AZJenks
Member Since 2014
Mr. Jenks is back y'all!
It has been an inexcusable two months since our last update, and for that I apologize. More importantly, I feel absolutely terrible for causing so much grief to those who wrote to express their worry and concern during that time. That so many of you were continuing to check in on him despite a lack of posts just reinforces what a special place this is and reminds me how fortunate we are to be a part of it.
Now, on to the update:
When last we saw Mr. Jenks, he was doing what he does best -- rising during the day, then going deep late, late into the night.
That's when I came down with a nasty case of the flu. The next two weeks that I spent in pure misery confirmed what I already knew, that this year's vaccine was totally ineffective.
Then, almost as soon as I had recovered, it was time for me to get ready to travel out of state to visit family for a week. In order to make OH's job easier, we staggered his dose to 5.75 in the AM and 5.50 in the PM on the theory that it should raise his nightly numbers into sufficiently safe territory as to not require OH to be up throughout the night. That ended up to be a total disaster. Jenks' numbers blew up pretty much the moment I walked out the door and didn't settle down until I got back, when I discovered that he may have started going low much earlier in the night than we were used to.
By then, I was nearly a month behind in making posts or filling out the spreadsheet, and at a certain point it simply became easier to remain behind than to catchup.
After a couple days, we got him smoothed out, and then it was time for OH to make the same trip that I just made. And that's when something magical happened. On Thanksgiving Day, Jenks went into the greens and stayed there for nearly 6 straight days. These were long, flat, and frankly beautiful cycles the likes of which we had never seen before. I have no explanations for what happened or why it happened, which is why I'm referring to it as the Holiday Miracle!
Recall that some time ago it was suggested that his daytime rises were a physiological response to lower numbers from the previous night, and that if we could somehow knock those numbers down and get his body used to being at lower numbers, then perhaps his body would stop freaking out and his readings would flatten , even if it meant giving him a little more insulin that he needed during the day and extra carbs to compensate at night. So it was on that theory that I determined to keep him in the greens as long as possible, in essence, to train his body that it was OK to operate at those lower blood sugar levels.
Looking back at the spreadsheet, I have to admit that it felt A LOT longer than a week. We had to gravy him, hard & repeatedly throughout the day to buoy his numbers. But ultimately, he started telling us that he was getting too much insulin. So we took a much-needed reduction.
The following night he threw me a 38 at PMPS, for which I took another reduction. In retrospect, that was probably leftover depot action, and we should've given him some time to adjust to the 5.5 dose before reducing further.
Anyway, Jenks has been at 5.25 for almost a month now. We're still seeing lots of wonderful greens and low blues. But my fear is that the Holiday Miracle is beginning to fade. Readings toward the end of December started becoming volatile, with wild swings and the first appearance of pinks (notwithstanding my time out of town) in months.
The start of 2015 seems to see him settling back into the blues & greens, but it looks like his cycles may have changed. It's too early to tell what's going on, but they've certainly become unpredictable in the last few days.
On a final note, he's continuing to make subjective progress. He's trotting and hustling around the house. He's showing increased rear leg strength by being able to hold himself up in the litterbox. We haven't had a butt-cleaning incident in weeks. He's finally up and walking on his tip toes in the rear.
He had his 1 year anniversary on December 19th. From then until now, the change has been nothing short of astonishing. I'd say he's 90-95% of his old self. It's nothing short of a miracle, and one that would not be possible without this board.
Just the other day we had to go see the vet to get the Lantus prescription renewed, and the vet was just floored by our knowledge of feline diabetes and the extent of the care Jenks was receiving. So thank you, thank you, thank you for everything you've done for us. Your experience and wisdom has been invaluable.
He officially weighed in at 23 lbs 11 oz though, which is good for his frame because he's built large, but if it continues to rise will become a more pressing concern.
As a conclusion, I thought I'd graph all of his readings so we could visualize his progress over the last year:
Back to regular posting later today!
