Amber:
Lantus is different than the shorter acting types of insulin which have a larger window for when you can shoot. The reason for this is that Lantus is a depot-type drug -- other types of insulin do not rely on a shed, whereas Lantus does. As a result, an early shot causes greater overlap between doses thereby acting like a dose increase. A late shot causes less overlap and functions like a dose decrease. It doesn't sound like your vet is taking the pharmacology of Lantus into account when telling you that it's OK to shoot as much as 2 hours early. When some of the members here are using early shots as a strategy to lower BG numbers, it's with help of a member who has experience with this strategy. Given how challenging your schedule is, I don't think your schedule will permit this since for every early shot, you need to be shooting 12 hours from the actual time you shot.
We really do encourage you to shoot as close to on time as possible so that you are getting a relatively consistent response. There are also times when it may be necessary to stall a shot. This happens if you get a low pre-shot test. When this happens, you don't feed or shoot until you see that numbers are rising. If you look at Blackie/Ele's condo tonight, you'll see that Ele was stalling until Blackie's numbers were in a place that Ele had experience shooting.
I would caution you about shooting early AND increasing Meadow's dose especially on days when you aren't going to be home to monitor. You have no idea where her numbers went during the AM cycle but my guess is that they dipped and you are seeing a bounce tonight. All of that said, it looks like Meadow's numbers are improving!
