WARNING ! ! LONG POST ! ! Those of you that know me. . . MY SOLDIER IS SAFELY BACK HOME !!! YEAH !!! But his homecoming has been overshadowed by heartbreaking events. Baghdaddy made it home on Dec. 29th. During his past year in the big sand box, I have had to get his chocolate lab, Sam, on the webcam just as often as his children. I know alot of you guys more than likely have had at least one truly phenomenal duck dawg. Sam was ours. Four days before Paul made it home, Sam got run over. We live WAY off the road, back in the woods. But we had a visitor with those damn large tires that Sam hated so bad, so he was escorting him down the driveway when he got hit. I called our vet, Dr. Kirk Shumpert, and he came out and sedated Sam, and took him in. After Xrays, he said his pelvis was broken pretty bad. Sam needed specialized care. He hooked me up with the best orthopedic canine surgeon in the area, Dr. James Pearce, in Memphis. My husband was in transit from Iraq to here, and I had no way of discussing this VERY LARGE financial decision with him. But I took the plunge. I knew that after Paul's past year of being a Platoon Sergeant for a platoon of Cavalry Scouts in Iraq, that he would NEED Sam to nurture him back into civilization.
After a week of intensive antibiotic therapy, Dr. Pearce decided Sam was strong enough for the surgery to put his pelvis back together. Paul and I have traveled to Memphis for the past two weekends to visit with Sam. Things were beginning to look up. Then, this past Monday Dr. Pearce called with the bad news. Sam had taken a turn for the worst and died.
So, my husband did indeed make in home before this duck season was completely over, but his very best friend didn't live to get to hunt again with daddy. While Paul was in Iraq, and we would talk on the phone, he wouldn't tell me all the awful things he had witnessed, he would just say, "When I make it back to Mississippi again, and see green trees and grass, and me and Sam can spend some time alone in the woods, I'll be alright."
I guess the Lord knew that Sam would never really be 100% again, and that would be more than a dog of his caliber could bear. So instead, he just brought him home to that great duck blind in the sky.
