You often see me not listen to my service dogs at first. I know that that’s a risky move, but hear me out. Not listening to my dogs in the beginning of an alert to behavior sequence, increases persistence. That same persistent behavior often saves my life when I’m in the middle of doing things, at events, or interacting with people and don’t realize that my dog is alerting.

So yes, sometimes I play Russian roulette with my health.. But typically, I know my body and I know how long I can wait before I need to take action. Sometimes I’m wrong but the best way to train an alert to a behavior for a specific person is a real life scenario. Technically, going through a real life medical event helps my dog practice how to respond as well. Making those decisions definitely can be argued but I promise I don’t always push my limits.

Everest is a great diabetic alert dog but he tasks for a few more things than just diabetes. He guides (when I’m not in a wheelchair) in places that really test my visual limitations. I have no peripherals and have blurriness in my vision. If you couldn’t guess, he’s also a great retriever. (Duh, he’s a golden)

I typically don’t have videos of him tasking because he’s the least obvious tasker out of Echo and Everest. Why? When Echo alerts, I often have a seizure after. Obvious alert. When Everest alerts, I have to go look at what my sugar is. I also have a libre so I check both phone and manually. But if I’m being truly honest with you, the golden retriever side of Everest makes him want to cuddle and melt into my body naturally without a medical event. Sometimes it’s a little harder to tell when he just needs love. Echo is a herding dog. He’s constantly waiting for a brain game and not really constantly waiting for physical touch. 😅

Let’s get to the answers to questions you might have if you’re new here:

1. I have two service dogs. Sometimes I just bring Echo. Naturally he’s the first service dog of the two but he’s also arguably the most important tasker.. a seizure alert and response dog. Epilepsy is the hardest thing for me to predict and keep myself safe for or even tell anyone about when I’m unresponsive. Sometimes I take both dogs.

2. We have home cameras all over the house and sometimes you’ll see them in the background of my videos, especially on stories. These cameras keep us safe. It gives me independence, but it also helps me show doctors and you, my audience what’s happening in my real life.

3. I am often in a wheelchair, but I can walk. You don’t get approved for a wheelchair. That’s more expensive than your car if you don’t need it. Sometimes I use it more than others, but I generally can’t walk long distances most of the time especially after status epilepticus, sepsis, multiple deficiencies, and pain for various reasons. Sometimes my cognitive and physical function simply is lowered due to more seizure activity than normal.

4. Dextrose, along with other IV medication’s and nutrition is prescribed to me and sent each week. I am on TPN as a source of nutrition but I have 5 other medications that I get through IV.

5. I didn’t always have diabetes. I didn’t get it from eating horribly or not eating at all. I didn’t get it from not exercising enough. But I also don’t have type one. I was diagnosed in my second pregnancy and unfortunately, it just lingered.

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