9/21 Ivy Amps 189, +3 117, +6 151, +9.25 92, Pmps 120, +2 53, +5 120 Libre *T4 Results

[Staci & Ivy]

9/20/24
Amps 189 Libre
Yesterday was pretty flat yellow and blue on Libre.
There was one dip on the Libre to green when I was at the grocery store. My son texted me “should I feed Ivy something?”
I had him give her a tsp of 12.5% around +7.
(he’s my amazing backup. He watches her Libre graph to make sure she’s safe )

Finally heard back from the vet last night at 8:30 PM. What vet calls that late? This guy seems to.

Anyway, her T4 went up to 4.5 (from 4.2 last month before increase in dose of methimazole).

Unfortunately, wrong direction
Vet suggested we go from 1.25 mg to 2.5 mg in the a.m. and keep dose at 1.25 mg in the p.m. and test again in a month to see where we are. He hopes tinkering with the transdermal dose we can get her in the range and under 4.0. I sure hope so
I’m very worried/sad it’s going up and not down. I hope we can get this under some control.

Out to dinner tonight. Will feed higher carbs as usual.
Have a good weekend everyone

 

[Heike & BInie]

Hi Staci,

thank you for the test update! I can imagine you are disappointed and I am also surprised about the result because you made a good increase. Anyhow it sounded logical to me you didn't do this huge increase which was suggested by the laboratory but carfully titrated up to find the right dose for Ivy. I hope the next increase will help her to come into a good range. Seems like patience pants are needed...

So happy your son has an eye on Ivy to keep her safe! Big brother! Glad he is still around as a backup!

Hope you have a nice day and enjoy your dinner tonight!

 

[Staci & Ivy]

Hi Staci,

thank you for the test update! I can imagine you are disappointed and I am also surprised about the result because you made a good increase. Anyhow it sounded logical to me you didn't do this huge increase which was suggested by the laboratory but carfully titrated up to find the right dose for Ivy. I hope the next increase will help her to come into a good range. Seems like patience pants are needed...

So happy your son has an eye on Ivy to keep her safe! Big brother! Glad he is still around as a backup!

Hope you have a nice day and enjoy your dinner tonight!

Hi Heike, I hope the patience pants theory works in this case. I’m so bummed. I’m trying to stay positive.

Thank you so much for your sweet support as always

Since this vet is new to me, he’s very mellow so it’s very hard to read him. I don’t really know what he’s thinking other than what he tells me, so I guess I have to take him at face value.
He seems pretty chill about everything and keeps telling me all of her numbers look great other than the T4.
I still feel that the T4 is masking the kidney situation and that makes me very nervous, too.

I’m pretty tightly wound when it comes to all of her conditions so it’s hard for me to take things and stay very calm when all I see is out of range numbers it keeps me up at night and my brain just goes and goes.
I hope you and Binie have a lovely day and a calm, beautiful cycle.

 

[carfurby (GA)]

 

[cecile & bella]

That's nice of him to have called you right away. My husband does that, too, he calls patients late and on weekends with results, I guess there are some drs who can never not be working!
I hope the half-increased dose will work and push Ivy in the right direction.
Is your son home with you? It's great to have a back up.
Have a good time, Satci!

 

[Mikanmama (Mikan GA)]

Hi Staci,

A big bummer for T4!

I’m pretty tightly wound when it comes to all of her conditions so it’s hard for me to take things and stay very calm when all I see is out of range numbers it keeps me up at night and my brain just goes and goes.

Oh Staci, I totally get it. I would be the same way. We want the very best for our girls to keep them healthy and happy.
I too was hopeful that we would see the decline of the level.
But I think it's one of those things that you just have to get to the right dose. It just takes so long to see the effect of an increased dose
Remember, Ivy is a happy girl giving you a lot of purrs and flooffy cuteness. You are doing a fantastic job!
You will get to the right amount of medicine to keep her T4 in chick. I'll even lend my patience pants to you although they are badly shredded

Your son is so sweet. It's nice to have someone else who can watch over - he deserves treats, Staci. Get some ice cream

Sending you hugs, Staci. You will get there - hang in there!

