Play God? Not Me.

Dogs. I can't imagine my life without them. They're a blessing with their unconditional love and they only ask the same from us. The more time I spend with them the more important it is to me to be able to read them and their needs. My husband and I only rescue special-needs dogs -- those who are blind and/or deaf, diabetic, physically handicapped or challenged, puppy-mill dogs who have been abused and terrified most of their lives and who have endured grave illnesses.

Once you come to my home you get to live here as long as you want, if you have fur. Since my 'babies' aren't considered prime pups, they are often looked at as less than desirable. Our 15-year-old diabetic lhasa apso has seizures and is quite weak, but his spirit is so strong. He's given me no indication that he's ready to leave us yet, and we do everything in our power to make him comfortable and take care of his needs. Much of his life has been about adversity, the same as our other rescues. Yet recently someone told me I was cruel to keep him around, that he is suffering because he has seizures and since I have a choice as to what to do with him, I should 'put him out of his misery.'

Put this guy out of his misery?

I am not God. Nor will I play that role unless he speaks to me very clearly about not wanting to be here on earth any more. To determine that it's time to end a dog's life without his or her permission feels just plain wrong. In spite of physical pain they suffer, which we do our best to alleviate with remedies and massage, their zest for life and sharing love with us is so much more powerful than their desire to end a life that's so short anyway.

Seven months ago one of our dogs started going downhill and having seizures. We needed to increase his insulin and change some of the remedies we were giving him. Because it has meant that there are times I am not available to go places with friends, I have been told that I'm wasting my time, etc. I no longer spend much time speaking with that person. The life granted this little one is precious enough that I believe it is important to do what's possible to increase the quality of his life. With dietary changes, being a little more responsible about keeping the 12-hour span between insulin shots close to the 12-hour mark, and adding some choline to the diet, seizures have decreased and energy has increased. The tail is higher, the leg lifts now when he pees, which he couldn't do a couple of months ago, and his bark is the loudest when the food is being prepared. His blind and deaf sister, who used to bark loudly in the middle of the night, allowing us to get very little sleep, is also taking the choline and hasn't barked in the night for several weeks.

Play God? Not me.

Farrah's Story

Last May 2009 I taped "Farrah's Story" before she passed away. However, I was so concerned that all the 'alternative' treatments she received in Germany would just poo-poo our belief in holistic medicine that I was discouraged from watching it until this past week. What an eye opener. She kept saying to her friend that was filming it (Alana Stewart?) that she wanted the cameras to keep rolling, in spite of the horrors she was experiencing, because she wanted everyone to know the truth about cancer and its realities.

Yes, cancer is a horrific reality. But the commonly prescribed treatments are far more horrific than the disease. And Farrah's treatment regimen was the worst. She received scads of chemotherapy followed by radiation, over and over, time and time again. Then, surprise, surprise, her immune system was so wiped out that she had nothing left to fight with when the tumors grew back (surprise surprise!). When she asked doctors why they don't just cut out the new tumors, they responded by explaining to her that she basically had no vital organ strength left and that they had somewhat turned to mush, so she wouldn't be able to withstand more surgical removal of tumors.

This beautiful, vibrant, loving woman was reduced to a guinea pig by our medical establishment just like any other person who gives in to conventional medicine without first turning to strengthening the immune system. It really made me sad to learn that she didn't arm herself with knowledge first, so she could find alternative methods to live rather than die so young.

Knowledge really is power. Applied knowledge is even more powerful. Knowing your choices is so important, not when it's too late, but now. If you haven't read my book "I Have a Choice?!" please pick up or order a copy and arm yourself with knowledge before it's too late.

Be blessed and be healthy.
Bera

OMG, where'd 2009 go? I was so busy doing everything but blogging that I missed nearly two entire years. And there's so much to talk about.

Where do we start? First, happy 2010, and I don't mean two thousand ten, since I've been recently told that this is politically incorrect......... rather, happy twenty ten! That taken care of, now let us proceed to the news.

For those of you who ask, yes, we still have our precious little rescues, from those without sight to those who have diabetes to those who have less than perfect little legs, or bladder stones, or deafness or seizures............ which means that we humans never get out of the "pen" together.

We still look forward to building our special-needs sanctuary and expect to start the work on it this year. Of course we're still doing other construction projects as well, which is how we feed our rescues.

This last year has been, like all other years, especially educational. Living through losses continues to be a challenge. One from which we're willing to learn, since that is how we can continue to grow.

This year has already been eye opening and promises to be a great year. There's so much I want to share with you regarding our extended use of noni juice, coconut oil and vitamin D3, which I will do in my next blog.

There's also some new music coming out; for you jazz lovers, I'm writing lyrics for Lanny Aplanalp, a very fine saxophonist and composer, and we look forward to putting together an album later this year.

Now, however, it's time to vent frustrations and kick in a few walls. Oh, all right, we're doing demo work and you gotta tear down the walls to put up new ones. No violence involved, at least not unnecessary violence.

Talk with you soon. I'd love to hear from you, and if you have any info you want me to post regarding specific foods or supplements that I might have knowledge about, I'll be happy to lead you in the right direction.

Have a great day and b-r-e-a-t-h-e.......................... :-)