Her Final Chapter

Our sweet Maya is no longer with us. We had to put her down 2 weeks ago. A new tumor had appeared on her side. It was very hard and growing fast. It appeared to be another aggressive fibrosarcoma, just like the one on her leg. We took her into the vet and it was determined surgery would have been very easy to remove it. However, this cancer usually returns in the lungs so a chest x-ray was done. They found a large tumor in her lungs, the size of a fist. The only symptom we noticed at that time was she just wasn’t finishing all her meals. The vet estimated she had 2-4 weeks to live. This news was devastating.

We all spent time spoiling her, loving her, playing with her. She developed a little cough and one week after the news she started throwing up a lot. The throwing up went on for a full day. After that she stopped eating. We tried everything to get her to eat. We even blended up boiled chicken and rice and fed her by hand. She liked that for a few days but there came a point where she started refusing that too. She was still happy and sweet but she quickly started losing stamina. She would be tired all the time but she loved being outside. Once we were outside she would find all this energy and run around, roll in the snow, chase a stick. Even after not eating solid food for a week, she still managed to find energy to play outside.

I had stopped force feeding her. I realized she was choosing not to eat and I was forcing her to eat for my own benefit. She knew what was happening to her. The tumor on her side got much bigger and angrier looking. During the last week of her life all these other little bumps started popping up. On her sides, her stomach, her legs, her neck. They were small but they all started growing. The cancer had spread everywhere. We had to make the choice to put her down while she was still happy and not in too much pain.

About 2 and 1/2 weeks after we found out we took her in to put her down. We played in the park beforehand. There were 6 of us in the room as well as her sister, all there to say goodbye. We gave her love and cuddles and cried. I knew this was the right thing to do but once they injected the medicine it hit me like a ton of bricks. And when the vet listened to her heart and said she was gone, we all just balled. This was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I kind of wished I hadn’t seen her pass but that is what she needed. She was an anxious girl who didn’t like being without us, so I’m very happy she passed knowing we were all there with her. We got her cremated and have her ashes in a beautiful box.

This picture is hard for me to look at. It was right before we put her down. But it comforts me to see how happy and beautiful she was.

I miss her greatly. She didn’t like it when I cried. She would come to me and lick all the tears off of my face. That made it worse mourning her for the first few days. I half expected her to be right there staring at me, wanting to comfort me, but of course she wasn’t so I would just cry more. Her sister Misty is getting used to not having her around. She is almost deaf and we realize now how much she relied on Maya to know what was going on. Without Maya, Misty doesn’t like to let us out of her sight and follows us everywhere. Adjusting to life without her has been a challenge for all of us.

I am so grateful to have had Maya in my life. And I am so grateful that we got to spend almost 2 more years with her after taking her leg. We went through a lot together with her leg. Nursing her back to health through her complications was hard but so worth it. I remember seeing the first time she could run again after her surgery and how excited that made her. She really showed me how special life is. She was the sweetest girl.

I’m sorry that stupid cancer got you in the end Maya, but I wouldn’t trade our life together for the world. I love you Maya and I will never forget the amazing impact you had on everyone. Rest in Peace my Maya.