Getting some hope here...finally!

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Cherie Hogan

Cherie Hogan

Member Since 2016
The last .25 dose increase has brought Riley's numbers down and last night was the first time in weeks that he wasn't howling from 4am on. He looked better this morning and reported in promptly at 9am for his ear test and shot. He is eating way less food and his urine output remains normal for him. He is not hiding under the bed....all good signs. When he starts purring again and playing with Minky, I might start to hope he's on his way to getting better. Last night was our first discussion about putting Riley to sleep. Sometimes you just have to let go of something you love so much that you begin questioning whether you are doing what you are doing for yourself or for your cat. In a previous post, I mentioned how quickly my neighbor's kitten turned around when we had lost all hope, and I am hoping Riley will do the same.

Julie, Riley and your Pumpkin could pass for twins except my Riley is missing his left eye. He was sitting outside the Humane Society door when he was about 8 weeks old so apparently someone just left him there. We adopted him, had his dead eye removed, and he has been an amazing companion for us. He rode back and forth to work with me for a couple months when we first got him, rode on our boat and would actually fall asleep on the back of our ski platform with the boat bobbing up and down and other boaters would pull up and exclaim "Is that a cat???" He rode my husband's jet ski, swims in the lake, and has his own fan club here because of his personality. He is the most affectionate cat I've ever known. No one can resist him. Everyone wants a cat just like him.

Thank you everyone for your support.
 
YUP! way to go Riley!
It is so great that he has a nice life. Now he is showing you he wants to continue it. Numbers down and attitude up! He will get better and this is just the beginning.
My Junior is showing me personality I didn't even know he had until his BG became controlled. He is a lovely kitty now. Give Riley more time to sort it all out. With your help he will.
 
Great news!!! It's worth the wait to see if he feels better once you get the numbers down more. He might have even gone a bit lower last night after the 220 and is having a bit of a bounce today.

Tonight would be four cycles on this dose. I'm wondering if you should hold this dose through tomorrow for six cycles, raise it by 0.25u to 3u on Saturday morning and do a curve some time this weekend. That way we could see what he's doing.

We usually stop fast tracking and raising every four cycles when we see yellow but we don't know how much yellow he's seeing without a few more numbers. If last night was the only yellow, we might want to do one more increase after four cycles at 3u but if he sees a lot of yellow over the weekend, we will want to hold the 3u dose longer.
 
I'm sitting here crying with feelings of relief and happiness. I remember your first posts and wishing so badly for Riley to have a chance at healing and for you to get to feel some hope as well.
What super special guy. You guys just keep on keepin' on and see what he can do.
We're all rooting for you and you know how much people here will pitch in to help if they can.
 
Marje and Gracie said:
Great news!!! It's worth the wait to see if he feels better once you get the numbers down more. He might have even gone a bit lower last night after the 220 and is having a bit of a bounce today.

Tonight would be four cycles on this dose. I'm wondering if you should hold this dose through tomorrow for six cycles, raise it by 0.25u to 3u on Saturday morning and do a curve some time this weekend. That way we could see what he's doing.

We usually stop fast tracking and raising every four cycles when we see yellow but we don't know how much yellow he's seeing without a few more numbers. If last night was the only yellow, we might want to do one more increase after four cycles at 3u but if he sees a lot of yellow over the weekend, we will want to hold the 3u dose longer.
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Marje and Gracie said:
Great news!!! It's worth the wait to see if he feels better once you get the numbers down more. He might have even gone a bit lower last night after the 220 and is having a bit of a bounce today.

Tonight would be four cycles on this dose. I'm wondering if you should hold this dose through tomorrow for six cycles, raise it by 0.25u to 3u on Saturday morning and do a curve some time this weekend. That way we could see what he's doing.

We usually stop fast tracking and raising every four cycles when we see yellow but we don't know how much yellow he's seeing without a few more numbers. If last night was the only yellow, we might want to do one more increase after four cycles at 3u but if he sees a lot of yellow over the weekend, we will want to hold the 3u dose longer.
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I think we'll be going up again as he is going up again. This morning he was at 352, then +3 @332, +6 @415. Driving me crazy!! He gets a little better for one whole day and then....here we go again!!! I see a pattern here looking at his ss.
 
Cherie Hogan said:
I think we'll be going up again as he is going up again. This morning he was at 352, then +3 @332, +6 @415. Driving me crazy!! He gets a little better for one whole day and then....here we go again!!! I see a pattern here looking at his ss.
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Don't be discouraged, it's possible he may have got lower than that 220 last night, maybe even made it to blue. Even though he wasn't technically too low, his body is not used to being in those lower ranges. When a kitty first starts to get into those lower ranges they will often bounce, this happens because the liver 'panics' at the lower BG's, counter regulatory hormones are released and ultimately the liver dumps stored glucose into the bloodstream causing kitties numbers to go up. Bounces may last up to 6 cycles.
 
