Good Morning Texas

This post is part of a series called Where's Wuby? Wednesdays where 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 clicking Here.

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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.  

Love y'all.

Exhale...

A good God does everything He does for good reason. - Gregg Harris


I've been holding on to this truth this week.  


I have gone back and forth about whether or not to share all this on here, but so many of you have emailed or texted with concern.  I've been too sad to respond, but writing is therapeutic for me, so I decided I'll write it all out and share it with those of you that have been checking on us this week.  It's going to be ridiculously long and probably whiney, you've been warned.


About 7 weeks ago, Chuck and I found out we were pregnant.  We were absolutely NOT trying, and we were in shock - and I was completely overwhelmed at the thought of getting even less sleep.  But, we love our big family, so we quickly became very excited about having another precious, funny Wilson kiddo running around this house.  And, if we believe what God says about children - and if we believe God when he says that he won't give us more than we can handle with His strength - then we could see this as nothing but an incredible blessing.


I know some of you are thinking WHAT?!?  Doesn't she have a full plate already? 


Yes, and our hearts are full too.  


I know that to some of you four kids seems like a lot.  To be honest, I'm no more overwhelmed with 4 than I was with 1 or 2.  I know this sounds crazy, but in many ways it gets easier with more children.


I'm so ashamed to say that the one thing that tempered my excitement was the thought of telling others of this blessing and listening to all the negative OMGosh, another baby??  Don't you know what causes that?? comments.  Never again.


Ok, fast forward a bit to two weeks ago.


Chuck is walking through the kitchen one evening and he mentions nonchalantly that he'd been having to run to the bathroom alot the past few days.  Immediately, I thought of diabetes.  


I had him check his blood sugar.


An ugly 354 looked back at us.


No way.


We re-checked.


We grabbed a different meter.  


The ugly number wouldn't go away.


I checked his ketones and thankfully they were negative, so I waited until the next morning and got him in with the first dr that would see him.


Later that day, while I was educating 300+ high school students about diabetes and service dogs, Chuck was at the dr being diagnosed with diabetes.


And, they suspected it could be type 1.


I emailed Dr Casas for a recommendation for an Endo that was knowledgeable about adult onset Type 1.  In true Dr C fashion, and keeping with the Godsend that he's been for us, he called me on my cell.  He scolded me for not calling him first (he's Faith's pedi Endo...I didn't want to waste his time.  I felt like it would be like calling your mechanic and telling him you had a flat on your bike or something - not his problem.)  I was wrong.  He's been SO helpful - ordering tests that should have been run by the first dr, following up on Chuck's condition and numbers, even starting him on insulin to get him some relief while we wait to find out the results of the antibody tests (to determine which type he has).  Once again, we are so very thankful to have Dr Casas in our lives.  For the record, the other dr hasn't checked on Chuck's numbers even once.  Ugh.


While type 2 seems like it would be the lesser of the evils at this point, Chuck is almost hoping it's type 1 because Faith is so excited that her "daddy hab da betes wike me!"  How will we explain to her that daddy gets "cured" (through diet and exercise if it's type 2) while she still has to live with diabetes...and insulin...and needles?  


This was on Wednesday.  On Friday, Chuck started insulin, I had two tests to take at school, a Spanish class to attend...AND had a kidney stone starting to move.  Can I tell you?  I've had four babies and I've never experienced worse pain than kidney stones.  It's excruciating when it's at it's worst.  I needed to go to school...and I needed to go to the ER to get some relief from the kidney stone pain.  


But, I couldn't leave not knowing how the insulin would affect Chuck.  Did we have his dosage right?  I was terrified and decided to stay home.


Saturday Chuck and I had the rare (and MUCH anticipated - literally for weeks) privilege of having a sitter for Faith.  We were both so miserable, but determined to enjoy a little time alone.  We dropped the big kids off with my mom, dropped Faith off with an amazing couple we met at Tyler Type One and have grown to love, and headed to have dinner.  


But we were both so miserable.  We went out to eat, picked up Faith, and then headed home.


By the time we got there I was only peeing blood.  (TMI?  Sorry...)


