The Passing of an Old Friend

As much as my heart wants to deny it, my mind is telling me I am about to lose an old friend who is so very near and dear to me.  On the pages of this blog I have celebrated his life time and time again, but today I write in anticipation of his passing.

I am talking about my faithful four legged friend Bailey.  He has been part of my life for the last 14 years.  He came into my life on July 7, 1996 when Patty and I purchased him from a farmer outside of Brighton, Colorado.  Since that time he has been my constant companion and has been with me through thick and thin.

Over the last several months Bailey has begun to experience breathing problems.  He would frequently wheeze and seem to grasp for breath.  Over night Tuesday into Wednesday his breathing issues got exponentially worse.  On Wednesday morning I took him to the vet and they did a few x-rays to see what was going on.  Luckily no cancer or other serious issues were found.  However his bronchial passages seemed to be very inflamed.  The vet gave him a shot of steroids and sent him home with oral steroids and another medicine to dilate his bronchial passages. 

Bay did pretty well through the rest of the day Wednesday and into the early morning of Thursday.  Unfortunately he got worse around 5AM this morning and despite my efforts he continues to do worse and worse.  I talked to the vet again today and before I made any radical decisions (i.e. whether to put him to sleep), they wanted to have the x-ray read by a radiologist in case they made a mistake.  If it turns out to that they missed a tumor or something, then I will really have no choice as to what I am going to.

In some ways I hope that Bailey doesn't force me to make a choice.  I hope tonight he can just peacefully go to sleep and then not wake up.

I will mourn my Bay.  But I will remember and love him!

Thanks and peace to all. ~ J.