Olivia,
I'm writing to you(and to anyone else who may need to read this) with
encouraging info. when it comes to Adrenal & Lupron. and blockages.
Blockages in male ferts with Adrenal are very common as I'm sure you
know.  You asked about Lupron injections being successful in treating
blockages, & advice regarding Lupron itself.
 
It would seem to me, and would make sense that if there was visable,
no doubt about it, success on the outside( FUR regrowth, not straggly
little hairs coming in, but a real re-growth of a coat) then there must
be a shrinking of the adrenal tumor that caused all of the adrenal
symptoms in the first place.  Example: About 6-8 mos.  ago, my Sammy
stopped giving me kissies on my cheek, when I asked him, "Got kissies for
Mama?  I thought it odd, he didn't appear sick, but I should have known
better.  Sammy was tring to tell me something, but I didn't trust my
instincts.  Months later, Sammy was diagnosed Adrenal.  I was already
getting Melatonin implants for Sammy, actually for all of my kids as a
preventative measure.  Now it was time to see how they would do when used
in a diagnosed ferret.  They seemed to do alright, Sammy wasn't getting
worse, he wasn't getting better, but he wasn't getting worse.  That was
untill, and it seemed so sudden, his fur loss became more and more
noticable everyday.  It was then that I decided to go ahead, and schedule
him for Surgery.
 
Sammy's surgery day came, and went.  Unfortunately it went with no
benefit to Sammy except that now we knew he was inoperable.  His
adrenals, both sides were involved, but the tumors were very, very large.
And if that wasn't bad enough, the right side had involved the vena cava
to such a degree that even just pulling a small, thin layer off of the
tumor caused a great amount of bleeding..Sammy was closed up, nothing had
changed except that now I only had one option left now and that was
Lupron.  The first Lupron injection brought false optimism.  I say that
because Sammy had recently been given a new Melatonin implant so I
thought, between the two strong medications, surely he would be "cured"
You can imagine how excited I was when I thought we were home free.  He
had sporadic hairs, here and there, just sprouting up all over his back.
Then......., they stopped coming in, then............they fell out, and
that was that..  I had a long talk with Sammy.  I explained to him that I
would not just give up on him.  I told him that we'd try one more Lupron
injection & that was all we could do.  I was so angry, and so sad.  Even
though we had 8 1/2 years together, I felt as if I was giving up so soon,
too soon.  Logically, I knew it waasn't soon, we'd been at this for a
while with no real progress.  UNTIL.........
 
Two days before I left to go out to California, I notice STUBBLE!!!  It
looked just a a 5 o'clock shadow!!!!!!  The next day, it was still there!
AND not only still there, but even darker..I was given updates about
everyone.  But nothing prepared me for what I saw when I got home.  When
I was looking for Sammy in his "house" Finally my eyes met familiar eyes!
SAMMY?.....SAMMY!!!!  He had FUR!!  Not a scraggly hair here and there,
but a COAT!!!!!!  I knew it was a picture of what was going on on the
inside.  THIS was his last hope, This was the last Lupron injection I
was going to have him get because I didn't think they worked.  I almost
gave up.
 
So, I guess what I'm trying to say is, maybe it takes time for the Lupron
to build up in the system, I don't know.  What I do know is that I had
given up on Sammy.  I didn't know, I still don't know if it takes time
for Lupron to build up in a system.  What I do know for sure is that I
won't give up again until I know for sure.
 
Lupron is high priced.  If I hadn't seen results in Sammy this last time,
I wasn't going to put out anymore mony.  Now, I'll wait longer.  Maybe
there won't be resuts in 1 month, or two.  But I wish that I had had
someone there when in 1 or 2 or 4 it's not time to give up.
 
I hope my comments helped.  And if they didn't I'm sorry.  Just hang in
there if your heart tells you to.I guess this how you learn how to know
when it's time to listen to your heart.
 
Dooks & Hugs
Sue & Crew
[Posted in FML issue 5293]