We are a family of dog lovers. In recent years, we have had three English Springer Spaniels. Polly, our most recent. She came to live with us when she was approximately two years old.
About a fortnight ago, we realised that Polly (now a little over four years old), wasn't quite herself. She was letting us know she was in pain and we were aware that sometimes she was lifting her rear right paw. We took her to the Vet, who prescribed anti-inflamatory and pain killers.
I don't know about you, but I was wondering how long was appropriate to wait to see that the tablets were working. So about a week later, there was no improvement and we returned to the Vets. This time they took some x-rays of the area. The x-ray showed that Polly's spine was in a very poor state. More in-keeping with that of a fifteen year old dog instead of a four year old. As Polly was insured, they attempted to get Polly into a referral hospital at Chester, for an emergency MRI scan, but unfortunately they were full and not able to offer an appointment till the following Monday.
We took Polly home and waited. We could see that Polly was getting worse. She had a very bad night and was screaming in pain. The next day (last Friday) we phoned the Vet to explain the situation. They contacted the Chester Pet Referral hospital who said we could bring her in. Hubby and myself took Polly along and left her there. They were going to perform and MRI scan on her and take a sample of her spinal fluid. Later that afternoon, they phoned to say that the scan had highlighted a swelling/growth and they wanted to take a biopsy. We agreed. The next day (Saturday), we drove back to Chester to collect Polly and were told the results would be ready on Monday.
Polly was in awful pain. The Chester Vet had increased her pain killers but it obviously wasn't touching the pain. Poor Polly was in such a state and we knew things were bad.
On Monday morning the Chester Vet phoned with awful news. The swelling was actually a
tumour which was growing and eating Polly's spine, hence the terrible pain. The Vet offered a course of chemo and radiotherapy, but that would only be a temporary measure and Polly would need increasing pain relief for the rest of her life. Hubby and I had already discussed this possibility, so asked the Chester Vet to phone our local Vet to explain the situation and arrange to have Polly put to sleep.
Within an hour we were at the Vet surgery, saying our final goodbye to our gorgeous, funny, loving and loyal member of our family. It was a fortnight in total from when we took her to the Vet to having her put to sleep. As a family we are totally devastated.
The house is so quiet and still. I have lost my shadow and can not stop the tears from coming. Polly will leave a huge gaping hole in our lives. I know we did the right thing for her but it hurts so much that she has gone. We have lots of photos and video clips of her, but she was my baby girl and I feel cheated that we only had her for a little over two years.
RIP my darling Polly, you are greatly missed!
PS: for this reason, I may be a little quiet on posts. I'm finding it hard to think straight, let alone be creative.
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