-7
Still nothing. Siobhan had a lot of discomfort yesterday evening and I started to get excited, but now she’s back to her same ol’ pregnant self again.
We had snow on the ground this morning. Now it’s raining. We’ve had a few nice days so far this spring, but for the most part it’s been either wet, cold or wet and cold. 🙁
Somebody also asked about Max, our little dog we used to have. I never put any explanation with the picture on this site, mainly because I was so heartbroken at the time that I didn’t want to spend much time thinking about it. The reason Max is no longer with us is due to liver troubles. Back in February I took him to the vet to get his teeth cleaned. Before they put him to sleep for the cleaning they have to check his blood to make sure his system is up to the task of removing the drugs from his system. He had some abnormal reading show up so the vet recommended not doing the job then and putting him on some medication for 6 weeks to see if that would clear things up. Almost 5 weeks into this we started noticing some changes in Max and we decided that we wouldn’t clean his teeth as they were in good shape due to regular vet visits and we would rather have him be comfortable instead of dealing with the medicine. At 5 weeks after beginning the medication he walked out of the bedroom and let loose on the carpet. Something he has never done before. Two hours later he did the same but not so much. He also stopped eating at this point. That night I was up with him every hour or two and he would go outside to do his job but usually nothing would come out and if it did it was all soft.
The following day (Saturday) he had learned to control himself pretty good and started getting back to his old routine of 8am, 12 noon, 5pm and 10pm. He still wouldn’t eat though. We tried treats, soft food and the only thing he would really attempt to eat was his usual food, watered down to make it soft.
Siobhan made an appointment for him to see the vet on Tuesday afternoon. I was prepared to say goodbye to him but Siobhan didn’t know what I was making a fuss about. I set up a little bed for him on side of me and fell asleep with my hand on his side. The next afternoon when I picked him up to bring him to the vet I took his blanket and his favourite toy. I jokingly said goodbye to his funnel we had to put on him at times to keep him from licking his butt.
We got to the vet and brought him in for testing. He had blood work done and an x-ray. This took a couple hours so we went for a drive. It was at this time that I asked Siobhan if she was prepared and that the whole thing finally hit her.
When we got back to the vet Max was in the back barking. The lady at the vet brought him out to us and I was so tempted to just leave with him right then. We soon got to speak to the vet and she told us the results of his blood work. There are two types of enzymes that caught their attention. The first was the one that the drugs were supposed to bring down and that one was down a little, but still high. The other one never showed up the last time and this time was off the chart. Then the x-ray results came back. His liver should have been totally contained in his ribcage, but it was about twice the size it should have been and was pushing on his stomach and his intestines causing him to be unable to eat and making him feel like he had to do his dirt all the time.
It was at this point that I knew the inevitable was coming. The vet told us that we could bring him home, but that it would be for our own benefit and he would suffer for his last while with us. We made the decision and signed the papers. Siobhan got his ball and blanket and when we laid it on the table next to him he looked confused and pawed at his ball, ready to play. We hugged him and kissed him goodbye.
This was probably the hardest thing we have ever had to go through together. We were afraid it would cause Siobhan to go into early labour. We did good together though and three days later we went back and picked up his ashes. They felt so bad for us that they (the vet clinic) gave us a bouquet when we picked him up. We brought most of his stuff, two of his beds, and all his food to the SPCA. We now have him in the box from the vet lying in his main bed, waiting for Dana to come home to say her goodbyes to him.
I know that people were wondering if we did it because the baby is coming. Not a chance. We even had one of his beds under the baby’s crib ready for him to nap when the baby naps. Max was like a child to us and we miss him so much.
Rene and Siobhan.