My dear Friends and Family,
Yesterday, 8/24/2011 I had to say goodbye to my sweet little Reuben.
During a two week hard battle with pancreatitis, after getting into some food, my wonderful Vet Team and I elected to have surgery on Reuben to see if his problems could be relieved. Unfortunately the surgeon found something unexpected. A mass or tumor the size of a baseball on his pancreas. He had been in so much pain and nothing could be done so I let him go.
My heart is broken.
Reuben was 11 years old but I only had 9 years with him. The day I went to meet him it was like he knew I was there to get him. He ran to meet me and was so excited that he crashed into my feet. On the drive home I had to tie him to the passenger side door because he kept trying to leap on my lap while I was driving!
He was as beautiful on the inside as he was on the outside. Between loving every equine, dog, cat or human that he met to chasing that horse toy ball around the yard like a manic, he lived life at one-hundred miles an hour.
But Reuben knew how to relax and snuggle too!
He would jump up out of a dead sleep if I said, "Let's go feed the Mules!"
He had a bouncy little trot most every were he went.
He went from an untrained stray on a friends farm, to a registered therapy dog with both Therapy Dogs International and later on Wake Med Hospital.
He loved to go and visit the patients and never ran out of love, giving or receiving.
How did he know that the older lady, he was visiting, meant when she said, "Give me some sugar!" that she wanted him to kiss her ears? Some how he did.
How did he draw a young teenage girl, who had not spoken to anyone since her accident, out of her shell?
He always brought smiles to the patients and nurses alike.
I was lucky to have him, some say he was lucky to have me.
Funny, Lucky was his name when I found him.
He had a huge heart of gold and my friend is horribly missed.
Many thanks to my wonderful and supportive Mother!
Dr. Creech and Dr. Peters-Creech at Eastern Wake Veterinary and
Dr. Galllagher at Veterinary Surgical Referral Practice
for their kindness and wonderful care of Reuben.
for their kindness and wonderful care of Reuben.
