My Daughter, My Gift

One of the most dramatic memories I have of living in Hawaii is my daughter, Makamae’s birth. This event was probably the beginning of my path to Reiki. Makamae was born, (six weeks preemie) at Kaiser Hospital in Honolulu, Hawaii in April 1974. At birth she had meconium aspiration syndrome, a condition that in its worst form strikes one or two of 1,000 babies each year nationwide. At birth my baby passed meconium, (an abrasive substance created by her own waste matter) into the amniotic fluid. The doctor originally thought that the lung damage was small. The results of the tests were different after looking at the results. There was only a small space (the size of a fingertip), which was not damaged after she inhaled the contaminated fluid. The doctor said we should call a Priest if we were Catholic because he didn't think she was going to survive. However the hope he gave us was that, the more days she lived, the more her lungs would grow and the more of a chance she had at survival. nnThere was major fear when she would completely stop breathing. A traveling emergency nurse, named Bonnie, just happened to be in the hospital. There wasn't the equipment that was available in "da Mainland"(continental US). Bonnie set up a system of "bagging" her with the other nurses, to make baby breathe. Then Makamae developed pneumonia, thrush, jaundice and problems due to medications. Hope was fading. Bonnie remained hopeful and encouraged everyone to keep trying and not stop. I prayed, cried, was depressed, worried and experienced every emotion possible. nnThe other Kamaina nurses and staff, began telling me that I should call a priest. We called everyone we knew. The Central Union Church Of Christ (where my oldest daughter, only 11 made a special request), The Mormons, the Buddhist, and a dozen of the different religious groups in diverse Hawaii. After all this was a week away from one of the rare Easter times where the Christian observance was at the same time as the Jewish observance and Islamic observance of a holy day. nnI was released from the hospital within three days, but Makamae couldn't go home and stayed there. I was in the hospital visiting daily, all day long. When they allowed me, I would stand over her watching her breathe. About a week later, which was Easter, there was a brief time that it seemed that her eyes focused right on mine and I felt a strange recognition between us. I knew in that moment that she would live and I went home and made up her bed and prepared for her homecoming. nnMakamae stayed in the hospital another month before she was finally released. She had her head shaved, marks on her heels from taking blood, marks on her head. She appeared as someone that had been in a terrible accident. She did have some slight neuromuscular problems but she was alive and in my arms. But she slowly began becoming a normal fussy healthy baby. nnShe seemed fine for a while, and then began having petite mal seizures. After all we had been through before this was nothing but nuisance visits to the hospital. Then in preschool at Kaimuki Christian Academy, at the age of 4 she had a grand mal seizure that frightened her Pre School Teachers who sent her to Hospital Emergency. This was diagnosed as a result of brain damage from the frightening birth trauma and we were told it would probably never just go away. Some children outgrow seizures over a period of time, however Makamae's Doctor (a professor and Neurologist at U of H Health Science Center)said "not Likely". So we began to adjust to this new condition. nnnnnTEXAS nIn 1978 a number of unusual things happened to us. Our home in Makakilo that we had just purchased started increasing in value at an amazing rate. A realtor, Barbara McCullough, whom we had originally bought the house from, contacted us saying that a lady from Japan would like to buy our house and we stood to make an incredible profit. nnMy daughter's most dramatic seizure was just after we moved to the mainland. I think they used every drug they had on her over the period of years. None of the medications would hold her seizures back, for any significant time. Her seizures changed as the medications changed. Makamae had ones where she walked in a circle, ones where she did the traditional, shaking and falling on the floor. Somewhere she just stood and stared with her face and head turning to the left. The most dramatic seizure was just after we moved to the mainland. In 1982 when Cecilia was 10 years old, She woke up screaming and screaming ... wanting to run. We had to hold her. My husband held her down while I called the Doctor, who was also a professor at University of Texas Health Science Center. The doctor said if she continued for one more minute to bring her into the hospital. (He had talked of experimental surgery that might be better than nothing). nnI panic'd. The very last thing in the world I wanted them to do was operate on her and have people mess with her brain. She made it through the birth trauma that most babies don't make it through, so something must work. Then I began praying and sat down, holding her, I put my hand on her head. I knew where the seizure activity was supposed to be. We had seen many CRT scans. Etc. I put my fingers on her head and turned them in a circle as if I were grasping the spot of nerve endings gone wild. Then I pulled my hand toward me and said. Let me take this from her... I want her free of it... and I told her and myself... "Its better, just a bit.", then I did the same thing a couple of times more knowing that each time the pain was lessening. Her screaming did stop. Then I realized I had asked for this problem... and I said, "NO" I don't want it, and threw it away. I had been doing something similar to get rid of my own migraine headaches for a few years and it was my last resort with her. nnHer next MRI was clean of that nerve tangle. She still has some brain damage suspected in the frontal lobe that prevents her from thinking like others, but I am not so sure that's a failing. Her receptive thought process is above average, but her judgments and communication skills are at retarded. I had no words to describe what happened. I didn't know what to call what happened but I knew that the situation of not being able to do anything was the key to connect me to the source of healing. So it was just called a mother's love for ages and I never told anyone the entire story. nnThat was a few years ago. Today Jan 2003, Cecilia has been off all medications for 13 years and still has not had seizures. She is in Karate and working on her black belt. She is also Level III - Advanced Reiki Practitioner and made her first dollars in doing reflexology just a few months ago. nnI have looked at many healing methods after that incident and took Reiki. I think now. What I did (if it needs a label) was a combination of Empathic and my own Reiki. I have done things like that for probably 30 years. I've felt or intuitively knew much but hidden it from everyone. Only in the last few years have I found others that I could talk to. Ones that would not think I was crazy. Ones that shared a healing and being a healer.