Tiny's
Christmas scare
At about 4.15pm on Christmas day (Thursday 25th December 2003),
Carol received a phone call from Stephanie who was getting our
horses in for us (we were returning the favour on new years
eve and day), to say that they (Stephanie had her sister with
her, a vet), had found Tiny laying down in the field and they
could not get him up. He also seemed to be in pain, and had
a very rapid heart beat, and they thought he may have a colic.
On our arrival a few minutes later, we found poor Tiny as described,
and Carol immediately called our vet. Tiny was in obvious distress,
and to me, seemed to not know where he was or what was happening
to him, but was not displaying usual colic signs. I started
to give him Reiki, to help calm him.
Mean
while Stephanie and her sister continued to bring our other
horses in, and Carol went to the top of the road to meet the
vet. During this time, Tiny seemed to calm, and after about
15 minutes, he became very quiet, and both his eyes began to
slowly close. Fearing the worst, I asked him not to do this
on Christmas day for Carol's sake, and then called for Carol
to come back as I knew she would want to say goodbye if the
time had come. In the 2 or 3 minutes it took for Carol to return,
Tiny had opened his eyes slightly and as far as I could tell
had made a small attempt to get up, although it was obvious
that he was completely exhausted.
After
about 20 minutes the vet arrived and examined Tiny, diagnosing
toxic shock. Due to the signs Tiny was displaying (heart rate
of 60bpm, swelling and deep red colouring of the mucous membrane
of both of his eyes, white gums), the prognosis was not good
and the vet told us that it would be kinder for Tiny to be put
to sleep. While discussing this, Tiny let out a small neigh,
then a couple of minutes later with my arms still around him,
he struggled to his feet, and started to wander to the gate.
We guided him back to the barn and put him in one of the larger
stables for ease of examination, and for Tiny's comfort. The
vet was amazed although still cautious, and examined him again,
and was even more amazed, when he found that Tiny's heart rate
had dropped to 50bpm, although Tiny did appear to be blind in
both eyes, which the vet told us may only be temporary. Tiny
started to eat his straw bedding, so we tried him on some hay
and carrots, which he ate readily. This was good, as it showed
Tiny still had a purpose, and so it was decided to monitor Tiny
for a while before making any decisions about his future. The
vet was still at a loss as to Tiny's recovery, and still cautious,
and I think, expecting it to be very short lived. At this point
Carol said to the vet that I had been giving Tiny Reiki, to
which the vet replied "carry on".
Stephanie
and her sister had returned to the stable at this time, and
both were amazed to see Tiny standing (although he was still
restless and seemed to be hyper - active, Tiny is normaly a
very slow, laid back pony), especially her sister, who as I
have mentioned before, is a vet.(she has since asked me o give
her the name of any books on Reiki that I know of). After a
further period of monitoring, the vet suggested that we see
how Tiny went over night, and to call him if Tiny deteriorated.
He said he could not offer any treatment (apart from TLC from
ourselves - which Tiny has received lots of), as the only thing
that may help, anti - inflammatory, may also have an adverse
affect.
As
the stable was large enough, we put in one of Tiny's stable
mates as a companion, and after further checking, decided to
leave him for a while, and return later as suggested by the
vet. We returned about 2 hours later, to find Tiny still up
and about and slightly more relaxed. Again after observing him
for a while and finding no further problems we left to return
again once more during the end of the day. Returning at around
midnight, we again found Tiny more settled, and his eyes seemed
to be more open this time, although the membrane s of each were
still very red and swollen.
The
next morning Tiny had both eyes open, and although still swollen
it appeared that he could at least see slightly out of one eye.
He was also a lot slower in his actions, and more like his old
self. Over the next few days Tiny continued to improve, and
by Sunday it appeared that he had his sight back. We had decided
to have the vet out to check Tiny again as a "follow up" appointment,
this took place on the Monday afternoon, at which time the vet
agreed that Tiny could now see again in both eye's, his heart
rate was back to normal, and that he was much calmer. Some blood
samples were also taken for analysis.
At
present Tiny is going out for 3 to 4 hours a day, and is, outwardly
at least, completely back to normal now (Friday 2/1/04). As
of yet we are still awaiting the results of the blood test.
Both Carol and I are of the opinion that the Reiki helped Tiny
(and I suspect one or two of the other people present at the
time may be wondering now!) I have had success with Reiki before
on horses: a lump on the under side of "Misty's" belly disappearing
after Reiki, a normally long lasting bout of colic (Tiny again)
clearing up in less that half the time, "Tara" remaining very
calm, patient and quiet for a long while (remarked upon by the
attending vet) during the search for an abscess in her foot.
I
will be contacting the Reiki master (Jan Barley www.healinghorses.co.uk)
who attuned me to Reiki one and gave me my Reiki for horses
training soon, with a view to completing my Reiki two initiation
and training as soon as a course is available. We have today
(Monday 5/1/04) received the results of Tiny's blood tests,
which show that he is slightly anaemic, but nothing else to
indicate what the problem may have been, nor strangely enough,
did they show any signs of past or present liver problems.
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