#613 Beautiful Chaos

January 17, 2022Scott Benner

Bella Krueger comes from a family with eight kids, six of them have type 1 diabetes.

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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 613 of the Juicebox Podcast.

Hey everybody, welcome back. Today on the podcast, I'll be speaking with Bella. Now Bella has type one diabetes. She has eight brothers and sisters and including her. Six of them have type one. I know what you're thinking. I was thinking that too. Please remember while you're listening to Bella's story, 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. We're becoming bold with insulin. Are you from the United States have type one diabetes or care for someone who does? Would you like to help people living with type one? Would you like to do that in a way that takes fewer than 10 minutes? That is accomplishable from your phone, your iPad, and your sofa? If that sounds like something you're interested in, please go to T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juicebox and join the registry. Fill out the quick survey. It's completely HIPAA compliant and anonymous. Just like that. You've helped the podcast and people living with type one. I recorded that in one shot right up to the music I was pretty impressed with myself. That's why I told you. This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by Omni pod makers of the Omni pod dash and the Omni pod promise, which I'll tell you about just a little later. To get started with the Omni pod. Where To learn more, just go to Omni pod.com forward slash juicebox. We'd like to say hello to Dexcom you can@dexcom.com forward slash juice box. Go find out about the Dexcom G six continuous glucose monitor. You will not be sorry. It is better beds. Fantastic. The lift ticket. Okay. OSHA's I made a board there.

Bella Krueger 2:13
Hello, my name is Bella. I'm a type one diabetic. I'm 20 years old. I've been a type one diabetic for five years now. And I'm fortunate enough to come from a family of eight big kiddos and six of us have type one. So we've had the opportunity of sharing our journey with diabetes. And it's just been an awesome experience sharing our story and hearing the responses from it.

Scott Benner 2:41
So Bella, you have seven other siblings. It's yes, there's eight your okay. So your mother made eight children with her uterus, other lady parts? Yes, she she wrecked right now. Like, is she just sitting in a chair? Like on a stand up? Or is she okay? That's hilarious.

Bella Krueger 3:01
Because when she tells people that she gets the response all the time like, wow, well, you look great. And she's like, I don't know if that's a compliment or not. Yeah.

Scott Benner 3:13
I'm like, How old are your parents? Are they both live?

Bella Krueger 3:16
Um, they're just they're just you're on 50? Whoa,

Scott Benner 3:19
okay, stop. Are you calling me from Utah?

Bella Krueger 3:25
No, I'm not. You're not Utah.

Scott Benner 3:27
Hold on a second. Can I let me guess? Close. Close ish. Super Catholic.

Bella Krueger 3:37
I mean, Christian, I'd say okay.

Scott Benner 3:40
I mean, you're trying to build an army for the Lord, what's going on?

Bella Krueger 3:44
I mean, that might be their intentions honestly.

Scott Benner 3:47
Didn't work out.

Bella Krueger 3:50
I think we still have some work to do for sure.

Scott Benner 3:52
Okay. Wow. Your parents are in. I'm 50. You saying that I'm a contemporary of your parents. It sounds like it and they've raised. Alright, let's be fair. Did they raise your did they just like, release you into the backyard after they made you? How did it?

Bella Krueger 4:09
I mean, I have to. I have to say it's got to be a mix of both. I mean, we all raised each other.

Scott Benner 4:14
Yeah. Where are you in the pecking order? Would you say where are you in the pecking order? You first last in the middle?

Bella Krueger 4:21
Oh, I'm dead middle number 555.

Scott Benner 4:26
And you're 20? Yeah.

Bella Krueger 4:27
How? So? I'm writing the ackward. Like, I can hang out with my older siblings, but I can hang out with my little siblings. And it's great.

Scott Benner 4:36
Oh my gosh, well, how youngest, the youngest?

Bella Krueger 4:39
The youngest. She just turned 11. And the oldest just turned 30.

Scott Benner 4:45
Hang on a second. You're frying my mind.

Unknown Speaker 4:47
So I know. Sweet.

Scott Benner 4:49
I think if I'm doing this right, I take 30 and I subtract 11 And that's the span of time your mom made eight children. Right Yes, in 19 years she made eight babies. Yes. I'm gonna curse Bella. Hold on. Oh, get out of here seriously?

Bella Krueger 5:11
Yes. And like two of them are Irish twins. Two so they're like the nine months apart. So literally one came out right against she was pregnant Joe does

Scott Benner 5:20
your mom never heard of like hand stuff? Right? Yeah, like every once in a while she could be like, it's okay, Bill. I'm just gonna You stay there. I'm gonna handle it. You know?

Bella Krueger 5:32
Right. Like, come on. We didn't I mean, I guess once the if the diabetes would have came a little sooner, maybe it would have slowed her down.

Scott Benner 5:39
You might have. I'd like to talk to her. I actually talk to your mom.

Bella Krueger 5:44
Yes, she is a super woman herself.

Scott Benner 5:47
I might I might. If your mom could take 20 minutes of crass questioning about her sex life. I'd like to get to the part where when kids started like making diabetes, like she was making babies if she was like, Oh, my God. So you said something important a second ago. This because I'm kind of tracking people's genealogy a little bit Irish.

Bella Krueger 6:07
A little bit. A little mostly German,

Scott Benner 6:09
German, German, mostly.

Bella Krueger 6:11
Alright, I got the Irish with the fractals. And there's a lot of us with the freckles. Mostly my dad's like all German.

Scott Benner 6:18
You have curly hair. Nope. No. Cuz you got the raspy voice.

Bella Krueger 6:23
Yes, yes. I always get that like I that's the one and Sophia starting to get it to have the little one. Use the

Scott Benner 6:29
thyroid issue.

Bella Krueger 6:32
No, it's just it's just the way like our voice like it's always been like that even as growing up as a kid people would always say like, oh my gosh, do you have strep throat? I am overcoming a cold. So it's usually not this drastic.

Scott Benner 6:44
Yeah. To generalize you sound like the friend that gets us to steal a car.

Bella Krueger 6:50
Well, that cannot be a compliment. No, it was hilarious though. We like we're recording these videos for a company and they wanted us to do a voice voiceover for it. And I did it just because I just was had the video on my phone and was like, it'd be quick. And I sent it over and she was like No offense. But could we have someone else? Voice on the video?

Scott Benner 7:15
I don't know what. I don't know what the video was for like vaguely what kind of company is it?

Bella Krueger 7:20
Oh, it was just for like one a like a diabetes app like ad for our Instagram.

Scott Benner 7:27
Hilarious. Hello. Do you have

Bella Krueger 7:31
to like cute little Sofia's face and then Hello, welcome. Let me get the vibe. They want

Scott Benner 7:38
sisters from the sentence. It's like Hey, Mom. Suck on the cigarette. Right? And it's yeah. Wow, that's funny. Okay, all right. Well, okay, who was diagnosed first.

Bella Krueger 7:52
So all started with the old like the second oldest, who's his name's Ben. He's 28. He got diagnosed when he was six. Okay. Yeah, and then from there, it's just I mean it his was just normal, you know, T one D symptoms like that. My mom just kind of said to the doctor, and the doctor was like, Well, that sounds like diabetes. And then from there on, you know, Maddie got diagnosed at three, Nick got diagnosed at four. And I got diagnosed at six Sophia got diagnosed at seven all kind of the same. You know, my mom was just like, Oh, they're peeing a lot there. Yep. Oh, this is it. Let's start checking their blood sugar's up there. Hi. Let's take them in

Scott Benner 8:34
to the eye. abetik How old are the two that don't have diabetes?

Bella Krueger 8:38
So Chris is the oldest he's 30 now and he does not have type one. So it's looking pretty good for him. And then Harrison is 15 and he as of right now does not have type one but my mom is not thinking that'll last very long.

Scott Benner 8:57
He just he just he just my questions are does the young one just cower in a corner like with a ticking clock behind?

Bella Krueger 9:04
Yes, he genuinely does and like my parents are so I think we're also at this point hyper like, sensitive hyperactive to this, we want to like we're always like, check your blood sugar's now like, let's just see. And he's no, he's no, no. Get that away from me. Like, he just wants no business in it. He's like, I want to wait until as long as I can. And that's kind of I was the same way I didn't get diagnosed until I was 15 years old. Which was super real

Scott Benner 9:33
make it like what was the feeling like when you were growing up? You like it's gonna be me. It's not gonna.

