#1646 Engineering Mind
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An engineer dad shares his daughter’s type 1 diabetes diagnosis, his data-driven approach to mastering management, and how technology, persistence, and the Juicebox Podcast transformed their journey toward independence and control.
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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 back to another episode of The Juicebox podcast.
Mitch 0:14
Yeah, my name is Mitch. I'm the parent, caregiver of a type one diabetic, and I'm 48 years old, and I'm from Illinois.
Scott Benner 0:24
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Speaker 1 2:29
Yeah. My name is Mitch. I'm the parent, caregiver of a type one diabetic, and I'm 48 years old and I'm from Illinois.
Scott Benner 2:38
Mitch, are you the parent, or did you mean to use the word caregiver, and then was disappointed in yourself when you said
Speaker 1 2:44
parent? Well, no, I'm the parent. I'm her father, and I used to be her caregiver, but now she's 18 years old and started college, so you know, I'm there when she needs me.
Scott Benner 2:52
I understand. I understand. So you're always going to be her parent, but you're starting to feel like maybe you're not as involved in the diabetes stuff.
Speaker 1 2:59
Yes, yeah. How do you feel about that? You know, it was, it was, it was different, because I was very, very involved. In the beginning, my daughter was diagnosed August the eighth of 21 was very much involved for until, you know, for the first couple of years, she very, I mean, in the beginning, she quickly learned. It didn't take too long, but so you know now that she's at college. You know that was nerve wracking for me, but she's doing very, very well. Had a little bit of a hiccup earlier this week. Never happened before. Waited too long to change her pod. Blood Sugar got really high, and I called her and she didn't answer because she was on hold with her local children's hospital with her Endo. So that made me very proud that she took care of that herself and talked to the nurse very quickly got it back down. But yeah, she's she's doing a great job. That is awesome. What was she about? 14 or 15 when she was diagnosed? Yeah, she was 14. Do you have other kids? I do. I have an 11 year old son? Anybody else have autoimmune stuff going on in the family? Yeah, I've been thinking about this this morning. My ex mother in law has some thyroid issues, but when this diagnosis happened, I just never dreamed that it would be type one, because we, we don't have any of that in our family. Yeah, you hadn't seen type one before. Just hadn't seen type one. I thought that, oh, she can't be diabetic because she can't be a type one, because we don't have that in our family. I didn't know that, you know, spontaneously it happens,
Scott Benner 4:28
yeah, or that maybe auto immune stuff travels in families too, yeah. And everybody gets a different thing. You know, your ex, mother in law, how long have you been divorced? Tomorrow actually, will be three years. Oh, do I congratulate you? Are you sad? Which would you prefer?
Speaker 1 4:43
Either way, it's fine. So So think things, things are going great. So it was not, not expected, but it happens.
Scott Benner 4:51
So you got, I'm sorry to ask, but your your marriage broke up soon after your daughter's diagnosis.
Speaker 1 4:57
It actually did. So she was diagnosed in. August of 21 and we separated in February of 22
Scott Benner 5:05
in July of 21 did you have any inkling that you might not be married anymore soon?
Speaker 1 5:10
You know, we were having, definitely having some issues, but didn't really think that that was going to happen.
Scott Benner 5:15
No, okay. Do you think that did? I hate to say this, but like, because I'm not blaming your daughter. But do you think that the diabetes made things I don't know worked as an accelerant on your issue, or do you not see them as related?
Speaker 1 5:28
I would say accelerant probably not, not necessarily the the actual diabetes per se. But you know me being the primary caregiver, lot of lack of sleep in the beginning. I'm an engineer, so I dug deep into this disease and said, I'm going to figure this out and spend a lot of nights, you know, watching the Dexcom understanding, you know, when this thing first started, being an engineer, I wanted to know, how quickly can the blood sugar drop, you know, how quickly can this happen? You know, I'm watching a trend curve. Even before we had the Dexcom, I was writing stuff down, you know, writing numbers down and visualizing, making your own chart, yeah, trying to make my own chart. Yeah. Before I even knew what a Dexcom was, and I got a Dexcom, I was like, Oh my gosh, this is amazing. How in the world did you know you like, you started out when Arden was so young? How? How in the world did you survive without this thing? Yeah, yeah. So there was a lot of sleepless nights, a lot of honeymooning. There's no way you can really figure out honeymooning. But and then we were on Lantis before we got on a pump. And she was very active. She was in volleyball and competitive dance, so that was a constant challenge. Yeah, yeah. So during
Scott Benner 6:39
covid, I did group zooms during covid that were huge, like three, 400 people. They acted like, like an AA meeting for people with diabetes, almost, is what it felt like. Sometimes, I don't know why. Like, during zoom people were very cool, like, nobody wants to do that anymore, which is fine. But anyway, the point of it is, is that there was this woman on that would come up every week, and she was really struggling. You could see people trying to help her. I tried to help her. I tried to help her like everybody was trying to help her, but she didn't have a CGM, and she kind of couldn't imagine everything that was going on. So I had her make a plot like I had her plot out her blood sugars. Then I was like, Okay, now just draw a line from the one on the left to the next one on the right and keep doing that. And I said, it's not exactly like a CGM, but here's the basic idea of what's happening to your blood sugar. And just seeing those lines like, oh, it was raising up. Here it was coming down. Here, she was, like, two weeks later, doing so much better. It was really and you're like, you listen, you've said twice, I'm an engineer. The first time I thought you were gonna say, I'm an engineer, I'm difficult. That's how I ended up divorced, but,
Unknown Speaker 7:38
but I'm definitely difficult,
Scott Benner 7:42
all right. But instead, you know, you were like, I'm gonna try to figure out how the insulin works. And I thought that was pretty brilliant. Like, you know, like, let's first understand the action of this thing so that we can I'm assuming your thought was, once I understand what it does, I'll learn how to stop it from doing it, or make
Unknown Speaker 7:57
it do it. Yes,
Scott Benner 7:58
yeah, that's brilliant. Yeah, very good. Yeah.
Speaker 1 8:00
Because when I learned, when they explained to me, honey, of course, I had all these terms thrown at me when this first happened, and they're honeymooning. And I mean, you were mentioned. I said, you need to get on the Juicebox podcast. I wasn't really a podcast guy. One of the nurses at our Children's Hospital recommended that, and I thought, man, I've got to get on here, because I've got so many questions. And these people, these doctors, these nurses, they don't have time for this, yeah, and I want to figure this thing out. And, and I remember the first time I got the Dexcom, and I started watching every five minutes or whatever. And I'm like, okay, so because my earliest fear was, you know, how fast is it going to drop? You know, because you know that you're afraid of getting too low, and how fast is going to go up anyway. You know, there was, there was a lot to figure out, a lot of research, because I knew about type one. I had a very basic understanding of it, but not enough to I remember even thinking, before she got diagnosed, I thought, oh, I should, like the night before, I should test her blood sugar, and then I would wake up the next day and forget about it. And, you know, I wish I would have done that earlier, because, you know, when she was diagnosed, her a 1c was 15, and she was in severe DKA, it was not it was scary.
