Not sure if I got the insulin in him!

Today was the first time i've given Arnold his shot, my husband and MIL have done it the other times. His fur felt wet after and it didn't seem like I penetrated the skin. I'm doing a curve today, or trying anyways so how long before I know if he got any? He's in the kitchen now pawing at his food bag but I just tested 30 mins ago and he was 312 or 309. He's due for another test in 30 mins.

 

This has happened to every one of us. You should not shoot again, but the numbers will tell you soon whether you got any insulin in. The problem with the curve today is that if you got in less than the amount you were shooting, your curve numbers may not reflect his actual numbers on a normal dose.

If I were you, I would put off the curve today and try it later. You can still practice poking a few times today and of course, before the evening shot. If this is his first day on insulin, it might be good to wait a few days anyway for a curve - sometimes it takes the body a while to adjust to the insulin.

 

welcome to the joys of curve days...sometimes they don't go as planned. NEVER reshoot just in case, so this means your curve may not be much of a curve at all...sorry

 

I figured the testing would show me if he got any. He wouldn't eat this morning for MIL so she didn't give him his meds so I had to come over after getting him new food and test him and give him meds so his shot times are way off. Can I give his shot at normal time later if his testing shows his #s aren't going down at all? He's on Vetsulin, grrr.

 

How far off are you for the evening shot ?

 

I think he normally gets shots about 7:30 am and pm (I say normally like we've been doing this more than a day, lol). So 5 hrs from now, and about 7 hrs from first shot today.

 

Well, it's early on so you have choices. Any chance the 9am 9pm will work in general for you? Then you could just start that schedule this evening.

Otherwise, if you get a pretty high number at +8 or +10, it would PROBABLY be safe to shoot. It is just a little tricky in the beginning because you have no data and can't be sure what the insulin will do. You want to be sure, regardless, that his blood glucose levels are headed up. To do that, you have to know where his lowest point is. So get a test at +5 or +6. Then get one an hour later to see if he is headed up. Does that make sense?

(I am leaving for a few hours. If this doesn't make sense, wait for some other responses.)

 

His test at 1 hour was 319, now at 2 hrs it's 372. I guess we'll just keep monitoring it. I can't be here at 9 tomorrow, but I wanted to take him home w/ me. I need to man up and tell MIL, lol. He's in the kitchen wanting food.

 

Make sure I'm reading this correctly.

His AM shot was not given at his normal 7:30 a.m.; it was given at 2:30 p.m. and was most likely a fur shot. That means very minimal (if any) Vetsulin in his system at the normal 7:30 p.m. shot time.

In the grand scheme of things, I would chalk it up to a fur shot (we all do them) and wait until normal PM shot time. If you had more data you would know if it's safe to shoot a reduced dose at mid-cycle, but you don't, so you shouldn't.

But your curve is shot for today. :sad:

 

He got his shot at 12:30, normally it's at 7:30ish. Is there any way to practice shots?! I feel bad that I probably screwed up the first shot I tried to give. Bummer.

 

you can practice with sterile saline or some people use an orange... but it DOES get better!

 

some people i think practice on oranges. my vet had me practice on my cat using just a dab of water i think it was. they had me do 3 test runs and decided i could do it then

 

His 4 hr test is still over 300 so I'm assuming he didn't get anything when I gave him his shot. Still a few hours before he's scheduled for his next shot.

 

Not to worry. Even the most experienced shooters give a fur shot from time to time. You're doing GREAT on the testing!!!! You rule!

 

Thankfully I have plenty of experience testing on myself so the testing part is easier, lol, it's the giving shots and using insulin that's new!

 

yeah it doesn't look like he got it but no worries. believe me, we've all done it at some point. you're too new to the board to know some of the really good stories but knowing them sometimes helps i think so i'll be the first to tell on myself

as my fiance puts it, i perforated Mousie. :shock: yeah, that's what he called it. Mousie is a rescue i trapped when she fell out of a tree near my business so to be honest, her diabetes diagnosis brought me my first physical touch of this former street girl. it was a battle of wills but i got the job done. we often gave her her first shots wherever i managed to catch her......corner of the stairs, in a window, on a couch, wherever. well, one night i cornered her in a window. i have to half scruff her to get her to sit still so i got hold of her and inserted the syringe, pushed the plunger, and SPLATTTTTTT!!!! suddenly there's a mess on the window.....on the other side of her! so i went in one side of the tent i made with her scruff and right out the other side.

for several days all i heard was "poor Mousie, she perforated you". dang fiance!!

but same thing, no second shot 'cause you never know if any did indeed go in. i, being the geek that i am, actually sucked the drops off the window and back into the syringe. i ended up with about half the dose in the syringe so indeed a little bit did get in Mousie that night. if i had re-done the shot, i could have overdosed her. probably what happened was i was in where i needed to be but when i pushed on the plunger, i inadvertently pushed the whole thing too and it came out the other side, resulting in the SPLATT!

 

Well, Arnie is home w/ me now! So far we're just calling it temporary as we get his food and meds worked out. MIL was very cool w/ it and figured I would want to do that at least till we got him healthier. She told me she just wanted him happy, but she wanted him healthy too and it would just take time. He was 356 before I fed him tonight just after 8 so I went ahead and gave him another shot then. I felt it go in this time (after probably poking him a few times, lol) so I know he got it this time. He ate pretty good too for him, he's been really temperamental lately w/ his food. I gave him 1/4C dry mixed w/ 1/2 can and he seemed to like the canned of that flavor. Do I just leave the food out that he didn't finish so he can eat it through the night? He ate maybe 1/2 of it.