8/5 Meet Rocket! (acro kitty) amps 334, +3 307, +6 262, +8 240, +11 241, pmps 287

Karen&Rocket

Karen&Rocket

Member Since 2019
Hello All! We're not new to the forums, but this is Rocket's first condo. A little background first:

Rocket unfortunately was diagnosed with Acromegaly one month ago, after a few months of uncontrolled diabetes. Prozinc wasn't touching him, so we switched to Levemir and we've been increasing his dose slowly. At first we weren't following a protocol due to several life issues, but I've been basically following TR for the last few dose increases. Since we don't seem to be anywhere near his ideal dose we've been increasing by .5 instead of .25. Levemir has evened out his numbers quite a bit; his "curves" aren't bouncy like they were on Prozinc, but his numbers are still way too high.

We've scheduled Rocket for SRT treatment for his acromegaly - he has a CT scan this Wed 8/7, and will have SRT next week starting Mon 8/12. I know this likely complicates things as far as dose increases, etc., so I appreciate any help so much. My goal is to get his numbers down if possible, but first priority is to keep him safe through the next few weeks and beyond. Thank you!!! :cat:
 
Hello from another acro parent. Once you get to 6 units in bg raising by 0.5 is usually the way to go.

I am using cabergoline for Ollie. She is doing well on it. Biscuit @Mollycat is another acro who has not decided about treatment at this time.

@Wendy&Neko is the resident expert on everything acro here. Good luck with radiation. Keep us posted.
 
@Olive & Paula Thank you! Nice to meet you and Ollie - I've seen you around the forums. :) I'm so glad Ollie is doing well!

Thank you for the well-wishes. In retrospect, I think Rocket may have shown some acro symptoms as far back as last October... if only I had known back then. I just hope SRT is the right choice. It's been a tough road.

Edit: I just took a look at Ollie's SS - looking good!!!
 
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Hello over on this board Karen. :bighug:

You are doing all things right for Rocket. Keep increasing by 0.5 units. At this point. Should you get to 10 units, increases will be by 1 unit. Think of the increases as a percent of the total dose. At this point 0.5 units is less than a 10% increase.

You will have to do half doses for the CT scan and mornings of SRT itself. That will set the cycle count back as far as increases. That’s OK, just start counting back at cycle one the night of the 7th. You should be able to get another increase in there before SRT. If we had time, we could have talked about using R to help out, but no worries, I didn’t have it it my toolkit the first time either. Rocket will have enough stress with the long vet visits that his numbers will probably soar anyway. The one exception is that some anesthesia induction drugs drop the BG. But not all do. If you get a chance, ask the vet which they will use.

As far as after SRT, those that I have seen here just kept following the TR protocol after SRT, with a couple exceptions. I was told the impact of SRT causing reductions is at least two weeks after SRT, and can take longer. My Neko never followed the rules and started reductions on the road trip on the way back. It also could have been her IAA breaking, she never told me which it was.:cat: She had earned her first reduction at home days before we drove to Fort Collins.

Those exceptions I mentioned. For any lurkers, this is only for kitties undergoing treatment for acromegaly, not necessarily just SRT. First, I moved my deduction point to 70 from 50. It gave me a little bit of room when the reductions started coming. I moved it back to 50 when things slowed down. Reductions may or may not come fast and furious. By which I mean several a week. They can pause for a while. SRT neuters tumour cells, so you have to wait for them to live out their life and die. All “rules” on taking back to back reductions are made to be broken. Taking larger reductions than normal if it feels right are OK. I was rewarded by a number in the 20’s when I didn’t. :eek:

I got to the point where I could sense Neko just needed less insulin. With a large depot, you may choose to follow any reduction by a cycle with a half dose, to drain the depot. I found 2/3 dose worked for me, err on the side of caution when you experiment and find out what works for Rocket. Most important, do what keeps him safe. I had many a temporary reduction become permanent.
 
Hi again Wendy :bighug: Thank you SO much for taking time to look at Rocket's situation. And thanks for the kind words. This is hard, as you know.

I have a couple of questions if you don't mind.

Wendy&Neko said:
You will have to do half doses for the CT scan and mornings of SRT itself. That will set the cycle count back as far as increases. That’s OK, just start counting back at cycle one the night of the 7th. You should be able to get another increase in there before SRT. If we had time, we could have talked about using R to help out, but no worries, I didn’t have it it my toolkit the first time either. Rocket will have enough stress with the long vet visits that his numbers will probably soar anyway. The one exception is that some anesthesia induction drugs drop the BG. But not all do. If you get a chance, ask the vet which they will use.
Click to expand...

I was wondering about this. All of Rocket's treatments (including his CT this Wed) are going to be at 3:00 in the afternoon. They've told us if I'm able to give him a full meal at 9:00 a.m., I can give him his insulin then also (then no food after 9:00), but didn't suggest lowering his dose. What do you think? I'll call/email later and see if I can find out which anesthesia induction drug they'll use. As for counting back - you mean his current dose, right? Like for example, if he was on the third shot of 8U, go back as if it were the first shot of 8U? Just want to be sure. And yeah, I thought about trying R a few times. If my surgery hadn't been last week I probably would have. Lots going on unfortunately.

Thank you for the info on reductions, etc. - I'm very fortunate that I'll be able to be home quite a bit over the next couple months to keep an eye on Rocket's numbers (and posting threads here too). Your info is so valuable. Hopefully if all goes well and Rocket comes through treatment ok, we'll be able to get a better handle on things. Pretty nervous right now.
 
That's great that the vet is leatting you feed at 9:00 am and you have a later CT scan. That sounds like they know the latest anesthesia protocols for a diabetic cat. They will likely be monitoring his BGs closely during anesthesia. If you don't have to lower the dose, then that's not so much an issue for increasing. You do want six cycles in a row of the full dose before increasing. I had assumed you'd be lowering the dose, so that CT scan would have come at cycle 5 of the 7.5 units dose, so you would have had to start counting cycles all over again. This post on counting cycles may help.
 
Hi Karen,

Bronx had SRT in May of 2017 in NJ and it took a while to see results (ECID), we are down to 3u (from 37u Lev & 6u of R at his worst) and he is a regulated cat which I thought would never happen. Where are you having the SRT?

I wish you & Rocket the best of luck!
 
Welcome! I don't know much about acro but its nice to see Rocket's spreadsheet in the pinks and yellows instead of those nasty reds and blacks. Good luck with the SRT, will be sending vines for you :bighug:
 
Welcome! I really don't know anything about Acro kitties, but wanted to say "Hi". It does look like the Lev has helped Rocket a good bit. Hopefully the SRT will bring him too regulation or better! Prayers and vines that all Rocket's procedures go smooth and are very successful!
 
Bronx's dad said:
Hi Karen,

Bronx had SRT in May of 2017 in NJ and it took a while to see results (ECID), we are down to 3u (from 37u Lev & 6u of R at his worst) and he is a regulated cat which I thought would never happen. Where are you having the SRT?

I wish you & Rocket the best of luck!
Click to expand...
Wow those are amazing results! Sounds like everything went very well. How is Bronx today?

We're having treatment done at the Veterinary Cancer Group in Tustin, CA with Dr. Bommarito. We were hoping to go to Colorado, but I had surgery 10 days ago and we wouldn't have been able to travel for some time. Plus, this way we can bring Rocket home every night, and not put him through a long road trip. I appreciate your success story and the well-wishes -- getting a little nervous at this point! :)

Give Bronx a huggle for me! :bighug:
 
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