A Difficult Day . . .

[Diane, Clouds assignment]

In August, Tyson, my daughters 7 year-old Rottwieler went for surgery to repair what was thought to be a torn tendon in his back leg. When the surgeon saw him before the surgery, he said he thought something else was going on. He did ex rays and found a mass above his knee with a broken femur within the mass. More ex rays were taken of his entire body and there was no evidence of cancer anywhere else. Mandi was devastated and opted to have the leg amputated since he was in otherwise good health. He recovered quickly and had no problem adapting to three legs. He continued to swim and go boating and romp with my dog, Hunter.

The past few days he suddenly started to deteriorate. His feet began to swell, he stopped eating (unless hand fed by my daughter), he didn't want get up out of his bed and last night developed a cough similar to that of congestive heart failure. We both suspected the worse and took him to the vet this morning.

The ex-boyfriend that gave Tyson to her as a gift (Tyson's Daddy), met us at the office as the doctor confirmed our worst fears. The cancer was back and his body was shutting down. We knew what had to done and was given some time to say our goodbyes to Tyson.
Mandi was inconsolable and I was helpless in taking my babies' heartache away.

To make matters worse, Mandi is five months pregnant and has a problem with a low blood pressure. She has already been hospitalized for one episode. She hadn't eaten and spent a sleepless night in his bed holding him.

She's home now, fed and with friends checking up on her.

Here are some pics of our sweet Ty
http://www.pbase.com/dizpost/image/72279562/medium

http://www.pbase.com/dizpost/image/56938114

[Julie]

What a beautiful dog....

Lots of love and strenght going out to your daughter. She will need to try and relax, and hopefully take a couple days to recoupe....

[Diane, Clouds assignment]

Thanks, Julie. He was such mush. While my daughter was at work, he would lay in her waterbed and watch Animal Planet. If someone got between him and the TV, he would lean to look around you so he wouldn't miss anything.

[FoxersArtist]

Oh Diane! How heartbreaking. Please give your daughter an extra big hug from us. Nothing can bring her sweet boy back, but hopefully time will heal her wounds and here's hoping that the new baby will be happy and healthy. Soon she will have something else to fill up that hole in her heart. I will pray that the rest of her pregnancy goes well...I know how that goes as I had low BP throughout my pregnancy with Katie. Make sure to tell her, if she doesn't already know that getting an epidural during her labor will lower her BP even more. My Drs. didn't put two and two together and I ended up with an extremely low BP while delivering Katie...kinda scary stuff! Again, I'm so sorry about your sweet Tyson. It sounds like he was a real blessing while he was here on this earth. Now he is free.
-Anna

[Diane, Clouds assignment]

Thanks, Anna. It's the most difficult thing to see your child in such emotional pain and not be able to take it away. I feel so helpless.

[FoxersArtist]

I can't imagine. I wish we didn't have to go through things like this but if we didn't, we wouldn't be living. Just hold onto your daughter and tell her you love her and you're here. That's all you can do.
-Anna

[too&me]

You have such wonderful pictures of him, perhaps you could put together a book of memories for her or with her to keep the good memories closer. A dog breeder friend once told me that dogs have short lives so we can live with & love more of them. He bred Irish Wolfhounds, it seems the largest breeds have the shortest lives. My heart goes out to you both with the pain so sharp right now. It is always hard to loose a loving friend.

[Evelyn]

For some of us, losing a pet is tantamount to losing a child. There isn't anything that can be said right now to make her feel better, and she shouldn't try to rush the grieving process.

Whenever one of mine dies (which hasn't been often, thank God), I console myself by reminding myself that this is the price one pays for the love and devotion we give to and receive from our pets--the grieving is a sort of memorial to that pet.

Remind your daughter that this pain will eventually go away and be replaced by loving memories that will warm her heart when she recalls them.

Evelyn