[Weatherlight]

I've made so many mistakes too. I did learn already that life and happiness are more important than a few (or many) hundreds or thousands of dollars, but I wasted a few days trying to decide how to get to a vet I was referred to, a four hour drive away, before finally bringing in my baby girl. I wonder what would have happened if I'd taken my girl earlier. Then, at the horrible end, I waited to be able to talk to my exotics vet, but found her dead after about 12 hours. Now I know she probably would have died by then anyway, but I very much wish I had demanded strong painkillers asap from a vet, any vet with an opening even if s/he couldn't spell "guinea pig," and if her pain could not be controlled, immediate euthanasia with the most humane method available to whatever vet I could see. It must have been pure hell laying like that, every second an eternity, for so long...

The most horrible thing about me is that I learn my lessons, but later forget many of them. I hope this is the last time, and I always carry these lessons with me until I die. They are hard lessons to learn, and it is the teachers who pay the price.

RIP Spike.