#532 Dallas Rideshare

August 27, 2021Scott Benner

Raquel has type 1 diabetes and she once gave me a ride to the airport.

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Scott Benner 0:00
Hello friends, and welcome to Episode 532 of the Juicebox Podcast. On today's show, I'll be speaking with Raquel gal has type one diabetes. She's trying to help people with type one diabetes, and she drove me to the airport. That's pretty much how she got on the show. That's it that easy. Give me a ride to the airport. Get there Come on the podcast. Please remember, while you're listening 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 healthcare plan or becoming bold with insulin.

couple of quick reminders here, please head over to T one d exchange.org. forward slash juicebox. And fill out the survey if you're a US resident who has type one diabetes, or a US resident, who is the caregiver of someone with type one, you'll be supporting Type One Diabetes Research when you do and you'll be supporting the podcast p one d exchange.org. forward slash juice box.

This show is sponsored today by the glucagon that my daughter carries g vo cuyp open. Find out more at G Vogue glucagon.com forward slash juicebox.

Raquel 1:46
Hi, I'm Raquel and some of you might know me as type one day on Instagram. I've had type one for 19 years I wear the tandem t slim pump and the Dexcom. I'm also the founder of type one together we provide resources and products for kids with type one, and also for their parents. And yeah, fun fact I drove Scott to the airport from the duty of Dallas summit to Yeah, he needed to read. So that happened.

Scott Benner 2:11
Oddly, oddly funner fact, I believe I mentioned that for the very first time in an episode that just went up recently.

Raquel 2:17
So you know what? I was listening yesterday. And then I heard that, you know, your wife thought you'd be murdered by me So specifically, not by you know, yeah, someone so funny. I was like, oh, that would be me. I'm not

Scott Benner 2:33
just the person that facilitated the story. You weren't the person I thought might murder me. I have yet people. Actually, I'm gonna interview a woman next week, who I thought was at least gonna punch me at one of the events. And turns out she loves me. So there we go. We're all good. Oh, I think I bring people right. I can see how it can be. It can be scary. For sure. So we're at the very beginning you said your Instagram handle, but I don't think you said it very clearly.

Raquel 2:59
Oh, type one day. So like, taking one diabetes one day at a time was kind of the how I started that years ago. I don't know. Yeah, type one day.

Scott Benner 3:09
It's funny when you look back and everybody's like type one, this T one that blah, blah, blah. And you can't Yeah, I'm it straight. You think when you made it, you're like this is so like, this is the one I used to. I know. I used to joke with people. Like I would go to like blogging conferences used to be a thing. And I've gone to a handful of them in my life. And they'd go around the room and people would introduce themselves. And people would be like, Hi my name is ba and I'm from like diabetes this and diabetes that type one this and you know the sugars and blah blah blah and I begged him Scott it write a blog called Arden's dag and everybody would look at me like the word diabetes isn't in there anywhere. And I mean, that's better this point because you stand out turned out that was true. But in the moment in that room, I was like, Did I mess up by not like putting the word diabetes in my title. And then one at one of them. I made the joke out loud. I was like, obviously, I screwed up not putting the word diabetes in the title. And then I realized later, I don't think people saw that as me joking about myself. I think the people in the room saw me, like mocking them for doing it. And I never meant it that way. But yeah, oh, what am I gonna do? Everybody can't get out. Everyone can't get the humor. So here's what I remember. You told me if I'm right. Dallas, sucked for me, because it didn't give me the opportunity to do what I normally do at things. It was great in a lot of other ways, but I'm very accustomed. So my schedule is if you have me in to speak, I speak in the morning. I speak at lunch. I speak in the afternoon, and then I run and I talk to the kids room. And then I get on a plane and the way I think of that is first of all, I I can't Stand the idea of flying somewhere to talk for an hour, that just seems stupid. And secondly, I think that the ideas that I'm pumping out are probably so far from center for most people that they need a little bit of a primer. So that kind of come in, I'm like, hey, imagine if this could happen. That's the first hour, and then you get enough of them. They're like, that makes sense. And then they show up at lunch, and they listen again, and everybody else is there. And they get to hear it for the first time, too. So the people who didn't come to the first one became to the second one, have an opportunity to come to the third one, because that was just a q&a. I just go in and I answer everybody's questions. And then my, my, my real, like, love of being at these things, is then you go to the kids, because I imagined in my mind that people don't show up at Type One Diabetes conferences, because their blood sugar management is terrific. And they're there to celebrate, right? Like, they're there because they're lost and stuff is not going well. And my biggest fear is that the kids get home, the parents are now armed, what they heard me talking about, they turn to the kids and like, I have an idea I heard I, you know, imagine you're the kid, and you've had diabetes for a year or three years, or whatever, you've had it. And you've watched your parents struggle to figure this out. And they've never once gotten anything, right. So you're just gonna think, wait, why, like, take the insulin a little sooner or like, but that's the so I want to put the kids on board with the ideas. So that when they get together with their parents, it's a nice mash. And that was that's my goal. But I didn't get to do that in Dallas, because I was filling in for somebody.

Raquel 6:36
But yeah, I I wish he were the keynote for sure. But um, but that room was so packed. And I feel like people were so invested in it. And I mean, I've been a panel speaker for a couple of conferences, and you know, people aren't you can tell when people aren't really paying attention. So yeah, I think it's cool that you got to speak to the kids. Sometimes I didn't even realize that. But I still think that it was so impactful for so many people. They had their phones out there taking pictures, they were taking notes. That was really cool to see.

Scott Benner 7:03
Yeah. Well, I did. Um, I mean, I did slip into the kids room. I was like, hey, they're like playing some game. Like, can I just talk to the kids for a minute, the guy running the room was looking at me like, well, I'm like, Okay, I'm wondering if it'll be fine, probably. And so I just gave him like, a quick 20 minutes, showed them some graphs that I had on my phone. And you know, they look at those graphs, and they're like, that's me. That's my life. Like, that's the crap I live with. You don't need me. And I was like, doesn't have to be like this. I'm like, look at this one. Look at that one. All that person did was a few things. You guys could listen to the podcast, or you could talk to your parents about it. I just spoke to your parents upstairs. Like I still did the whole. At that point. I said, I'm going to talk to your parents later, because they helped me to like the end of the day, too. Which was, um, I don't know I was anyway, so I had all this damn time. And you and I got to talk a fair amount, or at least way more than I usually get to talk to people. So it's nice to me.

Raquel 7:59
It's fun. Yeah, I've been such a fan of the podcast for so long now. And it's funny because a lot of the Tiguan community here in Austin, which is where I live, I'm from Dallas originally, um, they just kind of laugh because every time we meet a newly diagnosed person, I'm always like, you have to listen to the podcast. And I think they get annoyed me because I just mentioned it way too much. But it's funny, because I was even on a walk yesterday with one of my type one friends here. And I was like, yeah, I'm recording for the Juicebox Podcast, where they're like, what, like, you talked about that all the time, you're gonna be on it. And I was like, Yeah, I actually got to meet Scott. So it's kind of funny. It's a full circle. moment. And I feel like you just you give people the permission to do those things that doctors don't, you know, tell you. And it's weird, because it's so simple. But it's like, if you don't see other people doing it, you don't think there's any other way? So it's just, it's crazy to me?

