November 4, 2009

We have heavy hearts today as we mourn the loss of our beloved gentle soul, Putter John Noll. We never knew Putter's birthdate, when he came into our lives he was a year to a year and a half. In all possibilities, his birthday could be right around now. He had to leave us much too soon, however, as he was only around 8.

Putter has had lymphoma for a while, we found right before Labor Day weekend. We were able to keep him with us much longer than anyone anticipated, and are thankful for that.

On Monday we had him in for a "Quality of Life" evaluation at teh vet, and while Monday was "not his time yet" we were assured that it would not be long, and we would just know. My biggest fear all along has been that his vet would not be the one to be there when the time was right, and, of course she was not. Yesterday afternoon, while on his daily walk, we noticed Putter was crying in pain every now and then. The rest of the afternoon was fairly uneventful, but perhaps that was because we were in and out of the house. By 8:00, the time for relaxation for Chris and I, Putter was in his usual position on our bed. He kept crying out in pain, and as we took him outside for the night, we noticed his suffering had definitely begun. It was nearly an impossible decision to make, but we knew it was time.