Tyson

I've been meaning to post this for awhile, but as usual, I can't seem to find the time these days... but our sweet Tyson lost his battle to cancer a few weeks ago on July 13th. It was unexpected and we were unprepared to say the least. In fact the vet had just told me days before he died that she was so impressed with his recovery from the bone cancer that took his front leg just a year prior. He had done remarkably well...chasing squirrels, climbing up and down our stairs on the deck, allowing the boys to climb all over him and ride him like a horse, still getting up EVERY day with me to go into the boys rooms as I woke them up from naps. He seemed totally normal to me and we thought he was on the road to recovery from cancer until we found him collapsed outside the night before Austin and I headed to Florida. After a quick visit to the vet before we headed out of town, the vet said she assumed he was having excessive back pain from his body working so hard to walk on three legs. She put him on pain meds and we thought we would just have to slow him down a little and not let him run around so much. Over the weekend while we were gone, my parents and Austin's parents noticed that he was no longer eating or drinking and once again he collapsed in front of my dad and his body began seizuring. When Austin and I returned, we noticed that his breathing was becoming labored and that he was wheezing. Austin headed out of town on the morning of July 13th for a few days of business and by that afternoon, Tyson had taken a turn for the worse. As I took him to the vet that afternoon, Braden crawled up into the back of my car to give Tyson a big hug and kept telling him "it's okay Tyson, I love you," my heart was literally breaking as I realized that he was really sick and that this may be the last time my sweet children will ever know this dog that has been by their side since they entered this world. I'll save you the details, but basically they found another tumor on Tyson's heart and fluid all over his lungs and his abdominal cavity....he was in pain...a lot of pain and the vet said we needed to put him down. So I called Austin (who thankfully was delayed at the airport in Knoxville) and together we made the decision to put him down. As I sat there alone, holding this dog that has been with me since I first married my husband, I felt broken, almost as if I was losing a child. To say goodbye to a pet that has been with us through all the ups and downs of the past nine years was devastating. My boys lost their best companion that day. When it was all said and done and I had to return to my house with an empty collar in hand, greeted by an innocent 4 yr old boy who kept repeatedly saying "where is Tyson Momma, is he in the car?" I found myself at loss for words. I couldn't contain my tears. As I held Braden's little body and felt him sobbing, literally broken by the depth of his loss and as I heard him moan over and over and over again, "but Momma, I miss my T," I felt helpless. I couldn't take his pain, I couldn't fix it, I couldn't make it better. That is a horrible feeling as a parent. All I could do was hold him and wipe his tears and tell him that I love him. I don't think I realized how hard it would be...maybe it's because I'm home all day long and I'm so used to having Tyson by my side all hours of the day, but it's been quiet and lonely and poor Braden will almost daily tell me that he misses Tyson. You can tell he is still grieving Tyson's loss as well. I'm thankful for the years we had with him and I'm thankful that he was such a huge friend to my boys. He will be forever loved!

This was taken the hour before I left to take Tyson to the vet...as you can see Braden was being so sweet to him. He even got out his doctor's kit and tried to "fix" Tyson -
Here is Tyson, as sick as he was, giving Braden one last kiss on the cheek. Poor Asher was asleep for his nap during all of this, so he never even got to say goodbye -
My last picture of Tyson -
Best buddies -