For a long long time, since I was a wee bairn I’ve linked February with Valentine’s Day. You know the book of cards you gave out (& received) from classmates, in an envelope that had its own fake stamp, or your own SWAK on the back. Later it was fancier cards, chocolates, flowers.
I was lucky. I got all 3 and the flowers were always in a pot so they lived on and on… if I remembered to water them.
I don’t recall any stat holiday in this month until about a decade ago. Now PEI has Islander Day, Manitoba has Louis Reil Day, Nova Scotia has Heritage Day. In BC it’s Family Day. But a day officially, specifically set aside and honouring Love – no, nyet, nein, nada.
Of course to start my February bletherings I consulted Ms. Google’s knowledge base on Valentine’s Day. Apparently it’s been around for 1,527 years and was initially about a couple of Christian martyrs. Pretty sure it’s always been about human love.
So I’m going to shake it up a bit; put my own twist to this day of Love – ranking it up a notch – Unconditional Love. When I hear those last 2 words I immediately think of dogs and cats.
Now I don’t want to bore y’all with yet another animal story but hey, I live on a farm and after spending a quarter of a century feline-free and half a century (that’s right, my first 50 years) without a dog I definitely need to have my say about the incredible importance of non-humans.
What follows is a true story. It happened to me way back when I was an fairly new RN at the Ottawa General Hospital.
To this day I tear up every time I relay this story to anyone.
I worked on one of the surgical units, dealing with nephrology issues – anything kidney-related. I was part of the kidney transplant team, peritoneal dialysis creation/home teaching and basically all things human plumbing.
We had a young woman who lived alone with her large dog companion. She was very sick and had been on our unit for several days.
A neighbour was taking care of her dog.
She had been quite despondent over not seeing her beloved canine and although her hemodialysis appointment wasn’t until the following day, her blood pressure was literally through the roof and our collective alarm bells were going off.
Her nephrologist came in after hours set up an emergency dialysis treatment. That specialized unit was already closed but he quickly secured the trained staff & I rushed her down to the unit. There she was, in a huge lazyboy chair, honking-big ‘cycler’ machines all around her, unable to stifle her sobs.
The doc swore us all to secrecy. All of a sudden outside the big bay windows came her neighbour with big Buddy, his tail just awagging when he saw her.
She let out a squeal, the doors opened and Buddy was escorted in and by her side in moments.
Now this was the most amazing and totally educational moment for me.
I watch the continuous vital signs machine. Her pulse immediately slowed, and her blood pressure, just like magic, started to go down down down. But it wasn’t magic at all. It was Buddy. I think that dog saved her life.
I was flabbergasted. Still am. My respect for animals increased exponentially overnight.
When we came out to the Island and I joined the NRGH team I did a stint on the ‘awaiting placement’ unit. There was a dog, with proper hospital picture ID tags that used to come onto the unit every week and do his ’rounds’.
Better than any medicine or happy drug we could have dispensed! He breathed that spark of life, that calm in the face of despair, as he would gently put his front paws on the bed and feel the caress of a person in need of solace, of comfort, of unconditional love.
And it’s not just dogs that have this gift. Cats, horses, rabbits and I’m told even rats (sheesh!) have healing powers.
Interacting with animals, playing, petting, just hanging out together decreases your body’s cortisone level, cholesterol and triglyceride levels. That lowers your blood pressure.
They also prompt the body into releasing prolactin, oxytocin, and serotonin, hormones associated with stress reduction and relaxation.
It would be a few years before we had our own bevy of animals. At one point here on Thistledown Farm there were 7 collies, 2 cats, 3 sheep, 2 horses (and a partridge in a pear tree!) And to say that some of them helped me and continue to heal me through my most traumatic times…well it would be a total understatement.
What a gift these creatures are. And although I can’t give them a card, or flowers, or definitely not chocolate on Valentine’s Day I plan to be extra caring to each and every one of them. Give them extra lov’in because, well, they all deserve it.
Jackie never tires of writing about the animals in her life, offtimes remembering the wise words of that famous author Anonymous –“My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog already thinks I am”, as she continues to farm that 20-acre organic slice of Paradise in Cedar
Jackie Moad.
World Traveler.
Environmentalist.
Organic Farmer.
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