Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2012 0:44:39 GMT -5
On Tuesday, July 10th, 2012 @ about 2pm Gir got his wings
I haven't been able to talk about this yet because whenever I think about Girby I start crying and can't seem to stop, but I think I can maybe make it through a bit of his story without completely losing it, and it is only fair to him that I do actually tell his story. SO, that being said, I think I'll do this in parts, with the first part being the easiest to talk about (I think?!?) - what actually happened to Girby during his final days...
Gir was one of our 2 healthiest ferts and was only 2 years old when he crossed the bridge (and he lived with us for all of the 2 years except for his first few months) - which I think is what has made this so incredibly hard to believe. Last Sunday my BF woke me up early saying Gir needed to go to the ER. I jumped up and got ready while Derrick told me what had been happening - Gir is usually the first one up just waiting at the cage door to be let out, but on this fateful morning he seemed rather sluggish. Normally he would RUN to the kitchen for his morning meal and daily dose of olive oil, but instead he just layed by Derrick's feet, wouldn't touch his breakfast, then layed down behind his fav chair. Derrick then noticed that a few times Gir seemed to be straining to potty, then he actually started making noises while still trying, then he panted and layed down. Derrick knew for sure something was really wrong when Bandit then went and layed down beside Gir and then layed his head on his neck - So now Gir and I are racing to the vet where I immediately hand him over for xrays (we were thinking blockage as he has been known to eat blankets before). We were partly right, he did have a blockage, but instead in his bladder - he had HUNDREDS of bladder stones with HUNDREDS more in his tiny urethra! The fert doc was called in and she told us that the urethra couldn't be saved so GIr would need a new one, and so she would have to do a PU. She said it had been very successful in cats, though rarely done in ferrets. However, she has been a vet for 37 years and had handled and vetted ferrets for almost that same amount of time and she was confidant Gir would do well with said surgery. Within 10 hours of entering the ER Gir had a new urethra. Monday morning the doc told me they were going to take GIr off his pain meds and get him up and going to see how things went with the surgery, and if all was well we would get to bring him home the next day. I called in check-ups on him and from what the techs told me I feel he was in a good bit of pain, but they said the pain meds were strictly on a need-only basis (I felt so horrible for GIr!). Tuesday morning I call back and the doc said everything looked good so far but that she was going to do another set of xrays and a few tests to make sure all was kosher and I would get to pick him up in a few hours. Two hours later the doc called me and she was crying. She tried to explain that Gir was in horrible shape and that I needed to come in. I burst into tears and couldn't stop crying. I called everyone I knew with any medical background but nobody could help. My BF came home early from school and we made our way to the ER. They brough GIr into the room and he looked so horrible (man, I thought this would be the easy part, I'm crying anyways ). We could tell he was in so much pain. My BF said he saw it all in his eyes, I asked him what he meant, well, I knew. Through the many tears (both from myself and my BF AND the doc) we were told that Gir had no chance and would only live a few more days at best. WTF!!!!! Upon amplification they discovered that the kidney stones (that they had already seen before) GIr had were not only in both of his kidneys, but that they took up 1/3 of the space in his kidneys - his kidneys were failing. There was uring backing up into his abdomen from the multiple cuts the stones in his urethra had made trying to come out, AND one of his ureters (the pathways from the kidneys to the bladder) was so packed with stones it was enlarged to the point of bursting. That being said, there was absolutely nothing that could be done to get the kidney stones through his ureter into his bladder so they could remove them. The stones were simply too large and too many in number. The doc said she had called our vet (the other great fert doc in our area) and all other ferret docs she knew, but no one had any idea of how to fix Girby. None of them had EVER seen kidney and bladder stones like this before in ANY animal. There simply was no precedence for such an occurrence. The doc said even if there was some way to get the hundreds of stones out Gir obviously had something wrong with him genetically that caused him to produce such stones and that he would always continue to do so, and that he had probably been dealing with this issue since his birth. If she could magically fix him he probably wouldn't live long and his life would probably be wrought with pain. SO I had to make the worst decision of my life, to let my baby go in peace. To make things worse, when we said our final goodbyes and finally were able to pick our poor GIr up and hold him (we were afraid to hold him because of all of the pain he was in so we just layed next to him and petted him) the doc tried to administer the bad drug, and it wouldn't go through the catheter. When they (unfortunately painfully) removed the tape holding the catheter in his arm, they found the catheter had come out. We had to make another decision - let them gas him but we wouldn't get to be there, or let them gas him long enough to put another catheter in (so he wasn't really with us) but we got to hold him. Of course we chose to be with him. When she brought my baby back he looked like he was almost already gone, so we quickly put him in our arms, she pushed the plunger, and within 3 seconds he was gone.
I still need to give Gir's memorial, and I need to talk about my thoughts on everything that has happened, but I need some more time to deal with this myself before I can get it out. Forgive me for being seemingly dramatic, but it really helps me to talk things out, and this is just so painful so I can only take it in bits.
DIP Gir! I will always love you my sweet sweet baby!!!
