October 2022 – Me and the Doods.com

A Whole Lotta Halloween

My husband has always been a big fan of Halloween. He uses his surgical skills to carve pumpkins. He used to decorate the house for elaborate holiday parties and even dressed up to take the kids trick or treating. Me, not so much.

ELBEE I believe she’s what you’d call a Halloween Scrooge.

I don’t mind cute decorations like smiling pumpkins or happy scarecrows. I just don’t understand the creepy clowns and the gravestones that say, “Let Me Out.” And what’s with all of the skulls and skeletons?

I mean, take this house for example. Skeletons and spiders?

ELBEE Hello! That’s her daughter’s house in San Jose.

Even aside from Halloween, I don’t like being scared. One time at an amusement park my daughters talked me into joining them on a roller coaster. Right before it was going to take off, I panicked and tried to convince the guy in charge to let me off. I’ll never forget when he looked at me and said, “Lady relax. It’s just two minutes.” Those were two of the longest minutes of my life.

This year, thanks to the dogs, I caught the Halloween spirit. There were even costumes involved.

ELBEE A t-shirt with a pumpkin on it and a crazy wig is a costume?

On our regular days at Tarzana Hospital and UCLA, I brought accessories like pumpkin headbands and Halloween glasses. I did a silly photo shoot with the Doods. I was on a Halloween roll.

But the best part was Friday. Several of the costumed PAC dogs, including Gus and Stanley, as pumpkins, and four “lion” labs, went to cheer up the kids in the pediatric unit at UCLA.

There was constant excitement everywhere we went but one interaction really stood out. The Halloween pack went in to see a six year old girl who is battling cancer. Despite her illness and her bald head, she was a little dynamo in Halloween pajamas. She was the picture of sheer happiness as they came into her room.

Hearing her adorable giggle as she petted and hugged each of the dogs was a gift I will never forget. So was seeing her young dad wipe a tear from his eye.

Before leaving, we stopped in the administration office to share the dogs. Gus and Stanley love everyone in there but were so tired from all of their visits that they sprawled on the floor to relax. It seemed like such a good idea that, laughing, we joined them. That’s when Jen, the director of PAC, walked in, took a look at all of us and said, “Guess that’s a Halloween wrap.”

Happy Halloween from a former Halloween Scrooge!

From Meetings to the Mountains

Working with the dogs gives me a wonderful sense of fulfillment. They keep my life active and busy.

ELBEE I understand that’s a very good thing for seniors.

Over the past several months, I’ve felt such a sense of gratitude as we’ve returned to in-person hospital visits. Seeing the faces of the kids in the neuropsych units light up when the dogs walk in is an indescribable gift.

In this cautiously optimistic period following the main surge of COVID, Gus and Stanley have also been doing lots of special events. There seems to be a real need for the comfort of therapy animals.

This past week was a perfect example. Along with five other dogs and two miniature horses, they went to the UCLA Health board meeting, which was celebrating its tenth anniversary. You could feel the excitement as the large crowd walked out of the auditorium and saw the animals on the patio.

My friend commented that the shaft of light shining down in the photo on the right, was Charley and Elbee, my first two therapy dogs, watching over Gus and Stanley. I wish I could say that the two of them did a perfect job but things don’t always go as planned.

Gus was pretty low key but kept rolling over for belly rubs. Stanley, who’s generally very calm, had his own issue. He loves Blue Moon, one of the miniature horses, and was like the obnoxious kid showing off to get her to notice him. Blue Moon, fortunately, is used to the attention and takes it in stride.

ELBEE “In stride?” Is that a weak attempt at a joke?

STANLEY Excuse me for showing my feelings.

As for the mountains, I have all sorts of interesting adventures when I’m hiking with Henry. Last week it was when I was up on one of my favorite overlooks doing push-ups.

ELBEE She’s a showoff but I’m a little impressed.

A woman hiking by, using two walking sticks, saw us and stopped to chat. She shared that several months ago she had been coming up a nearby trail and had fallen and broken her ankle in three places. She’d had to be rescued.

As she told me the story, I realized that I had been there with Henry that morning! I’d seen the low hovering helicopter, the emergency workers running across the mountains and the ambulance on dirt Mulholland.

She’d undergone a few surgeries and had a long difficult recovery but she was back. I’d thought about her often and was so grateful that the universe had let me know she was okay.

A Dog Mom Extraordinaire

ELBEE OMG I hope she’s not talking about herself.

All of my friends with dogs are fabulous dog moms. They care so much about their pups that they’d cancel a dentist appointment if their dog had an emergency.

ELBEE But probably not a hair appointment.

My friend Donna, is one of them. Her Bichons, Tommy and Finley, are part of the UCLA People Animal Connection with the Doods. Gus and Tommy, buddies for years, have had the chance to do lots of great work together.

We’ve taken them in on Yom Kippur, probably a religious no no, but we decided that the good they were doing outweighed breaking the rules. They have brought lots of love and joy to the pediatric unit on Christmas. They have lifted the spirits of the emergency room staff.

On the lighter side, they represented their fellow therapy dogs on the news. They also had a chance to hang out with Dodger manager Dave Roberts.

ELBEE The way things went in the San Diego series, he could have used a therapy dog or two.

