Sam

Rebecca, Sam is eleven and a half years old, so perhaps some of his illness is due to his age.
When we first arrived in Peterborough back at the end of May, Sam had an 'event', in which he kind of fainted, and was out of it and sick for a few days. I took him to my vet in Trenton because that's where they have his records etc.

One of his lungs looks completely white, and the vet could not give a totally accurate diagnosis without doing a lot of very expensive and dangerous tests Something called a lung wash.
She said it could be tumors (cancer), and that the lung wash would give them a better idea. Since it would endanger him even more I declined.
The other thing it could be is a fungal infection which he may have picked up in Kansas, or he could have 'blown a clot' in his lung.

He was a really sick little dog. Then the Doc. suggested this Chinese herbal remedy, which she orders from Edmonton, and he began to bounce back in an amazing way. The thing is all this is just to help keep him comfortable, as there really is no cure, a fact that she reiterated again today.

It makes me so sad. I don't want to have to make that final decision, and he's not there yet, but I am also nervous if he goes into severe respiratory distress in the night.

So I trust the Lord who gave him to me in the beginning, will see us through the end as well.

Those of us who are pet lovers know that when we decide to commit to the responsibility of a pet, the time will come when we will inevitably grieve their departure. We know the pain of this, but we willingly take the risk of loving them unconditionally anyway, because the joy we experience from life with these little guys pales in the face of the grief.

Sam has been with me since he was five weeks old, and has been used by God to help me keep my heart soft during some of the darkest days of my life when love for him was all I was certain of.

I have learned that pain reminds me that my heart, though breaking, is at least alive.
Yep...God picked the perfect little puppy for me, and I will always be thankful.