This post is part of a series called Where's Wuby? Wednesdayswhere I'll post a new story about Ruby, or diabetic alert dogs in general. Ruby is a service dog trained to detect high and low blood sugars in Faith and notify me. She has changed our lives and dramatically improved Faith's blood sugar control.
If there was ever anything you wanted to know about these dogs, or how they work, ask away and I'll try to answer the best I can; or if you are just as amazed as me at how God created these animals, I hope you'll enjoy reading about the incredible experiences we've had so far with our Ruby.
In the meantime, you can follow Faith and Wuby on Facebook by clickingHere.
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Faith, Ruby and I had the opportunity to be on Good Morning Texas this morning. Faith was in rare form and refused to look at the camera. For most of the interview she was turned around backwards. Little stinker. When they tried to mic her up she told them "no" and that they couldn't take her picture. She's SO over this superstar stuff. ;)
After our GMT interview, we drove to a Lions Club meeting where I'd been asked to share our story by a mom whose daughter heard our story when I spoke at a school a few weeks ago. When she introduced me, she shared that her daughter was changed after hearing our story and that she couldn't stop talking about it. That totally had me crying, and was so sweet and encouraging to hear. (I always wonder if the kids ever give our story another thought.) After the meeting I had more than one person come up and thank us for sharing, a man tearfully shared that his grandson was diagnosed at age 5 and was a senior in college and doing well, and a sweet lady walked up, thanked me for coming, and said that she thought the whole thing was very enlightening for those that knew nothing about diabetes before today.
I'm gonna call that a good start to National Diabetes Awareness Month.
There are some great campaigns this month to raise awareness about Type 1 Diabetes, but I fear that the only one that knows about them are those of us living with type 1 diabetes. Get out there and live out loud. People care about our stories. Share them. I believe that's going to be the best way to truly make people more aware about what's it's like to live with this disease, and why it's so important to seek a cure.
This post is part of a series called Where's Wuby? Wednesdayswhere I'll post a new story about Ruby, or diabetic alert dogs in general. Ruby is a service dog trained to detect high and low blood sugars in Faith and notify me. She has changed our lives and dramatically improved Faith's blood sugar control.
If there was ever anything you wanted to know about these dogs, or how they work, ask away and I'll try to answer the best I can; or if you are just as amazed as me at how God created these animals, I hope you'll enjoy reading about the incredible experiences we've had so far with our Ruby.
In the meantime, you can follow Faith and Wuby on Facebook by clickingHere.
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This past week, Faith, Ruby and I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Shelly Slater of WFAA Channel 8 News. The interviewed us as part of an effort to raise awareness about Diabetes Friendly's K9s for Kids event. We were honored to be a part of this, as DFF was one of the groups that helped pay for Ruby.
Here's the news story:
There are a few little details that they didn't get quite right, (such as Faith is two and not three, and Faith does not get her bg checked 30 times a day, but Ruby does often alert 30 times a day - as she will alert every 15 mins or so until Faith's bg comes back into range), but for the most part I thought they did a pretty good job with the story. What do you think?
This post is part of a series called Where's Wuby? Wednesdayswhere I'll post a new story about Ruby, or diabetic alert dogs in general. Ruby is a service dog trained to detect high and low blood sugars in Faith and notify me. She has changed our lives and dramatically improved Faith's blood sugar control.
If there was ever anything you wanted to know about these dogs, or how they work, ask away and I'll try to answer the best I can; or if you are just as amazed as me at how God created these animals, I hope you'll enjoy reading about the incredible experiences we've had so far with our Ruby.
In the meantime, you can follow Faith and Wuby on Facebook by clickingHere.
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Today I spoke at a local high school to a group of about 300 student council members from all over the area. I loved being able to educate about type 1 and share Faith and Ruby's story. I've told these stories so many times that I can usually get through them without getting too emotional. There's one story that still gets to me every time, though...
It was early one morning, we were all still in bed - and would be for a few more hours. I had just checked Faith and she was a little on the high side, but good.
A short while later, Ruby jumps in my bed to alert. I remember thinking, UGH, Ruby just let me sleep!, but realized that she seemed VERY agitated. Much more so than a normal alert. The next second I hear JC screaming for me to come. I was in the middle of repainting the boys room so I had all four kids bunked in the girls room.
