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

Good idea, sometimes you just can't drag yourself out at that time!

Will be nice for you both just to do normal stuff, he will probably be relieved when you get to your mum and dads as that's part of his routine

I browsed today, couldn't find anything I really liked!!

Look forward to hearing about his antics at the beach later xxxxx

YAY KATHY Post 2000!!!!!!

Your prize is an extra special cuddle with the Flynn boy and he says he can't wait to meet you when you come to visit :D:D

xxxxxxxxxxxx

What a great prize that is too!:D I can't think of anything better! You tell Flynny that I'm going to collect, so he better stay healthy.:D xxxx

I figured you would crash for a while, I am glad you got a good sleep in, Flynn too.:):):):)

Love it that Elle was happy to see Flynny. And now the big question remains------

is Flynn getting a cow for Christmas????:p:D:D:D:D

Oh my gosh, 10 hours of sleep sounds wonderful! I haven't had that since I started back to work. Even on weekends and holidays, Molly seems to want to get up and go go go. I do try, and maybe this winter one day that can be a goal, a whole 10 hours of sleep!
You guys were just plain knackered.
I have to go finish folding laundry (took a break to go out to dinner with hubs) and then take molly out and maybe we can get that long sleep in tonight. hmmm.
Loved the video, it's wild to watch those guys do their thing.
Ohhh yea, I second Addy's question? Cow under the tree for Christmas????
hehehe
hugs,
Sharlene and Molly Muffin

Ohhh and I just had another two hours snooze on the couch in the sun, started reading but that did not last long till I dozed off!! Think I must be all caught up now :)

Haha Addy and Sharlene I am going to do my best to find him a cow for Christmas and take a photo for you, he got a new mallard duck today and has had a chomp on it already. He is fine, I had to tell him to stop running around the yard before and his bark tonight at the schnauzer was a lot stronger!!

There was a nice black and white puss in the pet store today when we went in to pick up Flynn's food, my sister spotted her and liked her. She went home and thought about it and finally went back and picked her up late this afternoon! :D She is 2-3yrs old and has been in the SPCA since July after being found wandering on a highway all skinny and unloved, they have neutered her and she is all up to date with vaccinations and came with some food. So we have welcomed Minstrel or Minnie for short to our family today :) I have recommended pet insurance :D:D

Ohhh I should have added that I was talking to my brother and SIL in Wellington just now and their cat Timmy who was diagnosed with lymphoma which was affecting his bowel has just had his two year anniversary since starting chemo treatment to keep it in check! I just thought that was amazing, Timmy is a senior cat about 14ish and they have done so well taking care of him all this time. Just thought it might give some hope if anyone out there looking at lymphoma treatment for a pet, that the chemo drugs they use these days are really good and he has had minimal side effects from them. Go Timmy! x

Thrilled to hear that Flynn continues to do well and a new toy to boot!:D Go Flynny!! Go luck keeping Flynny doing too much!

Welcome to the family Minnie. I'll be anxious to hear more about you. Watch out for Elle the devil cat and you'll be fine.;)

That is amazing to hear about Timmy. There is so many more advances in veterinary medicine. Go Timmy!!:D xxxx

Hi everyone
Another good night here, YAY!

We have been in to see Local Mike and what a fuss they all made of him, I was talking to the receptionist and one of the nurses was sitting with Flynn on the floor scratching his sweet spot on his back, he was cuddling up to her and wagging his tail 10 to the dozen!!

Mike is happy with him, I had not given him Temgesic this morning and he said I should continue it for a bit longer, as he was watching him and thought he looked a little sore. Hmmmm I think it was because Flynn not that keen at being in the vets again but I am giving him the benefit of the doubt and gave him some when we got home. He was happy to leave the nibbled suture as is and his temp, and physical exam all fine. Mike is so impressed with Auckland, he said he got emails every day, phone call, discharge summaries and our other pet hospital could learn a bit about communication from the Auckland vets. We go back Friday morning to get the sutures out.

