Rose Cottage Ltd

It’s been a long week at Rose Cottage and not a good one. Monday I found out that the resident “dog-in-charge,” CoCo, has inoperable tumors. He will not get better. Tomorrow is his last day.

I think the surprise of it all has been the worst. Coco is just over 10 years old and I felt he was merely slowing down with age. Additional symptoms gradually appeared though and now, this disastrous news. I am devastated.

But, through the haze of trying to figure out what Rose Cottage will be like without CoCo, at least I know I am making the best decision for him. Would it have been easier for me if he just died in his sleep? Probably. But the best thing I can do for my little friend is to make the toughest decision for him to ensure he doesn’t suffer. My suffering is my own problem to deal with later.

It did make me think though about humans in similar situations. How hard must it be to have to decide when a person’s life should end? Some actually have to do this for others. It’s made even more impossible by last wishes not being made clear for friends and or family to follow in the event of catastrophic illness, accident, etc.

As much as I believe this is the only call to make for CoCo, there is still a 5% part of my brain that says there ought to be something else I can try or do that I won’t think of in time – to give him a few more years. What if these thoughts were about my mother or my sister instead of my dog? What if I had no clue what they’d want me to do? Who knows what I’d want done for me – or not?

So while mourning this loss of what is basically my child/dog, I’m going to start thinking about MY final days – and how to make sure someone doesn’t have to guess what I want should time and circumstance force the decision.