Abigail Joy passed away, on Lysodren for Cushing's

[Abigailjoy]

My little Abigail Joy passed away last wednesday. She was diagnosed with Cushings in October 2012. We talked the vet into prescribing the Mitotane. He said most people around here do not treat it. We wanted to improve the quality of her life and it worked for about 3 months until february 2013. Her symptoms started to come back. We tried increasing her Mitotane dose but it didn't help. We were preparing to do the ACTH stim test when she suddenly started vomiting saturday moring. She was admitted to the vet clinic over the weekend and monday morning she had lab work. Tuesday the labs showed all systems out of wack. Liver, kidneys and sugar. The vet thought it he could regulate her sugar she might improve. Wednesday morning at 629am he called me to say she had passed in her sleep. She was a 9 yr old minature poodle. It all happened so fast. The vet in the beginning said she would some day "crash". I now know what he meant. The vet originally said she had only 2 years. Little did we know she would be gone in 5 months.:(

[Squirt's Mom]

Hi,

I am so, so sorry to hear about your sweet Abigail Joy. I know your heart is broken and we want to help you heal as well as figure out exactly what happened if we can.

To that end, would you mind telling us what tests were done to diagnose her originally, what her weight was, and what dose of Lysodren she was given? This info will help us sort out possible problems that may have arisen from the treatment, and to see if the diagnosis was indeed correct.

We would love to hear more about your sweet girl so please share anything you would like, anything that will help ease your heart. I have added Abigail's name to our In Loving Memory thread for 2013 where she will always be honored by our family here. We would love to include a photo of her in the In Loving Memory album for 2013 and if this is something you would also like, please send a copy of a favorite pic to k9cushings@gmail. com and we will upload it into the album.

Again, my deepest sympathies and I hope you will allow us to help you figure out what happened if we can.

Hugs,
Leslie and the gang

[Roxee's Dad]

I am so very sorry for your loss. From looking at the avatar picture, she was a beautiful girl.

Rest in Peace sweet girl, You are our newest and brightest star in the sky.......

[Bo's Mom]

Just shedding tears for you and your little Abigail. She was a beautiful little girl and I am sure my Angel Bo (poodle)will show her all the best meadows to run free and have a good time. Prayers of strength and peace sent to you tonight and always.

[Concernedmom]

I am so sorry your little Abigail Joy has passed away. These little fur beings add so much happiness to our lives and they don't get to spend nearly enough time with us. My prayers go out to you.

[molly muffin]

oh my gosh, how absolutely devastated you must feel. :( I'm so sorry that your precious baby had such a short time with you after diagnosis.
She was quite a beautiful little girl.

hugs,
Sharlene

[jmac]

I'm so, so very sorry to hear about Abigail. I can't imagine how difficult this must be, and how badly you must want answers. There are wonderful people here: to help, to listen, to celebrate her life.

Julie & Hannah

[scoora]

I am so very sorry to hear of the loss of your sweet girl, Abigail Joy. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

[milosmom]

also sending you healing light,love and energy at this most difficult time...we all know in different ways how awful this is.stay tuned for all the support,love and stories we wait to hear about your furbaby abigailjoy(most precious name ever !)with xoxox patty(milo)meka xoxox

[Simba's Mom]

What a cutie, so sorry to hear about your fur baby, sending hugs your way!!

[Mrsbiggsy]

May the memories of your sweet little Abigail Joy comfort you in your time of sorrow. In loving thoughts and prayers, Carly Simon and her Mom.:(

[Jenny & Judi in MN]

what a pretty girl and how sudden and shocking for you. I am so so sorry. My Jenny the poodle also has diabetes and cushings and it can be a juggling act to treat both.

If her blood sugar was high and you didn't know it and your vet didn't test for it, that might have done it.

Whatever the reason, I can tell how sad, and still numb you are. I am so very sorry. RIP little angel Abigail, I can tell you were loved very much.

Judi

[Trish]

What a super white, beautiful little puffball she was. So sorry for your loss
Trish

[infoviewer]

So sorry for the passing of your sweet girl. She was so beautiful. My heart aches for you. Love, JoAnne

[Abigailjoy]

