From:
meganandjamie@msn.com
Date: 2002-12-30 17:12:00 UTC
Subject: Hard Decision
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <15481565.1041268320216.JavaMail.root@scandium>
I posted a while back about my ferret, Willie, who had a lump very close to=
the penis. Ended up having it removed then it was sent out for biopsy. T=
he results came back that it was malignant with a chance to come back so he=
would need checked every 6 months or so...well it wasn't even two months a=
nd the lump was back and this lump seems to get bigger faster. My vet was =
to call around to see if there was any oral medication that could take the =
place of chemo. Finally the vet left a message and I found out that there =
wasn't a oral med and that the only thing that could possibly help would be=
a PU Surgery (which I was told is like a sex change). I wanted to talk to=
the vet more to get more info on this type of surgery because this little =
guy has been through so much already. **When I rescued him (August 2001) he=
went into immediate surgery and had his spleen removed, both adrenals, and=
some of the pancreas because he had insulinoma. He has been on pedia-pred=
ever since with several insulinoma episodes occuring so the dosage was upp=
ed each time.** Well anyways, I left my vet a message to talk more about t=
his surgery and she was due to call tonight. Well, last night wasn't good.=
I had just given him his nightly dose of pred with the duck soup and he w=
ent to go pee and it must have been hard for him to pee because he whined a=
bit and went in a few different places. I picked him up and his tummy was=
really big and he was breathing really heavy/fast with a little whine afte=
r each breath. Then every so often he would take a huge slow exhausting br=
eath (like he was tired from struggling to breath). I was scared, grabbed =
the Ferrets for Dummies book and saw that his breathing was possibly a card=
io problem. But I am not 100% sure. I thought his belly was swolen from t=
he pred. He finally got situated after about 30 minutes to lay down. I di=
dn't sleep good at all...listening to every sound in the ferrets bedroom. =
This morning I went in to check and he was sleeping but shortly got up and =
was looking for his medicine w/ the soup. So I went downstairs to get his =
med and he ate most of it but not all. His breathing wasn't as bad as last=
night but he still breaths faster then the other fuzzies. His belly wasn'=
t as swolen either. I am so stumped on what to do. I wanted to get some o=
pinions before I talk to the vet and make any drastic decisions. This is s=
o hard on me and I can't stop crying, I have never lost a pet before so I t=
hink if I do I won't know how to get over it. I don't want to see him go t=
hru. any pain but I don't want to give up on him. I would really appreciat=
e any help.
Thanks,
Megan
=