From:
ferretmama226
Date: 2002-02-28 18:14:00 UTC
Subject: Adrenal diagnosis/Ultrasound questions
Hi. I'm seeking the opinions of veterinarians. Knucklehead is 7
years old and was diagnosed with insulinoma in 9/01. He's currently
on 0.5ml pred 2x daily. He recently began displaying symptoms of
adrenal... hair loss and he's aggressive. My vet ran a test to
determine his level of estradiol, which I really don't have an
understanding of. She said that's one of the hormones that would
normally be elevated with adrenal disease, correct? Well, his level
was 45 I think she said. She said that's not as elevated as she
expected. She now wants to do an ultrasound to verify the adrenal
disease. This costs $200, is that a "normal" price? She wants to do
this before starting him on Lupron, as she doesn't feel he's a good
surgical candidate. Now, I'm all in favor of doing whatever we need
to in order to verify the adrenal disease and start him on Lupron,
but is an ultrasound really necessary? Based on his symptoms can't
he just get started on Lupron? I just don't want to wait around and
risk more hair loss and potential prostrate problem. Is this
ultrasound the next best step or is there something different you'd
recommend? (x-ray, etc). What I'm looking for is help with the next
step, not second-guessing the no-surgery decision. I'll be
scheduling this ultrasound during the next week or so if I don't hear
any word against it as the next best step.
Yet another ultrasound question...
Thomas is 6 years old with insulinoma (also on 0.5ml pred 2x daily).
He's displaying hair loss and I suspect he's adrenal as well. Thomas
is most definately not a surgical candidate, as he is frail and
STRESSES very easily. His whole life is sleeping, eating kibble and
chicken gravy, then finding another sleep spot. He tries to make it
to the litter box, but has frequent accidents. The vet palped him
and said she couldn't feel *anything*, as his stomach is very tight.
It has also become enlarged within the past weeks/months. It is
exactly the same kind of swelling that a foster ferret of mine had,
and that ferret ended up dying on the table after the vet removed a
cyst in his spleen the size of a human fist, a tumor in his stomach,
and adrenal tumors. Anyway, I really suspect tumors in Thomas'
abdomen and I really want to know exactly what's in there. Would an
ultrasound be the best course of action? X-ray? Other methods? At
the same time, I'm afraid that an ultrasound would confirm my fears,
but there's still nothing that can be done about it. He's at the
point now where I believe he's beginning to be uncomfortable and I'm
worried about facing having to euthanize him if living becomes
painful for him.
I apologize for the length of this post and all my questions, but I
need some help making these decisions.
Thanks in advance,
Vicky and ferrets Knucklehead and Thomas