Gill & George said:
Don't be discouraged, it's possible he may have got lower than that 220 last night, maybe even made it to blue. Even though he wasn't technically too low, his body is not used to being in those lower ranges. When a kitty first starts to get into those lower ranges they will often bounce, this happens because the liver 'panics' at the lower BG's, counter regulatory hormones are released and ultimately the liver dumps stored glucose into the bloodstream causing kitties numbers to go up. Bounces may last up to 6 cycles.
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So true, in the beginning Uncle's body didn't know what to do when he finally saw yellow after he was used to being in black, red and pink numbers, so he bounced (got higher numbers after having lower ones) but it will get better.
As a matter of fact he's bouncing today because he reached into low numbers last night but I know it will clear. Check out his spreadsheet if you want, he was all over the place at first and now he only needs .25u
I think is best to be methodical with your increases (or decreases when they apply!) because bouncing numbers are factored in to the guidance that others with experience share with you.
 
Just knowing I have you all out there pulling for us makes me feel more confident we can beat this thing. He just dropped back down to 386 @+9 but he looks better than he has in three months. I will wait to see what Marje says.

Thanks so very, very much!
 
Don't be discouraged, Cherie. It can take a good while before things turn around, and it sounds like everything is heading in the right direction. Riley sounds like a completely amazing cat. Sounds like he is feeling better, which is the best marker - his numbers will come down - you just have to find the right dose and it takes patience. :bighug::bighug:
 
Hi Cherie
The way it made sense to me was when I thought about everything I had read and then took it to really basic pieces.
The cat's body gets really comfy at those high unhealthy numbers, it doesn't know they are bad, they feel safe and normal to it. ( kind of like I feel really comfy at about 40 lbs more than my ohysician feels should be comfy). Then as we start giving the insulin it starts to nudge those numbers downward. Well, to the cats body it registers as Danger Danger Will Robinson!! Numbers dropping! Quick Liver! dump anti drop hormones and save the cat!!! In reality the cat is not going hypo it's just going into unfamiliar lower numbers territory..as in healthier territory.
These protocols are designed to gradually nudge the cats body into more time in progressively lower numbers..the gradual part being so that we get to where when the numbers drop, instead of going into full on rescue Ranger mode, the liver looks up and goes oh yeah I remember that, no big deal....
There is a lot of forward and backward, especially in the beginning because you are nudging and then correcting for the body's response to that nudge with your doses..
Hang in there, hope I didn't make things even more confusing...I am a visual learner so always try to get pictures of stuff in my head to understand things
Give Riley a scritch for me:bighug::cat:
 
Riley's obviously decided to hang in there. I know exactly how discouraging those numbers can be, but hey, you've only been at this for a few months. Keep plugging, and see what he can do.
hugs:bighug::bighug::bighug:
 
He came down quite a bit last night and, as Gill said, could have come down lower. The numbers today "could be" a bounce. One thing that makes me wonder if this is the case is also the Black numbers tonight.

In some cats, they will go a lot higher right before they clear a bounce. This is called the "high before the break". While you can increase a dose during a bounce, you don't want to increase it as a bounce clears.

I think I'd see where he is at AMPS. If he's still black, I think I'd raise the dose to 3u as long as you can monitor closely tomorrow. If he's headed down in the morning and you see pink or lower, I would hold the dose and see if he's clearing a bounce. And I'd run a curve getting checks every couple hours.
 
Wow, what a great report on Riley! I'm so glad that he's feeling better! I think today's high numbers are transitory and are caused by getting into at least yellow numbers last night. That's all it takes to get a cat's body reacting when they've gotten used to high numbers. Les (Gussie's mom) gave you a great user-friendly analogy above. Another one is how you get used to how you feel when you have regular caffeine - take away the caffeine and not only do you feel like something the cat dragged in, but it stays that way for a few days. Yet that is your natural state. You've simply changed it by having daily caffeine and then THAT became your new normal.

Bouncing is a normal part of this dance. You just have to accept that the good numbers cause a response that makes the cat go high for a bit (as long as 3 days) but that the more the cat hits lower numbers, the shorter the bounces will become and the longer he'll begin staying in good numbers.

Punkin was that same kind of special cat. He was very big and had a gigantic fluffy tail that he carried straight up, so people always noticed him. He was timid, but if he loved you, he really loved you. His story is in my signature block under "punkin's profile" along with some more pictures of him. Can't have too many pictures of a beautiful cat!

Don't be discouraged by today's higher numbers. Hold on to last night's success and know it will come again. Every cat has a dose that will move them - we're getting closer to Riley's! Slow and steady wins the race in this case!
 
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