Due to an insurance screw-up, we were only able to get 200 test strips last month and Olivia blew thru them in about 2 weeks. She'd had a good 10 days of rollercoaster blood sugars and was testing sometimes 15 - 20 times a day. She also has a tendency to re-check her blood sugar within 2 or 3 minutes after coming up low. Besides being unproductive, it uses up test strips at a furious rate.

A while back, someone was generous enough to send us a Precision Extra meter and 200 test strips. It was an incredible gesture of generosity and one I am still thankful for today.

During the day, the Precision is fine. It uses a lot more blood than her usual One Touch Ultra Smart, thus earning it the nickname "Vampire," but it works well and, with all those extra test strips, was a godsend when we ran out of One Touch strips.

At night, though, it's a major pain in the arse. Olivia seems to have particularly sluggish blood at night, usually requiring me to milk her finger a little when I check her. So not only am I fumbling around with those ridiculous foil packets (what IS that anyway?), but now I need a huge amount of blood from a sleeping near-teen. FanTAStic.

I think all meters should come with a night light option, a button you can turn on to light up the face and strip slot of the meter. It would make night testing far less of a hassle. And while they're at it, get rid of those stupid foil wrappers.