>From:    Lisa Goggins <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Please everyone answer! Insulinoma!!!!
>
>How long has or did your ferret live with insulinoma with medical
>treatment and care but no surgery?  I have been reading lately and was
>shocked to find my Otis has about 186 days to live without surgery.  I
>had no idea it was this short.
 
Well, 7.5 year old Amelia's been on meds for a year and a half and
counting, although I'm afraid that her time is getting pretty near.  She
was on just pred in steadily increasing doses for about the first 12
months, and has been on pred and proglycem (diazoxide) for about the last
6 months.  I think it depends a lot on the individual ferret and their
overall health and attitude.
 
Which brings me to the other part of my subject, surgery recovery.  A
couple of people have mentioned that their ferrets have been bouncing not
long after surgery by skilled vets and that this is further proof of the
vets' skills.  I don't entirely disagree, but again, I think this is due
just as much to the nature of the individual ferret.  Cully and Amelia
had adrenal surgeries by the same surgery team.  Amelia was rattling her
carrier door when I picked her up several hours after her surgery, and she
was raring to go when we got home (and quite irked when I caged her for
her own good!).  Cully, on the other hand, was very mopey and had to stay
overnight with extra pain meds because he clearly wasn't handling the
experience well at all, and I had to hand feed him for a couple of days.
His surgery was equally successful, but he was an easily discouraged
ferret in an emotional sense, so he took the experience much harder.  So,
it just goes to show that even with the best vets available, some ferrets
will have a harder time recovering than others, just by their natures.
 
Regina
 
Regina Harrison [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]
http://www.channel1.com/users/regina/
blog: http://www.channel1.com/users/regina/zblog.html
 
Is that my business?  Well, what is my business?  Do I know?  Did I ever
know?  Let s not go into that.  You re not human tonight, Marlowe.  Maybe
I never was or ever will be... Maybe we all get like this in the cold
half-lit world where always the wrong thing happens and never the right.
--Raymond Chandler, The Little Sister
[Posted in FML issue 3756]