I lost my humans last night.

My name is OliPants

I'm a 7-year-old King Charles Cavalier Spaniel.

I lost my humans last night at around 10:45.

I fought so hard... for so long.

To a greater or lesser extent, all us Cavaliers have heart problems.  Our heart issues are genetic and a result of massive inbreeding.

I had been in congestive heart failure for two years and I have been on 4 medications that had to be given to me in different amounts 4 times a day.

My heart expanded when one of my valves began to fail.  Fluid began to back up in my lungs... I was breathing as much as 70 times a minute... for hours. Yesterday morning, I was in pretty bad shape, so my dad human took me to the emergency room.

They tried everything.  I was so tired... and so confused... what's happening to me?  Why are they hurting me with those needles?  Where are my humans?  Have they abandoned me?

I wish they were here.  I wish they could hold me.

They can't tell me what's going on because I've been deaf for several years.  When I could hear, they'd say things like "he's as dumb as a box of rocks."

And they'd also day "he's the best dog ever, THE most loving animal they have ever seen!"

I wish I could hear them tell me I'm a "gooboyyyy" like they did when I COULD hear them.

I wish I could go home and play with my buddies... Daisy and Minnie.

I am so tired.  It's so hard to breathe.

What is happening to me?  I used to be so strong.  I could chase the ball for hours and run and play and bark.... man, could I bark.

It's been hours in this oxygen cage.  They've stopped giving me needles... All of that and none of it made any difference.

I want to go home.  I want to play with the laser again. I LOVED playing with the laser.  Daisy and I could do THAT for hours, too.

Was it only 5 days ago that we played with it last?

My dad human had slowed that down quite a bit over the months... so it isn't like it was... I'd hang out in his office, usually sleeping... hoping that he'd play... it got to just a few minutes a day, but I loved that... and I want to go home.

Hey... what's this?  ALL of my humans are here!

They DIDN'T abandon me!  They LOVE me!

The doctor human is talking to them... they don't look happy.

We're going into a new room... a different room.  It looks like a living room.  My dad human is holding me now... and tears are rolling out of his eyes... why is he crying?

They keep that oxygen thing close to my nose.

I really like it when my humans hug me... but I have to get down and walk around a little bit. My dad human and his son-in-law human take me outside... good thing, too.  I do what dogs do out there.  It feels so good to be outside.  I'm breathing so fast.

It's getting hard for me to stand, now.  My dad human picks me up and carries me back inside.

He sets me back down in the room.  The doctor human comes back in and my humans talk with her. The tears are falling more freely now... why are they sad?

They all pet me.... and I'm so sleepy.  That last shot must have been to make me sleepy.

I walk over to underneath a rocking chair, just like at home.  I lie down.  My eyelids are so heavy. The humans talk some more. Two of my humans have to leave so now it's just me and mom human and dad human.

As I relax, my dad human gets down on the floor next to me and I feel him petting me.  I go to sleep.

I wake up a moment later as my dad human picks me up and puts me in his lap, like he's done hundreds and hundreds of times before.  The doctor human comes in....  Tears flow freely from my humans now.  Mom human is talking to me.  I can't hear her, but I know what she's saying as her soothing hands pet me.

"Everybody loves Oli... he's a gooboyyyy."

It feels so good to be in dad human's lap again.  I feel his hand holding my chest.

I go back to sleep. 

RainbowBridge.com

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.
           
When a doggy leaves his human family, he goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the dogs who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor. Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The dogs are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss their human family, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent. His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

Author unknown... 

George G. Vest: US Senator from Missouri

Gentlemen of the jury: The best friend a man has in this world may turn against him and become his enemy. His son or daughter that he has reared with loving care may prove ungrateful. Those who are nearest and dearest to us, those whom we trust with our happiness and our good name, may become traitors to their faith. The money that a man has, he may lose. It flies away from him, perhaps when he needs it the most. A man's reputation may be sacrificed in a moment of ill-considered action. The people who are prone to fall on their knees to do us honor when success is with us may be the first to throw the stone of malice when failure settles its cloud upon our heads. 

The one absolutely unselfish friend that a man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him and the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous is his dog.  

Gentlemen of the jury: A man's dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground, where the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only he may be near his master's side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer, he will lick the wounds and sores that come in encounters with the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince. 

When all other friends desert, he remains. When riches take wings and reputation falls to pieces, he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journey through the heavens. 

If fortune drives the master forth an outcast in the world, friendless and homeless, the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him to guard against danger, to fight against his enemies, and when the last scene of all comes, and death takes the master in its embrace and his body is laid away in the cold ground, no matter if all other friends pursue their way, there by his graveside will the noble dog be found, his head between his paws, his eyes sad but open in alert watchfulness, faithful and true even to death.