Miss Millie Mayhem (Eng Bulldog) - NEW Dx: Cushings PDH and AWFUL Calcinosis Cutis

Kerry, the pictures made me cry. I'm so sorry for Miss Mille and for you my dear. You are doing everything you can and she knows how much you love her. Is this painful? Peety was sore in the beginning and he just didn't want me to touch him. In the beginning I would hold him and cry as I "promised" him I would make it better. The one thing I relied on and still do to keep the infections down was the Hibiclens. And now he loves his baths, every other day. We are not healed but he is not in distress anymore.

Her beauty will always be in your eyes, no matter what and you have the ability to see past the disease and into her beautiful soul. Thanks for posting the pictures, it will help others see CC for what it is. And your lil Miss Mille is such a sweetheart. Sending prayers for healing and strength. Give Miss Mille a big hug from me and Peety and tell her that Peety says "Hang in there Miss America, it's gonna get better."

All the best, Pat and Peety

Hi Kerry,

You have had great advice from Dechra with regards to the ACTH stim test results. As I have said earlier ... things do not happen quickly with the healing of the calcinosis cutis and in fact it can get worse before it gets better. I do recall with Sabre that things happened fast from the point of seeing spots to him losing his hair ... in the same areas as Millie.

Take care
Angela and Flynn

Good Morning Millie and Kerry,

New day dawning, hope it is a good one for both of you.:):):)

One good thing a day always helps to keep up the confidence:):)

Sloppy hugs and kisses to Millie and big hugs to you.

Hi All,

Thanks so much for your continued encouragement and putting me in my place (in oh so kind of a manner!) when it comes to the progress I want to see NOW. I did send pictures of Millie to our Derm Vet and she actually said she thought everything was looking great…me, dumbfounded, yes! She was happy to see a lot of the scabbing going away and we go back to visit her in about a week.

Noticed today that the edges of her ear flaps were a bit crusty/hard and am wondering if that is part of the CC. Of course, sent off another email to the Derm Vet on that. I am breathing a little easier today, and shared with Marianne my one other piece of excitement which y’all may laugh at…Miss Millie kicked her hind legs after she pooped…woo-hoo…she always did this before this dreaded Disease took over, and I was happy to see her even get her legs lightly in the air. Never thought I would be getting excited about that, but I will take it…so mantra of the day…Patience, Patience, and more Patience...and yes Sharlene...Patience Grasshopper (that made me laugh)!

I am glad I shared the pictures and as awful as they are, I hope others who experience the same journey will be able to see just how bad it can get….I know those of you have dealt also with CC and I have looked at your pics, it is just heartbreaking, yet on the flip side is encouraging to find out it can get under control! It did start as just one little oozing sore on her neck and within 3 weeks BAM - total mess! My Little Miss America will prevail (and yes there is a story behind “Miss America”!) 

Thank you all so much - so lucky to have you all here!
xoxox,
Kerry

DOUBLE YAY!!!!!!!!!!! See, Addy, Kerry has posted TWO good things for the day: good derm report, and stamping like a bull after pooping!! :p :p :) :) :)

Yes, it is a good day! ;)

Marianne

Hahahah, I call that the Kick Off! I love it when they do that and then tear of running. You can tell they feel a whole lot better. Molly walks slow and funny when she has to take a poop, but once it's over, she's legs going and tearing off. I'm so glad that Millie is able to do that again! It just is one of those big smile things. LOL

Okay, was it a hard white bump before it oozed? or just it was an oozing sore. I'm going to learn plenty about cc one way or another :)

You are having a good day! yay!
You know one of our members has been away for a bit and came back and she said, when you are there, every day, looking at what is going on, it is hard to see the slow changes for the better. Go away and then come back after a week or so and you'll know that the changes have occured. Not that I want you to go away for a week! But it is harder to see what might be improving when you are seeing it all the time constantly. So....
having said that....

What about taking just a bit of video a day on the camera. Then at the end of every week, you can review the weeks changes and see if you notice anything that way. Just a thought, not sure if it would work or not, but worth a try and might be interesting for you too.

huggers
Sharlene and Molly Muffin

Love the Derm report. As far as stamping like a bull after pooping, we've all been there!:D Hey whatever it takes! Sending you both tons of love and healing energy. You're doing a great job Kerry, keep it up!:)

Hi Kerry and Millie,

Lucy and I are also fighting the calcinosis and so I have been interested in reading your journey.

Thank you for taking the time to post, you never know how many people it may help.

Millie is totally Miss America to me, especially now that I know her about her "talent" performance (the backwards bull stamp with a flourish).

Shelly and Lucy

Hi Kerry!
Saw you had posted on Lucy's thread. Wow, what a week you must be having. Hope it gets better and the bleeding stops. They do say, it gets worse, then it gets better. So, I am hoping this is the worst and the next step is the "get better" part. Millie must be going crazy sometimes. You are so good with her. :)

Hugs!
Sharlene and Molly Muffin

I will be posting this on four members' threads, all of whom are dealing with calcinosis cutis. Kerry, Millie's Mama; Crystal, Annabelle's Mama; Shelly, Lucy's Mama and Pat, Peety's Mama.

I've seen too many dogs on Trilostane who have either had little to no effect on Calcinosis Cutis or a worsening effect while on the drug. Based on the frequency with which we've seen calcinosis cutis on this forum, there seems to be a correlation with the increased popularity of Trilostane for treatment of cushing's. I've had a gut feeling for a very long time that Trilostane is responsible for worsening calcinosis cutis due to it's effects on the sex hormones. Dr. Oliver, was the leading expert on adrenal steroids and he firmly believed that 11-deoxycortisol levels build-up in dogs being treated with Trilostane as did other intermediate steroid such as androstenedione, 17-hydroxyprogesterone, estradiol and progesterone. I've never been able to find anything in layman's terms that explains the affect, if any, these steroids have on calcium metabolism. While searching for that connection, I stumbled upon something even better. It was an abstract of a study entitled, "Canine hyperadrenocorticism: effects of trilostane on parathyroid hormone, calcium and phosphate concentrations". The last sentence of that abstract was eye opening.

Quote:

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[B]Despite no significant difference between calcium concentrations in the pretreatment HAC and control groups, calcium concentrations increased significantly with treatment....and....These results show that adrenal secondary hyperparathyroidism resolves with treatment and suggest that increased calcium and phosphate levels have a role in its pathogenesis./B]

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It looks to me that cortisol isn't the only adrenal steroid that can cause elevations in blood calcium levels. Dr. David Bruyette, a renown endocrine expert, readily admits that he has had bad luck in resolving cc with trilostane. That's pretty telling coming from a high profile specialist who is a contributor to Dechra's continuing education program for veterinarians. This is not a new study. As a matter of fact, I believe it may have been published before Vetoryl was approved by the FDA.

You can find the complete abstract here: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/1...283.x/abstract

I'm just sharing my thoughts with those of you who may want to start asking more questions of your vets....or you may even consider calling Dechra, the manufacture of Vetoryl (Trilostane). I'd be very interested to hear what they have to say about this study.

Glynda