I couldn't stand it any more and headed to the ER.  The horribly arrogant ER dr kept me overnight on morphine and sent me home with 3 Rx's and instructions to return if I got worse.  


I was back within hours unable to pass anything but drops of blood.  I ended up in there all day with them pumping me full of fluids, antibiotics, and painkillers (Thank you!).  Because I was pregnant they couldn't do a CT Scan, so the (much better than the day before) ER dr did an ultrasound to check my kidneys and decided to check the baby while we were at it.


He came back in the room and asked me how far along in my pregnancy I was.  When I told him he responded by telling me that I needed to follow up the following day with my OB/Gyn.  I told him he couldn't say something like that without elaborating, so he told me that he just didn't see what he expected to see on my ultrasound.  



Of course, the next morning I was on the phone with my dr.  She had me come in right away, reassuring me the whole time that everything was probably fine.


It wasn't.  


Chuck and I were heartbroken to learn that there was no heartbeat.  Our baby had stopped developing.


The dr offered to do a D&C, but Chuck and I couldn't go for it yet.  If God wanted to work a miracle we weren't going to limit him by doing what seemed "easier" and if I was going to miscarry then taking a week to pray about it wasn't going to change anything.  We agreed to pray about it for a week and reassess.


All the while I'm still miserable with pain from the kidney stones -  and my poor husband is miserable with crazy high blood sugars and adjusting to the insulin and meds - and he's having to take care of me and the kids.  God love him.


The next morning I called the urologist about my symptoms and was told to go back to the ER.  I ended up spending the entire day in the hospital again.  Because we had learned that there was no heartbeat, the (best of all three) ER dr did a CT Scan to check the stones and found a mass on my left ovary.


Oh my goodness.  I know these things happen all the time, but everything happening at once just had us so beat down.


But, God is good and blessed us with some of the best friends.  When they learned of what we were going through they called, emailed, brought food.  We are so grateful.


We went back to the OB dr today and were told that I was hemorrhaging around the baby, and I spiked a fever yesterday, and it just makes more sense to go through with the D&C.  I go into the hospital tomorrow and should get to come home right after.


This has been a rough 10 days.  We know things could be worse, and we know things will get better, but right now we are overwhelmed and so, so very sad.  


Thank you so much for your love and prayers.  We appreciate it more than you know.








Faith does not eliminate questions. But faith knows where to take them. ~Elisabeth Elliot

How far away?

This post is part of a series called Where's Wuby? Wednesdays where 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 clicking Here.

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One of the questions I'm asked most often is, "How close does Ruby have to be to Faith in order to pick up on her blood sugar changes?"

After spending the year with Ruby and seeing many "long-distance" alerts, I've decided the best answer to that question is: just close enough for God to whisper in Ruby's ear that Faith needs my attention.

One of the most surprising things to me after we got Ruby, was just how well she could detect changes in Faith's blood sugar when she was not even in the same room.  One of the unsung (and unexpected) benefits of Ruby is that she allows me to let Faith run & play without worrying that she's going to fall out from a low.  Faith has no symptoms with her lows most of the time.  She can be running around the room with a blood sugar in the 30's with no symptoms at all.  For that reason, I never let her out of my sight before Ruby.  Now that we have Ruby I have been able to let Faith enjoy simple pleasures that we used to take for granted.  Things like children's church, playing with her siblings in the yard, or playing with the other children at support group.  Even when Ruby doesn't have to alert for a high or low, the shear comfort and peace of mind she gives me (and Faith, but more on that another time) is invaluable to me.

The first time I saw for myself that Ruby could (and would) alert long distance I was blown away.  I was babysitting for a friend with 3 children, so Ruby and I had spent the day in our cozy little house with 7 boisterous rowdy kiddos.  We both needed a breather.  So, when Chuck came home I asked him to take the kids outside to play while I cleaned up the kitchen.  I checked Faith's number and it was in the upper hundreds, so I thought it safe to send her out with the rest of them under the supervision of her daddy.  (She was barely 19 months old at the time.)

I kept Ruby inside with me to let her rest.  I went to the kitchen to start the dishes.  About 20 minutes later Ruby got up to alert.  I chuckled and told her to take a load off and relax.  I took the bringsel from her and put her back on her cot.

