As promised, this journal will explain what I was trying to avoid facing yesterday.
Skip to the bottom if you want the short version, but I just wanted to let you guys know just WHO I lost today.
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My dog, Lucy just passed away. She was my first dog I had, who was mine. I adopted her 12 years ago, while I was in High School.
When I went out looking at Petcos, on adopt a dog Friday, she was at the second store my family and I visited. There was this small, miniature pincher. Had a little grey behind her ears, but she had the brightest eyes.
Lucy was sweet, kind, she'd lick up your nose if you'd let her, and she had the name of our past dog, who treated me like her puppy when I was very little.
My mom was worried though. When we adopted her, Lucy was 7 years old. My mom thought that little dog wouldn't last too long. Wasn't she surprised 12 years later, making Lucy 19 years old.
Lucy was my friend through High School, Community College, and my College years. She'd always surprise us by how young she'd act. Lucy would run up and down the stairs, she'd pick fights with our second past dog, Flounder. Heck, she'd bark at any dog for any reason till she died.
My dog was the toughest mutt you'd ever seen too. She had a nasty encounter with a big dog, who was allowed to be let loose by their owners. The dog came running while my dad and I were on a walk. I scooped my moms chihuahua up, but my dad didn't think Lucy would misbehave. The big dog grabbed hold of the back of Lucy's neck, and tossed her around like she was a rag doll. The owners came over and started to kick at their dog, I watched in horror, all while Lucy was trying her best to fight it. That was 9 years ago and she wasn't changed by it at all.
Then her body started to...go down. 3 years ago, Lucy had her first mini seizure. Most of her muscles on the left side of her body stopped working. She couldn't get up or down stairs either. She fell down 15 step stairs, twice and that's when the gates needed to be used.
The vet told us that she had 3 weeks. And again, that was 3 YEARS ago.
My family and I had the saying that if she'd keep eating, then we'd keep feeding her. No matter what food she wanted, we'd find it.
Then there was the event with her teeth. Our first vet told us that she couldn't get her teeth cleaned anymore because there would be a chance she wouldn't wake up after they put her under for the procedure.
She started to not eat food a year after that. Her mouth got a nasty infection and we thought she'd loose her whole mouth or something. But then our second vet told us that Lucy could have the teeth cleaning procedure. And age didn't matter, that the only thing to check was her ability to process the sleeping gas and stuff.
She may have lost 12 teeth but she started eating like her old self again.
On the morning of December, 17th, 2015, Lucy began having extreme diarrhea. Because I've been in Virginia, due to recovering from a bad leg, my mom called me and said that she was taking Lucy to the vets that day.
My mom called me later that day and said the one sentence I didn't want to hear while I was away, "We have to make a decision."
Lucy's liver was failing. She was becoming dehydrated and her breath was smelling like urine. She hadn't eaten in two days either. The vet was able to help by giving her fluids and a shot to ward off the nausea she had. But they said that if we didn't do something by tomorrow that she might not make it through the weekend, when they opened back up.
I was torn. I wanted to be there for my dog, just one last time. My dad and I were to leave the day AFTER the vets were closed. Just one days difference...
My mom and I came to the decision that it was best for Lucy if she went while still feeling happy and warm, rather than in pain or going through a stroke or seizure.
The sad part was we saw Lucy as the toughest dog around. Didn't matter if she lost limbs, muscles, or teeth. She'd keep on coming back for more...but there was no coming back from a failed liver.
At 9:24 am, December 18, 2015, I got a call from my mom. Telling me that Lucy hadn't changed. She wasn't able to stand or walk on her own.
And at 10:32 that morning my mom called and said she went to sleep and was in a better place, and then we both cried while trying to talk to each other over the phone.
I will say something that I found to be more proof that there are somethings out there, watching over us.
My mom, who I'd swore on my smurf collection, would never come back to Virginia for anything unless she HAD to. She came down a week ago because she wanted to see the Christmas Orchestra Concert we'd always go to, and she brought the dogs with her.
If she didn't do that, if she didn't drive 7 hours with the dogs JUST to watch a concert, the last time I would have seen my baby dog would had been a month, instead of a week.
And I got to hold my dog, walk her, try to convince her to eat, and snuggle with my dog. So I really do believe there is something, or many things watching us.
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Short version:
My dog was put to sleep this morning and my heart hurts knowing when I go back to NY tomorrow that she won't be there. She was a good friend and she will be deeply missed.
Thank you guys for reading this, even if you did skip and read the short version. And also thank you for helping me in my last journal so quickly. I really appreciate it.
She will always be in my heart and I will always remember her how she was, not how she is gone