I had a golden retriever all my life. I honestly could not remember a time when she wasn't there. She must have been 13 or 14. Then she started having trouble walking, and a few weeks later it turned out she had cancer. That's what you get for owning a purebred I guess, this sort of thing happens to them alot. We put her down in march about two years ago, and I still have her old collar. Two weeks later my cat, a calico as old as the dog, was hit by a car. I was the only one in my family that cat could stand, and she got me through some rough times.
I guess my point is that life goes on, and you can't let this sort of thing ruin the time you have left.