04/23/2015
Hello everyone.
First off I just wanted to say "Thank You!!!" to all of our clients, friends, and family members. You all are the reason we have built an outstanding business and succeeded for 5 years. Crystal and I started out with no clients, except our family's few dogs, and we grew to hundreds of clients! There is no business without clientele, and you all have been wonderful! Your support, love and prayers, through the good times and the hard times, have fueled our spirits.
It pains me deeply to inform you that we will be leaving you at the end of this month. We have built so many wonderful friendships and memories to last a lifetime, and it brings tears to my eyes to know that we won't be gathering more. You all have been the lifeblood of our shop, and all the laughter and tears we've shared over the years will remain in our hearts forever.
As many of you know, I have struggled with various health problems through the years. but fought to keep doing what I love.
Almost 10 weeks ago, I had a severe, sudden headache that almost dropped me to the floor (I caught myself of the grooming table.) I thought I'd had an aneurysm. When it faded, I shook it off and continued working. For the week following that "attack" I had similar, smaller headaches that would randomly pop up all throughout the day. This lasted until one week, to the day, from the first, big headache.
That Tuesday, the headache came back and did not go away. I ended up in the ER that evening. That headache, although it waxes and wanes through the pain scale, has not gone away.
I've been through several medications, at varying strengths, seen a Chiropractor, and tried varying natural methods. I'm on a strict diet to remove foods and additives that could be adding to the problem. Nothing has helped for more than a few hours.
The headache, when it increases in pain level, causes me to have some troubling symptoms: I have trouble speaking; I lose my balance and feel very dizzy (vertigo); I start feeling nauseous; I get spots, auras and partial loss of my vision; my face flushes bright red and becomes hot to the touch, and my reaction speed drops severely.
All of these things make it dangerous to groom, both for the animal and myself. If there is one thing I refuse to compromise in this business, it is safety. For this reason, I can no longer look at you and promise that I can safely and effectively groom your beloved family member. I am even afraid to groom my own.
I go to see a specialist in May, in hopes that I can find some relief or at least an answer as to what is causing this.
We will be leaving this page up and we encourage you to "friend" our personal accounts as well. We would love to stay in touch with all of you and will be posting updates and helpful articles we find, that are pet related.
Thank you all again. It breaks our hearts to say goodbye.
With love and care, for you and your family,
Rebekah Barkhauer and Crystal Lemon
(Jacqueline Eira says thanks for all the love as well!)
