Sassie became Mom’s companion. It was as if she knew how sad Mom felt with
Pop gone.
Sassie began to show a special ability to
detect when Mom’s diabetic condition was too high with sugar. Ruth noticed that only when the blood sugar
was high Sassie would jump on Mom. Sassie
had never jumped up on anyone before this time.
Ruth began to recognize the relationship
between Sassie’s behavior and Mom’s need for insulin. Ruth would monitor Mom’s blood sugar levels
and discovered that the sugar level was always dangerously high whenever Sassie
jumped on Mom. When she reported the
levels to the doctor he stated, “That level of sugar could send your mom into a
diabetic coma. Sassie is a diabetic
alert dog for your mom.”
When Ruth heard that, she felt that Sassie
should come with them whenever her Mom visited the doctor.
On the recent visit, the doctor announced,
“I don’t understand why we cannot get the regulation of her sugar-to-insulin
balance under control. This is a problem
that puzzles me. I would like to see if
I can discover what is causing these unpredictable spikes in her sugar
levels. If we have your mom stay at the
hospital for a few days, I would be able to closely monitor a daily cycle of
her condition. I feel this way I should
be able to get her diabetes condition regulated.”
Ruth trusted this doctor and said,
“okay.” She had been grateful for a
written prescription that the doctor wrote.
It explained how Sassie was Mom’s service dog and how she was needed to
help Mom.
Meanwhile, Ruth did not know that Donald
had been sending secret gifts to her Mom, Valerie. Valerie, Ruth’s mom, was Donald’s birth
mother. Donald had discovered that
Valerie was diabetic and that she had a love of chocolate covered
cherries. He wanted her to be sick and
suffer.
I’d
like to leave a box of these irresistible treats at the front door for
Valerie. However, I need to be sure they
are left whenever I know that Ruth will not be home. Donald thought.
When Valerie would hear the doorbell ring,
she would open the door and find the box of irresistible treats on her door
step. Ruth never realized this fact
because Valerie would hide the candy box.
Valerie made sure that she only treated herself to an occasional
chocolate-covered cherry so that no one would suspect her crime. Neither Ruth nor the doctor realized that Mom
had been guilty of causing the unpredictable spikes in sugar levels.
The next morning, Ruth’s Mom, Valerie,
entered the hospital and began a controlled diabetic diet.
After that, she had decided to take a nap
before lunch. When her lunch tray was
brought into the room, she woke up. As
Valerie lifted the cover on the plate, she found a surprise. There was a box of chocolate covered cherries
on the plate.
She ate all of them.
After
all, she
thought, there is no place to hide them
here! She still felt sleepy, so she
decided to take another nap.
That same day, Ruth had decided to
surprise her Mom with a visit from Sassie.
When they entered the room, Sassie became very upset and leaped onto the
bed. “Sassie, what are you doing?” Ruth
said in surprise.
The head nurse had seen a dog enter the
hospital room, so she had followed them.
She wanted to tell these visitors that no dogs were allowed in the
hospital.
When she saw the dog jump into the bed,
she immediately made a call to the hospital police. They quickly arrived and began to remove Sassie
from the room. Ruth tried to explain
that Sassie was a diabetic alert dog, but in the confusion, no one would listen
to her.
Ruth followed the policeman out of the
hospital and continued to try to explain.
The policeman refused to listen.
Frustrated, she sat on a nearby bench, crying. When she finally got up from the bench, she
decided to go to the Riverside Animal Shelter and see if the policeman had
brought Sassie there.
When Ruth reached the Riverview Shelter
entrance, she saw the policeman talking to Jane. Sassie was still on leash and sitting
politely. Jane was explaining the role
of a diabetic alert dog and how this service dog, Sassie, had been alerting her
person that her blood sugar was at a dangerous level.
After Jane’s explanation, the policeman
understood that Sassie was not a problem and then decided to have Jane sign a
release for the dog. With a tip of his cap
to Ruth, he gave the leash to Jane and left.
“I am so glad to see you!” Ruth told Jane. “No one would listen to me! I tried to explain that Sassie was a diabetic
alert dog, but that policeman just kept pulling her away from me.”
Jane gave Ruth a hug and said, “Why don’t
you call the hospital patient representative?
I believe she can help you resolve this problem.”
When the rep heard Ruth’s explanation, she
asked for more details on this situation. Then she said, “I will go to your mom’s
room and have her sugar level checked.
They need to be aware of a possible dangerous situation. It sounds like your mom may be going into a
diabetic coma. If that is true, your
dog’s alert and this phone call may save your mom’s life.”
When Ruth got off the phone, she said to
Jane, “How can I ever thank you for your help?”
Jane smiled and replied. “It is me who needs to be thanking you. You have continually helped this shelter in
so many ways! When the judge released
you from your mandatory service, you decided to continue to volunteer
here. I have respected your wisdom and
all the hard work you have freely given to these animals.” Jane continued, “I have a surprise that I
have been working on. I have spoken to
the company that dismissed you. After
they heard about the loss of your father and the hardship and medical problems
with your mom, they wanted to give you a medical coverage for you and your
family. Not only that but they have
decided to give you a sizeable severance check. You should be free of money worries for a
long time.”
Ruth hugged Jane, and Ruth started to
cry. Jane handed Ruth a tissue, saying,
“Now go! Head back to the hospital and
leave Sassie with me. Millie is here and
brought Goldie with her. The dogs can
play until you return.”
###
With her permission, I am serializing a chapter a week, on this blog, near-final material from this instructive novel by dog trainer Helen A. Bemis, published by Outskirts Press and available through amazon.com: UNDERSTANDING SASSIE
I coached and edited for Helen through my Write Your Book with Me endeavor.
Connect with all Helen A. Bemis books on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=helen+a.+bemis&ref=nb_sb_noss
