3/8/18 Olive AMPS 341; +3.5=334; PMPS 388; +4=319 U/ S not good

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Olive & Paula

Olive & Paula

Member Since 2015
Yesterday

Isn't this a nice start this morning. She is bright and chipper this morning. Gave her a gabapentin dose last night @ +4 she seemed so uncomfortable. Today is her u/s if hubby can get us shoveled out and anymore snowing holds off. Although it looks like snow is ready to start again. Gotta pack up her travel bag and mine. So busy morning.

Everyone stay safe.
 
Love-Paula aka Woodsywife said:
Yesterday

Isn't this a nice start this morning. She is bright and chipper this morning. Gave her a gabapentin dose last night @ +4 she seemed so uncomfortable. Today is her u/s if hubby can get us shoveled out and anymore snowing holds off. Although it looks like snow is ready to start again. Gotta pack up her travel bag and mine. So busy morning.

Everyone stay safe.
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Good luck today! I'm following Miss Olive's story with great interest. :)
 
Ultrasound is done. Dr also picked up a galloping arrhythmia. U/S shows a mass near left kidney, probably on adrenal gland. He said pretty good size 3.2x2.5 cm. Wants to do a ct scan but echo has to be done first. So that's on Monday. Dr said there was a lot of fluid in her abdomen but probably because she had just eaten. He said I was feeding to much to often. Smile and nod time. I think he is one who believes 2 meals a day. She did gain 1/2 lb so she is 11 lbs now. He said she is most definitely uncomfortable and to give her the gabapentin 3x a day.

I want my vets opinion about the ct scan. I don't know if it's something I can afford to do. Maybe run test for acro and cushings first. If either one of them is positive we know what the mass is. And this could be why the insulin isn't as effective.

Oh and says she is closer to 8-10 yrs old. So will keep her comfortable and continue to fast track and get more tests done and deal with whatever shows up.
 
:bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug:

Cushings can be caused by benign adrenal tumour. I think you've got a good plan going forward. If Cushings, you have to determine what type first, so may be more than one test. Sorry about the heart gallop.

You are doing a great job with her dosing.
 
@Tuxedo Mom Mary Ann, can you tell me more about Cushings? Is the urine test enough or should the CT be done? Olive had U/S today and showed a mass near kidney. Dr kept saying probably on adrenal gland. I searched through posts here and saw you have some experience. Would urine test determine between cushings and or acro? Please pm me if you would. I will get the acro done when we see regular vet next week.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
:bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug:

Cushings can be caused by benign adrenal tumour. I think you've got a good plan going forward. If Cushings, you have to determine what type first, so may be more than one test. Sorry about the heart gallop.

You are doing a great job with her dosing.
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Thanks to your guidance. Not so scary now.
 
Love-Paula aka Woodsywife said:
@Tuxedo Mom Mary Ann, can you tell me more about Cushings? Is the urine test enough or should the CT be done? Olive had U/S today and showed a mass near kidney. Dr kept saying probably on adrenal gland. I searched through posts here and saw you have some experience. Would urine test determine between cushings and or acro? Please pm me if you would. I will get the acro done when we see regular vet next week.
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You can have the UCCR test done to see of there is excess cortisol which is a symptom with Cushing's. This just involves collecting a urine sample at home, taking it to the vet and having them send it to an outside lab such as IDEXX where they do this testing. If the results are positive or borderline then more testing is required.

This site:
http://vetbook.org/wiki/cat/index.php?title=Cushing's_syndrome

gives a good overview of the various tests that can be done to determine the possibility of Cushing's and which type..pituitary or adrenal. If the UCCR comes back positive then my concern would be more with the adrenal if there is a tumour. A CT scan or MRI is useful for pituitary based Cushing's but no so much for adrenal based. Was the tech able to visualize both adrenals clearly? Are they sure the growth is on the adrenal and not the kidney? I ended up having 2 ultrasounds done with Tuxie since the first one did not show both adrenals.

Does Olive have any symptoms such as pot-bellied ( almost looking pregnant) or overall hair loss or thinning skin? Those were the most noticeable with Tuxie...he had PDH.

Sorry for the ramble. I am still having rouble seeing straight after my cataract surgery last week.


