Bad Idea: Forgetting to Take the Plastic Backing Off a Sensor

So I ran a sensor over the last few days.  Everything went really well except for one thing: when I inserted it, I suddenly realized that the sensor had not come off the backing plastic/paper stuff.  That meant it wasn't sticky and couldn't stick onto my abdomen at all.

I debated about pulling it out and trying again.  But the site looked and felt good - it was in a spot I was confident would work well over night while sleeping.  So I decided to leave it in.  I used extra pieces of the donut tape stuff that the sensors all come with (the tape with the hole in the middle) to make sure it would stay.  Everything seemed fine, so I made sure to keep an eye on things in case it let go.  But through the whole six days, the transmitter and sensor stayed securely on my side.

The problems started a few days ago.  Something under the tape was hurting.  It wasn't happening all the time, so I was pretty sure it was that plastic stuff starting to rub against my skin.  Once again, I debated about what to do.  The sensor was functioning fine, so I didn't want to yank it.  I decided to keep a closer eye on things; if I saw any indication that things weren't going okay with the site, I would pull it then.

The sensor lasted the full six days, ending today around 2:30pm.  I peeled it off to find - as expected - a few points where the plastic had clearly been bothering my skin, rather than the usual one point where the sensor was inserted.

The darkest point isn't the one where the sensor was inserted - it's a point the plastic was rubbing. :(

So if you're ever using a sensor, please please please make sure that plastic comes off before you insert it.  Your skin will thank you!