The Superhero Smiley Hedgehog — R.I.P.

Yesterday, after waking up at four pm the day before, (yeah, how awful is my sleeping schedule?) and then just staying up all night and taking a shower around seven, I got Smiley into her little carrycase thing and we made the two hour plus drive to the K State vet place.  They did a consult on her and said that the surgery was possible, it would be risky, etc.  Basically, it was either that, or have her put to sleep fairly soon, because I was right; the left tumor on her had gotten bigger.  That was the one the vet was worried about.  I guess it had a whole bunch of blood flow to and from it, which added to the risk of surgery.

Well, the upshot of us being there was that they asked me if I wanted them to do the surgery yesterday, or if I wanted to schedule it for another day.  I wanted her to get it done as soon as possible, because if the tumors got bigger in just a couple weeks, it was likely the same thing would happen if I didn’t go for the operation soon.  So I said goodbye to her and left her with them.  They weren;t able to do the surgery yesterday, there was another one previously scheduled that they had to do first.  But they said they would operate on her today and call me as soon as it was done.

I got called today and Smiley made it through most of the operation just fine, but at the end, her blood pressure started failing, and her heartbeat went funky.  They tried rescussitation efforts, but to no avail.  Smily died today . . .

They asked what I wanted to do, if I wanted to pick up the body, and I said I did.  I’m actually going to pick her up and pack her securely into a box to ship to my parents so she can be buried under my favorite climbing tree at the NJ house, near Ivy, my cockatiel.

It’s a cold comfort, but at least I know that she died during my efforts to save her life and give her something more of a life-longevity.  If the surgery had succeeded, she probably would have lived at least six months, probably more.  Without it, she’d have been lucky to last six months, and she would have suffered, because the tumors would have gotten worse, spreading, and eventually destroying her kidneys/liver/lungs, or just blocking off her airways and ability to eat.  So at least I saved her from that suffering.  If she had to go, at least it was with minimal pain.  I just wish I could have been there to hold her . . .

Oh, damn, I’m crying again.  I’m gonna go before the waterworks really start going.

R.I.P Smiley.  I love you, my little Smiley Hedgehog.