Rough morning..just venting :(

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whiskeysmom

whiskeysmom

Member Since 2016
I'm having a rough morning. I'm crying right now.

I had such a hard time drawing any blood from Whiskey. I poked him a few times..my stupid meter (I use the Freestyle Neo)..when you put the test strip in, it shows a little droplet that means it's ready for a blood reading. But if you don't get the blood right away, the little drop goes away and it goes into "log" mode. WHICH SUCKS because then i feel pressure to hurry up and collect the blood.

For some reason when I poked him, there wasn't enough blood for the stupid thing to get a reading.

Then when I took the test strip out and put it back in, I got a stupid ERROR MESSAGE and the blood reading was way off.

On top of all of that, I could not give him his morning antibiotic because all that poking freaked him out so badly, he went under the bed.

I wasted 3 lancets and 2 test strips with all this, and NO BG READING.

I'm so frustrated right now :(
 
whiskeysmom said:
I'm having a rough morning. I'm crying right now.

I had such a hard time drawing any blood from Whiskey. I poked him a few times..my stupid meter (I use the Freestyle Neo)..when you put the test strip in, it shows a little droplet that means it's ready for a blood reading. But if you don't get the blood right away, the little drop goes away and it goes into "log" mode. WHICH SUCKS because then i feel pressure to hurry up and collect the blood.

For some reason when I poked him, there wasn't enough blood for the stupid thing to get a reading.

Then when I took the test strip out and put it back in, I got a stupid ERROR MESSAGE and the blood reading was way off.

On top of all of that, I could not give him his morning antibiotic because all that poking freaked him out so badly, he went under the bed.

I wasted 3 lancets and 2 test strips with all this, and NO BG READING.

I'm so frustrated right now :(
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Oh god i so can relate.

I hate the time out factor on meters. It creates pressure. I've had it time out JUST before i finally get a blood sample. Hilarious! Grrrrrr

Whiskey will forgive you
 
We have all had bad days. It's not the end of the world. He WILL come come out from under the bed. Pour yourself a cup of coffee or tea and sit down for a while so things get ba k to normal. If you panic, Whiskey will too. Everything will be a little late this morning, but it's not the end of the world. Let things calm down for a while and then drop a few low carb goodies on the floor, making a trail away from the bed. Sit down on the floor and wait for him to come to you.
 
Misterbeesmom said:
Oh god i so can relate.

I hate the time out factor on meters. It creates pressure. I've had it time out JUST before i finally get a blood sample. Hilarious! Grrrrrr

Whiskey will forgive you
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So ALL meters do that? I was thinking maybe I just got a crappy one lol

Why don't they make it so you can get back into blood drop readiness mode? SOOO frustrating
 
I've also experienced that..this is what helps me........warm the ear up.....you cannot get blood out of a cold ear, no matter how many times you try......also, don't push the test strip in all the way....not until you have a drop of blood ready to go.....and yea, once you've pushed the strip in, you can't use it again......so if you don't get it, you have to get a new strip.....I've wasted a few by pushing it in, and then trying to get the blood.....so much easier to do it in reverse :) We had issues with Freestyle......too low of a reading, and our sugar baby ended up with DKA and a very expensive trip to the vet........and I don't remember who it was on here, but they said that Freestyle is not recommended by too many people....... a lot of sugar momma's use the Relion meter from Walmart....inexpensive to buy, and the strips are pretty cheap........we quit using the Freestyle after the last trip to the vet........also, the Relion uses very little blood :) Good luck to you!!
 
Tip:

While you're getting your routine down you can try collecting a blood droplet on your fingernail and test that. Might give you a bit more breathing space in case of a meter timeout.


Mogs
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Becky Smith said:
the Relion uses very little blood
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Following on from Becky's post, Relion do several meter models. The Relion Confirm and Micro meters work with a very small blood droplet and the test strips are affordable. The Relion Prime meter has cheaper strips but it needs a slightly larger blood droplet to test.


