Tata Update: Pathology Result, New Picture

This was Tata yesterday evening. He ran. I don't mean walked around and explored. I mean he ran around like a healthy ferret, at least for a little while. Dr. Dan also called with his pathology results: everything was benign. His blood glucose is slowly dropping towards normal.

Bottom line: Tata is going to be just fine, at least for now.

Tata's bumpy (and expensive) road to recovery

Tata came home yesterday after a very long and trying holiday weekend. I learned yesterday at Avian & Exotic, that Tata's surgery was difficult. This isn't surprising with right adrenal surgery as part of the package. Add insulinoma and a tumor on the spleen and, of course, it was very invasive and difficult. What I learned from one of the vet techs is that they were very worried for Tata on Friday and were absolutely thrilled by what they saw yesterday. What happened in between wasn't so good.

After surgery Tata's blood glucose shot up. Temporary diabetes after insulinoma surgery is pretty normal until the pancreas starts working normally again. The insulinoma cells suppress normal pancreatic function, or so I've been told. Anyway, Tata's blood glucose went up over 500. Dr. Johnson decided to hospitalize him so he went to the Animal Emergency Hospital and Urgent Care in Raleigh. Dr. Wyatt there treated Tata when he had his seizure and also cared for Chin Soon at the end of her life. He's an excellent ferret vet but care at the emergency facility is insanely expensive. For a short emergency visit it's fine. For a long weekend, well...

Tata was put on insulin and his blood glucose came down. As the insulin wore off it would go way back up again. He wasn't stable. Dr. Johnson wanted to put Tata on glargene insulin, which is longer acting (12 hours) and is what Dr. Powers used for Chin Soon when she had the same problem. In Chin Soon's case the insulin was expensive but it worked well for her. Chin Soon only needed it for a few days. Then her pancreas started working again. Tata, unfortunately, did not tolerate the glargene well. His blood glucose crashed to 40 and he needed dextrose to get him back to the normal range. Then it spiked way up again. The very expensive insulin purchased for Tata turned out to be useless for him. He went back on regular, short acting insulin diluted in saline. His dose was one quarter of one unit. His blood glucose roller coaster continued through Sunday.

Tata was doing much better by yesterday but still needed insulin as of 5 AM. Dr. Dan decided to send him home and called in an insulin prescription to a pharmacy here in Eden. I came home with Tata, a shiny new, calibrated AlphaTrack glucometer and anti-inflammatory meds for the next couple of days. This was after getting a refresher course on how to give an insulin injection. I was told only to use the insulin if Tata's blood glucose went over 400 again.

The good news here is that Tata's blood glucose hasn't been that high. The highest reading so far was 320 and it's come down from there today. Dr. Dan's feeling that his pancreas was starting to work again appears to be correct. The hope was that Tata wouldn't need more insulin injections and so far that is what's happening.

The bad news is the cost. Six years ago Chin Soon's surgery, four day hopitalization and aftercare added up to an over $2000 bill. With the emergency clinic rates Tata is already over $4000. Oh, and no, I really couldn't afford that.

Is Tata worth it? Of course, and I hope to have him around for a few more years. He still has earned himself a new nickname: Pertwee Jr., after the most medically challenged and expensive ferret I've ever had.

Tata's Surgery

Dr. Dan Johnson at Avian and Exotic Animal Care in Raleigh performed Tata's surgery today. He removed a very large right adrenal tumor, a fair amount of his pancreas including some large nodules, and a lump from his spleen. All are being sent off for pathology. The good news is Tata came through surgery well, he's awake and his vital signs are strong. For those of you not familiar with ferret medicine, right adrenal surgery is far less common than left and more difficult. Despite all he went through Dr. Johnson said Tata "looks good" and was very upbeat about the result. I'll know tomorrow morning if he gets to come home or spend the weekend in the hospital.

Thank you to everyone who sent good wishes, thoughts and prayers for Tata. A huge thank you to everyone who bought CDs and minidiscs from me on Discogs to offset some of the cost. I'm still in a difficult place financially with this and total costs will likely exceed $2000. I'll be listing more on Discogs shortly and any additional music purchases will still help. I can live with a smaller music collection. I couldn't live with Tata not getting the medical care he so clearly needed.

I'll be posting an update when I know more.

Buy Some Great Music and Help Tata Get Surgery Sooner

Tata, my oldest ferret, has adrenal disease which has been under control thanks to a deslorelin implant. He also now has insulinoma, and attempts to control that medically haven't worked very well. His last blood glucose was only 52. He's scheduled to see the vet again on Friday.

