The Mark of Summers End

To me the mark of summers end is my mother going back to her home in Hong Kong. I feel strange sense of sadness that our house will be emptier after today. She and I have really bonded since last year. I really appreciate having her presence and being part of my family. Annabelle was still a new born and quite fragile at the same time and last year Ralph first became very ill I fell into a depression. My mother made the decision to buy a new plane ticket because stupid JAL refused to change her flight and she changed her 3 month stay (original departure of August 19 2017 into a 6 month stay and left on Cathay Pacific on December 8th 2017. I will forever be grateful for her effort, time and money that she spent helping me last year. If only there were a way to show my gratitude.

Ralph fell ill around the end of June in 2017. He was vomiting everything he ate. I remember the first time I heard a sharp cry from him and found vomit. Blaine took him to the vet who did blood work. He ended up on several different medications including antibiotics (a few rounds), liver supplement, appetite enhancer, anti-nausea medication, pain killers, probiotics, acid reflux. He had X-rays and scans and more blood work. He went a few rounds of a few days and nights of hospitalization to replenish his fluids because he was also not drinking. He was fast becoming very weak and frail. My 9 lb Ralph because a 5.5 lb Ralph. Ralph ended up having a few test done none of which seemed to improve his bloodwork results. We were given a few more options by the VCA (by this time he was no longer seeing his normal vet we had been referred to the VCA) but I made my case that I was fearing that Ralph was suffering. So we stopped all medication and stopped taking him in for blood work. And in August I was worried that he might just drop dead at any moment. But miraculously by about this time last year Ralph actually got better when we took him off all the medication. Or at least he stopped vomiting and he ate again. But the fear that it might come back never left me. For the past 14 months Blaine and I made the decision not to take any big trips because in my gut we knew Ralph would be more comfortable at home. We did take a few small trips where my friend Janet helped me watch him. She has 2 fur babies and Ralph is very comfortable with their family. Ralph's regular vet seemed more understanding of our situation in that we wanted him to live out the rest of his life as comfortably as he could since we weren't able to find the cause of his problems. From August to November we seemed to have a semi-healthy pup who still enjoyed more of the things he previously did. However in December he stopped eating again. On a daily basis we tried absolutely everything we could think of from all the foods he ever enjoyed in his 15 years of life together. Occasionally he would eat some pumpkin puree, peanut butter, oatmeal, cheese and cheese ravioli. By this time he would not even touch his dog food (he was on prescription). He still took treats on the rare occasion. We took a final trip with him in April where we took him to visit his old friend Addy. That trip deserves a post on it's own so I will save that. The trip was stressful but in hindsight it was a beautiful one and I am so glad we got to take it with him. By the time we came back from that trip Ralph seemed to have accidents in the house which he never had before. He was perfectly trained and always let us know when he needed to go outside. I went on amazon and bought him a few sets of diapers which he then wore. I did not mind the accidents but the not eating part really stressed me us out. I think I need to save the rest for another post because I didn't plan on reliving our last year and I'm not quite ready to write down my feelings about the end. Ralph slept a lot the last year of his life. I find that most of my pictures of him were of him sleeping so that makes me sad.

Here are a few memories from year's past on this day that popped up on my facebook and amazon photo memories.

 Lake Tahoe pup (on this day in 2012)

Lake Tahoe pup in (on this day in 2012)

2015

Tucked paw pup sweetly hanging out with his new sister. Ralph was sweet to Ariel from the beginning and it was as though he knew she was part of the pack. He was such a smart pup with high EQ marks. I love and miss you everyday.

Always giving his love to grandma Loh and Ariel. What a family guy Ralph has been.
(on this day in 2015)