Ethel’s Passing

A few weeks ago (January 20, 2019), my baby girl Ethel, left this planet for someplace better. I’m not sure what the cause was, but I can say that after her last lung scan in November, her lungs were all clear and her oncologist was optimistic about her future. Sometime before Christmas, she began to having catatonic seizures, and had two in two weeks, one of which made her fall over sideways and seemed to stop breathing. Prior to this, she’d had a few seizures with convulsions. Anyway, I went home for Christmas and took her with me. All was well. The day she passed, things seemed ok. I got home from work and we went to the park. She had what I think was a short catatonic episode, and seemed really tired after that. We came home, and I tried to get her to come in the house by dropping a cookie in her bowl. She didn’t come in the house, so I filled her bowl with food. This prompted her to come into the house and she ate dinner. She didn’t seem to eat with her usual gusto, but she did finish her food. She went into the living room and laid down. I took a shower and went came downstairs. She’d moved to another spot in the living room, and had thrown up a bit. I cleaned it up and went to grab some dinner. I came back about 40 minutes later, and she was in the same place. I sat down on the floor next to her and began scratching her ears. She began to make a sound which sounded like snoring. I moved her closer to me and her body convulsed twice. She stopped breathing and that was the end. I began crying, and about 30 minutes later, wrapped her in blanket and took her to the vet. Her ashes are still there; I can’t make myself go pick them up. I’m not crying every day anymore, but miss her more than words can say.