Well, it's taken me some time to write of this, and most of you won't remember, but a few might. Just over a year ago my Tempest had a fast-growing bone tumor on his skull. Because my 6 year old angel, Rocky, died from complecations after surgury (things didn't look good and he probably didn't have more than a couple more months to live even *with* the surgury), my vet was able to practice a surgury to remove the tumor which we had to assume was malignant. She was told that she would kill the ferret by some, should she attempt the surgury. Because of the practice the surgury went far far better than could be expected, and thankfully the tumor was benign. Rocky certainly was an angel. My landlady's husband was dying, and toward the end Rocky was one of the few things that could make him smile. During an event he sat for 20 minutes in a 3-4 year old child's lap. The adrenal disease brought out his caretaking side and he cared dilligently for his potatos...moving them to well-protected nests, keeping an eye on them when he was out and about. He was a special guy, and a part of him lived on in Tempest because of the gift of his death. Tempest hadn't been doing particularly well off and on for the past few months...assumption was from the stress of a new kit in the household. A week ago Tuesday I took him in again for rehydration, be put back on his meds, and to discuss the long-term strategy to help him be healthy again. He died in emergency surgury five hours later. His decline, we found out, was not due to stress from the kit (though it didn't help) but a tumor the size of his liver attached *to* his liver, and the pressure it was apparantly putting on his stomach, making it uncomfortable to eat or drink. Aside from what appeared to be a chronic on-again, off-again helicobacter problem, there were no indications of any problem. Because of the way it was sitting, the tumor wasn't easily felt either...we took the X-ray due to a different lump, which turned out to be an enlarged lymph node. The tumor, especially in comparison with his X-ray from a year ago, is easily seen though. It appeared that it had started spreading to his lungs, though that remains to be confirmed. As an interesting aside, a good portion of bone had regrown across the 3/4" hole in his skull from the removal of the tumor a year ago. In spirit he is now with his angel, the rest, or some of the rest will be cremated and mixed with Rocky's ashes, which will be saved for the day that I have a potato patch. Farewell to two of the most special kids I've had. Sue [log in to unmask] [Posted in FML issue 3049]