? Red alert! Jester's bg at 146!

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shelaghc

shelaghc

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Normally I'd be rejoicing after so much pink and yellow.
But I'm leaving in just over 36 hours.

Taking the blame here. I gave him two "fat" 1.5U in a row.

But what do I do now?

Tested early so I can give him dinner. He hasn't been this low at +10 or +11 in nearly a month.

Help!
@Djamila
@Kris & Teasel
@Rachel
 
shelaghc said:
Normally I'd be rejoicing after so much pink and yellow.
But I'm leaving in just over 36 hours.

Taking the blame here. I gave him two "fat" 1.5U in a row.

But what do I do now?

Tested early so I can give him dinner. He hasn't been this low at +10 or +11 in nearly a month.

Help!
@Djamila
@Kris & Teasel
@Rachel
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That's a good number. Don't panic. They do like to throw inconvenient curve balls, don't they. Wait and see what the preshot is. If it's lower than normal and you're concerned, reduce the dose. Let's see if it's still under 200 at shot time.
 
JanetNJ said:
That's a good number. Don't panic. They do like to throw inconvenient curve balls, don't they. Wait and see what the preshot is. If it's lower than normal and you're concerned, reduce the dose. Let's see if it's still under 200 at shot time.
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I know it's a good number.
But I'm leaving Friday morning and the sitter won't be testing.
The plan had been to keep him on 1.5U all weekend.

I have no idea what to do now.
 
shelaghc said:
I know it's a good number.
But I'm leaving Friday morning and the sitter won't be testing.
The plan had been to keep him on 1.5U all weekend.

I have no idea what to do now.
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If the sitter isn't going to test id drop that down to 1 unit just to be safe. Best to be too high a few says then too low.
 
JanetNJ said:
If the sitter isn't going to test id drop that down to 1 unit just to be safe. Best to be too high a few says then too low.
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Up until today he's been in yellows and pinks on 1.5U.

That's why the plan was for 1.5U .
 
It's only for the weekend you said? Then in a few days come back and raise it up again.
 
I agree with Janet. Wait to see what your PMPS is. You always have the option of reducing to 1.25 u tonight and going down to 1 u when you leave.

You can remove the red 911 because this isn't an emergency and it'll be unnerving to anyone who comes to the forum. Try to relax. I think you're making all this harder on yourself than it has to be.
 
Problem is Jester already ate a whole can of catfood.
His evening insulin was supposed to be at about 7:30 - moving it later to accommodate the sitters on Friday.
The carby food usually takes about three hours to go through his system.

I know. I screwed this up royally.
 
Should I skip his insulin tonight or just give him a token .25u?

@Kris & Teasel ? What do you think about skipping Jester's dosage entirely tonight?
 
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@Kris & Teasel
In order to do a PMPS that would have any validity, I'd have to wait until at least 8:00PM if not closer to 9:00PM.

He was supposed to have his next dosage at 7:30ish.
 
Kris & Teasel said:
You have an hour's flexibility with ProZinc.
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I was going to give him his PM dosage at 7:30 - AM was at 7:00, but I've been moving it later to accommodate the cat sitters starting on Friday. They were planning to come at about 7:30am/pm to give Jester his insulin between 7:30 and 8:00am/pm.
 
shelaghc said:
tbh, I'm having something of a panic attack over this.
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There's really no need. Why not dose him at the time the sitter will be doing in in the time leading up to your departure. Decide on a dose that's low enough to be comfortable for you while you're away and go with that. It won't matter if he runs a little high because you just pick up where you left off when you come home. I think you have enough data to decide on that "holiday dose" right now.
 
Kris & Teasel said:
There's really no need. Why not dose him at the time the sitter will be doing in in the time leading up to your departure. Decide on a dose that's low enough to be comfortable for you while you're away and go with that. It won't matter if he runs a little high because you just pick up where you left off when you come home. I think you have enough data to decide on that "holiday dose" right now.
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It was supposed to be 1.5u since he's been running a little high on that for almost a week.
Now I don't have a clue.
 
shelaghc said:
It was supposed to be 1.5u since he's been running a little high on that for almost a week.
Now I don't have a clue.
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You need a compromise dose. Make a decision and stick with it, Shelagh. You know Jester better than we do and have been at this a long time. Your peace of mind is paramount. You're only away a few days so if he runs a bit high it won't be a problem.
 
Remember that this was a +10, right? That means that he still had 2 hours to go before PMPS...most likely he would have gone up by then without food.
 
Rachel said:
Remember that this was a +10, right? That means that he still had 2 hours to go before PMPS...most likely he would have gone up by then without food.
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He hasn't been that low on a +10/11 for nearly a month . And that was when he was off insulin because he wasn't eating enough to give him anything.
 
