5/29 Merlin AMPS 194,+3/149,+5/100,+6/102,PMPS 147,+16.5/211

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Merlin

Merlin

Very Active Member
5/29
AMPS 194; .8u

Drats, I set my alarm on my cell but I forgot to bring it into the bedroom last night so I could get an early reading.

I am wondering if I shouldn't start the .8u today since he is in the blues again. However, I did shoot a 1u when he was at 199 on 5/23 however, that was at night and he typically is higher and flatter at night. Also instead of the feeder last night, I just left out some soupy, soupy food out (3/4 of a saucer) and he ate it all up sometime last night. I will be gone from 1pm-5pm today (after nadir). I don't think I am going to start the subq fluids until tomorrow.
 
Re: 5/29 Merlin AMPS 194

I went ahead and gave him .8u today. Just not sure how he is going to respond today after surgery so I rather be conservative.
 
Re: 5/29 Merlin AMPS 194

Sorry Cindi! I think .8 was fine since you can monitor during the day. I'll be interested to see where he goes. How's he feeling this AM?
 
Re: 5/29 Merlin AMPS 194

Thanks for asking. He is resting comfortably on the bed on his pillow. I really had to persuade him to eat this morning. I could tell that he was hungry and wanted to eat but I am sure he was in pain. So I puree some tuna and added it to his EVO Turkey/Chicken breakfast. He licked it up then. That is when I decided to go ahead and give him his pain meds one hour early just in case he didn't eat later. I just went in to his bedroom at 8:30am to give him some more food and he licked up a little more. The pain meds are really making him zone out. He just lays there with his head up and is looking pretty blank. Once I start massaging him he becomes alert and interested. A couple of the cats wants to keep him company so they are laying on the bed next to him. I will be testing him in about 15 minutes (9am).
 
Re: 5/29 Merlin AMPS 194

How sweet your other cats are keeping him company. Yes, I would err on the conservative side until the pain meds and antibiotics are gone. We were thinking he might run higher because of the antibiotics and the pain but looks like he is trending lower. Good news! And a reason to be careful with dosing.
 
Re: 5/29 Merlin AMPS 194

5/29
AMPS 194; .8u
+3 - 149

Merlin is up and eating. He is doing well so far.
 
Re: 5/29 Merlin AMPS 194,+3/149

What a nice report on Merlin! :-D What a nice surprise for an AMPS this morning! I think you made a good decision on the 0.8. Hopefully, he'll safely surf in low blues or high greens today. Nice to hear that his furry siblings are snuggling with him. cat_pet_icon
 
Re: 5/29 Merlin AMPS 194,+3/149

5/29
AMPS 194; .8u
+3 - 149
+5 - 100
+6 - 102

Leaving in about an hour so will probably check it one more time. All should be safe.
 
Re: 5/29 Merlin AMPS 194,+3/149,+5/100,+6/102

Awww hugs to his family for keeping him company so sweet....Angels and tons of healing green light ((Merlin)))) great job surfing the blue lagoon!!!! ~O) Kath
Glad that's all over all my boys get so stressed out if meals are put on hold!!!! :razz:
 
Re: 5/29 Merlin AMPS 194,+3/149,+5/100,+6/102,PMPS 147

5/29
AMPS 194; .8u
+3 - 149
+5 - 100
+6 - 102
PMPS 147; 8u

I suppose I keep with the .8u. Any other thoughts?
 
Re: 5/29 Merlin AMPS 194,+3/149,+5/100,+6/102,PMPS 147

Hi Cindi,

Personally, with that 147, I would stall to make certain he's rising, rather than surfing. You shot at 194 last night, but I'd wait till he's a little closer to 200.
 
Re: 5/29 Merlin AMPS 194,+3/149,+5/100,+6/102,PMPS 147

Ok. I just gave him a little food and he only ate maybe a tsp but I got it away from him now. I know that he is due for his pain med and needs to eat some before I give it to him. Should I wait about 20 minutes? What if it is the same or lower? This is such new territory for us. Glad you are here. I will test around 6:30pm and will post.
 
Re: 5/29 Merlin AMPS 194,+3/149,+5/100,+6/102,PMPS 147,+6.5/

5/29
AMPS 194; .8u
+3 - 149
+5 - 100
+6 - 102
PMPS 147; ?
+12.5 - 130

Wow, good thing I didn't give him his shot. Thank you! Wait another 30 minutes? I guess I don't understand when to go ahead and give the shot or stall. I think it is when you get a low number (say under 180 or 200) and you keep testing until you know if it is going up. If it isn't...I am not sure what is next???
 
