In a previous post, I was worried about our dogs and suspecting that I was catastrophizing as well.

This week, we got good news and bad news. Rose’s ACL is not torn so she’s on a course of pain meds to manage her limp and get her back to tip top shape.

Unfortunately, the news about our dear Lizzie was not so good. She has liver cancer and there’s nothing to be done except to make her as comfortable as possible in these last days. She’s gone downhill very fast, so our home is mostly closing ranks and going introverted to spend as much time as we can with her. We will be putting her on steroids to help her comfort levels, but our time with her is likely to be cut very short.

We love this gal with all our hearts. She’s my first dog. I couldn’t have asked for a better one. We only got 2.5 years with her, but we made sure those were the best 2.5 years of her life. My heart for rescue stands strong, as I draw on the resources of our rescue organization to talk me through the tough decisions of these last days. They’ve been a great help and comfort. The most beautiful advice I have heard in the last 24 hours from the owner of our rescue is “make her last days her best days, and let her go a day early rather than a day late.” If it happens she goes on her own terms, we would be relieved. Otherwise, we will carefully listen to her and support her when the time comes.

I’ll be honest, my greatest regret with old Coco was that we didn’t let him go sooner. But he was Mr. Ink’s dog, and it wasn’t my decision to make. (And we did make his last days his best days, we feel comfortable with that decision.) I hope to be able to make a better decision for our Lizzie, one I can look back on with confidence rather than worry.

It’s tough to have been in our home for only 4.5 years but to have to suffer the loss of a treasured dog twice in this short time. But we wouldn’t give up our time with her for anything. As all treasured dogs are, she is The Best Dog.

I will still be posting my makeup advent calendar posts this month. But I am really not feeling it, nor am I feeling blogging in general. So if I go quiet, that’s why. We’ll be over here doing our very best with the hand we’ve delt and I’ll be back at it when I am feeling more up to it. Thanks for understanding!