I write this with the very heavy and incomplete heart. It's makes one year today, February 6, 2006, that I had to let my Brinx go. I write this in honor of him and hope that this story will help others, like the other stories helped me.

 

 

In December of 1997, I was really sick battling a brain virus. I was in a coma for two weeks. I was told by my sister; during those two weeks my mother promised me if I woke up she would give me anything I wanted. When I woke up I asked for a dog. Nine months later I went to a local animal shelter and found Brinx; a 6-month old Rottweiler. It wasn't long after taking him home I felt a special bond, different than anything I had ever felt. He was soon number one on my list.  Everyday I was with him.

By mid-2004, everything is going great. My fiancée and I set our wedding date. We decide to have a house built on a nice size lot so Brinx would have a big back yard to run around in. In October of 2004, we took Brinx to our vet because he's front right leg was bothering him. Our vet gave us some medication to solve the problem, but two weeks later we were back. This time he took x-rays and noticed something. He called us later that day and told us to come in slightly before the animal hospital closed. We showed up and he warned us that what he found was not good, most likely it was osteosarcoma. That hit me like a ton of bricks, I was in shock. I went on thinking Brinx had sprained, bruised, or at worse broken his leg; but cancer didn't  even cross my mind. The vet said that there was a slight chance that it may not be, so we scheduled an appointment to have a bone biopsy done. The results came back -- it was cancer. We were devastated we cried until we ran out of tears, but we tried not to do it in front of him.

We next went to Tufts University Animal Hospital to see a specialist. The specialist told us the most common treatment for osteosarcoma is limb amputation and chemotherapy, that could give Brinx up to two years to live. If I decided not to do this he would have around 2 to 4 months. My fiancée is a RN at a hospital and has seen a lot of people go through chemotherapy and really didn't want Brinx to go through that. I found it a lot more difficult to come up with a decision. The most important thing to me was for him not to suffer, so I decided to keep him comfortable and give him pain medication as needed. He seemed fine we would go for long walks, we would wrestle, he would run after the Frisbee; things were good

Ten weeks later he started having problems breathing. We took him to the emergency center where they found fluids around his lungs. They took out the fluid and he was fine. Just to make sure, I took a week off of work to watch over him. About a week later he had problems breathing again so we took him to our vet. They removed the fluid around his lungs and gave us some medication to prevent it from coming back. A few days later the breathing problems came back and he wasn't eating. I knew this was bad he would never pass up a meal. We decided at that time we had no choice. We had to bring him to the emergency center since it was Sunday, it was the worst drive I've ever taken. I couldn't believe what was happening. I didn't want to do it , but I just wanted it to be over. Before I knew it -- he was gone -- my best friend.

The most important thing in my life was gone. I cried for months after he passed.  I still cry till this day.  I miss him,  but time does heal.  I'll never ever forget my Brinx.