The year-end holiday season.
In America, it is said that miracles happen during the year-end holidays- Christmas.
One of my favorite quotes is, “there are two ways to live life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. the other is as though everything is a miracle.” Albert Einstein, 1879~1955
Several miracles happened this year as well.
I want to share with you about a Christmas miracle that happened in my house.
On December 6th, after my usual walk with my dog family, my oldest dog, Lumi, developed a severe heart attack, was breathing heavily, and couldn’t move at all. All I could do was stay by her side.
I applied Animal Reiki, meridian acupressure on her heart and lung pressure points, and administered four drops of Bach Flower Rescue Remedy every 5 minutes.
The youngest puppy, Makani, who is very attached to Lumi, came next to Lumi and watched over her.
Lumi couldn’t move, but she was doing her best.
I video-called my husband, Eric, and let Lumi hear his voice.
Lumi said she would wait for Eric’s father to come home, but Lumi passed out after the call.
Her eyes remained open, unfocused, and unaware of my words and actions.
Lumi turns 15 next month, so I couldn’t help but think this was her last moment.
(Two years ago I wrote a blog about how Lumi came into my life on Lumi’s 13th birthday.)
I took a deep breath, calmed down, remembered what I had learned from raising a family of about 20 animals over the past 30 years and helping many rescue animals as an animal rescue volunteer, and did what I could.
Miraculously, Lumi regained consciousness several hours later.
But she was still breathing heavily and couldn’t move at all, so I communicated with Lumi and told her, “If you need to go to heaven, I will mentally prepare.”
Then Lumi said, “I am still here, Mommy. I am not going anywhere; I would wait for Daddy.”
When Eric came home, Lumi was weak, but she was happy to see him and show the strength of her life force and her presence through her eye movement.
Lumi couldn’t drink or eat anything, so we made her therapeutic drinks and liquid food. Lumi took a little bit of both.
After Lumi had the drinks and food, she seemed calm. I asked Lumi how she felt, and although it took a while for her to respond, she answered, “I didn’t know what was going on, and I couldn’t breathe, so I was scared.”
So I said, “Yeah, it was scary, but it’s okay now. You are still with us.”
I won’t go anywhere and will stay by your side. ” Then Lumi slowly closed her eyes, her breathing calmed down much more, and she fell asleep.
Lumi was going through living and dying and is trying her best to get better through the transition period, so I made a mixture of Bach Flower Remedies for Fear and Transition and sprayed it around Lumi and over her pows every 15 minutes.
I decided to make my bed next to her on the living room floor and sleep on the floor with her.
The first night, she breathed heavily when my hands left her, so I gave her Reiki or a gentle rub, and then she fell asleep for a little while.
I put a diaper on Lumi so she could lie down if she needed to pee or poop, but Lumi kept trying to get up in the middle of the night, and her breathing got worse every time.
But Lumi was stubborn and didn’t want to use diapers, so I didn’t know what to do. When I thought about it, I realized that if I were Lumi, I might be the same, so I thought about what I could do for Lumi. I picked her up and carried her outside the garden.
At that moment, Lumi was breathing very heavily and her heart was beating so fast that I could hear it, and I was filled with fear that Lumi’s heart might stop beating. I started blaming myself for taking Lumi outside, and when I closed my eyes, I realized that the sound of that heartbeat was also my own. So I took a deep breath and opened my eyes. I saw Lumi trying her best to find a place to pee, and I could tell that Lumi was doing her best even in times like this, so I told myself to ignore my whining. The only choice I had was to do everything I could to support Lumi.
Suddenly, I gently hugged Lumi and said, “I’m with Lumi. I love you!”
Then, Lumi’s heartbeat became a little quieter, and she found a place to pee and was looking toward the house, so I carried her back inside.
After that, Lumi asked twice to go outside, so I did the same thing for her, and at dawn, she seemed to be able to sleep soundlessly.
I was able to do what I could for her, just out of love, without doubt, or worry thinking.
I contacted Dr. Lane, a holistic veterinarian, but she was unavailable due to the holiday season, so the next day, I called Nancy, an animal healing specialist at Santa Monica Homeopathic Pharmacy, to discuss Lumi’s condition, and Eric got some homeopathic medicine.
Lumi had already been diagnosed with a heart murmur by Dr. Lane and has been taking herbal and homeopathic medicines for that purpose. After this episode, I suspect that Lumi may have fluid buildup in her lungs and heart, just like Lumi’s daughter Happy, who passed away in February this year. That’s why I decided to have Lumi balance out fluid in her heart and lungs.
We got heart medication, the fluid resolved, and we continued giving her Bach Flower, animal Reiki, massage, animal communication, and meridian point acupuncture with moxibustion.
We decided to try to improve Lumi’s health through all remedies, homeopathic medicine, healing foods, and our love.
Lumi still has a strong will to live.
Lumi’s health condition has been improving.
Thanks to her determination and our family’s efforts, Lumi can now eat her favorite mochi (soft rice cake) in the morning and eat homemade food (not more liquid food) and slowly walk out of the garden on her own.
The other day, she was determined to walk outside our yard, so I took her for very short walks. When Lumi gets tired, she tries to return instead of moving forward, so I respected her wishes and returned home immediately.
Lumi wanted to see Ocean on Christmas day.
Lumi said hello to everyone she passed, lay down on the sand, and enjoyed feeling the breeze.
On the way back, Lumi seemed a little tired and wouldn’t move on the sand, so when I held her, she was happy. She walked along the sidewalk on her own, sniffed many scents, and was satisfied.
Even as I write this blog, Lumi is sleeping comfortably with Makani at my feet, and when I tried to take a photo, Makani looked up.
Our Christmas miracle in 2024!
I hope you all find miraculous moments as we enter the new year.
Love,
Sanae ❤️
*Bonus:
What I found out about dog heart murmur.
“A dog with a heart murmur may experience a seizure-like event called syncope, which is a temporary loss of consciousness:
Syncope – Also known as fainting, syncope can occur when a dog’s heart is unable to pump enough oxygenated blood to the brain. This can be caused by an abnormal heart rhythm or arrhythmia, which can be very fast, very slow, or irregular. Syncope can look like a seizure, but there are some key differences.
