I Still Miss You Blast - One Year Later

[Guest JillinMichigan]

I was too upset before, and was only reading this forum at the time for advice to post a tribute to my bridge kid, Blast, who passed away from osteosarcoma one year ago today.

 

At first my husband and I thought we wanted a great dane, but we decided on a greyhound because of the research we did on the internet. Just before Christmas in 2000, we found a dog we wanted to adopt from Karen Gorman of Helping Hounds in Hartland, MI (she is no longer doing adoptions) that was brindle, I believe, but Tim went out to her place and Blast was there at the time. It was meant to be right from the beginning because he jumped up and put his paws on Tim's shoulders and gave him a few kisses. Tim then decided that he wanted to get Blast instead, of course. I went out the next day with him and Blast rode home shaking for awhile, but I pet him constantly to put him at ease.

 

Blast felt more relaxed at first with the crate to go into, but he was always food motivated. On Christmas Eve (about a week after he was at our house), he took a rather large cheese ball (the kind you would dip crackers into) from the hors' deouvres table, and brought it into his cage to have a good snack!! When he was weaned from the crate, we learned not to leave newspapers or other papers within reach because he would chew them up (luckily that was his only symptom of separation anxiety). The first picture I took of him was only 2 days after he came home and made himself comfy in our overstuffed chair that was to become his favorite spot to watch what was happening outside:

 

 

Tim wasn't going to let him up on the bed, but he was allowed on the couches. Well, that lasted about 6 months before, Blast was allowing us to share "his" bed with us. He got 3/4, while we were lucky to get 1/8 each on either side of him when he stretched himself out. Blast always stopped traffic wherever we went because of his coloring, everyone said how beautiful he was. A lot of little kids always asked if he was a dalmatian because of his coloring. We wouldn't know a lot of our neighbors as well as we do, if it weren't for Blast. He loved the cold weather & snow, but would need to take a break in the shade on walks in the summertime when it was too hot out for him (even if it was just around the block). About 2 years after we adopted him, a pet store opened up in the plaza 3 blocks from our home, so he became a "regular" there, of course. He got free cookies all the time, and all of the employees knew him by name. He also got his fair share of free chicken nuggets from the drive thrus around our house from time to time and in the summer got his own small vanilla dish from the Dairy Queen a mile away frequently. He also loved going to dog parks and always would get the little dogs going in kind of a Pied Piper fashion following him trying to keep up with him when he got his burst of running energy going.

 

In November and December of 2006, he started to limp and I brought him up to the vet clinic we regularly go to, and the younger vet who didn't have as much experience with osteosarcoma thought he had arthritis and just gave us a prescription for Deramaxx each time (I didn't know any better at the time, unfortunately). Anyway, at the beginning of January 2007, he yelped every step of his walk, and we went to the vet clinic again, and we saw a different vet who was much more experienced with osteosarcoma (she had a great dane who was diagnosed at 6 and lived to be 9 with amputation and chemo). She took an X-ray of his right front wrist and diagnosed it officially. We decided not to go the amputation and chemo route because he was 10+ years old at the time. Unfortunately, a couple of weeks later he was spinning circles in the snow because he was feeling so good, and his wrist got fractured. I thought he was going to have to be put down right then and there, but a different vet at our clinic (not the one who made the official diagnosis), said that it might be OK to manage it with pain meds. Well, we started on Tramadol and Deramaxx both then, and he was happy and able to get around for another 5 months. I don't want to hear that we were being cruel because he flew out of bed to go for walks or to have the chance to lay in the yard (in the shade of course) or to go for a car ride. He was spoiled rotten with people food the last 5 months. I knew it was time the last day, though, because he was not able to stand up then, and it was obvious his hind quarters had given out. Up until the last day, he had a healthy appetite and still had a good quality of life. Hopefully, I won't have to go through this again, but I would definitely consider the other approach (chemo & amputation with a younger dog).

 

I want to thank you Blast, for the 6 years and 7 months you graced our presence with your beautiful soul, patient spirit & wonderful attitude (even in the last 5 months). You are the reason we became charter members of the greyhound nut fan club (you all know what I mean - lol!!), and I will never ever forget you and will always have this picture of you chilling in the neighbors yard in my mind (this was taken a couple of months before he passed on):

 

 

 

[Guest vahoundlover]

As you remember your beautiful sweet boy. I hate cancer, it takes our babies from us and rips our hearts out.

 

 

 

[nyGreys]

:grouphug

[Guest Becki]

[patricia]

Thank you for sharing your sweet boy with us. May beautiful memories heal your hearts until you meet again. Blast is running with our Angels...fast and free and forever young and healthy.

[4greyhounds]

[Guest Vinnie]

That face we can see why you brought him home after he picked your dh. And the pix are beautiful. We definitely understand both the disease and this day - my eyes are still swollen from crying so much today. I can bet our boys are good buddies though. Hugs to you and dh and scritches to your gang too. Run free sweet Blast and make sure to keep our Angel Vinnie in line if need be, he needs someone to guide him until we all meet again.

[Guest Snowy8]

 

 

 

 

I hate cancer too....

Edited June 28, 2008 by Snowy8

[SAVED2]

Your boy looks just like our Frannie--see our Photo Album