My buddy

I remember the commercials for the "My Buddy" dolls from when I was a kid (side note: who was ballsy enough to take the idea of marketing a doll for boys to their boss?). The image of the little boy taking his buddy all over with him, a constant companion.  I never had a My Buddy doll but now that I'm grown I have a buddy of my own, a constant companion that goes everywhere with me in the form of my Accu-Check Aviva blood glucose monitor.  Not necessarily because I want the 3x5 reminder of my disease by my side wherever I go, but because I have to.  We're I to buy a glucose monitor today I'm sure I would look into every feature, check other people's reviews and opinions, and drastically over analyze the whole thing.  But when I got my meter it was amidst a whirlwind of emotions after being newly diagnosed and it was one of two options covered by my insurance.  I wasn't worried about features or functionality.  I was worried about how much strips were going to cost and being able to figure out the mess I felt I was in.  Today I have 6 meters (my new doctor felt the need to unload one of everything she had onto me at my first visit.  And I have one at work from an emergency last Thanksgiving). One of them sits unopened, one is only opened for the sake of robbing it of its battery for my other meter, and one because it had 10 strips in it and I was waiting on a refill.  One of these newer ones probably has benefits that make it better than my current meter and at least on of them would save me $20 a month on strips, but I stick with the Accu-Chek (I suddenly feel the need to name my meter now).  It has been there with me from the start.  I learned about Type 2 diabetes and the effects of carbs on my body with it, I adjusted to my new diagnosis of Type 1 and figured out my insulin to carb ratios with it.  There is icing caked into the zipper of the case on one side from the cake we had at work for some ones retirement.  Sadly I remember the cake more than who retired.  It's dirty and worn, but it's my buddy.  We have been through a lot together in the last 2 years and even though there are probably newer, better, more accurate, and flashier models out there, I'll stick with old reliable because, hey, she's gotten me this far right?