Mom lost her faithful companion

'Denial isn't a river, it's a huge ocean' (or something to
that effect)-from Gray's Anatomy the tv show.

This is so true. My mom has been in denial that her dog Hunter was sick for months. First he lost his bark. Then he couldn't climb the steps to the second floor anymore. This past Thursday, he took off, down a 100 foot driveway up a busy road. If my brother hadn't been test driving a car for a pal, Hunter would have been a goner that night. He barely lasted 3 more days. He thrashed around so much at the vet's on Saturday, that he dislocated both his back legs. He had a tumor on his behind area. All I could see was this dog, the size of a lab, with his back legs in a wheeled contraption. My skinny mom couldn't really deal with a large dog. Hunter was 13.5 yrs old. Mom also had his mother Lucie, aunt Tara and grandmom Pita as pets. They all did their parts of doing various doggie things to the house, but mom loved them all through thick and thin. Hunter was suppose to be our dog, but I believe at the time Brian had lost his job of 13 yrs and we couldn't afford to put up the fence we wanted to, so mom kept him. He looked like Chewbacca from 'Star Wars' as he had long blonde fur. That fur was all over mom's house and all over her clothes when she came to visit here. That fur blew out about 5 vaccuums.
Whether or not he is replaced is a big question. I would like to see her get a house cat to get the mice that seem to sneak in. My brother says 'no'. We'll see what happens in the next few months. Mom needs to get herself in better shape, she is so thin.
I spent 6 hours with mom today. I took her to a book sale. I saw the lady from high school (that I saw about 3 weeks ago at AC Moore) at the sale and we chatted a bit. That was cool. She did remember me.
I took mom out to dinner and she seemed better. The thing is, mom's pal Jim who boards at her house loved Hunter to pieces. When she told him about his passing he was a wreck. Sad stuff.