If you're able to monitor, I'd go for it as long as it's over 50ish. There isn't much difference between the 84 you shot before and a 55, for example. Take a look at Jack's condo for today and his ss. This is Merrin's first time shooting green.
Shooting low (full dose into normal numbers 50-120) can be a game-changer. It can reduce the overall range of blood sugar and let Lantus do its best work. You saw what happened on 12/26 when you shot the 84 - he didn't plummet. He basically stayed flat in green numbers for hours afterwards. That's what Lantus is known for. You're great at monitoring and as long as he's not sick or not eating, and you've got strips and high carb and can monitor him, I'd shoot.
Once you feel confident about how he responds then you won't need to test him so often after you've shot green. Have you seen Davidson's ss?
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0Aj3uT59Jr1qSdHAzZGdodHR1NVFwb1FHR0hOOTRwQ3c&outpu His is one of my favorites, and honestly, the only cat I've seen that worked off of insulin in quite this way. Look at February 9th and see when Shawna started with green amps - then look across and see what happens in the rest of the cycle.
Davidson went green at 2.75u doses and basically worked his way off of insulin by staying in normal numbers for a week at a time for most doses. There were a couple of times he went below 50 and got reductions that way, but mostly it was just by staying in normal numbers at one dose for one week. That part is at the bottom of the paragraph on reducing the dose (TR Protocol guidelines):
Reducing the dose:
- If kitty drops below 40 (long term diabetic) or 50 (newly diagnosed diabetic) reduce the dose by 0.25 unit. If kitty has a history of not holding reductions well or if reductions are close together... sneak the dose down by shaving the dose rather than reducing by a full quarter unit. See additional notes in the next paragraph about drops into the 20s and 30s. Alternatively, at each newly reduced dose... try to make sure kitty maintains numbers in the normal range for seven days before reducing the dose further.