I got home from a trip on the evening of September 4th and Leigh told me she was going to take Tucker to work the next day to have him looked at by one of the internists. He was very weak and bloated and she feared he may have a bleeding tumor in his abdomen. She called from the office the next morning, she was right. He had many growths in his abdomen. It was impossible to tell which one or ones were bleeding. The internist said even if we operated and the bleeder was able to be removed it wasn't likely he would live more than 6 weeks if even that long. Chances were that we would find it was inoperable and have to put him down on the operating table. We were leaving for a two week trip to Africa the next day. Best case he would have to suffer through surgery and recovery while we were gone then maybe only have a couple weeks when we returned. I decided I didn't want to put him through that.
I finished up what I was doing at home then went and picked him up.
We went to the park. We rode in the Jeep...he loved going for rides. We played. We napped. We shared a bag of pop-corn (even taught Phanny to catch pop-corn).
When Leigh finished work I took him back to the office. We said our goodbyes. I held him while Leigh injected him. Putting my dog to sleep ranks high on the list of hardest things I've ever had to do.
He was my first dog as an adult.
He was my best buddy for over 11 years.
He went to work with me every day (3 hours in the car) for the first 6-8 months of his life.
He ran with me.
He chased me on my bike.
He loved to go hiking.
He was always happy to see me.
He kept Leigh company while I was gone and that was a tall order,
I was frequently gone with work for a night or two, occasionally for a week or two, and in 2005...well, I was gone pretty much the first 9 months.
He even tried on one of my cycling jerseys.
He was a good little brother to Crystal.
He was a good big brother to Phanny.
He kept me company while I was recovering from shoulder surgery.
I'm going to miss you little buddy...I already do!
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4 comments:
i think it took 4 times visiting at your house before tucker stopped growling at us
but then i think he decided we were ok
even if we didn't give him ice cream as much as you.....
we miss him too
oh man...
there's not much in this world that will bring me out of my self imposed blogger retirement...this is a no-brainer.
we are all so so sorry to see you guys have to go through this...it just isn't ever easy...
give each other extra hugs, (Phanny too!) can't wait to see you guys and give you some ourselves.
ps, i can't believe Phanny was ever that small!
i don't think she ever was
i think that's photo-shopped
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