Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Our Shedding CGM

It was at a Halloween party two years ago this month that we met a family that we absolutely love. They had a two year old at the time who had just recently been diagnosed and they had some questions about insulin pumps and toddlers. We got along so famously that it wasn’t a month later we were invited to their son’s birthday party. They live in the city, so we don’t get to see them as often as we’d like, but we get together every 3-6 months.

When their son was diagnosed, the Father in this family took the lead on their baby’s diabetes. We all know that men look at things differently than woman. Not betternot worsejust totally differently. It was a hard thing for this loving father to learn that diabetes makes NO SENSE AT ALL. Men just want to fix things. And finding that there was no way to fix his son’s insulin levels to have even numbers, all the time, has been a big frustration. (We have all been there, heck, we are all still there, right?) Their little boy has been on two CGM’s. They found that one is more accurate than the other, but unfortunately it has constant sensor problems. So, at this time, he isn’t using either. Of course, his/our insurance doesn’t cover it, and he has spent a lot out of pocket to try to give his son the best possible life.

Now, OUR family doesn’t use CGM’s…yet. 1) It is not covered…and 2) We have a big, hairy CGM roaming our house that goes by the name of Lawton.
So where am I going with all this?

This last Sunday we had the chance to get together with this wonderful family and had a nice dinner together at my sweet mother in laws. After the meal, we sat at the table and talked shop. (Diabetes this, diabetes that, with a sprinkling of school and cancer related subjects.) As we were sitting there, Lawton came in and walked up to the mother; he did a little dance and walked away. (Repeat 3 times.) Finally he came in; walked up to the mother, and then left her and walked up to the father. There, he sat, and alerted him. We were all in shock. It was definitely an alert. A very intense alert. But not to Ryan and me, it was FOR SURE meant for him.

“Maybe he just recognizes that your son is diabetic, maybe he just smells the insulin.” (That was me making excuses, because we just ate dinner and JUST had bloused the kids, so the chances were slim.) But Lawton, he would not budge, so we did the obvious. We tested his son…and sure enough…HE. WAS. LOW!

I don’t know why it always shocks me. He alerted us that day twice, and the day before five times, but to go out and alert on another child is amazing to me. AND It’s not the first time he’s done this, he has alerted on my brother in the past, who is T1 and lives in Washington. AND, he has even alerted on my mother who is Type 2.

He is absolutely super fantastically awesome! (Is that English?)

We are so enormously blessed to have this dog be part of our family.

My husband asked J the other day if he would trade Lawton for a cure…

J didn’t hesitate…

He said no.

10 comments:

  1. That is FANTASTIC! I would kill to have my dog be able to pick up on the lows. All he does is chew up my towels.

    And we still have to pay for the CGM's!!

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  2. That is so, so cool! Yay, Lawton!

    Your comment on my last post made me laugh! I've wanted to say the same to you. I think we'd be great friends in real lfe.

    Having said that, there is a slight chance we might be in your neck of the woods (well, close enough) In November and would love to make the trek to meet you guys. We'd be staying in the San Anselmo area if we do come. Anyway, I just think it would be amazing to meet you and your family.

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  3. How amazing is that?? WOW!! Lawton- you're just TOO COOL!

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  4. I wanted to thank you for your sweet comments on my blog. Every time you comment I think "I need to get to know this girl! She is just like me!" And even after reading your getting to know my post, I am SURE you really are just like me! LOL!

    That is amazing that your dog can do that! I have heard of getting a service dog for Brooklyn's diabetes, butI never really understood what they can do. I wonder now if it really would be worth it.

    Thanks again! I can't wait to get to know you better!

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  5. It was so amazing to see the chain of events of this alert in person! Just as amazing was seeing the dad's perception change. He became a believer in that moment...and could see that even a "dog" (aka super hero) could help "manage" his son's diabetes:)

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  6. Oh meri how lucky you are to have lawton he is just awesome and I love your doggie stories . You made me cry with this one . God love and bless your family dear . Hugs to you and yours and the most biggest hug goes to Lawton . Have a great day .

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  7. Oh Meri... if you only knew how many times I wrote something similar and then deleted it because I didn't want you to think I was weird.

    Too funny. Fred and I always talk about moving back to the bay area, so who knows... it could happen!

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  8. What a neat dog! You are very lucky and blessed to have him in your lives..Way to go Lawton!

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