Test Strips
A recent post by Penny over at my son has diabetes mentioned test strips, and how they are everywhere. Even somehow following her husband to work! She's right - these things are everywhere!!
It made me think of a couple things that I find a little funny, in a weird diabetes kind of way (we do have a different sense of humor don't we?).
1) I have a "diabetes drawer". Actually, I have a few of them, but this drawer in particular is where I keep my meter that I use when at home. The test strips never quite make it into the trash, but rather pile up by the thousands in the drawer itself. Every now and again I'll clean it out, but it's usually very full of used test strips. This is usually not a very big deal - but one day I accidentally dropped my unused test strip into the pile of used strips. I looked at the pile of strips for a minute, and pretty much wrote off the unused strip as being lost, thinking "how in the hell am I going to figure out which of the thousand strips was the one I just dropped?!"
2) Have you ever been out and about, and seen a discarded test strip somewhere? Did you get a small kick out of just recognizing what it is? Did you send a little silent "shout out" to that anonymous fellow diabetic out there somewhere?
Those are a couple of test strip things that make me grin or chuckle. I'm quite sure you all have some very good stories to share! Consider the comments section officially open! Grand prize for the best story is one used test strip... (your choice - accu-chek, one touch or freestyle).
It made me think of a couple things that I find a little funny, in a weird diabetes kind of way (we do have a different sense of humor don't we?).
1) I have a "diabetes drawer". Actually, I have a few of them, but this drawer in particular is where I keep my meter that I use when at home. The test strips never quite make it into the trash, but rather pile up by the thousands in the drawer itself. Every now and again I'll clean it out, but it's usually very full of used test strips. This is usually not a very big deal - but one day I accidentally dropped my unused test strip into the pile of used strips. I looked at the pile of strips for a minute, and pretty much wrote off the unused strip as being lost, thinking "how in the hell am I going to figure out which of the thousand strips was the one I just dropped?!"
2) Have you ever been out and about, and seen a discarded test strip somewhere? Did you get a small kick out of just recognizing what it is? Did you send a little silent "shout out" to that anonymous fellow diabetic out there somewhere?
Those are a couple of test strip things that make me grin or chuckle. I'm quite sure you all have some very good stories to share! Consider the comments section officially open! Grand prize for the best story is one used test strip... (your choice - accu-chek, one touch or freestyle).
posted by Scott K. Johnson | 10:59 AM
11 Comments:
I have a tray where I keep Bren's log, test kit and Calorie King book. Included is a pile of used alcohol wipes, used strips, used lancets, and crimson spotted cotton balls.
I also find used strips, and lancets in my pockets (coat and pants), in the bottom of my pocket book, on the floor, in my bed, in Brendon's bed, basically in every room of the house.
I test him in whatever room he is in and even though I think I'm being careful about throwing everything out, I still find the remnants of a test laying about.
I was telling someone in the d 'biz' that it would be great to have a mini strip disposal somewhere in my kit and they just sort of looked at me funny, like, 'how hard is it to dispose of a strip?'
I have also seen strip trash and chuckled. Especially when, while attending the sales meeting of one meter company, I saw in the bathroom the strip of another meter company!
OMG, yes I have seen stray test strips and thought just that.
The first company that develops a test stip that disapears in a puff of smoke once it does its job will have the undying gratidue of millions of diabetic spouses....
I have a diabetes drawer, too, in my pretty hanging cabinet where I keep my perfumes; somehow I thought putting the stuff someplace "pretty" would make me feel better about it.
And no, I haven't yet seen a discarded test strip from somebody else, but I am waiting for that day!! I know they are out there somewhere...
Amy, you obviously don't live within 10 miles of me because I'm fairly sure you would have found one of my used strips by now if so!
hmmmm, i usually have a good supply come out of the dryer with my laundry. The first time it happened I thought it would be really cool if the wash had somehow magically 'cleaned' it and made it like new again. So with great expectations, I put it into the meter and swiped some blood...and waited...and waited...and waited. No such luck! But hey, it was worth a try huh?
I think beautiful is on the something. The recyclable test strip. Spray on a little rejuvenation fluid and your good to go. The irony is it would probably cost about $1.00 per strip to use.
I've found them everywhere. In the dryer, in the tub, on the cat, in the dog's bowl, in the driveway...everywhere.
I once found a bottle of unused test strips in the lobby of the apartment where I lived. I left it on the stairwell. The guy upstairs stopped me the next day to thank me, said he had no insurance and had to pay for them himself, which explains why the ambulance was at the building so often. The funny (well, funny may not be the right word here) thing is that it wasn't a month later that Olivia was diagnosed.
I have them roaming around unsupervised in my car.
I find them in the cat litter.
When I was on the elliptical machine at the gym, I saw one on the floor. (Yes, I picked it up.)
Chris woke up with one stuck to his face.
My cat ate one in a fit of feline curiosity.
And this morning there was one in my shoe.
Touchdown.
Nice to know that it's not just me. I was beginning to think I was just a slob. Why can't new test strips multiply like the used ones seem to do?
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