Bye Good Buddy

Our December was shadowed by our 5 year old dog Boomer's cancer diagnosis.  He had always been a slim dog and I had noticed over a few weeks that he was looking downright skinny.  When he began to refuse food, we knew something was wrong.  He also became lethargic.

This dog has always been a bit of a maniac.  Typical boxer hyperactivity, coupled with a serious guard-dog personality made for a loud, bouncy life for him!  He loved to look out the front door and bark at anything that moved.  He was soft and snuggly and a kissing machine.  He and Ali were the greatest of friends.

When we first took him to the vet, they were not looking toward a diagnosis of cancer.  With the loss of appetite and vomiting, they started off with other less sinister illnesses; parasites, giardia, "indiscriminate diet".  When all of those proved to not be the problem (by this time he had lost about 20 pounds) we did more blood work that pointed toward cancer.  Unfortunately, by this time we had exhausted our financial resources with trying to find out what was wrong and we were unable to afford to treat his cancer.

We gave him prednisone to bring down his calcium levels and for several weeks he seemed nearly normal.  It was hard to wrap our hearts and minds around the fact that we would soon lose our good friend.

We went cabin camping this past weekend.  On Friday, he still seemed like himself.  By the time we got to the cabin and the evening came, he was not quite himself.  Friday night, he began vomiting.  Saturday and Sunday he went steadily downhill and by Sunday afternoon, he would walk if forced, but would lie down as soon as you stopped pushing him to walk.  Brandon and I knew that the time had come.

Yesterday we sent Eden to play with her Grandaddy and the rest of us went to the vet.  Brandon, Theo and Ali waited in the car while I took Boomer in.  The vet was wonderful as I held and kissed Boomer until he passed.  It was very peaceful and it was a bit of a relief to know we were doing the right thing for him.  I brought Ali in to see him when he was gone.  We wanted her to understand that he wasn't coming home so she wouldn't wait by the door for him.

He had a good quality of life right up until this past weekend, and it was wonderful that we got to take him camping one last time.  He was a great dog and we are already missing him terribly.

Boomer

2/21/2004 - 1/18/2010

RIP Sweet Boy