Going Home

Today, after work, we (Rhoda, Jess and I) headed over to Canada West Veterinary Specialists & Critical Care Hospital in Vancouver to pick up Ari's ashes and to consolidate the outstanding invoice. I had finally spoken to Dr. Sharp on the telephone earlier about some questions regarding the billing and after speaking to him, I started to cry. I have been trying really hard to think of the happy times we had together but once I spoke to him, all the painful memories of Ari in ICU came flooding back to me. Dr Sharp was, of course, very apologetic for our loss and wished he could have done more. I asked about the test results and he told me to check back in a couple of weeks as the samples went all the way to Britain to the very best lab to find out exactly what happened to little Ari. Rhoda is counting down the days as she has already marked it down on her calendar and will remind me as soon as the month is up. Hopefully, this will be the closure I am looking for so we can look past the last week of his life. Instead celebrate and remember the 8 months we had with him. One final piece is that I need to pick out a fave photo of Ari and order a pet urn from 7 year etch so we can customize it for his final resting place. Once we arrived at the hospital, I nearly broke down again cos it brought back the sad memory, the last time I was here, I said good bye to Ari and I was with him for over an hour, this trip back to the hospital was very hard and devastating. We discussed the invoice with the receptionist and she spoke to the office manager about our MRI courtesy discount. While we were waiting, Dr Sharp was kind enough to stop by and send his thoughts and again apologize for our loss. After settling the invoice, the receptionist handed us a paper bag with Ari's remains in a sealed box and a memorial clay with his name and paw print stamped on it. That was very sweet and I am so happy to have that. I hadn't decided if I wanted to take him home quite yet but after dinner, I realized it would be nice to have him home except that I left him in the trunk of Rhoda's car when she dropped me off. I will try to get the urn ordered by tomorrow so I can have it within the next couple of weeks.

RIP Ari, forever loved and missed......