No histology results have arrived and I am turning into a bit of an OCD email checker today, I hope they arrive soon and I get to talk to IMS tomorrow about them. x

Trish,
Just catching up on posts, (been busy out at the house all weekend) and I'm thrilled to read you and Flynn are home and doing great!! Yay!! :D
I still can't get over how well Flynn has done in only a few days post-op! Amazing!!
I bet you both needed that 10 hours of good sleep in your own home, nothing like getting back in your own bed, especially after what you and Flynn had going on these last days.

I'm so happy things have been going so well!! Ole Flynny boy is such a hero dog!! Hope he has his bark back and will soon be up to his usual antics!! Hoping for good results on all the histology! :)
As for that box of chocolate...we all needed it while waiting for the good news about Flynn!! What a nice story about Minnie, your sister's new kitty. It warms my heart whenever I hear of a sweet animal whose been waiting for a chance and gets a new home. I'm sure that's one happy cat!!
Barbara

Welcome to the family Minstrel. Isn't that so sweet. I'm glad your sister went back and brought home the newest member of the family.

And Timmy, wow, now that is some good inspiration!! Go Timmy!!!

Flynn, well, he just keeps on being amazing. :) I don't know how long you are going to be able to keep him calm and settled. He has found his voice again and has much to say about everything. LOL

Things just happened in such a whirl wind, it's probably really good to be able to just be home, relax and catch your breath (a few well needed winks too!)

huggers
Sharlene and Molly Muffin

Hey Trish

Just checking in to see how you are tonight?

Sounds like you got on well at the vets earlier, nice they make such a fuss of him, such a better experience for you both

Work has already started, really really not in the mood for this today so roll on 17:30

Xxxxxx

Work, oh dear what a four letter word but necesary:p:p:p

I have to run, just wanted to check in on you and Flynn, make sure you are both ok.;);)

Quick check in too as I should be working, but haven't found my motivation to jump back in now that I'm home. LOL
Maybe later. Or not. :)

hugs,
Sharlene and Molly Muffin

Hi everyone!!

I am turning into such a slob this week!! Here it is lunchtime and I am still not dressed, so pleased I took this week off work so we can both recover without rushing anything!! :eek::eek:

Flynny is getting annoyed at what he thinks is my laziness :rolleyes: He looks hopeful everytime I move that we are going to get out of this boring house and go have some fun. Alas, poor dog... you need to rest and they only way he will do that is if I do it too (well that's my excuse anyway!) :D I have taken him to the beach on a short leash and he looked ready to go running!!

No results yet, they did say they would hopefully get back to me by today and were going to email them but I guess they have not arrived back from lab. There were quite a few samples so maybe it is taking a while to process them all. I sent the IMS an email this morning, just updating on how well he is doing. Hopefully I will hear soon.

Thanks for checking on us! Sorry you have had to work Mel, Addy, Sharlene would be great if you would pop over here and be lazy and chill with Flynny and me!! xx

Good to hear that you and Flynn are having lazy days, its just what you both need to get your strength back up. As you say it was quite a few samples so may just take a little longer to get back to you. Fingers crossed this end that all goes well :D

if any two deserved some lazy days- it is you and Flynn.:):):):)

As if the 4 letter word work is not bad enough on a Monday we got the worse four letter word (SNOW) besides:eek::eek::eek:

Awew- just kidding, it is not so bad:D:D:D:D hope you get the biopsy results soon, I have to go see if Tina got hers yet too. Dont you hate the dang waiting game?

I say you both deserve some lazy days, so enjoy it for all of us! :)
I must have been thinking of you and Flynn when I didn't want to get out of bed this morning :) :)

Hopefully the results will be back soon. Waiting for results is the worst part of it.

hugs,
Sharlene and Molly Muffin

Hi Tracy, Addy and Sharlene

I got a few choice 4-letter words I could use myself about now. The boys in the school over my back fence are having a cricket competition over the past couple of days... every time a ball whacks into our fence Flynny starts barking, I just went out and nicely asked them to stop using the fence as a backstop :rolleyes: sounds peaceful so far! Honestly, can't have that racket interrupting our laziness!!

We are going to Mum and Dad's for dinner tonight so at least he will get an outing and I will stop by the beach for a quick potter.

I have checked email so many times I think it the results do pop in there I will get such a fright and be too scared to read them!!