At this time, Faith was on the Animas Ping insulin pump. If you're not familiar with how these work, it has an insulin cartridge inside of it that is similar to a syringe. A piston inside the pump depresses the syringe to administer the insulin. That cartridge is held in place by a screw cap.
A screw cap is NO match for a very meddlesome two year old.
We could lock the buttons so that Faith could not program the pump to give her extra insulin - but we never dreamed she'd disassemble the darn thing!
I ran to JC to find him standing there holding the CARTRIDGE from Faith's pump! When Ruby had left the room to come wake me, it woke JC. He looked up and realized that Faith had pulled her insulin cartridge OUT of her pump and was squeezing it - pushing a VERY lethal amount of insulin into her body!
I snatched Faith up out of her crib and checked her blood sugar. She was still at a good number. I couldn't tell how much insulin Faith had given herself, so I put the cartridge back in and reloaded it to find that she'd squeezed at least TWO units into her little body. Two units was enough to kill her several times.
Ruby was still acting very bothered. Now knowing that Faith had shot herself with insulin, I began to push juice down her. I checked her again - and even though only a few minutes had passed, Faith was getting VERY low. I couldn't get sugar in her quickly enough. I was having to give her such a large amount in such a short period of time and it seemed that it was about to come right back up.
I had no choice.
I grabbed the glucagon and gave it to her in small doses.
A few minutes later her blood sugar stopped plummeting.
Eventually, her blood sugar started to come back up.
Tragedy prevented thanks to Ruby and JC. If Faith had finished squeezing that cartridge there would have been NOTHING I could do to counteract that much insulin.
If Ruby hadn't woken us...
It's terrifying to think of this scenario without Ruby, and this is the one story that I still can not tell without getting choked up. Praise the Lord for sending us this miracle of a dog!
This post is part of a series called Where's Wuby? Wednesdayswhere I'll post a new story about Ruby, or diabetic alert dogs in general. Ruby is a service dog trained to detect high and low blood sugars in Faith and notify me. She has changed our lives and dramatically improved Faith's blood sugar control. If there was ever anything you wanted to know about these dogs, or how they work, ask away and I'll try to answer the best I can; or if you are just as amazed as me at how God created these animals, I hope you'll enjoy reading about the incredible experiences we've had so far with our Ruby. In the meantime, you can follow Faith and Wuby on Facebook by clickingHere.
Ok, so back to how Ruby came to be our "angel with fur".
The trainer called to tell me the most incredible news! She began with so, you remember that I told you not to get your hopes up about a DAD? And remember how I told you that it can take years to be matched up with the right DAD, and how it would be a long hard wait? And remember how I told you that because of Faith's unique situation (being a baby at the time, not even 18 months old), it would take a very special dog?
I wanted to scream, "Yes! I remember all that, you're killing me! Get to the point!" :) I could tell she was getting to something big.
Let me back up a minute and say that Wildrose had a group of trained DADs that were already matched up with diabetics and set to go home with them. These dogs had to be placed and a new batch of puppies started before we could even begin to dream about a DAD of our own. Among that batch of trained DADs was a one-in-a-million dog named Ruby. Ruby had been matched up with someone who at the last minute had decided against getting a DAD. Service dogs are a LOT of responsibility and alter every aspect of your life, and thus aren't a decision to take lightly.
Anyway, when Wildrose began looking at Ruby's specific gifts, and looking at their list of diabetics waiting to be matched up with the right DAD, they noticed right away that Faith and Ruby were a perfect match!
The trainer still wanted to proceed with caution. A DAD had not been successfully matched up with a diabetic as young as Faith and no one could say for sure how it would work. Among the many complex things a DAD must learn, Ruby would have to possess a few special attributes. (This is not an exhaustive list.)
A DAD for Faith would have to be able to look to me at all times as her handler, but watch Faith at all times as her responsibility. (Talk about multitasking!)
