Terri wrote;
>According to the medical data I have read, Lupron does not shrink or
>suppress adrenal tumors, so under the circumstances it would be no
>surprise that her tumors were so large. Seems to me Lupron was a poor
>choice for this particular ferret at such a young age.
There are some EXCELLENT past posts by Dr. Jerry Murray in the FML
Archives and the FHL Archives on this topic. It does appear that if
ONLY neoplasia is present that Lupron can shrink it, and I have run into
two vets who think that it may be that it can control early enough cases
of neoplasia well enough to prevent further tissue change into a possible
malignancy. Those vets STILL prefer surgery as a first choice, though.
One reason for that preference, of course, is because the ONLY way to
know if what is present is NOT neoplasia is to remove the gland and do
pathology.
There is also some on-going work on Lupron use as a possible adrenal
growth preventative.
>Her right adrenal gland was malignant and far advanced. It's my
>understanding that Lupron does nothing for malignant tumors.
Exactly.
>The doctor successfully removed her right adrenal gland (again
>contradictory to the volunteer belief that it can't be done due to its
>proximity to the vena cava).
Depends on the gland and the surgeon. MOST of the right adrenal glands
we've had to have removed HAVE come out cleanly. It's not a large
sample, but it's our usual experience and luck could also play a part
in that.
We use Lupron when surgery isn't possible, NOT as a first choice
treatment, but it IS the second: not the third choice, and certainly not
the last... It can be a very , very useful medication but like anything
else in life it has its limitations.
>Frankly, at this point if I saw him, I'd probably bite him on the chin
>too, for being such a big whiner!
>
>-Heather W.
Yeah, I know what you mean. Ben Stiller is a complete TURN OFF. We've
been wondering about the movie, "Along Came Polly". and our wondering
was mostly positive till we wound up encountering his total brat
exaggerated "me, me, me" whining diatribes placing full blame on the
ferret and exaggerating any risk factors. Now, we don't know if we'll
go to the movie or not because he acts like such an obnoxious loser who
can't take responsibility for his own action. If we go it will be for
the ferret and Aniston. If we don't go it will be because he turned us
off so badly that we need some temporal space from his whining -- in
which case we'll probably rent it at some point. What a blasted baby!
Something I have noticed in the count is a situation which has been
commented on many times before: a number of folks who are relatively
new to ferrets, don't yet know the demands in attention, time, and
expense for providing sufficient medical care, but go out and get a lot
(sometimes a lot in the same age brackets so they are later likely to
experience many deaths together which is very hard emotionally). One
thing I have noticed is that over time a great many folks who DO have
long ferret exposure wind up with fewer ferrets over time: 3 to 5 seem to
be common numbers then but it varies. In non-shelter households there
seem (This is impression only.) to be two times when household ferret
numbers peak: early on before folks realize the demands and aren't
prepared, and at about 10 to 15 years in when there comes a feeling
of competency. Later, though, when there has been a lot of care of
ones with great needs there can be a time of needing a rest for a while
and having fewer, healthier ones to stay get an emotional breather. We
are doing that now, and know a number of people who have been in that
position. We have 4 right now and honestly we LOVE the amount of
individual interaction this allows and the great deal of care which can
be provided for individuals. I doubt we'll have more than 5 in the
future, though we have had in the past. This appears to be an
oft-repeated pattern.
[Posted in FML issue 4380]
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