Transportation Issues

               I have learned some things I from this past seizure. I live in Texas without any family members. The closest are in California and Washington state. The problem with this is that when you have to be transported to the hospital if your unconscious they can make a choice to not transport your service animal with as well. This creates an issue for me the only persons who could assist me is my friends or co-workers. There is always a possibility that they could send  your dog to animal control and it end up at the pound. They are supposed to keep your dog separate from your service animal but honestly that would frighten my dog. She was picked up at a pound and I'm sure that would be a traumatic experience after watching me have a seizure and then placed at the pound. They also can have fire or other services possibly transport them to your home depending on what the area you live in has in place. Sadly my experience did not go smoothly. I had told a co-worker that I did not want to be separated from my service animal and EMS had never dealt with this situation before and the cops even wanted my service dog separated from me.

               Where I live is in no way prepared to deal with having a service animal present when I was having my seizure. I do plan on contacting them to clear up some things and make sure in the future that they try and no separate us. I am very protective of my life saving dog Duchess and the last thing I wanted is for her to end up in a bad situation because they have no where to take her. I know most of my friends would take her, but when it happens when their at work that can complicate things as well. I am going to work on an emergency plan for Duchess because the last thing I want is for her to be taken to the human society even temporarily. I know she needs to know I am okay and by sending her off she would be very upset and agitated by doing so. I know plenty of service dog teams that were transported together but Austin does not seem ready to deal with that just yet. Hopefully I can figure out a way to keep her with me during these times. Honestly it was wonderful having her in ambulance with me I did not feel quite as alone when I have my best friend with me.