Spike's Last Days

About Christmas time, we could see that Spike was really taking a turn for the worse. He had lost all his vision in one eye, and didn't do real well with the other eye. He seemed to have trouble with one of his legs giving out on him. It really got hard to leave him because I knew no one would care for him like I did. The day we left for Israel I had a really hard time, I was very worried about leaving him. My only salvation was that Carissa and Kaylee would be with him. We had only been back from Israel a couple of hours when I realized Spike had a "growth" out the side of his mouth. My sister, Donna, was already here for the wedding, so she went with me to the vet. The vet and I have always compared notes on where we've been on mission trips and what's going on in our churches. The vet suggested it might be an abscessed tooth, or possibly a growth. With that, I held up my hand and stopped him. I told him we had gotten home from Israel a couple of hours before, I was exhausted, and my son was getting married in three days. I was in no condition to deal with any more information. He said we'd put him on an antibiotic and see if it cleared up. Even then, I knew. That night, my sister got the call that their dog had died. Timing. Two days later, Donna and I discovered a "mass" on Spike's chest. We had gotten home on Wednesday, found the mass on Friday. The wedding was on Saturday, and on Sunday morning we picked Joshua and Jen up at the hotel to take them to catch the bus for their cruise. Spike always went with me in the car, and I took him that morning, knowing in my heart he was saying goodbye to Joshua. Sunday night Marcia came over for dinner. Marcia and Gerald lived in Fort Myers early in our ministry and later moved to Tennessee where Gerald has his own vet practice. Precious friends. While I trusted our vet here, I never did anything without calling and getting Gerald's opinion. I had always prayed two things about Spike. One, that we would never have a life and death "decision" to make, and two, that when the time came, Gerald would be able to prepare me over the phone. Marcia had flown in for the wedding, and after we had dinner, I looked over and Spike was bleeding a lot from his mouth. I picked him up and tried to clean him up, Marcia got Gerald on the phone. My prayers were answered. Gerald, in his very gentle way, let me know that he suspicioned a very fast growing cancer. He suggested taking him into the vet the next morning and getting a chest xray to see what the mass on his chest was. My brother, Bob, and his wife, Renee' were also here for the wedding, and after Marcia left that night, we played cards or something. I really don't remember. I just remember Spike sat on my lap the whole time, ate pop corn, and wanted his nightly bone before bed. When we went to bed, we cuddled, as usual, and in the morning we did the same. I knew in the morning he was not doing well, and Cary called the vet right away. Before Cary and I could even get out the door with him, he was bleeding again. I showed the vet the mass we had found, and asked him if he had found it on Wednesday and just not told us. He said he had not, but asked if it had gotten bigger since I had found it on Friday. I knew it had. So, no chest xray was needed, and the vet told us he thought it was a fast growing melanoma. He said he probably only had another two or three days, but they would be with pain. There was no decision to make. Both prayers were answered. So, we called for the girls to come to the vet's office, Donna, Bob, and Renee' came too. He never left my arms, and everyone said their goodbyes. I still don't understand the timing. So much in such a short period of time. However, I know that God knew I needed all my family with me. We had done death together before and somehow it was comforting to know we were there together again. I am very thankful that the girls never suspected anything was wrong while we were gone, and that they were not forced to make a decision that would have been hard for all of us to recover from. God saw the whole picture and He provided everything we needed.