So it’s back to Argyle-speak for this one. A couple of weeks ago the pain (especially overnight) in my arm became so bad, despite regular exercises as recommended by the physiotherapist, that I opted for a steroid injection.

I was told that steroids can raise blood sugars so I should monitor more closely than normal. So the next day my meter died. The next day was a Saturday. The maker’s helpline only operates during office hours on weekdays. So, as requested, I left a voicemail with my name, address, phone number and meter serial number.

By about 11am yesterday, my call had not been returned. So I called the maker (Abbott Diabetes Care) and was put through a script by their advisor. Today I took delivery of a shiny new meter, spare battery and box of test strips.

I also received their software and USB cable for downloading readings from the meter into the software. (So far I’ve used an Excel spreadsheet.)The software is for PC only. It works fine on the VirtualBox XP incarnation running on my mac. However the cable doesn’t, so the advantages of the software are lost to me: if I must enter data manually, I’m better continuing to use a simple system I’m used to.

Scorecard: all scores out of 10

For those of you who don’t know Argyle-speak, the title of this blog article translates to ‘Diabetes serendipity of an unpleasant nature’.