And THAT Was June

If you have been reading the In This Corner blog you are very aware of our family's ups and downs last month. It has been crazy. It has been fun. It has been busy. And it has been very sad at times. To borrow and modify part of a well known poem:

When it was good, it was very, very good.
But when it was bad, it was horrid.

I know, family tends to dabble only on the Knucker Hatch blog so here's a monthly recap for you strict Knucker Hatch surfers:

In early June we hit Nags Head Beach for a full week of wonderful vacationing with Ken's side of the family. The cousins all got along famously and ate up every last bit of Grandma and Grandpa's attention.

Due to illness, we had to miss the second half of the trip which would have been a full week of vacationing with my Dad's side of the family in Florida.

But the Lord was looking out for all of us, as it was clear that we needed to be home with our nine year old, very loved, but hurting Golden Retriever. After a month of many tests and vet trips, we discovered that she was dying of kidney failure. So, on the 31st of June, we had to say good bye to our one and only Maggie Lou. Thank you to all of you who have called or sent cards to check on us and our grieving...it means so very much to us. I know for others, this will be the first time you have heard.

We are taking it day by day, and it is getting easier. But there isn't a single day that goes by in which we don't miss her giant face licks and sweet demeanor incredibly.


I've put together a series of links from the In This Corner blog. It follows the swift decline of Maggie. Perhaps it will be helpful to someone out there researching the medicine Deramaxx for treating canine arthritis. If you see the following symptoms in your dog: body tremors, not eating for days, vomiting, black stools, please consider changing meds if your dog is already on Deramaxx (even if it doesn't show up in the kidney numbers). Deramaxx was a gift to Maggie, and helped her considerably, but in hindsight, we might have picked another arthritic medicine, as the damage to her kidneys was most likely a result of the Deramaxx. The kidneys didn't reflect the damage in the blood tests until it was much too late, but her big brown eyes told us something wasn't right six months ago.

My Poor Eighty Pound Baby
Dog Gone Grief
Playing Us Like A Fiddle
The Dog Days of Summer
One Last Night of Friendship
Meet Me At The Door Maggie