Thirteen now, Tommy is having some health issues and Donna has stepped up in the most caring way. To treat his diabetes, she has been giving him insulin shots. Not being a nurse and never having done that before, she had to learn how to give him his injections. She has also been cooking his meals.

Since Tommy still loves doing visits, Donna had to find a way to preserve his strength while he was making his “rounds.” To keep him from getting exhausted she bought a double stroller to push him around the hospital. There was even a seat for Finley, who wasn’t sure at first but then realized how nice it was to have a place to rest.

As a bonus, people love seeing the adorable twosome in the stroller. Last week we met in the lobby after the dogs finished their regular visits and they were instantly surrounded by smiles. It was Stanley’s morning and I think Tommy and Finley may have hired him as security.

ELBEE He has a little crush on Finley.

When I shared with Donna how much I admired what she doing, she put it beautifully when she said, “We have working dogs who are so special and we adore them.”

Hiking & “Healing” with Henry

In the past, I’ve shared that Yom Kippur is a biggie in the Jewish religion.

ELBEE And I’ve shared that I don’t think “biggie” is the appropriate term for the holiest day of the year.

It’s a day of atonement, reflection and remembrance. Traditionally observant people fast and spend most of the day in temple. Over the years, I have failed miserably at the traditional part. I guess I’m kind of a Yom Kippur rebel.

ELBEE Oy! So much for atonement.

The signs were there when I was a kid growing up in Syracuse. My closest friend, who shall remain nameless, and I went to Sabbath school, Judaism’s answer to Sunday school. On more than one occasion we tried to ditch services and were led back to the rabbi’s study by Eddie Rifkin one of his student spies.

ELBEE She remembers his name but not what she had for lunch yesterday?

In my defense, I’ve tried services at different temples, and even on Zoom, but nothing makes me feel as spiritual as being in the mountains. And isn’t that what religion is about…connecting with something larger than ourselves?

This year I headed up a trail with Henry by my side. He is the most at ease in the mountains since Charley, my very first therapy dog, so there was comfort in having him with me. One woman we met said, “He’s got such good energy.” That was music to my ears since I’m hoping one day to bring him into the hospital.

We came to the Nike site, a park on Dirt Mulholland that was actually a lookout post during the Cold War. There is a tower with beautiful panoramic views.

As I sat up there with Henry, gazing at the ocean in the distance, memories washed over me. I could feel the spirits of my parents, my brother Stan and my wonderful friend Eileen, all precious to me and all gone too soon. I thought of so many others who are physically gone but who are still a part of my life. As always, there was incredible sadness but also a sense of healing and love.

On another morning I had a random encounter that also speaks to the power of the universe. I was walking into Tarzana Hospital with Gus when a woman called out, “That’s the cutest dog I’ve ever seen.” She was absolutely delighted when I told her he was a therapy dog. She had worked in hospice care and truly understood the benefits of animal therapy.

She shared that she had been drawn to hospice care because her brother had died of colon cancer at 45. Totally taken aback, I quietly said, “My brother died of colon cancer at 47.” We just stared into each others’ eyes. The universe had brought two strangers together for a special moment of connection in this disconnected world.

A Very Copacetic Pack

A few days ago I was walking the dogs in the neighborhood when I saw a disturbing sign. Someone was looking for a home for their French Bulldog puppy because their other dog was attacking it.

Sadly, it reminded me of a time, years ago, when we had a couple of dogs that didn’t get along. It was challenging.

ELBEE For the record, I wasn’t one of them.

On the bright side, it made me incredibly grateful for the way our other dogs have bonded over the years, like Cody, a sweet Golden Retriever and Larry, an incredibly smart Aussie/Border Collie mix. They came together at a very difficult time in our lives.

It was the fall of 1995 and we were living at the beach while our house was being repaired after the Northridge earthquake. Cody had miraculously survived the devastation.

Then my brother Stan was diagnosed with advanced colon cancer. After major surgery, he came to stay with us while he recuperated, bringing Larry with him. Cody and Larry connected instantly. When they weren’t running on the sand or wrestling, they sat quietly at Stan’s side or took walks up the beach with him.

My brother fought hard and even returned to work in San Francisco for awhile but lost his battle in the Summer of 1996. That’s when his beloved Larry became our beloved Larry. He and Cody comforted my brother when he was dying and then they comforted us. They were inseparable.

After Cody and Larry left us, Riley, another Golden, was our next dog. He was joined a few years later by his nephew Charley, our first Goldendoodle and my first therapy dog. Since Charley, we have been a Doodle family, adding Charley’s half brother Elbee to the mix.

ELBEE That’s all she’s going to say about me? Hello? I was a fabulous therapy dog.

Even though we had three, when Jack, my mentor at UCLA, called to see if we had room for Gus, a sweet natured Teddy Bear Doodle puppy, who needed to be rehomed, how could I say no?

Eight year old Gus, the only surviving member of that pack, is now part of a wonderfully copacetic pack that includes four year old Goldendoodle Stanley and sixteen month old Pyredoodle Henry. By virtue of his seniority, Gus should probably be the pack leader but I don’t think he wants all of the responsibility. They seem to take turns.

Whether running to greet Doug when he comes home from work, sprawled around us when we watch the Dodger games or simply sitting with their heads in our laps, the three of them offer such comfort and joy. They fill the house with unconditional love.

ELBEE Old people need that.