Refresh-Revive-Renew

Yes, even Reiki practitioners need a break from the stresses of their daily lives. Ming and I took a food journey to one of our favorite cities, San Francisco. It was bliss for four days. The weather gods were working over time to keep the temperatures in the high 70’s for our visit. We stayed at a favorite hotel, Campton Place (a Taj Hotel Resort) in Union Square. It was great to see that the hotel allowed dogs. We saw a beautiful black lab getting off the elevator. We did see a few dogs in the city but nothing like Venice. A pug in Neiman Marcus did excite the crowd. Ming did say “if I had Lucy here, I’d have everyone on their knees saying how cute she is.” Lucy does command a crowd.Well we were also up there to celebrate Ming’s birthday. We always try to go somewhere great to celebrate her birthday. We did some shopping which was fun. We had some fabulous dinners. Ming’s birthday was celebrated at the Farralon. Isn’t her birthday cake cute?  Mainly delicious seafood. We always eat lots of appetizers and then surprised us with a cake for Ming. Waddled back to the hotel and watched some goofy movie, don’t bother even knowing, fell asleep. Ready for another day. 

Another day of the same, fun, fun, fun! Weather was beautiful. Shopping was great. Everything went well.  These hearts were all over the city. The heart in the photo make us think of our dogs and how much we miss them. 

We decided to partake in the Chef’s 9 course tasting menu that evening. It was actually 12 courses if you counted the “free” courses.  By Chef Srijith Gopinatham:

Porcini Mushroom and Konbu Broth with Summer Truffles and Crispy Seaweed

Roasted Chiogga Beets, Beet Curd and Andante Dairy Minuet Cheese Snow

Artisan Foie Gras, Cocoa Nib Crust With Port Pebbles and Grape Gastrique

Barely Seared Scallops, Almond Soup Fig Compote and Prosciutto Ham Chips

Halibut en Papillotte, Carrot Hazelnut Puree Fresh Pound Herbs and Lemon Emulsion

Liberty Farms Duck Breast Artisan Foie Gras Slow Baked Peach and Charred Pedron Peppers

Roast Angus Beef Tenderloin Served with Truffled Potatoes Chanterelle, Haricots Verts and Veal Jus

Textures of Grapefruitj Lime Milk, Mango Sorbet, Blackberry Paper

Pure Chocolate Bergamot, Chocolate Toffee and Devil’s Food

If you animal lovers need a break, check into the Campton, even if you don’t need 9 courses, one will do. This is one of the best meals I have ever had in the world. Including Vietnam, Paris, New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, London. This Chef can cook. Presentation was gorgeous.

Now, what does this have to do with reiki? A happy pet owner is a good pet owner. You can see how happy we are. Smiles all around.

Writer’s Block

So I am searching my mind wondering what to blog about. Should it be funny, should it be serious. Should it be about Lucy, should it be about Sammy? Perhaps even Mochi? I come up with nothing. I think about who I have been giving reiki lately too and I come up with nothing. I wonder why I’m coming up with nothing.

I realize its grief I feel. The dog that I had been sending reiki to every day died last week. I don’t think I have even dealt with my own sadness. I had been sending him reiki for several months.The last several weeks, I was sending every day. Many days it was just him on my docket.   The dog belonged to one of my closest friends. In fact, I knew that dog as a puppy before I even liked dogs myself, before I even heard of the word “reiki”. It’s because of my friend that I even got a dog. I watched her grow up with dogs. She has always had a dog in her life. I have thought about my friend every day since the day she called me at work to tell me Bailey was gone. I had sent reiki to him that morning. Two days ago, I had seen a light.  A day later, a smaller light.  All I will say is that Bailey wanted to know that his Mommy was going to be ok. He was worried about her and wouldn’t let go until he knew SHE was going to be ok. Is that not the ultimate in unconditional love.  Afterall he had been with her 13 years. I remember the puppy classes he would fail out of and get all the other pupppies to follow him. The times where he would eat her underwear (shhh!) and her panty hose. And off to the Vet they want.  But he was the highlight of her life. He got her through everything. Now, as I said before,  dogs give us such a great joy, they give us back more than people that don’t have pets will ever realize. They truly are God’s gift to us humans.  I know, that with reiki as Bailey got older, he was able to run up the stairs again. With reiki, Bailey was able to bark at his Mommy in the end weeks. Mommy said she wanted him to talk to him, so when I sent Bailey reiki, I told Bailey Mommy wants to hear you talk. Well, then he started barking again.  All we all wanted is for Bailey to not be in pain.  Would you not say this is God’s best plan, the day Bailey was to move on, he was with his Daddy and Mommy.  Because they were on vacation, and they took their dog with them. When I heard that I felt good. We all knew time was coming close. At least they were together.

