Winston, 8 year old westie with adrenal tumor

[Carole Alexander]

I hope Irma's turn is in your and Winston's favor; regardless, it sounds as if you have come up with a creative solution to solve the soft food issue. I just wanted to say that Winston is an incredible trooper and you are such an excellent mom. So glad you found each other. Please stay safe. Best,

Carole

[WinstonTheWestie]

I thought I'd give a quick update from us...I stop by here a couple times a week to check in even if I don't post often.

We're now about 7.5 months post surgery. We made it through hurricane Irma with no problem...never even lost power, thank goodness. Winston has continued to do well, and life with one adrenal gland is going fine. He flew home with me (in the cabin under the seat, of course) for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. We saw the IMS in December, and she did another ultrasound. She didn't see anything concerning for regrowth of his adrenal mass and the thing on his pancreas hasn't grown at all. She doesn't think it's really a tumor after all, she thinks it is just 'extra' normal pancreas tissue. I don't really care as long as it stays small! She told us to come back in 6 months for another check, which will be in early June. Last month he started to grow a little benign eyelid mass that I had removed with cryosurgery (freezing) under sedation, but other than that he's been normal. I've definitely been blessed to have him do so well.

[labblab]

Hello again, Kellie, and thanks so much for this wonderful update on Winston! Thank you, also, for taking the time to write such a helpful reply on our new thread about laparoscopic adrenal procedures. I think your points are well taken, and add a lot of food for thought.

Please give Winston a big hug from his family here, and definitely please keep the updates coming. It’s a joy to share in his adventures!

Marianne

[Squirt's Mom]

Hi Kellie,

So good to hear from you again and especially good to hear Winston is doing so very well!

Hugs,
Leslie

[WinstonTheWestie]

Back again...

We went to the IMS last Tuesday. She did a 'senior panel' of bloodwork (CBC, chemistry, T4, urinalysis), an abdominal ultrasound, and chest x-rays. Bloodwork was sent to Idexx but he got a good report on the x-rays and ultrasound. His xrays were normal, no heart murmur or anything, and she said his ultrasound was the same as last time with no signs of his adrenal tumor regrowing. She said the liver looked maybe a little big on ultrasound but not on the xrays but it was nothing to worry about. Her exact words were that he looked really good considering everything he's been through...

But then we got the bloodwork results and his blood sugar was pretty low. Like mid 50s and normal is closer to 80-120ish. She said it could have been an error and wanted to recheck, especially since he is acting fine. We went back on Friday for a nurse appointment and they checked his glucose with one of those immediate hand held machines. This time the readings were 38-42. I made them retest it four times because I was just so sure it had been an error at first. But no. The IMS called me later that day and we went back again to get more blood for an insulin-to-glucose ratio, which would tell us if it his sugar was low because of too much insulin production. I bought one of those glucose meters and checked him myself and it was 40 yesterday. We got the ratio test back today and it's over twice the normal range. So it looks like that thing on his pancreas all along really is an insulin-producing tumor. Luckily for us, she still thinks it's the rare benign version though since it has been there for sure about 11 months now (has it really been almost eleven months since his adrenalectomy?!) and likely longer. It seems like it has become functional and started secreting insulin over the last 6 months.

So now, she wants to put him on a really small dose of prednisone. Like 1 mg per day which is 0.1 mg/kg. She says that will help keep his blood sugar up. If it goes too low he may have seizures. She said he shouldn't have any of the side effects of prednisone at that dose, but as the tumor grows he may have to increase the dose. I so hope that doesn't happen...I don't want iatrogenic Cushings! I started giving him bedtime snacks (which he is already a fan of) to make sure he has good blood sugar at bedtime since he eats dinner at 5 pm. I may try to come home at lunchtime and feed him three meals a day instead of two. Anything to keep his blood sugar up. In theory we could do another surgery to remove the part of his pancreas with the tumor, but during his first surgery they said they'd have to take 2/3 of the pancreas to remove that nodule so I don't think that's realistic and I don't want to put him through that. We'll manage his signs and blood sugar as long as we can with food and medications and hope this thing really is benign.

Anyway, I just wanted to update our thread even though we've moved past the Cushing's scare and adrenalectomy. This forum was such a helpful resource last year when I was considering surgery I feel like I need to continue to tell our story so it's documented for people considering adrenalectomy. Hopefully that is okay.

[labblab]

Kellie, not only is it OK, we’re grateful to have you returning with updates! I’m very sorry that you and Winston have yet another challenge to deal with, but you are educating us right alongside yourselves. Every piece of information we can learn may end up helping us to help another dog further down the road.

We’ll surely hope this pancreatic tumor truly is benign, and that you’ll be able to continue to manage things via the pred and dietary support. Do let us know, though. We’re sticking right beside you both!

Best wishes to both you and Winston,
Marianne

[Squirt's Mom]

Oh we are delighted to hear from you and Winston again! Ya'll are family so you are more than welcome here anytime!

If you are up to it, give some serious thought to home cooking for Winston. I think you will get much better control over the BG doing that VS using commercial foods. There are several individuals who design diets for dogs as well as universities like UC Davis who has some standard menus for various conditions...or used to any way, I haven't checked them out lately. I have used other consultants but recommend Monica Segal. You can read about her here: (and not I don't get any compensation for recommending her. I just trust her. )
https://www.monicasegal.com/

Do stay in touch and let us know how that sweet boy is doing!
Hugs,
Leslie

[Caseycase01]

Check this out

http://cancercurefordogs.com/information.htm

[WinstonTheWestie]

Just checking in with my Cushing's friends...I hope everyone is doing well! Winston is doing pretty good. He had a recheck with his IMS back in late September. No sign that his adrenal tumor has regrown! His insulinoma is still there, and I have opted not to do another surgery. I'd rather continue to manage low blood sugar than diabetes at this point, so no more surgery for him. His blood sugar has been at the low end of normal with a tiny bit of prednisone. He has always had bad side effects at higher doses of prednisone, but he's on less than the 'physiologic' dose of prednisone and his sugar is consistently between 70-80 (65-120 is normal). It seems like the prednisone might be helping his IBD too. I haven't needed to increase the prednisone yet. We just started feeding 3x per day to see if I can get his blood sugar even closer to the middle of normal.

Back in July after my last update, I decided I wanted to get a portrait painted of Winston. I found a wonderful artist who uses a photo reference to create super realistic, digital hand-drawn portraits (like she draws them into Photoshop or something similar) that she then prints on canvas. I haven't received my canvas yet, but she finished his portrait and it is amazing. I know lots of you are as crazy about your dogs as I am so thought I'd share her work in case someone was interested. The portrait was an investment, but I truly believe it was worth the cost to have this lasting momento of my beautiful Winston. The artist's name is Laura, and we website/Facebook is called the Painted K9. https://www.thepaintedk9.com/ Winston is about the 5th photo on her page...the only Westie. I am blown away at how realistic the painting is and how wonderfully she captured him! Here's the direct link to his portrait too: Winston's Portrait.

[Harley PoMMom]

Thank you for the update and I'm glad to hear that Winston is doing well! The portrait is just beautiful!!!!!