To Wipe or Not to Wipe?

Yesterday I was at my car dealership, getting a little electrical glitch sorted out with my Smart (wiring had to be changed for the emergency panel - due to corrosion of wires - thank goodness it was covered under the warranty). 

Luckily, I only had a few hours to wait for the work to be done (hey - it's a small car - less wiring has to be removed / replaced ) so I sat down in front of the telly and managed to get the staff to change the sports channel to my favourite soap opera (Bold and the Beautiful - my escape from reality show - and a way for me to take a work break/lunch).  Besides myself, there were two other people waiting for their cars to be fixed and we started to all talk after one of them saw me testing my blood sugar.  I was off and running with educating people yesterday about PWD's (people with diabetes) .

I couldn't figure out at first what he was saying.  He was speaking in French, but he was from Haiti, so his accent threw me off as I tried to translate what he was saying.  I knew he was pointing at his finger tips, and it dawned on me what he was saying.  I told him, my French wasn't very good, and he was the same as me with his English.  Anyway, it turns out he is an RN working for the CLSC (government run medical clinics in Quebec).  He was saying that I should wipe off the first drop of blood from my finger tips, and then use the second drop.  I had a good laugh as I told him, I'd been told the same thing by another diabetic friend, and that I had actually experimented with seeing if the values differed from taking the first drop of blood or the second.  I'm not sure if he quite understood me, but I am hoping he did.  I told him I had found that there was hardly any difference with the two readings. 

I wish I could have told him before he'd left (we only spoke for about 5 minutes), as his car was ready, that for some diabetics, going thru' the routine of wiping the first droplet of blood might deter them from testing their BG's, as some BG monitors use large droplets of blood compared to some of the monitors that use a small drop.

The one surprising thing he told me is that in his country of Haiti that diabetes wasn't a big health issue.  Instead it is high blood pressure, which he has to take medication for himself.  He said that many Haitians fuffer from this.  I learnt something new that day!