| In the 16 days she was part of our lives we loved her
as much as humanly possible....and only wish she had
more time being loved by us. We know she's not in pain
and running with other Siberians who have gone ahead of
their humans. She'll always be the Grand Dame of our
pack. This darling girl found her forever
home...selfishly we wish her days with us could have been longer.
After surgery for the
advanced mammary cancer that Nikki had, the vet called, not
thrilled with how she was recovering and said she was going to
start treating her more aggressively. She was breathing heavily
and her color was bad. She had a small stroke or series of them
post-op (not an unexpected occurrence) and the vet felt it was a
one time thing..but she had thrown a few small blood clots. They
put her on oxygen therapy to help her breathing and O2
saturation and were starting heparin therapy to dissolve the
clots...doggie coumadin. They were also giving her some
medication for a bleeding GI ulcer...the poor baby...and, as if
that weren't enough, she was severely anemic...so much so that
her liver was trying to produce some red blood cells. So she got
a transfusion and some plasma. By 7pm, the vet called and said
she was responding well to the treatments. When I asked if Nikki
was still fighting or if we were just prolonging her life for
our sake, the vet said by the look in her eye she was still
fighting and not giving up. So we went to bed feeling pretty
good. Somewhere in the night, Nikki's body gave up. She had an
arrest and they were unable to revive her. I know that Nikki
decided it was time for her to go, that she was saving Mom and I
the agony of making that decision. She knew she was loved and
was able to leave for the Bridge now. The staff at the Pet
Pavilion were wonderful. When I called back to let them know we
wanted a private cremation for Nikki, Emily, the tech I got on
the phone told me how sorry she was and that Nikki was such a
little lady and they were going to miss her too. How
heartbreaking that job must be when your patients are so lovable
and don't make it. Nikki
brought an immeasurable amount of love into our lives, and
hopefully felt the same from us.
Her last days were full of
love and care, and she went over the Bridge knowing that we cared
so much about her that she saved us that last, painful decision to
let her go. She wouldn't have been more loved if we'd had her for
her entire life. Selfishly, we miss her and want her here with us
in body, as well as spirit. Nikki will always be the Grand Dame of
our pack. She found her forever home.
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