Anatomy of an Intuitive Decision
 
By Michele Anderson

In May of 2003, we had to choose between two veterinarians to do a complicated surgery for Barkley, our white furry Samoyed dog, who was twelve-years old at the time. Our sweet dog had a tennis-ball-sized cancerous growth on his left shoulder that needed to be removed. This would be an extensive surgery; due to the size of the growth they would have to remove some of his shoulder muscle as well. Since he was an older dog and vulnerable to possible complications in surgery, we wanted the best care possible.
 
We had two possibilities to consider: Either use our usual veterinarian in upcountry rural Maui, or go with the high-tech vet who was based in Kahului, the island’s industrial center.
The vet in Kahului came highly recommended as the best veterinary surgeon on Maui. Plus, he was licensed to do acupuncture on animals and he had the best life support equipment for the surgeries he performed. Not surprisingly, he was also the most expensive, almost twice as much as our regular vet, for the same surgical procedure.
 
We didn’t know him at all, so we took Barkley for his first visit to this vet to get an estimate on the surgery and more generally to see how the two got along. The Kahului vet’s assessment of Barkley was very precise. He was good and efficient in his examination, but we felt Barkley was handled like just one more dog out of dozens handled that day. A personal connection was distinctly lacking.
Still, when dealing with a serious surgical procedure, is that warm connection the most important thing?
 
The thought we kept in the forefront of our mind was really: What does Barkley want and where would he prefer to go?

A Dream and a Baseball Field
 
Months earlier, I had a dream that haunted me for a while. I had dreamt Barkley was dead. He was gone and I knew it. In the dream, I was talking with the staff of a high-tech animal hospital. They were all in a car and wouldn’t step out to talk with me…an aloof group. From the parking lot outside the animal hospital in the dream, I could clearly see a nearby baseball field surrounded by the traditional baseball fence.
 
After a while I forgot the dream and even the talk of Barkley’s surgery didn’t jog my memory. After our appointment at the Kahului animal hospital, I had the instinct to take Barkley for a walk around the building in the parking lot. On the other side of the animal hospital, I was startled to find a small baseball park surrounded by a fence. The dream flooded back to me.
 
I immediately told my husband, “We can’t take Barkley here; he’ll die because he won’t feel on familiar ground and because they don’t know him. Barkley will feel disconnected, unnoticed, alone, and more vulnerable to the shock of a surgery.” At Barkley’s usual vet office, they not only knew him, they were fond of him. Anyone will recognize that loving feeling, especially an animal. They are natural love detectors.
 
When a prominent dream symbol also shows up in our daily life, a guiding hand is trying to reach us. When dreams are so lucid that the symbol reappears in our daily life, an important message awaits us. I’ve also found these symbols to be right on time. The image of the baseball field had settled into my memory only to be recharged at the appropriate moment to serve as a cautionary guide, and in fact, may have prevented a premature death for Barkley.
 
So, what happened with Barkley? His regular vet did the surgery. He not only survived the surgery, but healed very quickly—and he’s quite healthy and very much alive two years later, an active, elder pooch now fourteen-years old.
 
What I Learned From Barkley
  
When we are going through a major transition, a surgery, a move, a divorce, sometimes we need a familiar place to go to, a place where people know us by name, where we have a sense of home. We need that personal touch to get us through the mire: the doctor who knows our name as well as our children’s names, the bus driver who throws in an extra quarter when we’re running short on change, and the friend who remembers to send us flowers on our birthday. Kindness and warm familiarity is real and long-lasting medicine.

Michele Anderson is a free-lance writer and psychic intuitive. For additional information call toll free: 800-510-3700 or visit: www.NewVision-Psychic.com