My friend Wedge keeps saying Kissen is Russian.

It’s so hard to know how to sort Kissens diabetes out at all situations. Two days now her blood sugar has been very low. In the beginning of this week it was at 3,2 in the morning. After talking with the vet we decided to take her insulin unit down to 2/2 again ( from 3/2). And that morning I was not to give her any insulin until 12, IF the blood sugar was higher. We gave her some dextros after her food to get it up. When I got home at lunch it was up at 17.

This morning she was at 6,something. I called the vet but I got no answer so I thought they’d probably tell me to do the same as I did last time. Wait until lunch time. So I did and it was now up at 22. So I gave her the insulin.

The vet said her body might be producing insulin again and that’s why it drops. It’s so many things to think off..

So, today is our second date with our veterinarian (that sounds very much like vegetarian..). I must also buy the cat more special food, as they only sell it over there. Bye, bye money.

It was total zombie-mode this morning. Matt woke me up at 7.20 and I just couldn’t wake up. I was awake, but I couldn’t open my eyes. It was wonderful. I manage to get up, pricked the cat in her ear (at a weird place, must have been blind), then crawled right back to bed  (dreamt that Matt had given the cat 4 units instead of 2) and woke up at 10. I have to leave work around 1.. so success on today.

I’m hoping that Kissen has gained some weight, it looks like she has.. but you can’t really trust your eyes on that one. I think they’ll want to give her more units / time. Her blood sugar is still high. Still she’s much more active now, yesterday she was running around chasing Matt and being all weird and lovely.

I’m lucky to have such a good cat. I think she’s just gotten tired of it 3 times, which means she bites you in the hand.
(Turn off or lower the sound)

So she’s doing better today. She’s not drinking water like a maniac anymore. She’s drinking like a normal little cat. The blood testing is still not perfect, but a lot better than yesterday.
Her blood sugar has gone from 23,1 (yesterday morning) to 16,5 (this evening).

The really early mornings will make me a forever zombie though. I usually start working at 10, but I guess I’ll be there after 8 tomorrow then.. zzz on that.

We spent 4,5 hours at the animal hospital yesterday. They had long waiting periods between talking to the vet, taking blood test, getting results of blood test (1,5 hours actually), talking to vet, talking to diabetic-vet. It was a long day. Kissen was totally exhausted by the end of it, sleeping in her cage while we got the How-to. So much information to remember, and after all those hours and a massive headache you really had to concentrate not to miss a thing. We got a lesson in blood testing, reading of the results, putting a needle in her neck and her new diet.

This is all her stuff, that we have to use twice a day:

This tests the amount of sugar in her blood. The thing looking like a pen is the needle. The little can holds the sticks which you put the blood on and the device then measures it. On cats you stick them in the ear, or under the paw if you really can’t get any from the ear.  (Costs: + needles for the insulin-pen:  266 sek/$34)
We didn’t have any luck at the vet with getting blood from her ear, it’s like she has no blood there. We tried last night but nothing. This morning she got really pissed at us after trying to long. We really HAD to get some blood. Finally we got a tiny tiny drop and the little device said “Yey, that’s enough blood”. This has to be done at the same times everyday. Today we did it at 08.00 (I was a zombie).

We then must keep a record of all measures. One time in the morning, one in the evening.
This morning her blood sugar was at 23.1mmol/l. I can’t remember what that meant, but I think it’s a bit high. If she ever gets close to 5 we must call the vet. After this she can eat.

And this is her food. She can’t have anything else. We need to be exact on how much she gets every day, which for her weight(3,9kg) is 60g / day. (Costs: A bag with 2kg; 200 sek/$25.50)
This part is not so fun. If she eats all she can have we can’t give her more even if she screams for it. Which she does. She’s used to always having food in her bowl so she can eat when she wants too. We’ll have to give her 30g in the morning, after blood test. Then give her the insulin, as she must eat if she’s having insulin. If she eats well we can give insulin before, but in the beginning we were told to do it like this. Then in the evening she’ll get the last 30g.

This is the insulin. It has to be in the fridge. On the top shelf, and not in the door. It’s very important not to shake it as the insulin gets useless then. And it can’t freeze. (Costs:  596 sek/$76)
There are 5 pens in this box, each containing 100ml. Kissen is going to get 4 units (as they call it) every day. So this should last a while. The feeling of putting a needle in her neck is really weird. The vet gave me a normal syringe at the hospital filled with, I think, saline solution as I had to learn how to do it. Now this pen’s needle was A LOT shorter so it was hard to feel that it really went into her skin. You have to grab the neck skin and make a little tunnel and that’s were the needle is going. This she doesn’t feel.
I don’t like the smell of this at all. My dad and brother has diabetes so I’m familiar with the smell, the pen and everything.

These are the needles for the pen, which must be changed every time. After use you throw them in the yellow container, which when it’s full must be handed into the pharmacy. (Costs: + blood sugar tester:  266 sek/$34)
This is the easiest part of everything.. putting on a needle on the pen, and throwing it. Not much to say about it. The needle is really thin and short.

And this is the actual pen that has the insulin. Can’t be shaken, not be in direct sunlight. The pen you use is going to be in room temperature.

Before using it you turn the end to 2, as in 2 units. You take of the cap, flick it once with your finger so it doesn’t have any air bubbles. Take a grip of her neck and make that tunnel then stick in the needle and then press and hold it for 10 sec. so all the insulin comes out. And then it’s done. She doesn’t react to this. I did it the first time for real this morning. I’m thinking about shaving her a little bit around the neck as I found it hard to feel that the needle really went in.

It will be a lot of work to get this into routine, but for now it feels okay. There was no “let her be and see how long she can live a normal life”, here as the other vet said. There was no question about treating her. We discovered it fast she said, and sometimes cats recover from it. I’m really pleased with the animal hospital. They are all so nice and helpful there. We are going to call them next week for a new appointment to see how she’s doing. (Costs: Animal hospital, blood test, recepie 1170 sek / $150)