Dear FML,
 
I wrote in early December about my young ferret Baby.  It started when my
s.o. noticed what looked like a hemorroid on Baby's anus.  We took him
to the vet the next day.  Next to Baby's anus was a lump, which we had
not noticed.  The vet aspirated it, and said the cells did not appear
cancerous, and that he suspected a boil.  The vet lanced the lump, and
instructed us to take Baby home, and hot pack the site twice a day, and
give antibiotics.
 
The size of the lump did decrease, but once the incision healed the lump
got bigger.  Tomorrow Baby goes in for surgery, to have the lump removed.
We are going to ask the vet to do a biopsy, and remove any surrounding
fatty tissue, in the hopes that the lump will be gone for good after this
surgery.  Baby is a sweet young ferret.
 
I got baby in August, he is from a canadian breeder who puts a vertical
line tatoo inside the ear, I think the name of the breeder is "Real
Canadian Ferrets." At the time I got him I had never heard of Waardenburg
Syndrome.  We figured out that Baby was deaf quite by accident.  At first
we thought he was just "funny." Eventually we realized that he was deaf,
and the writing about the Waardenburg syndrome caught my attention.  Baby
has a stripe running from between his eyes, along his head, past his ears,
he as a mostly white face, with the cutest little smudges of black beneath
his eyes.  The smudges remind me of the stuff football players put under
their eyes.  Baby has white toes on all his feet, a white bib, and white
knees.  The rest of his body is sable.  There are small patches of white
on his tail, haunches, and belly.
 
I guess I just want to write all this because I am afraid Baby will die in
surgery, or we'll find out that he has some deadly cancerous type problem.
We love this little boy very much.  He never got a real name because he
can't hear us anyway.  If you asked him he'd tell you that his name is the
motion we make to him when we wave one hand about six inches off the floor,
when he sees us doing this he comes running to us.  Baby never bites, but
he does groom us.  He is sweet, and curious, and loving and I am hoping he
pulls through this surgery and the lump is a botched scent gland removal,
or a non-cancerous tumor...anything but a death sentence, please!
 
So, think of us when you read this, hug your babies for us, and know that
I will write to let the fml community know how this all turns out.
 
Dawn (Bitey, Baby and Dusty)
[Posted in FML issue 3286]