For Stretch read about surgery for insulinoma and also the meds used:
Prednisolone and Diazoxide.  If you haven't yet, DEFINITELY be SURE to
read the info on insulinoma in:
 
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
 
After that, use these for your next steps in learning if you haven't
used them yet:
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc
http://fhl.sonic-weasel.org
http://www.ferretcongress.org (crit. refs.)
 
http://fhl.sonic-weasel.org/browse.php?msg=SG8106
 
will help you with your choices.
 
Here is part of the abstract from the article it leads you to:
>The clinical signs and surgical findings were reported for 66 ferrets
>with insulinomas confirmed histologically.  All of the ferrets were
>treated with one of three modalities, and disease-free intervals and
>survival times were gathered to determine the most effective treatment.
>The three treatment groups included 10 ferrets treated medically, 27
>ferrets treated with pancreatic nodulectomy, and 29 ferrets treated
>with pancreatic nodulectomy combined with a partial pancreatectomy.
>The mean disease-free intervals for each group were 22, 234, and 365
>days, respectively.  The mean survival times for each group were 186,
>456, and 668 days, respectively.  Based upon the data, recommendations
>were made for treating insulinoma in the ferret.
 
Since he is eating in bed make sure that the bed does NOT have exposed
fake fleece (not polar fleece which doesn't shed much but the fake
sheep's fleece) or fake fur, since either can cause a "fake fur ball"
in the stomach and those can become life-threatening.
 
Years ago when there were only a few ferret farms the typical pet store
ferret arrived at 8 weeks of age.  Then there began being more ferret
farms and those new ones started selling ferrets as young as 5 weeks
old.  The result was that the pet stores liked having the extra sales
weeks for a pet which was considered a novel animal to have.  That
forced the older ferret farms to begin selling at younger ages to not
lose their sales base since the pet stores clamored for younger kits.
Not all of the farms like this age decrease at all.  I have privately
had a top executive of one of the very largest (and given the rumor mill
you'd be surprised which one -- very surprised since blame is often
misallocated) repeat several times to me within the last week that it
would be wonderful to NEVER have ferrets younger than 8 weeks transported
or sold.  Look at which farm has not complained specifically about an age
raise in the states which have gone to 8 weeks and you will see which
farms can be on the sides of ferrets in this regard.
 
Flowers: we have to be careful to cut the buds off anything in the house
which doesn't have edible flowers because Hilbert likes eating flowers.
The upside is that his shy little kisses smell very good sometimes.  (A
juxtaposition to Sherman who likes -- well, I won't say what he likes ot
lick best...) I've got to order Johnny Jump-up seeds and nasturiums but
I don't know if he'd touch the second.  He already LOVES rose petals and
has bitten roses right off my miniature roses (too bad he can't dance
the Flamenco with a rose in his mouth), and his absolute favorite is tea
jasmine (which has the only culinary jasmine so I really try to catch any
of those before they fall since other jasmine types are poisonous and I
prefer being extra careful).
 
Steve has seen a skunk in a field of his childhood state of Montana
eating flowers which always seems to me a beautiful picture to imagine.
[Posted in FML issue 4452]