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Lucky

Lucky came into my life 10 1/2 years ago. My son, David, picked him out of a litter of puppies. He came at a time when my son was having a very hard time and Lucky was a real comfort to him. David says he saved his life. For 4 years Lucky and David were inseparable. Then my son grew up and moved away, but couldn’t take Lucky. For a couple months Lucky would lay on the floor of David’s room and grieve. Then he decided to become my dog, and as I had become an empty nest single mom (both of my children had moved out of town), he became a great comfort to me.

For the past 6 years, he has been totally attached to me except when my son comes to town, then he is totally David’s dog. He has brought me such joy. He anticipates my every move, follows me everywhere, protects me from noises in the night. When I come home from work, he is at the door wagging his tail and jumping in excitement to see me. I can’t imagine life without him. But, soon I will have to experience that. He became sick about 2 weeks ago, and I took him to the vet. He told me that Lucky either had an extremely bad infection that had invaded all of his lymph nodes, or he had lymph sarcoma. He put him on medication for 2 weeks and I took him back today for a check-up. As kindly as he could, the vet told me that Lucky does have the sarcoma. He was pretty sure last time, but tried the antibiotics just in case he was mistaken. We discussed all the options, and I decided to follow what he would do if Lucky was his dog. Take him home and keep him comfortable. He probably only has 4-5 months to live, and any options I would try might extend his life a couple months, but the quality of those months would not be good. I was heartbroken and drove home with tears in my eyes. Lucky hates riding the car and cries the whole time we are riding. But what he hates even more is seeing me sad. So characteristic of my sweet dog was his reaction to my sadness. He didn’t cry at all about the ride. Instead he kept laying his head on my hand licking it to comfort me. I am going to try to spend the next few months treasuring every moment with him, but it’s going to be a hard few months. I knew you would understand.

Mary Alice from PA