I posted several months ago about Moki, my 4.5 year old ferret that was
diagnosed with insulinoma.  I requested input from people that had had
personal experience with deciding whether or not to go through with the
surgery.  I wanted to let all those that responded know how things turned
out, but I did not save their names and addresses.  I remember Troy Lynn and
Dr. Susan, but there were several others as well.  Moki went in for surgery
on March 10th and had two tumors removed that proved to be malignant.  One
of the tumors was on the tip of one of the lobes of the pancreas, so the
entire tip was removed.  The vet also took a biopsy of her stomach and small
intestine and found Inflamatory Bowel Disease.  He felt this condition is
what caused her initial weight loss which resulted in the symptoms of the
insulinoma being expressed.  Being on the prednisone for the insulinoma
symptoms probably helped with the IBD condition as well.  Moki did not
bounce back after surgery as fast as I (and the vet) thought she would.  It
took her an entire week before she was active again and two weeks before she
started behaving as if she felt good.  She passed her fasting glucose test
one week after the surgery, but the readings weren't as high as we would
have liked to have seen.  Currently, her weight is higher than ever, she is
very fiesty and as active as I've ever seen her, still playing after all her
playmates have gone back to sleep.  A happy outcome!
 
Thanks to all that shared their insulinoma experiences with me!
 
Elayne
[Posted in FML issue 1916]