Welcome

I was pregnant with Eli in 2003. I was 4 months along & I was in a horrible car accident (passenger) & the doctors told me minus my injuries everything with Eli looked amazing, till that September morning when something felt wrong. I was 35 weeks & went into labor. Eli had to be taken by emergency c-section due to having a stroke inside me from the contractions.

When Eli was two weeks old he had started having seizures that had caused brain damage & the doctors said he could be handicapped from this, but we never expected this......

Three years ago Eli was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome. As he gets older & hormones are changing, the Tourette syndrome tends to be no longer manageable. Eli is on hands full of medicine many times a day to keep under it control.

Eli also has ADHD as well and O.D.D. He suffers from bad anxiety & panic attacks (the Tourette syndrome tends to make it's worse) & two years ago this July my wonderful son & his baby sister woke to find their daddy had passed away in the same bed, with them, which added the diagnosis of PTSD.

The doctors have prescribed a service dog for Eli, his own little "Angel". We will be finally able to reduce the needs of the medicine, giving him better mobility during rougher times with Tourette syndrome, the PTSD & all the other issues that go along with all his different disabilities. Having his own service dog will give him a much more free and enjoyable life!

As a soldier you do many things to prep for a war to defend your country. And then you go through even more as a soldier when you fight in those wars. But through all the training and battles there is one thing that you will always have. And that is your battle, battle buddy, or what ever you chose to call them, by your side. You have two family's, your everyday family and then the soldiers you train and fight with family. Well that battle buddy will move on to another unit, die in combat, or no longer be in the military. So in some cases that friend will be with you till you die. But not in mine and that is where Fionna comes in.

Fionna is my battle buddy that goes with me everywhere just like it was in the Army. People are always asking what does your dog do for you or can I pet your dog and so on. Well first of all her name is Fionna and the only thing you need to know is that she alerts me or others around me of a medical emergency that I am having or about to have. And because Fionna is a part of me you have pet me too.

But this info, not a story, is for others out there that need a service animal/your other half. So If I have a flash back she will comfort me with hugs and kisses until it goes away. She won't hound me about what it was about or I can tell her and she won't tell anyone else. When I have a panic attack, depending on what set it off, she will actually pull me away to a less active place to where I can regain focus. And she will still give me hug and kisses. When I get get my headaches she will stay by my side until they pass. The cool one is if I get light headed or dizzy like I might pass out she will plant her butt on the ground and not move. Which makes me stop from moving around to avoid a fall.

With my knee injuries Fionna will go up and down stairs slowly. She will help pull me up an incline. And if I find myself wanting to get on the ground or off the ground she will hold her ground to assist me in that as well. Here lately Fionna has gone up to my knee and started to smell or lick it. And then very soon after that I can feel my knee hurting. Ya awesome right.

Fionna has also helped me in some of my short term memory. I wont forget about the wife and kids that I have but when they are not around that is where Fionna is truly a gift from God. Between doctor appointments I can talk to Fionna about all of my problems. Even the ones that I haven't shared with behavioral med doctor because it is still to hard to bring up. I talk to Fionna about what we will do for the day, what I'm going to eat, how we are going to walk through a store, what route we will take and if I have to change the route cause I feel unsafe, let's just say I talk to Fionna about it all.

With Fionna in my life I feel that the bad things mentally and physically that have happened to me, she makes me feel as a hole unit again. When I get mad, she makes me happy. Sadness is the worst one but Fionna will lick my tears away. I can go on forever but I won't. But because of Fionna I feel that life is worth fighting for and I don't feel like fighting the world, more like helping it out a little. And if I feel like hiding from the world in fear of judgment of looking like a freak, I'll will be ok because Fionna and I will talk it through.

So here is a question, you asked me if I would rather take meds all the time or a service dog.....I would take a Fionna every time. I can't talk to the pill or cry on the pill or even depend on the pill at times. So this is how Fionna helps me, Fionna is a mommy, doctor, sister, happy pill, pain pill, but most important a battle buddy that will be by my side to fight my enemies with me every second of the day. She reminds me 3 times a day to take my medicine & she wont stop until I do. But with having her, life is changing for me & I can do things  I never thought I would again. I'm able to be apart of my family, as Fionna is a part of my family.