Hi Anne-Marie.  We have been doing 24 hour home blood spot profiles on filter paper for years.  Do you only do ’one spot’  over the 24 hours?  Although the early morning spot (before medication) is probably the most important, my son’s endo (who actually was responsible for developing this method in the early 1980’s)  prefers to see the situation over 24 hours.  Mind you, considering the trouble you had, I am sure doing more than one must sound daunting!  We have never really had a problem getting enough blood to saturate the paper.  I only use No 3 out of the 5 settings on the pen.  My instructions read to use the side of the finger (never the tip) and put it under warm water beforehand for a minute or two.  Hold the hand down and the blood flows quite easy.