Patients School Work

This is a picture of a patients school work. The translation is "At UCSF pet therapy room theres dog named Lani. I love her" By Makenzie

Stories from a patient...

This is a copy of an email that a patient wrote to me, a report that she wrote for her class about Nilani and what she meant to her, and some pictures. With her permission I am posting it on our blog.

email:
"So here is the report and a picture, I have yet to take a picture of the board I made, but i will I promise. I can not wait to see Nalani again so tell her I miss her! Also I just wanted to thank you and Nalani for everything that you both do. You have done a tremendous amount of greatness in the world, and I can not thank you enough for inspiring me in the many ways you both have. I honestly think without you and Nalani i would have probably still been in the hospital. So thank you for helping me in being able to spend Halloween with my cousin, Thanksgiving with my family, and now Christmas with my family, friends, and ANIMALS!! Haha anyways thank you for all that you and Nalani do and i can't wait to someday help the world as much as you and Nalani do. Hopefully i can help the world the same way you and her do, by working with animals and children:)

Thanks again,

Mikayla"

report:

Nalani
Sometimes people can take animals for granted, treat them worse than they would anything else, without realizing the power animals have to help us. My name is Mikayla and I am here to talk to you about what I have been through and how animals have helped me. I was admitted to UCSF just a few weeks ago and was there for fifteen days. I was diagnosed with stomach migraines, eosinifilic esophogitis, and compulsion disorder. All of these diagnosis’s are know to cause pain and god knows I was in a lot of pain. I was taking lots of pain medicine which caused me to have sudo seizures and lots of other side affects. Luckily for me UCSF has a great staff including Nalani. Nalani is a half golden retriever half Labrador mix therapy dog. She helped me through a lot. When I was in lots of pain they would bring Nilani in and she would climb up on the bed with me, lay down, and help me fall asleep. This method called “Distraction” prevented me from taking my pain medicine many times, and also helped me realize just how helpful animals can be.

I could not take Nalani with me because she had to help other patients, but she has inspired me in many ways. I now know that when I become older I am going to work with a group called Canine Companions and find a dog like Nalani that I can work with and take to the hospital to help pediatric patients the way Nalani and her owner “Jeniffer” helped me. I hope other people will learn just how helpful animals can be, an can create a magical bond with an animal the way Nalani and I have. I still see Nalani and Jeniffer today and every time I do I bring Nalani a present to give back the way she gave to me.




"Nalani and I decided we were going to take a nap together! Honestly I have to say when ever I was with Nalani, I was the most relaxed."











"I was in a tremendous amount of pain and Jennifer brought in Nalani and it relaxed me into falling asleep. It was the first time I didn’t have to take medicine in 7 days."




"Nalani and I were getting a moment of peace. One of the few moments when I was not hurting."