Looking at Alerts

The Anatomy of a Paw Alert

Willow has an initial alert that means I have found something... her first initial alert signal is "paw" then we also encouraged the bringsel as an initial alert signal... so Paw or bringsel means check.  The signal for low is a wave or if in a confined space a nose up (which is what happens when she leans back on her haunches for a wave.  Her alert for high is a bow or in a confined space is a chin down (again which is part of the natural physical process of the bow).  Willow came up with these subtle signals in restaurants...

The Anatomy of a Bringsel Alert

When Charlie is with Angi, Angi wears the bringsel.

When Charlie is with Lily, he wears the bringsel on his leash.

In this scenario, with the bringsel on the leash that Lily is "wearing", how and who would Charlie alert? When I watched Charlie alert while at Wildrose (first two photos), Angi was wearing the bringsel.

Charlie alerts Lily at school and she wears the bringsel each day. I did wear the bringsel at the conference since Charlie was with me and Lily was away from me at times. (Keep in mind, he is also fabulous with long distance alerts.) With the environment and wanting success for our team in that situation then I chose for Charlie to take the bringsel from me for an alert. In the scenario pictured, Charlie would take the bringsel from the leash and tell the adult in the scenario which in this case was me. At recess while at school each day, the teacher on duty wears the bringsel on her lanyard so that Charlie is not interrupting children at play. For this scenario, he takes the bringsel from the lanyard and the teacher knows to test. Charlie has been worked with in many different situations and environments so that we can ensure success for our team. Lily is a small child and she is still learning to handle Charlie and the alerts, etc. on her own. It is a big responsibility for a Kindergartener to have complete control of her DAD and Diabetes:) Having a team of 3 along with a DAD at school requires a DAD that can alert to multiple handlers and in different ways. We are lucky girls!

So in this instance, Lily is wearing a cross body leash and Charlie is "attached" to Lily. In this scenario, then, how does Charlie free himself from the physical connection to Lily in order to take the bringsel to the teacher or another "designated" adult? Is this a situation where Charlie would actually be alerting Lily and Lily would take control and take the 2 of them to the adult? 

Yes, Lily would accept the alert and go to the nearest adult or the adult next to her would accept it. When she is attached to Charlie, an adult in charge is always "close" by due to being in the beginning stages of Lily handling Charlie and to ensure success. Right now, we only use the cross body leash under adult supervision or during training. When Lily is on her own at school and given distance/independence with Charlie, she uses a leather traffic lead to keep him close. At this time, she has the bringsel on her belt loop. Lily is given more responsibility when she asks for it and she can be responsible. Lots of responsibility for an itty bitty.

Angie Morse Simonton

Blossom Does It Again!

Blossom does it again! She started alerting at 8pm (BG 170). Continued alerting. 8:30 (BG 176) 9pm (BG 184). I was trying to get Kaci to bed and she would not have it. She jumped out of bed 3 different times (even though it's high and she's never done that before) and did not want me to leave her room. I finally gave Kaci a little bit of insulin to try and appease her even though her pump said she had plenty on board. I thought I was crazy for giving insulin based on the dog's alert and not her pump. 10:30 check: BG 381!! This dog is the best!! : )

The dogs are really significant in helping achieve health.

Adam went to swimming without a dog for 1.25 hours.  Kurt drove him home 15 min drive where he checked BG 106 and CGM 110. Adam walks in and Willow's eyes dilate and she alerts.  5min pass because Adam says he just checked and wants to put his swim bag downstairs.  CGM says 98. Willow alerts persistently and Adam checks (which only is 10 min since the last one) BG 68.... The CGM alarmed an additional 10 min later, so he would not have reached a crisis with the CGM but she kept him from ever being symptomatic...

It's hard on Adam to check and recheck but he sees the huge advantage the dogs give him.

Laurie Schwartz

The Enigma of the Meter/s

Readings taken at the same time on the same person

This concerns me! Not cool at all! To think that something I've trusted for many years could be that inaccurate. Yikes!

 I am too! I compared the readings about a month ago and they were off by almost 200! Silly me, assumed the other meter must have been off. Now I don't know what to think! My A1c is always great so, maybe it's the other meters that are inaccurate??

 FDA approved of 20% margin of error in meters. Not okay!  So..that 302 could mean 242 or 362.  It's the 20%. If both meters have a 20% margin of error what is the likely hood they will match? It sickens me to know my son depends on this technology for his life.