Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Kitty Diabetes - in remission for now

Turns out kitty cat needed diet change more than insulin. She's getting her ear pricked once or twice a day to check her blood glucose levels and hasn't needed a shot of insulin in 9 days. She's feeling much better. I'm now a huge believer in low carb wet food for cats. Me, who thought canned food was a silly waste of money now owns several boxes full of Fancy Feast.

Go figure.

M.W.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Guest Blogger: Nadya the Cat

Human, you need to relax. I know I've been like, sick and stuff, but chill. Next time you give me a shot of cold insulin, however, I'm going to bite you... hard. I'd also really appreciate it if you'd give me the shot properly. Having the needle come out the other side and squirt insulin all over the bathroom floor is not my idea of a good time. Especially if it means you get flustered and forget to warm the insulin the second time you 'shoot' me. I mean that about the biting.

Yeah, I'm a little grumpy. You don't really need to bring those two-legged creatures in while I'm eating and/or getting a shot. You let the little one in while I'm getting a shot again, and I will bite you. I really mean this. It would be nice if you'd discourage her from petting me while I'm eating. And, did you really need to show the bigger one how to scratch me under the chin so my leg twitches? We went 4 years without her knowing that trick. If you teach the little one, I will bite you.

Yeah, I like the new food. Low carb is good stuff, especially with gravy. Make sure you keep getting the stuff with gravy. Gravy is good. Try not to get hyper if I only eat half a can at a sitting. We both know I'll make up for it the next day. I've already put on a little over half a pound, so I'm definitely getting enough calories.

Get off my back about the litter box. I don't like the new one, but at least I'm using it. Quit trying to tell me it's a nice box. I didn't fall off the turnip truck last night, and I'm not buying your story. Goody for you that you can test my urine for ketones. Can we please just get the old box back? No? Okay, then don't expect for me to ever 'go' while you are watching ever again. Good luck trying to catch fresh urine.

Oh, and human, remember when you let the ugly, loud kitty outside last night. She would really like to come back in this morning. She's hungry and a little ticked off about sleeping on the welcome mat all night.

I'm taking a nap now, and no, it doesn't mean you gave me too much insulin. Cats sleep. A lot.

Nadya, the Cat

Monday, October 16, 2006

I am tired...

It's nearly 8 pm, and I'm still at work. It's bonus time, and I am producer of the bonus schedule. 148 managers and 600+ agents all fall under my various schedules. This would not be a difficult task but for one thing, exceptions. If I could just run my reports and send out the schedules, this job would be a matter of hours. Instead, it's a matter of running my reports, checking the output, verifying (or denying) the exception requests, managing the latest revision, re-calculating the areas that have been given a target break, etc. etc. etc.

It is exhausting keeping track of the various and sundry scenarios (there are 28 possible scenarios for the managers and 6 for the agents) It's a minor miracle I have not screwed this miserable thing up beyond all recognition.

I am worried about my cat. Her glucose levels were still high Friday evening but down considerably from the previous week. The vet had us bump her insulin dose up again, but I'm scared it's too high. She should have been fed two hours ago with insulin a half hour later. I hate that we can't seem to be consistent in her feeding. On the bright side, I think Mr. W. will get on board with home blood sugar testing. He hates the cat, but the thought of forking over $30 twice a week for the vet to do the draws indefinitely is unappealing as well. I can barely control my shaking while giving the insulin injections. There is no way on this earth that I can handle getting blood from the kitty.

L. has a nasty cold and ear infection. It's been less than a month since her lastone, so we're trying a new antibiotic this time. I hope she kicks this thing quickly. When she doesn't sleep well, NOBODY sleeps well in our house (kiddo was blessed with extraordinary lung power as can be attested to an entire 757 chock full of people, but that's another story).

On the plus side, I'm listening to the newest Jimmy Buffett cd online. I'm enjoying at least imagining I'm someplace warm and sunshiny.

M.W.

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Shotgun Approach - Again

Vacation

Disney World was fabulous! All four of us had a great time, even if S. did experience anxiety in just about everything that was in the dark. Oh, and Fantasmic! is NOT for preschoolers. It scared the poop out of S., but L. thought it was great fun.

I had been nervous that L. would be scared to death of the characters walking around. She is at that awkward separation-anxiety-riddled toddler age. However, the opposite held true. We had more work hauling her screaming, kicking self away from the characters than I had ever imagined. It was pretty funny watching her get so keyed up over seeing Flik or Pooh that she looked like she was going to split in two pieces.

S. behaved similarly when it came to the princesses. We ate one meal at the Akershus where you spend your meal having various Disney princesses stop by your table to chat. S. looked like she was part Tigger, she could NOT stop bouncing. We mentioned to the host of the Akershus that S. had seen Ariel (who was greeting all those coming in for dinner) at the Spectromagic parade two evenings before. Magicaly, Ariel remembered S. from the parade and asked her how she liked the Magic Kingdom. S. was terribly impressed.

I don't know if it was Disney magic, or we just had an incredible run of good luck. We had great timing for just about everything we did. We got in a hideously long line to wait for a bus, and poof! three busses come. The line for Dumbo took longer than we thought, so we weren't finished when the fireworks started. Poof! we are riding Dumbo during the fireworks out high in the open (spectacular!). We were going to ride the ferry, but I wasn't feeling well. Poof! we catch the monorail, and the gentleman monitoring everybody asks if we would like to ride up front with the driver. It was like that the whole trip.

Back home

We arrived home very late Wednesday evening, and poured the kids in bed. Thursday, I noticed my cat Nadya was not moving. I went to pet her and felt every rib, vertebrae and the bones of her pelvis poking through. After a 2 hour long vet visit, I get the news that she's severely diabetic, she has developed toxic levels of ketones in her body, her cholesterol is through the roof and she has some liver damage. All in all, it does not look good for kitty. The vet told me he would try very hard to turn her around, but that if there was anything else wrong with her, he would not want to even try. We've started insulin injections twice a day, and I've changed up her food a bit. Tuesday through Thursday next week, they will do regular blood draws and try to get her blood sugar regulated. It was 391 (supposed to be 180) when I brought her in on Thursday and 394 on Friday, so we've already upped the insulin dose a bit.

I'm petrified of needles, so I'm pretty proud of myself for remaining calm enough to give kitty her insulin injections. Now, I've just got to decide if we're going to try home blood glucose monitoring (assuming we can get her stable), but that would entail even more needles as well as blood on a really regular basis. Nadya is looking better already after four days on insulin and massive subcutaneous fluid injections, so I am hopeful.

M.W.