"hold the dose unless Jessica goes too low" What number shall I consider as too low?
If she drops below 50 at any time, it's an automatic dose reduction, or if she stays in normal numbers (50-130) for a week it's a reduction.
she won't let me test her BG level and she was hungry. She won't surrender until I gave something to eat
If Jessica gives you trouble during testing, try giving her a little chicken (or freeze dried chicken if she likes it) to keep her "occupied" while you're testing. It will take a little while before food will influence the numbers, so if you can get her to hold still for testing with just a little low carb treat, it's worth trying.
We say don't feed for 2 hours prior to Pre-shot tests (the other tests aren't so important) but if you can't get the pre-shot tests without food, a couple of pieces of chicken while you're poking won't influence the numbers for another 30-60 minutes, and even then, since they're pure protein, shouldn't raise the number much. I think most of us use the "Test/Shoot/Feed" (or test/feed/shoot) method...all in about 15 minutes.
If you get a pre-shot test under 150 and you're not sure what to do, if you can stall, that's great. Don't feed and retest in 30 minutes to see if her number is rising. If it is, go ahead and shoot/feed. If it's not, you can either stall again, skip the shot, or give a BCS (big chicken s***) dose (a smaller dose than you would give if her number was above 150)
The only thing about skipping or doing a BCS dose is that the 6 cycle "clock" starts over