Tuesday, June 06, 2017

My First Grandbaby.

12 years ago (I'm sure it's somewhere in the archives, with these photos) my daughter moved back from Tallahassee, and arrived at my door with a tiny Boston Terrier puppy.


She moved in and got a job and was busy, so grandma was very involved in raising Baby Dudley. He slept snuggled to my side when she was working nights, and when she moved out I was devastated at losing my Granddog. When I saw him, which wasn't that often, he knew me and greeted me like "GRANDMA!!!" Her cat would nip me if I tried to pet him (nasty SOB) but Dudley was still my baby.

Tonight I'm truly devastated. He's gone, and I don't think he even recognized me when I was there.

My daughter had a return visit to the vet scheduled for today, and with that mother's instinct, left work two hours beforehand to spend time with him. She found him basically sleeping in his own poop. He'd managed to get into the bedroom to poop on the carpet, and the effort wore him out. So he got a bath and a return trip to the vet, and then a trip in torrential, hurricane like rain to the veterinary specialists' office. I left work a little early and drove through the same hurricane conditions to meet her there.

Oh God, he was struggling to breathe, his eyes were bulging, and while he gave me a sniff and there was a flicker of some sort of acknowledgement, I felt then that this was the end.

Hours of waiting and positive thinking about maybe a night on oxygen and meds to stabilize him, and pills and special diet thereafter cut short: they put Dudley on oxygen, did an exam, and the tech took a very thorough history. The specialist vet came in to talk to her. Basically, the option was to spend a minimum of $3K for further testing, but they already saw a very enlarged heart, pulmonary edema, possibly tumors in the heart - the vet just laid it all out there, and said that he'd also have to be hospitalized on oxygen for an undetermined length of time, and maybe he had, at best - 9 months? With regular draining of the edema?

My son-in-law brought Delaney to the hospital, and she got to say goodbye. She cried,but pulled herself together. She asked a lot of questions about exactly what would happen, and we answered as honestly as possible, but she wasn't in the room when it happened. Neither was I. Her daddy took Delaney outside to hug her and cry, and my daughter asked to be alone with her baby boy. He was going to the Rainbow Bridge, and Murphy would be there to greet him and God would take care of him.

Maybe I'll be back in a few days to talk about the freakin' political insanity, but tonight, I think I'll crochet something mindless and go to bed early.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, Dudley! Hugs to you all! The right thing to do is so painful!

Gae, in Callala Bay

wednesday said...

You all must be devastated. Poor Dudley, I remember you writing about him being such a terrific dog, and you and Murphy missing him was the reason you got Sophie.

BridgetG said...

Sympathy. He certainly had a good life -- not that it makes his loss any easier . . . . .
BRIDGET

Anonymous said...

Dudley was such a personable little character- he certainly kept things lively ... and OF COURSE he has rejoined his friends at the Rainbow Bridge (or some other wonderful place)- the God I worship takes care of ALL of his creatures (and comforts their grieving owners)-

Losing a beloved pet is losing family- all condolences-

Barb in Texas

KatyaR said...

OMG, I am so sorry. Poor baby, but at least he's not suffering any more. Hugs to all of you, especially your daughter.

Karen said...

I am so sorry.

Caroline aka FiberTribe said...

I'm so, so sorry, Catherine.