Brooke - not good news

I'm so sorry to hear Brooke isn't doing well Sharon. Just reading your posts of your helping Brooke enjoy her last days brought tears to my eyes, I can't even begin to imagine how difficult this must be for you.
Prayers for you and your family and sweet Brooke.
 
When is it over?
- It's such a horrible decision that we need to take
- We owe it to our little beloved friends before they die in pain.

But Sharon it is very rare I have read about such a beautiful / loving course as with you and Brooke
Not once have I thought " maybe it was the best to give this little soul peace"

- I have been crying - at the same time I have read about
- all the good little pleasures - which Brooke has loved in her life
- these have you still given her, every time she has had the strength for that
- it is so beautiful to read about all the care / love you give her every day.

Dear Brooke I hope you have more good days to enjoy :hugs

Sharon :hugs- I hope for you and your family to be strong when the time comes to say goodby.
 
Hanne said:
When is it over?
- It's such a horrible decision that we need to take
- We owe it to our little beloved friends before they die in pain.

But Sharon it is very rare I have read about such a beautiful / loving course as with you and Brooke
Not once have I thought " maybe it was the best to give this little soul peace"

- I have been crying - at the same time I have read about
- all the good little pleasures - which Brooke has loved in her life
- these have you still given her, every time she has had the strength for that
- it is so beautiful to read about all the care / love you give her every day.

Dear Brooke I hope you have more good days to enjoy :hugs

Sharon :hugs- I hope for you and your family to be strong when the time comes to say goodby.
Click to expand...

Well, Hanne, your English is quite good enough to bring me to tears. Thank you - you gave me some warmth in my heart.

Yes our goal is to give her little pleasures if she's able to partake. She has once again incredibly, recovered from the bad bleed. She ate well this morning, and has given me a face wash. Our long time petsitter is coming over this morning to visit with her. She is slow, but steady on her feet. No pain or distress, which I couldn't bear. Hope for more days, and then a quick, easy passing. I sure didn't think I was retiring from 21 years of nursing only to be a hospice nurse for my own dog. But so grateful I am not distracted by work.

Hoping to give her a stroller ride at the City College pathways above the ocean tomorrow.
 
How was Brooke's stroller walk today? Gavin is super engaged, his little head is on a swivel watching everything going on around him!
 
I’m so sorry to hear about your Brook. Sending lots of love and prayers out to you for the rest of her life on this earth. May the lord keep her happy and comfortable as she prepares to make her long journey to Him and waits patiently for you to come back to her.
 
Stroller ride went great. In fact, yesterday was a really good day until evening. The past 5 weeks, she has had a bleed like clockwork, every Sunday and every Thursday. This time I decided by 6 PM to just give her the emergency pill BEFORE it became an emergency. About an hour later her gums were pale and she was restless, but it passed rather quickly in a couple of hours. Her appetite is almost gone now. It is so sad and frustrating. I did manage to get a jar of baby food into her and some wheat bread pieces smeared with peanut butter. I'd love to give her more peanut butter but I don't want to risk pancreatitis on top of everything else.

The bad news is, Elijah started coughing his head off last week, I think he got kennel cough somehow, no idea where. Brooke has an allergic type cough anyway but now she is really hacking and I think she caught it from him. :mad1: Good lord, as if she didn't have enough to deal with. They both have their vaccines but it sure seems like that's what it is - Eli was just a bit quiet and the cough, no other symptoms.

The saddest thing is I think she is not strong enough for Nosework tomorrow, and besides if she has kennel cough I don't want to pass it on. I've been a nurse for so many years, I know I can't fix her and I know it's not about me, I need to respect the process of her decline and what's coming, but the human/mom part of me thinks, "if she'd only eat, she'd feel better, be stronger....." OK the whole thing sucks.
 
I know it sucks :( I know its frustrating :(
I hope she rallies a bit from this cough so she is more comfortable.
I guess you can try a mini-nosework session at home, but I know Gavin really perks up with other dogs around (and then he ignores them, go figure!)

Thinking of you and Brooke every day....I want to be as compassionate as you when Gavin's time comes....
 
Sharon, I know how difficult it is when they reach this point. We recently said goodbye to our almost 15 year old chihuahua. It was the first time my family had to make that decision. A month before, her bloodwork was perfectly normal. Less than a month later, she stopped eating and had digestive issues. So I just couldn't come to terms with how one day she was fine and the next day she got so sick.

For two weeks, she was a like a yo-yo. One day she would eat and be a little playful and the next day she wouldn't eat and barely walked. We kept going back and forth on what to do. We brought her to the vet to help us decide. We didn't think of it as playing God. We thought of it as helping our best friend. She lived a long and happy life and brought us so much joy. It was now our turn to ease her pain by doing the hardest, but most loving and kindest thing we can do for our pets. Even up until the last minute, I wasn't sure if we did the right thing, but when the vet couldn't even find a vein because her blood pressure was so low, we knew we made the right decision.

I'm sure you will do everything you can until you know it is time. As hard as it is, remember you are helping your dog. Just like you've done her entire life.

Hugs for you, Brooke and your family! :hugs
 
I could not have said it any better than Cindy and take4roll10.
My heart and soul just hurts knowing how hard you are working to make each moment as precious as possible.

Being a nurse, you bring so much compassion, knowledge, and trust.
Your heart is in the right place. Your dear Brooke will let you know...
Blessings and virtual hugs to you and your family. :hugs:hugs
 
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