Hi.  My wonderful Tarzan passed away from abdominal lymphoma two years ago
today, August 19.  He was only three and a half.  He passed away five days
after his fourth chemo treatment, which had been done weekly and featured
vincristine and cyclophosphamide via I.V., and pediapred orally.
 
I'm wondering if those who have had ferrets go through chemo might let
me know what kind of blood monitoring tests were done, and how often,
throughout the chemo?  I remain with the question of whether his blood
counts were monitored sufficiently.  His counts were very low before he
died.  We tried a transfusion, but to no avail.  His loss hit me so hard...
I guess I wasn't ready to face this until now.
 
Anyway, Tarzee was the greatest guy ever.  He loved popping balloons and
playing jokes, such as "waving" at me with a glove on his head, wearing a
twisted branch like a pair of glasses and cavorting about the yard (great
comic relief during Percy's funeral), or showing up out of the blue with
a mini fanny pack around his neck, like a little St. Bernard.  He also
taught all the fur kids to wrestle, showed me if someone was sick by
draping himself around them, and loved getting a back rub while stretched
flat on mommy's stomach.  He seemed to love everyone and everything about
life.  Plus he was the only ferret I've ever heard people spontaneously
call handsome!  He was long, lean-muscled and dark, with dancing eyes.
 
I called him my little "fighter pilot".  The Blue Angels flew over our
heads as I drove him back from his last chemo treatment.  Just a couple
weeks ago they flew overhead as I stood on a beautiful viewpoint on my
running route where I often stand and think of my beloved dad, who passed
away a year and a half ago, and my lost pets.  As I stood looking up, I
watched a large white bird fly into the beautiful blue sky until its
white wings melted into the blue and vanished.  But I knew it was there.
I decided this is how I will think of my dad, and Tarzee, and the others
I miss.  They are there but I just can't see them right now.
 
Thank you,
Lynn and Five Sweet Fertlings, still missing our Tarz
[Posted in FML issue 3149]