Keeping Up With The Joneses: Our Dixie Girl

I can't believe how long it's been since my last blog post!! I guess the month of September was busier than I realized.
Things are alot different around the Jones household since then. About a week and a half ago we had to put Dixie to sleep. It was a really sad day for us, and we have missed her so much. Although she had been sick for a few weeks, everything seemed to happen so fast.
Dixie had been feeling bad for quite a while, and after weeks of visits to the veterinarian's office to try to determine a diagnosis, we had an ultrasound done, and they found a large mass in her bladder and seven in her liver. The vet informed us that she could not be certain that it was cancer without a biopsy, but given her age and her symptoms, that is more than likely what it was.
After going over treatment options, surgery or just pain pills with no surgery, we were left with a very hard decision to make. The doctor discussed surgery with us and she told us that she wasn't sure how Dixie would do during surgery or how much time she would have left after surgery. As far as the other option, pain pills, Dr. Stumb felt that we would only be prolonging the inevitable. With that information and knowing how uncomfortable Dixie had been, it seemed that the right thing to do was pretty obvious, but that definitely did not make it any easier.
Of course Brad and I were heartbroken, but we had to do what we thought was best for Dixie. It was an awful decision to have to make, but we couldn't be selfish and let her suffer just so we could keep her here with us. We miss her everyday around the house, and Ginger misses her too!! Isn't it funny how animals become family to us?!
Brad found Dixie five years ago while we were still in college at UT Martin. She stayed up there with him after I left to go back to Memphis for hygiene school. She also kept him company when he graduated and moved to Nashville on his own. Six months later we got married, and she has been with us during our whole marriage thus far. She really was our little baby, and we have so many great memories of her. We like to think that we gave her a great home and a great life, but at the same time, she made our life and home just as special!!
Here are just a few of our many sweet memories of Dixie.