After a few weeks of carrying HONEY up and down our outdoor steps, watching her fall unexpectly down the flight of steps going to our basement, cleaning up many unintended accidents and helping her to stand up from a sitting position or pulling her out from under the bed, we decide it would be best to put our dog HONEY out of her pain and misery.
On Wednesday I call to make an appointment with Dr. Stroud and Rock Road Animal Hospital and tell them that we have decided its time to put HONEY to sleep. They schedule an appointment for Friday, September 13, 2013. It was only a sad coincidence that this day happened to fall on Friday the 13th. I tell my husband Ernie of the appointment.
The rest of Wednesday and Thursday go by and soon it is Friday morning. The day starts out normal with me going to work and Ernie still on vacation. I have arrange to take the afternoon off from work to attend to a few things. Ernie picks me up from work at 11:30am as we had planned. We drive to Oishi Sushi Restaurant not far from my work and have lunch. We then continue our drive home, stopping at our bank to have some papers notarized. Finally, we arrive home. HONEY is on the other side of the door waiting for us, just as she always is.
We relax for a couple of hours before the 3:00 appointment. During this time Honey drinks a lot of water, follows us around and looks at us several times like she knew something was about to happen. I decide to take a few pictures of her to have as a memory. She mostly willingly poses for them.
After I take the pictures, HONEY goes and lies down behind Ernie's recliner, a favorite spot of hers in these last few weeks.
The time comes to go to Rock Road Animal Hospital. HONEY has gotten herself positioned behind the recliner so that she can't get up without help. I bend down and try to put her leash on and she bites me on my right thumb. Is this her way of saying good-bye ? Ernie takes over and gets her leash on. We put her in the car and drive to the vet.
HONEY walks into the vet's office like this is something she does everyday. She heads toward the steps which lead to the boarding area because this is why she usually goes to Rock Road. We tell her no, we are here for a different reason this time. I walk over to the desk and get us checked in. Almost immediately we are taken to an emergency room. The room is cozy with pictures of dogs on the walls, a metal examining table, a wing chair and the usual medical stuff. The receptionist asks us if we want HONEY's ashes and we tell her that we don't, but we would like to have a paw print. She then takes care of collecting the $100.00 fee for this service so that all we have to to afterwards is walk out the door. We wait a few minutes and Dr. Stroud walks into the room. She explains the euthanasia procedure to us and asks if we want to be in the room when it takes place. We decide to stay. We tell Dr. Stroud how difficult it was to make this decision and also let her know that this is our first time going through this since Star, our first dog, died in the car on the way to the hospital. She is very understanding. She gives us a few final minutes with HONEY and then takes her into another room to insert an IV catheter. A sports ball themed fleece blanket is put on the floor.
Dr. Stroud comes back into the room with HONEY and decided to put her on the blanket but move it to the examining table. Despite all the times he has spent yelling at her in the last weeks, HONEY clings to Ernie.
Dr. Stroud administers the injections-a few minutes pass and she tells us that HONEY is gone. We thank her, linger with HONEY for a few minutes and then leave. On the way out we are comforted by another receptionist and I remember why we like this place. The people are extremely kind and caring. Then we get in the car and drive home. Another chapter of our life with a dog has ended. When the time is right I'm sure we will make room in our life for a new canine friend.
Until next time,
Think, Live and Be Pain-Free,
Joy**
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