Every time I thought about making this post, the grief would set in and I'd avoid it for another month.
Mia's health started showing sudden visual decline in early October. It started with a lack of appetite. Since she needed her annual exam and vaccine updates anyway, we spoke to the vet about it. All they said was to keep monitoring it, and if she didn't improve in a few days to schedule a follow-up appointment. Extremely dismissive of our concerns.
I wish we had been more insistent.
No improvement, made the follow-up appointment. And then her breathing got bad. Labored. Waiting didn't feel right. So we took her to the emergency pet clinic. Hours of waiting. Wringing our hands. Hoping. Praying. They call us to a room. It's the same one we said goodbye to Levi in. They don't look happy.
Tumor in the liver. Several small nodules in the lungs as well. They don't know how much time she'd have left. Maybe a few months at most.
We chose to just try to make her as comfortable as possible for the rest of her life. The pawspice was a horrible roller coaster of emotion. We put on a brave face in front of Mia. We held each other and sobbed as she slept.
Turns out all she had left in her was another week. I wouldn't trade that week for the world. I would have given anything for even one more day with Levi.
Mia passed on October 22nd. Five days before the anniversary of her brother's death. So close together in every regard, til the very end.
I'm not a spiritual person, but I like to think that maybe Levi's spirit returned to help guide his sister.
It's May now. Time has made things easier. I've adjusted to the empty house, with no one to trip over when I come home from work. But even now, finally writing this, I'm choking up.
We feel we're both at a point where we're ready to possibly get a new dog. But there's never going to be another Levi or Mia.
I miss you so much, babies. Thank you. Thank you for the time I got to know you. To love you.
"Where the flowers still grow, that's you in my life" -Kimberly Freeman
