Hi Rene,

I sent your DVD by priority mail a few days ago, so you should have it very soon, if not already! 

 I think it would be great for you to make a smilebox memorial tribute to Jerry.  Of course, you and Jim are so computer savvy, you can make all kinds of creative tributes, including video, too, with or without smilebox.com.  The smilebox program does allow you to use video clips, but I haven't tried that yet.  I might take some clips of Luna and add them to the DVD that I have so far.

If anyone would like to view the Luna memorial tribute, I would be pleased to email it to them. 

Sincerely,

Sandra

Hello everyone,

Well, here I am again.  Three years later to the day that I lost Luna.  September 16, 2008 and today is September 16, 2011.  So, how am I doing?  I'm doing fine, but of course, I still miss Luna.  I have set up a little memorial area for her, with a votive candle and five photos of her surrounding the candle.  It makes me feel good to remember her, and others, both canine, equine, or human, who have made the transition.

I just re-read all of the posts I left about Luna.  Yup, I'm crying again.  There were many details that I had "forgotten" and it brought it all back to me.  I'm sitting here with two of Luna's siblings, Eik, Jr., and his sister, Eika.  Eika just climbed up on my lap and licked my tears away and Eik stood there looking at me with a worried expression on his face.  These dogs are just so wonderful; no wonder I love them so much!

For those who might wonder, the walnut box with Luna's ashes are still in the shipping box in the closet.  I never put them on display.  Just not into that at this time, but you never know about the future.  As I posted in the past, at least, no matter where I go, (and I am planning on moving in the near future),  I will be able to take the box with me.

So, what has happened since our experience with Luna becoming a tripawd and then going to the Rainbow Bridge?  Well, her mom and dad, Eik (Sr.) and Kora, have gone to the Rainbow Bridge as well.  Eik was almost 12 years old and Kora was almost 11 years old, so they lived long lives, but it truly broke my heart losing them, especially since I had to put them to sleep about 48 hours apart from one another.  Luna's mom was just fine, and then suddenly became "ill".  We learned later that it was hemangiosarcoma, the same thing that Luna had had, except with Kora it was not in her leg, but rather her abdomen.  As for Eik, Luna's father, he was diagnosed only a few months after losing Luna, with multiple myeloma (MM).  We took Eik Sr. to the University of Florida as well for treatment.  He lasted another two years, quality years, so I am grateful for that.  I will post an account of Luna's parents for anyone interested in reading it.  Eik was my first dog, my first German Shepherd.  I'm so lucky to have his carbon copy son sitting right here by me.  I miss Eik and Kora so much, and yes, I had necropsies (autopsies) done on them too, as I did on Luna.  I also got walnut boxes with black German Shepherd dog figurines on top for them.  They were cremated together in Gainesville, and their ashes mixed in the boxes.  And, yes, after looking at them, photographing them, and making sure they were not damaged, I packed them back up and put them in the same closet with Luna's ashes.  So, now I am left with nine dogs, who are all doing very well now, thank God.

I will always be grateful for this site, and tell people about it.  You guys have done such a great job with it, keep up the good work.  I know I can always come here and "talk" about my Luna. 

Sincerely,

Sandra

Sandra Thomas     http://www.burg.....pherds.com

Here's a copy of the post that I put on facebook when I lost Luna's parents, Kora and Eik, last November 17th and 18th (2010) respectively.  I wanted to bring everything up to date.  Thanks.  Glad to see twipawds on facebook, too!

Sandra Thomas

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Facebook Post--November 19, 2010

My heart is breaking...again. We had to put Kora's mate, Eik vom Blausteinsee, to sleep today, Friday, November 19, 2010. These two were best buddies for many years, and produced ten beautiful puppies together (and I kept all of them): Eik, Jr., Bodo, Otto, Eika, Katrina, Sasha, Heidi, Natasha, Luna, and Xena. Now, Kora had to be put to sleep last Wednesday morning at 3 in the morning and Eik was put to sleep this afternoon at 1pm. Dave and I are just numb. Many people have written to me to say that they didn't know that Kora was sick in the first place. Well, we didn't know it either. And, this was a dog we did blood work on every six months because she was a "senior". Last Friday night, November 12th, she just didn't look right to me, and I took her to the vet. I asked him to do some xrays and that is when he saw the cancer in her lungs. She was hospitalized for further tests, but finally had to be put to sleep early last Wednesday morning (Nov. 17th). Her mate ("husband") was Eik, also imported from Germany, and at almost 13 years old, was a beautiful black German Shepherd. He was diagnosed with multiple myeloma (MM) two years ago on November 13, 2008. He was treated at the University of Florida in Gainesville successfully survived for over two years. He took prednisone and Melphalan, the same meds given to humans with MM, as well as Pamidronate treatments (calcium by IV) and that helped him to survive those two years. Then he went out of remission and relapsed about six weeks ago. That is when we started feverishly hunting down new drugs, etc. We have worked for the past six weeks to get him back to where he needed to be, drugs, medications, treatments, blood transfusions from his offspring, visits to the animal ER clinic, I gave him neupogen shots, flushed his IV, etc. We did all we could. We tested all of the puppies to see which ones were compatible and could be blood donors for him. He had three transfusions in the past two weeks from his three sons and was getting weaker and weaker each week. We did constant lab work and blood work and kept track of his health with charts. We did everything we could to save his life and extend it as much as possible. In August, he had an episode called "vestibular syndrome". Basically, it is vertigo, dizziness and nausea. The room is spinning around for the dog, their eyes are wildly going back and forth trying to focus, but they can't, and as a result, they stagger and fall and cannot walk.