Scott Benner 8:46
No, I mean, it's, well, it definitely works. And there's often times that I just feel like my job is like, I'm like the excited coach on the sideline to smash on the acid, you're running away and goes, you can do it, get it, you know, like, go get them. It's just sometimes like you said, it's just the idea that I thought these were the rules. And it turns out, there are no rules, really. And I could try things that make sense to me. That's one of the one of the the speed bumps that I see people get stuck on. It's most heartbreaking to me is the idea of the ones who saw it, and knew they were doing the wrong thing. And almost could imagine the right thing, but just did not have the nerve to break free of what they were being told to try it once. And that to me is like I don't know, like, like, imagine, imagine you're in a room with a closed door. And on the other side of the door is the love of your life. And someone tells you you're not allowed to open that door, and you take that seriously. But every day you have this feeling like the person I'm meant to be with forever is on the other side of this door and you find out five years later, it's true. And somebody else walks in and says you could just go out and open the door. It's no big deal and you owe Open it, and there they are. And now you've lost these five years right of, and you knew you knew what to do. And there's a loss in that feeling that I don't like to know that people go through makes me upset.

Raquel 10:13
Um, I see. Yeah. Especially, just Yeah, all the people I meet, but even with their kids, they, they just want to follow what the doctor is saying, which I totally understand. But it's so sad to think that the doctor's advice could be hurting them more than just, you know, listening to the community or other ways or thinking outside of

Scott Benner 10:31
the box. So we're embracing common sense. A lot of times. Yeah, I know, you know, like, I mean, you really, really stopped to think about what I say sometimes on the podcast, like at some points, I'm like, if you Bolus for something, your blood sugar goes up, and never comes back down. Next time, I Bolus more is that like, earth shattering ideas really, like you know, like, and I know, I've usually I used to break it down by saying like, you know, if you if you learn to drive, and someone told you never push the brake down more than halfway, and you were coming towards a tree or a wall, and you press the brake down halfway, and you still were like, Oh, I'm going to hit the tree? Would you actually say to yourself, I guess I could push harder on this break thing, but the guy told me not like, no, yeah, you'd be like, Oh, God, I gotta stop, you'd push harder. And it really, it's all we're talking about is just finding the right amount of insulin, insulin for the scenario that you're in. I Met Your Mother, why did I meet your mother's?

Raquel 11:31
Yeah, so so I was there. Like I said, I'm from Dallas, I was staying with her. And I actually had a booth for my company type one together at the summit. And so she was just really excited to see me doing that there. And it's a fairly new business. And so yeah, she was there just supporting me and meeting some of my friends. And she got to meet you, too, which is pretty cool. Your mom

Scott Benner 11:54
is an unpaid intern is what you're telling me? Oh, yeah, basically, it's perfect. You're probably an unpaid intern most days, right? Oh, yeah. All the days. So you were you were talking to me? At the time? If I'm correct. About, was it a babysitting thing you were trying to set up?

Raquel 12:12
Yeah. So basically. So to go back a little bit, when I was in college at UT Austin, I was part of the college diabetes network chapter and three, that connected a lot of jdrf. And they would always forward us, you know, all the parents that were looking for babysitters, because college age kids are perfect for that. And I started just kind of meeting all these people in the community and then connecting all these families to other friends that I had with type one who could babysit when I wasn't available. So it became this thing that I was just kind of doing on the side and just saw how much of a need it was, you know, these parents literally hadn't hadn't gone on dates in months, or ever since their child was diagnosed. And it was just heartbreaking. And just having someone there that knew how to get the insulin and do all the things met so much like some of them could go and not even look at their phone, not even look at the Dexcom they could just trust that we knew what we were doing and everything would be fine. So it kind of inspired me to start typing together, which originally was a babysitting connection service for type one family. So I was in Dallas and Austin at the time that we met. And but I launched in November of 2019. So it was a little bit before COVID, I was starting to get momentum there. But then when COVID hit obviously, things just got really complicated on the babysitting side. And there's already a lot of liability because you think babysitting, and then diabetes, and then COVID. And so it just got to be really challenging. And I sort of decided, let me just put that to the side, at least for now. And my true passion. And something I've wanted to do for so long is provide resources to parents and a lot of other ways. Because through babysitting, I started to kind of informally coach a lot of these parents on their child's management because they'd be gone for hours. And I'd have their kids at, you know, at 100 for a while. And when I'm not there, they're, you know, on the roller coaster. So I would start to you know, get coffee with them and talk to them about different methods that honestly, you've you've probably taught me most of them.

Scott Benner 14:15
Yeah, charging people for this because I would like a piece of it. I'm just kidding. What I said, are you people for this? Because I'd like a piece. Yeah, I'll see what I can do. So 10% Yes. Um, so you would talk to them and say, Look, I my imagination says they get home and they're like, wait, why is this kid's blood sugar normal when we're not with him? And this girl leaves and everything goes to hell again.

Raquel 14:44
Yeah, basically, and a lot of it really did come down to fear of, you know, well, the doctor says I should do this. And I'm just nervous to go outside of that, but I would just encourage them to like, make little adjustments slowly and eventually they realize like you said, if you can be at a straight line It 200 and you can be in a straight line at 131 20. so on. So, um, then I kind of shifted years and we have a few really fun products. So we make these diabetes, I actually have a cousin who crochets, these really cute stuffed animals. So we collaborated and we now make these diabetes that have insulin pumps and CGM 's on them. So you can customize like a unicorn, that was our first one we have dinosaur, we have a little penguin that we just did for winter time. And they have a shark. So basically, you can choose whatever devices you want, whatever colors you want, and you can customize all that. And then she'll make it individually, which is really fun. And then recently, I launched a program called Living type one together, which, by the time this comes out, who knows what we'll be doing, but right now we have a three month program set up for parents of type one kids, basically, so that I can, it's a group program. So we have calls each week, and then I have an RD on my team. So we had the nutrition side there, she's a professional, she also has type one, and then I sort of you know, I don't I'm not a doctor, not gonna ever claim that I am. But I do think I have a lot to share from my 19 years of experience. So we do that. And then we have individual calls with the families as well as group calls. So they get the community aspect. And then we have some guest speakers like endocrinologist CDs, things like that. So basically, the goal here is just to fill the gap between endocare and like real life, because, you know, they just don't always look at the whole picture. Like how are your emotions affecting everything? How you know, your stress levels, what you're eating? And, yeah, I don't know where exactly we're going. We have a really cool launch coming out soon. It'll probably be out. By the time this comes out, but, but I'll keep that a surprise. So

Scott Benner 16:42
yeah, so you're just trying to just trying to put good stuff out in the world and see what happens.

Raquel 16:47
Basically, I don't really know what I'm doing. But at the same time, I feel like I'm moving in the right direction. And, you know, I've already connected with so many cool families. And so if this doesn't work out, that is what it is. But I'm trying

Scott Benner 17:00
No, that's a, that's really all you can do. I have to say, just this week, I recorded with someone who I had, I asked to come on because they were misdiagnosed for a number of years. And then they found the podcast before their type one diagnosis was completely made. And so they never had. They never had like any time where they were truly, you know, diagnosed as type one where they didn't understand what the podcast was talking about. And so I said, you know, could you come on and explain to me, like, what what you got out of that. And, you know, I asked her to come on, because part of me wants her to explain it so that the people listening can have a firm grasp of what the podcast could possibly do for different people with different situations. But there's the other part of me that just wants her to explain to me what the podcast is. Because I think like you and probably like a lot of people, I started a thing with an idea in my head. And I'm just, I'm lucky it, it caught on. Because a lot of people start a lot of things that just don't resonate, you know, and there's no real rhyme or reason for that. It's not like you can go figure out what did or didn't work. And, but the podcast has become more than I anticipated. And like sometimes every once in a while I need someone to come tell me what it is to them so that I can almost understand what it is on shepherding if that makes sense. It's

Raquel 18:31
Oh, it does. Like even if I just I talked to a newly diagnosed family, like literally they're a week in and they're like, yeah, I left the hospital without learning how to give an injection. I don't know what I'm doing. I need to talk to someone every day like I you know, and it's like, Okay, this is why I'm trying to do this this is it's just that reminder of like, Okay, what I'm doing is meaningful because when you're putting stuff out all the time it kind of feels like okay, is this doing anything like spending so much time on this but um, but yeah, I totally get what you're saying

