Message Number: YG13907 | New FHL Archives Search
From: drlambson
Date: 2002-06-17 13:07:00 UTC
Subject: Thymoma (?) Update...chemotherapy??

For those that didn't see the first messages, my ferret, Sherlock is
10 years old and was just found two weeks ago to have a thymoma. We
took a chest x-ray and saw that the mass is squeezing his lungs,
pushing his trachea up against his spine and it's pushed his heart
down to the end of his ribcage. We did a fine needle aspirate and
sent it off to the lab to be certain of what the mass was...the lab
said it was thymoma.

We started him on Prednisone two Saturdays ago (.2ml 2x daily) and
took another chest x-ray last Saturday. The mass has shrunk, and
there is definitely more room for his lungs. I was under the
impression that a thymoma would not be responsive to Prednisone, and
that really the only course of action would be radiation therapy or
surgery. I suppose it could mean we're dealing with lymphoma? We did
a CBC on Sherlock today and will receive the results tomorrow. The
vet would like to begin chemotherapy tomorrow if the CBC looks good.
Can anyone advise what the pros/cons of chemotherapy are? I know it's
not so bad for them as it is for humans, but he's so old I don't want
to hurt by trying to help.