Dear Candice:
 
>The path report on aspirated fluid says "prior hemorrhage, normal liver
>tissue...possible hemangioma or hemangiosarcoma or hepatoma".  Hct is 31.0,
>ALT is 695, AST is 173.  She does not appear to be in pain, still eating.
>Weight is down 7 oz from 5 months ago.  She is scheduled for exploratory
>lap on Friday.
 
My assessment of the aspirated fluid suggests that we have had bleeding
into the abdomen, and the liver was hit during the aspirate (not a
problem.)  But it is a bit premature to make any possible assessment of
the source of the bleeding.  We need to see what the exploratory shows.
 
The HCT is low, but not critically low, and does not preclude surgery.  But
this is no transudate - it is true abdominal bleeding - heart disease is
not a major concern based on the characteristic of the fluid.  Although
that's not the best way to diagnose heart disease, it'll due right now,
because we need to go in and find why she is bleeding.  The liver enzymes
are probably due to irregular eating habits and mobilization of fat stores
for energy.  Plus the stress of being sick causes the body to release
cortisone, which bumps the glucose up and starts fat to break down.
 
It'll be interesting to see what tomorrow brings.
 
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, dVM
[Posted in FML issue 3323]