So the secondary unpleasantness of the day (I won't go into the primary one here) is yet another example of my being forced to face something I truly despise - needles. Went to the doctor a few weeks ago, new primary physician, and she wanted to do some baseline labs on me. Yay - blood testing. Any of you who know me at all know that my fear of needles is in the realm of abject terror, so you can imagine my discomfort at having to go through it. The good news is that I didn't pass out this time.

So the labs come back and my glucose level is elevated. So a second blood test is scheduled as well as an appointment with a dietician. Got through the second blood test without passing out either (very proud of myself by that point) and went to the dietician appointment today. When I get there, what does the nurse do? You guessed it - pricked my finger with one of those evil little devices and took a reading. It was once again elevated. She asked if I'd eaten anything recently - I told her I'd had lunch less than an hour and a half before, and she told me that I was supposed to fast for two hours before checking my blood sugar. Interestingly, I'd eaten just before the first test as well. Not sure about the second test, but according to the nurse that was a different test to determine my general blood sugar levels over time, and interestingly, that came out fairly normal.

So the dietician comes in and we talk for a bit. She decides that she wants to make sure (and I don't blame her) so she gives me a blood sugar testing kit (isn't that a Red Hot Chili Peppers album?). Along with some dietary changes we discussed, now I've got to prick my finger twice a day with that instrument of evil and check my blood sugar. I have to record the blood sugar reading, and meet with her again in 3 weeks, so I can't really skip it or she'll know. Yeah, I know, I could cheat, but the only thing worse than this is ending up a diabetic and having to give myself real injections every day...

So tonight I had to take my first reading. I set everything up, had it ready to go. Held the device to my finger and breathed heavily. I hesitated so long the reader turned itself off, so I had to reset it. So I braced myself, pressed the switch, and *snap* it was done. It sucked, but at least it was done. Except.... I couldn't get enough blood out of the pin prick to register on the reader.... So I had to readjust the damned thing and try again. STILL not enough blood and I've done this twice in a row now... Changed out the *shiver* needle so that it wouldn't start to hurt more when I used it and switched fingers - *snap* a third time, and STILL NOT ENOUGH. At this point, I squeezed the hell out of my finger, pressing as much blood as I could up to the pin prick out of desperation, and a drop formed - enough to read, thankfully...

Three weeks is 21 days, so I've got to do this something like 41 more times. My reading, btw, was 78, which is WELL within the normal range. If at the end of the three weeks it turns out that the only reason I had a high glucose level was that no one told me to fast ahead of time I swear I will simultaneously cheer and horribly mutilate someone!

Anyway, just had to share/vent. There are much bigger things I'm focused on at the moment, but that was just a pain-in-the-ass bit of suckage, and promises to be so for awhile to come. Wish me luck.