05/11/2025
Evie update:
We know some of you have been waiting for an update on Evie—but the truth is we don’t have any concrete answers yet. 😔 Her case has been so complex that no explanation is simple.
As of last week at the internal specialist, the ultrasound confirmed prominent lymph nodes, thickening of her intestines and elevated liver labs. These prove consistent with IBD (an inflammatory bowel disease) or lymphoma.
Both have two different treatment options.
Not knowing what to treat is the HARDEST part.
We went ahead with the liver aspiration ($500), as it was the simplest and less risky thing to do out of all 3 options. The other two suggested by the specialist were biopsy’s of the intestines ($3500-$5000) or biopsies of all 3-lymph nodes, intestinal tract & liver ($5,000-$7,000).
The liver aspiration came back containing no cancer cells, however this does not mean that she doesn’t have cancer- it just means the sample does not contain cancer cells. We chose this option because if it came back as lymphoma we would automatically choose palliative care, but we also knew that it wasn’t a sure diagnosis this way. However, being told that there were only 3 options-we knew we couldn’t spend thousands of dollars if there was a simpler answer.
So in a sense, we are closer with 2 separate possible diagnosis’s. IBD and lymphoma have the exact same symptoms, both leading to malnourishment, which is why it is so hard for her to process food. She is eating 6 cans a day just to maintain her current weight (6.9lbs) and is ALWAYS hungry. She is still receiving weekly B12 injections due to her current inability to absorb these nutrients.
There is a vet in Richmond who likes to use a different trial, one that was not offered by the specialist. He wants to start her on steroids, (but only a short enough trial to get the inflammation down) so that hopefully it won’t cause her to develop diabetes again (which is a risk, but we may not have another choice). We will carefully monitor her glucose for any spikes while performing this test.
If we start her on steroids for a trial period and then wean her off and her symptoms come back, then she has lymphoma. If we start her on steroids and then wean her off and her symptoms go away for a couple of weeks then she has severe IBD and we can start her on prebiotics, probiotics, oral B12, and a prescription diet which should keep the inflammatory disease at bay.
We have been in touch with our regular vet about this process and we continue to have several heads working together on her case. We wish figuring out this diagnosis for Evie was simply cut and dry, but it’s proved to be far from that entirely.
We won’t give up fighting in your corner sweet girl!