Scott Benner 9:11
But, yeah, if you're thinking before someone tells you she has diabetes, and you told me you didn't think it could be diabetes. What was happening to her? How long was it happening that you actually thought like I should get a meter.
Speaker 1 9:23
You know, August, the eighth Sunday morning. That's when I took her to the ER that summer. I mean, I mean, even as early as the early part of June, and I didn't suspect anything in June, but she was losing some weight, not June, I guess she wasn't. But In June she she went on a trip with her mom. They went to, like, several beaches around Florida, and every time I was talking to her, she's like, Oh, I I've been taking lots of naps, and you know, we have to stop, and I have to stop and pee regularly. And I'm like, Oh, wow. You know you're finally drinking more water, because I I push water on my kids all the time, even before this, even before. Diabetes, okay, well, she's, she's drinking water like she's supposed to, and she's losing some weight because, you know, she's, she's getting older. Well, then practice started, and early June, after she got back from her trip, she had to go to volleyball practice, volleyball conditioning at like, 8am at the high school. And she did that for like, an hour and a half. And then she had an hour break, and then she had competitive dance practice for like three hours, and then she had a couple hour break, and then she had full on volleyball practice for like two hours. Wow. So you know, she was doing all this exercising like she's never done before. She was losing weight. I didn't really notice her losing weight until maybe around mid June to July, and she'd already lost some weight, even before then some and I just thought it was, you know, she's getting older. This is just part of it. She's getting taller.
Scott Benner 10:50
She's your oldest, right? So this is your first experience with all this, right?
Speaker 1 10:54
Yeah, absolutely. And I always thought she would be the healthy one. I mean, had issues with my son, other other issues with eyes and whatnot, and, well, this is my healthy one, because she she really doesn't get sick very often at all, and still doesn't get sick very often. You know, the all the practices are going on, and maybe a couple weeks before practice start, our IHS a dead week at the high school where they don't have any practice except for band stuff. And I remember her in the refrigerator late at night, and she just kept going back and forth the refrigerator. I got up and I said, and she was drinking milk, and I said, I said, Are you do I need to make you some food or what? She's like, I'm just really hungry and thirsty. I don't know what's going on. I'm like, well, you're doing all this exercise. Did you eat much today? And she said, Well, I got kind of nauseated at volleyball practice, and so I didn't eat a whole lot, so maybe that's what it is. Well, then I remember hearing her pee from all the way across the room, you know, she had the door shut, and I'm like, holy cow. You know, that's the one time where I thought, you know, maybe, maybe I should get a glucometer and see what her I didn't even know it was called a glucometer, but, you know, see what her blood sugar
Scott Benner 11:59
is because of the of the noise from the urination, like, because she was, it was so much, yeah,
Speaker 1 12:04
it was just so much volume, and she was, she was drinking, you know, she was drinking a lot. And then I remember maybe 30 minutes later, she got in, peed again. And I remember at that moment, I thought, oh yeah, the trip. I remember she said she was urinating a lot. So this is, like, the week, maybe the week before she started getting sick. Like, I really started noticing her getting sick. And she wasn't really sick up until then, but once in a while she'd say, Oh, I got nauseated at practice. I thought I was going to throw up. I said, Well, were you running? She said, Yeah, I was running, which I didn't even know vomiting was a symptom of type one. And then, you know, once that IHSA dead week got there, well, she stopped all of our exercise, and she went to band camp, and that's when she got sick. Okay, like, I remember that Monday band camp started, and she was okay, but then Tuesday she started, she's just like, I don't feel good. And I thought, Man, she's really lost some weight. You know, there was no, like, vomiting at that point because she wasn't as active. I'm assuming, you know, all the activity stopped, and then her blood sugar just spiked, I'm assuming is what
Scott Benner 13:05
happened. It's a reasonable thought, I mean. And then you're saying, by the time you got her to the hospital, she was her a 1c, was 15. This episode is brought to you by Omnipod. Would you ever buy a car without test driving at first? That's a big risk to take on a pretty large investment. You wouldn't do that, right? So why would you do it? When it comes to choosing an insulin pump, most pumps come with a four year lock in period through the DME channel, and you don't even get to try it first. But not Omnipod five. Omnipod five is available exclusively through the pharmacy, which means it doesn't come with a typical four year DME lock in period. Plus you can get started with a free 30 day trial to be sure it's the right choice for you or your family. My daughter has been wearing an Omnipod every day for 17 years. Are you ready to give Omnipod five a try? Request your free Starter Kit today at my link, omnipod.com/juicebox Terms and Conditions apply. Eligibility may vary. Full terms and conditions can be found at omnipod.com/juicebox find my link in the show notes of this podcast player, or at Juicebox podcast.com when you think of a CGM and all the good that it brings in your life, is the first thing you think about. I love that I have to change it all the time. I love the warm up period every time I have to change it. I love that when I bump into a door frame, sometimes it gets ripped off. I love that the adhesive kind of gets mushy sometimes when I sweat and falls off. No, these are not the things that you love about a CGM. Today's episode of The Juicebox podcast is sponsored by the ever since 365 the only CGM that you only have to put on once a year, and the only CGM that won't give you any of those problems. The ever since 365 is the only one year CGM designed to minimize device frustration. It has exceptional accuracy for one. Year with almost no false alarms from compression lows while you're sleeping, you can manage your diabetes instead of your CGM with the ever since 365 learn more and get started today at ever since cgm.com/juicebox, one year, one CGM. Yeah.