 

[Seth&Bell]

I’m so sorry for the stressful results. It’s so hard with these things that we have no control over. You are giving Ivy everything that a person could possibly give to a cat. Of all the situations Ivy could have ended up in, she is in the best one.

 

[Heike & BInie]

Hi Heike, I hope the patience pants theory works in this case. I’m so bummed. I’m trying to stay positive.

Thank you so much for your sweet support as always

Since this vet is new to me, he’s very mellow so it’s very hard to read him. I don’t really know what he’s thinking other than what he tells me, so I guess I have to take him at face value.
He seems pretty chill about everything and keeps telling me all of her numbers look great other than the T4.
I still feel that the T4 is masking the kidney situation and that makes me very nervous, too.

I’m pretty tightly wound when it comes to all of her conditions so it’s hard for me to take things and stay very calm when all I see is out of range numbers it keeps me up at night and my brain just goes and goes.
I hope you and Binie have a lovely day and a calm, beautiful cycle.

Hi Staci,

I can imagine this situation makes you nervous. My head would race too. And I know all these different conditions influencing each other make it extra difficult.

Just my thoughts because of what I learned through Binies diagnosis: Of course the T4 CAN mask a kidney situation but as far as I know it doesn't have to. When Binie was diagnosed she was at 5.8 and after the t4 was back in range, her kidney values stayed fine. They just got worse when she became hypo after iodine treatment. But as you dose so carefully, that will not happen.

And as I said before, in Germany everything up to 4.7 is still in range, so a German vet might not start treatment yet. So I think you are still early in her treatment and you are doing a wonderful job. Maybe the vet is so chilled, because her numbers are really overall great. I hope with all my heart, it's like that.

I send you a big, big hug!

 

[Staci & Ivy]

That's nice of him to have called you right away. My husband does that, too, he calls patients late and on weekends with results, I guess there are some drs who can never not be working!
I hope the half-increased dose will work and push Ivy in the right direction.
Is your son home with you? It's great to have a back up.
Have a good time, Satci!

Well the labs were done on Tuesday, so it wasn’t exactly that he called me right away.

By the time Friday night rolled around I figured I wasn’t gonna hear from him until Monday. But I have noticed he tends to call around that time of night. I guess that’s when he gets around to making his phone calls, so I just make sure to keep my phone near me in the evenings when I’m waiting for results from him.

It’s great that your husband is so conscientious. I think that’s how people should be treated and not make them wait forever for responses, knowing that they are obviously stressed and waiting for a call.

Yes, my son lives with us which makes me quite happy. I love having him here. He adores Ivy. We just wish she adored him back. For some stupid reason, she won’t let him touch her and won’t allow him to do any of the caregiving, per se.
He can put food down in front of her in hopes she will eat it, but that’s about the most he can do (what Ivy allows). She’s quite dicey.
I wish she would let him do some of the poking or even give an insulin shot if necessary, but she won’t allow it.

We’ve known this since before she was diabetic.
She turned on him after he went away to college and has never forgiven him for leaving home at that point. She’s a complicated girl

 

[cecile & bella]

Oh, that's sad! She must have ben very sad, I imagine.
What I meant was that he called you as soon as he got the results. Sometimes it can take a few days? And I know sometimes numbers can look wrong but still be so close to the normal range that they are not as bad as we might fear, and as Heike said, those ranges vary from lab to lab, too. In any case, i hope Ivy gets better. What are her symptoms for hyperthyroidism? They checked Bella's numbers on Sunday for that, apparently that could also be a cause of blood clots. I still did not look at her results in details, this week has been hard on her, and me!

 

[Staci & Ivy]

Hi Staci,

A big bummer for T4!

Oh Staci, I totally get it. I would be the same way. We want the very best for our girls to keep them healthy and happy.
I too was hopeful that we would see the decline of the level.
But I think it's one of those things that you just have to get to the right dose. It just takes so long to see the effect of an increased dose
Remember, Ivy is a happy girl giving you a lot of purrs and flooffy cuteness. You are doing a fantastic job!
You will get to the right amount of medicine to keep her T4 in chick. I'll even lend my patience pants to you although they are badly shredded

Your son is so sweet. It's nice to have someone else who can watch over - he deserves treats, Staci. Get some ice cream

Sending you hugs, Staci. You will get there - hang in there!

