Sergei Update, Pancreatic problem suggested, and perplexity

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Sergei

Member Since 2020
Previous Thread: https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/introducing-sergei-diagnosed-14-september-2020.235400/

Thanks to everyone for their very helpful input and insight regarding Sergei's condition last week. The last few days have seen many ups and downs punctuated by multiple vet visits.

On Friday vet did blood work. Preliminary result was that there is inflammation in his pancreas. They need to send the sample to an outside lab for a more complete picture of the underlying situation. Additionally, he goes for an abdominal ultrasound on Tuesday.

In the meantime, frustratingly, we have a bunch of contradictory things happening. Yesterday, Sergei seemed to come back to life. He was very playful and greeted me at the door as he usually does. And his appetite remains healthy which from what I understand is atypical for pancreatitis.

I did a BG on him at peak insulin yesterday and it was 20.3, which alarmed me, but I had to balance that with his overall demeanour which was fairly normal. He was eager to eat dinner. We had a fur shot Friday night, so I wonder if he was perhaps just running high as a result of that. By contrast we got a reading of 10.7 at peak on Thursday, but at that time he seemed not to be feeling well at all.

We started Cerenia (pills) Thursday evening after a round of vomiting Wednesday evening that resulted in skipping PM shot. Today he's been very sweet and a little playful but not terrifically active. His appetite remains good. His thirst seems not so extreme and urinary output high but nothing like what it had been.

So I'm simultaneously cheered to see him at least enjoying life but concerned at what all of this could mean.
 
Sergei said:
By contrast we got a reading of 10.7 at peak on Thursday, but at that time he seemed not to be feeling well at all.
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Impossible to say for certain without the preshot BG reading, but the Caninsulin may have caused a steep drop from preshot to the 10.7 reading. That is one possible reason why Sergei might not have been feeling so good at that time, though not a certainty. It is helpful to record observations like this alongside the BG readings because it can help to identify patterns and inform treatment choices.

Sergei said:
We started Cerenia (pills) Thursday evening after a round of vomiting Wednesday evening...
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Sergei said:
Yesterday, Sergei seemed to come back to life. He was very playful and greeted me at the door as he usually does. And his appetite remains healthy which from what I understand is atypical for pancreatitis.
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If you can get control over the nausea (and also pain) it can do a lot to restore the appetite of a cat with pancreatitis. It's good to hear that the Cerenia is helping Sergei.


Mogs
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Hi Scott!

Ondansetron is another anti nausea/vomiting med that can be given in conjunction with Cerenia as they work differently. Cerenia did nothing for Minnie by within 30 minutes of taking ondansetron, she will happily eat a full meal. I’d ask your vet about that.

and if you could transfer the numbers to the ss template, that would allow us to help you better. We can’t give dosing advise without seeing data, especially pre shot numbers. Have you managed to get those yet?
 
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Aleluia Grugru & Minnie said:
Hi Scott!

Ondansetron is another anti nausea/vomiting med that can be given in conjunction with Cerenia as they work differently. Cerenia did nothing for Minnie by within 30 minutes of taking ondansetron, she will happily eat a full meal. I’d ask your vet about that.

and if you could transfer the numbers to the ss template, that would allow us to help you better. We can’t give dosing advise without seeing data, especially pre shot numbers. Have you managed to get those yet?
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Thanks! The vet took him off Cerenia as of Tuesday and he seems to be doing fine in terms of nausea (knock wood).
 
jt and trouble (GA) said:
Hi Scott Welcome back! :) I cannot give dosing advice ... I was hoping to see one of these for Sergei
FDMB SPREADSHEET INSTRUCTIONS

I dont mean to push you but it really is a good way to keep track of how the insulin is working in your little buddies body. It also gives us a clearer pict

Are you keeping track of Sergei's numbers?

PS. I LOVE your Avatar. :bighug:
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Thanks! Ptnr and I have been working on our testing skills this week. In fact I was able to do a test about twenty minutes ago, which was the first time we've been able to see the +2 hr mark after insulin. BG is still very high (18.1) but better than at +4 peak yesterday (21.1). I needed a bit of encouragement and I'll take it in the form of -3.0.
 
Sergei said:
Thanks! Ptnr and I have been working on our testing skills this week. In fact I was able to do a test about twenty minutes ago, which was the first time we've been able to see the +2 hr mark after insulin. BG is still very high (18.1) but better than at +4 peak yesterday (21.1). I needed a bit of encouragement and I'll take it in the form of -3.0.
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YOU CAN DO THIS! :D;):cool:
 
jt and trouble (GA) said:
Ummmm Scott? Thats a pretty empty spreadsheet. Have you not been testing?:(
Or just not entering results?
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We are attempting to test more but still not succeeding in getting a sufficient drop of blood as often as we would like to. Hopefully we are getting some capillary development. I keep using the 27g lancets in hope of stimulating capillary generosity. I think he will be glad when we can move to 30g. We give it three tries and then we stop for the session so that we don't stress Sergei too much and so that he will continue to be patient with the process. He's a wilful boy and I'm really pleased and surprised we've come as far as we have with him in terms of testing. In the meantime, we keep four very close eyes on him, especially his states of consciousness, his appetite, the way he moves, and his liquid input and output, which remains high but less than when symptoms started.
 
Have you tried warming the ear first? You can either put some rice in the toe of an old sock, tie it off, heat in microwave MAKE SURE NOT TOO HOT. Then hold it on ear. That will draw those capillaries out and the blood with them.
I dont own a microwave (:rolleyes: i know what youre thinking :p) so I use to get a wash cloth, hold it under hot running water, then put it in a baggie... once its cooled down enough, hold that to his ear.
 
