Musings on a Small Life

Because, work "sprints". Comments are off.

Below is how I usually feel on Mondays, especially this week with a particular work "thing" on both Wednesday and Friday. (I had fantasies of quitting/retiring before we had to do this unnecessary and unwanted  team thing again, but alas, it's not to be.) On a good note, I got Derry's fructosamine results back from the vet today: The result was 382, down from 720 in September, which is terrific. The reference range, as listed above, is 143 - 373, but I also see at the end that under 405 is "good regulation." So fingers and paws are crossed that this continues.  🤞🙏 Derry wasn't cranky, below, he was making lovey eyes at me and wanting cuddles. Isn't this the truth, below?! Every time I clean! I should be so lucky to get five minutes out of it. Ha! Take care, all. Yesterday evening's wispy clouds.

Courtesy of Pinterest, as usual! I think this one, below, is called retirement.  :-D ****** Derry went back to the vet clinic yesterday to have the old Freestyle Libre senor removed and a new one put on. I took a glucometer with me and had the tech do a glucose reading with it while the old sensor was on, so I could then scan the old sensor and see if the numbers were close. Glucometer: 4.6 Old senor: 4.4 This means that yes, the senor has been working properly and giving accurate readings, which was a relief to me, as I have no desire to stress Derry (or myself) out by trying to prick his ears with a needle unless I absolutely have to. The new sensor was applied to Derry's left side this time, and will be good for another 14 days. I also had the vet tech take a blood sample and am having the serum fructosamine test re-run. Derry has had no insulin since early morning on October 15th and so far has been reading within normal levels. So a double-check of the fructosamine is in orde...

It's been ten days of a "fun" roller coaster with Derry's glucose numbers.  He spent most of our Thanksgiving weekend hypoglycemic, because 2.5 units, 2.0 units, even 1.0 and 0.5 units of insulin just once a day dropped his glucose like a stone. He got corn syrup numerous times, along with tons of treats, and I spent much of the holiday weekend texting with a very kind, patient and helpful blogger. In fact, since Derry had the Freestyle Libre sensor applied on October 7, he's had nine hypoglycemic incidents, according to the data. His glucose level has to be in the mid-teens before it's safe to give him even the 0.5 units, which is crazy. Currently he's been without any insulin since 6 AM on Saturday morning and still is reading in the normal range. The sensor will "die" at the end of the week, and when I take him back to the vet clinic (hopefully Friday) to have a new one applied, I will have them draw a blood sample to rerun the serum fructos...

Happy Friday and happy Thanksgiving (October 10) to those of you (us) in Canada. I hope everyone has a good long weekend. As usual, the cartoons/graphics come from my Pinterest feed.  :-) And a bit of inspiration/life advice if you need it right now (I do!). Derry is off to the vet this afternoon to have the Freestyle Libre device applied; poor little mite. It took him several days after his last appointment on the 28th to really start eating again (he's had a viral flare-up since the last appointment, stress-induced I'm sure). I'll ask for a Cerenia injection for him this time (had done the first appointment, forgot on the 28th), maybe that will help. I've given him some gabapentin this morning, but had done the last time also.  It's a challenging position for me to be in: How much to do I push him, how much do I force him to endure? I have the means to care for his body, but what of his spirit? This thought circles around and around in my head, and I'm doing m...

  Spied early AM on Monday the 3rd.

Some much-needed Pinterest humour therapy.  :-) This one is appropriate for Derry!

Derry had a recheck of his eye yesterday (Wednesday Sep 28) and I had them shave a couple of small patches on his shoulders so I could do the insulin injections more easily. His eye ulcer has cleared up, which was terrific news, and the vet has told me to continue with the anti-inflammatory ointment, Maxidex, our other vet had prescribed, but to stop if his eye gets worse again. However, there's no question of his having diabetes; the serum fructosamine test came back with his numbers off the chart:   He started on insulin Monday after supper, and I was thrilled to have gotten the first injection in easily, thought, great, this won't be an issue . I'm pretty sure the second shot went in too (though now, not 100% certain, looking back!), but the third shot, Tuesday after supper, definitely was a "fur shot." LOL. So was the fifth, yesterday after suppertime. I learned: Don't be cocky, because even though he's shaved, I can miss Turn on more light Put your re...