Scott Benner 19:02
contents are really interesting. Making air quotes with my fingers which is odd because this is audio you can't sue the business to be in because you can put great content out and just nobody finds it or or you can delude yourself into believing nobody finds it and it turns out they found it and they don't like you. You know what he means like already they don't like that. There's a So recall I've done a number of things during the the the COVID crisis and I just tried to teach myself some new stuff along the way I taught myself how to make like handmade pizza dough that you know you cold ferment for days and you know you cook it a certain way and I at this point now make a pizza as good or better than the ones you can buy in my area which is saying something because I actually live in, I live in. I live in a place where the two most popular pizza establishments in New Jersey exist. And my wife the other day, Kelly, the person I've been married to, for almost 25 years said to me, your pizza is better than the ones we buy. And Kelly's not saying nice things to me easily. So she must, like she wouldn't like a lot of you're out there, like, Oh, I told my husband all the time, he does stuff nice and makes him feel better. My wife never does anything just to make me feel better. So it's, you know, we've known each other too long. So she believes this, which is lovely. I taught myself how to smoke barbecue, I, and now I'm teaching myself to fly a drone. So I bought a really inexpensive drone, somebody gave it to me for Christmas. And I'm like learning how to do it. So I go and look for videos, because I have a real spatial issue. Like once I'm not line of sight with something. I struggled to orient it, you know what I mean? Like, like, I'm not great at video games. And so anyway, so I'm trying to watch these. Here's the point, I'm watching these videos. Okay, Jesus recall, I got wordy there. And there's this guy that makes these videos about flying, the specific one that I have. And his content is fantastic. He's not particularly pleasant to look at. And his voice is grading. But the content is rock solid, right? And so I watch his videos, but his counts is like, you know, his views on YouTube? are, they're paltry compared to other people who are putting out similar videos with not nearly as good content in it. And

Raquel 21:39
that's the game though, you have to figure out how do you get in front of the right people? I'm learning that very fast. Like, it's not half of the battle is what are you offering? But that's almost the easy part. It's like, how do you get how do you get people to find you?

Scott Benner 21:51
And, and the truth is, you can't, you're my opinion, I don't think you can get people to find you. I think you and this is just my opinion, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe there might be some like brilliant marketer out there. But I think you make a thing. And that thing resonates or it doesn't. If it does, someone will tell someone else about it. And you can't force them to tell someone else about it. Yes, absolutely. Yeah, get doing a giveaway, you know, like, tweet about me or tell a friend and we're gonna give away, it doesn't work. Like that's the value, do you throw the dice, and they land on your number? Or they don't? And that's how I've come to think of it. And I mean, like I said, there might be some maxwellian way to trick people into doing a thing. But is that really who you want? You know, like, I think that's so true. I think I could hire someone who understood marketing, right? And I could probably, I could probably double the downloads of the podcast if I did that. But then who is it that's listening? It's not people who care. It's not people who are right, you want

Raquel 23:00
the people that want to be there that really value your content? Yeah, no, you're 100%, right,

Scott Benner 23:05
because those people build a core. Because they really want to be there. They really, genuinely want need or enjoy what you're doing. And that creates, I mean, in the, in the short, you know, to say, really quickly, we're like, you have to have a long view of things. My opinion, like you can't, like get rich quick, or make this work real fast. It just flames out too much. Like, I think if you really look around the diabetes community, and say to yourself, who's generating content in 2021, who was generating content in 22,007, I've got to be one of the only ones. So you've definitely done the long game. So that's that's to me is the idea. And that's how now so the podcast aside, that's how you really generate content that helps people write because it's solely focused on them, not on the the growth of the thing you're doing. So that's why that's my advice. It's not great advice for people who'd like to, you know, pay a bill anytime in the next 10 years. But, you know, I did know, I know, it's a slow process. Yeah, I did this for 789 10 1112 I'm counting 13 the most exciting thing to do on a podcast 14. I did this for nine years in writing, and rebuked every offer I ever got for any kind of ad. I would always say No, thank you. At one point, when I was writing, this is you know, so many generations of leadership ago on the pod tried to give me Arden's on the pods for free. And I was like No, thank you. That's like, I I'd rather not like I'd rather just keep our relations Ship separate. And, you know, I'll write for your blog. But I don't want, like, you know, I don't I don't want that. And it was a really kind thing they were, you know, at the time that I don't even know if it was an offer. They were trying to figure out how to do it. I you know, and I was like, No, no, again, I know, other content providers back then that were wearing pumps for free and everything. And I was like, I don't want that. And then I, you know, I was like, Can we give it away to like, less fortunate person? And believe it or not, legally, that was so incredibly impossible to do. I couldn't make that happen. Yeah, so

Raquel 25:34
Well, that's nice. And yeah, I think, you know, I definitely work a lot of other jobs. And I yeah, I have a long vision for this. And like you said, if it brings value people great, and if not, it doesn't, but you know, a lot of is just listening to what people need and responding to that, which I think you've done a really great job of, too.

Scott Benner 25:54
Thank you. And I think too, you have to think of it as like, it's like you started out day trading with $100. Right? Like, if you can make $120 you know, if you can turn your 100 into 120, it's a massive growth increase. If you step back and go, I have $120, that doesn't seem very exciting. But if you can think I increase my my money here by a fifth. That's exciting, then you got to remember the next time you increase it, you might increase it to $140. And, and you have to be willing to go at that pace. Like I'm telling you. My blog used to get 100 150 clicks a month, when I first made it, like 100. Like, imagine what that must have been? What do you think like, maybe 10 people were reading the blog, you know? Yeah. And now, the truth is, now I get millions of clicks on my blog. And I'm like, I don't even worry about it. I don't even think about it. Like when we when I sell ads at the end of the year. Some people are like, Can we get an ad on the blog? And I was like, What do you want that for the podcast? Where do you want your ad? They're like, no, we'd like a clickable ad on the blog, too. And I'm always like, Alright, whatever. And they're just again, I'm like, Yeah, okay. And then one day, I was talking to somebody who does web work, and they're like, you know, you have one of the most popular diabetes blogs in the world. I was like I do. I don't even know. Oh, my God. I'm just like, really, she's like, you could really be selling those. And I was like, that's fine. Like, it should just be a benefit of being

Raquel 27:29
thought about that. Right? Like, I think we both had the same goal in mind. Like we both I definitely I hate even asking for money truthfully, like, I want to do all this for free. I think it's just about helping people. But at the end of the day, I hope that this can be full time so that I can impact more people. So that that takes the money.

Scott Benner 27:47
No, that eventually it certainly does. Like I don't want you to take me the wrong way. If If someone contacted me tomorrow and they're like I am a beneficiary and I would like to you know, buy you Facebook ads or we have a way to grow your podcast where we can find people who really need it. I would want to hear about that. You know like because really until you until you see someone life change like dramatically and drastically for the better in a short amount of time and it stays that way. That's a very it's a lovely feeling. And then you start and then that next thought ends up being there are so many other people who didn't have this benefit. I wonder how I could at least offer it to them and whether they take it or not, I guess is on them but but I'd like to be able to show them that it exists.

