Remembered
Dear GRR Friends,
This is a sad email to have to write but I
thought you would all like to know that I had to put Noel to sleep
yesterday. I am sure many of you recall her story. She came in during
December 2003 as an emaciated, dying pup. Her kidneys were shutting down
from what we can only guess as starvation. The vet recommended that I
put her down but I wanted to bring her home for a few days, feed her
steak and eggs, then let her go to the Rainbow Bridge a happy dog.
Noel surprised all of us including the vets.
Apparently a warm bed to sleep in and some yummy food was all this girl
needed to fight and rally back to good health. She started gaining
weight and her kidney function miraculously improved. She certainly
became our Christmas miracle.
Out of all the dogs I have ever owned or
fostered, Noel won the prize for sweetness. She was the definition of a
cuddle bug. She loved nothing more than curling up next to you resting
her head on you lap for hours if you let her. She adored playing with
other dogs and was the best dog for wearing out a foster puppy. She had
the patience of a saint when it came to a persistent puppy chewing on
her ears.
About 18 months ago, the seizures struck out
of nowhere. Noel begin experiencing grand mal seizures that would last
up to 4 minutes long. Initially she was given Phenobarbital and that
helped a bit but she still had breakthrough seizures about once a month.
It was a hard balance to find a safe level of meds and keep her from
having too many seizures.
The worst episode she had was last October.
Noel started clustering and the seizures were persistent. With excellent
care from Lakeline Vets and the Emergency Hospital they were able to get
her seizures to stop. She had seven seizures in one day. Looking back, I
think this is actually the time we lost our Noel. She hasn't been the
same since then. We had to switch her to a combination of Potassium
Bromide and Phenobarbital. The meds were hard on her. She spent most of
her time withdrawn from the other dogs. She would often just want to go
sit in the middle of the yard all by herself. I think she spent the last
several months in a drug stupor. She also was unable to hold her bladder
for more than a couple of hours. She was still sweet but not the same.
She had trouble eating and often times she would have trouble getting
up. She was slipping away from us little by little.
On Tuesday she went into another round of
cluster seizures. She had five seizures and showed no signs of stopping.
I felt like it was time to let her go. It is always a hard decision
especially since she never really came out of her post seizure state.
She was still bumping into furniture and panting heavily at the vet
office but still managed to wag her tail. You've got to love the spirit
of a Golden.
Our Christmas angel is now gone. I know she
is somewhere stalking a squirrel and living a seizure free day.
Hopefully she found Butkus because they certainly loved rounds of bitey
head in the backyard. He always preferred his blonde girlfriend. Now
they can be together.