Bella Krueger 9:39
It was I mean, yeah, that was it was earth shattering to me. It was It honestly was because I was I was petrified of needles. Because growing up, I'd seen all my siblings being chased around with insulin needles. Like, you know, I was like, this is the one thing if I don't get diabetes, I will do anything like I will do it all. But if I do, like it'll be the end of Me, and then I got it.

Scott Benner 10:03
I have a question about your oldest that doesn't have it like this he Yeah. Um, I guess I'm kind of being serious for a second, I was gonna make a joke, but I want a serious answer. So I want it. Do you think that he feels like badly that he didn't get it? So far?

Bella Krueger 10:22
I think that those feelings have started to come out a lot more. Just because we have been like sharing our story on social media and getting sent stuff from diabetic companies and getting that sort of recognition all of a sudden. But before that, I think we kind of never really noticed. Yeah. But now I would say for sure. And even Harrison, I would say feels a little left out sometimes, too. It's crazy. It really is just because it's like the majority, you know, it's all of us, except for just them too.

Scott Benner 10:56
Do you? Do your parents have any autoimmune issues? Are there any my dad

Bella Krueger 11:00
has psoriatic arthritis, but that's it. Not anything with my mom.

Scott Benner 11:05
Gotcha. Anybody have Alzheimer's going back?

Unknown Speaker 11:10
No. Not that we know of. Okay.

Scott Benner 11:13
Interesting. Wow. Do so, this all started around the around the 2000s. Right. Yeah. Okay, so, management. That's that's still 20 Some years ago. That's yeah, that's not terrific. Like that's meters and needles. Right? For your? Uh huh. Yeah. Okay. But is everybody managed similarly? Or do that? Like, are there like, six different insulin pumps and six different meters?

Bella Krueger 11:47
Yeah, so Well, the three girls use the tandem. I use an omni pod. And then the boys use injections. Interesting. Yeah, so the reason the reasoning with that is like, sort of this weird, you know, the doctors suspected me and Nick had Moti for a long time. And we got tested. And it was I mean, it was false. It was negative or whatever. And we're just on a such a, we're a lot more insulin sensitive. So Rita, I don't need this constant. You know, I the only thing that motivated me to get a pump was just because I was too lazy to do injections. Okay, but even like, with a continuous Basal rating, it has to be so low because I'm still so insulin sensitive. My carb ratio. So one unit to 20 carbs today, and I've been Yeah. Which is? Yeah, like it's an compared to Anna who's like, I want to say one unit to every 11 carbs. 10 carbs.

Scott Benner 12:52
Are you super active?

Bella Krueger 12:54
I mean, I would not say any more than I would say my sisters are more active than I am.

Scott Benner 12:59
Okay. All right. I was just wondering if you were just very athletic or something like that.

Bella Krueger 13:03
Yeah. No, see, like, that's the weird part. I'm not like, I mean, Nick. It's Nick was very, like, he was a varsity track athlete went to state for track, like, very, very active all the time. So it kind of made sense for him. But me, I think it's more just being like, just this little girl and like just going to not getting eating right. Like, I think that played a role in it a lot in the beginning of college. Okay. And that's what they kind of suspected too. But here I am still with that one to 20 ratio.

Scott Benner 13:39
Oh, no kidding. You're still in school, I imagine, right? Yeah, yeah. Are you away? Yes, sir. Yeah. Are you? Do you go from home?

Bella Krueger 13:48
I'm away. I'm like three hours away from home right now.

Scott Benner 13:52
How did your parents afford that? Or did they just they look at all they don't? I would imagine. You just you pull them all together at one time. And you go, Hey, listen, I don't know if you guys have figured this out or not. But you're paying.

Bella Krueger 14:05
Right. See that? Yeah, that was the thing that you guys should probably do that. Yeah. Not realizing, you know,

Unknown Speaker 14:13
what are you doing? Yeah,

Bella Krueger 14:14
I mean, they they helped me out freshman year, my first year. But other than that, I'm just doing loans.

Scott Benner 14:20
Yeah, you and your you guys are all on your parent's insurance, but the older ones aren't. But, but most of

Bella Krueger 14:26
yeah, all of the oh, I guess the last diabetic or the first diabetic just got moved off, but the rest of us are

Scott Benner 14:32
interesting.

Bella Krueger 14:34
Yeah, he's had problems with that too. Which is frustrating.

Scott Benner 14:38
I have to ask you a question. I'm not joking about like, Are your parents like broke? Like this thing financially just the diabetes, like ruin them? Or do they have such a like, are they make a decent living and it's not like,

Bella Krueger 14:50
um, I would say they have very good they have good jobs. Okay. Alright, so it's Yeah, pretty good.

Scott Benner 14:57
I would say you're not fighting in the corner for the last cleaning needle or something like that?

Bella Krueger 15:01
Yeah. Oh, no, no, no. Okay. Well, yeah. Oh yeah, my dad that we're I'm so grateful for that too. That's another thing. They're both my mom works in the medical field and my dad is like a computer sciences engineer. But they're both so on top of like the insulin stuff like it's crazy like to think like I I made some tic tac one saying we ran, I had to restart my Dexcom because we were out of Dexcom. And the comments were like, Oh my gosh, how often do we have like, never run out of insulin or anything before, which is so crazy until COVID. Like, it had never been a problem until like, the first time we ever started to actually have to think about that was just when COVID started. And then we actually had been like, oh, okay, we're actually running low now before we get our next month supply but usually had been just, he's there. So on top

Scott Benner 15:54
of it, are you guys all in varying kinds of insolence?

Bella Krueger 15:59
No, we we just switched over now. We kind of had been but now we're all on no blog.

Scott Benner 16:04
Alright, so they're everywhere. Okay, how many vials of Nova lager in the refrigerator.

Bella Krueger 16:13
I wish I had like, I wish I could just display a picture right now. 100 probably, like, Well, we still we have I mean, we still have some insulin pens too. So we'll have like our great assortment of like, probably seven insulin pens and are opening up the fridge. And then we have these like 3d printed by my brother like places you can put the vials and we probably have like their six in those and we probably have like three of those lined in there. So that's

Scott Benner 16:43
are they separated by person? Are they just in a big pile and you just pick out of it?

Bella Krueger 16:47
Big pile? It doesn't matter,

Scott Benner 16:49
Bella that's what I would do big pile look like Yeah, yeah, seriously, if that many people were using no vlog, I would just like put it is it in like the deli drawer wherever you put it something like that.

Bella Krueger 17:01
It's in like though we have like it open, you press a button and it like separates and opens the like milk kind of compartments for your fridge. And we have a kind of just like taking over that side of our fridge. We used to have our own separate fridge for all of it in the basement when we were all on Lantis too. Yeah, because we'd have just like, double the whole normal fridge full of old and like it was insane. It's crazy. Yeah, but then now with some of us moving out, we were able to condense a little bit.

Scott Benner 17:29
How many children did your parents have when the first person was diagnosed?

Bella Krueger 17:37
So Ben was diagnosed at slummy do some math, but Ben was diagnosed at six, so they must have had

Unknown Speaker 17:47
four.

Scott Benner 17:47
Wow. And they still did four more. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 17:54
Yeah. Wow.

Scott Benner 17:55
I almost said something really inappropriate. I really, like a sentence popped in my head. I was like, Well, I'm never gonna say that on the podcast, not even bleep out. in case somebody, like could even figure out what I was thinking. But no kidding. Alright. You've said a lot of crazy things already. I I need to absorb them for a second. So let me just ask about you for a little while. What was it? What was I can't think about the whole brood at the moment. It's overwhelming. I know. Right? But and somehow, you've it's like a rule of comedy somehow, like you've done something so many times. Like it's hard not to be amused by it even though it like you know what I mean? Like, I've lost the horrifying aspect of the idea that eight of six of your eight siblings have type one diabetes. It's it feels like, not comical. Do you know what I mean? Like it's ridiculous.

Bella Krueger 18:54
Yeah. And that was our whole idea was they were like, Why do people not know it was like, we need more people to know.

Scott Benner 19:01
Yeah, that's insane. Are you guys like turning it into like an influencer thing? Or like, how are you? Like, yeah, that's

Bella Krueger 19:07
kind of the direction we're planning on going with it. Yeah, right now we just have so we have like, just our Instagram page and our tic tock page. And we started it during COVID. And I mean, it's been going great. I'm really proud of the work we've done. We've we work for we contract. We're contracted and advertising work for three companies now. And it's just yeah, it's been a great experience. Just learning and being in the diabetic community socially is just, it's great.

