When the rescue dropped her off at my house to foster, both Todd and I looked at her and said, “Is she going to make my dogs sick???”.
Half of her fur was missing and she could barely walk. We found out she had a hypothyroid and had luxattting patellas. That was in Sept. 05. In December of that year, she had knee surgery and repair of a torn ACL. Something her previous owners had never taken care of.
She was so tiny, and they thought she was about 9 years old. She weighed 20 pounds dripping wet and was a true black cocker. There was a tad of grey on her lower muzzle that gave her more personality
than she already had.
But those eyes. They just sucked you in. In all she had been through, she still trusted us implicitly.
She was finally given the green light to be spayed in May of 06, and we dodged a bullet. A benign mammary tumor was removed. Then in
November 06 another one popped up. The vet operated and we were all waiting for the green light that this one was benign also. It wasn’t. And it spread to the regional lymph nodes.
Time became precious. They were estimating 4 months without chemo, 1-1 1/2 years with chemo, should it work. Car rides became important, swimming took a front seat in our lives, and spending every moment with her. I must have said a million “I love you”s a day to her.
On Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2007 she was given her first round of chemo. Everything looked great until Saturday morning. She went back to
the vet who told us is was simply colitis. Sunday morning she went downhill and downhill fast. We rushed her to the ER where she was in such critical condition they couldn’t even get a blood pressure reading. Finally they did. It was 50 and she was septic. The doctors started trying to work magic and save this magnificent creature. She seemed to get better and on Tuesday we were visiting with her getting sweet doggie kisses. Tuesday night she took a turn for the worse and had to be placed on oxygen.
Wednesday they called in a neurologist to determine if my precious little girl had a stroke. He ruled she didn’t, that her glucose had
swayed so much it was causing inflammation in the brain and neurons were misfiring. That’s when the vets made us pay the bill, and warned they may have to taken action on their own.
There was no way my baby was passing in some cold sterile metal hospital. She hated hospitals. At 12:10 Thursday morning we got the call. Bianca had 2 seizures and they had sedated her. I called
my vet who lives about 1/2 mile from me. He raced to his office to get an oxygen tube to bring my baby home. He arrived at the house and drove Todd and myself to the ER where we picked my girl up.
Todd held her as we drove home.
We placed her in the bed she adored, and her brothers came up and sniffed her. The poodle even gave her a kiss, then it was time for Mommy and Daddy to say “good-bye”. How do you ever find the words to say good-bye? I just kept saying “I love you baby”, and as the vet injected her IV, I said the same exact words I said the day she was brought to my house, “She is soooo little”.
The most beautiful creature in the entire world is gone. And I miss her more than I could ever even imagine. She touched a part of me, I never knew I had. And while I may love again, it will never be like Miss Bee.
Bianca, you taught me some very important lessons. First and foremost is that you don’t have to be perfect to be absolutely perfect. You may have had a limp and aches and pains on cold dreary days, but that didn’t mean you weren’t the perfect angel you will always be to me. Through it all, you never, not ONCE complained about anything. Your strength left me in awe. YOu taught me strength and never giving up. When people would take pity on her walking down the street, I would proudly smile, “That’s my girl”, nothing stopped you.
And last, you taught me to stop and smell the roses, because they may not be there tomorrow to enjoy. You will always be my baby Bee, my little girl, and in my mind your happy dances will never stop. My heart may never completely heal, but you will always be there a part of it.
I love you Bianca and I know you loved me too.
| Bianca Bee |
| Kimberly |