When bad things happen

Saturday was a terrible day for me.  Everything started off fine.  I got out of bed, left the dogs out, and made a pot of coffee.  I then took care of some banking on the computer upstairs.  Lilly went back to bed and Gertie lay by my feet.  I finished the banking bit a little after 7 and was getting ready to go downstairs for another cup of coffee when Gertie started to stand up.  To my surprise, her backside slid sideways into the desk as she sat back down suddenly.  She gave a whimper and I thought, oh shit, she's having a seizure.  So I got down on my knees and cradled her head and told her it was going to be okay.  But it wasn't.  She wasn't having a seizure, she was dying.  Saturday morning, a little after 7, my five and a half year old Boxer died in my arms.

Gertie on her 5th birthday

Not surprising, when I called my Vet, I was told that if I can bring her body to them they will perform an autopsy... for a fee.  I declined.  I then called Peaceful Passage, which is a Pet Cemetery / Crematorium that I'd used once before for my cat Spot.  They would send someone out to pick her up within an hour and a half.  When the gentleman arrived, I took him upstairs to show him where she was laying.  "She's young," he said, "did you Vet diagnose her with a heart murmur?"  He looked a little surprised when I told him "no."  "They cause blood clots," he said, to which I replied "oh."

Just as it's rare for a 35 year-old person to fall over dead, it's just as rare for that to happen to a 5 and a half year old dog.  No one ever told me dogs could get heart murmurs, and now it's too late for Gertie.  Had my Vet spent more time talking to me about the aging process for dogs and what kind of things can effect their health, and less time trying to coerce me into getting Lyme Disease tests and fecal exams, things might have turned out different.  They didn't.

Saturday was a truly terrible day for me.  Sunday wasn't much better.  There is no guide book to tell you what to do when bad things happen.