School holidays are now finished with Jason and Claire heading back this week to begin Term 2. For the first couple of weeks Bailey alerted frequently due to Jason's erratic BGL's due to illness, as well as the need to reduce his night time insulin. He was waking up low and I was finding Bailey pawing the side of the bed to let me know.
Earlier in the week, Bailey started to alert me after Jason had left for school. He has been known to do this occasionally before and when he does, Bailey's alerts will coincide with Jason's BGL's going low at school. So as I sat there working on my laptop, I wondered whether I should ring the school and ask them to check him but decided not too. I couldn't do anything to verify Jason's BGL's, hence I couldn't reward Bailey either. So as I ignored his repeated pawing of my leg, he started to close the lid on my laptop as I tried to work. This happened about half a dozen times as he tried desperately to get my attention, so I got his kong out and filled it with some of his treats thinking he needed something to beat the boredom. He wagged his tail happily when I presented this to him and it kept him occupied for some time.
Then I received an email around lunchtime to say that Jason had a hypo. Now I knew that Bailey was giving me a low alert. Now I'm fairly sure Bailey doesn't possess ESP abilities so this was obviously a delayed alert. He had picked up on Jason's BGL's trending downwards before he left for school and for whatever reason, had not alerted me at the time. This could be for any number of reasons but mornings in our household are always chaotic. Jason had woken a bit high and Bailey had alerted to that and I had given him his morning insulin as usual and left him for a little bit before giving him his breakfast. I will do this if his BGL's are high so that he can come down within his normal range so to avoid him going even higher from his meal. But sometimes his BGL's can drop rapidly, and this was obviously what had happened this morning.
Bailey is very good at picking up drops in Jason's BGL's before they happen and has given a few of these alerts lately. It is becoming more and more obvious just how accurate his alerting is as he will give a high alert for anything over 8. Jason's normal blood sugar levels should sit between 4 and 8. If we test Jason and his BGL's are 8.2 or somewhere in the 8's, we often won't correct with insulin because it's only slightly over his target and still acceptable to us. The exception however, will be before a meal, when insulin is needed to cover the carbs he'll eat. Sometimes I wonder what is an acceptable level to Bailey as he gets very close to 8 all the time. Then the other day he followed me over when I was testing Jason's BGL's and the meter read 7.7. Bailey just looked up at me and wailed his tail!
In future, if he ever alerts me in the same circumstances again, I will ring the school and get them to check Jason, no matter how silly it feels at the time!
Earlier in the week, Bailey started to alert me after Jason had left for school. He has been known to do this occasionally before and when he does, Bailey's alerts will coincide with Jason's BGL's going low at school. So as I sat there working on my laptop, I wondered whether I should ring the school and ask them to check him but decided not too. I couldn't do anything to verify Jason's BGL's, hence I couldn't reward Bailey either. So as I ignored his repeated pawing of my leg, he started to close the lid on my laptop as I tried to work. This happened about half a dozen times as he tried desperately to get my attention, so I got his kong out and filled it with some of his treats thinking he needed something to beat the boredom. He wagged his tail happily when I presented this to him and it kept him occupied for some time.
Then I received an email around lunchtime to say that Jason had a hypo. Now I knew that Bailey was giving me a low alert. Now I'm fairly sure Bailey doesn't possess ESP abilities so this was obviously a delayed alert. He had picked up on Jason's BGL's trending downwards before he left for school and for whatever reason, had not alerted me at the time. This could be for any number of reasons but mornings in our household are always chaotic. Jason had woken a bit high and Bailey had alerted to that and I had given him his morning insulin as usual and left him for a little bit before giving him his breakfast. I will do this if his BGL's are high so that he can come down within his normal range so to avoid him going even higher from his meal. But sometimes his BGL's can drop rapidly, and this was obviously what had happened this morning.
Bailey is very good at picking up drops in Jason's BGL's before they happen and has given a few of these alerts lately. It is becoming more and more obvious just how accurate his alerting is as he will give a high alert for anything over 8. Jason's normal blood sugar levels should sit between 4 and 8. If we test Jason and his BGL's are 8.2 or somewhere in the 8's, we often won't correct with insulin because it's only slightly over his target and still acceptable to us. The exception however, will be before a meal, when insulin is needed to cover the carbs he'll eat. Sometimes I wonder what is an acceptable level to Bailey as he gets very close to 8 all the time. Then the other day he followed me over when I was testing Jason's BGL's and the meter read 7.7. Bailey just looked up at me and wailed his tail!
In future, if he ever alerts me in the same circumstances again, I will ring the school and get them to check Jason, no matter how silly it feels at the time!