Today, April 22, after a lengthy battle with long term serious ilnesses,
Amelia let me know that she was ready to rest and that her body just
couldn't keep going any longer.  She went to sleep in my arms for the
last time this morning at Angell Memorial.  She was seven and a half, and
had been fighting insulinoma for the last year and a half.  More recently
she'd developed a heart murmur, probable lymphoma (we never biopsied but
there's no real reason to doubt it), and an unknown mass in her thoracic
cavity that was pressing on her lung.  She was a tough little girl who
made it longer than any of the vets thought she could on sheer
determination, I think, but in the end the inevitable cannot be fought,
not even by the most determined ferret.
 
I had her from the time she was 7 weeks old and fit in the palm of my
hand; she grew up feeling safe and secure in her opinion that she was the
equal of any person she ever met, and far superior to any ferret (other
ferrets were nasty beasts in her eyes).  She slept curled up next to me
at night and sometimes woke me up by grooming my eyebrows.  I'm sure I
will have other ferrets in the not too distant future, because I can't
imagine not living with ferrets, but there will never be another Amelia.
 
My mother wrote this family fable a few weeks ago as Amelia's health was
in serious decline.  I'm not a rainbow bridge sort of person, keeping my
beliefs more personal, but I found this very comforting.
 
http://www.channel1.com/users/regina/hunt.html
 
hug those who are precious to you,
 
Regina
 
(BIG, could you unsub me?  I'm sure I'll be back, but for now I have to
leave for a bit.  I joined the FML a couple of months after Amelia came
into my life; it will be strange not to have it every morning but I think
it would make me cry.  FHL moderators, I can take care of my FHL settings)
[Sorry to lose you and Amelia, but will do, of course.  BIG]
[Posted in FML issue 3761]