A Blood Sugar Check

Before every meal and whenever we think Michael is low, we do a blood sugar check.  Some prep is needed before each one of these checks. 

First, we make sure Michael's hands are clean.  We keep a pack of wipes on our table for a quick grab-and-go hand wiping if needed.

I tear the wipes into strips so that we can wipe off whatever finger we've chosen really really well to make sure it's clean.

Then we grab his meter bag.

Here's what it looks like on the inside.  The meter is in the lower right hand corner, the tube of test strips is above that, and the lancet device is in the center.  This is a click-lancet device.  It works much like a click-top pen.  In the zippered pocket to the left, we store extra lancet drums, some napkin pieces, and the "blue blood"-- or glucose solution that we use to test each new tube of testing strips.

After we clean and prick Michael's finger, we wipe away the first drop of blood with a napkin square.  You can see here how small we cut some napkins so that we have a piece that is just right for wiping a blood droplet off of a finger.

We insert a test strip into the meter, which automatically turns it on.  When it first boots up, a little hourglass figure appears in the center of the screen for 5 seconds.  Then the little blood drop symbol appears toward the bottom of the screen, next to the symbol of the test strip.  Now the meter is ready to receive a droplet of blood.

By pressing the tip of the testing strip against a blood droplet, the blood will be soaked up into the testing strip and Michael's blood sugar level will appear on the meter screen in 5 seconds. 

This is the lancet device we use to prick Michael's fingers.  It holds a lancet drum that has 6 tiny needles in it.  Each time we insert a new lancet drum, it counts down from 6 to show us how many needles we have left to use.  As you can see, we were on needle number 4 when we did this blood sugar check. 

I slide the white tab to the right and it rotates the lancet drum to line up a new needle for the next blood sugar check.  Now you can see that it shows we have three needles left to use.

This ritual has become routine for us and it's something that we do several times a day.  Michael is such a trooper.  We couldn't be more proud of him.

Until Next Time,

Much love, Reba