Thursday, November 09, 2006

Maggie Update

I'll try to keep mikem.net up to date as well, but here's the latest:

Just got back from the Sonogram, the radiologist said there is a mass
attached to Maggie's spleen and the entire spleen should come out and be
tested to see if it or the mass is malignant/cancerous.

He ALSO found that her gall bladder is huge, and she most likely has a
(sort of) common problem with Cocker Spaniels and Shelties where the
gall bladder produces very thick mucousy bile, like jello, when it is
supposed to be tin and watery. This usually happens when the gall
bladder is damaged and/or infected. There are no effective medical
treatments for this, and if left untreated it will cause pain and
eventually cause the gall bladder to rupture, which poses a huge risk to
the dog at that point.

He said it was 100% involved and very large, likely to the point of pain
already, but we had a couple of weeks or more before there was any real
risk of a rupture.

So, we have a pretty bad list of things that are wrong:

Thyroid - on meds to control

Cancer(?) - remove spleen and test

Gall bladder - remove

Infected tooth - have dental surgery done a while after the gall
bladder/spleen surgery.

The dangers now are the decreased liver function and gall bladder, the
tumor could metastasize at any time if it is malignant. She isn't
eating. When I do get her to eat, it is rice and a Wendy's burger (just
the meat). Every time she eats, it causes the gall bladder to make more
jello and get a little bigger.

The vet will call me tomorrow and talk about options and schedule
surgery if that is the best option.