We said goodbye to Magellan this afternoon and wished him every happiness as he crossed over the rainbow bridge.

This is not a post I ever wanted to write, and it’s definitely not the post I expected to write today or any time soon. Magellan was doing as well as he has been–wiggling and wanting to play yesterday–even until 3AM this morning, but at 7AM this morning, he wasn’t able to get up (we thought he was paralyzed). We took him to the emergency room, and an ultrasound made them suspect bleeding in the abdomen. A CT scan confirmed this, and he had several masses in his liver and spleen, which was diagnosed as likely metastatic cancer and not considered operable due to the amount and spread of the masses.

If you are unfamiliar with Magellan, he is a labrador that my husband and I (then boyfriend) added to our little family shortly after moving in together, and he was eight weeks old when we got him. Magellan just had his 13th birthday this past Christmas Eve, so he is just a year younger than the blog. Despite having a long list of diseases and problems, he was the most optimistic, happy-go-lucky dog that defied the odds and lived a longer-than-average lifespan for a lab. He is truly proof of how successful modern medicine can be!

We are so fortunate and thankful that we were able to say goodbye to him and be with him to the very end. He was alert and recognized as we told him what a good dog he was, and we swear, he still looked around the room for treats. We are devastated to lose our baby boy, and it’s hard to imagine daily life without him as my husband and I have mostly been at home throughout his entire life, so he was so deeply integrated into our lives.

Thank you for the endless love and source of optimism, Magellan. Mellan. Spaghetti. Sketti. Scoops. Scrupulous. Pasta. Detective Sniff. The pawprints you’ve left on our hearts will live on forever. May you rest easy now

Update 1/13/2021:Thank you so much for the tremendous support and love that so many of you shared with Magellan, myself, and my family yesterday. I cannot express to you what a comfort it is to receive so much acknowledgment of our loss, support for us during this time, and your love for Magellan.

For anyone who has felt like they never knew what to say (this is how I’ve always felt myself), I can tell you that for me, just the acknowledgment of my loss helped in a small way. It’s really not the words–it is you caring at all, so thank you. I also want to acknowledge and thank all of my readers for making Magellan’s life as beautiful and as full of life and longevity as it was. We talk about our home being the home that Temptalia built, but Magellan is the dog that Temptalia saved over and over again. Without the success of Temptalia, I would not have been able to give him as much care as he received throughout his life.

He cheated death over and over again. At 6 months, an ortho said he would not be able to walk after 2 yrs (was still fully mobile until his very last day thru conservative management!). He was supposed to have congestive heart failure by 5 years–we were able to fix the hole in his heart so that this didn’t occur. We thought it’d always be arthritis, but then he got liver disease–and then it was managed well. Then we found out he had degenerative disc disease in the last two years but was too mobile and too good of health for surgery!

And yet, he lived for 13 years and was an exuberant, happy-go-lucky dog. He was so full of life and would grab a toy so we could play–up until his last day with us.

Mellan was a mama’s boy, and from the minute I got up to the minute I fell asleep, my day really did revolve around him. Every morning, we cuddled before getting ready for the day. I fed him before I made my morning latte! He spent a lot of time by my feet while I worked at my desk, though as he got older, he did not like me out of his sight for long, especially when I was taking photos for the blog. The last thing I did every night was give him his “midnight treats,” tell him I love him, and give him a goodnight cuddle and kiss.

Thank you again for showing us such kindness and love

Goodbye, Magellan. Forever in our hearts.

Goodbye, Magellan. Forever in our hearts.