actually had a far easier journey through the cancer, for one, I had suspected it, Kaiser had been "following" me for several years of mammograms, my immune system had been fighting it off for some time and with the new digital mammograms, they found it "early", cancer was tiny (4 mm .. yes mm not cm), mostly removed anyway during biopsy, and I elected double mastectomy with no further surgery since it was a type known to be invasive; more than six years since surgery, no recurrence -- and I'm surprisingly happy with a preteen figure againSorry to hear about the cancer dx, how are you doing now? The caregiver has to remember to take care of themselves even when the patient is a feline not a human!
I took my meter along to the vet this morning along with Catcat, food, and insulin -- she told me the test numbers wouldn't match, and thanks to all of you and your experiences, I could say "yeah, I know" -- she decided to keep the meter and compare each test with both her meter and mine, so we'll have another set of data; though I'm sure stress will play a big part in the curves she gets with both meters -- will have time this afternoon, 5:30-ish, to discuss with her whatever is going on and where we go from here, I am SO pleased with this new vet, smaller more rural practice, they take time to listen to everything, place smells and looks so much cleaner, as if they've used enzymes to clean rather than conventional chemicalsI think you described all the things I went through, too. Some days I do all over again. I think we all know.
I brought my meter along to the vet once so we could test the same bleed with her alphatrak 2 and my freestyle lite and see how the numbers compared.
Alice is always way higher and more stressed at the vet.
And when I was learning to use my meter, I tested it on myself more than once, for practice. Lol.
it will help establish peak time. Especially since vetsulin could peak sooner and lower. 
less blood, and who knows, she might have been putting the test strip in wrong way to, or -- I found you need to get the angle of the strip into the blood just right, or it fails to do the "sip" correctly, and you get an Error "not enough blood" even though there's plenty to sample from -- or maybe she was trying to gather the blood at the side of the strip instead of the end? or it turned off on her as it did to me several times
yes, exactly, I would have loved to have them check every hour, but hey, it's worth it to have a consistent test done, since I'd only been able to get a couple of PMPS values four days apart; I'm so proud of Catcat, he didn't ACT stressed when I picked him up this evening, and oddly he wasn't as ravenous either; tomorrow I'll educate myself on the operation of the Confirm I just bought, with luck the smaller sample size needed will smooth out the testing .. plus I got a couple of baby mittens to fill with rice and stitch closed, that I can warm up, he might like those better than the cotton balls I've been using@CandyH so agreeing here, glad you are dropping the dose!! I wish when he hit 52 at +4 that they had gotten a +5 also. A +3 might be useful data sometime too, if you can get +5s and +3s on your own eventually!
But Catcat, you're doing great!
It really does help make the process smoother to have their ears warmed!
you are so right, he always has a full bowl of water up here in the loft where he eats and hangs out with me, and the dog has a gallon-plus water bowl down on the main level that he drinks from when he's down there -- I'm not altogether sure I didn't do a fur-shot last evening which might explain that high morning BG, it didn't feel quite the same but I figured it was because I was using an area further down his spine near the flank, and he doesn't like being touched there
yes, with purrrr-severance (I'm remembering a storybook from childhood, chorus was "purrrseverance pays") I managed to find and buy the very last ReliOn Confirm in three counties at least, and it requires a .3 ml like the Freestyle does, in contrast to the Prime's .5 ml -- I actually have a Freestyle Lite left over from hubby's try of monitoring, years back, and the battery is still good, it turns on, but I looked at the price of strips and went OUCH .. maybe someone will come along with unexpired strips that fit it, at a price that doesn't shock me
loves 
loves that MeowMix seafood in sauce, he's searching everywhere for the least little spot or morsel left)