Amanda and a Loudogg
Member Since 2017
June 7, 2019 Condo
Good morning everyone!
Lou is definitely holding steady and the new lot of Levemir is definitely working. He was already down to 53 last night, so I'm pleased with his progress. I switched back to the "old" lot of Levemir today.
So today marks the 2nd anniversary of Lou's FD diagnosis. Part of me still can't believe it's been 2 years, and the other feels like it's been a lifetime. We have come SO far since he was diagnosed. Lou has always been a big boy. He was at 19 pounds before diagnosis, and we knew something was wrong when he rapidly lost a lot of weight in a short time frame (about a month and a half). When we brought him in, he was down to 13 pounds, which made him look almost skeletal. My vet ran a chem panel, and his BG was 539! We were absolutely devastated. Lou has always been a special kid, but I would have never imagined he'd introduce us to FD and eventually to this fantastic board.
We've been on quite the journey in the last 2 years. Lou was started on Vetsulin 4u, but we only gave him 2u - 3u. Thankfully I found this board almost immediately and started testing him a few days after diagnosis (too chicken to start sooner - the insulin shots were scary enough to get used to). After a scary low-BG intro, he did incredibly well on 1u. He had an OTJ trial after a month, which failed on the last day. After that, his numbers shot up and were incredibly hard to bring back down (it was like the insulin was not working, even though we frequently bought new vials as needed). I finally brought Lou back in last May and the vet switched us to glargine (we started him on Basaglar instead of Lantus to save some money). Lou did so much better on a depot insulin, but he started bouncing like crazy. He was diagnosed with insulin autoantibodies (IAA) in July, which explained the higher numbers and doses (although Lou's never gone as high as some in dose). I gave the Basaglar six months and then we switched him to Levemir in December. My only regret here is I wish we would have switched to Levemir sooner.
After almost 2 years on insulin, Lou is finally regulated, which I thought would be an impossibility. He's happy, healthy, and his pancreas has the time to maybe start healing. I was telling Caleb that he's probably healthier now then he was before the diagnosis. He's on all wet food now and his coat is soft as silk instead of matted and course. I fully believe he might have died if I had followed my vet's advice about dosing. After butting heads with the diagnosing vet in the beginning about using a human meter versus an Alphatrak, she gave up and had me see her partner vet instead. This vet was more knowledgeable, but we just came to an unspoken truce. I handled the diabetes and she handled everything else.
So thank you all for all of your help, love, commiseration, and advice over the last 2 years. We absolutely could not have done this without you! You are all invaluable!
I am excited to see where the next year takes us in this FD dance. I hope you all have a wonderful day and your kitties surf safely! I have to go to work this morning, but hopefully it'll go by quickly!
Good morning everyone!
Lou is definitely holding steady and the new lot of Levemir is definitely working. He was already down to 53 last night, so I'm pleased with his progress. I switched back to the "old" lot of Levemir today.
So today marks the 2nd anniversary of Lou's FD diagnosis. Part of me still can't believe it's been 2 years, and the other feels like it's been a lifetime. We have come SO far since he was diagnosed. Lou has always been a big boy. He was at 19 pounds before diagnosis, and we knew something was wrong when he rapidly lost a lot of weight in a short time frame (about a month and a half). When we brought him in, he was down to 13 pounds, which made him look almost skeletal. My vet ran a chem panel, and his BG was 539! We were absolutely devastated. Lou has always been a special kid, but I would have never imagined he'd introduce us to FD and eventually to this fantastic board.
We've been on quite the journey in the last 2 years. Lou was started on Vetsulin 4u, but we only gave him 2u - 3u. Thankfully I found this board almost immediately and started testing him a few days after diagnosis (too chicken to start sooner - the insulin shots were scary enough to get used to). After a scary low-BG intro, he did incredibly well on 1u. He had an OTJ trial after a month, which failed on the last day. After that, his numbers shot up and were incredibly hard to bring back down (it was like the insulin was not working, even though we frequently bought new vials as needed). I finally brought Lou back in last May and the vet switched us to glargine (we started him on Basaglar instead of Lantus to save some money). Lou did so much better on a depot insulin, but he started bouncing like crazy. He was diagnosed with insulin autoantibodies (IAA) in July, which explained the higher numbers and doses (although Lou's never gone as high as some in dose). I gave the Basaglar six months and then we switched him to Levemir in December. My only regret here is I wish we would have switched to Levemir sooner.
After almost 2 years on insulin, Lou is finally regulated, which I thought would be an impossibility. He's happy, healthy, and his pancreas has the time to maybe start healing. I was telling Caleb that he's probably healthier now then he was before the diagnosis. He's on all wet food now and his coat is soft as silk instead of matted and course. I fully believe he might have died if I had followed my vet's advice about dosing. After butting heads with the diagnosing vet in the beginning about using a human meter versus an Alphatrak, she gave up and had me see her partner vet instead. This vet was more knowledgeable, but we just came to an unspoken truce. I handled the diabetes and she handled everything else.
So thank you all for all of your help, love, commiseration, and advice over the last 2 years. We absolutely could not have done this without you! You are all invaluable!
I am excited to see where the next year takes us in this FD dance. I hope you all have a wonderful day and your kitties surf safely! I have to go to work this morning, but hopefully it'll go by quickly!
Go Lou!
