From Mamma: I had a strange and special thing happen to me today. I started my new job as a dog groomer at a Vets office earlier this week and they asked if I wanted to learn how to be a Vet Tech while I was there & wasnt grooming, so I said of course! Today was my first day training as a Vet Tech and I was learning interesting things, and helping the Vet, looking into a microscope, pressing buttons, answering the phone, and handing things to the Vet -- you know, important Vet Tech stuff! All day long there were dogs & cats & dogs & dogs & dogs and then there was a guinea pig! This sweet guinea pig was pretty sick. He had been in there before for lumps in his neck & more lumps under his front legs. The guinea pig had lymphoma - cancer - and it had gotten worse. The Vet & the owner made the tough decision to euthanize. Me, the Vet, & guinea pig go into the surgical room & I hadnt ever been in there before so Im being shown the equipment and what it does and shown how to use it. As is protocol, the animal is humanely anesthetized before any injection is given so there is absolutely no pain whatsoever at all felt -- nothing at all, the animal is completely asleep as if it is about to have surgery. So, as I am helping to hold & calm the guinea pig, I start petting it, holding the little anesthesia mask, petting it, my eyes well up with tears and I immediately think, Thank you, Lucia. I never could have done this to you. *Sidenote: What I never posted on here, (as Im a pretty superstitious person), was that the original plan was that the day Lucia passed, the doctors were going to have their conference call which was basically going to be the three of them saying that she wasnt going to survive, make her comfortable for the ride back to New Orleans. Charlotte and I had talked about it at length and I know I was hell-bent on her: #1. Not dying alone #2. Not dying suddenly without me #3. Not dying in pain #4. Being put to sleep here, in New Orleans by her, with both of us there. Now I want to be perfectly clear here. The guinea pig did not suffer. The guinea pig was not in pain. The guinea pig went down by the strict standards and completely humanely. The reason I am telling this story is because I need everyone to know that Lucia KNEW. I was rushing to get there to her so I could bring her home to die in peace surrounded by the people who loved her most and in my arms, but I could have taken a helicopter, a jet plane, sat on a ray of light to get to her and she still would have gone before I got there. She KNEW she had to go before I got there. Because while I held it together in that room, when I walked out of there I really needed to take a few minutes to myself because if things had gone the way that Charlotte and I had planned it, I dont think things would have gone as planned. There is absolutely no way on this Earth I could have handled watching my sweet angel baby die in my arms. I dont know why I thought I could. I mean, for heavens sake, when they walked in the room and just TOLD me she had died I hit the floor sobbing uncontrollably... what in the world made me think I couldve handled something so much heavier than just hearing that she died?? The guinea pig did not suffer, was not in pain, went down by the strict standards and completely humanely and peacefully and Lucia would have gone the same way theoretically, but Lucia knew I wouldnt have been able to handle it. God bless that little dog, she knew. It hasnt even been a week and a half and Lucia is STILL helping me. And the fact that I got offered a job in a Vets office and offered to be trained as a Vet Tech -- just the fact that Im a certified dog groomer and I was training dogs last year -- NONE of that would have happened or have come CLOSE to happening without Lucia having been in my life. Lucia has totally changed my life for the better in the past two years, and is still working her magic. When things get easier for me, I plan on writing a little blog/note about Lucia and how she helped me and changed my life and the lives of those around me. If you have any stories youd like to share, start thinking about them -- I would love to read them in the comments of the blog when I write it and I would love for other people to know how many lives Lucia helped/changed/effected as well. Id like to be able to look back on days when Im missing her a lot and read wonderful stories about my sweet Lucia and remember that in her short almost-two-years with all of us, she had such an amazing impact, because she really did.
Posted on: Sun, 25 May 2014 06:03:47 +0000
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