Merry Christmas!

Well, now I REALLY feel bad....

Out of desperation, I gave Scruffy a zenequin (left over from the last ear infection a couple months ago) two days ago. He's now had three of them. And, if you look at his numbers, it's abundantly clear that he's had all these awful numbers because he's got some sort of infection going on. I did poke around in his mouth the day I started the zenequin, and he has a couple of red spots. (He just had a dental last spring, though.) Could it be the mouth stuff plus herpes has done this to him?

I have been trying to avoid having to take him to the vet because he turns into such a maniac there. And then I have weeks of his hiding every time he hears the car keys jingle. I really don't know what to do about the situation. It seems wrong to make him go for appointments with someone he has such a definite negative response to. He was always the world's most laid-back cat, and now.... He's touchy with the holistic vet, and the ophthalmologist, and the dermatologist, but nothing like the hissing, spitting, jumping, clawing and actual pooping that Dr. G. gets. I have sort of associated the start of all this commotion with the last dental, but I don't know if that's accurate or not. I do know Scruffy has quite a long memory for slights and upsets.

I guess he'll have to go and see what the vet thinks about what's going on. And Jojo has really been encouraging me to have another pancreatitis test done. The last one was borderline. He's throwing up a lot lately, but it doesn't seem much different than any of the other periods that he did that. I think that maybe the zenequin has loosened some stuff in his sinuses, too - he's really snorting up a storm in the last couple days. And sneezing. Poor cat. It's really crappy to have all this stuff wrong with him. It's encouraging to see that Levemir still is willing to make a go of it, at least. I really want to get back on the right track with the insulin.

The return of herpes

While I can't blame all of the horrible December numbers on herpes, I do think that's at least part of the problem. Within the last couple days, the snorting has started. And like everything else that goes wrong, this is my fault, too - I bought a huge bottle of the Lysine I had been using for years, and then noticed that it now contains propylene glycol, which is to be avoided. So, I ordered on line - buy one bottle of lysine, get two free. Only, when the bazillion pills came, they were coated with such a hard covering that my pill chopper could hardly get through them. And, since I have to be able to chop up the mucho expensive Keppra pills for Milk, I made a less-than-executive decision to stop chopping up Lysine for a while. So, Scruffy hasn't had his lysine for probably more than a month, and here I am, having ruined his good numbers and made him miserable besides. I started the lysine again last week, but who knows how long it's going to take to do any good. The moral of the story is, nothing I do ever turns out right.

Aside from the above stupidity, this last two weeks has been horrible for him. I've checked his urine half a dozen times, and it's always been ketone negative (thank God), and 1/2% glucose. The average on his meter is up more than 150 points for the 7 and 14 day averages from what it had been. Every time I turn around, he's in the 400's. He's dropped to sub-40 numbers on both .5 and .75 units. I don't know where to go with all this. I have been debating taking him to the vet, but that's such an ordeal for all of us that I've been putting it off. This is so discouraging; I'd actually gotten used to those wonderful numbers from last month - not so obsessive about testing, and not worrying about when I had to go out, and sleeping....... Not no more.

Poor Scruffy. I've always told him that he'd have been so much smarter to have wandered into someone else's sister's garage.

December numbers - ugh

11/29/07
AM PS (+11) 421 fed .75u Levemir
+1 443
+8 158
+11.5 39 (????) fed
+12 51
+13 45
+13.5 53
+16.5 90

11/30/07
+22.5 112
AM PS (+24.5) 316 fed .5uLevemir
+3 435
+7.5 412
PM PS (+9.5) 353 fed .5uLevemir
+2.5 309
+8.5 93 ate previous meal, threw up
+9.5 72

12/1/07
AM PS (+14) 216 fed. threw up .5uLevemir
+2 351
+7 292
+9 fed
+10 326
PM PS (+10.5) .5uLevemir
+5 398

12/2/07
+8.5 293 drank a little milk
AM PS (+14) 270 fed .5uLevemir
+4 265
+8 29 fed
+8.5 39 fed
+9 82
+10 136
+12 98
+15 170

12/3/07
AM PS (+23.5) 449 fed .5uLevemir
+5.5 311
+6.5 404
+10 372
PM PS (+11.5) .5uLevemir
+12.5 397
+4 400

12/4/07
AM PS (+11) 382 fed .75uLevemir
+3 358
+6.5 215
+12 fed
+12.5 60
+13.5 99 drank a little milk
PM PS (+16) 446 .5uLevemir

12/5/07
+6.5 367 fed
+9 381
AM PS (+11) 345 .5uLevemir
+7 341
PM PS (+12.5) 380 .5uLevemir