I went back to the dishes and a few minutes later Ruby got up to alert again.  I thought to myself that maybe Faith had snuck inside without me realizing it, so Ruby and I looked all around the house for her.  When I realized that Faith was still outside playing I put Ruby back on her place.

A very few minutes later Ruby got up to alert again.  One of the great things about Ruby is that she won't stop alerting until I fix whatever is wrong with Faith's blood sugar.  (This is also one of the most frustrating things when Faith is high, but more on that in another post.)  I knew I was going to have to take Ruby to Faith and check her before Ruby would calm down.

I walked outside and asked Chuck where Faith was.  He pointed out into the pasture, at least 30 yards away, where all the kids were playing happily.  I told him about Ruby alerting and that we needed to check Faith "to convince Ruby that Faith was fine".

We went to Faith and checked her blood sugar to discover that she was 100 and dropping fast!  She was low by the time we got her back to the house!  And not a low symptom in sight!

We couldn't believe it!  How had Ruby done that?  Faith was a LONG way from our house and Ruby and I were inside the house with all the windows closed and the a/c on!  Chuck and I were amazed and SO thankful!

I'd like to say that was the last time I doubted Ruby, but I'm a slow learner.  Someday I'll tell you about the time I doubted Ruby during a nighttime alert, only to find Faith in the beginning stages of a hypo seizure less than an hour later.

Where's Wuby? Wednesdays!

By now, most of you know that we have a diabetic alert dog.  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.  (sidenote: I loathe that "control" word.  I never ever feel like things are under "control".)
I'm always being asked questions about Ruby and love telling stories about her, so I've decided to make that a regular thing around here.  Starting today we'll have Where's Wuby? Wednesdays where I'll post a new story about Ruby, or diabetic alert dogs in general. 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.

To start things off, I'll repost something I wrote in October of 2010 telling the story leading up to Ruby joining our family.  I promise to come back and finish the story this time.  :)

In the meantime, you can follow Faith and Wuby on Facebook by clicking Here.

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Oh, I've wanted to write this post for several weeks.  It's going to be long, but there's SO much to catch you up on!

We have been experiencing a time of INCREDIBLE blessings!  Gosh, I don't know where to start...so how 'bout the beginning?

One day I was at a friends house and we were all sitting around the table chatting over coffee while our kids (we have 11 collectively...) played outside.  On the table laid a Focus On The Family Clubhouse Jr. magazine.  I absentmindedly picked it up and started flipping through it.  Why?  WHY was I looking through a children's magazine when I was sitting there enjoying the first grown up conversation I'd had in weeks??  (I now know it's because God put it in front of me.)  A picture of a German Shepherd dog caught my eye so I read a bit to see what it was about...only to discover that it was a diabetic alert dog!  I exclaimed, "WHAT!!??" to my friends.  (Who thought I'd lost my mind...or had tourette's or something..lol) I read on to find out that this dog alerted his boy to high or low blood sugar and even woke his mom up during the night to let her know the boy was low.

I HAD to find out more about this!

What a blessing this could be to Faith and I!

As soon as I got home, I got online and started researching and reading everything I could get my hands on.  I didn't even know if it would be possible to train a dog to alert for a child as little as Faith, but I was determined to find out!  I started telling everyone I talked to about it and posting links about alert dogs on my facebook page.  Some people thought I was crazy, others were supportive.

The first day I posted something online about it a friend of mine called me and said, "Sarah, I've been praying for you all morning.  Praying that God would send you some kind of help in taking care of Faith!  Something to help shoulder the load...and I got on Facebook and saw your post about the diabetic alert dog (or DAD).  Sarah, I feel it in my spirit that this is how God is answering that prayer!"  She said, "Research it and pray about it and let me know if I can help you get a DAD for Faith." I prayed (ALOT) about it and sent out emails to every email address I could find online telling them our story and asking them if they could point me in the right direction to find more information.  I got some pretty crazy responses and some very helpful ones.  One (unscrupulous) place responded with "I have a labradoodle for $15,000.  Call me."  That was it!  No questions about Faith's condition, our lifestyle, personality, NOTHING.  I immediately hit DELETE on that one!

