From:
Justdookin@aol.com
Date: 2003-06-10 01:58:48 UTC
Subject: Hayley and lymphoma
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <f8.2d5ba353.2c169558@aol.com>
Need some advice, please.
Last November, Hayley had her spleen removed, along with her left and right
adrenal, nodules on her pancreas and a lump on ther tail. It was a painful
and seemed to be kind of a long recovery for her, but she recovered and was back
to the old Hayley we all knew and loved.
A few months ago I noticed a knot in her neck and a knot under her arm. I
know that these are lymphoma signs. She now has a small marble sized lump under
her arm, another the same size in her groin and the irregular shaped nodule
in her neck. She has really gone downhill in the past week.
She's getting worse. I am currently giving her 1/2 baytril in the mornings
with Bob Church's chicken soup and a melatonin tablet. In the evenings I'm
giving her 1/8 of a baby aspirin with more chicken soup. She walks a few steps
and sometimes several, but then lays down. She seems to drink a lot of water
and hasn't totally lost her appetite. She's pretty lethargic, but does get
bursts of energy.
I know that she's dying. She doesn't seem to be in any pain, but I'm sure
that's why she lays down often when she's up. She has been through so much and
she's only 4 years old! Fear on my part has kept me from doing things sooner.
I had already written her off. We had lost a ferret last July to a very
rapid growing lymphoma who had just had his spleen removed. He died 10 days
later.
Chemo isn't an option as I've heard it to be quite expensive. It doesn't
seem like that always helps anyway.
Tonight I started her on pediapred, which I will give to her twice daily. Is
there anything else I can do to keep her around longer? What else can I
expect? I'm sure that eventually her organs will shut down and she'll be gone.
I have already lost 5 ferrets in the last year. 4 died as results or illness
or post surgery and 1 died in an accident. It used to be so much fun having
ferrets, but it's about to break me mentally and physically! I just hate
being so sad and watching my babies slowly (or sometimes quickly) die.
Thanks for any and all help.
Connie
justdookin@aol.com