Mogs
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Becky Smith said:
I've also experienced that..this is what helps me........warm the ear up.....you cannot get blood out of a cold ear, no matter how many times you try......also, don't push the test strip in all the way....not until you have a drop of blood ready to go.....and yea, once you've pushed the strip in, you can't use it again......so if you don't get it, you have to get a new strip.....I've wasted a few by pushing it in, and then trying to get the blood.....so much easier to do it in reverse :) We had issues with Freestyle......too low of a reading, and our sugar baby ended up with DKA and a very expensive trip to the vet........and I don't remember who it was on here, but they said that Freestyle is not recommended by too many people....... a lot of sugar momma's use the Relion meter from Walmart....inexpensive to buy, and the strips are pretty cheap........we quit using the Freestyle after the last trip to the vet........also, the Relion uses very little blood :) Good luck to you!!
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Thanks. I will try to go to Walmart and pick that up today. I'm out of Freestyle lancets now anyway.

I will say tho, I got the Freestyle and the strips really cheap at CVS. The pharmacist couldn't believe how cheap the test strips were. He thought maybe something was wrong with the pricing on the package lol
 
whiskeysmom said:
I'm so frustrated right now :(
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This is me the last 24 hours. Just keep reminding yourself that you're doing your best!

(Here is how I am sympatizing, LOL. I rushed home during my 30 minute break last night [7min drive]... had to get Gord out of hiding [3 minutes]... went thru 2 lancets before test [5 minutes lol]... he didnt feel like eating but when he did, a few more past. Got insulin ready... and he disappeared again. At this point I was at wits end and needed to make my 7 minute drive back to work (thank god they knew what was up too). My vet said itd be fine to skip this one. So I did. THEN this morning, he refused to eat. I am sure he ate during the night, but with the Vetsulin, I didnt want to risk it. There goes my plan for a mini curve. *sigh*)
 
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whiskeysmom said:
Thanks. I will try to go to Walmart and pick that up today. I'm out of Freestyle lancets now anyway.

I will say tho, I got the Freestyle and the strips really cheap at CVS. The pharmacist couldn't believe how cheap the test strips were. He thought maybe something was wrong with the pricing on the package lol
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Some things I do that help me.

1. When I insert the strip in the meter, I don't push it all the way in, so the meter doesn't activate.

2. I don't using a lancing device. When I see blood on the ear, I scoop it onto the base of the lancet (a fingernail works too) - I also use Freestyle lancets 28 gauge. Then I let Keno go, I push in the strip, and when it's ready touch it to the blood on the base of the lancet.

When needed, I use vaseline (a very thin coat) on the ear, to help the blood pool into a drop.

I just switched to ReliOn Confirm and agree to go with something that takes the smallest possible amount of blood. It will be worth it in the long run - there's no price on your sanity.

Hang in there!
 
I use the Relion Confirm and it seems to give me a fairly generous amount of time to get the sample on the test strip before it times out, but when I first started testing I always used the strip-half-in method, just the same! :bighug:
 
The relion micro has quite a bit of time before it times out.

Tip- push strip halfway, so it doesn't Mick on. Then when you have your blood drop push in rest of way.

Or if meter is on and your having trouble getting drop and you think time is running out, pull strip out to turn meter off. The strip will still be good to use as long as you didn't try to touch blood yet.
 
All good tips. I use the strip half in method on my AlphaTrak and have been able to successfully pull it out and reinsert if it timed out while I was getting a blood drop. I'm always very careful to touch only the sides of the strip away from the testing spots.
 
I always just put the strip in part way and after I see the drop start to form then I push it the rest of the way. If he's squirming then collect the drop on your nail or back of the Lancet and test from that.
 
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JanetNJ said:
I always just put the strop in part way and after I see the drop start to form then I push it the rest of the way. If he's squirming the collection the drop on your nail or back of the Lancet and test from that.
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Great idea! Thanks!
 
