From:
Kym Barone
Date: 2002-06-14 00:24:00 UTC
Subject: Patches and I lost the fight :(
It is with great sorrow in my heart that I have to write this. So many
of you on this list have written to me, both on and off list, trying to
help me with my Patches. I cannot express my sincerest gratitude to
everyone for that. Last night around 7:00 my vet and I helped Patches to
go where she is no longer fighting for her health and strength. On
Monday I had her to the vet where we decided to try the pred. I started
her on it that night, and she got it every 12 hours ever since.
Unfortunately, instead of her getting better, she got worse. My vet
strongly reassured me that she does NOT think that the pred caused her
to get worse, that it was probably just the timing, that she was too bad
off. But I can't help but wonder if I did this to her. Tuesday she
wanted to eat less and less, and Tuesday night she fought her meds
pretty strongly. Wednesday morning, she looked so much more frail than
even Tuesday night. I was pretty sure that Wednesday was going to be our
last day when I saw her that morning. She had not used the potty box at
all overnight, and through it all, she had been so good - no matter how
hard it was to use it, dammit, she was gonna use it. But overnight, she
had just gone wherever she was. I cleaned her up and fed her as much as
I could get into her. But later on Wednesday she decided she had fought
enough, and became unresponsive, labored breathing, all of the signs...
I knew she was asking to go. I wrapped her in her little blanket and we
drove to the vet, her on my lap the whole way with her head in my cupped
hand. She hung in there long enough that the vet and I could let her go
together in my arms and we said our goodbyes. She is the 19th personal
ferret who I have lost to the Rainbow Bridge since my first loss in
1993, but she tops the list as one of the hardest I've ever lost, we
fought SO hard, sooooo hard to find out what was wrong with her and make
her better. My heart is broken for what I've lost, but I rejoice in the
wonderful life that I know she had, she was the happiest ferret I ever
owned and now she is with her friends who have gone before her.
At a complete loss for what was wrong with her, we are doing a necropsy.
The initial necropsy showed nothing that provided any answers. Both
adrenal glands were enlarged, but showed no signs of carcinoma. She did
have a large insulinoma, I didn't know she was insulinomic, but we also
don't think that had anything to do with her death. Her bowel was 'thin
and liquidy.' Her liver looked fine, kidneys too. Nothing was remarkable
as far as providing any answers. So we have sent off samples of just
about everything to test for everything known to man to find a cause. I
will post out here when I find out the results, hopefully by doing so,
maybe someone in the future can save their little one by what we find. I
also hope that maybe some answers will be found in the biopsies that
might help L'il Grunt... he is holding on, doing pretty well, he seems
to be reacting well to the pred but he's hating his clavamox and flagyl.
He still eats kibble, but his poops go from good and solid to complete
liquid, sometimes green, sometimes brown.
Once again, thank you so, so very much to everyone on this list that
wrote with suggestions, or just dropped a note to offer encouragement
and support. I intend to personally write everyone with a thank you but
off the top of my head... Dr. Williams, Sukie, Jackie, Connie, Gail S.,
Carol... I'm forgetting so many others, but your messages were not
forgotten, I'm just brain-dead now... and Francine and Danee... so great
to hear from you and your messages were so appreciated... and Ron from
Michigan... you are ALWAYS there to send a message of comfort when I
need it most... from the bottom of my heart, thank you. Sorry to take up
list space with all of these thank -yous and I'm so sorry for those that
I missed, these were just off the top of my head!
I miss her so much.... :o(
Kym
Ferret Mommy to 20
L'il Grunt, Kerplunk, Mookie, Mikayla, Marty, Tanglefoot, Tumbleweed,
Corky, Tequila Sunrise, Squirt, Piggly Wiggly, Trouble Too, Muse, Boo,
Homer, Connie, Bonnie, Sallie, and Tangerine Twist.... and desperately
missing my little Patchwork Princess, gone from my home, but never from
my heart. Sleep well, my little princess.
Meet the kids: <http://www.ferretmommy.com/> http://www.ferretmommy.com
(Patches' page will be up by the end of the weekend!!)
{moderator's note: sympathy messages should be sent privately to Kym.]