All In A Mom’s Day

It’s always hard when things aren’t going smoothly in your life. I always try to remember that there are people who are going through worse things then we are but that doesn’t really make what what we’re going through any easier. Tuesday morning our 11 ½ year old Golden Retriever was sick. I knew this wasn’t just normal sick – it was serious sick. My husband asked why I thought it was so serious – how to explain that to a man?? – I just knew. We left for the vet at 2:00 and she confirmed that it was serious. She sent us to the local emergency clinic where they also do veterinary imaging and critical care. They are open 24 hours and our vet told us it is the Mayo Clinic of Veterinary Hospitals. We had to leave our Golden there overnight. He needed IV fluids because he had a fever and a mass inside him which they had not yet been able to identify. By Wednesday we found out that the mass was a tumor.

These were two very emotional days – everyone time I talked to someone and told them what was going on or every time I got more bad news from the vet the tears started flowing. Our Golden was our baby before we had kids. He was a gift to me from my husband before we got married. I love dogs. My family had a German Shepherd and a Golden Retriever when I was growing up. This part of loving dogs is very difficult. Luckily, his fever came down and we were able to bring him home last night. He didn’t want to spend another night in the clinic and we didn’t want him to either. There are such difficult decisions you have to make at the end. His fever seems to be staying down so I’m hoping that he will continue to do okay and he will be able to pass quietly in his sleep while he’s at home with us. They told us he wasn’t in any pain and although he’s weak he can still walk around (slowly) and he has eaten a little and usually drinks on his way out and back in after he’s gone outside. My kids aren’t overly attached to him so it’s mostly my husband and I dealing with all of the emotions. The only thing I’ve been pondering is exactly what I should tell the kids when he’s no longer here. I think I’ll go do some Internet searching to see if there are any good ideas out there.

I hope you’re having a better week than us.

I didn’t get to post this yesterday because our Internet connection was down. Our Golden is doing a little better today. He’s eating and drinking a little more and is getting around a little better. We know not to get our hopes up because he still has the tumors. We’re just trying to take it one day at a time.

We have two birthday parties to go to this weekend so that should get us in a more upbeat mood. It will at least get us out of the house and give the kids something fun to do. I hope you have a good weekend.