My dog Toots had an encounter with a rattle snake this past weekend. In all my years of hiking and climbing in California I have seen dozens of rattlers, yet I’ve never known anyone to get bitten (in CA). So when Toots ran up to me cowering and hid by my feet on Sunday, I assumed he’d been stung by a bee. That’s exactly how he responded to a bee sting months ago. However a half an hour later it looked as though he had a golf ball in his mouth. That’s a big reaction, I thought.
Well another twenty minutes later and his lip on the left side of his face drooped inches lower than usual. Still thinking it was a bee sting I thought maybe he was experiencing anaphylactic shock. I investigated and saw a drop of blood next to his nose. A puncture wound. Not good.
I was about to get a fast education on dealing with poisonous snake bites.
I called to find the closest pet ER. As we headed to the pet hospital I began reading up on snake bites. I wanted to know what I needed to do NOW in order to help. This was the most difficult piece of info to discern- suggestions ran the full gamut from lancing the bite area, to sucking out the poison, to doing nothing. Nothing didn’t feel very proactive, yet without expert input nothing was exactly what I was going to do.
I also found out that sometimes only one puncture wound is evident, that swelling that continues to spread is common, and that sometimes a snake will only inject a small amount of venom. I really clung to this last point.
It turns out doing nothing prior to arriving at the pet hospital was the best thing to do. At the pet hospital the veterinarian took a blood sample to get a platelet count. The bite had occurred two hours prior and Toots’s was already in the low range. The Dr. recommended I use antivenin which I found out is costly, over $500 for a pet and around $1,500 for a human. The closest antivenin was in the next county so I drove to get it. By this time Toots’s swelling had spread to the whole side of his left face and his neck, and he was beginning to whine in discomfort.
The Dr. began administering the antivenin in an IV when I returned, about seven hours after the bite occurred. The antivenin is effective as long as it is administered in the first 48 hours. Seven hours, by the vets account, was a very fast response. Toots then stayed overnight. By the next morning Toots’s swelling had subsided considerably and I picked him up and took him to his regular vet for her input. By Monday afternoon we went for a walk and almost all of his swelling was gone.
Phew.
He’s curled up next to me now- he’s been sleeping a bit more than usual the past two days. He looks like a seahorse with his head tucked down in his curled body.
He’s a champ.
March 23rd, 2010 | filed in Musings, Uncategorized
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There is so much collective wisdom.
Alicia Allison
March 4th, 2010 | filed in Uncategorized
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-BuddhaHappiness increases by being shared.
February 16th, 2010 | filed in Uncategorized
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I love kirtan. And I especially love Krishna Das’s kirtans. So this last December I sought out and experienced the joining of many blisses- Maui, kirtan, and Krishna Das. Maui is on its own so healing, so when I combined Maui’s atmosphere of total embrace with Krishna Das’s kirtan in Haiku, Maui I experienced one of the most joyful times in my life.
When we do kirtan, the practice of what in India is called “chanting the Divine Name” over the course of a few hours, we are letting go of our “stories” and offering ourselves into the moment over and over again. Chanting is a way of deepening the moment, of deepening our connection with ourselves, the world around us, and other beings. The Sanskrit chants that we sing come from a place deep within each of us, so they have the power to draw us back within. If we go deep enough, we will all arrive at the same place, our deepest Being.
Krishna Das, Chants of a Lifetime
February 9th, 2010 | filed in Inspiration, Musings, Uncategorized
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Is your ability to do things in the world enhanced or hindered when you are happy?
Sadhguru, Founder of the Isha Foundation
The world doesn’t need what you do, it needs your energy of aliveness, of joy. The world needs people who are alive. So look within, come alive and live your joy. Be who you are and be amazed at how this harmoniously serves the whole.
February 7th, 2010 | filed in Inspiration, Musings, Uncategorized
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January 13th, 2010 | filed in Inspiration, Musings, Uncategorized
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Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you really love.
Rumi
Following the thread of love- excitement, passion, gratitude, a desire to know more about life- we find the treasure.
Joan Borysenko, Your Soul’s Compass
December 26th, 2009 | filed in Uncategorized
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The real is only one realization of the possible.
Ilya Prigogine, Nobel laureate chemist
Your current situation is only one reflection of what is possible. Let your life be a triumph of your imagination. In hypnosis access and cultivate your imagination and subconscious beliefs about what is possible. Then live your dreams. Because…
Imagination is more powerful than knowledge.
Albert Einstein
November 24th, 2009 | filed in Uncategorized
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Everyone has the need to be safe and to feel safe. This is natural.
However, sometimes the subconscious habits a person uses to feel safe don’t allow the person to relax and enjoy when a situation is safe and healthy.
Fortunately, when I work with clients in hypnosis, clients access, heal, and update their subconscious beliefs and emotions around feeling safe. These clients then experience a deep sense of safety and peacefulness coming from within. And they learn that when they experience something positive for 5 minutes, this means they can experience this for 5 hours, and then 5 days, and so on, until this positive feeling state becomes the norm.
What is it you want to experience? What is it you want to reawaken within yourself? What do you want to enjoy? Go within, into hypnosis, and make space for this, experience this, and then live it, day in and day out.
November 18th, 2009 | filed in Uncategorized
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Everyone has whatever they are seeking in the world, within themselves already. Go within, into Tiyoweh, and in the stillness experience what you are seeking. Then carry this with you, embody this, wherever you are.
Namaste… the spirit in me honors the spirit in you.
November 10th, 2009 | filed in Uncategorized
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