I'll skip over the lab and med delays that have frustrated me this past Thursday and Friday. I still do not have the vet's preferred eye antibiotic, so I've kept on with her second choice, and he will be rechecked on Wednesday (or at least that's his current appointment). However, his blood glucose level came back very high, at 24.7 (range 4-ish to 9-ish), and that coupled with the protein in his urine (though he's had protein in his urine for many years, so I don't put a lot of stock in that), plus his incessant drinking and peeing, indicate diabetes . (He's peeing every hour or two most of the time; I thought it might be a UTI, but there was no sign of that in his urinanalysis results.) Now, his blood glucose reading at the end of April was fantastic, couldn't ask for better. However, he did have crystals in his urine at the time (April), and our regular vet suggested that I switch to a urinary food. Choices are limited to hydrolyzed protein because o...

I took Derry to another vet this morning for a second opinion on his eye. Ironically, it was the clinic I had taken Chumley and Annie to, years ago, a bit further away from me. (Another, closer clinic I had called was booking into October, too late for me.) It was very long, we were there for at least three hours all told. Very expensive, as I knew they would be, but also very thorough, which I appreciated. Derry has at least two issues at the moment: 1. Corneal ulcer 2. Eosinophilic keratitis (the suspected diagnosis back in January) AND/OR ulcerative keratitis They did the pressure test for glaucoma, and while the left eye reading is pretty close to the top end (however they measure it), he does not have glaucoma at this time. They also stained the eye, which is how they picked up the ulcer. (My regular vet DID this last week, but either it hadn't yet developed or he missed it.) So right now Derry will get antibiotic ointment four to five times a day, as well as eye lubricant gel...

Before I give a quick update on Derry, I'd like to offer my deepest condolences to two well-known bloggers on the loss of their family members. If you haven't already done so and would like to leave condolences, please see the links from the Cat Blogosphere here: https://blog.catblogosphere.com/for-carole-and-katie-isabella/ https://blog.catblogosphere.com/for-ellen-and-family/ ****** As for my sweet little Derry-bear, well, he's sporting the cone of shame, cape-style, to keep him from pawing at his eye. I'll skip over the details of how hard it was to connect with our vet regarding meds. The antiviral he wanted to have compounded is no longer available at their compounding pharmacy, nor was one other option. Another anti-viral, for which he had faxed in a prescription to my own drugstore, was not available except in injection format (for humans). Finally, yesterday afternoon I was able to get antibiotic eye ointment (2x per day), for any secondary infection, as well as...

Yesterday through the day Derry's eye got progressively worse, to the point that he was keeping it tightly shut and occasionally pawing at it. Ditto this morning. This is in spite of the fact that I've been giving him the anti-inflammatory eye meds 4x per day for many weeks now. (Derry first developed this eye problem after a bad viral flare-up last December, and this has been an ongoing issue, on and off, since then. He's seen the vet twice now, three times counting today.)  I had an appointment for him on the 19th, but lucked into a cancellation for 10 AM this morning. Pic from Sep 7. The good news is that there's no sign of a scratch or ulcer, but he does have conjunctivitis. While there, I asked for a cerenia injection, as Derry seems to get sick and go off his food after every visit (usually through the night and into the next day). He did eat his lunch (canned) and dry (snack) this afternoon, so we'll see what tomorrow brings. I also permitted ONE oral dose o...

Derry was out in the garden yesterday, meowing up a storm. From his tone, I knew there was another cat on the other side of the fence, so I popped out with my camera to see who was hanging about. I've seen him before, fairly recently, and believe him to be someone's indoor/outdoor cat. He was wary and wouldn't approach, but didn't run away when I crouched down by the corner of my garage and talked to him. (I had my zoom camera, as he was at the other end of the walkway, by the back of my fence, probably about 30 feet away.) I seldom know whether Derry wants to meet a particular roaming cat, or if he's upset by their presence. Well, I do know he dislikes Carla, who has been around a long time, but I don't know about the others that come and go with their people. Anyway, other than Derry's "monologue," this fellow didn't seem to cause too much of a ruckus.  :-) Take care, all; I hope the week goes well.

I think it's Tuesday; the long weekend has thrown me off more than I typically would be! Derry's tail, snapped in July. Love the cute curve. No "tales", really, just a bit of a mish-mash. It was a good thrift store weekend, especially at Value Village. I haven't been into ours more than two or three times since the pandemic started, and I lucked in this time by finding ten books (mysteries), eight tops for the fall/winter, and a sweet fabric shower curtain as a spare for the new bathroom. (The shower curtain is old, but very pretty and girly, my kind of thing. I think it will become my spring/summer one.) Derry on Saturday, checking out the new shower curtain. Derry got a new cat tree a couple of weekends ago, mostly because he wasn't using the larger one. So I found a small one at Pet Valu and moved the big one up to the guest room, where he can get to it via the bed. I've been looking at cat trees online, particularly on Wayfair.ca, because they have a f...