Luck Mark Twain

(She was my Christmas present when I was 5)

I am not a very lucky person what so ever. About 6 years (give or take a few years) ago my first dog got really sick. She could not get up, walk, must less eat or drink and she had NO BALANCE what so ever when we could get her up to take her outside. I was so heart broken because I was almost certain that I was going to end up having to go with my mom to the vet to put her to sleep. We took her to the vet and they ran test, after test, after test on her. They did MRI's to check her brain.

What most people don't do when they pick out a puppy for the first time is actully look at the breeds health history. With the breed that my baby was, it is VERY common for them to get lesions on their brain. Lesions are like cuts on the brain and they have bleeding in the brain which causes pressure on their brains. It's sad:(.

But anywho, the doctor found the start of a few lesions on the MRI. But they were not deep enough to cause all of her symptoms. So the vet put her on Prednizone( a steroid) to help her with regaining muscle mass. She ended up living for the next few years until she started getting sick again.
My mom and dad were at the beach for 4th of July weekend. My grandmother was left with me at home to look after Sugar(my baby). One morning I woke up and i could tell something was not right because usually Sugar would be laying in my bed with me, but she wasn't there. I crawled out of bed and walked around the house and found her laying on her pillow where she had been the night before. My grandmother had already talked to my mom and we got in the car with my baby and took her back to the vet. I knew at that point that it was time to say good bye to my loving dog of so many wonderful years. I  gave her a huge kiss on the head and told her i loved her and that it was okay. The vet said thaey would try everything they could to keep her alive. My dad called about 2 hours later and told me that her kidney's had already started failing and she didn't have  agood heart rhythm so he had her put her to sleep.

I say this was a lucky time because most people don't realize how much a vet appointment can cost when you have something like this happen. I was lucky I have such amazing parents  who knew my dog was not ready, those 6 or so years ago, to die. Also I was lucky because they were willing to pay $6,000 to run all those test on her to find out what was wrong with her, knowing there was a chance that the vets couldn't save her or find out what was wrong with her.

I was also lucky because I got to say goodbye and have my peace with it. I am still lucky today with this because she is burried in my pasture  under a Dogwood Tree with her best friend(my brothers dog). I miss her still but I know she is in a better place and I can go "see" her when ever I want to.