9/11/2012 Abby weighed 13.8 lbs. She is 12 inches tall at the withers. 9yrs old. The dr. put her on Prion for bladder incontience. By 10/8/2012 her weight is 14.8lbs. We noticed she was drinking excessive amounts of water. The dr. has blood drawn for CBC, Chem profile and urinalysis. Chem test showed elevated alk. phos and elevated cholesterol. CBC had elevated HGB and Hct. On 10/17 she has a Dexmethasone test which was consistant with pituitary dependent hyperadrenocorticism. On 10/23 she was started on Lysodren. It was a 500mg tablet. Now my memory is not good. At this point I remember haveing to split the pill and I think I had to give her half twice a day until the symptoms subsided. Then we got liquid Lysodren so that we could give her a more accurate dose. I gave her 1cc every 4days. My husband destroyed her medication after her death so I don't have the bottles but I can get more accurate info and post when I get it. Abby had 3 beautiful/perfect months on this dosage symptom free until February when she started drinking more water and haveing accidents again. I noticed she was ballooning/bloating up again. Her weight was up to 16lbs. The dr increased her Lysodren to 1.3cc every 4 days. After 3 doses it was apparent that it was not working so I was to give Abby 1.6cc twice a day for 7 days and then she was going to have an ACTH Stim test drawn but on the 4th day she started vomitting. I gave her an oral dose of prednisone and rushed her to the dr's office. It was a saturday. On monday she had labwork which showed every system out of wack. Sugar severly elevated, cholesterol, liver enzymes. I'm not sure but I think he did the ACTH test. He gave her prednisone and insulin but nothing was helping. Wednesday morning March 6th he called me at 630am to say she had passed away in her sleep. Her last weight she was 18lbs. That's all the medical stuff. I can think of at the moment. Thank you all for your condolences. We are can't believe she is gone. It all seemed to happen so fast. We were thinking she maybe had another year or two. Shock, disbelief, saddness, lonliness, anger, second guessing are some of the emotions my husband and I are feeling. I'm hoping connecting with others that are going or have gone through it will help us cope.

[Mel-Tia]

So sorry you lost your Abigail Joy in this way, you were trying to do your best to help her with the condition she had, its very unfair on your family that this has happened.

I have no experience with the medicine so I can offer you no answers as to what could have happened, I will instead light her a candle on our site

Run free Abigail Joy

Mel and my Angel Princess Tia

[alan h]

I'm so very sorry for your loss. It's definitely heartbreaking. They give us such unconditional love and unfortunately can't stay with us as long as we would like. Just keep those great moments in your mind and think that she no longer suffers but is running free in the wind with all of her furry friends.

Hugs & prayers to you and your family.

Jeanne,Mom of Mini-Me

[Squirt's Mom]

Hi sweetie,

Based on the info you have given, it is possible that your sweet girl developed diabetes. With the high BG while at the hospital, that is where my mind went. Diabetes can come on very rapidly seemingly out of the blue and when a pup has one endocrine problem, which is what Cushing's is, then it isn't at all uncommon for other areas in the endocrine system to go whacky.

As for how the treatment was handled, if you can gather the specifics and post them here concerning dose amount, how often, how long, what you saw while she was loading that indicated the load was achieved, how long you waited between the load and starting the maintenance, and why the switch from tablet to liquid....that would help a great deal. Also the info about the liquid form so we can compare to the tablet dosing. The bottle for the liquid would have told how many mg of Lyso were in each ml of liquid. Since the bottle is gone, you might be able to get this info from the place you had it filled or from your vet.

Hang with us, honey. We will do all we can to help figure this out and we will stand by your side as you grieve. We cannot take your pain away but we can share in your sorrow and in that way perhaps take a tiny bit of the burden ourselves.

Hugs,
Leslie and the gang

[Dodie]

I'm so very sorry for your loss. I can only say that my heart goes out to you.

Dodie & molly

[Abigailjoy]

I joined the forum back in October when Abby was first diagnosed with Cushings. I was looking for all the information I could on the disease and treatment. After her death last week on March 6th my husband was so grief stricken and angry at the Cushings that he threw all her medication into the fireplace so after make some phone calls I will post more details of her medication and dosage. Although I don't think I ever posted a thread, I was encouraged by the many things I read on this site. It is touching all the sincere condolences I have received from you all. It's comforting to communicate with others that are dealing with Cushings. Thank You! :)

[Squirt's Mom]

Oh, cool! Let me do some research and find your original thread and I will merge this one with that one. ;)

[Squirt's Mom]

uuhhhmmmmm....do you happen to remember the first user name you used? And is there another name you might have used for Abigail? I don't find any threads with Abigail or Abigail Joy other than this one.

[Squirt's Mom]

ah HA! :D Apparently you joined in Oct but didn't post until yesterday, right? If that is the case, then there isn't any other info or another thread to merge with this one. :( So we are relying on your memory, which if anything like mine, is downright scary! ;)

[labblab]

I want to join the others in telling you how deeply sorry I am about your loss, especially since it happened with such little warning. What a terrible shock for both you and your husband. In addition to this thread here, please know that you will always be welcome to start another new thread for Abigail on our special "In Loving Memory" forum:

http://www.k9cushings.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=8

As you will see, it is a spot where we honor and celebrate our babies who have passed on. We each do this in our own way, and in our own time. But we would be privileged to read anything that you would care to write about Abigail and your lives together.

Also, as far as this thread right here, we want you to know that you only need to provide details and treatment specifics if it feels as though it is a comfort to you to talk these things over now. For some people, it is a help to have a chance to ask questions and reconstruct events. For other people, it can be a painful memory that remains raw. So we will let you be our guide as far as how much or how little you want to revisit right now. Either way, we will be here to listen to whatever you care to write and share with us. We are here to support you in whatever way feels the best to you.

So once again, I am so sorry for what has happened. But I am very grateful that you've starting writing to us!

Marianne