Many reiki blessings to Bailey and his family. To my friend Heather. This blog is for Bailey.

Allergies- itching and scratching. Misery!

Poor Lucy. Well, the day after the flea bath at Petco, we thought things would get better.  But that evening, Lucy was even worse. Almost screaming out at night with no relief from us.  Getting just about no sleep all night.  As I laid there trying to comfort Lucy, what to do was running through my head. I had to make sure Lucy was ok before I could take her to the cabin. I had already told my husband and everyone at work, Lucy was staying in the cabin with me. Didn’t want to expose her to any of the little buggers out there.  I sent Candy a text message before 5am. Are you up? TM came back, yes.  I told her my predicament and said I was going to beg the Vet to see her.  I wanted to call in sick to work to take care of my little Lucy.  At 6am I brought Lucy to see her mommy Candy.  What misery she said Lucy was in. She had some Lidocaine spray and was able to rub some of it on her tummy, pelvic region where it was so “warm” and “red”.  We stayed till 7am discussing our plan of action. Since Mark didn’t have to leave for work later, I thought best for Lucy to stay with Daddy as long as she could before being dropped off for a long day at the Vet. If no appt, your pet gets seen in between visits. Thank God they still get seen. Pick up would be around 2pm. Long day ahead for Lucy.

Candy picked up Lucy for us, brought her home, fed her lunch and gave her some much needed TLC.

The Vet then called me. She said it was POLLEN! Not so much the fleas really. She said maybe some component but mainly pollen.  She got a shot, antibiotics and some antihistamines. Ok, another $120 but I was just so happy she got some relief.  And I must admit I am relieved it wasn’t so much fleas.

Last night was the first night Lucy did not need reiki in the middle of the night. How do I know that? She slept at the foot of the bed again. Not next to me.  We’re all set for the cabin!

OMG, FLEAS, nasty!!!

So its been a very busy Sunday morning.  A few days ago, Lucy started scratching and biting her paws. I thought oh no, her allergies are back again. We are heading to a cabin next weekend and was trying to time her baths. I know after we get back from the cabin, Sammy and Lucy will be dirty little dogs.  A day or so went on and Lucy seemed ok. But at night she was itching fiercely. She woke me up and I actually did reiki her and we both fell into slumber. However this morning, I awoke and looked at her belly and I saw them, yes, at least one. YUCK!!!! Horrified, I was in a scramble to find a groomer. Our groomer is off on Sunday and Monday and I needed one ASAP. The one thing I do not understand is that Sammy is fine, Mochi is fine. Why in the heck do these ^&%$ fleas like Lucy. Poor Lucy. I got on the internet looking for a groomer in the LA area. I found one and at 7am he actually answered his phone. His service is the kind that comes to you home. Well, after he asks me a zillion questions, tells me Lucy not responding to Frontline may need weekly bathes, says for $100 he’ll come out. $100??!! No way, there has to be someone else. I do a search for groomers open on Sundays. I find one in Culver City. I leave a msg but decide I better just be at her door and when she sees how cute Lucy is, she’ll take pity and give her a flea bath, flea dip, whatever it is that “they” do. I head out at 830am asking Mark to wish me luck. We get to the groomer 15 min early. As we walk around, Lucy senses that is the place to go, she throws herself at the door as if pleading, let me in and help me. We wait 10 more min, by now, its past opening time and I’m thinking they’re not coming!! I call Centinela Pet and Feed, they have no groomer. Alas, Mark gives me the number for Petco and they have an opening at 1030am. We rush home.  I would prefer a groomer for Lucy and felt bad that she has to go to one of those establishments, but the girl seemed nice. I took Lucy’s collar off and handed her off.  I found this website, http://www.dogchatforum.com/get_rid_of_fleas.htm which had all kinds of information. We have now sprayed, powdered the house. Thank you Gordon for the powder and thank you Mark for vacuuming the whole house!! Exchanged and cleaned all the bedding for us, for the dogs.  Candy on her walk this morning called to tell me people are digging up the earth right behind our houses. This must be the reason for these fleas. The moving of the earth probably has released all kinds of buggers. GROSS! I’ve never had a problem with Mochi or Sammy and they  have been with me for 8-11 years. Never ever once have I had to deal with fleas. EVER. What a nightmare. I think I am itching just writing this.

