5/24/96: Hi, It's Friday morning after Ruffle's Wednesday surgery. She didn't want to eat at the hospital so she came home with her catheter (She had chewed through one IV line already so a tech was greeted by blood in the cage.), and if she didn't eat or drink she'd be in and out of the hospital, but almost as soon as we got in the door she devoured a quarter cup of Sustical, followed later by more of the same, 2 raisins, about a quarter cup of a mix of turkey baby food, Schiff's powdered brewer's yeast (the one our's like the taste of), and Linatone with a touch of warm water, PLUS eating Pro Plan and drinking a huge amount of water. The catheter came out this morning and she's very happy about that, as she is with the CD of the Berrymans singing in the background (her favorite), and with getting to walk a bit. I would like to have her romp in the master bathroom, but we had a half dozen large ants in there yesterday and today so I have to get rid of that track first. Right now she is wearing Ambush perfume (which totally belongs to our ferrets) and romping (sort of) in the front bathroom (using the barrier and tension rods that normally are in the back). Most of the time we feel like we have too many towels, but once you need to make ramps and change a lot of sick cage bedding you know there are never enough. There's some bruising because she is fussing with the post-operative itching which naturally occurs with healing, but all in all she is acting like the surgery was less painful and less stressful for her than the illness was. ( For those who have not been around the block once or twice: most of us will experience this ourselves at some point.) I'm glad Steve strongly insisted that we try the surgery since I was afraid that it really might not be fair to her with all her problems and since it really wasn't obvious going in that the cyst really was decently operable. Our compromise was that if it became obvious during surgery that she was too bad to be helped and would only have suffering then she would not come out of anesthesia. We learned today that her adrenal tumor was very large. Wish us luck with the biopsies of the insulinomas, adrenal tumor, liver cyst, and accompanying tissue. She still has one liver lobe but it did not look like normal liver. Still, that doesn't necessarily mean that it won't function just fine for a reasonably long life. She was under anesthesia longer than is usually preferred for a healthy, younger ferret, let alone a six year old with heart disease, but that is what she needed to get a clear shot, and if she had passed away it would have been worth the risk since doing less would not have helped her. She is on Enrofloxacin for a week. For her heart she still has her Lasix every other day, and her daily Enacard. We are hoping that as we slowly decrease her phenobarbital the seizures will not resume (If there is a neurological neoplasm or epilepsy they will.), even though her grand mal convulsions did not respond to sugar as insulinomas should. (If you didn't guess by now we have to keep charts with them when they are sick; that's the only viable way to go. 5/30/96: Ruffle was well enough to tantrum 2 days ago, and is able to run around the house in a mad dash. Yesterday we got the great news that the growths were all benign, but the bad news that the liver cyst was definitely a type which might reoccur and threaten to kill her again. (Insulinomas also sometimes reoccur, but the cyst was the most immediate threat to her survival.) Thank you SO much for the kind and reassuring notes. Whether one credits genes, magnificent vets with superb techs, GAFs, or whatever we're just happy that our little girl is having a grand time! We came so close to not doing it, and who knows how many ferrets in such shape could have survived? We felt like we were throwing knives blindfolded in making our choice. Can you imagine a 6 year old with a bum heart and other problems surviving such a complicated simultaneous surgery? These critters constantly amaze us with how tough they are. Thank you for all the help, and instructive comments on both sides of the decision. Thanks also for those who urged sleep when I became illogical. If all goes well Ruffle's last phenobarbital day will be Monday. A few days after that, when we can be sure that she is out of the woods, I want to FINALLY get the time to start a heart disease write-up for Pam, and (since I have found the weight wire needed) I want to search out our stored light weight casters, so that if they survived the water heater flood I can work on a wheel chair for FOGGY. (If not I'll have to find more.) DAYNA, would this interest you? I noticed you sew so you could make the slings for just his measurements. Feel free to check into us with BIG before sending your FFZ mailing address. Let us know whether you want one, please. Just got off the phone with customer service of the Williams-Sonoma chain (W-S, Gardener's Eden, etc.) having to ask them to remove us from their mailing list, basically for the sake of our ferrets' health and our own sanity. For some reason unknown to anyone who has to unpack stuff they still use that horrid gut-blocking styrofoam packing which is full of static. We have already spent over half an hour with tape, trying to clean up the fly-aways which then cling to everything. Tomorrow we'll have to buy a static reducing spray and try again. Then they include a "hey,idiot" note which pretty much says "Don't complain that this garbage isn't recyclible because you can now drive your trash to a packaging store". Well, if I wanted or was able to drive wouldn't I have driven for the purchase in the first place instead of paying for shipping? Maybe such companies need to hear more from customers who want to protect babies, pets, reduce garbage levels, etc. Why can't they try recycled paper or starch pellets? Meltdown and Ruffle are sleeping, and the other four are racing around providing us with their clown circus routines. How long will it take to get a scatter of guilty ferrets? the Very-Happy-about-Ruffie Crandalls 172 Jamestown Rd. Basking Ridge, N.J. 07920 ( BOB: 1 mile north toward Bernards Township from exit 36 of Interstate 78, left at light onto Spring Valley, 3rd left onto Jamestown, 2nd right into building 21 courtyard -- Yep, we live modestly to afford ferret surgeries ( and our own far future retirement) and we're mighty proud of it!, 1-908-580-0506) Those with ferret catalogs may use our address but not call, okay? [Posted in FML issue 1586]