Macroadenoma upon diagnosis via CT

[finchfamily4]

We just received the news three days ago. I have a few questions & I hope someone can answer. What is too big to radiate? Our tumor is 13 mm. My baby is 8 yrs & is a Boston Terrier. She was diagnosed after cervical disc surgery via CT We have not began meds. I want to speak with a neurologist and radiologist first. After learning about this disease I now realize she had many of the s/s except for the drinking.peeing & panting (except for now due to the steroids she's tapering off of) Has anyone tried the low dose radiation? What was the pre & post tumor size? Was it of benefit? What was your average cost? Did you do the palliative regimine or curative? Thanks for any input - I think anecdotal experience/answers sometimes is better than the scientific literature.

[Budsters Mom]

Hello and welcome:)
I am sorry for the reason that brought you here, but so glad you found us.You have come to the right place! There are many K9Cushing's angels standing by to help and stay with you every step of the way. They love details, test results, any information you can get your hands on. The more the better. We will do all we can to help. Others will be dropping soon to welcome you also.

Hugs,
Kathy

[labblab]

Hello and welcome from me, too! I am sorry that I do not have time to write more right now, but I promise I will come back at a later time. For right now, I wanted to "bump up" your thread so that it will be more visible to our other members. We've had quite a lot of postings over the last couple of days, so it's been harder for us to reply as promptly as we'd like. :o

Very briefly, I can tell you that we have had members who have treated macrotumors with conventional radiation using different protocols, cyberknife, and even pioneering surgery in L.A. So we have seen a range of treatments. Have you yet been given any specifics re: the low dose radiation that may be offered to your baby?

Marianne

[molly muffin]

Hello and welcome from me too. Sorry I missed your thread earlier. How are you doing? I know it is so upsetting to hear that word macro. Did you have a talk with an oncologist about radiation and if it was possible? Have you looked into any of the university hosptials (vet)?
I hope you are doing okay.
Sharlene and Molly Muffin

[finchfamily4]

I'm interested in HMR Lignans does anyone use this type of Lignans?

Moderator's Note: I've merged your latest post on your little one in to your original thread. We, normally, like to keep all posts on a pup in a single thread as it makes it easier for other members to refer back to the pup's history, if needed.

[Squirt's Mom]

Hi and welcome,

I assume your baby has been diagnosed with Atypical Cushing's via testing from the University of Tenn. in Knoxville? Meaning her intermediate hormones only are elevated but her cortisol is normal? Would you mind posting the actual test results here? And telling us a bit about how the diagnosis came about, the health history of your baby and so on?

As for the HRM spruce lignans - my Squirt started out on the flax lignans but because I could use capsule of the HMR vs 3 of the flax, I switched her to the HRM. In Squirt's case, we lost control of several of her intermediates including the estradiol. It had been in normal range on the flax but elevated again on the HMR. So for Squirt, the flax seem to work better than the HMR.

I'm glad you found us and hope to hear more about your baby soon.
Hugs,
Leslie and the gang

[Squirt's Mom]

uuuhhhmmmmm....you probably want to delete your email and location from your signature. This part of the board can be seen by anyone, not just members but anyone on the web. So to protect yourself, please remove the email address as well as location. ;)

[finchfamily4]

Thanks I removed it. We only got the dx through her CT we're going to an internal med specialist next week for the ACTH test - just for a baseline. The 13mm pituitary macroadenoma is more than likely the cause of her Cushings.

I don't have much faith in the Lignan approach. I did order the Toctino online. I really want to decrease the tumor size so she doesn't start having neuro problems, like seizures. I plan to follow up with ACTH blood work every three months to evaluate. If it doesn't help then we'll change gears and begin the Trilostane & perhaps radiation. She's only 8 years old. I keep thinking if I was her age I'd want someone to fight for me.

We did visit a neuro doctor this week at Texas A&M. She had a full work up. The only glaring problem is her 10x normal liver enzymes. I have her on a low fat 100% protein diet supplemented with cooked salmon.

[Squirt's Mom]

I'm sorry I missed that your first posts wasn't the one about the HMR lignans - my questions about Atypical wouldn't have been needed. :o

Now, use of HMR - the only thing I have heard of these lignans being used for is as part of a treatment protocol for Atypical Cushing's. Their use in tumor treatment is new to me but very interesting as one of my babies has a mass in her chest that is severely compressing her trachea. Her's is inoperable and no other options have been offered other than Adequan shots to try to strengthen the tracheal rings so if the HMR shows hope for her case, I will be trying it.

However, if there were other options available to Josie that could quickly shrink this mass, I would be headed in that direction as fast as I could go. So my question to your docs would have to be - how fast can the HMR work? If the lignans take as long as many herbal treatments do, I wouldn't want to wait that long. The months waiting to see if the HMR is helping could be critical and permanent damage could occur. The next question - what if we try this and find months later it hasn't helped, will the other options still be just as viable or will it be too late for some / all of the other things we could try?

These tumors can grow pretty fast so in your shoes I would want the method that worked the quickest. Is there a reason your docs are wanting your baby to try the HMR?

Hugs,
Leslie and the gang

[Squirt's Mom]

One thing you need to know - Trilostane (Vetoryl) has been shown to cause these tumors to increase in size and more rapidly. Lowering the cortisol can often result in this if a macro is present because the cortisol acts as a treatment, helping to keep the tumor smaller. Cortisol acts like prednisone. ;)