Ollie's Over the Rainbow Bridge

[oliversparents]

Re: Ollie's journey

We are taking Ollie to an eye specialist tomorrow. She says the worst case scenario is eye removal. Hoping for the best.

His left eye is still swollen, but not as painful, and his right has improved a lot.

He did eat dinner tonight with no coercion, so he must be feeling better.

[jesse girl]

Re: Ollie's journey

that a positive sign

hope ollie has a productive appointment at the vet and things continue to improve

[Auddog]

Good luck to you and Ollie at the eye specialist today. Hope he feels better soon,
Audrey

[farrwf]

Re: Ollie's journey

Hoping for a good outcome for Ollie at the eye doc.

[oliversparents]

Re: Ollie's journey

Just a quick update:

Ollie had advanced glaucoma in one eye, and had it removed. He's actually doing great now. BUT. His keytones were elevated, and the surgeon recommended another doc. We could not get an appt soon enough before we leave, and he is acting fine, good actually. Will test for keytones asap, but also hoping that was a mild event that can be reversed.

So we're going back home with big reservations. I'm not sure we could afford the whole severe ketoacidosis treatment anyway. Wish us luck for our brave boy.

Mary

[oliversparents]

Re: Ollie's journey

Ollie is still recovering well and is such a courageous dog. He is quite blind in the remaining eye now, too. He is coping with sudden blindness very well. He's happy to be back home and resting and eating well, even barking and playful at times.

His blood curve today is good for him, in the 300's and 200's.That's actually as low as it's been since diagnosis of diabetes (two months ago). I guess we'll continue to increase and monitor. Keytones are a trace (5+).

He's on Rimadyl for anti-inflammation, antibiotics, tramadol for pain, and has eye drop to keep his remaining eye under control (hopefully).

I'm wondering if anyone can guide us through this next phase. We have two concerns:

1) The removal of his eye should result in his immune system getting back to normal, which should make the insulin work better. How often do you think we should be testing his blood sugar? We don't want to get him too low. The vet said the immune system recovers slowly. He's at 29 units, going to 30 or 31 tonight.

2) At what point do you get concerned about keytones? He is not acting sick, but of course we are concerned at even a trace. Is there a number for keytones that can alert us to ketoacidosis? Well, I guess he could be mildly ketoacidotic right now. Just when do we take him to a vet for crystal insulin, if necessary?

Thanks. We are all feeling emotionally drained, but happy to be home.

Mary

[CraigM]

Re: Ollie's journey

Glad to hear Ollie is doing better.

I generally go with about a 10% insulin increase because FOR ME anything less just doesn't seem to make much difference. So in Ollie's case, I might go with 32 units. I'm sure others will be more conservative and suggest 31, but there really isn't much difference between 31 and 32.

If you are on various meds, remember the blood glucose might be affected either now, or when you come off some of the eye drops / meds.

Annie's blood glucose is much better since she had one eye removed and went blind in the other. I know that's a sad thing to say, but true. She battled eye problems for years, and blindness sort of cured all her problems.

Can't say anything about ketones because I've never tested for them myself.

Craig

[oliversparents]

Re: Ollie's journey

Thanks so much Craig. You've been such an incredible help all along. It is so good to hear of your Annie's improvements. I have to say that Ollie did have his best curve ever today, and it was such relief to see those numbers continuing to come down.

There are so many things that could go wrong, it's hard not to get overly worried about the whole thing and miss enjoying the time you do have together with your pet. Ollie is the dog I have been closest to in my life, and there's been many. He and I seem to have a mutual understanding that goes beyond acknowledgement; we just both know it's there. So it's been particularly hard for me to make these hard decisions for him.

And another update: we had a thyroid test done on his blood, and he does have hypothyroid. So he will start a new medication for that next week.

[jesse girl]

Re: Ollie's journey

The thyroid medication could reduce the amount of insulin needed and it maybe dramatic so keep a close eye on blood sugar for the next couple weeks with starting the thyroid medication

Glad your are getting some answers to help with ollies continued improvement

[oliversparents]

Re: Ollie's journey

Yes, we were thinking to increase his blood tests. Once he's on the thyroid meds, how often should we be testing do you think? Every day a curve? Or a couple of spot checks every day?

Thanks.

[jesse girl]

Re: Ollie's journey

there are some forum members who have been through this hope they see your post I am not sure of the complete consensus but i beleive all had to reduce the dose and some by quite a bit

probably test 3 to 5 times a day and a curve once a week but you will have to get a feel for the situation even a preemptive reduction maybe prudent when starting the medication

every dog has there own path and how change affects them can be quite different from another

[CraigM]

Re: Ollie's journey

And another update: we had a thyroid test done on his blood, and he does have hypothyroid. So he will start a new medication for that next week.

As Jessie Girl mentioned, this may likely affect the amount of insulin needed. Hope others join this discussion.

Craig

[MikeMurphy]

Re: Ollie's journey

there are some forum members who have been through this hope they see your post I am not sure of the complete consensus but i beleive all had to reduce the dose and some by quite a bit

probably test 3 to 5 times a day and a curve once a week but you will have to get a feel for the situation even a preemptive reduction maybe prudent when starting the medication

every dog has there own path and how change affects them can be quite different from another

My Lily is hypothyroid and prior to taking thyroxine she was up to 30 units of Novolin N and her BG numbers were always > 400. Once on thyroxine she was finally regulated at around 18 units. We've done some tweaking since then and now she is in the 100s and 200s all day long on a mix of Novolin N(16 units) and R(4 units).

[stylynjm]

Re: Ollie's journey

Welcome,
Sissy takes levothyroxine and it took a few months with her,but her insulin has reduced.she is on levemir insulin,but same principle.

[momofdecker]

Re: Ollie's journey

My Decker was a 80+ pounder on the equiv. of 40units of NPH insulin (10u of levemir, which is four times as potent as NPH insulin). His insulin needs reduced by 40% over a five day span and had to be further reduced a couple of weeks after the initial drop was stabilized. His insulin needs varied due to other medical complications but his needs stabilized around 4-5u of levemir (equiv. of 16-20u of NPH insulin).

Started the thyroid meds at a time I knew I'd be home to check his bg levels. Was glad I did. Best of luck in leveling things out!

Holli