From:
"Julie"
Date: 2010-05-12 11:28:14 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] URGENT: Extreme pain after 5 days post-op
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
My vet and I are in dire need of help. This is regarding my 7 year old female who has uncontrollable pain 5 days post-surgery. The vet is unable to find the source and we are running out of time and options. If anyone has any suggestions it would be greatly appreciated.
Her history-
March- went for x-rays and blood work when she began to get a distended abdomen, tumor in the center of her tail. Everything came back normal, x-ray showed a slightly enlarged heart and the tumor was not a concern
-End of March she began grinding her teeth, We assumed ulcer and the Doctor prescribed Amoxi and there was no improvement. Her stools were normal but quite large.
-Beginning of April the Doctor prescribed Carafate and Biaxin upon my request. A day into the treatment she was in extreme pain and her stomach was full of gas. She had a Barium x-ray that day. The liquid moved extremely slow through her but overall the results were inconclusive. The Barium did not ease the pain and she continued to grind.
We continued with the standard protocol for treating ulcers. Stools were still normal but quite large.
- Throughout April there was little improvement. She went off kibble and on a "duck soup" diet, was hand fed, lethargic and constantly grinding her teeth. I continued giving 1 ml of Carafate before meals. In late April her stomach bloated, she gained 10 oz in 2 weeks and her spleen was huge.
- Last Thursday she went in for surgery. Doctor did do pre-op blood work but I don't have the results on hand (but could get them in relevant). All I know is her BG before surgery was 300.
Doctor went in expecting a tumor on pancreas and hairballs in her stomach but what he found was a massive tumor on her spleen so performed a splenectomy. He did not go into her stomach because is was PACKED with her food. (mind you, I had only fed her a teaspoon of soup 4 hours before surgery) He biopsied the pancreas. All her organs looked fine.
She came home on Friday. In 48 hours she was very quiet but moving around fine, showing interest in food and eating well off my finger, but still in pain and grinding her teeth. She took her meds ( 2 drops Metacam 2x daily and Amoxi) without a problem. Bowel movements were perfect.
Saturday night she began to vomit 3 hours after she ate, was in pain, grinding her teeth constantly and would refuse all food and water. She was frantically trying to go to the bathroom and "pain running" (in her sick cage) In the morning the Doctor prescribed her 0.3 ml Buprenorphine. She had a bowel movement Sunday morning, ate some food and then quickly declined.
She was admitted into the hospital on Sunday night and has been there for 3 days, it's now 5 days since her surgery. They have her on inject-able Buprenorphine, antibiotics, pepcid, oral carafate and fluids (I don't have the doses) She had one bowel movement since early Sunday morning, 50 hours after her last meal.She is still not eating and she is STILL in horrible pain despite being drugged. The moment she opens her eyes she starts to grind her teeth. In all other respects she is healing fine.
The Doctor did finally tell me that he cannot figure out what the source of her pain is and is "at a loss." Another exotic vet suggested to me that he try Metoclopramide to get her stomach moving, my vet agreed and immediately gave her the shot and we are waiting to see if this helps.
We are now 5 days post-op and I fear we are running out of options and time. If anyone has any suggestions or thoughts on this please do let me know as soon as possible. I would appreciate it and so would my vet.
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