Anticipation! It's make meeee crazy (okay that's not really how it goes, but then I'm no Carly Simon either. LOL)

You let those whipper snappers know there is a recuperating puppy in that yard and a woman on mental health week that they best not be disturbing. :)

Have fun at mum and dads!
hugs,
Sharlene and Molly Muffin

IMS Mike just called with results that he received this afternoon.

I am trying to make sense of all he has just told me! In a nutshell this mass is all out which is great. The histology is a hepatocellular tumour which includes carcinomas and adenomas. It is well differentiated which means it is slow growing. It was such a bad phone connection and I was struggling to hear him so hopefully I can make more sense out of it when he emails the results. I think he said that it looks more like an adenoma but the other 3cm mass has the same characteristics which makes them think it is more likely carcinoma as an adenoma would usually just have one mass. Keeping in mind these were present before he had his original liver resection two years ago but at least 3 biopsies have been benign.

The so called node, might not be a node but a small deposit on his mesentery and again that has been biopsied twice and benign.

Ohhh the written report has just arrived, I will copy and paste so you can help me make head or tail of it!

Patient: Flynn.

Gross Examination: The submission consisted of a 90 x 60 x 50 mm poorly defined mass within a liver lobe, a 25 x 18 x 12 mm

irregular sample of liver margin without obvious anatomic orientation, a 12 x 7 mm diameter core sample of the right medial liver

lobe, a 7 x 3 mm diameter sample of duodenum, a 5 x 2 x 1 mm sample of distal jejunum, a 20 x 20 x 15 mm mesenteric mass

within fatty tissue, and a 12 x 1 mm diameter left renal needle core biopsy. The presumed surgical margins of the liver lobe

mass were inked and multiple sections taken from this tissue, along with the other submitted samples.

Histopathology: The intestinal samples were assessed according to the criteria for duodenum described by the WSAVA

Gastrointestinal Standardisation Group.

Liver mass: The mass is an expansile non-encapsulated neoplasm composed of variably sized lobules of epithelial cells.

These form thick anastomosing cords that are separated by sinusoidal spaces and fine fibrous stromal tissue. The cords

resemble normal hepatocyte plates and occasionally surround large vessels resembling central veins, but are irregularly

arranged with large vaguely reticular areas of hepatocyte vacuolation, occasional individual cell necrosis and a focus of fibrosis.

Portal tracts are only seen close to the tumour margin (presumed entrapped normal structures), and there are foci of

extramedullary haematopoiesis (EMH) and lymphocytes, plasma cells and macrophages with yellow/green/golden pigment

(bile/lipofuscin and haemosiderin) scattered throughout the tumour. The neoplastic cells are cuboidal with moderate amounts of

eosinophilic cytoplasm. Their nuclei have mild variation in size and shape (round to irregular) with stippled chromatin and

occasionally distinct nucleoli; some bi- or multi-nucleated cells are seen. Mitotic figures are uncommon (2 per 10 400x fields).

The adjacent liver is compressed with multifocal vascular dilation, multifocal hepatocyte vacuolation or atrophy, some areas of

nodular hyperplasia, portal fibrosis and biliary/vascular proliferation, focal thrombosis, multifocal inflammatory cells and EMH as

described above, and neutrophils in sinusoids. Sections from the inked margin contain only areas of nodular hyperplasia.

Liver margin: Sections from this sample contain vaguely defined areas of widely and irregularly spaced portal tracts and central

veins, separated by irregular and sometimes thick cords of hepatocytes that may be vacuolated. There are no mitotic figures.

There are similar foci of inflammation and EMH as described above.

Right medial liver lobe: Sections from this sample contain similar areas of neoplastic hepatocyte cords as described for the liver

mass. There is a small area of thrombosis in one section.

Duodenum: The sample is well preserved, and all layers except the serosa are distinct. Long slender uniform villi are present in

variably well-oriented sections. These have a normal layer of columnar epithelium with approximately 2-12 goblet cells per 100

enterocytes and 7-20 intraepithelial lymphocytes per 400x stretch of epithelium. Central lacteals are not seen in longitudinal

section, but do not appear to represent more than 25% of the width of the villous lamina propria.

