Well, big old Cully goes in for adrenal surgery on Thursday.  I'm not too
worried about that surgery, because although he's around 8, he's a very
strong ferret and I know that he takes anesthesia well.  What does worry me
are some lumps that showed up in the ultrasound we did a month or so ago.
These lumps are scattered around his abdomen, slightly clustered around his
liver.  Our vet, one with a lot of ferret experience at Angell Memorial in
Boston, said that these were the largest lumps, presumably lymph nodes,
she'd ever seen in a ferret's abdomen.  The lumps will be biopsied during
the adrenal surgery.  My dearest hope is that the lymph nodes are just
swollen due to the stress on his system from the adrenal and the mast cell
tumor that was recently removed, or possibly swollen as the result of
heliobacter (his spleen is also enlarged).  Lympho is what I'm scared of
finding out.  Cully is the ferret who inspired my problem biters page
(http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/1083/probintro.html; I know it needs
some updating and I haven't forgotten), so he's responsible for the help
that anybody's found there.  I'm not a remotely religious or spiritual
person, but if anyone feels so inclined, think good, strong thoughts at
Cully today.  It couldn't hurt.  He's a big silly champagne weasel who's
come an awfully long way from the hit-and-run biter I took in four years
ago...
 
Regina
 
"I'm grazing with the dinosaurs and the dear old horses..."
                                                -- Nick Cave
Regina Harrison
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http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/1083
[Posted in FML issue 2770]