Meet Ruby

 I've been getting a lot of questions about what a diabetic alert dog would do for me, and why I need one.  I'd like to talk about that, but first I'll explain a little about diabetes and how it is affecting me.  This is just my experience, understanding, and opinion.  I have Type 1 diabetes which means that my pancreas does not produce any insulin.  This did not happen progressively, and there is nothing that I could have done to stop it.  One day I was fine, the next, I had diabetes.  So now, every day is a balancing act between glucose and insulin in my blood.  If my glucose gets too high or too low, it can potentially be dangerous.  I use an insulin pump, which administers insulin 24/7.  The pump does not check my glucose for me, I program it to deliver specific amounts of insulin at certain times, such as when I eat a meal.  I check my glucose on a regular basis, and try to keep it in a normal range.  Every day is different when it comes to this balancing act.  EVERYTHING affects my glucose, not just what I eat. From allergies, to stress, to what color the moon is can make my glucose go crazy.  Some days, it seems that I can look at a piece of bread and my glucose will go high; other days I can't eat enough to keep it from dropping.  Some people can get themselves on a regimented diet and schedule to keep themselves better controlled, but with three young boys, and a military husband, this just isn't realistic.  For many years, I was able to feel when my glucose was getting too high or low, but over the years, those feelings have become less and less.  I can get dangerously low before I realize it.  Luckily, I haven't had any incidents of losing consciousness, but the chance of that is always a possibility.  My husband travels a lot for work and the military which leaves me by myself a good majority of the time, so this is where Ruby would come in.
       When she is finished with her training, Ruby will be a certified diabetes alert dog.  She will be able to smell when my glucose is too high or low and will alert me when this happens. She will wake me up at night if she needs to, and won't let me sleep through a dangerous low.  She'll be my constant companion wherever I go, and won't let me ignore my glucose.  And, did I mention? She's super cute!  
Ruby is a standard poodle, one year old, and about the sweetest dog I have ever met!  Two days after signing the bottom line for my service dog, I got to meet her and one of her trainers, Allen.  For me, it was love at first sight!  She's calm and happy, and loves attention.  I could have sat on the floor and cuddled with her all day.
      Allen is her main trainer for the time being.  He will get her through all her public service training before she starts her scent training.  That means that Allen takes Ruby wherever he goes, and teaches her how to be out in public.  She knows how to calmly walk beside him, to sit, lay, and stay even when surrounded by a lot of distractions.  Soon, she'll start her scent training with Ed.  He has different samples of my saliva with my glucose at different levels which he'll use to train Ruby.  I have no idea how he does it, so sorry, I can't answer that question.


      She is great around kids, and was never bothered by Clark crawling around her or pulling on her ears and face.  Clark thought that was pretty entertaining!  I really think Ruby is going to be a great addition to our family.
      That's it in a nutshell.  I'm looking forward to bringing her home, but in the meantime, I need to raise money to help pay for Ruby.  She should be ready sometime in November, so my goal is to raise $13,000 by then.  Right now, I have just over 10% raised. I truly believe that God has put this in place and will provide for me and my family in this.  I hope to have some small events coming up soon, and donations can be made through the Paypal button at the bottom of this post.  Every little bit helps!  Keep an eye out for a quilt or two I plan on putting up for sale too.  Thanks for taking the time to read my story.  I'll be posting more pictures and stories as Ruby goes through her training.  Let me know if you have any questions and you can always go to www.diabeticalertdogsofamerica.com for more information.
                                                                             

