A thank you to all the wonderful people who sent me encouraging notes and
postcards.  The support was great.
 
As many of you assured me, the surgery went smoothly.  The only blip was
when the vet had his assistant call me to say he'd found a bit of a lump on
Taz's liver, and he wanted permission to take some to do a biopsy.  Of
course, I said yes.  He said he thought it would probably be benign... but
it's better to know.  I'll find out today or tomorrow.
 
When I went and saw her last night she was just about due for her
painkillers, so she was a little more alert.  When I opened the cage and put
my hand in she tried to crawl out of the towel and into my arms.  I scooped
her up, towel and all, and just snuggled her.  I also brought along some
duck soup, of which she licked up about 1.5 teaspoonfuls.  Pretty good for
the evening after surgery!  Eventually she got restless, so I put her back
so she could get her drugs.
 
What put it all into perspective was that while I was there, cooing over my
poor little fert, a distraught couple came in with their kitten who'd just
been hit by a car.  I was hustled into a back room, but listening to the
tears, to the cat on oxygen, to the tough decisions, I realized how lucky
I'd been in comparison.  I snuggled Taz a little closer.
 
I went past this morning again to give her more duck soup.  (Pretty great
vet!  Letting me roam around his clinic as if it was my own :-)).  She ate
substantially more, and then wanted out of my arms to explore.  Good
grief!!!  She can barely walk, just a little hobble, but she was sniffing
and doing her best to be the ultra-curious ferret she is.  Courage and
tenacity.
 
She comes home this evening for ten days of rest and no ferret play.  I can
see I have my work cut out for me even with seperate play times.  I guess
this is just another aspect of tough love.
 
Thanks again for the support, for the adrenal FAQ at Ferret Central, and
for your advice.  It made the whole thing so much easier.
 
Ariel
Jasper, Taz and Baxter
[Posted in FML issue 2324]