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Nov. 4th, 2004 12:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alonewiththemoonI have been killing myself for the last two hours by researching lymphoma/lymphosarcoma in ferrets, and the more I read, the more it seems very likely that it's what Pan has. Nothing else makes sense--his appetite/bathroom habits don't indicate ulcers, his alertness doesn't indicate insulinoma, there should be a bunch of other things going on if it's adrenal. I keep reminding myself that I am not a vet and that I haven't yet heard his test results, ultrasound report and so on. But anemia, lethargy, general weakness, enlarged spleen and poorly defined mass in the abdomen all seem to point to lympho.
I have also found out that chemo works in only about 10 percent of cases, and even then one rarely sees full remission, just added time (although sometimes a couple of years of time). It is also so fantastically expensive as to be laughable, if this were the slightest bit funny. It sounds like a lot to put a ferret through, and reading the firsthand experiences of ferret owners who have had chemo done on their ferrets confirms this--the majority said they wouldn't do it again. So I think I'm ready with what I want to do if it's lympho--prednisone, drugs to fight anemia and whatever other random bits of straw-clutching medications are out there. Not chemo.
I do all this preparing for the worst, because usually one does that and then it turns out the worst doesn't happen and you had overprepared. That is my hope.
I have also found out that chemo works in only about 10 percent of cases, and even then one rarely sees full remission, just added time (although sometimes a couple of years of time). It is also so fantastically expensive as to be laughable, if this were the slightest bit funny. It sounds like a lot to put a ferret through, and reading the firsthand experiences of ferret owners who have had chemo done on their ferrets confirms this--the majority said they wouldn't do it again. So I think I'm ready with what I want to do if it's lympho--prednisone, drugs to fight anemia and whatever other random bits of straw-clutching medications are out there. Not chemo.
I do all this preparing for the worst, because usually one does that and then it turns out the worst doesn't happen and you had overprepared. That is my hope.
