At approximately 6:40pm on Friday, March 17, my ferret Rascal passed away
while under emergency care at the Animal Medical Center in New York.  She
had extensive surgery a couple of weeks prior to this in order to remove
about a half dozen tumors from her adrenal gland, liver, spleen, and
pancreas.  That seemed to go well enough.  On March 15 she came down with
jaundice and lethargy.  I took her back to the hospital and they discovered
a bleeding ulcer in her stomach, probably caused by the steroid therapy she
was under after the operation.  Unfortunately by that time it was too late.
She had lost too much blood and, though she made a valiant effort through
two major medical crises, she could not recover.
 
She has been buried under some rose bushes with several other beloved pets
at my mother's house in central New Jersey.  She will be deeply missed.
 
I've written a short story about her passing and posted it on my web site
(it was too long for the FML) along with some pictures.  Any interested
party can find it here:
 
http://users.erols.com/sgodun/hobbies/rascal/
[Posted in FML issue 2995]