I Like #244

It's been a challenging week here.  

We had a snowstorm and that resulted in three work-from-home days and even though I went in for a few hours on two of those days, it was wonderful to stay home where things were quiet.  I got to spend time with the dogs which was great. 

Unfortunately after doing better for a couple of months after a decline at Thanksgiving, Bentley went downhill very rapidly on Saturday.  He was extremely lethargic and barely responded to anything, and then at about 10:30 Saturday night he started showing signs of extreme respiratory distress.  Then he sort of passed out and stopped breathing and got stiff before gasping and starting to breathe again.  I got him into the car and his breathing had stabilized some by the time we got to the emergency vet.  The staff there were wonderfully kind, but they were slammed and after verifying that he was stable, it was two hours before I got to see the vet.

It turned out Bentley had fluid/blood in the pericardial space (inside the membrane that encloses the heart) and that was causing his heart to beat poorly and not deliver oxygen well to his tissues.  The prognosis for the associated intervention/surgery (which is very invasive) is not good for dogs as old as he is, and I made the painful decision to let him go.  The staff were very supportive, but it is always heartbreaking to lose them.  I got to be with him until the end.

We adopted him in 2010 from our then vet whose daughter had rescued him after he got hit by a car.  They said he was about 18 months old then, so I've always thought he was probably born in early 2009, making him just exactly 13 now.  

He's been an old dog for a long time, longer than a lot of dogs because of his blindness and neurological disorder, but up until Saturday he was always excited to see you, excited to have pets and snuggles, and excited to wander around outside smelling things, barking at stuff (or barking at non-stuff), and having short walks. 

This one was from just last week as I snuggled him.

And these are from when I first got him!  He was definitely still a puppy and did his share of eating furniture and wreaking havoc.

Last fall with Spooky and Blue

Snuggling with my mom

He and Bullett used to love to get up on the table and howl at the Saturday Tornado Siren test.

And here he is with Bullett, Missy, and Shooter.  It's so hard to see these pictures, Bullet and Missy are both gone too.  Shooter (the upside down girl)  is still going strong, but she's starting to get old too.

He loved playing tug-of-war and if you let him, he'd play until his mouth bled (we did not let him).

I loved this picture so much I used it for my Bentley quilt a few years ago.

Before the weekend, I had a chance to sort through some things and finish some things up which was good.  I finished this baby quilt, it was one I quickly made over Christmas to use as a practice quilt on my new sewing machine.  Not sure who it will be for, but some new baby will come along I'm sure!

I worked on my boxelder bug quilt, and hopefully I can blog about that in the next few weeks.  

My mother of thousands plant is blooming; it has these delicate pink flowers which brighten up the cold winter light.  

I'm following along with the Bee-Jeweled Pincushion stitch-along over at NeedleNThread, so I worked on that project a little this weekend too.

Mostly right now I'm just sad.  But that's ok, and I'll get through it.  For things to cheer you up in our online community, click over to LeeAnna's.