ETA I see Wendy gave you the link for info I posted for Summer's mom. Take a look at that and if you have any more questions I will try to give you whatever information I can.

:bighug::bighug:
 
Love-Paula aka Woodsywife said:
Olive had U/S today and showed a mass near kidney. Dr kept saying probably on adrenal gland.
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Re-reading your post. A board-certified ultrasound tech or vet would KNOW if the growth was on the adrenal. It should not be a "probably" it should be a yes or a no. I was there for Tuxie's 2 U/S and they pointed out each organ and which ones were enlarged and whether the margins were even. Is the person who did the U/S board certified? The other option, if the U/S was done properly is to have them send a copy to IDEXX or another outside lab and have them read it and offer an opinion. (I believe the fee is around $50...not sure)
 
Oh, Paula, I sure hope that the vets can get to the bottom of this! I'm very sorry you and Olive have to go through all of the uncertainty. I hope whatever it is can be treated successfully. Since Olive is relatively young, and since we know how strong she is, she should be able to lick whatever problems occur. Sending lots of beautiful vines for Olive and :bighug::bighug::bighug:s for you.
 
I'm sorry issues were discovered, but at least you will get answers soon and can figure out what to do. I like your plan to get the high dose conditions tested for, that should explain a lot or at least rule some things out without being too cost prohibitive. I hope they can give you answers. Olive is a fighter and she's already doing better with your care, so I have the utmost confidence you will get through this with the best possible outcome. :bighug::bighug::bighug:
 
Tuxedo Mom said:
Re-reading your post. A board-certified ultrasound tech or vet would KNOW if the growth was on the adrenal. It should not be a "probably" it should be a yes or a no. I was there for Tuxie's 2 U/S and they pointed out each organ and which ones were enlarged and whether the margins were even. Is the person who did the U/S board certified? The other option, if the U/S was done properly is to have them send a copy to IDEXX or another outside lab and have them read it and offer an opinion. (I believe the fee is around $50...not sure)
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The Dr did the test and it is being sent out to be read. He said it was near the kidney and he wouldn't want to just go in to explore, remove or aspirate without knowing if it was "on" a gland. She wasn't fasted and ate before we left and he said there was a lot of fluid which didn't help. He saw the kidneys clearly. He did point things out to me but to me it was all just a fuzzy picture. My first thought was acro but that's the pituitary gland. When I googled adrenal gland disorders I read about cushings. Then read the stuff you put in Summers post. She does have the belly and it's constantly hard, it's why I had the u/s done. Ears are super thin. She has a lot of fur. Cushing can cause diabetes and hard to regulate. Insulin isn't moving much at all. I want to see what my vet says. Just wondering if there is another test other than CT.
 
Ella & Rusty & Stu(GA) said:
Oh, Paula, I sure hope that the vets can get to the bottom of this! I'm very sorry you and Olive have to go through all of the uncertainty. I hope whatever it is can be treated successfully. Since Olive is relatively young, and since we know how strong she is, she should be able to lick whatever problems occur. Sending lots of beautiful vines for Olive and :bighug::bighug::bighug:s for you.
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Dr thinks she is closer to 10 yrs. Monday she is having the echo. Never normally arrhythmia can be treated easily with meds, so that doesn't bother me to much. We will tackle each thing as it comes up. Thank you for the vines and hugs as we wait. They are needed today.
 
Love-Paula aka Woodsywife said:
Just wondering if there is another test other than CT.
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The easiest and least invasive test is the UCCR test as I talked about on Summer's posting. If it comes back positive or borderline then the other tests can be used to determine if it is adrenal based or pituitary based. Finding out whether Olive has higher levels of cortisol is the first step. Tuxie' had PDH (pituitary based Cushing's) and his glucose levels were hard to get to budge in the beginning. This is a partial spreadsheet started a week or so after he was diagnosed:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zjLCy1Y3LgvEsa3TU22TfmUUru9Ekr55QBrfBUpRO1Q/edit#gid=5

The first thing I noticed, besides the poor insulin response was the hard enlarged abdomen and the thinning fur. After 3 1/2 years he never regrew the hair where it was shaved for the U/S.

Sending prayers and positive energy for you and Olive. :bighug::bighug:
 
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