Luka

Well, I haven't written in a while.  Things have been weird & stressful for all of us.  Bados disappeared for awhile on an excursion that I am not supposed to discuss; and Luka was getting sicker again.  She died on Tuesday.

Luka had started limping again, was weak, and panting more.  J thought it was all pain, but she was also short of breath.  Now we know that the tumor had spread to her lungs.  J had been expecting that, but was thrown off by the resumed limping.  Tuesday she stopped eating in the morning.  J & Sherri (our vet) came up with a more aggressive treatment plan for her pain; but she did not seem to be getting any more comfortable.  Near bedtime J tried to took her out for a short walk; she did not 'get busy' and was very unstable.  After they came back inside she got all panicky and tried to go hide in corners.  J got her to lie down and tried to listen to her heart & lungs with a stethoscope.  Her breathing was so loud & labored that J could not hear her heart.  Then she stopped and looked calm.   J said Luka was dying; she was right.  Her heart rate was in the 40s; she took a few more breaths as her heart slowed to nothing.

We were all in a bit of shock.  J cried.  Even Rob got choked up.  They wrapped her in blankets & laid her on a futon in Rob's office.  She looked peaceful.

The next afternoon they took her body away.  The vet did an autopsy.  Her lungs were full of tumor, & this had hemorrhaged into the pleural space between the lung & chest wall.  That's what killed her so quickly.  J says we'll get her ashes back.

This weekend we are going to Boofest; that will be a good distraction from her absence.