Posted on 07/10/2012 5:11:38 PM PDT by Joe 6-pack
A WOMAN’S life was saved by a dog when she slipped into a coma while home alone.
Blind diabetic Suzanne West, 42, would have died when she fell into a six-hour-long diabetic coma if her partner’s guide dog Herbie hadn’t licked and cuddled her to keep her alive.
Miss West came round covered in dog hair and saliva on her bed at home in Creekmoor, Poole, at around 11.30pm on Wednesday with the faithful pooch by her side.
Woozy, she managed to crawl over to pull her life line and call for help.
And when paramedics arrived, Herbie, a seven-year-old black Labrador, was there to greet them.
Miss West, of Larch Close, said: “If it wasn’t for Herbie, six hours later into the coma I would have died.
“He literally saved my life. It was all really, really scary.
“I’m still very shaken.”
Her partner David Colclugh, 43, had gone away for the night on a fishing trip with pals from Poole Town Anglers club, leaving Herbie behind.
Miss West says after having dinner and taking a “perfect” blood sugar reading she went upstairs to watch television at around 6pm.
“I was in a coma for probably six hours,” she said.
“I came round and it felt like someone was wiping my face and nudging me. I was very disorientated and absolutely covered in dog hair.”
The lifesaving pooch refused to leave her even after the ambulance and her mum Margaret West had joined in the rescue.
“He never left my side except to wait at the top of the stairs for the paramedics,” Miss West added.
“He frightened them to death as they came across this big black dog in the dark.”
Miss West, who was diagnosed with diabetes aged four, usually relies on Mr Colclugh, who has some sight, to notice when she’s about to have a hypo and to rub glucose gel on her gums.
She rarely had them until last November, when, after a 16-day hospital visit she was put on the list for a pancreas transplant.
“They are as rare as hen’s teeth,” she said. “While I’m waiting for an operation the extra medicine I have to take affects my blood sugars.”
Lab bump
Good dog.
They only thing my dog would have done is eat all the cat food.
LOLOL. Love the pic of the Lab, but your GSD driving the car is priceless.
BTW — your gif. Is that dog tangled in Silly String? Or, di dhe get tangled in someone’s knitting?
That’s just the dog thread dog ;-)
Great story! Dogs are proof enough for me that God loves us.
That is a much nicer way to put it. The misanthrope in me always says dogs greater than people:-)
I know that’s the dog thread dog, but what’s he gotten into? It looks like Silly String. He’s cute, but disturbing. I want to give him a brushing and a bath.
Why, "dog thread" of course!
LOLOLOLOL! Very clever! I should have thought of that.
LOLOLOL! I wish he were mine.
Oh...admit it. You just like my Doggie style. ;-)
But why is he running in an embroidery hoop? That’s odd. He looks like he’s unraveling the doggie picture on my Golden Retriever Rescue of Wisconsin sweatshirt.
I think I like the GSD driving the car better. He makes me feel calm & safe — not like I’m going to have my shirt unraveled!
Lucky for the dog that the cops didn’t get there first.
Lucky for the dog that the cops didn’t get there first.
Looks like something our Isabelle would do.
Maybe he's a *border* collie ;-)
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