I'm looking for a little advice & guidance I guess.  We have to make some
very difficult decisions in the next 48 hours.  We won't receive Bandit's
bloodwork results back until tomorrow sometime but we do have the
ultra-sound results.
 
Apparently Bandit's left adrenal was never entirely removed & has
regenerated.  The ultra-sound showed 2 adrenals that need to come out & a
huge prostate that has stopped the flow of urine.  The restricted urine
flow has caused urine to back up into one of his kidneys which is now
inflated with urine & has died.  The vet's opinion is...wait for the
bloodwork results to see if he's a reasonable surgical candidate.  If he
is, then he needs surgery Monday to remove both adrenals & the damaged
kidney.  The vet's estimate is $1,000.  The only alternative I was given is
euthanasia.  At the moment the poor boy is miserable & I'm worried about
pushing him until Monday.  My DH is flipped & feels that we can't afford
the expense (which is true - we'd have to make arrangements to pay it off
over a *long* time) & that Bandit should be euthanized.  Naturally there is
no guarantee that if we went ahead with surgery that Bandit would even
survive, let alone live for a whole lot longer.  My worry is that what if
his adrenal acts up *again* after surgery (after all, you can't remove 100%
of the right adrenal) & he suffers damage to his remaining kidney?  Also,
how could we get his prostate to shrink *fast* because it's the prostate
that's causing all this problem & I'm told even with the removal of the
adrenals, it takes a long time for the prostate to settle down.  Anyone
know of a drug/meds that can be used to quickly shrink prostate tissue?
 
I'm having a really hard time accepting that now might be the time to let
him go. :-(
 
Diane & the gang
[Posted in FML issue 2557]