From:
Dookie's House Ferret Rescue
Date: 2002-05-14 07:54:00 UTC
Subject: RE:Insulinoma surgery candidate?
Tiana wrote:
>I have a 6 1/2 - 7 year old Marshalls male who was diagnosed with
insulinoma in December...
>Anyone have an opinion on whether it would be worth
putting him through the pain of surgery/recovery?
I would say no surgery.
I have a five year old rescued ferret, Zero, who had almost half of his
pancreas and his left adrenal gland removed two months ago. He had been
on prednisone for the past year for insulinoma and was only up to .5mg
pred twice daily before surgery. He was eating on his own and as long
as I kept him close to food, he was maintaining ok. He was kept caged
because of his anti-social behavoir and tendency to skip meals and fall
into a seizure. His adrenal symptoms popped up suddenly with rapid hair
loss starting about a month prior to surgery.
Post-surgery I am having a difficult time keeping his blood sugar up.
To make things worse, we just discovered a serious ulcer. Recently, he
had resisted feedings for about four days when he began bleeding
profusely from his mouth. We think the ulcer was most likely caused by
the prednisone. I had just increased his prednisone to 1mg BID in a
desperate attempt to help him control his blood sugar when the ulcer
ruptured.
At this moment, I have him on 10mg of proglycem BID and have reluctantly
increased pred back up to .25mg once daily. He can't fast beyond five
hours without going into a seizure and he refuses to eat anything on his
own. In between feedings with Bob C's chicken gravy, I medicate him
with carafate for the ulcer. His blood glucose now drops to 38 after
four hours of fasting, much worse than before surgery.
I'm not getting much sleep and the future doesn't look good for him. I
wish I had just left him alone, kept him comfortable and used
medications and diet to maximize his quality of life for as long as
possible. This poor boy has endured a lot this past two months, from
painful post-surgery pancreatitis, a painful ulcer and the seizures.
I fail to understand where all this insulin is coming from. All visible
tumors were located on the removed portion of his pancreas. Bottom
line: partial removal of his pancreas by a knowlegeable, ferret-wise
veterinarian hasn't helped at all.
I would appreciate the advice anyone on the list may have to help me
manage Zero's condition.
Pat Elmore
Dookie's House Ferret Rescue & Shelter
ferrets@d...
http://www.dookieshouse.org