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Just the last reminder T one d exchange.org. forward slash juicebox. You're a US resident with type one or a US resident who cares for someone with Type One Diabetes. This will take you less than 10 minutes easily. You can do it from from your your sofa, your kitchen table, on your phone, your laptop, your computer, anywhere you reach the internet, really T one d exchange.org forward slash juicebox get there, complete the survey. And that's it. You've helped people with type one through Type One Diabetes Research and you've supported the Juicebox Podcast. There are links to all the sponsors at Juicebox Podcast comm or right there in the show notes of the podcast player you're listening in now. Please tell me you're subscribed in that podcast player to right, you've hit subscribe. Please do if you haven't. Alright, let's get back to Raquel and let them decide. You know, there there are people who, who will tell me that I've actually received notes. I've heard from people, it'll say that if I listen to this podcast, my Awan CEO blah, blah, blah, and you know everything. I don't have time for that. Can you just tell me what to do? Oh, my gosh, yeah, yeah, I can tell you what to do. You listen to the podcast? You put out? Yeah, that's all I have for you. You only come live with you. The guest. Not sure. Although I joked recently that for the right amount of money, I would come to your house and live with you in fiction, but it would be a lot of money. You know, I'd have to abandon my family for a couple of weeks. But seriously, though, it's just that feeling is great. And I think if you have that in you, like if you have the desire to help people, and you have a message that resonates, and you have the patience to grow it, you will end up helping a lot of people. Yes, I agree. And you're a young person, too. Right? How old are you? Yes, I just turned 2014. I was very young. Yes, I know. You're like five in my life?

Raquel 31:37
No, I know. I'm young. I like I've always had a very, like, entrepreneurial kind of mindset. I guess. So. Were you trying?

Scott Benner 31:49
When you were four, where you're like you can you could use this crop to grow flower. That entrepreneurial? Not quite. Can I? Yeah. I have a question. I want to take a little bit of a detour here. Texas, in general does not seem to what is the word I'm looking for? They don't it doesn't seem to as a state be treating COVID-19 the same as other places are? What's the experience living there right now?

Raquel 32:20
Yeah, I mean, honestly, things are very open. We're back, I think 50% capacity for most businesses. But it kind of feels like normal life. Like at least if you're driving around or something like there's traffic again, because Austin traffic is the absolute worst. And you just have to wear a mask everywhere, I think. Yeah, it's it's definitely a weird time in Dallas. It's about the same. I think, here people are a little bit more like aware of it and conscious of it. So I think the cases in Dallas are actually getting worse. But I don't know, it's I haven't been anywhere else since all this started. And so there was a time period, obviously, when everything was shut down. And we were you know, completely at home. But now things are pretty open. I actually do marketing for cycling studio in town. And so I get free classes there. And I haven't been going lately, but I mean, we're at 50% capacity. So that's 22 bikes in a room, you don't have to wear the mask while you're on the bike. But when you're off you do and you know, the classes are filling up. So it's pretty interesting.

Scott Benner 33:25
So when you're really huffing and puffing, you do not need to cover your face, but when you're just breathing normal. You got it. So I'm understanding okay. totally makes sense. Because it seems to me that it's like that's the word on Texas. It's it's pretty wide open. But that cases are pretty high there. Right?

Unknown Speaker 33:44
They are. Yeah, yeah.

Scott Benner 33:45
So it's you. That state has embraced the, we're just gonna see what happens model, I guess.

Raquel 33:53
Yeah, I think they've said they're not like we're not going to shut down everything again. So.

Scott Benner 33:58
So what does that feel like? What does that feel like to you internally? Like are you do you walk outside and think all these I'll just bleep this out later. But all these motherfuckers are dirty and I'm gonna die or like, or do you just feel like do you feel like oh, this is working out? Okay. And like how do you feel about COVID being young and having tight bonds so

Raquel 34:19
I want to be really conscious for other people's sake Truthfully, I think for myself, in my honest opinion, I take really great care of my blood sugar's Of course, that does not guarantee anything, but I feel like I have a strong body to be able to find it if I were to get it, but I want to be careful. So you know, I feel like I'm in that middle stage where I'm like, Okay, I'm going to go to the grocery store when I need to go like I'm not ordering stuff online. But I'm not going out just to go out and I've never been someone that like really loves like going to bars a lot or things like that. And so most I think bars are closed still. Even here, but But yeah, I don't know. I feel relatively safe, but like I was just home with my family for a long time. And so before that, you know, being extra cautious, but really I'm I'm just being cautious in general, if that makes sense. But like we have a dog park in my apartment, I take my dog out there and like, I stay far away from people. We're all outside and I feel fine. Your dog,

Scott Benner 35:15
your apartment has a dog park.

Raquel 35:17
Yeah, it has a dog park in the middle, we have two buildings. And it's very like people move here for this dog park. Because so many people go out there. It's like all fenced in. And I resigned again for next year. And I honestly did that mostly because of the dog park because my dog needs to run around. Like he has so much energy. And it's I love working out but not necessarily going on like multiple hour long walks every day. So

Scott Benner 35:44
that's fancy as well. I was thinking, I was like, I didn't get any apartment I lived in when I was your age. Yeah, it's the pool. We couldn't always women. You know what I mean? Like it was? Yeah, it was weird. Okay, well, I didn't mean to it's, I apologize if I felt like if I could put you on the spot. And and no one wants to say the wrong about COVID. Because someone will call you a COVID denier? And you'll you know, they'll try to cancel you. But no, I think that's a very reasonable response. And I just wondered what it was like, in a place where they were just like, that's it, we're all opening back up again, go. Like, I wonder what that felt like, versus it's funny, I have the same feeling like, I don't believe there's anything I can't do at this point. But we're just kind of meaningfully meaning on purpose, staying away from other people. Like just sort of like living your life, but then going home. And it's done the weirdest thing to my perception of time. And my understanding of what like, like my body and my brain would get accustomed to like, I now see how I could, like, just call this reality. And I'd be okay with it. And it's normal. It's interesting how adaptive we are.

Raquel 37:00
You know, yeah, and then should to see when we get to go back when we'll get to conferences again, because that's the biggest thing I miss is just seeing my friends, like, I'll go on walks with people, but that's about it. So

Scott Benner 37:09
yeah. Well, no, I mean, there's a lot of people around the diabetes space, who really focus their efforts around those conferences and going to places to talk to people and you guys kind of, you know, I've seen people create a little cabal of friendship, and, and I don't, I never use the conferences. I don't mean use, like, I never treated them that way. Like, those were just always extra things. I went and did. That, to me the podcast is the thing. But but it's uh, it's nice. Like I saw, there's like, Oh, you guys have like a whole group of people who knew each other. And, yeah, it was nice.

Raquel 37:48
It really was. It is a really cool community. Because Dallas just tends to be one of the bigger conferences and so a lot of people will be flown in like you were or, you know, however it works, they'll come to speak. And so it just kind of works out a lot of people get to meet from the online space in person there. And I've been to the Dallas on a few times. I feel like I got to meet a lot of like, awesome people in the community.

Scott Benner 38:08
Yeah, I feel very invisible at them. I don't imagine anyone like, I don't know if that's true or not. But when I get there, I just feel like I'm wallpaper and then I just show up and stand up in the front of the room and I leave. But

Raquel 38:22
I feel like people know, but they know your boys like I don't know if people maybe I don't know, because they know what you look like. But I feel like the older like people my age don't listen to the podcast as much, which is interesting. Like, you definitely have more of a parent audience, I would assume. So it's not but I'm the crazy person that's always like Juicebox Podcast.

Scott Benner 38:41
Thank you. It's not it's actually it's not about the people who listen are not broken down by parent or adult with type one. But I would agree with you that younger people, generally speaking are probably the least of the audience. I think the audience sweet spots between like 28 and like 55 in there. Yeah, it's it's so it's not it's funny. It's not. There are as many if not maybe more, like people living with type one listening as there are parents. But the parents are more vocal online, then Oh, yeah. That's right. And, and younger people in general. I think that's the time where you're not paying attention to your health the way you should be. Maybe. I don't know.

Raquel 39:36
Yeah, I think people just think they're invincible and you know, yeah, I mean, I didn't like I didn't get a duck's calm till I was a sophomore in college and so many people wanted me to but I was just like, no, like, I don't you know, you just don't know what you're missing honestly. And it kind of makes it feel like you don't like you don't know what's going on. Right? So it's like not happening. I'm in my my body. definitely gotten used to just being hired before that time. And so I think if people aren't in the community, they're less likely to have Dexcom. I definitely noticed that unless and you know, I think those are starting to or CGM in general, I think endos are starting to push them more. But before it was kind of like if you didn't have if you weren't, if you weren't in the community, if you didn't know that people would type one, like, you're just kind of like, Oh, I use shots, I do whatever. And it's not, you don't really think twice about it. And so I think that was definitely me for a really long time. And then once I started to get more involved, I was like, oh, like these people are actually paying attention to what their blood sugar's are doing. Like maybe I should do that.

Scott Benner 40:36
Well, I can tell you interesting. I'm not a doctor for certain but I can tell you one thing 100% sure about your your health. pretending it's not happening is not a valid a viable way to magic. I don't look it's not there definitely doesn't work. It also doesn't work with serial killers in your closet, by the way, they're going to come in.

Raquel 40:59
exactly when it's scary that your body will adapt whatever is going on with your blood sugar's you'll start to just feel normal, and then you think you're fine. Because you're like, Oh, I feel fine. So I'm fine. But

Scott Benner 41:09
you're not, it's really, it's really your body trying to stay alive as long as it can. That's what it's doing. It's like, Alright, I'll give up on that. And I'll, I'll move the, you know, I'll move some soldiers over here. And you know, but eventually, it is the thing that gets you Whatever it is, you're ignoring your body will do an amazing job of keeping you going through it, but eventually, you can ignore it forever. And you know, it will, it will follow you at some point. I also think that people your age, and I only mean this in the nicest way. When it what I want to say the idea of the diabetes online community, right? Is, is lovely, and valuable. And also in some ways. It's, it's no, it's not real. Because, because if, if I said to you, in any other walk of life, let's just pick a number. Here are 1.8 million people who enjoy cheese, okay? And, and 40,000 of them have an online presence where they talk about their love of cheese, this is the one line cheese community, they really represent. percentage wise, none. Almost none of the 1.8 million cheese lovers. Like there are 1.7 5 million other cheese lovers who do not go on Instagram, don't go on Facebook, and are still loving cheese in a way that you would you would just respect. And that so that's the interesting thing to me is that is that online feels like the place, but it really is just a small segment of people. Yes, that of the of the bigger number. And I probably used to think like that more to until the podcast, because now I can see the podcast downloads. And I can see the interaction online. And the amount of people listening versus the amount of people who say something on Facebook or Instagram. There's a huge, huge difference between those. Yeah, right.

Raquel 43:28
Yeah. And so I mean, I didn't think it was cool to be like, like, for a long time. I was like, Why are there people posting out diabetes? Like, why are people going diabetes events, my mom used to try to drag me to the summit when I was younger, and I refused. So I was like you like want to talk about but I mean, I've seen it make a difference once I started actually meeting people in person. Like that's really the only reason I do it. Like I kind of hate social media, but at the same time, I've actually met really cool people, you know, gotten to do really cool things with them and learned a lot from it more importantly, so that's where it's meaningful to me But yeah, you kind of have to get past that weirdness and honestly, like I have a normal Instagram account and then I type one account and whenever my normal friends normal, you know what I mean? Whenever they find my diabetes account, I'm just like, Oh gosh, why are they gonna follow this? Like they're gonna think it's so boring and whatever but it's cool because a lot of them find it so interesting and it's just such a weird disease to have it's so intricate and people don't realize that so can we

Scott Benner 44:25
start going those other people normally pancreas is that yes, there we go. are normally pancreas to people. But not but don't get me wrong. I please don't. I think it's amazing. I think it's fantastic. And there's a part of me that wishes you could spread it to those other 1.7 million people. But the truth is, those people aren't interested in that, like social media in general is fascinating in that. In that we see like Twitter, running politics, sometimes it feels like right, but the percentage of people on Twitter versus the percentage of people alive is very, very small in, but they have, they appear to have a voice. But the truth is they don't. It's just it's just Anyway, I'm mixing my metaphors here a little bit. But I, my goal has always been to reach people who aren't online. And somehow the podcast has done that, let and so that to me is, is, um, is a real accomplishment. Because those were people who were never going to hear these stories. And so they were just gonna slog along doing what they were doing. You can have an amazing Instagram presence. But you're really, I mean, even think about like, if you got an Instagram picture, and you put it up, what's a lot of like, what's that amount of likes? That makes you go? Oh, holy hell Look at this.

Raquel 45:55
Yeah, I mean, it just really depends on you. on you, right? Count number. Yeah. And on you. But no, I, I totally see what you're saying. That's actually what I was talking about earlier, when you're talking about typing together. I was like, you have to get in front of the right people. It's like Instagram, isn't that you know what I mean? Like, I really realized that over the last few months, like, why am I focusing so much energy on social media, when it's like, you know, these people are getting diagnosed in the hospital, they're not finding these accounts right away. They need, you know, this needs to be in the doctor's office, this needs to be, I don't know, I'm working on that. But like, that's where the real difference when you're actually going to be making a difference in people's lives. Because the truth is, all the people that are connected there, they are connected, they already see all the things, even they don't know everything. It's like they see other people managing different ways. And you know, once you're in it, you're already in it. And so you're only helping those people so much, just like you're saying, so how do you find those people that are outside of that bubble?

Scott Benner 46:45
May I make a suggestion? Because I've been on your website, and those crochet dolls are really adorable. Okay, so thank you, please, I make 1234 510 as many as I can afford to give away. And I, I make a phone call. I talked to the endocrinology department at some major hospitals around the country. And I say I have this doll. And I'd like to donate it for you to give to a newly diagnosed person. And yes, I actually am on that. Yeah, that's 100%. What I would do, I don't have to put as much effort into it. Because what I get to do is I get to tell people Hey, like, tell your doctor about it. And then the doctor listens and the doctors like, Huh, and then the doctor starts telling us about it. I get my smile. That's amazing. Yeah, my word of mouth is easier. But your thing would could do that. You know, you could find yourself going. Oh, yeah,

Raquel 47:39
I'm working on that. I'm in touch with an endo. So I feel good. I'm on a good path. And hopefully, yeah, it'll just keep going. I have a lot of exciting things. So

Scott Benner 47:49
I like how good you know, I like your energy and your intent a lot. So no, please you don't thank me. I'm just thank me. I just did do like I like it. I think I think you're on the right path. I want to see you succeed with it. And, and reach some people because I think you're gonna make a big difference. So I appreciate it. No, I'm listening. I'm gonna get old at some point, you guys, I got a I mean, how much longer you gonna let me do this, like when I'm 60. And I'm like, today, I helped Arden give birth to her first child, and we kept our blood sugar stable, like, like, at some point, you're gonna be like, I can't How long has this guy been making this podcast? I gotta get. So tell me something about that, too. Because you said at the beginning. I listened to a couple of episodes because I haven't listened to as much lately. What's that? Like? Because I imagine when you first found it, you were listening a lot,

Raquel 48:38
right? Oh, yeah. Every single episode. Um, yeah, I still like listening. But yeah, I think now I definitely listen more for just hearing people's perspectives on things and different stories versus like, all the info and tips that you're giving to people directly. So I yeah, I think it's like you get to a point where like, okay, I kind of have this figured out, I'm in a flow that. And you learn things here and there. But, but you kind of have it figured out. So I guess I'm in that place.

