Well, as many of you know, we said a very unexpected goodbye to our dog Sophie this week.
It has been the weirdest, loneliest few days at our house without her. We cared a lot about her, but didn't realize just how much she was a part of our family or how special she was to us until this week...
About 2 months ago Sophie had a LOT of teeth pulled because they were infected, but it sounded like that's all it was and she was back to normal after they were pulled out. Not long after that we noticed her limping a bit and thought it was odd, but then it went away.
Well, just last Friday she started doing it again, but it got really bad within just a day and by Saturday afternoon she wasn't putting any weight on her leg and was really panting. Daren took her to the vet on Monday. At first the vet thought it was possibly Lyme's disease or an infection, but after some blood work that didn't really seem to be the case. They took an Xray and it was bad news from there:/
There was a large tumor in her leg and when you looked the comparison Xray from her other leg, it was glaringly obvious that it was not good. She had bone cancer.
He gave us some options.... They could amputate the leg, but that would only give her about 4 more months of life. If they amputated it AND did chemo therapy once a week, that would potential give her 10-12 months. Obviously, neither option would really help enhance the quality of her life and just seemed like things for 'us' rather than for Sophie, so we had to make the dreaded decision to put her to sleep. Daren called me at school with the horrible news and I rushed with the girls to the vet clinic so we could say goodbye one last time.
We will always remember her and have a special place in our hearts for her, as our first family member, long before the girls came along:)
If they wrote doggie obituaries it would sound something like this:
Soph-dog lived a good life for nearly 10 years. She came into this world as a puppy in Florida and spent her first 4 1/2 adventurous years as the racing dog "Sheila Bea". When her career was over she was rescued by the Northern Lights Greyhound Association in Minnesota and from there we adopted her and she spent the rest of her days at home with us:) Most of them calm and mild, she loved to have a good run with me once in a while, chew the heck out of any new toy continuously until she completely wore out the squeaker, and once in a while get herself into mischief as any good dog does on occasion! (Like eat a full pan of 12 ice cream cone cupcakes, a stick of butter, or whatever else we foolishly left sitting out:) Her favorite people snack was popcorn!
We adopted her almost 5 years ago, so she really has been with us for practically our whole married lives and definitely has been a part of the girls lives. Danika kind of understands, but I'm pretty sure she thinks that she will be coming home again at some point. Every time she talks about her I start to cry! It doesn't seem like it has really phased her, but only time will tell. This morning we were talking about it and how Sophie is in doggie heaven and isn't in pain anymore and she said "But when her leg gets better she can come home from that place right?" (thinking 'heaven' was the vet's office where we went to visit her) Totally broke my heart. I hope that gets better, not worse:/
Not much else to post and share this week...the girls are fun as ever, Daren is frustrated by the rain this week and has been unable to plant as much as he hoped, and I'm starting to get insanely busy at school with just 13 more school days to go. Other than that, our week was spent reflecting and remembering the happy times with Sophie and and even wishing back some of the not so favorite things about having a dog. Walking her was sometimes a burden, but this week,we took a few family walks, just because! I hope we can continue to make time for that...
With Love,
The Dummers
Daren, Jamie, Danika & Haddie
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