Murphy Almost Two Weeks Home

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msmurphy2010

msmurphy2010

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Hi everyone. Well, Murphy appears to be doing very well on the Lantus 1 unit twice per day. She is eating very well, twice per day, and is peeing, and the sounds isn't as thick as it was two weeks ago. No vomiting, so the Panazyme is helping her little pancreas take a rest, which I believe she will be on for quite a while.

She saw her vet this morning for her checkup, and she could not believe the difference in Murphy's coat from 8/24 when I brought her in so ill. It is glossy, not shedding, not oily or greasy, and no dry skin. She truly was headed down the wrong path and I'm glad that I caught it quickly enough before she ended up with DKA. On Friday of this coming week, Murphy will have her curve done to fine tune the insulin, but she thinks for now, it may be that she will only need the one unit twice per day. She does not want me testing at home quite yet, as Murphy has more things going on that just the diabetes - her feline asthma, the pancreatitis, MRSI on her nose still. It will just stress her out and we want her to become as healthy as possible as soon as possible. She's just getting poked and prodded too much right now. She did gain a few ounces while in the hospital, up to 13.6, but now down to 13.2. Probably the fluids they were giving her.

So, as much as I can be pleased about the health of my baby, she is turning around rather quickly. Her eyes are brighter, she isn't depressed and lethargic, and the weird thing is, she isn't meowing (screaming) at me for more food all the time. Just a normal little kitty relaxing. Oh, and she's grooming herself.

Lisa and Murphy
 
There is absolutely no reason for you to NOT home test; with other medical issues, you have even MORE reasons to be home testing.
How is home testing more stressful than being taken to a strange place, the vet office, and being poked there? My cats SLEEP through my testing their ear, so I would think if testing were stressful, my cats would at least wake up!

As for fluids, you can save yourself alot of money, and eliminate stress from being at the vet office, by giving fluids yourself at home.

My Shadoe currently has pancreatitis which is quite painful, and I am giving her pepcid twice a day as well as 100ml fluids every day, plus pain meds. You can treat your kitty in the comfort of your own home and know that you have eliminated the stress from your kitty.
 
She is very well taken care of, has lived through a severe chronic asthmatic condition that nearly killed her 4 years ago. I defer to my vet on everything at this time, because it is not only diabetes and pancreatitis we are dealing with. She has chronic methicillin-resistant staph infections that are coupled with other staph infections, severe asthma and chronic immunosupression. Consequently, she is a very sickly kitty.

Murphy will see her vet on Friday, and as of now, she does not want to focus on this issue and I have to agree. Once she has the curve in a week, it will be a fine-tuning issue with Murphy which is when we will start testing at home and gradually switching her diet. I choose to listen to Murphy's internist's knowledgeable advice. Right now, she is doing very well.

So, when you test at home, are you also adjusting insulin as well? If you are, are you doing this at your vet's advice, or your own? As I have experienced on another forum, I find that it is far better to discuss non-opinionated issues with others, yet throw ideas out for discussion. The third day I was on this forum, Lori had told me to call her, I needed to reach out to someone for help in dealing with the shock and awe, and the very first piece of bad advice I received from her was about the wrong dosage in a U-100 syringe, to which I became frantic as hell, and she didn't know what she was talking about. So, on this note, I listen, always to my vet, because inevitably, someone always thinks their advice is the best advice. But, thank you so much for your input. My motto right now -- caution for Murphy, myself and from others' advice.

These are all choices each of us can make and this is new to both of us, and right now, I need my vet.
 
Hi Lisa
I'm glad to hear that Murphy is doing better.
Korbel has been diabetic for 10 years now. Early on I worked very closely with my vet on dosage. I did hometest, but I would give her the numbers and then we would decide together what to do. I was lucky, since diabetes is Korbel's only problem. For me, hometesting was the right thing because she would get about a 300 point increase in numbers just by being at the vet. Not all cats get that sort of increase, but some do. The reason I say I worked with my vet "early on" is that I've since moved and changed vets. Korbel has been stable on her dosage for the last several years so I haven't adjusted her dosage.
If you are not going to hometest, would you at least consider getting some urine test strips for home use-not the ketone ones but the blood sugar ones? They are obviously not as accurate as testing, but better than nothing and not invasive at all (except for the bathroom part of it!)
I don't want to preech, and I know this is all new for you, and I think it is very wise to work with your vet and not against them. But, if you read my post today about Korbel and her now 13+ hour hypo drama, you'll see that this most likely would have been prevented if I'd done some (any) sort of monitoring of her blood sugar levels.
 
