Flynn 11 y/o Foxie Cross - Right adrenalectomy- Good Bye Flynny We will miss you

Phew, Home!! YAY!! Took 6 hrs to drive back, blardy rained all the way and was heavy in places. That last two hours sucked on the mountains.. Flynny slept most of it though so that was lucky. Couple of quick pee and snack stops but not for long as so wet!

So I still do not have the formal report. It was a bit embarrassing as our last IMS saw us there and thought we must have booked in for the scan today and to see him tomorrow... oops! Apparently he works in imaging on Mondays and see's patients Tues/Wed. New IMS said the old one was scared of me :eek::eek: just joking I HOPE!!! Anyway, after the mess-up last time with the newly grown adrenal gland they were real careful not to give me exact findings until they had a chance to measure everything and finish the written report and he will send it through. But he said from them having a look while they were doing it, it looks similar to the last one re liver and adrenal. Nothing has blown up, so that is good. So phew, but I won't celebrate too much till I see the written one!

Sharlene, he has always been a bit of a snorer, but last month or two I have noticed he is more noisy in his breathing. Mainly when he is going to sleep. It sounds more sorta in his throat than lungs if you know what I mean more of a loud snore and he does not do it all the time and during day no sign of it. So I asked them to do a CXR, IMS said it looks like he has old dog lungs... which is not totally unexpected. His heart looks good, there are no signs of lung tumours that he saw with his quick look (again wait for proper report) but one section of his lungs looked inflamed in the bronchioles which could explain all his increased breathing noises. And DOH, we never really got into what to do about it. :o

No pheo urine tests done here in NZ, but they have had two dogs with pheo since Christmas I think diagnosed on histology. I asked him about what he thought of the urine study, he was kinda noncommittal but looks promising for the future. He said they can test one metabolite but problem with no reference ranges so he doesn't really trust it. So that was the end of that!

No atypical cushings testing either apart from a couple of individual hormones. He is right into his cushings and he said as Flynn has no typical signs of normal cushings, then he would not even recommend testing him. He seemed quite big on treat the dog, not the numbers. I had wondered about a link between potentially deranged adrenal hormones and the effect on his liver as per a study I found linking them with adenomas. He said that even if a hormone or two was up the wop we would not do anything more for his liver than what we are doing now, ie samilyn and regular surveillance scanning to catch anything before it gets too big so his thoughts were why spend money testing if it is not going to alter the outcome.

Ok all sounding good at the moment, when do you get written report? Did you get a chance to ask about the Apoquel? Old doggy lungs lol but heart good all sounds positive to me, no change on liver yay. Have you managed to breath yet :D

Hmmm what else.

Heart murmur still low grade. He said reports of BP are good, he said he takes white coat syndrome into account up to 200, but it should come down once dog settles which Flynn's does so he said to continue current BP meds.

Kidneys, he did not mention them on the scan. Tina, he said they can fluctuate and when I mentioned that his goes up if his gut goes off. He said well Flynn seems to be writing his own medical book! He is obviously pleased with latest results. We also discussed the whole inflammatory response to his itching/IBD/impact on kidneys, he said it seems his immune system is in overdrive. If we have ongoing problems then he said he would consider azothiaprine. He was quite keen to seem him back on hypoallergenic food. I said that he ate it for a few weeks, then stopped. He asked me how hard did I try, I said I can be very stubborn with him. It did sort his bowel out, but was so unpalatable for Flynn that he had to change. He recommended it again if we have more flaring but lately it really has only been occasional mucousy poop so we don't have to go there yet.

Adrenal nodule - he said some of these nodules that are found can actually be just part of a normal adrenal gland. All parts of the body can get lumps and bumps and he said most of them are nothing to worry about. His is not functional so we can rule that out, he would only test him if he got cush symptoms. He said it looks like a peanut. He recommends just monitoring as we are doing and not to worry about it too much. He said in his endocrinology circles there is still a lot of controversy about atypical cushings, and whether treatment is worth it or even if it is a "proper condition"? :confused:

Ohhh the apoquel, I did ask about that, poor supply is the problem. He said it is more for dogs with a general itch not particularly for one like Flynn with probable flea allergy. If it keeps up he recommended we see a dermatologist for their advice. He is not that convinced about the efficacy of the allergy testing ie the one where we send a blood test and they send back a list of things he is allergic too and a vial of drugs to slowly desensitise him. He said the better way is to do the skin testing with dermatologist.