Our dear 95 year old friend

Every Sunday morning Candy and I visit a dear dear friend about 40 minutes away from home.  She’s like a mother, a grandmother, a big sister, a close girl friend. She too has had dogs her whole life. At the age of 93 she raised a puppy that was only a few weeks old. She couldn’t walk fast enough to get the door open for her little dog to run out to pee but she rigged the door with her cane so that when the puppy came over, the door slid open for him. She trained this little toy poodle herself. Taught it to sit, fetch. She lived an amazing life, she saw and lived through the Depression. She told us of stories of sadly how people jumping out of windows because of finances. She worked for the census bureau and went to places that a white woman should not go.  But she said the people were always friendly. She worked as a nurse. She told me she has seen every war our country has ever been through and yet tells me this is the worst one. She has lived in New York, Boston, Mississippi, Seattle, California. I always wanted to write a book about this dear friend, her life fascinated me. Candy and I would visit her in Arizona at least once a month. It was a great time. It wasn’t like going to your parents, though,  sometimes she chided us but all in fun. We drank together, we did our hair together, we laughed, we watched movies. She loved Cantonese duck. We would bring her some almost every visit. She told us our visits were like Christmas. I told Candy, never in my life time would I ever hear a human being say to me I bring her Christmas. How precious and touching is that.  We would do all the things you do with your girlfriend except she was in her 90s. Candy called her “Ma” everywhere we went.

One visit, we decided to bring Lucy to visit her and the new puppy. Lucy was still a baby too and she loved car rides. 5 hours from LA to AZ, Lucy was a trooper. When Lucy and Rascal (the puppy) met they ran around the house chasing each other till their tongues hung out from pure exhaustion. The toy poodle was jet black so all you see is this black furry thing. Candy even carted the dogs around with the walker.

When she at 95 , unable to walk and care for herself, her son moved her to the Los Angeles area so we all could be closer to her. The most amazing thing about her is that whenever I was down, sad, bothered by something, I could call and tell her about it. She ALWAYS had a positive attitude on everything. Even when she was in the hospital with a broken hip, she would ask us how are you girls doing? One thing I have learned in life is to surround yourself with loving and positive people, you derive so much energy from that. Even though she cannot reiki me, I can reiki her and she gives back SO much more. It has never been a chore to visit her or to see her. I don’t want to write about her when she is no longer here, she still to this day gives back to Candy and I. We always get something positive from her. She still makes us laugh everytime we see her. She still makes us feel good about ourselves. She still compliments our hair, and boy, is that a biggee! We love you Phyllis forever!

A Full Moon

I find out a few nights ago that it was a full moon out. That totally makes sense. I mean, It had to be something, at 3am, Sammy Diva wakes up and walks around the room. Part of me awakes listening to see if she has to go out. She walks to the water bowl and takes a drink. I hear her then just pace around the room a bit. She doesn’t come to my side of the bed or Daddy’s. If she needs to go out, she’ll wake us up. But nope, not a sound. I say to myself, please, go back to sleep, go back to sleep. Few minutes later, I hear her snoring again.  Almost around the exact time, Mochi decides to throw a furball. How lovely is that. I’m too groggy to

care.  However, Lucy then wakes up and starts to bite her paws as if being attacked by the Allergy monster. I flip her over put my arms around giving her reiki and we both fall back to sleep…….

This is an odd week, just balance seems to be knocked off a bit. My closest friends having surgery.. lots of reiki being sent out to family and friends. My very dear friend said to me that I was her “energy” hub and because of that she felt strength going into her surgery. That really made me smile.  I liked that. Very sweet. I think we’ll all be back in balance in no time.

Knowing When To Let Go

This is to all my faithful readers. I’m sure you have followed my many puppy sagas. The death, the loss, the arrivals and the moving of puppies. Whenever anyone meets Star, the new puppy, they say, oh you have replaced Lucy with Star. Alright, back up, back up. Now, I am setting the record straight once and for all. 

I love Lucy, I have always loved Lucy. I have always put my dogs needs- financially and emotionally above my own. 

Lucy was rescued by me as you know.

But she also spent time such as weekends, sleep overs with my BFF Ming, her husband Mark, Sammy Diva and Mochi. Lucy was part of their extended family. But not for Mark. For Mark, this was his little girl. Because he spent a lot of time during the rescue process with her. He took care of her when she was a puppy. He became very attached to her. Ming had Sammy Diva before they were married and they had a very close bond. Mochi seemed to love everyone, you know cats, they do what they need to survive. The one thing Ming and I both noticed was this amazing thing that Lucy did. She had two routines in two different houses which included her eating habits, her walking habits even sleeping habits. The moment she walked in the Brown house, she knew what routine she would be in. At my house, she lived another. What a smart dog, we had never seen this. This must be because she is a rescue dog. 

After Ry’s passing I noticed a decline in Lucy’s behavior. She played a little with KC but didn’t come out of her shell much. Again, down the street (which is only a few doors down) she goes. She seems to find peace there. Its a calming house. Sammy is an older Lab, spends evening time w/ Mom and Dad on the couch watching movies and drinking wine. (not the dog) Also, at night, they pull Lucy into bed since she was so small. Sammy always sleeps on her bed. Mochi also slept at the foot of the bed as well. At this time, I developed my lung condition.  Lucy sleeping in my bed exacerbated my condition. My pulmonologist said no dogs on my bed at all. Another bummer for Lucy. Now, this is a dog that I carried around, held in my arms. Lucy is not a dog-dog . Lucy is a dog-person. So her personality starts to change. Also KC is slowly coming out of his coma and looking for someone to play with. Guess who, Lucy. Lucy enjoys it somewhat. Though Lucy is a Corgi and KC is a Boxer. Imagine what that is like from Lucy’s point of view. KC would sit on Lucy, use her as a ball, drag her around by the collar to play with her. Lucy is a small Corgi. It began to take its toll on her. More nights at the Brown’s. Lucy began to snap a lot more at KC. I began to see her feeling more miserable. During reiki with Lucy, both Ming and I felt what was going on. But we had no solution at the time. Ming was pretty happy with her life, but Lucy wormed her way into Ming’s heart. Ming didn’t know she had room in her heart for one more dog. She was surprised at how attached she was becoming to Lucy. It became harder for her to just pick up Sammy Diva after work and leave Lucy behind. 

I searched my heart. I needed to do the right thing for Lucy. Not for KC or anyone else. I walked down to talk to Ming and Mark. Lucy’s well being was the most important. That was when the decision was made for Lucy to become a member of the Brown household.Well, I think her puppy prayers were answered. She is very happy. We had a great puppy shower to celebrate her move. It was a wonderful time. I don’t think anyone will ever comprehend the sacrifice of giving up someone you love because it’s better for them. 

I am lucky because I see Lucy almost every day and she spends the afternoons with me. So its not a HUGE sacrifice, so please, I never replaced Lucy. I gave Lucy the best most loving home she could have. Because I put a furbaby first. Win, win!

A Healthy Dog is a Happy Dog!

