Tho she is my parents dog, she played such a roll in all our lives, and helped us more than any person was able to. Yesterday we put to sleep Joie. She had Lymphoma, that we found on Mother's Day. The vet tried to treat her with Prednisone, but it didnt help much. We had 4 more wonderful weeks with her. On Thursday night, everyone was at my parents house, and we had a nice cook-out, and ate hamburgers. Joie got her own, and enjoyed every bite. The lymphnodes had grown so large on her neck over the last 4 weeks that she was having a harder time swallowing. Dad said from the very beginning she would NOT suffer, just so we could keep her around a little longer. Everywhere we touched on her Thursday, there were tumors, like they grew overnight and knew they had to be inside too.
So Friday we met at the vet, to say our final goodbye. I have never been in the office when one of our animals was put to sleep, so I didnt know what to expect, and actually had second thoughts about being there as I was sitting in my car. But Joie had been so strong for us, in the trials of our life, and was always there, so I owed it to her. The Vet was wonderful, and you could see in Joies eyes, it was absolutely time.
So with Dad holding her body, Mom at her face, rubbing her head, and other arm around Dad, and me at her back rubbing her, the Vet gave her the injection. There was no pain from the needle, and there was no last gasp for air. She just laid her head on Dad's chest, and that was it. It was so fast... only seconds. We all were crying telling her we would see her soon, Dad asked her to wait at the Rainbow Bridge for him, and I kept telling her what a brave girl she was. When I saw her head rest on Dads chest, I just kept saying "oh God" I was racing through my mind thinking as fast as I could if there wasnt something else we could do to make this cancer go away.
Even tho we have known for a time that the day would come, there is such a heavy pressure on our hearts. I cant begin to tell you all this precious animal has done for my family. My sister was very sick when we got Joie, and Joie really picked my sister, they were very close.. Joie helped her through an illness that medication at the time wouldnt help. She taught my Dad to believe. He always said to us "Animals dont have souls" and up until this last month, he believed this. Now he was begging Joie to wait for him, and telling her he would see her soon. He cried so hard.. harder than I have ever seen him cry before. She changed his mind, and now looks at things much differently.
She always really did her own thing... you could call her, and if she didnt want to come to you at the time... she just didnt LOL. But once you got hold of her, or she thought we deserved her attention, boy did she ever love on you. She would put her front legs around your neck, and just squeeze. She was always a free spirited dog, she would run, run, run around my parents yard in circles, just looking at everything she ran past. She loved to get in my parents big pine tree, she would climb 30 feet up, and just look around.
We will miss her physically, but the 8 short years she was with us will forever stay in our hearts, and her memeory will live on, along with the ones who passed before her.
This message was edited Jun 12, 2005 9:25 PM
