What Bugs Me

The church down the block has a sign board out front. They always put cute, sometimes witty sayings on the board. A couple of weeks ago the little saying was: "We're too blessed to be depressed."

What?

Could you see them putting up: "We're too blessed to be schizophrenic" or "We're too blessed to be diabetic"? I think not.

On the upside, the saying was taken down within only a couple of days. I like to think someone there got a kindly lecture on how depression strikes those who are and are not blessed. That it isn't a matter of appreciating what you have. I'm glad the sign is gone and I hope I never see it again.

--Mary

Sad News

Koosh is gone.

On Sunday he went to the vet and was put on IV fluids, given pred, and was admitted. His blood glucose was low (40), and we thought we'd finally figured out what the problem was. We expected him to be stabilized and home by Monday evening, Tuesday at the latest. Sunday night he was the same -- listless, but hanging on. Monday morning he was curled up as if sleeping, but he was dead. Dr. Ned did a necropsy and found a 1/4-inch ulcer in his intestines that perforated, allowing the contents of his intestines to leak into his body cavity. Even if we had figured it out sooner, there were many hurdles Koosh would have had to clear to survive. He was a strong ferret and he might well have survived. But last Monday, when he had surgery, Dr. Ned had checked all of Koosh's organs, including his intestines. There was no ulcer then. There was no reason to suspect this when so many other problems were more likely: Addison's (when there is not enough cortisol in the system because the adrenals have been removed or are not functioning), low blood sugar, stomach ulcer (which is what I thought for a while, but he was not grinding his teeth, and even so, it never occurred to me that an ulcer would be that far developed that it could perforate).

The ulcerated part of Koosh's intestines was sent for biopsy to see what, if anything, could explain how quickly and severely it occurred.

Today we have to pick up our baby's body and bring it to be cremated.

Rest in peace, sweet Koosh. You are gone too soon.

--Mary

Update on Trixie and Koosh

Both Trixie and Koosh came through the surgery very well. Trixie is an amazing little trooper and, though she's very thin, she is eating well and pooping normally. She had her right adrenal out and one of her kidneys (which was enlarged/cystic).

Koosh is the troublesome one. He won't eat. I just started him on Carafate & will begin the Pepcid later today. He loves chicken baby food, but will not eat it on his own. He will take a lick or two off my finger, then hide his head. I have to syringe feed him, which he does not like. But I have to get food into him. I think the stress of surgery may have kicked up a little ulcer action, which is why I'm going for the Carafate & Pepcid. I'm not handling this stress very well. Crap.

--Mary

Surgery

We dropped off Trixie and Koosh at the vet's this morning. They'll probably have surgery around 1 or so. Hoping it all works out well.

--Mary

Trixie & Koosh

Well, it's official now, Koosh has insulinoma. He had a fasting blood glucose of 34 mg/dL yesterday (below 70 mg/dL is indicative of insulinoma). So, off for surgery on Monday to see what can be removed. Trixie is adrenal. We knew that (you can look at her and see that). What we didn't know is that she has some kind of mass in or on her intestines. It could be a hairball, since many ferrets who have adrenal disease get hairballs (which makes sense, since they're losing all that fur). It could be a tumor. She, too is going in for surgery on Monday. When it rains, it pours. At least Gabby is doing well. She's pudgy and has a fabulous plush winter coat.

--Mary

Snow!

We got about 14 inches of snow this past weekend. Very pretty, but not fun to drive.

But that's not why I'm here.

I just wanted to say that I put up some pretty Holiday designs on my Topical Tees website. I also redesigned it a bit (color scheme, mostly).

More later. Eric has a doc appointment in a little bit.

--Mary