From: babcock@manticore.Eng.Sun.COM (Gigi Babcock, Mgr IBM Connectivity)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Subject: Re: Thyroidectomy
Keywords: Thyroid
Date: 28 Jul 92 00:49:04 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Mt. View, Ca.
NNTP-Posting-Host: manticore

>We have found
>out that her thyroid has a tumor and must be taken care of. Her thyroid level
>is way up and she has just started tapazole 5mg 1 1/2 tabs twice a day. This
>is to lower her thyroid activity. I have a number of problems I hope some
>people may be able to answer.

My vet told me there were long term effects to the medication and recommended
against it.

>
>1) I live in center city phila pa. The vet I take her to gets $132 for
>   bloodwork. This has to be done approx every 3 wks until the meds are at
>   the proper level. 

Here in CA it cost me $95 for the blood and urine test. I had one done to
identify the problem and need to have 2 done after the radiation -- one at
1 month after and one at 3 months after to make sure they didn't over do
or under do the radiation.

>
>2)  The vet has made a few suggestions as to how to proceed. One is surgury to 
>    remove her thyroid. They want approx $450 to do this. To me this seems
>    very high. The other suggestion was to take her to NY and get radiation
>    to destroy her thyroid but she must stay in NY for approx 2 wks because
>    she would be considered radioactive. I would do this because it is supposed
>    to be  safer than surgury. My delema with that is that I am afraid that
>    the trip, distance and isolation for that time would do more harm than good.    ( I have another cat as well and I am afraid she will die of being away)
>    Does anyone know where in NY this is done and approx how much it may cost.

We ahd the same fears. Our cat had NEVER been boarded. She was quite scared
when she came home but got through it just fine. Within a week she was back
to her normal self. The radiation treatment cost $600 including the boarding.
She was still slightly radio-active when she came home and could not go outside
or sleep with us. Since she is used to sleeping iwht us she did howl at the top
of her lungs everynight that we locked her out of the room. We gave up after 12
days instead of 14.

We also had to keep her litter seperate and keep it for one month before putting
it out in the trash.

Haven't had the blood/urine tests done for the followup to know how it is
going to turn out.

>
>3)  Another thing would be to get a second opinion from the university of PA
>    hospital vet clinic. She would have to go there anyway because she needs
>    to have her heart checked for swelling ect. My vet does not do these
>    tests so I have no real choice. 

Wwe simply checked her resting heart rate. The vet said that since it seemed
ok we had caught it early. If you don't catch it early supposedly it can cause
heart damage. 

>
>
>I have been told that I may get another 2 years from her just from meds but
>surgury or the radiation *should* be done because meds don't work after a
>while and the surgury or radiation could give me another 7 yrs or so. I love 
>her so much. I could not put her to sleep because she is running me some real 
>bucks. I don't want her to suffer either. But I am nct rich and by the time all
>is said and done it will be over $1000.00. I would do anything for my  cats.
>People have a hard time even pondering the idea that I would take her to NY
>for the radiation. But you cat lovers can understand I am sure.

We felt it was worth it. Sounds like your vet is doing a lot more tests and such
than ours did and this seems to be adding to your costs.

Good Luck.

--
------------
Gigi Babcock babcock@Sun.COM 
Sun Microsystems, 2550 Garcia, Mailstop MTV14-204, Mt. View, CA 94043
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats