#1647 Grand Allegro
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Leslie shares her teen’s type 1 diabetes diagnosis and DKA, rapid self-management with Dexcom G7 and Tandem t:slim Control-IQ, ADHD challenges, camp chaos, and parenting tactics that build independence.
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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.
Leslie 0:14
My name is Leslie, and I am the mother of three boys. My middle one has type one diabetes, and he was diagnosed about a year and a half ago.
Scott Benner 0:28
When I created the defining diabetes series, I pictured a dictionary in my mind to help you understand key terms that shape type one diabetes management. Along with Jenny Smith, who, of course, is an experienced diabetes educator, we break down concepts like basal, time and range, insulin on board and much more. This series must have 70 short episodes in it. We have to take the jargon out of the jargon so that you can focus on what really matters, living confidently and staying healthy. You can't do these things if you don't know what they mean. Go get your diabetes defined. Juicebox podcast.com go up in the menu and click on series nothing you hear on the Juicebox podcast should be considered advice medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before making any changes to your healthcare plan. Us. Med is sponsoring this episode of The Juicebox podcast, and we've been getting our diabetes supplies from us. Med, for years, you can as well us. Med, Comm, slash, Juicebox or call 888-721-1514, use the link or the number get your free benefits. Check and get started today with us. Med, this episode is sponsored by the tandem Moby system, which is powered by tandems, newest algorithm control iq plus technology. Tandem Moby has a predictive algorithm that helps prevent highs and lows, and is now available for ages two and up. Learn more and get started today at tandem diabetes.com/juicebox the episode you're about to enjoy was brought to you by Dexcom, the Dexcom g7 the same CGM that my daughter wears. You can learn more and get started today at my link, dexcom.com/juicebox,
Leslie 2:12
my name is Leslie, and I am the mother of three boys. My middle one has type one diabetes, and he was diagnosed about a year and a half ago, a little more over a year and a half ago, three boys. What are their ages? They are 15. I mean, I'm sorry, 14, almost 16 and 17.
Scott Benner 2:34
That was interesting. You did them completely out of order. You were like, 14, 1517, that's interesting. Wait, from bottom to top.
Leslie 2:44
Oh, well, that's how numbers work, yeah, but
Scott Benner 2:47
that's not how people usually do it, though. That's what's interesting. Usually, when you ask people to list their kids, they start at the oldest and go backwards. Oh, and that interesting.
Leslie 2:56
I always in age wise, I always list them in numerical order, but their names are actually
Scott Benner 3:04
alphabetical, like, in age order, they're alphabetical, like, it's like,
Leslie 3:08
backwards. So my oldest is Elijah, middle, Ephraim, youngest, Levi. So it works, and they're okay. I'm their mom. I can say their
Scott Benner 3:16
name. I'm just saying that it's, I feel like we're gonna learn something today while you're talking, because I don't know, I just your brain works differently. Also, I think my brain totally works differently. No, it definitely does. So I think this will be fun. I was interviewing somebody the other day, and they're like, can, you know, can I make some observations about you? And I was like, Yeah, sure. She goes, You say interesting a lot. And I was like, Oh, that's interesting. Do I? And now I just realized that you said that, and it's the first thing. I thought, I need a better synonym. Maybe we'll come up with that later. The child was diagno The child was diagnosed over a year and a half ago, type one, yes, any other autoimmune in the family or other health issues.
Leslie 3:57
So my mom has a plethora of autoimmune she's got lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, children syndrome, probably other things I don't remember. I think both of my sisters probably also have fibromyalgia, and there's other rheumatoid arthritis in the family. There's probably other autoimmune but no other type one that I'm aware of.
Scott Benner 4:22
And do you have anything specifically? No, no, like, was it your entire life that your mom was struggling with different things?
Leslie 4:30
She I was probably a freshman in high school, so 1415, when she admitted that she had these things, but I think she was struggling with them for a long time before she told me, Oh, okay, Are you the oldest? I am the baby. So I was always protected from all the things
Scott Benner 4:50
I see. So admitted to you or admitted to everybody that she has stuff going on.
Leslie 4:54
I'm not sure if she told other people first. I mean, I remember as a little kid, you know, her back hurt. But I don't remember and I and she was a headache, mom, she got headaches, but I don't remember her being like sick. And then I remember pretty distinctly when she told me that she had lupus. We were on our way to church on a Wednesday night, and she told me she had it, and gave me a brochure.
Scott Benner 5:18
So your mom told you on the way to church that she had lupus, and gave you a brochure about it so you could study up about it.
Leslie 5:25
Yes, I love my mom so much. Mom, I love you. If you ever listen to this, she doesn't like to talk about the things, so it'll kind of be in passing, and then we can circle back later.
Scott Benner 5:36
What genre of religion? Catholic? We're just Christians, just not Catholic. No. Oh, that was so interesting. If you have any questions, please consult this pamphlet.
Leslie 5:47
Yeah, I think you know it helps, so she doesn't have to explain it. I don't know.
Scott Benner 5:54
Maybe you know it's funny, right? Oh, it
Leslie 5:56
is funny. It is absolutely funny. But how old are you? So I am, but you're not supposed to ask
Scott Benner 6:04
a lady their age. Fine. How old's your mom? I'm 45 okay. Your mom's in her 70s. Yeah, okay, well, it's just a different generation. I just think that that was probably her being very open.
Leslie 6:16
That's what it is. Yeah, with our boys, we are totally open about everything. Like, we don't hide stuff from them. We have been had open conversations about sex and, you know, just everything, to the point where they're like, Mom, do we have to talk about it again? Terrible. I'm like, I just want it to not be a thing.
Scott Benner 6:36
Well, you're doing the opposite of what your mom did, right? Yeah, yeah. I would have loved to have been there the day. Your mom was like, Do you have any questions? Have any questions about your front butt, Leslie, or whatever ridiculous term? She did not didn't even go that far, no.
Leslie 6:52
But I had older sisters, and they helped me with all that stuff,
Scott Benner 6:55
yeah, but who helped them? Encyclopedia Britannica, I have no idea.
Leslie 7:02
The library. I don't know, it's hilarious, but no, I mean, my mom is great. She's just of the generation that just doesn't talk about the things I think.
Scott Benner 7:11
No, I understand. Okay, so that's going on in your background. What do you notice about your son that gets you to the doctor first?
Leslie 7:19
So, oh gosh, there's kind of okay. So the interesting thing about Ephraim, that is my little type one. So the interesting thing about him is that when he was pink two or three, he was still a cute, little pudgy thing, and I was noticing symptoms of what I thought were diabetes symptoms. He was peeing all the time. He would literally get out of his bed in the middle of the night and go, you know, like, hang on the bathroom sink and try to drink from the faucet because he was so thirsty. He fell asleep in random places. Frankie and so I took him to our fabulous pediatrician, and she said, Oh, that does not, you know, sound like normal behavior. Of course. They tested them for UTI and everything, and they did a finger poke, and it was fine. Actually, I don't even know what the number was. I don't remember what the number was or even asking, but they told me it was fine and but she's fabulous. And she said, But I trust you, and I trust your mama gut, and if you would like, we can give you the option of doing the three hour glucose tolerance test. And I said, Yes, I want to do that, because I want to just make sure he's fine, right, right? And so we did that, and he was fine.