Speaker 1 15:18
So Saturday, Saturday night, I remember, I took the family out to Joe's pizza, and she didn't really eat much, and she got done, we were coming home, and her respirations were fast, and she was sitting in my passenger seat. My wife, at the time, was driving our son. We were in separate vehicles. And I said, Why are you breathing quickly? And she still hadn't had covid at this point. And I thought, Well, is it difficult for you to breathe? And she said, No, I just can't really get my breath. And she was breathing fast. And so we got home, I did a covid test on her, I said, I checked her fever. She didn't have a fever that Saturday morning, she had woke up and she looked really swollen in her face. There was two things going on. She looked really solemn in her face. She felt terrible. I said, you have a sinus infection? She said, No, but I fell asleep first. She had a bunch of friends over Friday night, and Saturday morning she woke up and said she fell asleep first. I'm like, okay, so then I'm really watching Saturday night. You know, she's doing the fast respirations. I look at her arms, and her arms have like purple splotches on them, and and I said, Wow. I said, I said, How long have that? Has that been there? She said, why? I don't know. I just noticed it. And I said, Wow, you look really skinny. She said, Yeah, I'm eating plenty, but I'm not feeling good at all. And anyway, so we got home and we talked. I said, Okay, if you're not better tomorrow, I said, we're going to go to the ER. And she woke up the next morning and she had the splotches even on her legs, and she said, I just feel there's something wrong. I feel absolutely horrible. And so I said, All right, get you a drink. Well, she grabs a quart of regular Gatorade. And, you know, like full sugar Gatorade. And we had to head to the ER and, you know, just by chance, I went to the the smaller hospital that is less crowded, and we get there, and they take her back immediately, and I go in to see the doctor, and doctors, like, ask her some questions. He's like, two minutes, and he's like, okay, you know your name is Mitch. I said, Yeah. I said, Give me about 15 minutes. I really think I know what's wrong with your daughter, but I'm not going to say anything until we run sometime. We run some tests. You know, 15 minutes. He comes back and he's like, Well, I got one more test to run. First of all, she's positive for mono, he said, but I don't think that's the problem. He said, There's definitely something else here. I'm waiting for about another five minutes so she's positive for mono. He comes back and he says, you know, your daughter's a 1c is 15, and her blood sugar is 610, he said, your, your daughter is a type one diabetic. And I'm like, wait a minute. I mean, this is the model, right? Doesn't the model somehow affect the pancreas or something? You know, this is temporary, right? He said, No, no, your, your daughter's a type one diabetic. He raises up the sleeve of his shirt and he says, And he points to his Dexcom. He says, I'm a type one diabetic. He said, I've lived a normal life. I'm a doctor. He said, Your daughter is going to live a normal life. Everything's going to be fine. He said it's going to be a big adjustment for a few months. But you know, you guys can do it. Which Children's Hospital Do you want me to have come and get her? He said, Because she is in severe DKA at this point, she was kind of not really lucid. She was a little bit out of it, not just really not present. You know, she was awake. He was very concerned. And we picked the hospital that we had experience with. The team came, and I remember they had her take a potassium pill because her potassium was way low, because she was, I guess, severely dehydrated. Was terrible at swallowing pills, and swallowed this big, giant pill. You know, she actually swallowed it, and she remembers that. But anyway, I just, I thank God that we ended up going to that hospital, because usually people don't go to that hospital. And you know, I heard this podcast she did the other day of the kid that the hospital didn't recognize that he was a type one and sent him home. And even checked his blood sugar, and it was like 500 and they sent him home anyway. But you know, I'm just so thankful that this guy was a type one, and he was there to tell me at the time, hey, I'm a doctor, you know, she's gonna live a normal life. You know, I worry about people that don't have that, you know, and or they don't have a doctor, like we did at Children's, that said, Oh, you need to find the Juicebox podcast. You need to listen to that guy. Because, I mean, you, your podcast saved me. I mean, without having that source and that, you know, that information, I wouldn't have had somebody to answer all my questions. And you know, you did all the special series that the name escapes me right now, but I appreciate it serious, but anyway, Oh, great. Thanks to you, and you know, great, thanks to the god how the diagnosis came out. Because if I'd gone to a hospital that didn't have a type one, who knows what would have happened,
Scott Benner 19:54
but I sat a little, I mean, they would have, I mean, something would have gotten figured out. It sounds like she was really at the end of the. Did they give you an idea how much longer she would have been conscious?
Speaker 1 20:03
They said it was, it was one of the it was a pretty, pretty severe case. They told me what her, you know, the the pH of her blood was, or whatever that number is. And I remember they said it was in the severe level, like it was below. It was in the acidic side. And but the good thing is, you know, he got her on the right, you know, he got her on insulin and dextrose or whatever, right then. And then we got her to the hospital, and she was only in the hospital for three days, and then after the third day, she still had some ketones. And she's like, how do I get out of here? And they're like, just keep drinking water. Keep drinking water. She said, Because they said you're not going to get out until your ketones get into the small range. So she's like, I want to go to school tomorrow, because it was her first day of high school. She was gonna be a freshman, and so we got out of there, and she ended up making it to her first day of high school, even after being in the hospital for three days.
Scott Benner 20:53
So quite a turnaround. I was sitting here wondering how long she was then, because of all the different test results, and how long far along she was. It's even like striking as you're telling the story. And I'm sure you've been over this in your head 1000 times, but purple welts, significant weight loss, urinating strangely and constantly falling asleep all the time doesn't feel well, blah, blah, blah. Like if I walked up to you right now and said, Hey, I'm around another human being and listed all those things. What do you think I should do? You would say, I think we should take them to the hospital. Yeah, yeah. And, but when it's happening to you slowly, like that, it doesn't occur that way, the Kuzma respirations at the end. Like, I've been emotional since you brought that up, because I am sitting here right now and, like, clear as day in my head. I can see my, you know, my now 21 year old daughter as a two year old. I can see her laying on my wife's lap and breathing like that. Oh, really, yeah, just as clear as day. And I remember sitting there, not like, until it struck us what was wrong with her for the week before that, no one said, like, that's weird. You know what I mean? Like, she's acting, all we would say was she seems like she doesn't feel well, yeah, you know. And instead, she's dying, like, literally, Oh, yeah. And you're just like, Huh? That's interesting. And it just, it's weird how it never, I don't know, I don't know what that is about us that we I have so much hope, and the body's so resilient. Like, think of all the things that are happening to your daughter are happening to my daughter while they're being diagnosed, before they are and they just, they keep going. You know what I mean? Like, it's pretty fascinating. Honestly, Wow, you did a great job, man, getting working through all that. Were you by yourself in the hospital that night? Or was your son and your and your ex there as well?
Speaker 1 22:40
My wife, at the time, was there. I took her Sunday, and we had a family group chat. I'm like, okay, she's a type one, you know, at the time, I told my wife at the time, I said, pack a bag. Pack my bag. You know, they said we're going to be gone at least three days to children's, you know, the the emergency, I mean, the the ambulance from children's was coming to pick her up and and then my ex wife's like, oh, wow, the ambulance is coming. I said, Yeah, it's bad, yeah, because I told the doctor. I said, Well, can I just drive her there? I said, it would be quicker. And he said, No. He said, You're not driving her there. He said The ambulance is going to come and pick her up.
Scott Benner 23:14
Yeah, we need somebody with her constantly that can save her life, in case this goes the rest of the way south,
Speaker 1 23:20
yeah, yeah. And, you know, if, if she hadn't been in in dance and in volleyball and pre practices a day, and then if she hadn't got mono, because the mono is what really got me looking at her, because her face was swollen, and I'm thinking she had some kind of sinus infection. You know, all these things kind of came together to where we got her there on time. Or, yeah, it could have been,
Scott Benner 23:41
no, you did, yeah, well, it wasn't. And so there you go. That's pretty great. And she goes to high school. First day of high school, she makes it in.
