JoshS said:
Happy new year to you, too! 158 at +3 tonight!
Friends coming over in the morning to learn how to be vampires and kitty drug shooters. Poor Soph's ears. Hopefully I can stop sticking her so often soon.
Have any of you had luck with alternate blood sites?
The ears will be OK, honest!! Just look at a few other peoples SS's (ours is in our sig) as to just how much testing we do each day - and apart from a very few folks who use the paw pads, this is all done on the ears. We alternate left and right ear (keep a note in a book of each test and put an L or R after each entry so you know which ear is next!)... we use only the
inside of the outer edge (less fur there and MUCH easier to get a drop to bead-up there) but try and move the poke site up and down the ear each time. Get some gauze or cotton wool and apply gentle yet firm pressure to the poke site for 15-30 sec after you get the sample, this helps stop any bruising (sub-q bleeding into the tissue). Some people use a bit of neosporin w/pain med on them, but our Sooty is fine without anything...
The ears do get used to this, over time and it becomes much easier to get a blood drop reliably each time. If you are finding that dificult right now then try the "Double poke" trick it really doesn't hurt and is much more likely to get a nice drop!!
Remember, it probably hurts us more than it does them (esp., when as sometimes happens here, you go right through the ear and prick your own finger!!)
Our Sooty is so used to it all now, that as soon as we get the BG kit out, he jumps right up on the kitchen counter and gets ready for us!!
Hang in there you are doing great and don't get too hung up on the day's highest BG numbers - the protocol is all about the
LOWS so focus on getting to know when Sophie's LOWs are!