My name is Cristina and I am twenty-six years old. I’m currently living in Venezuela. When I was eleven years old, my younger sister came home with a beautiful Maltese puppy. The dog was so small that she could fit in my hands. She was extremely sweet, playful, and affectionate, so I decided to name her “Candy”. After a few months, my younger sister realized that Candy was not a toy and that she had to take proper care of this small creature. However, she wasn’t mature enough at the time to understand the complexity of this. Meanwhile, I developed a deep connection with Candy and a strong sense of protectiveness towards her, so I decided to look after her. And she became the sweetest companion. Four years later, my dog had an injury that changed our lives and that’s when we discovered the healing power of acupuncture as a treatment.
Candy was a small dog with a big personality. She would always jump up on her hind legs, whether it was to beg for a treat or to let us know that she wanted to play. However, this innocent action led to a complex injury a few years later.
On an ordinary day in July 2012, I noticed that Candy was unusually quiet and didn’t want to play with anyone. Every time someone tried to pick her up, she cried as if they were hurting her. I thought that maybe Candy could be sick and that she would feel more comfortable resting on my bed. But when I picked her up to get her on my bed, she started to cry even more. I put her down again and immediately noticed that she was unable to move her hind legs.
I burst into tears.
What was going on? I couldn’t understand what just happened.
“Did I do this?” I asked myself.
Several veterinarians evaluated her, and they all told me the same thing: “She has a severe injury in her lower back, there’s nothing we can do to help her”. Some of them even told me, without hesitation, that she would never walk again and that the best thing I could do for my pet was putting her to sleep.
There aren’t enough words to describe how I felt every time I heard her prognosis. I couldn’t imagine my life without my beautiful Candy.
And that’s when my family and I took a different approach.
A friend of my mother’s told her about the benefits of acupuncture as at treatment for animals and recommended a veterinarian who specializes in this alternative therapy, so I took my dog there. When this veterinarian evaluated Candy, she said the words that my heart longed to hear: “I will help her walk again”.
She gave me hope.
I would love to say that it was an easy and quick recovery journey. But even with acupuncture, recovery doesn’t happen overnight. It takes a lot of effort, time, patience, consistency, and hope.
At first, Candy went to acupuncture sessions every day. Then, she started going three times a week, for several weeks. In each session, the veterinarian would insert very fine needles through her skin at specific points on her body for approximately 15-20 minutes. After every session, Candy felt tired and just wanted to sleep. But one month later, she started to wag her tail and her eyes lit up again. She even had more energy and seemed happy again. With this, the acupuncture sessions started to be once a week.
Several weeks later, our dream came true: She tried to stand on her four legs without our help! And from that day forward, there was only positive news on her recovery journey. We celebrated every small achievement during her treatment.
Against all odds, Candy slowly started to walk again.
If it weren’t for acupuncture and the veterinarian who specialized in this alternative treatment, my dog would have had a different future. Thanks to acupuncture, my family and I were able to enjoy eight more years with Candy. With the appropriate treatment, she was able to regain her ability to walk, her strength, and her joy. Although Candy passed away two years ago due to natural causes, she will always live on in our hearts and memories.
If you or someone you love is going through a difficult situation, don’t let the bad news take control of your thoughts. Keep looking for solutions until you find the one that resonates with you. Don’t let others tell you what your future will look like, remember that you are the sole creator of your own future.
And more importantly, don’t lose hope!
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