New Clothes For The Meters (Yes, I Said Clothes)

In the world of type 1 diabetes, most every kind of blood glucose meter tends to arrive cloaked in a black carrying case.

I like to refer to this as "basic black" or the little black dress. 

Black, while undeniably boring in many ways, also looks good with pretty much everything.  Personally, half of my wardrobe is ensconced with black and I find it to not only be attractive (and slimming) but tres chic!

And did I mention it hides the little blood stains from test strips?  If you read my post about this from yesterday, you know that we seem to have that happen once in a while.

But what happens when you tire of black?

Well then my friends, you search out fun cosmetic bags and cute little mini purses that can double as a case for meter, strips, lancing device and lancets. 

With this option, comes a downside.   When you are in a hurry and scrambling to test blood sugars, having everything jumbled together makes it very difficult to find what you are looking for.  Strips get tangled with lancets and the meter has no "landing" zone, which means you end up precariously balancing these delicate and temperamental pieces on your lap.

And at this point, it is all you can do to not have a strip already inserted into the meter time out.

Does that make anyone else crazy when it happens?

When oldest daughter was diagnosed a few years ago, her JDRF bag of hope (or backpack of hope) arrived with a fun and funky meter case. 

With the cool text lingo, she instantly loved it. 

Youngest daughter was diagnosed in 2006 and at that point, this product didn't exist so she hadn't received one.  But she did receive an actual JDRF bag of hope (instead of the backpack) and our favorite Rufus bear... a large sized one that now is no longer made.

Just like in real life, diabetes products are constantly changing, sometimes for the good and sometimes, I miss those early versions.

This case though, was definately an improvement.

I mentioned to my local diabetes group that I wanted to find out where the cases came from so that I could buy at least one more.  My daughters are fun little girls and black just doesn't seem to represent that part of their personalities.

Lo and behold, one of the moms recognized it immediately and pointed me in the direction of Accu-Chek. 

You might remember of our love with the Accu-Chek Compact Plus, and sure enough, the makers of  Big Ugly did it again!  Swoon!  Kiss!  Love!

The same people who make our Big Ugly also make the cutest and most adorable of all meter cases for her little sister meter, Accu-Chek Aviva. 

Nicely, the Aviva is close in size to the One Touch Ping Meter Remote so the fit, even with a silicone skin is amazing.  It also helps that there is a small elastic band on the inside to hold the meter remote, the lancing device and the vial of strips.  There is a second compartment designed to hold lancets and a little pocket under that for fast acting sugar or ID carbs.

And here is the best part.  These are just $3.50 each.  With FREE shipping! 

No one asked me to blog about this or gave me anything to do it.  This is just one of those things that for the moment has made our life a little bit better. 

Oldest daughter goes to school before youngest daughter and therefore, arrives home an hour earlier too.  You can tell that she immediately picked her favorite.  Later, there was bit of a tussle and now I am seriously considering getting a second blue one. 

Yes, they are that cute! 

Oh, please ignore the half naked doll.  I stopped my child in mid-play to take this picture and to have her pick out one of the cases.  The doll did get dressed later.

On this case, the wording is the best part....

DREAM...

And that is exactly what we do around here.  At least until a cure is found.

If you want to pick up one of these, here is the place to go Accu-Chek E Store.  Mine arrived in about three days, so you still have plenty of time for the holidays.

Happy Shopping!