I hope this will lay to rest any concerns or worries.

How you life can change in less than two months time.

It was March 1 that Mom and I got the news from her doctor that he felt her increased pulmonary problems were a result of her worsening COPD and that he felt her condition would not get better or at least stabilize if we continued to have a pet in the home. He also felt time was of the essence given Mom’s symptoms.

This broke our hearts. In rescuing Beeji, we had found a sweet wonderful loving dog that we both loved dearly. Mom was especially upset that she was the cause for us having to re-home Beeji. I too was devastated but knew that Mom’s health had to be the top priority and re-homing Beeji would be the best thing for him too in the long run. It wouldn’t be fair to him to not get the love and attention he so deserved. So I did the hardest thing I have ever had to do. I re-homed him. On March 4, 2007 I placed Beeji in the car that would take him to his new home.

Beeji was no longer a physical presence in my life but he has never left my heart.

Mom didn’t get better as would be expected if pet dander were a main problem, so back to the doctor, who sent us off to a series of specialists and nearly two months of exhaustive, painful, intense, and invasive diagnostic procedures.

During these tests, Sara began to post pics of Buffy’s pups born March 1. I had shown Mom Buffy’s latest pregnancy photo where her little tummy was practically dragging the ground and Mom had thought her so sweet.  We kept up with progress of the pups with me showing her the new photos posted. I had seen the sable male and fell for him hard. I had been telling Mom about the various photos and antics of the Ratties on the forum and she too had been drawn to the little sable male, but of course we still believed that we would not be able to have pets in our lives. 

Finally, the end of all the testing came and the specialists delivered bittersweet news. Mom’s COPD is relatively mild compared to her other more serious pulmonary problems and pet dander is not one of her triggers. We had gone over mom’s history at the beginning of all this and had related the whole saga of Beeji and his re-homing.  The specialists replied they saw no reason we could not have pets in our lives. A pet would not hurt mom any more than the other usual pollens, allergens, etc. The specialists then went on with the rest of the diagnosis and the sadly short prognosis. For several reasons, it was a bittersweet moment.

Mom and I went home and talked for a long time. She wanted to apologize again that she had caused us to lose Beeji, but I stopped her. I said, no, you are not at fault. Given what we knew then, it was what we thought was the best course of action.  Yes, I will live with the regret of re-homing Beeji but we have to let the past be the past.

We talked of another pet, not to replace Beeji, which can never happen; but to add to our family and bring some small measure of comfort to us. Mom said that she wished she could get the little puppy from the Internet for us. I told her I wasn’t sure if he was available, as Sara had mentioned that she had someone coming and everyone on rt.com assumed that as soon as anyone saw him they would want him.

Mom and I talked some more, prayed a lot, cried a little and finally we both decided that a phone call wouldn’t cause any harm. If the pup had a home great, if not, then perhaps it was meant to be.

I called Sara on April 25 and the pup was available. I almost couldn’t believe it. Sara and I talked for a long time and then told me she would be happy for the pup to be ours. And with that one phone call, the sable pup had a new name, with a mom and grandmom who are thrilled to have him in our life.  We rejoice over the addition of Aka in our lives and are bittersweet over what might have been.