I haven't posted much lately or at all for that matter and Saint and I have been out of the hunt test thing and just hanging out and hunting for the last couple of years.
Saint came out of Wildwood Kennels in Ripley,MS (Rob Elliot)- by the way- if anyone knows how to contact him I would appreciate his number- I would really like to talk to him.
Saint came into my life in 2003 and quickly stole my heart. He went to stay with Steve Vires for several times and went to Alaska with him for Steve's first trip up there. Steve ran him in all of his tests (because I was too nervous to run him!) and we strugled at times because all Saint wanted to do was retrieve- he could care less about the rules!!
About 2 weeks ago durring his yearly checkup the vet found a large tumor between his right shoulder and his rib cage. He took a biopsy and sent to MSU and came back as Lyposarcoma. This was good news to some extent because it was the type of cancer that was well defined and encapsulated and, although it was in a bad place, the vet seemed to think it could be removed. Well, last week we went to MSU and they did CT scans and another biopsy and thought they could remove it. We went back this Tuesday and saw the reproduction docs and they got a specimen (ended up with one breeding available) and then he had surgery on Wed. He went in around 2 and at 5:30 the doc came out and said they got about 80% of the tumor, but he wasn't doing good. His heart was racing and later they had to do CPR and then they lost him. The doc said that it could have been due to the cancer cells entering his blood stream or it could have been a reaction to the transfusion that they gave him due to the blood loss durring surgery.
Earlier that day I went to the vet school and got Saint and took him out to the field beside the school. We walked around and I let him retrieve a stick (although he didn't really like it- it ended up being his last retrieve for me) and I talked to him. We layed down under a tree and he watched a young college girl bring her lab to the other side of the field and retrieve. He got to watch the birds fly around and even got to see one last squirel (he couldn't stand squirels when he was home!) We stayed outside with each other for around three hours before they came to get him.
I really can't believe he is gone... We burried him by my bedroom window with the Rainbow Bridge inside with him and notes from each of the family members inside. He will truely be missed! I have cried more over the last couple of days then I have ever cried I think. I keep thinking if I had just brough him home Wednesday morning then he would still be with us... its hard to know if I made the right decision or not. I just keep tinking about all of the great memories and the great times that we have had over the years. I will never forget Saint, but I will now turn my attention to getting a puppy off of him... I have one shot and hope and pray that I can have a puppy off of him at some point.
