After Emma’s Cushing’s Disease, I truly hoped it was something we’d never deal with any of our pets having again. Unfortunately, that hope hasn’t come true.
We boarded Duke at his vet’s office when we went to
Folly Beach in the fall. We've always
loved boarding the dogs there because the vet is very hands-on. More often than not, it’s the vet himself
walking, feeding, and playing with the dogs.
It’s sort of like a week-long vet visit/observation period for the price
of boarding.
They’re also perfectly fine with you calling to check
on your pets, and they usually text us updates and pictures. When I talked to Dr. M. on the third day, he
mentioned that Duke’s water consumption was excessive and that he wanted to do
some tests.
I know that excessive water consumption is a sign of
Cushing’s Disease. It happened with Emma
and was really the first symptom we saw.
I should have put it together with Duke, but I didn’t. My first thought was diabetes. Dr. M. has lectured us for years about Duke’s
weight. I thought we’d finally have to
get strict about Duke’s food.
After the first round of bloodwork, I knew exactly
what Dr. M. was looking for. The results
were similar to Emma’s years ago.
Dr. M. did all of the bloodwork necessary to confirm
Cushing’s Disease and was able to diagnose Duke. He just couldn’t tell us, for sure, if it was
the pituitary or adrenal kind. He’d
already referred us to the specialist for imaging. He was just doing everything possible ahead
of time since the appointment was months out.
We were waiting for the specialist, Dr. V., who had treated Emma. We’d had an extremely bad experience with
another vet in the practice (she misdiagnosed Emma and cost us time with our
girl; you can guess how I feel about her) and wanted to stick with the vet we
knew we liked. Meanwhile, Dr. M. was in
contact with Dr. V. about the test results he was getting and was fairly sure
Duke had the adrenal Cushing’s, not the pituitary like Emma had.
Because of Dr. M.’s diligence, we were able to make
Duke’s first appointment with Dr. V. for all of the imaging needed to determine
whether the Cushing’s was adrenal or pituitary.
We also knew what our options were likely to be, so we had a little more
time to plan. Dr. V. was great with
Duke, and they did all of the CT scans and bloodwork they needed.
Dr. V. was able to determine immediately that Duke’s
Cushing’s is the adrenal kind. He has a
mass on the right adrenal gland. She
told us that from what she could see on the CT scan, Duke was a good candidate
for the surgery, but she wanted a radiologist to look at to be sure. That took a few days. Dr. V. called with the results and told us
that Duke is a good candidate for the surgery to remove the adrenal gland and
tumor. The outlook with treating it with
medication instead of surgery isn’t good.
We talked to Dr. M. (because we always talk to our
regular vets), and he agreed that surgery is in Duke’s best interest. He said it’s a highly specialized surgery,
and not one he would perform himself, but one he felt confident in the surgeons
at the specialist practice doing. Dr. V.
isn’t a surgeon, so she won’t be the one doing Duke’s surgery.
Duke was scheduled for surgery on Monday, January 17th,
with Dr. A., the surgeon Dr. M. is familiar with. Unfortunately, because of all of the snow and
ice in western NC and upstate SC, the specialist vet’s office was closed on
Monday, and Duke’s surgery was canceled.
He’s now scheduled for surgery on Wednesday, January 26th,
with Dr. S.
Dr. M isn’t familiar with Dr. S. but says he’s
confident in any of the specialized surgeons there who do this kind of
surgery. He also said the surgery needs
to happen as soon as possible.
I talked to Dr. S. on the phone three times yesterday,
and I liked her. I had some questions
about some problems Duke has been having, and she said that Dr. V. was more
qualified to address them since Dr. V. treats diseases. Dr. S. talked to Dr. V. and called me back
within 10 minutes. Dr. V. and Dr. S.
wanted us to get an appointment with Dr. M. for Duke to get checked out and
have some bloodwork done. Getting a call
back so quickly was huge. I feel like
that means the vet cares when they communicate and work to get answers. I also liked that she immediately involved
Dr. V. when she thought Dr. V. would be better able to help Duke. The third call made me like her even
more. She called to make sure Dr. M. was
able to see Duke since all of the vet’s offices were behind due to the
weather. If Dr. M. couldn’t fit Duke in,
she wanted to make sure they got him in at her office. Dr. M. was able to see Duke, but I really
liked that Dr. S. called to make sure. I
always feel better about a vet who seems to see him as Duke, the three-legged dog who loves to catch birds and rabbits and steals lasagna, not chart
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Oddly enough, Duke will have to go on steroids for a
while after the surgery. Apparently, the
adrenal gland that’s left takes some time to start functioning properly, so
dogs who have the surgery go from way too much cortisol (Cushing’s) to none/not
enough (Addison’s Disease). Dr. V. will
be the one managing Duke’s medication and aftercare, which is good since we
know she’s good and very communicative.
We’re told that Duke will have to stay in the hospital
for a few days. There’s a risk of blood
clots and complications in the first week or so after the surgery, but after
that, it’s usually all good. The specialty
clinic is part of an emergency clinic, so they have 24-hour staff.
Of course, we’re nervous. Duke’s our boy, we love him, and he has already been through so much.
The silver lining in all of this is that we have a
great regular vet. Dr. M. was able to
get things started to get Duke diagnosed much earlier than he might have been
otherwise. We’re also fortunate to be
within a reasonable drive of a specialty practice and that we have a vet we
really like there. I’m also so
incredibly grateful that the adrenal Cushing’s
Duke has doesn’t suppress his appetite the way the pituitary Cushing’s
did with Emma. Duke has always been a
total pig, stealing food every chance he gets.
It would be devastating to go from that to begging him to eat something,
anything, the way we did with Emma.
Assuming all goes well, Duke should be completely back
to normal after he recovers. We just
want him to be healthy and happy.
