We Lost a Valuable Member of Our Family on Feb 24, 2012

She came into my life one week before Father's Day in 2003, two days before our daughter's 25th birthday. Her name, Princess Buttercup of Exxon. A beautiful, energetic, deaf, female English Bulldog.

On Buttercups' 8th Birthday April 12, 2010

On my birthday, Feb. 22, 2012

It was at a critical time in my life as my mother, who was living with us, was confronting the final stages of terminal cancer. Our two grown children surprised me with the most wonderful gift for Father's Day that year. They even named her after one of their favorite characters in the movie, The Princess Bride. Buttercup gave me the opportunity to live through my mother's death by giving me endless hours of companionship, joy, laughs, and unfailing love and loyalty. She continued to bring such a richness to all of our lives through her death two days after my birthday on February 22, 2012.

Her decline in health was very sudden, although the cause was years in the making.
On Valentine's Day she became very weak, her tongue turned blue, she had labored breathing, and she wouldn't eat. An emergency trip to our Vet revealed she had severe pulmonary edema. In diagnosing the cause it was learned she was in a state of acute congestive heart failure brought on by dilated cardiomyopathy. Our Vet said it was most likely congenital in nature. We knew her time was limited and sudden death was a very real possibility. We wanted a detailed prognosis, so we agreed to spend the money to have a canine cardiologist do a more complete exam. After two echocardiograms, chest x-rays, and blood testing the conclusion was verified. Seems her AV node was malfunctioning causing her heart to go into constant atrial fibrillation. Since I have had a heart attack myself, I knew all too well she was not going to improve no matter what medications she took. Our only concern was her comfort, that she could breath without undue stress, and we could begin coming to grips with her impending death. Little did we realize that the whole event would be so short lived.

She seemed in good spirits on my birthday, but that very night she couldn't sleep, was fighting for breath, and wouldn't eat. The first thing the next morning I took her back to our Vet at 7:00 am and left her for the day. I wanted our Vet to do what she could to make Buttercup comfortable. She gave her a strong diuretic and drained off 250mL of fluid from her abdomen. The fluid was constricting her diaphragm and pressing on her stomach.

When I picked Buttercup up that evening she was more alert, happy to see me, and we went home to be together one last night. She was still very weak, but not in any discomfort whatsoever. Because she was exhausted, she slept throughout the night. Me, on the other hand, I stayed awake all night watching her  intermittently crying tears of sadness that our time together was ending soon.

By early morning her abdomen had swollen even more. It was obvious that the medication just wasn't helping keep ahead of all the edema in her lungs and abdomen. It was time. We had to wait until the clinic opened to take her in for her final moments. She passed away cradled in my arms as I cried like I did years earlier when my mother died. She meant so much to us and for me she was my lifeline and guiding light to normalcy in during that dark time when my mother was ill.

 I will miss her terribly. My heart will always feel a void. Time will pass, as it does, and I'll recovery. It just reinforces how very fragile life is for all of us, that we should never take anything for granted, and that living a rich full life requires risk and acceptance to deal with such risks.

Lesson learned...again. Love you forever Princess Buttercup of Exxon. Until we meet again.