5/17 - Harley, YELLOW PMPS!

[Laura and Harley (GA)]

Hi everyone -- After 10 days of only mild improvement on 1u, I raised to 1.25 (or as close as I could measure with my aging eyes) this morning. I headed off to work and was stuck down with one of those nauseating/vomiting migraine headaches that just knock the stuffings out of you. I came home to rest it off at about AM+6.5

Not really expecting to see anything much (as previous dose increases always took a cycle to two to show anything) I grabbed a quick test and from there just had to see where this was going:

AMPS=316
+7=273
+8.5=226
+10=216
PMPS=231

I kept checking the meter to make sure I wasn't dreaming. It may not look like much but it's his second yellow PS since Day 2 on Levemir! dancing_cat Paws, toes and tails crossed this isn't a fluke!

Since my last post, Harley's liver enzymes have come down into the normal range - before I received the Denamarin, so that remains in my kitty stash in case I need to threaten his liver anytime again soon. :lol: The trade off is that he now has a gallop heart rhythm. We're not sure exactly when it started. Whether it's from his second attack of pancreatitis (very probable) or stress (also probable) or daily fluids since 3/16, we don't know. I'm financially tapped out from the almost $6,000 in vet bills, the ER vet, bloodwork, medicine, and all the different foods I've been trying since March, so I can't afford a cardiac consult right now. My vet says he's not retaining fluid and is not in heart failure so we can hold off on the consult for a little while. We're reducing his SubQ fluids to 75 ccs per day as he's well hydrated and I'm getting a stethoscope from a friend to listen to his heart for changes and his lungs for fluid retention.

Considering all he has going on - I'm just loving this yellow PMPS!

 

[pamela and tigger]

Hi everyone -- After 10 days of only mild improvement on 1u, I raised to 1.25 (or as close as I could measure with my aging eyes) this morning. I headed off to work and was stuck down with one of those nauseating/vomiting migraine headaches that just knock the stuffings out of you. I came home to rest it off at about AM+6.5

Not really expecting to see anything much (as previous dose increases always took a cycle to two to show anything) I grabbed a quick test and from there just had to see where this was going:

AMPS=316
+7=273
+8.5=226
+10=216
PMPS=231

I kept checking the meter to make sure I wasn't dreaming. It may not look like much but it's his second yellow PS since Day 2 on Levemir! dancing_cat Paws, toes and tails crossed this isn't a fluke!

Since my last post, Harley's liver enzymes have come down into the normal range - before I received the Denamarin, so that remains in my kitty stash in case I need to threaten his liver anytime again soon. :lol: The trade off is that he now has a gallop heart rhythm. We're not sure exactly when it started. Whether it's from his second attack of pancreatitis (very probable) or stress (also probable) or daily fluids since 3/16, we don't know. I'm financially tapped out from the almost $6,000 in vet bills, the ER vet, bloodwork, medicine, and all the different foods I've been trying since March, so I can't afford a cardiac consult right now. My vet says he's not retaining fluid and is not in heart failure so we can hold off on the consult for a little while. We're reducing his SubQ fluids to 75 ccs per day as he's well hydrated and I'm getting a stethoscope from a friend to listen to his heart for changes and his lungs for fluid retention.

Considering all he has going on - I'm just loving this yellow PMPS!

Great numbers today Laura! I checked earlier today and saw that you had raised the dose. I am glad the rest of the cycle has played out so nicely.

Just wanted to add that there are a lot of heart-health experts on the Health forum here. If you have any questions, please do post there. They may be able to help with any cardiovascular questions you have. But please don't stop posting here, just trying to send you to people that have experience in this area. I also wonder if you have looked up Taurine deficiency to see if Harley could use this as a supplement.

 

[Laura and Harley (GA)]

Great numbers today Laura! I checked earlier today and saw that you had raised the dose. I am glad the rest of the cycle has played out so nicely.

Just wanted to add that there are a lot of heart-health experts on the Health forum here. If you have any questions, please do post there. They may be able to help with any cardiovascular questions you have. But please don't stop posting here, just trying to send you to people that have experience in this area. I also wonder if you have looked up Taurine deficiency to see if Harley could use this as a supplement.

Hi Pamela -- Thanks so much for the reply and encouragement! It was a rather exciting day yesterday including overnight. No blues but nice surfing yellows and a yellow AMPS. He's running higher today which is not a big surprise.

Thanks for pointing my way towards Health for the heart issue. I just found out about it on Monday night so am still a little in shock. What little I do know is that a gallop heart rhythm can go hand in paw with subclinical DIC which we still haven't ruled out that he may have. A re-check of PT and PTT as well as FDPs showed normal PT and PTT but elevated FDPs plus he still has thrombocytopenia. I'm watching his blood clotting very closely just in case. Since he does have a malabsorption issue, could be that he's taurine defficcient. I hadn't thought of that one. Thank you so much for pointing that out!

Hey, it just occurred to me yesterday was the full moon. Could be he's a devotee of the goddess Diana.. in which case I'd better start offering her catnip sacrifices.

 

[Sheila & Beau GA & Jeddie GA]

Ugh, sorry about the migraine. I used to get them like that. No fun at all.

I also would suggest asking on Health about the issues - including how much fluids to give. Is that for kidney issues? You have a balancing issues with fluids when there are heart issues going on. I don't have a lot of experience with that so don't want to offer any suggestions there. Just want to say that there are a lot of good treatment options out there for various heart issues. Beau has had cardiomyopathy since he was 3 (he will be 13 in Aug). He has not ever had sub-qs and was actually on diuretics in the beginning (he had 600 ccs of fluid aspirated from his abdomen and chest at his first cardio exam).

Nice to see the yellows and I can understand the excitement over them!