The recommendation as of his last visit by two vets in the practice is to have surgery, preferably sooner rather than later. Unfortunately my business has been incredibly slow lately and I can't afford it just yet. Over the past 31 years I've gradually built a very large music collection on CD. I've decided to sell off as much as I can to fund his surgery, both on Discogs and on eBay. I'm not asking for charity. I am asking that if you're one of those people who still like a physical copy of albums you like that you take a look to see if there is anything you want. I also have items listed where the CD would be cheaper than a legal download from iTunes, Amazon, etc... If you get a CD you can rip the music to mp3 yourself and have the original copy as a backup.

I have over 300 items listed on Discogs and that number will be increasing in the coming days. You can sort by clicking on Artist, Title, Price, etc... Prices range from a couple of dollars to some rather expensive, collectible items. I try to be very competitive in all my pricing. Discogs is better for me than eBay because commissions are lower so more money ends up in my pocket. If you don't have a Discogs account you can sign in with a Facebook account instead. If you don't have a PayPal account I don't believe you need one -- they'll take a credit card.

So.. please, take a look, and if you don't find something you like now check back in few days. I offer free shipping on multi-CD orders of a certain value depending on which country you're in, so please check my terms as well.

Thanks in advance to anyone who helps me help Tata this way.

Chin Soon Is Recovering Beautifully

Chin Soon is doing absolutely brilliantly. Yesterday, after a low blood glucose reading, Dr. Powers decided to discontinue her insulin. Now, more than 48 hours without insulin, Chin Soon has a blissfully normal blood glucose of 105. Her insulin producing cells in her pancreas seem to be working normally again. All her blood glucose readings over the past 48 hours have been either normal or just a bit above normal. It's all good.

Chin Soon is also regrowing hair on her belly and where her forelegs were shaved to insert a catheter. This is a sure sign that her adrenal disease is gone.

Last night Chin Soon ran the most of all the three ferrets. She wants to go a million miles an hour, something I can't let happen just yet. Her incision is healing beautifully but it's not 100% healed yet. Fortunately Chin Soon is like Pertwee in one respect: if I put her on my shoulder and walk around she is happy to take in the world from there and calms right down. Poor Ella got pounced by Chin Soon twice and didn't get to fight back and have a wrestling match because I picked Chin Soon up and put her on my shoulder.

Anyway, I'm thrilled be these results. While Dr. Powers says it's still to early to know for sure everything at this point seems to indicate a completely successful surgery and a full recovery.

Chin Soon Surgery Update

Chin Soon had her surgery yesterday afternoon. Dr. Powers found a small growth on her left adrenal gland. She also found an insulinoma tumor which she described as "huge", "evil", and "very aggressive" which was right next to the vena cava. She was able to remove all of it as well as one more small nodule she found on Chin Soon's pancreas.

As of late last night Chin Soon was recovering well. As of early this morning things are still going well for the most part but she is severely diabetic. Her blood glucose has been as high as 400. She is on IV fluids to avoid dehydration. We've seen this before after insulinoma surgery and normally the blood glucose does come down and return to normal. I'll get another update after noon and I still hope to be able to take her home late this afternoon or this evening.

Please continue to keep Chin Soon in your thoughts. I am hoping for a speedy and complete recovery.

Chin Soon Update: Surgery Next Tuesday

Chin Soon is going back to see Dr. Lauren Powers at Carolina Veterinary Specialists in Huntersville again next Tuesday. She will have surgery for both insulinoma and adrenal disease.

At her last recheck her blood glucose was still only 57. She's gained a fair amount of weight, a side effect of the pediapred (prednisolone) as well as a consequence of eating lots of high calorie chicken gravy. As a result we could increase her pediapred dosage again a little. It's still not enough. Yes, Chin Soon is bouncy and playful but her stamina still isn't what it used to be and she still slips and has hind-end weakness. Her insulinoma can't be controlled with a moderate dose of pediapred and that means it's time for surgery. We no longer have any other good options.

Her adrenal disease is progressing as well despite increasing her lupron dosage to 200mcg. She's still losing hair all over the place. The only cure for adrenal disease is surgery. The only good thing about having both diseases at once is that she will only have to go through one surgery instead of two.

I'm worried, of course. This is major surgery and there is always a risk that something can go wrong. At least I have complete confidence in Dr. Powers. She did Ella's adrenal surgery more than four years ago and Ella has been fine ever since. I'm hoping the surgery will give us several more good years with Chin Soon.

The cost? Depending on what Dr. Powers finds and how well things go it will be anywhere from $850 to $1175. There is no getting around the fact that ferrets are expensive pets and that the average ferret will have at least once health crisis requiring surgery and costing $1000 or more during their lifetime.

Anyone who is a pet owner knows that pets become family members. Medical care like this is, unfortunately, a mandatory part of being a responsible pet owner.

Please keep Chin Soon in your thoughts over the next week.