Okay I wrote: >Man thanks to Regina who answered my query about techniques for wearing >shoes with stiff soles and still being safe with the ferrets. instead of "Many thanks", but don't worry, I made it correct: I got Steve to say "Thanks, Regina!" Thanks also to Ardith for her idea for shoes or casts. (I don't know if I'll wind up with a cast or with an op and a cast, but those do happen at times with this problem so I'd rather learn safety tips beforehand to keep all the furries as happy as can be.) And, Lynda, thanks for such a lovely note. Of course, always thank you, Bill, for making the FML possible. With Ashling not feeling well we got a pouch apron on a deep sale from the the Ferret Store. She loves it so much that I have had to hang it on a door knob and she climbs into pouch (good exercise) and won't let the others in! Monday is her next blood testing (now every two weeks) and she'll also have urine specific gravity done. Ashling is our wonderful one who loses fur with stress (not adrenal in her case since she lost both cleanly years ago and lives on Forinef and Pred, but that is what compromised her follicles), and for those who don't know about a month and a half ago we found her passed out, 93.4 F (when she should be around 102'F) and with barely a heart beat and barely breathing, and poor young Hilbert trying to keep her warm. She got oral sugars, warming in a 105'F bath, and gentle cheek puffs mouth to nose-and-mouth, and a ride in the wee hours to the emergency clinic. We've been hoping for plain old insulinoma, but she might have lymphoma (nodal aspirates not conclusive and her tests show that she is not up to surgery), so she having her pancreas, liver (which is improving) and now kidneys (which were worsening between the last two sets of tests) checked regularly and she is on Prednisolone, concentrated and flavored by a compounding pharmacy (Bellevidiere in NJ) to reduce volume and stress. She is LOVING forcing us to wait on her hand and foot and getting her way in most things. Oh, since she dislikes meds I have found a way to stop her from opening the bathroom door to join either of us when we are -- ummmm -- taking care of functions. The door, which does not latch thanks to local quarry blasts causing resettling, is easy for her to nose open but now we say, "Yucko Medicine in bathtub!" and her tail bottle brushes and she runs from the room. Having words which ferrets know can be useful in so many unexpected ways! Okay, I figure everyone needs a few good laughs. This was frustrating at the time, but now aides and home changes are set up and a lot more done, so we can laugh about it. We have an aunt and uncle who are 85 and 95 who had not given anyone (family, lawyer, friends -- no one) Power of Attorney but both became senile at about the same time. (The medical term is "lack capacity".) With their agreement a niece on the other side of the family helped them find and move into a facility, but as they worsened they forgot that they had anything to do with it and figured they had been "put" there. Well, a few weeks ago is when this happened and when you think about it this is a scene which would have been incredible to witness: They called a moving company and convinced the movers to load their belongings and THEM (with one of them in a wheelchair) into a MOVING VAN and take them back to their house! Yes, folks, reality IS stranger than fiction! Now you know what part of what our life is like recently. Until the last few weeks I hadn't thought we'd have been so comedic... Now I know why some people figure their lives could be fuel for televised farce. [Posted in FML issue 4334]