Sorry I hadn't posted about Diana - it was just too hard...Tuesday
I talked with the vet and based on what has been happening and her
condition (which hasn't improved and has gotten worse) I made the
decision to put her to sleep.  She's a fighter and I think that she
wouldn't give up even when her body was failing..so I did that for her..
 
I heard one person post once that euthanasia means that you take your
pets pain and make it yours and that is sooo true.  It hurts so badly to
know that my Diana won't be here anymore...she was such a part of my life
and I've had her for so long..struggled through so much with her that it
just seems impossible to believe that she isn't coming home.  She is a
cancer survivor - 2 years, 1 month and 6 days.  Dammit why couldn't it
have been 3 years?
 
Back in the fall of 1997, I purchased a young breeder jill (she had just
been spayed at 2.5 years of age) from someone that was closing her
ferretry.  Independence Morticia of Dancing Bottom Ferrets came into my
life..and she was unhappy at my house.  No one got along with her and
she missed her babies (they had just been weaned).  So I called up the
breeder and asked if she had any kits available for Tish to love..and
that is how Buster and Diana came into my life...
 
Morticia left us after just 2 years to lymphoma at age 5.  Buster (aka
DBF's Legends of Beowulf of Ferret Haven ) and Diana (DBF's Die Schwarze
Jagerine of Ferret Haven) were alone...and then I introduced them to
Kavik and Lily...
 
Buster died this past August...and Diana was for the first time,
separated from her sibling..I worried about her, but she bounced back
with the attentions of Kavik and Lils...
 
Diana was diagnosed with Lymphoma in Dec 2001.  She had chemotherapy
treatments since then (along with surgery to remove a malignant node at
her mandible) and was doing so well...We didn't think anything of her
next treatment on January 5, 2004.  Routine.  She had a CBC to check her
white/red count - and both were within normal ranges (whites I remember
as being at 7,000) and we had her treatment done.
 
Monday night, she crashed hard.  I rushed her to the vet and we did a
blood test - and it was not good.  She was lethargic and her white count
was about 500; low platelets and reds/PCV were very low.  I left her in
the care of my vet who did aggressive supportive care - I even had a
ferret give her a transfusion (Beeker a turn in from a testing lab) but
it wasn't to be.  I let her go last night....
 
She was just over 6 years old..and by all rights should not have seen her
5th birthday...she was such a fighter and it was her body that gave up -
not her spirit.
 
My three babies are together again...Morticia, Buster and Diana...I'm
sure they are ruling the Bridge...Diana was such the alpha in my house -
and I miss her terribly.
 
The vet did a necropsy on her - no cancer anywhere.  Everything looked
normal so he agrees that it was most likely the chemo that killed her -
by destroying her bone marrow...devil and the deep blue sea..the chemo
kept her alive all this time...and eventually took her from me...She
joins her brother Buster...and her foster mom Morticia....
 
DBF's Die Schwarze Jagerine of Ferret Haven -
Sept. 17, 1997 - Jan. 13, 2004.
 
I miss that little girl. :(
 
Lisa Leidig, Head Ferret
Shelter Wench in good standing
The Ferret Haven "By-the-Sea"
www.ferrethaven.org
[Posted in FML issue 4394]