Dear Georgette:
 
When I read your post today I immediately began remembering my first and
best baby Dee (7 years old) who I lost last June to lymphoma that started
in the lymph nodes near the intestines.  I'll tell you my story and hope
it helps.
 
I am NOT a veterinarian, however at the time Dee became ill I was working
as a veterinary assistant for a wonderful ferret friendly vet in Roanoke,
VA.  I was able to keep things moving along quickly and was in on little
details others may not usually see.
 
Feb. 2, 1998 Dee was not as spunky as usual, so I took her to work with
me.  Dr. Honeycutt did a complete physical on her (including palpating the
abdomen).  Nothing unusual was found and a few days later she seemed to be
just fine.
 
In April she started acting like she just didn't have any energy or feel
well.  At first I thought it may be due to stress since we were in the
process of putting our household in storage because of my husband's
upcoming job transfer.  By April 9 she was really worrying me so I had Dr.
Honeycutt do an exam.  We found a small abrasion in her mouth and a mass in
her abdomen (3/4 cm in size).  At that point we began to wonder if she
might have a GI foreign body.  It was decided to feed her Hill's a/d diet
that night, and check her again in the morning to see if the mass moved.
 
The next morning a second mass was found.  We did x-rays that morning.  I
knew something was really wrong because she did not wiggle at all (taking
x-rays on ferrets can sometimes be a challenge :>).  Both masses appeared
to be associated with the intestines but it was hard to tell, so we did a
barium series.  The barium went through very quickly (Definitely no
obstructions) and showed that one mass was a thickened bowel.  The area it
was in made the vet suspect it was associated with the lymph node.
 
Our clinic did not have ultrasound equipment, however another local animal
hospital had just purchased one and need to do as many ultrasounds as they
could for their learning curve.  Since my vet was friends with the vet from
this hospital that was doing most of the ultrasounds for that clinic we
were able to get Dee in quickly.  My vet went with me.  The ultrasound
showed both masses appeared to have a lumen.  As it was explained to me
this meant the masses were wrapped around the intestines, in a sense
thickening the walls of the intestines.  With the help of the vet doing
the ultrasound, my vet localized the masses and do a fine needle aspirate
(insert a needle on a syringe into the mass to get a few cell for analysis,
biopsy without surgery I guess is the best way to describe it ).  We sent
the slides off to Dr. Williams at Accupath.  About 10 days later we got the
results and it was lymphoma.
 
I discussed treatment options with Dr. Honeycutt.  Like Miranda is now, I
was very concerned about quality of life.  Because Dee had 2 masses it
was believed more than likely it was already spreading.  I opted to do
conservative treatments verses putting her through surgery that more than
likely was not going to help.  Dee was put on Pedia-Pred.  (children's
version of prednisone without alcohol).  I'm sorry I can't remember the
dose.  We also supplemented her normal diet of totally ferret with the
Hill's A/D,several small meals a day to make sure she ate.  Dee and Ember
(my 6 y.o. fuzzy who was fighting cardiomyopathy and insulinoma) were able
to come to work with me every day.  They thought they had become queens of
the animal hospital, especially since everyone at the hospital insisted on
taking their lunch breaks with them:).  They loved that all the humans were
fighting over who was going to give them the next snack of A/D.  I was very
blessed to be working in such a loving environment.
 
Off and on through out the rest of April, Dee battled with very loose
stools.  In May her stool was always runny, but she was acting like she
felt good and seemed to be enjoying life so I didn't mind the extra
cleaning.  Mid June she was having bloody diarrhea and having trouble
finding the energy to eat the A/D or rule her roost (We had 5 ferrets and
that time including her and she always insisted on mothering each and every
one of them and was sad if you tried to separate her from them).  As if she
knew Dee's time had come Ember took a turn for the worse also.  It was the
hardest thing to do, but I had Dee and Ember put down at the same time.  My
husband and I were with them as they left us.  They were so loving and
giving kisses, I felt guilty.  My Husband wanted the vet to do a necropsy
to see if she might be able to learn any thing that might help another
fuzzy.  She did tell (I could not watch ), she found the cancer had spread
to Dee's stomach.  The stomach was slightly thickened, and the inside was
in bad shape.  I knew after that I did the right thing.  Maybe the girls
wanted to make sure I had a good memory of them.
 
I'm sorry this letter is so long, but I want to let you know what we did
and why in hopes that it may help.  Please don't think I'm saying Miranda
should put Felicia to sleep now.  I would not trade those last few months
for anything!  Dee and I had good quality time!  Dee felt better with the
pred so she could play with the others even if it was a little slower, and
I have Wonderful memories of the sweetest little woozzle sitting on my lap
enjoying her A/D which she viewed as her "special mom loves me better than
you other weezles" food (although they got a little taste from time to
time as too not feel left out).  Remember just like people every ferret is
different Felicia's lymphoma may not progress as quickly as Dee's.  And
Felicia's stomach thickening may be for different reasons.  Again I'm sorry
this was so long.  I hope you found something in it you could use.
 
Oh, to the person who wondered if their ferret was grieving, it is
possible.  Robby grieved for the girls for weeks.  It is a good idea to do
a check up to make sure that is all that's wrong.
 
Best wishes,
Christy and the trouble trio (Harley, Otto, Robby)
missing our girls Dee&Ember
[Posted in FML issue 2662]