I feel so awful.
 
Frett's left rear hip is broken.  Has anyone else out there had this
experience before?
 
I knocked over two large 2x4s that didn't have ANY business being in my
room in the first place this morning while rushing to get ready for work.
My first thought was EEEEK the girls!  and I turned to see where they fell
and was so relieved that it looked like they'd just missed Frett, one of
my two six-year-old sable sprite sisters -- but then I noticed she wasn't
scampering away from the loud boom.
 
I freaked out when i picked her up and put her down and she couldn't walk,
so I called the vet and high-tailed it over there.  He was so amazingly
good with her and sounded so knowledgeable that he really calmed me down
right away.(I wholeheartedly recommend Dr. Gandolphi in Castro Valley to
anyone in the SF East Bay area with wesels).
 
He took x-rays and confirmed that her left rear hip was fractured (it
looked like several times.) He gave her some pain medicine and said I
should leave her there for the day in case she went into shock.  In the
meantime he would call the surgeon and describe to her what he saw in
the x-rays and see if she thought Frett should get surgery.
 
Well I'm at work now and Dr. Gandolphi just called and said that the
surgeon wants to see the x-rays so he's overnighting them to her office.
I'm going to bring Frett home tonight so she's not alone in a scary place
and he'll call tomorrow midday to let me know what the surgeon says.
Apparently a ferret hip is terribly small to put a steel plate in and the
screws would have to be TINY.  (We were speculating about the surgeon
using a watchmaker's tools.)
 
The surgeon wants to see the x-rays to decide whether something's
drastically wrong & dangerous, in which case she would operate using
steel wire and kind of tie the pieces together I guess.  If not, they
might recommend just letting her heal as-is.
 
Dr. Gandolphi said that would probably mean some permanent limitations in
movement and some arthritis -- but I'm thinking maybe that wouldn't be so
terribly bad since she's older and less hyper now and really only has my
room to get around -- so she'll just be a little slower.  And of course
he's giving me some pain medicine for her.
 
I've been so lucky with these two being being six years old and seeming as
strong and healthy as ever...I feel like such an idiot that I've always
ferret-proofed against THEM knocking something down or being stupid, but
not against ME.
 
If anyone's had a similar experience or has any advice for how to make
her more comfortable now, please email me at [log in to unmask]  I'm
thinking of putting her back in the cage (setting up a blanket on the
bottom where the litter pan and food and water are) with her sister so
she doesn't feel even worse because she's all alone -- Sully's six too so
she doesn't try to roughhouse her or anything.
 
I feel so lucky that her spine is ok.  It could have been so much worse.
I am truly blessed with these two.
 
-Renee
 & Frett (sheesh, when's the last time I knocked a gigantic beam on top
   of YOU?)
 & Sully (um...where's that warm wiggly pillow of mine gone to?)
[Posted in FML issue 3628]