Scott Benner 8:33
Oh, you might have you caught it so early that, like, so
Leslie 8:37
I don't think it ever worked, right?
Scott Benner 8:40
Well, what do you think maybe, like he was honey mooning so hard that you just happened to pick a day where you went to the doctor, where his everything was doing what it was supposed to do?
Leslie 8:50
I don't know, but this kid, also, he was one of those who was super sensitive to food, and when he was hangry, he was super duper hang like hangry, or than hangry. And so just, you know, looking back, there were a lot of, I guess, maybe some, some signs, and then so fast forward. And I just thought he is diagnosed with ADHD, as am I, and another brother and his dad probably would be so fast forward to, he's 14, and Efrem had been, it was, it was very strange lead up to his diagnosis, but he had been, he just was a freshman in high school. He had quit his hobby that he'd had for five years, just overnight, just like went from I want to do this professionally to I never want to do it again. Then I said, Okay, that's fine, but you need to pick a sport or a club or something like you can't just, you know, you need to do something. Yeah. So he chose wrestling. And high school wrestling is crazy. They're insane. And so he joined this wrestling team. And of course, the workouts are crazy pre season. And. And so he was doing all of that, and he was absolutely miserable. He hated it. He was so tired. He came home and I was exhausted. Of course, they're always watching their weight, and right when the season started, he just came to me one night, at bedtime, he was like, Mom, I really hate it. I'm miserable. I really just don't want to do this. I'm so tired, it's awful. And I said, that's fine, yeah, just pick something else if you're that miserable. The season hadn't really started, so that's fine. Yeah? We picked the wrong thing. That's all, yeah, right. And so at the same time, this is important, his brother, his older brother, had joined the wrestling team at high school, and then his younger brother had also joined wrestling in the middle school. So everybody's weighing themselves all the time. And so this is around October, end of October, around Halloween time, that Ephraim quits wrestling. So he's been doing all this crazy physical activity, and he quits wrestling. And then, you know, it's the holidays and Christmas and all this stuff. And Ephraim is just drinking everything he could drink. Everybody's weighing themselves. And, you know, the other two are trying to cut weight for their weight class, or, you know, whatever they're trying to do. So everybody's weighing themselves. Never. Everybody's talking about, Oh, I dropped a pound, or I dropped an ounce, whatever. And Ephraim is drinking. And I didn't really notice how much he was drinking and eating until he was home from school for Christmas. And we had these, like glass bottles in the fridge with filtered water that would just fill up from the reverse osmosis, and he would drink them, and I'm and they were mine, and I said, that's fine, just refill it. But he never refilled it his 14 year old boy. And you know, we're just, we're doing Christmas everybody's being lazy. Everybody's eating junk food, whatever, whatever his brother goes up to. They went up to Long Island, I think, for a wrestling tournament that they left on Christmas Day, and then they came, come home on the 29th and we go out to dinner as a family to celebrate. He did great. And so the younger ones at a friend's house, and so the four of us go, we go out to dinner, and we're sitting at our favorite diner, and Ephraim said, Ephraim, he got like, two, two sodas before the meal even came, and he wanted to have a third. And I was like, No, dude, you need to, like, slow down and, you know, just wait, have a glass of water or something. And then I and said, Well, maybe you've been drinking so much you've messed up your electrolytes. And, you know, because I think that's a thing I don't know,
Scott Benner 12:32
start having the craziest ideas. You're like, you know what I think probably happened, your electrolyte balances.
Leslie 12:37
Well, I say that. And then as I'm sitting there, I kind of rewind everything, and I play back the past month in my head. We're sitting at this diner, and said, Oh my gosh, Ephraim, I think you have diabetes. We're going to check your blood sugar when we get home, because his dad is a type two, and so we had a meter, okay? And so he eats. We eat, and it's, you know, he eats giant burger and fries. And we go home, get him some full sugar Gatorade, of course. And then we check his blood sugar, and it read over 600 please seek medical attention. That's what his meter says. Oh, and I was like, that's gotta be wrong. Did you wash your hands?
Scott Benner 13:20
The last thing anyone says to another person before they're diagnosed with type one diabetes, did you wash your hands? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Leslie 13:27
Well, I mean, you know, Gatorade powder, you know, I don't know, so wash hands. Wait 15 minutes. Do it again. It says the same thing. And I was like, oh, you know. And in the meantime, I have gone to Dr Google, and he literally has every symptom. We did it a second time, says the same thing. I said, Ephraim, go brush your teeth. Go put on your sweatpants, because we're going to the hospital and you're not coming home today. Sure enough, mom was right. It was kind of funny, because in the meantime, my husband's meter is connected to, like, a teledoc
Scott Benner 13:59
thing. Yeah, the phones right there,
Leslie 14:01
and they're calling. They're like, Mr. Are Are you okay? You need to go to the emergency room. My son, we're on the way.
Scott Benner 14:10
It's like, the smoke alarm, or you have a company like, like, following it. They're like, you have to get out of the house. Yeah. So how long was this after the glucose tolerance test at the doctor's office?
Leslie 14:20
11 years. Wait, really? Yeah, holy.
Scott Benner 14:24
Wait, no, no, no. Wait a minute. How old's the kid?
Leslie 14:27
He was a toddler when he had the glucose tolerance test. No kidding, I
Scott Benner 14:30
didn't understand that aspect of it. He
Leslie 14:33
was a cute little baby. Oh my god, seven years later, I just don't think it. I think it. I don't think it ever worked. Right?
Scott Benner 14:39
You've been sitting around sneaky, waiting to be right about this for 11 years. Yeah, yeah,
Leslie 14:43
absolutely. Look at you. And it's funny when, when he so he had his Well, check a couple weeks after he looks like his regular check up after he was diagnosed. And we go in our pediatricians, fabulous. And I told her, I said I told you, I was right. She's like, I don't
Scott Benner 14:56
even remember what you're talking about. Like, well, listen, a decade ago, amazing.
Leslie 14:59
Oh, okay. She was fabulous. She's the best. Did she offer
Scott Benner 15:02
anything back on that when you were like, look, remember 11 years ago when I told you I think this kid had diabetes, and now today he actually has it,
Leslie 15:09
she said you were right. She said, It is, it is strange. And you know, things like this happen.
Scott Benner 15:15
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Leslie 17:56
I don't know like,
Scott Benner 17:58
I just think it went off and on. Like, I think maybe off and on, okay, because, like, using as an example, like his behavior, or like being hangry, was that constant through his life, or just, like, periodic
Leslie 18:10
there were definitely times when it was better than others. When he was more physically active, it was better, and I think that helped control blood sugar, but I don't know. I mean, you know, we don't know.
Scott Benner 18:22
I'm not making a pronouncement about I just think it's, I gotta almost say interesting. I'm just gonna say it anyway. Like, I think it's interesting to talk about. Yeah, to hear about it. Okay, so is this like, the chillest kid in the world. You're like, hey, go put some sweatpants on. You have diabetes. We got ahead and like, he's just like, all right, whatever.
Leslie 18:39
He really felt like crap. Oh, I am so thankful that I did not put him to bed that night. Oh, you wonder, yeah, for sure. Yeah, I am so thankful that I did not put him to bed. And I'm so thankful my family listens to me.
Scott Benner 18:51
You're lucky. You had a meter at the house. Honestly. Yeah, if we didn't
Leslie 18:55
have one, I probably would have told my husband to go to his mom's house because she has one. So, yeah, I would, I would have pushed that.
Scott Benner 19:03
How did he handle by the way, I think I know one Ephraim in my it's Efren symbols Jr. There's no other one.
Leslie 19:09
There's an actor. And it's funny, he said there's a Canadian actor, and his name is Ephraim Ellis. He's Canadian. I don't know if that's last name is Ellis. And then my son's middle name is Ellis, but he's totally not named after him.
Scott Benner 19:21
Sure, whatever, he's not. He's named after my dad. He's your dad named e no, Ellis.
Leslie 19:26
His middle name is Ellis. Yeah, gotcha. Gotcha. So, okay, so
Scott Benner 19:29
how does, how does Ephraim handle being diagnosed? What's the first couple weeks? Like he
Leslie 19:33
was really chill. It's funny, because, you know, when we were checking his blood sugar at home, it took my husband and I to, like, hold him down and prick his finger. He did not want to have anything to do with that. He was a kid who was really bad about needles and such. And it was a Friday night, and we came home on New Year's Day, which was a Monday, and by the time we got home, he was giving all of his own injections and doing all of his everything. Hmm. So he just, I guess he just figured he had to do it, and that was
Scott Benner 20:05
that, that's it. You don't know anything about diabetes going into it. So they give you good tools. Do you have to ask for them? If you have to ask, where'd you learn about it? Like, how all that?
Leslie 20:14
Oh, here's what happened. Our hospital experience was really fabulous. We are in a small coastal town, less than 10,000 people here, and so there's no Children's Hospital or anything. But when we got to the emergency department at our hospital, I knew one of the physicians, the one who actually triaged him, he knew her daughter from his previous hobby.
Scott Benner 20:40
You keep saying, previous hobby? What was he got? Gun runner?
Leslie 20:43
What? Efrem, I love you so much. He was a competitive dancer.
Scott Benner 20:47
Oh, I see what you're trying to save him. I got you. Yeah, he
Leslie 20:51
was very good. Wait, like, ballroom or, like, ballet, ballet.
Scott Benner 20:55
Oh, no kidding. Oh, good for him. But he burned out on that. He's like, That's enough of that.
Leslie 20:59
It is really hard for boys in dance, because there's they don't have, like the camaraderie that the girls have, and so it's kind of a fight the whole time to even have a dressing room.
Scott Benner 21:12
Sometimes you feel like you're like an afterthought at the events.
Leslie 21:16
Oh yeah, totally. And then when you do win an award, oftentimes they say, Oh, well, you just got it, because you're a boy, so it was a tough thing. And then you get people in your other life who you know, want to say this and that about a male dancer. And I think he
Scott Benner 21:32
just a lot from different angles, but he enjoyed the dancing.
Leslie 21:35
Yeah, yeah, he did, yeah. He's very naturally gifted.
Scott Benner 21:40
Okay, yeah. I mean, anyway, you just, you were so avoiding it on purpose. I was like, now I gotta find out what he's talking
Leslie 21:46
about. That's fine. I don't think any of his friends listen to this podcast, so it'll be
Scott Benner 21:49
fine. Listen, I make a podcast. It's not exactly the most masculine thing you've ever heard of in your life. Oh, cool, yeah. And I gotta, I gotta tell people all the time, like, what are you doing? Oh, my God, here. I make a podcast. And again, if you're telling somebody over 40, they're like, Oh, I didn't know you. Like, lived in your parents basement. Still, like, so it's, you know, it's not a ton of fun, but so I understand what you're saying, but Okay, I'm sorry. Met the person bump into the
Leslie 22:11
hospital experience was fabulous. Yeah, we knew the physician who was, who was triaging. I told her what was going on, and everybody's eyes just, you know, get really big. Because I said, well, our meter said it was over 600 and so they got their meter, and it also said the same thing, we also didn't have to wait. There were people in the waiting room, but because I told them what, I told them, we didn't wait. So apparently, our hospital does a decent job triaging. Okay? They pricked his finger. Everybody's eyes get big. They took us directly back to her room. We don't have a I guess there's a pediatrics unit at our hospital. I don't know what they do, maybe like appendixes, I don't know, but nothing big. He could not be treated there. They did get it started. So they contacted the closest Children's Hospital and contacted the endocrinologist on call, and she gave them the order. So they did start the insulin and everything at our hospital. So they got him, you know, hooked up to everything, you know, did all the blood work, got him hooked up to everything, insulin, potassium, whatever, fluids. And I'm sitting there, and I'm just my husband. I are pretty chill. I'm not a chill person, but I was chill about this. I don't know, I guess, because I knew, and he would come in and, you know, he told me that, you know, he most likely had type one diabetes. Of course, they couldn't tell us until antibody tests came back, like, for sure, for sure, but, and he was in DKA, and he kind of explained to me what that was and what was going to happen. And I was just like, okay, like, can we take him to the next hospital? Yeah? And they said, No, absolutely not. I said, Okay. I said, How is he gonna get there? And they said, well, the helicopter is gonna come and get him. And I said, okay, they thought he was in
Scott Benner 23:53
that much trouble, yeah?
Leslie 23:55
And it's the only, I mean, I don't think there was an ambulance to available, and it was just faster to get the helicopter.
Scott Benner 24:04
Did that seem like a, like an escalation of the situation, or do you think that it was just the smartest thing to do in that
Leslie 24:10
spot? Like, just the smartest thing to do? I mean, we just, it's a small hospital, and so they use the helicopters.