Gee, glad Murphy is feeling better.

I will refrain from offering an undesired advice since I do not wish to have my nose snapped off for my efforts.

Good luck and glad you have the perfect vet, who knows everything and never makes any mistakes.
 
Hi Jennifer. Thank you for respecting my decision to work with my vet right now. I appreciate the sentiment. No, she doesn't know everything, but the last time I listened to someone on Murphy's asthma,it nearly killed her, so I have the right to be as cautious as I need to. And, keeping in close contact with my vet right now is the best I can do for myself since this is all too new, and she is helping me to reduce my stress level as well. Next Friday, she will give me all the tools I need to home test, so we will be on the road to analyzing daily, weekly, etc. I guess on a positive note, it is far better for Murphy to be hyperglycemic than hypoglycemic, and that I pay attention to my kitties, and new how sick she was. Fortunately, she did not have DKA. Then, we would be looking at a whole different story from what I understand.

I understand hyperglycemia is easier to keep under control. No, vets are not perfect - as a matter of fact, Murphy's last vet was the one that missed the Dx one year ago - she has lost 5 pounds since 8/27/09, and frankly, no one is perfect. Right now, since it's only been a little less than two weeks, until we do the curve next Friday, it doesn't make sense to start testing at home, unless we do the strips for her urine. Once we've done the curve, we can fine tune then I can start focusing on numbers. I think people forget sometimes when their kitties were first Dx'd with this disease or any other disease, how stressful it is on the pet, but how stressful it is on the owner. I cannot be in a hurry to do anything without the intervention of her internist, at least right now. The feline asthma was easy to treat, and she's been stable for 4 years, only one event over 2 years ago. With this, it's quite different and I've got too much to learn, but as with her asthma, it will all come in time. She can't tell me she has a belly ache, or her pancreas is hurting, or that she has a high fever, or that she's losing too much weight. Fortunately, I've got a very compassionate, thorough vet for her, that is terrific, both in personality and guidance.

L and M
 
I truly hope nothing bad happens between now and Friday. Testing Murphy's BG at home on a regular basis will let you know how she is responding to the insulin dosage and allow you to intervene if necessary. You say "no one is perfect", so please cut Lori some slack - she acknowledged her error and was trying to help you in your time of need. I made the same error myself when switching from U40 to U100 syringes and insulins. It can be hard to think clearly in an emergency situation. There are a lot of experienced people here who selflessly help others, and I hope you don't let what happened influence whatever actions are ultimately in the best interest of your cat.
 
msmurphy2010 said:
. Right now, since it's only been a little less than two weeks, until we do the curve next Friday, it doesn't make sense to start testing at home, unless we do the strips for her urine. Once we've done the curve, we can fine tune then I can start focusing on numbers.
Click to expand...

i understand your leeriness about trusting what you are told on the internet and i am glad to give you your space, but realize the internet is no longer full of just crazy people. yes, we all must take what we read on the internet and weigh it and decide what to do with it but i do want to point out one little detail in regards to your statement above, if not for you, for anyone else that comes along and reads that statement. it makes 100000% perfect sense to test at home from the day of diagnosis. why? so people don't kill their cats. can you imagine the guilt people feel who killed their cat by injecting insulin when it wasn't needed simply because they didn't know about testing at home or didn't think it was necessary.

it makes no sense to not test at home, when that one test can save the animal's life. how do you know it's safe to give insulin if you don't know if they need it at all? i've had several instances in the last couple weeks wherein i came home and i tested Mousie, 12 to 13 hours after her last shot. and you know what her glucose levels were? i've had a 31 and i've had several numbers between there and the 70's. i can guarantee you, because i've been testing and know her response to insulin well enough to know, if i had just shot insulin blindly on those numbers, i most likely would have lost 2 cats this week not just one.

you don't have to test, we can't make you, plain and simple. and yes, your situation may be a little complicated due to the asthma and if trying to test could set off an asthma attack or whatnot. so urine testing at the least is better than nothing although it is not very accurate. we can only help you when you need it with what we know. but i must clarify about that statement, for the hundreds to come after you, that it is safer to do so. clarifying that possibly could save many kitty lives.
 
Since so many people here have given their time and advise, to the best of their ability, over the last few weeks please, please take a few minutes to go over and read jennifer & korbel's thread about their so far 14 hour hypo. Jennifer's response to you was in the middle of Korbel's hypo. That in itself should tell you something about the selfless nature of this board.

Good luck with your internist in two weeks.
 
