‘It has become well accepted that the soothing effect a dog’s visit exerts on patients has a beneficial response on their well being and enhances their recovery. This appears to be especially true among patients with coronary artery occlusive disease, where stress relief and lower blood pressure is most important. This is clearly demonstrated in the work Penny does at the rehab hospital and in her heartwarming stories.”

Dr. Leopoldo Zorrilla
Heart Surgeon
San Antonio, Texas
 

HEARING THE SILENCE

There are a few emotions for which adequate words sometimes don’t exist. I find myself facing piles of words to convey a feeling a patient might have, or that even I have as a witness to Penny’s miracles. Sometimes words aren’t necessary. Sometimes words just get in the way. Sometimes it is nice to simply hear the silence and observe the softening eyes of a patient and the warm gentle eyes of my Penny.

Take a good look into the eyes of your dog. If you don’t see what I see, then spell dog backwards.

- Dr. Frank Vigue
 

THE WAITING ROOM

Penny and I had just completed our weekly visit to the Critical Care Unit at the hospital. The staff was always so gracious and thankful for Penny’s brief time with them. And this time was certainly no exception.

Our visit was complete and we headed out the door to the elevator, directly across from the family’s waiting area. There were four people sitting there, one man and three women. Three were quietly reading magazines. The third woman was on her cell phone silently crying. “Daddy just died.”

I pressed the elevator call button, but Penny had something else in mind. Bypassing the other three people, she quite intentionally turned and walked directly to the young woman on the phone and put her head quietly in her lap. Without any hesitation or realization of what she was doing, the woman started stroking Penny’s head, as she continued her sad message on the phone. This pose was held for about 3-4 minutes. For the two of them there was nothing else and nowhere else.

As the phone call ended, the woman very deliberately buried her face in Penny’s neck and unashamedly sobbed.

Something very important was happening.

Penny offers a safe place to be, a place where people can be themselves. There are times I feel as if I am intruding.

Awe is the finest portion of mankind…in awe one feels profoundly the immense.

- Goethe
 

THE MARINE

He was young. He was brave, and he had been severely wounded. John had been protecting his country in Iraq.

He told me his story, as he waited for his next painful therapy session. While we talked, he never once stopped petting Penny. His fingers gently massaged the top of her head, her ears and her neck. If he slowed, Penny would remind him, by silently nudging his arm. He would smile.

John never complained or grimaced, but I knew he was hurting. His recovery would take at least another year or longer. I felt so proud to know him and honored that he chose to share his story with me.

A week later, our second meeting was in his room. John was packed and waiting on his military escort to go back to Walter Reed Hospital in Washington D.C.

Penny and I sat and waited with him. This was the only gift we had for him. A thank you of sorts. He told me how much her presence meant to him. And then he said, “when I die, God will have to retire all of my angels. They have been very busy, protecting me and they must be very tired. You see Penny has been but one.”

As the escort approached down the long hall, John said I reminded him of his mom and asked if he could hug me. As he hugged me, at that precise moment, he was my son and his mom was in the room.

Dogs are our link to paradise. They don't know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring--it was peace.

Milan Kundera
 

ONE TOUCH

Penny and I had entered the hospital when we were immediately intercepted. A nurse told us that she had a patient who had cried out all night for her dog and had not slept at all.

We went directly to her room. Elaine, battling cancer, was lying in bed staring at the ceiling. I walked up to her and told her I understood she had been asking for her dog, and that I had a special visitor for her.

Penny approached her and laid her head on the edge of the bed. Elaine was very weak, so I asked if I could put her hand on Penny’s head. She simply nodded that it was okay.

Her fingers moved quietly and calmly, caressing Penny, but I knew in her heart and mind she was petting her own dog.

Within a matter of moments, Elaine soon fell into a peaceful, restful sleep, with her hand still on Penny’s head.

Sometimes things just can’t be questioned.

My little old dog: A heartbeat at my feet.

Edith Wharton
 

SPECIAL IN THE ORDINARY

It wouldn’t have appeared to be anything special to most people. But to Angie and Ed a mountain was moved.

Penny and I had been working with Ed to use his left arm, as he recovered from a brain aneurysm and a very long hospitalization. He could move the fingers on his left hand and was able to hold a small piece of a dog biscuit. The therapist, supporting him at the elbow, asked Ed to move his arm slowly to hand Penny the treat. I gave Penny the command to ‘leave it’. To her, it must have seemed like hours, but she never once tried to take the biscuit. Fred moved a fraction of an inch at a time. But he was moving.

As Ed’s fingers, holding the treat, reached her nose, I said ‘okay’! After exhibiting incredible patience, this hard won treat was consumed in a second.

We all cheered - the therapist, Angie, and I. Fred smiled from ear to ear. We repeated this process four to five times.

Ed was getting weary so I gave him a hug and told him Penny and I would see him next week.

As we turned to go, something told me to turn and look back.

As I did so, I saw Angie look at her husband with such incredible love. She leaned over to him, he slowly raised his head, and they kissed each other with such great love and gentleness. I quickly turned away. I felt as if I had intruded upon a very private moment.

I had just seen a glimpse into Heaven.

"The journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step."

THE RANDOMNESS OF LIFE
 

Ernie, a paranoid schizophrenic, was homeless and had been for a long time. He went to sleep one evening, and the next morning he woke up in the hospital.

A drunk driver had hit him.

Kelly, an attorney, had volunteered her services to try and find out what his name was, and if he had any relatives. She became his guardian.

I met Kelly in the rehab hospital. She asked if Penny and I had time to visit with Ernie. We went to his room and, without a moment’s hesitation, Penny walked directly to him, her tail wagging, and laid her precious head on his knees. She offered him something he had most likely only rarely been offered, love and affection. He placed both of his weathered, rough hands on her head and began stroking her fur. The feel of something so soft was foreign to him. This unconditional and non-judgmental four-footed therapist was just what the doctor ordered. He began quietly whispering to her. Words I couldn’t hear. It didn’t matter.

He took her head and pulled her close to his chest and gently kissed her. In a few moments, I asked if he would like for Penny to visit him next week. “Well sure, why not!”

His attorney picked up his dirty clothes, put them in a bag, and we left Ernie’s room. Walking down the hallway Kelly said, “If they are over fifty and homeless, no one gives a damn. I will find him something to do when he gets out of here. I will”.

She turned toward the parking lot, taking his laundry home with her.
 

TAKING THE LEAD
 

Beth was on her knees when we walked into the rehab gym. Her elbows were resting on an elevated mat and her knees on a lower mat. Her therapist by her side, she was learning how to get up should she ever fall. She was using her elbows to walk across the mat and then pull the rest of her up. She had no use of her legs.

The concentration, pain and frustration were so very evident in her face. She tried and tried to no avail. Tears came.

Observing closely, I couldn’t decide if we should approach or not. But not so surprising, Miss Penny made that decision for me.

You would think after all the remarkable things I have witnessed with Penny, that I would never be caught off guard. But this time I truly was.

Penny took the lead and confidently walked over to the lady and up onto the mat. She put her front paws on the elevated mat right next to Beth. And in all honesty, Penny started pulling herself up onto the mat, in much the way the therapist was trying to help Beth to do.

Beth’s frustration and tears instantly turned to laughter. Everyone in the gym turned to watch this golden soul turned teacher. I had to follow the trail of hugs to find Penny.

Call it what you will, but for that moment, life couldn’t get any better.

It was a day of hope and courage.
 

MOMENTS

There are moments with Penny and her patients that I want to save, to remember, to write down and cherish. But often a new moment appears before I get to paper and pen. Another and then another incredible moment happen, interrupting the writing process.

And then I remember this isn’t about me, and it isn’t about this book or even Penny. It is about the moments. Whether they get written down or remembered doesn’t really matter.

What does matter is that they happened.