SeaGator and Doris,
Thanks for the b-day wishes. I was a very nice surprise to see them.

It is not a problem with getting blood out. The problem is I react to the metal in the lance each time. The only thing I can use is straight pins like the ones used for sewing. Believe me when I say the lancets are painless compared to a straight pin. When I use the lancets even though they are in contact under the skin for much less than 1/10 of a second, within a few minutes my hand and arm up to my elbow go painfully numb for 5 to 6 hours. I find it funny that the doctors want to have a record of my sugar levels but then they are telling me not to use the lancets more than once or twice a week. They have determined for the most part that it is the chromium I am reacting to, that and aluminum. Since the needles used to draw blood and inject meds are surgical stainless they have a very high chromium content. In the mean time with 100mg Januvia once a day my sugar levels seem to be holding steady around 90 to 140 the past month. I figure if I ever have to go in insulin I can get one of the high pressure injectors that does not use a needle. But I still have to figure out how to check the sugar level without putting my hand and arm out of commission for hours at a time.