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Keep crawling Forest Gump

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Ellie Jones

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
I had just treated a mild hypo when there was a knock at the front door which was to set off a series of events... My daughter answered a lady was asking if that was our dog as it was trying to get in, Err no says my daughter the dogs are out with my step-dad! I go to the door to find out what going on, and yes its Jones he?s come home alone, asked the women if she seen a man with a German shepherd, no just come out the shop and noticed the dog trying to get in. My daughter looked at me with the knowing look we knew something was terribly wrong with Les...

She grab her mobile, said she head off towards the lane as I only just sorted my own hypo, I could collect myself, secure the house etc then if she hadn?t found him I could go the long way round with the car.. Checked my BG and 5.5mmol/l so rang her mobile to see if any signs of Les, thankfully she had found him collapsed in the lane Ellie by his side on guard... She had already called the Ambulance out, so off I go in the car thinking that once it was sorted even though not far, the car would be better to get him home... As I was getting the car out, somebody brought Ellie home, so as I left the ambulance went past...

Because Les at first wasn?t being the most cooperative patient, the paramedic couldn?t get near so I had an attempt of getting him to have a drink, but no go and he finally went totally unconscious so we were able to get him on a stretcher and into the ambulance... I wasn?t allowed into the ambulance and left standing in the cold and boy was it cold around 4 degrees... Another paramedic turned up then I could hear a commotion in the ambulance, then the police turned up... Apparently as Les started to come around after being given a glucagon shot, started to get very combative with everybody he has actually fallen off the stretcher lying on the ambulance floor... But everybody remained calm, and the police had a natter with the crew and myself, but fortunately Les started to calm down enough to be helped back onto the stretcher and the police were able to go on there way... This affray lasted around a hour but Les was now coherent but his body temperature had dropped and they couldn?t get a reading so it was decided that he had to go to A&E as it was likely he had the beginnings of hypothermia... On arrival at A&E his body temp was 33.5 degrees not good, so he had to be heated under a special heating blanket and heater... This took several hours, and through checks, bloods, ECG and chest x-rays etc the works and we eventually got home at around 11pm with an headache and sore knees..

After talking with Les to work out what happened he said that the dogs alerted him over the fields, but he had forgotten both his hypo kit and mobile, so decided to head home best he could taking the lanes rather than the long way round, he can remember getting part down the lane, and decided to crawl as he couldn?t see in the dark and felt he could go quicker, I?ve worked out he must had crawled about a ? of a mile before he finally collapsed unable to go further and remembers nothing else apart form the seeing a clinic waste bin in the ambulance!

If it wasn?t for Jones coming home for help I dread to think what would have happened, as it may have been another ? hour or so, before I would have become concerned and went looking for him.. We are so proud of both the dogs, Jones for over-coming his fears and getting home a major feat for him and for Ellie for staying with Les until help arrived...
 
Thats a lovely story- but I am confused as to the names and the who's who! Do you have dogs named after yourself?!
 
Oh my goodness,I'm glad Les is OK. This is the sort of thing I'm dreading, hoping it will never happen.
 
Ellie amazing dogs! Glad your OH is ok now too, how scary for you all.

Bet you had a go at him for not taking his hypo treatments with him though!
 
I'm lost for words - and what wonderful dogs you have - they should get one of those animal courage medals!

Hope Les OK now and has learnt his lesson - although what people did before mobiles I dread to think 🙂
 
I'm glad your OH is okay now that must have been a very scary situation I can't believe how clever dogs are sometimes bless them as you say if it wasn't for Jones then you wouldn't have known anything was wrong. Have they been treated to something nice for their good work 🙂
 
My dog taught me to be hypo aware by waking me up whenever my bloods started to drop. They are incredible animals aren't they. I'm glad Les is OK now, but it sounds like he had a terrible time of it before you found him. Are the mutts getting a steak dinner tonight?
 
Goodness me! Thanks for relating the story ellie, so pleased that Les is OK and those dogs deserve unlimited pampering! What stars! I wonder if they had a discussion about who should stay with Les, and which one should get help? 🙂
 
Oh yes they have been rather spoilt indeed, they had lots of hugs and treats from my daughter while we were in A&E, and we're off in a bit to the petshop to get new leads to replace the two that got lost in their aventure... Then back in with them to so they can choose a reward for themselves🙂

Les is fine, just sore knees and scraped elbows, if I had given him the option he would have gone to work today😱 As to a telling off err well I think he learnt his lesson on that score... And my oldest daughter has already expressed her concerns about not having hypo kit or any ID that he's diabetic on him, the girls have also decided that they are replacing Jones and Ellie dog tags, so that it includes the information that both owners are T1 diabetics...

