Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Exciting day for families on the list for their D.A.D

Today, Warren Retrievers posted on the Facebook wall pictures of the angel dogs that were assigned families.  I am so excited for these families.  I know how excited they must be as well.  I looking through the pictures of these sweet baby (and I mean baby, they have to be about 10 to 12 weeks old) puppies and I think about how much relief they are going to bring to the recipient family.  I am sure each family that received the notification that they were going to receive their dog just jumped for joy.  They should.  Diabetes is such a silent disability.  You never know when your loved one is going to have a problem with their blood sugars or what the doctor is going to say at the next visit.  The relief they much feel knowing that their guardian angel is on the way and is going to look out for them.

I cannot wait for the day when I see "Congratulations Bates Family" on the Facebook wall with pics of Brads guardian angel.  I am looking forward to that day very much.  Diabeties affects all members of my family.  I know that the pup has to have extensive training and that it won't be fully trained right away, but just knowing that this amazing creature is going to help and protect or family from that silent disability is simply breath-taking.

Congratulations to all the families again!

Tiffany

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

New Interview with Dan Warren

I just wanted to pass this story on.  Dan Warren did an inverview for a family getting a D.A.D.  Excellent interview on what these amazing dogs do for families with loved ones with Type 1.

So excited we are about to go through this life changing process.

http://wobm.com/fundraiser-to-help-a-bayville-boy-get-a-diabetes-alert-dog/

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Fundraising Ideas

Time to hit the ground running!  I am currently working on ideas for fundraising and soliciation to companies for goods and services as a donation.  If you know of a company that is generous to causes such as this, I would love to know about it.  Also, I am open to ideas that might be in line with fundraisers that you have been to that were a blast.  We want anyone who makes a dontation to get something in return, such as a fun night out.  I would be willing to write a letter that would explain the need for the Diabetic Alert Dog in addition to the letter received from Warren Retrievers explaining that all donations given are given to a charity.

I am thinking about putting together a trivia night.  I know they are a lot of fun!  We are hoping to have some large and small fundraisers.  If anyone has a really great background in this, I need your help!

Thank you!

Tiffany

Monday, February 13, 2012

Make a Donation Now!

While perusing the information that we received from Guardian Angel Service Dogs, I found out that you can make donations online!  I hate to ask for money, but, we have to raise some serious money for this pup.  This is great as some would rather not send a check.  We are going to have some fun fundraisers, but if you would simply rather donate to this cause you can.  All donations are a charitable donation under the auspices of a 501(c) (3) non profit organization.  I have a letter from Guardian Angel Service Dogs if you would like a copy.

If you make a donation through their website, please make sure you put your email address in the email address box.  They will verify your information and who the donation is for (Bradley Bates), through your email.  This is due to the fact that they cannot customize the PayPal button for each person.  All donations received for Brad's Alert Dog will go to Brad.  I will have more details on the fundraisers coming soon!  We have to get rolling if we are going to reach our goal!

Select this link to make a donation: http://www.guardianangelservicedogs.org/

Thank you so much for opening your hearts and helping!!

Tiffany Bates

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Examples of what these amazing dogs do!

You can "like" Guardian Angel Service Dogs on Facebook and there are people who post what their amazing dogs do for them.  I copied a particular post from a lady who has two sons with Type 1.  They have one dog, named Delta, which checks and alerts both kids.  I thought this was an amazing story:


‎4:33 am

I slept past my alarm clock.

I felt a heavy weight land on my chest.
...

Wet stuff was all over my face.

With semi-consciousness I said, "Do we need to check?"

Half closed eyes made out Delta touching his nose to the floor with a bowing type motion (front down/ back up) too fast to be stretching.

"Who is it?" I made my way to the living room, with a panicked pup at my side. I chose to check Eric first. 300

"Good High Delta" Why did he make a low signal?

I leave Eric's room with Delta running past me. He pushes his way through Micheal's door and lands on top of Micheal. Delta's panicked. He's licking Micheal trying to wake him up.

Panic feels my chest as I realize Micheal is Pale, and not responding to Delta.

"Micheal."

