October Michelangelo

Previous Condo.

10/21
AMPS: 298
+5/243

Since my last post was it for all of September, I figured I might be too ambitious if I added an actual day to Michelangelo's condo this month. :lol:

Oh, what a month it's been already! For those of you who don't know, my mother passed away at the beginning of this month from cardiogenic shock as a result of DKA from undiagnosed diabetes (Type 1, they determined). I hadn't talked to my mom in over 10 years and then suddenly, since I was the only family member in the area, I was being asked to make all sorts of decisions (her husband had experienced a debilitating heart attack a couple of years ago and no longer has the cognitive confidence to make those types of decisions). My sister and brother arrived a couple of days later from Portland (where my brother had just moved 3 weeks prior) and she passed away later that day. After that, it was a whirlwind of planning for the memorial and emptying out the house as quickly as possible so her husband's family could short-sell it, plus we had to find homes for her dog and cat. @-) There is still so much left to do and we have a storage unit full of stuff to sell that's just collecting dust while costing me $150 a month. I'm taking a break from life for a week or two before dealing with all of that again.

My house was a revolving door for two weeks and Skitty-Kitty Mikey was not amused. I had already dropped his dose even before everyone arrived because I learned back when I moved that Mikey is quite intuitive to when I'm stressed and stops eating as much. I ended up having to drop it even further when my 12-year-old niece tested him and caught a 39! Speaking of which, DeNiece is incredible with Mikey! Most of the tests and half the shots Mikey got over those two weeks were because of her diligence and care. :thumbup And I'm so glad Mikey was on Levemir throughout all of this. It is really much, much, much more forgiving than Lantus when it comes to late shots, early shots, and reduced doses. He only hit 300s once during that whole time and that was the day after he threw the 39 and we feed him some gravy food (too much gravy, but my niece was being ever so helpful).

Now, I'm working my way back up the dosing ladder to see if I can bring Michelangelo's numbers back down into the blues and greens instead of the yellows and blues he's been running in. Mikey is none the worse for wear, even after I fostered my mom's cat for a week. He was surprisingly not bothered by her at all, even when she took over his favorite sleeping spot. I debated whether or not to keep her, but I'm not allowed to have more than two cats where I live and there was already another home for her to go to. I'm glad I fostered her for that little bit because it helped me realize I made the right decision on letting her go instead of always wondering if I should have at least given it a try. cat_pet_icon

Now, I'm just trying to return to normalcy. :YMSIGH:

 

Welcome back ,I missed you around .I hope everything will get back to normal for you and kitty soon :thumbup

 

hi Kay
OMG you poor thing. i missed you too. wow you need a rest from that crazy time. welcome back . i hope things settle down quickly for you.

 

Thanks, everyone. Not sure how soon I'll be able to get back into the swing of things here, but I'm working my way back up into posting again. I've got a lot of catching up to do at work still, so I'm on limited time, but I've missed reading up on the kitties and seeing how everyone's doing. :mrgreen:

 

That can't have been fun, Kay. Taking a break from stuff for a few weeks is a good plan.

I missed you, too. It's lovely to see you back. Glad that Mikey's doing OK. :smile:

 

Hi Kay. I joined just as your mum got ill. I just wanted to say hello and to hope that things can begin to settle down. What a stressful time you have been through. I also wanted to say thank you for all the effort you have put in posting on the forum, I have come across many of your threads/replies and as a newbie they have been very helpful .

 

Glad life is settling down a bit for you Kay. Great job by your niece!

You have me 95% convinced to switch to Lev. I'm just too cheap to let this bottle of Lantus go, but Heff's numbers are so unpredictable & unreliable.

 

Glad things are starting to settle down some for you, hon. I know exactly what kind of a whirlwind losing a parent and being the only family member close when decisions have to be made and made quickly. When my mom starting going downhill fast two years ago, I was it for family in the area besides her husband and he was absolutely worthless, preferring to go drowned himself in a bottle of whiskey than face the fact that his wife was dying. Of course that is where he had already spent most of the last 2 decade, so no surprises there.

Glad to have you back here though and hopefully things will slowly fall back into place and let life become somewhat normal again, although it never really goes back to normal after the loss of a parent, even if you and that parent aren't terribly close. My mom and I were close when I was younger then drifted apart for many years, and had just recently starting speaking on a more regular basis when she passed. Now it's funny how much I miss her, something about just knowing they are there to reach out to and then they aren't there anymore makes you miss them.

Mel and The Fur Gang

 

10/24
AMPS 225
+5/211

Michelangelo is doing much better as I'm slowly increasing his dose. I know you're supposed to jump back to the last known "good" dose, but with Mikey, that would mean me having to be hyper-vigilant for low numbers, which doesn't work too well when I work all day. I'm not sure if he would bounce on Levemir like he did on Lantus if I raised the dose too quickly, but I don't want to chance either scenario, so I'm taking it slow.

Mikey never purrs. Ever. He closes his eyes and rubs his head against my hand and that's the extent of the loving I've gotten from him over the years. That and his need to always be within my vicinity or, if I'm not home, in one of my seating spots (I'm OCD and always to sit in the same spots). Last night, Mikey and I had another "first." I was trying to fall asleep and Mikey was restless. He'd settle into his current favorite spot next to my head, then he'd meow a couple of times, walk around the bed, go to the other side of my head, settle in for a moment, and do it all over again. I'd pat him, tell him to go to sleep, then try to go to sleep myself. He did it for a good 15 minutes straight, driving me insane. I finally grabbed him mid-pace, pulled him close and snuggled him, something I know he absolutely hates. I figured maybe it'd snap him out of his mood. But instead of running away to groom his ruffled fur, when I let him go, he started nudging my hand with his head. I began petting him again and then.... What the heck is that sound?? I stop petting him as I try to listen and realize it's Mikey! And he's purring! I continued to pet him, thinking he must be purring on accident and he'd stop. But no, his purrs got even louder! Mikey finally attained the last of the 5 Ps! :lol: I still think it's probably a fluke and I won't hear him purring every day, but it was so wonderful to hear his purr for the first time. :YMHUG:

 

Awwwwww .... That's magical, Kay! cat_pet_icon

For the longest time, I thought my civvie, Lúnasa, didn't purr at all and it used to make me really upset because I thought she was unhappy. Then one night whatever way I moved my ear ended up pressed against her little body and I heard the faintest rumble of a purr. It meant so much to know that she was happier than I thought she was. Guess not all moggies are buzzboxes. @-)

 

My previous cat, Little Kat, also had a really silent purr. The only way I could usually tell she was purring was by feeling the vibrations in her chest.

With Mikey, I have a feeling that he's a little "broken" with certain things (and not just his pancreas :lol: ). Maybe it's from his feral background that he never really learned some of the feline social cues. :?: He has a tendency to hold conversations with inanimate objects like his toy mouse or a wall or chair. I've never seen him use his meows to actually communicate with anything living, not even me or Henry. I caught him purring one time before back in March when he got overly amorous with a snuggie (and I got it on video, too). ohmygod_smile :roll:

 

It seems that in all the whirlwind going on around him that Mikey really did very well. My Chicken Little hides every time someone comes into our home. Its does not matter if they stay a week or a day she will not come out until they leave. When I first married my husband she spent the first 6 months of her new married life living underneath the bed. Thank goodness my husband made It his mission to coax her out and get her to like him! That was before she had diabetes so I'm thankful that we did not have that issue at the time!! I just wanted you to know that I am so very sorry that you lost your mom.