It is NOT possible to accurately diagnose lympho without a biopsy.  One
reason is that when a ferret gets a systemic infection (or sometimes some
other alternatives depending on site) the outward symptoms look just like
lympho.  Then low and behold, a good long run of the right antibiotics
clears it up, or correcting whatever else caused the symptoms clears it up.
It certainly could be lympho, but it may not be... (Heck, Scooter had a
"fur" ball -- which apparently was actually composed largely of fleece from
bedding -- cause symptoms that threw off liver values and caused thoracic
nodes to swell making both the blood tests and ultrasound look like he had
lympho there.  Can you say, "huge sigh of relief" at the results of the
surgery?)  It's very common for infections to enlarge the many nodes,
including those by the rear legs, in the armpits, and on the neck, greatly
in them.  Without a biopsy it is too soon to think that it must be lympho.
 
From these sites you can get or link too a lot of info on pretty well any
medical problem that you need to know about:
 
http://listserv.cuny.edu/archives/ferret-search.html
 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ferret-Health-list
 
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc (including heartworm info)
 
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
 
http://www.trifl.org/medical.html
 
and
 
http://www.ferretcentral.org
 
The person needing detailed Lupron vs. surgery info will likely find
 
http://www.ferretdoctor.com
 
the most helpful.  Surgery is almost always the best way to go with an
adrenal growth, and when it is the left or an uncomplicated right one
it is quite routine for a ferret-knowledgeable vet.
 
>Does anyone know of a ferret vet in NY that does adrenal surgery?  I like
>my vet (St. Mark's vet) but I don't know if I trust them to do the sugery.
 
Too bad that Hanan Caine recently moved out of NYC.  He used to live here
and was the single best veterinary surgeon we have ever encountered; even
had to have him do a very complicated multiple surgery (liver cysts that
destroyed a lobe, pancreas partly out for grande mal seizures from
insulinoma, and more) on a handicapped little girl who would otherwise
have rapidly died -- a surgery that would have been difficult on any ferret
but she ALSO happened to have cardiomyopathy.  She lived well past the
surgery; all of our ferrets did.  Hanan is someplace in the Berkshires,
now.  Since that hospital in the Village had hired him they hopefully
looked for someone also good to replace him.
 
Of course, in NYC there still is the AMC but that is pricey, or you can
go to Hiedi Hoeffer in Huntington (LI)  (Link to her website from Trifl
addy above.), or to Joe Martins or Abe van Beverins in Basking Ridge
(NJ), or Dr. Kim in his central NJ practise (New Brunswick area?).
[Posted in FML issue 3482]