For the past 2 days at 5am, Sammy Diva has been waking up extremely happy. We can hear her make these AH!, AH!, AH! sounds which means that she is on her back with her legs stretching up into the air. How happy happy she must be.  Seeing her do this one, two sometimes three times a day makes us laugh. Its wonderful to see how good Sammy Diva must be feeling.  She must be pain free. This is actually the happiest I have ever seen her since I had her. And she is 8 years old! She has had plenty of antibiotics etc in the past. I attribute this to the reiki. She must really feel good. And doesn’t that song just play in your head, ” I feel good…Whoa-oa-oa! I feel good, I knew that I would, feel good, I knew that I would, now
So good, so good, by James Brown! ” Yeah, baby!!

 

 She was outside today and again… Sammy Diva was so happy again!!! This is the same day that she woke up at 5am doing the same thing!  I said to Mark, quick, get the camera, who would believe an 8 year old yellow labrador retriever with canine hip dysplasia was this happy?! Yeah, reiki! The Vet said she had extensive damage to her hips. Does this look like a dog with pain? No! I think she has reverted back to puppy mode! All we can say is that we are happy that she is happy. It is great being a dog and having a great life! Nothing is better than this. No more bladder infection, no more pain in my hip. I haven’t had to give her anything for pain since I stopped to Rimadyl. The Vet said once the weather changes I can give her buffered aspirin, but obviously, she is NOT in any pain!

Happy dog, Happy Parents!

Only a few days after Sammy Diva started her antibiotics, non steroidal medications (those were stopped after people alerted me thank you again), glucosamine tablets and getting 3 reiki sessions a day, did I see a HUGE improvement. In fact, I even researched and bought a ramp over the weekend.  And its on it way.  I can save it for the future or use it now to help her ease into the car. But Sammy is running up and down the stairs more than ever! The very next day, my husband Mark sent me a text message, the reiki is working! I was so happy to hear.  Almost too much … she has been following me everywhere. Lays right next to me as I type away. I believe the reiki worked! I gave her consistent reiki sessions both hands on and distant.  We’re going to get her to lose a few more pounds, finish up her antibiotics and closely watch her hips.  The Vet did tell me that Sammy’s thyroid may need to get looked at and may be a sign for something more serious. So we’re bracing for that news. But for now, life is good.

ps. She weighs 74lbs! She has been on her diet and doing well! She loves carrots!

Addendum: I just got the call from the Vet. I told her my concerns about the Rimadyl. I told her I am a pharmacist and concerned about the information I found. She was great and comp’d the medication! She said Sammy could be on buffered aspirin if need be in the future. She also consulted a pathologist and her thyroid function is fine!! All is normal. She’ll go back for a urine test once she is done with the antibiotics!

Suffering Sammy Diva

Well, got another call from the Vet today. More bad news. Sammy Diva now also has a bladder infection. How in the heck did she get that. She’s never had one. She has had too many ear infections when I first got her. But bladder? No wonder she’s miserable on top of her hips hurting. Before I even knew she had a bladder infection, I was so sad last night, in tears reiki’ng her. I will NOT do well as she gets old.  My husband carried her up the stairs again last night. This morning, she woke up at 520am needing to pee. (now I realize its from the bladder infection, not just the side effect of the steroid injection.) Mark was so kind to get up for Sammy.  I did hands on reiki on her when I woke up.  Then when I went upstairs to get ready for my day (with no Sammy by my side sadly) I sent her reiki hoping that she may appear like yesterday. But no.  But a few minutes later as I was blow drying my hair, Mark said, look behind you. There was Sammy, about to give me kisses. Well, if its 3 reiki sessions a day for her, that is what it is going to be.

After the Vet called, I went to get her antibiotics for her bladder infection, baytril which cost a whopping $111.00 and her non steroidals for her hip, rimadyl which was another $65.50. I got the pill pockets, have you ever tried those? They are great. Dogs think they are getting treats (instead of nasty tasting pills). I also picked up some laxatone for Mochi hoping it will help with furballs. (I know, not fun to pick up). Ka-CHING as my friend Candy would say as she only knows too well about spending $$ on our furbabies. Well,  its all worth it if I can get Sammy Diva back to her fun loving , laying on her back with legs stretched in the air, saying AH, ah, ah!!!!