Message Number: YG4279 | New FHL Archives Search
From: Brett Middleton
Date: 2001-06-03 15:41:00 UTC
Subject: Re: A question for the FML and FHL-cross posting

"Larry McFarlane" <pndragon@l...> wrote:
> Now I notice that Alix' tail is thin. My question to any one who
> cares to respond, and I really hope you do is this. If you have
> your ferret taken into surgery, and it's like Socks' tumor-huge,
> absolutely positively huge (it had even caused the blood flow to
> move), and the tumor looks normal, would you allow your ferret to
> wake up from this surgery knowing that something this size and
> degree is possibly cancer?

Yes. I went through something similar -- a right-adrenal carcinoma
that apparantly did metastasize, though my vet told me at the time of
surgery that this was rare and not something to worry much about.
Even though we got the unlucky outcome that time, this doesn't prove
my vet was wrong, and I would not hesitate to take the chance again in
the future. A diagnosis of "cancer" isn't an automatic death warrant.

I know it's hard not to be gun-shy after an unfortunate experience,
but try not to dwell too much on worst-case scenarios of future doom,
or you won't be able to enjoy what you have *now*. It's a big jump
from a thin tail to an absolutely positively huge tumor, so don't let
your imagination work overtime.

Brett

*SLMW 1.0* No animals were harmed in the production of this message.