From:
katharine
Date: 2001-07-31 19:46:00 UTC
Subject: Bilateral Adrenal
OK. I really, really did try to find this in the
archives. I was about as successful as I usually
am doing web searches (not good, if you haven't
figured that out).
Cedes had bilateral adrenal surgery today (my
first). The right was removed via cryosurgery so
the assumption is that both were completely
removed.
1. What blood tests need to be run; i.e. what are
we looking for to determine whether hormone levels
are OK? When should this test(s) be run? Is it
on a certain time frame? Seems like I remember
reading that one test should be done pretty
quickly after the surgery but that's the extent of
my memory.
2. What drugs are given to "fix" any problems
resulting from both adrenal glands being removed?
Doc has Cedes on PediaPred over the course of
about 45 days (twice a day for 5 days, once a day
for 5 days, once every other day for the
remainder). What is this for (I forgot to ask on
the phone and he was in surgery when I picked
Cedes up)? Should this be for the rest of his
life (depending on the bloodwork results)? Dr.
Williams mentioned in a post in March (see, I
really did search the archives) that 25% will do
fine on pred, 25% need pred and DOCP, and 50%
don't need anything. How do you make this
determination?
Any other information anyone can provide is
greatly appreciated. I would like to nicely
present the most current protocol to Doc.
Sometimes, I'm not sure they're up on the latest.
They are very open to my providing information.
HELP!!!!
Cedes is doing well. He is pretty alert for
having just gone through this surgery. He ate an
entire cube of soup when we got home, quite
greedily, I might add. I'll give him some more
later. He's sleeping away right now. Everyone
has stopped by to say Hi through the cage (and
climb on it and rattle it).
On a side note, a friend emailed me last night
that her ferret was at our vets' office with
suspected ECE. Just yesterday, I got my issue of
Ferret magazine with Dr. Kemmerer's new protocol.
I gave a copy to Doc today. We were all glad to
see that metranidazole has been dropped.
Katharine