Off Topic: Update

A quick update.

First, I haven’t had a chance to respond to them, but I have read through all your comments about Choppy. They have been a real boost to my spirits – thank you all for posting them. I’ll get to responding and thanking all of you at some point, but for now, I did want to let you know that I am reading them and that I am blown away by all your kind words and love for Choppy. It makes it a little easier to know how loved she was and that she won’t be forgotten.

Second, because I am sure a lot of you are curious about what happened, I’ll give you a little rundown. Choppy’s surgery went well last Wednesday – the surgeon told me beforehand that Choppy seemed extremely healthy for her age. She ran her blood tests twice, and there was nothing that seemed off on them. The surgery went well, and Choppy came home early Thursday. She ate a little food Thursday night and some treats, but she wasn’t eating well, which was odd for Choppy – she LOVED to eat. Friday, she ate just a few treats, then Saturday, she ate some peanut butter but little else. We had an appointment at the vet Saturday. The vet said it wasn’t too odd that Choppy wouldn’t be eating after her surgery, so I tried not to worry too much. But then she got sick Saturday night, and Sunday, she wouldn’t even eat peanut butter. I called the vet, and he came in on Sunday to give her a painkiller shot, thinking maybe she was in pain and couldn’t eat. Choppy wanted to be outside after that, so we hung out mostly outside during the day – it was a really nice day for it. Eventually, it got cooler and we went inside, but she just faded away after that and passed away Sunday evening while I was holding her head in my lap. I am glad she had the painkiller, so at least I know it wasn’t a painful last few hours for her.

I spoke with the surgeon on Wednesday, and she didn’t really have any good idea what had happened. She thinks maybe Choppy had some underlying condition that the bloodwork and pre-surgery work didn’t turn up. It was good to talk to her – she seemed very upset to hear about what had happened. She clearly didn’t think that Choppy would have any issue with the surgery. She was also reassuring that there wasn’t anything else we could have done.

That’s it for now – I have a pre-scheduled “Where’s Choppy” post today, and I think next week I’ll get back to regular posting. It is nice to see Choppy’s happy face pop up – she may be gone, but just seeing her pictures brightens my days.