Re: 5/29 Merlin AMPS 194,+3/149,+5/100,+6/102,PMPS 147,+12.5

I think we need to think like we are starting from scratch. I wouldn't look back at the ss for dosing. He is lower than he has been before and doesn't seem to be bouncing.

I wouldn't shoot under 180 and always be sure he is rising. Once you get some new data, we will be more confident about dosing. Even with a 180 and rising, i'd be conservative - maybe .5 - if you can monitor. What are you thinking, Jen?
 
Re: 5/29 Merlin AMPS 194,+3/149,+5/100,+6/102,PMPS 147,+12.5

Merlin said:
I guess I don't understand when to go ahead and give the shot or stall. I think it is when you get a low number (say under 180 or 200) and you keep testing until you know if it is going up. If it isn't...I am not sure what is next???
Click to expand...

Hi Cindi - if it were me, I would continue to stall.

What I did with Eddie was to test approximately every 30 mins. I'd wait to see that he was in fact rising (so the numbers were outside meter variance of 20%), and as I gathered data, I lowered my shot number, assuming I could monitor. You might gradually lower your pre-shot threshold by 15-20 points at a time - so maybe looking for a 180 tonight, see how it goes, and gradually lower that number. I would for now, recommend against shooting anything under 150. I do know there are some caretakers that will shoot at a lower pre-shot threshhold, once they have the data to know it's safe to do so. I personally started running into problems with Eddie shooting those mid-blue numbers because I would get too much overlap between the last shot, and the time the next shot onset. Many people are able to do this successfully, though. With my experiences with Eddie, I don't think I ever successfully shot less than 160. Essentially, you're trying to predict where Merlin's numbers are going to be about two hours (onset) from the time you shoot.
 
Re: 5/29 Merlin AMPS 194,+3/149,+5/100,+6/102,PMPS 147,+12.5

Hi Sue,

I cross posted with you -

I think I agree with sort of "starting over" since something seems to have changed with Merlin. I like the 0.5 as a place to start if he hits the 180 range.
 
Re: 5/29 Merlin AMPS 194,+3/149,+5/100,+6/102,PMPS 147,+12.5

Ok - will test every 30 minutes. Will one of you be around tonight? I think you both are 2 hours ahead of me? I hate to keep you all up. When you say .5, that is more like a fat .4u right?

You might gradually lower your pre-shot threshold by 15-20 points at a time - so maybe looking for a 180 tonight, see how it goes, and gradually lower that number.

What did you mean by the above statement? I don't understand the 15-20 points at a time? I think you mean once I get a 180, then shoot say .5 then next time say I get a 170 (and I know that it is rising), then shoot that number. How do I know what to shoot for the 170 then?
 
Re: 5/29 Merlin AMPS 194,+3/149,+5/100,+6/102,PMPS 147,+12.5

5/29
AMPS 194; .8u
+3 - 149
+5 - 100
+6 - 102
PMPS 147; ?
+12.5 - 130
+13 - 167
 
Re: 5/29 Merlin AMPS 194,+3/149,+5/100,+6/102,PMPS 147,+12.5

Hi Cindi - I'll be up for several hours yet most likely. Looks like Eddie might be planning on keeping me on my toes tonight. :smile:
Merlin said:
You might gradually lower your pre-shot threshold by 15-20 points at a time - so maybe looking for a 180 tonight, see how it goes, and gradually lower that number.

What did you mean by the above statement? I don't understand the 15-20 points at a time? I think you mean once I get a 180, then shoot say .5 then next time say I get a 170 (and I know that it is rising), then shoot that number. How do I know what to shoot for the 170 then?
Click to expand...

Yep, that's exactly what I meant. Basically, you're gradually lowering your shot threshhold as you gather data to ensure it's safe to shoot at lower and lower numbers. The amount to shoot will depend on a lot of different things. For example, if the 0.5 looks like it's perfect for a pre-shot of 180, a pre-shot of 170 is only 10 points different, so you might shoot the same. If it looks like the 0.5 is giving Merlin a nadir in the 50's on a pre-shot of 180, you might think about "shaving" the dose a tiny bit for a pre-shot that's a bit lower.
 
Re: 5/29 Merlin AMPS 194,+3/149,+5/100,+6/102,PMPS 147,+13/1

Wow you are right about Eddie. He is really getting into those greens. When do you sleep???

