So 10 years ago, I started having issues with having "flu" like activity every 3 months for about a week and a half. During that week, I would have to be hospitalized and given fluids since I was so dehydrated (I couldn't even produce tears, that's how dehydrated I would get). At this point, my family lived in Japan and since Japan didn't have the necessary medical services I needed in order to figure out what was wrong, the military would send my parents and I to Hawaii every 3 months to see a doctor at Tripler (I know...darn...). Well we found out that I had a disease in my stomach and esophagus, but it was predicted that with time, the disease would change from stomach "migraines" to head "migraines", which they most definitely did. About a year and a half after I was diagnosed, the military decided to send us back stateside so that my family can live in an area that has a good hospital to care for me, because in 2005 I lost consciousness for the first time. I was out for about 5 minutes and kept going out after I was ambulanced to the hospital.
So once we got to DC, I went to see a neurologist at Children's Hospital and he found that I have neuropathy, meaning that I can't feel my feet and I'm losing feeling in my hands. And that's what started a full neurological work up. During this time, I continued losing consciousness and the amount of time I was out was continuing to increase. My doctor started doing a bunch of different tests that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy (nerve conduction-where they electrocute my nerves to see my lack of reflexes-was by far the worst) and he brought in more doctors onto my team. They eventually found that I have, as I've mentioned before, an autonomic disease but that I don't fit into any of the known autonomic diseases. I have bits and pieces of each (like extreme body temperature changes and not having reflexes in my arms or legs, feeling light headed every time I stand up, digestive issues, etc) but that means I don't have one specific one. And that's kind of where we're at with the whole diagnosis stuff.
What this means is that at random points, I will just go out. It happens whenever my body goes through stress of any kind (finals, sister's wedding, moving back to school, everything) and I will be out for quite a while. While I'm out, my breathing and blood pressure will plummet and my heart rate will sky rocket. I've been triaged with fixed and dilated pupils, but I've obviously woken up from all of them. My family and I say it's kind of like my body "Control-Alt-Deleting" itself. So what will Zido be able to do? Well, the basic answer is that he can sense about 10-15 minutes before I go out, and he will alert me so that I can either find some place safe (i.e. not standing in the middle of a parking lot) or so that I can lay down. The dogs each come up with their own sets of alerts, ranging in levels of trying to catch our attention. From what I understand, Zido will first lick me to grab my attention. If that doesn't work, I've been told he kind of just tries to make his way on top of my body in order to get me down. While other dogs have about 3 alerts, Zido kind of jumps from his first to his ultimate. But maybe once he gets to know me, that could change. I'm excited to learn what his alerts are! Then, from what I understand, after he alerts me and I have sat down, he will just kind of keep watch over me until he believes my heart rate is at a safe rate and then he will let me get back up. What's going to be weird is that he's going to know long before I do that something's going on, and I'm going to have to learn to just trust him and not say "But I feel fine!"
So those are some of the things he will do for me during an episode, but his job also covers day to day activity. For example, he will learn to take off my socks and pick stuff up off of the ground so that I don't have to bend over and stand up, which will help me not feel light headed. When we walk together, and I hold onto his harness, he is also trained to walk a little bit ahead of me so that he kind of pulls me while we walk. That slight pull will help to release some of the energy that my heart has to give for me to walk, so my heart doesn't have to work as hard.
Well I hope that this answers some of the questions that people have been asking. I enjoy the questions and if you have any more, please feel free to leave a comment and ask!
52 days 23 hours 12 minutes 11 seconds until Team Training!!!!!!
Thank you so much for reading and I promise to be better about writing!
Love and blessings,
Zee and Me
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