blue_star
Well-known member
Hi Everyone
Sorry me and Toby haven't been around for a while but it has been good start to the year. I lost my job in quite nasty circumstances just before Christmas last year but managed to get a new job for the start of January though had to take quite a pay cut!
Toby hasn't been too well either, last week he was diagnosed with primary hyperparathyroidism cancer which he is due to have an operation to remove on Thursday 21st August!
After noticing one day Toby had a very wobbly jaw I pop him down to the vets suspecting some kind of tooth or gum problem. The vet was very worried at this and wanted Toby in for more tests within two days time. Toby had a complete body scan a various blood tests and the poor soul came out looking like a pin cushion. When I went to pick him up the vet explained that they had found a small mass on Toby’s Hyperparathyroid gland but nothing else where. The vets had also done a calcium test which was extremely high. I had been told at this point that the likely diagnosis would be some kind of lymphoma and primary hyperthyroidism cancer was very rare if almost unheard of. The vets wanted to do more test on Toby to locate any lymphoma in his body as well the outside chance of the primary hyperthyroidism. I took Toby for the tests and after lots of messing around due to the lab destroying two of the samples we finally got the results last Friday. Toby has no lymphoma in his body and the other test show that he almost certainly has primary hyperthyroid cancer (although they won’t say for sure until a test has been carried out on the mass once it has been removed).
So fingers crossed for the 21st. At the moment other that the OP the biggest battle is reducing Toby’s calcium levels and primary hyperparathyroidism causes the body to think it needs calcium and takes this from anywhere it can get it from, hence Toby’s jaw lacking calcium and become very wobbly, if left untreated it call also effect his bones almost causing something similar to brittle bone dieses in humans. The vets have got him on tablets to wee loads to try and rid the body of any calcium that is floating where it shouldn’t be as the build up in the kidneys in causing slight calcification although at this stage the vets are not too worried. Toby is also other medication to bring the levels down in his body, the medication is so rare that I have to obtain it with a prescription from a human pharmacist which causes lots of funny looks and the first time resulted in a row over why I was using a human pharmacy even though I had explained for the umpteenth time that what he had was so rare they don’t do doggy medicine for it!!!!!![/FONT]
Hopefully by removing the mass Toby’s calcium levels will return to normal and therefore his jaw will slowly start to harden, but this may take a while. Just in case anyone was wondering I have already thought about ‘that time’ and I have decided that if this doesn’t work, Toby is in pain and there is no relief for him and most of all that lovely sparkle has gone from his eyes that he has been through too much.
At the moment he seems to be going backwards and is more like a puppy at the moment, he is barking at us more for attention and being quite naughty as we have given in to him so much since he has been ill and now he knows it. He has also start to run again which is fantastic as he had don’t this for quite a few years due to the suffering he endured from his previous owners. He seems a generally happy dog now and often people can’t believe he has cancer which does give me some comfort.
Anyway will let you all know how it goes!
Love and hugs
Amy and Tobes
Sorry me and Toby haven't been around for a while but it has been good start to the year. I lost my job in quite nasty circumstances just before Christmas last year but managed to get a new job for the start of January though had to take quite a pay cut!
Toby hasn't been too well either, last week he was diagnosed with primary hyperparathyroidism cancer which he is due to have an operation to remove on Thursday 21st August!
After noticing one day Toby had a very wobbly jaw I pop him down to the vets suspecting some kind of tooth or gum problem. The vet was very worried at this and wanted Toby in for more tests within two days time. Toby had a complete body scan a various blood tests and the poor soul came out looking like a pin cushion. When I went to pick him up the vet explained that they had found a small mass on Toby’s Hyperparathyroid gland but nothing else where. The vets had also done a calcium test which was extremely high. I had been told at this point that the likely diagnosis would be some kind of lymphoma and primary hyperthyroidism cancer was very rare if almost unheard of. The vets wanted to do more test on Toby to locate any lymphoma in his body as well the outside chance of the primary hyperthyroidism. I took Toby for the tests and after lots of messing around due to the lab destroying two of the samples we finally got the results last Friday. Toby has no lymphoma in his body and the other test show that he almost certainly has primary hyperthyroid cancer (although they won’t say for sure until a test has been carried out on the mass once it has been removed).
So fingers crossed for the 21st. At the moment other that the OP the biggest battle is reducing Toby’s calcium levels and primary hyperparathyroidism causes the body to think it needs calcium and takes this from anywhere it can get it from, hence Toby’s jaw lacking calcium and become very wobbly, if left untreated it call also effect his bones almost causing something similar to brittle bone dieses in humans. The vets have got him on tablets to wee loads to try and rid the body of any calcium that is floating where it shouldn’t be as the build up in the kidneys in causing slight calcification although at this stage the vets are not too worried. Toby is also other medication to bring the levels down in his body, the medication is so rare that I have to obtain it with a prescription from a human pharmacist which causes lots of funny looks and the first time resulted in a row over why I was using a human pharmacy even though I had explained for the umpteenth time that what he had was so rare they don’t do doggy medicine for it!!!!!![/FONT]
Hopefully by removing the mass Toby’s calcium levels will return to normal and therefore his jaw will slowly start to harden, but this may take a while. Just in case anyone was wondering I have already thought about ‘that time’ and I have decided that if this doesn’t work, Toby is in pain and there is no relief for him and most of all that lovely sparkle has gone from his eyes that he has been through too much.
At the moment he seems to be going backwards and is more like a puppy at the moment, he is barking at us more for attention and being quite naughty as we have given in to him so much since he has been ill and now he knows it. He has also start to run again which is fantastic as he had don’t this for quite a few years due to the suffering he endured from his previous owners. He seems a generally happy dog now and often people can’t believe he has cancer which does give me some comfort.
Anyway will let you all know how it goes!
Love and hugs
Amy and Tobes
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