Yesterday morning our beloved golden retriever had to be rushed to an emergency vet and only an hour later the decision was made to put him down =( Our poor puppy dog (he's 5.5) was diagnosed with cancer last year in August. We started chemotherapy and he did really well on it for 8 months. Just recently we ended the chemo and the steroid treatment. He was doing great, the cancer was staying away and he was just so happy and full of life. Then 2 weeks ago for some reason he started declining. Took him to the vet, where it was thought that he had arthritis that was flaring up due to the stopping of the steroids. We put him on pain medication and NSAIDs. He showed dramatic improvement almost after the first dose! Then we had really bad luck with our local vet and ended up not getting his pain medication refilled, so we were in search of a new vet. I found one and was excited about having better luck with this vet. The appointment was for Thursday at 3pm. Unfortunately Max, our golden, started to get really sick a few days ago. We were hoping this new vet would help address his pain and vomiting. Yesterday morning around 1am Max was up and very restless. By 3pm he was throwing up non-stop and that's when I became super hysterical and woke my husband up. Max was so weak that only 30 minuets later he could no longer move. We took the 45 minute drive to the emergency vet where they took blood work and x-rays. He had so much fluid in his abdomen that the x-rays were blurry. It was unclear with this information what exactly was wrong. Our only options were to rush him an hour away to another emergency vet place to get an ultrasound, or to do exploratory surgery, but neither of these options were great because it was pretty doubtful that he would survive the trip. We opted to have them inject some pain meds into his IV so he could get some relief. We spent some time with him telling him we loved him, and decided it was time that he stopped the suffering.
The worst day of my entire life. We are super animal lovers, and he was our first pet together. We did everything we could to help him overcome the battles he faced in his terrible body. He was such a great dog, he loved everyone, always greeted everyone with a toy. He was there for me when my husband went through boot camp and through any other things. He was like a child to us. Now I just feel so lost. We really thought we had at least another year with him, and were hoping for more. We don't regret the things we did for him, the money we spent. He was such a fighter through all of it. Yesterday he had lost that fight that got him through everything, and that is when we knew for sure that there was no getting past it this time.
We were supposed to have maternity photos next Friday and we were going to include both our dogs in the photos. It breaks my heart that he won't be here for our baby in just 9 weeks. He was sooo protective of children and absolutely loved him. Like our announcement photo says, he truly would have been a guard dog to our son. We miss him terribly already. I'm trying to stay strong for our baby, but it is so hard to keep it together. My biggest guilt is that with all this sadness it has made me lose my excitement over our son's arrival. I know that it will come back, but right now it makes me feel extremely guilty.
Sorry for such a long post. I just need to get it out. Thankfully today we make our journey back home to visit family. Perfect timing for that. I'm just trying very hard to keep as calm as I can, because I was in labor and delivery only a week ago for preterm labor scares with 5 minute apart contractions. I have been put on bed rest (but not completely since I have a blood clotting disorder, therefore I'm encouraged to move around a bit). I'm just so happy the doctor is allowing me to take the trip home. I don't think I could handle being in this house for the rest of this week as every little tiny thing reminds me of our Max.
Re: NBR - Grieving our beloved pet =(
We lost DHs beloved cat to cancer, and it was a slow decline. I think I still have some PTSD about it 4 years later... It was so hard. I'm so sorry.
MH: 37
Married for 6 1/2 years (in nursing school for first five)
TTC since 10/2012
HSG in April, 2013 - clear
August, 2013 - started Clomid 50mg - day 23 labs were optimal - BFN
September, 2013 - repeated Clomid 50mg - BFN
October, 2013 - upped Clomid to 100mg - BFN
November, 2013 - Repeating Clomid 100mg - BFN
December, 2013 - Started Letrozole 2.5mg - BFN (but excellent progesterone levels!)
January, 2014 - Repeated Letrozole 2.5mg - even better progesterone levels!! - 1/27/14 - BFP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Our miracle, Jane Lauren, born 9/14/14, 5lbs, 5oz, 19" long.
*hugs*