That's tough Rock.. Had to put the last 3 dogs down and a cat. Never easy. I thought I was done with pets... until the current one.
Hope you get some good riding in.
I got my new Grand Cherokee today… Took it out for a drive to see how she runs… It’s going be a good cross-country vehicle for me, as well as a nice city vehicle… She won’t see any off-road…
The steeples range of the southern Canadian Rocky Mountains…
For those that don’t know… Maxes chemo isn’t working… So he is on palliative care medication… It means that he hast to go outside and P every couple of hours… It’s pretty hard on my daughter, so when I found out on Friday morning I packed up the car up and drove back to Langley… She needs my support & help… And I want to be with Max at the end of his days… It is no longer months… It’s probably now just weeks……
This is on Highway 3 at Christina lake on the north end… A real nice pull over and a great place to take a break… I usually stop here on the way to The Beach…
… The boys have sorted out there sitting arrangement in the New station wagon.
The plan was to stay in Langley for a little bit and then shoot back up to Cranbrook in a while to finish up a project I’m working on and get my new wheels… But, I am heading back up tomorrow, so I can get the work done up there and get my *** back to Langley as quick as I can… My best little buddy has cancer and I need to be close to home for the spring… The doctors say he only has a few months left…
Sorry to hear that Rocky. Been there and it’s not easy.
About a month ago, we took him into his allergy vet to get some blood work done… he had several allergies, and the new med we wanted to try to relive his itching needed to be tested for Blood count… The Blood county came back as aggressive Leukemia… and they suggested we get him to an oncologist asap… we got him in almost immediately and had more blood work done… and it came back as a very aggressive type of cancer… she said months, and we did the first dose of Chemo… and was put on steroids.
I am working on a project up at the business, which is about 500 miles away from where I live, and we decided that I best get up there and get it sorted out, so that I could be home for when both Max and my daughter would need me… she has Fibromyalgia, and it is difficult for her to just get through the day, never mind take care of a sick dog… we have a good friend in the complex who said they would take the dogs out for a walk when they needed it, and my daughter could not… so I packed up and headed out for what I though would be two weeks to get the project done.
I was there for a week when the next blood work came back, and we needed to get Max to the oncologist for more testing… so I packed up, and headed home… I got some work done, but thought I could do the rest at home…
We went to the Oncologist, and even though Max had his first dose of Chemo, and most often there is a reduction of the blood count if you take it, his went up… He was still walking around the park, eating and drinking water, but had to go out often to pee as the steroids have that effect… The chemo was doing nothing, so we stopped it so that he would not have the side effects… but now it was no longer months… it was a month… So Adrienne and I decided that I should get back up to Cranbrook immediately to sort out the work… I packed up and headed out the next morning, which was a Wednesday I think… I planned on staying for 10 days… Last Friday morning they took him to emergency… I was in staples shopping for a new laptop when I heard… and headed right back to the office and gave strong directions on what needed to be done, packed up the motel and headed home about 11 am.
That was last Friday… when I got home, he seemed to be ok… he ate, and I took him out for a walk… he walked all the way around the park… the steroids meant he had to go out to P every few hours, so Adrienne said she would take him out in the night, as she has to get up anyway to take her meds for her Fribro, and I would take him out during the daytime… this would give us both an opportunity to rest… her during he daytime, and me at night… we knew that we where in for an exhausting time ahead, and made a plan so that we would have the energy to get through the weeks ahead.
We did not know at that time that we only had days, not weeks.
The weekend went well, he was able to walk and eat and drink… Sunday night, we went for out last walk around the park… he walked fine, and kept up with Atlas the entire time
Monday… I took him out for his morning walk… we went down the stairs, and he walked the whole way… he P’d outside the back door of the complex on the grass, and we walked across the street to the park… and when I started to walk, he sat down and would not let me lead him… and he looked towards the front door of the Condo… he wanted to go home… so I walked towards the entrance, and he got up and walked… we went upstairs and he walked the whole way, but we used the elevator.
We had our second visit, or was it the third… I have lost count… with the oncologist… and she said his numbers where through the roof, and that it was much more aggressive than we though… we asked her we could do, she said a different type of Chemo, but held out little hope it would work, and that it had significant side effects… we chose not to do it and just stay on the steroids… we asked her when we should bring him in again… and she said “He doesn’t need to come in again”… and that was a hammer to my heart… I knew what that meant…
He only had days… not weeks anymore…
It was a damn good thing I came home.
it was a comfortable day for him, but he was showing signs of exhaustion… he once again balked at walking around the park and we just stayed on the grass outside the front door, so he could do his business.
