From:
"Irene"
Date: 2008-02-28 03:53:35 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: lymphoma
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
> Hello Keira's mom,
I needed to write to you because I have a 3 year old that also has
lymphoma and you are correct in saying that juvenile lymphoma is for
much younger ferrets. I understand your fear and I understand your
pain, so I need to write so I could bring you some peace of mind and
potentially some hope and faith.
My little girl has had to have chemo therapy, and it is not the same
type of chemo therapy that a human would get, so they do not lose
their fur or anything and it can have a very positive effect. I know
that basically they will start the chemo, along with predisone and
monitor her white blood cell count weekly to make sure her body is
accepting the chemo well. My baby had only 3 chemo visits and her
lymphnode went down from 4.0 to a .2 in size, which was remarkable.
Now, at this point, her white blood cell count has dropped far to low
for them to continue, so we currently are waiting in hopes her white
cells count will come up to a good and safe level so we can begin
chemo again. There are never any guarantees to how our babies will
respond, but we must keep our hope and faith in our babies that they
will be strong and battle the disease with us. It has been
approximately 4 months since they diagnosed her, and she had the same
condition as yours, not using her hind legs, and she is doing really
well, other then getting a little fat from the predisone.
You still have to be sure that this is the condition your baby has,
as they say simple infections can also cause them to not use hind
legs, but that is only something your vet can determine.
I have shed many tears thru this entire process and only hope with
all my heart that I can give her as much life as I possibly can
without any pain.
Please keep your head and hopes up high. The one thing we noticed
that happened almost immediately was that once they started her on
the predisone, she was using her hind legs again. They will have to
do full ultra sound to determine the size of the lymphnode and if it
is enlarged, they will then need to take test the fluid within it to
determine if she indeed has lymphoma, but either way, she should not
die on you tomorrow. They have the ability to give her the medication
and the chemo necessary to try and prolong her life as long as
possible. They say the chance of a full cure is very slim, but if you
can gain years of life with her, it will be more then you can ever
ask for. Please let me know how it goes.
Irene
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