I got back Gabriel's autopsy results yesterday. The diagnosis was a sudden internal bacterial infection that went instantly septic. The vets talked to me for a while - there's no way they'll ever really know where it was or began. It could have been something as minor as a tiny cut in his mouth that just healed up instantly but trapped a pocket of bacteria and it spread through his bloodstream to his heart and internal organs. They honestly don't think there's anything anyone could have done, by the time he showed any symptom, it had hit so fast and so quick, and no fever, minimal elevated white blood cell count, minimal kidney/liver raised levels. I guess the only thing to compare it to is like Toxic Shock Syndrome, at least that's what the vet offered.

Seriously, we'd run four miles on Sunday afternoon together, and he gobbled dinner Tuesday night, as usual. I guess people die of this too - but man, you'd think in this day and age of so much technology, things like this just don't happen.

It was not Lepto or anything else dangerous that could have spread to anyone else's dogs - so that makes me feel a whole lot better about the rest of the dogs, myself, the cats, and of course, all the customers at the shop, since he was with me all the time... and of course for Simon, since he was the one I was most worried about since him and Gabe were tagging along together all the time, and he's so little. Well, not so little, but you know what I mean.

Simon's really sad though. He misses his buddy as much as I do. There were some last pictures I had on the camera of the two of them snuggled up in the basket together - I just am having a hard time moving to the computer them just yet. I'll do it at some point - I'm just not ready to be so final, I guess.

Thank you guys, all of you, for all the support and the concern. It meant the world to me.

On a cheerier note, Simon learned something funny yesterday. Do you know if you get a running start from the kitchen, you can motor your way down the hall and do a cannonball belly flop on my bed?

I didn't know it either, but apparently, that's pretty fun. ;)