I noticed today he's been grooming himself a lot. Is this normal? Something they do when starting this whole process stresses them out? :(
 
Poor condition of the hair coat is a very common clinical sign in feline diabetics. An increase in grooming behaviour after treatment commences is usually a good pointer to the cat starting to feel better.

For info, some sugar cats may shed A LOT of fur after they start treatment. Bearing in mind that with high BG numbers the cat won't have been able to use nutrients properly for a while so the hair coat may not have been shed and replaced at their normal rate in a hyperglycaemic cat. When the cat starts getting glucose back into cells with the help of their insulin treatment they start utilising nutrients more effectively and other metabolic processes such as coat replacement start returning to normal. Saoirse's fur started coming out in tufts at one stage; you just had to look sideways at her and there'd be a pile of fur on the floor! At one stage I thought she'd end up shook-looking forever but a few short weeks later a beautiful new, thick and glossy coat started growing again. I think Saoirse was our vet's first tightly regulated patient; he was gobsmacked at the improvement in her clinical signs and condition after a few weeks on Lantus (she had been absolutely miserable on Caninsulin).


Mogs
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Critter Mom said:
Poor condition of the hair coat is a very common clinical sign in feline diabetics. An increase in grooming behaviour after treatment commences is usually a good pointer to the cat starting to feel better.

For info, some sugar cats may shed A LOT of fur after they start treatment. Bearing in mind that with high BG numbers the cat won't have been able to use nutrients properly for a while so the hair coat may not have been shed and replaced at their normal rate in a hyperglycaemic cat. When the cat starts getting glucose back into cells with the help of their insulin treatment they start utilising nutrients more effectively and other metabolic processes such as coat replacement start returning to normal. Saoirse's fur started coming out in tufts at one stage; you just had to look sideways at her and there'd be a pile of fur on the floor! At one stage I thought she'd end up shook-looking forever but a few short weeks later a beautiful new, thick and glossy coat started growing again. I think Saoirse was our vet's first tightly regulated patient; he was gobsmacked at the improvement in her clinical signs and condition after a few weeks on Lantus (she had been absolutely miserable on Caninsulin).


Mogs
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oh okay..I was worried because I read somewhere that cats react to stress with excessive grooming.

Poor little guy is not only dealing with the stress of diabetes, but this nasal problem I've had to give him that nasty tasting amoxicillin for. And his mom losing it regularly over the thought that he might have nasal cancer :(
 
whiskeysmom said:
I was worried because I read somewhere that cats react to stress with excessive grooming
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True, that can be another reason (hence my caveat that improved grooming usually points to improvements in a diabetic cat). It's definitely something to keep an eye on, particularly if the cat overgrooms and starts getting bald patches. Have a chat with your vet to be on the safe side.


Mogs
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whiskeysmom said:
... but this nasal problem I've had to give him that nasty tasting amoxicillin for. And his mom losing it regularly over the thought that he might have nasal cancer :(
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Sending prayers that the nasal problem will be something easily treatable. (I can really relate to how worried you feel.)

:bighug:


Mogs
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Critter Mom said:
Sending prayers that the nasal problem will be something easily treatable. (I can really relate to how worried you feel.)

:bighug:


Mogs
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Thank you so much.

It's hard because if the he doesn't show improvement after about 10 days on the antibiotic, they make it sound like my only recourse is a CT scan, which would show any tumors. I've been quoted $1500 for a CT scan here. For what..just to find out he has a cancer which has a terrible prognosis? So..if he doesn't get better by next week, I'll have to make some tough decisions :(
 
I'm sorry you had a bad morning, hope things have improved. I just had to reply and let you know I have felt at times writing your exact post! I mean to a point where I have thought, is this all even worth it?
Absolutely frustrated missed pokes, no blood, missed meter timing out, 5 pokes, worrying he is gonna die if I don't get the blood, etc...etc...
I guess its what we got to go through and I truly believe they would want us to not give up until we know its time to give up.
Keep fighting and keep hugging!! :)
 
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