Cheers to my old girl Lucy. I thought we were going to lose her last week, but she’s feeling better. She’s the best dog in the world and I know the day is coming soon where she will run in the fields of the Lord and wait by the gates of heaven for my arrival (I hope I don’t disappoint her), but that day is not yet.

Oh no! What happened to her? I didn’t know she was sick.

Patti’s pup gave her a helluva scare this week — parvo — but came home from the doggie hospital today.

Lucy is nearly 12. Her breed, lab-shepherd mix, generally lives 11-12 years. Her arthritis had been bothering her bad and I took her to the vet May 15. He prescribed a medicine, but her health seemed to be declining fast. She went from 106 to 95 pounds on May 29 when I took her back to the vet because she seemed to be in constant pain with heavy, constant panting and drooling. She took her off med to try another. Lucy seemed to continue to decline for a few days and I told the girls’ that we had to consider the possibility Lucy would not make it. I wanted to be up front with them. I explained that Lucy would go through any amount of suffering for us, but we should not ask her to, that we should be willing to accept the pain of losing her so that she would not have to suffer. I made an appointment for the vet who had cured Lucy’s Lyme disease because I trusted her judgment and if it was time to let Lucy go, then we would. I had tried to get into see her the other two times, but she was busy with surgeries. Lucy seemed better, June 6, than she had in a while the night of June 5 and June 6 when I went to my favorite vet. She looked at Lucy and reviewed her records and told me the big problem was the first medicine caused gastro-intestinal bleeding, which made it hard for her to eat and was very painful, but that now she was off that med, she should continue to get better over the next three to five weeks. And she was right. Lucy’s steadily improving and her weight is back up to 100 pounds and she’s not in constant pain. Lucy’s blood work showed her to be in fine health overall considering her age. If I can’t get that vet again on my day off, I’m just going to wait until there is an opening in her schedule and take the day off to go to her. The reality is Lucy is nearing the end, but if it’s weeks or months, I want every moment with her that we can get.

Gah, that sucks… Our lab/pit mix is coming up on 13, but so far she’s looking really healthy for her age.