From:
tansy
Date: 2003-12-15 05:00:17 UTC
Subject: Sniffles the Wonder Ferret Anemia update
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <27832.1071466705242.JavaMail.nobody@magnesium.smartgroups.com>
Yep, wonder ferret...he wants a cape for Christmas!
Seriously, Sniffles finally had his adrenal surgery
last Wednesday. He went through it fine, and did not
need either of the blood donor ferrets we had
standing by.
His left adrenal did appear hyperplastic, right was
normal. He also had some darkened areas that might
have been bruising on the mysentary, with one sort of
hardened area. My vet took a small piece (it cant
really be resected because it's in the area where all
the major vessels are)and sent it off to [Pathologist] along
with the L adrenal just to make sure it was not
adrenal tissue.
His last Lupron shot was last Sunday, the 7th, so I
won't know for sure whether the surgery has "cured"
him for several weeks. Even if the surgery has reduced
the estrogen levels to the point where his RBC count
is good on once a month Lupron, I would be thrilled.
Certainly, there is much more reason for optimism now
than a couple months ago (his first transfusion was
Aug 22). Once we get a couple months farther down the
road, and he continues to do well, and I have the path
report, I will write a summary report. The two keys to
his success so far, though, have been Lupron in very
large quantities, and the bone marrow transplant. It
certainly has been a learning experience, and honestly
I still look at him and can't believe he's still with
me. I also wonder how often this is happening and it's
not caught in time...
Anyway, have a good holiday season everyone, and cross
your paws that this is really a "fix" for Sniffs.
_