CD and BigMac
Member Since 2009
With a heavy heart I am sitting here in the hospital waiting room as BigMac is in surgery.
Yesterday after another ultrasound and exam by a specialist, BigMac was diagnosed with adenocarcinoma. It is on his bile duct. While this is early and the mass seems to be tiny, the doctor told me it is a very aggressive type of cancer.
The surgery is to re-route the blocked bile duct to help regain the flow of bile from the liver. The bile has been backing up into his liver causing it to be enlarged and angry. Our aim is to make BigMac be more comfortable and feel better for as long as possible. They will resect whatever mass they can but I was told that the cancer will probably still be in his body and will spread as time goes on. :cry:
I have been concerned about his weight loss for several months and we've been to the vets often for lots of tests. His liver enzymes kept getting worse even after trying several medications. Finally my vet said they needed to find the answer since clearly they were missing something. BigMac's appetite and demeanor have been normal, no outward symptoms except the weight loss which was getting alarming.
My vet said that the only thing left was exploratory surgery. Before we did that we were referred to this specialist and hospital. We got an appointment quickly and after the evaluation yesterday they wanted to do surgery right away to give BigMac as much time as possible and help him feel better. And avoid the sickness that was coming when his bile duct became 100% blocked.
Poor BigMac thought he was doing ok. He gets so horribly stressed at the vet that his heart rate skyrockets. (I used to have a vet that did house calls for this very reason.) They let me keep him at home last night instead of their usual pre-op requirement of an overnight stay.
He won't be able to come home for several days and will have a stomach(?) feeding tube, but I'm going to stay here until he is resting comfortably.
So now I wait.
Yesterday after another ultrasound and exam by a specialist, BigMac was diagnosed with adenocarcinoma. It is on his bile duct. While this is early and the mass seems to be tiny, the doctor told me it is a very aggressive type of cancer.
The surgery is to re-route the blocked bile duct to help regain the flow of bile from the liver. The bile has been backing up into his liver causing it to be enlarged and angry. Our aim is to make BigMac be more comfortable and feel better for as long as possible. They will resect whatever mass they can but I was told that the cancer will probably still be in his body and will spread as time goes on. :cry:
I have been concerned about his weight loss for several months and we've been to the vets often for lots of tests. His liver enzymes kept getting worse even after trying several medications. Finally my vet said they needed to find the answer since clearly they were missing something. BigMac's appetite and demeanor have been normal, no outward symptoms except the weight loss which was getting alarming.
My vet said that the only thing left was exploratory surgery. Before we did that we were referred to this specialist and hospital. We got an appointment quickly and after the evaluation yesterday they wanted to do surgery right away to give BigMac as much time as possible and help him feel better. And avoid the sickness that was coming when his bile duct became 100% blocked.
Poor BigMac thought he was doing ok. He gets so horribly stressed at the vet that his heart rate skyrockets. (I used to have a vet that did house calls for this very reason.) They let me keep him at home last night instead of their usual pre-op requirement of an overnight stay.
He won't be able to come home for several days and will have a stomach(?) feeding tube, but I'm going to stay here until he is resting comfortably.
So now I wait.
