Moon's Graden

Hi all,

Ginger, my "actively" diabetic piggie, will be undergoing surgery tomorrow
to remove a very large (1cm), spiky-shaped (ouch) bladderstone.  Please
think a good thought for her recovery.

Thanks,
Patricia

Yikes! Poor little thing! :-( Was this stone a result of her diabetes, or was
there something the rest of us should watch out for?

Absolutely! Wonderful healing thoughts, wheeks and squeals are heading
Ginger's way. My piggies would be happy to send some of their squishy poops to
help if needed. (How strange that we piggie slaves think of squishy poops as
"gifts". We must be crazy.)

Best to you and Ginger!

-Sal et herd (squishy poops and all).

know how things go,
Julie Hunt

 Thu, 30 Nov 2000 15:16:36 GMT:

PS> Ginger, my "actively" diabetic piggie, will be undergoing
PS> surgery tomorrow to remove a very large (1cm), spiky-shaped (ouch)
PS> bladderstone.

Wheek, Ginger, be strong and brave !

--
Regards,

#   Check out the alt.pets.guinea-pigs FAQ draft ! #
#     http://www.jesau.de/cavy/a-p-gp-faq.html     #

It's better to wheek for food without being hungry
than not to wheek at all.

Hello Ginger & Patricia

A quick and smooth recovery, Ginger, with colleagual wheeks from Ola.

Regards

Anders

Poor Ginger, all good wishes for a speedy recovery; keep us informed.

Good thoughts coming your way, Patricia!  How is she doing?

I also echo the wondering what causes all these piggie bladder stones
I keep hearing about.  Does anyone know for sure?  Is it calcium, or
calcium/phosphorus, or what?

Laura

Thank you all for your good thoughts and well wishes for Ginger.  (...and an
animated "Get Well" card - very cute, thanks.  Unfortunately, Ginger wanted
to eat the paper I'd printed it out on :)

Ginger is home and resting comfortably.  I was told that she was up the
instant that the gas anesthesia what turned off.  My vet is brilliant!  The
incision is only about 1" long and is clean (no oozing, no bleeding).  There
is a bit of pink puffiness on her (shaved) belly, but I seem to recall from
Suzy's surgery in March that this is normal and will go away in a couple of
days.  Though not terribly active yet, Ginger is eating well and producing
normal wastes - very good signs after surgery.  She will take antibiotics
for 7 days to prevent infection.  Ginger's diabetes didn't seem to
complicate the procedure -- we withheld her medication on the morning of the
surgery and let her *** glucose run high for the operation.  I don't
expect to have a problem regulating her BG levels again as Ginger responds
very well to her diabetes medication.

All this, unfortunately, turned out to be unnecessary.  It appears that
sometime between the last set of x-rays last week and Ginger's surgery
yesterday, she managed to pass the stone on her own.  A remarkable feat --
this stone was over 1 cm in diameter and very spiky in shape (not a smooth
round ball like Suzy's stone).  We're pretty sure this must have happened
Tuesday night as Ginger was looking a bit "ruffled" that evening.

I've read the advise dozens of times and ignored it, but let me say now:
ALWAYS HAVE A FRESH SET OF X-RAYS TAKEN THE DAY OF BLADDERSTONE SURGERY!
Yes, this adds to the expense, and most times the x-rays will simply confirm
the presence of the stone, but it COULD save your piggie the ordeal of an
unnecessary surgery.

Thank you all again.  I hope everyone's piggies are happy and well.
Patricia

Congrats to both of you,

We hope that the convalescence will be short and smooth.

Our male, Ola, is scheduled for an X-ray upcoming Monday and the outcome of
this session will determine surgery or not.

Its amazing that a BS, that big, can be taken care of by nature but these
little GP-darlings never stops to surprise.

Regards

Anders

 Sat, 02 Dec 2000 18:44:02 GMT:

[...]

PS> Ginger is home and resting comfortably.

At least *one* good news this wheekend.. ( don't ask me.. ;-) )
[...]

PS> All this, unfortunately, turned out to be unnecessary.  It appears
PS> that sometime between the last set of x-rays last week and
PS> Ginger's surgery yesterday, she managed to pass the stone on her
PS> own.

Poor, brave Ginger !

[...]

PS> I've read the advise dozens of times and ignored it, but let me say now:
PS> ALWAYS HAVE A FRESH SET OF X-RAYS TAKEN THE DAY OF BLADDERSTONE SURGERY!

..not only bladderstone.. one dentist once swapped the *side* of my
X-Ray.. ne hearly had extracted the wrong root ! LOL !

And another dentist expected an easy tooth extraction once
because the X-Rays were only some months old. During the extraction
he found the root twisted and the tooth nearly impossible
to pull out, he'd better opened the jawbone from the side before.

So this ugly thing Ginger went through *maybe* saves some other
problems. It doesn't really matter. Patricia and Ginger.  You still
have enough to eat, Ginger recovers fast, and it has *one* positive
effect -- for other piggies and humans which maybe read your post.

No, there's yet another positive thing aboout it. If Ginger ( poor
Ginger ! ) really passed the stone at tuesday she had three days to
recover her urinary tract, which gave her the power to bear the
surgery more easy and recover faster from it.

Now, finally, dear family Simon, this seems to have a good end.  I
know that that surgery surely was costly. I don't know what you're
planning now -- putting Ginger under the X-Mas tree ? ..You got her a
second time.  I *know* what an overwhelming feeling it is to realize
what *could* have happened...

So i wish a nice recovery not only to Ginger, but also especially
to you, Patricia. You never really mentioned it, but i'm sure that
this was very very hard for you. Now please relax a little and  enjoy
your piggies ....and the knowledge of your vet.

Bye !

--
Regards,

(offline, sorry !)

#   Check out the alt.pets.guinea-pigs FAQ draft ! #
#     http://www.jesau.de/cavy/a-p-gp-faq.html     #

It's better to wheek for food without being hungry
than not to wheek at all.