Struno

Where do I begin.....Two days ago we lost our best friend unexpectedly. He was black, white and brown with long ears and a bright smile. He was always there when we came home and always by our side when we cried. He loved our daughter, he loved his brother, Wrigley (our other dog), and he loved us unconditionally. His howl was the best and his sweet spirit just melted my heart. I would give anything in this moment to have him back, I miss you already Struno.

The past couple weeks we had been noticing that Struno (our Basset Hound) was under the weather. He stopped eating and eventually stopped drinking about 4 days ago. Monday night while Ben was at work, Addy and I took Struno to the emergency vet. I thought going into the vet that they would give us meds and send us on our way but that is far from what happened. They ran every test and as the vet bill kept getting higher and higher, I kept getting more  frustrated. Ben finally arrived and sent me home with Addy. Shortly after leaving, I got a call from Ben that the doctor's felt it best to put Struno to sleep. He was very ill, not breathing well along with so many other things going wrong. I called my mom to come watch Addy so I could go be with Ben. I screamed and yelled and cried as I drove back to the vet. Why him? Why now? We were at the vet until about  10pm when we gave the ok to let them put him to sleep. We said our goodbyes and our hearts began to break....We know he was in pain and this was the best for him but it wasn't the best for us...I miss him...

As I write this tears just flood my eyes but this dog has been apart of our family for almost 7 years. His actually 7th birthday was today so he was just shy of being 7. We have so many good memories of Struno but right now they are hard to find as we cope with losing him.  He was a gift to me from Ben right after we got married. He has been with us as we bought our first house, bought another dog, had a baby and much more.

Our hearts have fallen apart this week and we both are struggling to get through losing him. I think because it was such a shock and so unexpected it hurts even more. Addy keeps asking where Struno is and she now tells us "He is with Jesus." And for now I am happy to believe that is where he is.

We thank you all for your kind thoughts, prayers, calls, emails and texts. I know it will get easier but right now, mommy and daddy have broken hearts....I miss my Struno....I know the Lord will see us through this and we have faith he will heal our broken hearts. We are still also thankful we have a sweet other dog, Wrigley that is here with us still.

My sis-in-law, Amanda sent a beautiful quote so true.....

“A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.” -Josh Billings (1818-1885)