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Kyrin,
Does your friend need a second opinion? I have and excellent surgeon in Utah and I travel the three hours one way to see him. My feet have been a problem since before my twins were born (they, twins not feet, are 11 going on 12) and Dr. Rogers is wonderful. I’ve referred lots of family and friends to him and have had excellent care. If you want Dr. Rogers number, address etc. let me know.
Good luck and hang in there. Feet decisions can be very difficult to make, since they are the foundation, literally, of your active life. There have been times that mine are so painful that I’ve begged to have them off, but I get told ‘no, it would just cause other problems’. Maybe Dr. Rogers could find some other treatment options.
That said, I don’t like waffling and indecision either. It can be terribly frustrating and stressful! You are welcome to vent anytime.
twindragonsmum
tdm
ddvm wrote:Sorry to hear about Zoro. Surgery would be best but some people have treated adrenal disease with melatonin implants (they have them for minks to improve the quality of the fur). It pretty much masks the symptoms – doesn’t treat the underlying cause but if surgery is not an option for some reason it can help. You might want to ask your vet. Or check back issues of Ferret Fancy – I think there was an article in there about this a couple of years ago.
Good luck.
Yeah, I am going to do that for now, to give me time to save up for the surgery. I wrote to the folks who I adopted him from and they said the implant would give him about 4 months of symptom free time, and that will give me the breathing room I need to save the $400 or so it will run me. He’s a beautiful ferret, usually, and only 3 years old. He’s a black sable.
I am just grateful that my other two are not showing any symptoms, Zoro and Snow are both from Marshall’s Farms, so I am expecting that eventually Snow will need this too, but Wardancer is a private breeder ferret and I am crossing my fingers that they tried to keep it out of his bloodline, since he is now 4 years old and no symptoms, I am really hopeful.
Kyrin
I am sorry about both your friend and your ferret. Its hard to let go of a limb. Its easy to get attached to them 😉 Hopefully he will talk to someone that will help him see the light. For some reason, its just hard to give up a foot. I cannot even begin to imagine having to make that choice… esp if I can convince myself that I will be fine. I think maybe pointing out the responsibility he has to his children and mention not missing them growing up… its not even worth the risk. I hope he gets the help he needs…
vapordragon wrote:So sad 🙁 . I am diabetic too and am always worried about loosing a foot or something one day. I have been taking shots for more than 20 years now and it sucks but it could be worse I know. It sounds like your friend should have surgery now before it gets worse, part of a foot or part of a leg sounds easy to decide. Diabetics take forever to heal and if the doctors are saying infection is that deep, well its not good obviously. My prayers go out to your friend and I hope they can get threw this horrible deal.
Biggest thing is that he’s spent the last 6 years fighting for medical assistance. He lost his job and house when he developed Type II diabeties, and hasn’t been able to hold more than a part time job since. He usually loses any job he gets within a few months because of continued problems with ongoing infections.
He finally was able to convince Social Security that he is disabled, after the loss of 3 toes. They put him under a microscope, but finally came to the conclusion that due to the resulting damage to his legs and feet that he is unemployable and disabled. If he had been able to get help 6 years ago, that would not be the case. But due to the lack of medical care in this country for uninsured folks, he and others will continue to end up in this situation.
Most annoying thing is that the medical folks he is dealing with now keep telling him how he should have handled things and how he should have somehow convinced a bunch of physicians along the way to treat him for free. And somehow get all his meds and testing supplies provided somehow as well. If he didn’t have Medicare now, his diabeties meds would be $420 a month!
They blame him for his situation, like he ever wanted to be diabetic, losing bits of himself and losing his house and good job. Yeah, he did all that on purpose, just for kicks! Grrr…We finally told the last doctor that we did not want to discuss the past, we just wanted to go from where we were, their opinions of how things were handled were not needed. It didn’t make them happy with us, but you try to treat diabetes without money or health insurance and see how well you manage to keep it under control.
Anyway, this morning he announced that he is going to go ahead and schedule the surgery at the next appointment. He’s scared, and worried, but I think he is making the right decision. With luck, by the end of Nov. he will be healed up and walking again.
Kyrin
Kyrin wrote:vapordragon wrote:So sad 🙁 . I am diabetic too and am always worried about loosing a foot or something one day. I have been taking shots for more than 20 years now and it sucks but it could be worse I know. It sounds like your friend should have surgery now before it gets worse, part of a foot or part of a leg sounds easy to decide. Diabetics take forever to heal and if the doctors are saying infection is that deep, well its not good obviously. My prayers go out to your friend and I hope they can get threw this horrible deal.
