This page is dedicated to our baby Sofia

November 16, 2002 to February 29, 2012

We miss you dearly.

Love Mom and Dad

 

Sofia was taken from us by Granulomatous Meningoencephalitis also known as GME. It is an inflammatory disease of the central nervous system in dogs. This inflammatory disease predominantly affects the brain and so 'encephalitis' is often used as a general term for inflammatory disease of the nervous system as it is with humans.

This happened so fast that it still does not seem real.

I am Sofias dad and she was a beautiful almost 9 1/2 yo Shih Tzu that was our life along with her brothers Charlie (Yorkie) and Bailey (Pekingese) and our daughters. Tomorrow March 3rd 2012 would have been 9 years with us. Her mom and I had to make one of the hardest decisions in our life this week. This all started a week earlier where the vet thought that she had a minor back injury. On Sunday 2/26/2012 she was just not right and it was more than a back problem. We brought her back to the vet Monday and then rushed her to the ER to see a neurologist. Our baby was admitted to the intensive care unit at the hospital on Monday, diagnosed with GME Tuesday and started on meds. She came down with pneumonia Wednesday and meds had to be switched

We were with her every day including Wednesday morning and were driving back to see her that day. We were 20 minutes from the hospital when the doctor called us saying that she had a seizure and was very bad and was now suffering. We wanted to be with her, but had to make that difficult decision over the phone to end her pain since she would not last till we got there without additional pain. I know that she was so scared at those final moments and we wanted to be with her to comfort her but did not want to prolong her suffering. Our baby died at 5:20pm Wednesday 2-29-2012. We were with her every day morning and night and have always got her the best possible care that was available.

The moments I miss:

• I would call her my "pretty girl" and my "princess" - her eyes lit up and her tail would wag with excitement.
• I would say the word "shower" - she would get so excited because she loved to lick the water that splashed to the edge of the shower.
• Saying "time for bed" she would jump up and snuggle with me in bed as we fell to sleep.
• From across the house she would hear the drawer with her leash open and come running with excitement.
• She loved everyone and greeted everyone with excitement, never having a grouchy day.
• When she would get sick she loved even more attention and would want us to hand feed her. Sometimes I feel she was playing us because she loved the extra attention and we loved giving it

I am missing all of those moments and the many others we shared. I was so dearly hoping for more time to share with her and show her even more how much she was loved.

Right now trying to think of all the great moments we shared together is being overtaken by the grief which is so difficult. I know deep in my heart she is no longer suffering and I miss her.

Even just writing this is taking me forever with the tears in my eyes. I have to stop writing.

We will always miss you my "pretty girl"

Sofias Dad

 

Update May 23, 2012 - When our baby passed away, we made the hard choice to have an autopsy done to not only confirm the diagnosis, but more so, hopefully help the medical community better understand better understand this disease to help other dogs.

We just got the results and it was confirmed to be GME. In fact the report specified that it was very advanced. They also confirmed that she did have Pneumonia, which started when she was in the hospital being treated. There was also an unrelated benign tumor on her adrenal gland.

 

At Tufts Veterinary Hospital the morning of her last day - 2-29-2012