Although very scary looking, this syndrome usually clears up on its own and the dog returns to normal, sometimes as soon as two or three days later, and sometimes taking weeks or even months to improve significantly. Eik did recover from his initial episode, but yesterday morning he had another episode of this condition, much milder than the first time, but enough to make him very dizzy and unable to walk at all. He was already so weak he could barely walk in the first place, but this recurrence of the vestibular symptoms, made it impossible. Because he was dizzy, he didn’t eat or drink anything yesterday as well. Finally, this morning at 5am, I took his temperature, and it was 104.8. It was at that moment that I knew that we had to do something. An hour later, it was 105.1. I had been praying about this a lot last night, and I knew this was a sign that it was time for Eik to go. Because of the chemo that Eik was getting, his WBC were very low, so low that infection could easily kill him. It would appear that he could have a serious infection. I then decided to make some phone calls around 8am to see if things “fell into place” as far as putting Eik to sleep today. I must add here that before I had ever met Eik, but had only seen pictures of him, I had cried about today, the day in the future that I would lose him. That’s how much I loved this dog. He was my first dog and the dog of my dreams. A Schutzhund III trained dog from Germany, with the sweetest personality and a magnificent animal. I know that he would have protected me with his life had he needed to. That’s the kind of dog he was.

The phone calls all fell into place. The vet I wanted to do this was in today, Dr. John Dee of Lake Mary, Florida and Lake Emma Animal Hospital, and two techs whom I liked a lot, Mallory and Rebecca. They came to our house which was far less stressful for Eik. I had a plan and I asked Dr. Dee if he could use it and he said absolutely. That’s the beauty of a vet who is willing to work with you and do what is best not only for your animal, but for you as well. We set up a large bedding area in the yard, under the green trees, with the sunlight peeking through. The squirrels skipped through the branches and the sky was blue with fluffy white clouds floating by. It was like something out of a movie. We went to the bedroom where Eik was and put him on a blanket and carried him out into the yard and placed him on the two large orthopedic doggy beds I had for him. Pushed together they were like a large “king size” bed for dogs. He looked content and relaxed as he surveyed his “kingdom”, the backyard he has enjoyed for the past ten years.

After a short while, Rebecca arrived from Dr. Dee’s and she came out and sat down with us. She gave Eik two shots of tranquilizers to just keep him mellow and calm. These shots made him very sleepy and he just put his head down and was almost alseep. About thirty minutes later, Dr. Dee and Mallory arrived, and Malloy started an IV. I told Eik that this would be the last IV he would have to endure. All four of his legs were already shaved where IV lines had been used during the past several weeks of our frantic attempt to save him, and his belly had been shaved where they did an ultrasound at UF and his shoulder was shaved, where he had had a bone marrow biopsy done on October 14^th.

And, so, today, we sat in the back yard, and with a cool pleasant breeze, our Eik was put to sleep under the blue sky. It absolutely broke my heart, but it was peaceful and he never was in distress. That is what I wanted for him.

Once again, today, my employee, Wilner, drove another one of my dogs, Eik, to Gainesville to the University of Florida for a necropsy (like an autopsy in humans) to find out more details about what took my beloved pet from me. The autopsy was this afternoon and the pathologist will call me with a preliminary report either today or tomorrow.

Once again, I called Beau Crevasse’s Pet Funeral Home in Gainesville, and reserved a date for Eik to be cremated, which would turn out to be the same day as Kora—next Tuesday. In fact, they will be cremated together. I also called Tessa Breen, the researcher from NCSU at Raleigh, and UF will be sending slides from the necropsy to her for her research with canine cancer genetics. Eik, like Kora, was also registered with their research. In addition, I was told that like with Kora, veterinary students and a resident would be observing the necropsy. It is good that they can learn from this experience, and hopefully, some of them will take up the sword to find a cure for these diseases.

 Of course, we need to remember, Luna, Eik and Kora's daughter, who lost her battle to canine cancer, hemangiosarcoma, but who put up a great battle.  She played her part and her blood has been used for research as well. 

And, so, in about 48 hours time, I have lost two dogs, the sire and dam of the ten puppies, of which nine survive.

Yes, there is an Eik, Jr, and we plan to hold him tight tonight, in memory of his father who left us yearning still for his puppy-like affection and canine devotion.

Thanks so much for posting my Smilebox.com presentation and tribute to Luna!  I just watched it again yesterday, hadn't looked at it for a couple of  years, and sure, I was blubbering again.  But, that's what it is all about, evoking those emotions and memories that help us recall significant events in our lives.

Sandra