sometimes I really don't like being right

[alonewiththemoon]

Got back a little while ago from Angell Memorial.  I'd been seeing a couple of things in Seti that worried me, so I scheduled a full checkup about five months ahead of schedule.  Unfortunately my suspicions of insulinoma seem to have been correct, as his blood glucose was 55 (their machine does read a little low, but still, a ferret his age should get at least 80 to be in a healthy range and closer to 100 is better).  On the fortunate side, being a hypochondriac on the behalf of my animals has paid off in that we've caught this early enough that he should still get a natural life span with treatment.  The vet said he was in wonderful shape otherwise.  Still, this is a geriatric disease and it feels like the beginning of the end.

We did a full blood workup to ensure that there aren't any reasons for him not to go on prednisone, so as soon as the results of that are in*, we'll pick up a prescription for him.  He'll need his meds twice a day, so it's back to never having an uninterrupted night's sleep on the weekend for me.  I don't mind doing that for him, it's a labor of love, but I'm saddened by it.  I'd just gotten past my Ronan-medication-schedule-induced nightly panic attacks and now I'm facing a similar situation again.  But his problems won't be anywhere as big as Ronan's, and as I said, we should see a natural life span with him.  He's turning six in March, the prognosis after diagnosis with insulinoma is usually 1-2 years, and ferrets live on average 7 years, so there we go.  Even with his lowered glucose, he's still been pretty active with a solid appetite, so I expect once he's on medications we'll see increased energy levels, which will be nice.  His days will be happy.

*There's always a possibility that something else will be wrong in the bloodwork, but this really looks like a case of looking, walking and quacking like a duck to me.  Not that I'm a vet, of course, but I've seen this before.  Insulinoma, btw, is a cancer of the pancreas with multiple microscopic islet cell tumors distributed throughout the pancreas.  Some people do surgery, removing the obviously diseased portions of the pancreas, but I'm not at all convinced of surgery's effectiveness with this type of cancer.  Plus when I weigh natural life span with medication against the risk of surgery just to live a natural life span anyway, the right path seems pretty clear.  My vet didn't even mention surgery, so I think we're on the same page there.

Comments

[kambriel.livejournal.com]

It does sounds like the right path, and I definitely think surgery would be worse than any good it may do. This way the treatment is gentle, and Seti won't have to go through a bad physical shock in order to start feeling better.

You excel at being a ferret mom, and any ferret that gets to share it's life with you is a lucky one! :)