Grammy
I received this from a friend
this morning.
I am sharing an email that I received from a wonderful woman named Crystal
Edwards who foster cared for one of our elderly homeless dogs who had
cancer named "Grammy". Grammy was an elderly Pekingese who had been
dumped. Upon arrival it was discovered that she had a large tumor in
her mouth... a tumor which came back malignant. Crystal gave Grammy a
wonderful home and lots of love for the last 3 months of her life.
This morning (Tues) Grammy left us. It has been a very emotional day
for many of us who loved her. I keep thinking that one day losing
another animal won't hurt so much, but it never fails that the next one is
just as devastating as the last. I'm most appreciative that someone
like Crystal understood that Grammy deserved to live her life out and that
she didn't need to be killed simply because she had cancer. Grammy
did not suffer and knew she was loved. In rescuing homeless animals,
it is this fact that makes all the sadness and the pain worthwhile at the
end of the day. Grammy was thrown away by someone late in her life
for reasons one can only guess. Perhaps she had outworn her appeal
to someone... perhaps her old age seemed disturbing to them.... perhaps
they knew she had cancer and just didn't wish to deal with it. The
only thing I know for certain is that when she needed her family the most,
they threw her out like a piece of trash. This breaks my
heart. How can anyone not love animals?? They are everything
to me and I know most of you feel the same. Thank you to
Crystal and her husband for loving Grammy and for making her final months
joy filled and secure. I will never forget you for what you did for
Grammy. I am sharing this with everyone for several reasons.
Many of you have asked about Grammy over the past few months and I know
you will want to know the outcome. Also, because I feel this story
so clearly demonstrates the fact that just because an animal may be older
and may have a terminal illness, they do not have to be killed. It
is possible often that they can live the remainder of their lives happily
and without suffering. More often than not it takes a caring heart
and a willing person to allow this. Please don't get me wrong, I do
not believe in keeping an animal alive for the sake of just keeping them
around. There are cases in which the animal may have a poor quality
or no quality of life and much pain and I believe these instances
may warrant letting go. But, I do not believe that this has to be
a given always. Our sweet little Grammy I am so proud to say lived
the remainder of her time loved and with great dignity and respect.
So many of us will continue to miss and mourn her for a great while
to come. The text of the original email I received from Crystal
follows below:
***I am trying to update those of you I was in touch with when Wes Auberry
delivered my little cancer patient, Grammy the Pekingese, to me to foster
for him. Grammy had a progressively growing cancerous tumor with a
death sentence hanging over her head and was only projected to live for
one month. Chemotherapy does not work on these progressive mouth
tumors, and surgery was not an option, as even her nose would have had to
be removed. She wouldn't have been able to breathe without her
little nostrils. She lived for three months, and we adored
her. My husband and I started out feeding her ground up baby food
meats with a little jelly spoon, and when the tumor grew, we started
feeding her out of the palms of our hands. When she stopped eating,
we switched to feeding her liver cheese and lunch meats, as she seemed to
love those foods and had no trouble eating them, and it didn't matter at
that point what she ate as far as what would be healthy for her. She
was so cute when she dropped her flat little nose down to smell whatever
it was we were feeding her first before she would take a bite. We
fed her whatever she wanted to eat. We kept her pain under control
with Metacam, and she remained comfortable and did not suffer. For
those three months, our little girl had a real life. She slept with
me at night, my husband absolutely adored her, as did I, and he kissed her
goodbye each morning before leaving to work and after feeding her her
breakfast each morning. He came home for lunch and greeted her as
soon as he got through the door, and he would find her waiting for him
ready to go out for her potty break and some love and attention. She
had the company of our Shih Tzu boys during the days and evenings while
we were at work, and my little boys accepted her from the first day
without any issues, as though she had always been here. She liked to
lay her little head on our laps and be petted at night. She would
lie on my pillow next to my head when it was time to go to bed and then
make her way down at my feet, and I would find her there each morning when
I woke. She also showed her little personality from time to
time. My husband forgot and let Grammy out to potty and then
accidentally let out our Pit Bull mix rescue girl, who immediately went up
to Grammy and started treating her like a toy and rolling her
around. After the third roll around, Grammy jumped up and growled at
this rather large girl and backed her up, and she left her alone ever more
after that. She really thought Grammy was going to be her toy.
When my husband tried to wipe the film off her eyes that developed each
morning, she did not like it and would growl at him, and she put him in
his place. I told him wiping her eyes with a kleenex would be
irritating to her and to just forget about trying to get the film off her
eyes, and put her ointment in. She had this big, ever growing tumor
in her mouth, but she still managed to get her little tongue stuck out
just enough to give each of us a light lick from time to time, even though
it was probably painful for her. She was happy, she was a quiet
little girl, and she never had an accident in the house and always let us
know when she needed to go out. She loved going for car rides and
would usually settle into the seat I padded for her and go to sleep during
the whole ride. She rested most comfortably when she was riding in
the car. I'd like to think she could not have had a better life or
better care than she had with us when she needed someone to love and care
for her at the worst time of her life and the most important time, when
she was down and out and very sick. We lost our Grammy girl to
her cancer this morning. I was on my way out the door to head out to
work, and I turned around to check on her one last time before leaving,
and she had started to hemorrhage, and blood was everywhere pooling around
her and dripping off her beautiful fur, and she had a huge blood clot that
had developed and burst. She lost a lot of blood. I grabbed
the phone and called work and explained that I couldn't come in because I
had to rush my little girl to the vet, and I placed a call to Wes and to
Bev Watson to let them know about the situation. I could not make
the decision whether to put Grammy to sleep or not. I let the vet
make the decision as she was the most qualified to do it. After
speaking with Wes, it was decided to end Grammy's suffering, because there
was no guarantee that this hemorrhaging would not happen again, and the
tumor was so large she was no longer comfortable and had reached the point
where she would have been suffering from then on. She was having
great difficulty even breathing by then, and it was difficult for her
to get enough air through her flat little nostrils. The tumor
had gotten so large it was affecting her ability to breathe. I was
there with our little girl until she breathed her last breath on
this earth, so she would not be afraid and see my familiar face and
know that it was okay to let go now and be with God. It was
time. I do not regret caring for and loving Grammy one single
moment, cancer or no cancer. Even though I knew I was going to lose
her from the very beginning, I also knew I was going to be devastated when
this day came, and it didn't matter if it happened five minutes after
she arrived or three months later. She will always be mommy and
daddy's sweet, loving little girl, and we do not regret our decision
to accept and care for Grammy one single moment. As far as grieving
for my little girl, she deserves to have someone who loved her enough
to miss her and grieve for her loss and who loved her and will love
her always. She deserves to be grieved and missed. I firmly
believe that we will get to meet and see our little girl again when we
join her in heaven and that she is now in heaven and has gone with God
and will now be perfect again and without pain or suffering.
I miss and love you Grammy baby. Go with God's blessing baby girl.***
