"could it be?"

A D4D story

It was a Tuesday night, and we had just gotten back from our D4D class. We had had Meadow about 2 or 3 weeks, but she hadn't yet alerted on any of the kids. Class ends in Concord at 8:30, we usually got home around 10. Sometimes the kids fell asleep in the car, sometimes not, but it was a school night so they all went to bed as soon as we got home. Of course, we would check their blood first.

So we check Jenna's BG (blood glucose), and I think it was about 135 (she was 8 y.o. at the time, by the way). She asked if she could sleep in my bed and I said fine, go ahead. Maybe 20-30 minutes pass and my other daughter, Nicole (6 at the time) comes up with Meadow. At that time our kids had Meadow on rotation and she was with Nicole that night. She says "if Jenna gets to sleep with you, I want to too." Fine, I said, go ahead, and she heads for my room.

Next thing you know, Meadow is hauling Nicole back out to the family room (on her leash) acting really weird. Remember, she hadn't alerted on any of my kids yet. My first thought is she has to go outside, so I take her out. She doesn't do anything and I give her back to Nicole. Same scenario....Nicole walks her to my room and she pulls her back out, frantically. I think maybe Nicole is not being firm enough so I take Meadow in, put her in a down stay and walk out. She follows me right back out. At this point I am tired and confused and thinking she is just misbehaving. Nicole walks out and says, "Mom, do you think she might be alerting?" My husband and I gawked at each other like, "could it be?" I grab a tester and check Jenna (who is sound asleep through all of this) and she is 24. I'm thinking, that just can't be, so I grab a juice and another test strip, give her the juice (she drinks in her sleep) and retest her...32. This is a SERIOUS low and having just tested Jenna 30 minutes before, we would not have retested her for probably 4 hours. Who knows what might have happened during that time had it not been for our sweet Meadow and her first alert!

Meadow works for my 3 diabetic kids, Sam (now 11), Jenna (now 9) and Nicole (now 7) and is a much loved and appreciated addition to our family. I have attached a picture of her with our family at our graduation. The other dog (the one lying down) is Meadow's mother, a guide dog breeder named Christine. Thanks again Kelley, to you and the Rainbow Girls. Sheila