Also, Kris is right. Your peace of mind is important. You need to pick a dose that is low enough to make you feel okay about things when you're out of town. Obviously, 1.5 is working well now, so you'll want to go lower than that while you're out of town.
 
SpotsMom has been hand holding me on the main forum.

Jester's belated PMPS was 270 and I gave him .5U - planning a pre-bed check around midnight.
 
Removed the 911.

Fasting +5 was 225 - under the circumstances I think .5U was the right call. He might be a tad high in his AMPS, but between that and two more dosages, hopefully there's a happy, low-stress dosage that will allow me to have a nice weekend away.

Thanks everyone. I'll update with Jester's AMPS and whatever I decide for his dosage tomorrow.
 
shelaghc said:
Removed the 911.

Fasting +5 was 225 - under the circumstances I think .5U was the right call. He might be a tad high in his AMPS, but between that and two more dosages, hopefully there's a happy, low-stress dosage that will allow me to have a nice weekend away.

Thanks everyone. I'll update with Jester's AMPS and whatever I decide for his dosage tomorrow.
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While you're gone I wouldn't do less than 1.
 
JanetNJ said:
While you're gone I wouldn't do less than 1.
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The original plan, before he dropped down to 146, was 1.5U.

Jester's AMPS was 323 this AM so I gave him his usual 1.5u (not fat) and will check him tonight and tomorrow morning before I leave.

@Djamila @Kris & Teasel @Rachel
Since you three have all been involved in the conversation for the last couple of weeks, would you all mind keeping an eye on Jester's tests today to make me feel more confident about the final decision tomorrow morning?
I'm likely going to do a +10 when I get home, then the AMPS, and a +4 before bed.

This sudden drop (again, most likely my fault) is making me crazy and I'm kicking myself all over the place for screwing this up so badly.

I don't usually make Jester wait for dinner when I get home, but I'm going to tonight so I can get the best readings possible for a safe dosage.
(He's going to hate me. In fact, all three furkids will be POd about having to wait the extra ninety minutes.)
 
Rachel said:
Looks like he did fine today. Did you decide on your vacation dose?
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Nope - literally doing that after his AMPS tomorrow, unless any of you folks have a suggestion.
(FYI - I just had two generous shots of Jamesons with the cat sitter on an empty stomach and am very mellow.....)
 
Djamila said:
I believe we've all given our suggestions already: we were all in agreement that 1.5u looks like a nice safe dose while you're away. I don't see anything in your most recent data that would make me second guess that.
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The concern was the big change yesterday with his lower afternoon BG.

I realize you all have been doing this for years and likely go away whenever you want. But this is still very new to me and I haven't been away from Jester for more than 14 hours in a row since his diagnosis.

This is very scary for me.
 
shelaghc said:
I realize you all have been doing this for years and likely go away whenever you want.
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Yes to the years - Teasel was diagnosed January of 2016. No to the going away - I've gone nowhere since his diagnosis. He's also a very tricky cat to dose and is prone to extremes. I've had to learn what works for him and to trust my judgment, even if it isn't perfect. You'll feel much better and calmer if you believe in your ability to decide what works for Jester. It'll get you through times when you don't get a fast response here, the forum is down for some technical reason or he does something a little different with his numbers.

Think of the forum as "training wheels". We're willing to help but those wheels have to come off. :)
 
I don't have a sugar cat anymore, but when I did, I didn't travel at all. I had no one to give the shots. Even now, with my civvies, I rarely travel, since I worry about them. It is a concern for ALL of us when we go away and leave our cats...we all know how that feels.

We did give you our suggestions above and I hadn't changed my mind. However, as Kris pointed out, you have to choose a dose YOU feel comfortable with. Since you weren't comfortable with 1.5, you wanted to go with a lower dose. That's fine. You hold the syringe, and you need to be okay with what dose is being given while you're gone. I can't really advise on that, though, because if it was me, I'd be comfortable with 1.5 based on data. Only you can know what dose you'll be okay with while you're out of town. We are trying to help you, but the final decision is yours to make. If our suggestions don't make sense to you, or you're not comfortable with them, you have to figure out what you ARE okay with.
 
I was scared in the beginning to even go to work and leave her. I also just recently went out of town. I was gone much longer than expected, but it was okay. The sitter tested BG and kept me updated. The point of a vacation is to enjoy yourself.

Try not to fixate on exact dosages, as long as Jester is getting his insulin he will be okay. The worst thing that can happen is you'll have to adjust his insulin upon return.
 
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