Sabrina's A Little Better Today

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Deb & Wink said:
Ann is a work traveler and has lived so many places in the world. She is a good resource and we love that she is here helping people and their diabetic cats.

p.s. Simba and Gustav enjoy their valentine flowers and cards?
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The roses I had ordered haven't showed up. :banghead: A real bummer. And it's night here now. Bed time hours. :(
 
So all understand how desolated from people the 300 volcanos island Lanzarote is for little Sabrina, here is one of my photos of Lanzarote in 1987.
 

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Yes it looks like the moon in some places! We lived in Fuerteventura for about four and a half years before moving here. Within a few months of arriving, we took in a foster kitten and next thing I knew we became cat rescuers, and Sabrina is one of the Fuerteventura cats. We've been in Lanzarote since 2008. The area I live in now is very animal friendly and a few neighbors are animal rescuers too. My other neighbors aren't rescuers but they have dogs and cats. We are lucky to live in a community of animal lovers, because some places are just the opposite.

But it is true about times being hard, tourism has been on the decline for years and it's starting to effect everyone, not just us. So many of our friends are in similar situations. To make matters worse, my husband almost died last year. He had a heart attack and problems with his kidneys (at the same time) and ended up in the hospital for 10 days. He was airlifted to the big hospital in Gran Canaria. He was on sick leave for a few months after but the tourist season was very bad and there just isn't a lot of work these days.

We had some savings left but that all went to paying rent, bills, and then as I mentioned before, one of our other cats died last May. He was one of the Fuerteventura cats too and was the oldest. We had all those vet bills, then it was this, that and the other thing that kept draining the bank account. It was one thing after the other all last year. I am currently out of work because I have health problems too. I have serious back problems, so that means I am unable to do bar, restaurant, and hotel work, anything physical like that. I have applied for less physical jobs but they are so hard to come by and there's always a ton of applicants.

Last Fall I went to the Social Services office to see if I could get temporary disability. I mean I can do some jobs, but the kinds of things I can do is limited, but at least until I get treated for my back problems, I'm kind of stuck in no-man's land. With this place being driven by tourism, most of the jobs are in bars, restaurants, and hotels. In order to apply for disability (or temporary disability, that's what I am seeking) I need medical reports and all that stuff to begin the application process, and that is taking an eternity. Nothing ever happens right away here, that's just the way it is. Everything takes time. I only just saw a specialist a few weeks ago (after waiting a year for that appointment) and he set me up for an MRI, but that probably won't happen for a month or two. My husband is back working but he doesn't have as much work as he used to because there just isn't enough work to go around. We are trying our best to make do with the current situation and it's pretty hard. It might pick up next month, that's what everyone is predicting. So fingers crossed this season will be a busy one!

Of course we didn't have any of these problems at the time we rescued all the cats. People always ask why we don't just leave, but the only way we will leave is if the cats are coming with us too. Circumstances change and all that, and that's what comes with living in a place that revolves around tourism as it has many ups and downs.


Now that I know the names of the Keto sticks that are sold here, I'll ask for those. I have no idea what the pharmacy tried to sell my husband for €70, I wasn't there with him, lol!
 
Using the new monitor now, I think it requires a smaller blood drop and it also gives you a certain amount of time to get more blood on the strip if enough hasn't been collected. It looks similar to some of the US models on the PDF sheet that was linked. It looks like it's a .6 drop compared to the 1.0 of the One Touch. We only have a limited amount of strips for now because my husband hadn't decided which of the two monitors he was going to ask the doctor to put on his prescription so he will either get them for free, or for pennies. The strips for this new monitor are more expensive. I did have a bit of difficulty using it the first time (didn't get a reading) because somehow I pressed a button that made it go into the advanced mode, where you put your settings and all that. :facepalm: I just wanted to poke and test, none of that fancy stuff, but that's what happened. I think we should go with the Contour XT as it uses a smaller drop and gives you a few seconds to collect more blood. However, I prefer One Touch's lancet, we still have some needles left for that.

