Hi everyone!  Well, two long weeks later and Felicia is finally back to her
normal, lovable, bouncy self!
 
Her illness made her white blood cell count plummet to less than 1000
(normal count for ferts is approx.  8000), kept her running a fever of
105-107 (normal temp. for ferts is 102), and made her so weak she couldn't
stand without falling over.  There was nothing my SO and I could do to help
her except to keep her hydrated, fed, and well loved.  Every three hours
around the clock we wrapped her in a blanket, cradled her in our arms and
fed her like a baby.  Her body would shake so badly during these feedings
that it broke my heart.  Every morning we took her temperature and I would
invariably wind up crying because the fever wasn't breaking, was still at
106.  Baby aspirin twice a day didn't help.  Finally, after a full week of
raging temperatures, our vet told us to increase the baby aspirin to three
times a day.  Under this regimen, her temp dropped to 103.5 for several
days.  Three days later, we found her lounging in her hammock, which is the
first time she'd had the strength to leave the bottom part of her cage
since the onset of her illness.  Two days after that, she wanted to come
out of her cage, and wobbled around and explored for five minutes.  The day
after that, she came out for longer and even jumped around in play.  That
day she also started eating her hard kibble again and refused to eat the
soft food we had been feeding her.  The vet told us to take her off the
aspirin Thursday morning and to bring her in for an exam on Friday
afternoon.  Friday: her temp was 102 and her white blood cell count was up
to 8500.  She only lost one ounce in the two weeks of her illness.
 
A nasty virus was the cause of all of this (in the words of my friend in
med school, "Viruses are evil!").  Our vet (who was amazing throughout all
of this), was surprised that it lasted for so long.  Felicia is only 10
months old.
 
It's miraculous to me to see her running and hopping again and wonderful to
feel a cool nose on my face and a lick lick lick chomp behind my knees at 3
am.  It wasn't an easy two weeks, but we kept our faith and were determined
that she get better.  We read her all of the get well messages from you all
and told her many times each day how much we loved her and needed her.
 
We wanted to THANK everyone for their messages, prayers, and get well
cards.  I can't tell you how much strength you all gave us to fight!  Our
prayers go out to all of the sick fuzzies and their people and also to
those who have lost their beloved, beloved fuzzies.
 
Helen
[Posted in FML issue 2730]