Over the next few weeks I kept praying and kept researching and just felt God leading me to a kennel in Mississippi called Wildrose Kennels.  What I didn't know is that the dog that I had found in my first few days of research that I had been so impressed with was a Wildrose dog...

and one of the sites that I had found that had been very helpful was created by a Wildrose trainer...

and a sweet lady that I spoke to online about DADs was a trainer for Wildrose!

When all these pieces came into focus I knew that God was leading me to Wildrose.  There are many places training DADs (some better than others) and out of all those places I just kept coming back (unbeknownst to me) to Wildrose.  Chuck and I decided we'd pray about it one more day and if we still felt God leading us there then we would apply for a dog from Wildrose.

The next morning I sent in the application.  A short while later I got word from the trainer at Wildrose that they would be going through the applications the next day and selecting people that they would train a DAD for.  I immediately sent out a prayer request asking my friends to join me in praying that Faith's story would stand out.  That those reading it would be touched by it and wouldn't be able to get away from it.  A few hours later I got an email from the trainer at Wildrose saying that she was re-reading Faith's story and reliving her own daughter's diagnosis with every word!  I felt like this was just a little bit of confirmation from the Lord that we were on the right track!

Later that night I got another email from her...the one I'd been praying and waiting for! She said that WR was willing to train a dog for Faith, but that it would be a long process because we had to find just the right dog with just the right temperament.  One with the ability to focus on and listen to me as it's handler and focus on Faith as it's girl.  She painted this bleak picture so I would understand and be prepared for the LOOOOONG wait ahead of us.  She warned me that if there wasn't the right dog in the next batch of puppies then we would have to wait even longer.  There are families that have been waiting YEARS for the right DAD.  She wasn't being negative, just realistic.  I believed fully that God had a dog for Faith at this point so I wasn't discouraged a bit...only hopeful.

It was late so I sent emails to my two friends that had offered to head up fundraisers letting them know that we were accepted and that we officially needed to be FUND-raising!  We needed to come up with a deposit asap.  Then we had the rest of the year (at least) to come up with the remaining roughly $10K we thought it would take to purchase the dog and allow us to travel for Mississippi for a week for training when the dog was ready!  I couldn't imagine how, but I just knew God was going to provide the money.  I went to bed that night OVERJOYED!

The next morning by 9am I had heard from one of my friends that we had $100 in our fundraising account!  I was thrilled! Wow!, I thought, just a couple hours into the day and we're already at $100!!  That afternoon I got all the kiddos down for a nap and curled up in bed to catch a nap myself.  I don't get much sleep during the night from checking Faith's bg at least every 2 hours so I try to nap when the kids do as much as possible.  I fell asleep praying.  I was just talking to God about how every aspect of Faith's diabetes had stretched me out of my comfort zone and how I knew I could trust him and I knew his timing was perfect..but I really felt like I needed help NOW...but that I wanted his perfect will so I was trusting that his timing would be perfect.  I fell asleep praying that and was woke up by the phone ringing and it was the trainer from Wildrose. She said she needed to talk to me and asked if I had a minute...of course I did.

Ok, this is getting long.  I'll continue in the following post with what happened next...

I'm Full Up

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."

Perspective

Just an ordinary medicine cup, but take a look inside...

Looks pretty innocuous, right?  

This drop, this tiny drop, is 15 units of insulin.  

Two days worth for Faith.  

If withheld, it could make Faith sick enough to kill her.  

If given all at once it would kill her.

I read once that insulin is one of only two medicines that a nurse has to get another nurse to double check before administering to a patient.  Yet, I find myself doling it out on the fly, sleep deprived (*understatement), based on varying factors - many of which can't be quantified (growth, stress, the effect activity or the weather will play on bgs that day...), while juggling all the other responsibilities of the day.

No pressure, right?

**Insulin is not administered from a medicine cup.  It must be given subcutaneously.  This is just an illustration.

Dear Faith,

Well, Sugar Britches, we made it through the first year.

