Sydney
October 23, 2002
ADOPTION DAY
At noon, I pick her up. She eagerly gets in my car. As I drive towards home,
When we get home, the first order of business is to meet Jerry our neighbor,
and introductions to Katie (their dog), are completed. Off
to our house we go.
She is not to sure of where we are going, so only tugs a bit on the leash when she has
found an interesting scent. Up the stairs we go, and she patiently waits while
I get out my key, and open the door.
Cautiously she enters. I know the first scent to hit her nostrils is Cat!
A 20 pounder no less! “WHERE is IT!”,
is running across her mind, as her eyes dart around the room,
but with my encouragement, she enters. I walk to the kitchen,
and almost fall to the floor as I come to and abrupt end of the leash.
Precious/Sydney has put on the brakes to all 4’s and will not cross to the kitchen floor.
She has halted, and it is all I can do to pick her front half up and put her paws
on the floor to show her it is ok. Once she knows she is not going to fall through into eternity,
she gently picks her feet, and one step at a time,
we walk the 10 long steps to the back door, and she eagerly goes outside.
Sydney is so happy to be out of jail!
We go in the back yard and she investigates everything.
I get her to sit, and pose for some pictures.
Sydney was such a good girl. She was not a nuisance barker. She knew the commands:
Shake, Sit, Stay, and did not even beg for food. We let Sydney sleep inside at night
as we wanted her to get use to her new home, and to be able to warn us of any intruders
if the case should ever arise.
She had her own little corner and knew that this was her place.
On Thanksgiving day,
we awoke at 4:30 am to the most terrible noise in the living room.
I would of sworn a tornado was swirling about.
But in fact it was Sydney in a grandmal seizure.
I was so scared, and when Sydney came out of it she was just as scared.
She sat on a little rug by the front door, and growled and barked at Rick and I.
In my heart I think she felt that we did this to her.
There was a great deal of fear in her eyes.
Around 8:30 AM she finally allowed me to touch her, and after that
it was as if nothing happened, and she was her old self.
We tried to continue on with a daily average life, but when you live with an animal
that has epilepsy, you find your life is not normal. There were trips to the vet,
for blood work, and medication. I was always listening, waiting and preparing
for her next attack. I would brush her a lot, and rub her down, as she enjoyed that.
There were countless walks down by the river, where she would love to sniff out
just about anything that was there. The only thing she ever did sniff out,
were birds and when she did, she would go on point.
She was beauty in motion running through the fields and in the newly growing grass's.
Her seizures were getting more and more advanced, and more frequent.
One day she had 2 back to back and then on May 11 she had them all night long,
starting at 9:35 PM. I witnessed 8 of them anywhere between
15 minutes to an hour apart. At 2:15 AM the rain started.
It broke my heart so much to see her outside, in the rain, seizing.
I finally went to bed at 4AM and when I got up at 5AM to get ready for work,
she was in her dog house asleep. Exhausted and muddy.
The following day, she was very tired.
I let her rest. Just sat with her and brushed, her and rubbed her muscles down
hoping that she enjoyed it. She seemed to.
Memorial day weekend we went camping.
It was Sydney's first camping trip and we camped along a river.
She was not much of a water dog, even though her feet were webbed,
and she should of loved the water. She ran through the brush,
and sat by the campfire, and slept outside in her doggie house.
She loved every minute of it.
After we got home, Sydney just did not seem the same.
She started to quiver in her front quarters.
We had increased her medication before the camping trip
and by now it should be equalizing out in her system.
Each time her system got use to the dosage we were giving her
she would start to seize again.
This time, though she just was not herself.
She would look at you, and know who we were, but not recognize us for who we are.
It is a little hard to explain. Thursday the 29th of May,
I came home from work at noon.
Sydney was lying on the deck with her head in her emptied water bowl.
She had a look of helplessness in her eyes.
The quivering had gotten worse. For an hour I tried to get a hold of the doctor.
Within that hour she had a seizure.
At the doctors office they told us that the small quivering she had acquired,
could be a result of little tiny small seizures she was having.
Without extensive testing and a long trip to an animal university,
they could not determine for sure if this was the case.
Even if we did take her to the university, there was no guarantee.
The doctor gave Rick and I some time to talk it over,
and through great heart ache and a lot of tears we decided that Sydney
would not want to live like this.
I looked at Sydney and pleaded with her to give me a sign.
She did not even respond to her name.
No tail wag.
No perky ears.
Nothing.
She had a very blank look in her eyes.
I held Sydney while she walked towards Rainbow Bridge.
My tears fell onto her ears, and she looked at peace, and my heart was broken.
The next three days proved to most unbearable to me.
Tears would fall from my eyes. Visions of Sydney would
cross my mind.
I could not even go into the back yard.
My roses were neglected. The back yard was Sydney's domain.
It was Sydney's place.
Now I like to think of Sydney at Rainbow Bridge:
When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here,
The animals are happy and content,
They all run and play together,
THEN YOU CROSS RAINBOW BRIDGE TOGETHER...
that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge.
There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends
so they can run and play together.
There is plenty of food and water and sunshine,
and our friends are warm and comfortable.
All the animals who had been ill and old
are restored to health and vigor;
those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again,
just as we remember them in our dreams of days
and times gone by.
except for one small thing:
they miss someone very special to them;
who had to be left behind.
but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance.
The bright eyes are intent;
the eager body quivers.
Suddenly he begins to break away from the group,
flying over the green grass,
his legs carrying him faster and faster.
YOU have been spotted,
and when you and your special friend finally meet,
you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again.
The happy kisses rain upon your face;
your hands again caress the beloved head,
and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet,
so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.
Good Bye Sydney!
May 29th 2003I will love you forever!
Jody
