Hi, everyone. Lucky Charm, Chocolate Moose, Zipper and I returned to New Mexico this week from our journey to Maryland to visit Dr. Weiss. A week ago Monday (June 26), Dr. Weiss performed a partial pancreatectomy on Lucky Charm and a left adrenalectomy on Chocolate Moose. Their brother, Zipper, is healthy but went along for the ride. Both ferrets are recovering nicely. Lucky Charm and Chocolate Moose get their stitches out this Sunday. Dr. Weiss discussed the biopsy results with me today, and the results were as expected. Lucky Charm had two islet cell tumors on her pancreas and some liver deterioriation that is often seen in cases of insulinoma. There was no metastasis of any cancer into the liver. Chocolate Moose had a benign adrenal tumor, further evidence that his left adrenal gland should have been removed in March when he last underwent surgery based on his medical history of adrenal symptoms. Both ferrets are doing very well. Today, Chocolate Moose was playing with Zipper like they used to do last year. They chased each other through their tubes and pounced on each other and even chittered a little. Lucky Charm, too, seemed to have more energy than she's had in a long time, running around the house and wanting to be tickled. While in Maryland, I met some very nice ferret lovers - - Debbie Spring and Clare and Bill Sebok. I was formally introduced to two of Clare and Bill's ferrets -- Buttercup and Bridgett. Debbie showed me pictures of her 14 ferrets! I saw several ferret owners with beautiful ferrets in the waiting room of Dr. Weiss' office, too. One man dropped off a ferret for possible surgery along with two others to serve as blood donors if needed. I saw a champagne ferret for the first time. Another poor little guy was beginning to have mild seizures from insulimona. They were all so very adorable. I didn't touch any of them because I didn't want to spread germs around, but they were all gorgeous. We visited Shenandoah National Park on the way home, where I pulled a tick out of my hair the next morning as we were driving away. We are very happy that Dr. Weiss was able to treat these conditions. I know they got their best possible chance for a healthy and prolonged life by having surgery done by Dr. Weiss. I look forward to the day when someone of his skill is available nearby. Meanwhile, if you live in or near New Mexico, please send me your e-mail address and I will send you information about how we might be able to pool our resources to get Dr. Weiss to fly out here for a day and do surgeries and show other vets how to do them if they are interested. Linda, Lucky Charm, Chocolate Moose, & Zipper [Posted in FML issue 3106]