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Thread: Winston, 8 year old westie with adrenal tumor

  1. #51
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    Default Re: Winston, 8 year old westie with adrenal tumor

    Those pictures are amazing! Thank you for sharing! Good news about Winston!
    Joan, mom to my Angel Lena, Angel Gable, Angel Phoenix, Angel Doree, Cooper, Sibble, and now Raina.

  2. #52
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    Apr 2009
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    Default Re: Winston, 8 year old westie with adrenal tumor

    How is Winston doing?

  3. #53
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    Jul 2017
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    Default Re: Winston, 8 year old westie with adrenal tumor

    Pretty great, all things considered. He had an IMS visit back before Christmas. He had full bloodwork, an abdominal ultrasound and chest xrays. Everything came back perfect, numbers wise. She doesn't want to see him for another whole 6 months unless we have problems. There was no evidence of this adrenal tumor regrowing. The insulinoma in his pancreas is a little bigger, but we're managing that just fine. There hasn't been any evidence of spread yet, so my IMS thinks he may be a lucky dog with a more benign version of this cancer. His blood sugar is consistently at the low end of the normal range. He eats three times a day (we'll increase as the pancreatic tumor grows) and he takes a small amount of prednisone every morning. He does have side effects of the prednisone that obviously mimic the Cushbabies even though his dose is very low (1 mg once per day and he weighs 22 lbs). The IMS said that is less than they'd give a dog with Addisons, but even at that low dose he drinks and pees a lot. Unfortunately, it's necessary to keep his blood sugar up. I don't think I'll be increasing the dose though, because he is clearly very sensitive to it and I don't want to deal with iatrogenic Cushings. His fur is slightly thinner, but no one but me and the IMS can really tell. One benefit of the prednisone is that it is helping his IBD. Since starting the pred, even if he gets into human food he doesn't vomit. Today he actually got into a coworker's lunchbox in our shared office and helped himself to my coworker's lunch!
    Last edited by WinstonTheWestie; 01-24-2019 at 09:48 PM. Reason: Correct a typo.
    Kellie, dog-mom to Winston

  4. #54
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    Default Re: Winston, 8 year old westie with adrenal tumor

    I'm so glad to hear that, over all, he is doing well, you're doing a wonderful job taking care of your sweet boy!!!

  5. #55
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    Jun 2012
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    Canada
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    Default Re: Winston, 8 year old westie with adrenal tumor

    Hi Kellie, Just saw you online and hope that you and Winston are both doing really well.
    How did Winstons portrait turn out? I went to the artist website and those are some beautiful paintings!

    hugs
    Sharlene
    Sharlene and the late great diva - Molly muffin (always missed and never forgotten)

  6. #56
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    Jul 2017
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    Default Re: Winston, 8 year old westie with adrenal tumor

    Nice to see you back around, Sharlene! The portrait turned out amazing...the artist re-did her website since the last time I looked at it, but I checked tonight and he is the only Westie on her dog portrait page. I love it! It is hanging in my bedroom currently. From across the room it looks like a photo since it's so realistic, but once you walk up to it you can see the brushstrokes and details.

    Both Winston and I are doing very well! His last IMS visit was back in December. Still no signs of his adrenal tumor growing back or spreading! His insulinoma is a little bigger, but his blood sugar has been pretty good. He got pancreatitis the first week of February and had to spend the night at the emergency hospital because he was so painful, then the IMS cut his dose of prednisone in half. He's barely on any now (0.5 mg total once a day, even less than they'd give an Addisons dog the IMS says) and the PU/PD side effects have gotten lots better. He eats four times a day plus gets treats between meals to keep the blood sugar up, but I think he's probably in hog heaven because of all that! He had an eyelid mass removed in March, then last week we removed two little skin masses that had gotten oozy/ulcerated...all benign, luckily! Our next IMS visit is in June, unless there are problems before then.
    Kellie, dog-mom to Winston

  7. #57
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    Default Re: Winston, 8 year old westie with adrenal tumor

    Well that is just fabulous to hear you are both doing well and the portrait definitely nice!

    He sure has had his issues of up and down it sounds like but coming through them all like a trooper.

    My friends westie is currently having a bout of recurring ear infections and it's just taking a real toil on her. Although she is just a sweet as every, but she's slowing down. I guess she is 15 now. Molly was about a year older than her when she came to their lives as just a wee little thing at about 8 weeks old. Luckily teeth and that ear thing is all she has had to go through but the ear is pretty bad now. The pancreatic episode is one of those that really scares me, it just hurts them so much, pain wise. Hard to see and not be able to help them. As long as his blood sugar stays fine (bet he loves the treats and 4 meals!!!) then he'll be just fine I'm sure.
    Sharlene and the late great diva - Molly muffin (always missed and never forgotten)

  8. #58
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    Jul 2017
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    Florida
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    Default Re: Winston, 8 year old westie with adrenal tumor

    Hello Cushing's friends! Just popping in, catching up on everyone's threads and thought I'd update Winston's.

    Winston's most recent IMS checkup went well. Still no signs of the adrenal tumor regrowing or spreading...not that we really expect it to spread since the pathology said benign. His insulinoma is getting bigger still, but no sign's it has metastasized yet and he's doing great. Even though he's on only 1/5 the dose of prednisone you'd give to an Addison's dog his size (0.5 mg total once a day, which is 0.05 mg/kg), he has mild iatrogenic Cushings. We didn't do a Stim or anything, but his one remaining adrenal gland is smaller on ultrasound when it used to be normal size. Luckily he doesn't have many signs of it, since we can't take him off of the pred and there isn't really any room to drop the dose any more than we have. He is always hungry (but that's no change, he's always been a chowhound) and he does drink more than he used to, but he can still hold it all day. Bloodwork was perfect except for low blood sugar, which is to be expected for him. So all told, I'm happy with where we are at. It's almost been 2 years since his adrenalectomy surgery, which is crazy! It was definitely a scary time, but I'm glad we did it.
    Kellie, dog-mom to Winston

  9. #59
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    Default Re: Winston, 8 year old westie with adrenal tumor

    Wow! Two years already! I'm so glad he's doing well, Kellie!
    Joan, mom to my Angel Lena, Angel Gable, Angel Phoenix, Angel Doree, Cooper, Sibble, and now Raina.

  10. #60
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    rural central ARK
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    Default Re: Winston, 8 year old westie with adrenal tumor

    Winston is showing how it's done! Way to go, Winston! Ya'll keep up the good work and let us hear from you any time you can.
    Hugs,
    Leslie
    "May you know that absence is full of tender presence and that nothing is ever lost or forgotten." John O'Donahue, "Eternal Echoes"

    Death is not a changing of worlds as most imagine, as much as the walls of this world infinitely expanding.

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