Molly is in the Hospital

Let me tell you a story about an Angel from the beginning.

In 2005 I was diagnosed with diabetes, and was told by my doctor to begin walking every day. I told Nita that I didn’t think I would do that unless I had a reason and a partner. Even though we had not had a dog for over 8 years I began to think that was the answer. Our son Chris and I went to the Nebraska Humane Society and began looking. I saw one I thought would be a good one and we asked them to hold her for 24 hours. Then I mentioned it to Nita. After all that time without the mess and responsibility of another dog, she was apprehensive. When we checked the next day, the dog had been adopted. Chris picked up the mantel and began talking to his mother and together they decided maybe I should have a dog. December 15th, 2005, Nita, Chris and I went back to the shelter and wouldn’t you know it, we found a beautiful White Labrador, who we named Traveller. He was just a year old, had some issues but was the perfect walking buddy for me. If I sat down in the evening he would come over to my chair and stick his nose under my arm as if to say, “come on we have to walk.” He even reported to my doctor on our progress in a letter. He could be the best of dogs and at times the worst, but we loved him. A few years later Nita decided she wanted a Caviler King Charles Spaniel to be her friend. So Cooper came to live. So we were once again living with both the joy and the restrictions that having pets we had to be available for, even when it was inconvenient.

Then in early 2014, Traveller started to have problems. Where before he would jump into the back of my Ford Explorer with no problems, he steadily became less able to move as he once had. When he started to lay down even to drink, one day, I took him to the Vet. He had been there for check-ups in the past, but this was different. The Doctor said he though he had a growth in his stomach. We decided it was best for Traveller if they did an exploratory surgery, which they did while I went home. It wasn’t long before we got a call from the Doctor. “It is worse than we thought. The growth has taken over the organs, he has maybe 2-3 days to live, but will be in a lot of pain.” We didn’t want that, so we agreed to have him euthanized. He preceded us to Heaven, and Nita and I cried in each others arms. It was very devastating to me, but we still had Cooper. However Cooper missed his buddy and mopped around the house and didn’t take me for walks.

One day Nita suggested we go to Nebraska Furniture Mart, because they were having a “Rescued Dog Event.” Nita walked into the area before I did, and petted a little Rat Terrier, then went to some other dogs. When I came in that little Rat Terrier jumped on me as if to say: “You must belong to the lady who noticed me, because I smell her on you.” And Millie who renamed Molly, jumped in my lap. This was amazing because she was afraid of men as, we assumed, she had been abused by her previous owner who was a drug dealer, as we heard.

Well that did it for me! We went through the process and Molly came to live with us. From day one she never wanted be away from me. From day one she slept in bed with us. She was the Angel God sent to comfort me. She loved to go places with Cooper and me, and she would lay on my right leg and the console, and look out the window as if what she saw mesmerized her. Cooper just laid down and slept. I thought Molly would out live me because Rat Terriers can live to be 20 years old or more. Then she developed cataracts in her eyes which kept getting worse over several months. That was when I wrote the blog about how she had taught us a lesson on living with trust in our Master.

Then last Sunday morning at about 3:15 AM she had a seizure, the another and another. One of us stayed with her and day and night, comforting her and holding her. early Monday morning I took her to the vet and they began tests and reported to us. What wonderful people! I stopped each day to see how she was doing, we talked often with the Doctor at length, the Thursday afternoon, Nita and I went in to see Molly and they brought her into a private room on a blanket as she was no longer walking on her own, so we could love her and stroke her. She seemed to be unaware of her surroundings, and was not responsive to us, then we left, with tears. I think we knew then. The Doctor call me later in the day and gave me his report and I asked what he would do if Molly were his dog. He said he would euthanize herto stop the suffering, but he said he would not object if we wanted to wait one more day, just to be sure it was the right thing to do. I said “Let’s wait till morning.”

At 6:45 AM this morning the Doctor called to tell us she had passed in the night. He said it was such a shock, because before he left last night, Molly had actually walked a bit, something she had not been doing. We talked, Nita cried, then told me she had cried before going to sleep last night.
I said Molly gave us one more blessing. She didn’t make us decide to end her life, she did it for us.

Molly I am sure you are in heaven waiting for us. I just want you to know how much we still love you, how much you blessed us and we look forward to the day you jump into our arms, again. Mom and Pa. 3/09/2018

2 thoughts on “Molly is in the Hospital”

Leave a Reply to https://waterfallmagazine.com Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.