Ivana is starting the day in much better shape than yesterday! It looks like those extra few drops of juice are having an affect after all.
As of tonight, we will be reducing her dose as Ivana is going to the pet sitter tomorrow morning. There will be five shots at the reduced dose (one tonight, then four at the pet sitters), and we will return to her regular dose on Thursday night.
So, thoughts on what dose to reduce her to? I'm thinking 1.0u (currently on 1.25u). Although I guess I should probably wait and see what she does today, given the dramatic difference between this morning and this time yesterday.
+2 and she's 2.7/49. Have just given 2tsp of HC. I need to go to work in an hour at +3, and won't be home til around +6.5 or so. What can I do to make sure she's safe while I'm gone? Can I leave out a whole tin of HC to combat the insulin when it kicks in, and just deal with the consequences of that later? This is really really bad timing :-(
Yes on the 1.0U while you are gone. Better safe than these shenanigans Ivana likes. Plus it's on the line.
Yikes on her timing! Does Ivana normally stick to one room during the day? You can leave plenty of HC out. The other option is to leave several plates of food around the house if she likes to move around. Some cats won't eat unless there is a plate of food nearby. I don't know if she'll scarf all the food at once. If you don't have an autofeeder, another option (for another time), is to have some frozen HC that you put out and let it thaw over time. Ideally you'll like to keep offereing her HC over the next few hours.
Thanks Wendy. Perhaps it's just PMS, I don't know, but I just had a giant cry about this. I'm really having trouble dealing with her unpredictable ups and downs, and I just can't believe that literally a few extra drops of insulin took her from 410 yesterday morning to 49 this morning. I don't know what to do to keep her safe at either end of the spectrum, she always seems to be either too high or too low. I think after we get back I really need to sit down and work out a new plan of action for her. Maybe switching to Levemir might do her better, I don't know
Anyway, I will monitor her until I go to work (which I can't afford to cancel) and then just leave out a ton of HC. Will keep the thread updated.
I'm sorry Tara, and pretty sure it's natural to cry....it's really tough. Ok Ivana, time to help mama out here and come on up and stay there little one.
{{{Tara}}} Been there done that on the crying - I think all of us have at one point.
As someone whose cat was once nicknamed the Rainbow Queen, I can so relate to the roller coaster of colours. I know it's hard, but try not to worry so much about the high numbers, just focus on the lows and the rest will eventually follow.
+2.5 and she's still at 2.7 / 49. I just gave her 1/2 tin of HC. I know that's a lot, but I'm a bit of a mess and just can't deal with this at the moment, I need to know she's at least on the way up before I go out. At least this way she will be full for a little while and will eat the rest of the HC I leave out as a snack later on when she needs it (hopefully).
Thankyou everyone for your kind words, I know you know what I'm going through, which is why this board is so great.
I guess a good thing of her being low today is that she's unlikely to do it again for the petsitter tomorrow and the day after. Silver linings and all...
+3 is 3.9 / 70, thank goodness that's a fair increase, although of course the juice hasn't really kicked in yet.
This is my plan - I will leave her out a tin of HC where she is now for her to nibble on through the morning. I will also leave her out another tin in the auto-feeder that will open at +5. Yes I know that's a lot of HC! I don't think she will eat it all, but I'd much rather her eat too much than too little at this point. I just need her to not die while I'm out.
Will try not to worry while I'm with my client, and then test again the second I walk back in the door.
Just got home, I was so happy to see Ivana was ok. She just tested at 17.9 / 322, so I guess the bounce from that low number and all the HC is well and truly underway. She ended up eating about 2/3 of the tin that I left in front of her, and about 1/3 of the tin that was in the autofeeder to open at +5. So all up this morning she's had 2tsp at +2, 1/2 tin at +2.5, then another 1 tin between +2.5 and +6.5.
Ok another question: Given her 49 this morning, she'd be due for a reduction anyway from the 1.25 she's at down to 1.0. So seeing that her new normal dose will now be 1.0, should we have the pet sitter give a lower-than-normal of 0.75? I really don't want to risk this happening on someone else's watch.
It's hard to predict what kitty will do, but I am somewhat suspicious there might be a bounce during the time you are gone. Since it's only a few days, you could also go down to .75U then come back to 1.0 as soon as you get home. I think she'll be fine on 1.0U, but if it means you'll worry while you are away and not able to enjoy the time, then go with the lower dose.
Good, I'm glad you both think the 0.75 will be ok for a little while. If she was staying with me then I'd go the 1.0 for sure, but I just know I'll be worrying the whole time we're away after this little display, bounce or no bounce. Will drop temporarily down to 0.75 starting tonight as the pre-petsitter dose, then back up to 1.0 on Thursday evening when she comes home. Thanks ladies
Since China was diagnosed, no matter what her BG is when I leave or how well I know her, the first thing my eyes focus on when I walk in the door is "where's China and is she OK?"
+8 and she's still on the way up, possibly end in the reds by PMPS time. There was so much blood for the test I just did (you'd think I'd cut the whole tip of her ear off!) that I thought I may as well do a ketones test too. I managed to open the strip and get it into the meter without her shaking her head and flicking the blood everywhere, win!
Tara I can totally relate to how you are feeling. When I was in hospital recently I worried more about Sheba than I did about myself. When I got home I had to change the music on my text message alert because it was making me feel sick after hearing it so often with Sheba's BSLs in the hospital.
Try not to worry too much. Just make sure you are comfortable with what ever you decide to do re the dose etc
Sorry about the roller coaster numbers today, Tara. I hope things settle down soon and things go very smoothly for the pet sitter. I have to admit at 4.30am this morning I was pretty weepy too - lack of sleep combined with worry seem to make things more difficult
Dose decrease at PMPS, down to 0.75u - two decreases due to the earned reduction from today's 49, as well as the decrease for going to the pet-sitter tomorrow morning. This is the lowest dose she's ever had, so I'm not expecting miracles haha (though if someone has a spare miracle, please send it Ivana's way). I'm probably being overly cautious with 0.75u due to her bouncing, but doing what I can to stay sane as well given this is the first time we've left her with someone else since diagnosis and I'm already freaking out
Does Ivana normally stick to one room during the day? You can leave plenty of HC out. The other option is to leave several plates of food around the house if she likes to move around. Some cats won't eat unless there is a plate of food nearby. I don't know if she'll scarf all the food at once. If you don't have an autofeeder, another option (for another time), is to have some frozen HC that you put out and let it thaw over time. Ideally you'll like to keep offereing her HC over the next few hours. 
Since it's only a few days, you could also go down to .75U then come back to 1.0 as soon as you get home. I think she'll be fine on 1.0U, but if it means you'll worry while you are away and not able to enjoy the time, then go with the lower dose.
