my girl Cari

[mygirl]

Re: my girl Cari

Well I just found out that our local walmart does not carry the meters in store. I had to come home and order it. It was the same cost because the meter was on sale for $9, then strips and expedited shipping it came to under $30 for the whole purchase. This however leaves me sans strips with two orders on the way. Ugh!!!! She hasn't dropped below 100 for a few days now, if I hold her on these lowered dose shots will this be okay? I will of course make sure to watch her closely. Oh and we got the red one for her, because she is a fiery one when she feels good!!

[CraigM]

Re: my girl Cari

That's strange! My "local" Walmart (about 15 miles away) and the two nearby Walmart Marketplaces (food and pharmacy stores) all carry the Prime and Prime test strips. In fact, I made a stop at a Walmart Marketplace this morning and got test strips, insulin and syringes. O'well, guess each store stocks what they think will sell.

I learned my lesson about running out of test strips years ago. I now have 3½ containers of Prime strips, and 2½ boxes of AlphaTrak strips. I still had 50 syringes, and just got 100 more. I tell Annie that she can't go to the Rainbow Bridge because I have too much invested in her supplies!

Craig

[mygirl]

Re: my girl Cari

Seriously, I am Charlie Brown incarnate and I should know this by now! Murphy's Law was written for me!! I typed in within 50 miles, no luck. I am now stocked up on both for the future, but delivery is slow for some reason, even with expedited can't get it here next day. I can go to the vet in the morning and buy the more expensive ones from him.

[mygirl]

Re: my girl Cari

She should be okay for one night without testing? She hasn't been close to 100 since I went to the smaller dose, twice a day.

[Cara Sandler]

Re: my girl Cari

She should be but you can always drop the nighttime dose a bit just to give yourself a cushion.

[amydunn19]

Some people have never tested their dogs. I think your dog is at a very safe level at this point. I also think it also will give you a bit of a break too, which you richly deserve.

[Judi]

Re: my girl Cari

If Jenny had been in an ok range I'd take some time off once in awhile. It felt weird to give her her shot without knowing her blood sugar though

My vet once told me that it takes 3 days for their body to heal wherever we prick them with the lancet. So once in awhile I'd give her 3 days off. I think that is suspect because when I pricked my finger it healed a lot faster than that!

[mygirl]

Re: my girl Cari

Hi everyone!! Sorry I didn't check in yesterday, I had a flat tire and one of those days where you never get to catch your breath. I went by the vet and he gave me 4 emergency test strips (another reason that I love him.) Cari is resting comfortably and returning to herself now. I am going to let her rest in for a few more days at the conservative dose and then start a curve again to see where we are at- per experts orders (thank God for you all!) My other strips should be here today, so I will post her first numbers when I get them. I just wanted to again tell all of you who have talked me down off this ledge how much I appreciate you. I firmly believe (now that I am understanding more about this disease) that my girl was on a deadly spiral down. One dose a day just does not work on NovolinN. I think it was holding for most of the day in the beginning but it was dropping her too low in the morning and leaving her bg's too high for too long in the last hours. She started losing weight again and lost a whole pound in two months. This just added to the overdose situation. Her body started to try to self correct and then started to rebound (someone correct me if I still don't understand what happened.) I think that I caught it just in time and she could have died. I cannot believe how little I knew and how lucky we were!! I feel like you are all friends now and you should know more about my girl. Here is a brief introduction to the life that you saved.

[mygirl]

