Goodbye Holly

Holly
September 10, 1997 – March 12, 2003

Holly had been suffering from stomach cancer, or so it had been thought, for the past several months. I made a promise to her (and myself) that I would not have surgery performed to determine with 100% certainty that she had cancer (or have her undergo chemotherapy). A simple biopsy procedure was performed and pathologists determined that there was a very good chance she had cancer. That was enough information for me. She also suffered from acute inflammatory bowel disease, which was treated with steroids. She started declining rapidly from the time of her diagnosis and then plateaued for a few months, much to the surprise of the vet and myself.

Over the course of her illness, I gave a lot of thought to death. It has been one of the toughest emotional experiences I have ever had to endure. I vowed that I would not wait until she was in pain. She had been eating less and losing even more weight over the last few weeks. Over those weeks I contemplated putting her to sleep and finally decided the time had come. This morning at approximately 10:30am Holly was euthanized out of love and respect. I am confident that whatever pain she was experiencing (if any) is now gone and her spirit has moved on. Needless to say, I will miss her terribly.

Holly was born in The-Middle-Of-Nowhere, Kansas on September 10, 1997. I picked her up on Halloween of that same year and brought her home to my house in Lawrence, Kansas where she would live until February 1998. It was then that she got into the car and accompanied me to Los Angeles, where she would live out the rest of her short life.

Peace be with you, wherever you are, Holly. I love you.