The crypts are aligned perpendicularly to the surface, with narrow luminal area and columnar epithelial lining containing

occasional goblet cells. They rarely contain a neutrophil or eosinophil. The mucosa has a narrow band of stroma, with 1-2

stromal cells separating crypts.

In the villous lamina propria, approximately 25% of the area of one 400x field is occupied by lymphocytes and plasma cells.

Between the crypts there are 1-2 lymphocytes or plasma cells. There are about 4-20 eosinophils and 0-1 neutrophils per 400x

field. The other intestinal layers seen are within normal histological limits.

Distal jejunum: The sample is well preserved and all layers except the serosa are distinct. Long slender uniform villi are present

in variably well-oriented sections. These have a normal layer of columnar epithelium with approximately 10-50 goblet cells per

100 enterocytes and 15-20 intraepithelial lymphocytes per 400x stretch of epithelium. Central lacteals are rarely seen, and

occupy 25-50% of the width of the villous lamina propria.

The crypts are aligned perpendicularly to the surface, with narrow luminal area and columnar epithelial lining containing

occasional goblet cells. The mucosa has a narrow band of stroma, with 1-2 stromal cells separating crypts.

In the villous lamina propria, approximately 25% of the area of one 400x field is occupied by lymphocytes and plasma cells.

Between the crypts there are 1-2 lymphocytes or plasma cells. There are about 15-20 eosinophils and 0-14 neutrophils per 400x

field. The other intestinal layers seen are within normal histological limits.

Mesenteric mass: This is a nodule composed of areas of neoplastic hepatocyte cords similar to those described for the liver

mass. The cells are a little more pleomorphic and less well organised, with a slightly higher mitotic index (6 per 10 400x fields).

This is bounded by a layer of fibrous tissue, separating it from adjacent mesenteric adipose tissue. No recognisable lymphoid

Page 1 of 2

tissue or other tissue architecture is seen.

Left kidney: Sections from the sample are generally well preserved, and consist of renal cortex with vessels, tubules and 13-16

glomeruli. The glomeruli have mild segmental glomerular tuft (probably mesangial) and capsular thickening by bright

eosinophilic material, synechiae, and rare glomerular sclerosis with absence of Bowman's space. The eosinophilic material is

PAS-positive and positive for collagen with Verhoeff's Van Gieson.

Tubular basement membranes and the interstitium are mildly multifocally thickened by eosinophilic material as described

above. The interstitium also contains a few scattered lymphocytes, plasma cells and neutrophils, and a few macrophages

containing yellow/green granules. Arterioles are within normal histological limits, and vascular disease is not identified.

Diagnosis:

Liver mass: Well-differentiated hepatocellular tumour.

Liver margin: Multifocal nodular hyperplasia.

Right medial liver lobe: Well-differentiated hepatocellular tumour.

Duodenum: Very mild to moderate eosinophilic enteritis.

Distal jejunum: Moderate eosinophilic and mild to moderate neutrophilic enteritis.

Mesenteric mass: Well-differentiated hepatocellular tumour.

Left kidney: Glomerulopathy with mild lymphoplasmacytic interstitial nephritis.

Comment: Mike, the hepatocellular tumours are well-differentiated and hard to call. As individual masses I would be comfortable

with calling them adenomas, and multiple hepatocellular adenomas have been reported; however the existence of a mesenteric

mass suggests that they could in fact be very well-differentiated metastatic carcinomas. The only scenarios I can imagine that

would allow the mesenteric mass to be benign would be if it was originally an island of ectopic liver (which presumably would

have been found at one of the previous surgeries), or a slowly growing island of neoplastic tissue detached from an adenoma.

With regard to the intestine, there is definite enteritis according to the WSAVA criteria; as you know this could be consistent with

inflammatory bowel disease, if other causes of intestinal inflammation are ruled out.

With regard to the kidney, as you know light microscopic diagnosis of glomerulopathies is limited because the nature and

location of glomerular changes (e.g. eosinophilic deposits, cellularity) are very difficult to determine without further testing. As

you are aware, the WSAVA currently has a working group attempting to better characterise small animal renal disease using

electron microscopy and immunofluorescence. This is the standard of care in human medicine for investigation of glomerular

disease. As a further complication, tubulointerstitial disease can result in secondary glomerular damage, making it difficult to

determine which was the primary lesion, especially in "end-stage" kidneys.

