Kissing Miss Bronzy For the Last Time
She would be like any other puppy, if not for those eyes that could talk.
Kissing Miss Bronzy For the Last Time
On Sunday 28 August 2011, We kissed Miss Bronzy for the last time. Miss Bronzy was our six year old golden retriever who left us with sweet memories of six golden years.
Miss Bronzy arrived at our home when she was two months old and got us at the first hello. She would be like any other puppy, if not for those eyes that could talk. One single glance was adequate to say "I want to be your friend", "Be kind to me, I'm scared" and even "You are my everything and I love you, and can I have some of that ice-cream". It didn't take me long to realize why my friend Arthur opined that his dog changed his life. Loving Miss Bronzy did not happen easily when the troublesome months arrived together with ripped apart clothing, shoes and Persian rugs totally ruined by urine. My wife Jannis kept talking about giving her up. After a long and painful period of coping with her troublesome years, Miss Bronzy was here to stay, as part of the famiy. Heaven knows, what a huge part, as we later found out when we were losing her.
Good time never lasts. In July this year, Miss Bronzy barely ate anything and started to fall for no reasons. One week later, she couldn't even stand up. Granulomatous Meningo-encephalitis was diagnosed. After five days of intra-venous immuno-suppressant therapy, our tough Miss Bronzy came home. I still remembered the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong dropped by 800 points the day she left the hospital, but I was grinning all day. Five days later, Miss Bronzy was re-admitted for bleeding into her hip joints, a complication of low blood counts caused by the immuno-suppressant. For two weeks, she battled with blood tests, intra-venous medications, transfusion, further complications and further tests. On 24 August, her doctor suggested that we should take time to say good-bye and let her go.
Jannis, the children and I held and petted her repeatedly. It was impossible to say good-bye. We finally suggested to Bronzy that it would be an indication that she would battle on for us if she could eat the yoghurt which we brought for her. She appeared too ill to eat initially but managed to finish it all once she got started. We sent for the on-call vet and asked her to continue active treatment, whatever it would take, to help Bronzy live. They transferred her to the Intensive Care Unit to get her ready for transfusion and chest drainage. We left just before mid-night for our dinner, feeling relieved that Bronzy was still fighting strong in spite of what her internist told us. Thirty minutes later, both Jannis's and my mobile phones rang. The veterinary hospital wanted us back immediately as Bronzy had aspirated some vomitus into her lungs and developed a cardiac arrest.
On Sunday 28 August 2011, We kissed Miss Bronzy for the last time. Four weeks later, I was still feeling the pain at 8am this Sunday morning. I remembered an old blog article of mine describing how writing could be effective healing for the soul in pain. I don't think I'm in the mood for any great writing. I don't care if this piece is a lousy one.
Bronzy, my true and faithful friend, thanks for the love, the excited welcome-homes and the kind glances.
