Saying Goodbye
It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to endure. I was watching my best friend lay on the floor in obvious pain. Every breath required effort. They were short, quick breaths that sounded with a wheeze going in and out. She could barely walk or stand. She had lost the ability to control her bowels. She was dying a slow painful death right before our eyes. The cancer that had afflicted her leg had spread and now a massive tumour on her spleen had begun to bleed. They told me she was too weak to operate on and she wouldn't make it through the night. There was truly only one option. Just 5 hours earlier she was just fine, but now I was saying goodbye to my best friend forever.
I can't really put into words what Kayla meant to me, and I don't know that I deserved her to be honest. I just know that I'm better because she was in my life. When you see me, know that I am the person I am in part because of her. And now that she's gone there is a piece of me missing that will never come back. Her soul was so pure and honest, it saddens me that she's no longer here because the world was better with her in it. Everyone who knew her loved her. People gravitated to her. She had something about her personality that was magnetic. People loved her, kids loved her, so did other dogs, and even cat lovers. I'll never forget taking her on walks and people would yell from the other side of the road "Hey Kayla!" I would look and wave back and think...."Do I know that person?!?" I would always joke she had a lot more friends than I did, but it was true!
And she was so strong. She was diagnosed with a terminal form of cancer in her leg and given a month to live...3 months at max. The diagnosis was confirmed by the vet at an emergency clinic, my regular vet, and a specialist at an animal hospital. She lived 1 and 1/2 more years. My vet couldn't believe it. She told us it was a miracle because dogs just don't live that long with that form a cancer...but Kayla did.
And so sweet. She loved children. She loved playing with them and licking their face and lying next to them while they pet her. They could pull her ears or stomp on her toes and it wouldn't matter. She would never hurt them. People would ask us if we were worried about Kayla being around our baby when it is born. Our response was always the same "Not at all. We trust Kayla completely, she would never hurt our baby." We were devastated that our daughter would never have the chance to meet and get know Kayla.
And yet she would protect Roxanne. Once when Roxanne was home alone a stranger came to the door, and Kayla transformed into something else. One glance at Kayla's snarled lips and teeth with that classic low doberman bark and growl sent them fleeing to the street. She somehow always instinctively knew when someone was up to no good. And her protective instinct seemed to kick in more when I was away from the house. As if she knew she had to look after everyone while I was gone. People who knew her could hardly believe it. "She's so sweet, I just can't imagine it" they'd say.
She was sooo mischievous. I literally could write a novel about all the trouble she got into, or the things she ate. Once I was leaving to go to my parents house and I had got the car all loaded up. I only had to put on my socks and shoes, and put Kayla in the car. Before I knew what happened she grabbed both of my socks and swallowed them whole. My dad and I once had to drive her an hour and half to the closest animal hospital in the middle of the night in a thunderstorm on Christmas eve, because she swallowed a dish rag. A couple of years later we spent most of Christmas eve in an animal hospital because she ate a poisonous plant. The list of stories goes on and on. She was always getting into something.
It's been almost two weeks since her passing and I still miss her so much. My soul was just crushed that day. She was all of these things I said here and so much more. Most of all she was my best friend.
And now she's gone...