Scott Benner 24:18
Was your understanding of what was going on? Like, let me ask this a different way. Like, I'm trying to figure out if, like, you're like, okay, my kid has diabetes. I've kind of thought that for 10 years. It's been in the back of my mind a little bit. So, like, I'm not super surprised. You know, we're gonna go to the hospital, we're gonna do the thing. Whoa, a helicopter. Like, do you know what I mean, like, is, was there an escalation or in your mind, or not, really,
Leslie 24:41
yeah. So I did get, you know, I mean, I had, like, the mommy tears a little bit, but I wasn't, I was not freaking out. Okay, I sent my husband home because we were gonna have to drive, and the hospital is about almost two hours away, you know, because they told me that I couldn't ride with him, and I really, I didn't like that part. I wanted to be with him, sure. Yeah. So I said, Well, you go home and get some sleep, because you're going to have to drive, and I'll just stay here with him. And because they assured me that the transport people would tell them when they left the other hospital to come and get him, well, they didn't. Mostly they were just there. So I get a like, a nurse comes in eventually, yeah. And of course, they're checking vitals, and, you know, poor guy, you know, he's trying to get some sleep. And they come in, they're like, the helicopter is about 10 minutes away.
Scott Benner 25:25
Now we've got our quick turn. Now suddenly, like, here we go, right,
Leslie 25:29
you know, I call my husband, and I said, Come
Scott Benner 25:32
on, let's go stop sleeping. That part's over now. Yeah, you're
Leslie 25:36
done sleeping. He came, and then we drove there, and of course, Ephraim had gotten there, like, a full hour before we did. Yeah, the helicopter crew was, like, they were super cool. They were the coolest, like, big uncle dudes, I don't know, like, if you could think of a cool Big Uncle, that is what these guys were.
Scott Benner 25:52
Like, you didn't feel like he was alone because you were worried about him being alone for that hour. But you didn't like you felt like they stepped up in that spot.
Leslie 25:59
Oh, absolutely. Because so there were three of them, you like, a pilot, a co pilot, and a nurse, or medic or whatever, and they were all these big, burly, you know, mustached dudes. So they were, they were super cool. Ephraim thought they were cool. He's wanted to be like a paramedic his entire life, so he did think that part was cool. Yeah, that's so he was in pick you for about 24 hours, and then he got bumped down to a room, and then we did all the education and everything.
Scott Benner 26:26
So you feel like he translated or transferred from like, oh my gosh, you have to pin me down if you want to check my blood sugar, to taking care of himself pretty effortlessly.
Leslie 26:34
Yeah, really, when we got home from the hospital, we were doing the long acting injection. He wanted us to do that one, but he could have if he if he needed to, and then he was doing everything else.
Scott Benner 26:46
So in your note, you talk about wanting, like, talking about not being afraid. So he wasn't afraid, like, it was it you that was afraid.
Leslie 26:53
I don't I, gosh, I wrote that note so long ago, I don't remember what I meant. Yep, you wrote of insulin.
Scott Benner 26:59
You said, I want to talk about the diagnosis of a teen ADHD understanding tandem and not being afraid,
Leslie 27:05
not being afraid. Oh, babies not being afraid of insulin. So in our education, of course, they taught us about lows and what to do. But they did not, I don't know if other educators just drill it into your head that you're gonna go low and like, heal over. They did not do that for us. I mean, at all, they taught us how to treat a low. You know, of course, they talked to us about glucagon and maximi, but did it seem
Scott Benner 27:30
like it couldn't possibly happen? Like, that was my takeaway. Like, you know, all that training about, like, this is what glucagon is for, and blah, blah, but then they would follow it up by going, don't worry, that's not gonna happen. No, they
Leslie 27:40
didn't really do that either. It's just, I don't know, maybe I have kind of a logical brain, so I'm like, Well, we have the tools. Oh, so if something happens, we'll do the
Scott Benner 27:51
thing. It'll just work out the way they said, Yeah, yeah. Good luck with that.
Leslie 27:56
Yeah. I know, right. I'm very thankful that he's not afraid of using his insulin, using his insulin. In fact, sometimes I have to be like, dude, if you're gonna crush the high, you have to catch the low.
Scott Benner 28:09
Can't do the first part, not the second part. Attention. Gotcha. Well, what gear does he use today? Is it been what he's always done? Or did they send him home with needles or pens or
Leslie 28:19
so when we came home, we had sim glee because our insurance didn't cover Lantis and Novolog pens. So he was diagnosed on December 29 and on April 29 he got his T slim. He chose it. I thought for sure he would want to do Omnipod, but he did not, and I didn't try to push him one way, way or the other.
Scott Benner 28:45
How did Ephraim choose tandem over another pump? Did he tell you what he was considering when he when he came to his decisions? Let's talk about the tandem Moby insulin pump from today's sponsor, tandem diabetes care, their newest algorithm control iq plus technology and the new tandem Moby pump offer you unique opportunities to have better control. It's the only system with auto Bolus that helps with missed meals and preventing hyperglycemia, the only system with a dedicated sleep setting, and the only system with off or on body wear options. Tandem Moby gives you more discretion, freedom and options for how to manage your diabetes. This is their best algorithm ever, and they'd like you to check it out at tandem diabetes.com/juicebox when you get to my link, you're going to see integrations with Dexcom sensors and a ton of other information that's going to help you learn about tandems, tiny pump that's big on control tandem diabetes.com/juicebox the tandem Moby system, is available for people ages two and up who want an automated delivery system to help them sleep better, wake up in range and address high blood sugars with auto. Bolus.
Leslie 30:00
So we did do at one of his endocrinology appointments, the trainer came in, and she presented a few different ones to him, and she was a tandem person, and the Moby had just come out, so she didn't have one, and she hadn't had one yet, but she was going to try it. He at that point, he had already was kind of leaning towards the tandem, I think, because of the algorithm and because you can create your different segments during the day.
Scott Benner 30:28
Okay, how does he know about that? I don't know. Maybe I sent him something. Did you hand him a pamphlet one day? I don't know. Maybe you're like, you're gonna have to pick an insulin pump too. Here's a pamphlet you could educate yourself when we're not together. I don't want to talk
Leslie 30:43
about it. He isn't. No, I want to talk about it. He does not. He is a very independent young man. Well, he must
Scott Benner 30:49
be if he went out and learned all the stuff about, like, how the algorithm works and everything.
Leslie 30:53
So she presented it to him, and, you know, we were asking her questions, and she said one of the things she liked is because is that you can Pre-Bolus foot on the floor or Don phenomenon, whatever, whichever one, because you can set up your segment, you know, to increase your basal at that time. And she really liked that, and that you can have several different profiles for different things.
Scott Benner 31:16
Yeah. So the the educator liked that the tandem offers you. I think of the tandem algorithm, kind of offering, like a, it's like a, I don't know, like a little bit of one, a little bit of the other. Like, you have the A I D aspect to it, but it does allow you to say, like, right here, I want you to have, I don't know, more basal than you do in this segment, that kind of thing. And that part was attractive to her, probably then translated to him once she explained it to him,
Leslie 31:43
yes, and then the other thing for him was that he didn't want something as big as the Omnipod stuck to him.
