From:
"carol owen"
Date: 2005-04-06 20:16:34 UTC
Subject: Mesenchymal Tumour on Kidney
To: <ferrethealth@smartgroups.com>
Message-ID: <000c01c53ae5$89047660$bfe26d51@magiclvgtfguqy>
Jasper went to the vets yesterday for blood tests and x-rays, because he'd
had a general check-up at the vets on Monday, due to being less active,
sleeping more etc.
My vet felt a lump in the area of his left kidney/adrenal gland.
X-ray revealed a mass. Possibly on the kidney, but maybe an adrenal mass.
My vet wanted to delay any surgery until blood results were back in the
afternoon, as she wanted to check his renal function.
While Jasper was still under anaesthesia for x-rays, she did a needle
aspirate of the mass.
His bloods were fine and indicate normal renal function.
The aspirate results came back as a mesenchymal tumour.
My vet said that there is a good chance that the tumour hasn't spread to
other organs, and gave me some options to consider regarding treatment.
1) Removal of the kidney. This is worrying me, as I know it's a fairly big
operation and Jasper would likely be under anaesthesia for several hours.
He also not a youngster - he'll be 6 years old next week.
2) would be trying some non specific chemo.
There are a few other unexplained issues regarding Jasper's health, and I
wonder if anyone can throw any light on these.
He grunts and occasionally cries out when he first wakes up and stretches.
He's obviously in some discomfort.
Once he's up, he shows no sign of pain or discomfort. He walks fine and can
even run when he chooses, but this grunting has increased over the last few
months.
I did wonder if he had muscle spasms as he stretched, due to possibly being
deficient in calcium. Or is it likely to be something wrong with his bones?
The other symptom that I can't understand is that he's started smacking his
lips. No teeth grinding, but definitely smacking and licking his lips.
This started several weeks ago, and seem to be getting worse. Even my vet
asked me if I had noticed that he does this a lot, when I spoke to her on
the phone yesterday. His teeth have been checked and have been ruled out as
a possible cause.
So, does anyone know if these other symptoms are likely to be connected to
the tumour in some way?
Or, are these likely to be totally separate issues that need investigating?
I still haven't decided what route to go down regarding the tumour, and feel
that I need as much advice/knowlege as possible before making a decision.
Especially as there are some unexplained symptoms.
All thoughts on this are much needed and appreciated.
Carol