Scott Benner 49:10
Now. That's, that's where I want you to be. That's where I want. I still want you to stay. Subscribe in your podcast app and download the app. But but that's what that's my hope for everybody. It's funny. You have to be in a mindset where you realize that this resets constantly. And yeah, and it does, like I will. I am right now in contact with people online, who are fervent about the podcast, I love them. And they don't realize that six months from now, I will be in contact with somebody online who's fervent about the podcast that is not them. And that it just there it's like snakeskin, it just keeps shedding. People come in, they get what they need. And then they become you know, infrequent listeners, or they hit certain episodes, but they get what they need out of it and they move on to me That's the goal. And the problem, I think, in social media, specifically, is that your goal can't be too. So, so stop for a second, instead of thinking of the podcast, as I'm hoping to find a person who needs help give them enough information that they can go live normally. Think of it as, like a business, like take the diabetes out for a second. What business finds a customer? gives them something they want? has them really enjoy it. And their end goal is for them to stop buying it. No business has that angle, right. So these, the delivery system that people are using, is not right, for the, for the for the process, the process wants you to be able to find educate, pass on back to life. But if your social media followers leave you, then your social media becomes less powerful. And then you cycle out and someone else comes back. And it's a it's a weird hump to get over in your head that you have to want these people to age out. where some people Yeah, but

Raquel 51:18
there's always new ones coming into right.

Scott Benner 51:20
Well, that's the that's the sad part. Yes, but But yeah, there's always new people getting type one diabetes. But what I see sometimes not from you, obviously. But what I see sometimes is that people instead of selling like if, again, thinking about it as merchandise instead of selling good information that gets you out of it, they sell fear that keeps you there. Yeah. Yeah, that happens too frequently. And it takes a special person like you to not want to, like not to not be so inner focus that you're like, why I've captured this listener now, or this reader or this person, I need to keep them here. I need to keep them here. And I don't want that I want the opposite. I want you to come and like just go away. Like I want everyone to have the experience I had the other night where Arden had like a massively weird blood sugar thing. And I could have managed it while riding a unicycle and juggling like it just it's just, you know, I mean, it happens for you, I imagine just, you know, you just know what to do. So, right. Did your mom like me?

Raquel 52:29
Yes, she's excited actually called her this morning. I didn't know if we were gonna talk about my diagnosis story, but I was like, can you please tell me like, what it was because I know it. But I also like, forget all the little details that She's so excited. I was just gonna record Finally, I was five. team and I kind of had a weird, a weird story because I actually got diagnosed in a really positive way. I just went to my normal five year old checkup. And they happen to like check something I don't know if it was like a urine sample are they actually pricked my finger, but I went home like everything. You know, they said it was normal, but they called her and they're like, oh, you're your child might have juvenile diabetes, which is what they used to call it. And they were like, bring her back tomorrow, but have her eat a really sugary breakfast before she comes. And so she was like, Okay, no problem, like gummy doughnuts or whatever. And went back tested again. And they're like, Alright, come back tomorrow fasted. So then I came back a third day without eating anything. And they were like, yeah, your child has type one. But there's no space in the hospital right now. So I went home for like a full two days without going to the hospital. I guess she doesn't remember my blood sugar was, but it wasn't super high yet. So I guess they weren't too concerned. And then I finally went to the hospital and was there for a few days. And it was right. Yeah, it was around my fifth birthday. So I had my birthday party scheduled. And my mom had been telling me all week long like, like, oh, you're going to get to go to the go to your birthday party. Like it's going to be so great. Like that was the one positive thing that was like coming up. And then apparently there's like a student doctor there that was working with us. And she told my mom like, sorry, she can't go to her birthday party. And so my mom was like begging my actual endo. She ended up being my endo for years and years. And she's like, Oh, yeah, you're fine. Like you guys are ready to go home. And so we left the hospital drove straight to my birthday party where I was late. Like all my friends are there whenever we were late to my fifth birthday party. And I remember still, I mean, I don't remember much but I remember having to get a shot at my birthday party was just so sad. But I had to like go into a separate room and you know, get my shot for my cake. So yeah, but it was actually it was good because now hearing all the stories of people just not knowing forever and ever. It's like why can't doctors just check blood sugar? It's not that hard. So

Scott Benner 54:48
what's interesting that they it's cool that they figured out there was nothing that led them to look it was just part of the process.

Raquel 54:54
Yeah, nothing she said she she kept trying to figure out like what, you know if there were signs that she Missed and there was nothing. I mean, I did have a virus the week before sometime around there that they think might have triggered it. Who knows. So I had been sick. But other than that I wasn't like carrying water.

Scott Benner 55:12
I don't want a lot of weight. So because lost weight was the one that popped into my head. Like maybe if you Excuse me, I'm dying here. Give me a second. Wow. That was the one that got me. Like, I wonder if maybe you were like, you know, 50 pounds the last time and we're like, 42. And they were like, Oh, you know, but they that's the only thing I can think of. That's just a good office that's checking for things. I guess. Oh, excellent. Yeah, lucky. Lucky. Yes. It feels lucky, doesn't it? Yeah. Lucky, so lucky. I just, um, I like the idea of you like breaking out of the hospital and like going right to a birthday party. It's baller, you know,

Raquel 55:51
yeah, it's pretty great. I'm surprised I didn't just cancel it when all that was going on. But she just, she was telling you this morning. She just wanted me to have that so badly. She was like, I told the doctor, even if we just go to the party and come back, like she has to have this because I'd had the worst week. And the other thing I do remember is asking my mom in the hospital if I was gonna have to get shots for the rest of my life, which I think that was like her worst moment of her life having to tell me Yes. And I was really scared of shots like before, that would be like running away from the nurse. You know, if I was just getting a flu shot or something, like always terrified of needles, and honestly, it didn't get better. For a while. Like I remember every sight change was painful. I feel so bad looking back and like seeing other parents go through the same thing with their kids. I did not make it easy for my parents at all.

Scott Benner 56:37
But a little Listen, try to imagine a three year old Arden with my personality, and a three year olds body is running from shots. Because what happened here all the time, I'd be like, hey, Arden, we just have to give me insulin, she'd look at me and smile and take off. Oh, yeah. Like get back here. And you're so nervous about the whole thing. You're like, this isn't gonna be enough insulin or it's gonna be too much. And, you know, the next hour is gonna be terrible. And our blood sugar's gonna get really low, and I'm gonna be testing all the time. I don't want to test her all the time. And meanwhile, she's being adorable. You know, and you're just like,

Raquel 57:07
I think it's worse for parents. Sometimes. I really do. I mean, it definitely sucks being type one, but like, wow, yeah, the parents are the real. We call them super parents in my, in Taiwan together, we always say they see your parents because they, you just worked so hard. Listen,

Scott Benner 57:23
I'm gonna say this again. Cuz I don't think people are listening. Here's the worst mistakes you can make in life. Buy a dog. That's horrible. have kids get married? Now? Here's why. The dog is just obvious. One day, you're gonna want to do something and you can't because you know, the dog can't come or you can't leave the dog somewhere for so long. It literally changes the course of your life. I love my dogs, not enough to make up for the kennel costs and the amount of times I've picked dog crap off of the floor. And you know, because like, yeah, like you like, you know what I'm going to sleep in tomorrow. Like, Let me treat myself and sleep till nine o'clock and at 830 the dogs just like, Hey, he's usually down here by now. Hmm, I'm just gonna leave this here. Okay, so that that's the first thing. No dogs right. Now, can you get great joy out of dogs? Of course you can. But that's not what we're talking about right now. Children. Okay, you are going to love that kid in a way that is in comparable to anything that you've experienced yet recall. Okay? And their pain. And their struggle will hit you a million times over, it will burden you in your heart. And in your mind, it will kill you to see them in pain. And once you love them, you can't get out of it. Because it's illegal to kill people. Do you understand? Plus, you love them so much you couldn't do it anyway would make you too upset. So the problem is now you've made the baby, it's out. The fun part with the sex is long forgotten. And now this kid is perfect. And even when they're perfect. You worry about them? What's their future going to be like? What are they going to do? Who are they going to meet is someone going to come along and you know, dissuade them from being themselves. But then you make them sick, you give them diabetes or something like that. And it's something you can't just make go away or fix. So worst feeling in the world. It is absolutely the worst feeling in the world. And then obviously my third thing being married is self explanatory. But I just say this because one day I imagined Kelly will listen to the podcast. But, but No, but seriously, like you when you create an attachment to a living thing. You're always letting it down after that, and to not joke too much about dogs. I've never wanted a dog because I feel very responsible for the dog. And then if I don't give the dog the best care that I can. It makes me feel badly. And therefore I know this seems backwards, but I'd never wanted As a dog because I didn't want the opportunity to let the dog down and for me to feel the way that makes me feel. And then that's how I feel about children except about a bazillion times more than that. So why do you say, Wait till some boy tricks you into making a baby? You'll think you're tricking him, but he'll be like, Oh, she can't go anywhere if she has a baby with me. But that's really not how it works either. But that's how stupid boys think that's a different problem. Okay, so are there any dumb boys in your life? Yeah, I've actually been with my boyfriend for seven years. Away from being married, and three years away from having a baby. We'll see. No, I know how this stuff goes. You think your life is random, but step back and look at everyone else's life. It's the way it goes. You're sweet. You're very kind. And you're hard working. Right? Pretty girl. What does this do for a living? What do we got him doing? Is he in college? Still? is he working?

Raquel 1:01:00
Um, he so he was working for a tech startup in Austin. But he did get laid off and is getting his real estate license. So that'll be interesting. Well,

Scott Benner 1:01:11
that's good. I'm glad he's having a problem working because that'll keep him from what no, lock you down. You don't I mean? Like, don't let him and by the way, don't let him give you some ring. If he doesn't have a good job. You understand? The place to live, you understand? It's clean. It's nice. We have upper mobility and a little bit of savings. Otherwise, no thank you, you and whatever his cute faces and why ever you like him? I don't know why. Exactly. And, you know, why do you like him?

Raquel 1:01:42
He's we just have so much fun together. We were best friends for a year before we started dating in high school. So I don't know just like having that friendship first. He's really hard working. He's also just more on the I guess mature side. Like we both are kind of like are we we're not like typical 20 year olds, I guess obviously, I've started a business young as people would say, but you know, we don't like love just going out and drinking. And I don't know, we like being more thoughtful with our time and doing more. I don't know how to put it in a way that people think is crazy. Right? We just we like a lot of the same things. We like going outside a lot, which Austin is grateful for. And yeah, we just have a lot of fun. And it's just nice that we've known each other for so long. So

Scott Benner 1:02:28
you both kind of have an old soul vibe. Because you do yes. There we go. Yeah, Yes, we do. Like I could talk to you and easily believe you're 50. And so, but not now, like you're you know, but there are times when I the things you do and the things that you listen, I appreciate that. I'm not a crazy person either. I don't. I don't have a problem with people who want to run around and party and do all this stuff. I just none of that occurs to me just like a Yeah, seems like a lot of effort. Like my excitement this week is that Kelly's birthday is on Sunday. And I've already made pizza dough to make her a pizza for her birthday. And to me that seems like you would appreciate that,

Unknown Speaker 1:03:07
right? Yes, absolutely. Meanwhile,

Scott Benner 1:03:10
you party girls out there and I know who you are. I talked to some of you moms. I know what you do. I know what you're doing. I see your high cheekbones. You would be like, Ah, so boring. But that's what I got. Yeah, that's what, what, uh, what seems right to me, Well, listen, obviously, you should do whatever you want, and I'm not in charge. But what I will tell you is that once you launch that boat in that direction, it keeps moving in that direction. So be sure you want to be on the SS. We're hitched and going to make a baby have a house before you get on to it you can't get on and get back off again. The worst you can do is like throw one of those orange rings around yourself and throw yourself into the water but that's not a way to live. So thank you yeah, you know I thank you you're like shut up idiot on the mic. You Really? Do you need advice on anything? It's fun. Anything else I could be nice I think I think you've given me lots of advice. Here my thoughts about sneakers and properly supporting your your arch. You want to hear about that? I'll save that for next podcast. tell you right now 20 years now when your feet hurt and you'll be like that guy probably had something to say about that and I wasn't listening Don't let your foot Don't let your feet be flat recount the understand ruin your life got

Unknown Speaker 1:04:24
it ruin your life.

Scott Benner 1:04:27
Is there a there's got to be something we didn't talk about that you were hoping to talk about?

Raquel 1:04:33
Um, no, I really I will say I was a dancer. I was a dance major in college and I went to performing arts high school free dance which definitely like also informed a lot of my just type one it was so hard dancing not much with type one and I still I still am a dancer but with COVID it's it's kind of slow down but just want to put that out there in case anyone who's this and has like a child who is a dancer because I'm always happy to to talk about that life.

Scott Benner 1:04:57
Let me ask you a question. So back then You're dancing, right? And it's before, you know, I'm assuming before your your ideas of how to manage your insulin were were rock solid. Yes. What do you do to drive your blood sugar up so that while you dance that came down and didn't go too low?

Raquel 1:05:14
Yeah, honestly, I think about that a lot. And like, how did I actually do that? I think I remember going to the side of the room and like pricking my finger all the time. This is before I had a CGM. And I'm sitting out quite often, because I had to drink juice or whatever. And luckily, I had really supportive teachers, but it definitely made it. It was just frustrating, because it's like, you know, especially like in front of a choreographer or something like that, if you're auditioning, and just not knowing if they if they're gonna see that am I going to have to run to the side. And that's going to be considered rude, you know, because you don't always get a chance to tell every single person that you're type one. Depending on the situation, even though I would be very upfront about it. And that was a big reason why I didn't want to go to CGM, because it would be more visible on my body. And you don't really want that to be seen in audition, because as much as you want to think that they're not considering that as a factor, like it's definitely it's there, you know what I mean? And like, like, no matter how good I am, like, there's still that question of will they take someone who's equally as talented, but doesn't have to sit out and miss some of the choreography or rehearsal time. So, um, you know, I don't really know, I always had a lot of juice and snacks with me. And somehow I made it work. But I really think I was just on the roller coaster all the time, because yeah, I would start to go up. And then I would come down and have to drink juice, and it's just that cycle. And then when I got to Dexcom, and I got the Apple Watch, that was really nice, because I could leave my stuff on the side of the room and still note my blood sugar was doing and so I started to like micro dosing things. While I would, you know, I'd have my pump off a lot of the time, pretty much all the time, unless I was doing like ballet, something that wasn't like super, like, you're not rolling around the floor, and like, running all over the place. But it would just be too hard to have my pump on and I have cracked my tea slim, before while dancing. So um, but I would start to like, you know, watch the arrows and my ducks calm during class. And then if I was starting to go up a little bit, I just rented side plug in my pump, give myself like point four or whatever it was I thought I needed and then run back. So I don't know, it was it was interesting. I was on the Medtronic 670 for a second did not go well. That's a whole nother story. But like, part of the problem was I wouldn't have my pump on all the time. And so it was like, I had to know in my brain, what am I doing right now? Am I going to be rehearsing for the next four hours? What am I eating today? Like taking all those factors into consideration? And then making the decision I need to give myself point seven not like, you know what my pump wants me to give me so yeah, it was it kind of forced me to, like, learn all that stuff in my brain and figure it out. But I definitely don't have it figured out like I still, you just you never know what's gonna happen. You know, you don't know. Yeah,