Speaker 1 23:51
First day of high school, she makes it in, yeah, doesn't have the Dexcom yet because, you know, this is day four, and I'm already learning about, you know, I've listened to enough podcast where I've heard about 504 and I knew the nurse. I go to the church with the nurse. I'm like, you know, we got to get this started. Please tell all of our teachers. I'm trying to get a Dexcom. You know, you're going to have to help me convince her to check her blood sugar, you know, tell the you know, tell the teachers to watch out for signs. And fortunately, the nurse at the school. Her husband is a type one, so she knows quite a bit about it. So well,
Scott Benner 24:24
that's helpful. Yeah, keep running into type ones in very valuable situations. I mean, I heard in your voice how much it meant for you for that doctor to have type one and just to say to you, like, look me, I'm a doctor, I have type one diabetes, like, your kid will be okay. And, yeah, it's a big deal for you right there. Yeah, yeah, huge when you start digging in. First of all, thanks to whoever that. I mean, it's a pretty big Children's Hospital, so I appreciate that you guys are telling people about the about the podcast over there. I think I have a general idea of where you are. Somebody tells you about that, the words that I hear every day of my life. I'm not a podcaster. Person. But you know, you made it to it anyway, because you're looking for, I imagine you're looking for information. This person co signed on it, so you thought it was worth trying. Yes, yeah. So tell me about not just the podcast, but everything that you did in those first weeks to try to get your knowledge base up.
Speaker 1 25:18
Well, I mean, it started at the hospital. I mean, our hospital was, was great. They made us do the calculations. They had a they had a dry erase piece of paper that was laminated, and they said, All right, you're going to do the calculations. You know, we're going to do the carb counts for you. And they told me, they said, you know, you need to get on Calorie King, or you need to, you need to Google search and get used to counting carbs. And so they brought our food in, and they said, Here's how many carbs it is you do the calculation. Because before that, we had somebody come in with on a whiteboard and teach us the calculation, which, honestly, for me, I'm not. It's pretty simple for me, but it's not simple for everybody, and it's, I'm not trying to brag or anything, but I'm a math I'm kind of a math guy, right? So that part was easy, but then, so I did that. And then I'm, I'm thinking in my head, oh, so we've got to do a correction based on her current blood sugar. So I, you know, we have to finger stick her every time I'm hearing this word, you know, when they're going through they're talking about honeymooning. I'm thinking, Well, what if her pancreas kicks in, you know? So we're going to have to watch. How often am I going to have to check her blood sugar and and I still really haven't learned much about the Dexcom, but they're, they're telling me about it. So anyway, we do the calculation. They show me how to do the pin needle, and I'm, I've got to give her a shot the first time. And I'm like, No, I don't want to do this. This is difficult. My daughter's like, just stick it in my stomach. Just give me a shot. You're not going to hurt me. So fortunately, my daughter was fine with it. And so anyway, I gave her the first shot and and then, you know, all the teaching kind of ends, and I'm like, Okay, now what I do? And I remembered, you know, then a couple of the nurses saying, you know, because I'm asking all these questions, I'm asking so many questions that when the team of doctors came around the first time, there was like 15 doctors outside of her door, like, the next day, and they're Yeah, so I'm like, Oh, gosh. I said, What are you all doing here? So, well, this is unique case. You know, your daughter was pretty far gone, and she's making remarkable recovery, and so I'm asking these questions, and she's like, Oh, are you in the medical field? I said, No. I said, I helped my mom study for nursing, and I have an interest in it, but I saw all these warning signs, but I was too dumb to do a blood check, you know, or blood sugar check. I could have done this earlier. And that lead doctor says, Look, we have a dietitian here, and her daughter, the same thing happened to her. She was a dietitian, and she ended up getting almost to the point to where your daughter is. It happens. It's just, you know, anyway, so that helped, helped me kind of reassuring, yeah, it kind of helped me deal with that. But anyway, so, you know, I started looking at the podcast, and I went to the first episode, and I quickly found the Pro Tip series. And, you know, I just started going through the Pro Tip series, and you know, the words like Dexcom, and, you know, pump and basal and Bolus. And I started writing things down because I couldn't remember the difference between basal and Bolus. And, you know, me hearing your podcast helped initially talk to the nurses. Hey, how do I get a Dexcom? Because I remember, I watched, I listened to an episode and says, You got to get a Dexcom and a pump as soon as possible. And they said, Well, we're working with, work with you on a Dexcom, but your endo wants you to wait at least two months, three months to do a pump. And I'm like, three months, you know, I don't want to be on Lantus or this long lasting insulin. I said, we're getting ready to go home, and my daughter is extremely active. I've already learned enough to know that it's going to be difficult to control her with Lantus and honeymooning and being very active and, right?
Scott Benner 28:31
Yeah. And she's got all these different things that she does in high school too, yeah, right. So you're thinking about all that too. There's dance, and there's this, and there's, you know, volleyball and everything else. So you're on it right away. You figure out, like it's enough information that you can cobble together. What good questions they ask next? Is that good? Okay, all right, go ahead. I'm sorry. So yeah, about the Dexcom? Yeah.
Speaker 1 28:53
So, you know, I call, I remember I call the hospital. They tell me how to call the hospital, you know, after hours or before hours. I said, Look, I want to get a Dexcom. I was up late last night. You know, she's not sleeping as well because he had a low last night. Actually, we didn't get low early on, but they still had her kind of elevated early because they didn't know how, you know how much she was going to be honeymooning and all that stuff to you at that time, yeah, low to me was, you know, it's 90 and, you know, how low is this going to go? You know, I I'm not how often it's like 12 o'clock at night, how should I check her again at one? Should I check her again at two? You know, is she hype? Does she have hypoglycemic unawareness or all, you know, all these things are going through my head. So, anyway, so I called the nurse, and I said, Okay, we're going to try to get you a Dexcom. So they called my or they called it in. Well, my insurance denies it, and I call my insurance. Well, she's not been a type one long enough we need to make sure she really is a type one. I'm like, Okay, I know enough to know that this is a done deal. You know? You know she's this is not going to get better. Well, like two weeks goes by and I talked to a different nurse, and she's like, Okay, we're going to tell the. Insurance Company that she has hypoglycemic unawareness. Am I saying that? Right? Yeah, they do that process. And then I finally get approved to get a Dexcom. I have to go through a prior approval, and that was a nightmare trying to get things faxed. And then I finally get the Dexcom. In the meantime, I'm still listening to these podcasts. And then once I got the Dexcom, and I saw the numbers, like in real time, and the graphs, I'm like, I felt a lot better, but at the same time, the honeymooning thing scared me. And, I mean, there wasn't one particular episode that I remember, but I was just listening to it as much as I possibly could. And you and Jenny, and, you know, taking notes. And, you know, like I said, Without that, I see. So she was diagnosed August 8. That was a 15. I remember back in maybe March, she was down to 5.9 a, 1c by March, doing a lot of temp basal is with the Omnipod. For Omnipod dash, temp basal is we really understood that and and the good part of it was, it was a way for me to be able to communicate with my daughter throughout the day in high school, because, you know, she could keep her phone and I'd say, Hey, you're going up a little bit. That's at a temp basal. And she was fine to do it, and she did it, and she could see how it started to go down. And it got us a lot closer, because my wife at the time was very busy at work, and she knew that she trusted me to to learn it, you know, and so she kind of let me do that part of it. She still, still, still was there and still help, but I was the one that was
Scott Benner 31:30
learning. Yeah, and your daughter, seems like she picked up the mantle pretty easily. Like, is that personality wise? Not surprising to you.
