From:
Caitlyn Martin
Date: 2003-09-30 14:14:28 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] adrenal
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-Id: <20030930101428.252fec08.whiteweasel@earthlink.net>
On Mon, 29 Sep 2003 16:42:11 -0400 (GMT-04:00)
whiteweasel@earthlink.net wrote:
Hi, Sandy, and everyone else,
>
> How do you know it "looks" OK? Was an exploratory surgery done?
A note from Mike Janke made it clear I need to clarify something here.
Yes, I know surgery was done three months ago and the right adrenal
gland looked normal in Sandy's ferret.
Pertwee had his first adrenal surgery in April of 2000. The left was
enlarged but the right looked perfectly normal. The left was removed
and he began to recover. Two weeks later symptoms started to recur. Our
vet went in and the right was much bigger than the left had been only
five weeks after the first surgery.
It was explained to me (and I hope that I am remembering this correctly)
that the tumor in the left gland did come first and suppressed the one
in the right gland. The right gland was probably already diseased at
the time of the first surgery but this wasn't visible to the naked eye.
The other theory at the time: Pertwee had an aggressive carcinoma. If
that theory was the correct one the fact that we opted for another
surgery quickly may have been life saving. The fact is we don't know.
What we do know: Pertwee needed two separate adrenal surgeries just
five weeks apart. Pertwee is fine now.
I hope this makes my reasoning a bit clearer. Three months later a
right adrenal gland may indeed be enlarged, and the only way to know
is to look at it. Oh, and yeah, I know that stinks.
All the best,
Caity and the non-stop nine