As you know, my ferret Nymphadora was recently diagnosed with insulinoma which I am now managing medically. She's about 5.5 years old. What I need to know is:

How long can I expect her to live from now? I think the disease is already fairly advanced...when I got her to the vet her sugar was 22mg...

I'm assuming this will eventually kill her - how will she die? I've been having this suspicion that she will eventually start having seizures and they will increase in frequency and intensity until she passes...is that necessarily the case? If so, will it get to the point where I will have to seriously consider putting her down? I don't want her to have to go through life having frequent grand mal seizures if they can't be medically prevented.

This is all so depressing. Today she really started acting like herself again, jumping around and being happy...but I know the medication is only managing the symptoms, for now. Which I still appreciate greatly.

I don't think I'll really consider surgery, since I have a feeling the disease is already fairly advanced, and she's pretty old and very tiny. If it were my other ferrets, who are younger and larger, it would be a different story, but I think in Nymphadora's case the risk is very high and the potential benefits are relatively low. I'm basically just hoping to hit a sweet spot for extending her life and maintaining her quality of life during that time.