The Stanford Inn by the Sea - Eco-Lodge & Retreat Center

Gypsy barely got up. I helped him to the stairs. Before reaching the first step down to the living room, he collapsed, jammed in the stairway. We got him down the stairs. He was in pain and I immediately checked his mouth to see if his gum was pale or that when I pushed against the bone, if the blood returned. No obvious sign of hemorrhaging.

He had been on low doses of aspirin since he hurt himself a month ago. Feeling better and better just before coming-up lame on Monday, he had been bouncing around the Inn and following Dana when she carried food upstairs to the offices. (Dana is the head of Big River Nurseries, the Stanford Inn by the Sea's California Certified Organic Farm).

Gypsy quickly "healed" by giving him a full aspirin tablet each morning and night, but his energy level remained low. Yesterday, Joan took him to Karen Novak, a wonderful veterinarian and animal acupuncturist. Karen found that Gypsy was anemic and told us to take him off the aspirin and then performed acupuncture. Today, Gypsy has noticeably more energy and only evidences pain getting up and laying down.

When Gypsy collapsed Monday, we worried that the cancer which had attacked him last August might have returned. The fact that aspirin eliminated the symptoms suggested that the pain was from ligament damage, arthritis or some other cause of joint inflammation. Karen's acupuncture treatment suggested to her that he was suffering from inflammation in his hip.

He is laying beside me and just woke-up. A couple of other things: he is hungry, happy and remains intensely curious.

Fluffy: Unfortunately most of last month we were also dealing with Fluffy our nineteen year old cat who grew progressively weaker and there was nothing that we could do for him other than hydrate and feed him baby food. Joan was particularly close to this cat, and so, too, Gypsy and another cat - Ginger Cat. Saturday, before Gypsy became lame, Fluffy died. We buried him in the garden and later that afternoon, Ginger Cat was rolling over the grave.

Tonight Ginger Cat is in the Barn. While he was grieving he would not come in.

We have been asked thousands of times if we are related to Leland and Jane Stanford who founded Stanford University in the name of their son, Leland Jr. who died of typhoid at 18. We are not. And we understand that Leland and Mary had no close relatives to which to leave any portion of their estate. Our branch of Stanfords is similarly small. Our grandparents are gone and parents are gone - and our branch now consists of only three brothers and a sister and three cousins and all our children. The Stanford Inn by the Sea is a very small family run Inn!

Now we are asked if we are related to Robert Allen Stanford. No! Never heard of him until he was accused of defrauding people of millions of dollars. We will still be asked.

Except for occasional pain in his left hip, right knee or left front leg that are continuing to heal, Gypsy is in great shape. He has returned fully from the aspirin experiment. He clearly had been losing blood from internal bleeding and now, without aspirin and following only one acupuncture treatment he jumps and gets up on his own, runs after Murphy and always follows me to the kitchen door. His appetite is back: he loves his sea palm strudel and nori as well as Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance vegetarian (vegan) dog food.

Before his first (and so far only) acupuncture treatment, our veterinarian suggested that Gypsy go on to an anti inflammatory called Remedyl. I asked her if she knew if there was any relationship between the drug and cancers. She called the veterinarian head of The Animal Care Center in Rohnert Park. He was amazed that Gypsy was still with us. It was months ago that Gypsy came home from the Center to die. Gypsy is a testament to the power of natural processes for healing.

Some of you have told me that you read about Gypsy and we wanted you to know.

To avoid disease and middle age weight gain, David Noonan adopted the 28 day program in The Engine 2 Diet: The Texas Firefighter's 28-Day Save-Your-Life Plan That Lowers Cholesterol and Burns Away the Pounds. The diet was developed by Rip Esselstyn to help his fellow firefighter adopt a vegan whole foods diet. Esselstyn has been vegan for more than 20 years and is an athlete and son of Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, of the Cleveland Clinic, who has long advocated vegan diets for prevention of disease. (Check out Rip Esselstyn's web site http://www.theengine2diet.com/)

Eating a vegan whole foods diet is a credible way to avoid weight gain and disease. Noonan's conversion is hopeful and perhaps he can affect other people. But this happy development may disintegrate like Oprah's brief foray into veganism providing a hiccup in her climb to 200 pounds.

I have noticed a distinct tendency by many people to be self destructive. Whatever diet they try, they go off it. I know this is true - it is true of me. But years ago I realized that I could not kill an animal for food and that it was not ethical to ask another person to do that for me (which made me sort of like a vulture or hyena). I became vegan to avoid adding to animals' suffering. I did it for myself in the sense that I wanted to avoid feeling guilty. I am vegan because I love animals. This is a diet I have stayed on because it isn't just for me! If it was for my health or to lose weight, I more than likely would have given up on it after a few months - like a former cigarette smoker trying just one and starting again.

For Noonan's article check out this link http://www.newsweek.com/id/189291 .