Thanks, Kit. I truly appreciate your support.
I really do hope that we will be able to get her to the right dose without medication making her feel crappy. It seems like it’s such a fine line with this medication and this particular disease from everything I’ve learned. I’m just trying to put my faith in this Dr in hopes that he knows what he’s doing and improve her situation.

You’re right, my son is really awesome. He’s a great guy with a huge heart, and he is happy to step in and help wherever he can.

It was so odd that he actually saw it first on the Libre that she dropped low yesterday and he alerted me. I had checked the Libre information before I went into the store and she was fine.
Then I saw the text from him and was like whoa, Yeah, give her some food. I was glad he caught it.
Most times on a Saturday night when we go out to dinner he will stay home and just hang out to make sure she stays safe.
I’m so lucky he’s here and willing to help.

 

[Staci & Ivy]

I’m so sorry for the stressful results. It’s so hard with these things that we have no control over. You are giving Ivy everything that a person could possibly give to a cat. Of all the situations Ivy could have ended up in, she is in the best one.

Thanks Seth, I appreciate your kind support. I hope I’m doing everything possible to help her in every situation. I know we all do the best we can and I do know.

She probably landed in the best possible situation for her when she landed with us. Considering she was walking down a city street by herself and an amazing cat lady scooped her up. Somehow I saw a post in our neighborhood with a picture of her and I decided I just had to have her.
My heart was still broken from losing a prior kitty and I felt it was time to take on a new one so the timing I guess was just right. We’ve always felt so lucky to find Ivy.

 

[Staci & Ivy]

Oh, that's sad! She must have ben very sad, I imagine.
What I meant was that he called you as soon as he got the results. Sometimes it can take a few days? And I know sometimes numbers can look wrong but still be so close to the normal range that they are not as bad as we might fear, and as Heike said, those ranges vary from lab to lab, too. In any case, i hope Ivy gets better. What are her symptoms for hyperthyroidism? They checked Bella's numbers on Sunday for that, apparently that could also be a cause of blood clots. I still did not look at her results in details, this week has been hard on her, and me!

I do think that Ivy was sad when my son left for college. I have pictures of him holding her and then laying in bed together before he left and that was the last time she allowed that. I think she just never forgave him and she must’ve felt abandoned. When she was little, before he left, she did love him and he was allowed to hold her and everything.

Who knows why cats flip a switch and that’s that.

He’s been living here for seven years since he graduated so there’s no reason for her to still hold a grudge, and yet she does. I know what you mean about.

It may have taken a few days to get the results this week. I guess that’s possible. It just seems a little longer than I would’ve expected, but nothing I can do about it.
As for the hyperthyroid, she wasn’t showing any symptoms. It was only in the blood work that we found it.
She had been in that “gray zone” as they call it, inching up over time. It showed up with the T4 test in March.

From what I understand, they can be ravenous and hungry and yet losing weight and they can be very vocal.
Ivy is none of those things, which is good so hopefully as you said, we caught it early and hopefully we can try to improve her situation.
I hope Bella certainly does not have any of that going on. I know you’ve had quite a week and don’t need one more thing to contend with

 

[Staci & Ivy]

Hi Staci,

I can imagine this situation makes you nervous. My head would race too. And I know all these different conditions influencing each other make it extra difficult.

Just my thoughts because of what I learned through Binies diagnosis: Of course the T4 CAN mask a kidney situation but as far as I know it doesn't have to. When Binie was diagnosed she was at 5.8 and after the t4 was back in range, her kidney values stayed fine. They just got worse when she became hypo after iodine treatment. But as you dose so carefully, that will not happen.

And as I said before, in Germany everything up to 4.7 is still in range, so a German vet might not start treatment yet. So I think you are still early in her treatment and you are doing a wonderful job. Maybe the vet is so chilled, because her numbers are really overall great. I hope with all my heart, it's like that.

I send you a big, big hug!

