Re: 4.6 Feeburt Amps 314 Acro results
I'm sorry Shelly! It is a shitty diagnosis, but as you said, now you know know why he's not responding well and now you can be more aggressive in his treatment.
The stickies in the high dose section can help you understand what's happening. Also, there have been several shows recently on Discover, The Learning Channel, etc. about acromegaly in humans (Help - I'm becoming a Giant; Tallest People in the World; Tallest Woman in China, etc).
It's important to realize that acros have a fully functioning pancreas. The problem is that the tumor releases "stuff" that makes it difficult for the body to use its own insulin. At times, the tumor produces less "stuff" and then his extraneous insulin needs will go down (currently, Shadoe is a perfect example of this; Fletcher has been on and off insulin 4 times now). If and when Feeburt hits lower green numbers, you will use HC to bring him up, never LC. Also "acro beans don't need green" - your goal is to get Feeburt to spend as much time as possible in the blue numbers. Unlike a normal diabetic, the pancreas needs no "healing"; you simply want to prevent kidney damage.
As far as treatment, you have time to decide. Your options are:
1) Treat side effects of tumor, meaning treat the diabetes and if needed, manage pain (some of the kitties seem to get headaches; Boo and KB have spinal arthritis). While this seems like the cheapest option, it depends on how much insulin he will eventually need. Some kitties, like KB and Bayley don't need terribly high doses. Others, like Leo and Girlcat have had to shoot "crazy-high" doses.
2) SRS: The SRS is about $5000 (I think my bill was actually $4200). This is not guaranteed. So far, 3/11 died (1 due to cancer and 2 due to renal failure), 2/11 have gone off insulin, and the rest have showed improvement but still require insulin.
3) Drug Trial: Dr. Lunn recently got funding for a drug trial. I think it's only for 6 months and it's not a cure...even if it does help, once you go off the drug, the problems come back (and unfortunately, the drug is not affordable to continue outside the trial). I don't have any additional details yet, but you can contact Dr. Lunn directly to talk to her about both the SRS and the drug trial. Her e-mail is
kathy.lunn@colostate.edu She's very nice and will talk to you directly and/or to your vet. She is fairly busy and sometimes hard to reach; if she doesn't respond in 2 weeks, try again.
I don't think anybody knows the expected life-span after diagnosis, especially since these kitties are being diagnosed earlier and earlier after the initial diabetes diagnosis. Fletcher has made it three years since diagnosis (Carolynn posted yesterday in High Dose); I'm not sure about any of the others but I think they are living longer than they used to because we know more about getting their BGs down which will help prevent kidney disease.
I hope you wanted all of this information - I simply tried to provide the information that I wanted when Boo was diagnosed and I hope it helps. Please ask any additional questions you have (although it might be good to ask over in High Dose, so other High-Dose people will participate and future High Dose people can read the answers). Also, on a slightly fun note, you might want to take a "paw-print" and date it. Acros continue to grow, especially their feet, forehead, and lower jaw, so it would be fun to have something from which you can measure his growth.
