Saturday, March 29, 2014

Love and loss...

Warning: LOOOOONG post---
life lesson first-art work at the end...
 
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I've been away from my blog for awhile now.
I've had my hands full with this girl...


 
and I need to share her story with you today.
When she and I first met
she was in a cage in our vet's office.
She had been abandoned at Paws Place
a local dog rescue
and brought to our vet`s office.
She was very friendly-rubbing and butting and meowing
at me through the bars.
I was drawn to her mainly because well,
she was a SHE
and I am a SHE surrounded by males
(we had 3 inside male cats at home not to mention our
outside male feral
and I didn't think we could take on another).
I saw her off and on for about a month.
Friendly as she seemed, she also had some sort of damage
to her left eye--it was cloudy but it clearly didn't stop her
from getting around.
I think that was part of the reason she wasn`t
quickly adopted.
One day I caved
and she came home with me.
We put her in a room by herself for starters.
We wanted to give her time to adjust.
But we got a surprise.
She was terrified of us.
She would not let me near her for a very, very long time.
When she finally did, she would often reach a point of panic
and strike out with claws bared with no warning whatsoever.
She was terrified of us-and of the boy cats.
She would run and hide.
I kept telling her all she had to do
was puff and hiss.
We put up a screen door so she could see all of us
and vice versa.
We knew she (like me....) had been abused.
Eventually,
she came to trust me.
And a good bit later, my husband as well.
The panic ceased.
She would sit with me and love and cuddle.
She would play and chatter at the birds.
I could bring her out next to me
and she would tolerate the boys.
She and Inky were friends
as long as there was a door --- or Momma--between them.
One day about a month ago
a mysterious lump showed up on her head.
I opted to watch it hoping it was simply a cyst that would reabsorb itself.
A week later, overnight, it doubled in size.
Surgery happened quickly.
The pathology report....not so fast.
And, when it did, sadly, it was not good news.
A rare form of cancer - T-cell lymphoma.
Little known about this disease.
While we were waiting,
despite our vet's  best efforts,
our girl declined rapidly.
And Wednesday of this week I had to make
an extremely difficult decision.
I could not let her suffer any longer
and we chose to say good-bye to our sweet girl.
Now, why do I share such a heart-breaking story?
Well,
in her last weeks,
she overcame the last of her fears.
She wanted to come out of her room....
she toured the entire house!
And she finally realized that
if she puffed and hissed
the boys would back off
and leave her alone!
She overcame.
She learned from us
that it was ok to love, to trust,
and to overcome her fears.
She won.
 
And, as Paul Harvey would say---
the rest of the story...
one person involved in dealing with her pathology report
shared that his one-year old daughter
has an inoperable brain tumor.
Just like our girl, Miss Dolly.
Coincidence?
Not on your life!
God-incidence?
You'd better believe it!
I do.
That little girl
will have a purrfect friend
waiting on her.
Thank you, Ms. Dolly
for the lessons you taught me
for the love you gave me.
You won't be forgotten!
You are truly AN OVERCOMER
 
 
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And, speaking of Overcoming...
here are some Easter projects I was working on last week-end





 
Until next time, as a fellow blogger used to say--
HUG THE ONES YOU LOVE
 happy stamping and scrapping.
Blessings,


1 comment:

Lara said...

So sorry to hear of the loss of your furry family member. She was finally able to enjoy a safe, loving home in her short life. I lost my dog buddy in 2010 and my other dog baby is 10 1/2 yo with a huge inoperable tumor. I will just love her until the day comes to say goodbye. Many cyber hugs to you. I do believe pets are wonderful companions who we humans are lucky enough to enjoy. Keep posting about your other kitties. My favorite are Bad Cat stories. ;) but what actually drew me to your site was the pretty crafty items, so keep posting that too! Thank you!