"MICHEAL!"

Finally he moves.

I tell him "Hand, Delta says your low."

A quick squeeze, poke, a drop of blood and 5 seconds pass.

44

Micheal was 44 at 4:33 am.... it would be another 2 hours before I was supposed to get him up, because I slept past my alarm clock.

I could have lost my oldest baby last night.


Instead because of Delta he was given a soda, and was able to get up and go to school at 7:30 with a blood sugar of 132.

Seriously good stuff these sweet doggies do.  Now just to get the fundraising under way!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Guardian-Angel-Service-Dogs/137261369677876

Guardian Angel Dogs

Just wanted to post a link to the website so everyone could read up on these wonderful animals.  We are so thrilled to be working with them.

http://www.warrenretrievers.com/
http://www.guardianangelservicedogs.org/

Check back in the coming weeks for more information including on how you can help!

Love,

Tiffany, Brad and Sabrina

Meet Bradley

Hello everyone!  We have started a blog about the process of getting my husband, Bradley a DAD or Diabetic Alert Dog.  I thought it would be good to document this process from before getting the dog to welcoming the new pup in our home.

I'm Tiffany - Brad's wife.  Brad is the love of my life and I cannot wait to get him the freedom he so deserves.  I thought I would start out with a little introduction about Brad.  Many of you already know him, but I thought I would post this on my Facebook page so my friends and family could also follow along.

Meet Bradley!
Brad is a very sweet caring man.  He loves his family and writing.  He currently is an English Professor at St. Louis Community College - Wildwood.  In Brad's spare time he loves to hike, swim and do anything active.  Brad is a go with the flow kind of guy and is an excellent Daddy to his daughter Sabrina.  He is also a Type 1 Diabetic.






Brad was diagnosed in February of 1987 with Type 1 or Juvenile Diabetes.  It was a shock as there wasn't anyone in Brad's family with Type 1.  Life changed quickly for Brad, Phyllis and Gene.  There were struggles with blood sugars from the start.  Brad felt that if he let his blood sugars get too high, that he would die young.  High blood sugars cause a lot of the complications you hear about, numbness in the limbs, problems with the eyes and other issues. 

What they don't tell you about are the problems with the lows.  Lows are simply awful.  Your brain runs on carbohydrates.  Your brain needs carbohydrates to function properly.  So what happens when your blood sugar gets low?  Your brain is deprived of the carbohydrates it needs and you become disoriented.  You can shake violently or can have a seizure.  It is like being drunk but horribly worse.  Brad felt that he had to keep his sugars so low so he would not die.

While in college, Brad was in a horrible car accident from a blood sugar low.  He still suffers from the car accident to this day.  He had a brain injury and a collapsed lung.  His blood sugar was below 50.  A normal blood sugar range is between 80 and 120.  Brad's sugars swing pretty bad between high and low.  He can be 302 and then 34 within an hour.  It is shocking how quickly his blood sugars can change.  The doctors call this brittle diabetes.  Any little change from his normal routine can make his sugars go crazy. 


Diabeties at it's finest
The first time I met Brad he told me about his disease.  I of course had heard of diabetes, but I never realized how much I would hate it.  I have told people that I would not wish this disease on my worst enemy.  It is expensive.  Brad is currently on Insulin Pump Therapy.  This means he has an infusion pump that will maintain the insulin levels in his body.  There are two rates.  A basil rate that give you insulin all the time that helps to maintain the sugars at normal levels through out the day.  Then when you eat you have to check your blood sugar, calculate the number of carbs you are going to eat and then take insulin to cover them.  This is called a bolus.  The pump is neat in the fact it will take the number of carbs you are going to eat, the current blood sugar, the amount of insulin you have currently in your system and then calculate how much insulin you need to take to cover what you are eating and keep your blood sugar at a normal rate.  If your blood sugar is lower, you will get less insulin to cover the amount of food you are eating and vice versa.  The pump is amazing, but it also costs $6500 plus you have to have supplies like the infusion sites that attach to Brad's body.  Fortunately insurance helps cover most of the costs.  Then there is the test strips and the insulin.  If you don't have insurance, I am not sure how people can afford all of these items.  They are not cheap. 