Scott Benner 19:39
I have to see. Cuz I know you would think like Scott knows. I don't know, what's the Instagram account? I don't pay attention social media. So

Bella Krueger 19:47
Kriegers plus T one d.

Scott Benner 19:49
So it's okay. Or are

Bella Krueger 19:53
you EGRP s

Scott Benner 19:57
s? T one?

Bella Krueger 19:59
Yeah. yours and then plus P L u s t 1d.

Scott Benner 20:03
I typed it wrong. Hold on a second.

Unknown Speaker 20:07
I think we follow you,

Scott Benner 20:08
I'm sure. Listen, if you don't, first of all, and as I just said, I don't really use social media, then I'm like, I'm insulted if you don't. Wait, hold on. You spell it again. I'll type as you talk.

Bella Krueger 20:22
Okay, okay. Are you E G, E, R? S? PLUST. One D.

Scott Benner 20:33
Now I have it. Okay. All right. Hold up a second. All right. I have one here. It's well lit. You're in a park. There's a small girl flexing in front. Are you the girl on the right?

Bella Krueger 20:49
Way? Let me look.

Scott Benner 20:52
Give you a little red your hair.

Bella Krueger 20:54
Um, maybe if you call that right. Oh, no, I'm the left. I'm the littler one.

Scott Benner 20:58
You're all the way on the left and that one? Yeah. Oh, I see the Omnipod on your belly.

Bella Krueger 21:01
Okay. Yes. Yep. And then the middle one. So that's the youngest.

Scott Benner 21:06
Oh, it's so crazy. Bella, your voice? Won't. Let me think that that's you? Do you see what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah. Cuz you sound like you're 35. And you've been divorced twice.

Bella Krueger 21:21
And you know, that's what my life kind of feels like.

Scott Benner 21:24
Yeah, it feels like you know, things because of your voice. Do you? Let's be serious for a second. Do you find that people take you very seriously, like when you talk to people stop and listen. Is that something

Bella Krueger 21:38
they see in firms?

Scott Benner 21:39
Well, yeah, I have the same problem. Like you hear me here. I do as much business as I can over the phone. Because yeah, I have like a commanding, like, vocal presence. But in real life. I'm an average hated, reasonably attractive, not attractive guy who should lose 20 pounds. And when you get in person, there's no, the gravitas is gone. Does you know what I'm saying by that?

Bella Krueger 22:07
Yes, yeah. No, no, that's the same thing with me. I mean, you see me I'm this tiny little girl. Yeah. What does she have to say? If I

Scott Benner 22:15
saw you? I'd ask if you were lost. And we know Yeah. Are you okay? Your mom? Honey, where's your mother?

Bella Krueger 22:25
Oh, I get that all the time. Like when I'm working at the bar, where I work at?

Scott Benner 22:29
That's gonna be a mind shift for people. You work at a bar?

Bella Krueger 22:34
Yeah, I do. I'm a bartender in the summer and then at school. I'm just a server.

Scott Benner 22:40
No kidding. Okay, yeah, that all flips me out. That's crazy.

Bella Krueger 22:44
My favorite is you're allowed to serve alcohol.

Scott Benner 22:47
Yeah, I wouldn't let you in the building. What do you think? Like if you had a boyfriend, it would make me upset. Oh, I

Unknown Speaker 22:54
do. Yeah. No, I

Scott Benner 22:56
mean, unless he was like this little wirey kid, and then I'd be like, alright, that's her boyfriend. You know what I mean? Yeah, you know, they're not that, like, you know, they're less masculine. You know, how you like, young girls do it sometimes. Right? They pick like kids who are not threatening at all. They're almost like girls, but with a mustache. And you know what I'm saying? Right? Yeah, okay. Yeah, I'm not making that up. Oh, for sure. Oh, my gosh. All right. Why do you all have diabetes? Alright, so have you been like, have you guys done any, like testing? If you all done? Like, it'd be super interesting if you did, um, trial net, for instance. Yeah,

Bella Krueger 23:36
I know. That's what we want to get into. It's something that we really, I mean, just since, since COVID, is really when we've been talking about it. So it's like when have we had the time, but we do want to do more. But the only testing I know, we got a certain testing done when we were younger. I was trying to get ahold of my mom before this to ask her about it. But we did get testing done. We went to Chicago for something as kids. I don't know what that really entailed. But then, in addition to that, when I was when I was 15, but right before I got diagnosed, I got my antibodies tested for diabetes. And the doctors called me literally I kid you not as I'm sitting in like, third three months later, or whatever. I'm sitting in the doctor's office getting my diagnosis for diabetes, and they call me and they're like, oh my gosh, like we have the best news ever. We got your antibody results, like you have a 13% chance of getting diabetes. Like you're not gonna get it.

Scott Benner 24:36
Like you should try and live it in my house. Yeah, I

Bella Krueger 24:39
was like, Oh, that's funny. I'm here in the day. The doctor's office with my diagnosis literally in hand.

Scott Benner 24:45
Dude, if you guys got a hamster it would get diabetes. What do you think of that? Oh, do

Bella Krueger 24:49
you want to hear something crazy? You're not gonna believe this. Go ahead. Oh, our dog.

Scott Benner 24:54
Of course he does. A boy or girl I'm sorry. It's a boy. Of course he does. Yeah. It might be floating in the air I know it's not generally something we think of is communicable but maybe in your house it is. Wow, your furniture might have type one Have you ever tested yourself? Just yeah, we might have to poke it and see what's up. No kidding your dog has to Does your dog get insulin? Yeah, dude, tell me your

Bella Krueger 25:21
I think Lantis oh no insulin Lantus at night insulin in the morning. Okay,

Scott Benner 25:26
all right. Listen, tell me your when the dog when did the dog get into the dog get diabetes?

Bella Krueger 25:33
I want to say like, I think this is like an ongoing joke and I call my family like all the time and I'm like, so we actually diabetes like this isn't like any does like I watched my dad give him insulin shots all the time. But it just like happened like one day we just started checking his blood sugar's like when he was peeing a lot. And my dad was like, he has diabetes.

Scott Benner 25:55
Did your parents here's how I imagined this going down. We learned the dog has diabetes. Your parents walk into a private room. You hear screaming and banging and then they come out with a smile on their face is that I mean, I would be like there's no way I can't like why, like what would oh my god, do they feel cursed? Do you think?

Unknown Speaker 26:16
I would I? I would think they could like because I? I do. Do you? Interesting?

Bella Krueger 26:22
Yeah. Like even like, like our families joke would just sound like ongoing joke of all the baggage that happens to us. It's just like beautiful chaos. That's what we constantly call it. Yeah, that's what we are. Do you

Scott Benner 26:33
ever talk to your parents about how they feel? You're kind of young you probably don't?

Bella Krueger 26:39
I mean, I Yes. I think we're I'm very I'm very close with my mom. Okay, like, we're all super super close as a family. And I think it's just like, she always gets a little emotional, like, especially when we're struggling a lot. And it's like, even I remember like, cuz I got diagnosed the peak of teenage girl. So I was I was pissed. Yeah. And I think I took a lot of that out of my parents. And I think I didn't really think back to like, collect done that until like, one day when I was like a freshman in college. And I was kind of trying to figure out my iPod. And I was just so frustrated. I like called my mom one day and I was ranting about how like, you know, I couldn't my Omnipod died. And then the insulin, whatever, blah, blah, everything that goes wrong. And she just kind of like got really sad. And she was just like, you know, I could hear her crying on the other side of the line. And, and she's just like, if I could have it. And you know, if you did, I would if I could have diabetes, so bad, where and none of you had it, I would do that every day. Like, and I just, I mean, it makes me sad because it feels like I feel like she's in this point where she doesn't have it. She doesn't have any autoimmune diseases or any health problems. But here she is with six kids that she can't really do anything for except support.