Speaker 1 31:40
It really didn't surprise me. I figured she'd learn pretty quick. She's smart and she's very devoted, and I knew she would take it seriously. She didn't mind telling people. I'm not saying that's a bad thing if people don't mind telling people. I totally understand either way, but it just made it to where, you know, more people were aware at the high school, and more people were watching. We had trouble with the exercise in the Lantis, so I didn't attend practices, but I made sure I was at all the games coaches understood that even though there was a no eating policy, she was exempt from that until we got on the pump and then we could set a temp basal. I mean, that was a huge game changer, because, you know, we had to kind of estimate on Lantis based on ball games. And of course, we were adjusting it in the beginning a lot. I was calling, calling that the hospital a lot, which they were extremely helpful, helpful. And they still, they still are. I had trouble getting a pre authorization for a Dexcom, like, two years ago. So we're two years into this, and I had a manager at the hospital that, like, literally went downstairs in the dungeon and found an old fashioned fax machine to fax to my pharmacy company. At the time, my pharmacy provider and Mike spent the whole day trying to get this pre authorization so that we could get our Dexcom filled on time. But so we had, we had a lot of help.
Scott Benner 32:55
People helping. Yeah, two questions, how long did it take to get the Dexcom, and then how long did it take to get the pump?
Speaker 1 33:01
You know, I should have researched that exactly, but I'm going to guess, to me it was probably it really wasn't too bad on the Dexcom. I mean, it seemed like forever, but I'm thinking, and I looked in her log book, I'm thinking around four weeks to get the Dexcom, but I tried to get the Dexcom right away. And I remember the insurance saying, Oh, well, she's not been a type one long enough you're not going to be able to get that. And even some of the hospital people said, No, it's too early. And of course, I'm blessed with really good insurance, and I think it was around three weeks where the hypoglycemic un awareness went in, and then then the pre approval, pre authorization took, like, a week, and then, so I think it was around five weeks, yeah, and we went to see the endo after a month, maybe it was every two weeks, and then a month, and I said, Hey, I'm ready for a pump. And he's like, No. He said, You need to keep doing, you know, manual injections. In case you're not able to get pumps. I'm like, Look, we're experts at manual injections. You know, she's extremely active. Lantus is driving us nuts. Yeah, I think it was around two months, and we got the and we went right to the Omnipod, which I'm so glad we did, because I've got some friends, and, you know, they're used to the pump. I mean, they're used to, like, tubes, tubing, you know, she's never had that. She's always been able to leave it on all the time and and, you know, doesn't get in the way of sports. Yeah, it works for glad we had your recommendation on that.
Scott Benner 34:22
That's awesome. Well, it occurs to me that because of the way you think and the way you process, and I'd like to understand, please understand, it doesn't have to be just from the podcast. I'd like to understand what information moved you along, like, as you were learning, like, what is it you figured out? How did you figure it out? How did you put it into practice? And then, how did you QC it when it was once you had done something?
Speaker 1 34:49
Yeah, probably the bump and nudge episode comes to mind because, you know, it's always the doctors say, Well, you got to do 15 carbs. And, you know, you do their 15 carbs. You wait, and then once you go up, then, you know, take some protein or whatever to help stabilize it. And I can remember texting my daughter and saying, let's try Skittles. You know, one Skittle has, what, two grams or something, okay, you know, she'd start to go low. And I'd say, Just take two Skittles and let's see what happens. And at this point, honeymooning is over this. I mean, we're like, three months in, probably, and we started just doing small amounts of sugar, rather than the 15 or, you know, the entire bottle of juice, or whatever, the bump and nudge episode where you went into that, that was a game changer, because the doctors are like, well, just shoot for a seven, a, 1c, and if she's a little bit high before she goes to bed, well, that's fine. But then I learned from you that maybe 180 is not the greatest thing, and maybe 15 carbs, maybe we could do less than 15 carbs and see what that does and what the Dexcom. I mean, you can, you can see it. That made a huge difference, just hearing you talk about, you know, really estimating the food and glycemic load of food, whatever episode that was. I mean, that was huge, because my daughter was a huge pasta fan, and we didn't even try Chinese food for quite a while. Of course, now she eats whatever she wants, not really, but, I mean, she'll eat Chinese food or pasta or whatever, but, and then, of course, your episode where you talk about, I remember the first time she had pasta, but I was already ready for the rise afterwards, you know, I was ready for this to affect her blood sugar for over three hours. And I can remember, we Bolus, and she ate pasta, and then it was, like an hour and a half later, and she started to go up again. I'm like, Okay, well, this is what they were talking about, you know, with the extra rise, yeah, and you know, knowing that that's coming, and just hearing for me, I like to be I like to know as much as I can, and to be familiar with it. It makes it easier for me to process and handle.
Scott Benner 36:53
So it's encouraging for me, because what I'm hearing you say is I learned about the tools I needed, and I learned how to be flexible around Bolus thing and food. I learned that, you know, I needed to understand how this insulin was affecting the food, how the food was affecting the insulin, so that I could put a little bit in here and a little bit over there and make it, make it balance out, instead of just wild swings and just go for higher, go for lower. I mean, it's the intention of all of it, and it's really great to hear that. That's how it struck you, even early on. Yeah, you know that's that's awesome. I was trying to share this without being too personal, but Arden was explaining. A friend of Arden's wanted to understand diabetes better, and so they were sitting together and spent like hours talking about it, and she got her friend to a good place of understanding. But prior to it, the friend had kind of tried to dig into it on their own, and said to her, so like, you know, you can't really eat a lot of different foods, right? Because, you know, this person trying to figure it out on their own, which is lovely. And Arden is retelling this story to us later, and she says, I said to the person, no, my parents just wanted me to be able to eat normally. And it's like, one of the first times I thought, Oh, wow. Like, I know it's just gonna sound strange, Mitch, but like, we really, really, genuinely do not talk about diabetes a lot here. Arden doesn't like talking about diabetes. Like, I don't, it doesn't don't. It doesn't make her upset, but, like, it's just not a thing she does. And it's been a focus of mine to know what we're doing, do it, make sure everybody's on the same page. But yeah, we don't want to be running around constantly yelling about type one and talking about it all the time. So it's, it's not much of a topic around the house. And to hear her say, not acknowledge like because I know she knows, but it was just nice to know that she was out in the world somewhere, and the message she gave to another person was no. My parents have been trying for a long time to make sure that I'm okay and can live a life that I want to live. And it was, it was really great. It was like such a like a split second. And I think my wife felt it too when she said it. But I don't think Arden knew she was saying something that made me feel so accomplished and warm, you know. So, yeah, anyway, yeah, your daughter's gonna, like, get that too. Because, I mean, the first thing you said about her, I'm gonna ask you how, you know, how's she doing, managing on her own? But, like, when you signed up to do this, you were like, look, she might be starting college by the time I record this. And you said, they're like, I'm nervous about this part of the journey. And then to be able to get on right away and say, look, she wrote her pump too long, her blood sugar got high, and before I could even get a hold of her, she contacted her endo to see what to do about it. I mean, that must have made you feel awesome. Oh, I did, yeah, yeah. It made me feel awesome. Like, I was like, Oh, that kid didn't just sit there going, like, I don't know what to do, yeah. And she also didn't, like, she didn't have that feeling of like, I gotta go up my mom or my dad to help me, like, I can, like, I could figure this out on my own. That's really pretty, pretty great. You know, it's a really motivated. A decision by her,
Speaker 1 40:02
yeah, I was, I was very pleased, and she did all that. And I'm like, Well, do you want me to I mean, she's only, like, she's less than two hours away. So I said, Do you want me to come over there? She said, No, I'm fine. I've got all this stuff to do. Gonna be just fine, and I'm okay. And I said, Okay, well, good. I said, I told her. I said, How proud of what I was ever that. You know what you just said? I called. I went to call and said, Oh no, I'm already on the phone. I'm like, I texted my fiance, and I'm like, hey, look, listen to what just happened. Because I was extremely excited about it, because, because of your podcast, we have had these conversations for a while, and I, you know, maybe a couple of years, I said, you know, you've got to tell your roommate about this. You know, I'll have to have any and even early on, when the first I remember the first time she spent the night with somebody, I said, I got to have phone numbers of some of your friends, you know, because at that time, she was having a hard time waking up. She would sleep through her alarms. And I'm like, I've got to be able to get a hold of your friends if there's more than one, or the parents. So I even, I would text the parents, hey, you know, this is Caitlin's dad. I might have to call you tonight if, if something happens. I never did, but you know, because of your podcast, I remember episodes where, you know you had conversations with her friends, or Arden had conversations with her friends. And I just think that's very important, because I'm sure there's parents out there that send their kids over there, and then they know that they're low and they're like, oh my gosh, what do I do? They didn't think about that.
