I ran into N Vet this morning while dropping Leroy off. He brought his huge Leonberger to work for the day The plan is to scope Leroy from both ends. He asked when Leroy last ate and I said 9:30 last night. He was a bit concerned because Leroy needs to be empty. He asked if I had gotten a call from anyone about pre-procedure fasting and I said no, just what the secretary told me earlier in the week. Leroy will have enemas done so maybe that will clean anything left inside I just checked my voicemail and there is a message from someone asking Leroy to be dropped off at 5 and not to feed after 9pm. I have no idea when that message was left
Leroy's done. I can pick him up in a few hours. He's sleeping off the anesthesia at the moment. It looks like the vet was only able to do an upper scope. No lumps were seen. Biopsies were taken and results should be back in a few days. I'll have to ask if the lower scope will need to be done if the results from today's scope isn't definite.
glad to hear there were no lumps, although sorry to hear they couldn't do the lower.
i missed this thread, and some of what you're going through sounds like stuff we've been going through as HK has IBS (they thought it could be cancer, but it's been 8 years and so far no changes). ever since HK was diagnosed, he has some queasy days. sometimes cerenia helps, sometimes pepcid helps, once in a while, nothing helps but he's much better the next day.
a few thoughts. cerenia tablets melt in water spectacularly well - after it's melted, we add a bunch of cat food juice or gravy and HK laps it right up where he hated it before. they recently put him on B12, which gives him diarrhea like nothing before and it's VERY smelly, too, as well as uncontrollable. we cut down the dose twice, and now the diarrhea is much less - barely at all - although the smell remains. HK is on a steroid for his IBS, which seems to help some.
HK got queasy when we gave him probiotics so we stopped them. we sometimes give him pepcid, but only half a dose. that seems to help, and he really hates the taste, so less is a good thing.
I did not realize the Colon Prep was more that NPO after 10pm... that would seem reasonable to me.. but, who the heck knows...
I mean, we cannot prescribe anything similar to: GO LIGHTLY (human prep for colonoscopies) for Cats...
Perhaps the Endoscopy was enough to get information..Vet is great about things like this..
One step at a time. I kind of feel that the Endo/bx will be enough.. just a gut feeling..
Vet is just being his own, "doctor-self, kind of obsessive, to the point of being completly though"- self, to make certain that all things are seen...
If the missed instructions came from the Vet's secretary; then I think there was a mix up somewhere~~ she is so through.. There could have been a mix up along the lines..
I do know, for a fact, that the Vet was a "moving target" yesterday.. I was there to witness it... beeper constantly going off: and that was in the morning...Vet;s secretary had to call me back today, much later than usual...
I have to look that breed of dogs up.. I never heard of it..
How is Leroy doing?? ((Hugs))
and more important: how are YOU doing???
Please let us know, either by here or by PM, as to how things are going...
The instructions didn't come from the secretary. It was a vet tech (not N Vet's usual one either). Anyway's Leroy's home. Samples were taken from the stomach and duodenum. The jejunum is where the thickening was seen on the ultrasound. Not sure if a lower scope can reach there.
Leroy is fine. He's just walking around a bit antsy right now. He ate dinner when he got home. He can wait for a snack. No Cerenia tonight because he got an injectable today./
Leroy seems ok, just tired. Today is a B12 day. I need to order more B12 next week. It has a very short expiration date I imagine the vet would want to retest B12 levels at some point to check where they are.
How is Leroy today?
(The last message I wrote was from my phone--hate writing on that thing!!)
I do want you to know, as you are probably aware, that the Endo/Bx is a tuff thing to undergo for many, many cats. I did not expect it to be so painful for Artie, and was shocked and guilty when I saw he reaction after it.
You have to think of what was done: a small chunk, or chunks of the lining of the stomach was removed-- not much, just a tiny sample, but that can be enough to cause pain~~
think of really bad stomach ache/ulcer.. At least that is how I equated it.
Artie was about 10 years old when he had it done. I swore he would never undergo that again. I felt so guilty. He was meat loafed and not feeling well for over a week. That is a long time. I was in constant contact with his RVet during this period, having less contact with the specialist, because the specialist he was seeing at the time was not available.
I was told, that for a few days, he may seem 'out of it'.. It was more than a few days.
I was about to take him back in, when I saw some mild improvement; so I waited it out.. feeling so bad .... But it Had to be done, to find a cause for things.. I needed an answer.
I needed to know if it was lymphoma or not.
Would I do that again to a different cat? I am not certain. I think it would depend on the circumstances and the age of the cat. Medical knowledge has changed quite a lot towards the treatment of IBD, in the past few years. At that point, it was stressed that they would absolutely NOT give chemo to a cat WITHOUT a biopsy.. perhaps that was the ideology at the place where I had taken Artie.. things have changed now..
And to be honest.. I trust my current specialist so much more than I did the other one.
I also wonder how difficult the procedure was to perform. They could not go past the duodenum.. he had so much more disease..the specialist could not understand why she could not advice the probe deeper. I expect that caused the severe reaction...
((hugs))) to you and Leroy....
At least you know, you can always call you Vet for advice, help, reassurance... if he is not there, he has a covering Vet. I know that for a fact. This covering Vet is well versed in all of the Vet's patients.. I have been well assured of that.
I'm surprised Leroy wasn't given pain meds post-biopsy or sent home with any Leroy ended up meatloafing a bit last night I have to call and give N Vet an update tomorrow.
Leroy had "junk" today, a Cerenia hidden inside a Pill Pocket. He gobbled it down with no problem. Nausea doesn't seem to be an issue as long as Leroy gets Cerenia.
There aren't any pain meds listed on my detailed bill. I can double check with the vet, though.
I wish I were at home with Leroy right now instead of at work dealing with the usual