porterscota
Boxer Buddy
Hello:
I first want to say that I am grateful to have this place to share my love and loss of our wonderful girl. Thank you for your understanding.
Scota lost her best friend, Porter, two years ago and has never been the same but she rose to the occasion when we brought Rogan and Kella into our family. She grew to love them and they are missing her immensely.
Depsite dealing with cardiomyopathy and arthritis in her spine, Scota always kept up with the paces. The last 6 months we saw some symptoms come on and we got every one of them checked out and got the all clear. So after spine x-rays, chest x-rays, bloodwork, and a full cardio work up only days before she passed, we got the green light that she was good to go to our second home on Whidbey Island for the summer. I was so thrilled and told all my friends that Scota was okay and we were looking forward to getting her up there to romp on the beach and laze in the sun with no doctor's appointments for three months!
We were planning on heading up for Memorial Day weekend but I slammed my hand in the car door and ended up in the ER. I was so sorry that I was denying her a trip to the island that weekend. Luckily we had been up the weekend before, and she enjoyed two days of long beach walks and watching the silly pups run around and toss about fish heads while we combed the beach for special rocks and shells. So as a consolation, with a splint and an ace bandage on my hand, I still got Scota out for a walk the following day. Everything was normal that day until the night came. She did not seem right. We took her to the ER and chest x-ray showed fluid on lungs and a mass. They sent her home with a diuretic, there was hope. The next day she would not get up off the couch, she would not eat. Back to the ER, they tapped the fluid in her lungs, there was blood, the mass was bleeding. Pathology was that it was malignant cancer. They stabilized her because her oxygen level was down, blood pressure was down. When they tried to put her in a "room" ( a cage) to keep her for observation she refused, she started walking towards the door. My husband said, we are taking her home and he put her in my truck. She came home and despite being so weak, she still got one last correction in on Rogan and Kella when they came nosing around her and she still pawed at me and looked at me with her deep brown eyes. We stayed with her all night on our bed. When her eyes would not close and her breathing got harder we knew we had to make a decision. We put her back in my truck with her favorite blankets and her pillow and I kissed her on the lips, felt her breath and said goodbye. My husband had to take her alone because it was 4 a.m. and my children were sleeping. I wanted to be there at the end, I am so sorry that my husband had to see her take her last breath by himself. She went to sleep in the back of my truck and crossed the bridge to see Porter again. Going in the back of that truck often meant we were going to Whidbey, so I am imagining that she believed that she was taking a ride to the island that night.
We are in shock that eveything changed so quickly, that Miss Scota was so brave living with this cancer and we had no idea. She lived her life to the end being Scota, she was such a lady.
We miss her so much. I am looking for her asleep on the couch, banging at the back door to come in, perking up and coming into the kitchen when there was a rustle of a bag or a scraping of a pan and all the other thousand things that were Miss Scota. I am lost right now because she was ingrained in me, especially these last months when I specialized everything for her because she was getting old and needed more care. I want to keep caring for her, I was so happy to indulge her with all my time and energy.
Thank you for listening. I am going to post on the behavior forum as well because we are dealing with grief that Rogan and Kella are experiencing and we could use some words of wisdom.
Lissa
Mom to Porter (at the bridge), Scota (at the bridge), Rogan (2) and Kella (1)
I first want to say that I am grateful to have this place to share my love and loss of our wonderful girl. Thank you for your understanding.
Scota lost her best friend, Porter, two years ago and has never been the same but she rose to the occasion when we brought Rogan and Kella into our family. She grew to love them and they are missing her immensely.
Depsite dealing with cardiomyopathy and arthritis in her spine, Scota always kept up with the paces. The last 6 months we saw some symptoms come on and we got every one of them checked out and got the all clear. So after spine x-rays, chest x-rays, bloodwork, and a full cardio work up only days before she passed, we got the green light that she was good to go to our second home on Whidbey Island for the summer. I was so thrilled and told all my friends that Scota was okay and we were looking forward to getting her up there to romp on the beach and laze in the sun with no doctor's appointments for three months!
We were planning on heading up for Memorial Day weekend but I slammed my hand in the car door and ended up in the ER. I was so sorry that I was denying her a trip to the island that weekend. Luckily we had been up the weekend before, and she enjoyed two days of long beach walks and watching the silly pups run around and toss about fish heads while we combed the beach for special rocks and shells. So as a consolation, with a splint and an ace bandage on my hand, I still got Scota out for a walk the following day. Everything was normal that day until the night came. She did not seem right. We took her to the ER and chest x-ray showed fluid on lungs and a mass. They sent her home with a diuretic, there was hope. The next day she would not get up off the couch, she would not eat. Back to the ER, they tapped the fluid in her lungs, there was blood, the mass was bleeding. Pathology was that it was malignant cancer. They stabilized her because her oxygen level was down, blood pressure was down. When they tried to put her in a "room" ( a cage) to keep her for observation she refused, she started walking towards the door. My husband said, we are taking her home and he put her in my truck. She came home and despite being so weak, she still got one last correction in on Rogan and Kella when they came nosing around her and she still pawed at me and looked at me with her deep brown eyes. We stayed with her all night on our bed. When her eyes would not close and her breathing got harder we knew we had to make a decision. We put her back in my truck with her favorite blankets and her pillow and I kissed her on the lips, felt her breath and said goodbye. My husband had to take her alone because it was 4 a.m. and my children were sleeping. I wanted to be there at the end, I am so sorry that my husband had to see her take her last breath by himself. She went to sleep in the back of my truck and crossed the bridge to see Porter again. Going in the back of that truck often meant we were going to Whidbey, so I am imagining that she believed that she was taking a ride to the island that night.
We are in shock that eveything changed so quickly, that Miss Scota was so brave living with this cancer and we had no idea. She lived her life to the end being Scota, she was such a lady.
We miss her so much. I am looking for her asleep on the couch, banging at the back door to come in, perking up and coming into the kitchen when there was a rustle of a bag or a scraping of a pan and all the other thousand things that were Miss Scota. I am lost right now because she was ingrained in me, especially these last months when I specialized everything for her because she was getting old and needed more care. I want to keep caring for her, I was so happy to indulge her with all my time and energy.
Thank you for listening. I am going to post on the behavior forum as well because we are dealing with grief that Rogan and Kella are experiencing and we could use some words of wisdom.
Lissa
Mom to Porter (at the bridge), Scota (at the bridge), Rogan (2) and Kella (1)
