To the FML:
 
    Sorry to be in such short supply over the last week or so - I am
preparing for several lectures over the next two weeks - one on Ferret
Pathology - this required a new set of notes (available for anyone to view
at http://vetpath.afip.mil/ferretpath.html), a new set of text slides, and a
lot of new photomicrographs.  I'm also briefing the Army Vet Corps brass
down at the Pentagon next week on the benefits that a presence on the World
Wide Web would bring, and other facets of the Internet.  Finally, I have to
write a paper for the American College of Veterinary Pathology on Pathology
and the Internet.  It's a very hectic couple of weeks....
 
    On a sadder note, I thought that I would mention the passing of Scampi,
our oldest ferret at 9 years.  During surgery to remove a large malignancy
on her remaining adrenal, she slipped away as Dr.  Weiss and I were closing.
We knew that we had not gotten all of the tumor, and perhaps she did too.
She held on strong for over an hour and 15 minutes, but decided to leave
during the last 5 minutes.  While we mourn her loss, Colleen and I also
celebrate the time we had with her.  We got her at 6 years, with no hair and
an islet cell tumor.  We immediately corrected those problems surgically,
and she never had another problem with hypoglycemia.  She eventually went
completely blind, but she adapted well, and we would always keep an eye out
for her when she was up.  She played up until the end, and except for some
occasional vomiting when the large tumor pressed on her intestine, she did
not know any suffering.
 
    I suppose the thought that I am trying to impart is never to give up.
We could have given up on her when we got her, when she went blind, when she
developed the malignant adrenal tumor, even when we opened her up and saw
how extensive the tumor was.  But we stayed with it, even trying to remove
the largest tumor Dr.  Weiss had attempted.  He made a brave effort, and I
applaud him for it.  We wouldn't have changed a thing had we to do it all
over again.
 
    I'll be getting back to questions over the next couple of days.
Thanks for your patience....
 
Bruce Williams, DVM, DACVP
Dept. of Vet Path, AFIP
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Chief Pathologist, AccuPath
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[Posted in FML issue 1269]