Scott Benner 28:15
I think the unknown part of diabetes may be the thing that I dislike the most, when you can't be certain of what the blood sugar is or how fast it's moving, or if it's moving and what direction it's moving in. You know, when you just see that static number, and you don't know what else goes with it. Speed direction. Well, the Dexcom G six can help you with that. So why don't you say goodbye to that confusion, and hello to Dexcom. Without finger sticks, the Dexcom G six allows you to see your glucose readings right on your smart device, or the receiver that you can get with the Dexcom this is for Apple and iPhone. It offers completely customizable alerts and alarms. And you can share it with people up to 10 Actually, up to 10 people of your choosing if you like can also see your blood sugar. That means you could look at your sons or daughters or husbands or wives or just have a friend watching your back. You can get started today with dexcom@dexcom.com Ford slash juice box. When you have the Dexcom G six continuous glucose monitoring system. diabetes treatments and diabetes management decisions become much more. I don't know in the background maybe I didn't want to say easier but it's definitely better. With just a quick look at your device. You can find out what your blood sugar is. As I was saying that I opened up my iPhone to see that my daughter's blood sugar is at three. I can actually look back with a swipe of my finger and see what it's been for the last 24 hours. The last 12 hours last six hours like That's three hours in the last three hours Arden's blood sugar has not been over 123 and it hasn't been under. Looks like yeah, it looks like 83 is about it right now. Had she left the zone that we marked off, we would have gotten a little alert, which I did because I have Arden's high alert set at 120. So way back about three hours ago when she was 123, I saw that we made a slight adjustment to her insulin, and now three hours later, nice and smooth. She's 83 dexcom.com forward slash juicebox. Do not wait another second. Go say hello to Dexcom. You know, I'm going to stop being so obtuse Hello. Dexcom is a free sample program that Dexcom has, when you go to that website. If you leave that site without requesting a Dexcom this little pop ups gonna come up in front of you. And it's gonna ask you if you'd like to request a sample, they call that sample case, hello Dexcom. It comes with everything you need to try Dexcom for 10 days, Terms and Conditions apply. But if I was you I'd head right now to dexcom.com Ford slash juice box. The Omni pod tubeless insulin pump provides nonstop instant delivery through a tubeless waterproof insulin pump called a pod, all with no multiple daily injections. With the Omni pod, you're going to get three days up to 72 hours of continuous insulin delivery and freedom. With these innovative features. The Omni pod is wearable, meaning you can place the pod almost anywhere you'd normally inject on the pod is waterproof. So you can take that pod anywhere life takes you like the swimming pool, the shower or a bathtub. How about you want to go jump in a lake and go jump in a lake with and I'll leave on. And it's tangled proof. So you can forget about those tubes that traditional pumps have getting caught on doorknobs, kitchen cabinet drawers, everywhere that that tubing gets caught. If you're wondering if the only pot is right for you, if you have type one, type two diabetes, if you're a parent and a caregiver, or if you're a young adult or an adult using insulin, I think Alibaba might be right for you. And Omni pod has a promise they like to make you if you're one of those people was like I don't want to do it now because I'm waiting for that next big thing from Omni pod. I'm gonna wait a little longer. You don't have to wait. Because with the Omni pod promise, Omni pod promises you that you can upgrade to the latest technology that they have as soon as you want. And it's available as long as it's covered by your insurance. Upgrade away baby Terms and Conditions apply. Head over now to Omni pod.com forward slash juice box to make yourself you know, familiar with everything that I'm talking about. See what you think. And then you can get started today my link AMI pod comm forward slash juice box xcom.com forward slash juice box links in the show notes links at juicebox podcast.com. I've got a tiny bit more music here. So let me remind you t one D exchange.org. Forward slash jukebox go take the survey the music's coming after me

let's get back to Bella, shall we Bella, let's get back to

I don't need everybody's personal details. Okay, but are you all reasonably good at diabetes? Or do people are there's some of you that struggle and some of the you don't like I'm trying to like trying to find out if there's a dichotomy where you know, your sister has a five three, a one C and your brother has a seven nine a one C or like you don't I mean? Like is it? Or do you guys just have a system that you just use and it works for everybody?

Bella Krueger 33:54
I would say it's very, my parents approach to it all I'd say we range I say there's a very, there's a little bit of a range. And all of us we all are different. We all manage a kind of different I think my mom and my dad, like have kind of learned that we have to figure it out as much as they're gonna nag us and they're gonna watch our sugar and they're gonna do this and do that. They figured out that if they do that, that's just gonna make us not want to do it. And I think I think now we all have a lot better relationships with diabetes. But I think it was a very long journey with a lot of struggle for everyone.

Scott Benner 34:39
Well, I would imagine that it's easy to be listening to this. And then it seems like a sitcom. You don't I mean, like a poorly written sitcom, or like we'll give, we'll give everyone diabetes, even the dog. And you know, and it could, it could be easy for people listening to sort of build a narrative in their head where you guys just it's a harmonious thing and everybody's used to it. But the truth is, is it's the same for Everybody, there's just six of you. Like, and by the same I mean, just like for the people listening it, you know, there's hard times and good times and sad times and that's happening for six people. And then the other two who are probably just scared shitless that they're going to get diabetes at any second. Yeah. Do you have any other? Oh, yeah. There anything other pets besides the dog?

Bella Krueger 35:21
We have another dog too.

Scott Benner 35:23
You should let it go. I know just open the door and let it run. We

Bella Krueger 35:27
tried but he's crazy, too. He's got his own problems got diabetes for probably close

Scott Benner 35:32
and no one has any other autoimmune issues. I

Bella Krueger 35:42
I wouldn't even say that. Oh, well,

Scott Benner 35:44
would you say Bella?

Bella Krueger 35:47
Well, I've had a lot of health issues, I got diagnosed with UV itis, which is a very rare autoimmune disease.

Scott Benner 35:54
I mean, do what I have to Google it, you're always in trouble UV itis,

Bella Krueger 35:58
right? No one knows what it is. It's like I'll even Google it right now. So I can get a better definition. But this is just I got all these autoimmune diseases leading up to my diagnosis, basically. But um, UTIs is the most common type is an inflammation of the iris. So it was the weirdest thing like I just woke up and broke out and lesions on the left side of my face, and my pupils dilated. And I was super sick and I had a horrible headache. And then I started to not feel the left side of my face. So I went into the ER, and I had UV itis

Scott Benner 36:39
when I'm reading makes it feel like that it's something caused by something else though. Like, do you give Crohn's? No, no.

Bella Krueger 36:49
tested negative. There's not celiacs nothing like I was brought. I probably have been seen by seven doctors and in all different types of fields, like going through the diagnosis of like, tell me what's wrong with me and no one knew. No one told me anything. The

Scott Benner 37:06
causes listed here are so crazy. Like there are a number of things that I can't pronounce. No, like, right let alone words I haven't seen

Bella Krueger 37:16
and the craziest thing is I got it again. And people like when I got it again. The doctor by my ophthalmologist was so like this never have like, I've never seen this. Even get it in the beginning but to get it again.

Scott Benner 37:31
Yeah. Lyme disease. Nope. tested negative syphilis. That's like, isn't that something that happened in the 1800s? That people still get? Yeah, that's

Bella Krueger 37:40
like something I remember from like, a show. Like she's, like old show. Yeah, don't

Scott Benner 37:44
touch boys. Syphilis. Yeah. Have you ever eaten cat poop? toxo plus, oh. You're funny. you've ever had TB? Zika.

Bella Krueger 37:57
No, not at like, I mean, I guess I don't think I mean, I don't think so. But I got tested for most of the stuff.

Scott Benner 38:04
No kidding. And you don't have juvenile idiopathic arthritis? No, who hears the word I know from Grey's Anatomy, sarcoidosis. sarcoidosis. Sir, could I damn now I'm saying oh my gosh.

Bella Krueger 38:15
That's why new syphilis from because Alex gets it. Did he? Give it to all the nurses? Are you kidding

Scott Benner 38:22
me? Oh, sagen. Alex Karev. Anyone who's laughing at me right now for knowing the last name of the character on Grey's Anatomy. I mean, did you think I was kidding when I said I knew stuff. I am not seeing anything with a wait. Yeah. Yeah. I'll be damned.

Bella Krueger 38:43
One of the earlier episodes.

Scott Benner 38:45
All right. I think syphilis, okay, you know, it makes people go blind. I think now I'm just talking about things I know from television. Hold on. Oh, by the way, Syphilis is not funny if anybody listening has it. I feel very badly. Okay, Bella, so you have that going on? And it's happened to you twice, but been cleared up twice. Do you start getting that feeling when things reoccur? You're like, Oh, yeah. Like I'm a person without like, I'm gonna have autoimmune problems. Like I'm gonna get sick. That does it make you feel that way when you get something that crazy?

Bella Krueger 39:23
Oh, I mean, yeah, I think that was my life senior year of high school. I just, I mean, so sophomore, senior year ever since like, since it started. It just didn't end.

Scott Benner 39:33
Yeah, you just feel really sick. Yeah,

Bella Krueger 39:37
I mean, I think it ended when I went away to school and fun there was like, I'm done with all the tests in the broken on the product and you guys aren't doing anything and I'm just gonna figure myself out. Yeah. But I mean, because then I got the UV itis. I was fine, whatever. And then I got diabetes, and then I was fine and then got super, super depressed Got uveitis again, and then I broke out and bruises like all over my body. They could not find a cause for that. I saw so many different doctors. No one could tell me like I wasn't anemic wasn't. Celiac wasn't anything. Finally, the doctor told me that she thought I wasn't eating enough vegetables. So

Scott Benner 40:24
I've given up. Yeah, broccoli.

Bella Krueger 40:28
Yeah. Okay. Like, as I'm like waking up with bruises, like, up and down my neck. Yeah, but, um,

Scott Benner 40:36
yeah, brothers and sisters have other stuff.

Bella Krueger 40:40
Not really, not really, the only thing I can really think of is like, Nick, I know has a little bit of like a heart problem.

Scott Benner 40:48
Just a little touch of the heart.

Bella Krueger 40:50
Yeah, going on there.

Scott Benner 40:53
Um, thing going on. But that's how you know that everybody in the house has something going on? Because you just my brother might have a thing with his heart. It's hard to recall.

Bella Krueger 41:04
It's like very, very minor. No, it's

Scott Benner 41:06
a small hard thing. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's all fine. Don't worry about Well, I mean, I do think that goes to the what can happen to you when you're living in a situation like this all the time? Where Right? Like, I imagine your family's like one way or the other, either everyone panics every five seconds or the house is on fire. And you guys are just like water shows almost over? Like, why don't we stay in wants to till the end? Like, like, are you guys super chill? Or?

Bella Krueger 41:36
That was a perfect explanation. Yeah. We're just kind of I think we're all so used to this chaos that it doesn't even faze us anymore. Where but I wouldn't go as far to say as we're chill. We're all very, very opinionated, very strong personality. But I think we've kind of learned to handle it. Yeah. And I think a lot of it's coping with humor and like yeah, just taking it head on.

Scott Benner 42:12
Is anybody seeing Do you guys ever see like do talk therapy or psych psychiatrist or anything like that?

Bella Krueger 42:19
We saw a family therapist for a little while. But it didn't last very long. But others Yeah, I know

Scott Benner 42:31
because you didn't pay for it because you couldn't afford it with the charge.

Bella Krueger 42:36
We would go after we met our deductible obviously so you guys must meet it. We meet the deductible like February's

Scott Benner 42:43
I was gonna say you must meet your deductible on January 6.

Bella Krueger 42:47
No, yeah, I think we did one year, like I think one year we hit it before January was over.

Scott Benner 42:53
No. I would imagine I've Arden's Arden's go. There was a time before February she met her deductible one year.

Bella Krueger 43:01
Yeah. Yeah. So we must you guys.

Scott Benner 43:05
There must just be a bell that rings like after midnight that ball drops. And then around 1215 Your mom must have an app on her phone is like, Oh, we met our deductible or this lovely. You know, at least I'm drunk.

Bella Krueger 43:16
Yeah, we constantly have like, how stop though. Like, we're all like someone's always breaking an arm or something.

Scott Benner 43:24
I guess by the pure odds of it right? With eight, right? Yeah. But not your mom. Your mom's super healthy.

Bella Krueger 43:30
Yeah, she's gotten she's the lucky one.

Scott Benner 43:33
Interesting. Boy, it is super interesting. You know, your your story is so uncommon that I broke a rule to have you on the podcast, like I have a personal podcasting rule. And I, I broke it so that you can come on here like I don't usually like wow, it's um, you when you went through the questionnaire form you had been on another podcast already. And I don't know which one. I'm not asking you. It's not the point. But normally that's, that's a no for me. Like, just because I don't want to duplicate. So funny.

Bella Krueger 44:03
Because I thought that would like that you wanted people with experience? That was my mindset? No. Yeah. I don't know. I don't even know what I was hundreds of podcasts. To be honest.

Scott Benner 44:16
You don't know if what you were on was a podcast?

Bella Krueger 44:19
Yes. I don't know really what it was. It was like a talk but. And I was like, Well, what do I do? And I called my dad and my dad was like, well, it'll probably look good. I was like, okay, tell

Scott Benner 44:29
your dad. He got that backwards. Well, I will speaking of it, which if he got a couple of things backwards, he might have four kids. But that's not the point. Really. And if you got that joke, I love you. And I'd like to adopt you and I think I could help you. I will. I will raise you the rest of the one year until you're 20

Bella Krueger 44:50
Okay, you have the rest of it. You just take the credit.

Scott Benner 44:53
Yeah, that's all I'll be like, Look how well we did. It was really me at the end. I came in and and tidied everything up. But But no, seriously, I don't. I just don't want to duplicate conversations. And and generally speaking, if you listen to this podcast, you realize that the people who come on are not people who have Instagrams or tic TOCs. For the most part, they're just people like they're really regular people. And right, you can even tell, I think, in an endearing way, in the first 10 minutes of most episodes, most people are nervous, because this is not something that they're accustomed to doing. Oh, yeah, I actually don't like it when people are very practiced and show up. It's not, it's not as much fun and I don't think it's as listenable. Like for mine. Yeah, at least. But yeah, like I just didn't want, but I couldn't. I didn't know how to say no, like six out of eight of you. Like, yes, please come on the podcast and explain all the crazy things that happened in your life. How did you? Did you reach out to me? Or were you voted by the other five? To come on?

Bella Krueger 46:00
Oh, I reached out to you. Well, I guess bolts I reached out to you. Because I had her listen to one of your podcasts and or like I'd seen someone posted all about it. Listen, listen, listen, I forget which one it was I would have to look. But I just knew I was like, Wait, this is like the number one diabetes podcast guys. So then it was like during COVID. And me my dad, like went through and we're listening, listening. And I was like, how he saying would it be if we got on this? And my dad was like, Well, might as well just try. Yeah. And I was like, okay, like, Haha, like, thinking nothing would come of it. Right. Like, I didn't know how this all worked. It so then we just kind of set the email and then you responded, and I was like, guys, let's do it. Yeah, I mean, it's, it was kind of just between the girls right away, right? And then they just were like, Bella, you do it?

Scott Benner 47:01
Oh, no kidding. Well, listen, it's no less insane than the fact that your mom didn't start sleeping with a with a lacrosse stick after her third baby. Cuz I would have done that. I hadn't been like your dad even like, move towards me. After three kids. I would have like just punched him in the face. Right? How many kids were in your bedroom growing up?

Bella Krueger 47:25
We switched a lot. But, um, at one point I shared room there was three of us in a room. But that was the most I ever got to Okay. How was that I always shared a room until I had my own room. senior year of high school for like, a few months which was awesome. Fancy.

Scott Benner 47:43
Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night to your parents in a bedroom treating a low blood sugar for a sibling?

Bella Krueger 47:51
Oh, yeah. Every night.

Scott Benner 47:54
So do your parents like as your your kids are growing up? i My assumption is if you think about like one person who has type one, right, and you look at the ebbs and flows of a week or a month, going through, you know, just regular diabetes stuff or like hormonal stuff, that kind of thing. You know, growth hormones having high blood sugars overnight. So even if one of their kids was like, super stable, I mean, the odds of all all of them being stable at the same time. Like is your mom a vampire? How does she sleep?

Bella Krueger 48:27
She doesn't I swear. Like she really doesn't. Hmm. And your dad she worked third shift. Growing up like all when we were kids, she will always would work third shift and then, like, get home and be like, Okay, let's get ready for school. Like, I swear the woman. The woman doesn't sleep. It's possible.

Scott Benner 48:45
She's on party drugs of some kind. Yeah. I mean, like, just keep it rolling. I really do think I want to talk to your mom.

Bella Krueger 48:56
I'm sure she she she's a lot like me. I get my, my personality from her.

Scott Benner 49:02
Yeah, you tell her when we're done with this. If she's interested. She's on. Oh, I

Bella Krueger 49:06
will love to. She has lots of funny stories. Yeah, I

Scott Benner 49:10
don't want to talk to your dad. He's a sex addict. What you know what? That was sexist. Maybe it's your mom. Maybe? Yeah. Was your mom coming over that side of the bed? Your dad was like no, not

Bella Krueger 49:22
again. Funny dynamic.

Scott Benner 49:24
Oh, you might wait. Maybe I have it backwards.

Unknown Speaker 49:28
I don't know. I

Scott Benner 49:29
don't think about it. I can't wait to ask your mom that question. Like now I'm picturing your dad, like with his hands crossed over as you know, and he's like, I can't do it anymore. I'm not again. First of all, I'm still sore. And secondly, I can't afford this. You gotta stop. Oh my gosh. She says Do you think they had as many children as they wanted? Or do you think they stopped Because of the diabetes.

Bella Krueger 50:04
Um, no. Yeah, my mom we are actually my mom was pregnant with the ninth one. Oh, wow. But she actually had a miscarriage. Okay. I'm sorry. Yeah. No, I mean, yeah, but I think she had eight siblings too. I mean, she always says they never talked about how many kids they wanted ever. And never was. I was like, maybe you shut up.

Scott Benner 50:23
Yeah. Hey, how about being responsible?

Bella Krueger 50:27
Yeah, right. She always says that they never really talked about it. But she loved having a big family growing up. And it just happened. Yeah.

Scott Benner 50:36
I wonder if she loves it. Now. I know. That's a hard thing for you to think about. But I'm gonna ask her. Yeah, I there's part of me that thinks your mom's gonna get on here and just really get real quiet and go, I made a mistake.

Bella Krueger 50:51
I did the wrong thing.

Scott Benner 50:52
I love my children. But I clearly have made a mistake. Oh, my gosh, that is really crazy. Yeah. All right, seriously, it's your job now to get her on my podcast. I'm leaving. You admitted

Bella Krueger 51:05
to it. I'll make it happen. Okay, thank

Scott Benner 51:06
you. What, what about your life? Do I not understand? So I don't know to ask about? Like, what is there something like when you look at other people at diabetes, and you see them online, and you hear them talking about their lives, you hear people on here? Is there something that you guys have that we don't know about? That doesn't exist if you're not in this specific situation?

Bella Krueger 51:33
Oh, Mike, what do you mean, something just don't know. Right?

Scott Benner 51:36
Yeah. I mean, is there something you know about the world that I don't know? Because you live with six type ones? You don't I mean, like it might not be, but don't get me wrong. Like I just, I'm trying to decide you guys.

Bella Krueger 51:49
I mean, I would say that the biggest thing this is all taught me is that life isn't meant to go how its planned, because we don't know how it's planned. And there isn't a plan and there isn't a playbook and there. And I learned that it comes at you as fast as it's gone. And as much as it once and in life isn't really happening to you. You're just in life. And if you're gonna sit there and be like, well, this sucks. This happened. And then this happened. And then this happened. And then this happened to like, you know, it's just, that's not how we're done living life like that. Yeah, it sucks. We have eight kids, six of us have type one diabetes. But you know what that happened? And that's our life. And it's great. And I think that took us a very long time to learn is that life isn't against us. Life isn't doing this to us. Life isn't punishing us. Like, it was just our luck. And maybe it's not good, but it doesn't mean that our life is gonna forever be this battling of every bad thing that constantly happens to us. You know?

Scott Benner 52:57
Yeah, I, to me, it's just you the combination of your parents make babies with diabetes. It's just as right

Bella Krueger 53:04
as their genes. Yeah. Genetics?

Scott Benner 53:08
Well, I think I think that's really thoughtful because it does appear to me when I speak to people, and even in my own life and talking to people I know, personally, excuse me one second. I'm sorry, oh, wait, it might not be over. Dollar have fallen. The heat's on in here. It's wintertime, I'm dry. I'm sorry, it occurs to me that everyone sort of, you know, we lack the, like historical knowledge of the world. When we're born, which is reasonable, you wouldn't come out knowing that, you know, 400 years ago, something happened 2000 years ago, something happened, you know that people have been living lives billions of times over and over again, forever and ever. But when you come out, it all feels so possible. And and like you're going to, like there's no reason not to think you're not going to be the one. You know what I mean? Who just skate through life, and you're super handsome and money's falling out of the sky, and you can't decide which guy to go out with, because you're so terrific. And everyone that comes to you is so terrific. And life's gonna be wonderful. And you'll be super smart and probably be happy and probably own a home near a lake for the summertime. And like all that stuff that feels like it's gonna happen to you know, most people when they're born. And then when that doesn't happen, and it's around health. It's super shocking. Like, it's less shocking when you look in the mirror and you go, Well, I'm not the most handsome guy I've ever met in my life, like, alright, that's fine. And I guess I'm not going to get much taller than this. That's okay. And that guy's more athletic that may and that's fine. I'm good at this. Like you start like melting into yourself a little bit, which is how it goes but the health stuff is just, it just feels like it shouldn't happen. Right, you know what I mean? Like, it just, my daughter gets diabetes. And I think like, no way this doesn't. This doesn't make sense. Like, like, we, you know, my wife and I, we grew up pretty broke. And we were building the thing. And we had a little boy and he was, you know, cute and doing well. And he wasn't perfect. But, you know, like he was, he was pretty great. And we had a crappy house, and we were fixing it up and starting to make a little more money. And then you think, okay, we had another baby, and it was a grown up. Oh, wow, look, we have a boy and a girl, not like your parents. So I was pretty done. You know, I was a boy and a girl, we're good. You know. And then just, you know, she has a birthday party one year, and we're getting ready to go on vacation, which wasn't something we you didn't grow up doing. We didn't have, you know, we had finally made a little money. And we were going to take our little kids on vacation. And, and then the next thing you know, a week later, I'm sitting in a hospital somewhere. And there's like 1000 tubes coming out of Arden. And I was like, Wait, like what happened? Like I did all the things I was supposed to do. You know, I'm a good person, I worked hard. I pulled myself up by my bootstraps. And I made a family and now this and it's just It's unfathomable. You can't wrap your head around it. And

Bella Krueger 56:14
and I think that was just the perfect way to say it. Like, that's exactly where we have been for so long as a family in that mindset. Like, on top of diabetes, like diabetes is just the surface of everything. Like it is genuinely just the surface of our chaos, and having to deal with everything we dealt with every day. And then on top of that, get this chronic illness. We were just like, you know, we felt defeated for sure.

Scott Benner 56:44
Yeah. Did a doctor do anything fun for your mom, like create a little punch card? Like a sandwich shop? Oh, no, every time she comes in,

Bella Krueger 56:55
I think doctors think she's insane.

Scott Benner 56:58
Why?

Bella Krueger 57:00
Because she'll cut like, for me when I was going through everything right with my health conditions. She told every doctor, she has type one. I know. She got like, I know this is all gonna be type one. Yeah. And they were like, No, nope, nope, You're crazy. You're crazy. It's not genetic. Just because all your kids have it, ma'am. Doesn't mean she's going to get it to like. And I know I don't know if she didn't want me to share this. But

Scott Benner 57:26
that's definitely the stuff we should tell me good.

Bella Krueger 57:29
Um, she Nick and Maddy got diagnosed when they were three and four years old. And she gave them a little bit of insulin. And notice they started to not really need it anymore and stopped giving them insulin. And they tried to call social social services on her who did like the doctors or something like I haven't really gotten the whole story. But Nick and Maddie went into a honeymoon phase. So Maddie was diagnosed at three Nick was diagnosed at four. Maddie didn't need insulin again until 11 or 12 years old. And then Nick didn't need insulin again until he was 18 years old.

Scott Benner 58:02
Oh, wow. Geez. Yeah.

Bella Krueger 58:06
And they were like, calling my mom crazy telling her like that we they were like withholding care from them. But like, my mom was just like, I have diabetics. I know that. They they don't need this insulin right now. And if I were to just decrease it and they make big they could extend their honeymoon phase, you know? Um, but yeah, so I think my mom that's another thing that she's really had to deal with is like, doctors never think she's educated enough to say anything

Scott Benner 58:39
crazy. I would think she would know. Do you guys all word CGM? Yes. Are they? Libre or Dexcom? Which are you? Dexcom. Everyone has a Dexcom on? Yes. Your mom is calling six people on Dexcom.

