A very sweet woman named Michelle just called. She is a internal medicine student there at MSU and wanted to go over some of the procedures they will be doing today. There was a lot to cover but I think I can remember it all from my hastily jotted notes.

They said they got a sample from his latest diarreha and they are going to check it for parasites. A flotation to look for eggs and a smear to look for an overgrowth of bacteria.

If he does have parasites they do not plan to just sign it off as the problem as parasites could be secondary to something bigger.

He has been given the wormer panacure in the meantime though.

Although Dr. Beal feels strongly it's Addison's, the internist doctors, Dr. Byle and Dr. Ruckland want to cover all the bases and not put their eggs in one basket so to speak.

Chipper will undergo an abdominal ultrasound today where they will look for signs of Gastro-Intestinal issues such as IBD, pancreatis, and colitis. If they see anything suspicious during the procedure they will needle the cells for a biopsy.

Cancer is not totally out of the question but they don't feel it's the underlining issue. More of a better safe than sorry procedure.

In the meantime, they'll await the blood work back for signs of Addison. As it stands, his steriod levels are low (which are controlled by the adrenal glands) but his electrolytes are fine and with Addison's they are typically imbalanced. His protein levels are also low but that could be due to a gastro intestinal issue and not necessarily Addison's.

One of the internists will still be in touch later this afternoon to answer any questions and explain the procedures more or how they are doing.

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Molly, I'd love to come visit. I don't think we have anything going on that day but of course we'll have to see how Chipper is doing.