Also how do you copy a statement?
 
Re: 5/29 Merlin AMPS 194,+3/149,+5/100,+6/102,PMPS 147,+13/1

Merlin said:
Wow you are right about Eddie. He is really getting into those greens. When do you sleep???
Click to expand...

Haha! - I sneak in naps after work pretty regularly. :smile: DH also takes care of the testing/feeding/shoot in the morning so I do get to sleep a bit later. :-D

Merlin said:
Also how do you copy a statement?
Click to expand...

There's a couple ways --

If you're looking at a post or a reply, you can see the "Quote" button all the way over on the top right corner. From the main thread screen, you can hit the quote button and it will open up a reply box with the whole post quoted.

You can also hit reply to a thread, and if you scroll down from the text editing box, you can see the replies in the entire thread. Each reply has the "Quote" button in the upper right hand corner. If you hit that, it will quote the entire reply in your text box.

In the reply screen, if you want to quote just a piece of a message, you can scroll down through the replies, and highlight with your cursor just the part you want to quote. Once you have it highlighted, you hit the "Quote" button of that message, and it will paste just the statement you have highlighted in your text box as a quote.
 
Re: 5/29 Merlin AMPS 194,+3/149,+5/100,+6/102,PMPS 147,+13.5

5/29
AMPS 194; .8u
+3 - 149
+5 - 100
+6 - 102
PMPS 147; ?
+12.5 - 130
+13 - 167
+13.5 - 159
 
Re: 5/29 Merlin AMPS 194,+3/149,+5/100,+6/102,PMPS 147,+13.5

Well look at Merlin surf. I thought he may be on his way up, but he's still going. How's he holding up? Is he getting upset waiting for food? If I had to stall for a couple hours with Eddie, I would occasionally give the cats maybe a tablespoon of LC - not a full meal, just to tide them over. A small amount shouldn't bump the BG up so much that you can't differentiate between a climb and a small food bump. Does that make sense?

It looks like you may be starting down the path of chasing the numbers - a bit challenging, but a good problem to have! :-D
 
Re: 5/29 Merlin AMPS 194,+3/149,+5/100,+6/102,PMPS 147,+13.5

He seems pretty quiet but I think it is because he throat is probably still a little sore from the tube they put down his throat for surgery. He is usually hollering and making me go insane and doesn't stop until he is fed. He is resting nicely near his dish. I don't know if he is in pain but he is laying flat out on his side which leads me to think he is not in too much pain. What also could be is that he may have been in so much pain prior to his dental that this pain that he feels is so much better...just a theory.

Whoops never mind, he just came out to me and tried to holler but it is very hoarse so I know it is because of the tube. So I will give him a little. How long do I keep going? Until he hits 180? So by chasing numbers, you keep going until you get the 180, correct?
 
Re: 5/29 Merlin AMPS 194,+3/149,+5/100,+6/102,PMPS 147,+13.5

Merlin said:
Whoops never mind, he just came out to me and tried to holler but it is very hoarse so I know it is because of the tube. So I will give him a little. How long do I keep going? Until he hits 180? So by chasing numbers, you keep going until you get the 180, correct?
Click to expand...

If your schedule allows, you can keep stalling/chasing as long as you want to and as long as Merlin is willing and able to wait for his meal. I did this with Eddie pretty regularly, but there were times I had to skip the shot since I had to go to work. If Merlin is just kind of sitting flat, you can extend times between tests to more than 30 minutes, too. That's kind of a judgment call thing. The idea is to try to catch them rising as soon as you can - hence the re-testing every 30 minutes. But if they're just surfing or not rising quickly, you can space out the tests. It really depends on how much you can afford to be off schedule.

The flip side of this is if you end up shooting at +14, you don't necessarily have to wait until 12 hours later to shoot again. If he's high enough and rising 10 or 11 hours later, you can shoot early. You just need to be extra cautious to make sure he is in fact rising. I often shot something like a 14/10 schedule with Eddie depending on his numbers.
 
Re: 5/29 Merlin AMPS 194,+3/149,+5/100,+6/102,PMPS 147,+13.5

That makes sense. I have not fed him yet so I think I am going to test here in a few minutes (8pm) and then give him a little. The I will probably test him hourly or until 10pm or maybe 11pm. So if I get a 180, so I need to test again to make sure I get a reading over 180 to make sure he is rising?
 