(This is the only pic I have of Gir at the moment on my new photobucket account, but it shows him in all his roly poly glory doing the thing he loved most - grooming)
I haven't been able to talk about this yet because whenever I think about Girby I start crying and can't seem to stop, but I think I can maybe make it through a bit of his story without completely losing it, and it is only fair to him that I do actually tell his story. SO, that being said, I think I'll do this in parts, with the first part being the easiest to talk about (I think?!?) - what actually happened to Girby during his final days...
Gir was one of our 2 healthiest ferts and was only 2 years old when he crossed the bridge (and he lived with us for all of the 2 years except for his first few months) - which I think is what has made this so incredibly hard to believe. Last Sunday my BF woke me up early saying Gir needed to go to the ER. I jumped up and got ready while Derrick told me what had been happening - Gir is usually the first one up just waiting at the cage door to be let out, but on this fateful morning he seemed rather sluggish. Normally he would RUN to the kitchen for his morning meal and daily dose of olive oil, but instead he just layed by Derrick's feet, wouldn't touch his breakfast, then layed down behind his fav chair. Derrick then noticed that a few times Gir seemed to be straining to potty, then he actually started making noises while still trying, then he panted and layed down. Derrick knew for sure something was really wrong when Bandit then went and layed down beside Gir and then layed his head on his neck - So now Gir and I are racing to the vet where I immediately hand him over for xrays (we were thinking blockage as he has been known to eat blankets before). We were partly right, he did have a blockage, but instead in his bladder - he had HUNDREDS of bladder stones with HUNDREDS more in his tiny urethra! The fert doc was called in and she told us that the urethra couldn't be saved so GIr would need a new one, and so she would have to do a PU. She said it had been very successful in cats, though rarely done in ferrets. However, she has been a vet for 37 years and had handled and vetted ferrets for almost that same amount of time and she was confidant Gir would do well with said surgery. Within 10 hours of entering the ER Gir had a new urethra. Monday morning the doc told me they were going to take GIr off his pain meds and get him up and going to see how things went with the surgery, and if all was well we would get to bring him home the next day. I called in check-ups on him and from what the techs told me I feel he was in a good bit of pain, but they said the pain meds were strictly on a need-only basis (I felt so horrible for GIr!). Tuesday morning I call back and the doc said everything looked good so far but that she was going to do another set of xrays and a few tests to make sure all was kosher and I would get to pick him up in a few hours. Two hours later the doc called me and she was crying. She tried to explain that Gir was in horrible shape and that I needed to come in. I burst into tears and couldn't stop crying. I called everyone I knew with any medical background but nobody could help. My BF came home early from school and we made our way to the ER. They brough GIr into the room and he looked so horrible (man, I thought this would be the easy part, I'm crying anyways ). We could tell he was in so much pain. My BF said he saw it all in his eyes, I asked him what he meant, well, I knew. Through the many tears (both from myself and my BF AND the doc) we were told that Gir had no chance and would only live a few more days at best. WTF!!!!! Upon amplification they discovered that the kidney stones (that they had already seen before) GIr had were not only in both of his kidneys, but that they took up 1/3 of the space in his kidneys - his kidneys were failing. There was uring backing up into his abdomen from the multiple cuts the stones in his urethra had made trying to come out, AND one of his ureters (the pathways from the kidneys to the bladder) was so packed with stones it was enlarged to the point of bursting. That being said, there was absolutely nothing that could be done to get the kidney stones through his ureter into his bladder so they could remove them. The stones were simply too large and too many in number. The doc said she had called our vet (the other great fert doc in our area) and all other ferret docs she knew, but no one had any idea of how to fix Girby. None of them had EVER seen kidney and bladder stones like this before in ANY animal. There simply was no precedence for such an occurrence. The doc said even if there was some way to get the hundreds of stones out Gir obviously had something wrong with him genetically that caused him to produce such stones and that he would always continue to do so, and that he had probably been dealing with this issue since his birth. If she could magically fix him he probably wouldn't live long and his life would probably be wrought with pain. SO I had to make the worst decision of my life, to let my baby go in peace. To make things worse, when we said our final goodbyes and finally were able to pick our poor GIr up and hold him (we were afraid to hold him because of all of the pain he was in so we just layed next to him and petted him) the doc tried to administer the bad drug, and it wouldn't go through the catheter. When they (unfortunately painfully) removed the tape holding the catheter in his arm, they found the catheter had come out. We had to make another decision - let them gas him but we wouldn't get to be there, or let them gas him long enough to put another catheter in (so he wasn't really with us) but we got to hold him. Of course we chose to be with him. When she brought my baby back he looked like he was almost already gone, so we quickly put him in our arms, she pushed the plunger, and within 3 seconds he was gone.
I still need to give Gir's memorial, and I need to talk about my thoughts on everything that has happened, but I need some more time to deal with this myself before I can get it out. Forgive me for being seemingly dramatic, but it really helps me to talk things out, and this is just so painful so I can only take it in bits.
DIP Gir! I will always love you my sweet sweet baby!!!
(This is the only pic I have of Gir at the moment on my new photobucket account, but it shows him in all his roly poly glory doing the thing he loved most - grooming)