From:
Dia Garland
Date: 2002-05-05 18:17:00 UTC
Subject: Re: the value of some medical procedures on your sick
ferret
>I'm having
> trouble with the "both before and after his adrenal surgery". Does he
> have both adrenal and insulinoma?
I'm sorry I wasn't very clear. Sampson's pre-surgery glucose level was
very, very low, but the vet wasn't sure the reading was accurate. He
treated Sampson as if he did have insulinoma (no long fasting) and looked at
the pancreas during adrenal surgery. The pancreas looked normal, and he did
not remove it. He said he doesn't like to take a part of the pancreas
because it is "a bag of enzymes" and can cause problems if it is cut into.
I'm not sure I totally understand what he meant though as I know others have
done this.
After Sampson had recovered from surgery I brought him into the vet's for a
fasting blood glucose test. I didn't want to fast him at home as I am 45
minutes from the vet and if something went wrong I would lose him. When I
called that afternoon the vet said he was unable to get into the vein and
would like to keep Sampson overnight and try again the next day. He was
able to get some blood, but not much and he wasn't happy with the way the
whole test went. The vet was very apologetic and didn't charge me for the
extra work, but I would have been happier actually finding out something.
At this point I do not see any symptoms of insulinoma but am making sure
that he doesn't get sweet treats like raisins just in case. I was thinking
if I could test him at home via a nail clip I might get some answers.
Thanks so much for the information.
Dia
Deanamh ùrnaigh air son àm sìth