EMMA'S FINAL JOURNEY
Saturday,
December 5, 2020
; <sigh> On Thursday Emma had her first two Grand Mal
seizures, many hours apart. It was scary as hell to witness them !
When we were awakened in the middle of the night (Thursday to Friday)
by her third Grand Mal seizure, Joanne declared “it’s time !”.
Emma’s journey “over the Rainbow Bridge” had begun !
My first priority
yesterday/Friday morning was to phone the veterinarian’s office for
an appointment to complete Emma’s journey ! I’m crying (again !)
as I type that. Her appointment for euthanasia is Monday afternoon.
For the last couple of weeks
she has been cycling through a repetitive cycle of constipation and
diarrhea. For the last few days she has been experiencing urinary
incontinence. And now she is having Grand Mal seizures every few
hours.
One
or both of us is with her most of the time. She seems aware that she
is dying. We believe that domesticated animals know when their death
is imminent. And for the most part they don’t fight/resist it, but
do appreciate the comfort of their people’s attention while they
die. We have discovered that we can “stop” her seizures as soon
as they begin,
with voice and touch stimuli. We talk to her loudly,
and stroke her vigorously,
as quickly as we become aware of the onset of another seizure, and we
succeed in “nipping it in the bud”.
When her seizures begin, her
head throws back and she moans loudly. Her spine arches, her legs
extend and stiffen, then convulsions begin. At first they lasted
about five seconds. Now they continue for ten seconds or more. It
seems like an eternity ! ! !
I can’t type any more. My
eyes are flooded with tears. My heart is breaking.
< going for our early
afternoon long walk >
Monday,
December 7, 2020
; Emma’s suffering ended at 3:40 PM today, about an hour and a half
ago. We have just returned from Penticton.
Rest
in peace, my little darling.
The
last few days have been long and difficult. Emma’s seizures
increased in frequency until yesterday when she was having a seizure
about every ten or fifteen minutes. Inexplicably, the seizures
stopped very early this morning, between 6 AM and 7 AM. At that time
her fever diminished, and she resumed drinking water. From early
morning she seemed serene … apparently waiting for death.
At
3:30 PM, while
we waited in our car, her veterinarian in Penticton took
Emma inside and examined
her prior to euthanasia. She (the vet) came back
to
our car with a grim diagnosis/prognosis. There
was no hope she could give us for Emma. Emma’s
heart was barely beating, her intestines were likely afflicted with
cancer, and that cancer had likely metastasized to her brain,
contributing to the seizures. That was much worse than we had
expected, which was simply that Emma was dying of old age.
Much
to our great surprise, the veterinarian invited us into the clinic to
be with Emma as she died. We had been steeled for the requirement to
wait in the car while Emma was euthanized.
Emma
died quickly and peacefully.