Re: 5/29 Merlin AMPS 194,+3/149,+5/100,+6/102,PMPS 147,+13.5

If he gets to 180, it's not really necessary to test again. You can look back at the prior tests to see that he is in fact rising. I'll almost certainly be up for the next few hours, so I'll keep an eye out for his tests. If you get to the point where you're ready to call it a night and he's still not high enough, you'll just feed him his supper, and shoot whenever you want to in the AM (assuming he does eventually go above 180).
 
Re: 5/29 Merlin AMPS 194,+3/149,+5/100,+6/102,PMPS 147,+13.5

5/29
AMPS 194; .8u
+3 - 149
+5 - 100
+6 - 102
PMPS 147; ?
+12.5 - 130
+13 - 167
+13.5 - 159
+14 - 164

Do you think I can go ahead and feed him more than 1 T because I would like to give him his meds? I was just thinking of giving him about a saucer full (it is pretty soupy so it is not a whole lot).
 
Re: 5/29 Merlin AMPS 194,+3/149,+5/100,+6/102,PMPS 147,+13.5

That should be OK to go ahead and feed. Getting his meds in is important. Just be mindful that his numbers in the next hour or two may have some food influence. It doesn't really look like Merlin gets a huge food spike, so if he's really going up a lot, I think you can safely assume that he's headed up. If he's still hovering but a little higher, I think the safe thing to do is to assume that there's a food influence.
 
Re: 5/29 Merlin AMPS 194,+3/149,+5/100,+6/102,PMPS 147,+14/1

5/29
AMPS 194; .8u
+3 - 149
+5 - 100
+6 - 102
PMPS 147; ?
+12.5 - 130
+13 - 167
+13.5 - 159
+14 - 164
+15 - 184 (fed and gave meds)

So with this food influence, shall I wait another hour? I don't think he will want to eat. Those pain meds really knock him out.
 
Re: 5/29 Merlin AMPS 194,+3/149,+5/100,+6/102,PMPS 147,+14/1

Hmmm...he's still just kind of hovering. The 184 may be just a food bump. If you think he might not want to eat because of the pain meds, it might just be safest to skip tonight, and start with a clean slate in the AM. Then you don't have to be up at all hours checking him too. What are you thinking?
 
Re: 5/29 Merlin AMPS 194,+3/149,+5/100,+6/102,PMPS 147,+15/1

I think I would like to test at least one more time - 10pm. Maybe the next one might be more of a true test after one hour of food?
 
Re: 5/29 Merlin AMPS 194,+3/149,+5/100,+6/102,PMPS 147,+15/1

I think that sounds good. Hopefully the number will clearly indicate what he's got planned. :smile:
 
Re: 5/29 Merlin AMPS 194,+3/149,+5/100,+6/102,PMPS 147,+16.5

5/29
AMPS 194; .8u
+3 - 149
+5 - 100
+6 - 102
PMPS 147; ?
+12.5 - 130
+13 - 167
+13.5 - 159
+14 - 164
+15 - 184
+16.5 - 211

Since it is 4.5 hours after regular shot time, should I give him a small amount? If shoot, will have to see if he will eat. Is 211 still a food bump?
 
Re: 5/29 Merlin AMPS 194,+3/149,+5/100,+6/102,PMPS 147,+16.5

I'm thinking the 211 probably is his natural rise at this point. I think you should be OK if you want to give him something like 0.4.
 
Re: 5/29 Merlin AMPS 194,+3/149,+5/100,+6/102,PMPS 147,+16.5

Sounds good. Thanks. Looks like Eddie may be coming up...nice numbers tonight.
 
Re: 5/29 Merlin AMPS 194,+3/149,+5/100,+6/102,PMPS 147,+16.5

I'm excited to see where Merlin's headed. :smile: Hopefully, he'll come down just a bit and surf through to the morning for you.

You can shoot earlier than +12 in the morning, assuming he's fairly close to 200 and that he's rising.

Have a good night!
 
Re: 5/29 Merlin AMPS 194,+3/149,+5/100,+6/102,PMPS 147,+16.5

Thanks for staying up. We shall see for tomorrow. Both Eddie and Merlin are keeping us on our toes here lately.
 
Re: 5/29 Merlin AMPS 194,+3/149,+5/100,+6/102,PMPS 147,+16.5

Wow! What a surf yesterday! I went to bed super early...been an extremely busy work week (and today will be just as busy) so I literally couldn't stay awake. I'm not sure I would have been any help though...I'm not nearly as good at the dosing as Jen is! :lol:

Here's hoping Merlin gives beautiful numbers today!
 
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