Scott Benner 31:52
That's interesting. I think of that Omnipod is so small, yeah, but he I don't know, listen, no matter what you buy while you're listening. I want you to know this, tandem diabetes.com/juicebox, omnipod.com/juicebox. Medtronic diabetes.com/juice. Just use the links. The links in the show notes, just click on those. I don't care what pump you get. I don't care why you think one of them is better than the other or for you, just as long as you go through my link, when you do it, it doesn't matter to me. Let's say I had to keep this train rolling. You know what? I mean? Yeah, okay, yeah. But in all honesty, I really do think whatever's best for you is perfect. Like it doesn't matter if someone prefers tubes or tubelessness over something else. In the end, it's what's going to work best for you. You got to be the one that's comfortable with it. So good for him for going out and figuring going out and figuring out what he
Leslie 32:44
thought that was he did in the the tube has been a non issue in the group. I am always the one who is when people are looking at pumps. I'm always the one saying, don't let the tube deter deter you. Yeah, you know, I see more people talking about knocking an Omnipod off than I see them saying they rip their sight out. So, I mean, it's probably fairly even, yeah, I
Scott Benner 33:05
think it's in general. Like, you're gonna find some people who love something to a fault. You're gonna have you find people who had one problem and they can't stop complaining about it. You know, like, there's always somebody who's like, this, Dexcom never makes it 10 days. How are they gonna ever make it 14 days? I'm walking around here, like, trying to talk art into like, I'm like, the thing's gonna expire in five seconds. Will you take it off, please? I know we have a 12 hour grace period. She's like, rides it right to the end, and it works great. Like, why does that work that way for some person and not the other? I don't know. Also, I want to apologize. I forgot to say twist.com/juicebox that's twist with two eyes.com/juicebox. I forgot that they were a newer sponsor. And by the way, I love that idea, that twist pump, because it's got that loop algorithm in it. And I think that's an attractive idea. So all different kinds of options.
Leslie 33:52
So the twist is really interesting. Like, that's very appealing to me. Ephraim has said that he is kind of interested in the Omnipod. Now, of course, you know we've got that four year thing with tandem, but I think maybe we could still try Omnipod because it's pharmacy.
Scott Benner 34:09
Yeah, I also think they have a free trial that you could figure out more about at my link. I just want to say all out. But in the end, again, I think it's like the Joking aside about, like, the fact that I think I have four pump companies that buy ads on the podcast, like, there is something out there that'll be good for you, and you need to go look at what those things are and what they bring and what your needs are, and try it. And, like, try something and you don't love it. If you can try something else, try something else. Like, in the end, you're going to be wearing this thing every day for a really long time. I'd like you to have whatever the best fit is for you. That's, yeah, just makes sense to me. So anyway, yeah, I mean, and that goes for the CGM stuff too. If it's libre, if it's Dexcom, I think now there's Medtronic is going to have a new CGM that works with just their system that Abbott's making. You know, there's a lot of options out there. Go figure. Out what they are anyway. So he is using a pump, and you're saying he's taking care of himself. Are you not that involved in day to day decisions? And how did he pick it up so quickly?
Leslie 35:10
I am kind of the master settings decision maker at this point, but I am actively working toward kind of guiding him when it when a decision needs to like, when something needs to change, you know, it'll be something like, Okay, we've gone high after this meal, you know, for the last three days. What do you think we need to do? And kind of guide him to think about it, making the decision. You know, we have different profiles set, so we had a slew of Dexcom that the g7 that were just they were losing their connection Okay, all the time. One thing with tandem is that your settings need to be more aggressive than what you need, and it works better. So what we've done is we've created a profile on his pump that I've called disconnect. And so anytime the CGM is being crazy, we move over to the disconnect profile. And that's just a milder profile.
Scott Benner 36:09
And oh, because your settings so you have your settings set up more aggressively, because you find the algorithm works better when your settings are more aggressive. But when you lose connection, you don't want it to continue to be that aggressive. So when you lose a connection, you go to disconnect, and that's a a gentler profile. As far as insulin use goes. Yes, I got it. That's that's an interesting workaround.
Leslie 36:31
I thought of that all by myself. Good for you. Thank you.
Scott Benner 36:35
How long did these disconnects last for? I
Leslie 36:37
mean, sometimes they would last for a few hours, and during the day, it's not that big of a deal, because you can just keep your eyes open, you know what? I mean, you're more aware. But at night especially, I would say just, you know, go to disconnect, but, but, well, just walking him through the steps of, okay, this isn't working, right? We're still not, you know, maybe it'll come back.
Scott Benner 36:56
Are you saying that that you're losing Dexcom signal completely, or just the connection to the tandem algorithm,
Leslie 37:02
he was losing it completely. We had just a string of dexcoms that were not working, and now we've had a string that are so I don't know if we had a bad shipment or what, but there seemed to be better now. The upside to having a string of bad G sevens that only lasts today seven or eight. Is that, when you get your replacement, you now have extras. Yeah. So we haven't done anything to treat cheat the system or anything like that, but we have, we have a few extras now. They typically die on day nine, and they're supposed to last to 10, so we call it in, and they replace it every time.
Scott Benner 37:39
Yeah. So you basically, you get nine days for free on the next one. Yep, yeah. No, listen, everyone should call in their devices when they don't work and get them replaced. Call them in, yeah, for sure. There is a moment where there's diminishing returns on having extras. Though. There's a spot where you're like, Uh oh, this is like, baseball cards. I have more of these than I can look at. Then I find myself like, when that happens. Eventually. If I'll get the email from us men, it'll be like, it's time to refill and I'm like, we're gonna skip this one, you know, or at least put it off for a few weeks and try to use up some of the backlog that we have to get back to even again, I've done that a number of times. I did it with insulin. Once, when Arden was used the GLP for so long their insulin use went down so long that when it was time to refill in some I was like, we don't need it, like, you know, like, we still have too much. So I put it off a little bit. Try to keep a balance between having a little bit on the, you know, backlog back stock, but not so much that I'm like, we're never going to use this and it's just going to go out of date. I'm trying to split the middle, if that makes sense.
Leslie 38:39
Yeah, totally. We're not there with the dexcoms yet, but in Fusion sets, we have so many those.
Scott Benner 38:44
And if somebody said to me the other day, like, Oh, I just paid a bunch of money for Lancet, and I was like, Oh, I could have given you some. We have extra Lancet
Leslie 38:52
here for sure. Yeah, he's 15. We don't change that.
Scott Benner 38:55
We use ours. And I still have, like, just over time, you just, like, I said, you get they give you too many one time, and then you've got them. And I was like, I don't want to waste them, so hold on to them. ADHD, how old was he when he was diagnosed with
Leslie 39:09
that? So he was eight, nine.
Scott Benner 39:13
Okay, anybody else in the house? Have it me?
Leslie 39:17
His older brother was just diagnosed about six months ago. What do they do for that? So Ephraim has, he had been taking a stimulant for a while, and then now he's done a non stimulant. Okay, I can't think, you know, they just, they need more help with, you know, executive functioning, doing, getting moving, doing the thing a lot of times, and paying attention. I think also getting blood sugar under control has really helped some of those symptoms as well. It was just kind of exacerbating an existing problem.
