3 Year Diaversary

3years! wow!   3 years today we were in an emergency room hearing  “your son has diabetes.”   I thought how are we going to do this. How am I going to learn all this and keep my son safe. How? Why? How? Why? 

A short brief blip on diaversary#3

We have come so far. To this day I learn something new all the time;  Like how to finally bolus correctly for that pizza! Or how to bring up that low but not go overboard because I'm scared and just start forcing carbs regardless of the rebound high I know will happen. Or how to just let go and learn being a kid comes first and diabetes second. Let him have fun at the school Christmas party you can always fix that high later.

Its a crazy coincidence how much I hated math in school and 24-7 our day revolves around numbers. 

We have a new normal in our house and that's OK! btw- what is normal anyway?

Not only do Tom and I count carbs and do the reminders to check and pump, but his awesome sisters and brother have learned and helped so much. I hear my older daughter say "Mom Joey needs to check he's high" they know, the signs of wonky numbers. Or another great example..  my son comes downstairs and and says "Mom Joey is sweating I think he's low". Blessed beyond blessed that they know and are looking out for their brother!

Although this disease sucks and we hope for a cure daily, we have met some amazing friends along the way.. friends that “get it”  Love you all so much!!!

Joey has been so strong, dealing with this like a champ. Not letting d stop him from anything. I am so proud of him! 

 

I never thought I would say I got scammed.

But

SDWR was an organization I stood behind and defended.  Dan Warren could do no wrong! I drank the Kool-aid he handed out. I felt like I belonged to something big! A great organization that was just in the beginning stages of being SUPER!  I believed all Dan Warren's lies! 

I have hoped and made every effort for Sniper to do what we originally purchased(fund raised) him to do.

He is not. As of today Sniper doesn't alert and seems to have no interest at all in alerting. My family is heartbroken. All the fundraising we did. Our community that stepped up to help us. The complete strangers and  new friends we made along this journey. We feel terrible and apologize.

We believed this man we believed he was going to help us and we would ultimately have a d.a.d (diabetic alert dog) .

Our journey with this organization has always seemed to be filled with drama.  Before we got Sniper another family came forward and the first bad newspaper article appeared. I didn't believe it and defended Dan Warren through it all. Now I apologize to the McLeod family. I am sorry! If I would have just seen through the Warren Retriever fog....    You can read that article here. http://theexaminer.com/stories/news/guardian-angel-owner-far-angelic 

Then a facebook scam page came up and they posted horrible things about the organization and Dan Warren. I couldn't believe these things. I thought to myself, why would these people make up such lies. I wasn't ready to believe it. Every one else was lying but not Dan.  Eventually the page was taken down by the admins. because an agreement was reached. Well, again Dan doesn't hold up his end of that agreement and here we are today with a new scam page. You can read and follow that page by clicking  here https://www.facebook.com/#!/stopthelies.now   

The most recent antics that this organization is trying to do is pay families to blog for him. Blog good things and he will pay for google advertising. A link to that screen shot can be found over at this blog!  Check it out!  http://www.itsnotmyworkout.com/2013/10/tainted-blog-reviews-warning-to-my.html#more    I guess thats what got my fire burning to tell our story and what is happening to our family

We wont shut up! I will not be quite about our experience and what is going on with this organization. The truth needs to be told by all families this organization has hurt.  We need it to be out there and heard so no one else has to go through this.

As for Sniper...   Our family loves him either way ♥

Endo Appt bust

Had  our 3 month endo appt today what a bust

I feel d defeated! Our highest a1c yet. 

Yes I know why- Its my fault and I need to stay on top of his diabetes more and give him less control.
Hoping to put this visit in the past and move forward.

I cant help but think and say that having a diabetic alert dog (d.a.d) has not helped this family gain better control. Maybe one day when he alerts and does his job. But for now back to us working our butts off to have a better visit in 3 months.

frustrated overwhelmed and completely defeated today.

Catching up

So we received our d.a.d in November had our first training after delivery in March and are awaiting our next training in August.

So do you want to know the answer to the question that gets asked of me all the time????
Does he work?

Well this is how I answer that to my friends, family and to the complete strangers that ask.
He is still in training! I know such a blanket statement. It covers if he doesn't work and well if he does.

From all that I have learned this is a process and while we don't get consistent alerts every now and then we get that one, that one alert that well... keeps me focused and  wanting more! (the I think this is an alert) We have busted our butts training this dog to not only alert but give us a trained alert and well ontop of the trained alert he needs to be the most behaved dog when we are out. I am striving for nothing but the best out of him and doing all that I need to do to make it happen.

In no way shape or form is this process easy. I have had my highs and lows with this dog the training and frankly with the organization. 

 

High expectations!

High expectations!


We started the journey of getting a d.a.d for Joey in March of 2012. We fundraised and fundraised and fundraised some more so we can cover the high price tag of this amazing animal that was coming home to us. This super pup that can potentially save my child's life! Those are the kind of high expectations I had on this little pup. He will save my sons life he will be able to tell me in the middle of the night if Joeys numbers are too high and too low and I can get some much needed sleep!! Who am I kidding I would never trust this dog in the middle of the night well at least not yet? Maybe in time?


 We took delivery of Sniper in November 2012. he was only a few months old. When we received him we also had 4 days of intense training. My expectations of this pup were still over the top even more so now that we had him in our home!!!!  I finally get to see super pup at work!  In my heart I believed this dog was going to come in my home and be some kind of alerting machine letting me know the highs and lows before they happen all the time and we would be so much better managing this d monster!  YES! I thought this pup would do his job like an adult dog from day 1 OK from minute 1!

We worked on obedience during our delivery and took Sniper to many different restaurants and businesses. He did amazing! He is so well behaved in public. He was then and still is now!  (he is better then most children in stores ;) )

 After our 4 days of training we had to say goodbye to our trainer and do this on our own! OMG I am now in charge of not only making sure my son is safe but add training a puppy to help make sure my son is safe on top of that! What did I get my family into is the question I asked myself nightly!

I did everything the trainer told me while she was in my home after she left. Gosh I didn't want to do something that would mess him up" undo his ability to alert. I didn't want to screw the dog up. 

Now High Expectations on myself to not screw this super pup up!


I am trying to write and catch up with present day and our life with Sniper think I can do it in a few posts :)

Sniper our d.a.d ♥

I cant begin to explain the love we have for this dog. He is Joeys Bestfriend! Before I speak of our journey having Sniper in our life I wanted to share some pictures of him :) 

This is the first picture we received of our boy!

This is Joey and Sniper day of delivery!

 

 

Christmas

     

They have had a strong bond from day 1

Growing so big!

The nose knows!

 

 





I started this blog awhile ago and didn't like the direction I was in.. Deleted all, and starting fresh. A clean start. I was told, and believe writing "it"(whatever it may be) out helps. Although I might not be the best writer, or have the best grammar, getting my thoughts out helps :)  (Thank you Spell check!)

So for today leaving it at that a fresh start a clean slate and my thoughts and frustrations all coming!