The long goodbye - part 1

Yesterday, we thought we had turned the corner with K's appetite with the boiled chicken.  Unfortunately, his stomach started up again and he was having some diarrhea problems.  Even though he couldn't get up on his own, poor bear, I think, tried to hold it has long as he could...and then would only boof when needed.  When I helped him up, he always rushed to go outside through all his hip issues.  Maybe we're just anthropomorphizing him,  but I think he just worried about having an accident in the house and disappointing us.  I wish there was a way to tell him that all is ok and we wouldn't be upset.  :( 

I had to work on Wednesday, but Becky had taken the day off.  When I got up, she had mentioned that Kodo had refused the boiled chicken for breakfast.  Unfortunately, chicken was our last ditch effort for real food that Kodo was eating.  This last week, food has been one of the few things that he picks his head up for, and we wanted to make sure that he eats for some energy and comfort.  So now, we resort to hot dogs.  His face still lights up for them, thankfuly. 

Beck fed four hot dogs to Kodo for breakfast by the time I got up.  While it was a bit cooler than the last few days, and the sky was overcast, it was still clear of rain until 10am.  So, while I worked, Becky sat outside as long as she could with him:

Even after it started raining, Beck sat with him.  I wish I was able to snap a pic.  Unfortunately, it was a busy/stressful day at work for most of the day, so wasn't able to spend much time with him during the day.  But K was pretty tired throughout and it seemed like his stomach was still bugging him. After I got off the clock, I went out to pick up a couple of more packages of hot dogs for dinner.  The rain did hold off and I did get a chance to hang with him. 

We fed him another couple of cut up hot dogs for dinner, which he quickly snarfed down.  In the evening, he was continuing his stomach issues and his new routine of sitting outside for hours at a time.  The sky was still overcast, but the temperature was still in the 50's so I grabbed a blanket and chair, and took the midnight shift with the bear. Old boy was tired, but he looked up every now and then.  We had a good chat as we sat with each other peacefully the night before the big day.  We spent maybe an hour outside, just hanging out.  I'm thankful that the temperature stayed up as high as it did for us to spend the outside night time together.

When he got back in, I lied with him in his normal sleeping spot at the base of the stairs.  He was so tired.  With his stomach the way it has been, I know things have been progressing rapidly.  One other thing that I had just noticed was occurring more often was that he'd be sleeping peacefully, and suddenly something would jar himself awake as he rapidly picked his head up and look at his butt or hip.  I can only imagine that he might be feeling a little jolt of discomfort.  Seeing this broke my heart.  I knew he was ready and told him that he only had to hold out a just a little more.  I was up 'til maybe 3:30am, knowing Beck would be up again early to take the morning shift.