update on Sabi
Happy Samhain/Halloween, everyone! After that retarded 'vacation,' I'm looking forward to just spending a couple hours watching horror flicks, and getting a good night's sleep.
Around midday on Friday, the vet surgeon from Roanoke called, and we talked about Sabi's condition for a bit. Here's the gist: The only cure for Adrenal disease is the removal of the adrenal gland or the tumors on it. The symptoms can be managed long-term by hormone treatment, for which there are two options. Lupron is an injection that shuts off the adrenal gland for about a month at a time, requiring periodic trips to the vet. There's a newer drug, which is from Australia and very difficult to get here, called Deslorelin. Deslorelin is a hormone implant, and it can keep the ferret healthy for over a year. It costs twice as much as Lupron, but Dr. Finkler says it has been very, very successful.
Now, the medicines are only effective if the tumor is benign. If it's malignant, the only fix is surgery. There are basically two ways to determine if it is malignant (ultrasound is only partly accurate, and only really useful if the tumor is very large or black), and that is to either go in and look at it, or try the hormone therapy and see if it gets better. So, Finkler ordered some Deslorelin a few weeks ago, and after making it through the USDA, it is currently stuck in FDA-hell. The USDA doesn't know how the FDA got it, and the FDA are being jerks.
In any event, he hopes to have it within a few weeks, and Sabi will go in for her first implant. If the symptoms get better within a month, then, well, hooray! If not, we'll look at surgery.
I felt a lot better after talking to him about all of this. I so, so hope the meds will work!
Around midday on Friday, the vet surgeon from Roanoke called, and we talked about Sabi's condition for a bit. Here's the gist: The only cure for Adrenal disease is the removal of the adrenal gland or the tumors on it. The symptoms can be managed long-term by hormone treatment, for which there are two options. Lupron is an injection that shuts off the adrenal gland for about a month at a time, requiring periodic trips to the vet. There's a newer drug, which is from Australia and very difficult to get here, called Deslorelin. Deslorelin is a hormone implant, and it can keep the ferret healthy for over a year. It costs twice as much as Lupron, but Dr. Finkler says it has been very, very successful.
Now, the medicines are only effective if the tumor is benign. If it's malignant, the only fix is surgery. There are basically two ways to determine if it is malignant (ultrasound is only partly accurate, and only really useful if the tumor is very large or black), and that is to either go in and look at it, or try the hormone therapy and see if it gets better. So, Finkler ordered some Deslorelin a few weeks ago, and after making it through the USDA, it is currently stuck in FDA-hell. The USDA doesn't know how the FDA got it, and the FDA are being jerks.
In any event, he hopes to have it within a few weeks, and Sabi will go in for her first implant. If the symptoms get better within a month, then, well, hooray! If not, we'll look at surgery.
I felt a lot better after talking to him about all of this. I so, so hope the meds will work!