I have been on Awesome Con prep and I will go into to how.....Awesome....that was in the next post. For now, I have news to share. Really crappy news.
The Friday that Awesome Con opened, I received a call from my husband. He was taking Abby to the vet because there was something really wrong. She couldn't move. She looked like she was in pain. She didn't want to go to the bathroom. She was just not doing well. I had to wait until 1 o'clock before he called since that is when her appointment was. That sucked. He called and the news wasn't good. They did an ultrasound and discovered that her abdomen was full of blood. She had and undetected tumor on her stomach and it burst. A blood clot blocked her spleen. We had no other choice but to... I was on speaker phone during this time. I didn't have time to get from DC to Fairfax in enough time. We knew this was coming. She was a 12 year old lab. She was smiles and tail wags to the end. She was really sweet. Brian was there holding her head like he normally does when he is loving her. He told her it was okay and to go to sleep and she would feel better and she went quietly. And that was it. 12 years stopped right there.
You know, even though we knew it was coming, nothing actually prepares you for the actual event. Patches was difficult because we lost him so suddenly. Same with Shippo. We knew Bert was going to go. He was ready. We were there for each of them. But it was different with Abby, I think. When we lost Patches, she was still there. When we lost the cats, she was there. But this time, she went. I didn't really hit me until I came home from Awesome Con. I was able to put it out of my mind and redirect my focus. I came home late. I asked Brian to help me with my stuff since I can't lift heavy things. When I got to our door, I had to stop. It was then it came crashing down on me. First the first time in 12 years, she was not going to be there to greet me with a wagging tail and a toy in her mouth. It hit me, and it hit me hard. I channeled my inner Disney princess and began to weep on the stairs. I had a good cry and was as okay as I could be.
I miss her. It is a bit difficult, though. For the past 12 years, our lives have revolved around having a dog. We are still kinda deprogramming ourselves. It is just really weird having just the cats. We will adjust. We aren't planning getting another dog until we buy a house in the next year or two. We just aren't ready and won't be for a while. This is the crappy part of pet ownership.