3. Lois and RIP-Java

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Here's a few fresh shaved pics. He's on my lap begging for breakfast.
 

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I have considered shaving a few spots. He's not scared of the buzzers at all. Just a little strip would do if you plan on doing a few. If you keep it perpendicular to the floor or lengthwise with their ribs the hair in front of it will cover it naturally. But you have to push the hair forward right in front of it before shaving if you want it to be covered. Then do the same before giving the shot so you can see. I trimmed the hair that was covering it this time. But I still grip and pull up the skin and pet him the wrong way, against the hair flow, with the back of my shooting hand. Just be careful you don't poke yourself!
 
StephG said:
Here's a few fresh shaved pics. He's on my lap begging for breakfast.
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@Yong , BOS?

Thanks. Also, breakfast?!

These kitties are so robust! Lucky you. Java's so bony now. You'd think he'd have loose skin from losing weight, 2# since diabetes dx, but it feels like he retracts his skin when I go for a shot.
 
Hi Lois,
You might want to consider a little boost in Java's dose and try for one mid cycle test in the +5 to +7 range. I know that doesn't follow the plan suggested by your new vet but he had some better numbers up around 1.5+ u.
 
I shot contemplated 1.5, have a feeling that I'm going to have to work to regain lost ground, up to 1.75, yet I already shot 1.25, after cutting a little spot with baby scissors. That was really helpful.

I was looking at his SS before I shot, and wondering why his numbers PS kept getting worse the higher we went. Is it because of his age and the progression of the disease? I wish it was as simple as going back to giving him one unit and he would never go into the black.
 

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Lois and Java said:
I shot 1.25, and cut out a little spot with baby scissors. That was really help ful.

I was looking at his SS before I shot, and wondering why his numbers PS kept getting worse the higher we went. Is it because of his age and the progression of the disease?
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That's a tough one, Lois. Not sure I have an answer. The middle numbers were better at higher doses. It could be his reaction to PZI - extreme at the ends of the cycles. Not sure if a depot insulin is something you want to try at this stage?
 
It looks to me like the early months were the best. Lots more blues and yellows.

If it's too much insulin it can create a Symogi effect. Right? I think so. That was the rationale for the mobile vet suggesting a fat one unit. Which I have already deviated from.

I could not find the little spot that I cut with the baby scissors!
 
Well, there is actually some debate among researchers if the somogyi effect (bouncing) is even real. I think they just need to come study our spreadsheets to see it, but whatever...

So yes, that can happen with too much insulin, but when it's happening you'll see swings from low to high, not just lots of high readings.
 
Omg yes it exists.
Still with the SS Qs already... Jan. and Feb. were better. March and April, so many blacks.
He's getting so debilitated.
 
They can argue against Somogyi all they want. The study where it's supposedly debunked (I read the PDF that was in another thread here somewhere) is based on a group of cats tightly regulated on Lantus. That's already a narrow group of kitties in an "artificial" lab situation. Real world data we see here on a multitude of SSs tells a far different story. They also refer to Somogyi as being a consequence of over dosing that results in very low BGs. We know it's broader than that.
 
And they also set the requirement that the bounce numbers be lower than 50 and higher than 300. So any cat around Sam's ranges wouldn't qualify as bouncing. Nor any of the bounces that are caused by "lower than normal" or "more than 50%". Research is hard though. There have to be controls and parameters, and sometimes those things end up making it difficult to see the thing they're looking for.
 
Djamila said:
And they also set the requirement that the bounce numbers be lower than 50 and higher than 300. So any cat around Sam's ranges wouldn't qualify as bouncing. Nor any of the bounces that are caused by "lower than normal" or "more than 50%". Research is hard though. There have to be controls and parameters, and sometimes those things end up making it difficult to see the thing they're looking for.
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I completely agree. I've been in a number of clinical trials myself and have seen how the parameters can eliminate what I know to be perfectly valid data.
 
Lois, I'm so sorry to hear that Java is struggling right now. I wish there was an easy way to fix all of this for both of you. Sending you and Java lots of love!
 
