In February, she was diagnosed with Immune-Mediated Thrombocytopenia and Hemolytic Anemia. These horrible diseases hit K-8 hard and fast. Since we caught the symptoms early, our Vet thought K-8 had a chance, but within two and a half weeks of diagnosis, she passed away. Before this illness, K-8 had never been sick, ever. I was devastated.
Our K-8 ... who led me to Addie
During the weeks that followed, our house seemed empty without K-8 bouncing around in it. K-8 and I use to visit a local retirement community every other Sunday. Everyone loved K-8. One friend in particular had a special love for K-8. She would always tell us the story of when she got her Border Collie puppy and how much she looked like K-8. Our friend didn’t receive many visitors or talk to the other residents much, but she always spent a lot of time talking with us.
Finally, I brought myself to consider another dog. While searching the internet one day, I came upon the cutest puppy I had ever seen! She was five weeks old at the time, a Border Collie/Great Pyrenees mix. Both parents were purebreds; their union was not planned. This sounded familiar to me because it was how our K-8 came into this world.
On April 9, 2008, we welcomed Addie into our home and introduced her to her new disgruntled big sister, Zoe. It was not love at first sight for Zoe, our 14-year-old Dachshund. But she learned to accept and love her.
During this time, our friends from the retirement community were never far from my mind. I wanted to share our new furbaby with our special friend. Once Addie received her shots at 10 weeks old and a clean bill of health from our vet, we scheduled a visit with our special friend.
Returning there without K-8 was bitter sweet for me. When we walked into her room, our friend was speechless. I placed Addie on the bed beside her and she enjoyed her company for an hour. Addie was spoiled rotten with all the petting and kisses that she received. She placed her head on the lady's chest, snuggled right up against her, and took a nap. Our friend shared more stories about her Border Collie that had us laughing. The joy that Addie brought our friend was simply amazing.
It was a heartfelt visit that she couldn’t thank us enough for. After our visit, I started a photo book for our friend so she could watch Addie grow. When I called my contact to bring her the book, I found out that our friend had stopped eating a few days after our visit. She passed away a week later. Addie had brought a ray of sunshine into her life, and into ours.
Thank you K-8, for leading me to Addie.
http://raisingaddie.blogspot.com/
3 comments:
oh, addie. you have such a lovely story and a very challenging mission, too.
we hope you continue to touch more lives, as did K-8.
drooly kisses,
Aki
Dear Addie
We've read your autobiogphrapy a couple of times now. Mom always needs a kleenex. We wish that we could have met K8. She would have made you a wonderful big sister. You have already enriched the lives of people & I know you will make a great Therapy dog like K8.
Love Ruby
PS Tell Zoe I would love to trade. But I think she would want to trade back quickly, she would miss you.
That's a very touching story ! K8 sounds like a very sweet girl .
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