Dr. Williams wrote about Lizz' Fang:
>What are we looking at as a tumor here?  I wasn't there to see, so this is
>just an educated guess - my first choice is a metastatic adrenal tumor -
>rare, but they do happen - and when they do, they generally extend into
>the liver.  A lesser possibility is lymphoma - the fact that he is still
>with us lessens the possibility.
 
What I am about to write may have no relevance to this particular situation
whatsoever (and I apologize for my profoundly layman's language), but
I thought I'd point out that in my experience with Cully, we saw that
lymphoma can cause what appear to be other types of cancers.  When Cully
had surgery for his adrenal, his abdominal cavity was full of lumps.  Some
were biopsied and were indeed lymphoma (soon after he presented the typical
enlarged lymph nodes in armpits and neck as well).  Examination of the
removed adrenal gland showed that it was not typical adrenal cancer, but
rather an invasion by the lymphoma.  His pancreas was also biopsied b/c
of a low blood sugar reading, and again, rather than regular islet cell
tumors, the pathologist found lymphoma again.  (he had a mast cell tumor
removed at the same time, though that happily was benign) Cully actually
lived a year, almost to the day, after that surgery; we had him on
gradually increasing doses of prednisone because of the increased insulin
production, but also to help retard the lymphoma's spread.  We believe he
finally succumbed to the lymphoma when it invaded his bone marrow, because
of his extremely low white blood cell counts at the end of his life.  The
vet felt that the cause of death was self-evident enough that an autopsy
wasn't really warranted.
 
Again, this probably doesn't have any direct relevance to Fang's situation,
but Cully's case illustrates that one cancer can act like another.  Also, I
would argue in favor of continuing prednisone too-- based on my experience
of one, I credit the medicine with helping to prolong my ferret's life and
also importantly preserve his quality of life.
 
Regina (still sad, all these months later)
 
Regina Harrison  [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/1083
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Labyrinth/8096
 
...shadow, you're just a gallow that I hang my body from...
[Posted in FML issue 3298]