Tribute

Today Lynne & I stayed home from work and talked about Buster. We agreed that we had to do something immediately so that he wouldn't die alone or in his sleep at night and so he wouldn't suffer, poor fellow. We decided to take him for the ultrasound in hopes that they might find an obstruction that could be removed or at least make a determination that it's a tumor.
Unfortunately, they found a tumor in the front part of his stomach that apparently was shutting down stomach functions. We were offered an expensive course of treatment that had, at best, a poor to moderate likelihood of success. It was also going to cost several hundreds of dollars just to see if the treatment should even be attempted. We consulted with Lynne's parents and I left the final decision up to Lynne. Early afternoon we faced the fact that we had to let him go. Dr. Tripti, his vet, agreed that this was for the best. I broke down and cried talking to the doctor when I told her that I had promised the kids that they could say goodbye if it came to this.
We went home and picked up the kids and drove back. We visited with Buster for probably an hour. We all went in and I'll have to say that Lynne did better than I did. Stephanie was obviously sad but only sniffled some. John blew his nose a couple of times but stayed in control. We had a nice time and shared little stories about Buster (when we first went to get him, how frisky he was, the times he escaped, how I used to always rub his back before bed, how he used to play with Lynne & John and run around in circles and wrestle with Lynne without hurting her, etc).
Then we all visited privately for a few minutes. After that, Lynne and I discussed the arrangements. I guess it was around 6pm when Lynne asked when they were going to do it. It was already done.
On the way home Lynne asked me if I believed in animal heaven and I said yes, I do.
See ya later, Buster.