[jyl]

My beloved chow was diagnosed with liver cancer. I was just starting a 5 week trial, meaning working 7 days a week, 18 hours a day. We kept her alive for the duration of the trial so that I could have a couple full days with her. I still don't know if it was the right thing to do, but anyway I did it. She was stoic and never complained, even as she got worse and finally stopped eating altogether. When we put her down, three days after the trial ended, it was terrible. For three years after she died, I would occasionally wake up in the middle of the night crying over her. That was 7 years ago. In the following years our other two dogs died - hit by a car, and old age - and we are only now thinking about getting another dog. So there's other people out there who understand how painful it is to lose a favorite dog. All my sympathies.

Interesting note: the next year, just as I was starting a 6 week trial, my father had a heart attack (he is fine now). The following year I quit practicing law. So I never found out if it was going to be third time a charm.