Ten Good Things About Murphy

The kids and I read a book tonight called The Tenth Good Thing About Barney. I checked it out from the library at school with the hopes that it would help us be able to talk about Murphy and not be so sad about his death. After I choked my way through it, we managed to come up with our own list... (these are direct quotes and are attributed to the appropriate child or grown-up).

10 Good Things About Murphy

1 (MM) I like to throw the dummy for him.

2 (OM) He sleeps on my rug.

3 (MM) He was very nice for us and I want him to stay.

4 (OM) I like to scratch him on the head and brush him.

5 (MM) He was very nice and I really liked him.

6 (NM) He was always excited when Daddy came home.

7 (OM) When we took him on walks, he was really happy.

8 (OM) Whenever we scratched him, he would shed so much we could make another dog out of all his fur.

9 (NM) He was sweet to Charlotte.

10 (MM) He was very nice and so I wanted to keep him.

We have been doing some research about new puppies. I found a breeder in Sumter, SC and plan to take the children there this weekend to meet the puppies who will be available to bring home next weekend. Will is out of town this weekend so he will take them back next weekend to decide if one of those puppies can come home. We already have a name for our new puppy and so, here are... (again with direct quotes)

10 Good Things to Do for Tex

1 (OM) Buy him a bed and dog toys.

2 (MM) We can teach him tricks. I have a lot of tricks to teach him.

3 (OM & MM) We have to take him on walks every day.

4 (OM) When we say we don't have anything to do, Mommy will say, "Go play with Tex."

5 (OM) One of our chores will be to play with him outside.

6 (MM) We can teach him to jump through a hoop.

7 (OM) We can brush his fur once a week.

8 (MM) We can help him go up the stairs.

9 (OM) We can take Tex to a dog park. (McIver: Murphy loved that dog park - referring to the one in Houston with a pond, fire hydrant and dog-sized water fountain.)

10 (OM & MM) We can let Skittles (the neighbors' dog) and Tex have puppy play-dates.

Rest in Peace, Murphy Dog

Our sweet Murphy died very peacefully on Friday morning. We found out on Wednesday that his bladder cancer had spread up into his chest and lungs so we knew the end was near. Olivia and McIver both told him that they loved him before leaving for school on Friday. They have taken the news pretty matter-of-factly, and still talk about him a lot. When I told Olivia that he had died, she said that she "bet there were dummies raining in Heaven." I bet she's right.

We had an engagement party at our house Friday night for Rhett and Julie. Rhett was in Will's class at Sewanee and was in our wedding. His dog Bandit is Murphy's brother. One of the other hosts of the party owns Murphy's sister. Tupp also hosted the party and was the one who gave Murphy to us as a wedding gift more than 11 years ago. We were all a wreck at the start of the party, but did manage to have a good time. I think the distraction of preparing for the party helped ease the sadness a little on Friday.

Saturday was another busy day - 2 soccer games and McIver's bowling birthday party. Now that we're home and the house is quiet, it's even more noticeable that Murphy is gone. I already miss the piles of dog hair and the sound of his tail thumping on the floor.

Here are a some pictures of Murphy from the last few months.

At McIver's soccer game with Mac & Amelia. He was able to go to most of the children's soccer games this season and he loved it. Any time he heard the clink of his collar and leash, he came running as best he could.

I took this picture July 4th weekend when we first moved back to Columbia. We're so glad that he made it back and was able to see so many friends who have loved him right along with us.

In Jay's pool in Myrtle Beach this summer. He was definitely a Water Dog!

Murphy Update

McIver was so well-behaved the morning we took Murphy to the hospital for surgery. I didn't know that it would take 2 hours to drop him off so I had not brought anything to help keep McIver entertained. We saw a few interesting x-rays in the waiting area, so when we made it back to the exam room, McIver decided to draw a picture of what we had seen.
This is McIver's rendition of an x-ray of a dog who has swallowed a spoon and some sort of coin. He just couldn't believe that a dog would swallow a spoon. Kudos to the vet who took the time to take a close look at the x-ray and tell McIver the story about the dog who swallowed the spoon. (His owner had offered him the last lick of her icecream and the dog just took the whole spoon!)

Murphy's doing fine. His symptoms are a bit better; he doesn't seem to have the urgency to go out in the middle of the night like he had been. I haven't been sleeping well, though, so I'm also letting him out in the middle of the night before he has a chance to become uncomfortable and bark to be let out. He'll go back in for radiation next week.

Murphy Update

Murphy went in for surgery this morning. They were trying to remove (by laser) some of the tumor that was blocking his urethra. Only problem is that when they got in there with the ultrasound, they could see that the tumor wasn't actually blocking anything. So, his urgency to urinate is probably just because of the presence of the tumor. They removed what they could of the tumor, but we'll just have to wait and see if the symptoms are relieved or not. The good news is that the medication he started on a few weeks ago (before we even went to the oncologist) seems to be helping a little bit.