Saying Goodbye

Wolfgang

2001 - 2011

Sorry for the absence.  Things have been out of kilter in the bat cave recently.  I came down with a wicked case of the shingles, which took the wind out of my sails for the better part of three weeks.  Thank you, skydaddy, for visiting such an affliction upon me.  You've reaffirmed my belief that you're a dogshit.  Yeah, I know.  There is no skydaddy and the shingles is a left-over from chicken pox that rears its ugly head when we're adults.  I just wanted to take a gratitutious dig at xtians who view illness as a blessing from skydaddy.  Masochists.

I mentioned in my last post that our Akita had cancer.  Yesterday, we let him go.  I had said that as long as he was enjoying his life, I would do whatever it took to allow him to have that enjoyment; and that he would tell me when he was ready to go.  He had a cancerous tumor on the left side of his face, in the jaw area.  As it grew, he scratched at it until the skin tore.  From that point on, we had to keep his head bandaged.  He enjoyed his treats, time with his humans, taunting Henry and lounging with his harem.  Of course, the tumor grew as tumors will do.  There was also bleeding because it was a fungating wound.  Keeping it wrapped and bandaged controlled the bleeding and kept the would from getting infected, but cancer is cancer. 

Wednesday evening, he was happy.  He enjoyed his liver sausage.  He enjoyed his petting.  He enjoyed his harem.  Sometime during the night, however, the tumor almost doubled in size.  He got the bandage off and bled pretty heavily.  Thursday morning, he was ready.  We knew.  We decided then to do it Saturday.  We had to make it through the work week.  We switched his pain meds from Novox to Tramadol (the vet had prescribed the narcotic for such a situation).  Yesterday morning, we let him go.  It was peaceful.  He's not hurting anymore. 

At times like this, I wish the whole heaven thing was real.  Maybe not the whole thing.  I can do without skydaddy and his crew; but I wish there was some place on the other side of this existence where everyone is healthy and in their prime, we're with all of our loved ones, nobody ever hurts or dies, and everyone is always happy.  Utopia.  At times like this, I do allow myself the indulgence of thinking that maybe there is such a place on the other side of our existence.  I know it's not there, but every now and then I wish it was.  I wish the Rainbow Bridge was real.

Wolfgang working to get Henry to the fence.  We had to keep them in separte kennels because male Akitas don't get along with other male dogs.  Every morning, Wolfgang would work to get Henry to come to the fence.  As soon as Henry would get there, Wolfgang would hike his leg and pee at him.

The Wolfman with his haren - Hattie is the red one, Duchess is the black one with the greying muzzle, and Oreo is in the front, black with white on the tip of her snout.  You'll have to look closely because Duchess and Oreo blend together.  On the left, the patch of black is Henry.  Wolfgang and the harem are talking a load of smack to Henry.

My apologies for the fact that the fence gets in the way of the picture.  Sometimes the only way I can get  pic of the dogs is to put them in the kennel.  If I try to take pics of them otherwise, as soon as they see the camera they want to jump up and put their snout square in the lense.