Thursday, October 4, 2007

Dealing with Ferret Surgery



I have known for a month or so now that my ferret Egan needed surgery. I finally went and had it done on Friday the 28th of September. The doctors were sure that he had adrenal disease, which was causing Egan to lose his hair, and the also suspected insulinoma, which is cancerous tumors on the pancreas.
When the surgeons went in, they removed Egans left adrenal gland, the left lobe of his pancreas, several noduals off the right lobe of his pancreas, an intestinal lymph node which they will biopsy, and they also biopsied some spots on his liver!
I was expecting to pick him up Saturday morning, but apparently my poor boy had vomitted and had diarrhea that night and when the doctors ran blood tests they found that Egan's red blood cell count was low which indicated some sort on internal bleeding. They figured that he had some stomach ulcers that were bleeding and that's what induced the vommiting.
Luckily the place I took him to was a teaching hospital and the have people there all the time, so I was able to visit him Friday after the surgery and Saturday morning. Sunday morning I was able to pick Egan up and take him home. He slept a ton until about Tuesday, now he is more active. The poor baby is on so many meditions- I feel bad about waking him up every few hours to medicate him.
I have been home alot lately because I have to medicate Egan at 7am, 3pm, 7pm, and 11pm. I come home from work everyday to administer his Sulcrafate, which he normally spits on me, then I go back to work covered in ferret medicine.
I have to keep Egan in a 55 gallon rubbermaid tub for another week and a half to minimize his movement- don't want his stitches to get ripped out. I'm under strict instructions to keep him in his tub, which is ok for now because he still sleeps alot, but next week may be a little harder on both of us.
I was a little bit of a wreck before, during, and just after his surgery. Overall, I think I handled the whole thing pretty well. I'm pretty worn out though- I've been staying up later than normal to administer the 11pm meds- and I generally stay up after that to take care of some things. I'm guessing it's less sleep+worrying that has me all worn out.
I guess that's all about that. He's doing great now- he's eating like a pig and pooping all over his tub!

4 comments:

Zay said...

egan get well fast so your momma can stop worrying!

Some old bee-yatch said...

GO EGAN,GO!!!

I wish you had some help. It's so stressful when an animal is sick. You seem to be doing a terrific job!! You are lucky to have one another :)

KB said...

this is why I don't want any more animals. P-funk is enough for me.

the German said...

i am glad egan is doing better! I will make sure to send good vibes to the little one!