First day without Meme

Meme is gone. Yesterday, when I cleaned her wound, I found maggots in her wound, I killed some, but three went back inside. She was trying to scratch afterwards, obviously, she was quite uncomfortable. I knew it was time. We could take her to the vet and make her go through pain and have it cleaned out, but then the wound will even be larger and I don't think it will heal, and it is more prone to infection. I don't think want her to go through all that pain.
She hadn't been walking well in the past two weeks, she was slow before, but in the past two weeks, she was having difficulty standing up, and she couldn't walk across the room without laying down several times. She lost interests to go outside, she would go do her business and came right back home. She wouldn't even walk far enough to the grass, just stayed close to the patio. She was gradually losing control of her bladder. When she walked up to the patio door, she was anticipating the peeing motion, and she would pee inside the house, didn't make it outside.
We were to put her down Monday when the vet's office is opened, but I couldn't stand having to antipicate her death, it was too hard. I would much rather grieve the lost then to grieve the anticipation of her death. So Dan and I took her to an emergency vet clinic. Mrs. Iris Feinberg came over to stay in the house just in case Kioni woke up.
It was the most difficult thing to do. Meme was gone in seconds after the injection. The vet said her brain stopped functioning before her heart stopped, she didn't even realize she was dying.
This morning was very hard. I kept telling myself I didn't have to get up to let her out, I didn't have to feed her. When I came down with Kioni, the usual spot where her food and water bowl were was empty. The usual spots where she laid was empty, there were still fingernail marks that she made on the carpet from the night before, the indent of the pillow that she slept on was still there, but there was no Meme.
I saw her every week until she was one, I have had her since she was one year old. She was 15 years and 11 days old. She was born in Australia, moved to Hong Kong, lived there until 6, then move to the U.S., lived 9 more years, died in Illionis.
Undoubtly, she lived an enjoyable good life, the vet said he has never seen a Basset Hound this old.
She brought a lot of joy to my life, she made me laugh, she took long walks with me. She was my faithful companion when I first moved here, she was the only thing that reminded me of Hong Kong, she was my baby before Kioni was born. I love her.
Goodbye Meme. It is very hard to let you go. I know it is for your good, you are not suffering anymore, the tumors are not boring you anymore, your legs are not hurting anymore, your blindness is not affecting you anymore, and surely not the maggots.
You were a good dog, thank you for being with me through lots of ups and downs. It is hard to say goodbye, but there is always an end to life.