A post for Sophie

Last week was a tough one and this one is destined to be tougher. Our beloved dog
is failing terribly and it looks like she may not be around another week. I feel guilty
even saying that, like I'm betraying her or something, but we had her to a specialist
in Yonkers last week and she is diagnosed with megaesophagus(causes constant vomiting)
and her back legs are losing function either to degenerative myelopathy(doctor calls
it Lou Gehrig's for dogs) or a serious disc problem that would require major surgery.
She is close to 13 and her quality of life is not good anymore. Tim is carrying all 65 pounds
of her up and down flights of stairs which he should not be doing and I have been doing it
also. (The small set of stairs and just down. I'm not nearly as macho as Tim.) As always,
the hardest thing is going to be seeing our daughter suffer. She is an animal lover and
has never been without this dog. We will not get a puppy as it is time to start travelling to
all the places we've wanted to go. I also feel pretty guilty that Tim and Olivia are going through
this pain. It was my idea to get a dog. Tim was totally against it as his dog died in his arms and
he never wanted to go through that again. I was not working and lonely and Tim was working so much that I told him it was
either a dog or a boyfriend. He told me to get a boyfriend. But she has had a good life. I hate to
see her suffer and it's just her time. We will be devastated and adding this to some of the other
really stressful things that are going on in our life, we have been ready to move to a deserted island. I think it's time to go hit some poor therapist's couch and unload some of this misery.
My mom and sister could sure use a break I'm sure. This girl can VENT I'll tell ya. I don't know
if it will help but it might be worth the co-pay if I can just sleep on the couch for 45 minutes uninterrupted! Do they even use couches? If I can't nap, forget the whole thing! Anyway,
just gonna take things a day at a time and try to keep Olivia really busy. Sophie is a great
doggie and a very loving "sister" to Livvy. She will be missed.