Skye & Jackson
Member Since 2022
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/thr...-6-5-493-9-5-410-pmps-413-2-386-4-406.271699/
Well, you guys were right - I can hardly believe it after that all almost red day, but he did hit yellows! Not only that but he stayed in them through the wee hours, and I even got a yellow preshot. I’m expecting a bounce at some point, but I really hope it isn’t so much red again! That really scared me! That really is the first time since diagnosis that he had such a prolonged period in the 400s without coming down at least a bit in the middle.
When I first started this diabetes trip, I was gung-ho about TR, at least the original protocol I found on my own on the TillyDiabetes website. I had read all about remission, done all the intensive research that I throw into any new medical problem human or feline, and I truly believed I could “get there!” Unfortunately I then discovered via attempting it that I can’t really fulfill the protocol - despite the Libre’s ability to show what his sugars are doing at any point (though muchly I get that info well after the fact, is part of the issue). I realized that I can’t feed or personally monitor as often as TR requires. It’s not just a wet vs dry food thing - the dry he is on is less then 1% carb, so it actually shouldn’t make that much of a difference. It’s the scheduling.
The problem is, I work usually 8 but not uncommonly 10, and thank-God-rarely 12 hour days at a hospital. I literally cannot give him a separate measured out little feeding every four hours or whenever his glucose starts dipping low. I literally cannot hang out all day (most days, anyway) with him and make sure his sugars don’t dip too low if the protocol had me shooting aggressively for greens. And I am his only full-energy caregiver. I have trained a couple family members to be able to give a shot that I have pre-loaded in a syringe a few hours before, on the days when my shift goes over the PM shot time, and between them they are certainly willing to scan the Libre at least a couple times while I’m gone (as their workflows allow). But I have been bluntly informed that they have jobs too as well as other responsibilities (such as the elderly relative’s medical and care issues currently taking up so much of all our energies), and that nobody can sit with Jack all day. And also that no ear pricking (for accurate numbers when he’s in greens) will be attempted. I haven’t even asked about feeding small measured meals of specific carb percentages; I already know from past experiences of other kinds that I am the only one in my family with that kind of patience for detail and timing (I’ve actually been called obsessive before, as though it were a flaw, like something that would get in the way of the rough and tumble unpredictability of “real life”). Therefore free-grazing the YA kibble has become Jackson’s stand-in for those meals, to keep him safe and his ketones down.
My cousin B in particular - although she has affection for Jackson and truly loves kitties, can’t resist most hard luck cases - is unfortunately mentally quite old school about diabetes. Back in the 80’s and early 90’s, she was told to simply put a couple of cats down that developed diabetes, and those experiences hit her hard. She now seems to vacillate between being amazed and glad that insulin therapy exists now for cats, and a deep-set skepticism that it will work in the long run, which grows worse the longer and harder Jack takes to regulate. She actually told me the day before yesterday that I “may have to face reality, this could just be giving him a little more time”. I recognize that this is her way of distancing herself to try to lessen the pain and grief that she deep-down is convinced will happen again, but that attitude is not helpful. Yet at the same time, she has been the most willing to learn to give a shot despite her initial squeamishness and still nerves about it, and the most anxious - from a distance - when he’s too high or “too low” (the latter being anything below 200 in her mind, and below 100 would send her into a panic). So it’s a frustration for me, but I have to try to keep as positive-voiced as possible and work with what help I’ve got.
Don’t get me wrong, I still daydream about remission… it’s just more wistful now. I would love it to happen - but if it ever does, it must be slowly reached, without intensive hovering required. Which I know makes it less likely. I feel like I’m being realistic now in saying that seeing greens (stable higher-end since I can’t tightly monitor and react to lows) would be a joy, eventually, but that I feel a long time in yellows and then blues - if we can ever stop his rocket-ship bouncing - is probably more likely what’s going to have to happen.
And as a topper on that cake, I don’t know if I’ll be able to maintain a Libre on him long term, though I would like to. Not only the cost, but also that he’s started paying attention lately to getting them off. If he figures out how to defeat the intensive gluing that I put on this last one, we’re gonna have a problem. So I may end up down to just a couple of chances to check his BG a day, eventually - he won’t allow any more pricks than that. (I really do hope that’s not the case and I can keep the Libre on!)
To summarize all that - due to my lack of ability for intensive monitoring and feeding, SLGS has become my only realistic option.
(Although a long-timer or two here have given me a go-ahead a few times to specially do a dose increase before a week is up a couple times, when I was home a couple days and could monitor.)
