Molly, 13 yr, shih tzu - lhasa aspo - Molly has passed

[judymaggie]

Sure wish Molly had a better response to the latest increase! I know it is frustrating that you have to wait for the next increase but it definitely sounds like the best choice.

[molly muffin]

Her coat still looks thin to me. She still isn't an easy eater or drinker although maybe drinks a bit more than she use to. Again that could be my imagination. Actually. I think everything is the same as normal. She does have a thing about begging at night now but it isn't food related. It's treat motivated cause she always has food left in her bowl.

Yea I'm not enjoying the work thing at all right now. I have to start usually around 6:30 am. Stop at 7, get ready for work, walk and feed Molly. Drive to the office about 20 minutes to be there for 8:30 and work all day. Plus cover anything evening or weekends that comes up. It's exhausting and I think mostly I just sleep when not working. This goes till January so rough schedule.
I have a gala dinner thing tomorrow. Ought and that is going to be tricky as I will need to work from home and take a long lunch maybe get ready and then finish working and leave right afterwards.
Plus somehow planning a baby shower too. Lol. My life is crazy.
I did manage to get one day off in mid December. Don't even want to know how I have to manage that day! Something like do some work at 5 am before heading to the airport on the Friday and then fly home on Sunday to be there for Monday.

Okay now I'm just whining and this is about Molly. Rofl. I'm puzzled about the cortisol level. Wondering about the compounder if that is the issue. Looked into pricing name be
Rand vetroyl and it is way expensive here. My IMS had told me that cost wise they seldom use vetroyl because it isn't affordable and many people won't treat when faced with the cost they go straight to trilostane.

[Budsters Mom]

Whine away anytime. We are multipurpose listeners! I managed to get five weeks off, but had to end up having emergency surgery to do it. I don't think you want to go that route!

Molly is in the best hands ever. You'll figure it out!

[addy]

You can complain about work as we all can sympathize and appreciate the complaints as we feel the same way
I think if Molly is feeling normal, you made the right decision.

Everything seemed to push up Zoe's numbers, the eyes, then the ruptured growth on her back, finally the tumor. We never really know what else might be in play.

You need a girly drink

[molly muffin]

You need a girly drink

Make that several!!

My fear was that the adrenal tumor had grown but they said it hasn't. Couldn't find anything else tumor wise that might be causing it to go up.
I'm going to do,a comparison read between last two ultrasounds and blood work to see if I see anything. When I get the chance. She is just bizarre sometimes.

Yea she acts the same to me. Hope I'm not too close and not noticing something that I should. Pretty sure I have become a chronic worrier. Lol.

Hugs you guys. You are the best. Not sure I wouldn't be I. The insane asylum without you all.

Nope Kathy. Not going the surgery route to get time off doesn't sound fun to me. I hope you are on the road to recovery!! Besides work would probably hand me a laptop and say get to it right now. Lol.

Hugs

[labblab]

Sharlene, have you ever returned to your original compounder at the vet school/hospital, or have you stayed with the second pharmacy? You know I always get a bit suspicious when there are unpredictable results with compounded meds, and I know you are wondering about this yourself, too.

I hate it that Vetoryl is so darn expensive everywhere, and especially there in Canada. I keep trying to research more about the possibility of a generic finally coming out since I think Vetoryl's exclusive rights must surely be set to expire soon. You are finally now in reach of a brandname dosage of 20 mg., but two 10 mg. capsules daily would probably be pretty darn expensive for you. Still, the expense of all these ACTH retests mount up, as well. In January, maybe it would be worth it to bite the bullet for at least two weeks of the Vetoryl just to see whether or not that has any effect on Molly's results. Just a thought...

[Trish]

Stink!! Miss Molly never seems to give what we expect... I agree with Marianne... try the brand name... or else and I know I keep harping back to this. Adrenal tumours are notoriously hard to control cortisol... even though that nodule has not shown much growth she has had high cortisol as long as it has been there... how do they know its not that causing the problem? I know its different with Flynn's being a pheo, but his was only 1cm too and secreted enough catecholamines to stuff up his BP, eyes, kidneys.... so from what I can tell it does not have to be big to be secreting, its a hard call eh x

[molly muffin]

yea there is a big difference here in Canada between cost of the vetroyl and trilostane.

We'll see what her next test shows of how she has done over a period of time on this dose. I did test her at 3 weeks and it might have come down a bit.

I don't know, Trish, it could be that adrenal nodule, which is why I did the ultrasound to see if any change in it. They didn't think it was secreting because secreting adrenal tumors usually show growth (or so I was told) so they didn't think that was it.

Remember she never tested positive on an LDDS test either, even when her cortisol levels was very high, so I'm not entirely sure of if it is the nodule (which wasn't there during her first ultrasounds even though her cortisol was up) So we where thinking either, something else in her body made the cortisol go up, or pituitary tumor that was in an area that didn't necessarily respond to the LDDS test. (that tricky 5% who don't test positive on an LDDS).

She seems to be doing okay. Her worst problems are her back luxating patella and her eyesight that just gets worse (cataracts have increased in size over the past year). That makes her skittish and jumpy at shadows. She can still run around the house like a bat outta hell when it's time for eye drops though. (she hates any kind of drops, eye or ear)

[flynnandian]

my [glaucoma] eyedrops do sting a bit, so maybe molly's too?
or she is just a stubborn old lady who doesn't want eyedrops................
at least she still can be a feisty girl!

[molly muffin]

She is just stubborn, and they probably sting a bit. She doesn't like ear drops either, even more so than the eye drops and she has a lot of feisty left in her it seems. LOL