A few months ago Brodie was ill, extremely ill, we thought he might not make it. He was ultimately diagnosed with a retrobular abscess; and it took a serious 8-week regimen of antibiotics and other meds to heal him. In the process of his diagnosis and treatment we authorized a CT Scan to see inside his skull to look for a foreign object. My best guess was a foxtail; it was the season, they were everywhere on the trail we run and he had been exposed. I was wrong, they never found one. In fact, they couldn’t see a foreign object at all – just a massive infection that was encroaching on his brain and pushing his eye out of the socket.
Mark, myself, and his compliment of veterinarians and students focused only on his healing. He was released to go home with us after nearly 10 days inpatient at UC Davis Veterinary Teaching Hospital. He had 4 medications, a feeding tube, and schedule that required medicines to be given at different intervals in coordination with his 3 times/day feeding schedule, and he was in pain and tired (or drugged) most of the time. His face, 3 legs, and his neck shaved to accommodate a plethora of tubes and procedures and he had lost weight – he looked awful and sad. Slowly the days started to get better for him, and the medicine started to work, you could physically see the infection retreating by the health that was returning to his body. The first day he ate solid food was joyful in our household and I called his student vet to let her know too!
We watched him get better each day and start to return to his normal self but we never knew what caused the infection. He had a slight relapse after a fun weekend on the houseboat, and I freaked out and took him straight back to UCD – should we do another CT?, what changed?, was he just tired from all the fun? – we didn’t know what to do – but I couldn’t put him through all those procedures again and we didn’t have the money for round two. We decided to go a conservative path and watch and wait for additional symtpoms. I had shared our tale with many in our lives, including one of my clients. She recommended an ‘animal communicator’ that she worked with previously for her horses. I was intrigued, but hesitant, and continued to roll the idea around in my brain for a few weeks. I finally committed the $150 for the session; you pay up front, then they give you an appointment. It was a decent wait; 4-6 to get on her calendar and I prepared our client intake form with 1 statement and 2 questions:
- Brodie has experienced a mysterious medical situation in recent months and is struggling through the healing process.
- Does he know what caused his illness?
- What does he think of the conservative treatment plans going forward?
When our session approached I was resigned to having lost $150 but hoped Brodie knew something that she would relay to me. The session started interestingly; over the phone she communicates to the dog while you wait patiently, once she has conversed with the animal enough she asks if you are available to receive the messages. So it starts with silence for 5-10 minutes; then she tells you what the dog has communicated to her, but she asks that you not interrupt her or respond, because that breaks the flow of data and might lead her off course with the animal (Please note – this is HARD – not to respond!). I wrote furiously when she was speaking…here are some of the highlights:
- Brodie shared his muscles with her – showed her with pictures how athletic he had been. This caused me to Laugh out Loud – not a good start for not responding to her – but this completely sounded like something Brodie would do!
- Brodie knows he was very ill, near death, and knew he needed to be at the hospital. He though the vets were very thorough. But he was very concerned for 4 days that he wouldn’t live – TRUE!
- He had a very serious bacterial infection – TRUE!
- He keeps referencing “May” – TRUE!
- He said there isn’t a foreign body, and there was never a foxtail, but he believes he got the infection from a water source and it was a total fluke – we will never know if this is true (but it is what he believes)!
- Likes having the blood tests to confirm his white-cell counts; it’s the only way to know the infection is truly gone. True – Brodie has blood tests every 30 days since this started!
- He doesn’t want any more procedures because there isn’t a foreign object to find – YAY!
- He isn’t quite ready to run with me yet, like we use to, he feels this experience aged him, and he needs some more time to be 100% well.
I was floored, everything she told me was true, not “close” – but actually dead-on true! There were some comments about his home, his food, the change in not being allowed on the sofa in the family room, etc… and all of it accurate. I was in love with this woman – she gave me a glimpse into Brodie’s mind that I never knew was possible. She asked me if there was anything else I wanted to know, so I asked “Where do we go from here?” and Brodie came back with “lay in the sun, on the deck, by the water”….so that’s where we went, to the houseboat that she couldn’t have known about, and let him swim, play, go crazy…and end his day just like he wanted.
If you are interested, we high recommend Anna Twinney. Information on her and the services can be found at: http://www.reachouttohorses.com/animalcomm.html
brandinarvaez
Living with a Labrador 