Jeremy & Kate
Member
It has been a little bit since we have provided an update on Dak's adventure for treatment of his acromegaly, so here is how the last 21ish days have been since we posted last:
We found out that the private clinic is actually in Chattanooga, TN (not in Alabama) and called Veterinary Care and Specialty Group. They has the same SRT system as Auburn, which is the Varian Edge system. We had our IM specialist make a referral to Auburn at first, but after one or two phone calls with Auburn they refused to answer any questions we had about their experience with acromegaly cats, estimated cost for the treatment and scans, and how the treatment timeline would look like (besides letting us know that it could be 3+ weeks after the CT scan to when they could perform SRT for Dak).
As a result, we decided to have our IM specialist send a referral out to the Veterinary Care and Specialty Group in TN. Within 24 hours of the clinic receiving our referral, they called us and were happy to answer a majority of our questions before setting up a phone consultation with their Radiation Oncologist and onsite appointment for Dak's CT scan (and other tests). When they called, they actually had an acro cat scheduled for SRT a few days after that phone call. The Radiation Oncologist seemed very knowledgeable about acromegaly in dogs and cats, and had treated many cats at the clinic. He recommended to have a chest x-ray performed, on the day of our onsite appointment, before Dak had his CT scan to make sure his heart looked ok and was not enlarged due to acromegaly (he recommended this before we asked about it).
Fast forward to this week, we drove 4.5 hours to Chattanooga, TN for Dak's diagnostic appointment on 10/21/2024 and Dak got chest x-ray, blood panels, abdominal ultrasound (this was done based on his eosinophil value being elevated, to make sure everything looked ok), and CT scan performed in this appointment. Good news from all of this is that Dak's heart looked normal size, with no indications of enlargement, nothing major was discovered from the ultrasound (besides what we already know about his IBD) and they can easily see his tumor on his pituitary gland. The oncologist roughly guessed that the tumor may be about 1cm wide (we will get the official size once the radiologist accurately measures the size of the tumor), and he is confident that he can treat the tumor with a single SRT session. When talking about availability to get the SRT performed, the oncologist let us know that they had an opening this Thursday (10/24/2024) or on 11/4/2024 (the latest he felt comfortable before having to perform the CT scan again).
So we will be traveling back up to Chattanooga, TN tomorrow for Dak to receive his single round of SRT on Thursday. The treatment will be an out-patient procedure, so we will drop him off in the morning and then pick him up in the afternoon, after Dak has had time to wake up from the anesthesia.
We found out that the private clinic is actually in Chattanooga, TN (not in Alabama) and called Veterinary Care and Specialty Group. They has the same SRT system as Auburn, which is the Varian Edge system. We had our IM specialist make a referral to Auburn at first, but after one or two phone calls with Auburn they refused to answer any questions we had about their experience with acromegaly cats, estimated cost for the treatment and scans, and how the treatment timeline would look like (besides letting us know that it could be 3+ weeks after the CT scan to when they could perform SRT for Dak).
As a result, we decided to have our IM specialist send a referral out to the Veterinary Care and Specialty Group in TN. Within 24 hours of the clinic receiving our referral, they called us and were happy to answer a majority of our questions before setting up a phone consultation with their Radiation Oncologist and onsite appointment for Dak's CT scan (and other tests). When they called, they actually had an acro cat scheduled for SRT a few days after that phone call. The Radiation Oncologist seemed very knowledgeable about acromegaly in dogs and cats, and had treated many cats at the clinic. He recommended to have a chest x-ray performed, on the day of our onsite appointment, before Dak had his CT scan to make sure his heart looked ok and was not enlarged due to acromegaly (he recommended this before we asked about it).
Fast forward to this week, we drove 4.5 hours to Chattanooga, TN for Dak's diagnostic appointment on 10/21/2024 and Dak got chest x-ray, blood panels, abdominal ultrasound (this was done based on his eosinophil value being elevated, to make sure everything looked ok), and CT scan performed in this appointment. Good news from all of this is that Dak's heart looked normal size, with no indications of enlargement, nothing major was discovered from the ultrasound (besides what we already know about his IBD) and they can easily see his tumor on his pituitary gland. The oncologist roughly guessed that the tumor may be about 1cm wide (we will get the official size once the radiologist accurately measures the size of the tumor), and he is confident that he can treat the tumor with a single SRT session. When talking about availability to get the SRT performed, the oncologist let us know that they had an opening this Thursday (10/24/2024) or on 11/4/2024 (the latest he felt comfortable before having to perform the CT scan again).
So we will be traveling back up to Chattanooga, TN tomorrow for Dak to receive his single round of SRT on Thursday. The treatment will be an out-patient procedure, so we will drop him off in the morning and then pick him up in the afternoon, after Dak has had time to wake up from the anesthesia.
Caution is key, at least in the beginning.