The "Dog" Festival Day 2:

Getting all set for day 2 of the "Dog" Festibal as Bella calls it.
Had a great day yesterday with Mimi, Miss Kathie, Mason, Aidan, Aunt Nanny and Uncle that Guy.

Seems like there weren't as many people there this year but as always we made new friends and reached even more people with Bella's story. Thanks to everyone who donated so far...  

           

  
 
 
 
 

Today is the Day...

It's Dogwood Festival Day in Farmville! We're getting ready to set-up and get to work raising awareness for Type-1 Diabetes and Diabetic Alert Dogs and funds (hopefully) for Buttons.

We will be out all day today and tomorrow as well! Stop by if you're in the area.

I will try to update our experiences and adventures as the day goes on.

If you're in the area we have T-shirts, wristbands, hairbows and barrettes. As well as 2 raffles, One for a photo session package from E.L. Photography of Farmville and One for a giftbasket including a birdhouse from Jeff Garvey at Recycling is for the Birds.

Countdown to the Dogwood Festival

We will have a booth at the 26th Annual Dogwood Festival in Farmville NC this weekend. We'll be in the non-profit vendor section. We're hoping to raise more awareness among our Farmville neighbors and visitors. We'll have t-shirts, bracelets, hair bows and brooches for sale as well as a couple of raffles one of them is a photo session with E.L. Photography in Farmville. We'll try to update the blog and facebook pages throughout the weekend.

Hope to see everyone there.

Speaking of E.L. Photography...

Origami Owl fundraiser for Bella

Bella's wonderful Aunt "Nanny" (A.K.A. Uncle That Guy's wife) has organized an Origami Owl fundraiser for Buttons!

The fundraiser is active now through April 30th. You can take a look at http://www.lesliedolde.origamiowl.com and maybe treat yourself or find something unique for Mother's Day.

Facebook t-shirt giveaway

Bella's Facebook page is now at 294 likes. We will send a blog for a dog t-shirt to like #300 & #350

www.facebook.com/bellasdog

Buttons is coming...

Bella has recently been matched with her service dog. "Buttons" will be here to begin his training in 39 days. We still have about 1/3 of the cost to raise but things are moving along and the reality is setting in. We have a lot coming up in the next several months and we'll try to post more often with all of the exciting happenings.

Enter Mr. Pumpy Pump.

Beautiful photo by EL Photography

There has been so much going on that we haven't had time to write in weeks. We've been getting ready for the holidays, doing glamorous photo shoots and of course continue the street fight on Bella's diabetes.

The big news is that Bella was approved by her endo for an insulin pump. After a week or so of working with several companies and our insurance and the all to temporary medicaid  we managed to have her pump delivered on 12/3 and "installed" on 12/5. Bella got to pick a blue pump that has been named "pumpy pump" which is a fine name. She'll be happy to show him to you.

In case you are not steeped in Diabetes terminology the pump is a small device that is attached to Bella through a tube and constantly delivers small (basal) amounts of insulin 24/7 just like the pancreas would. This eliminates the need for the A.M. Lantus (long acting insulin shot). One shot down. After meals the pump allows us to Bolus or add extra insulin to cover her carbs and compensate for any highs. This eliminates the after meal shots! Now instead of having 5-7 shots per day, we change the location where the pump attaches every 3 days. Bella is super excited about this because no kid wants that many shots. We are also super excited about it because we don't have to give shots either.

So far the pumping has been successful except for two days ago when the site where the insulin enters the body was not inserted properly and no insulin was delivered for a few hours. We had a couple hours of extreme highs 600+, that we didn't know what was going on. We figured it out and within an hour she was back to normal range. No other problems. I think the dosage is about where it needs to be.

We've done a photo shoot with Erica at EL photography in Farmville also. Erica is the official photographer of all things Dolde and went above and beyond with this one. She really captured all kinds of stuff in this. Not your typical 3 y/o portrait.

Lastly we've been fundraising for Bella's dog and making progress. Thanks to everyone at the Craven County Christmas Craft show and everyone from Lenoir Community College who have donated. I can't express my gratitude enough. We are now over 55% of our goal.