Scott Benner 41:26
Yeah, the pre planning is important. Yeah, yeah. Also, everyone listening, you should be listening to the podcast the way Mitch does. You're just Mitch. You're making my day. You're not regurgitating the entire episode, right? You can't even tell me exactly what the this makes me feel really good, the Pro Tip series, like you didn't, it didn't actually even pop in. You're like, Oh, what's that thing called? Yeah, maybe it was this episode. And you don't know the titles of them, but you have the information. Like, that's to me, is perfect, like you, it's how I think about it. Like, when you need to know something, you're going to have heard it before, and it's going to populate your brain while you're searching for data, like, while you're thinking, What do I do right now, there's a little unseen hand in the back of your brain, like, handing something up, going like this, think about this, and that's just fantastic. Like, I love that the podcast is working for you the way I intended it to and you and I don't think we probably don't have similar minds, you know, like, if you're in the engineering mindset, like, I don't have that and that my like, sing songy, talky thing stuck to you makes me feel really good.
Speaker 1 42:32
Oh yeah, I've enjoyed every one of your podcasts I can remember, just piggybacking on what you said. You said you can look at a plate and just tell how many units I can't even understand. I can't even understand. I can't even begin to process that, because I have to think very, you know, very methodically. Okay, there's this many carb I mean, I can look at a plate and guess the carbs pretty good, but I don't. I can't just look at a plate and say, oh, there's so many units. But I mean, when I I used to pack my daughter's lunches in high school every day, and so I would weigh everything, and not everything. I would weigh pasta. I would weigh pasta and rice. That's all I would weigh because I wanted her to have, you know, I didn't want her to have to worry about that. But the same time I told her his, I said, be mindful of how much I'm putting in there, so that, which I mean, and she's learned over the four years in high school that, you know, she can guess really good. But I've always thought it's interesting how you can just look at a plate. Oh, that's 10 units, or eight units, or six units or whatever. I can't do that. I, like you said, we think differently, but in that regard, but I'm
Scott Benner 43:31
kind of thrilled that you brought that up, because I don't know what everyone else does when they wake up in the morning, but like, I woke up this morning and I found myself contemplating how thinking works, I still don't get how. Like, my son is a great example, like, he's methodical the way he thinks through things. Like, I've said this on the podcast before, but my son went off to college, got a quantitative econ degree, and after a year of being out in the world, told us I should have learned how to code and bought a $350 online course, and seven months later, got a new job coding. Oh, wow. Had never done it before in his entire life. Actually, was not all that comfortable with computers before that. Wow. And I look at that and Mitch, I don't I if you gave me a lifetime to learn how to do that, I would not be able to do it, because I don't see pieces and put pieces together and build on them. Or however thinking works for him or for you, it doesn't work that way for me. I can't even explain to you that the things I understand I just look at and I understand them, and the things that I don't understand. I could stare at them forever and I don't know how to do the building block thing. Even to say I don't know how to do it, I think is false. I think my brain just does not work that way. As crazy as it sounds like, I'm flummoxed by algebra, you would never be able to teach me algebra. Never. Because I can't just look at it, and it just doesn't occur to me. But then something else will happen, something's broken, or something needs to be done. And it could be a big thing. It could be, you know, a nine step process. We just had a little part of our house renovated, you know, my wife's making lists about what we should do. And I stopped and I looked, I was like, No, we just have to do this, this, this, this, this, and it'll be finished. I think she's looking at me, like, where does that come from? I've been online researching this, trying to figure out all the steps we have to take. I'm like, Oh, it's just obvious. But it's not obvious to some people. And I'm gonna spend my whole life just wishing that some I don't care what it is, God, a book that we find buried somewhere. I want someone to explain that to me before we go. And I know I'm never gonna know, but it's just, it's very cool to see that your thought process and my thought process still mesh together in this, in this specific scenario, I feel warm about it, like it's okay, yeah, it's, it's terrific, good, and you're talking about it with her, because, you know, I've gotta, I gotta. I'm t minus three years here until she's gonna take off and go to college, and I gotta get all this into her head somehow. Does she think more like you or more like me? Probably, probably more like me. Okay, yeah. And how did you find I heard you say, fiance, you found a lady who jives better with the with the engineering mind. Yeah.
Speaker 1 46:20
I mean, I don't know if she would say that, but for some reason she's, she's crazy about me. I don't know why, but yeah, that's awesome. Good for you guys. That's great when you get married. Thank you. May of next year, congratulations. Yeah, thank you. Just got engaged a couple weeks ago on vacation, so
Scott Benner 46:34
that's lovely. Good for you. I want to pivot a little bit. We have a little time left in your note, you said that you started Zepp bound. I did. Yeah, can you tell me about how you got to that?
