| december 2003 |
folly starts to drink more than usual |
| february 2004 |
we visit the vet to check about the drinking, they find nothing
unusual in the urine
they advise me to start collecting samples of urine of one full day
|
| 8 march 2004 |
a very sad day:
as it happens at this day i start collecting folly's urine: at 09h00,
at 14h00
after which we go to our usual place: clingendael
where we spend two and a half hours
but where at two times folly stops and stands still, while i walk
on
i think that she is being obstinate again:
her heat period is starting, and this was be her usual behaviour at
such periods
but something far worse is happening
when we come home, by car, she doesn't want to get out of the car:
it seems she can't
getting out of the car, because i order her to step out (i had no
idea about her being exhausted)
folly tumbles after stepping out of the car, tumbles again while
walking from the car
she can hardly walk
i guide her home (with feelings like: i am here for you, my girl,
whatever happens)
and stop collecting the urine that day, instead
i phone the vet and we can go there immediately
it appears she has no sugar in her blood: first discovery of her
illness
no sugar, because the cancer she probably has, we think then, breaks
down her sugar level
three months, that's all we have left, from this sad day on
|
| 30 march 2004 |
after several checks and blood tests we end up at the university
clinic for animals at utrecht where they inform us about the sad news
that folly has cancer on the pancreas and the liver and that it has
grown so much that nothing can be done
folly, always cheerful, has been cheerful all the time at the clinic
untill the vet walks in and says: i am not happy: at which moment
folly's mood changes completely: her tail goes hanging down and she
goes to stand behind the chair i am sitting in |
| 2 april 2004 |
we visit cesars' work place, the glasshouses at 's gravenzande and
folly, as always, enjoys that visit |
| 29 april 2004 |
being a little late with the four feeding times a day folly gets
an epileptic fit
she barks strangely, jumps weard in rounds
nub, who has probably been sleeping with folly, is afraid
and does not show himself anymore all that day |
| 2 may 2004 |
we sit in the fields at the house of my cousins dirk and annemarie
and we watch the cows that came to see us, curious as they are |
| 9 may 2004 |
sanne is in heat: we walk with nienke and sanne at klein-zwitserland |
| 18 may 2004 |
it is hot: folly swims in the same canal that i mentioned at 27
june 1996
it is the last time my lassie swims |
| 25 may 2004 |
to university at rotterdam, folly waits in the car
as always after such a visit we walk in the kralingse bos at rotterdam |
| 4 june 2004 |
folly has a great day: she feels very good
and we meet old doggy friends (like buddy, mika and loepus)
at clingendael that we haven't seen for long |
| 5 june 2004 |
bad day: i have to carry folly out of the park because she cannot
walk any more |
| 6 june 2004 |
folly's tenth birthday: we visit my sister miep at amersfoort; folly
is relaxed and she seems okay |
| 7 june 2004 |
very hot day: we spend time in the shade of the trees at clingendael
where i throw a stick
she fetches it, but this will prove to be the 4693rd stick
folly lies at her favourite spot overlooking the field
under the oak tree to be out of the hot sun
in the evening both at eight and at twelve o'clock she is totally
exhausted
she cannot move, and while trying to move, she gets the epileptic
fits
i feed her sugar and food with a spoon, then it is somewhat better
we walk the square in the middle of the night
outside our door in the street: she stands for a long time and looks
at the street
as if she is saying goodbye
later at home: i ask folly to let go, to let me go, and to simply
go, but she won't do it
|
| 8 june 2004 (1) |
we spend time at home
i wanted to take her - relaxed - to the park for a last visit
but she can't even make it to the car
instead, then, we go to the flower shop of sanne and nienke, where
it is cool
and we make one last round at the square at half past four
before we go home to wait for the vet to come to our home
my brother pieter and his friend anita came to support me: folly greets
all
including michael, the vet, who arrives soon after that, with her
usual joy
jumps up and down, as if she has no problems whatsoever
but this is folly: trying to keep up
at twenty past five michael makes her fall asleep
i am holding my arms around her
gently make her lie down when she cannot stand any longer
and after she has fallen asleep a final injection is given and
at five thirty five her heart stops beating and her breething stops
my best friend is gone
|
| 8 june 2004 (2) |
there is some time to spend with her after that
ed comes to lie with folly
nub (who has become folly's best friend) can only look from a distance
afraid to come closer because my brothers' dog whoopie is there too
folly's body is picked up at eight twenty for cremation
|
| 9 june 2004 |
i go to the cremation centre to pick up folly's ashes, a heavy task |
one year after
8 june 2005 |
i spread folly's ashes at two spots at our favourite
park: clingendael; i do this at the exact time she died, one year
earlier; the tin in which the ashes have been waiting for this: i
buried that at a third spot in clingendael
the selection of the spots has been based on places where we preferred
to sit, one of them was her favorite spot: the small hill from where
she could overlook the park, this has also been the place where she
spent an hour or longer on june 7, see above, the last day we were
able to go to clingendael |