5/26 Curly, new Lantus convert

Status
Not open for further replies.
maggie&curly

maggie&curly

Member
I kind of screwed up last night- I set my alarm to get up and check Curly's sugar at 4+ after his pm shot but slept through it, but we were lucky and he was fine. I will be able to get some better numbers tonight and tomorrow, but I can't believe the difference in him already. Last night he came up and sat with me on the couch, which he has not done in a while, and the biggest thing was that he did not cry at ALL last night. This was huge, and I have to admit that I kind of did, lol. For the past month or so he has been crying at night, which is what he did just before he was diagnosed. It was so nice that he had a comfortable night, and he was eating so well and even peeing less. I could be having a vicarious placebo effect but I don't think so- I really think that I saw a difference already. Does this happen so quickly or am I just imagining things or indulging in wishful thinking? I do know that getting him down to 110 and then even in the 300s coming back up is lower than he has been at the peak of the Humulin. Even the vet could not get him below 350 with regular insulin injections on top of the Humulin last week. She told me that she personally thought that the new insulin was probably not going to make that much difference, that there had to be other things going on from his being uncontrolled for so long. I hope she is wrong. So far from what I have seen she seems to be. What was amazing was he had no ketones in his urine and no UTI that day.

I am so grateful to everyone here for talking me through our first day, and I am more grateful than I can ever say to Traci and Boomer. I told Curly last night that his new medicine came from a very brave kitty who was chasing mice in heaven but who gave his medicine a little bit of magic to help him feel better and I swear he seemed to be listening and getting it! I hope someday I can pay the kindnesses I have experienced from people here forward.

I'll keep you all updated with my spread sheet. I just let my job know that I have switched insulins with my cat and that this is a stricter regimen that can't be fudged with and that I have to pick a time for his shot and be home to give it, so I can only accept shifts that allow me to do that. I told them to let me know what time of day they think they will most need me and I will pick his shot time accordingly and then will have to turn down the other shifts or they will have to work with me on flexing my time a bit. Since I am on call I don't see why they can't do that much. And I am starting a part time job transcribing from home- eventually I hope I can do that full time.
 
Hi Maggie,
It's so nice to hear that Curly is already doing well on Lantus and that you can see (and hear) the difference. We just switched Blackie in March when he became unregulated on PZI and we are really happy with Lantus. It's great that you can set your schedule around Curly's shots. Some workplaces are not so flexible. Welcome to LL - I hope you anc Curly do well.
 
Thank you! I don't know if my work place will be very flexible or not; since they merged with a bigger company things have been a little more set in stone, but being on call at least I can say yay or nay to any shift. Of course if I had a regular schedule that would be nice, for the regular hours plus benefits, but I don't think that is going to happen. I was going to start working from home full time since after 3 months I would have benefits, but working at home pays by the line, so it would be about 12 bucks an hour, 16 if I worked my fingers to the bone. Working at the hospital pays 19.99 an hour and there is a lot of vacation time coming up over the summer that they need coverage for, and I could use that extra pay to build up a bit of a buffer (especially since just one vet visit can literally wipe out my entire account as I just experienced). So I decided to do the home transcribing part time and then work on call here at the hospital when they need me as long as they can accommodate my schedule needs. If they refuse to do that, well I guess then I will be doing the home job full time and typing my butt off! :) I guess things happen for a reason and work out the way you need them to even when it doesn't seem that way at first. I was so bummed that I could not get a permanent position here but now it seems maybe its better this way.

I know yesterday I was testing Curly about every hour or so. How long do I need to continue to test him that often? Is it okay to go down to every 2 hours after a couple of days? His poor ears are looking like pin cushions and I feel so bad for him. I am getting a bit better at getting blood the first or second poke but it isn't fun for either of us. And those strips are not cheap either- I paid 30 bucks for 25 strips last night. I'm hoping I can find my one-touch or get another one since I have more strips for that one. Maybe I will check the store to see if anyone has any Contour strips, but if anyone knows a cheaper place to get them, that would be great. Or I have heard that Walmart has a monitor that the strips are not so expensive for. Does anyone here have any experience with that monitor? Is it fairly reliable?

Thanks again for the support!
 
hey there,
the walmart meter is the relion micro. it cost $12 i think it is and the strips are around $50 for 100 if i remember correctly. so about half the price of name brand stuff. alot of people here use the relion meters and think they are fine.

the micro is their newest one. you don't have to code it and it takes the smallest blood sample, like the freestyle brand of meters.

buttttttttttttt, i posted to your supply closet thread, if you want a one touch meter to use up those strips with, send me a pm with your addy. i've got a hand full of one touch mini's, and a couple Ultra2's and Ultra Smarts i think. i rarely get strips for the One Touch's so I tend to have those in stock for awhile (i do the newbie kits in case you were wondering why i have so many :) )
 
I get Contour test strips on Ebay. I rarely pay more than 30 cents per strip, but sometimes it takes me several days to get them for that price. At the store they are outrageously priced! Sounds like Cindy can hlep you with the one touch.
 
And I get Contour strips on Amazon. They run around $0.50 or less per strip.

You don't need to test every hour. You can test several times per cycle. After a couple of days on Lantus, I'd suggest getting a curve. You test every 2 hours over a 12-hour cycle.

I would suggest getting some tests in the evening. Cats' numbers often run lower at night. Also, not testing during the PM cycle means you're missing half of your data. Try to get at least a before bed test every night.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top