Wednesday, February 07, 2007

It's Over

Quincy is gone.

BD and I met at the house yesterday at 4:00. We played with him a little bit before heading off to the vet. We talked with the vet for quite a while before the procedure. Basically, Quincy had Alzheimer's we believe. The vet also said that it was not a question of "if" he would bite again, but "when" and "who", so we decided to go ahead and put him down with his dignity instead of letting him get worse and be miserable.

I'll warn you now, I am going to give you every detail of what happened, so if you don't want to know, stop reading now.

The nurse first gave him a strong sedative and within a minute he could barely stand, so I picked him up and held him. After another minute or so, he was completely still in my arms. His head was resting on my arm and he was drooling all over me. One of his nervous tendancies is to lick, and he did so. Unfortunately, the sedative was so strong that it got to a point where he couldn't lick anymore and his tongue was sticking out and moving all around. That part was actually kind of funny to see, but sad at the same time. I placed my hand in front of his tongue so that he could lick me. The nurse had said the vet would be in after 5 minutes, but after almost 10 he wasn't there and Quincy started to cry. Yes, my dog cried. Quincy has always been able to scream and cry. As part of his separation anxiety, he cried and screamed a lot. Well, he was crying and I couldn't take it. I told BD to go and get someone to come in and get it over with. The whole point was to not have Quincy be scared or in any pain and that was not working!

So, the vet came in and we placed him on the table. BD left the room at this point after saying goodbye. I stood in front of him at eye level and petted him and told him I loved him as they injected the pink solution into his shaved arm. A tear that had built up in the corner of his eye while I was holding him ran down his face at this point. I will never forget that one single tear as his life faded away. The vet verified that his heart had stopped after a few moments and he was gone. The vet also said he had never seen a dog cry. Quincy was one hell of a special dog.

We left and drove over to pick up the kids from school. We didn't tell them right away. Instead, we picked up McDonald's and headed home. We let them eat dinner and finish before we told them and let Buddy (our other dog) inside. They were sad, but it didn't really hit PM until he went to bed. PM did decide that God has given Quincy a very large pile of trash in heaven for him to eat and play in.

We will pick up his cremated remains later this week and bury him in our backyard. I hope this will provide closure for the kids. I don't know how long it will take me to get over it. It will probably haunt me for the rest of my life. I know, that is a little dramatic, but really that is how I feel right now. I will leave you with first a picture of him sleeping in the sun in our foyer this past Sunday:

And another of Quincy and Buddy together this past Sunday:

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