Hi's and Lows

Our holiday break was a stressful one, to say the least.


Buzz's blood sugar decided it didn't want to be regulated and that it was going to show off for my parents, letting them know it could go 'hi' AND low on the same day.


Let's start with the week of December 20. Everything was running like a well-oiled machine. Test glucose at 8AM then insulin. Test again at 8PM and more insulin. Food and sleep in between. Christmas came and went. Nothing spectacular happened. Glucose was usually mid-500s in the morning, and the same at night. High, I know - but he was eating wet food and boiled chicken and wasn't getting much exercise so they were numbers I could live with.


Then came Tuesday, December 28, 2010. His glucose in the AM was 124. 124! It's never ever ever been that low. I didn't give him any insulin (the IS's orders were 'if his glucose is lower than 150, don't give any insulin'). We waited 2 1/2 hours and checked again. We figured it would be higher because he had eaten breakfast. The reading on the glucometer? Hi. Hi? What the %&^? 'Hi' means his sugar was HIGHER THAN 750! Meaning his glucose went up 600 points in two and a half freaking hours. We gave him 5 units of the humulin-n and checked every 2 hours (per vet's orders) to see what effect the insulin had.


How much do you think the 5 units brought his blood glucose levels down? Remember, he only gets 3 units when it's over 350, so surely the 5 units will work miracles, right? Wrong. The lowest his sugar ever got was 349. Buzz can't clear the life-threatening ketones out of his system unless his sugar gets below 200-ish. And here it is staying well over that for a VERY long period of time. 9 hours after the initial hi reading, it's back up to 650.


Then New Years Eve came. It was 'hi' at 9AM. The second dreaded 'hi'. Now, I'm no expert when it comes to diabetes, but it seems that having your blood sugar that high for long periods of time can not be good for your health. And it's most certainly not. High blood sugar can result in seizures, coma and death.


We are doing our best to test his glucose multiple times a day. Give insulin when it's appropriate. But it's hard. It's stressful. It's scary. I love this dog.


Here's to hoping the new year will bring a more regulated diabetic dog.