AllisonJ
05-12-2009, 12:06 PM
Hi All!!
I finally found you! Actually Michelle (forevermomof4) sent me an e-mail that you had sent her to find you!
The quick recap for those who don't know Emma:
I lost my 8 y/o black lab (Emma's son) to cancer in January 2009 and a week later, Emma, my 11 y/o yellow lab started having accidents in the house. About 2 weeks after that, all the testing and many $$$, she was diagnosed with Cushings. And, Emma, never fitting in with the norm, had an extremely large right Adrenal tumor, rather than a pituitary. After a month of wrestling with surgery or drug therapy, I decided to go drug therapy rather than put her through the surgery and possibly lose her. Couldn't lose 2 dogs in 2 months! We started the Lysodren loading in mid-March and after a week with a too low dose, we upped it to the normal dose for 3 days and I though she was loaded. Turned out her Potassium level dropped to a dangerously low level, she wound up in the emergency hospital for 2 days, discovered she also had larangeal paralysis, they stuck her in an oxygen kennel (I will never allow that again!), took her home, then her potassium levels were too high and after that she ended up at the vet every other day for a month to rebalance her potassium. She now has both Cushings and is Addisonian.
Whew!! What a month!
Present day:
Emma is doing very well!! She's not on any Lysodren (at least not for now), but she does get 1/2 a pred every day and her blood pressure meds. We went to the vet about a week and a half ago, rechecked her panels and everything is back to normal except her sodium is a little low. So now she gets those horrible "Beggin Strips" b/c they're loaded with the stuff! Oh well, she's 11, I guess she can have what she wants! :) The vet believes that her water intake will increase again at some point, and we'll go back when it does. But for right now, I'm enjoying the full night's sleep I'm getting! :D
Hugs to everyone and I'm glad I found you!!
~Allison, Emma and forever Tucker
I finally found you! Actually Michelle (forevermomof4) sent me an e-mail that you had sent her to find you!
The quick recap for those who don't know Emma:
I lost my 8 y/o black lab (Emma's son) to cancer in January 2009 and a week later, Emma, my 11 y/o yellow lab started having accidents in the house. About 2 weeks after that, all the testing and many $$$, she was diagnosed with Cushings. And, Emma, never fitting in with the norm, had an extremely large right Adrenal tumor, rather than a pituitary. After a month of wrestling with surgery or drug therapy, I decided to go drug therapy rather than put her through the surgery and possibly lose her. Couldn't lose 2 dogs in 2 months! We started the Lysodren loading in mid-March and after a week with a too low dose, we upped it to the normal dose for 3 days and I though she was loaded. Turned out her Potassium level dropped to a dangerously low level, she wound up in the emergency hospital for 2 days, discovered she also had larangeal paralysis, they stuck her in an oxygen kennel (I will never allow that again!), took her home, then her potassium levels were too high and after that she ended up at the vet every other day for a month to rebalance her potassium. She now has both Cushings and is Addisonian.
Whew!! What a month!
Present day:
Emma is doing very well!! She's not on any Lysodren (at least not for now), but she does get 1/2 a pred every day and her blood pressure meds. We went to the vet about a week and a half ago, rechecked her panels and everything is back to normal except her sodium is a little low. So now she gets those horrible "Beggin Strips" b/c they're loaded with the stuff! Oh well, she's 11, I guess she can have what she wants! :) The vet believes that her water intake will increase again at some point, and we'll go back when it does. But for right now, I'm enjoying the full night's sleep I'm getting! :D
Hugs to everyone and I'm glad I found you!!
~Allison, Emma and forever Tucker