Well it’s been 11 long weeks since we said good-bye to Jessee. Still miss her everyday and so thankful for all those days we had with her. Wouldn’t change one decision we made.
Within a few days of losing Jessee I felt the intense need to get approved as a foster mom for a dane. None of us were too sure if it was too quickly or not but the pain of losing her was really horrible. Jaymee would barely budge off the couch. Long story short, I got approved. And, a female Great Dane, 2 years old appeared. She is good with other dogs and cats (our Sphynx). Her name was Charlie but we had a Charlee who was our first tripawd, so we modified her name to Carlee. She is a gorgeous brindle like a prior rescue we had.
The only problem is upon meeting here I was a foster failure. Then and there. Brought her home and the rest is history. Needed this to heal my broken heart and I think she needed us and much as all of us needed her. Here’s few pictures of her and Jayme and a chuckle. Stay well everyone. Live in the moment and enjoy each day!
Well, it’s been a very, very hard 9 days since we lost Jessee. No second guessing as it was the right thing to do for Jessee. We’ve all cried buckets of tears. The gorgeous flowers were sent to us by another Tripawd mom, Amy, who has Lacey. Beautiful girl and a cancer warrior. In the meantime we have been getting Jaymee off the couch and moving. Taking trips every day with us, walking at the beach and nice long walks each day. For the first time in a week he picked up a suckie baby yesterday and played with it a bit. Our entire existence has changed.
In the meantime the fun and games continue for the felines
Have not posted much this past week with Jessee. She had a fantastic accupuncture session with Dr. Allen a week ago yesterday. Two days later she starting having leg issues. She had lost a couple pounds we thought but was still eating. Then things started to deteriorate rapidly. Lots of trouble walking even with support of the double handle harness. Appetite was hit or miss. We kept hoping for another one of her comebacks but also tried to wrap our head around the reality of a ten and a half year old dane on month 25.5 as a tripawd.
Last night at 3:45 AM we decided today would be the day we would say good bye to our baby girl. She couldn’t walk even with assistance. But she had a can of chicken, hand fed of course this morning. Later a can of Evangers beef her favorite of all time. A small bag of chicken treats laying on the front porch barking at all the dogs going by. She was on new pain meds but we knew there was not a comeback this time. Our amazing Dr. Allen and staff moved their schedules around this afternoon to come out to our house and euthanize Jessee here with Jaymee and Joee and Jonesee around her. We had calming doggie music playing, a candle and she was all snug in her bed with all the harnesses and help me ups finally off. My husband and I had been crying all day so we were well prepared. Dr. Allen did a quick evaluation and said she suspected the cancer had returned based on how her muscle mass had changed in just one week. We knew.
The pictures below were when she was resting prior to Dr. Allen’s arrival. She told us it was time and we knew. Dr. Allen verifying for us left no doubt in our minds. It was over very quickly and our hearts are broken. But we had an extra 25.5 months with her. Originally we were hoping for maybe a week to say goodbye. We were so so so lucky. This happened so quickly which we are thankful for as Jessee was doing the things she loved up until the last couple days and then modified even more so for her. We are truly heartbroken but we knew it was the right thing to do for our baby girl, Jessee the cancer warrior and diva.
So on the 15th of the month we celebrated and I mean celebrated 25 months as a tripawd. Still I am absolutely grateful for every single day we are getting with my Diva Dane Cancer Warrior Jessee!
We celebrated with sniffing some pine limbs that I know smelled like squirrel and birds. Next checking out the sky, barking at the UPS and Amazon drivers and a great big Red Barn non rawhide chew. Life is good
Starting with last vet appointment with some new accupuncture!
Lucky us our Vet us pursuing additional education/training/practice in accupuncture through UCDavis. Each treatment Jessee is receiving is become much more involved. This last one was with needles placed on the kidney meridian. Feeling so lucky!!!
Jessee and the DADAnd of course the resident goofball that keeps us all laughing. Joee
So we got out for a bit the last few days to get Jessee moving about. She loves the short little walks. Not too long, not too short, just right for my diva girl.
Couldn’t resist when I saw the rainbow in the background to grab this quick photo of her. Jessee has not had a terrific week this week. New Years eve she decided she was not going to pee like ALL DAY. Fortunately I was able to talk to my vet and we decided to postphone the chemo until she was drinking and urinating again. I was slowly squirting water from a baster into her mouth. I think she liked the attention to be honest. Late that night she went out and took a big Great Dane size pee, all good! She then started drinking again and all is well. Her rear leg is starting to act up a bit. Been doing some laser treatments, some Assi loop treatments and massage. But I think it’s just starting to get a bit weaker. We go in to see our vet on Monday for an accupuncture and a general wellness look see. Appetite still great. We’ve really added a lot of fluid to her meals to keep her well hydrated and she licks the bowl!
Just in case anyone needed a smile from a sphynx curled up in a ball..
