Do I erase the blank lines in the notebook?

Three lines in the notebook stayed blank: last month I did not test for three days. I could not decide whether to erase or leave them.

I left the gap. It is a record too: it says only that I did not measure. Beside the next reading I write one word: “travel” or “flu.”

My app has no consecutive-day counter. Instead it counts how many of the last 90 days have readings, and shows no estimated HbA1c until there are 10 readings across 7 different days. I picked those two numbers myself, not from a guideline.

The gaps do not fall at random: they usually land on days I was traveling or sick, so the rest may not be typical. If I measured on only two of seven days, the average covers those two, not the week.

The international consensus report on interpreting continuous glucose monitoring data recommends 14 days with the sensor active at least 70% of that time; that much data correlates strongly with three-month mean glucose, time in ranges, and hyperglycemia metrics. For hypoglycemia it says people with more variable glycemic control may need longer (Battelino et al., 2019). Those readings come from a sensor, not a paper notebook.

The joint ADA and diabetes educator statement recommends, among other criteria, that the language health care professionals and others use when discussing diabetes be nonjudgmental and based on facts (Dickinson et al., 2017). It covers professional language, not my notebook; I borrowed the criterion: beside the gap I write “travel,” not “laziness.”

I keep the gap because it opens a subject at appointments. My question for the doctor: do those three empty days change how the rest of the notebook reads? I am a developer living with diabetes, not a physician.