They would have to be VERY calm and low energy, so as not to overwhelm or scare Faith. (Or hurt her by being too rough)
They would have to be VERY obedient at ALL times, so that I could handle having a service dog, a diabetic toddler, and 3 other children under the age of 7...Every.where.I.go. You want to feel a pressure cooker environment? Try checking out at WalMart while a crowd gathers, your diabetic baby's blood sugar plummets while she screams bloody murder, your other 3 are asking for every snack they see in line, your DAD is getting hyper and excited because they are alerting, the customer behind you grows impatient, and the cashier wants to ask a hundred questions about your "precious dawg". Throw in a few "Oh. My. Gawd. There's a dog in here!" and "Oh my, is that woman blind?" comments and you've got a good time on your hands. It was IMPERATIVE that our DAD be calm and quiet in ALL situations, because with a very young diabetic it would be up to me to handle every single aspect of that *super fun* situation.
The DAD would have to be steady in ALL situations. It's one thing to accompany a diabetic everywhere. It's another entirely to accompany a diabetic that screams and cries ALOT, wreaks of drool and dirty diapers (drool that may smell of a previous high or low blood sugar - talk about complicating things), pulls your tail and ears... (God bless Ruby...)
There was no way to know if or how this match up would work, without just giving it a go.
The trainer asked us if we could come to Mississippi to meet Ruby.
Uh. Yeah!
Oh. Wait.
We only really started fundraising the day before.
And only had $100.
Not the deposit, not the money needed to buy all the DAD supplies, not the money to spend a week in Mississippi - not even close to the nearly $10K needed.
It was discussed that if I could come up with the deposit, and the money to get to Mississippi, then there were two possible funders for the remainder. One of which had already heard Faith's story and wanted to help.
But HOW would I come up with the deposit and travel expenses so quickly?
I got off the phone with my mind spinning! I immediately called Chuck, and prayed, but quickly got busy with the kids and dinner. All evening I kept thinking about how in the world I was going to come up with the money for Ruby.
After dinner I got a phone call from the friend that had felt God telling her that Faith would have a DAD. She was calling to tell me that ...
SHE HAD THE DEPOSIT FOR THE DAD!
She had no idea that I had gotten a call earlier that day about a possible match up for Faith. She still thought we had AT LEAST a year to fundraise! I hadn't had a chance to call her yet and give her the news!
I immediately started screaming and crying. My kids started crying and fell to their knees thanking God. It was the most incredible experience.
I'll never forget what my friend told me when I explained to her why I was so excited about having the deposit. She said, "Honey, my God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and if He wants Faith to have one little ole' dog then she'll have it!"
I was OVERJOYED and SO GRATEFUL to have the deposit and be one step closer - but how would we swing a week long trip to Mississippi?
I texted my other friend that had offered to help with fundraising to share the news. She was in the middle of a party, so I didn't call her. Almost immediately my phone rang. I answered and it was my friend. She'd excused herself from her party to call and tell me that she'd heard from her church, and they wanted to pay for the expenses to travel to Mississippi!
I couldn't believe it! God has done some amazing things in our lives, so I don't know why I was so blown away, but I was!
So, in one day I went from planning to fundraise and wait at LEAST a year for the right DAD, to potentially being matched with the perfect DAD and having the money needed to go get her!
To say I was over the moon would be an understatement.
But, the trainer kept cautioning me that it might not work out, that Ruby might not be right for our family.
Two weeks later we were in Mississippi meeting Ruby and we've never looked back!
Next week I'll tell you about that first meeting and how Ruby very literally saved Faith's life on their very first night together. I also have a picture of the moment they met. :)
Whenever my little kids refer to something that is filled they say it's "full up". That's how I feel lately.
I've spent the past three weekends surrounded by hundreds of people that don't know anything about Faith and Ruby. This has provided me with MANY opportunities to educate about service dogs and diabetes, but most importantly it's allowed me to share all that God has done in our lives in the past year or so.
The first weekend we were at a leadership training conference with thousands of children and their families. As always, we stood out like a sore thumb with Ruby by our side. I spent each day explaining to hundreds of people just why Ruby was with us, what she is trained to do, how she came to live with us, why she is important to Faith's care with Type 1 diabetes, and (especially) why they couldn't pet her. In my opinion, this is the most trying aspect of having a service dog.
So many people get offended when we won't just let them pet Ruby, and act like we're being mean or mistreating Ruby in some way by not letting her interact with them. If they only knew how much we love this amazing dog - and how much she loves her job! You can tell really quickly whether or not people are open to an explanation about Ruby or if we need to just graciously walk away. It can really begin to wear on you!