Bella Krueger 58:56
Yeah, are well the oldest direct diagnosed got just got kicked off our parent's insurance so he's had a few problems getting Dexcom but I know he just got some so you should have them.

Scott Benner 59:07
That's weird. That Oh, wow. Is your mama drinker? Does she like I'm not even kidding. Like, does she Yeah, self medicate or she like, like,

Bella Krueger 59:18
she gay. Every day did you say?

Scott Benner 59:22
No? Is she okay? Every day? Oh, she okay.

Bella Krueger 59:25
Not every day ever.

Scott Benner 59:26
Look at your mom and think like, my mom needs a hug.

Unknown Speaker 59:31
Oh, yeah. Yeah, she does. Okay.

Scott Benner 59:34
I would. I'm just saying if I was a very strong woman. Yeah. I mean, she probably has all of your health in her head.

Bella Krueger 59:43
And yeah. Oh, and more. Yeah. And

Scott Benner 59:46
I'm saying I'm imagining she stares at all of you wondering what's gonna happen next constantly.

Bella Krueger 59:51
Yeah. And I think even just like, with all of us, too, with each of us individually, it's like, oh, yeah, here's our diet. But then oh, here's all this other stuff too, that we, you know, so it's like, yeah, here's like, half of her brain is like our diabetes and then half of her other brain is everything else she has to worry about about us. So it's just like, yeah, the woman ever thinks about herself.

Scott Benner 1:00:14
You're still people too, right? Like she is. Yeah, even just taking her out of the equation for a second. Like you wanted to go to a prom? Probably you probably dated. You probably played sports, you probably struggled in school. Like all that stuff still happened? Yeah. And on top of that, all these kids have type one diabetes. Right? No kidding. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, she has to come on the podcast. If she doesn't, I'm gonna be disappointed. Personally.

Bella Krueger 1:00:41
I will make her I'll make it happen. I'm

Scott Benner 1:00:43
holding you responsible, actually. Oh, my God. Okay. So well, is there anything we didn't talk about that we should have talked about?

Unknown Speaker 1:00:56
Trying to think

Bella Krueger 1:00:58
any last minute power? I wouldn't say unless you have any questions that might spite something? Yeah, I

Scott Benner 1:01:08
have to tell you. Like, I don't think this has been a whirlwind for me. So I don't even I guess this is just usually the point in the conversation where I'm like, Hey, Did we miss anything? You know, and make sure that make sure that we didn't, I'm not even saying we're done talking yet. I just want to make sure that I'm not like, like glossing over something that you think people should know? Ah, what would you let me ask it in a question. Hold on a second. Let my brain work for a second. Let let Okay, hold on a second. Let it turn turn back up again. I got lost your mom's thing? In my mind. Okay. Are any of your siblings talking about not having children?

Bella Krueger 1:02:00
Not that I know of,

Scott Benner 1:02:02
have you ever had that thought?

Unknown Speaker 1:02:05
Yeah. Okay.

Bella Krueger 1:02:08
Um, I definitely want to be a mom. And I think the hardest thing that with with the thought of not having my own children, the only thing that I struggle with is just the idea of seeing my face and someone else like I obviously, and someone I love, like, that's just something I've always wanted, since I was a kid. But the idea of giving, putting someone through what I've gone through willingly, is also another thing. I don't know if that will sit as well. Yeah. But then I think a whole nother thing. You know, my mom, always my mom always shoots down those thoughts. is, I mean, type one is known to skip generations as well. Which is true. So there is that chance that our kids won't have diabetes, but I guess that also puts in the thought that well done, are their kids gonna have diabetes? But I don't know. And I also think that another thing that we have to think about with that thought is the technology that we have right now for diabetes compared to the technology that we had, even 10 years ago, even five years ago. Yeah. So where are we going to be when I'm thinking about having kids like I am, you know, yeah, so there'll be a cure.

Scott Benner 1:03:26
Are you are you thinking of using Omnipod? Five when it's available? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Are any of your siblings looping? Or

Bella Krueger 1:03:40
they do though, they have all that on the tandem IQ? Cuz they have the tandem.

Scott Benner 1:03:45
Okay. So they are doing control? I don't want them.

Unknown Speaker 1:03:50
Yeah,

Scott Benner 1:03:50
okay. Hmm.

Bella Krueger 1:03:53
They love that setting.

Scott Benner 1:03:54
Yeah, no kidding. You might like it too. We'll say. I know. Yeah, that's really great. Do you date? Yes, I have a boyfriend is that is that hard to like, when you're dating? Like when do you say to somebody I have diabetes?

Bella Krueger 1:04:11
That's a question I get so often. And I've been in same guys since I was a senior in high school. Wow. And I didn't really have to deal with that. Because my when I got diagnosed, I was super open about it. Cuz like my whole family had it. So I was just like, Yeah, I've diabetes blue. Like, this is funny. This is cool. Like, I'm just gonna make a big cool joke about this and everybody's gonna now know that I've diabetes. So it was a lot different for me because like, I never really had to deal with that. But I think now in college, like I've had to, you know, like tell my roommates I have it and tell like new friends and stuff, which is kind of been an experience but even yesterday, I was talking to this at my work, who said he was talking to this girl, and she texts him and they've been talking for a while now. And she was like, I need to talk to you. Like, I need to tell you something serious. And the guy was freaking out thinking like, she had an STD or something. And he goes over there, and she tells him, she has died. She has diabetes. And I guess the girl was so worked up like crying, like so nervous, and telling them like, yeah, like, I'm like, I'm so embarrassed to say this, like, I have diabetes. And I was like, that just made me so sad. I was like, That poor girl should not feel any shame. Like, she should not feel like she's telling this guy, something that's earth shattering. You know? Which is like something. I mean, I haven't really had to deal with it and all honesty, but you don't feel I think? No, I think that it's something that people should just be like, it's just like, as if you. You know, like you I know. You want to say like, if you were allergic if you were gluten free, like, you know, yeah. It's just hey, by the way, if I'm seeing on the floor, I need sugar. You know, like, it's something you the people you surround yourself with should know. Right? And I don't think it's something that people should be embarrassed about.

Scott Benner 1:06:16
And if the person you're telling isn't up for it, I mean, that's good to know. Honestly. Yeah. You know,

Bella Krueger 1:06:23
Oh, for sure. And I mean, I think that speaks violently to their characters well, and no shame. If you don't want to date someone who has a chronic illness. That's your business. Yeah. But, you know, then that means okay, clearly that person isn't cut out for you, because you are this in humane person who can deal with all this stuff? And if they that's not their life, that's not their life, but you'll find someone who is

Scott Benner 1:06:44
I agree with you. Yeah, I really do. I just, I was just wondering, like, what's the perspective was?

Bella Krueger 1:06:50
Yeah, I think it's, I mean, I think that's a big struggle, though. I think that is a very big question in type one diet, like for diabetics, especially girls, you know, you know, a

Scott Benner 1:07:00
lot of your story makes me want to stay alive another 50 years and keep making the podcast because I want to come back and find like, like, what happens to all of you after you get married and have your own kids and stuff like that? Right, you know? Wow. Oh, my gosh. Do you think you'll stay close to home or do you think you'll move away?

Bella Krueger 1:07:21
I always thought I'd move away. Okay, but I'm thinking I'll be home. They can stay close.

Scott Benner 1:07:29
Can you tell me like what state you're in?

Bella Krueger 1:07:31
Wisconsin? Oh, okay.

Unknown Speaker 1:07:33
Yeah. All right.

Bella Krueger 1:07:35
And I love it. We love Wisconsin.

Scott Benner 1:07:38
No kidding. Is it you don't mind?

Bella Krueger 1:07:43
I hate it. But I love the four seasons.

Scott Benner 1:07:45
You hate the cold. They love the four season. Yeah, I gotcha. My brother moved there a long time ago. He never came back.

Bella Krueger 1:07:51
Really? Yeah. See? I'm having a great community here.

Scott Benner 1:07:55
Yeah, he does seem to really enjoy it, actually. All right. Well, I appreciate you coming on and doing this. I appreciate you kind of like being the mouthpiece to kind of encapsulate everybody's dig generalized story. It's, it's a lot, even just to understand, do you do you feel overwhelmed, or do you feel okay,

Bella Krueger 1:08:18
I feel okay. After. That seemed like, I got a good amount out. I hope it wasn't too overwhelming. No, I feel like I got a good summary for us.

