Saying goodbye to an old friend...

Yesterday afternoon, we had to have our dog Max put to sleep. This was T's first pet that was all his, that he purchased just for himself. Sweet Max, he had a wonderful life...he was 13 years old, had fathered 3 litters of puppies w/his "wife" Millie, he loved chasing a tennis ball, he enjoyed eating socks (which T would then have to help pull out of his other end...you get the picture), he enjoyed an occasional sip of Corona and Diet Coke. He was our first family pet. He developed heartworm over a year ago and just hasn't been well since. Wed. night, T decided it was time, not an easy decision and we've been putting it off hoping Max would go on his own naturally. But, having never had to do this before, I was surprised at just how peaceful it was for him. The vet was very nice, came out to the house after work and while T was sitting with Max he gave him the injection. We didn't tell J until after the vet left, and all J knows is that Max died, we didn't tell him we had to put him to sleep. What a rough evening for my 2 boys, but I think T feels some relief because Max isn't struggling anymore.

And on a funny note, b/c with us, there is always one...T mentioned later that night that if he had been smart, he would have added $40 to the vet bill and had Barker the demon cat put down at the same time (I'm sure I could have come up w/some ailment to claim he has). I told him I was thinking the same thing as he was burying Max! So pitiful when you dislike one animal so much, isn't it?

And for a Dad update...I'm typing this in the hospital, actually. Mom has her all day Presbytery meeting today at church so I drove in this morning to sit w/Dad. She'll be done this evening, but she doesn't trust the nurses to take care of him without one of us here to "supervise" :) He's good, his temp is still up but they are hoping to take the chemo port out today thinking that is where the infection is. All of his blood cultures and x-rays have come back negative and clear. I noticed one of his bottom teeth is also totally covered in blood. Only that one tooth, which is odd, so maybe there is some kind of infection there? The nurse is checking on that. He's ready to be out of here for sure. Mom said he slept late this morning, which is great (although it put him a little behind in eating). He's eating some solid food and he says he can tell a slight change in his throat (a tiny bit less painful) but he does have a few ulcers in his mouth. As Aunt J said on the phone just a bit ago...there will be a day next week when he'll swallow something and it will click that "hey, that didn't hurt too bad!". Hard to think about now, but it will happen!

So...all in all, things are the same for now. I just pray that when they take this port out, things go smoothly and his blood will be ok (not too thin hopefully).