Thanks for that information, Heike. It is interesting that the range is higher in Germany and they wouldn’t even be treating her yet according to the German protocol. Hopefully that will be working in her favor that they are already treating her and we can help her. So it’s good to have that perspective. Thank you for sharing that.

In the past, everyone was convinced that she had kidney issues and now her kidney values look excellent so that concerns me that they went from looking like she had kidney disease to looking like she doesn’t. I guess we shall see if they can get the T4 into normal range what the kidney values end up, looking like.

We love the hugs and send them back to you and Binie

 

[Madeline528]

9/20/24
Amps 189 Libre
Yesterday was pretty flat yellow and blue on Libre.
There was one dip on the Libre to green when I was at the grocery store. My son texted me “should I feed Ivy something?”
I had him give her a tsp of 12.5% around +7.
(he’s my amazing backup. He watches her Libre graph to make sure she’s safe )

Finally heard back from the vet last night at 8:30 PM. What vet calls that late? This guy seems to.

Anyway, her T4 went up to 4.5 (from 4.2 last month before increase in dose of methimazole).

Unfortunately, wrong direction
Vet suggested we go from 1.25 mg to 2.5 mg in the a.m. and keep dose at 1.25 mg in the p.m. and test again in a month to see where we are. He hopes tinkering with the transdermal dose we can get her in the range and under 4.0. I sure hope so
I’m very worried/sad it’s going up and not down. I hope we can get this under some control.

Out to dinner tonight. Will feed higher carbs as usual.
Have a good weekend everyone

Good morning Staci.

I understand, I too would be worried and sad but hopefully with this adjustment it will be the right dosage for Ivy. Paws crossed. Butch and I are sending hugs!

Yes, it's nice to have a back-up. When my nephew was living with me, it was such a relief knowing he was around to assist with Butch's care.

Enjoy going out to dinner tonight and have a wonderful weekend! Safe surfing, Ivy!

 

[Alicia & Kit cat (GA)]

I'm so sorry to see her T4 went up - I know how much you were hoping it went down.
I hope the new dosage helps. And I'm glad the vet didn't wait until Monday to call, even if it was later in the evening. Kit's vet will text me the basics, and and immediately send me the actual lab work once she has the results in, and if something has changed drastically, she'll call. All of which I appreciate. At this point she knows I'll obsess until I have it, and she wants me to stress less (which is a lovely thing!).
I hope dinner is good tonight!

 

[Staci & Ivy]

I'm so sorry to see her T4 went up - I know how much you were hoping it went down.
I hope the new dosage helps. And I'm glad the vet didn't wait until Monday to call, even if it was later in the evening. Kit's vet will text me the basics, and and immediately send me the actual lab work once she has the results in, and if something has changed drastically, she'll call. All of which I appreciate. At this point she knows I'll obsess until I have it, and she wants me to stress less (which is a lovely thing!).
I hope dinner is good tonight!

Thanks, Alicia. I appreciate your sweet support.
I agree I’d always prefer to get a call any time. Don’t make me wait the whole weekend stressing.
Your vet is very considerate in how she treats you.
My favorite vet who left to be at home with her young kids a few years ago was like that.
She used to call me from home at 10 pm after her kids were In bed so we could talk. (All before we were in the diabetic world).
I miss her desperately. She was just great.
And I’ve struggled to find that kind of compassion and support ever since. It’s been a bad ride.

It seems really hard to find someone like you have.
I hope you and Kit are having a great Caturday

 

[Karen and Chispa (GA)]

Staci, I'm so sorry you are stressed and sad after receiving the lab results. I totally get it -- I felt the same way when Chispa was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism almost five years ago. Her wonderful vet told me not to panic, that there were good options for how to treat it. In the end I chose the I-131 (radiation) because it was said to be a permanent fix. I was a complete mess leading up to it and during the three days it took to get out of her system -- it seemed like an eternity -- but she sailed right through it (I know because the clinic had a webcam set up in the room so I could see her). I've since met others who opted for the medication treatment, with ongoing success.

I know you will find the right path for Ivy. Keep the positive thoughts ...

p.s. Your son sounds like a gem.

