Of life and death: The story of Hannah and Trooper

[Clark2008]

June 8, 2007 started out as a wonderful day. My little Hannah was born at 7:49 a.m. tipping the scales at 8 pounds 11 ounces. She's a perfectly healthy little girl with a head full of dark hair, gray-blue eyes (that will change, I'm sure) and the cutest, chubbiest cheeks imaginable.









The surgery went remarkably well and I was in and out in less than 30 minutes - the mother of a precious baby girl.

As the day wore on and we were checked into a room for a weekend stay to recover, my husband went back home to feed the dogs and let them out. When he got to our home at about 7 p.m., he discovered that our dog, Trooper, who has been very ill with oral cancer, was bleeding all over the house, disoriented and shaken.

He tried to bathe him and medicate him to stop the bleeding, but the tumor was hanging out of his mouth and could no longer be shrunken back in with medication. So, at about 8 p.m., he called my room to ask what he should do. Holding a new life in my arms as she nursed, I had to make the decision to take the life of my oldest and dearest companion. I could not stand to see him suffering, even though I couldn't, literally, see him. Gavin had to take my poor baby to the after-hours emergency vet and have him put to sleep - he was in such bad shape, this vet's office, which normally charges outrageous fees, waived the euthanasia fee since he was dying on the spot. At 9 p.m., on what was the happiest day of his life, my husband was digging a grave in which to bury our old man.

It still hasn't all hit me, yet, but I'm sure God (or what ever power) planned for Trooper to hit his worst moment at a time when I literally could not see it - could not see his suffering - and would be numbed by medication so that the pain of losing him would not be so great. I knew the morning we left to go to the hospital, when he wouldn't get up to take breakfast, that his days were numbered. In fact, I knew he wouldn't last the weekend and told my husband so.

So, here's to Trooper and Hannah. The cycle of life continues: