contact us

Use the form on the right to contact us.

You can edit the text in this area, and change where the contact form on the right submits to, by entering edit mode using the modes on the bottom right.​

         

123 Street Avenue, City Town, 99999

(123) 555-6789

email@address.com

 

You can set your address, phone number, email and site description in the settings tab.
Link to read me page with more information.

#523 Mrs. Whipple

Podcast Episodes

The Juicebox Podcast is from the writer of the popular diabetes parenting blog Arden's Day and the award winning parenting memoir, 'Life Is Short, Laundry Is Eternal: Confessions of a Stay-At-Home Dad'. Hosted by Scott Benner, the show features intimate conversations of living and parenting with type I diabetes.

#523 Mrs. Whipple

Scott Benner

Caroline has multiple autoimmune issues.

You can always listen to the Juicebox Podcast here but the cool kids use: Apple Podcasts/iOS - Spotify - Amazon MusicGoogle Play/Android - iHeart Radio -  Radio PublicAmazon Alexa or wherever they get audio.

+ Click for EPISODE TRANSCRIPT


DISCLAIMER: This text is the output of AI based transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors and should not be treated as an authoritative record. Nothing that you read here constitutes advice medical or otherwise. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making changes to a healthcare plan.

Scott Benner 0:00
Hello friends and welcome to Episode 523 of the Juicebox Podcast.

Today I'm gonna be speaking with Caroline who has a number of different medical issues. I don't want to ruin the story for you. So that's all I'm gonna say for now. While you're listening to Caroline and I speak today, please remember that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. Please always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan. or becoming bold with insulin. Please let me take this moment to thank everybody who has bought me a cup of coffee. There's been a buy me a coffee campaign set up at buy me a coffee.com forward slash Juicebox Podcast. And there are 22 members meaning people who are buying me coffees on the regular every month. And these are their names. Anna, Amber, Laura marinda. Melanie, Cory, Jessica, Nancy, Sue, Shannon, Marilyn, Allison laryssa, Melissa, Leah blue, Julie grace, Daniel, Jennifer, and Jeanette thank you to them and the over 200 other people who have bought me a coffee. I am now sitting in a wonderfully supportive chair that has alleviated a lot of my lower back pain. Because if you guys seriously, I thank you very very much for doing that. Buy me a coffee.com forward slash Juicebox Podcast. This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by the Dexcom g six continuous glucose monitor. Please get started today. Or just learn more@dexcom.com forward slash juice box. This show is also sponsored by Omni pod makers of the Omni pod dash, and makers of the Omni pod promise. The Omni pod promises simple. And here's what the promise says. There is no need to wait for the next big thing. Because with the Omni pod promise you can upgrade to our new pods latest technologies for no additional cost. As soon as they're available to you and covered by insurance terms and conditions apply on the pod.com forward slash juicebox. Are you on for a reason? Yes. I'm a weapon warrior. Ah, I recall. Good Good, good, good, good, good good with now type one diabetes. Yeah, that comes free with the surgery, doesn't it? That's right. It's lovely. Well, we're recording the whole time. So I'll have you introduce yourself in a second. But I want to just tell you now that about two weeks ago, I don't I just standing in the kitchen. I mean, just standing there. I started feeling this very like terrible pain. It felt like this walnut sized pain under my scapula on my right side, it kind of up under my shoulder. I was like my What is that? You know how I'm that age. I'm like immediate, like this shoulder cancer, that's probably what this is gonna like is I'm waiting to die at any moment, you know, say wait a little longer. It seems to be spreading out. It almost seems like it's grabbing the muscles that are attached to my rib cage and just pulling my rib cage tighter. And before I know it, I can't breathe really. And I'm just gonna I'm certainly like, everything like that. And I'm having trouble. Well, it gets worse and worse. And so I just aggressively massage the area for a number of days. And probably like four or five days later, I was like, I feel so much better. Like the only time I can feel it pulling now is if I'd like bend over to the floor. You know, like try to grab something and pick it up. And even just with my right hands, I was like I did it. I'm doing some weird muscle spasm and it's gone. I'm good doesn't happen to me that often. Well, like Monday, like a week, you know, a week after I was like, this is fine. Now. I still I still have this sort of doll thing in my shoulder. Like I can't leave it can't get rid of this. And then all of a sudden it feels like it just reaches up and grabs into my like, it's like it's like it went from reaching down into my body to reaching up and it just froze my shoulder up in my neck. And before I knew and I was like laying on the sofa going like I'm gonna die this is it like you know, just in this amount. immense pain. So Oh, somebody Well,

Caroline 4:34
yeah, well, not really not really what I did just eat lunch, so hopefully this will work its way out.

Scott Benner 4:41
What's next? I was gonna say I wonder where your alarm was. Anyway, long story short, I woke up yesterday and couldn't move. So I went to urgent care. Really I was just drug seeking. I just needed a flexor all I needed. was like I don't know what's up. Go ahead and examine me and then please give me a muscle relaxer at the It's just I was asking for, and I'm doing way better today and to be honest, I think I'm gonna feel even better tomorrow. But I am loaded on flexor all in case you're wondering. And if I say something really stupid, I'm gonna need you to stop me. Okay, like you'd be the adult. Well, I'm, I'm loaded on pain pills. So Oh, yeah, you are? Yeah. You have like a monkey on your back or something. This ought to be fun. Did you get yours out of the local patient first?

Caroline 5:32
No, I mean, I'm still I have a I got a lupus diagnosis also a few months ago. And so I'm in the process of just still figuring everything out. So I still see a pain management doctor who's still got me on pain medication.

Scott Benner 5:48
Tell everybody your name real quick, so we can keep talking. Caroline Roberts. That's good enough. I am. Okay. I got loaded out there. Yeah, we're just gonna, we're just gonna keep talking. So tell me so let's um, I want to get back to the lupus for a sec in in a little while.

Unknown Speaker 6:05
But

Scott Benner 6:07
what how did you while you're on the podcast, tell everybody.

Caroline 6:12
So I was diagnosed two years ago with neuro endocrine pancreatic cancer. And actually, a few months prior to that diagnosed with multiple endocrine neoplasia type one, or me and one. And that's a genetic disease. And so I was diagnosed with that. And then they did some scans and found a spot on the body and tail of my pancreas. And I had a distal pancreatectomy last year and got clean scans after that. And then this past February had some blood work that was very elevated for that specific tumor marker and ended up having the Whipple procedure in in July, I had the Whipple in July of this year,

Scott Benner 7:13
it's a serious thing. They're just they go in and they took your entire pancreas or

Caroline 7:18
took the entire pancreas took the gallbladder and part of the small intestine,

Scott Benner 7:23
cheese. You know what, here's why. It's a shame, right? Because this thing, which is terrible, is in my mind makes me think of the guy from the Sharman commercial from like the 60s and 70s. You know, they would tell you not to squeeze the Charmin toilet paper commercial occasion. Right. Right. And his name was Mr. Whipple. That's right. I would just, you would just think that if they were going to have like a horrible medical procedure, you would make everyone go all but that pleasant man's clothes, the toilet paper, right? Yeah. That's not fair. Oh, and everyone says, Yeah. How about give it something more scientific? Or? I don't know. I don't know what came first, the whip or the Whipple but for certain, right, right. Oh, wow. Well, that's terrible. Are you married?

Caroline 8:10
I am married and I have twin 12 year old boys. That I homeschool and I have been homeschooling them for five years. Okay. So prior to COVID

Scott Benner 8:24
through all this you like through your surgeries and everything. You just kept doing that? Yes. My kids teachers seem to take sabbaticals every time they bumped themselves on the wall, but I guess it's okay.

Caroline 8:36
Well, I have to say it's, it's been a challenge. But, you know, we were already kind of in a good groove with it. So it has been okay.

Scott Benner 8:46
I would guess. Excuse me. I would guess that as long as they don't think three plus four is orange, you'll be fine. You know, that's right.

Caroline 8:57
Um, I have to I want to bring this back around, though, because you've had a doctor, Dr. Steven ponder on the podcast. Oh, my God. Yeah, no, yeah. He is actually the person that sent me for the genetic testing. And I owe him a lot of credit, because I would never have done that had he not kind of made me do that. So we had one of my boys had a false positive blood test for another part of me and one is parathyroid disease that basically, me and one creates tumors on all of your endocrine glands. And so you have to watch for the parathyroids, which control the calcium level in your bloodstream. You have to watch for your pancreas. And you have to watch the pituitary gland. And we were checking the boys every two years to make sure that their calcium was not elevated, because I have had parathyroid problems since the age of 15. I had my first kidney stone at 15. And one of the boys got a false positive, which sent us to Dr. ponders office. And he told us, you know, the lab work was not correct. But that I really needed to get genetic testing, because there was some reason why I had all of these issues. And he called me personally The next morning, and had made an appointment with me to go to their lead geneticist, and I had the genetic testing done them. Wow,

Scott Benner 10:39
that's amazing. I mean, that's a serious if you don't, I don't know how much people understand like pancreatic cancer. That just kills you. It. Yeah. Yeah, it doesn't. It doesn't take too long. And when it decides it's over, it's really over. And it happens incredibly quickly. I watched my friends. Yes. So funny. Oh, my God. It's so odd that you're saying this, because if you listen to this show, you hear me talking about my friend Mike, who has type one diabetes, right? His mom died of pancreatic cancer. It's before we ever talked about. I never talked about diabetes and autoimmune issues like this in the past. I mean, I've never, I've never even considered that till just now. No kidding. So yeah, you know, in the 80s. And prior if you just when you died, there's like, Oh, they died. There was nobody? Nobody, right. Nobody knew me. And one or the like, I don't know, she had a bit. Her thing went bad. She's gone. Now. People didn't like look into things. I guess the technology wasn't there. Really? Right. But that's great. That's amazing that he had to do that. And that it may save your life, I imagine. Right?

Caroline 11:43
Did he Yeah, I would have never, you know, checked my pancreas for anything because I wasn't really having any symptoms. So yeah, I owe him a tremendous credit, you know, for doing that for me. And then I listened. I listened to your podcast with him on and I have his book. I have not read it yet. But I didn't know who he was. I didn't know he was so I didn't know he had type one. I didn't know he was so prominent in the community.

Scott Benner 12:13
So bumped into him as a doctor because you're local to where he works. Correct? Oh, that's interesting. Hey, you know, yesterday since we brought it all up in the show, I was stopped by a, like a therapy place. It's nearby my basically I went into the, to get the flexor off from the one place that I swooped right into a place that does like, you know, massage and like, chiropractor stuff. I just I went in there. I was like, can you please take me like I made them for me. And I was like, please just, I have to, I have to be able to move like I couldn't roll over. Like if you ever had that thing where you're laying in bed and you want to turn two inches, and you physically can't. This is where I was right? So there's, you know, this physical therapist, and she's working on my shoulder and everything. And she starts asking me what I do. And it's you know, Caroline, I'm 49. So I'm like, I have a podcast. And I think she starts looking at me, like, are you gonna be able to pay the bill? You know, like, that's your job. And I was like, that's a pretty popular podcast. And she's like, really? What's it about? And I told her, and she goes, Oh, you know, my friend was diagnosed two years ago. And I was like, Oh, cool. She talked about the show. And then we just kept talking about other things. Like 10 minutes later, I was in a different portion of the room. She comes over to me she is my friend says she listens to your show. Oh, my goodness. Can I go? I tried to be cool. I go. Of course she does. She started saying she when she or something like when she walks. She listened. She hasn't listened recently. And I was like, there's no excuse for that. Tell her that she needs. I need her listening to every episode, please. Yeah.

Caroline 13:50
Well, you know, I found the podcast because a woman on the beach. I was on the beach in September in North Carolina. And she was walking past me and had a Dexcom on her arm. And I at this point, I didn't know anyone with type one or anyone that wore Dexcom. And I stopped her. We coincidentally Her name was Caroline. And we had a long conversation and she told me about the Juicebox Podcast. And as soon as I got home, I started listening.

Scott Benner 14:24
Thank you, Caroline. What's that? Yeah, hopefully she'll hear that. So you just accosting people on the beach. I said, Hey, shoulder, my arm. He just ripped out my stuff, too. What's. So I know this? It's interesting. I think there can be some consternation amongst people. Do you feel it? The difference between genetically getting diabetes and getting diabetes because someone took your pancreas out? Do people treat you like you don't really have type one? No, I

Caroline 14:55
have not had that experience yet.

Scott Benner 14:58
That's good.

Caroline 14:59
You Yeah, everybody has been really great. And you know, I'm a member of so many of these different support groups, the Whipple warriors, type one diabetes, me and one. And I think I've just got lupus. I've got so many things going on simultaneously.

Scott Benner 15:17
Yeah, if you get one more thing, you have a basketball team. I know. It's kind of crazy. So is this how old are you? I'm 42. I just turned 42 on Monday. Thank you. Yeah, of course. I mean, is there an expectation that things are gonna continue to pop up? Has anybody talked to you about like, are you on a path or

Caroline 15:39
so with me and one, you are scanned yearly. And that's a brain MRI for the pituitary, the CT of your chest and abdomen for, you know, once you have pancreatic cancer, the chances of it popping up in your lungs or your thymus, it's, it's pretty high. So I had all of those scans done last Friday. And I did have a little bit of abnormal tissue on the pituitary. I have had all of my parathyroids removed. And coincidentally, I actually had three removed at Cornell in New York City because I lived in New York City prior to 911. And then moved back to Texas, Austin, Texas, and had another parathyroid ectomy in 2006, and they transplanted part of that hormone into my forearm. And it we thought was dead because I had no parathyroid reading for since 2006. And after this Whipple surgery, it decided to wake up. And for the first time since 2006, I have a functioning parathyroid hormone level and do not have to take I was having to take compounded calcium, and like a prescribed D, like, all day, because I was having intense muscle cramping from not having any calcium production. And so the surgery, you know, caused it we think, to wake up and my doctor my endocrinologist says he's never heard of that ever happening before.

Scott Benner 17:34
After this period of time, okay, I believe that's something they do. Just why your arm I,

Caroline 17:42
because they don't want to go back into your neck. This was it would have been a third surgery if they had to go back into my neck. And your vocal cords are right there. And that's a big risk when you have that surgery, so it's easier to go back into the arm. Wow,

Scott Benner 17:59
how many surgeries have you had?

