Hi, everyone.  I need help from those of you who have experience with
insulinoma.  As some of you may recall, Lucky Charm has insulinoma and has
had three partial pancreatectomies.  Since the last one in late July, she
has had several seizures.  The most recent one was this morning and it was
pretty severe -- I found her gasping for breath and it took at least 20
minutes, maybe 30, to bring her out of it.  Shortly thereafter, she went
to the bathroom and left a deposit of fairly blackish-looking diarrhea.  I
can't explain that, unless the three or so small doses of Prednisone I've
given her during the past several days could be causing abdominal bleeding.
 
My questions are, what could cause the dark diarrhea and how will I know if
she's suffering too much?  I realize no one on this list is God, but do you
have any idea how I will know when she's near the end?  She seems to have a
seizure about once a week.  I feed her chicken baby food or duck soup by
hand four times a day because she doesn't eat enough dry food on her own --
I think she just gets too tired and goes back to sleep -- to prevent having
a seizure.  She seems hungry when I feed her and she feels good after she's
eaten.  She's so adorable -- she stretches out on her back or side and she
does that little face-massage thing ferrets do.
 
Any help would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you all very much.
 
Linda, Lucky Charm, Chocolate Moose, & Zipper
[Posted in FML issue 3530]