This is so Sophie! I love this picture!
This was just taken lastnight. I'm glad she felt well enough to play. I'm even more glad she got to come home to say good-bye.
She was almost back to her old self last night, we let her chase the ball a few times, but didn't let her do it very much because we didn't want to wear her out. When I went to work at 7, she was right there in her blanket and I felt like we were back to being complete - 7 is completeness in the Bible, you know. We were so blessed to have her back home.
About 9:30 I took her downstairs so she could go outside with no steps and so she could spend some time with dad down by the woodstove. She vomited again, but we weren't too worried, she hadn't vomited all day until then, which was a vast improvement over just a couple days ago.
When Steve went to bed about 11 he brought her up to the office and she curled up in the blanket again. About 12:30 I let her out again and when she came in she vomited again, but this time it was darker. I wasn't too worried since she had finally eaten something, so I just cleaned it up and she went back to bed. I got done working at 1:30 and rather than disturb her and the others dogs sleeping nearby I just grabbed a pillow and slept on the floor by them. I had to get up kind of early because today was our Christmas party/December meeting at work.
When Steve woke us up about 6:30 she had vomited again and it was dark - for some reason I didn't think anything about it. I put her in bed with me and we both went back to sleep. I woke up about 9:30 and she was just standing next to me, looking at me. I got up to find that Steve had put a couple of towels on the bedspread next to her when he went to work and there were 2 dark large spots on it where she had vomited - and I finally realized it was blood. From then until now seems like a total dream to me. Mom and Bob came over because they were going to watch her while I went up to the hospital, which of course I wasn't going to do now! They left after a bit and Steve came home. I had called the vet and told him what had happened and that we felt she had suffered enough and we'd bring her in so he could help her on her next journey to the Rainbow Bridge.
At 1 we took her in. I had asked Dr. Jesske earlier if he would do a necropsy to see if he could figure out what was going on. He asked us when we brought her in, if he could do surgery before we put her to sleep to see if there was something that he could fixed, something that he might have missed the first time. We agreed. I knew really in my heart that this was goodbye. We had spent time before we left home with her, telling her how much we loved her. I told her she had 3 brothers waiting for her at the Bridge and that tonight she'd be chasing balls with all of them. The last picture of her in my mind is of Dr. Jesske carrying her out of the exam room.
You know how things come into your life unexpectedly? That was Sophie. I had been somewhat working with a Dachshund rescue when we got a call from someone who had to give up her mother's dog. Steve and I agreed to go get her for the rescue, but told them we needed to find a home ASAP since we already had 6, and we didn't particularly want 7! They said they would and would we please go get her. We did and she came home with us that night.
I sent another email the next day, asking if they had found a home for her. I never heard back from them about a home for her. Steve wasn't too crazy about having 7 dogs, but she turned into a Daddy's girl pretty quick! It probably was a month before we decided we would "keep" her, although I think we knew it in our hearts long before that! She was just meant to be here. Meant to be part of our family.
Today after I came home from the vet I let the dogs out and counted to make sure all of them were back in the house... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6... Oh yeah. We're not complete any more.
2 comments:
I'm so sorry that your Sophie is gone. I hope that over time you will feel better.
Oh! I'm so sad. I always hate it when a pet dies. However, I do firmly believe that our pets get to come with us to heaven. My heaven will be full of all the orphaned cats and birds I took care of as a kid!
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