It is also safer to have advice POSTED on this board for everyone to read. That way any mistake is caught and corrected -- hopefully before any damage has been done.
 
I just wanted to add my vet was happy to take my numbers from hometesting and work with those in the beginning and later as I was used to interpreting them let me make decisions. Pretty much like how it worked with my friend whose human daughter was diagnosed as diabetic at 15 months old. In fact, the human doctors tell the parents that they are much better at making those decisions once they learn what is going on than the doctors because they live with the patient and have learned what is "normal" or at least expected. I'm thankful for hometesting because I would have worried SO much about hypoglycemia when I was at work. Just my experience.

ETA: Pearl also has asthma and heart trouble.
 
To All: I understand all of these retrospects you bring to me. We did test her yesterday and it was down in the mid 100's, so, so far, she is doing well. As when she went in on the emergency crisis on 8/24/10, her glucose was over 400, which to some might now be too bad. Although I don't understand everything right now, from what my vet tells me, it's fortunate that she is hyperglycemic rather than hypo. She is on the least minimal dosage so far, and it may not have to be adjusted.

On Friday, we'll discuss the rest of what we need to do from that point, but don't forget, she is day boarded during the work week, so there is always someone looking out for her; her vet tech/boyfriend David -- he absolutely adores Murphy. I'm doing this now because I (a) don't want anything to happen, and (b) my Siamese has a tendency to play a little too rough with her, he is 12 going on 2, and I have to give him time outs -- they come at the oddest times, and I don't want him biting her and so on. We will be home testing, definitely, and that will start on Friday of this week. I thank you all for your insight, but please understand how leery I am -- the advice I got on her asthma almost killed her some time ago. And, unfortunately, this was a "crazy" person. Believe me, I am not ignorant to Murphy's health issues, she has had the best possible care her entire life, and this will be no different than any other situation. Actually, this is far more difficult to treat than feline asthma. She gets her inhaled meds, and she can breathe. And, I've been so consistent, rigid to the extreme about keeping her every 12 hours treatment and eating with that and the insulin.

She is showing remarkable signs of improvement, with her coat, appetite decreasing to a normal kitty and the neuropathy appears to be somewhat better from the insulin alone. Next week, we will start adding in B2 methylcobolimin which is excellent for neuropathy.

Can someone please tell me why it is that vets don't look at amaylase and lipase when there are clear consistent lab results that show that there is a possible diabetic situation? This baffles me as Murphy's labs have been consistent with glucose, fructosamine, amylase almost 2000, lipase high, Bun high, and the like. As with Murphy's coat being "unkept," and her lack of ability to groom herself, it all would have made sense to me that seeing these labs a year ago, something would have triggered my vet that there was a definite problem, and yet one year later, she has lost 5 pounds and now we are dealing with what could possibly have been treated, or even eliminated by diet alone. My new vet said she would absolutely look at the entire picture, although amylase and lipase alone are not normally looked at unless the above labs run consistent each time, which was 5 or 6 lab panels that were ran last year. We had to run all labs because of her constant infection with MRSA and MRSI. Which we have decided is because she was diabetic last year, and that's when her immune system was not able to fight off the normal bacteria we all have, that turned into MRSA. So, I hope you all can understand how deeply troubling this has been for me, and although not my fault, she is so, so sick. We are hoping that with the diabetes being treated, that her immune system will recover some.

I just don't understand the amylase lipase thing and the outlook that vets have on these two labs. And, I apologize if I offended anyone.

L
 
To All: I understand all of these retrospects you bring to me. We did test her yesterday and it was down in the mid 100's, so, so far, she is doing well. As when she went in on the emergency crisis on 8/24/10, her glucose was over 400, which to some might now be too bad. Although I don't understand everything right now, from what my vet tells me, it's fortunate that she is hyperglycemic rather than hypo. She is on the least minimal dosage so far, and it may not have to be adjusted.

On Friday, we'll discuss the rest of what we need to do from that point, but don't forget, she is day boarded during the work week, so there is always someone looking out for her; her vet tech/boyfriend David -- he absolutely adores Murphy. I'm doing this now because I (a) don't want anything to happen, and (b) my Siamese has a tendency to play a little too rough with her, he is 12 going on 2, and I have to give him time outs -- they come at the oddest times, and I don't want him biting her and so on. We will be home testing, definitely, and that will start on Friday of this week. I thank you all for your insight, but please understand how leery I am -- the advice I got on her asthma almost killed her some time ago. And, unfortunately, this was a "crazy" person. Believe me, I am not ignorant to Murphy's health issues, she has had the best possible care her entire life, and this will be no different than any other situation. Actually, this is far more difficult to treat than feline asthma. She gets her inhaled meds, and she can breathe. And, I've been so consistent, rigid to the extreme about keeping her every 12 hours treatment and eating with that and the insulin.