Scott Benner 1:07:51
I see people all the time. Like, you know, I my son eats apples with peanut butter before we play soccer. And I'm always like, I mean, I guess that that works. That's cool. But I always thought about it as like, how do I manipulate the sensation so that this doesn't happen? Like that was because I went through a number of really frightening lows with art. And when she was much younger, and I didn't know what I was doing, and we didn't have any technology. And one of them was outside of a dance class. And, you know, it was one of the times I was like, she's gonna die. Like, I am not going to catch this fast enough. And, you know, when it was over, I was like, and I knew she was okay. I was completely shaken. Like, I just, I it was, I felt like somebody was shooting at me. And like, it was my job to like, reach up and, like, slap the bullets down to they want to hit Arden. And it just felt like it went on forever. And it was one of the moments that made me think like, there's gotta be a better way to do this, like, this can't really be it, can it you know, like, we're gonna just gonna do this forever. And that's when I started thinking more about the insulin like, you know, there's got to be better ways to use this insulin than what we're doing right now. Don't get me wrong, you know, but I still like, you know, Arden's played softball and played four or five games in a day and stopped for lunch in the middle and you know, she go into a deli and grab a sandwich and soup and chips. And I just bought this for it and sent it back out there. And once you realize that, if you bounce the insulin with the food, it works out. It's just such a it's such a big lever freeing. Yeah. Because that other stuff is so goddamn scary. Like, it's just, oh, I can remember vividly how all that feels. And you know, people, I don't want people to feel that way. So anyway, Raquel, you are delightful. You were delightful when I met you. I really want to thank you for the ride to the airport and for not murdering me. That was lovely. Was there any thoughts of murdering me? In the Yeah, no, that'd be the time to say or did you ever consider kidnapping me or break I will tell you if I was to Wait now like you could just say, may I ask a question before I let you go? I'm sorry. How was it weird when I was like, Hey, can you take me there?

Unknown Speaker 1:10:10
Whoa, it wasn't weird. I

Raquel 1:10:12
mean, I don't think so. Because I, I mean, no, I feel this is weird. I'm sure a lot of people tell you this, but it's like, I feel like I know you a lot better than Of course, you know, me because I hear your voice all the time. Like, even when I've been on this podcast, it's not like, I'm hearing your voice. And I kinda had to remind myself like, I'm talking to him. I'm not just like, washing the dishes and listening to you talk. You know? So I feel like it wasn't that weird. I mean, we had talked all day. And I mean, you've done so much through my life, and I know so many others. And so, you know, I didn't mind at all.

Scott Benner 1:10:44
That was very nice. Yeah. I just wondered from your perspective, like, what's that? Like? Like, if you're in a different generation, like, even then, you know, asking you came because there was a group of people who all went to do something afterwards. And I was invited to come and then they were going to go to the airport afterwards. It's just like, and it seems like a lovely I don't remember what it was anymore. But it seemed lovely. And I was up for doing it. And then I just was like, No, just go the airport.

Raquel 1:11:13
tiring, like, I was so exhausted by the end of that day. I think they were all going to do something but my mom and I were just like, Alright, we're tired.

Scott Benner 1:11:22
Oh, my God, I know what it is. Are they gonna go throw axes? Oh, my, yeah. Am I right about that? Okay, so like, you know, in the middle of the day, when somebody's like, hey, when this is over, we're gonna throw axes and then go to the airport. I'm like, All right. Okay, you should come and I'm like, alright. And then by the end of the day, I'm like, No, I'm not doing that. Like, I just like, I want to throw my ass at a seat in the airport waiting for my plane. I don't want to throw it. I just want to go home. And cuz that was like, that's a long, it was a long flight for me. And oh, yeah, it was the first it was the last time I was ever on one of those big Airbus's. You know, the ones that are like, eight rows in the middle and three on either side. And it feels like you're in a mall that can fly. Have you ever been in one of those?

Raquel 1:12:10
I think so. Yeah. Giant one. Yeah, it's just mass and you lost your iPad, right?

Scott Benner 1:12:15
That's not true. Yeah, I mess up once a trip on something. That was the one when I got there. The the hotel was like, we don't have a credit card on file for you. I was like, well, you better contact the jdrf and get it. And they were, they were like, now you can just give us yours and get the money back from them. And I went, huh? Yeah, I'm not doing that. I'll go home first, just in case you're one. And not because of money. By the way Republic because I don't want to spend the next three months trying to get $150 back from somebody just it's Oh my god, it is my mind even thinking about doing paperwork like that. All right. You were terrific. what's your website?

Raquel 1:12:59
type one together calm and the one is O ne and spelled out?

Scott Benner 1:13:03
Could you be an all proper type one together? Calm? So it's

Raquel 1:13:09
the same on Instagram and Facebook? Just type one

Scott Benner 1:13:11
together? Not didn't work? Right. Like it's a it's not a not for profit? It's

Raquel 1:13:15
correct. I yeah. At least for now. Especially with the babysitting thing. It's just like, what made sense at the time. So as we're evolving, we'll see what happens. But I there's a lot of ways that we are, you know, giving back in other ways to the diabetes community without being a nonprofit, so

Scott Benner 1:13:31
I'm not judging you. Listen, I would never make this but I it's been before like, you know, you could be a nonprofit. Again, it just seems like a lot of work. It's a lot of board of directors and like, you know, like, yeah, I'm gonna build this podcast up and then let someone else be in charge of it. I was like, a weird world or you live in. I actually know someone who started an amazing diabetes charity 10 years ago, that helped a lot of people. And that person ended up getting ousted from it because the board of directors decided they didn't like his direction. Like, yeah, no, somebody's taking your 18 year old kid and going and it's ours now. No, wait, what? So yeah, I'm not into the all that I don't like. I don't play well with others. I don't like listening to other people. So it's working for you. So I just I would if you put me in a room and you were like, now bill gets to talk. I'd be like, who is Bill? Like I don't like bills? The i don't i don't want his opinion. I don't care about his opinion. Like his opinion. Got him on my board of directors. I'm My opinion is the one that made the thing. Like Like, why would you don't I mean, like, that's just a weird world to be involved in. I don't I don't like the idea of it. So yeah, you get it. That's it. Listen to me. I'm like, I don't like charities. You know what else I don't like big plays. Really, this podcast is just me complaining about things. So I I realize now, I Well, I really appreciate you doing this. I hope everything goes well and that you're not overrun by zombies in Texas. And that especially as you Although Texas zombies will have guns. Yeah. Can you shoot a gun? I cannot. I have not done that yet. You've never done. I haven't worn in Dallas. We're in Dallas yet raised in Dallas city. Yeah. ever held one? I think so. Hey, I haven't even hold one. I don't know why I brought that. I just I assume everyone like in my mind. Texas is just like, everyone has three guns. They're taped to their foreheads. Have you been Austin? No, I almost was there once and then it didn't work out. Yeah. One day. Yeah. I'll tell you what. I will push stop and tell you why it is. I never went there. No one else. Good. Thank you. All right. Sounds good. All right, so everybody else you don't get to know what Rukh Khan is goodbye. A huge thank you to one of today's sponsors. Je Vogue glucagon, find out more about chivo hypo pen at G Vogue glucagon.com forward slash juicebox. you spell that GVOKEGL Uc, ag o n.com. forward slash juicebox. Don't forget to head over to T one d exchange.org. forward slash juicebox. And of course the diabetes pro tip series is that diabetes pro tip calm Juicebox Podcast calm and begins in your podcast player at Episode 210. Check them out.