12/6/07
+7 388 fed
AM PS (+11.5) 411 .75uLevemir
+3 332
+6 fed
+11 81
+13 80

12/7/07
+17 139 fed, threw up
AM PS (+19) 457 .75uLevemir
+2 462
+7 399
PM PS (+10.5) 319 fed. threw up .5uLevemir
+3 281
+5 279

12/8/07
+13 172 fed
AM PS (+17) 243 .5uLevemir
+6.5 414
+8.5 407 threw up .5uR
+11 203
+13.5 140
PM PS (+14.5) .5uLevemir

12/9/07
+7 48 fed , pepcid
+7.5 68
AM PS (+11) 177 .5uLevemir
+4 299 threw up
+7 266 fed
PM PS (+12) 399 .5uLevemir

12/10/07
+8 336 fed
AM PS (+10) 375 .5uLevemir
+5 236 snack
+9 242 fed
PM PS (+12.5) 397 .5uLevemir

12/11/07
+9 431 fed
AM PS (+9.5) .75uLevemir
+4 317
+9 153
PM PS (+12) 137 fed .5uLevemir
+4 372

12/12/07
AM PS (+11.5) 426 fed .75uLevemir
+5 330
+8 330
PM PS (+11) 383 fed .75uLevemir
+5.5 271

12/13/07
+14 521 fed .5uR
AM PS [(+3.5) +17.5 ] 382 .75uLevemir 1st zenequin
+1 384
+6 374 fed
+10 370
PM PS (+11.5) .75uLevemir
+.5 382

12/14/07
+8 208 fed, threw up 2nd zenequin
+12 71
+13 51
+15.5 73 fed
+16.5 106
PS (+19 ) 139 fed .75uLevemir
+5 399

12/15/07
AM PS (+12) 389 fed, threw up .75uLevemir 3rd zenequin
+5 284
+7 111
+11 fed
+12.5 82
+16 96
PM PS (+18) 160 .5uLevemir

12/16/07
+8 251 fed, threw up
AM PS (+12) 257 fat .5uLevemir 4th zenequin
+5.5 309 fed, threw up
+9.5 353 snack, pepcid
PM PS (+11) 473 .75uLevemir

12/17/07
+5.5 311 fed pepcid
+8 319
+10 312 5th zenequin
AM PS (+13) 282 .5uLevemir
+4 354
PM PS (+9.5) 433 .75uLevemir

12/18/07
+8.5 394 fed .75uLevemir
+2 348
+5.5 232
+11.5 55 fed
+13.5 85
+16.5 83

12/19/07
+24 493 fed, threw up .5uR
AM PS (+4.5 from R, +28.5 from Levemir) 351 fat .5uLevemir
+2.5 341
PM PS (+10.5) 262 fed .5uLevemir
+2 394

12/20/07
+9 383 fed
AM PS (+12) 461 .75uLevemir
+5.5 328
+8.5 318 fed
PM PS (+13.5) 340 .75uLevemir

12/21/07
+7 209 fed
+10 172
+12 193 (had to go out, couldn't get hold of him)
PS (+16) 431 .75uLevemir
+3 420 fed
+8 374

12/22/07
AM PS (+14) 369 fed .75uLevemir
+4 367
+7 342
PM PS (+11) 311 fed .75uLevemir
+6 357

12/23/07
AM PS (+13.5) 364 fed .75uLevemir
+9.5 347
PM PS (+11.5) 368 fed .75uLevemir
+4.5 407

12/24/07
AM PS (+11.5) 314 fed .75uLevemir
+7 344
PM PS (+12) 381 .75uLevemir
+4 384

12/25/07
AM PS (+12) 414 fed .75uLevemir
+5 326
+7 363
PM PS (+12.5) 356 fed .75uLevemir
+4 370

12/26/07
AM PS (+12.5) 330 fed .75uLevemir
+8 305
PM PS (+10) fed, zenequin
+5 335

12/27/07
AM PS (+14) 212 fed .75uLevemir
+4.5 136
+9.5 101
PM PS (+11.5) 155 .5uLevemir

12/28/07
AM PS (+11) 195 fed .75uLevemir
+7 299
PM PS (+12) 418 fed (ate Milk's dry, too) .75uLevemir
+5 464

12/29/07
AM PS (+13.5) 456 fed .5uR, .75uLevemir
+3.5 315
+10.5 75 fed
PM PS (+14) 278 .75uLevemir
+2.5 317

12/30/07
+9 133 fed
AM PS (+11.5) 218 .75uLevemir
+2.5 377
+8 230
+8.5 236 fed
+9.5 200
PM PS (+11) 282 1.0uLevemir
+3.5 356

12/31/07
AM PS (+11) 307 fed 1.0uLevemir
+2 324
+6.5 232
+11 172 fed
PM PS (+14) 341 1.0uLevemir
+2.5 325