Boomer was diagnosed with cancer because of his limp, but other than that he still seemed happy and healthy, with a good level of energy.
That all started to change when we went down to the Cape for Labor Day Weekend 2010. The three of us (Matthew, Katy, Steve) went down on Friday night, and the Holts (Pam, Tom, and Daniel) came down on Saturday.
Boomer seemed fine on Friday night, but on Saturday he was clearly not his normal self. He wouldn’t get up, he wouldn’t eat, he wouldn’t drink. All day long he laid in the house and looked at us with those brown eyes. We forced him a few times to get up and go to the bathroom, but it was a struggle for him. It was very sad and we couldn’t believe it.
We wondered if it was the beginning of the end. If he didn’t eat or drink, did that mean that he was about to die? Or would he die within a few days?
On Sunday morning I was the first one up to go down and see him. When I walked into the TV room, there he was, standing up! He had that “anticipatory look on his face”. He seemed hungry, and we actually fed him some roast beef and cheese, which we usually NEVER did for most of his life! He had recovered for the day, but what had happened was the beginning of a cycle of good days and bad days for the rest of the month.
Sunday and Monday of that weekend were good days for Boomer, and we took some pictures of him outside in the yard. These were the last pictures that we ever took of him. It is fitting that the very last pictures were taken with Katy, the person who spent the majority of his time with!