Maybe someone can help me understand the following quirk of the spreadsheet. There are three tabs at the bottom: US mg/dL | World mmol/L | Labs. Because my meter is in mmol/L I've been completing the information on that tab. It does not seem to fill in the details on the US mg/DL spreadsheet though. Should it do that automatically?
 
Sergei said:
Maybe someone can help me understand the following quirk of the spreadsheet. There are three tabs at the bottom: US mg/dL | World mmol/L | Labs. Because my meter is in mmol/L I've been completing the information on that tab. It does not seem to fill in the details on the US mg/DL spreadsheet though. Should it do that automatically?
Click to expand...
Hold on I'll tag someone who can help with that!
@Chris & China (GA)
 
Sergei said:
Maybe someone can help me understand the following quirk of the spreadsheet. There are three tabs at the bottom: US mg/dL | World mmol/L | Labs. Because my meter is in mmol/L I've been completing the information on that tab. It does not seem to fill in the details on the US mg/DL spreadsheet though. Should it do that automatically?
Click to expand...
It should update the US values automatically. I'm tagging @Bandit's Mom to ask whether she can help you sort out the spreadsheet glitch.


Mogs
.
 
jt and trouble (GA) said:
Have you tried warming the ear first? You can either put some rice in the toe of an old sock, tie it off, heat in microwave MAKE SURE NOT TOO HOT. Then hold it on ear. That will draw those capillaries out and the blood with them.
I dont own a microwave :)rolleyes: i know what youre thinking :p) so I use to get a wash cloth, hold it under hot running water, then put it in a baggie... once its cooled down enough, hold that to his ear.
Click to expand...
Thanks. I totally understand not having a microwave. I lived without one for the better part of the last ten years. If it makes you feel any better my oven is barely the size of a microwave and it doubles as one. As for warming the ear, I use a little travel shampoo bottle filled with warm water. I also rub his ears a lot beforehand. The vein in Sergei's ear travels very very close to the edge of the ear so getting to that sweet spot can be a little tricky. He sometimes has a reflexive head jerk when I first insert the lancet and that risks tearing the ear. Nothing is more frustrating than ending up with a trace of blood not enough to get a reading. It is getting better and we are starting to do it every day.
 
In the meantime if you click on my spreadsheet, make sure to click on the tab at the top marked mmol/l. That's where I enter the values for the moment. If you stay on the US tab you will see very little. The dosage seems to appear but not the test results.
 
Sergei said:
In the meantime if you click on my spreadsheet, make sure to click on the tab at the top marked mmol/l. That's where I enter the values for the moment. If you stay on the US tab you will see very little. The dosage seems to appear but not the test results.
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GOT IT!

I believe you AND Partner will get this. Testing (for me) was the hardest thing Ive probably ever tried to do. And YES it took 2 of us!:oops:
 
jt and trouble (GA) said:
GOT IT!

I believe you AND Partner will get this. Testing (for me) was the hardest thing Ive probably ever tried to do. And YES it took 2 of us!:oops:
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Thanks!! Testing is super difficult for me too. Insulin has been far easier with this little beast. But we're going to get there. I have a feeling our insulin dose is going to have to go up soon, so should that happen it will be essential to do more testing.
 
Sergei said:
We are attempting to test more but still not succeeding in getting a sufficient drop of blood as often as we would like to. Hopefully we are getting some capillary development. I keep using the 27g lancets in hope of stimulating capillary generosity. I think he will be glad when we can move to 30g. We give it three tries and then we stop for the session so that we don't stress Sergei too much and so that he will continue to be patient with the process. He's a wilful boy and I'm really pleased and surprised we've come as far as we have with him in terms of testing. In the meantime, we keep four very close eyes on him, especially his states of consciousness, his appetite, the way he moves, and his liquid input and output, which remains high but less than when symptoms started.
Click to expand...
Are you warming up the ear enough? It helps immensely in getting a lot of blood out. When the ear is warm to the touch and you prick, you’ll get more blood out than you need. I don’t mean room temperature or lukewarm. I mean warm. When I think oh well not warm but should be fine, it never is and I regret the unnecessary struggle
 
Aleluia Grugru & Minnie said:
Are you warming up the ear enough? It helps immensely in getting a lot of blood out. When the ear is warm to the touch and you prick, you’ll get more blood out than you need. I don’t mean room temperature or lukewarm. I mean warm. When I think oh well not warm but should be fine, it never is and I regret the unnecessary struggle
Click to expand...
see the above
 
Sergei said:
Maybe someone can help me understand the following quirk of the spreadsheet. There are three tabs at the bottom: US mg/dL | World mmol/L | Labs. Because my meter is in mmol/L I've been completing the information on that tab. It does not seem to fill in the details on the US mg/DL spreadsheet though. Should it do that automatically?
Click to expand...

Apologies for the delay in responding! The US mg/dl sheet should auto-populate once you enter the numbers in the World mmol/L sheet. If you can grant me editor access on the SS, I can check why that isn't happening.
 
Bandit's Mom said:
Apologies for the delay in responding! The US mg/dl sheet should auto-populate once you enter the numbers in the World mmol/L sheet. If you can grant me editor access on the SS, I can check why that isn't happening.
Click to expand...
Hi and many thanks for your help. I was able to get it sorted out. I had accidentally changed a setting in the US tab, but my spreadsheet seems to be working now.
 
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