I didn’t realize that it has been so long between blogs. The last few months have been slightly hectic to say the least.
I was able to squeeze a week away in South Australia in April to attend a tuina workshop. Tuina is Chinese massage and like other forms of massage, it is great for improving the circulation of blood and lymphatics and loosening up tight fascia, joints and muscles. The techniques work very well in many rehabilitation situations and most of my clients get given some form of tuina as homework for their pets. The chinese apparently train by pounding small bags of rice into rice flour! No fancy equipment needed.
More recently, I attended the annual Australian Veterinary Conference in Cairns. It was an extremely busy week from the time I got on my bike at 3:30am in order to get the Gull bus to Tullamarine for my 6 am flight. It was then straight off the plane to the Animal Chiropractic workshop for two great days of sharing techniques and skills with my colleagues. I have brought back some new perspectives on necks and on prolotherapy that should help my patients. The Annual Vet Conference is a big affair with over 700 vets attending multiple streams ranging from acupuncture, behaviour, cattle, pocket pets, cattle, research and so on. My main reason for attending was to listen to the acupuncture and chinese herbal lectures. Not only did I pick up a few good ideas about cancer therapy, skin, liver and kidney disease, but I discovered it was all about endothelial nitrous oxide which is essential for good health and can be stimulated with acupuncture and herbs. Hooray for complementary medicine! The second highlight was a plenary session delivered by Professor Temple Grandin. I was the first time the main lecture hall was filled to overflowing. Her insight into how animals view the world was enlightening and as enjoyable as her books, the most famous being ‘Animals in Translation’. She is often called on to give opinions on welfare aspects such as the live export trade.
After a week of 7.45 am starts and 8 pm finishes, I was able to sneak a few minutes in the last few days to visit the fresh food market where I bought many of the fruits of my childhood. The mangosteens and rambutans are just as yummy now as they were then. I have also come away with a little pandan plant. It went through the Xray machine at the airport and arrived safely in Melbourne. The hardest bit will be to keep it alive till the warmer weather down south.
Apart from a week of information to digest and patients to catch up on, I somehow managed to get elected onto the AVAG (Australian Veterinary Acupuncture Group) committee as their president for the next two years! It will certainly test my ability to multitask and keep the kids, the pets, the garden, the patients and clients, the family and the chiropractic group adequately looked after. No wonder it takes me approximately two minutes to fall asleep every night.
Better feed the chooks now.
cheers Kim