Miracles Do Happen

It was mid morning. I had just finished replenishing my medications in my service car with the expected supply I would need for my countryside farm calls.

The telephone rang. A man's urgent voice told my receptionist to have me come to the Sloan Ranch near Vista, fourteen miles away! "Mr. Sloan said you will remember his place since you were there two weeks ago. It's the little white house at the top of the hill just east of Vista. He says it's urgent!"

"Mr. Sloan thinks his best milk cow is dying. He wants you to come immediately! The cow had a calf last night. Now she can't walk! She's rolling downhill toward the water-filled irrigation canal!" Mr. Sloan said I had to rescue her from drowning! Then he hung up the telephone.

When I arrived at the scene of the paralyzed cow, the excited irrigation crew had helped Mr. Sloan stop Ole Bess from rolling into the water.

"She is still breathing, Doc" Mr. Sloan shouted to me as soon as I hurriedly exited my service car.

I had already made a temporary diagnosis based on the information I had gathered from the telephone call. It's a good thing I had packed the medication needed for milk fever!

The typical `S' curve in Ole Bess' neck, the paralysis and helpless body confirmed that the mother cow was suffering from low calcium blood levels, (eclampsia) a condition known as milk fever, frequently occurring in heavily lactating cows following calving. I was familiar with this condition and knew the specific results of correct medication. I was prepared. Quickly I pulled my intravenous apparatus and a bottle of calcium gluconate from my medical kit. One quick thrust of the needle into Ole Bess' jugular vein assured me I was ready for the intravenous calcium dose. After about ten minutes Mr. Sloan shouted, "Look, she is reviving already! Wonder of wonders, that's miraculous!"

After a few more minutes had passed and the appearance of normal body functions reappeared I asked, "Where is her calf?"

Mr. Sloan said, "In the barn."

"Please bring it for the mother to see! She is sitting normally now!" When Mr. Sloan appeared with the new barn calf in his arms, Ole Bess lunged forward, jumped to her feet and ran bellowing toward her calf. Mr. Sloan dropped her offspring and darted for safety behind the fence.

The irrigation canal workers called, "Look out! There goes your dead cow, Mr. Sloan!"

I have always marveled at the quick reversal of symptoms and dramatic return to normal muscular activity when this solution is properly used to treat an untreated deadly paralysis of cows.

"Don't tell me you aren't a miracle doctor. How much is my bill? Thanks for bringing Ole Bess back to life, Doc." Mr. Sloan was smiling as he uttered his words of praise and gave me a hearty handshake.

This page is maintained by Dr. Wood's son, Harold W. Wood, Jr., of Visalia, California.
My E-mail address is: harold@planetaryexploration.net

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