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Kris & Teasel said:
They also refer to Somogyi as being a consequence of over dosing that results in very low BGs. We know it's broader than that
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This is what the traveling vet is taking as basis. I'm still half asleep shouldn't be writing I should be testing.
Edit #1, AMPS, 571. better than those 700s.
I'm filled with horror that it could be because I wasn't shooting properly.
I think I'll start creeping up to 1.5.
Edit #2, photos of Java this AM. He got up on the railing by himself and hung out with me for about an hour while I pulled weeds. This is our essential relationship. I do stuff and he hangs out with me.
He's taken to lying on this pillow on the couch. I think he does not look very comfortable. Gabapentin now. I wanted to give him a little break this am since this it's his favorite time. It seems to be pretty sedating.
Edit #3, he's more comfy now. Don't wait on the gabapentin.
 
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After I got back from yoga, we all had a nice afternoon hanging out in the backyard. Java seems creaky but was able to get comfortable. I brought a camping mat out to lie on the deck and read my book, and grab the chair cushion to put under my elbows. Java made it very clear that the chair cushion was for him, so I traded it for the cut up camping mat I'd put out for him.

I've told my siblings this before, everything was forgiven when I was able to early retire, since everything that happened before got me to that point. I have such gratitude for being retired because I can spend all afternoon just hanging out on the deck or on the bed with the cats. I just appreciate every day with Java so much.

Here he's looking more comfortable on that pillow.

I was able to find the trimmed spot on his shoulder this morning!
 

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Kris & Teasel said:
I only have a "pay as you go" dumb phone and am proud of it! ;) I like being inaccessible when I'm going about my business.
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That used to be me, but I really love having a smartphone now. I'm glad I waited though, because paying only like 20 bucks a month for complete access to everything is doable. There was no way I was ever going to get a cell phone when it was $70, 80, or more a month.
 
Lois and Java said:
That used to be me, but I really love having a smartphone now. I'm glad I waited though, because paying only like 20 bucks a month for complete access to everything is doable. There was no way I was ever going to get a cell phone when it was $70, 80, or more a month.
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It's still that expensive and more here. My dumb phone is rarely turned on. It's mostly for "emergencies". I don't text and feel no need to report my thoughts or what I'm doing to all and sundry.
 
Well, you're probably sitting at a desk or table on your laptop, correct? To post that?
I'm lying on my bed, dictating into my smartphone. It's awesome!
 
Lois and Java said:
Well, you're probably sitting at a desk or table on your laptop, correct? To post that?
I'm lying on my bed, dictating into my smartphone. It's awesome!
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I think my iPad has a dictation function but I've never tried to use it. Right now I'm at my 8 year old desk top iMac.
 
I didn't buy a home computer, a laptop until I retired in 2010. I was at the office so much, I just did everything on my office computer; I'd stay late if I had to do something time-consuming or complicated. So I've never set up a home office. I don't have a printer, I have to go to the library or Kinkos for that. I put my laptop on the dining room table, which is actually a cat perch and mail sorting surface.
My father died in 1999, and a few years before that, I asked him what was the biggest technological advance he'd seen in his lifetime. He was an engineer, he was born in the thirties. I was sure he would say computers, because both my parents learned how to use them at the snowbird place they'd go to in Arizona.
Know what it was? Electricity. His father had a big apple farm in Upstate New York, and they were the first family to get private electricity. A small City or town nearby outgrew its little Electric Plant, and my grandfather bought it and had it installed at his farm.
I'm still Boggled that that.
 
StephG said:
Oh poor Java. Is he ok now?
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I helped him onto the bed, and he ate some, and napped some. When I came back to check him he wasn't there almost had a heart attack. He was in litterbox, so, all that still working he got himself there.
I have a huge bottle of B12. The traveling vet said to give him a shot every week or two weeks. I'm going to give him a shot tonight I think, because doesn't that make you feel better? He just had one two days ago.
 
Lois and Java said:
Oh dear. Java jumped off the couch and had a hard time getting his rear legs to work.
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Poor baby! I remember our senior, also black cat, some jumps he would make he would kind of stand there stunned. Had a look on his face like "maybe I shouldn't have done that" because he did train us when he yowled he wanted down from somewhere he managed to get himself up to :smuggrin:.