Meant To Be

One of the great things about the internet is how much smaller it can make the world. There is an online community for practically everything. Google can introduce you to others with the same interests, quirks, and beliefs in just a few short key strokes. In the eighteen years I've had diabetes, I have only met a handful of people with the disease, and most of them were in the waiting room at the doctor's office. Mostly I just meet people who feel the need to tell me about their great Aunt Agnes who had diabetes "really bad" and lost her eye sight... or her big toe, or some such craziness that I don't really relate to at all. Anyways, social media has opened a whole new world for me. There are people out there, just like me, who understand the day to day issues of dealing with a disease that is constantly changing. They understand what I mean when I say I hit a hard low this morning and wanted to shove everything in site in my face including, but not limited to juice, candy, tortillas, cookies, cheese, chocolate frosting, peanut butter, milk... and chocolate, and strawberries... and the kid's lunch snacks... and cheese. Did I mention the cheese? It's nice to know that I'm not the only one who argues with her continuous glucose monitor, or has wanted to throw her pump across the room because there is something wrong with the insertion site AGAIN. They get it when I say I found a hundred dead test strips at the bottom of my purse, and in the couch cushions, and under the kitchen table, and on the floor of the van. Oh, and the one in the baby's diaper. How did THAT get there?
Never mind. I don't want to know. I digress.
I must confess, I am not a very active participant when it comes to social media. I love to read though. I will read blogs, articles, blurbs, and don't even get me started on the comment section! I spend more time reading the comments than anything else. I would much rather read a story than watch a video. I'm sure some of my friends have noticed that I am usually the only one NOT to participate in a Facebook conversation, but it's a sure bet that I've seen what everybody else had to say. Don't be offended, I don't say much in real life conversations either. So this is where this new adventure started. I kept seeing posts on my timeline from various diabetes sights about dogs. Of course, they were videos, and who wants to watch a video when you can read about it? I know... It's sounded weird even when I read that sentence, but watching a video means I have to have my volume on, and nobody else can be around to know that I'm watching a video on my phone. It would draw attention to me. Reading is a much safer way to go, but in a rare moment, I watched one. It was a about a young boy who got a diabetic alert dog and how much it helped him live a healthier lifestyle. I thought it was cool, but really didn't give it much thought. A few months later, a guy came into the doctor's office with his very own service dog. Take it from me. Spending twenty minutes in a tiny waiting room with an adorable Labrador who can tell you when your sugar is off was more than enough to make me realize I had to have one for myself! I half jokingly, half seriously texted my husband about it. A few minutes later he was sending me links about it, and telling me it sounded like a great idea. He's very supportive. He's awesome.
That was just a mere four weeks ago. Usually this whole process takes months and months from beginning to end. It starts with contacting several companies that train diabetic alert dogs, and choosing one, most likely in a different state. Then you get paired with a dog, send a down payment and meet your new furry friend over Skype. Then you spend the next six months raising money and getting ready for them while they are getting trained. When the dog is ready, the trainer brings them to you, and spends several days teaching you how to work with the dog.
So far, that is not how it has gone for me.
My intention was to look into this, not actually start the process. I only filled out one online application. Really, I just wanted to talk to someone to get some of my questions answered. Before I could begin to contact anybody else, Christy called from Diabetic Alert Dogs of America, and she called from a local number. Well, that was lucky. I only live ten minutes away from the one company I decided to get in touch with. Forget phone calls and Skype, I get to meet them face to face. Christy was great with all my questions over the phone and patiently explained much of the process. I knew going into our meeting the following week, that I wanted to get a diabetic alert dog....eventually. I immediately felt comfortable with Christy and Ed. Again, they patiently answered all my silly questions, and they even took me out on a little field trip to Wal-Mart with two of their dogs in training to let me see what they do in action. It was really cool! You can check out some of their training videos online at  www.diabeticalertdogofamerica.com. When we got back, we talked more about what my specific needs would be.  My biggest issue is allergies.  My family has sensitive allergies, and a Lab would really make our lives tough because of that.  We talked about labradoodles, but it still seemed like they might not be quite right, because they still shed fir and are not completely allergy free.  So the best option seemed to be a poodle.  Poodles have hair, not fir, and do not shed at all.  They are totally hypoallergenic, so everybody in my family would be OK.  Well, Labs are the most common breed, and poodles are a little harder to come by.  So that's when Ed tells me that they just happen to have gotten a poodle a few days earlier, AND she wasn't paired with someone yet.  "So, if you want to do this, she's all yours!  We can have her ready to go home with you by the end of the year."
Wait... what?  What happened to just looking into it?
      This could not have lined up any better.  So I am stepping out in faith and trusting that God put this in place.  Maybe some more advanced notice would have been nice, but I'm not complaining.  When it's meant to happen, it's meant to happen.
      So, yes!  I want to do this.  When do I meet her?  That comes next...

I Got This

      My name is Yvonne.  I have diabetes.  I also have an amazing husband in the military, and three sweet boys who can take me to the brink of insanity and back again.

      I've never let the fact that I have diabetes define my life.  That doesn't mean I always took care of myself though.  I was thirteen when I got diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.  My teen years and early twenties were by far my worst years.  I didn't live with the disease... I barely tolerated it.  This was obvious by my frequent trips to the ER and general unhealthiness.  All I can say is that God had his hand on me and kept me alive and safe throughout all those years.

      Fast forward a few years and meet my first son.  Maybe that's when I first began to change my thinking.  It was when I realized that maybe this thing I had could be reigned in and controlled.  I spent years believing that this was something I had no power over.  That it was something I could ignore and hope that it didn't kill me, but if it did, it did.  It really didn't matter to me either way.  So here I was with a perfect, healthy baby in my arms and finally... finally it mattered.  I won't lie and say things changed over night because they didn't.  I became more aware of my diabetes, and made better choices, but it wasn't until a few years later that I walked into the living room and asked my husband what he was reading.  He said it was a book about diabetes.

Wait... What?

Why in the world would you want to read about that?  His response, "because I love you and want to know everything about you.  If I understand diabetes, I can understand you better and help you more."

Again... wait... what? 

I can understand this thing I deal with everyday?  Why had I never thought of this myself?  It was like a light bulb turned on in my head and I saw how I could take responsibility for myself and get educated.  Thank God for the Internet.... And my husband for pointing this out to me.

      A few years and two more beautiful sons later, I've learned more about myself and my diabetes than I ever did in the fifteen years prior to my epiphany.  I've learned that there is so much more than what my doctor can tell me in the twenty minutes that I see him every year.  I also realized, I don't always agree with what he thinks is the best way to manage diabetes, and that I know myself better than any doctor.  I am smart enough to ask questions, to learn what is true and what is not true on the web, and to truly know what is best for me.

      So after all those years of ignoring it and wishing it would go away, this is what I have to say to diabetes...

      I no longer tolerate you, and I no longer just live with you.  I take responsibility of you and will never let you dictate my life.

      Your mine now...

      I own you.

      I say all these things for several reasons.  I wanted to give a bit of background that leads up to this new adventure I'm starting in my life.  I am working towards getting a Diabetes Alert Dog, which I will explain more in upcoming posts.  The story of how this has come to be is kinda cool, so I hope you will take the time to read about it.  The thing is, these dogs are expensive!  I am raising money to help alleviate the financial burden that this will put on myself and my family.  I'm stepping out in faith, knowing that God will provide for this extraordinary opportunity.  Please visit diabeticalertdogsofamerica.com for more information about these service dogs.  More importantly, I write this in hope that I can help and inspire someone, just like reading other people's stories has helped and inspired me.  Sometimes all it takes is to know that you are not alone in your struggles to gain some strength to improve your life.  We could all use some improvement, right?