Hi... haven't written in a while, but thought I'd let ya'll know what we
found out at the vet's office Tuesday.  Turns out BlackJack's spleen was
147 grams (human spleens are only like 126 g. or so) and his left adrenal
was about five times bigger than it ought to be.  His right adrenal doesn't
look right, but he had been under too long to do anything to it as well.
He is a LOT lighter than he used to be!  Doing really great, eating and
pooping normally, still drinking a lot of water, but that's a good thing!
Dr. Larry Snyder is the BEST!  :o)
 
Now for the bad news... it looks like Tazzy may have lymphoma.  All of his
lymph nodes are swollen; he looks like a lumpy little teddy bear.  He's not
far enough along for prednisone, though- so I am going to treat him with
Pau D' Arco and Vitamin C, and also a vitamin supplement powder my ferret
expert friend makes... it sure has done BlackJack a world of good!
 
Also... Thufir has adrenal disease.  No hair loss except where he's worn
off the hair on his hind feet, but major aggression problems!  Turns out
his estradiol levels are really elevated, as well as his androstenedine
(sp?) levels... so he needs to have surgery as soon as we can afford it.
We just spent four hundred dollars on BlackJack's surgery and Thufir and
Tazzy's tests, so funds are running really low.  Hopefully we'll be able to
pull it off this month.  Please keep our boys in your prayers!  I have
often prayed for the sick and lonely and hurting little babes I read about
on the list, as well as been thankful that my kids had been blessed enough
not to have gone through any of those illnesses yet.  But now it seems our
time has come, and I do not know very much at all about how to care for
either adrenals or lymphoma.  Good thing I have plenty of time to do
research!  :o)
 
Just wanted to let a word of caution in here; just because there is no hair
loss on your fert doesn't mean he/she can't have adrenals... with Thufir,
all we had to guess by was a total 360-degree personality change ( meek vs.
ferocious) and he chewed on the other ferrets enough (dragging them backward
into him, for lack of a better description) that the fur above his little
toe pads on his hind feet was worn off.  Our friend and ferretgodmother,
Troy Lynn (THANK YOU Troy Lynn!!!) tipped us off to the probability of
adrenals, and we had him checked out - sure enough, there it is.
 
Well, I'm gonna go play with the babes now... play with them long, love
them lots, and hold them often!!-- ....you may not be able to keep them
with you as long as you might hope to......
 
Telaraj, Miles and the SuperBouncing Sixteen ( + 1 feeling-lots-better!!
cuddle-bug)
[Posted in FML issue 2485]