In this case the glomerular and interstitial lesions are both mild. I do not see amyloid deposition or a vasculopathy. The

glomerular deposits seem to be an increase in mesangial matrix with some fibrous tissue, and no recognisable inflammatory

cells; therefore this could be membranous glomerulonephritis, or perhaps simply glomerulosclerosis as part of generalised

renal disease. Collagenofibrotic glomerulonephropathy is another, ostensibly rare idiopathic differential diagnosis.

Leptospirosis generally causes more interstitial inflammation and fibrosis than seen here, but can cause glomerular damage in

chronic infection.

Ref. Cullen JM and Popp JA, In: Tumours in Domestic Animals, 4th edn, Meuten DJ ed., p. 491.

Ref: Histopathological Standards for the Diagnosis of Gastrointestinal Inflammation in Endoscopic Biopsy Samples from the

Dog and the Cat: A Report from the World Small Animal Veterinary Association Gastrointestinal Standardization Group. J. Comp.

Path. 2008,Vol.138, S1-S43.

Vet Communication

I am pleased to hear that Flynn is recovering well. His histology report is back and is attached. As you can see it is very

thorough. The good news is that the liver tumours appear benign and surgical removal of the larger mass before it caused

problems was a good decision. The 3 cm right liver lobe mass was biopsied only, not removed, so there is still heptocellular

tumour in Flynn's abdomen. Hopefully this will be slow growing. I have recommended repeat ultrasound imaging in 2-3

months to assess this. Metronomic chemotherapy +/- palladia are possible medical treatment options. These are unlikely to

be all that helpful though.

The gut biopsies show evidence of IBD. I have briefly discussed further management of this with diet and perhaps a 2 month

course of prednisone once his surgery wound has healed. Trish will talk to you further about this. Monitoring urine protein loss

is recommended if prednisone is started - hopefully the glomerulonephritis will settle at the same time.

Please contact me with any further questions, I am currently working Tuesdays and Wednesdays in medicine.

Regards,

Blardy hell, that is long. Sorry about that.

I think I am generally OK with it all, slow growing is good, mention of benign is good, but question if there are these different areas that it could be carcinoma not so good.. Still even if it is, it is slow growing as they have been there so long already.

Prednisone for two months is a bit scary though!! He thought it could fix the bowel and help kidneys at the same time.

Sorry if I made anyone's head hurt... mine is and I have text Local Mike to read it and call when he has time. x

I'm sorry Trish, but I don't have a clue about what any of that meant and have I read every word TWICE!!! From what I gathered, the mass definitely needed to come out, so that was a good call. Possible chemotherapy was mentioned, although it didn't seem to think it would do much good. Does that mean that some of the biopsies were Malignant? They mentioned slow growing?? I wish I could be of some help.:confused:

So, I'll just send tons more love instead and belly rubs for our wonder boy. Xxxxx

Wow Kathy, I think you are fab for reading it once let alone twice :)

From what I understand it is not obviously malignant, that mesenteric mass he talks about is the one thing that is confusing everything. That had popped up on the scan from one year ago at the other pet hospital and before adrenalectomy. So I think if it was the malignant kind it would have caused further trouble but there was no sign of any other spread in his abdomen at this latest surgery. So maybe it is just an "island" that has appeared and is surrounded by fibrotic tissue and it has not spread.

Local Mike, bless his cotton socks just txt and he has received the report also and wants to talk to me to discuss and decipher tonight :)

So at this stage I am going to go with multiple adenomas with an island of tissue... oh plus the glomerulonephritis and IBD :eek: Oh IMS Mike did say the liver troubles could have sparked the renal and bowel problems too. I said to him that I was anxious about Prednisone especially with Flynn having only one adrenal but he is not concerned about that and thinks the higher potential benefits outweigh the risk of the side effects from the Pred. He said he is not a fan of long term steroid use in any dog but this will help him. :eek:

Good thing for local Mike because that stuff is over my head for sure!