Speaker 1 46:45
You know, 20 years of failed diets, I've listened to every one of your weight loss diaries. When I started thinking about this, I listened to all your podcasts on GLP ones, and I talked to my doctor back in February. I'm like, I am. I'm ready to try this. I'm tired of failing diets. You know, it's 47 years old. My cholesterol was high. I was high risk. I weighed 260 pounds. I'm six foot one, and I, you know, you have, obviously it's been a game changer for you. I'll get into your episodes later. But My doctor was young, very understanding. Said, Yeah, let's give it a try. And I have good insurance, and I got approved, and a week later, I took my first injection. And people talk about the food noise. The food noise, for me, was loud. It was loud and it was silenced, I mean, and it's, you know, it's February, and this is August, and I'm down 36 pounds this morning, wow. And I've feel better than I thought I ever would. I never thought I would feel this
Scott Benner 47:48
good. And you're nowhere near it yet, and you don't even know really, that's the thing I've learned, having done this now for over two years, that every time there's like, a little milestone that happens, you're like, This, is it? Like, this, is it like, this is the best I've ever felt. It's the best I'm ever gonna feel like, this is awesome. And then 20 pounds later, you're like, Huh? Well, this is the best I've ever felt. I'm never gonna feel better than this. And then one day, you wake up and you say something to yourself, like I've said, which is, I'm now 20 pounds lighter than the number I imagined I should be. Oh, wow. And I'm looking at myself thinking, I'm not really there yet. You don't know where there is until you get closer to it. That's good. And you're going to be stunned how you look back a year from now. And think I remember when I was down 36 pounds, and I thought, My God, my life is better. And now six one and I weigh I mean, honestly, if you end up, I don't know your build, but if you end up somewhere between 192 five pounds or something like that, you're going to have lost 60 or 70 pounds, you know, and you're going to look at yourself and think, I do not recognize myself at all. And I didn't know. I had this thought constantly I was helping my she wouldn't mind. I was helping my sister and we'll all talk through this. Yesterday, I was trying to be, like, motivational to her, so I sent her a photo from Arden's high school graduation and a picture I took of myself the other day. And I was like, here, this is the same person. Like, that's where you're going to be. Just do it. Like, if you're lucky enough that this medication jives with you, right? She's like, What are your quick tips? And I said, If you can't, I said, if you can't take magnesium oxide until you do. And I said, and if you can't stop shitting, put your head down and push through it, because your body will get used to it at some point. Yep, just stay the course. And I'm like, You're gonna wake up a year from now and you're gonna weigh 50 pounds less. That's awesome. I spent an hour talking to her about all the stuff that might happen for her, and how valuable they'll it'll be if some of them happen, and how worth it it is to see if they happen like, you know. So just, you know, the weight loss. And she talked about the food noise too. Just always thinking about food. Or, you know, just constantly, like just being bothered in the back of your mind, like I should eat something, or I'm gonna I'm hungry when I'm not. And then I told her too. I was like, Look, until that food noise goes away, you have to want the medication to work. Make no mistake, you could eat through it. You could give yourself a stomach ache, and you could feel like crap and still get that food in. I was like, but just take the help it's giving you. You know what I mean, like, just try your hardest not to fight with it. So 36 pounds in six months is terrific. What level is that bound? Are you on right
Speaker 1 50:33
now? I'm still on the seven. Was it 7.5
Scott Benner 50:37
Yes, and you're losing weight still.
Speaker 1 50:39
I really need to up my dose. The problem is, my doctor has changed jobs, so he's not going to be my doctor anymore, and I haven't got a new doctor, and I'm supposed to get my refill tomorrow, and I really wanted to up my dose, because this is going to be my third month, and this month's been a little bit of a challenge. But at the same time, I want it to be a challenge, because I don't want to be, you know, I don't want to be completely spoiled by the medicine, because I still have to, I mean, it still takes effort, yes, yeah, still a lot of effort, actually, and but just not nearly what it used to be. I mean, it went from failed diet after failed diet after failed diet to the diet that actually works. And then you get some encouragement, and then you just keep going. And, you know, I don't know if you've done this early on, but every now and then I'll look down like, oh, I don't have this big, giant belly anymore. Sometimes I forget, yeah, or I'll see myself. I remember you said something about seeing yourself in the reflection when you were at an airport the other day your weight loss diary. And I've done that before. I've looked over there. I said, my gosh, I can't get over how much weight I've lost, or the episode where you talked about, you know, your kind of emotional moment you have when you bought new clothes. And I thought, Gosh, I'm not going to have that, because I don't really care about clothes. And then when I actually was able to go from a 38 to a 32 waist size, and, you know, really a triple x to a single x to a large shirt, and I put my clothes on, I thought, well, now I understand what he's talking about, I actually care about what I'm wearing. I care about what kind of jeans I buy, what kind of shirts I buy. I mean, it was bothering me a lot more than what I thought it was, yeah, and you lie to yourself a lot. I guess that's what it was lying to myself for years
Scott Benner 52:15
to make it palatable. I don't care about clothing. I'm not a clothing person, because that's what I always said, Yeah, cuz I look like crap in them and, and I can't buy cool looking stuff, and I, even if I would, I would look dumb in it. Yeah, yeah. That, that vibe. So, oh no, no, no. You're having the whole experience. This is awesome, man, kind of, at the same time, I did, like, you know, my daughter left for college, and I was like, All right, like, I went to the doctor, and I was like, listen, I kept these kids alive for a long time. They seem to be on a good path, like, I think I need to save my own life now, you know. And you're doing you're doing something similar. You're ahead of me, man, by a number of years, so a lot of awesome time moving up and, you know. And I hear what you're saying too, about not wanting to rely heavily on the medication, like you still want it to be about your effort, too. And I've had that experience. You'll hear about it eventually, but I've had that experience in the last couple of weeks, because there was a week here, I don't know what happened, exactly like I really couldn't begin to tell you, other than I think that there was a buy one, get one free ice cream sale at my grocery store. Yeah, and I bought one for my son, one flavor he likes. And I was like, Oh, I like this one. I haven't had this in forever. And I bought one for myself. And as I was walking out of the store, I thought I would make this into an ice cream cone. I like the crunchiness of the waffle of the of the cone. I'm gonna get a cone. And then before I knew it, over the next seven days, I'd had three ice cream cones, and because of the medication, of course, I didn't gain any weight, yeah, but I was off track, and I realized that I was like, Oh my God. Like, this is how this used to happen, but I couldn't stop it before, like, you know. So instead, I was just like, Oh, okay. Like, I was able to, like, kind of collect my thoughts and say, Well, I'm not going to do that anymore. I was like, Oh, I'm going to go low carb for a few days to get this, like, you know, the sugar out of my system and all this stuff. And the impact from it, and the impact of it, is, I spent the first two days of eating low carb just peeing like crazy, because my body was already, like, retaining a bunch of water from, you know, just having a little more sugar in my day. And I was like, wow. Like, what would have happened without the medication back then is, I would have woken up seven days later and been five pounds heavier, yeah, and then that stone would have just started tumbling, you know, and instead, I put on a pound and a half, I was within my like, I have a little swing that I'm okay with. You know, while I'm doing this, instead, I put on a pound and a half, I was able to, like, focus on it and not be overtaken by the fact that the ice cream sale was probably still on, and I just stopped it. I was like, Oh, I'm gonna put a stop at this right now. Now it's a week later. I. You know, it's been a couple of weeks since the it's been a couple of weeks since the buy one, get one free, and I'm back my weights, back to where it was before I saw the ice cream sale. Nice. That's good, yeah. And more importantly, the next time the ice cream is on sale, I guarantee you I'm not gonna, like, get tricked into buying it. I'm just gonna be like, Oh no, I remember what happened last time. I'm gonna have enough clarity to remember and to act appropriately. Because, as I was standing in the kitchen, you know, seven days into it, with my ice cream cone in my hand at the end of the day, because I worked hard, damn it, and blah, blah, blah, I thought to myself, This ice cream is not more valuable than how I feel, how I look, how healthy I am, like, this is not as important as that. And I just didn't even finish it and I threw it away, and I was like, Okay, I'll stop that now. So anyway, that's all because of a GLP one medication.