There were times I wondered whether or not we would.  November 17, 2009 changed our lives forever.  You have been put through the ringer over the past 12 months, but you've handled it like such a trooper.  Your daddy and I couldn't be prouder of you!  When I got the news that you had Type 1 Diabetes I was devastated.  I could never have imagined how God would use your life story.  It is amazing and humbling. I hope you will grow up to realize and embrace how strong He can and wants to be in your weakness, and how much of a purpose and a plan he has for you.  Lean on Him, baby girl, He won't fail you.  I have really learned that this past year.  I pray every day for a cure, but also that, in the meantime, your struggle will point others to Christ.  I pray that your health will be good throughout your life.  I hope you know that I try to take the best care of you that I possibly can.  I do everything in my power to set you up for a healthy life and to reduce your risk of complications as much as possible.  I pray that, when you're old enough to take over your care (like in 25ish years, ok?), you will go easy on me - that's going to be an interesting transition for both of us!  I pray that you will not allow this disease to rob you of a full life.  I pray that you will take ownership of your health, manage your diabetes the best you can, and LIVE. 

I pray that you know, really know, how very much your dad, brothers, sister, and I love you...but most of all, I pray that you will grow to understand how much God loves you. 

I would take this disease on for you in a heartbeat, if I could...but I can't.  So I will always be here for you...every step of the way.  I won't stop praying and I won't take a break until you can.

I love you, Sweet Faify Bidness.

-Mom

This was taken the first time you stood up again after your diagnosis.  It was 3 days later.

You were so sick. :(  For a while, the hospital was our home away from home.

Dear JC, Grace, & Eli,

I know this past year has been hard on the three of you as well.  I know it hasn't been easy to watch your baby sister be so sick, so often.  I know it gets scary sometimes.  You are all so quick to pray for Faith when it gets rough and that has been such a good example for me.  Your childlike faith reminds me to run to our heavenly Father when I'm afraid.  Thank you for that.  I know it can't be easy to watch your baby sister get so much more attention.  I know it is hard to understand all that has gone on.  The way you have handled yourselves this past year makes your daddy and I SO very proud of you.  You have been understanding and compassionate.  Faith could not possibly ask for better siblings to walk with down this road.  I pray every day that each of you will know how very much I love you.  I pray that you will somehow understand WHY your sister needs more attention sometimes and that you'll never feel slighted or jealous.  You are all so very precious to me.  I love you more than I can ever express to you.  I pray that each of you will see that God loves you even more than that!!  (all the way to Jesus and back ;)  I pray that you will continue to grow closer to Jesus and love and serve Him all your lives. 

You make me SO very proud to be your momma.

I love you, Handsome Man, Sister Bidness, and Eebs...very, very much.

-Mom

   

Good Save, Wuby the Wonder Dog!!

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.)

15 minutes later Ruby alerts again.  Recheck: 95.

Ok, she's coming up.  Good low, Ruby, we're gonna watch her.

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...

Thank you, Jesus.

What's in a name?

Ok, so this isn't specifically about diabetes, but it's about my diabetic child...


The following is an email I sent out in December of 2008 when I was 8(ish) months pregnant with Faith.  This day, and the response I got from this email were the reasons Chuck and I chose the name Faith.  Prior to this we were settled on a different name (that I can't recall at the moment...).  

