Max, 12, adrenal tumor

[06beagles]

Hi everyone,

I am Theresa, mom to beagles Max, Ebby and Tyler (and Desiree, Diesel, and Patience who have all passed on). I am writing regarding my baby boy Max. We brought him for an ultrasound today for intermittent vomiting over the last month or so. He has a history of colitis since age 2, controlled by diet and no other significant medical history. He had been having intermittent vomiting maybe once a week to every 10 days for the last month, seemed to sometimes occur on an empty stomach. I brought him to the vet to check his blood and have a lump aspirated last week. All bloodwork and urine came back good, no problems and the lump he has on his neck also came back as a lipoma (he has several, all aspirated to confirm they are benign lipomas).

I decided to do the ultrasound, figuring it is probably just IBD or gastritis (our other boy Tyler has IBD so I am familiar with some of the symptoms)but wanting to be sure. I was correct, they just think it is IBD/gastroenteritis but they incidentally found a tumor on his left adrenal gland. He has no symptoms of Cushings, no weight gain, polyuria/polydypsia. He has not had any episodes of fainting or anything other than this intermittent vomiting so this finding was shocking and totally unexpected.

The radiologist believes the tumor may be invading the blood vessels and feels it is most likely a malignancy. According to the ultrasound report "there is a miutilobular, poorly circumscribed mass on the left adrenal gland measuring 1.8 x 2 x 2 cm. There is a thrombus or tumoral extension into the phrenicoabdominal vessels, although it cannot be confirmed if it is penetrating the aorta. The right adrenal gland is slightly small measuring 4.5 mm". It is described as partially invasive, and an abdominal CT is recommended, ruling out adrenal carcinoma (non-functional), pheochromocytoma. We also did chest films while we were there to check for malignancy, those came back clear (yay for some good news), and he has a very slight heart murmur and a slightly enlarged left atrium although she feels these are very mild and not of much concern.

We are scheduled for the CT scan on Wednesday of next week and I am scared out of my mind and so stressed. These tumors seem to be so difficult to deal with from everything I read over the last several hours. I see some people on here have had successful adrenalectomies with their fur-kids while others have run into the complications and lost them post-op. I guess I am having such a hard time with this, well for several reasons really: Max does not seem sick, at least not sick in the way he should for having this type of tumor. Also, we have lost 3 dogs in the last 2 years to cancers...I feel like we can't catch a break no mater how diligent we are in caring for them (i.e. twice yearly checks at least, always doing routing blood screenings, checking every lump and bump). I am sure you can all relate, it's just frustrating and sad

Anyway, it isn't a very merry X-Mas, we cancelled our plans for today and tomorrow so we can stay home and spend time with the Max and the other 2 babies. I couldn't bear to leave him. He is our "first-born", we got him when he was 3 months old, 3 months after we got married. We always tell him he was such a sweet boy he sent us down the road to getting 5 more dogs!! It's all his fault He is the sweetest boy and I can't believe this is happening. I will try to keep up with posting about what is going on. I am already nervous about the anesthesia for the CT scan, I am going to read up on that now to see if there are special precautions as we don't want anything to cause complications with his BP or heart rhythm. So much research to do...Gosh this is a long post, sorry, but thank you for listening,

Sincerely,
Theresa and Max

[charliesam]

aw I feel so bad about poor Max and your entire situation , but I can understand completley. Christmas was cancelled at our house as well, but try to enjoy what you can. Look forward to hearing the results from Wednesday- good luck! We'll keep you posted when we know more. Merry Christmas!

[06beagles]

Hi, just an update. I have been researching adrenal tumors all weekend. From what I understand they are thinking Max may have a pheochromocytoma. In doing my research I have decided against doing the CT scan. The main point in doing it is to get a good look at how involved the tumor is with the vascular structures to see if it is even operable. This seems like such a scary operation with so many possible complications that right now I just don't feel it would be the right thing to do given the fact that he seems to be doing well. It's hard, I have been struggling all weekend trying to decide what is the right thing to do and second guessing myself along the way. Ultimately my gut says don't do the surgery, at least not right now.

I guess since he doesn't have any major symptoms I plan on monitoring the tumor with ultrasound every 2 months for now. I also want to regularly check his blood pressure and be sure he isn't positive for Cushings, possibly just start with a urine: cortisol test. He really doesn't have any Cushings symptoms but I want to be sure that he isn't at such an early stage that his symptoms haven't really shown themselves yet. I am hoping to be able to talk with my regular vet who I believe is on vacation this week to see what his thoughts are. Maybe I should talk with a surgeon or internal med specialist or oncologist to get their input and see what their experiences are with these tumors. Such a tough situation, I hope I am doing the right thing :/

[frijole]

Hi! My Annie has an adrenal tumor that they suspect is a pheo. They could not confirm it as she hasn't had high blood pressure. Yes it is a complicated surgery - one of the toughest they say for a vet but we have had dogs here that have had successful pheo surgery.

Same thing here - Annie's symptoms are hind leg weakness and periodic inappetance and occasional full body trembling. I have been doing acupuncture to relieve her leg pain and for her appetite and she has improved.

Sending big hugs and best wishes to dear Max. Kim