I just wanted to give a quick update on Sammy.  It has been over a month
since I had posted on the FML.  I wish what I had to post was good and happy
but it is not.
 
Some of you may remember Sammy.  He had two major surgeries at the start of
this year.  The first one because of adrenal and the second one because the
vet messed up and didn t take out the adrenal.  Besides being sore he was
recovering well from them.
 
As I have mentioned before I am a truck driver and travel the 48 continental
states.  I very rarely go into California for obvious ferret reasons.  I
took Sammy to a vet in Denver, CO to have his stitches removed and 4 days
later he came down with a severe case of ECE.  For the next 2 = weeks I had
to force feed him food and Pedialyte every 3 to 4 hours.  During that time
he went to two vets, one in Oklahoma, and one in Atlanta, GA.  Both of them
were nice vets but clueless about ferrets with ECE.  After delivering in
Laredo, TX, I reloaded and was headed north towards San Antonio when Sammy
started looking bad.  I pulled over at a little gas station, pulled out my
laptop, and brought up the file from STAR ferrets, that I had saved, which
lists all the the shelters, vets, etc in the nation that are known to be
ferret related.  I found a listing for SAFE (a ferret shelter and rescue)
run by Mr. White in San Antonio.  I called the number for SAFE and was
immediately directed to the Universal City Animal Hospital to see a Dr.
Gates.  By the time I had arrived at the vet SAFE had already called and
informed them that I was on my way!  (Aren t ferret people AWESOME!!!) So
they were ready and waiting for me.  I was immediately ushered into a room
when Dr. Gates immediately joined me.  Dr. Gates put Sammy on some meds and
gave me some Hill s prescription A/D to feed him.  Within 30 hours after
starting the meds Sammy started eating and drinking on his own.  I continued
to feed Sammy the A/D and pedialyte for the next 10 days.  He still had the
greenies but it was not as liquid as it had been.  After 14 days I quit
giving him the meds and watched to make sure that he kept eating and
drinking on his own, which is what Dr. Gates had instructed me to do.
 
That was 2 days ago.  Early this morning I woke up to find Sammy whimpering,
cool, and limp.  To say that I was scared as hell would be a severe
understatement.  I immediately dressed and brought up the STAR file.  I
found a vet listed in Lincoln, NE about 30 miles from my current location.
I called them on my cell and they were not open yet but an emergency number
was listed.  I called it and was referred to the Pitts Veterinary Hospital.
Upon my arrival the immediately gave Sammy a ton of fluids intravenously,
took a stool sample and found a lot of blood in it, took his temp (it was
99.6 degrees - very low) and put him in a incubator.  They tried to get a
blood sample to test but he was in such bad shape they couldn t get any from
the normal places they draw it from.  They have given him antibiotics,
insulin orally, and a few other things.  First priority is to get him
hydrated and his body temp back up.  Currently he is in critical condition.
 
I did want to mention that the vet in Lincoln, Dr. Savage, will be reviewing
Sammy's case with the 5 other vets that are in thee hospital and also with
Dr. Gates in San Antonio to try to find what has gone terribly wrong.  Dr.
Savage wanted to assure me that there will be 6 vets all confering on this
case instead of just only her.  This is definitely reasuring to know that
they have a case review in this hospital.  I have not heard of any other vet
hospital that does that.
 
The Pitts Veterinary Hospital in Lincoln, NE does see a lot of ferrets but
since I have never been to them I am really scared.  The bad thing is that I
am on a load I that must get to Toledo, OH tonight so I stayed with Sammy
until he stabilized and then I had to leave him :( .  If anyone reading this
is from Lincoln, NE I am sure that Sammy would love visitors!  I will be
back in Lincoln on Saturday.  The vet thinks that Sammy may need to be
hospitalized for at least a week.
 
I must thank Dayna Frazier for helping me this morning.  We met about 3
weeks ago when I was in Virginia.  I called her this morning and she helped
me calm down and gave me a lot of moral support.  Also, THANK YOU STAR
Ferrets for the time you have put into the vet list!!!
 
I will update again when I know more about what is happening.
 
Jason Poole
 
Sammy - The light of my life (Please God, don't let his light go out .....
PLEASE!!!)
 
Doris and Buddy - The other two lights of my life
 
P.S. Prayers, good thoughts, or anything (not $, i can take care of that)
for Sammy would be greatly appreciated.
 
P.P.S. Please forgive any typing errors.  It hard to see the screen through
all the tears.
[Posted in FML issue 2223]