“Try To Remember The Kind Of September”….

….And on the eve of my birthday, I can’t ever remember the kind of September I just had 🙂  Just when I thought that the inner journey and strengthening Year of 2014 was about to let up on the pressure needed to create the diamond that I’m striving to become, our Creator wasn’t done with me yet.

The “Baptism by Fire” of my beloved mare’s colicking and surviving had just barely cooled when another fire was lit in the form of a severe hand infection that I contracted through a tiny nick that hardly bled.  Note to self: when one has a tiny nick at the barn, do not, I repeat, DO NOT wipe the blood off on one’s jeans.  The next day, my hand blew up like an ugly purple balloon.  Urgent Care took care of the basics, tetanus shot, antibiotics, etc. but two days later it was even uglier.

Thank goodness for a best friend who dragged me kicking and screaming to the emergency room where I was immediately admitted to the hospital for 4 days of intravenous antibiotics.  Really?  If left to my own devices I would probably be on life support for a totally septic body so… note to self:  listen to your friends and family and don’t be such a stubborn piece of work.

After that, only a week had gone by when, once more, an emergency struck!  I woke on a Thursday morning and couldn’t find my beloved boy cat, Hercules.  After panicking around the whole apartment, there he was in a corner of my closet. “Come on, Hercie, breakfast!”  A few moments later, I realized my “breakfast enthusiast” of a cat was still lying in the closet.  I pulled him out and laid him on the bed and knew something was very, very wrong.

I got him to the vet before they even opened.  He stayed the day to get intravenous fluids and tests.  Then I brought him home to see if anything had improved.  Another all night vigil.

By early a.m. it was clear he needed to go to the kitty cat hospital.  He had a serious infection and needed…oh my goodness, too eerie…intravenous antibiotics for 4 days.  An ultrasound showed an enlarged lymph node in his tummy and we are still not sure if it was the infection or if he has some sort of tumor.

My deep instinct says, it was just the infection and he is and will continue to be fine.

Note to self:  if one sees even slightly different behaviors in one’s animal companions, pay attention.  My little boy cat had been sleeping a lot and had had discomfort in the litter box.  Where was my brain?  How long had he been quietly enduring this tremendous abdominal pain with patience and quiet long-suffering?

This is how this memorable September has ended. My glorious mare is at a barn now where she can graze (the grass being essential to preventing colic) and is with her brother, whom she hadn’t seen for years.  She is one happy mare!

My hand is improving and I am preaching the glories of neosporin, bandaids and not taking anything for granted.

My boy cat is back to demanding his evening snack and trying to run out the front door.  He’s himself.

So, on this birthday eve, I say, thank you Creator for strengthening me even more.  Thank you for giving me the opportunities to be calm and clear minded in incredibly stressful emergencies this past month.

And, guess what?  My dream is taking form.  My boarding buddy, the special needs teacher, has taken over management of our barn and both my horses have been moved there and are happy and comfy.  Two of her special needs teenagers have volunteered to help out weekly with mucking and grooming.  This month we will be hosting a field trip for her class of 15 special needs teenagers at the barn.  We are ready.  The horses are ready.  Our Creator has made me ready.

Thank you, Creator, for this September to remember.

I can’t end this without a picture of Spirit, my 3-year-old Appaloosa gelding.  He is truly made of spirit and is a very, very special little horse.  He is making such a difference in my life and I know he will be making a huge difference in others’ lives.