Dear Judy: >The lady who surrendered her said that she also had been diagnosed with >lymphoma. But Smokey is bouncy, playing, eating and pooping just fine. >Her energy level continues to be through the roof! If there are no clinical signs, and the diagnosis was made 7 months ago, probably we are not dealing with lymphoma at this point. When abdominal lymph nodes are submitted for analysis, there is a large margin for error. The chronic inflammatory diseases we often see in middle aged and older ferrets (Helicobacter in the stomach and ECE in the intestine) cause such reactive changes in local lymph nodes that even experienced pathologists may often be swayed to a diagnosis of lymphoma. I generally recommend biopsy of non-abdominal nodes, such as those in the armpit or behind the knee when lymphoma is a possibility, and only rarely have I actually made a diagnosis of lymphoma on abdominal nodes (but lots and lots of reactive changes.) Let's just keep this diagnosis in the back of our mind, but I think at this point I would ascribe it to a mis-diagnosis on a complicated slide. And to think that the vet thought he was removing the adrenal glands - ouch! >So poor little Smokey may have a double-whammy going against her. I want >to do surgery for the adrenal disease 'cause I'm pretty sure that the >first vet may have missed one or both of the adrenals. But I'm concerned >that if she really does have lymphoma brewing then her chances of recovery >are going to be very slim (energy level notwithstanding.) Once again, with no clinical signs of lymphoma, good activity, no enlarged nodes - I think I would consider going ahead with the adrenal surgery. While there is always a possibility that Smokey isn't listening to my lecture on lymphoma, I don't see any reason why the percentages are not strongly in our favor.... With kindest regards, Bruce Williams, DVM [Posted in FML issue 3187]