Side note for you Lois, from when I was reading about which form of B12 would be better for neuropathy :bookworm::
Excerpt:
1. Methylcobalamin
This is the most active form in the human body. It converts homocysteine into methionine, which helps protect the cardiovascular system. Methylcobalamin also offers overall protection to the nervous system. This B-12 form can also cross the blood-brain barrier–without assistance–to protect brain cells. It contributes essential methyl groups needed for detoxification and to start the body’s biochemical reactions.

2. Cyanocobalamin
This synthetic version of vitamin B-12 is created in a lab, which makes it the cheapest supplement option. It offers the most stable form of B-12, although it does so through the presence of a cyanide molecule. While the amount of cyanide is not dangerous, it does require the body to expend energy to convert and remove it.

Not trying to doubt it's helping or anything, just throwing some more information around :woot::bookworm: :cat:
 
You think I can just jump up to 1.75 tonight? Or fat 1.5 tonight, and 1.75 tomorrow?

The traveling vet experience was helpful in certain ways, but not with regard to insulin. Her theory was that his Somogyi stop by going to a consistent lower dose, that he had when he was doing pretty well.

I also now think it was a bad idea to take up the YA food. This is hospice care, he has lost so much weight. He likes the
YA. I would like to put YA down, and not even take it out for the two hours pretest, but let him free feed on it. That's what I was doing for the first couple of months anyway.

I was going to spend the day with the cats, doing an Earth Day gardening project. I talk to my disabled cousin in Michigan every Sat. While talking, I realized I could make it to the 11:45 ferry to the SF Science March. They had to put two additional ferries into service to handle the number of people going to the March! That's the gold Dome of the SF City Hall in the distance. It was a big March.
 

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Some good posters. Coral not coal is mine. I made it on the ferry, with a little help from friends I ran into in line.
 

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I think that in Java's situation your goal is to keep him happy so put out the YA if he likes it and let him eat as much as he wants whenever. Just adjust his insulin dose around that. Lots of people here have to dose around meds needed for other health issues. I'd put senior nutritional requirements up there as an issue to work around.

Hurray for attending the Science March!!
 
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Kris & Teasel said:
I think that in Java's situation your goal is to keep him happy so put out the YA if he likes it and let him eat as much as he wants whenever. Just adjust his insulin dose around that. Lots of people here have to dose around meds needed for other health issues. I'd put senior nutritional requirements up there as an issue to work around.

Hurray for attending the Science March!
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There were quite a few people in lab coats carrying signs or had on the lab coat "mad scientist." Heh.

Do you think I can jump up to 1.75 tonight
Kris?
 
Kris & Teasel said:
I think that in Java's situation your goal is to keep him happy so put out the YA uf he likes it and let him eat as much as he wants whenever. Just adjust his insulin dose around that.
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I agree :), if he enjoys it let him eat it :cat:. I think you're OK to do the 1.75U tonight, Lois. He has been a bit higher lately, might make him feel a little better tonight :bighug: even if it's just to low-mid pinks!
 
That's so cool, Lois! I wish I could have gone to one. I love that you just met some folks who helped make a sign...the community part of these marches and protests is wonderful.

I'm with everyone else here...do what Java wants to do. Let him have what he wants to have. Dose around it, because you know the goal is to keep him comfortable and happy. I think you could do 1.75 too.
 
It was a surprise to run into Jean and Jim in the ferry line. (Jim's a retired middle school science teacher.) The ferry has tables with seats, we had a nice 4th person stranger with us at our table too. J&Js Lab just had a cancerous spleen rupture, and has 2 - 4 months left to live. He's getting everything he wants.

I'm throwing everything out the window. I put down some YA for Java and he was very happy to have it. When I pulled the shower curtain aside, he was waiting, just like old times. He'd jump in the tub to lap water, even sometimes get into the shower with me, or sit on the edge of the tub. He's too weak to jump into the tub now, but his water glass got Super Fresh cold water.

I think 1.75 is good, got to get these numbers down.
 
@#$&+*#?!! Fur shot.
Found the trimmed circle, shot, counted to ten with a needle still in, then ... wet on the other side of the pulled skin, Band-aid smell.
He's been so dang high.
I think I'm going to shoot again. .5 or .75.
.5 just to get something in there. Dammit.
 
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