Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Hello again

After nearly 3 months I am finally back working in my studio again.  After the moving/not moving debacle back in July, and then losing our dog at the same time...  Um well I guess I should explain that as well.

 When we adopted Scruffy (our golden retriever) 2 years ago, we thought he was in good health.  We were not told of any health issues he had.  But 2 months later he had the first seizure that we were aware of.  Over the course of the next 2 years the seizures continued to come closer and closer together.  We tried changing his diet as well and medications.  Some things worked better than others, but everything eventually stopped working and the seizures continued.

When we went on vacation in July he had been seizure free for almost 6 weeks (and considering before that, he'd been having clusters of them every week, that was a God-send for him), we returned home and that first night back he had a seizure.  But unlike all of his previous episodes over the past 2 years, this one didn't stop!  In the months prior to this episode, we as a family had talked about what was the bet thing to do for HIM, and we all agreed that if things got worse then we would make the tough decision to stop his suffering.  If you've never had an animal suffer from seizures, know that they are painful to watch, often painful for the animal not to mention the disorientation that follows for hours afterwards.  Medications may 'control' the seizures, but often lead to nasty side effects of their own like sluggishness, confusion, weight gain despite lack of appetite, and other side effects that are nearly as bad as the after effects of the seizure itself.

It was 2 o'clock in the morning when his last seizure started.  As we always did we sat with him, petted him and talked to him.  At around 3am he lifted his head and looked at me and just let our this mournful heart-wrenching howl.  My husband and I looked at each other and just knew.  He was hurting and it was time to make the call.  I called a local emergency vet and through my tears I made the appointment.  It was about 6am by the time he had settled down enough that we could move him without hurting him and got to the vet.  By that time we knew that mentally he was already gone, but the pain of letting him go physically is STILL painful to me (and I crying as I type this).  But we knew it was the right thing to do, and it was the only way to truly do what was best for him.

We were blessed to have Scruffy in our lives for 2 years and will ALWAYS remember him fondly!

*sniffles*

Ok sorry, I had intended this post to be about the most recent crafting I've done, but at this point, well I just can't today.  I am sorry this post ended up being so sad, but when I realized that I never let you guys know about our buddy, I knew I had to.  Thanks for bearing with me, while I relived this.  I promise to come back tomorrow (or later today) and share something fun!

Love,
Deborah


6 comments:

  1. So sorry to hear about the loss of your poor pup! He looks like a fun, friendly fella.

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  2. Thank you Presto. He was indeed a fun and friendly fellow! We were truly blessed to have had him in our lives! :-)

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  3. I'm so sorry. I still get teary eyed when I think about our dog, Angel, and it's been over a year since we had to put her down. Don't feel like you need to apologize for your feelings. Hugs. And I'm looking forward to see your latest work when you are up to sharing.
    De

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  4. De, thank you so much! I am glad to know that I am not the only one who gets emotional over the loss of a pet. We lost 2 wonderful dogs almost exactly 2 years apart. It hurt way more than I hoped it would. But we are healing. :-)

    I look forward to sharing some of the neat things I have finally been making!

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  5. The loss of a pet is devastating, maybe especially when you've had to make the choice to put them to sleep. I'm sorry to hear about Scruffy. :(

    My dog as a child had epilepsy, but we were fortunate that it was controlled via mediation, so she only had occasional seizures. I can remember vividly how scary it was when she had one though. :(

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  6. Thank you for your kind words RandomFish! They mean a lot to me. :-)

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Hi! Thanks for taking the time to comment! I love hearing what you have to say! =D