My heart broke a little today
Took Pixie to the vet at 10:45 to get her blood sugar measured for the first time and be taught how to give her shots twice a day. They consider a dog diabetic if the blood sugar measures over 180 whatevermajigs/whateverothermajigs. Pixie measured 633. And she's lost another half pound since Friday at 9am. Her spine shows through her fur. Over the weekend, probably because we now know what's up, every time I picked her up, she felt more fragile and small.
While we waited for the blood work to come back, the vet walked me through everything - what causes this (in her case, probably genetic from the Yorkie side of things, but could also be that ever elusive Cushings, something to figure out once we have things under control), what's happening in her body, how insulin works, her diet, the timing of the shots, what the next few weeks will look like.
He then shaved part of her back, up by her shoulders, to make it easier to learn to give the shots, and walked me through how to fill the syringe, how to find the right spot, how to inject - not hard, but not as 1-2-3 as they make it look on tv when people are given shots. I came home with a box of syringes (200), enough for 100 days provided I don't hit a blood vessel during my injections - if I do, I have to throw away that one and start all over, as this insulin (human) is NOT good directly in the blood - and a bottle of insulin. He recommended I shop around for the best price as any pharmacy can fill this - I'm going to check if Kelsey can use her CVS discount. Pixie didn't seem to notice the shots which made me feel better, because I was shaking while filling the needle, and shaking worse when trying to push it in her skin. I did it though, and didn't throw up or faint. =)
We talked through what to expect - I'll need to take her in weekly for the first 2-3 weeks, and we'll inch up in terms of her dosage till we get it set up. However, the fact she's SO high is a bad thing, so we're starting her on 2 units immediately. He said not to expect to see marked differences until things flatten out a bit, and not to worry if we don't see any.
He then said that it's pretty much unavoidable that she will be blind in a matter of months as a result of this, from cataracts. Which she already has.
That's when I started crying, and the poor guy didn't know how to deal with me.
I am so sad. Even knowing that no matter when I caught this, it is pretty much guaranteed to happen, makes me feel horrible and my heart literally hurts. I started today celebrating what I will always feel is a victory, and now i feel like I failed a tiny little dog who depended on me. And I just want to go home and cuddle with her, like if I love her enough, this won't happen.
While we waited for the blood work to come back, the vet walked me through everything - what causes this (in her case, probably genetic from the Yorkie side of things, but could also be that ever elusive Cushings, something to figure out once we have things under control), what's happening in her body, how insulin works, her diet, the timing of the shots, what the next few weeks will look like.
He then shaved part of her back, up by her shoulders, to make it easier to learn to give the shots, and walked me through how to fill the syringe, how to find the right spot, how to inject - not hard, but not as 1-2-3 as they make it look on tv when people are given shots. I came home with a box of syringes (200), enough for 100 days provided I don't hit a blood vessel during my injections - if I do, I have to throw away that one and start all over, as this insulin (human) is NOT good directly in the blood - and a bottle of insulin. He recommended I shop around for the best price as any pharmacy can fill this - I'm going to check if Kelsey can use her CVS discount. Pixie didn't seem to notice the shots which made me feel better, because I was shaking while filling the needle, and shaking worse when trying to push it in her skin. I did it though, and didn't throw up or faint. =)
We talked through what to expect - I'll need to take her in weekly for the first 2-3 weeks, and we'll inch up in terms of her dosage till we get it set up. However, the fact she's SO high is a bad thing, so we're starting her on 2 units immediately. He said not to expect to see marked differences until things flatten out a bit, and not to worry if we don't see any.
He then said that it's pretty much unavoidable that she will be blind in a matter of months as a result of this, from cataracts. Which she already has.
That's when I started crying, and the poor guy didn't know how to deal with me.
I am so sad. Even knowing that no matter when I caught this, it is pretty much guaranteed to happen, makes me feel horrible and my heart literally hurts. I started today celebrating what I will always feel is a victory, and now i feel like I failed a tiny little dog who depended on me. And I just want to go home and cuddle with her, like if I love her enough, this won't happen.