Last week on the 4th of July I received a voice mail from a good friend that her family dog was sick. They wanted to see if they could wait until our office was open for me to look at her but when I didn't answer, they decided to take her to the emergency clinic in our area. While my friend and her family thought the Corgi had back pain, the doctor at the emergency hospital diagnosed her with a life threatening disease called Immune Mediated Hemolytic Anemia (IMHA). In this disease, the body starts to attack and break down it's own red blood cells. The red blood cells are essential to carry oxygen throughout the body and help keep the liver, kidney and other organs functioning.
She was hospitalized in the intensive care unit and given 2 blood transfusions. After each transfusion her cell count rose and then we watched it drop steadily. She was started on medications to stop her body from destroying the red blood cells but it wasn't enough. She wouldn't eat and was depressed.
When she came in to see me today, we did a cell count and it was 1/4 of the normal value. She had started into liver and likely kidney failure as the organs were shutting down from a lack of oxygen. She was lifeless, responding only to her family out of loyalty.
We talked about the options and I decided I would go to their house so the family could say goodbye together. At home euthanasias are not my favorite thing to do. It's an emotional experience and you can feel like a stranger in a house you've been in a million times. I will tear up and feel the urge to cry when I see people I care about crying. It's so hard to watch them say goodbye to life's most faithful companion. But when it is time to put her down, I will not cry. These are not my memories to cry over. I wasn't there. There is a great shift in the mood when it is time. Sadness overwhelms the room and I have a job to do. I want so bad to make sure my friends and their companion do not feel any pain. I have to focus, I can't cry.
As I leave with their best friend in my car, I can't wait to get home to my animals. My "land angels" as I refer to them. Tonight I'll step over the spilled basket of toys, throw them an extra treat and even let them sleep in my bed. Because tonight I was reminded that these companions come into this world asking nothing of us and yet they give us so much. Their lives are too short. There are no words that I can say to my friends that will fill the emptiness they will feel tomorrow. Because their lives have forever been changed by a creature who loved unconditionally and yet never spoke a word.