Scott Benner 39:50
How do you get an ADHD diagnosis?
Leslie 39:53
We went
Scott Benner 39:54
to a psychiatrist, psychologist. What do you say to what her title was? What's the entree to that?
Leslie 40:00
Conversation. I think my kid has ADHD, you know, what made you think that he just had this, you know, trouble paying attention, outbursts, you know, a bunch of different things. And he was younger when my older one asked to be like I was 100% sure my older one had it. He's highly intelligent. He just really has trouble focusing. And it's and he would say, Mom, I I just can't focus in school. But this kid is wildly smart. Finally, he my oldest one asked me if he could have a diagnosis. So I just made an appointment, and I and they kind of just do a full psychological evaluation, and it has, like, an IQ test and other stuff. So it doesn't just test for ADHD. It tests for other things too. Give me
Scott Benner 40:45
an example of an outburst, please. What does that mean? Like, start singing, start yelling incoherently. Like, what's an outburst?
Leslie 40:53
So not like a temp, like, super angry, and there's no, you know, we had tried all the the tools where you you see them going to get angry, and then you try to, you know, take a deep breath and calm down first. But there's no, there's no period of time where you could do that.
Scott Benner 41:11
Count backwards from 10 you Okay. Awesome. That didn't work.
Leslie 41:19
Look at your glitter bottle, glitter bottle across the room.
Scott Benner 41:23
But how about I throw the glitter bottle at you? How would that be? Okay, right, right?
Leslie 41:27
And it's not, I mean, it's not just the it's just not, it's being very quick, but almost too quick. Ephraim is paying attention. We homeschooled for a long time. Not anymore. We did this thing where they were memorizing throughout the whole year, they memorized this timeline, okay? And it was basically a timeline of kind of important events in the world, from the beginning all the way to whatever the last historical event is. So like now the last one would probably be covid, I don't know. And so you memorize five a week for the whole school year, and I just didn't think Ephraim was paying attention, and I was quizzing my older one on it one day, and then Ephraim just says the whole thing. So he is always paying attention when you don't think he is, but then it's, it's like, hard to control when you're paying attention. It's hard to explain,
Scott Benner 42:17
okay, I'm interested because I don't know, and it's it's fun to hear people talk about it from their perspective, but you also have it. So are you doing anything to medicate your situation?
Leslie 42:27
No, I wish I had tried medication when I was first diagnosed, and it did work well. But then there was an issue. I think there was an issue for a while where, where you couldn't get it prescription filled. So I would take it for a month, and then it would take me two or three weeks to get my prescription. So I was going on and off of it, which is far worse than just being off of it.
Scott Benner 42:50
Where do you live that you can't get ADHD medication?
Leslie 42:53
There was a whole thing in the whole country,
Scott Benner 42:55
oh, during covid, when everybody Yeah, because people use it like, I was gonna say off label, but I don't mean it like that. I mean they're using it as a stimulus.
Leslie 43:02
Stimulant. Yeah, it was, it was post covid, because I think it was around the time right before Ephraim was diagnosis. We had about eight months of medical craziness in our household, and it was around that time that I couldn't get it, and I was like, I can't keep taking care of all these people and going on and off my meds. My brain is not working. So I just
Scott Benner 43:25
were using Vyvanse, or Adderall or Vyvanse, okay?
Leslie 43:30
And then I would, if I had a long, an extra long day, I did have some, like, little Adderall boosters that I could take in the evening, because, you know, it doesn't last all day long. And so if I had a show, a show day or something like that, and I knew I was going to need my brain for later that evening, I could take a little booster,
Scott Benner 43:50
okay, it gets misused by the public sometimes, and then, I guess, yeah, that's what causes the shortage.
Leslie 43:56
I don't know what caused the shortage, but it was a whole deal. And I remember I would have to call around. We were using CVS at the time, and I would have to call CVS and figure out which CVS had it, and then go to that one and get it. And it was just a pain in the
Scott Benner 44:13
well, listen, when you make meth legal, some people are going to really want it, is what I'm saying. Yeah, yeah. Because I mean, really in the end, that's the but
Leslie 44:20
when you have ADHD, it doesn't feel like you don't get any benefit from it, besides just regular brain.
Scott Benner 44:27
Yeah, no, I know. I'm assuming that people like buy it and sell it and, you know, misuse it and everything
Leslie 44:33
else. Probably small town, there's not a lot to do here.
Scott Benner 44:36
Is meth a problem where
Leslie 44:37
you live? Opioids? Oh, really,
Scott Benner 44:40
yeah, I'm sorry. Sucks.
Leslie 44:42
It's funny because we're a little like, we're a tourist destination, so, but
Scott Benner 44:47
the people who live there are using the parks. What are we talking about?
Leslie 44:50
Yeah? So, yeah. I mean, it's just an I guess it's a small town thing. I don't know. People claim that the kids are bored, so they have to do drugs. I mean, I don't. Know, my kids are, like, doing school stuff so they're not bored.
Scott Benner 45:02
I'd love to get bored enough to wonder about, like, something like that. Yeah, I don't want the problem, but I'd love the boredom once, just one time, yeah, I want to feel bored.
Leslie 45:10
I always say, well, just like, Yeah, put your kids in theater or band or, you know, a sport,
Scott Benner 45:15
give them something to do. Oh, what else should we talk about? What? Because we have good time left here. I like this. I like that you're a group member in the Facebook group. I, you know, obviously I recognize your name, yeah. And I'm wondering if I could ask you, if you don't have more to add, I'd like to ask you some questions, but I want to make sure we've gotten to everything that you want to talk about first. Yeah, go for it. Okay, cool. So you've been in this diabetes game for, you know, a little over a year and a half. Now you're an active member in the group. You listen to the podcast. That's all fair, right? Yes, yeah. Can you tell me what helped you in the podcast? What helped you in the group? I'm interested from a person who's who's utilizing both pieces of the community.
Leslie 45:56
So my favorite episodes of the podcast are the ones with the people, with the folks who've been diagnosed for a really long time okay, because it gives me hope, like for the future, that everything really is going to be okay. And especially the ones who, you know, say things like, Oh yeah, when I was a teenager, you know, things weren't perfect, and I'm fine now, yeah, because, you know, you worry about your kid, and he, Ephraim is very responsible, and he does a really good job of taking care of himself, but you know, sometimes he forgets to change his sight, and then it doesn't, you know, work as well. Or, you know, we don't get that fast food Bolus, right. And then, you know, there's fast food tomorrow too. And so it kind of keeps things in perspective for me. And then the group is just great, because you just get a lot of feedback on different things, and you
Scott Benner 46:51
ask questions. Or do you learn? Are you more of a lurker or more of an asker? I do
Leslie 46:55
both, both. I don't ask as much as I used to. I think my last post was something about he'd been to ROTC camp, and I have never seen numbers like I had
Scott Benner 47:08
seen. Were they very like, it was so bad. They were like, higher blood sugars, lower blood sugars. What are we talking about?