It has been an inexcusable two months since our last update, and for that I apologize. More importantly, I feel absolutely terrible for causing so much grief to those who wrote to express their worry and concern during that time. That so many of you were continuing to check in on him despite a lack of posts just reinforces what a special place this is and reminds me how fortunate we are to be a part of it.
Now, on to the update:
When last we saw Mr. Jenks, he was doing what he does best -- rising during the day, then going deep late, late into the night.
That's when I came down with a nasty case of the flu. The next two weeks that I spent in pure misery confirmed what I already knew, that this year's vaccine was totally ineffective.
Then, almost as soon as I had recovered, it was time for me to get ready to travel out of state to visit family for a week. In order to make OH's job easier, we staggered his dose to 5.75 in the AM and 5.50 in the PM on the theory that it should raise his nightly numbers into sufficiently safe territory as to not require OH to be up throughout the night. That ended up to be a total disaster. Jenks' numbers blew up pretty much the moment I walked out the door and didn't settle down until I got back, when I discovered that he may have started going low much earlier in the night than we were used to.
By then, I was nearly a month behind in making posts or filling out the spreadsheet, and at a certain point it simply became easier to remain behind than to catchup.
After a couple days, we got him smoothed out, and then it was time for OH to make the same trip that I just made. And that's when something magical happened. On Thanksgiving Day, Jenks went into the greens and stayed there for nearly 6 straight days. These were long, flat, and frankly beautiful cycles the likes of which we had never seen before. I have no explanations for what happened or why it happened, which is why I'm referring to it as the Holiday Miracle!
Recall that some time ago it was suggested that his daytime rises were a physiological response to lower numbers from the previous night, and that if we could somehow knock those numbers down and get his body used to being at lower numbers, then perhaps his body would stop freaking out and his readings would flatten , even if it meant giving him a little more insulin that he needed during the day and extra carbs to compensate at night. So it was on that theory that I determined to keep him in the greens as long as possible, in essence, to train his body that it was OK to operate at those lower blood sugar levels.
Looking back at the spreadsheet, I have to admit that it felt A LOT longer than a week. We had to gravy him, hard & repeatedly throughout the day to buoy his numbers. But ultimately, he started telling us that he was getting too much insulin. So we took a much-needed reduction.
The following night he threw me a 38 at PMPS, for which I took another reduction. In retrospect, that was probably leftover depot action, and we should've given him some time to adjust to the 5.5 dose before reducing further.
Anyway, Jenks has been at 5.25 for almost a month now. We're still seeing lots of wonderful greens and low blues. But my fear is that the Holiday Miracle is beginning to fade. Readings toward the end of December started becoming volatile, with wild swings and the first appearance of pinks (notwithstanding my time out of town) in months.
The start of 2015 seems to see him settling back into the blues & greens, but it looks like his cycles may have changed. It's too early to tell what's going on, but they've certainly become unpredictable in the last few days.
On a final note, he's continuing to make subjective progress. He's trotting and hustling around the house. He's showing increased rear leg strength by being able to hold himself up in the litterbox. We haven't had a butt-cleaning incident in weeks. He's finally up and walking on his tip toes in the rear.
He had his 1 year anniversary on December 19th. From then until now, the change has been nothing short of astonishing. I'd say he's 90-95% of his old self. It's nothing short of a miracle, and one that would not be possible without this board.
Just the other day we had to go see the vet to get the Lantus prescription renewed, and the vet was just floored by our knowledge of feline diabetes and the extent of the care Jenks was receiving. So thank you, thank you, thank you for everything you've done for us. Your experience and wisdom has been invaluable.
He officially weighed in at 23 lbs 11 oz though, which is good for his frame because he's built large, but if it continues to rise will become a more pressing concern.
As a conclusion, I thought I'd graph all of his readings so we could visualize his progress over the last year:
Back to regular posting later today!
No wonder he needs more than the usual dose of insulin.