Our Sweet Little Girl

It is with great sadness that I post this. Our sweet dog, Sunshine, died on October 24th. She was 7 years old. Last Wednesday, she was having difficulty breathing so we took her to the vet. Our local vet was able to determine that she had fluid around her lungs. They were able to pull some of the fluid off and did some tests. After a few days of tests we were referred to a large veterinary hospital nearby. Fluid analysis results did not look good for Sunshine so on Wednesday she had a small surgery to take a biopsy of her lungs. Her diagnosis was confirmed as Mesothelioma, a type of cancer that is very rare in dogs. By this time, she was effusing fluid at a very rapid rate; a rate too great to bring her home safely even for a short time. With little ability to breathe on her own without a chest tube to drain the fluid and and a prognosis of just a few days to live, we decided it was time. We had a special time together as a family at the hospital on Thursday night and on Friday morning Ami and I went to say goodbye. She died peacefully in our arms while we sang "You are our Sunshine" to her. In memory of her I would like to tell a little of her story.

In the spring of 2001, one of Ami's professors posted fliers for a dog who needed to be rescued from a bad situation. Ami brought one of the flyers home and showed it to me.

We immediately fell in love with our sweet little girl. When we went to meet her, she was wild. She playfully chewed on every arm in sight. We knew we could work with her and committed to take her home with us. I built a fence in our yard for her to stay in during the day and a few days later we went to get her. She was my constant companion for the first 1 and a half years as Ami finished graduate school. She went hiking, camping, and pretty much everywhere with us for the next 3 years. When Kiran was born she settled down like the rest of us and instead of weekend adventures in the woods, we took walks around town and played in the yard. Kiran enjoyed playing with her and she was great with him. Ellery too had a great time with Sunshine and they even shared a meal together from time to time (usually Ellery's food but not always). The past few months had been tough for everyone with my back injury and the illness and death of Ami's Grandmother and we really cut back on walking. But Sunshine was in good spirits and enjoyed playing with Ami, the kids, and me around the house and loved the occasional walks she took with Ami. She was truly happy until last week when she got very sick.

Sunshine is survived by her good friend Rocky (our cat). Rocky likes to sleep outside when it's warm, but in the winter they always shared a bed and they were great friends who got along amazingly well for a dog and a cat. Since the weather has turned colder, Rocky and Sunshine had a few nights together before she went to the hospital.

We will remember Sunshine as loyal and sweet to those who knew her well, patient and gentle with our children, and most of all a precious companion to Ami and I.





You are our Sunshine, our only Sunshine
You make us happy when skies are gray
You'll never know dear, how much we love you
We will love our Sunshine always