Not going to give insulin for 14 days.. Need advice

[kimouette]

Here's Farine's spreadsheet :
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc ... _web#gid=0

About 2 months ago, when Farine was OTJ, Alain booked an airplane and hotel ticket for 11.26.2013. We both thought he deserved these vacations that he had been waiting a looooong time for! Unfortunately Farine started to need insulin again couple of days after he bought his tickets


Ever since that day, we've been praying for a second honeymoon! But unfortunately, next Tuesday Alain will be leaving for 2 weeks, and we are both a little afraid of what's going to happen...

His girlfriend will take care of Farine. But the thing is, she works a lot, has unstable schedules at work, but most of all, she does not want to test Farine. She's fine with insulin shots, but not with tests. Alain has been trying to teach her how to do it, but she is not comfortable with this.

So now we have couple 3 options left that each has its downsides :

1. No tests, no insulin and we simply hope that Alain's girlfriend is going to be able to detect if Farine needs to go the vet for an injection
2. No tests, but with blind insulin shots once in a while (maybe once every other day) - Alain would need to pre-fill couple of syringes and leave them in the fridge for her
3. No tests, but with blind insulin shots twice a day - Alain would need to pre-fill lots of syringes and leave them in the fridge for her

All 3 options are scary. It is a POSSIBILITY that Farine is going to be fine though without insulin. Her pancreas is awake: even if we miss a shot her BG levels tend to decrease a little until the next shot. Also she receives such a tiny amount of Lantus (.10u... which is the smallest does Alain is able to draw from the syringe), that this could also play a role during his absence. But we dont know for sure what's going to happen.

If you guys have any advice, please feel free to share it with us!

Kim, Alain and Farine!

 

[Elizabeth and Bertie]

Hi Kim,

Is it possible that someone other than Alaine's girlfriend could look after Farine....? Someone who could test her to see if she needs a shot....? Friend, neighbour, local vet nurse....?

With Farine's numbers the way they are I really can't see how it would be safe to shoot without testing first. nailbite_smile
If you can't find someone to test her, maybe you could ask Farine if she fancies doing a 14 day 'OTJ trial'.... ;-)

I do really sympathise, Kim. About a year and a half ago Bertie had to go without insulin for 9 days. (I was staying with my Mum in hospital while she died, and there was nobody who could test and shoot Bertie.) I knew his numbers would get pretty high too, and was scared that his health would deteriorate, and/or that I'd be starting over from scratch with him once I got home. In fact, when I got home Bertie was fine. His numbers were pretty high but he responded well to insulin and within a day it was 'business as usual'. I was lucky he wasn't prone to ketones though, otherwise it could have been a very different story...

I do hope you find a solution...

Best wishes,

Eliz

 

[BJM]

Ooohhh, I'd be really worried about leaving her untreated if she might need it. She could wind up in DKA if she got stressed and didn't eat during your absence.

Please print out Secondary Monitoring Tools from my signature link. These could help assess her status, but are not as good as blood glucose testing.

And see if you can find a vet tech, a pet sitter, or a high school or college student interested in veterinary studies to come learn how to test, measure, and shoot. Even if it costs some money, it could be less than treatment for DKA or hypoglycemia.

 

[Wendy&Tiggy(GA)]

i would not shoot blind at those numbers. But really I think its time for an OTJ trial anyway - she has been in normal numbers 50-130 for over a week at 0.1 units.


Wendy