From:
Chelsey Baker-Hauck
Date: 2006-10-19 19:20:12 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Elmo update/neuropathy/lymphosarcoma
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
For those of you who've been following Elmo's progress and e-mailing
with suggestions about his neurological issues, here's an update.
We found out on Saturday that he has lymphosarcoma. The previous
Monday, I took him to a vet homeopath for the neuropathy. When she
was palpating his abdomen, she felt a mass tucked way up under his
spine. She sent him back to his regular vet for a check, and he felt
the same thing. On Thursday, Elmo had an x-ray and ultrasound, which
confirmed two large lymph nodes in the abdomen. They did an
ultrasound-guided biopsy of each, and those results came back
positive for cancer. Elmo woke up too quickly from the gas they'd
given him for the tests, so they weren't able to get new bloodwork,
but his bloodwork from a month ago was normal.
The vet is now certain that the lymphosarcoma is what's been causing
Elmo's neurological problems, which have been present in varying
degrees of severity for about 18 months now. It's important to note
that 1) his bloodwork thus far has been normal, 2) from the
ultrasound, the rest of his organs appear unaffected thus far, and
peripheral and thoracic nodes look normal, 3) when he had his spleen
out 9 months ago, the doc did a complete exploratory and everything
looked normal and all biopsies were negative. Apparently,
lymphosarcoma can sometimes attack the nervous system, as it
apparently did in Elmo's case. This has been smoldering in him for
some time and has only recently, as far as we can tell, spread to his
lymph nodes. Aside from the neuro problems, he seems very healthy,
has been gaining weight (he's at a healthy 3.6 lbs) and has no GI
problems. He is 5 years old, neutered; his last distemper vaccination
was spring 05--shortly before the neuro symptoms developed, which is
why we're no longer vaccinating him. (We don't have evidence that the
vaccine caused any of this, but definitely didn't want to further
stress an already stressed out system in a sick ferret.)
I want to document his treatment so perhaps someone else can benefit
from this. So, I'll post periodic updates on his progress.
So far, his regular vet, Dr. M., has consulted with a vet oncologist,
an exotics specialist at the state university, and the doc who
developed the Tufts Protocol. Dr. M is also working closely with Dr.
F, a homeopathic vet.
We've decided to start by trying a three-week homeopathic cancer
protocol which has been very effective in treating cancers in dogs.
It involves a different remedy each week, given every 15 minutes for
2 1/2 hours each day for 7 days. (The remedies are specific to the
cancer and the individual, so I won't share the specific info here--
they should only be used under supervision of a professional
homeopath.) He's on an adrenal support supplement, which he takes
daily. We also reduced Elmo's pred by 1/2. When we've tried reducing
it before, his neuro problems quickly get more severe. But, he has
not worsened. In fact, I think he's actually improved since we
started this protocol 4 days ago. On the morning of day 2, he began
running again. On the morning of day 4 (today) he began playing with
his buddies again, chasing and wrestling. He definitely still has
hind-end weakness, but both of these milestones are important
changes, at the very least from the standpoint of quality-of-life.
They indicate he feels good.
At the end of the 3 weeks, we'll repeat bloodwork and ultrasound to
determine if there have been changes.
If it appears that this treatment hasn't worked, we'll likely start
chemo.
If any of you have experience with using alternative therapies to
treat cancer in ferrets, I'd love to know more.
I'll keep you posted on how Elmo's doing.
Chelsey
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