advice please

can someone look at tom's ss and let me know if you would shoot .1u into this....can he possibly hypo on .1 units of insulin. i will be gone for 8 or so hours.
we are so close and i don't want to skip a beat.
thoughts?

 

You guys are SO close!!! I would hate to screw it up too. I know you just had a similar post..."strangeness" maybe go back and read through it, if no one else chimes in soon.

Way to go, Mr. Purrfect!!!!

 

thanks marcy, i just read thru 'strangeness' and still am not sure. i guess i think that .1u is not a dose that will hypo him no matter what...i want to know if anyone agree's.

 

Oh crap, dearest Lori -- and, obviously you too, who knows how sweet Tom Tom,

I totally suck at shooting low numbers because I'm a wimp... I tend to always reduce dose and then bang my head against the wall or floor. You know, whatever surface is closest...

Then again, I'm getting a little braver. You know, for a wimp...

That said, here's the deal. Which you already know, by the way... It is doubtful Tom Tom will hypo on one bead of insulin. Then again, he's a sugar cat... If you have a mole around, that could certainly help... (Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww...)

I don't know his feeding schedule; but, since you'll be gone and worried no matter what you do because you will be, can you leave him out another can of food, if no mole is available? (Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww...)

Personally? You can decide not to shoot at all. Yes, you might be paying the sugar dance piper for doing so; but, you won't be worrying about a hypo. Nor will you have to sacrifice a mole. (Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww...)

I can get Nikki back within two to three cycles after being a total wimp. Nikki's an inside girl who would have no idea what to do with a mole...

And, then she'd have to pick me up because I'd have fainted upon seeing one... It would undoubtedly be a mess... Possibly of biblical proportions...

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww...




Follow your heart and/or your gut. I know you'll keep Sir Tom safe no matter what you decide to do.

Much love and wimpy hugs for you both,
Deb and Nikki (mommy really tries, tom...) -- and, Giz, who actually did teach me how to be fearless on a U/L combo...

 

:lol: :lol: Thanks for the chuckle, Deb! I'm right there with you on the mole issue! Ewwwwwww is right! :lol:

 

I'd shoot 0.1u personally. He is so close, and you need to step down the dose and hold there at the 0.1u as long as possible - makes for a better otj experience! Take a look at the end of Yoda's spreadsheet just before he went OTJ.

 

Wondering what you ended up doing, so post when you get the chance.

 

ok, first. tom's murder of the gopher was very hard on all of us.
tears were shed.
weight was lost.
tom and i slept in separate beds for a few nights.

we have worked thru it. please do not keep re-opening the wound. our relationship does not benefit from the painful reminders of the past.

as for the numbers. i decided not to shoot. not so much because i was afraid, but i was experimenting once again to see if he was gonna take it all the way.
alas, he did not. +18 158.
tempted tho i am to shoot right now...i will hold off until shoot time so i can get him back using .3u, then reduce tomorow morning or evening, whichever works according to his numbers.

that is the 2nd experiment with letting tom keep himself down. i learned my lesson, still can't complain tho'. the first time tom went off the juice he had a hypo, shooting a routine 200 something with pzi. he presented a series of high numbers afterwards after that but i was told not to shoot them (this was 4 years back) and eventually he brought himself down.
he was only on the juice for 31 days back then.

lori
and tom....still holding it together post gopher breach of confidence....and all the stronger for it.

 

:YMHUG: Lori, I'm sorry. I thought you made peace with Tom and the gophers when you posted the video of him.

 

Marcy, of course I'm ok with it. I'm teasing Deb and Nikki who brings it up everytime she posts me...that's all.
It's totally ok.

 

I would pic a dose that you are confortable shooting in the green and then work on holding the dose for a few cycles and stepping down the dose to 0 instead of testing each green preshot by withholding insulin. The great thing about those gentle insulins like Lev and Lantus are that they give wonderful healing time while they let the kitty surf the green numbers. He's getting close, giving him some surfing time will help him finish healing.

 

Melanie now that my experimental letting tom wing it has proven...ineffective, I will be sticking him with I'm thinking now .2u. tonight he got .3 to help rebuild depleted shed and in the morning barring any unforeseen surprises he will either get .3 or .2
Never ever in my wildest imagination think I would be quibbling in my mind over 'shall i give .2,,,,or maybe .3....no no .2 hmmmm, then again, .3' :lol:

The thing you may not know about tom, which makes him soooooo special :roll: is that he is a morning (and only morning) food dropper. he drops points after breakfast. always has.
back when he was riding really high number on pzi last year he would drop 200+ points after breffis BEFORE i shot him. so for tom the important data is the post meal number.
I can't be safe shooting a dropping number until i know it's done.
Time was i would test, shoot, feed, and watch him plummet to 32 from 400 in 2 hours. He was dumping pancreatic insulin while the pzi was starting to take effect.

And no one believed me. It was impossible they said. I was ruining everything by feeding him before testing him for his ps. No one understood how 'special' he was....
Lori
and tomtom

 

Dearest Lori, and, of course, you too, maybe sweet, maybe not sweet Tom Tom,

I believe he's special. I also believe in free feeding...

Love and hugs for you and Sir Tom,
Deb and Nikki -- and, Giz, who taught me all about dancing with a sugar cat...

PS: Mum's the word...

 

Mole murder video??

 

:lol: ummm, yes beth. if you hang out on the community page you will learn more about the adventures of tom than you may ever have wanted to know.
there have been many many many 'incidents' over the years. one particularly gruesome one that was REALLY HARD on me, thus hard on me and tom as roommates.
and yes, video's have been taken. NOT of that horror.

