Hi.  I have sad news to report.  Unfortunately, my little Sparkle girl
passed away yesterday-I am devastated.  I knew she was really sick, but
I never thought she'd die yesterday!
 
When she first came to us, in addition to all her other problems, we noted
that she had a very brief episode of heavy breathing, almost panting, but
it was not acute and did not last for more than a few seconds, and
occurred rarely over the course of her treatment here according to the old
owner and my own observations in living with her for a week and spending
all my spare time with her and bringing her to work with me every day.
(She was our patient for a few months before I rescued her)-seemed to be
a stress reaction.
 
Monday night at home she started having very heavy breathing consistently,
and couldn't seem to get into a comfortable position, to the point where
she rearranged herself every few minutes and would not eat much, even when
I hand-fed her.
 
Yesterday morning my doctors examined her and suspected pleural effusion
(fluid in her lungs) and we got an x-ray.  She got really stressed out
while we were taking an x-ray and she went into severe respiratory
distress, gasping for air, and then stopped breathing and lost a heart
rate.  Despite the long and great effort of our staff, we couldn't revive
her.
 
I am really sad right now.  We had already sent out more bloodwork so we
could have as much information as possible, and were still awaiting the
results (we were going to do her surgery today if all was normal).  The
breathing issue really kind of developed almost out of nowhere as a major
issue, and the x-rays showed her as having almost no lungs!!!  I still
haven't gotten to sit down with my doctors to discuss her x-ray findings,
but apparently, it is incredible that she made it this far without showing
much in the way of symptoms; her previous symptoms certainly didn't
suggest pleural effusion.
 
I am so upset right now-I was not prepared for such a sudden death, and
I feel awful because she died terrified, not being able to breathe after
being held down on the x-ray table, which no ferret likes.  She had given
me about a thousand kisses just before we x-rayed her...
 
We will be sending out a lymph node for biopsy to get a better idea of
the situation; a full post-mortem seemed a bit much for this poor little
girl's body when so much of her disease was obvious on x-ray and through
other tests.  (Incidentally, she was ADV-negative.)
 
I want to thank everyone who sent kind words and money towards her care.
I especially want to thank Joanna, Alicia and Mary, for offering homes
for Sparkle, Jaime, Kerry and Aida, Leanne, Dan, Muna and Joanna again
for sending money towards her care.  You are all so wonderful-everyone at
my hospital thinks so-they thought you were special people to help a sick
baby you didn't even know.
 
I will be having Sparkle cremated and keeping her with me-I couldn't bear
the idea of her being alone.  She and Renate will have each other at the
Bridge.
 
Sandee, please send my little Renate to meet Sparkle-they had so much in
common, and were both such sweet little girls.  Even though I only had
Sparkle for a week and Renate for five months, they mean so much to me,
and I am glad to have known and loved them.
 
I hope the brief duration of Sparkle's time with me doesn't discourage
anyone from helping in the future.  I plan to take in whatever little
babies I can that need me while I work at the hospital.
 
Thanks again, you wonderul FMLers.  What a great group of angels.
 
Dooks,
April Armstrong
[Posted in FML issue 3777]