I really did think he was going to see yellow last night! But don’t be surprised if he bounces a bit.I’m glad to hear he is happy!
Well, you guys were right - I can hardly believe it after that all almost red day, but he did hit yellows! Not only that but he stayed in them through the wee hours, and I even got a yellow preshot. I’m expecting a bounce at some point, but I really hope it isn’t so much red again! That really scared me! That really is the first time since diagnosis that he had such a prolonged period in the 400s without coming down at least a bit in the middle.
When I first started this diabetes trip, I was gung-ho about TR, at least the original protocol I found on my own on the TillyDiabetes website. I had read all about remission, done all the intensive research that I throw into any new medical problem human or feline, and I truly believed I could “get there!” Unfortunately I then discovered via attempting it that I can’t really fulfill the protocol - despite the Libre’s ability to show what his sugars are doing at any point (though muchly I get that info well after the fact, is part of the issue). I realized that I can’t feed or personally monitor as often as TR requires. It’s not just a wet vs dry food thing - the dry he is on is less then 1% carb, so it actually shouldn’t make that much of a difference. It’s the scheduling.
The problem is, I work usually 8 but not uncommonly 10, and thank-God-rarely 12 hour days at a hospital. I literally cannot give him a separate measured out little feeding every four hours or whenever his glucose starts dipping low. I literally cannot hang out all day (most days, anyway) with him and make sure his sugars don’t dip too low if the protocol had me shooting aggressively for greens. And I am his only full-energy caregiver. I have trained a couple family members to be able to give a shot that I have pre-loaded in a syringe a few hours before, on the days when my shift goes over the PM shot time, and between them they are certainly willing to scan the Libre at least a couple times while I’m gone (as their workflows allow). But I have been bluntly informed that they have jobs too as well as other responsibilities (such as the elderly relative’s medical and care issues currently taking up so much of all our energies), and that nobody can sit with Jack all day. And also that no ear pricking (for accurate numbers when he’s in greens) will be attempted. I haven’t even asked about feeding small measured meals of specific carb percentages; I already know from past experiences of other kinds that I am the only one in my family with that kind of patience for detail and timing (I’ve actually been called obsessive before, as though it were a flaw, like something that would get in the way of the rough and tumble unpredictability of “real life”). Therefore free-grazing the YA kibble has become Jackson’s stand-in for those meals, to keep him safe and his ketones down.
My cousin B in particular - although she has affection for Jackson and truly loves kitties, can’t resist most hard luck cases - is unfortunately mentally quite old school about diabetes. Back in the 80’s and early 90’s, she was told to simply put a couple of cats down that developed diabetes, and those experiences hit her hard. She now seems to vacillate between being amazed and glad that insulin therapy exists now for cats, and a deep-set skepticism that it will work in the long run, which grows worse the longer and harder Jack takes to regulate. She actually told me the day before yesterday that I “may have to face reality, this could just be giving him a little more time”. I recognize that this is her way of distancing herself to try to lessen the pain and grief that she deep-down is convinced will happen again, but that attitude is not helpful. Yet at the same time, she has been the most willing to learn to give a shot despite her initial squeamishness and still nerves about it, and the most anxious - from a distance - when he’s too high or “too low” (the latter being anything below 200 in her mind, and below 100 would send her into a panic). So it’s a frustration for me, but I have to try to keep as positive-voiced as possible and work with what help I’ve got.
Don’t get me wrong, I still daydream about remission… it’s just more wistful now. I would love it to happen - but if it ever does, it must be slowly reached, without intensive hovering required. Which I know makes it less likely. I feel like I’m being realistic now in saying that seeing greens (stable higher-end since I can’t tightly monitor and react to lows) would be a joy, eventually, but that I feel a long time in yellows and then blues - if we can ever stop his rocket-ship bouncing - is probably more likely what’s going to have to happen.
And as a topper on that cake, I don’t know if I’ll be able to maintain a Libre on him long term, though I would like to. Not only the cost, but also that he’s started paying attention lately to getting them off. If he figures out how to defeat the intensive gluing that I put on this last one, we’re gonna have a problem. So I may end up down to just a couple of chances to check his BG a day, eventually - he won’t allow any more pricks than that. (I really do hope that’s not the case and I can keep the Libre on!)
To summarize all that - due to my lack of ability for intensive monitoring and feeding, SLGS has become my only realistic option.
(Although a long-timer or two here have given me a go-ahead a few times to specially do a dose increase before a week is up a couple times, when I was home a couple days and could monitor.)
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