My Big Sweeeeeeety

TinBoats.net

Help Support TinBoats.net:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Hope This Isn't Too Long. Received This As A Email A Year Or Two Ago, Thought All Here Would Like It. . .

This is one of the kindest things I've ever experienced. I have no way to know who sent it, but there is a beautiful soul working in the dead letter office of the US Postal Service -

Our 14 year old dog, Abbey, died last month. The day after she died, my 4 year old daughter Meredith was crying and talking about how much she missed Abbey. She asked if we could write a letter to God so that when Abbey got to heaven, God would recognize her. I told her that I thought we could, so she dictated these words:

Dear God,

Will you please take care of my dog? She died yesterday and is with you in heaven. I miss her very much. I am happy that you let me have her as my dog even though she got sick.
I hope you will play with her. She likes to play with balls and to swim. I am sending a picture of her so when you see her, you will know that she is my dog. I really miss her.
Love, Meredith.


We put the letter in an envelope with a picture of Abbey and Meredith and addressed it to God/Heaven. We put our return address on it. Then Meredith pasted several stamps on the front of the envelope because she said it would take lots of stamps to get the letter all the way to heaven. That afternoon she dropped it into the letter box at the post office. A few days later, she asked if God had gotten the letter yet. I told her that I thought He had.

Yesterday, there was a package wrapped in gold paper on our front porch addressed, 'To Meredith,' in an unfamiliar hand. Meredith opened it. Inside was a book by Mr. Rogers called, 'When a Pet Dies.’ Taped to the inside front cover was the letter we had written to God in its opened envelope. On the opposite page was the picture of Abbey & Meredith and this note:

Dear Meredith,

Abbey arrived safely in heaven. Having the picture was a big help. I recognized Abbey right away.
Abbey isn't sick anymore. Her spirit is here with me just like it stays in your heart. Abbey loved being your dog. Since we don't need our bodies in heaven, I don't have any pockets to keep your picture in, so I am sending it back to you in this little book for you to keep and have something to remember Abbey by.

Thank you for the beautiful letter and thank your mother for helping you write it and sending it to me. What a wonderful mother you have. I picked her especially for you.

I send you my blessings every day and remember that I love you very much.

By the way, I'm easy to find. I am wherever there is love.

Love,

God



This One Still Get To Me.
 
Well....here's an update. My wife and I had to make some decisions TODAY. In the past 4 days, it's just stupid how much worse she's gotten. Then...we take her for a car ride (to the vet) to get some answers, and she acts and looks so totally normal. She is having a bit of trouble breathing, but the doc says that she's fine at this point with her breathing. She's not going to suffocate. Whew....that's a relief cause I can't watch her suffer AT ALL!

Making a long story short...we had 3 options:

1. Do nothing and she might last till the end of February
2. Mild attack to see how she reacts which could buy us 3 or 4 months
3. Go full out with chemo and hope for the best.

We chose (and I can't believe that I did so)...option 3. If we are going to get positive results, then we will know in 2-4 weeks. Depending on how she responds, they say it's possible to get another 2 or 3 years out of her. That, would be awesome. I'm hopeful for the best, but prepared for the worst if necessary. The good part, is we aren't committed to anything financially except for the treatments that we actually get. We can call it off at any time. That helped make the decision much easier too.

Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes guys.....I'm CERTAIN that it's all helped. YOU GUYS are the greatest, and when we get out of this freeze......if you can make it to my deck.....BBQ is on me! :LOL2:
 
Fender, that's awesome news! Was telling my wife about your sweety the other night and she said her brother's lab had the same thing and got a little over two good years out of her before things turned bad. Hopefully you will see similar results.

I completely understand you going with option 3. About 3 years ago my oldest greyhound decided that eating a container of dental floss would be a tasty treat. The next day he's stopped up and long story short, it took a surgery and 10 days in the doggie ER to take care of that little incident. If you had asked me before hand if I'd shell out 7k to save my dogs life I'd have said no, but he's living proof.

Keep us up to date!!!
 
Fender, All of our paws around here are crossd for you guys too! We would have gone for the same option...keep us posted how she does with the chemo.
 
Good question. Sorry I haven't given updates.

She's just had her third week of treatment. (chemo). So far, the blood test (1) has indicated that she's handling the treatments pretty good. That still doesn't give us any indication of how bad the cancer actually is. All the swelling in her lymph nodes has gone, but we were told that would happen. About the only side effect so far is that she has a more difficult time breathing and she gets tired easier. Both side effects that we were warned about. She goes in late this week for another blood test and then treatment on Saturday again....then has a week off. Good for her and our wallets....but she's worth it so far. Only more time will really tell how this is doing as we don't have enough time or tests invested to have good comparisons to really know anything more yet. We still have high hopes and aren't giving up yet.

Thanks (really) for asking.
 
Time for an update I guess.

Last Saturday, Holly received her biggest and hardest (so far) chemo treatment. She's been feeling and looking really down and droopy for the past couple days. She's not one to refuse her food, but Tuesday and Wednesday, she pretty much did unless we added green beans to it. Thankfully, she's still eating something. Outside of this week's treatment being really hard on her, she seems to be doing well. Her blood tests are coming back good, but they are only able to tell us how her white/red counts are with each treatment. We still have no idea what it's doing to rid her of the cancer. I'm not sure how they know when to stop treatment. So far, so good though.. and I am certain that without the treatment, she'd not be with us now.

Thanks again guys....I really appreciate all your thoughts and prayers. I'm sure Holly would be happy to lick each of your noses in appreciation too.
 
Hey fender thanks for the update. Everytime I look at my guys I think of Holly and I hope that she is doing well. I hope and pray so much that she will be fine and that you guys have many more years together. I am so thankful every night when I go to sleep to have my corgi lying next to me and I just say a little prayer for you and Holly.
 
I was actually afraid to come back and read this thread becuase I thought it would be sad news. Glad to see things are somewhat stable. Still thinking fo you and your Big Sweetie.
 
WOW....been a while since I've updated hasn't it.

Well, the vet says she's handling the chemo treatments in textbook fashion. She said she's not seen any dogs that have done as well. We are a little more than 2/3rds of the way through the treatment and she seems to be fine so far. We have no idea what will happen when we stop treatment, but we are hopeful for the best.

Thanks so much for remembering...and welcome back.
 
Top