I've been having a really hard time lately and we still don't know what's
wrong with Jitterbug or if she will survive.  I went in to see her this
morning and she looked very drained, but I assume that was due to the
surgery.  I can't remember if I mentioned it or not, but he said everything
else looked fine inside her.  Last night I spoke to Ann Holman about
Jitterbug and she was convinced it was greeen slime.  She told me she had
treated 70 cases this year and all but 2 survived (those two also had
cancer).  Then she told me how they were treating it at her shelter (and
mentioned that other shelters were reporting 40% mortality rates).  So this
morning I went in to the vet (first time I met him because when I dropped
her off only the receptionist was there) I told him what Ann said.  Well he
walked out of the room, came back 1 minute later and told me he thought it
would be best if I took my ferret somewhere else since I obviously didn't
trust him.  I immediately started appologizing and told him I hadn't
intended to sound like I didn't think he knew what he was doing.  He spent
the next 45 minutes berating me, spouting off a long list of his credentials
and telling me to take her somewhere else.  I was crying, telling him I was
sorry, I was just worried about Jitterbug and that this woman had scared me,
would he please still take care of her.  He went on about how dare I tell
him how to treat a patient based on a diagnosis by a vet tech who had never
seen the ferret and would I go into a hospital and tell a doctor how a nurse
knew better than him what was wrong with his patient and couldn't I tell how
many ferrets he was currently treating (we were in the back and there were a
lot of ferrets there).  Finally, my SO calmed him down.  He said "this isn't
about ego, I will gladly share all the results I have with whoever you
choose to take care of her.  I'll even recommend several very good vets
experienced with ferrets if you would like." Well I begged him to keep her
there (I didn't think she should be moved so quickly after surgery and even
though I HATED this guy he couldn't have been that arrogant if he wasn't
good).  He finally agreed, but made sure I knew that whatever he did, she
could still possibly die.  I left shaking so hard I could barely drive home.
It was the worst experience of my life!  If he hadn't already done the
surgery I would have brought her immediately to someone else, but I had to
swallow every once of pride I had because I wanted what was best for
Jitterbug.  My one consolation is that I do think he is probably very good
medically speaking and there were a LOT of ferrets there (Plus Cynthia had
told me that he has ferrets himself).
 
Before I left I got Jitterbug to eat some babyfood off my fingers and set
her up with a water bottle (it seemed difficult for her to drink out of the
bowl).  He told me he had her on a broad spectrum antibiotic, but he
wouldn't know anything for a couple of days when the test results came back
(he sent the lymph node to be analyzed, did stool cultures, but no blood
work).  He also said I could come visit her as often as I like, but I felt
it was best not to return that day (I would have stayed all day if I could).
Tommorrow I will go back though and try to get her to eat more babyfood, she
doesn't seem to eat unless it is off my fingertips and I am VERY worried
that she won't eat enough when I'm not there.  The only other news I have is
that she also had a fever which is lower now (was 104.5 now around 103) and
although I don't know why he has a heat lamp on her.  Oh, one other thing he
said that "in the wild" ferrets tend to hybernate so it was important when
they were real sick to prevent them from returning to this behavior or they
wouldn't eat.  That was the only thing he said that made me doubt his
competence.
 
There seems to be a problem with my e-mail, I have not yet gotten the FML
(so if you want to write me, write me direct)and it's 5:00 and many people
seem to be getting my mail late.  I will continue to keep you updated,
please continue to pray, Jitterbug needs all the help she can get.
 
     Rebecca
[Posted in FML issue 1702]