Let’s be real! The kids are in bed, door shut, lights out. Now it is my time. My time to relax. My time to get ready to bed. My time to snuggle with my husband. Time to climb in bed and laugh because my dog is going to get on my husbands pillow and look at him with his sad puppy eyes. Every night this is what happens. He lies on my husband’s pillow and teases him. Then my husband comes to bed and we all giggle because the dog is on his pillow AGAIN.
Only tonight something is missing. Something small and white and cuddly. Something my daughter lives for. My dog is no longer here. Last night was my last night snuggling with my dog. I knew he was not acting right. His breathing was weird, he would not lay down and sleep and he kept coming to my face. He rarely gets in my face. I knew he was not feeling well. I never dreamed he was so sick.
This morning I took him to the vet as soon as the doors opened. The vet said he was very anemic and gave me a plan. He said the plan was to give him a blood transfusion and IV meds and he thought that would help. He said I could take him home in the next couple of days with meds to continue for the next 6-8 weeks. I paid my $555 and said good bye to my sick puppy. I called back a couple of hours later and they said he was holding his own. I assumed that things would go according to plans. He had not been sick long, he is only ten years old and I am not ready to tell my kids he is not coming home. A couple of hours later the Vet called and said he needed oxygen at $45 a hour. I agreed because how do you say no. How do you tell your kids you did not do everything you could? Then I called my hero and said it was time to have the talk. You know where you decide how much you are willing to spend, how much you are willing to do for this dog. He called the Vet to get a better idea of what was going on. She was honest and said he was not doing well and she could not guarantee he would get better at this point and if he did it would not be the same happy go lucky dog. He then called me and we made the decision we were not ready to make. He instantly called the Vet back to tell her we would not be doing much more. As he was talking to her Curly passed away. Okay, that was easier, we did not have to make the decision it was made for us. He was at peace.
End of story, right? No, I called back to make final plans and she said Curly was alive, yes you read that right, he was alive. She said when she hung up with my husband he started moving again. She said please understand his oxygen is really low and I do not think anything has changed. I told her we were done, that it is not fair to him. She told me we had made the right decision and she would put him to sleep.
My hero came home early and we told the kids. Then I took Hope to pick him up. Curly was her dog. She dresses him almost daily and plays with him. We brought him home and buried him in the back yard.
Today was a hard day for our family and honestly I hate it. So now I am avoiding going to bed because I know there will not be something there to keep my feet warm or to get between my husband and I.
My husband and kids have been on line looking at dogs all night. I am not ready for another dog. I do not think they realize how much work they are. If you have a child friendly dog I would love to hear about them. What kind, what breed, what do you love and not like?
Pamela
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