Leslie 47:15
No, it was just a continuous roller coaster the whole time, and it was very humid. I mean, we're in the south, so it was very hot, very humid. They didn't have electricity, so they were sleeping hot and sweaty and doing it was orienteering. So that is like running around in the forest looking for things. I think I'm not exactly sure what they do. Oh, fun. He had, like, lost sight, which had never happened before, and he would just go up into the three hundreds and then plummet down to the 50s, and then just go up into the 300 and I was just, I want to go get him.
Scott Benner 47:53
So what did you use the group for that time, for answers, for his insulin in the heat, or for calm? I think I was
Leslie 48:00
just asking, like, can he do this? And you know, you get a myriad of answers when you get people being nice, people not being nice, people being like, You're worrying too much, yeah, yeah.
Scott Benner 48:13
But all that feedback somehow gets you to where you need to be.
Leslie 48:17
I think it does. And at least it gives you, know something to do when you can't sleep at 3am when you're looking at the number and
Scott Benner 48:25
that was happening to you? Yeah? Oh, yeah. I'm glad it was helpful, because I don't I'm on the outside. It's an interesting thing, right? Like, it's my community, it's my group, it's my podcast. I made it, it's here because I put it here, and yet I don't really get to understand it from the inside out, because, you know, it's all virtual. So I'm interested always in what makes people interested in the podcast over the Facebook group or the Facebook group over the podcast, and every once in a while, you meet somebody who uses both of them kind of equally, and it's always different personalities or different needs. I think that people use the all of the content, not forever. Like, there are some people who are just podcast listeners. They listen forever. Those people, you guys, are like, the backbone of all this. I really appreciate it. But the ones who come in and out are like, Oh, I'm gonna soak up five series and get get to a situation where I know how to Bolus for this, and then I'm probably not gonna listen to going to listen to that podcast again, because I'm not, you know, interested in hearing a story from a 62 year old woman who's, you know, had diabetes for 40 years. But then there's somebody like you who finds that very
Leslie 49:32
interesting. Oh, I find it so fascinating. I don't know why, but just the way that they used to handle diabetes. I just find it very fascinating.
Scott Benner 49:43
Well, I do too well listen. I'm a podcast person. I enjoy everybody's story. I like hearing people talk and tell me, you know, things that they've witnessed and experienced throughout life. I think that's just to me that's very interesting. I'm, like, more interested, like, in. And the people who are listening, like, what are they getting out of it? Like, who told them about it when they got here? What did they hear that made them stay? Why did it become valuable for them? You know, if they continued to listen, why did they continue to listen? If they stopped listening, why did they stop? How come podcast listeners don't go check out the Facebook group all the time? How come to Facebook readers, don't go check out the podcast all the time. I think there are answers to how to help people in the answers to those questions, but I can't get those answers without asking people directly, because if you go online and you try to start that conversation, it just turns into somebody who's like, I don't listen to audio. Like, awesome, great. Like, well, that's not helpful, but thank you. You know, what is it about a person who could go to a Facebook group and say, I am lost, I'm in trouble. My health is terrible, and someone come along and say, you should try listening to these five episodes. I think they would answer your questions, and they go, I don't listen to podcasts. Like, that's the like, that human part of it that I'm super interested in. Or you get somebody who's listening to the podcast has been really helped with something. And, you know, I say, like, Hey, you should go check out the private facebook or Facebook, I don't use Facebook. There might be something there for you. Go check it out. If you don't like it, then leave it. It's fine anyway. I don't know. I'm just, I'm always interested in how that stuff gets found and consumed and why it's valuable for
Leslie 51:20
people. Yeah, I was trying to think of how I heard about Juicebox, and I think it was I found, like, just a generic parents for children with type one group. And I think maybe somebody there recommended it, but I found out about Juicebox, I think he was still in the hospital, or maybe a nurse told me, I don't know, it all kind of went by. It runs together really, really quickly. I did tell our endocrinologist that I was going to be on your podcast. She thinks that's cool. She's really great, yeah, I think we lucked out.
Scott Benner 51:54
No, it sounds like you did. You have the kind of endocrinologist that might tell somebody about, hey, should go listen to a podcast.
Leslie 51:59
Yeah? And she is, you know, I mean, they have to say what they have to say, like they have to do what they have to do. And I understand that. But she has been really interested in the bolusing for the fat and protein, yeah, because we started doing that early on, when he was still MDI, if he was having something really protein or or or fat heavy. So we started talking about that with her early on, and she always asks us questions like, what do we do and how do we do it? She's pretty cool. I have even consulted her for pump, pump settings when I when I couldn't figure things out. And she's just great. I mean, she's, she's really great. You know, we talked about the different profiles and all of that stuff. So I really feel like we got lucky.
Scott Benner 52:43
No, it sounds like you did. Did you listen to, like, bold beginnings or the Pro Tip series, or is it just listening to stories that helps
Leslie 52:52
you? So in the beginning, I did listen to bold beginnings and pro tips, and then when he was deciding on a pump, I listened to the tandem episodes that were out, what was it? The guy control IQ ninja. Yes, control IQ ninja. And then there was a lady. There was a mom. Oh yeah, you had a really good episode.
Scott Benner 53:15
Is it called lazy ninja or something like that? Is that
Leslie 53:18
maybe, but she's the one who talked about the correction factor being like the throttle for the algorithm, and that has stuck with me. So it makes such a huge difference. So in real life, if I were to give him like a unit via injection, it would probably bring him down 40 points at this point in puberty. Insulin is water on the algorithm, it is either set to 20 or 25 in most segments. That's what works. And that's it. I mean, that's just, that's what works. Once I figured that out, I could change it
Scott Benner 53:57
actually. So there's an episode called control IQ ninja, 662, but then there's one called lazy control IQ ninja, which is 800 I think that's what she called herself while she was, while she was talking on about it. Maybe that's the one you're talking about. Probably, yeah, I don't know how you guys find your way through this podcast. Like, I'm looking at a list right now of like, algorithm pumping episodes, and some of their titles are just just ridiculous. There's one called Rise of the Machines. There's fastidious. There's one about the 780 G, but it's called suck it out of my thumb. Why would it be called that? And I named it? I don't know why the hell it's called that's ridiculous. Sorry, everybody.
Leslie 54:38
So what I do when I need an episode is I go on the Facebook group and I say, hey Nico.
