My Independent Little Monkey

Oh my little independent monkey. How they grow up so fast!

This morning I woke little man up for school. Laid out his school clothes on the bathroom sink so he could get dressed, then went about starting his breakfast. As I was zipping around the house taking care of a few things, he came out and checked his sugar by himself.

I sat down for a moment (or three lol), then realized, hmm.. He's been standing there checking his sugar at the table for a while now... what's going on?

I peeked in and asked him what he was doing, and he proceeds to walk to me saying "Mom, this isn't working right." My first reaction, especially after having a problem with our previous pump not too long ago (long story, will blog about that another day) was, OH boy... here we go again!

Instead, he caught me off guard LOL!

He handed me his Precision Xtra KETONE meter, which was showing an error. Looked at the test strip he used (knowing full well that I had used the last ketone blood strip last night!) and had to chuckle a bit.

Yep, you guess it! He used the Glucose test strip inside the Ketone meter LOL!

Had to smile at him, praise him for his efforts and recognizing what he was supposed to do when he sees a high blood sugar reading (which, yes, it was high when he checked it!), and explain to him that when he sees the letter E on that meter's screen, it means there's an error. I also explained to him that the reason he got an error was because the strip he used in the meter is only to check his blood sugar, and that we receive a different kind of strip for the ketone meter but that we need to get some refills for those kind of strips because we are out now.

It always amazes me how much responsibility one little guy WANTS to take on! He has always been the kind of kid to want to know everything about everything, though!

And yes, his urine ketones came back negative =-)

Precision Xtra Ketone & Glucose Monitoring System

I thought today we could talk a little about an alternative method of Ketone testing.

Abbott Diabetes Care Company manufactures the only blood ketone AND glucose test meter.The name of the glucose/ketone blood meter is Precision Xtra.
















I have been using this meter to test for ketones for the last couple of months now, and love it! It's more accurate than urine ketostix, saves me from worrying about ketones when Lenny's blood sugars are high but he is unable to urinate. I cannot say enough about this meter!

The meter uses two different testing strips, each sold seperately (or billed to your insurance company seperately), Blood Glucose Test Strips, and Blood Ketone Test Strips. I think it is great that they have two different strips to test two different things, because, if you're like we are, Lenny has the Animas Ping insulin pump, which has its own meter remote that "talks" to the pump. So, for people like me, I wouldn't have a need for the blood glucose test strips with the Precision Xtra.. just the blood ketone strips!


The only complaint I really have about the Precision Xtra Blood Ketone Test Strips is... it seems as if it takes a lot of blood to "fill" it up enough to get a reading. I'm not a big fan about that, but, atleast it sure beats waking him up at 3am to get a urine ketone reading!

Why do I say that the blood ketone testings are more accurate?

Well, many people may not know this, but, urine ketostix test for ketones in the urine over the past 3-4 hours. I don't know about you, but, thats a LONG time to me! With the blood testing, its just as accurate as taking a blood glucose test.

Just recently, I have had to test Lenny for ketones because his blood sugar was high. I used the Precision Xtra ketone meter to test first, and it said he had 0.8 (moderate) ketones. I then tested his urine ketones, and they read negative. Which was more accurate? I'd say the blood ketone testing was.

One other downfall that may make some people debate if they want to get the Precision Xtra meter is, sometimes it means you need to do an extra finger stick. Me personally, I think it's worth it! But, it is definitely something to weigh the pro's and con's with, and ultimately make the best decision for your own family.

If you are wanting more information about the Precsion Xtra Blood Glucose and Ketone Test Meter, please CLICK HERE to be directed to the Abbot Diabetes Care website!

**NOTE: I was not asked by an Abbot Diabetes Care representative, nor am I receiving any incentives for voicing my opinion on this product. I simply wanted to give my personal testimony on the Precision Xtra Ketone test meter for others who may be wondering about it.