New procedure appears success in saving one of our dragons

She has recovered from whatever caused the crisis period All the symptoms have disappears and she is up backing, active by not real active and she will eat if food is brought to her, but not on her own (she has actually gained some weight being hand fed.

The main possibilities that could have caused the crisis was a leukemic episode, other cancer or an egg stasis.

At this point we do not think it is leukemia as none of the other test back that up, and her red blood count has continued to climb back well into the normal ranges. She had a full blood panel last week because I found several small BB sized round to oval shapes in lower stomach area between the center and the kidneys. That blood panel came back indicating everything is all within normal ranges.

My first though was that maybe she did have an stomach or intestinal cancer, but the shapes have grown I think and they can be felt on both sides. Now, I really wonder if she did not have an egg statis and the eggs tried to reabsorb but are in the shell glands and calcifying.. basically sitting there and getting shelled over and over. The bumps we fill are too small for normal eggs and much to hard, but they are in the area that the shell glands are in.

If that is the case, they will have to be removed. She is going poo fine so we do not think the problem is in her stomach or intestines and everything else appears normal on her excect that her weight has shifted around, which is to be expected with a dragons that was as critical as her and not eating regularly or exercising. Sandy was always a big fan of swimming and she has not been doing that much.

She will see the Doctor against this week, and if she needs surgery, they will do a new kind, not the full incision, but with laparoscopy so only a few small holes and recovery is much easier. We will also have her spade at the same time so she never has to go through this again. If it is egg stasis and eggs there, at least we know this surgery will resolve the problem and she should be back to normal shortly. The other possibilities were pretty much fatal, no matter what we tried to do to save her.

Thanks for asking, I do not need to tell anyone how expensive the past few months have been, but I think it was worth it and will do whatever it takes to give her a chance to be with us a little longer, as least as long as she is comfortable

 

RE: New procedure appears success in saving one of our drago

We are pretty sure we know what Sandy had now that caused her crisis. We beleive it was an egg statis. Sandy is doing really well. Her red blood coutn is up to 30 which is very good (it was 7 when she was transfused) But we are also pretty sure she has calcified eggs in her shelling glands that did not develop properly are are imbedded there.

She is scheduled for surgery to remove them Tuesday, they have to come out and they are not normal, being very hard and smaller than normal and they have also been there now for over 2 months. About 2 weeks ago we thought we were feeling something in her lower tummy and they are more noticable now and on each side.

The hard lumps are slightly larger than a BB and very hard.... not like eggs should be. We think she may have tried to reabsorb them, but they were shelled and she has been unable to and perhaps continued shelling them more. We will let everyone know what the out come is Tuesday.

 

RE: New procedure appears success in saving one of our drago

Good luck Tuesday.

Ain't that the truth! I go to work and spend most of my time thinking about what needs to be done when I get home.

 

RE: New procedure appears success in saving one of our drago

hey who thought of that procedure?(just wondering for the future)?

 

RE: New procedure appears success in saving one of our drago

If you read the first page of the post, our Vet talked with Dr Ivan Alphonso of Orlando about what might be going on with her and possibly doing a blood transfussion (she was really badly anemic at that point) and he suggested some of the meds like the steriods to minimize rejection of a donor (bearded dragons blood to anyone's knowledge has not been typed or crossmatched) Then she talked to Dr Mader in The FLorida Keys, Dr Susan Lightfood in Tampa and Dr Drivers-Hernansez in Ga. Together they all advised on caths and needle sizes, how to do it and what to do to mimimize risk. It did save her and get her through the crisis time, til she was stable.

We do have some photos of the procedure, and will post them at a later time once we know exactly what went on and know she is out of the woods

 

RE: New procedure appears success in saving one of our drago

I was just thinking about her the other day, and was probably gonna bump this thread soon if no one else had to find out what happened. Glad to hear things are looking up. I'll be waiting to find out how the surgery goes. ^_^

 

RE: New procedure appears success in saving one of our drago

Updated info on Sandy, who had to have surgery. We found out it was an egg stasis and she had to have them removed. At least of all the things it could have been, it was one that was fixable

There are photos and the story on this link

http://www.reptilerooms.com/forumpost-249964.html#249964

 

RE: New procedure appears success in saving one of our drago

Dr. Divers-Hernandez is treating my leo for an unknown issue right now. He's fantastic! And it's great your beardie is doing fine.

 

RE: New procedure appears success in saving one of our drago

Yes, she had her month recheck and got the all clear from her vet she is back to her sassy and spoiled/bratty self!

Hope your leo is okay

 

RE: New procedure appears success in saving one of our drago

Wow, I just read the whole thing and the other thread... I can't believe all of that was in her. I'm SO happy she lived and is doing much better. Amazing

 

RE: New procedure appears success in saving one of our drago

Hey Cheri,
My girlfriend just took the stitches out. Sunbeam is doing really well. She ate her first crickets today and has been eating Superworms and our own secret mush, which she loves by the way. She is almost done with her last med and hopefully she will start really chowing on her own. My girlfriend acts like it is hard work to give Sunbeam special attention but the whole time she is doing it she has a big smile on her face. I see the Neonatal ICU nurse come out in her everytime she feeds her. Oh by the way I should take pictures of her eggs half were completely black and brown and the other half were perfect and yellow.
-Randy

 

RE: New procedure appears success in saving one of our drago

Randy,

I am so glad she is doing well and you caught it in time to save her also.

I really think that this and egg stasis is much more common than most owners or vets seeing them realize, as the eggs are usually not where they should be or do not show up on x=rays as a problem. In egg stasis, many times no one knows they have cycled and have a problem. I think a lot of the females who have passed away unexpectantly and no necrospy done on them, could have had these issue going on.

For those not aware of it, an egg stasis is different that egg binding. Egg stasis can occur before or after they cycle and ovaries release the eggs. In the post ovalatory stasis, they do not get to the shelling gland so remain just yolks. Those yolks may reabsorb or the may not. In Sandy's case some did not and they hardered to be like rocks.

In egg binding, the eggs are where they should be, just for some reason the female is not or can not lay them

Both conditions are curable if treated in time and may not require surgery, but owners should realize that is a possibility also