Lisa L from MI
<font color=0099CC>Just call me the handing out ke
- Joined
- Oct 13, 1999
- Messages
- 2,562
Hopefully this picture works....It will be a week tomorrow since she died. I still can't sleep and just can't stop thinking about her. It is just not fair!!
I guess I am ready to talk about that day....Babe is a Bullmastiff, she was born August 15, 1996. We got her on October 27, 1996. She was a 28 lb puppy!!! She was the best dog. She went EVERYWHERE with us. We are campers and she loved camping. You never had to worry about her running off anywhere and she was gentle as a lamb....We would take her to holiday functions and my moms and DH's dads. The whole neighborhood loved Babe....
Anyway, she had a slight cough at the beginning of August. It went away and I really thought nothing of it. I thought maybe she had a cold or something. She was totally normal that last week. The kids started school on the prior Tuesday and the bus stop is in front of my house. Those 3 days of school...I would let Babe out and she greeted the kids all excited and of course had to pee on "her light poll" at the end of the driveway...
On Friday, the kids didn't have school and I had to work. It was a normal day...Babe went out to go potty, I filled up her dish and sent the kids down the street where a friend was watching them for the day. I left about 9:30 and worked til about 4pm. I went to a friends after work and about 5:15 my DH called from home. He told me to "get home now...something is wrong with Babe". He said she was breathing really bad and staggering. I just didn't understand because she was totally fine that morning. And all week too!!! After I told DH to try and feed her a hamburger from the fridge and she wouldn't take it...I knew something was wrong.
I rushed home and Babe was NOT the same dog I left that morning!!! She couldn't even get into the truck...we had to help all 130 pounds of her into the truck. We got to the vet by 6pm (they close at 6) and she could barely walk in. They had to bring a stretcher out and they picked her up and put her on it. I knew then something was terribly wrong since she didn't even move...she just layed there the way they put her. They did a bunch of xrays and finally determined it was a tumor that obviously exploded sometime during the day Friday. She was bleeding internally....and fast. They had to drain the blood from her chest cavity just about every 10 minutes to help her breathe easier and for the xrays. I think they said it was over 500cc's every time (although I have no idea how much that is).
The doctor told us that 8 years was a "significant" age for that size of dog. I do remember the breeder telling me over and over that her lifespan would only be 8-10 years. Back then, I thought....thats fine....thats a long time.....IT ISN"T!!!!!!
We could have opted to have surgery...they would have had to send her to have oxygen therapy that night and crack open her chest in the AM....and thereafter have physical therapy etc. The vet though, in his opinion said that she wouldn't make it through that....she was bleeding out too much. He is assuming it was a cancerous tumor since it was so rapid and really no signs whatsoever....she was just in for a checkup in June!!!
It was just so awful...and I still feel sick about it. I went through all 4 of my cats dying since 1996. I don't think I can ever have another animal and go through this again......IT SUCKS!!!!!!
The VERY ironic/weird thing about this is....we were suppose to be camping!!!! The first time in 7 years that we stayed home!!!! We had resi's and everything but canceled on Wednesday....DH had a chance to work....which he usually does on our scheduled trips....but we would NEVER cancel a camping trip....I really don't know what made it so easy for us to this time....I just keep thinking how much more awful it would have been if we were out camping and this happened. Something made us stay home this Labor Day weekend......it just gives me the chills everytime I think about it.
Well, thank you all for listening and sorry to ramble on and on.....BUT I miss Babe so much!!!! There could never ever be a better dog than she was!!!!
The kids took it pretty hard....it was Morgan's 11th BD Sunday too....that really sucked. They seem to be getting better.....I wish I could....it is just so lonely without her.........I finally put away her food/water bowls just yesterday...
I could go on and on.....but I will stop now....
Thank you all for listening!!!!!!!
Our furbabies are so dear to us.
I would wake up in the night crying in my sleep. It was really bad! 