Scott Benner 1:08:29
Yeah, no, I do too. Actually. I just wanted to make sure you're like, it's a lot to recant. You know, I mean, like, and you're not upset while you're talking about it? Did you generally Yeah.

Bella Krueger 1:08:39
No, I mean, I think I'll emphasize it again, like diabetes is just the surface. So it's so easy for me to talk about, because it's something that we've been able to handle and deal with, versus other things in our lives that we've just kind of had to, you know, let boil out itself and fix along the way, diabetes is something that we have control over.

Scott Benner 1:09:03
Do you almost not see it? Is it almost invisible? Because it's so present? Like what, you know, you know, how you don't walk into your living room and like, acknowledge that your sofa is there? Because it's there. And you don't mean like, it's not? Yeah, it's diabetes like that.

Bella Krueger 1:09:20
Oh, yeah. Yeah. And I think I mean, even with that, with you saying that, I think that's where the problem with me caring for my diabetes almost comes in, because it's like, it's so normal. It's so you know, so it's almost like, I forget sometimes like, oh, wait, I need to actually do this though. Yeah, I know. It's like, I'm constantly talking about it, constantly talking about it, seeing it, whatever. It's just all comes so normal to me, like, I don't see an insulin pen right away and think, Oh, I probably need to give myself insulin.

Scott Benner 1:09:57
Let me which

Bella Krueger 1:09:57
has been hard.

Scott Benner 1:09:59
Well Tell me about that. I'm sorry.

Bella Krueger 1:10:02
No, just I mean, just getting diagnosed later go. I say, you know, Yeah, cuz

Scott Benner 1:10:06
you had enough of a life before you really do remember not having type one. Right? Yeah. Okay. Do you? Do you have? Has it ever happened that you're kind of ignoring your care and a sibling kind of comes in and picks you up? Or has it ever happened in reverse where you look over and somebody's like blood sugar's 220? And you're like, wow, they're not doing anything about it. And you go, Oh, yes,

Bella Krueger 1:10:31
yeah. Most of us share our decks comes with each other. Okay. So Maddie, the oldest sister constantly like texts in our little group chat like Sophia your blood sugars. Hi, Sophia, this Sophia that like, you know, always correcting our sugars. And like, whenever we're eating meals together, people are always like, Oh, I didn't see you do this. I didn't. I didn't see you give yourself insulin like, do you? So that's really nice, I think.

Scott Benner 1:11:01
Yeah. Do you sit at a meal and like, announce out loud what you think the carbs are? Hmm.

Bella Krueger 1:11:07
Um, sometimes, yes. And no. I think a lot of us are really. Like, we used to not talk about it. Like, it used to be like, it used to almost be a screen. Like, you know, we saw insulin everywhere. We knew everyone had diabetes, but we didn't really know much about it. No one really said anything. They just took their blood sugar did their insulin. Now it's like, it's like, oh, like, we lets everybody like show your insulin pens. Let's take a picture for the Instagram story. Like everybody had dinner like, so then it's like, then that's promoted the conversation of Oh, like, actually, how much are you dosing for this? Or like, are you That's very nice.

Scott Benner 1:11:47
Are you saying that sharing it with other people through social media is actually forced you guys to share it with each other?

Bella Krueger 1:11:53
Oh my gosh, yes. Like, we used to, like I genuinely, we used to just kind of live with it and not really let it bother us. Like, it wasn't. I don't know. And we it just wasn't it was normal. It was so normal that we didn't want to talk about it every day. Like, we were like, This is stupid. Like, whatever. Just do it. Who cares? Have you ever said now it's like, God, I'm

Scott Benner 1:12:15
sorry. Now it's like,

Bella Krueger 1:12:17
yeah, no, I mean, we're just now it's like, oh, my gosh, your sugar is so good. Like, just like, it's just a lot more like a supportive and environment. Like we have just really take it like we just started talking about it. I mean, that's really all it is.

Scott Benner 1:12:32
Yeah. See, I imagined, like you're sitting at a meal, and you look over someone's shoulder, and they're like, they've dialed up like, 45 carbs in your head. You're like, that's not enough. You know? And then you kind of wait, like, is there any sibling rivalry? Like, after a meal? If you're 120? And your sisters? 170? Is there any part of you? It's I one?

Bella Krueger 1:12:51
Oh, yes. Are you constantly canceling all the time? Like, it'll be like, Oh, well, my sugar is better than yours, or well, and I Oh, and we oh, the worst is when we go get coffee together, because we all get different coffees. And then we have to like carb, count them or whatever, you know, and then it's like, oh, well, who got the most unhealthy coffee, and then whose blood sugar is going to be the worst from it. And who has given themselves the most insulin for it? Like, it's all these? I hate that. I hate that about every like, you know, like, that's what is toxic about diabetes. And it's not talked about enough.

Scott Benner 1:13:27
So the part of it that is a little like, I guess just naturally competitive. You don't like that part. Like it's not fun to you. It's, it's

Bella Krueger 1:13:37
I think it's fun with sugars, like with our blood sugars, kind of, to a certain point where it's like, we're just having fun with it. But then I think a lot of like, especially if you people in my family, like are a little bit more sensitive. So I think I see the different person, like the carb counting can get a little sticky. Okay.

Scott Benner 1:14:01
Oh, that's interesting. So different personalities in the same situation. Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Bella Krueger 1:14:06
That makes sense. And I think I mean, I think that's a whole I mean, problem with diabetes in general is like, especially with, like, eating disorders with girls who get type one, two, it's just like, the whole the whole carb County and I think brings in this bad connotation that needs just to be so positive. There's nothing bad about it. But

Scott Benner 1:14:33
if for some people it's that's just a whole nother thing. Yeah. All right. Well, I had a really good time talking to you. I hope you enjoyed this. I did good. Good, because it's it's kind of crazy. And I and I appreciate you sharing everything with me very much. Do you guys will you be able to get home for Thanksgiving?

Bella Krueger 1:14:53
Are you Yes, I'm actually I'm gonna head back today. Yes, this morning right after

Scott Benner 1:14:58
my son surprised this last night. We expected him today. And oh, and I walked downstairs last night. He was just standing in the foyer. I was like, Oh my God, oh, I cursed. I actually walked downstairs and it took me It shocked me. I was like I said, What are you doing here? And he's like, what? I was like, I thought you're coming home tomorrow. And I don't know, it just it was such a nice surprise. So that's so sweet. I bailed on all my plans last night and just sat in the living room with them and hung out with them. So Oh, yeah,

Bella Krueger 1:15:27
that's what I'm so excited for just like go home and sit and just talk for hours.

Scott Benner 1:15:32
But when you get home, tell everybody that I said, I think it's a it's really amazing story. And no kidding. Like, I tell your mom to email me.

Unknown Speaker 1:15:40
I will. I will.

Unknown Speaker 1:15:41
Yeah, that's, it's

Bella Krueger 1:15:42
really, this was a great opportunity. Thank you for letting me come on here.

Scott Benner 1:15:47
I really appreciate your time I really do.

First, let's thank Bella for coming on the show and sharing her family story. And then let's thank Dexcom, makers of the Dexcom G six continuous glucose monitor. And don't forget about that Hello Dexcom program where you can try the Dexcom G six. No, for like 10 days. Go check it out. And that Omnipod promise you don't I didn't tell you about throwing the Omni pod today, you may be eligible for a free 30 day trial of the Omni pod dash. Now you're going to go look alibaba.com forward slash juicebox. Don't forget to take that T one D exchange survey T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juicebox. I would like to thank you very much for listening and remind you that I'll be back very soon with another episode of The Juicebox Podcast, the Juicebox Podcast. Yes. Thanks so much for listening. Oh waka waka waka Goodbye. Hey, now, neither of our nerves then do b Do not forget to stay out of debt. I just thought I'd throw a tiny bit of Hamlet in there for you at the end. Hark. What light through yonder window breaks? Actually, I think that's Romeo and Juliet. Right? Yeah. How what's the one with the like? The guy that screws over the guy, right? But a stab, stab, stab, stab, somebody stab at everybody for all right, I gotta go. This has gotten off the trail. You don't mean like I'm pretty far from where we started. In other words, I think something's rotten in the state of Denmark. Before I go, let me just say if this is your first episode, please subscribe and follow the podcast app. And if the last couple of seconds didn't make you want to listen because you think I might be unstable. I understand.