From:
Caitlyn Martin
Date: 2005-04-26 02:15:44 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] Adrenal symptoms after adrenal surgery.
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <19653053.1114483519423.JavaMail.nobody@magnesium.smartgroups.com>
--- sharonl1@frontiernet.net wrote:
>
> My questions are: How often is this hormonal
> re-balancing seen? And what are the chances that
> even though the remaining gland looked normal, it is
> diseased?
>
Quite good, actually. If symptoms went away for a few
weeks and then came back it's the most likely
explanation. We saw exactly what you are seeing with
Pertwee. He started to recover from his first adrenal
surgery beautifully for 2-3 weeks and then the
symptoms came back with a vengeance. When our vet
went in a second time, five weeks after the first
surgery, the right adrenal gland was larger than the
left had been and the tumnor had already pushed
through the margin of the adrenal gland.
Our vet explained that sometimes the gland where the
disease started will suppress the other gland.
BTW, Pertwee's pathology showed carcinoma in both
glands. Did you do send the left gland off for
pathology? If it came back with that same result you
could be dealing with an aggressive carcinoma. Our
vet felt that going back in quickly probably prevented
metastasis since the tumor was growing so quickly. In
other words, it saved Pertwee's life.
The only good news in this is that Pertwee had another
four excellent years with us and remained our most
insanely wired, hyper weasel just as before. He was
on medication to replace the missing adrenal products
for the rest of his life.
The usual disclaimer applies: I am not a vet and
your situation may be entirely different. I just
believe it's a possibility that you probably want to
discuss with your vet.
All the best,
Caity and the fantastic five