An Open Letter to Dr. V.
Dear Dr. Vancil and all the
staff at San Diego Veterinary Cancer Group,
Thank you so much for helping us have an unforgettable year-plus with our beloved Abby. I remember at our first consultation, I came in with a long list of questions scribbled on a sheet of paper. You answered every question before I even got to the list. At every appointment after that, you always took the time to make sure all our questions were answered.
We have absolutely zero regrets about going through with the amputation. Abby was amazing on three legs. People often stopped us at the beach, after Abby zoomed past or darted and dashed about, to say, "Wow, I didn't even realize she had three legs until she stood still!"
I know that with your help we did everything we could to give Abby a fighting chance. And what a fighter she was, living large for more than a year even with her lung mets. Near the end, she had metastasized cancer, three legs, hypertrophic osteopathy... and she could still run faster than me!
We can appreciate how very difficult your job is, seeing dogs pass from cancer on a regular basis. But we have you to thank for the wonderful and unforgettable time that we had with Abby. I hope you'll hang in there for a good, long time because helping families get extra quality time with their beloved pups is so very important.
Finally, I wanted to let you know that we did have a final few wonderful days with Abby. We went to the beach four more times; she ate steak, pork chops, Frosty Paws, bacon, and (her personal favorite) a Flying Dutchman from In-N-Out. On Tuesday, January 10th she started to have trouble breathing while taking a nap. We took her to Dr. Shaprut's office, where they always treated her like the Rock Star that she was. We said our goodbyes and thanked her for being such a special girl. She was still so happy, wagging her tail and eating venison jerky treats right up to the very end. She passed surrounded by love.
Thank you so much for helping us have an unforgettable year-plus with our beloved Abby. I remember at our first consultation, I came in with a long list of questions scribbled on a sheet of paper. You answered every question before I even got to the list. At every appointment after that, you always took the time to make sure all our questions were answered.
We have absolutely zero regrets about going through with the amputation. Abby was amazing on three legs. People often stopped us at the beach, after Abby zoomed past or darted and dashed about, to say, "Wow, I didn't even realize she had three legs until she stood still!"
I know that with your help we did everything we could to give Abby a fighting chance. And what a fighter she was, living large for more than a year even with her lung mets. Near the end, she had metastasized cancer, three legs, hypertrophic osteopathy... and she could still run faster than me!
We can appreciate how very difficult your job is, seeing dogs pass from cancer on a regular basis. But we have you to thank for the wonderful and unforgettable time that we had with Abby. I hope you'll hang in there for a good, long time because helping families get extra quality time with their beloved pups is so very important.
Finally, I wanted to let you know that we did have a final few wonderful days with Abby. We went to the beach four more times; she ate steak, pork chops, Frosty Paws, bacon, and (her personal favorite) a Flying Dutchman from In-N-Out. On Tuesday, January 10th she started to have trouble breathing while taking a nap. We took her to Dr. Shaprut's office, where they always treated her like the Rock Star that she was. We said our goodbyes and thanked her for being such a special girl. She was still so happy, wagging her tail and eating venison jerky treats right up to the very end. She passed surrounded by love.
Thanks again for everything.
A Fabulous Banner
In other news, Abby got her banner on the Tripawds.com site. Isn't it awesome?
The folks at Tripawds create the banners as a tribute
for active members whose dogs have passed. (With the exception of Queen
Nova - a Tripawd hero who has been kicking cancer's butt for three years
now! She is the one pup with a banner who is still with us. Long may
Queen Nova reign.) We love Abby's banner. It makes us smile (and get a little teary-eyed) every time we see it.The banners come up randomly, so you never know what pup you might see when you visit Tripawds.com. It's like getting a little hello message from our girl each time I go on the site and it appears. I plan to remain active on Tripawds. I want to pay it forward - helping the new folks on the site after so many people helped us there. I hope that folks will still find Abby's story inspirational, even though she is gone now.