We have to stop the conformis treatment for fleas, he has had a few dogs having seizures with it and even some died :eek::eek: so we need to re evaluate what to use there.

Mike has been keeping an eye on his lipomas, but he wants us to do a lipoma mapping and keep close eye on measurements and if they look to be growing too much then consider surgery. But we would have to weigh up the potential risk of another anaesthetic on liver risks. He said some dogs can truck along with them and then they can potentially turn nasty and get necrotic so we need to watch them and Flynn has tons.

I think finally, ALP... could still be coming down. But with no new big liver masses, then Flynn may just be one of those dogs that has high ALP and some just do... and they can die with it at an old age, not because of it. But of course we keep monitoring.

Jeepers, and that is not even the final report from him LOL... sorry about the length of it!! But there we are.. Flynny's vet report! He said once I have read the final one then I can email him any more questions. But I think he did a very admirable job of answering the many I had!!

Thanks for being there girls, chocolate, chippies, support and love... what more could Flynn and I ask for!! Thank You! Now I am going to put something in the good times thread that I saw while I was waiting that made me smile!! xxxxx

Haha Tracy, there is Part II

Any baby news yet??

No baby news yet, I'm pacing the corridor lol. I don't know who looked more scared Rachel, Ian her partner or her mum, she is still being monitor and hasn't been induced yet could be a long day/night but I promised I would stay hoo hum.

So back to super dog still all sounding great Trish. My experience with itchy/IBD dogs and I had 6 years of it - I used the hypo food bruno hated it but would eat if I softened it a bit with warm water or doggy gravy comes in a bottle, he was also had a massive flea allergy so to prevent fleas I walked in short grass and used advocate on him every 2 months instead of 3 with vets approval worked for him. Bruno saw a dermatologist for the skin tests he got shaved and they injected several I think 12 things into him and watched to see if the skin reacted he was like a dot to dot but I knew what to avoid. Anyway that's my tuppence worth.

Ian also said that dogs can get lumps and bumps inside as well as out and mapping the limpomas is a great idea, then you can decide what to do.

I will look into that dermatologist thing, I bet they are only in Auckland!! Maybe I can book in next time we go up for a scan. He does only walk on short grass. He does nibble his paws a lot so it could be grass contributing.

I would go back to the hypoallergenic if it gets real bad again. I just feel so mean not giving him food he likes. Wonder what is in that doggy gravy? I try and avoid grains and that would have some sort of thickening in it?? I have never seen that here, but then I have not ever looked for it.

I just heated up some of my homemade vegie/ham hock soup. Had the need for something decent after all that junk food and chocolate, chippies :D

Ohh, it will be a long day... good you can talk to us!! Poor things, must be so scary for her. Hope it goes quick, if it was me it would drugs and elective Caesar all the way LOL but I am a wuss!!

Yeah I,d want all the drugs too I'm a wuss, she is doing well I'm just making jokes to keep her spirits up lol.

I know this sounds like I'm the teaching you to suck eggs but Bruno was allergic to wry grass which is everywhere up here so I couldn't not let him walk on grass as he would only poo on grass so I used to keep a bucket of tempid water at the door and would wash his paws after a walk in between his toes he hated it but got used to it, it did help. It's 4 years on the 28th of this month since he left for the bridge :(

Oh nice hearty soup can't beat it, guess I,ll be having hospital canteen food unless i can sneak away :)

Show her the Happy Dog video I just put up, that might make her smile!

Hmmm that's a good tip washing his feet, every time he goes outside he walks on the grass though. I will do it after all long walks and get Dad to do it too after he walks him through the week, plus at end of day. He can get used to that!

Ohhh order in a pizza, most here deliver to hospitals!

That was a good video I got it on my FB page from my relatives in oz.

Ah delivery I wonder if they do that here although I am only a few miles from KFC mmmm decisions ha ha

Oh no, I dosed off right after snarfing up the snacks last night!! :eek: :o

So now I must quickly catch back up on the results -- but it sounds as though all went well, thank goodness!!!