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God is so good! I have to share just how I got to see Him work
Wednesday...Some of you have heard most of this story but everytime I tell
it I forget some part of it, plus I'm so excited about it I have to tell it
again...
I have the privilege of being the Awana Commander at my church & we had
Share Shop Wed night where the kids get to spend the Awana bucks they have
earned during the year..Anyway, I had to go to Tyler to pick up some things
to stock the 'store' with & so I called Rachel (my sister) & asked her if
she would ride with me...which I rarely do (most of you know our
relationship is rocky at best) but I thought she'd prob enjoy getting out of
the house & I wanted some company so I called her & she agreed to go with
me.. So, we take off to Tyler with the church credit card & stop at the
dollar tree. I load my buggy up & proceed through the checkout only to find
out (after she's rang up my $60 worth of $1 goodies) that they only take
Mastercards as debit cards with pin numbers..not credit.  I remembered I had
Chucks Chrysler MC with me but didn't know if I'd be able to use it nor what
the pin was so I apologized to the cashier & asked her to void the
transaction & help the long line of customers behind me while I tried to get
Chuck or Preacher on the phone to try to figure out what my options were.
While I'm on the phone trying to reach them this lady walks up to me & says
"I'd like to pay for your purchase". Of course I thanked her profusely but
told her I couldn't let her do that cause I'd rang up $60 worth of stuff!!
She insisted & before I could stop her had walked over to the register &
paid for the stuff!! I apologized & thanked her (& thanked her & thanked
her) & asked her to please give me her name & address so I could get the
church to send her a reimbursement check & she wouldn't hear of it. She
wouldn't even tell me her name! She looked me in the eyes (and this part STILL gives me chills), laid her hand on my pregnant belly, and said, "Honey, trust me, you have enough to take care of."  (OMG!!! In hindsight this leaves me speechless!!)  After that, all she said was "Merry Christmas" & walked away!! I couldn't believe it! So after I picked my chin up off the floor & the bags of stuff I put Eli & Grace in the backseat of the suburban. By the
time Rachel & I got in the front seat Grace was praying (out loud) thanking
God for the blessing he'd just given us & the "angel he'd just sent to us".
Rachel heard this & just started bawling! When Grace was done she said,
"Mommy, we just met a real live angel didn't we?" & before I could even
respond Rachel spoke up & said "yes ma'am we sure did!"  She was completely
taken aback! It was so incredible to see God use this lady I'd never met &
my 5 yr old daughter to show Himself to my sister that day not to mention
bless our Awana program in the process!  Those of you who know Rachel know
what a big deal this is..  But, that's only the beginning!  It had been my
desire to stock the store with some spiritually enriching items for many
reasons, one of which being the fact that many of our kids use this shopping
opportunity to 'purchase' gifts to give to family & friends.  I just always
thought that could be an awesome opportunity to get Jesus' message into the
hands & homes of people that I might never even get to meet.  Because of my
budget & the sheer number of items I needed to purchase I really didn't
think I'd be able to do that this time around BUT because of the generosity
of that lady that God had arranged to have at the $ tree (& GREAT Christmas
sales promotions) I was able to go over to Lifeway & The Scroll & purchase
Bibles & Christian CD's & all kinds of gifts that would help spread the
gospel! I was SO excited I couldn't stand it!  So I take Rachel home & head
to the church to 'price' my loot. We meet for Awana Open Assembly & I share
with the kids how God had blessed us that day & allowed Grace & I to meet a
''real live angel''... Before I let either of the classes go 'shopping' I
challenged the kids to honor God with how they behaved & that I didn't want
any fighting over merchandise or stealing from each other (which we've
experienced in the past) Anyway the kids shopped their hearts out & because
of all God had done that day almost every child walked away with at least
one gift item with scripture and/or gospel message on it, 2 kids that said
they didn't have Bibles were able to buy themselves one (& not just any
Bible but fancy little kids study Bibles), & one girl even bought her
pregnant school teacher a Beginners Bible "to read to her baby"!!  Plus if
that weren't enough, not only did I not get one single report of fighting or
stealing but the kids were buying gifts for each other and sharing their
Awana money with other kids that didn't have as much!! It was so moving!!
I was SO proud of them!!

