Today is a very very sad day for Jeffrey and I--Dino passed away on the
ride home from the vet's this afternoon.  And what an unfortunate horrific
day it has been for not only me and Jeffrey, but for Dr. Purcell, and for
the would-be blood donating ferret Henry (and his owner).
 
We awoke this morning to find Dino extremely cool to the touch and of
course pale as a ghost.  He ate his Duck Soup for the morning, and took his
meds, but on the ride to the vet's (a 45 min drive, we'd go to any lengths
to have our ferrets seen by Dr. Purcell) we noticed his breathing became
very very shallow and slow.  At 8AM we dropped him off, to be transfused
shortly thereafter with blood from a healthy young male ferret named Henry
(who was also going to be castrated while under anesthesia for the blood
donating procedure).  At noon we returned to check up on Dino, only to find
the unfortunate freak occurrence of Henry's death due to an unknown
allergic reaction to the anesthetic used.
 
Poor poor Henry, we feel so incredibly heartbroken for him and his owner
Ace.  The sweetheart was trying to help save our little boy's life, and
this unknown allergic reaction takes his life away.  There was no way Dr.
Purcell could have known this, and I hope she truly believes that.
Nevertheless, it's still an extremely difficult situation to handle, since
at that point, nothing "fruitful" had been accomplished.  But in an
admittedly, ashamedly, selfish way, I was secretly glad that we still had
our Dino to cling to, although he was still very very sick...my thoughts
would come back to haunt me though.
 
While at the vet's, Dino did eat some Duck Soup for the nurses, and he
appeared "happy as a clam" in his heated waterbed there.  It was our common
decision to now put Dino on Prednisone to help him feel better and possibly
stimulate a little RBC formation, although it was, like the transfusion, a
treatment not a cure.  We left the vet's thinking somewhat happy thoughts
about getting our Dino back to a more coherent and comfortable state, but
that feeling took a 180 and we were soon listening to Dino's wheezing and
open-mouthed breathing on the way home.  As we neared our city, he started
to thrash a few times and start panting, and then he finally let out a
couple high-pitched wheezes and passed away on the highway before we could
do anything more.  What a nightmare to have this happen while driving, and
there was just nothing more we could have done to save his life.
 
He would not have made it through the transfusion, now having seen this
rapid decline in his health on the drive home.  So we feel, and we
think/hope Dr. Purcell feels, that Dino died not because he was not able to
have the transfusion, but because he was so weak.  Not enough oxygen was
circulating in his system and his heart finally had to give up.  We are so
so sorry that 2 ferrets lost their lives today (and I am sure there are
more in the world who have died today as well), and that there is so much
pain that is being felt right now, especially with Ace and with Dr.
Purcell.  Jeffrey and I have already cried riverfulls, and will continue to
do so until some time has passed.  But in a way, we kinda knew that Dino's
illness was terminal, so we were ever-so-slightly more prepared for this
day than Dr. Purcell or Ace for that matter were.  We are really hurting
right now, but we just developed a roll of film that I took of Dino just 2
days ago and all the pictures are absolutely beautiful.  He looks so sweet,
so calm, so handsome.  If I can figure out a way to scan it into someone's
website, I will let you know.  I am so glad that we were able to take those
pictures and have them forever...
 
And one more thing.  Thank you so much to BOB CHURCH, who made us laugh
tonight when we thought there was no way in hell we could conceive of
laughing at this sad time.  Where came poo??  What a hillarious poem!!  It
takes a lot to get us laughing, we are pretty serious people, but geez,
what a silly poem!  We really needed to mention that, since the both of us
are here at my workplace, crying while reading the FML, and then bursting
out laughing reading "Where Came Poo?" You made us laugh, we really needed
that.  Thanks for your silliness...
 
Thanks again to everyone's e-mails on their experiences similar to my
Dino's... can someone please e-mail me the "Rainbow" poem?  I never got it,
and I haven't seen it posted yet... Thanks, it helps...
 
-Tina and Jeffrey
 and Dino--monster (RIP) and Neely--demoness
[Posted in FML issue 2643]