Re: my girl Cari

Cari the Cairn Terrier
My ex bought her for me for my birthday after years of me begging for a dog. He did not want a dog because we traveled frequently and he didn't want the responsibility. Cari was the runt of the litter. We were both runts ourselves, so she was a perfect fit. The breeder told us that she was an escape artist. She was small enough to get through the spaces in the kennel for the puppies and get in with the "big dogs" and play, and that's where they found her everyday. The only training that I had any problem with was with her digging under our fence. She once dug herself and her little brother out when we were gone, they were prancing down the street to come find us when the neighbors caught them and brought them home. She loved the "hood" and knew everyone as we made our daily rounds. She was an only child for a year before we got her little brother (Voltaire). Her best furfriend in the hood was a huge German Shepherd, she had to go through his wrought iron fence (true to form) to play with him every day. They looked so funny as this tiny little Cairn Terrier chased this huge German Shepherd. The first time I almost had a heart attack!! Turns out she was a great traveler and while she hated flying in our Cessna, she loved commercial flights. She would prance through the airport and meet everyone. She even knew not to bother the "working dogs" when they came through to sniff us. She would sit on my lap quietly and all of the stewards loved her, she has never paid humans much mind though. We just don't interest her much unless we hold a ball. She quickly won my ex over and he was soon putty in her paws. He would sit in his office for hours after he got home from work and throw the ball out the window upstairs. She would wait and listen to track where it landed. She would come flying down the winding hardwood staircase with complete abandon, whiz by me and hit the doggie door. Out into the dark she would go, without seeing where it landed she would almost always know where it was. They would do this every night for hours, then she would fall asleep exhausted in his lap. Even though my ex and I weren't soul mates, they were. He was willing to fight for custody and her papers were in his name even though she was my birthday present. We settled on joint custody, he got her through the week and I had her on weekends. He paid dog support for both dogs by way of vet costs. He was a physician and I am disabled, so I am on a fixed income, so this worked out well for us all. I cried for months until I realized that this is what was best for us all, and that he needed her now more than me. This was her life until 2009, when her daddy died in a tragic plane crash in that Cessna that she hated. I truly believe that their bond and ballgames made her strong enough to handle blindness without missing a beat. You cannot know her without falling in love. She is the coolest little girl, she lives life to the fullest and still loves to play ball!! For the first time in their lives her little brother gets to get the ball sometimes and it makes her so mad that she barks and cries until you throw the ball again. This is my favorite new vocal expression that she has developed since going blind in May 2015. I am going to have to get her goggles because she still runs with complete abandon when something catches her attention. She is FULL of life still. Diabetes will not stop her!! I cannot imagine losing her before her time because I had not educated myself and done right by her, but it almost happened. I am so glad that I found you guys just in time!! I realize the brevity now. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

[mygirl]

Re: my girl Cari

Woohoo, my new ReliOn is in!! Just in time to test her and compare it next to the Alphatrak II. I just took 2 readings from the same prick. I am getting so good at this now. It's a breeze to do, I wish I would have tried this sooner. She actually gets excited about it now, because she gets a couple frozen green beans each time. Cari will gladly take a little prick for some food, so she seems to be fine with it all now. (I seriously had to stop myself from typing "that's what she said" after almost every line in that sentence haha!) Okay so here are the 2 readings:
AlphatrakII: 209
ReliOn Prime: 114
So it looks like this conversion for this batch would be more like divide by .54 more or less?

[CraigM]

Re: my girl Cari

Woohoo, my new ReliOn is in!! Just in time to test her and compare it next to the Alphatrak II. I just took 2 readings from the same prick. I am getting so good at this now. It's a breeze to do, I wish I would have tried this sooner. She actually gets excited about it now, because she gets a couple frozen green beans each time. Cari will gladly take a little prick for some food, so she seems to be fine with it all now. (I seriously had to stop myself from typing "that's what she said" after almost every line in that sentence haha!) Okay so here are the 2 readings:
AlphatrakII: 209
ReliOn Prime: 114
So it looks like this conversion for this batch would be more like divide by .54 more or less?

Oops, just reread the numbers!!!
You said you got a couple AlphaTrak strips from your vet? Did you get the code number for those test strips?

Craig

[CraigM]

Re: my girl Cari

Here's a couple of tests you might try:

Use the Prime on yourself! If you aren't diabetic, and haven't eaten in the last 3 hours, you should be in the low 100s.

Once you get your fresh AlphaTrak test strips, use the AlphaTrak control solution (imitation blood) with both meters. One speck of real blood can be different from another speck of blood, but the control solution seems to be real consistent.

I've never seen such a big difference (AT 209, Prime 114), but who knows??

Craig

[mygirl]

Re: my girl Cari

Sorry Craig, I was not online. No he didn't give me any numbers, he put them in a prescription pill bottle. I have the test solution from my last batch, will that not work for comparison purposes? So you think his strips might be old, or the battery might be low on the the other? I will definitely double check it with my new strips. Hopefully tomorrow!!

[CraigM]

Re: my girl Cari

Sorry Craig, I was not online. No he didn't give me any numbers, he put them in a prescription pill bottle. I have the test solution from my last batch, will that not work for comparison purposes? So you think his strips might be old, or the battery might be low on the the other? I will definitely double check it with my new strips. Hopefully tomorrow!!

There would be a big possibility that the code number of the strips your vet gave you isn't the same as the code number your previous strips were. I really wouldn't trust the "free" strips without knowing their code number.

Really need to set / confirm the proper code for each box of AlphaTrak strips

Craig

[CraigM]

Re: my girl Cari

There would be a big possibility that the code number of the strips your vet gave you isn't the same as the code number your previous strips were. I really wouldn't trust the "free" strips without knowing their code number.

Really need to set / confirm the proper code for each box of AlphaTrak strips

Craig

Example. I just looked at the three containers of AlphaTrak strips I have. Two are marked code-6, but one is marked code-36.

Glad I looked because two unopened containers, the two marked code-6, have expiry date of 2/16. I'm sure they are still good, but guess I better use them within the next couple of months.

Craig