Biggest thing is that he’s spent the last 6 years fighting for medical assistance. He lost his job and house when he developed Type II diabeties, and hasn’t been able to hold more than a part time job since. He usually loses any job he gets within a few months because of continued problems with ongoing infections.
He finally was able to convince Social Security that he is disabled, after the loss of 3 toes. They put him under a microscope, but finally came to the conclusion that due to the resulting damage to his legs and feet that he is unemployable and disabled. If he had been able to get help 6 years ago, that would not be the case. But due to the lack of medical care in this country for uninsured folks, he and others will continue to end up in this situation.
Most annoying thing is that the medical folks he is dealing with now keep telling him how he should have handled things and how he should have somehow convinced a bunch of physicians along the way to treat him for free. And somehow get all his meds and testing supplies provided somehow as well. If he didn’t have Medicare now, his diabeties meds would be $420 a month!
They blame him for his situation, like he ever wanted to be diabetic, losing bits of himself and losing his house and good job. Yeah, he did all that on purpose, just for kicks! Grrr…We finally told the last doctor that we did not want to discuss the past, we just wanted to go from where we were, their opinions of how things were handled were not needed. It didn’t make them happy with us, but you try to treat diabetes without money or health insurance and see how well you manage to keep it under control.
Anyway, this morning he announced that he is going to go ahead and schedule the surgery at the next appointment. He’s scared, and worried, but I think he is making the right decision. With luck, by the end of Nov. he will be healed up and walking again.
Kyrin
I have to pay for all my meds out of pocket and it is expensive. It sucks sometimes but I can at least live a pretty normal life. I have lost a few jobs in the past because of various things having to do with being diabetic. I’m glad your friend is finally getting help. Hope everything goes well for your friend, I know he is scared, I would be terrified but tell him to be brave, stay strong and keep his head up.
What horrible news 🙁 At least your friend is going to finally schedule the surgery. I would hate to see them keep pushing it off to the point they need a whole leg amputated because of infection. I know how hard it is to fight with social security to get benefits. We were very lucky they approved us the first time my husband applied. Even after they approve you, you still have to wait 6 months to start getting benefits. If it wasn’t for my parents and brother helping me with bills we would have lost everything. I swear the government doesn’t care about people in need. How do they expect people to survive on nothing for 6 months? I hope all goes well with your ferret. I love ferrets but my husband won’t let me get one.
Glad your friend is going for the surgery; still so scary though. *hugs* to you, your friend, his kids & little Zoro.
Well, surgery is scheduled for Monday. They decided to do it outpatient, unless there is a sign of complications, which at that point he would be moved to the hospital. With any luck at all, all will go well and he will be back home with us late in the day on Monday.
My sister in law is going to stay over here to help out for the next week or so, while I am at work. Our dear friend Betty may also end up helping a bit. It will be about 3 weeks before he can do things that he usually does, like cook for himself and take care of the youngest kiddo.
It’s going to be a challenging few weeks. I am not really sure how he is going to manage with the youngest kiddo while I am at work, if neither Betty nor Amber can make it over here. I usually get off work by about 12 noon, but she’s awake by 10am.
Anyway, I am sure we’ll manage.
Update you guys on how the surgery goes in a few days.
Kyrin
Keeping you and your friend and family in my prayers. Keep us posted.
Sorry Kyrin, I sent the PM before I read this post. I know you have more important things on your mind.
Well he had surgery today. All went well, and I was able to bring him home around 3pm. He was a bit disappointed when he saw his bandaged foot, I guess he was still hoping that somehow he would keep more of his foot than they told him he would.
So he was a bit panicky sounding at first. I let him know that it looked fine to me, to me it looks a bit longer than I expected from the diagram we were given. So that is a good thing. He’ll be okay, he doesn’t get to see the actual foot itself for the next 9 days, so we’ll have to see how that goes. Hopefully he won’t be too terribly upset with the results.
Right now he’s sleeping, since the knock out juice is still in his system. Sleep is good, he hasn’t been sleeping all that well lately.
Anyway, just wanted to let you guys know it went well and he’s home and doing as well as can be expected.
Kyrin
Glad for the good news. I’m sure it’ll be an adjustment. Just let him know we’re all wishing him well.
Glad the surgery went well; hopefully he’ll be able to accept it and adapt quickly. I can’t imagine how emotionally hard it will still be on all of you. *hugs* & support are here when you need them.
I hope everything will be ok on the psychological side. This is not an easy thing to go through.
Big hugs!
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