We called a few of the Vets that come to your home to help with your pets when they pass… but all of them would not return calls as I am sure they were busy, and most had waiting lists… out option seemed to be to take him to Emergency and have him pass there…
Tuesday… He was declining rapidly… he walked down the stairs, but stayed on the grass… Most of the time he was sleeping outside where it was cool… the type of Leukemia he has does represents itself as a flu… so he wanted to be in the cool air… his nose was running, and he was fidgeting, but the Oncologist told us that his type of cancer usually did not represent itself as having much pain, and what to look for… he was uncomfortable, and not sleeping well, but luckily for him, no pain presented itself to us.
We did not hear from the Vets we called, and Adrienne was so distraught she want to go to the Emergency… we had a fight… I said no… that one day would not make much of a difference overall, and that we should just keep him comfortable and give ourselves the day… she acquiesced and we planned on taking him to emergency yesterday…
… and then one of the vets called almost right away, and even though she does not work Wednesdays said she would come over… we chose 1 pm, which would give us time with him in the morning.
That night, he wanted to sleep outside on the deck, so Adrienne set up the cot next to the door, and slept beside him, in case he needed immediate help… I did not know this until yesterday morning when I saw the cot…
Wednesday (Yesterday)… I got up about 6 and Adrienne went to bed for a few hours… Max was sleeping outside and I left him there… He had not been drinking much so he did not have to pee, and he did his business the night before so we where good there… Adrienne got up about 9, and her best friend came over to be with her for the duration… About 10, I picked Max up and carried him downstairs so he could P… I took the elevator down, and put him on the grass outside… he walked a few paces, took a leak, and the looked at me… I opened the front door, and he very slowly walked back to the door… and then very slowly walked to the elevator, with me promoting him .. lets go buddy, lets go… he walked into the Elevator by himself, and on our floor got out… then very slowly started walking down the hall…
… the last march of a giant…
… we got to the front door, and he walked in by himself… from then on, it was either outside in the cool morning air, or inside on the chair… he drank some water, liked ice cubes out of my hand and crunched them up when they got small enough… he was awake most of the rest of the morning…
Adrienne busied herself by doing some cleaning… I just sat and watched him for most of the time… inside or outside siting on the deck… when he sat up, I would pick him up and move him from the deck to the chair, from the chair to the deck… His energy was almost completely sapped…
The Vet showed up at 1 and came upstairs… Now the most amazing thing happened… Max was really Adrienne's Moms dog… when Nadine showed up after Max was brought home when he was a puppy… he immediately went to her, and became hers… if she was in the house and walking, he was always following her, when she sat down, he was with her… when he was afraid of something, he would go to her so she could hold him… Nadine passed last March from Cancer.
On Tuesday, he wandered around a bit… a few times he went into my room… but that use to be Nadine's room… the last few days I always walked with him when he wandered, just to make sure he was ok… and when he went into my room, he was looking for something… to myself, I was thinking that he was looking for Nadine… That he knew he was sick, and needed her comfort…
… when the Vet came in… Max, who had not sat up in a while… Immediately sat up, and smiled at her when he saw her… The woman had almost the same physical attributes as Nadine… It was like he was thinking… “You came…”…
We sat for a bit… Adrienne filled out some forms… and then the Vet did the coolest thing… she brought out a Cheese Burger from McDonald’s… broke it up into pieces and gave it to Adrienne for Max to enjoy… of course we shared it with Atlas so he would not feel left out…
… she gave Max a sedative… after 10 or so minutes he was fast asleep… she then laid a blanket over his body so we would not have to see the next part… and she gave him another shot, and in 15 minutes or he had passed... laying on the same blanket that Bear was on, when he also passed… of course, lots of tears and Good-by's… we spend some time with him after he passed, then Adrienne carried him downstairs to the Vets car, and laid him in the back... I stayed upstairs, and watched from the deck... they said their good-byes, and I watched as the car drove off down the street, watching it disappear, just like I had when Bear went off...
Sorry for your loss Rocky. When I lost my Miranda, of 11 years, I cried like a baby, and that was 4 years ago. She was a great dog, and I don't think I can ever have another. Our pets get closer to us than most people we know.
03-31-2022, 05:35 PM