That's a lot of information, but the summary is easy to understand. Sounds like for the most part it is good! He mentioned IBD..is that inflammatory bowel disease? Has Flynn had symptoms of this in the past? Is that what necessitates possible use of prednisone?
They sure were very thorough..seems like he covered everything.
The larger mass benign..excellent news..and also says it was a good thing it was removed before it caused trouble. The 3cm which was biopsied and it says it could be well-differentiated cells...so slow growing and slow spreading. Though this finding was not definitive. All in all it seems like a good outcome.

How is Flynn doing today? Is his bark back yet? :p

Barbara

Wow Trish, that is a lot to wrap your head around. I read it all but need to re-read before I post my comments/questions. But my preliminary take is that it seems good overall. I need to go back over the glomerulonephritis and IBD findings again also. I love how detailed it all is. Your report makes Jasper's histology report look pretty simple and remedial :o.

So glad to see that Flynn is feeling good and continuing to recover well, what a strong boy he is. More later Trish, I need to see if I can get a few more winks before work! Thanks for your comments and support on Jasper's thread, so sweet of you to take the time with all you have going on!

Hugs,
Tina and Jasper xo

Trish, that all sounds pretty good to me....what I understand of it anyway! :D

I sure am hoping all this means the Protein Pup Band has a few more gigs to play!!!!!!:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

Gosh Trish that,s a lot of information, but I did understand some of it as it reads a bit like Woodys which you helped me understand. I think it all sounds pretty good especially if slow growing is mentioned. My last JRT had IBD for 3 years so I,m pretty clued up on that subject if you need any help with it (probably the only thing I,m clued up on lol). I hope Mike can talk you through all this in laymans terms please let us know how you get on.:D

Quote:

---

The gut biopsies show evidence of IBD. I have briefly discussed further management of this with diet and perhaps a 2 month
course of prednisone once his surgery wound has healed. Trish will talk to you further about this. Monitoring urine protein loss
is recommended if prednisone is started - hopefully the glomerulonephritis will settle at the same time.
Please contact me with any further questions, I am currently working Tuesdays and Wednesdays in medicine.
Regards,

---

http://veterinarynews.dvm360.com/dvm...le/detail/3000


You can ask their opinion of using budesonide rather than prednisone.
I think I gave you the link a while back about it, I can try to find it again.:):)

Thanks to you all for reading it! Trixie - IBD is Irritable Bowel Disease. Thanks for reposting that link Addy, I do have that other article saved in my favourites so will have to dig it out and have another read. The funny thing is since his surgery his poops have never been better!! Nice colour, firm, barely a scrape of mucous, so that has been good. They have generally been good since we did that month of hypoallergenic food, he absolutely hated it and lost weight but it seemed to do the trick.

Local Mike txt last night quite late and he had a really busy evening clinic and had just got home and wanted a bit longer to digest the report. He just rang and wants to meet me for coffee at 11.30 this morning at a café once his surgery finishes so we can discuss it in person. Yikes I hope this is not bad news and he doesn't want me in a mess at the practice :eek:

Just popping in to say good luck with Mike as if I,ve timed it correctly you should be there with him by now. Off to bed will pop in, in the morning see how it all went.

Tracy x

Yowser! A face to face over coffee with the vet. Hey, my vet doesn't do that. I'm going to tell her that yours does! :) Maybe IMS mike sent information about going forward treatment for him to do that he wants to talk about.
I thought the report sounded really good over all. The one that was slow growing before, is expected to remain slow growing, so other than just doing checks to keep an eye on it, hopefully nothing further on that front.

Hugs,
Sharlene and Molly Muffin

Well that was a very productive Flynn day!

Met with Mike and we went through the whole report and clarified it in both our heads. I had written him a list of my questions that we went through and the ones he did not know plus a couple of his own, he emailed to IMS Mike who replied within the hour! Wow, I am seriously impressed with them.

So we have come up with a plan going forward as you know how much I love a good plan!

