From:
critr36
Date: 2002-01-10 18:23:00 UTC
Subject: Taz
Thanks to everyone who has taken time to reply. I did leave out all
of the preliminary info because I thought it would take up too much
time/space. He had his surgery in early July and yes, I have been
diligent in monitoring his electrolyes. He did have a couple of
crisis that almost took him to the bridge, once to be saved only by
an intraosseous catheter! He was on DOCP until late November when he
seemed worse after his injection. Since his electrolytes were
continually normal we took him off and just continued Pred.
Everytime I tried to be diligent about giving him his Pred he seemed
to feel worse. Sometimes it is difficult to come home and nurse
animals after doing it all day long! ( a sad reality) I did
attribute the chronic nausea to gastric ulcers and have tried on and
off giving Carafate. Medicating caused more stress than help.
Finially, he hit a plateau of nausea, not eating and his breath
smelled ROTTEN! The doctor felt a mass in the abdomen and we decided
to go in for a look. I honestly thought that we would find something
horrible and would have to put him down on the table. I think these
emotions clouded things for both the doctor and myself ( because he
has to deal with my emotions daily as well :-) The mass was just fat
and omentum probably from the adrenal surgery. His liver didn't look
quite right so we did a biopsy ( came back as basically hepatic
lipidosis). Call it not seeing the forest for the trees, but neither
of us thought to do biopsies on the stomach or intestines which we
would ALWAYS do on a dog or cat!!!!! ( I was also distracted because
we did surgery on another ferret of mine that night because she was
vomiting. 2 years old we thought a foreign body, but it was
widespread cancer with hemoabdomen. We euthanized her on the table)
He had a central line in post op so I did daily electrolyes and
glucose monitoring. He was hyperglycemic for a few days post op, but
that seemed to resolve. 2 weeks post op, he went on a hunger strike
and lost the weight, so I opted for the tube to make things less
stressful on both of us. He had a hypoglycemic episode on Monday, 3
days post feeding tube, just a few hours after a meal. I really think
it is glucocorticoid deficiency. Seems every time I tried to be
diligent about giving him his Pediapred he did worse, either with or
without Carafate. Since starting him on the Prednisone tablet
dissolved in water, he seems much more alert. What made me think this
was possible was a post here on the FHL where someone talked about
having luck only with the Dexamethasone. Not sure if anyone else has
had this experience. I have 3 others at home on Pediapred with no
problems. Anyways.....Thanks to everyone who participates on the
list. I read the posts present and past to gain more knowledge!! We
never know it all :-)
Susan, Taz and the other 10 babies!