1. I think this is a wonderful family, and obviously a great human interest story. But from a diabetes standpoint is a dog really necessary? to me it seems like more of a hindrance or hassle. Us type 1s aren't in wheelchairs, we aren't deaf, most have our arms and legs. We live wonderfully normal lives with great control.

I sent him and his family a letter - which I posted on my blog.

http://www.futuregringo.com/index.php/2007/07/31/my-letter-to-jason-rinkel/

Posted at 9:59PM on Jul 31st 2007 by james

2. You probably never heard of or/and never experienced HYPOGLYCEMIA UNAWARENESS, James.
This is a real and critical problem for those of us with T1DM and who are Insulin-Dependent. Even w/o HYPOGLYCEMIA UNAWARENESS, there is a tendency for most of us w/T1DM to develop Nocturnal Hypoglycemia (studied and researched) where the warning symptoms are not functioning adequately and can result in unconsciousness, coma and death of not treated in time.
These are "Special-Trained Rescue Dogs" that are able to recognize "impending Hypoglycemia" and bring assistance.
There are many stories of their heroism available that these Dogs have been involved with besides T1DM.
What a great Family-!!

Posted at 10:01PM on Jul 31st 2007 by BetterCell

3. I confess I have not followed the links; while I find the devotion of this family heart-warming, like the first commenter I wonder if they explored alternatives. We paid out-of-pocket for my wife's CGM -- $1200 -- which solves this very problem. Running costs (again, out-of-pocket) are $1800/year. All of this is much cheaper and more practical than a dog, but more importantly it produces data that let us solve the problem of *why* she had hypos in the middle of the night, in addition to alerting/waking us when a problem is likely to be occurring, based on rates of descent, thresholds, etc. A much superior approach, IMHO, since after the first few weeks, you know the causes and and modify pre-sleep behaviors.

Posted at 5:25PM on Aug 1st 2007 by TechRightGuy