I’m sad to report that we had to put Nevada down yesterday.  Things were going so well, and then everything took a sudden left turn.  She went in for her 9 month post-amputation visit with no signs or symptoms.  They did lung x-rays and found it had spread to her lungs, and quite fast since her 6 month x-rays were clear.  It was heartbreaking to find this out.  We were hoping we’d be one of the lucky families.  Considering the size of the tumors that had grown within 3 months, the estimate was 1-2 months left.  It was so hard to comprehend, since she wasn’t coughing, not slowing down, nothing out of the ordinary.  After 4 weeks or so, we could tell she was having issues with her remaining rear leg.  We started a pain medication, which was very helpful.  She started showing more signs as she wanted to sit on our laps a lot (take note, she’s not a lap sized dog!), but we were happy to oblige.  It wasn’t long after that where she’d wait to be lifted onto or off of the couch, bed, etc.  Then the really odd walk started, where she was almost walking in an “S” shape.  We figured it must be in her spine.  After a couple days, we could see she was really having a hard time walking.  Her mind and spirit were just fine, so it was hard to see her suffering.  We decided we’d put her down on Friday (tomorrow).  Then Tuesday night, she threw up her food.  By morning, there was a whimper.  We hadn’t heard a peep out of her since all of this started, so we knew it was time.  We met our chemo vet Wednesday evening.  We have such an awesome vet’s office.  So many people came to say goodbye, give hugs, share tears, and laughter with us.  We’re so appreciative of them and all they’ve done for us.  It was awful to let her go, but we knew in our hearts it was the right thing to do.  It wouldn’t be right to make her go on as she was.  Still many tears have been shed by our family, but we need to keep reminding ourselves how lucky we were to have found her at the shelter 8 years ago.  She was the perfect dog for us, we will miss her greatly.

I feel the need to tell anyone who’s reading on this website and is unsure about doing amputation…In the end, it only gave us another 10.5 months, but those 10 months were pretty awesome!  We are so grateful we did it, have never thought once about it not being the right thing to do.  It gave her new life!  Granted we had a pretty easy transition for her compared to some others, but we’re so glad we did it.  We were able to spend more time with her, get in those fun things she loved to do.  She even got another cabin weekend in this summer that we weren’t sure we’d ever get.  I strongly feel it helped our ending process.  No one’s ever ready to say goodbye, but I’m so thankful we had those extra 10.5 months.  We’re so thankful to Jerry and his owners for having this website!  I don’t know how we would have made it through without this support group.  We wish all tripawds and their families the best!  Owning pets is such an awesome thing we can do in this world!  They’re never replaceable, but there’s more out there to give their unconditional love and ours in return!  I know we will honor Nevada and find another shelter dog to share our love with.  We can only hope he/she will be as great as our beloved “Wawa.”

 

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