Thankfully, she hasn't had any more 400s since that day. She's more mobile today and I even saw a hint of her attitude, which makes me happy. She feels a little heavier but she's still bony. She eats about 500-600g of food a day and she's also drinking water. I think she's slowly making progress, but I always feel anxious thinking about her next checkup and going through all that again with the vets thinking we're irresponsible fools for keeping her alive but we do still need to work with them at this stage, at least until we get Sabrina where she needs to be. It's only been 2 weeks since her diagnosis and they act like I'm unnecessarily prolonging her life, but I see it as getting her back to where she used to be.

I attached a photo to show what she looked like before she got sick and this is what I'm hoping to see again some day. At the moment, she still looks pretty much the same as she did in the photo I took at the vet's.
 

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BriniWeenie said:
I prefer One Touch's lancet, we still have some needles left for that.
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Lancets are usually really cheap so if you prefer that lancet, just keep buying them! Might not be "covered" but they also shouldn't cost so much that it's a big problem either.

The fact that she's still eating well tells me she's not ready to give up yet!
 
Yeah, I think we'll continue to use the One Touch lancets, it seems easier to get a successful poke with than with the one that came with the Contour. She eats a lot, she never even liked wet food before. In the past whenever I put wet food out for them she wouldn't bother with it, but she loves it now. Would it be a good idea to feed her wet kitten food, would that put weight on her or are the ingredients not recommended for a diabetic cat?
 
She's due for her weekly checkup tomorrow. I hope she's put on some weight. It might make the vets more inclined to help her, rather than shake their heads at us. Sabrina's low weight was what made the second vet change her mind about going ahead with treatment, after all. I just don't need the guilt trip from them, I literally have anxiety thinking about it. Whichever vet sees her tomorrow is going to see the spreadsheet and say it's too high. Yes, they are high, (had another 400 one pre-AM shot) but I know know from reading other people's posts and seeing their spreadsheets, that it's normal and it's not as high as some other cats. It feels like the vets are creating unnecessary panic and it's making me panic. They think we are not doing the right thing by her, but I think I am by doing what we are doing. Of course I want whatever's best for her. We both feel a lot of guilt over not being able to take her a few weeks sooner too, but I know for certain that if we didn't bring her in when we did, she wouldn't be here now.
 
Most cats don’t respond quickly to insulin. It takes time for the BG levels to start coming down so don’t let them tell you otherwise. A few lucky cats respond quickly but most don’t.
 
We decided we're not taking her for a checkup tomorrow and will do it later in the week. She's not going in for any tests, so there isn't a reason we need to go really. We'll get some scales and weigh her ourselves at home. We'll just keep doing what we're doing and continue to monitor her progress.
 
I couldn't believe it. I stared at the monitor and looked again to make sure I was seeing it correctly! I was only hoping to see a yellow some day soon! It gives me hope that things are starting to change slowly but surely.
 
Hi Lori! I've been following your thread about Sabrina--I wonder how she's been doing? I hope you'll start a new thread soon, so we can celebrate good news with you.:)
 
The sandstorm from Africa is over since they've flown home all tourists getting stuck on the Canary Islands, but instead at a hotel on island Tenerife got the corona virus and are put in quarantine.

But Sabrina's mum, we wonder how you and Sabrina are doing?
 
Here is how bad Sabrina and her mum on the island Lanzarote have been badly hit by the calima sandstorm from Africa. They are on the closest to Africa island so simply no vision in such a sandstorm. No flights, nor freight flights have been able to fly in and out.

Please Sabrina's mum, if you haven't lost your internet connection, please let us know how Sabrina and you are doing. Is the island up and running as business as usual?
 

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Thank you Ann for the pictures of that area of the Canaries.
As you know, we do worry about members that have not posted in a while.
 
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