Elizabeth&Julia&Margaret(GA)
Member Since 2009
We lost our diabetic Margaret in 2011 and it seems her sister/litter mate Julia didn't want to be left out of the sugar dance. She's been peeing around the house and we had her to the vet a few months ago many, many times. We tested sugar, kidneys, did blood work, x-rays, and determined it had to be behavioral. We've had a tremendous amount of stress in the house in the last year. My Mom mentioned tonight how much she was peeing and after pulling out the testing supplies (or borrowing them back from my Dad) we found her sugar to be 303. She's most certainly earned a trip to the vet tomorrow. It's been a number of years since I've done the sugar dance and even when Margaret was on insulin, she was only on it about 2 weeks and a diet change allowed her to go OTJ. So, I've been around but am still sort of new to this.
A rundown of things...
I'm perfectly fine with testing and already know how to do it so that is not a concern at all. We still have our Relion Micro meters since Dad uses them, too. I just have to get ketone strips again.
Julia already eats wet food. We just have to get her on lower carb wet.
I know how to handle the spreadsheet. I just have to set one up.
The problem...
My Mom already cares for my Dad who is bedridden and has kidney disease and has had 6+ hospitalizations within the past year. There's where we thought Julia's stress was coming from. Mom is still recovering from skin graft surgery to remove melanoma from her hand two months ago and she had week's hospitalization last Oct. I'm having surgery this Friday and will be down for I don't know how long. I explain this so if I'm a little "nutty" you'll understand the stresses we're under right now.
The problem is if indeed they put Julia on insulin, which I'm expecting they'll do, how do we handle starting this 2 days before we'll be out of the house all day at the hospital? We have a caregiver coming in for Dad but Mom and I won't be here. And even after that, I have no idea what'll be going on with my recovery. It's day surgery though.
I know I have to read the sticky notes about insulin's to figure out what I'm doing (at least to start) but can someone guide me to what insulin I should be asking the vet for? And what starting dose I'm looking at? Margaret was on Vetsulin and I know that's not an option now. I'm looking for something with the gentlest drops and long lasting. Lantus or Levemir? Something that's easy for my Mom to manage while I'm at work. I have no idea how we're going to do this when we're already running ragged but we'll get through it somehow.
Like I said, I'll be reading the sticky notes for sure. I just want to have a starting place when I go to the vet tomorrow and since I have to be up in a few hours for work, I won't have time to read anything until tomorrow evening the earliest, after the vet visit.
Thank you for any help you can provide!
One good thing...Julia earned her way into the FDMB calendar that up until now Margaret had only been allowed in! As if I needed an excuse to buy one each year. ;-) :smile:
A rundown of things...
I'm perfectly fine with testing and already know how to do it so that is not a concern at all. We still have our Relion Micro meters since Dad uses them, too. I just have to get ketone strips again.
Julia already eats wet food. We just have to get her on lower carb wet.
I know how to handle the spreadsheet. I just have to set one up.
The problem...
My Mom already cares for my Dad who is bedridden and has kidney disease and has had 6+ hospitalizations within the past year. There's where we thought Julia's stress was coming from. Mom is still recovering from skin graft surgery to remove melanoma from her hand two months ago and she had week's hospitalization last Oct. I'm having surgery this Friday and will be down for I don't know how long. I explain this so if I'm a little "nutty" you'll understand the stresses we're under right now.
The problem is if indeed they put Julia on insulin, which I'm expecting they'll do, how do we handle starting this 2 days before we'll be out of the house all day at the hospital? We have a caregiver coming in for Dad but Mom and I won't be here. And even after that, I have no idea what'll be going on with my recovery. It's day surgery though.
I know I have to read the sticky notes about insulin's to figure out what I'm doing (at least to start) but can someone guide me to what insulin I should be asking the vet for? And what starting dose I'm looking at? Margaret was on Vetsulin and I know that's not an option now. I'm looking for something with the gentlest drops and long lasting. Lantus or Levemir? Something that's easy for my Mom to manage while I'm at work. I have no idea how we're going to do this when we're already running ragged but we'll get through it somehow.
Like I said, I'll be reading the sticky notes for sure. I just want to have a starting place when I go to the vet tomorrow and since I have to be up in a few hours for work, I won't have time to read anything until tomorrow evening the earliest, after the vet visit.
Thank you for any help you can provide!
One good thing...Julia earned her way into the FDMB calendar that up until now Margaret had only been allowed in! As if I needed an excuse to buy one each year. ;-) :smile:
