5/27 Fred PMPS 116, AMPS 584

[Purrberry]

Yep, here we go again!

So of COURSE on the night I was having the out to dinner trial with the new petsitter, Fred decided to respond very favorably to his new dose. Too favorably, perhaps! He slid on down....and just kept going. He was still dropping at the time of his PMPS, so I gave 5 instead of his new dose of 7.5. I think the lesson I've learned is that I am not prepared to shoot low if I know he is still dropping. Had he come up...had I been home and able to stall to see where he was going, then that's a different story. But his hypo occurred when I shot a full dose when he was still on the way down, and I just won't go there again. Plus, I didn't want to traumatize the new sitter!

As for the new sitter, she did well, as far as I could tell. We communicated while I was at dinner to make sure everything was going OK. She was able to test him fine, but he was being fussy with dinner. It's hard when someone other than Mom makes it...no one can match Mom's home cookin'! But he did eat, didn't hide, and all was accomplished. AND I had a great dinner. ;-)

When I got home, though, Fred was under the bed, and I saw blood splatter all over the bathroom floor. I panicked and texted the sitter to ask if something had happened, and she said "he gave a generous sample", but that she held a pad to his ear for a couple of minutes. I guess it may still have been bleeding, and he shook his head. Scary though... a bit like a scene from "Carrie". But Fred was happy and purry and seemed fine, so I'm going to assume she just hit the "right" spot on his ear.

Well, we're super high this AM, but I expected it. I think it's half bounce and half less insulin. Knowing what to do in the "still dropping" situation is a real issue for me.

Have a good day everyone!

 

[Liz & Minnie]

Glad the evening went well and the sitter coped! My first report from the sitter had me all panicked when she said "It went well, considering..."

Oh I sympathize on the blood and the Carrie scene! I tend to either just about get enough, or a big blob and she shakes her head and it goes everywhere. I often feel it land on my face. I do wonder what the police would think if they came into my house with a blacklight because try as much as I can, when she splatters it I KNOW I don't get it. I spend too much time randomly wiping the walls with the alcohol wipes when I catch sight of a mark.

It's hard enough worrying about the 'still dropping' but aggravated when you know you can't be there. I increased Minnie's dose this morning and dreading/anticipating what I'll see with the next test (though logical brain says unlikely to see anything significant with a first cycle!)

Have a great day and slide on down, Fred. Yabba dabba doo.

 

[Purrberry]

I do wonder what the police would think if they came into my house with a blacklight

OMG..totally! CSI would have a field day. They'd think I was performing animal sacrifices.

These super high days are rough on my buddy. :-( He's come down, but he's been unhappy all day. My poor boy.

(though logical brain says unlikely to see anything significant with a first cycle!)

Logical brain here thought the same on Fred's first cycle with his increase. I think logic does not apply to our spreadsheets! ;-) Hope Minnie had a good day!

 

[Suzanne & Darcy]

Oh... watch out for those black lights... they reveal a lot of things that you would rather not know about! I'm so glad that you got to go out and enjoy your nice dinner.

I am confused though. You are in NJ. I am in GA. We are on the same time zone. It is now only 9 p.m. here in GA (and in NJ). How can you be posting an AMPS number now? Am I just dumb or what?

 

[Purrberry]

Sorry! The PMPS was from the night before, Wednesday the 26th, and the AM was yesterday morning, the 27th.

You're definitely not dumb! ;-)

 

[JaxBenji]

Knowing what to do in the "still dropping" situation is a real issue for me.

Just here to drop off my favorite post - provided kitty is above your SLGS threshold (or 50 if following TR) and you can monitor + have supplies, you SHOOOOTTTT - many kitties continue to drop without food (Jax was one of them...shot my lowest PS at a few PMPSs) - and, of course your situation with the pet sitter is different so this post is more for you when you are home - https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB...tion-slgs-myths-debunked.111088/#post-1173098 - happy reading!

 

[Purrberry]

Thank you! And definitely not a pet sitter situation. ;-)

I know all of this to be true, and I was following that protocol, but I shot a falling number a couple of weeks ago, and Fred went hypo. I seriously think it traumatized us both, and now I am SO scared to do it again! Fred is a big bouncer as well, so I feel like I never know what I'm shooting...a "true" low number, or a bounce breaking. I find that when he's breaking a bounce, he falls faster and lower. And that, of course, causes another bounce.

Thank you again....I'll try to work towards regaining my confidence to shoot a dropping number.

 

[JaxBenji]

Thank you again....I'll try to work towards regaining my confidence to shoot a dropping number

you'll get there! What did you feed that evening? Any time I shot a dropping number or low PS I fed a little higher carbs and got a +1 and +2 (see 9/15/2020 as an example...I shot a 50 (human meter) at PMPS and fed some MC to get him through the first half of the cycle). ECID is different of course. I do recommend putting food notes in your SS so you can refer back to them (and so others can refer to them too). If you scroll to the right in mine, you'll see just one example of how to track food - others do it differently.

And was Fred symptomatic that night? If not, then he was in low numbers (and you should still work to get him up a bit higher) - it's my understanding the term "hypoglycemic" is tied to symptomatic hypoglycemic events...a lot of kitties run in low #s naturally - Simba is my favorite - they used a human meter but check out his OTJ trial - for a kitty on insulin, we just want to keep them a bit higher to avoid a symptomatic hypoglycemic event.

That was a lot of words lol. Hang in there - you all are doing great They don't call it the "sugar dance" without reason

 

[Purrberry]

I usually give him 1 Tbsp of his dry when I give the injection. I remember I was like, "Oh, that's low to shoot, but shoot low to stay low!". Now I know it's a good idea to give him some MC when he's dropping when I shoot. I think that will give me better peace of mind going forward. That's what happened last night. I stalled an hour, but he was still dropping. I then gave a Tbsp on MC and still a bit of a BCS, but I was braver than the night before. ;-) He stayed in blue for at least the first half of the cycle, so though he went high this AM (which is likely half bounce, half reduced insulin) I felt that he was in a safer place. I'm traveling for the next two days, so I have much conundrum as to his vacation dose. I was thinking to reduce to 7, but I may be very cautious and reduce to 6.5 He just doesn't eat as much when I'm gone, and that causes him to plummet.

I should include food on the spreadsheet, I know. In my mind, it's the same pretty much every day, so I keep mental track. But I know it would help others looking.

And was Fred symptomatic that night?

At the time, I didn't really think so, but last night, when I was printing out the hypo primer to leave for my petsitter, I realized he did actually have some mild symptoms. At first, he was suddenly and aggressively hungry, and then as the night wore on, became quite lethargic. So I really don't want to get near to that again!

Hang in there - you all are doing great

Thank you for the support!

 

[Liz & Minnie]

I hope you have a good time away, but I am also looking forward to when you come back to see how things progress afterwards! Interesting few days on Fred's s/s. I am not good enough at analyzing the data, but hard to tell how much the high numbers are due to bouncing vs reduced dose. Completely sympathize on your nervousness and caution - especially since he's delivering these blues to you at night instead of daytime! but really intrigued to see what happens if you stick with the dose. After the petsitter situation And I'm always relieved to see these nice low ketone readings!

But, first things first. Good luck dealing with the petsitter stress...from my recent experience, I was more relieved at her reporting high readings than lower ones. Relief at lower readings are for when I am at home. And it's daytime. Hang in there, it's looking promising to me!!