A D.A.D

OH MY GOODNESS!!!  How could I possibly have forgotten to mention one of the biggest things that is happening to our family???  I was just looking back at the old posts and realized I haven't mentioned my D.A.D.  Nope, not my father D.A.D, but my Diabetes Alert Dog D.A.D!  After having Wyatt my blood sugars got to the point where I can barely tell when I'm dropping because it often happens so quickly.  A typical diabetics blood sugars are supposed to be between the numbers of 80-130.  My perfect area is to be in the 70's.  Many other diabetics would start to get nervous with a blood sugar of 70 and correct it with juice and a snack.  I guess my sugars have just gotten accustomed to being lower.  My lows are often in the 20's or 30's.  To explain how low those numbers are is tricky because most diabetics have never even seen numbers that low...ever.  And I have them at least once a week.  "Take less insulin, eat more," sounds easy enough right?  Not really.  If I take less insulin (even one small unit less), my sugars are high.  I am so sensitive to insulin.  I'm glad I'm still so touchy with it because you would think after being a diabetic for 26 years that it wouldn't work as good as it does still.

Back to my D.A.D...  sorry, got off track there for a second.

I was online talking to some people in a diabetes group when one lady mentioned how both of her sons are Type 1 Diabetics and she is so thankful for their D.A.D Delta.  I was shocked that a dog could help smell out blood sugar changes, but what I was more interested in was how one dog could be a service dog to two different people!  I sent her a private message asking how that worked.  Within about 30 minutes of sending messages back and forth I was in awe of what these dogs could do.  I mentioned them to Nick who asked a few questions about them and how they work.  I was curious the price of them so I decided to call the company that she had gotten her families D.A.D through to get more information.  I still wasn't even thinking about getting one for me, I was just really curious about them because I had never heard of them before!  I called Warren Retrievers up and spoke to the President of the company.  He answered every single question I had while being super friendly.  Never ONCE did he ask me if I wanted to place my down payment.  He wasn't pushy at all!  It was so nice to finally talk to a salesman who wasn't pushing his sales.  It worked, three weeks later we called back and placed our down payment of $1,000.00.

Let's just post a few of the amazing things these dogs can/will do by the end of their two years training, shall we?
* Cost is $19,500.00
*Trainers are flown to my house every 3 months for the first 2 years
*Trainers push us to take the dogs out and do our daily routine with them even though it might be uncomfortable in the beginning.
*Each dog has top knotch health clearances including: Centro Nuclear Myopathy (CNM), PennHIP, OFA ratings of good or excellent, Canine Eye  Registration Foundation (CERF) certified, Optigen Progressive Retinal Atrophy, and Exercise Intolerance Collapse (EIC).
*Dogs are bred through state of the art in-vitro fertilization.
*Puppies are temperament tested at 7 weeks of age.
*Dogs are bred from highest championship bloodlines and championship sires.
*All dogs are mico-chipped
*Dogs smell the changes in our blood sugars (high and low) and alert us to these changes when they are out of range.  The dogs can smell the changes in our blood sugars by parts in the trillions.  Technology such as continuous glucose monitors measures parts in the millions.  These dogs are on average 20-40 minutes faster to detect an oncoming raise or drop of blood sugars than any modern day medical device can.
*The dogs are trained to alert by various means: barking, paw up for high blood sugars or paw down for low blood sugars, yawning, etc.  We train the dogs to alert to what best fits our families needs.
*The dogs will alert to another family member if I am not listening to him/her.  This is amazing because so often I will not get juice or milk when I'm low.  To have the dog alert me, then someone else if I need help is amazing.
*The dogs are trained to get juice for me if I am low, or any of my medical supplies if needed.
*By the end of the two year training the dogs will be able to call 911 in case of emergency.  The dogs have a special device that is attached into the phone line.  A button on the outside lets the dogs press it easily.  If you want more detailed information on how these devices work just ask!
*Research has shown for every 1% reduction in the A1c, the risk of micro vascular diabetic complication (kidney, eye, cardiac, nerve disease) is reduced by 40%.  

We paid our down payment for my D.A.D in late January.  It is a 6-8 month wait now!  As of today, May 15th, 2012, I have raised almost 10K for my dog!  I am selling t-shirts and silicone bracelets.  I also have an online auction coming up that I am really excited about!!!  I will be selling things on my facebook account that have been donated from companies and friends!  I cannot wait for my dog to be paid off!

If you want to read my story (which was published on one of the top 10 worldwide diabetes blogs that belongs to a great friend of mine Moira), please go to:
http://despitediabetes.com/2012/03/13/guest-post-once-a-kid-now-a-wife-and-mom-why-she-needs-an-alert-dog/

If you want more information on the company I am getting my D.A.D through, please go to:
http://www.warrenretrievers.com/index.html

And...if you want to help fund my dog, please donate at:
http://www.guardianangelservicedogs.org/
Once you donate you will receive an email back within 48 hours asking who the donation is for.  Just write my name back: Krista Middleton!  Thanks for reading, will post more soon!

Here is a picture of the front of the shirts I am selling!

Here is Cooper and I wearing our matching shirts for Mothers night at his school: