I know most of you have heard this news already, thanks to Facebook and our family blog, but we are mourning the loss of our Gus. It's so unimaginable how quickly he was taken from us. He was fine one minute, and then the next he was so very, very not fine.

The doctor at MSU was able to run some tests on food they took from his intestines, and found that it was septic. There was massive infection, which they felt was caused from a hole in his intestine, which could have been from a blockage, some kind of a virus, or the most likely culprit, cancer. They could have done surgery to remove part of his intestine, and then they would have determined what was causing his illness. But he could have died during surgery, or in the days following surgery. And if the illness was terminal, and they felt it was given how quickly the onset of accute symptoms and the fact that he's lost so much weight and wasn't eating, he would die soon anyway. So rather than prolong his suffering, we made the decision to euthenize him. Scott was there alone, and is taking it very hard.

He didn't suffer in the end, and we truly didn't know he was sick until that very last afternoon. He was his normal, happy-go-lucky self until the end. Of course he was anxious and wasn't eating well, but he regularly cleaned the floor for us after the kids ate, and was always anxious when Scott traveled. Not to mention the packing for the move.

Anyway, Scott brought him back with him, and we are having our regular vet cremate him. We'll bury his ashes on our property, back by the fenceline near the lilac bushes. He would have liked that.

The kids don't really know enough to miss him. Sure, they loved him, and when they see pictures they say, "hi Gus!" but the move has thrown them off and they seem to be fine without him here. Scott and I are another story, but I think that we will be sad for quite awhile. And that's just a part of life.

So that's the scoop. We were looking forward to bringing him with us to the family reunion, so maybe we can just have some extra hugs and think good things about him while we're there. I know he would have loved to have been there with us all.

Thanks again for all the loving thoughts and prayers. I know so many of you truly understand the pain of losing such an important part of your daily life. He was just always there, and now he's not.