By the end of the second day of this conference I was just so drained. Faith had just had a very symptomatic low that resulted in a crowd of people gathered around staring as I shoved cake icing into my hysterically screaming baby girl. I just wanted to go home. I was trying to get on an elevator when I noticed a lady walking through the crowd. I could tell she was headed right for me. I tried to avoid eye contact and thought, 'Ugh, please just let me get on this elevator'. Next thing I knew she was standing right beside me. I looked up and smiled at her, and she said:
"um, Hi, I just wanted to tell you that you must be the most patient person on the planet! I have been watching you all weekend and I bet I have seen you explain about your dog to a hundred people. I've been so impressed watching you speak to every person as if it's the first person you've talked to. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that."
Wow. Thank you Jesus for that encouragement! I SO needed to hear that at that moment.
If you ever feel the urge to say something nice to someone - PLEASE do! The Holy Spirit is trying to use you to lift someone up and you may never know just how much they needed to hear it!
As I drove home that day thinking back over our weekend I couldn't contain the tears. I had been so exhausted from the weekend, but as I thought back over all my interactions I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed by how God is using Faith and Ruby. All weekend people were marveling at God's creation wondering how a dog could have the ability to detect blood sugar levels...and praising God for his miraculous provision in bringing Faith and Ruby together.
Wow. I drove the rest of the way home with my heart "full up."
I know I still haven't finished typing our story about how the Lord blessed us with Ruby, please bear with me. I have to tell you a story of how she saved Faith tonight, though.
Thank God for sending us Ruby. What a blessing she is to me. She allows me to treat lows conservatively, because I know that if Faith's bg doesn't come up (like it's not tonight) she will let me know.
We had spaghetti and garlic bread for dinner. Before the meal Faith's bg was 248 (too high). Faith ate really well. I was very careful to weigh and measure all her food. I dosed her insulin AFTER her meal, and dosed conservatively. I didn't give her an entire correction for the high and I treated her for 35 fewer carbs than she actually ate. We've been having alot of lows overnight lately so I wanted to err on the side of caution and let her run a little bit high.
As Faith is getting down from the table, Ruby alerts. I know Faith must be crazy high because of the fact that I bolused her AFTER she ate THREE servings of spaghetti and garlic bread, so I tell Ruby that we would check in a little bit. We went about our evening routine of baths & pjs. During Faith's bath I noticed that her pump site was looking a little red, so I decided to change it. I took her to my room and Ruby alerted again. She was being very persistent and intense so I decided to go ahead and check Faith. Now, mind you, it had only been about 20ish minutes since I'd given Faith her insulin. I check Faith's bg and she was 73!! Wha?? Huh??? How??
The scary part - Faith has 1.66 units of insulin on board (in her bloodstream). Let me put that into perspective for you. That much insulin should theoretically bring Faith's bg down roughly 600 points!!!! You know, just enough to kill her....a couple times...
Faith wasn't displaying any low symptoms at all (not that she always does), so I reasoned that maybe her body was breaking down the carbs a little slowly and she would surely be crazy high in a minute. (She ate THREE servings of spaghetti, after all) I decided to finish putting in her pump and watch to see how Ruby reacted. Not quite 15 minutes later I hear Ruby whining from her place in the living room. Faith and I were in a completely different part of the house finishing up her pump change.
I recheck Faith's bg and she'd dropped to 55!! I grab a juicebox and have to force Faith to drink it. (She was full from her THREE...T.H.R.E.E. servings of (carb loaded) SPAGHETTI and garlic bread.)
10 minutes later, Ruby gets off place, walks across the living room to get the bringsel, comes to me, gives me the bringsel, goes back to grab the meter..
Ok, Ruby we'll recheck.
Faith's bg had dropped back down to 85, but now she is starting to get shaky.
3 pkgs of Smarties later and Ruby alerts yet again. Recheck and Faith is only up to 97.
So, now Ruby and I sit here waiting to see what Faith's bg does.
Where did all those carbs go??? I have checked and double checked myself. I have looked in her seat and under the table. AAaaaaggghhh!!!
Good save, Ruby! Good save!
Normally, after nights like tonight, I would sleep in the floor next to Faith's bed or be running to her bedside all night. Tonight, I will not have to do that. This is why...
