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Thursday, June 16, 2011

Orion, he will forever be in our hearts

Today at 1:00 we had to put one of our babies down, Orion.  Orion was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder when he was 3 1/2 years old called Pemphigus.  Basically the disorder is when his immune system believes that his skin is foreign and attacks it.  I was told at that time that his life span was drastically be reduced.  Orion was a German Sheppard, Chow mix and with a life span of 10-12 years, they said he would probably live around 7 years.  This disorder can not be cured.  It is a genetic disease that he has had his whole life, but it didn't show signs until he was 3 1/2.  To "manage" this disease his vet put him on a high dose of steroids to suppress his immune system and an antibiotic so he wouldn't get sick while on these steroids.  The goal was to eventually decrease the levels of the steroids and see if we could get this disease to lay dormant in his system.  Unfortunately, this was not the case.  Orion remained on the steroids for the rest of his life.  Any time we would try to decrease them, he would break out horrible and be in a lot of pain. 

In Orion's final days; the medicine was no longer working, the disease had spread to his whole body, his bowels were failing, he would get out of breath walking out to the bathroom, he couldn't get comfortable, he was getting grumpy and irritable, his body was just failing him.  The vet told us that there were other meds that he could put him on, but he didn't believe that they would work because Orion was no longer responding to such a high dose of steroids that he was on now.  He didn't want to put Orion through anymore pain.  And neither did we.  I felt completely helpless... This was a really tough decision for me and Evan.  Today was a very tough day. 

Orion would have been 7 years old on August 10th. 



I will forever remember bringing Orion home for the first time.  I will remember his love for my parents house!  He loved to run at their house - They have so much land.  He loved sleeping in bed with my daddy... He had such a special bond with my daddy.  I will always remember the potty training days... Poor Frankie, he helped with those days.  What a great friend!  Orion rode shot gun with me so many nights to Maryland... And every day when I come home, he is always there to greet me.  Things will definitely be different around the Walker/Hughes household.  Orion will be missed greatly.   

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