A 'First' at Work

We have decided to work late on Thursday nights at the office.
It's a new thing that started at the beginning of the year.
We have one doctor, one tech and one receptionist that will stay on Thursday nights and work from 6:00-8:00 to help accommodate those clients that don't get home from work until after 6:00 p.m. I volunteered to be the receptionist so that Linda, the other receptionist didn't have to.
Last Thursday started off pretty well with my dear friend Amy LeBaron and her sweet son bringing a YUMMY Oreo Sonic blast to me at work as a special treat to get my day going. It was a sweet thought but NOT so great for my two pounds I had lost earlier in the week. But I got over that quickly enough.
What was harder to get over was how my day ended.
Max. Max is a sweet sweet golden lab that crawled into the office around 6:30, barely able to keep his sorrowful head up, instinctly knowing how his night was going to end. Because our tech was pregnant, I had to assist in the taking of xrays on Max that revealed a huge large mass of cancer in his belly. The minute it showed up on the xray wall, I groaned. Max was going to be put down. I held him on the xray table and felt how soft he was...and listened to him groan in discomfort. He needed to be put down.
I sat outside the examining room as I heard the dr. explain to the owner what she had found and then listened as the decision was made to put Max to sleep. Poor Max.
I sat at the front desk and waited as the dr. and the tech went into the room and quietly injected the pink juice into Max and then watched as the owner left the room and quietly left the office to go home alone.
I know the procedures that follow a euthanizing. The tech usually has help from another tech to place the body in a black bag, but there were no other tech's there. I knew I was needing to help.
So, I bagged my first dog.
That's what it's called....that's how it's said.
And this is how it feels.....
I cried...the whole time I was lifting Max up to fit the bag around his body, I cried. I tried to be so careful in the lifting of his back end first and then when it came to his upper body, I held his head in my hands and carefully placed it in the bag to make sure it didn't just 'flop' inside.
The tech tied up the bag and I went silently back to my front desk.
I was glad to be alone.
The others at work tell me 'I'll get used to it...after awhile, it won't be as bad'.
I doubt that.
I REALLY doubt that.