Pup of the Week: Ciara

Only my Blogville friends know Ciara.  I feel a little jealous of my friends who weren’t aware of her this morning.  Their tears were not part of the clouds of tears that opened up above Rainbow Bridge shortly before her arrival. She was a resilient, brave, tough dog who fought off seizures as long as she could, but finally, the seizure won.

I hate seizures.  Luckily I never experienced one.  But my first sister, Blake, had many seizures.  They are frightening to everyone involved.  To our parents seizures are like a terrible spirit that has taken over their baby and is ripping her apart from the inside.  Whether they last for seconds or minutes, every moment is filled with fear and dread.  All the parents want is their sweet baby back.

Blake told me,  as a dog who suffered from seizures, that, while they were occurring, it was like a bad dream, but one where everything that you physically experienced in the dream still affected you when you awoke.  And then there was the look of fear in our parents’ eyes.  Dogs are created to take care of their parents.   We do hate to cause them any sorrow.

Ciara had been suffering from seizures for three years.  As is accurate of all dogs who suffer from these events Ciara, her brother Lightning, and their parents went on a terrible roller coaster ride.  There were good days when they thought Ciara was going to live seizure free and there were bad days when they thought her trip to the Bridge was rapidly approaching.  There were very few calm, worry-free days.

At the end of September Ciara had gone several days without having a seizure.  Her parents were going from Kansas to Texas to visit their son and grandchildren. Their parents hated to leave them at their fun camp, but sometimes our parents have to pay attention to their human children.  Ciara’s mom asked for lots of prayers when Ciara and Lightning were left at the camp.  

Ciara did not have a single seizure while at camp.  When their parents returned home, the people who ran the camp said they never saw a dog as devoted to a sibling as Lightning was to Ciara.  He never left her side.  The happy family returned home hoping what they called the Seizure Monster was gone for good.

Sadly, the Seizure Monster was waiting in the wings.  The first night home Ciara began to have cluster seizures, close together.  She was rushed to the vet and put on a new medication.  But this time, the medication didn’t work.  Two days later Ciara had her last seizure and slipped away to the Bridge.

She left behind a devastated family, including her brother Lightning, who is lost without the sister he so fiercely protected.

I administered the Angel vows to Ciara, and, after being greeted by her angel siblings Thunder, Dakota, and Phantom I got a chance to talk with Ciara.  I asked her if she felt cheated because she only had one night with her parents when they got back.  

“Oh no, I was fighting to keep the seizure monster away while I was at camp.  Lightning was helping me scare the monster away.  All I wanted was to be home, to feel the loving ear scratches, my parents’ warm touch.  Oh, Foley, that meant the world to me.  When the monster came for me, more ferocious than ever, I was ready.  I was home, I was loved, and I was ready.”

She asked me the quickest way to get back to her family.  Even if they didn’t know she was there she still wanted to be near them.  I told her when Leo would be leading Angels into the sun and towards their families.  When the time came she took off back towards home to be with her parents and Lightning again.

And as she tipped her wings and flew higher in the air I saw, for the first time in three years, that the seizure monster was no longer following her.