O/T: Remembering my Yorkie, Xi'an, who just went to the Rainbow Bridge... :(

LuckyPeach — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 02:34:49 GMT

Some of you may recall over the past few months I have been posting about my beloved Yorkie, Xi'an (she-ahn), who has been suffering from terrible abscesses on her head and cheek due to a Bordetella vaccine reaction after staying at our Vet's office while I was on a climate change science mission with DH in the Arctic Circle.

Many of you posted such supportive thoughts and prayers, thank you. If you'd like to see her, here's the directions to her page, which is still on the rescue site where we found her. 1) go to TanyasInc dot org 2) Upper right click on ANIMALS 3) Left side, a bit hard to read, click on SUCCESSFUL ADOPTIONS 4) Click on "N" for the alphabet listings 5) Scroll down page one and on the lower right, you'll see NEXT PAGE which you can click on 6) Page two, second pet down is NANA and click on her photo 7) Then you can scroll down her page and see all the photos and info.

By the end of September, she seemed to be on the road to totally healing. No more visits to the vet to have her wounds debrided and no more pain. All the conventional meds and alternative meds had done their job. Her facial fur was mostly grown back and she was back to being her feisty, bratty, wonderful self. So, I made the decision to move her back to hard kibble.

After a few days, it seemed her pain had returned. My research shows that this vaccine actually doesn't work and can permanently alter a dog's immune system. It was definitely attacking Xi'an. A few days after that out of the blue, her right cheek was bleeding and the abscess returned; then the second and worst one above her right eye, only this time it was twice as big. DH and I couldn't believe it! We thought we had beaten the vaccine reaction. If it was possible, Xi'an seemed even more depressed than we were.

So, it was back to all of the same regimens and to the Vet for more debriding. This time, her wounds were very slow to start healing, but we didn't give up. Her fur on the non-wound shaved areas wasn't responding as quickly either. We thought it was going to be a longer road back to health this time.

Finally, about a week ago, Xi'an was no longer wolfing down her food in record time, as she had always done. By last Sunday, she started to reluctantly eat, then only accept hand feeding and a couple of days ago, more forced feeding. She became wobbly and we set her up so she could sleep next to me. This meant little sleep for me because I didn't want to injure her little 4-pound self, though I could tell it was very comforting for her.

Wednesday, Halloween, she seemed to be rebounding: taking more steps, eating better, doing her business. DH and I were very hopeful.

But Thursday, she slid backward and could barely stand and eat and this got worse as the day progressed. I stayed by her side and watched her labored breathing. Finally, about 4:30 PM, I just blurted out how much DH and I loved her and that she did her best and needn't try anymore.

She weakly lifted her head and started breathing in short bursts that sounded just like the word: "Yeah." I told her it was perfectly fine for her to go to the Rainbow Bridge and wait for us. She breathed, "yeah." I told her that we'd be looking for her and we'd find her some day. Another, "yeah." This continued as I shared with her all she meant to me and DH.

Then, she looked at me sweetly and there was silence. She passed away at 4:54PM.

I sobbed like a baby, and finally called DH to come home right away. He made a space for her in our back yard Peace garden which sits under an orange tree and has a stone Buddha perched on an Oak stump I had carried to California from Illinois. It is also marked with a stone with the word "Peace" carved in it. Xi'an joined our first Yorkie, Paris, who rests there. She is wrapped in a well-worn Art Institute of Chicago tee I had been wearing and several yards of beautiful lace tied into a neat bow. We will be missing Xi'an until we can meet her again at the Rainbow Bridge. ~Peach

topic O/T: Remembering my Yorkie, Xi'an, who just went to the Rainbow Bridge... :( in Jewelry

O/T: Remembering my Yorkie, Xi'an, who just went to the Rainbow Bridge... :(