Well, we finally got some good news for a change concerning the on-going
saga of Whidbey's adrenal gland problem.
 
Whidbey is 5 1/2 yrs old, and had her left adrenal gland removed in March,
the only symptoms at the time was a very swollen vula (no hair loss).  Well,
come July her vulva was even more swollen, and none of her hair had grown
back from being shaved from the surgery, so we decided to try Lysodren.
After one month, still no change in her vulva & she was starting to get bald
patches all over her little body.  My poor baby had bald feet & ears, was
balding on her nose & around her eyes, and neck.  As well she was getting
lesions on her stomach that would last a few days.  We stopped the Lysodren
and scheduled a second surgery.
 
When the big day arrived, I dropped Whidbey off at the vets on my way to
work, and had my ususal little cry in the parking lot.  About 10am the
doctor called and recommended that we postpone the surgery, as her ALT liver
enzyme was extremely high.  We scheduled a follow-up blood test for 3 weeks
later.
 
In the meantime, after being partially bald for over 5 months, her hair
started to grow back, and the size of her vulva decreased:) She had one week
of diarrhea and a bit of vomitting.  I'm not sure if it was late symptoms
from the drug, or possibly something she might have pick up from me, but I
spoke with the good doctor twice, and kept a real close eye on her.  Last
week when our appointment came up, Whidbey was once again a true fuzzy.  A
nice thick fur coat and a total of 800 grams of pure energy.  The doctor
redid the blood work and the results were perfectly normal!  He said she
looked great, and there was nothing else that they could do right now as was
the picture of perfect health.
 
I realize that in the future her adrenal problems could reoccur, but for the
moment it is just such a relief.  This seems to have been going on forever
and I was started to get a little discourage.  So for now we'll just enjoy
things as they are.
 
A little late on the topic of Hagen's ferrets and tattoo's, but our 6 month
old Havoc has an H in his left ear and what appears to be a Y in his right.
He's about 3 pounds of pure character, will steal just about anything and
stash it behind the couch.  He is real gentle, except if you happen to cross
his path during a play fest.  He does a running leap, wraps all four of his
legs around yours, and gives you a quick nip behind the knee.  My only
complaint is that he must of been a graduate of Creative Pooping 101.  Not
only does he not like to use the litter box, but he goes in the darndest
places.  I was not too happy when I opened a little used cupboard and found
a nice stash of new and old.....
 
Sorry to babble on but I just wanted to share some our news.  I know that I
follow with great interest the posts about everyone elses adrenal
experiences.
 
Edith & co.
[Posted in FML issue 1681]