Diagnosis

In the waiting area of the animal hospital to see the specialist.

If uninterested in a follow up from Monday's blip re Doyle's ongoing health situation, no need to read further:

The good news is that the internist at this animal hospital has seen and treated 3 cases of hyperaldosteronism in her career, so although rare, she has some experience and knowledge of this condition.

We got confirmation that the adrenal gland on one of Doyle's kidneys is enlarged and the source of the over-production of aldosterone which is causing all the other problems.  Of course the ultrasound also uncovered some other things that will require some additional testing.  There are some lymph nodes that are enlarged in her abdomen.  We've been advised that there should be a biopsy on the lymph nodes before doing surgery for the adrenal gland as depending on those results it may render any surgery pointless. We'll know a bit more when further lab results are available over the coming days.

In the meantime I now have her daily meds in two new forms, the tablet is no longer mint flavored (hooray!!) and is much smaller, and the potassium is being compounded specially for her at a pharmacy in San Mateo to be a chicken flavored liquid.  I hope this will make the thrice daily dosing experiences a little bit more pleasant for us both, for the time being.