the diaphragm effort to the recoil of the elastic alveoli. In diseases like emphysema, the elasticity of the alveoli is lost and exhalation becomes a laborious process. This leads to hyperinflation, where normal air expulsion is affected and air is getting trapped inside lung.

One year ago today I lost you.

At exactly 8:13 a year ago today Nicholas Oliver-Imasi Emerson was born.

Keepsake box opening 🎁