My lot want to write to our local newspaper but I shall see..

They are a pair of awesome dogs indeed and at present I am looking into getting Ellie offically regconised as an assistance dog, as she will wake us if she senses a night time hypo etc it will entail more training etc to comply with the regulations invovled.. They both can alert us of hypo's but unfortuantly due to Jones nervoiness he wouldn't get through the training, as he can't handle strangers let alone crowed places, it took a lot of courage for the little chap to head home on his own to get help...

Yes my user name is after my two dogs, there is reasons for this that I rather not go into
 
How lucky is Les - sounds like the dogs saved his life.😱

Les - buy a 'spibelt' and put all your kit and hypo things in it please.😉Bev
 
Yes my user name is after my two dogs, there is reasons for this that I rather not go into

Ah! I thought your name was Ellie! Now I understand!

What a great story and I'm pleased Les is alright.

An excellent idea as well to get the alert about owners in the dog tag- I really think that is excellent.

Glad all is well.
 
What fantastic dogs and so pleased Les was okay.
Can I ask are the dogs specially trained or just very very clever?
 
Oh well done to the two doggy's. I'd love a dog as my cat isn't any use in situations like that! So glad the story ended well. Give those dogs cuddles from me.x
 
Well done those dogs, and a good reminder about IDs and having a hypo treatment with us all the time
Helen
 
No the dogs have done this naturally...

We aren't flippent or dismissive of our diabetes and control is treated very seriously but we tend to forget the impact when things go wrong, and yesterday does give a real jult into the reality of what we are really living with and how vunerable with truely are..

What makes it extra special for us, is that both Ellie and Jones are rescue dogs.. We adopted Jones last year 14 months old, and always been in rescue totally over looked until we came along, and Ellie we adopted this May she was only 5 months old, and been brought by an elderly couple who found out very quickly that an active pup was too much to cope with so handed her over to the GSD2000 rescue...
 
What wonderful dogs, they really are very special. Glad your husband is ok. x
 
That is an amazing story and a brilliant reason to have dogs. We seem to hear more and more often how dogs have saved their owners by noticing something is not quite right.
 
I thought I would give an update on what's been happening since Wednesday...

Hubby's almost fully recovered, knee's healing nicely, and taken the hint of ensuring he's got his kit and phone with him when leaving the house...

The local paper has been informed of Jones and Ellie deeds, so got a phone call this morning and they are going to put a feature in next weeks newspaper (missed this weeks edition due to deadlines being dinner time today)

I actually thought that Hubby wouldn't be too keen on his/our and the dogs photo's being in the paper, but as he said they saved his life so it's worth it... As the days gone by and he's got climpses of memory returning, he's realises that the dog encouraged him all along the lane to a point where he would be found a lot easier even by a passerby...

The reporter asked how I felt about the dogs and how they saved dad's life?

I really couldn't answer this question... As I'm so in awe of them I can't put it into words...
 
I thought I would give an update on what's been happening since Wednesday...

Hubby's almost fully recovered, knee's healing nicely, and taken the hint of ensuring he's got his kit and phone with him when leaving the house...

The local paper has been informed of Jones and Ellie deeds, so got a phone call this morning and they are going to put a feature in next weeks newspaper (missed this weeks edition due to deadlines being dinner time today)

I actually thought that Hubby wouldn't be too keen on his/our and the dogs photo's being in the paper, but as he said they saved his life so it's worth it... As the days gone by and he's got climpses of memory returning, he's realises that the dog encouraged him all along the lane to a point where he would be found a lot easier even by a passerby...

The reporter asked how I felt about the dogs and how they saved dad's life?

I really couldn't answer this question... As I'm so in awe of them I can't put it into words...

Brilliant - will you be able to show us a link when it comes out.🙂Bev
 
That is amazing, what wonderful dogs - they deserve their moment of fame! 🙂 I totally understand what you mean about not being able to put it into words, because I find it difficult to find the right words to praise them and it wasn't even my life they saved! If only they could talk! 🙂
 
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