And deb, freefeeding is for the milder of the feline species. tom hit his food like a locomotive and generally does not leave until he licks the bowl clean.
Just lately he has begun to leave himself left overs....for about 10 to 20 minutes or so. :lol:
He is not a freefeeder type.
you picking on us or what? just cuz tom is a killer?

 

here's a vid of Lord Thomas taking his pokey....see how sweet and good he is? see what a gentleman he is? hear him purr?
he's more than just a murderer ya know?
http://s382.photobucket.com/albums/oo26 ... NY0465.mp4

 

You need to keep finding the dose that you can give 12/12 (consistency - I have seen you post about it often enough, so I know you understand the concept, but it is easier to "see" that stuff in someone else's SS). That may be a changing number (dose step down) as the data indicates for it.

If you are at .3u now, you have 3 more step down doses: .2u, .1u and .05u before trying to skip shots on a low PS. The data will show you when you get to a dose/PS combo that necessitate skipping. Look at Beau's SS in Sep '09. I had him down to a .05u dose with a do not shoot number of 130 +/- 5 when several people here said I had to shoot the low PS's - so I shot an 89 and he plummeted to 35 at +3. There was my data that said, yes you have to skip shots on those numbers.

You found out that skipping didn't work, but that .1u might have. As you get low PS's like that, won't be home to monitor, and have room to give a reduced dose, I say do it, rather than skipping. But if you are going to be home, give the reg dose and get the data to see what he does with it. Some cats can handle a full dose on an 89 and some can't.

 

Oh Sheila,
with the tom goin otj....how can i dose and leave him.... nailbite_smile check out ss.
he is doing soooooooooooooooooooooo good, this am he gave me 82, and that was one hour after breffis.
this is his amps #. i gave .2 instead of .3 and i'm still scared.
but i know what happens when i skip dose.
i am a strange combo platter of excited, happy, scared, nervous, and dancing when i read these numbers.
i must tell pheobe as she helped me soooo much that month i was off the board....on fb.
i must let her know how he is doing.
sheila, do you still want me to stick to dose? .3,...even with the low amps?

 

Will you be able to get tests today?

It looks to me like .2u might be is (current) new dose, but again, that depends on the mid-cycle numbers. You should let it settle - unless he drops too low. He might only need .1u, so some spot checks are key right now if you can get them. I couldn't shoot at all on an 82 with Beau, but ECID.

Keeping paws crossed here. I know I could not believe it when Beau went OTJ. I was so scared I would mess things up and it was *never* supposed to happen to a cat that had been on insulin for 2 years already.

 

I know what you mean....we've been at this since jan '10, our second go round with the insulin and after a while I just accepted it's here to stay.
I just got home from work,
here's today
amps 82 .2u
+1 82
+8 99

so depending on tonight....if he goes up really high I may consider it a bounce from to low a # this afternoon since he is never high anymore.
so... I'm thinkin .2u?
I'll test him again at +10 to see if his pmps is indeed a rising number.
Lori
and Thanks Sheila.. :YMHUG:

 

It occurs to me that the only way I will know at this point if tom can go otj is if I shoot him and he goes too low so that I have to reduce to 0---no Insulin.
Is this the way it goes? So much easier when I did it with pzi and you simply do not shoot under 120 or so....even higher for many. Never waiting for a low number mid cycle to reduce dose.... confused_cat

 

I don't know, Lori. I think it's more like weaning them off the insulin. I wouldn't wait for a below 40, that might cause a bounce. If he's able to maintain cycles below 100 on say .2U, then maybe go to .1U.

Isn't that what you did Sheila? I know you got to a point where you let Beau go for longer than 12 hours between shots though.

This is probably one of those ECID problems that you'll kind of have to figure out on your own. Not leaving you in a lurch, but you've done well at figuring TomTom out all this time, so I'm sure you'll make it happen for him!

 

I thought of that too Vicki, the slow wean.
And thank you for thinking I figured tomtom out on my own :lol: , I kind of had very little options at some point when I managed to wear everyone from here to lantus down to their very last nerve.
I think the one thing I would be good at now is helping old pzi ex-patriots make the switch as I really understand their dilemna.
It is crazy starting over as a newbie when you've been around awhile!
I appreciate that you always seemed willing to help. I really do.
Lori

 

Sheila, are you telling me Beau near hypo'd on .05?
See, I've been told not to worry cause even a 'normal' cat won't hypo on just .2 or even .3u's.
Altho' I can't imagine I could shoot him in the 70's or 60's if I had to go to work and could'nt wait...I suppose I might do .1u.
Frankly I don't know how to even find .05 @-)

 

It is a weening process. I did wait for Beau to drop below 40 before I reduced each time, because I was following that part of tilly, but I am not sure I would do it that way again. Maybe 50? I ended up having to set a do not shoot number with Beau because I had gotten him down to .05u and that could drop him to below 40. For a while I would test a half hour or hour later and shoot, but sometimes I had to go to work so I skipped the shot. Other times it was at +15 or something, but that would mean a skip the next morning if I had work.

The lowest Beau when (that I got a test on was low 30s). But I think he might have been in the upper 20s once and I didn't think to test before I fed him. He was acting a little spacey. Otherwise he never showed any symptoms of being low. I think lev is a gentle hypo insulin, but I still would not want to purposely induce a nadir below 60.

Getting .05u take practice, no doubt about it. I practiced with a used syringe and water, there is a link to it in the lev 101 sticky.