Precious Beasley

As some of you know, our precious Beasley passed away on Monday. We are all still in shock. As you know he had surgery two weeks ago today to remove the metal plates in his back foot from his broken ankle and from his front shoulder/arm from the horrific gunshot. He had been doing amazingly well. We were so excited. He was walking and bearing more weight on his hurt side better than he had in 2 1/2 years. We were scheduled to go for his post-op check up and get his stitches removed on Monday. I was glad we had that appointment scheduled as he became sick to his stomach Sunday morning. 

About 3 am Sunday, I was up feeding Jason and Beasley threw up in his crate. We didn't think too much of it other than that he must have had an upset stomach from his medicine. When we got home from church Sunday I was able to get him to eat some chicken and rice. He still didn't do much Sunday, nor was he supposed to. He was supposed to be in his crate for 3 weeks. You could tell his tummy was upset a little but still didn't think too much of it. About 9 pm Sunday I was finally able to get him to come out and lie beside me in the living room and drink a little water. Well he threw up the water and the chicken and rice from earlier in the day. At this point I was really glad we were going in the next morning, though we still didn't think anything serious was going on. Monday morning, we headed to Montgomery for the appt. He was so puny, but he hadn't had anything to eat the day before so we still didn't think too much of it. I really thought he may just have a stomach bug or something. We decided to leave him there for a little bit and let them do some blood work and x rays to see if they could figure out why he was sick. I expected to leave him for about an hour. 

The vet called about an hour later and said that everything came back normal but he was dehydrated so she ran a catheter to give him some fluids. We decided to just let him stay overnight and Trey could bring him home Tuesday so that he could get plenty of fluids and get back to feeling great again. I just knew that would do the trick and the vet agreed. 

Then the call came about 5 pm Monday. The vet said that things had taken a sudden and drastic turn. Beasley had a seizure about 20 minutes prior to the call but they were able to use the defibrillator and revived him. At this point she noticed that his blood sugar had bottomed out and then she found that fluid had filled his abdomen and it was infected with bacteria. She said there was not much of a chance for him to make it through, but the only chance was to do emergency surgery on his abdomen. Even still there wasn't much of a chance. We, of course, told her to go ahead. A short time later she called and said that he passed. Twice they had to use the defibrillator during the surgery and the second time they just couldn't save him. 

She said they went back over everything to see if there was something they had missed somewhere. Maybe cancer, maybe an ulcer, anything. There was nothing. Everything was normal, and the x rays were taken in the afternoon, that's how sudden this came on.

I know this is long, and very detailed, but I just want you to know how sudden this was. It just came out of nowhere. We are very upset, obviously. But at the same time, we know that we did absolutely everything we possibly could have done for him, just as the amazing doctors and nurses did. We don't have any "what if's" because there just wasn't anything else that could have been done for our precious Beasley. He was under the best care absolutely possible. He was AT the vet, not at home. He had an ace for a surgeon. I cannot express to you how awesome she is.  And she loved him too. Not only am I grateful that he wasn't at home when this happened because he died, but because I know that he got the best shot at survival because he was there. They jumped on it right away. Poor baby just couldn't fight anymore. He had been through so much over the past couple of years. We just knew that this was the end of all of the bad and he was going to be around for the kids to grow up with. There has never been and will never be another dog so perfect. Especially for kids. 

Everyone that knew Beasley loved him. Even people that don't like dogs. They liked Beasley. He was a living, breathing Clifford, The Big Red Dog. There was just something about him. We just can't believe he is gone, but we have so many amazing memories over the last 7 years with him. (Next Friday would have been his 7th birthday)  He was such a happy, friendly, outgoing, sweet dog. We are going to miss his wiggles and kisses for sure! Did you know that he won the Valentines Day kissing contest at PetCo one year?! Yep! I could go on and on about all of the memories we have with him, but this has probably been long enough as it is.  Maybe we can do that for another post...his birthday perhaps? There is really no way to ever explain what a hug part of our lives he was and how much we have been through with him. But those of you who have kept up with the blog probably have a good idea already. 

Here are some of my favorite pictures of sweet Beasley, through the years, in no particular order. 

We will always love you Beasley. You were so special to so many people. But I know that you are running around Heaven with your mom, Daisy, and Bo (Trey and I's first dog together). And when we are able to get what's left of your physical being, we are going to let you have one last long leap off of this dock! Just like you would want. You sure did love swimming and leaping!!! 

We love you Beasley!!!