Obviously, Jessika is more than slightly angry with me.  If you're a friend
of mine DON'T get down on her, okay; she's been through hell recently (As we
all know from having lost ferrets, and those of us who have been through
grande mal seizures in our fuzzies know how upsetting those are.) and is
very upset.
 
For the anyone else who might not recall what was said or who misread, but
does not have the excellent reason which Jessika has: I mentioned in my post
that the post was GENERAL, rather than specific to any given situation
because there have recently AGAIN been a NUMBER of people who wound up with
confusion between adrenals and insulinomae, and who did not realize that
there are both surgical treatments and ones with medicines for either (or
both together), and that even when the situation looks very bad often there
can still be happy time ahead for the ferret.  It was NOT directed at ANY
one individual or ANY one case, especially given that each is different.  It
was meant to give hope to those who have OTHER sick ferrets but may not
realize how tough ferrets are since the MISCONCEPTIONS that they are
intrinsically tender, or that 6 and older are too old for surgery, or that
adrenals or insulinomae are always malignant and always spread, or that
adrenals and insulinomae cause each other's symptoms CROP UP OVER AND OVER
AND OVER through the years.  When the FML has a number of posts of that
nature there are people who give up hope before they should.
 
In someof the cases in the last few months it might simply be that there
were aspects of the case which the poster did not make clear, in others
there may have been vets who did not know the options and if they could be
taught (as in giving them copies of the EXCELLENT medical FAQs) many ferrets
could be saved, in others the poster many not have understood the medical
aspects.
 
WHY did I put on the post?  TO SAVE OTHER FERRETS!  When there wind up being
a grouping of such posts there have been times in the past when people who
were not familiar with adrenals or with insulinomae wind up getting mercy
shots for ferrets which may find a total cure through surgery (as Meltdown
did with an adrenal tumor which WAS malignant but which she survived by
several YEARS after surgery) or still have something like months or even
over a year ahead of them of happy time with medicines.  (BTW, there are
also treatments for adult lympho which add happy time for some ferrets.) If
you look back through issues in the last few months you will find the
general themes cropping up several times.  That's why the post could NOT fit
any one description -- it was written to fit several, as I mentioned right
in it.
 
I sent a reply to Jessika the other day when I got a copy of her letter in
my personal mail, and she's not one to want other ferrets to die because of
a mistaken impression so I am sure she understands, whether she's still
angry with me or not.
 
BTW, the reason I did not wait to post it was because she mentined she would
not be on for a while so I figured she'd be SPARED having to read it.
Whether she stayed on or whether someone sent it to her, I don't know.  If
the latter, I personally consider the action in bad taste since the post WAS
GENERAL and was timed to REDUCE the chances of her seeing it so that she
would NOT be hurt in her time of mourning.
 
Oh, and I did not receive any other letters from people upset about my post,
though I might since Jessika's became public.  Hence, this letter.  What I
DID receive were thank yous for making it apparent that there are treatment
options, that there is often hope, and that good vets tend to appreciate
sources of information such as the FAQs.
 
Pax on list.  If you have become pissed at me whether because you know a
way I could have written it better and still saved ferrets, or because you
misread, or whatever tell me privately.  Folks don't need this.
 
Sukie
[Posted in FML issue 1987]