Shifting the tide at Shadowood

Life seems to occur in tides here at Shadowood. We can go for long stretches when all or most is peaceful and content - treasured periods of good health and good will among the interspecies family ranks. And then there are periods like the last nine months or so.

First, Bitsy was diagnosed with CRF last November. After struggling unsuccessfully to stabilize his condition for several months, we finally had to let him go when his condition crashed in Feb.

Then a few months later, Noddy (our 26 lb Lion King) experienced extreme pain one day and had to be rushed to the vet where he was erroneously diagnosed as diabetic. After two consecutive hypoglycemic episodes a week or two later (during which he had been receiving insulin), it was determined that he was not, in fact, diabetic. It appeared that his intense pain at diagnosis had been caused by a partial urinary blockage that cleared on the way to the vet.

Not long after that, Mew also presented with pain one afternoon and had to be taken to the vet. Again, it appeared to have been a partial blockage that cleared on its own. He seemed fine by the time I got him home, and a few days on antibiotics facilitated his return to good health.

Lamie had a soft growth at the base of one of her ears that had remained unchanged for several years. This summer, the growth started to grow and drain at the top, so I knew it was time for it to be removed. This was particularly worrisome because Lamie has a history of drug hypersensitivity, esp. to anesthetics and sedatives. I couldn't risk having her operated on at a small practice with insufficient monitoring equipment, so we packed her up in the car and drove 100 miles to Duluth to have the growth removed by a surgeon with a well equipped surgical facility. The excision was successfully completed with clean margins, but Lamie's ear on that side will probably never stand quite as erect as it once did. The tumor itself was classified as "benign or nearly benign". With any luck at all, it won't regrow.

Billy had a scabby area on the upper margin of one of his ears for several years. Last summer, Paul diagnosed it as an allergic response and treated it accordingly. The treatment had no effect, which didn't surprise me because I thought it looked more like cancer. The lesions got slowly worse. Earlier this summer Paul looked at the ear again and decided it was cancer, declaring that the only treatment he could offer was surgical removal of Billy's ear flap. Because Billy is in his late teens, I didn't want to put him through the stress and risk of surgery. The ear didn't seem to be bothering him much until several weeks ago when the lesions suddenly became much more active. After trying to treat them topically with antibiotic ointment, his whole ear became infected, and the lesions quickly spread downward. His ear was now causing him obvious discomfort and distress, so I had to do something.

"Something" was this morning. Joe took a personal day at work, and we got up at 4:00 to drive Billy to our surgeon in Duluth to do what he could to remove the tumor. Thank goodness we got him there before the tumor invaded his ear canal, or he would have required an ablation which I don't think I could have put him through. As it was, Billy had his entire ear flap removed this morning, all the way down to the base of his ear. The tumor is gone. The infection is gone. Billy's hearing should be unaffected, as should his sense of balance. He should recover just fine.

Unfortunately but not unexpectedly, Billy's pre-op bloodwork showed some kidney compromise. Both his BUN and creat are slightly elevated. The surgeon also palpated a small, pea-sized nodule on Billy's thyroid gland and suspects Billy is hyperthyroid. We will receive the results from that test at the beginning of next week. So, our tough old farm sentry is finally showing his age. He will decidedly NOT enjoy the nursing he may soon require, but for the meantime he is still eating well, interacting well, and will be enjoying life much more now that the sore, infected, cancerous ear is gone.

So, when I say that I REALLY hope little Roxie isn't pregnant, believe that I mean it. I need a break before Billy reaches the point of no return and puts me into "Intensive Care Nurse" mode.

Somebody send me a strong, young masseur, please. ;-)

Laurie

Addendum - Oh geez, I forgot to mention Weasel's mishap. Between Lamie's surgery a month ago and Billy's surgery today, Weasel got into a fight with somebody (Feather is my prime suspect) and developed a HUGE abscess on his back just in front of his left hip. Of course that necessitated an emergency trip to the vet, surgery to drain the abscess, and a week or two of flushing the "hole" twice daily with a Betadine solution, along with daily antibiotics.

Yep, 2007 has been a heck of a fun year here at Shadowood. :-o

Addendum to the addendum - Somer just jumped off my desk and puked all over the floor at my feet.

This message was edited Oct 12, 2007 4:13 PM