From:
Jen Phillips
Date: 2004-08-11 20:11:52 UTC
Subject: Fria's Adrenal Surgery
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-Id: <6.1.2.0.2.20040811155910.02db89a0@127.0.0.1>
Fria's surgery went pretty well yesterday. I would have posted sooner, but
the day was very long and extremely stressful for us. And having no sleep
the night before only made it harder.
We took her in at 7am to be prepped for surgery. We were told to come back
around 9:30am and that she should be in recovery by then, and she was. It
turned out to be her right adrenal gland that was affected. Our vet
removed it successfully, with no complications. Fria had to spend the
night there for observation and to be sure she was eating. We didn't get
see her right afterward though, because was still out of it, and the vet
thought it would be best to let her rest. So we headed on home.
I called several times throughout the day to check in on her progress. At
3pm she was still very groggy, and not up and about enough to show interest
in food or water, however she was still well hydrated. As of 7pm last
night she still hadn't eaten, which really concerned us. But the vet tech
gave her some sugar water and a bit of Nutrical to boost her blood sugar
and hopefully help her appetite.
As of this morning at 10am, Fria had eaten at least a little bit, and even
had 2 surprise poopies in her cage over night. They left us bring her home
with us today. She's doing fairly well as far as I can tell. As good as
can be expected 1 day after surgery. She moves very slowly and it takes
her some time to get comfy enough to sleep.
The vet didn't send any pain meds for her. He really wanted to avoid them
unless really necessary. She's obviously uncomfortable, but I'm not sure
how painful it is. I had hoped for pain meds to keep her as comfortable as
possible, but it was the vets call.
She's also on 0.2mL of Clavamox for 14 days to prevent any
infection. She's also getting some Nutrical 4 times each day to supplement
her diet and hopefully stimulate her appetite. We also have Bob's Chicken
Gravy on hand, as well as Gerber Stage 2 Chicken baby food. We were also
told to clean her incision with Peroxide, using cotton balls, once or twice
each day.
Hopefully her weight comes up some. She weighed in at 1.3 Lbs, which was
drastically lower than it was at her previous visit.. The vet was a bit
unhappy with her weight, and wants to see her get some weight back on.
So, I'd say overall things are going well so far. I just hope she isn't in
a great deal of pain.
If anyone has any comments or suggestions for me, they would be most
appreciated.
Also, I'm keeping a journal on her progress at my website (listed in my
signature). Feel free to watch her progress using the Ferret Journal link
on the left side of the page. It will be updated several times each day.
Take care,
Jen
Happy Dookin',
The Hidey Hole Gang - http://www.hideyhole.org/
Jen, Mike & The Critters
The Ferrets - Loki, Fria, Jamocha, Vivi & Duke
The Hedgehog - Punk
The Rats - Plato, Algernon & Mystique
The Chicken - Dixie