Hi fellow ferret lovers.
 
Zinc's surgery has, thus far, been a success.  Zinc went under the laser
on Friday morning.  The surgery held a surprise for our vet and turned
out to be more complicated than expected.  She had no symptoms whatsoever
(except for that rattail that had resurfaced).  In fact, from watching
her, she had the energy of a kit.  The blood glucose test given the
week prior had given us the clue that something was amiss.  There was a
small tumor on the pancreas, but the vet does not believe it to be an
insulinoma.  It will be sent to a lab.  Also sent to the lab will be an
intestinal biopsy.  The intestines looked fine, but with her history of
IBD, we wanted to know for sure how she's doing in that respect.  The
surprise was the right adrenal gland tumor.  The tumor had grown
alongside the vena cava and a bit into it.  The doctor believes that he
managed to remove the entire right gland.  Unfortunately, in order to do
so, he had to cut into the vena cava.  It was not ligated.  Blood can
still flow through, but the vena cava is now narrower in that part.  So,
she will remain hospitalized until the vet is sure that she's out of
danger.  She is being pumped full of fluids and a medication through a
catheter to ensure that blood will continue to flow freely and the
kidneys will be flushed out.  The risk of throwing a clot should be
significantly reduced after 48 hours or so.
 
I'm sorry I cannot remember the medication.  The vet explained everything
to me, but I'm so exhausted and stressed that I cannot recall some of the
details, like the medication being used to enhance blood flow.  Heck, I
don't even know if that's absolutely correct, but it has something to do
with that.  Perhaps some other more experienced people here can correct
any errors I have made...
 
All in all, though, she doing "wonderfully." She is alert and moving.
And it was good that we went in there when we did because the outcome
could have been very, very bad (like a possible vena cava rupture).  All
of the above developed in a matter of a year (the last time she underwent
surgery).
 
Suzanna Donahue
Zinc, Pixie, Riki, and Bug
[Posted in FML issue 3863]