Post by xeopse on Mar 19, 2011 9:49:39 GMT -5
Hello folks, been a while. It's been crazy, very busy. I'm almost graduated so there's a lot of work to do.
In the midst of the craziness, Lulabelle (for all that remember her from the old forum - she is my special baby) has been sickly the last three weeks. It started just as a "not feeling well" and "not herself" kinda thing, which she periodically went through and came through without issues. Then all of a sudden she had a hard time breathing. I brought her to an exotics specialistic referred to me, about an hour an a half away out by Boston. He saw her immediately and told me she had pneumonia, which could have been picked up since I was extremely sick and probably had a variation of the flu for those same two weeks she was sick. I was given a prescription of antibiotics and was sent on my way after xrays confirmed one of her lungs was very congested but nothing was otherwise noticed.
She did great the first three days, then she went way downhill. I wasn't able to get a hold of her vet, so I had to drive back out by Boston to go to another vet on an emergency basis where they did four different views and an ultrasound. She has fluid in her chest, her kidneys are enlarged, she hs muscle wasting (she has dramatically dropped weight over the lsat week since she saw that first vet) and she can barely breathe. They couldn't give me a diagnosis but I aske to have a radiologist read them overnight and call me in the morning. The vet wanted me to put her to sleep right then but I felt it was too soon to make a decision without a diagnosis. I had prednisone at home, so I started her on that. I have upped her dose significantly since then. She eats like a pig still, does her business just fine, and perks up when I open her cage and wantsm e to hold her. I cried the whole hour an a half home. They called me the next day saying the consensus with other vets and the radiologist is she has lymphoma, but since she is so young it's juvenile lymphoma. She said I can treat her with prednisone if I want and that would be my best bet to save her.
I am reading up on juvenile lymphoma now. It does not look good, and everything says they do not respond to treatment. She is still eating everything I put in front of her though, and still going to the bathroom fine which is what every vet I've ever worked with has said you determine sickliness by for small animals. She laps up turkey babyfood, crushed sardines, pureed chicken hearts, and she tears at goat meat and whole chicken hearts although she doesn't get very far with it whole.
I am incredibly sad to say that I think I have to put Lulabelle to sleep today. I am hoping my boyfriend will get out of work and come with me, it is a very, very long drive there when you're weeping. I know lymphoma is obviously not a disease she could last long with, but I just wanted her to feel a little better first before I put her to sleep. I didn't want her to be in pain. She is just a year and a half old - just a baby still.
For everyone that has helped me through their entire ordeal since adopting them from the research lab, thank you so much. I would have never suspected she would have cancer so young, I am still in shock. I am waiting to get a confirmation by the first vet she went to - he was an incredibly nice man and really spent a lot of time going over everything that was happening to her. We shared a lot of outlooks on life, and he's the kind of person I would like to go work for someday at the wildlife center. I would feel far more comfortable having him put her to sleep than the other woman she saw, or a vet closer by that I've never met. So now I'm just waiting for the second opinion, in which case I expect he will say that she's drastically progressed since he saw her and that it would explain why she's always been "different" and why she always got sick, and why nobody ever saw anything on her x-rays since November.
I am so overwhelmingly sad. I've only had Lulabelle and her sisters for barely six months yet, but I am so attached to Lulabelle in particular. She is my favorite. I actually can't imagine having the others without her. It will be an entirely different experience. They haven't bonded with me like she has, which I'm hoping will change as they get older and start to mellow out. *sigh* =( I just hope that the other vet says he thinks it's something else, something treatable even for just a little while so I don't have to put her to sleep in so much pain. I feel so selfish holding out - I've been hoping someone would tell me theres something new to try, that way I could make her feel better even for just a little while. I feel like a terrible ferret mom
I will update later and let you all know what the vet says
In the midst of the craziness, Lulabelle (for all that remember her from the old forum - she is my special baby) has been sickly the last three weeks. It started just as a "not feeling well" and "not herself" kinda thing, which she periodically went through and came through without issues. Then all of a sudden she had a hard time breathing. I brought her to an exotics specialistic referred to me, about an hour an a half away out by Boston. He saw her immediately and told me she had pneumonia, which could have been picked up since I was extremely sick and probably had a variation of the flu for those same two weeks she was sick. I was given a prescription of antibiotics and was sent on my way after xrays confirmed one of her lungs was very congested but nothing was otherwise noticed.
She did great the first three days, then she went way downhill. I wasn't able to get a hold of her vet, so I had to drive back out by Boston to go to another vet on an emergency basis where they did four different views and an ultrasound. She has fluid in her chest, her kidneys are enlarged, she hs muscle wasting (she has dramatically dropped weight over the lsat week since she saw that first vet) and she can barely breathe. They couldn't give me a diagnosis but I aske to have a radiologist read them overnight and call me in the morning. The vet wanted me to put her to sleep right then but I felt it was too soon to make a decision without a diagnosis. I had prednisone at home, so I started her on that. I have upped her dose significantly since then. She eats like a pig still, does her business just fine, and perks up when I open her cage and wantsm e to hold her. I cried the whole hour an a half home. They called me the next day saying the consensus with other vets and the radiologist is she has lymphoma, but since she is so young it's juvenile lymphoma. She said I can treat her with prednisone if I want and that would be my best bet to save her.
I am reading up on juvenile lymphoma now. It does not look good, and everything says they do not respond to treatment. She is still eating everything I put in front of her though, and still going to the bathroom fine which is what every vet I've ever worked with has said you determine sickliness by for small animals. She laps up turkey babyfood, crushed sardines, pureed chicken hearts, and she tears at goat meat and whole chicken hearts although she doesn't get very far with it whole.
I am incredibly sad to say that I think I have to put Lulabelle to sleep today. I am hoping my boyfriend will get out of work and come with me, it is a very, very long drive there when you're weeping. I know lymphoma is obviously not a disease she could last long with, but I just wanted her to feel a little better first before I put her to sleep. I didn't want her to be in pain. She is just a year and a half old - just a baby still.
For everyone that has helped me through their entire ordeal since adopting them from the research lab, thank you so much. I would have never suspected she would have cancer so young, I am still in shock. I am waiting to get a confirmation by the first vet she went to - he was an incredibly nice man and really spent a lot of time going over everything that was happening to her. We shared a lot of outlooks on life, and he's the kind of person I would like to go work for someday at the wildlife center. I would feel far more comfortable having him put her to sleep than the other woman she saw, or a vet closer by that I've never met. So now I'm just waiting for the second opinion, in which case I expect he will say that she's drastically progressed since he saw her and that it would explain why she's always been "different" and why she always got sick, and why nobody ever saw anything on her x-rays since November.
I am so overwhelmingly sad. I've only had Lulabelle and her sisters for barely six months yet, but I am so attached to Lulabelle in particular. She is my favorite. I actually can't imagine having the others without her. It will be an entirely different experience. They haven't bonded with me like she has, which I'm hoping will change as they get older and start to mellow out. *sigh* =( I just hope that the other vet says he thinks it's something else, something treatable even for just a little while so I don't have to put her to sleep in so much pain. I feel so selfish holding out - I've been hoping someone would tell me theres something new to try, that way I could make her feel better even for just a little while. I feel like a terrible ferret mom
I will update later and let you all know what the vet says
keep us updated on the other vet opinion. 
