Hello all,
 
Well, I was a bit premature last weekend in posting that Nikita was doing
great after her surgery.  Actually she did great for about the first 36
hours, eating heartily, checking on her stash of toys, checking to make
sure no doors had been accidentally left open by those forgetful humans.
 
Surgery was Thursday morning...by Friday night she was a little less
energetic, and she hadn't eaten much of her food.  I started to make her
some duck soup, which she loves.  She lapped up about 1/4 of the dish and
then walked away from it.  By Saturday morning, she was really getting
low.  She licked at some thinned chicken baby food, but her heart
definitely wasn't in it.  She gorund her teeth at me when I tried to
insist that she eat it, so I called out vet.  Our wonderful, on-call vet
prescribed Pred and Carafate immediately, and within an hour she had them
ready for me.  Nikki took both, ate a little, and seemed OK.  She stayed
that way through Sunday and Monday...not great, but not terrible.
 
Had I been watching her food and water more carefully, I would have seen
that her water was virtually untouched along with her food.  Clueless me
did not think to make sure she was DRINKING enough.  I figured I was
getting enough baby food and soup into her.  Completely forgot to check on
the liquids.  By Tuesday morning she was really unenthusiastic about her
food, and it was hard to know if she ate enough of her soup to have gotten
all the Pred.  I decided to go home for lunch from work and check on her.
I found her cold and lethargic, and her teeth were locked together.  There
was no force-feeding possible - I squeezed some thinned baby food into
the corner of her mouth and it just dribbled out the other side.  Her
breathing was shallow.  Her skin tented into folds that stayed creased,
the classic signs of dehydration.
 
Cursing myself for not noticing she wasn't getting enough fluids, I rushed
her to the vet.  I had one hand on her as I drove (erratically) to make
sure she was still alive.  When we got there, she hung limply in the vet
tech's arms with few signs of life.  Her bright little eyes were dull and
half-closed.  I left thinking I was going to get a phone call within hours
telling me she was gone.
 
I visited her after work and she was the same.  They had her on a heating
pad and had given her Dex and Pred, but she was so still and small.  Her
glucose was very low, but not from insulinoma.  She barely responded when
I held her.  I left her for the night, and tried to prepare myself for
the worst news the next day.  My poor husband was trying to celebrate his
birthday on Tuesday, but all I could do was sit on the couch and cry.
Needless to say, it wasn't very festive.
 
Our vet opens at 8:00 a.m., so I was calling by 8:01.  I'd spent a
sleepless night, trying not to look at her toys that she might never play
with again, and giving the remaining five some extra love.  I called with
my heart in my throat, but the news was surprising.  Nikita was up!  She
was eating!
 
I called throughout the day (I have a patient vet) for updates.  Nikita
had been sub-q'd and given injectable pred.  She was alert and nosing
around her cage.  She was demanding some attention and because she's
little and half-naked and endearing, everyone was taking a turn holding
her.
 
She came home Wednesday night and ate eagerly.  She's been getting Pred
once a day, and her appetite's been strong.  Her energy level is not
fantastic, but then again it's only been a week since she had surgery.
She's alert and responsive and interested in her toys.  When I make her
soup in the morning to give her the Pred, she's right at my feet waiting
for it to hit the floor.
 
Nikki's adrenal surgery removed most of her remaining gland.  Although
the literature indicates this is a safe surgery, our vet told me she is
frequently frustrated with these same types of "crashes" and it is
perplexing.  She has seen some do brilliantly after second-adrenal surgery
and live several more years.  When I picked up Nikki on Wednesday, there
was another ferret there who'd had her second adrenal removed a month
before.  This one, a tiny white girl, was practically on life support.
They were doing everything they could for her.  I hope she makes it.
 
It's still day-to-day right now, keeping a close eye on Nikki, but so far
she hasn't crashed again.  God bless Prednisone, is all I can say.  I
guess I'd think twice about second adrenal surgery again, but it's such a
tough call - do you risk the chance that surgery can make their hromones
and glucose go haywire, or do you wait and hope the adrenal disease
doesn't get them too quickly??  In Nikki's case, we chose surgery because
her adrenal disease was making her not only bald, but very, very itchy.
If she was awake, she was itching herself frantically.  It was hard for
her to play much because she was so focused on trying to scratch herself
in six different places at once.  We tried Lupron for 8 months and it
provided her no relief.  So I chose surgery.
 
I just wanted to give an update.  So many kind thoughts and good wishes
went out to Nikki for her suergery.  She's having a bit of a tough time,
but she's still here!
 
-Heather W.
 Waiting on Nikki hand and foot in Massachusetts!
[Posted in FML issue 3737]