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- Oct 19, 2014
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This is a continuation of a thread I started months ago which has followed my cat Vivian's intestinal troubles since the end of last summer.
She has high folate and low B-12 but relatively normal pancreas function, she did have a tumor on one lobe of her thyroid gland which was originally thought to be causing her loose stool and weight loss.
She has tried probiotic, pancrezyme, B-12, Metronidazole, diet change (also thyroid surgery in Sept for diseased lobe), with no effect.
Most recently she had an ultrasound. I chose not to go with a biopsy b/c I didn't want to put her through the brutal prep and from what I could tell an ultrasound could do a pretty good job of identifying and differentiating between diseases of the intestine. Vivian's results show thickening and loss of layering in the small bowel toward the ileum, with the most dramatic changes in the transverse colon which takes on
a more "mass" like appearance. I don't think this is to say there is a mass in the colon but that the inflammation present gives it a mass like appearance, not sure. Anyway it's not good. Without a biopsy they won't give a diagnosis, only that the findings are consistent with infiltrative neoplasia of the distal small and large bowel, suspected diffuse - enlarged lymph nodes and spleen which vet says is standard with this kind of inflammation. To me it seems clear that Vivian has a significant cancer present throughout her lower small and large intestine. Here's the tough question that I need to answer before putting her on a steroid. The radiologist and vet continue to recommend a biopsy to confirm cancer. Would a definitive biopsy confirmation of cancer, as opposed to the ultrasound finding of almost certainly cancer, change the treatment plan for Vivian? How do folks who only went as far as ultrasound treat for cancer? How do folks who went as far as biopsy treat for cancer? My decision had been pretty much made on how I would proceed but I feel like I have to ask this question just one more time before proceeding, which I obviously need to do immediately. The vet sat on this information for a week because she thought the technician present at the ultrasound had given me a copy of the results - totally not their protocol for relaying information of this kind. Not relevant but I'm very upset about this delay. I didn't get the report directly from the radiologist because he wanted to charge me an EXTRA $145 just to talk to me face to face after the ultrasound.
She has high folate and low B-12 but relatively normal pancreas function, she did have a tumor on one lobe of her thyroid gland which was originally thought to be causing her loose stool and weight loss.
She has tried probiotic, pancrezyme, B-12, Metronidazole, diet change (also thyroid surgery in Sept for diseased lobe), with no effect.
Most recently she had an ultrasound. I chose not to go with a biopsy b/c I didn't want to put her through the brutal prep and from what I could tell an ultrasound could do a pretty good job of identifying and differentiating between diseases of the intestine. Vivian's results show thickening and loss of layering in the small bowel toward the ileum, with the most dramatic changes in the transverse colon which takes on
a more "mass" like appearance. I don't think this is to say there is a mass in the colon but that the inflammation present gives it a mass like appearance, not sure. Anyway it's not good. Without a biopsy they won't give a diagnosis, only that the findings are consistent with infiltrative neoplasia of the distal small and large bowel, suspected diffuse - enlarged lymph nodes and spleen which vet says is standard with this kind of inflammation. To me it seems clear that Vivian has a significant cancer present throughout her lower small and large intestine. Here's the tough question that I need to answer before putting her on a steroid. The radiologist and vet continue to recommend a biopsy to confirm cancer. Would a definitive biopsy confirmation of cancer, as opposed to the ultrasound finding of almost certainly cancer, change the treatment plan for Vivian? How do folks who only went as far as ultrasound treat for cancer? How do folks who went as far as biopsy treat for cancer? My decision had been pretty much made on how I would proceed but I feel like I have to ask this question just one more time before proceeding, which I obviously need to do immediately. The vet sat on this information for a week because she thought the technician present at the ultrasound had given me a copy of the results - totally not their protocol for relaying information of this kind. Not relevant but I'm very upset about this delay. I didn't get the report directly from the radiologist because he wanted to charge me an EXTRA $145 just to talk to me face to face after the ultrasound.