Page 1058 - Total War on PTSD

Medical Center or UPMC for short) which is approximately 450 miles one way from our home in New York. The loyalty of friends and family ensuring I maintain my appointment schedule is critical for me, also notes in my calendar and phone.
My Service Dog Bobbi Ann, a Boxer and Golden Border Collie Mix, was trained by Patriot Assistance Dogs in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. Her training consisted of Basic Obedience, Canine a Good Citizen Test, Public Access Test and PTSD Training. She has been cross-trained for mobility assistance (counter balance/light bracing), and she has taught herself to know when I am having a cardiac episode and alerts on that as well.
Bobbi Ann barks at me if I space out (dissociate); nudges me to say ”breathe, I’m right here”, watches my back and lets me know when someone is coming up on me; wakes me from nightmares and, if I don’t wake up, she jumps on my wife to wake her so she in turn can wake me; provides mobility assistance through counter balance and light bracing; and when I experience cardiac issues she paws my chest and holds me to a wall, and will keep rubbing and licking me until I sit down.
Bobbi Ann is the reason we discovered I had a cardiac condition to begin with, she was acting out-of-sorts and wouldn’t leave me; wouldn’t stop alerting on me; I was sitting on the couch one day with my family watching The Notebook, and that’s when all of the sudden my heart felt like it was going to beat through my chest and come out on the floor. My pulse was taken and it was 202. Immediately I went to a local ER and two hospital admissions later I was placed on a medication (beta blocker) to try and help slow my heart rate down. On March 5th my UPMC cardiologist performed a cardiac ablation to try and help slow my heart rate due to this rare arrhythmia. The ablation was only temporarily successful, I have tried two other rounds of medications
1058 of 1085