As you can imagine I was flying pretty high, having an Awesome day when...
Chuck comes walking up to me with tears in his eyes & asks me 2 come with
him that he has something to tell me.. I have to be honest with you, deep
down I was thinkin come on, not something negative I'm having too good a
day! But I followed him out into the hallway & he hands me an envelope.. I
feel like I have to stop here & tell you things have been kinda rough
financially for us recently (along with the rest of the world). Most of you
know Chuck sells cars for a living & if you've..well, been awake.. in the
last few months you've heard the auto industry is not experiencing a banner
year. So we've had 2 specific needs that we've been praying about & quite
frankly were starting to get a little discouraged about..now don't get me
wrong, we believed God would provide, just weren't sure how or when..& when
I'd get weak & feel sorry for myself Chuck would say Sarah come on He's
never failed us before & I'd get irked cause I knew he was right (which
naturally irritates me, hahaha) and God has moved many people to be really
good to us recently BUT back to my point.. we had 2 specific needs that we'd
been praying about & when I opened the envelope I found an unsigned
Christmas card containing the answer to our prayers!!! I couldn't believe
it!  We have no idea who it came from (except God, of course) but man, I
hope they somehow know how much of a blessing they are to us & how grateful
we are!!  Chuck & I just stood there crying, unable to even wrap our minds
around what was taking place.
So, after we wrap up Awana I call my mom to share with her what an amazing
day I've had & learn that the $tree incident had such an impact on my sister
that she'd already called mom & told her all about it! All about what that
lady had done & Grace praying without being prompted at all & that "it just
HAD to be the Lord"! So then I got to call Rachel & tell her I'd been
visited by a 2nd angel that day!!
We get home & I'm tucking JC into bed & praying with him & get up to leave
his room & he stops & asks me if I'll stay in there with him while he prays.
So, of course I do and he prays the most precious prayer thanking Jesus for
the blessings he'd sent us that day & that while we didn't know what that
lady's name was he knew God did so would he please somehow let her know she
was a blessing to us & that we were "very grateful & appreciative" for what
she'd done! Man I hope that lady knows she invested $60 in so much more than
a buggy full of toys!!

Oh man, 24 hours later I'm still shaking my head.  God is so good, but I
feel like that day He was showing off!  I pray that reading this gives you
hope that whatever you're going through God is big enough to handle it if
you'll just trust Him to do so...& never under estimate how God can use you
if you let him. That lady at the $ tree & the people that gave to Chuck & I
may not have thought their contribution was much, but boy oh boy were they
ever wrong!!  Little is much when God is in it...

I hope each one of you has a blessed day & a very Merry Christmas! I already
have..

Love, Sarah Wilson    
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Ok, so excuse the run-on sentences.  I was excited and typing all of that out on a small phone keypad!


So, after I sent this email out to EVERYONE in my address book, Chuck got a call from someone saying that they thought we needed to name our baby "Faith".  Up to this point, this particular person hadn't been very supportive of our Christian faith and had even made comments that we were pushing it off on our children.  After reading this, they said they could see that our kids truly get it, they were inspired by it, and they thought we should name our new baby Faith...so, we did!

Ok, on a side note - I am speaking at an event for DiabetesFriendly.org this weekend.  Y'all pray that God speaks through me.  This event feels WAY out of my league...they are fancy and well..y'all know, I'm not.  I'm excited to do it, though.  This is the foundation that donated about a third of the money for us to get Ruby.  We are SO thankful for them!  Y'all check out their site! 


Also, I got some VERY exciting news about the next cool thing that God has placed before us.  I can't share details just yet, but keep watching!  It's going to be SO fun!!  It's just a reminder to me, again, that God can do whatever he wants to!


Love y'all.

Diabetic Alert Dogs...what a blessing!!

