The feeling now is strongest that she has an infection (though other
options remain possible), and the options depend on what happens.  If she
stops having progress then the node can be pulled if she is up to it or
Pred could be tried to just see what happens.  The leading idea right now
is that perhaps she had a botched descenting which is draining into her
leg and which caused a life-threatening infection but we do not know for
sure what the cause actually is, yet.  When her antibiotics are done
we'll also have to see if she relapses.  Right now after the node
decreasing in size it has stabilized at about one and half centimeters
diameter but her fever is gone.
 
At this point she is more alert and stronger and is able to fit in maybe
5 minutes of gentle play behavior (with breaks) every few days.  Mostly
she sleeps but she enjoys seeing and sniffing new things every day now
and is getting to see her friends with supervision every day since she
no longer objects to having them there and no longer is so ill that she
scares them.  She seems stronger though she is still certainly sick as
you can tell.
 
Today below her shoulder on the same side as the infection we found
something weird.  She may be beginning to bruise where she gets shots
and they may be fading bruises, or she may have a secondary skin
infection beginning from being run down with that possibility being taken
seriously.  Our vet has just heard a description over the phone for now
but he wants to see her soon again, of course.  We are trying the other
side for her shots with careful examination continuing and Xenodyne is
being used on the circles.  They have a green center with very thin rings
of yellow and then of red.  They are not hotter than the surrounding area
(We used a gun thermometer which is very accurate for surface temps, a
Raytek Minitemp.) and there is no nothing draining or oozing -- the area
is dry.  Nor are they raised and they are not sensitive to touch or to
alcohol.  There is no rash, no hives, no indication of systemic allergic
reaction.
 
She is catching secondary illnesses easily while being so compromised;
when Steve had a sore throat she had one, too, for a few days.
 
All in all, she is making progress, but it is slow going.  She has not
been on death's door for days now and she hasn't had a fever for about
three days now.
 
(This is the 6 month old girl who had a huge popleteal node and a high
fever and some anemia who most likely has a severe infection but could
still have some form of malignancy.  She does have a consulting
oncologist who is familiar with ferrets and she has had ultrasound,
x-rays, blood work, nodal aspirates, and splenic aspirates, and of course
the pathology has been read by vet pathologists who are familiar with
ferrets.  At least it no longer looks to most likely be JL.  There are
other tests that would be good to do, such a pulling that node, but she
has not has not been strong enough yet to have those.  Steve and I still
are sleeping in shifts for her but now are going as long as 4 hours
between when I hit the sack and when he wakes and I think we can
increase that to 5 hours between soon.)
[Posted in FML issue 4183]