After the expense you have the fact of maintaining the sugars themselves.  It is so hard.  Poor Brad struggles with this disease.  He feels like he is tethered to something he cannot control.  There have been many times that I have woken up in the middle of the night because of how Brad is breathing, the fact he has not really moved, or just something that tells me that his blood sugar just isn't right.  I will check it and it is below 50.  So because he is sleeping, I can sometimes wake him and get him to drink a soda or eat glucose tablets.  More often than not, I have to call the paramedics.  They come out and give him an IV of sugar and go back to the station.  There was a time when Brad's sugar got low and it was bad news.  It was December of 2008.  It was about 6pm and Brad's blood sugar was 24.  He was violent.  I left the room and called the paramedics.  It took 6 guys to hold him down.  He was kicking the police and fighting them.  It was like he had super powers.  I will never forget the look on my brothers face.  It was so scary.  To subdue him, they bent his finger back and broke a bone in his hand.  They were able to get the IV started and his blood sugars back up.  To this day, when the paramedic that broke his hand comes to the house, he apologizes to Brad.  We have very awesome paramedics in the West County area.  They are my personal heroes. 

I am sure you are asking, "well how does his blood sugar get slow low without him noticing?"  Well Brad has something called Hypoglycemic Unawareness.  This means he cannot feel when his blood sugar is dropping.  You or I would get a headache, or the shakes.  Possibly be a little crabby or just feel like lead.  Brad can be fine one second and then completely out of it the next.  It just drops without any notice.  It is like a silent attacker.  It just gets him.  This hypoglycemic unawareness has lead to the totalling of two cars and three car accidents since I have been with him.  Medtronic makes a Continuous Glucose Monitoring System that we have tried.  It again is super expensive and if you don't get the sensor in just right, the sensor is bad and you have to throw it away.  The sensors only last for a maximum of 6 days.  When you insert the sensor, your blood sugars have to be stable for 2 hours.  That never happens.   It was a nightmare system.  So that didn't work out so much.  Currently Brad's mom drives him to school and I will take him anywhere else when I am home from work.  We all fear that he is living on borrowed time because of the many times he could have been killed in a car accident. 

The Light At the End of the Tunnel!
Phyllis, Brad's mom, read an article in the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) publication about Diabetic Alert Dogs.  She called up Warren Retrievers and got the information.  It was like opening our eyes to a whole new world.  These amazing Labrador Retrievers sense lows and highs.  They are 100% accurate and can sense a low or a high 20 to 40 minutes before it happens. This means that lows can be averted before they happen.  These sweet dogs do not come cheap though.  They are $20,000.  Phyllis paid $1,000 to get his name on the list.  There are currently 15 people on the list and now Brad is one of them.  We are going to have a variety of fundraisers to raise money to get him this lifesaver with a wet nose.  He has even thought of a name already "Phoenix".  We are so happy that Brad is going to get a new lease on life.  He needs this so very badly. 

Our hopes is to get this dog so we can have a piece of mind.  We currently have animals in our home that we are going to have to find new homes for.  This is important due to the fact that the dog has to use his or her sense of smell to detect the low or high.  We are so sad to have to say goodbye to them, but we plan to find them homes that will love them like we do.  Brad asked me the question if I was going to resent him since we had to find our furry babies new homes.  This was my answer.  I told him that I would never resent him for this.  I am just as excited as he is.  Of course I am going to be sad.  Who wouldn't be.  But, I really don't want Sabrina to be the 4 year old that has to call 911 because her daddy is passed out on the floor.  I also never want to get the phone call that he has been killed in a car accident.  The hope that this dog brings to our family is beyond words.  I know that we have made the right choice and we are going to have such relief.  The fact that my husband is going to have confidence again is all I need to keep me going. 

Please bookmark this blog.  As we go through the process of raising funds, I will post entries here.  I hope that this blog will help other Type 1 diabetics to get the hope they need.  Any questions can be posted here as well.

Here's to finding hope!

Tiffany Bates