Big thanks to those who have written to me with similar cases.  They don't
all have happy endings, but it is really helpful to read the stories.
 
Sunny is home with me now, sedated.  She is having trouble keeping her temp
up but doesn't want to stay on a heating pad.  Her PCV is up to 44 with no
further transfusions.  She doesn't want to eat but I'll keep trying when
she wakes up.  I'm taking her back to the vet's in the morning; my vet took
her home last night.
 
I wasn't clear on this in my first e-mail.  Several hours after the
insulinoma surgery, the vets went back in surgically to see if there was
anything they could fix.  They found quite a bit of blood in her abdomen,
but it wasn't coming from anywhere discernable.  Severe bruising was
notable in the skin, muscle, and abdominal wall.  Because the pressure
bandage applied after her first surgery (insulinoma) wasn't enough to
control the internal bleeding, they packed sterile gauze soaked with saline
into her abdominal cavity to apply pressure from the inside.  It seems to
have worked since her PCV is now on the rise, albeit slowly.
 
The plan is to keep her still and comfortable and to try to remove the
gauze on Friday.  I hope we can get that done without touching off another
major bout of bleeding...  I think the clotting facor from the transfused
blood is helping.
 
Thanks again for the advice, and if anyone has any ideas that may help,
I'd love to hear them.
 
-Pam S.
[Posted in FML issue 2991]