Caroline 18:01
I had to in my neck. And then I had the distal pancreatectomy and then the Whipple. Wow,

Scott Benner 18:12
that's for those are for pretty serious surgeries. Yes. How long do they knock you out? Like, like, after surgery is done? How long? You're back on your feet.

Caroline 18:23
The webull was hard. I was in the hospital for about six days. And I was also in there during COVID in the ICU, which was a whole nother layer eration of its own. Yeah. And it was during the height. Well, we now are in the height of COVID. But then we thought that was the height of COVID in July. And then I came home and you know the diabetes has been a big. It was a big part of that because regulating my blood sugar not being on a pump being on shots at first. You know, not having a Dexcom that was a big part of it at first. And I struggled with that. And I'm not I'm still not great. You know, I've only been on the pump for about four months now. And I'm still learning. I did I posted the other day I did. I don't know how I did this. But I did drop my a one C from 6.5 to 5.7 in three months. That's amazing, which I was shocked with because I my husband said you cannot cry about this anymore because apparently you do know what you're doing. I'm not so sure.

Scott Benner 19:44
You tell him I know what I'm doing and you're listening to the podcast. That's all right. Well, yeah, so a while and that was my that was my point was that you will go to sleep and you have you don't have died. You wake up, and you do. And on top of that, you just went through a surgery, that's having other impacts on you as well. And you have to get over the recovery from the surgery is a lot. But to have diabetes, all of a sudden, magically after that, is it's just a different level it and did so did someone help you with in the beginning.

Caroline 20:22
So there, you know, there was a diabetes specialists that came into my hospital room, which I understand that they have to do that, but you know, you're on, you've just gone through something so traumatic, and you're on medication. And I didn't really absorb what she was saying. And I couldn't have anyone at the hospital with me because of COVID. So I was all alone. And that was not helpful. I did have a pump trainer once I got home. And once I got the pump, my endocrinologist was amazing. He fought hard for me to get that pump. And he did it in an amazing amount of time. I actually was denied at first and apparently that's pretty common. And he ended up having to really push and I got the pump because of him. So he he called me daily once I got home. And I had a dietician that I spoke to every other day. Because eating after Whipple is really hard. Also, there's that whole other component. I was on a soft food diet for a while. And for the most part, I'm still on a soft food diet. And that will probably, you know, play a role with diabetes once I start venturing out to other food, but I eat the same food every single day. Because I'm still not, you know, it's only been four months since my surgery. So I'm I'm still not completely healed from the Whipple. But the pump lady was very helpful. But I felt like I got this don't die lesson. Yeah, and, and I've heard this a lot on this blog. I didn't get a whole lot of education. Listening to the pro tips has helped tremendously. Honestly, the only reason I dropped that a one C is from your podcast, there's no doctor told me the tips or the tricks that you have said on this podcast. Thank you. So thank you, because I think I'd be in a much miserable, more miserable place.

Scott Benner 22:55
If, if I hadn't been listening to the podcast. I'm just I'm hard pressed though. Imagine coming out of a surgery. I mean, with all the implications that yours have and all the forward, you know, even the forward thinking implications. And then suddenly, you have to manage food with insulin. I just don't i don't know how to do that. Exactly. It's not

Caroline 23:15
easy. It's not it has not been easy. Diabetes is hard. I mean, I guess I'll get to a point where I really know what I'm doing. And I understand it all. But you know, I don't know if anybody ever says that. But it's hard.

Scott Benner 23:32
People, it's incredibly difficult. And I do think you will get to a point where you where you get it for months is an incredibly short amount of time to have type one. First of all, you're able to season the fives already. That's spectacular. I think you're being aided by eating the same foods over and over again, right? Yes, definite? Most definitely. Yeah, well, I mean, look, take it, nothing. Just call it something good. This is here's the good part. I thought the same thing over and over. Because I often tell people, you know, when you're really struggling, try to mimic a meal a couple of days in a row. So they give you a chance, give yourself a chance to make a decision, see how it works out and then make an adjustment to it. Because if you go from no one completely different meal to the next two days afterwards. There's no real way to look at your data and make adjustments when you're going right food. So what does the soft food diet consist of?

Caroline 24:27
Well, my diet right now is scrambled eggs. Yogurt soup, like some small portion of like chicken noodle soup. I have some hot tea. I do eat some saltines a few salt saltines and I do eat a little bit of cheese for protein. But that's basically it. Sure eating like all of our grandmothers, basically And you know, I've gotten pretty used to it. I'm actually it doesn't bother me. I guess I could I'm that person that really could eat the same thing every day for the rest of my life.

Scott Benner 25:11
I was gonna say, it seems nice to me. I'm doing this thing right now where I'm my blood sugar's on the internet. And so have you ever. Okay, thanks. And so I started to feel this pressure to like, eat certain things. And I just don't eat very much normally. So I'm like, my wife's, like, you're gonna eat all that. And I was like, I'm gonna try, you know, and I've been snacking, like, on purpose. Like, before I came up to you to talk to you. I just grabbed this candy out of a candy dish. I didn't even want it. I was like, oh, let's see if they can they can watch this. You know, an eight so candy. But I'm, I'm not a food person like that, like I could. I could put together some simple meals and do them every day and probably be pretty happy about it. I am. I only seem to deviate when it's like fun to make something. I enjoy making a handmade pizza once in a while. Yeah, your food looks pretty good. When you posted. It looks pretty good. I do. All right. Yeah, I'm not. I mean, I've been in this house for 21 years taking care of these kids. I figured a couple of things. Yeah. Although everyone thinks I'm a terrible cook here, which is fascinating. Like, oh, that's that's funny. Arden won't let me make her eggs. Oh, gosh, you're not good at it. She make her own? Oh, I mean, she could but that's not how she rolls. She's like, once you get them, I just got done school. I'm very tired. I have a have a pinched nerve in my shoulder. And it feels like someone's driving railroad spikes in me. But let me see if I can help out. How is this for your children? Is there? Are they old enough to to do the math and go Hmm, this could happen to me.

Caroline 26:49
So I had them genetically tested. As soon as I came back positive. The geneticists wanted them tested and they both came back negative, which was amazing. My father was tested and he came back positive. His brother was tested and he came back positive. And we now know that my grandmother who passed a few years ago, probably 99% would have come back positive. All of us have had the parathyroid surgery. So, you know, we thought we had familial hyperparathyroidism. But in fact, we all have men one and that's just a part of it.

Scott Benner 27:39
Yeah. What did your would you said your grandmother died? Before you had no What? What? How old? Was she when she passed? She was 17, eight or 79? Did she have any ailments that point any of this stuff that you thought

Caroline 27:57
she she had the parathyroid problem. And actually, she was from Germany. fullblood German. She lived grew up in Frankfurt, and, you know, lived through World War Two as a child in Frankfurt, and her mother was in a hospital, most of her childhood and they called it stomach cancer. But you know, knowing what we know now, we all kind of think that her mother probably had men one. And they just didn't know what it was then.

Scott Benner 28:33
Germany exporting men one. Keep that stuff there. Oh, okay. So you're so your kids, they need to be tested more going into the future is this rock solid, you don't have it, you don't have it.

Caroline 28:45
You don't have it. You don't have it, and they can't pass it on. And I always joke and say this stops with me. So

Scott Benner 28:55
you're taking care of this. Your husband's digging around furiously for the receipt he thinks he got when he bought, you know, he's like, you can buy people, everybody understands what I'm saying. It's like, Oh, I found it. Can I return this?

Caroline 29:09
He's my poor husband. He's probably really disappointed. We have a pretty large age difference between us. And he, he thought he was gonna have this young hot wife with no problems. Who is going to have you know, all this energy? That I'm the one that's falling apart

Scott Benner 29:25
with? Carolyn, your trophy wife? Oh, yeah. I always said if I was a girl, I would not work. I would definitely do something that my parents would be ashamed of. So that I didn't have to have a job. I'm not saying that you did that. I'm just saying this would be my way to go.

Caroline 29:42
Well, I have worked. Majority of the marriage but not full time.

Scott Benner 29:48
Okay. Can we how much older than you? Is he 24 years? Oh, yeah, he's passed. Yeah, yeah, totally. Are you making me laugh on my shoulder hurts though? Oh, my gosh, tell me about the lupus diagnosis.

Here's what you need to do. It's super simple. You need to simplify your life. Make your decisions easier. And these next two ads are both going to do that for you. I'm just going to pick one. Here's what I'll do. I'll put a coin behind me. Now it won't work. I know what hand two coins nevermind, I'll just pick one Dexcom, makers of the Dexcom g six continuous glucose monitor. It's a CGM, a continuous glucose monitor, a device that you wear that reports your blood sugars, number, speed, and direction back to a receiver or your cell phone, Android or iPhone. Think about what I'm saying to you. No more guessing what your blood sugar is, or what it's doing. You can just see it right there in front of you. Decisions get more thoughtful. By decisions. I mean, carbohydrates and insulin. That's how we use it. We just sort of learn over time, how Arden's going to react to these things. And we get to make better decisions, the data that comes back from the Dexcom is it's almost everything, honestly. Dexcom comm forward slash juice box, and you can make your own alarms, right? Like say you want to know if your blood sugar goes over 130, you could just set it for 130. Maybe you don't want to go to 150, you could set it to 150, which I think when your blood sugar is falling, it'll tell you that as well. It tells you everything is so cool, and helpful and valuable. And part of how we keep my daughters they want to see in the fives you can even share your data with up to 10 followers. So you could be an adult or a child. And anybody you want could follow you on their iPhone or Android device dexcom.com forward slash juicebox the links in your show notes, links at Juicebox Podcast comm you have to go check it out. While you're out tooling around the internet, you know, I think the kids call it I think it's a time killer, right? The internet but not when you're doing it for this, not when you're finding out if you're eligible for a free 30 day trial of the Omni pod dash using an insulin pump for free for 30 days. 30 days, that'd be like if I gave you my garden, I was like yeah, bring it back in a month. How great would that be? I think all the savings plus you get to try it out and see what you think. You can stick with it or you don't have to it's really up to you. While I'm telling you about Omni pod, I'd like to remind you about their promise. The Omni pod promise says that you can upgrade to Omni pods latest technologies for no additional cost as soon as they're available to you and covered by your insurance terms and conditions apply. And you can find out more details at Omni pod.com forward slash juicebox. Now there's only so much I can say. But just follow what I'm saying. If I'm the pod were to come out with a new device. And you already had the dash, let's say and you wanted the new thing. You just come up and go I'm invoking the Omni pod promise, I don't think you actually have to say that. But it might be fun. If you did anyway, then you could just update to this thing that may or may not exist in the future. See what I'm saying? You're not tied down to just one thing. You don't have to wait for the next big thing on the pod.com forward slash juice box dexcom.com forward slash juice box links in the show notes of your podcast player links at Juicebox podcast.com. Let's just write out the rest of this music because I'm too lazy to edit it out.

Alright, let's find out about the lupus diagnosis with Caroline.

Caroline 34:18
So I started having, you know a few months ago, I was waking up in the middle of the night or in the mornings and my hands were so swollen, I could not close them. And then I was also having pain in my elbows and shoulders. And my hair started falling out. And so you know I had already established last year a relationship with a rheumatologist and so I went back to see him and he did some blood work and I had a positive test for lupus. He You know, I think the common treatment for lupus is steroids. And because of everything else that's going on, he really didn't want to put me on steroids that would suppress my immune system. So he has me on, we've been doing several trials of some anti inflammatory medication. And unfortunately, every one that I take takes about two weeks to really get into your system. So it's a long, you know, I think this is going to be a long process, trying to figure out what really works for me. But you know, lupus in itself is a hard thing to deal with.

Scott Benner 35:37
What are some of the implications of it?

Caroline 35:40
Well, if it's not treated, you could have, you know, long term damage. I know that. Just in my research on it, you know, there's stuff about and I and I listened to one of your podcasts about, I think he was a snowboarder that had lupus as well. Yeah. I cannot remember his name Sean Busbee. Right. Yes. And I know he has issues with being in the sun. And I haven't had that yet. I'm not sure if this just came on, you know, because of the Whipple or what, but it's very new. It's only I've only had it for a few months. So well, I

Scott Benner 36:22
feel for you, because it's hard to pick through those things, these medical ideas when they don't pop up and just present something specific right away. It's very frustrating. I know that um, Arden has an appointment in about six days with a rheumatologist. Because at certain times of the month her like wrists and ankles, sometimes your knees get really painful. They have to be like rubbed constantly to try to like and you can't you can rub the pain away for a minute, but then it comes right back. And now that is it's so miserable. Yeah, the muscles in her neck and her shoulders are always tight.

Caroline 37:03
I do hot Babs. And sometimes I do them several times a night. I mean, I was to the point where I was getting up in the night and having to take an additional hot bath just to get relief. Well.

Scott Benner 37:15
How long does that help for?

Caroline 37:18
Um, well, I'll stay in there for quite a while and then it'll usually take care of it for a couple of hours. So that's, that's been my go to do your I understand it, I understand the risks and the you know, hands and you know, all of that it's

Scott Benner 37:34
it's really uncomfortable. It sucks that you can't do that. And also, by the way, the steroids would make your insulin needs go up.

Caroline 37:41
Yes, that's the other reason that he did not want to do that. I don't and I I'm struggling. I mean, yes, I dropped my a one c but I'm on a day to day basis. I look at you know, people's lines, you know, on their graphs, and they're so stable, and I'm looking at mine and it's like, mountains and valleys. And you know, sometimes I get I get it, you know, more in control. But, you know, I'm still in pain, you know, pain and stress doesn't help. And I'm still dealing with all of that. And I know that's causing some of the problems with the diabetes. So I just have a lot going on at one time.

Scott Benner 38:28
An email this morning from a person and she's like, Hey, your blood sugar was really was higher overnight. Are

Unknown Speaker 38:32
you okay?

Scott Benner 38:36
Okay, I am i said i so last night I I purposefully ate like some junky food later at night so people could see. And it would be one of those things that you wouldn't think much of, you know, and put my blood sugar up like 110 but it stayed there almost all night. And you know, so you put this junky food in your system, then you go to sleep and digestion slows down, it stays with you longer, right, you know, etc. Tomorrow, I think tomorrow Yeah, probably tomorrow. I'm gonna eat like a, like a, like almost a no car, but I would eat like steak and stuff like that for a day so people can see what that looks like what happened? Yeah.

Caroline 39:17
My husband said that he his doctor was telling him that he was on the verge of diabetes and he is a string beam. He has a little belly but he is tall and skinny and can eat five bowls of ice cream every night and not gain a pound. And the doctor told him that and so he wanted me I did the finger prick on him. And you know, we we watched and then checked it again after he had like a soda or something. And it of course was like perfectly normal. He didn't have any issues at all.

Scott Benner 39:47
Right? There was a couple of days where my blood sugar didn't move around too much. That's gonna people are gonna be pissed at me. I think. So. Eat some crap. I know. It's just not fair. But it's still it's been I'm getting a lot of notes. People are finding it valuable just to see how things kind of go up and down and go up and stay. And you just really realize that these patterns if you didn't, you know, if you didn't have a working pancreas, the patterns would still be there, they would just be happening at a higher number. If you're if you're not managing well with insulin Arden and I had, we had pizza the other night. And she was better than I was for like two thirds of the stretch of the food. Like in the in the beginning third, my Bolus worked with on her work way better than my pancreas did for me. And then had I not been working, I would have seen the rise it was trying to have been sooner and I would have gotten to it sooner. But she went up like 178 for a while and she came back down. And it was interesting. Exact same time we were both like 90 again, like right at that spot. So

Caroline 40:52
see I really want to figure out pizza because pizzas on my light last meal list.

Scott Benner 40:59
Wait, wait like your last meal before like a firing squad kind of a thing?

Unknown Speaker 41:03
For before I die. I must have been. Listen, just eat on the last day and it won't matter be fine. There you go. That's true.

Scott Benner 41:13
I mean, the the key to pizza is that, you know, you need some up front. And then you need a lot of it about insulin when the fat protein rise happens. So it's mostly fat with pizza. But she had a protein with it, I think. Yeah,

Caroline 41:31
yeah, I have done it a few. I actually have eaten a little bit of pizza here and there a couple of bites and and tried. I actually had a miserable time on my birthday. Because, you know, there was the temptation to have food other than what I normally eat. And so I did have a little bit of different food. And then I was juggling, how do I how do i Bolus for this. And then I gave myself too much. And then I literally said to my husband, I said I might have just overdosed I might die tonight. You know, this is scary. I think I'll just go back to eating the same food every single day.

Scott Benner 42:10
How does it end up? Did you not use too much or

Caroline 42:13
I ended up having to compensate with drinking some juice. But I figured it out. And it you know, I got myself worked up about it because I really thought I had given myself way too much. And I probably did because I didn't eat as much as I thought I would. And but I figured it out. And it actually wasn't that bad. But it was scary. At first I saw someone

Scott Benner 42:37
online, it happens periodically they give themselves they're they're trying to give themselves their basil injection, they do it with you know Bolus instead. So now all of a sudden they put in like 30 or 40 or 50 units of insulin that's gonna start working right away. I always I'm always fascinated. They're online, like, What do I do? I'm like, like, just take your carb ratio and figure out how much insulin you just gave how many carbs you just covered and eat them? Like, it's fascinating how it happening out of order makes it so confusing to everybody? I know. It's because you I think it's because you get stuck thinking about this stuff in such a specific and ordered way that you just can't break free of the idea. I mean, honestly giving yourself 50 units of fast acting insulin. I know people who have little kids are like 50. But you know, adults use a lot of insulin with their meals. Right? You just have to look and go Okay, what do I have in the house? That's, you know, 50 units, and I mean, my my elbow, say you're like one unit per five grams. It's not that hard. You go 510 15 2020 Oh, I need you know, if I have 10 here, I'll tend to cover so I'll find

Caroline 43:48
and there's a lot of carbs and a lot of things. So it's not that hard.

Scott Benner 43:52
Yeah. It just isn't like it isn't intent. the wrong word. Let me let me do this. Let's say you put in 50 units, your one for five. So 510 15 2025. So 25 Yeah, you need like, you know, it's not that hard. It's just do it. Right. Just do the math and do it and, and they're like, What do I do? I called the doctor. I was like, eat something.

Unknown Speaker 44:18
Right? Yeah, like, this

Scott Benner 44:19
is your big chance. Remember that candy you never eat this time? You know, like, get in there like do that. If you don't have some I've spoken to somebody before didn't have anything in the house and it's not it. I'll never forget that. I will never forget getting a message through Instagram from this younger girl who I don't know. And she's like, I'm by myself and I'm out of food. And I gave myself too much insulin. I was like, why are you texting me is what I thought. But isn't it interesting? We had never met before. I didn't never spoken to her. I was the one that popped into her head. Oh goodness. So I helped her I was like, Alright, let's look around the house. See what you have. We can make it up you know, and she got a bunch of food and ate it. I just that was nerve racking for me, by the way when that happened, because what happens in the middle is she's like, you know, drops over and the last person she contacted was me, you know, I don't need those problems. Oh, my God. Well, how are you feeling? psychologically? Because it occurs to me that if I was you, I would just be up here and like running in circles and banging into walls and stuff like that. are you handling all this?

Caroline 45:26
Well, you know, it's interesting, you ask that it was really difficult with the diagnosis initially. And it was really difficult waiting to find out if the boys, you know, we're going to be positive or negative. But with each surgery, it's been hard. I, thankfully, my boys are one of the boys in particular begged and begged and begged for a dog a few years ago, actually, the summer before my diagnosis, and we gave in and got the dog. And I, he has been my, my saving grace, he, I walk that dog between nine and 10 miles a day. And that is how I keep my mind clear. And it's also great for digestion. I mean, they say, you know, walking aids digestion, and after a Whipple procedure, they really want you to do a lot of walking. So that has helped me tremendously. I if I don't walk, I feel depressed, and down. So that's been really, really important to me. I have to say, though, that I talked to my doctor last night, and him saying that there were some abnormal tissue on the pituitary. It was kind of like, oh, now there's this to worry about, you know, now there's that going to be that at the back of my head, to think about all the time, how many

Scott Benner 47:03
glands do you have left? Can we just get rid of all of them now? Like, no, I'm just like, take it. But it's almost like I don't know. I'm gonna find out what it does. It's in charge of your growth hormones. contributed growth, development and functioning of other indicators. Well, listen, it's in control of growth and development. You're already an adult, I'm done. We're growing and it helps functioning of other endocrine glands, which you've mostly don't have. So exactly, they're gone. It's only the size of a pea. It says, That's right. Okay, cause you that much trouble.

Caroline 47:49
Oh, gosh, you know, after the distal i had i this after I had the distal pancreatectomy. He said he got everything. And you know, we were really happy for that. And then I had my follow up appointment, and he came back and he said, Well, the pathology says that you have all of these little neuro endocrine tumors, just speckled through your pancreas. And so then there was that worry for until I had those yearly scans. And then once I got those scans back and they were clear, I had like, two or three weeks of Oh, okay, I can move on with my life now. And then I got the lab work back that was, you know, elevated for these neuroendocrine tumors. And that's when the decision was made to go forth with the Whipple. So, I don't know, it seems like every time I take a step forward, I take a couple steps back.

Scott Benner 48:47
I feel like I know what you mean. We've been working on trying to figure out figure Arden out for so long now that you know, just the diabetes alone seems like kind of an afterthought. It began with it began with her, her thyroid diagnosis, right and then everything was fine for like a year and then a year later, all of a sudden, like she was gonna die. Just we didn't none of us realize I talked about on the thyroid episode, but she had grown so much she wasn't getting enough thyroid again, as a replacement. But she was like, we were taking her to doctors to see if she had like serious heart trouble because her blood pressure was so low. And you know that that driving somewhere with your kid in the car and you never that you just oh, we're just gonna go find out like being an adult is terrible. You really, if you're gonna have a baby, like if you like, just live your whole life by yourself. You'll never go through all these Harz but it's just you know, it's I seriously do mean that, like you're driving somewhere, and you're like, Am I gonna get to this place? They're gonna tell me my daughter's heart doesn't work. Like is that what we're going to find out? And then then they give you information and you're like, Well, that's not even helpful. And this didn't answer any questions. So then you have to go back home again. It's not like the doctor goes home. It's not Dr. House. Like, they don't go home at the end of the day and go, Oh, that little girl, Arden today. Let me just sit here and think pensively until I come up with an answer for these people. Like you left, the tests they ran didn't give you an answer. They're done with you now. Now you have to figure it out again. So, yeah, it's just we got got her thyroid levels back up. And then not long after that, she has to stop playing softball, because the muscles in her shoulder or neck are so tight, she can't even do it anymore. And, you know, now you're trying to figure that out. So we went down the thyroid road and figured, you know, went through things piece by piece, and it takes forever, you know, you're like, well, it can't be your blood sugar. But at one point, I even changed part of the reason we tried to gasp, because I was just like, Well, let me see, like, Could she be allergic or insulin, and that didn't do anything. And, you know, it's just, it feels like you're thinking about it all the time. Like either what's going to happen or what you have to do about the thing that is happening?

Caroline 51:04
Right? It's exhausting. And the walking is the only thing I found to like, keep that, you know, down to keep it under control.

Scott Benner 51:16
I don't usually make statements like this, but people who don't have health issues have no idea how lucky they are. Right? Yeah, it's agreed, agree with a lot. And I'm glad they don't know, I'm not wishing it on them so that I'm not like you, you need to understand, but there's just, there's so much to it. And it's just this the littlest things like my son is at home because of COVID made a pretty stressful like semester. And then he gets done. And he's like, Oh, this is great. I'm finished. And then he has this plan for the winter, he's gonna do a lot of extra eating and lifting. He's trying to put on a certain amount of weight for the spring. It comes upstairs one day, and he's all freaked out. He's like, I started lifting weights, and I got my skin got all right, no, Michi. We're like, why he like? So you know, we just did anybody change laundry detergent, or something like that. We had added something recently. So I was like, Alright, let me re wash all your stuff, and blah, blah, and did everything. And then it happened to him again. And now it's two weeks later, and it's continuing to happen to him. And our anytime he exerts himself or gets really hot, I guess the histamine like the adrenaline, the men, right? And he's breaking out from his waist up. It doesn't last long, but he can't keep working out. Right. And so, you know, the doctor that we spoke to said, this happens to people, as a community or medical community, we really don't know why it most often does just stop. And here's a way to try to match through it. And you know, he's talking about it. But in that moment, I was like, my son's whole life is playing baseball. Right? Like, he told me he can't lift weights or run around. Because I don't know what he would do then. And, you know, the doctor said, It's okay, like, it's gonna, you know, we really expect it to go away. But I told Kelly privately yesterday, I was like, if that kid can't keep playing baseball, I don't think I can handle it. Like, I don't think I can handle anything else bad going on happening. And are not even like, close to your thing. Seriously? Well, yeah. We all everybody has their own thing. Yeah, just don't walk that dog off appear. Okay.

Caroline 53:31
I know. He's a Siberian Husky. And, you know, you can't walk him enough. He just, you know, he would keep walking

Unknown Speaker 53:42
us keep you, he just drag you through the water out, out under the sound.

Caroline 53:46
This child that wanted this dog he there was one in the neighborhood that would walk past our house every morning before school. And he hid in the bushes outside of our house every morning, and waited to pet that dog and to ask if you know, if he could, you know, pet the dog and play with the dog. And he, I mean, he campaigned for this dog for so many years.

Scott Benner 54:11
He got it and now you're walking around. That's right now it's my dog actually. Does he pay attention to the dog at all?

Caroline 54:19
Oh, well, they do that. And actually, they were extremely helpful. When I came home from surgery. They did all of the walking and care, you know, and they they do care for him. But he really, I don't know if that's the breed. But they have a one person that they're really really loyal to, I guess because he's a pack dog. And, and I am his one person.

Scott Benner 54:41
Yeah. And that's just the way it is. Our dogs Listen to me and almost nobody else in the house and I wish it wasn't me because then I get this. Hey, the dogs have to do this. They have to do that. And I'm not even there like you do it. Right. Listen to me. Oh my god. She I think she secretly loves that that dog doesn't listen to her. Somebody gets hurt out of everything. Yeah, let's I've said it before. I'll say it again. Try to have children. If you do, okay, don't have too many. Definitely don't have a dog. It's so much work, you know?

Caroline 55:11
Well, and I've got like, you know, hairballs every doll rolling through your house. Yeah. I mean, it's just he's blown his coat. And so it's like, you know, a couple times a year, it's pretty bad.

Scott Benner 55:28
To say your accents delightful between the Texas and the North Carolina a little bit of the North. It's very nice. Well, I can't I can't tell. So, no, you really you would do. You'd be great doing voiceover for like, you know, Southern lady, or something. Okay. Well, I was just gonna say your husband can't walk that dog, right?

Unknown Speaker 55:51
Well, he won't. He's smart. He's like, love my dog. It's a mistake you made not me.

Scott Benner 55:57
Right, exactly. But I just had my pancreas out. That's right. I get those kids.

Caroline 56:04
I know, I keep trying to tell them you know, I've just recovered from pancreatic cancer surgery. I've got type one diabetes and lupus. Can I get a little help here?

Scott Benner 56:14
That's not enough yet. No, I I've spent the last couple of days being mocked walking around my house. Because I move in a certain way with this muscle thing. I'm like, Oh, geez, like it comes. I can't keep it in. Oh, so dramatic. I hear from across the room. I'm like, this really hurts. I know. You said that your muscles are tight. I'm like, no, it's my whole, like, if you cut me in quarters, like through the midsection of my torso, you know, and then up and sideways and just took the top right corner of me. It was just like a rock of muscles that weren't the doctor's like Now bend your head to the right. And I was like, it moved like a half an inch. And I was like, that's it and he goes, Oh, okay. I was like, I can't turn my head this way. Because it hurts. And every time I lift up my arm or you know, like I'm in the room, holding my right arm with my left arm because I don't want to fall down, you know? And you're at the doctor's, and they're worried about you, you get home, and I can hear them. Like, look how he's holding his arm. They're making fun of me and I can hear like, you know, this is gonna go away. And my wife actually said to me last night she goes, this was not a great time for this to happen. Oh, gosh. Sounds like something I would say. I planned it. Like, no, this is not a good time for this app. I'll tell you what. She gets sick once in a while, like everybody does. Yeah, I'm gonna have to tell her when she's laying in bed and dying. Like, you know, like, hey, please get me this. I'm gonna go you know, this is not an ideal time for this to be half. Right? Right. What happens to me? If I say the back honor? Yeah, great. Shoot, that would make her not sick. In three seconds. She'd stand right up and call divorce attorney. I can't believe I'm sick. Also, but you said to me with my arms, that's different. You're being a baby. So Seriously, this really hurts. It's not just like a little muscle pole. Like I'm, you know, in a bad way. And it's going to pass like the muscles are gonna stop spasming and it's gonna be fine. But this is not an opportune time for this to happen. That's right. Yeah. Like imagine someone says you. Yeah, I don't want to walk the dog. In all honesty. This surgery you had. It's getting in the way in my life. Yeah, great. Well, listen, kids normally 12 maybe they don't know any better. Right. Are you? Have you? Have we not talked about anything that you were hoping to talk about? I should ask.

Caroline 58:39
No, I think we did. I you know, and listening to you. I thought of course I had not listened to your other a lot of your other podcasts. But and I did after I you know, send you the email. I listened to the girl that's in Louisiana. Yeah, that had she had a I think it was a kidney disease that caused her to have an operation that was similar to the Whipple which I thought was really interesting. But, you know, when I emailed you, I just wanted to say or bring awareness to the Whipple warriors, people that you know, we we have Type One Diabetes because of surgery, you know, and, and also to men one, because it all, you know, can end up we can all end up in the same community because of these things. So, I've been really thankful to you and to Jenny, I actually reached out to Jenny to try to get some more education. And I had an appointment with Alicia and the integrated diabetes office, who wears the same pump that I wear I wear tandem t slim and I had a first meeting with her And I haven't gone forward just because I have so many other issues that are it's not just diabetes. It's right now, so many other things going on at the same time. That makes it a little bit difficult, but I intend to, you know, get some more education from her because I thought they are fantastic.

Scott Benner 1:00:22
Yeah. Jenny always says to me, she's like your people. Like, why are they my people? She's like, they come from the podcasts like, people, just like their people. She's cute. She's just, she doesn't mean they buy. She's the way she talks. It's fantastic. We're speaking privately. She's like, I got a bunch of messages from your people. The other day, I was like, You mean people listen to podcast, she's like, Yeah, but yeah, and you, you kind of bumped into what some people bump into. I think people want to work with Jenny, because they hear on the show. But Jenny's pretty booked because of the show at the same time. So it's hard to get in with her sometimes.

Caroline 1:01:00
Well, and just talking to Alicia in the one time that I talked to her, she gave me a trick, you know, for my pump. That completely helped me and fixed a problem that I was having cool, you know, every day. So she, you know, and she was I want I want originally wanted to talk to Jenny. But Jenny said Alicia is the guru for tandem to Islam. And so she knew what to do.

Scott Benner 1:01:25
And she did work. Yes, absolutely. Um, but I'm glad you found them. And Jenny really is delightful. I, yes. I'm actually recording with her tomorrow afternoon. If I can lift up my arm, which I'm doing pretty good. I was so worried about doing this with you. I was like, What if I'm sitting there just in pain the entire time, but I'm doing okay. Yeah. I would do a pill. Yeah. Yeah, I'm doing okay. magic pill, the magic pill that makes your muscles like, like, putty. Right? But I went into the urgent care and, you know, guys, like, I'm just gonna do a couple of, of X rays to be sure nothing structurally wrong. I don't think there is. And I was like, yeah, there's not but whatever. Yeah. So I'm sitting in there. And she's like, stay still. She's like, you're fidgeting. And I said, I can't just let my arm hang like this. I said to her so bad, you know? So she takes a picture, and she goes, are you wearing a diabetes thing? And I was like, Oh, I am on my arm. Just give diabetes. I was like, No, I'm doing it. So people on the internet can watch my but she's like, why did I start explaining to her? She so that's so nice. My friend has diabetes. And I was like, ah, everybody's friend has diabetes. So but so I go back into the room to wait for the doctor after the film's and for whatever reason, this little chair in there. I felt so good sitting in the chair. And he comes in he goes what we're gonna do I was like, Look, man, whatever you gonna do? Forget it. Just let me take this chair home with me. I said this chairs perfect for me for some reason. He got Yeah, he was so funny. Because I don't care. Take it that's like, oh, wow, I like this. But I left the chair behind and just left with a flexural. So it's all good. I just don't want to take a bunch of drugs. You know, if I don't have to, you're you're taking a pain medication for the lupus right?

Caroline 1:03:12
Well, yeah, for lupus and for abdominal, you know, I'm still having a lot of abdominal cramping pain. I'm on a pretty large list of medications still.

Scott Benner 1:03:25
Do they continue? I'm sorry, say that those medications continue forever. They just because of the surgery? Um,

Caroline 1:03:34
you know, that's a good question. I mean, I have, I have hypothyroidism as well. So I take thyroid pill, and of course you do. But that was caused because of the parathyroid problem. So but you know, I take if you have your pancreas out, you got to take a pancreatic enzyme every time you eat. So that in itself, you know if you ever, um, I'm doing the little small meals all day long. Instead of just like three meals a day, I do, like five small meals. So that's a lot of pills in itself. And then, you know, anxiety medication and you know, yeah, things like that.

Scott Benner 1:04:18
We definitely need that allows you what happens if I don't take the enzyme I eat

Caroline 1:04:25
severe stomach cramping, probably running to the bathroom. not pleasant experience at all.

Scott Benner 1:04:35
Just from not taking the packrat again time. Right? Well, and that's every time you take something in so is it is it as much as like if you walk past the candy dish and grab four m&ms, you would need that enzyme.

Caroline 1:04:48
Probably not that but i and maybe I'll get better at this but with diabetes, the snacking thing. You know, I haven't unless I've you know bolused for it. I'm trying not to put anything in my mouth.

Scott Benner 1:05:03
Thinking about that. I have to tell you. I've lost a few pounds were in the CGM. I bet you have cuz my wife's like your watch. She's like, you're you're not eating as much. And I was like, yeah, Mike, everybody's watching. That's funny. Yeah. This is a great way to like, you know, I know it's 2020 and we're not allowed to shame people anymore. But apparently that would work because I'm just like, I'm not eating that. Yeah, who would have thought right? Then those people will know, Ben lunch. He's like, Who cares? I'm like, I don't know. I care a little bit. But it's cut my snacking down. Like, and I don't I guess I don't even know what I was eating. But I think I've lost like five pounds this week. So that's amazing. Yeah, I was still very fat. When I got on the scale of urgent care the other day. I'm like, She's like, get up on the scale. I'm like, why? My shoulder hurts. What is this about? right away? I just got in here. I still have my jacket on. But get on that she's like, Can I take like, you know, can I strip? She was no. Probably way. I'm probably wearing like four pounds of clothing. Probably. I just jumped up and left again. I was like, Alright, fine. If this is how it's gonna be. They're making fun of me at home. Might as well let's do it here too. You know, that's everywhere. No, but seriously, there's something. I mean, I'm partially joking. I'm not eating things. Because the people watching completely, although there have been a couple times I was like, No, I'm not gonna do it because of that. But it's just me, I'm aware of it. Like being able to see your blood sugar is it's meaningful. You know, like, you look at it, and you think I don't want my blood sugar to go up. You know, like, for this, like, I don't love this enough to do that. And so I guess that's probably what happens to you as well. That's right. I'm learning some things here as well. That's good. Yeah. We all are every day. Caroline, you're, you're you're I just gotta say this story is good entertainment. Right? Whoa, I don't know. I was just like, yeah, I mean, first of all, you everyone listening is like, Oh, I'm lucky this Caroline lady, she got real problems. But I mean, I hope that things go as well as possible for you. I realize it's got to be like a long road ahead to, to hammer things out. And it's funny how I don't know which thing to let me ask it this way of the issues that you have now. Which one would you give away? If I let you give one of my I have my answer. But I'm waiting for the diabetes. Really? Interesting. I would have thought you're gonna say the lupus?

Caroline 1:07:44
Well, you know, I've been dealing with pain like that for so long. I might be used to it. But the diabetes seems heavy. It seems hard. I mean, I know I'm gonna get there. I know, listening to you reading you know, the education. Part of it. I know, I will get there. But it's, it seems hard. It seems heavy. It seems like it's all it's the thing that is always on my mind. All day, right now.

Scott Benner 1:08:19
I hear that. It's very consistent, that's for sure. You don't get to like I came home yesterday. I was pretty beat up. And my my wife I think just kind of left the kids to their own like, you know, to feed themselves in the afternoon. So that turned into like most case study is or some wraps or something like that into Chinese food. You know? And Arden's blood sugar was I was involved it for four or five hours because I was asleep on the sofa, like I got no position. And I was like, I'm comfortable. I'm going to sleep because the night before 6am was the first time I went to sleep the night before I could not find a position to sleep in. I finally found that at six o'clock I slept for like three or four hours went right out to the urgent care. So I was not involved in Arden's like diabetes care yesterday. And I thought she had eaten one thing, and it turns out she didn't. And we saw this kind of stocker higher blood sugar like 150s and it was just couldn't get to come down. And it was at the end of the pump sites a part of me wanted like this hell Kelly, like I think should change the pump. And then a part of me thought, No, it's all this food. It turns out, I get in bed at like one o'clock and Kelly's like Arden's blood sugar so long as you give her more insulin, she goes, No. And I was like, why? And she was I thought you gave her enough because I kind of jumped back into it in the evening. And I'm like, okay, we went all through it again. And then it turns out this one thing that I thought she ate that would have accounted for this if the Bolus was done poorly, she didn't actually. So it was one o'clock and I said your your choices can Bolus now and a half an hour from now and nothing happens. Change your pump, or just change your pump now and Bolus so we go to bed. So right one, it was like 115 we got up. I'm like, you know, I'm like moaning because of my, my arm, my arm wrapped up in my shirt trying not to let it fall down. Or Kelly's like if they come help me. And I was like, okay, so we went and did it woke Arden up and put this pump on her. But you know, was the right thing to do? Yes, it was happening at 130 in the morning. And that's your point is that it's just always there, you know?

Caroline 1:10:28
Yeah. And I've had that I had that 130 in the morning, you know, several times. And the other thing, is it all it seems like it's a moving target constantly. And but at first I thought, Oh my gosh, I'm the only one with this moving target. And I'm never going to figure this out. And listening to your podcast and talking to other people. Realizing I'm not the only one like this, it is a moving target. That's just what diabetes is. And, but listening to you and talking to other people, I realized that and that has given me a lot of relief. Glad.

Scott Benner 1:11:13
I'm very happy for you. Any kind of relief, I'd be happy for you. And I know right now I'm thinking the same thing. Like I would take a little relief because I'm like rubbing my chest while I'm talking to hurts so bad. You don't have to apologize to anybody about medical stuff. In every situation, you win. Don't worry about. Okay, yeah. Don't Don't think like that. You're covered. You're grandfathered in on this one. First. I would like to restart this episode and just ask you about hooking an older guy, but I can't write your 30s you got married or younger? Twice.

Caroline 1:11:51
I got married at 28. And I got married in August. And I was pregnant in November with twins. He was probably pretty excited. Oh, yeah. He was like, let's do this. Let's get

Scott Benner 1:12:07
your 28 Yeah, that makes him like 52 when you correct? Yeah. See, my math is okay. When it's important that I can that I can whip it together pretty quick. Right? How did your parents enjoy that? Was that because How old is your dad compared to your husband? He's younger. He's a couple years younger. They pull you aside?

Caroline 1:12:31
No, no, no, I have pretty much been headstrong my whole life.

Scott Benner 1:12:38
So whatever. I think whatever works works, but I was just what I was imagining just your dad, just one time being like, Hey,

Caroline 1:12:48
you know, it's kind of funny. It's funny when they're together. But it I'm an old soul. And so it does work. It really works.

Scott Benner 1:12:57
Listen, boys are terrible. I talked about here at the time. I'm 49. I'm almost an adult now. So I think I seriously maybe another decade. Maybe right around right before? I'm 60 I think I'll pull it right together. Yeah. So I hear what you're saying. Kelly's Kelly's definitely an old soul too. And I don't like I would have trouble. I did have trouble back then talking to girls my own age. I was just like, oh god, there's nothing What are we? Oh, are we gonna talk ever about anything important? You know? And I really don't care. Like just put something on. Let's go. And Kelly's like, that is very comforting. She's only a couple years younger than me. I Didn't you know? Yeah, I just bumped into the cradle. I didn't completely he didn't Rob. She's only a couple of years younger. All right. Early. You're very nice. You're delightful. I enjoyed your laugh. You kept me calm for some reason. You have such a consistent speaking pace. It's slowed me down. I appreciate that. Good. I hope you feel better. By well come with these flex rolls. couple more days. I want to be fine. Okay, yeah. Well, I'm looking forward to the rest of the podcast so keep on going. Yeah, don't worry. I won't stop doing this. Look, I'm recording I'll tell you. This is the first day I almost took a sick day. Last night I thought maybe I should email that person just push this off. But I always just think I already make you guys schedule them so far in advance like it seems really terrible to ask the push it off, you know, so

Unknown Speaker 1:14:32
yeah, I would have understood I don't

Scott Benner 1:14:36
know you wouldn't have you would have been like wait your shoulder and your back hurts. Oh,

Unknown Speaker 1:14:39
boo.

Scott Benner 1:14:39
Get on the thing. Turn the microphone on. I got lupus. I got whip ball. I got like I got a there's something in my arm. Like type one diabetes. You don't want to do this. Why again because you're stiff. You would have been making fun of me like my family was if I would have done that. Right. Trust me. I know what happens. Well, thank you very much for doing this.

Unknown Speaker 1:15:03
Yes, thank you.

Unknown Speaker 1:15:04
I appreciate it.

Scott Benner 1:15:10
Hey, huge thanks to Caroline for coming on the show and talking so openly about what's going on in our life. Thanks also to on the pod makers of the Omni pod promise head over to Omni pod.com forward slash juice box to see if you're eligible for a 30 day free trial of the Omni pod dash. Thanks also to the Dexcom g six continuous glucose monitor dexcom.com forward slash juice box Get started today. We're just go find out more. When you use my links that helps the show make the clicky there at Juicebox Podcast calm or in the show notes of your podcast player. clicky clicky clicky clicky is good for Scotty. Thank you


Please support the sponsors

The Juicebox Podcast is a free show, but if you'd like to support the podcast directly, you can make a gift here. Recent donations were used to pay for podcast hosting fees. Thank you to all who have sent 5, 10 and 20 dollars!

Donate