Fluid build-up in stomach- HELP
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I have a though just having gone through something similar to this with my dog. How about a blockage in the upper GI track. Cody had foreign matter he ingested stuck in the 1st section of the small intestines. The vet had to drain off a large amount of fluid from his stomach during surgery to remove the object. Nothing could pass from the stomach to his intestines. They had given him several bags of IV fluids so he continued to urinate. It took a week to discover the blockage and we had been force feeding food and liquids and it just stayed in his stomach. The blockage was discovered after multiple x-rays from several angles over a period of days and comparison of the x-rays.
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Small update- I took her in this morning and the oncologist was a little more concerned than the emergency vet about some of the results from the blood. Her platelet level was low, and there were a couple other levels that were low, I don’t have the results in front of me so I’m not sure what they are. I have only talked to them over the phone after the ultrasound, I had to leave her there because it was hours after our appointment that they could get her in for the ultrasound. The doctor called and said he spleen was irregular, there were “lumps and bumps” on the spleen, so know they will use a needle to sample from the spleen and send it to the lab. I don't know if this ruled out cancer, if it could still be cancer, or what. I need to talk to the vet sace to face, he has a heavy accent so its harder to do over the phone. Results for spleen won’t be for 1-2 days. I feel like this is all taking a very long time, I just want to know what’s wrong with her so we can start treating her. When I pick her up I’m hoping to get a little more info. He said he could go over the images with me, and I’m going to ask for a copy of the blood results.
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Thanks for the update, hope you get some answers soon and that the problem is something treatable
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Thank you for the update and do hope you get some answers this evening. The wait is always so hard I just wish they could move faster. My heart goes to you both that there is good news on the way. Please take care and keep us up todate. Thank you.
Rita Jean
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Just picked her up from the vet- current diagnosis: abdominal effision- irregular spleen on ultrasound. Cytology (sample) of the spleen sent to lab, waiting on results.
The fluid results were consistent with modified transudate (high protein fluid).
Here are the blood results for anyone interest (I dont know what the letters mean, they explained it all to me but I just have the print out of the results- and these are only the ones that are high or low, didnt include the normal level results):
ALB 2.3 g/dL mildly low
ALKP 231 U/L High
Na 138 mmol/L Low
Cl 105 mmol/L Low
LYM .4K/uL Low
HCT 57.4% High
MCV 77.3 fL High
MCHC 28.7 g/dL Low
PLT 56 K/uL very low (platelets) -
What did they say about her BUN and Creatinine? Here is link on how to read blood tests.. Is that all that is on the results?
http://home.gci.net/~divs/disease/lab_tests.html#cbc
The ALKP has to do with the liver and high values indicated liver desease among other things. Same with ALB - low points to chronic liver or Kidney disease
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Glad you have her with you again. I have no clue what it all means, but am sure the oldtimers will fill you in. Please keep us posted.
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What did they say about her BUN and Creatinine? Here is link on how to read blood tests.. Is that all that is on the results?
http://home.gci.net/~divs/disease/lab_tests.html#cbc
The ALKP has to do with the liver and high values indicated liver desease among other things. Same with ALB - low points to chronic liver or Kidney disease
Can I just say that you are a fount of knowledge :D:D:D…I have loads of bookmarks from things you (and the other longtime b owners) have posted so that I can refer back if/when I need them. Thanks for this post!
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What did they say about her BUN and Creatinine? Here is link on how to read blood tests.. Is that all that is on the results?
http://home.gci.net/~divs/disease/lab_tests.html#cbc
The ALKP has to do with the liver and high values indicated liver desease among other things. Same with ALB - low points to chronic liver or Kidney disease
that is just the high/low results.. i didnt include the ones that are in the normal range.
BUN 14 mg/dL normal
CREA .8 mg/dL normaland thanks for the link :)
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What did they say about her BUN and Creatinine? Here is link on how to read blood tests.. Is that all that is on the results?
http://home.gci.net/~divs/disease/lab_tests.html#cbc
The ALKP has to do with the liver and high values indicated liver desease among other things. Same with ALB - low points to chronic liver or Kidney disease
The vets don't seem concerned with the liver or kidney, I'm not sure why since the ALKP was high and ALB low..
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@Rita:
I am with Basenjimamma no clue but I am in hope that it is good and med's will take care.
When you say liver or kidney Pat were does that lead you?Please take care.
Rita Jean
I would not even venture a guess, could be so many things…. But it is always good to make sure that the functions of the kidneys are within normal range...
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The vets don't seem concerned with the liver or kidney, I'm not sure why since the ALKP was high and ALB low..
Could be because the reason the Liver is off is due to whatever else is going on… and the liver is pretty remarkable... as it can and does regenerate itself... almost like self healing..... of course depending on what is going on....
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Oh, do let us know how he is doing.
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Unfortunately I have no good news to share. I left the technical stuff at work, so I don’t know the medical terms for what’s going on. We got the results from the cytology of the spleen back. There are two possible diseases affecting the spleen, and they can’t determine which one it is unless we have surgery to remove the spleen. (the oncologist said he would not do a biopsy in her case). The oncologist’s recommendation regardless of which one she has is to remove the spleen. Because of different symptoms she has is also confident that of the two things that it could be, that she has cancer. After surgery she would need chemo.
After talking to me regular vet I decided not to do the surgery/chemo. There are a number of reasons that decision was made. Life expectancy is 1 year or less with the surgery and chemo, I don’t want to put her through surgery and chemo, and my regular vet’s opinion was to not do the surgery. She said she has seen a lot of dogs go in for surgery/chemo and come out with a low quality of life, even though they stay alive longer than the other options. In addition, it’s very expensive and we don’t know how long it would actually give us.
The oncologists second recommendation if we elected not to do surgery is to put her on steroids. My vet agreed that this is the route she would take. So we started her on steroids tonight. Her condition seems to be deteriorating quickly over the past 24-36 hours, so I’m hoping we are just going through a bad day and she will start to improve.
Its been difficult to make these decisions, and I know there are more to come. Please pray that God keeps Meeka comfortable and with us a little longer, I am not ready to say goodbye to my little princess.
