Peyton~cancer survivor; now new diabetic, a fighter

Hi all,

My name is Terri, proud owner of Peyton Manning Drennen, who is the younger brother of the orange marble Eli Manning Drennen, older brother of Couper Manning Drennen, and now our new family member, a rescue aka crazy youngster aka Angus Drennen.

Peyton has had alot of medical issues throughout his life, and all those times he spent on my lap as I became his nurse. He deserves nothing less.

2 years ago, he started to develop "bumps" all over his neck, chest, flank, etc. He had 3 surgeries to remove them, and more came. It showed up in the microscope as mast cell tumor cancer. Chemo would be the next step. This fearless spoiled boy endured over a year of chemo, and he and I spent many nights of no sleep. While he was going through this, I took the necessary time to learn all about the feline nutrition and how lucky we all are now that so many companies offer such incredible nutritive items, oils, etc. Our vets and oncologists said what a great job we did getting him through that chemo! I am happy to say that I now have in my possession his CANCER FREE letter from our beloved vet.

Then one day I woke up early as I felt something strange. He was not on my lap. I found him laying sideways out on our cooled wooden floor. I instantly knew something was not right. He tried to get up, and his back end would not work with him. I tried to help lift him to get a drink of water, a bite of his diet food, and I knew and FELT his pain. Of course I called his doctor and we went right away to see her. We thought at first it was a fall type incident as he still thinks he can jump far distances, but due to the side effects of the chemo, he gained an enormous amount of weight, and I help him up anywhere he needs to go. I immediately blamed myself; thinking during the middle of the night he tried to get down/back up and I slept and did not catch him. He was fine when we went to sleep; the next morning he was injured.

His vet put him on Onsior, which helped, as well as mixing some torbugesic with the Lixotinic liquid pet vitamin to cut the taste and I give my boys vitamins as part of their daily regimen anyway. He still seemed to get worse.

Dr. did a full panel of bloodwork, and it has come back with very high sugar levels. As of this writing, we are having the long term blood panel done, I cannot remember the name of it, however it shows his levels/blood quality for the past three weeks. In any case, it does indeed look like diabetes, which I had been told could happen as a result of the cancer treatment.

I have given shots, IV's etc. to my cats who are now at the Rainbow Bridge in the past with no problem. I am going to do the same for my Peyton. My biggest worry is that in March of this year, I had my 54th (not a typo) surgery, and was overdosed with heparin, and spent over two months in the hospital due to internal bleeding, which I still have going on right now. What will I do when I have to go back in eventually? I am so sick, but I put my boys first. My KITS, not kids, but IMHO, even better, my kits. I love them, need them, and they are the reason for my not giving up while so sick in the hospital. Just the thought of never seeing them again made ME fight even harder to get well enough to come home. Everything happens for a reason, and I was able to come home to be here for my precious Peyton. So, we are both fighters against multiple medical issues, and we will continue to be. The love in this little house my husband and I, and our four orange/orange and white brothers share is thick as can be. My husband was never around cats before he met me almost twenty years ago. He loves them almost as much as I; for there can be no one that loves them as much as I do.

Any suggestions, comments, etc. would be so appreciated. Peyton has a facebook acct. that is far behind since I have been so sick: PEYTONATION. If you would like to give this fighter a "like" he will be updating the page very soon!

Thank you all, with love,

Terri & Peyton D.

 

Welcome.
Good insulins are the human Lantus and Levemir and the pet insulins ProZinc and BCP PZI. For those two human insulin it is best to get the 5 pack of 3 ml disposable pens via a 10 ml vial. Although per ml the vial is less expensive most cats will not use up a 10 ml vial before the insulin goes bad/becomes ineffective. The human insulin N/NPH is sometimes prescribed but only lasts 8-10 hours. Same for the pet insulin Vetsulin/Caninisulin.
Most of us here test our cat's blood glucose at home using a human meter. We test before each shot and periodically between shots. We record our reading and other info in a spreadsheet. See:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/
What are you feeding? A low-carb canned is best. No reason for a prescription food. Here is a list of commercial low-carb canned

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/shortcut-shopping-list-all-8-or-less-updated.117688/

Here is a link to home testing blood sugar http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/

That sounds like a fructosamine test. That test measure the blood glucose level for about the last two weeks. However, note that the numerical results of the fructosamine are not directly comparable ot blood glucose levels.

Many cancer treatments use prednisolone which can induce diabetes.

If you have any specific question please post in the Health forum
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/feline-health-the-main-forum.28/

 

Hi Terri, welcome to you and Peyton. Wow, you and Peyton have sure been through a lot! As Larry pointed out, home testing, a good insulin and proper feeding are the 3 most important points in the treatment of feline diabetes. Please come to the Health forum with any questions you have.
PS love the names. I used to have an Eli too. He was a pitiful stray I found right after Eli's first Super Bowl win. I felt he needed a good, strong name, what better than a Super Bowl MVP?!

 

Hello Terri, and the wonderfully named Peyton Manning Drennen...



Eliz

 

Greetings friends! I did not know about the at home testing... he is certainly a football player when it comes to even giving pills, sometimes I have to wrestle with him, chase him, (not recent as he is not feeling well), but I truly LOVE my boys so very much I will do whatever it takes. Ironically, it was my first thought that the steroids given to him during chemo resulted in this diabetes as he blew up like a fuzzy orange balloon within two weeks and was never able to lose the weight. This issue came on so fast, at least to me it did, it may and probably was developing in him for a long time then it showed its' ugly head so quickly. We will be finding out much more from our beloved veterinarian tomorrow. He is quite fussy when it comes to food, the only type he can tolerate..so far.. is the Royal Canin low cal, but it has grain in it. If he tries anything else he throws it up.

I want to thank each and every one of you for being there for us. I will have my times where I feel like I am going to lose my mind. I've been so sick for so long, having over fifty surgeries then having massive complications from this last one that put me in the hospital for over two months. My concern is that I know I have to go back in, as I am still having internal bleeding from the surgery. I will not leave my boy. My vet told me he is welcome there when I go in the hospital myself, however Peyton will be quite unhappy. He and his brothers come first.

I will let you all know what we find out tomorrow; for it is the day of reckoning. At this time tomorrow, we will probably be all set up with the goods for getting him back to feeling better I hope and pray. I have to hold out as long as I possibly can before going back into the hospital until he gets feeling better or I will worry myself sick in there.

Thank you again all! XOXOXO Peyton Manning and Terri D.

 

After your vet appointment, post on Health Forum. We have several members with cats that have food intolerances and they may be able to give you some ideas to help get Peyton eating better. Also, please take care of yourself, Peyton and the others need you!