We had noticed some hairloss on Opie's belly during the fall of 2001. I had a hunch that it was Adrenal since we had already gone through that with Dweezil. My mistake was that I thought we had time. With Dweezil the Adrenal seemed to take forever to take effect. This was not so with Opie. By December he had lost the majority of his hair, and by January he was having difficulty urinating. As far as I can tell he was never in any pain. In males that have Adrenal Disease their prostates enlarge to the point of urinary blockage. Knowing what I know about Adrenal, and having chose not to do the surgery with Dweezil, we opted for surgery for Opie. We just had to give it a shot. Without the surgery we knew that pain and eventually death would take over Opie. We didn't want to see him suffer, but we were also scared to put him through surgery. We had high hopes that he would make it through surgery with flying colors. But it was not to be...

Due to the fact that we couldn't find a knowledgable vet in our area, Opie was taken to a friend's house on Saturday Feb. 9th. They were to take him to their vet on Sunday and do the post-op care for us until we could pick him up on Wednesday. When the doc opened him up they found that both Adrenal glands were affected...and both were huge. His prostate was also very large. When his left gland was touched it bled. This is not how surgery is supposed to go. The right gland broke apart when they removed it from him. From what I've been told, it was not a pretty sight inside of him. Shortly after surgery they thought he was coming out of anesthesia, but took a turn for the worse. They gave him painkillers and soon he just fell asleep. They did all they could to revive him, but unfortunately the Lord needed to take him.

We weren't able to say goodbye to Dweezil and we weren't able to say goodbye to Opie. That's my one true regret...I was not there when my babies took their last breathes. I had no idea that I was about to lose Dweezil. That came as a surprise. But with Opie...when I was sitting in the kitchen at my friend's house and Opie was running around he kept trying to climb in my lap. He was never a clingy ferret...never really wanted to be picked up. I think he was telling me that he loved me and was telling me goodbye. I kept that thought in my head on the long drive home. Then on Sunday when I woke up I just had an overwhelming feeling that I would not see him alive again. I don't know why exactly I felt like that. Maybe in some way I was preparing for the worst, yet still hoping for the best.

In any case, we drove down and picked up Opie's body on Wednesday...the same day we were to pick him up and bring him home to spoil after surgery. We buried him alongside his sister. He was very possessive of his toy mouse and would always put it in an old Yesterday's News bag that I had. That mouse had to be in that bag, or else! Well, it was buried with him on Feb. 13th.

Several people have comforted me during this time of tremendous grief. I would like to thank Mary and Kris Mewton, Kat and Tommy Parsons, Diane Taylor, Lydia Russell, and Cathy Sitek. I send hugs to you all.

If you would like to view the pictures from Opie's surgery, please click HERE. I really hope to educate people about Adrenal Disease through these pictures. One of the most important things I can stress about Adrenal is that it affects different ferrets in different ways. You never know what you're going to find inside of them.

Opie Fred, my little sugar booger, I miss you so much. I know we did the right thing, and I'm glad you didn't suffer. But I still wish you were with me. It's so hard to be without your angelic face. I'll love you always.