Speaker 1 55:51
Seriously, it's amazing to me how it makes your brain make sense of that. Instead of your brain trying to find a way to talk yourself into saying it's okay to eat it, yeah, you know, yesterday I I ate with some of my good friends, or day before yesterday, I'm the only one at the table that had a Cobb salad with steak. And that never happened. You know, I would always get fried fish or a big, you know, cheeseburger with a giant bun, or I would get fried chicken wings or whatever. And I, actually, I'm sitting there. I'm like, Huh? I'm the guy at the table that was able to get a Cobb salad with steak and a vinaigrette dressing, and absolutely loved it. And I still fight with the urge. Once in a while I'll open up the pantry and I'll be like, like, I want to get something to eat. And I'm like, wait a minute, I'm not even hungry. Why am I doing this? It's just I'm still not quite out of that habit yet. Even though I'm not hungry, I just do that once in a while, not very often, but I'm able to say, oh, no, I don't need that so. Or have less of it. Yeah, yeah. Have less of it. Like you said, you know, you were able to eat two or three Eminem's. I'm when I'm listening that episode, I'm like, I can't eat two or three m&ms. I mean, if there's m&ms, peanut m&ms, I'm going to eat all of them. Yes, you
Scott Benner 57:01
know, until, until I'm eating the bag, and then that doesn't happen any longer. Or, you know, I don't know if you've had the experience where you're at dinner with a bunch of people and they comment that you're not eating very much. And I look down, and I've never said it out loud, and I never would, but what I think now is, no, you're eating too much. Yeah, I'm eating the right amount. Because look at my body holding its weight at the proper, you know, composition, yeah, yeah. And that's not a thing, because in the beginning, when they said that, I'd say, Oh, I know. I can't eat enough because the medicine stopping me. And I thought of it as the medication stopping me from the amount of food that I wanted to eat. And now I see it as the medication allowing me to eat the amount of food that I actually need. Yeah, yeah. You got to be in it for a while until you start seeing all the different little lessons that come from it. And still, you know, you have to deal with I saw somebody online the other day. She's like, Oh, that's that. That's just that medicine that stops you from eating. And I was like, Oh, you don't understand this at all. It's interesting, like, and how dismissive they were about it. And I still go back to what I thought in the very beginning, which is, what do you care? First of all, like, I'm overweight, I'm gonna have a heart attack, I'm gonna have a stroke, I'm gonna I'm not gonna live as long. What do you care how that doesn't happen to me? Like, I just need that not to happen, right? Like, what I don't what's your stake in this? That you want to be shitty about this when you're talking about it? And, you know, by the way, that person I saw the other day online, like, if their avatars and a clear representation of them, they're not a person who struggles with any of this, yeah, you know, so easy for you to say, thanks. You know, anyway, Mitch, this is really great, am I? Are we missing anything that we we haven't talked about that we should have anything you want to add?
Speaker 1 58:50
I don't think so. I just, I mean, my main purpose was just to share with you, you know, my daughter's diagnosis. You know, watch your kids. If you have an idea to check their blood sugar, just check it. And of course, you know, most people that listen to this are probably this are probably already past that, but, and then just how, how much I relied on your podcast, how helpful it was, not just for my daughter, but even for my weight loss now. So just a big, big thank you to you and what you've done. And you know, you you went through this with your daughter, and you said, oh, I want to start a podcast and think about how many. I mean, literally, I mean, I guess millions of people listen to this. You, you do a lot, and very much appreciate
Scott Benner 59:26
it. Thank you. It's crazy. We're getting, we, I, I'm getting ready to celebrate our the podcast, 20,000,000th download, wow, yeah, which is, which is really insane. Like, there's, you know, there's podcasts, like, don't get me wrong, there's, you know, podcasts, you know, in the top 1% they probably get, probably get 15 million downloads a day, you know, or whatever. But I'm really proud that something this niche spread this far and wide, because it's. Unheard of for a podcast about type one diabetes to reach 20 million downloads. It would be impressive if a podcast on type one diabetes was up for 10 years and had 2 million downloads. Like that would be impressive. It really, it really would be to say that there's 20 or that, you know, on any given day, the podcast is charting in like 40 some countries. Wow. It's really, really nuts. You know, it's amazing. And for you to come on and share your story with everybody listening is very generous, because the podcast obviously doesn't exist very long if it's just me here talking to myself, I appreciate you taking the time and sharing all this, and you really honored me by the way you spoke about how the podcast helped you. I am incredibly, incredibly proud of your daughter, even though I don't know her. I'm excited for her to to get going and learn everything. And I'm going to tell you right now, Mitch, that there are going to be things that happen over the next four years to college that are going to test everything, and you're gonna have to keep learning and adjusting and being gracious with your daughter. And there's a lot still coming, man. So I It sounds like you're ready for it, though.
Speaker 1 1:01:10
Appreciate that. I hope so. Hope so. I guess one other quick thing, now that you just did a conclusion, no, the first four months of this, you know, with my daughter in type one was very, very stressful, you know, three to four months. But you know, after that, it was just everyday life. So those of you out here that you know are really stressed out, I see it on your Facebook page, I try to comment when I can, you know, the first few months, you know, depending upon the caretaker's personality, as to how long that takes. But you know, the first few months are really stressful, and it seems overwhelming, but you know if, if you listen to the Pro Tip series and talk with your indo and make the changes, and it does get to where it's just normal, and I like what you said about making sure your daughter, you didn't focus on that, I did that too much early on, but then realized that That was a mistake and stop doing that early on. And you know, it makes, you know, rather than talking about diabetes every day, you just, it just becomes the new norm. So yeah, anyway,
Scott Benner 1:02:11
I'm really glad for you that that you were able to see yourself veering and and bring it back. And if I had anything to do with that being in the front of your mind. I'm really happy to know that.
Speaker 1 1:02:22
So, oh yeah, yeah. Definitely did a lot of episodes where you you talk about that.
Scott Benner 1:02:26
So awesome. I appreciate, man, and I appreciate that you kept listening to that you you know, some people just do the management stuff and they're like, hey, everything's great. And then they go away and don't, I think there's a lot to be gotten out of the conversations as well. So thank you. I appreciate you. Benner, listener, Oh, you're welcome. Enjoy it absolutely. Okay, awesome. Mitch, hold on one second for me. Okay, sure.
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