Oh, I've wanted to write this blog for several weeks.  It's going to be long, but there's SO much to catch you up on!
We have been experiencing a time of INCREDIBLE blessings!  Gosh, I don't know where to start...so how 'bout the beginning?
One day I was at a friends house and we were all sitting around the table chatting over coffee while our kids (we have 11 collectively...) played outside.  On the table laid a Focus On The Family Clubhouse Jr. magazine.  I absentmindedly picked it up and started flipping through it.  Why?  WHY was I looking through a children's magazine when I was sitting there enjoying the first grown up conversation I'd had in weeks??  (I now know it's because God put it in front of me.)  A picture of a German Shepherd dog caught my eye so I read a bit to see what it was about...only to discover that it was a diabetic alert dog!  I exclaimed, "WHAT!!??" to my friends.  (Who thought I'd lost my mind...or had tourette's or something..lol) I read on to find out that this dog alerted his boy to high or low blood sugar and even woke his mom up during the night to let her know the boy was low.
I HAD to find out more about this!
What a blessing this could be to Faith and I!
As soon as I got home, I got online and started researching and reading everything I could get my hands on.  I didn't even know if it would be possible to train a dog to alert for a child as little as Faith, but I was determined to find out!  I started telling everyone I talked to about it and posting links about alert dogs on my facebook page.  Some people thought I was crazy, others were supportive.
The first day I posted something online about it a friend of mine called me and said, "Sarah, I've been praying for you all morning.  Praying that God would send you some kind of help in taking care of Faith!  Something to help shoulder the load...and I got on Facebook and saw your post about the diabetic alert dog (or DAD).  Sarah, I feel it in my spirit that this is how God is answering that prayer!"  She said, "Research it and pray about it and let me know if I can help you get a DAD for Faith." I prayed (ALOT) about it and sent out emails to every email address I could find online telling them our story and asking them if they could point me in the right direction to find more information.  I got some pretty crazy responses and some very helpful ones.  One (unscrupulous) place responded with "I have a labradoodle for $15,000.  Call me."  That was it!  No questions about Faith's condition, our lifestyle, personality, NOTHING.  I immediately hit DELETE on that one!
Over the next few weeks I kept praying and kept researching and just felt God leading me to a kennel in Mississippi called Wildrose Kennels.  What I didn't know is that the dog that I had found in my first few days of research that I had been so impressed with was a Wildrose dog...
and one of the sites that I had found that had been very helpful was created by a Wildrose trainer...
and a sweet lady that I spoke to online about DADs was a trainer for Wildrose!
When all these pieces came into focus I knew that God was leading me to Wildrose.  There are many places training DADs (some better than others) and out of all those places I just kept coming back (unbeknownst to me) to Wildrose.  Chuck and I decided we'd pray about it one more day and if we still felt God leading us there then we would apply for a dog from Wildrose.
The next morning I sent in the application.  A short while later I got word from the trainer at Wildrose that they would be going through the applications the next day and selecting people that they would train a DAD for.  I immediately sent out a prayer request asking my friends to join me in praying that Faith's story would stand out.  That those reading it would be touched by it and wouldn't be able to get away from it.  A few hours later I got an email from the trainer at Wildrose saying that she was re-reading Faith's story and reliving her own daughter's diagnosis with every word!  I felt like this was just a little bit of confirmation from the Lord that we were on the right track!
Later that night I got another email from her...the one I'd been praying and waiting for! She said that WR was willing to train a dog for Faith, but that it would be a long process because we had to find just the right dog with just the right temperament.  One with the ability to focus on and listen to me as it's handler and focus on Faith as it's girl.  She painted this bleak picture so I would understand and be prepared for the LOOOOONG wait ahead of us.  She warned me that if there wasn't the right dog in the next batch of puppies then we would have to wait even longer.  There are families that have been waiting YEARS for the right DAD.  She wasn't being negative, just realistic.  I believed fully that God had a dog for Faith at this point so I wasn't discouraged a bit...only hopeful.
It was late so I sent emails to my two friends that had offered to head up fundraisers letting them know that we were accepted and that we officially needed to be FUND-raising!  We needed to come up with a deposit asap.  Then we had the rest of the year (at least) to come up with the remaining roughly $10K we thought it would take to purchase the dog and allow us to travel for Mississippi for a week for training when the dog was ready!  I couldn't imagine how, but I just knew God was going to provide the money.  I went to bed that night OVERJOYED!
The next morning by 9am I had heard from one of my friends that we had $100 in our fundraising account!  I was thrilled! Wow!, I thought, just a couple hours into the day and we're already at $100!!  That afternoon I got all the kiddos down for a nap and curled up in bed to catch a nap myself.  I don't get much sleep during the night from checking Faith's bg at least every 2 hours so I try to nap when the kids do as much as possible.  I fell asleep praying.  I was just talking to God about how every aspect of Faith's diabetes had stretched me out of my comfort zone and how I knew I could trust him and I knew his timing was perfect..but I really felt like I needed help NOW...but that I wanted his perfect will so I was trusting that his timing would be perfect.  I fell asleep praying that and was woke up by the phone ringing and it was the trainer from Wildrose. She said she needed to talk to me and asked if I had a minute...of course I did.
Ok, this is getting long, so I'll type more soon....To be continued...