Day by day, again

Upcoming surgery/Loss of a beloved pet

Dad has had his thoracotomy and the 'lymph node' was not malignant. So now he has to go through another surgery to remove the lobe of the lung with the tumor. He isn't looking forward to it all! The pain from the thoracotomy was horrendous and it will likely be worse when they do the lobectomy. It's scheduled for February 2nd so it's just around the corner.

I will be so glad when all of this is over. For his sake I hope he recovers quickly. At least he will know that the cancer is gone if there are no signs of metastasis.

I have prayed alot about this and God blessed my family with the benign lymph node. I am just hoping we are blessed again on February 2nd.

This past Saturday I had to help my sister take her 16 year old dog to be put to sleep. She was old and had severe arthritis. A few days before she started losing control of her bladder and she quit eating. By Saturday she was not able to stand on her own. It was the humane thing to do but it was heartbreaking. My sister just couldn't go into the vet and watch it. I stayed with Sheba until her heart stopped after the injection. I was beginning to panic when the vet couldn't find a vein. He had to stick her 3 times before he finally got one. He said her blood pressure was very, very low and it was probably less than 24 hours before she would die anyway. She was in pain and I couldn't stand the thought of her hurting for another day. She went peacefully with me holding her head against my chest and telling her I would take care of her Mom. That dog loved my sister so much!

My sister is a strong woman and always has been. To see her breakdown was awful. I cried right along with her. It's hard to see someone you love hurting and not be able to soothe them. She wanted to bury Sheba on her land so they wrapped her up and we went to Vivian's house and dug a hole and buried her with the other pets lost in the past.

Viv also has a Maltese that was very close to Sheba despite the fact that she was so much bigger. Sheba was a Chow and she weighed about 65 pounds when she was healthy. Chan (short for Chantilly Lace) weighs about 4 pounds. They were the best of buddies and were literally inseparable. Poor little Chan has been looking for her buddy ever since. She is grieving too. It's pitiful to see.

Life goes on though. It's ironic that while we were at the vet to put an animal done another lady's dog was giving birth. That's the cycle of life. It will take some time to adjust to the loss but it will be okay. When you love your pets like a family member it feels like a family member is lost. We just have to remember how much they brought to our lives and hold the wonderful memories close. We will always remember those we loved.