[Gpdd] ANNOUNCEMENT: SIDNEY HAS GONE TO THE BRIDGE

[Jane and LaVon Uptagrafft]

Dear Jaime,
My prayers and thoughts are with you and Albert.  I feel so sorry for both of you right now to be in this position with him being so sick. Albert is such a special piggie and he has already been through so much.

I would like to tell you about what happened to our precious Sidney.  I have been meaning to write the digest but have been too upset to write but your entry prompted me to type and cry.  Sidney had an eventful January.  He was 7 years old on January 9th.  On January 16th,  we found out that he had liver and kidney damage, a  high white count and his electrolytes were way out of whack.  In other words, he was dying from Old Age.  Our wonderful vet said to bring him back in three weeks for more blood work to see how his liver and kidneys were doing.  Well, he did not make it three weeks.  On Sunday night the 29th, I knew that he did not have much longer.  He was shaking, especially his hind legs and he did not want to eat his precious carrots and romaine.  He would still drink the grape pedialyte but I knew the end was near.  I was hysterical, crying so hard and holding him on my shoulder.  I held him until about 12:30 AM and he wasn't any worse so I went on to bed with a very heavy heart.

I got up Monday morning at 6:30 AM and ran downstairs to check on him.  He was dying.  I grabbed him out of the cage, wrapped him in a blanket, and ran up stairs to tell my husband, LaVon that his little one was dying and that he had better tell him good bye in a hurry if he was going to tell him bye.  He jumped out of bed, hugged him, kissed him, told him how much he loved him.  I brought Sidney back downstairs and sat on the sofa.  I put him on my shoulder still wrapped in his blanket and told him I loved him, that it was okay for him to go to the Rainbow Bridge that the other pigs were waiting for him.  I told him that George, Ebeneezer and all the other piggies gone before were waiting on him.  I could hear his little tongue clicking but he was not breathing hard.  In about five minutes the clicking stopped and he was gone.  LaVon was with me.  We were so upset, but now we know that it was the perfect way for our boy to go.  He wasn't in obvoius pain, he was in his favorite place (my shoulder) and we did not have to make the decision to put him to sleep.  We had already decided if  he demonstrated alot of pain, we could not let our boy suffer.  Sidney had previously pulled through several serious illnesses and surgeries.

 It just about broke my heart to wrap him in his blanket and put him back in his cuddle cup until we got home from work that afternoon to bury him in the backyard .Sidney used to go to work with me with my boss's permission on the days he had a Vet appointment.  He was a favorite there even though no one could ever understand why I chose a guinea pig for a pet instead of a dog or cat.  Anyway, my boss was very kind and checked on me a couple times that Monday and Tuesday to make sure that I was okay. We buried him that afternoon in the backyard in a place so that we can see it from the kitchen window and from the patio.

Sidney was a very special guinea pig.  He was the only pig allowed to give Dr DeLong piggie kisses.  When he was boarding there, Dr De would go get Sidney out of his cage in the back to show the children bringing in their pets the guinea pig that gave kisses on demand. My daughter had Sidney's picture on her nursing locker at work.  Her friend told Sarah she didn't know she had a guinea pig.  Sarah said,  "I don't have a guinea pig.  That's my furry little brother."  Sidney was participant  #2327 on the Guinea Pig Poo Trail. and enjoyed the trip at the complettion of the trail.  We got him when he was three weeks old.  We had been waiting for an independent pet store to get their pigs in.  He didn't spend even one night at the store.  We brought him home on January 30th and that was also the day that he died on.  Sidney was a single pig.  LaVon and I were his playmates.  He stayed in his cage in the den while we were away from home but was free range in the den as soon as we got home.  We spent alot of time with him.  He loved to cuddle.  He played tae-bo with his daddy but never with me.  You should have seen those little hind legs kicking and him twirling in circles.

Well, as you can see Sidney is and was my favorite subject.  I could go on and on but I will give you a break.  I have cried so much trying to write this, please forgive any typos.  It is hard to see through the tears.
To Albert and other ailing piggies, may God bless you with what is best.

Jane Uptagrafft
proud of our boy Sidney forever