 

[Staci & Ivy]

Staci, I'm so sorry you are stressed and sad after receiving the lab results. I totally get it -- I felt the same way when Chispa was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism almost five years ago. Her wonderful vet told me not to panic, that there were good options for how to treat it. In the end I chose the I-131 (radiation) because it was said to be a permanent fix. I was a complete mess leading up to it and during the three days it took to get out of her system -- it seemed like an eternity -- but she sailed right through it (I know because the clinic had a webcam set up in the room so I could see her). I've since met others who opted for the medication treatment, with ongoing success.

I know you will find the right path for Ivy. Keep the positive thoughts ...

p.s. Your son sounds like a gem.

Thanks, Karen. I do wish she was a good candidate for the I131 but I had two clinics in my area, turn her down because of the diabetes and how she would need to be handled with insulin. Plus I couldn’t be sure that she would eat well if left at a clinic and they wouldn’t be able to manage that either.
Then there’s her very feisty temperament where she doesn’t want anybody to touch her but me. (Even there are days she doesn’t want me to touch her.)
So unfortunately, I feel like I’m stuck having to deal with the medication route and so far it’s not going great. It also stinks that she’s gonna have to have constant lab work done to try to manage this condition and going to the vet all the time. It’s not a great thing for her since she requires sedation every time.
I appreciate you letting me know about your experience with Chispa. And I’m so glad that in the end at least you got that condition under control. It’s a lot to deal with isn’t it?
And yes, my son is a gem. I adore him

 

[Alicia & Kit cat (GA)]

Thanks, Alicia. I appreciate your sweet support.
I agree I’d always prefer to get a call any time. Don’t make me wait the whole weekend stressing.
Your vet is very considerate in how she treats you.
My favorite vet who left to be at home with her young kids a few years ago was like that.
She used to call me from home at 10 pm after her kids were In bed so we could talk. (All before we were in the diabetic world).
I miss her desperately. She was just great.
And I’ve struggled to find that kind of compassion and support ever since. It’s been a bad ride.

It seems really hard to find someone like you have.
I hope you and Kit are having a great Caturday

Yeah, I was super worried that she wouldn't come back to vet work after she got through with chemo, but she chose to come back part time, and I think most of her clients stuck with her (why wouldn't they, she's amazing).
I hope you're able to find a good vibe with the new vet.

 

[Staci & Ivy]

Good morning Staci.

I understand, I too would be worried and sad but hopefully with this adjustment it will be the right dosage for Ivy. Paws crossed. Butch and I are sending hugs!

Yes, it's nice to have a back-up. When my nephew was living with me, it was such a relief knowing he was around to assist with Butch's care.

Enjoy going out to dinner tonight and have a wonderful weekend! Safe surfing, Ivy!

Hi Madeline, thank you for your sweet support. We love and appreciate the hugs. Back to you and Butch

It must have been great having your nephew to help you. I know I appreciate my son every day. Even just being able to discuss her concerns and strategies together is so helpful.
We hope you are having a lovely weekend and enjoying the beautiful weather. Safe surf to Butch!

 

[Staci & Ivy]

Yeah, I was super worried that she wouldn't come back to vet work after she got through with chemo, but she chose to come back part time, and I think most of her clients stuck with her (why wouldn't they, she's amazing).
I hope you're able to find a good vibe with the new vet.

You were very lucky she came back. I’m sure she loves what she does and that’s why she’s back.

 

[Madeline528]

Hi Madeline, thank you for your sweet support. We love and appreciate the hugs. Back to you and Butch

It must have been great having your nephew to help you. I know I appreciate my son every day. Even just being able to discuss her concerns and strategies together is so helpful.
We hope you are having a lovely weekend and enjoying the beautiful weather. Safe surf to Butch!

Yes, I was extremely grateful for his help. Exactly, just being able to discuss their concerns and strategies together is so helpful.

It was so beautiful out today. I was able to run a short errand once Butch slide up out of the 50s. Hope you enjoyed the beautiful weather too.

We hope you are having a lovely weekend also! Safe surfing Ivy!