>From:    "Mary L. McCarty" <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: hair loss/adrenal
 
>Hi Travis, Loki sounds like his problem could be adrenal related.
><SNIP> I suggest subscribing to Lynn McIntosh's FAIML (Ferret
>Adrenal/Insulinoma Mailing List) at:   [log in to unmask]   This
>is a very good list with 200 (are we there yet?) subscribers who
>are all dealing with these two diseases in some form or another. I
>believe it would help you quite a bit.
 
Thanks for mentioning our list, Mary.  Travis is a member of the list now.
We've climbed above 200 members now, recently celebrated a first birthday,
and see the amount of postings no longer going through peaks and valleys.
As a moderator I'm lucky, because the subject tends to self-limit flames.
We're a very friendly, respectful group; I've been lucky enough to meet
some members during trips to Florida and New Orleans and, even better, to
meet one really special little Louisianan teeny-weeny fuzzy list member.
Sabrina's story is a very memorable one for me and one huge example of why
I gladly spend time to put out the list.  Sabrina, following adrenal
surgery which removed most of her final adrenal, the right, at first
appeared to be doing just fine, then quickly grew very ill.  Brenda's posts
about her really tugged at my heart, and rallied a lot of supportive and
informational posts.  Looking back at the early Sabrina posts brought quick
tears.
 
>Subject:  Sabrina's Condition Tonight
>Date:  February 14, 1998 (Valentine's Day):
>This is a sad and long night tonight for us.  Sabrina condition is
>bad, does not look like she will make it over night.  We have tried
>everything - we don't know what else to do. She is very weak, she
>will walk a little and then tilts over on her side and just lies
>there. <<SNIP>>   Condition questionable.  We are praying but she
>looks bad.  She looks tried and ready to go...
 
Brenda's post made me very sad and I searched the lists for "Sabrina" and
read every one of Brenda's posts trying to figure out what might be wrong.
List members, as they usually do, rallied and helped.  But, ten days later
brought another heartbreaking post:
 
>Subject: Sabrina; Date: Tue, 24 Feb 1998:
>Hi Everyone.  Sabrina is still doing poorly, lost more weight she is
>losing about 5% of body weight per week.  Vet  is running another
>blood test...
 
Brenda and Matthew didn't give up and, after much pampering, some treatment
and diet adjustments, and good thoughts and prayers from Brenda, Matthew
and the list, in early March Sabrina turned a corner.  Soon thereafter, I
traveled (on business) to New Orleans where I got to meet Sabrina.  At the
time she looked like a little curved finger dashing madly about... a nearly
furless, skinny albino revved to the red zone!  Such a sweet little gal,
skinny and white like a ghost of a fuzzy, but not a ghost at all, a little
miracle.  I was welcomed to Brenda's and Matthew's home and served crawfish
and crab on a tray the size of a truck tire and THEN we went out to dinner.
I could be really big and happy down there!
 
The next great chapter of Sabrina's story, FAIML:  April 11, 1998:
 
>I do want to apologize that I have not done an up-date on Sabrina in
>awhile. I guess you can say we have been making up time we havelost
>when Sabrina was ill.  Sabrina is doing wonderful!  She has grown
>all her fur back, except for the tail (I hear the tailusually takes
>a long time to grow back, if at all)  I must add shegrew back a
>very pretty coat, really healthy and shiny.  She iseating duck soup
>once a day as a treat and the rest of the day she eats mixed "KayTee
>Ferret" food and IAMS kitten food.  It is so great to have her back!
 
I just got a message yesterday from Brenda and Sabrina is now a little
furry cream puff, though her tail hasn't caught up yet.  But she's still
dashing madly about!  She's on a maintenance dose of Florinef, for the
biadrenalectomy.  Treatment for adrenal disease bears as many opinions as
fuzzies on the FML, and whether or not fuzzies need meds for the rest of
their lives after biadrenalectomies finds differing opinions among vets.
But, the point is, little Sabrina is doing very well.
 
Ferret medicine is always progressing, but new info sometimes doesn't get
published for years, and many vets who aren't veryferret experienced
practice medicine on ferrets -- that's the reality.  So, it's up to us and
our dedicated fuzzy vets to share info freely.  One thing I've learned from
compiling posts into lists week in and week out is that adrenal disease is
one disease where I never say "always"... there are so many exceptions.
Sabrina is a lucky little girl in many ways.  Many other fur kids aren't so.
The light of joy brightens the shadows of illness or grief in nearly every
list... an emotional mix many of us know so well through taking care of our
beloved fuzzies, in sickness and health.
 
Sometimes the time demand on getting out the list is a pain, but compiling
the messages makes me feel useful and good.  My payback is subjecting list
members to an intro I often write :) Thoughts are percolating on how much
more could be done through the list, but time is limited for the moment.
 
Thanks for being there, FML!  I'll always remain loyal to you, but just felt
a need for a forum dedicated to two of the most rampant, mean fuzzy diseases
around, adrenal and insulinoma.  I encourage cross posting to the FML,
though it rarely happens.  FML is my number one general ferret sustenance
(along with my flesh and blood ferret friends).  But FAIML has been a
comfort to me.
 
          Lynn and the Gang of Seven, all furry right now :)
[Posted in FML issue 2317]