Flynn's New Plan
Liver:
Continue Samilyn
Recheck LFT in 1/12 22nd December
Rescan in 2 - 3/12 (2 months is 22nd Jan)
Renal/BP:
Continue Benzapril and Amlodipine
Fish Oil
Hopefully Prednisone will help kidneys too
Recheck UPC, BP December
IBD:
Start Prednisone 22nd Dec (one month postop)
Diet - keep as is? He said to assess response, how do we do that as he is not symptomatic at the moment?
?add Azothiaprine later on
Continue probiotic and metamucil
Arthritis:
Not convinced about continuing Pentosan, esp after Alastair told me the mass was full of blood, that drained out when he removed it. Maybe we just see how he goes without it?
Continue bone and joint supplement

Lots of info but you have a plan! I'll have to read it again. Just stopped in to say hi and check on you both. Lazy days are good. I get one tomorrow Sick day! Ugh. I'm so tired of being sick. Darn grade 1s and their germs ;). At least I get to cuddle poodles all day.

Trish that sounds like a good plan you,ve got there. How is Flynn doing today ?

Sounds like a good plan, Trish. We all love plans. I am not sure how you will know if it work without symptoms. That was why I did not want to do the full treatment for Zoe's helicobacter well, that and I read it often just comes back.:confused: I guess you just do the treatment and see if his stools are firm, a good color with no tail or mucus.


Have a great day with Flynn and emjoy relaxing!!!

Hi all

Tracy, Flynny is doing OK. He is a little quieter if anything today and was not in a rush to get out of bed. He has been off his Temgesic 24 hrs so that might just be messing with him. He is so bored too, we have had absolutely yuck weather last two days, unseasonably rainy and cold I have had had to put the heater back on and even a couple of thunderstorms, not that they bother this boy though. I took him for a little walk up the beach last night between showers and that perked him up.

I think you are right Addy, just watch and see. Hopefully it knocks it on the head but the prednisone dose is worrying me. 1mg/kg twice a day for 3 weeks, then weaning it down for 3 weeks at a time. Mike said he always has a hard time with nurses and prednisone doses for their dogs as we think it is too much, but he had a long explanation of how certain receptors in dogs are lower than humans so they need higher doses of pred. Still a worry, but he has checked the pred protocol with IMS and he agrees. He is thinking the scratching is possibly tied in with this problem and we hope to see an improvement there too.

Sorry you are feeling unwell Nikki, darn kids and her boogers :) Hope the poodle cuddling is just the remedy you need!

I have been researching liver adenomas vs well differentiated hepatocellular carcinomas and sending the articles to Mike. He will be sick of me before too long!! I guess the thing is even though adeonams are benign and carcinoma's not, the outcome is similar as they are both slow growing, both can get very big and have to come out. The question is what do we do if we find another that grows big like this one has. He still has one that is smaller than a golf ball in him now, this was tested and showed the same tumour of the big one that was resected. he was unable to take that at same time as it would have been to much liver loss at once and he had already taken 25%. Again it is not obviously cancerous but it is growing so do we put him through surgery again? I do not know the answer to that and IMS wants to talk to the surgeon about whether further surgical options in the future would be viable if Flynn runs into trouble, the surgeon is away this week, so the IMS wants to have that chat before he comments on the other smaller nodules seen. Surgeon told me in Auckland he did not think they looked particularly nasty.

So who knows, I work in a surgical field so perhaps do not have the fear of it in my boy. He has done so well this time he has totally amazed me, you would think he had an appendicectomy or something minor. The only time I have really felt bad for him was those two days in hospital as he absolutely hates that, but my thoughts were that discomfort for him was majorly outweighed by the benefits. I would consider doing it again if it would help him later on.

Today is the 2 year anniversary from his first liver resection!! So the fact he is still here with us tells his vets that this tumour is not that invasive.

My gawd I can blather, sorry about that! Anyway, my days of laziness are over, I have hair appointment this morning which like Sharlene is well overdue, then a friend to visit who has had her fair share of troubles lately and tonight is fish n chip night with the family at my parents. Tomorrow, I have to drive down to Palmerston North (where old pet hospital located) for a funeral. A colleague died unexpectedly earlier in the week, such a shock as my last memory of her is from only a couple of weeks back at our conference and we were sipping a glass of pinot gris admiring the view at a most gorgeous winery for a conference dinner. So I want to go and pay my respects at the celebration of her life. About a 2 1/2 hr drive there and back and funeral is at 10.30 so an early start and a day for Flynn with his grandparents. I really think I should stop here :D xx