Storm came to us in the Minnesota rescue group.  She and her 2 cagemates,
Eowyn and Arwyn, had no names till they arrived.  Storm got her's because
I guess she was a marked white-lots of gray hairs running through her
coat.
 
April had told me that she had the beginning of adrenal, and she had the
classic signs-hair loss, some lethargy.  Lethargy that is, till she saw
the cats!  It was nothing to see a fifteen pound cat race across the
room, up the stairs to the top of the banister, with a little white
ferret dancing behind.  In April we sent Storm and Scully to our vet in
Ohio for surgery.  He opened Storm up and shook his head, closed her.
She had a massive left adrenal tumor, right on the vena cava.  That same
day we lost Scully coming out of anesthesia from her surgery.  So Storm
came back, and I went to my regular vet here, who knows I go to another
ferret vet for surgeries, because the regular vet had to charge more.
We discussed Storm's tumor, and we decided to build her up, try it with
this vet.  Our regular vet has cryo and laser, which our vet in Ohio
doesn't So a little over 2 weeks after her first surgery, Storm went for
the 2nd.  The tumor, as the vet and my husband had said, was huge.  Take
a man's fist, look at it from the clenched side of his thumb, and this is
the tumor, plus it had ruptured and was infected.  The vet sweated this,
but got it, even off the vena cava with little bleeding.  We took the
tumor and the adrenal.  Her right was enlarged, but he felt not enough to
risk her under a longer surgery.  So she healed, and one night we looked
over at her on the end of the couch, and she was laughing her little head
off with ferret laughs, dancing, jumping in the air.  Then she saw the
cat............ In the last month I've noticed she was getting lethargic,
and about 3 weeks ago I saw a tumor on her abdomen, an irregular tumor.
I called my vet last week and he was gone till the 4th.  I thought she
could wait.  Last night I let her group out and she was dehydrated,
staggering, and she had that look-the look of trying to find the Bridge.
 
I called the vet today, 7/29/03, and got her in to see his partner, who's
not a ferret vet but was willing to see us, but I knew when my daughter
brought her out to me that she'd not be coming home.  Before the vet came
into the room I talked to her, held her, cuddled her.  Told her it was
all right, that I knew she was hurting, that soon she'd be at the Bridge,
healthy again, able to dance, and I hoped that she'd be allowed to chase
the cats.  I told her how I loved her, even though we'd not been together
long, how sorry I was that I hadn't been able to make her better, give
her a longer time with us, and I hoped she'd forgive me.  The vet came
in and examined her.  He could feel the tumors like a string of pearls
running in her abdomen, and we knew that it was much more serious.  Storm
walked away from him, crawled into my arms, and then proceeded to bury
her teeth deep into the top of my arm!  I'm standing there, half in tears
at the thought of what was to come, and half laughing to myself, because
she'd never tried to bite me before, but she was giving me something to
remember her by.  I asked them, while I had her scruffed, to please spray
a bit of water into her face to make her release me.  They didn't hear
the first time, the second time they did and the tech and the vet almost
had a fit.  They were so worried about my arm, and all I wanted to do
was cuddle Storm.  I requested they give her gas before the shot, so she
wouldn't hurt, and they agreed.  So while they prepared I talked to her
again, telling her it was all right, laughing with her/at her that she'd
done this to me, something I'd always remember.  Then she got sick to her
tummy.  The time came, and the vet put her under the gas, and when she
was relaxed, he gave her a thoracic shot, as he doesn't like heart
sticks.  I stayed with her, talking to her, and the tech came and turned
off the gas so I could hold her.  I was holding her, talking to her,
telling her things were fine and I knew she was home, happy and healthy,
and so she was.  I've requested a necropsy, as I always try to do, and in
a couple of weeks she'll be home again, with her own little pouch, to be
with the others of the Crew who have met her at the Bridge.  Sandy,
please make sure the Crew of Merry Mayhem, Rainbow Bridge Unit, meets
Storm.  As far as I know, she has no one there who went before her.  She
knew Gandalf, but only through the cage bars, and I know my big boy would
love to help her into mischief.  And she was officially a Crew of Merry
Mayhem member, as are all who live here, no matter the length of their
stay.
 
Stormy, I tried to make you better, tried to give you a better life than
whatever happened to you before.  I hope you know that you were loved
here, and will be sorely missed.  Please wait there, with the others, so
I can see you again.  Storm, the little one who had no name when you came
to us, Storm, who came in the storm of a January night, you won my heart
that night, and you've taken a piece of it with you.
 
Rebecca & the sad Crew of Merry Mayhem
"Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy, and
 taste good with ketchup"
"Support bacteria, it's the only culture some people have"
[Posted in FML issue 4224]