Every so often I look at my house, well my one bedroom apartment, and see red. No, not in anger that I’m tripping over my husband’s books and piles, but fine streaks and blotches of red. It’s particularly noticeable in my kitchen that has light yellow walls and white cabinets. Oh, yes, and I see it occasionally on bits of food I’m preparing, like the edge of a broccoli floret or cauliflower segment. You guessed it, my kitchen is where I test my blood sugar. Admittedly, I am anal about many things, but apparently not about where I leave trails of blood after a blood sugar test. Or would some poet say I am just trying to find my way home?

I know there are many ways to clean up residual blood left after a meter test. No, I don’t mean Fantastic the walls, I mean remove the left over blood from my finger. Many people I interviewed about their experience living with diabetes told me they lick their finger. Somehow that is about as appealing to me as the article I just read about bugs being good protein and chefs trying to put them on the menu. Myself, I pull the used test strip out of the meter and use it to wipe away the blood left on my finger. Guess it’s not a fool-proof system.

Also tending to be an amateur shrink, I found it most interesting when my husband, worried that he is having blood sugar problems, spent yesterday testing his blood sugar. I told him to do it 7 times; the ritual before breakfast, lunch, dinner and bed and 2 hours after a meal. Each time he tested (after complaining about how much it hurt and his poor fingers!!!) he tore a new sheet of paper towel – a whole sheet — off the roll to blot the miniscule drop of blood left on his finger. Hmph!

My first thought was if I did that each of the times I’ve tested, hmmm…let’s see, on average I test myself 5x/day, that’s over 30 years, well I wasn’t as diligent in the beginning so let’s just say I’ve pricked myself somewhere between 54,812 times and 93,907 times … the point being I would have spent approximately $5,000,002 just on paper towels.  

My other thought was when we move and I redo the kitchen, maybe I should paint the walls a deep, burnished tuscan red. Yup, I don’t expect my blood testing habit to change. There is no great wisdom to take away from all this, just an observation and maybe a mutual smile. Of course if you have a fool-proof system for getting the residual blood off your finger, do let this fool know.