It's been a rough day for Ben...and for us.  Ben had her surgery today.
What had appeared on x-ray to be an enlarged kidney and then appeared on
ultrasound to be a huge adrenal tumor turned out to be an enormous
pancreatic tumor, the largest Dr. Weiss has ever seen.  Even though it was
close to major blood vessels, Dr. Weiss was able to remove it all.  He also
removed two smaller tumors from Ben's pancreas as well as the left adrenal
gland that looked slightly enlarged.  He took biopsies of a lymph node and
the liver.  Dr. Weiss said this was a more extensive operation than he
anticipated; he thinks a surgeon who was not experienced with ferrets would
not have been able to do it.  He said he planned to take Ben home with him
at night to keep an eye on her.  He let us go back and visit Ben; she was
wrapped in a towel inside an ICU unit, with an intra-osseous catheter in her
leg.  Dr. Weiss said the first 24 hours are critical; if she survives this
period then she will probably make it.  We were pretty shocked to hear that!
Bill asked for an estimate of her odds of surviving; Dr. Weiss said about
50-60%.  We said we wanted to come back and visit Ben again before going
home, so we drove around for a while, very shaken.
 
When we returned, Dr. Weiss let us visit again, and this time Ben was up and
*walking around*!  Ferrets are amazing!  Dr. Weiss said that since she was
doing so much better he now thought she had about an 80% chance of living.
Her incision was bleeding, which scared me, but Dr. Weiss reassured us that
it was just superficial bleeding and nothing serious.  He said her gums were
somewhat pale though.  We had brought Jasmine along as a blood donor in case
a transfusion was needed.  Dr. Weiss thought it would be a good idea to do
one.  At first he had been thinking of taking Jasmine home with him along
with Ben, but then he decided to do a transfusion right away since he was
better equipped for it at the clinic.  So Jasmine donated about 10cc of
blood to Ben.
 
When we returned for a third visit, after taking a long walk to try to
relieve some of the tension, Ben was lying down, but she was able to lift
her head.  Dr. Weiss said her gums and foot pads were pinker, and he had
removed the intra-osseous catheter.
 
Dr. Weiss has called us twice this evening to let us know that Ben is all
right.  He thinks she is going to be OK.  If all goes well, we can take her
home tomorrow.
 
 
Clare and Bill Sebok
[Posted in FML issue 1838]