mysticjoz
Senior Member
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2007
- Location
- somewhere... over the rainbow!
My father is also disabled, he has the bad back, etc. but he also has sleep apnea, congestive heart failure, high blood pressure and he is a diabetic.
He is on oxygen 24/7 and a machine also helps breath for him if he stops breathing in the middle of the night. (that is sleep apnea,,, they stop breathing ) BUT.. he was coming out of the bathroom, which is located between our 3 bedrooms (mine, mom's and dad's.. because of the machines she sleeps in her own room.) My mom was there to help him when all of a sudden she yelled for me to help. I looked up and his knees were buckling and she was straining to keep him from hitting the floor!
It is AMAZING how quickly adrenaline is produced by the body and processed!! I made my way over with the use of my cane and instinct was to grab under his right arm to "help hold him up".. OMG,,, he is not a lightweight, but at the time it was a matter of keeping him from going down! My younger son grabbed my wheelchair and we managed to get him to sit down.. from there we got him back into bed ..This whole time my dog Ruby was pacing around and nudging me, she never leaves my side and even sleeps in bed with me.
As soon as we got dad into bed.. he said all he wanted was to go to sleep. He was white as a ghost and out of the blue "Ruby" jumped into bed with him! She made herself "comfy" with her paws across his legs and rested her muzzle on top of her paws.. and she looked up at me with a really sad look. My heart sank! Being a former Veterinary Technician I knew that dogs could sense changes in human enzymes, proteins, etc. They have been known to predict seizures and heart attacks. At first my mom said "ruby, no down" but ruby laid herself right down there and looked up at my mom as if to say "I am not moving".. I told my mom it was ok.. and explained what dogs can sense to her.
She called the doctor and he told us to take dads blood sugar and it was 41 !! We started pumping sugar into him as the doctor recommended "orange juice and add sugar.. retest every 1/2 hour but DO NOT LET HIM SLEEP AS HE WILL SLIP INTO A COMA!!"
As we were doing this I would call Ruby to "go out" But she was NOT going to leave his side for anything!
We finally managed to get his blood sugar up to 91 .. his color came back and so did his spirits... somewhat.
And that is when Ruby decided it was ok for her to come outside with me to have a smoke and after that she was right back to sticking by my side again.
(Needless to say I can barely move now just from those few seconds of helping balance his weight while the wheel chair came. At the time adrenaline had taken over, so of course there was no pain then!)
Please always pay attention to your pets moods and actions. No one knows your dog better than you... I knew it was serious because Ruby never, ever leaves my side! Plus she has NEVER hopped into my dads bed with him!
So again.. today I am so grateful! I am grateful that I paid attention to the signals Ruby was giving me/us. More so.. I am grateful that I have such an awesome dog!! and I thought she was great cuz she picks up what I drop and helps clean up things off the floor so I don't have to bend over!
But today she proved herself to everyone, especially my mom. I couldn't be prouder of her, She truly saved my dad's life today! :notworthy
He is on oxygen 24/7 and a machine also helps breath for him if he stops breathing in the middle of the night. (that is sleep apnea,,, they stop breathing ) BUT.. he was coming out of the bathroom, which is located between our 3 bedrooms (mine, mom's and dad's.. because of the machines she sleeps in her own room.) My mom was there to help him when all of a sudden she yelled for me to help. I looked up and his knees were buckling and she was straining to keep him from hitting the floor!
It is AMAZING how quickly adrenaline is produced by the body and processed!! I made my way over with the use of my cane and instinct was to grab under his right arm to "help hold him up".. OMG,,, he is not a lightweight, but at the time it was a matter of keeping him from going down! My younger son grabbed my wheelchair and we managed to get him to sit down.. from there we got him back into bed ..This whole time my dog Ruby was pacing around and nudging me, she never leaves my side and even sleeps in bed with me.
As soon as we got dad into bed.. he said all he wanted was to go to sleep. He was white as a ghost and out of the blue "Ruby" jumped into bed with him! She made herself "comfy" with her paws across his legs and rested her muzzle on top of her paws.. and she looked up at me with a really sad look. My heart sank! Being a former Veterinary Technician I knew that dogs could sense changes in human enzymes, proteins, etc. They have been known to predict seizures and heart attacks. At first my mom said "ruby, no down" but ruby laid herself right down there and looked up at my mom as if to say "I am not moving".. I told my mom it was ok.. and explained what dogs can sense to her.
She called the doctor and he told us to take dads blood sugar and it was 41 !! We started pumping sugar into him as the doctor recommended "orange juice and add sugar.. retest every 1/2 hour but DO NOT LET HIM SLEEP AS HE WILL SLIP INTO A COMA!!"
As we were doing this I would call Ruby to "go out" But she was NOT going to leave his side for anything!
We finally managed to get his blood sugar up to 91 .. his color came back and so did his spirits... somewhat.
And that is when Ruby decided it was ok for her to come outside with me to have a smoke and after that she was right back to sticking by my side again.
(Needless to say I can barely move now just from those few seconds of helping balance his weight while the wheel chair came. At the time adrenaline had taken over, so of course there was no pain then!)
Please always pay attention to your pets moods and actions. No one knows your dog better than you... I knew it was serious because Ruby never, ever leaves my side! Plus she has NEVER hopped into my dads bed with him!
So again.. today I am so grateful! I am grateful that I paid attention to the signals Ruby was giving me/us. More so.. I am grateful that I have such an awesome dog!! and I thought she was great cuz she picks up what I drop and helps clean up things off the floor so I don't have to bend over!
But today she proved herself to everyone, especially my mom. I couldn't be prouder of her, She truly saved my dad's life today! :notworthy
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