I waited to send this message - the holidays don't need extra sadness for some of us. I just recieved her address. Sandy, my nearly 6 year old female true albino died the Monday before yesturday. It was attibuted to a Complication due to Diabetes. I do not know if this is true, but let me tell you the story and let you al decide for yourselves. Sandy was a pumpkin and was loved every day of her life. She survived my would-be oldest weasel, Shelby, a black-sable who died on the operating table a few years ago in the summer. Sandy was her companion, and they were real friends. Her other plaything in those days was my cat Simon, a little lion who thinks he is a ferret. During Shelby and Sandy's reign I got my 3rd ferret (now just over 3 years old), a female cinnamon named Cherry. Then, soon after Shelby died I was devastated and insane with grief, and a wonderful ferret found me who looked much like Shelby, named Aileah. She is cuddling me now as I write this letter. The newest addition is 1-year old Lizzy, a blaze. Sandy started to have problems 2 Junes ago, where Dr Weiss diagnosed her with Insinoma and removed her problems in a surgical procedure. While he was at it, one lucky fine day 2 Augusts ago, he removed an Adrenal, a Lobe of the Liver, the Partial Pancreas (the insolinoma), and a chunk of remote control lodged in her intestinal track (where did that come from???). She survived the surgery (mostly due to the nursing I gave her before to keep up her strength and weight - can you say, duck soup?) She was pretty much fine until she startied losing some hair the next year, and in June had her other adrenal removed, her spleen, more pancreas, and another liver lobe (the other one grew back - it would be nice if the pancreas did the same). She also was found to have portal hepatitis (fixed with meds). In the fall she also got a short dose of melatonin to handle a hair loss problem due to age, which worked quickly. She began to poop green 2 weeks later, and that is when the meds were stopped. This afforded her some more time, but around the end of the summer the doctor noticed her blood sugar began to be very high - about 400. The next month it was 160. Then from month to month it stayed over 400, and the doctor began to ramp down her daily dose of prediapred. Her blood sugar the 3rd week in December was still 400 after being off prediapred. Dr Weiss thought she would be fine for another month, when he would begin to try to regulate her blood sugar. Apparently having a high blood sugar, as long as they are staying the right weight and are showing they feel well, is reasonable. Also, apparently the insulin dosing / adjusting phase is dangerous and doctors like to do it as a last resort. The doctor left me with the instructions to feed her lots of turkey baby food (upto 3 jars a day) because it might help drop the blood sugar (the baby food, from heintz, is delicious to them - way better than anything I've ever seen a ferret love - and it has NO carbohydrates, and is high protein - it also masks the taste of meds easily, when they are needed). Sunday night, the one before Xmas, Sandy took a turn for the worse. She was sneezing alot for a short time and after that seemed to be fine. She seemed to be distressed a while and seemed to come out of it. at 12:00 a.m. Monday morning she began to get "stumbly". First I planned to take her in first thing in the morning. Then I decided to take her to the vetenary emergency room. She was still eating and drinking, and going to the bathroom. I took her in and her blood sugar was over 500. Her temperature was just over 100 (102/104?) amd the doctor wanted to wait until we consulted Dr Weiss. At that time he thought she was stable (but she was CLEARLY not in good shape, acted lethargic and I TOLD HIM THIS WAS NOT NORMAL). He said that she did not appear dehydrated. He wanted to get a keytones reading, but she wouldn't pee at the time. He told me to take her home and he would call. She was alert but sleepy, and was interested and hiding in y jacket. I stayed way longer than he seemed to want to wait for the keytone test, but eventually went home with her. By then she could not walk and would only sleep. I was very upset but waited until about 8:30/9:00 and began to call Dr Weiss's office, and the local vet to get them mobilized. It was clear Sandy was not going to eat or drink. I KNW SHE NEEDED something like insulin. What I didn't realize was that she may go into shock and die. I took her in again and within an hour I got a call back saying her temperature went down into the low 90s and she passed away. I am terribly sad - I realize that this disease could turn this way, but wasn't prepared for it. The doctors, probably working from what they know, told me things would be ok, but they wern't. I also realize that Sandy may have been simply "shutting off" and dying because her system was finished in this world. I was with her every moment at the und until I had to leave so they could hook her up to machines and try to stabalize her by flushing her system of toxins and lowering her suger with regulated insulin. I don't know everything. I hope she knew I cared and wanted everything for her quality of life. She is missed. Mark H. [Posted in FML issue 4378]