Your True Tales
September 2004 – Page 1

Sparky is Still With Me
by Carrol

My dog Sparky, a little black and white trimmed Boston terrier had to be put to sleep June 22nd 2004 because he suffered from cancer and was very ill. He was 12 years old. In that twelve years, Sparky suffered through a lot of physical things. When he was four years old, a large dog nearly killed him. He stayed a week in the vet hospital, lost an eye, had liver damage, had most all of the flesh destroyed on one leg, had two surgeries just to try and repair all the damage. We thought for sure he wouldn't survive, but I took very good care of him when he returned home. He had to be carried outside he was so weak. But he was such a strong-willed, determined little fella.

As weeks passed, he got better and better. Over the next few years, he was bumped by a truck and was back in the vet hospital. Later, he had an anal hernia and had surgery for that. Came along fine. Then I noticed a kind of bump on the front of his gums. He had a couple of teeth worn off there so I thought that was why the bump was there, possibly an infection. So I took him to the vet. He examined him, said it was just a harmless tumor, and just bring him back should it get too large to interfere with his eating and he would remove it.

Months passed and it kept slowly getting larger, so I took him back to the vet. He was examined and x-rays done. The vet then tells me it is attached to the jawbone and the only thing he could do was remove half his jawbone. Well, a Boston terrier doesn't have much of a jawbone to begin with, so I said no way. Sparky has been through enough in his life, I refuse to make him suffer anymore. The vet said he didn't blame me because his tongue would always hang down and he would constantly slobber. I guess I will forever hold a grudge to this vet. Why didn't he remove the tumor when it was small? My baby might be alive today! Anyway, Over the next three years this awful thing kept growing. It got so large I had to feed Sparky with a fork by the side of his mouth. He would get so sick and vomit, stay sick for a couple days, then get right back to normal for awhile. First he might go a month without getting sick, but the last few months he was lucky to get a few days in.

Sparky and I were so very close. He went everywhere I went. The day came when I just couldn't stand seeing him suffer any longer so I made that final decision to put him down. It has been the hardest thing I've ever gone through. The pain of no longer being able to hug him, to have him lying by my side, it is just heartbreaking.

The first week after he died, I heard him scratching at my bedroom door, just like he use to so I would get up in the mornings. My husband also heard it. Then, one evening I had been outside helping my husband with yard work and came inside for a bottle of water. As soon as I closed the door and came into the kitchen I heard that familiar thud sound of Sparky jumping down from the chair he always lay in. I wasn't even thinking of Sparky when this happened and I didn't imagine it either. A few mornings later, my husband heard the same sound.

But it gets better. A few nights ago I went to the kitchen to get a bottle of ear drops to put in my husband's ear before going to bed, and as I was leaving the kitchen and entering the living room, I had been looking at the bottle in my hand and just glanced down and directly in front of my feet there was a dark figure the size of my little dog scurrying by and just disappeared in a flash. I actually caught myself in a halt to avoid it. I didn't tell my husband; I was too stunned! The next evening I had been outside gardening, etc. and had to run inside to use the bathroom. I went into the bathroom, closed the door. Again, Sparky was not on my mind at that moment, and I didn't imagine it. I heard, outside the door, his familiar "Yip" that he use to do whenever I was behind a closed door and he wanted inside with me. I told my husband I had heard Sparky. He said,"I believe you. Sparky has never left."

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