She is showing remarkable signs of improvement, with her coat, appetite decreasing to a normal kitty and the neuropathy appears to be somewhat better from the insulin alone. Next week, we will start adding in B2 methylcobolimin which is excellent for neuropathy.

Can someone please tell me why it is that vets don't look at amaylase and lipase when there are clear consistent lab results that show that there is a possible diabetic situation? This baffles me as Murphy's labs have been consistent with glucose, fructosamine, amylase almost 2000, lipase high, Bun high, and the like. As with Murphy's coat being "unkept," and her lack of ability to groom herself, it all would have made sense to me that seeing these labs a year ago, something would have triggered my vet that there was a definite problem, and yet one year later, she has lost 5 pounds and now we are dealing with what could possibly have been treated, or even eliminated by diet alone. My new vet said she would absolutely look at the entire picture, although amylase and lipase alone are not normally looked at unless the above labs run consistent each time, which was 5 or 6 lab panels that were ran last year. We had to run all labs because of her constant infection with MRSA and MRSI. Which we have decided is because she was diabetic last year, and that's when her immune system was not able to fight off the normal bacteria we all have, that turned into MRSA. So, I hope you all can understand how deeply troubling this has been for me, and although not my fault, she is so, so sick. We are hoping that with the diabetes being treated, that her immune system will recover some.

I just don't understand the amylase lipase thing and the outlook that vets have on these two labs. And, I apologize if I offended anyone.

L
 
To All: I understand all of these retrospects you bring to me. We did test her yesterday and it was down in the mid 100's, so, so far, she is doing well. As when she went in on the emergency crisis on 8/24/10, her glucose was over 400, which to some might now be too bad. Although I don't understand everything right now, from what my vet tells me, it's fortunate that she is hyperglycemic rather than hypo. She is on the least minimal dosage so far, and it may not have to be adjusted.

On Friday, we'll discuss the rest of what we need to do from that point, but don't forget, she is day boarded during the work week, so there is always someone looking out for her; her vet tech/boyfriend David -- he absolutely adores Murphy. I'm doing this now because I (a) don't want anything to happen, and (b) my Siamese has a tendency to play a little too rough with her, he is 12 going on 2, and I have to give him time outs -- they come at the oddest times, and I don't want him biting her and so on. We will be home testing, definitely, and that will start on Friday of this week. I thank you all for your insight, but please understand how leery I am -- the advice I got on her asthma almost killed her some time ago. And, unfortunately, this was a "crazy" person. Believe me, I am not ignorant to Murphy's health issues, she has had the best possible care her entire life, and this will be no different than any other situation. Actually, this is far more difficult to treat than feline asthma. She gets her inhaled meds, and she can breathe. And, I've been so consistent, rigid to the extreme about keeping her every 12 hours treatment and eating with that and the insulin.

She is showing remarkable signs of improvement, with her coat, appetite decreasing to a normal kitty and the neuropathy appears to be somewhat better from the insulin alone. Next week, we will start adding in B2 methylcobolimin which is excellent for neuropathy.

Can someone please tell me why it is that vets don't look at amaylase and lipase when there are clear consistent lab results that show that there is a possible diabetic situation? This baffles me as Murphy's labs have been consistent with glucose, fructosamine, amylase almost 2000, lipase high, Bun high, and the like. As with Murphy's coat being "unkept," and her lack of ability to groom herself, it all would have made sense to me that seeing these labs a year ago, something would have triggered my vet that there was a definite problem, and yet one year later, she has lost 5 pounds and now we are dealing with what could possibly have been treated, or even eliminated by diet alone. My new vet said she would absolutely look at the entire picture, although amylase and lipase alone are not normally looked at unless the above labs run consistent each time, which was 5 or 6 lab panels that were ran last year. We had to run all labs because of her constant infection with MRSA and MRSI. Which we have decided is because she was diabetic last year, and that's when her immune system was not able to fight off the normal bacteria we all have, that turned into MRSA. So, I hope you all can understand how deeply troubling this has been for me, and although not my fault, she is so, so sick. We are hoping that with the diabetes being treated, that her immune system will recover some.

I just don't understand the amylase lipase thing and the outlook that vets have on these two labs. And, I apologize if I offended anyone.

L
 
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