Hello there,
 
It's been an odd and occasionally sad year for us, but thought I'd drop a
note to the FML since we have some situations of interest.
 
First off, Potpie's been put on diazoxide (Proglycem) for her insulinoma.
It is costing me about $70 for almost a 2-mo supply, so it's not as
prohibitively expensive as I feared.  It seems to be working well - this is
her second day so far; she's alert, seems to have fewer spells than with
just the prednisone.  We'd reached a dose of .12 ml 2x/day where increasing
the dose didn't seem to improve her condition.  After a few days of mild
attacks, diarrhea, and discomfort, she seemed unhappy enough to warrant
moving to a new med.  Thankfully my vet is pretty dedicated and was happy
to try something new; not many places in our area carry this drug!
 
It's sort of sad, but I've mostly been sitting around waiting for 'the
time' to have Potpie put to sleep, because while she doesn't seem unhappy
yet, she certainly didn't seem to be enjoying herself.  Her recent dip in
condition put me in the frame of mind that it might be time for her to
go; I don't want to be too heroic and try to stretch her life out past a
reasonable limit/balance of time, money, and hassle for her.  I was willing
to try diazoxide, and based on the improvement that seems to have been a
good choice for the time being.  I'm not sure how many people here are
using it, but I will be glad to provide any information or answer any
questions.
 
Second, as Friday's been lonely and sulking since losing Easel and Noodle,
I decided it was about time to get her a pal.  Took her to a shelter, had
her meet a nice, bouncy, 3-yr old female.  They got along on neutral
territory, but of course when I brought everybody back to the house, it was
squabbling and near carnage.  :P They seem to be at an uneasy, unhappy
truce.  They're sharing the same cage and clearly mix it up now and then;
the new ferret is pretty outgoing but is somewhat spooked by Friday, who is
scared of the new girl and therefore being a bit aggressive.  I'm hoping
that things will cool down a bit - Friday can be playful and happy even
though she knows the new girl's around, and as soon as Friday stops picking
on her I think the new ferret will warm up to her again.  I'm trying to
spend time with each of them separately, plus I'm trying to remember how
difficult it was to introduce Easel oh-so-long-ago, and keep a positive
attitude about this.  I will try a few other tricks as I think them up, but
at least Friday isn't sad and lonely anymore - no sulking possible when she
has an adversary.  Heh.
 
Anyway, pictures of the new girl up soon, and more about her as we get to
know each other.
 
Melissa, Potpie, Friday, and the new ferret
 
- [log in to unmask] - This is a coin hold of great beak bird style. -
[Posted in FML issue 2884]