Luna Moon July 20,2007-May 2, 2009.

I really do not know what all I can say except that my heart breaks today. Miss Luna Moon has crossed over the Rainbow Bridge today.

Last night, she continued to worsen and couldnt breath well at all. She had to sit up to breath because of the fluid and she would fall asleep sitting up but wake her self up as she tipped over, so she really didnt sleep much the past 2 days. Last night she wouldnt eat nor would she eat this morning. Her breathing got increasingly difficult and last nite when we went to bed, I did begin to feel like she was suffering. I also noticed last night that her back legs were edematous, meaning fluid was building up else where in her body as well. This morning when I listened to her heart, there was a nonstop Gallop, I knew this meant things were really getting worse. Her paracentesis continued to leak and we got gauze and an ace bandage and kept it wrapped to prevent infection. For the past few days we were hopeful and how quickly the tables turn. We called the vet first thing this morning and our vet was out of town but reachable so Jennifer (the main tech that has assisted us)called her and Dr. Carol suggested we get a 2nd opinion before we make a drastic decision so they gave us info for a pet hospital in Lubbock that they recommend. So we took her there, expecting that it was our last ride with our pup. Everytime you ask her "you wanna go?" those ears perked up and she was out the door and flying to the car. Not this time :( I sat in the back of the car with her and loved on her. When we got to the vet we just continued to love on her because we were pretty sure we didn't have much time left with her. When we went into the exam room and the vet listened to her, he said her heart was even muffled with the gallop, meaning that the fluid was filling around her heart and you could feel, just touching her sides, crackles in her lungs. What a horrible way to live. So we decided we had no other choice but to put her to sleep :( They took her back and put a catheter in her leg and then brought her back to us. We spent about 5 minutes with her and then they came with the medicine. They connected it to her catheter and I held her head in my arms, wrapped my arms around her neck, kissed her and loved on her while cory rubbed her back. She didn't struggle really, tried to pull away slightly but not to much. It was so fast and she was at peace. We stayed with her for about 5 more minutes and then we left. Cory is taking a final right now, poor guy. Not a good way to start your day before a final. We are having her cremated at the same place Demi was cremated and she will be picked up from the vet today so hopefully we will have her back early this week. We plan to go pick out a pretty something to put her in at Hobby Lobby after Cory's final. We are staying in Lubbock this evening to go see the play Cats which will help take our minds off it for a lil bit. But it sure is gonna be sad when we get home. I have been talking to the breeder through this whole battle and today i called to give him the news. He was so sorry for us and his heart was breaking for us. He has 4 puppies, with 1 left that is unclaimed. They are three weeks old. He told us that shes ours if we want her. So we may go see her tomarrow morning. He said she has a moon mask like Lunas and is black and white like Luna. This may sound silly, but if we decide to take her, it will be in honor of Luna. I by no means want to replace her, and there is no dog that could replace her. But we can still give the great amount of love we have for Luna to another special puppy.

This is one of those things that you don't think you can handle it, you hate anticipating it, but you make it through it. I praise God for the time He gave us with our special Luna Moon. It may have been short but it was very very special. We will miss her dearly. Thank you all for your prayers.

The sad news...

Hopefully you have gotten to read about Luna and are up to date. If you arent, its the previous blog for April 30th. As far as today, she is still leaking from the paracentesis spots (3 holes total) and this is abnormal. This should not be happening but as my vet says "she defies all things" evidently. It did help her. She isnt panting quite as much but she is still uncomfortable from the fluids. But we have to give it til next week to see if her own body is going to reabsorb it. For now, my instinct was to put a wrap around her belly with gauze and basically make a dressing for her (can you tell I'm a nurse?) When I talked to dr. Carol today, she said thats pretty much the best thing we can do. So we are putting neosporin on it and keeping it covered in hopes of preventing infection. I just pray that it stops soon so we dont have to worry about infection, because she is immunocompromised right now from all the meds shes on. So we can only do our best and we are. She is moving about a lil better and seems a tad more comfortable. She ate really good this morning so we are still hopeful. It just sucks living in uncertainty :(. So thats where we are right now with her.

In other news...spring break was alot of fun being at home with the family. I really miss them so it was really nice to see everyone. Here are some pics from the visit :)

Spring break 2009

And now for sad news. In January and February, my lil ferret, Demi, started to play with me less. She used to get out and play for hours. She started playing less and less and searching for a cozy more and more. This is normal for old age ferrets. She was going to be 7 this year and 6 is old for a ferret. Well she had cancer, as you may know. She has had it for 2 years but we were giving her treatments that suppressed the symptoms to improve quality of life and she was a happy girl. Over spring break, Cory stayed home with the cat and the weasel so he could do research. Demi began to be uninterested in food and was wobbly, unsteady and just not acting right. We made an appointment with the vet on March 20th. Cory took her to the vet with me on speakerphone in STL. The vet did an assessment and said that she had had a stroke. :( If we didn't put her to sleep, she would only live for 1-2 more days so...I was in STL on the phone with Cory when they put her to sleep. unable to be with my weasel I have had since I was 16/17. :( That was heartbreaking, very heartbreaking. I wish I could have been there for her. When I came back home, it was strange to not see her cage, not be scheduling time to get her out to play with her, and to not hear "weasel itches" or noises such as her balls she would play with. So on March 20th, my weasel lay to rest. Here she is, loving her Momma...



Here is a rose that our vet sent us in memory of Demi Brooke.



And here is a lil memorial place we set up for her. We had her cremated because I would like to bury her in my parents backyard with the rest of my ferrets. Until then, she is in this lil memorial Cory made for her. She LOVED her igloos and in fact, would get in them and push it with her nose across the floor...we called this "weasel tank" She had her own personal army tank ;) One of her blankies with her favorite ball toys are in the igloo. The colored paper is a Rainbow Bridge poem that the cremation place gave us and she is inside a velvet pouch that is embroidered with the words "Until we meet again my friend, on Rainbow Bridge". I miss her greatly.




Now I get home from Spring break, having just lost my ferret. And Luna's illness saga begins, June ends up getting sick and my stupid betta starts laying on the bottom of the tank. That week I got back everyone was trying to croak! Well, June got medicine and she was well within a few days. My fish acted like he was dying for about a week and now he is revived and well again. Strange. And we are still battling whatever is wrong with Luna. Even though we are hopeful I am wrought with grief because I know there is a possibility that we may lose Luna now. I am trying to be stay hopeful, but its hard to get that out of my head. I look over at her and see her panting because of the fluid in her tummy and while she is still that happy/tail wagging/cuddle me/give me a treat pup, I just see her not being "healthy" and it breaks my heart. Its one of those things that you really dont want to deal with but have no choice to. I am just grateful that I am not dealing with this uncertainty with a person. It sucks, but I would much rather deal with this with a pet rather than my husband, parents, grandparents, brother... but that doesnt make it easy at all. Luna is my baby and I have a special connection with her so ...it just is hard, especially after just losing one of my other pets Anyway, I know that I am "miss happy sunshine", arent i? ;) I guess I better go study for my final I have on Tuesday...if there is even such a thing as being able to focus... Have a great afternoon everyone and I will be blogging more tomarrow. Until then...caio