Scott Benner 54:46
Well, yeah, poor Nico like that. It's her de facto job in the world. Is that she knows so much about the podcast, it's incredible. Don't be good at something. Don't be good at something. People will ask you to do it. I would also tell you that juiceboxpodcast.com has. Search function. You can type keywords into it. You probably will get some stuff back there too. In the end, I start running out of titles for things. And also, I guess, in fairness, when I make the episode, I don't think of it as a an episode about the 780 G, for example. Like I had a long conversation with somebody. I was like, Oh, I'm gonna call this one. Suck it out of my thumb. And then someone else comes along later, which is usually like, Nico or Isabelle, those people, and they're like, hey, this episode is really about the 780 G you should put it on the list with the algorithm pumps. And I'm like, okay, because I don't plan ahead like that. So I don't know if that makes sense or not, but yeah, there's, a ton of stuff for Omnipod five. We have a lot of loop content. I'm working on getting some trio content. I have, I think I have someone lined up who wants to come on and talk about it. It's gonna do like a short series, but that person's becoming difficult to connect with, so I'm working on that. And I'm getting ready to put together a control IQ series as well, because I, you know, want people to be able to get as much information as they can and make good decisions and go pick the pump they want and be successful with it. Yeah, that's the goal.
Leslie 56:10
Yeah. I really think control IQ is great when you understand it. The problem, like any problem, that I have had with with settings or keeping His number is because he is, you know, first of all, we're pretty new to this still. Yeah, he has grown 40 pounds and like, four inches since he was diagnosed. So his needs are just changing drastically. His needs went up actually 50% he just had an endo appointment last week, and his insulin usage was up 50% three months prior. So it's it just changes so rapidly, keeping the settings accurate is can become
Scott Benner 56:54
difficult. Yeah, now I understand, because he's putting on weight and size and that he needs more aggressive settings. Then, because of that, also there's probably hormones going on, growth hormone, like all kinds of stuff in there that needs to be counteracted with insulin as well. Like you said, it feels like insulin is water right now. Oh yeah, yeah. No, it and it's hard to keep up with. So there's an episode called waxing waning and Hulk Hogan's dragon. How can that be the title of a podcast episode? What does that even mean? I don't know. I should go listen to that to figure out what that is. Episode 302302. God, how long ago was that? No, I mean, you're going to be at this for a while, during his growth time and, you know, and then hopefully it'll balance out, you know, their hormonal impacts are going to continue, you know, forever. Whereas usually with the guys, I usually kind of like, levels out at some point after they're done growing.
Leslie 57:45
Yeah, that is, that is what I've heard. So, you know, we'll see, and we're just gonna keep at it. And he works really hard. He's really responsible. I don't have to remind him to Bolus for meals. He boluses for his meals. You know, he may not always choose the foods that are the easiest Bolus for but he tries, and he makes an effort. So I really good
Scott Benner 58:06
for him and good for you. Well, listen, I'm proud of him. I think that's awesome that he's that he's putting that effort in, and it's nice that you guys have him set up, thinking about it that way, it's a really great start to a life with diabetes, it sounds like so I think that the way you start is important, and when you start with good information and good tools, you oftentimes are able to avoid a lot of the problems that everybody's trying to avoid. And it sounds like that's the thing that's in your head too. So hopefully that brings you some comfort.
Leslie 58:34
Yeah, it does. And on the days when I'm trying to bother him less, and on the days when I'm bothering him too much, why are you leave me alone? Mom? I'm like, I'm sorry. I just love you. I just love you, and I want you to live a long, healthy life.
Scott Benner 58:51
Yeah, well, then you're gonna have to leave him alone all
Leslie 58:54
the teenager eye rolls at the same time, too. How old is he? He'll be 16
Scott Benner 58:57
next week. Yeah, he could use help. Don't worry, there's a balance there, but you just have to, you have to find ways to talk about it where you don't it doesn't feel like you're up his butt all the time, like that's what he's looking for. He's looking to feel little autonomous. And that's going to keep happening, by the way, as he gets older and older, he's going to be looking to break away from
Leslie 59:14
you, yeah. And I think one of the hard things too, is having him diagnosed when he's already in high school is, I feel this pressure to get him ready for college, yeah? Or just, I feel like we don't have as much time,
Scott Benner 59:31
yeah? But you will like, I mean, I get the feeling and, but, I mean, as long as you keep good communication, once he goes off to college, you should still be able to, you know, be a valuable part of his life. He's just gotta, I don't know. I mean, I don't know how to accomplish this, but you obviously have to get into a position where he's gonna be open to conversating with you about it while he's away at school, and not just like, it's not gonna be the ROTC thing over again, where it's just a, you know, a show, and there's nothing you can do about it.
Leslie 59:58
Yeah. I mean, I think if he were to. Do a trip like that again, we would, I don't know what we would do. We would maybe consider doing like the untethered method for the week or something. So at least he would have some long acting in his system, in case the heat and everything made things go haywire. He did that trip with Moby on. He doesn't wear the Moby. He wears the tea slim.
Scott Benner 1:00:17
Tea slim. But he did that trip with that one on, yeah, okay, and he still had trouble. Was he not bolusing, like pre bolusing? Was he was it was he falling from activity and then over treating? Did you ever figure out what was going on?
Leslie 1:00:29
I think it was a lot of it was the heat, because they never got cool, like they just never had, yeah, because there was no AC anywhere. And so then the heat made it go kind of haywire, and then also, like, sites weren't sticking. And we'd never had a problem with that before, but it was so humid, it just they weren't sticking, and it was just a combination of everything, food, of course, you know they never feed teenagers like decent food. Yeah, I know. You know, he does his best, but you know, he's 15 and wants to do what everybody else is doing.
Scott Benner 1:01:04
I got you. I understand. Okay, well, Leslie, I appreciate you doing this with me. I really do thank you for taking the time and thank your husband for setting up such a nice microphone. I appreciate that.
Leslie 1:01:14
I will thank him, yeah, yeah. I will say I did ask in the group if anybody had ever had an experience like ours, where, like, they thought something was wrong when they were a baby, and then were diagnosed later. And absolutely nobody had had that
Scott Benner 1:01:28
experience. You're like, great.
Leslie 1:01:30
I was, like, out of all of you people,
Scott Benner 1:01:32
well, I mean, I do think there are people who have low blood sugars, and then, you know, I've heard enough people say, like, Oh, when I was young, I had low blood sugars, like, I had to take stuff, like, I got dizzy and stuff like that. And then 1015, years later, I got type one diabetes, that stuff I've heard, but, yeah, I don't, I don't know. I really don't know, like, if you just caught a thing one time, or, yeah, it's just weird. It's just, is it just a really slow presentation? I mean, are there ways you can check to see, is he insulin resistant? Like, do you think he has insulin resistance or?
Leslie 1:02:05
No, I don't think so. Okay, the endocrinologist, She really said, like that the amount he uses, even though it feels like a lot to me, she said, it's not, how much does he use a day about he is averaging around 70 now. Okay, so she says it's not really, you know, for and because he's in, like, full blown, you know, hormone growing puberty, she said that it's fine.
Scott Benner 1:02:30
So, yeah, interesting. I mean, your husband has type two, right? Is he insulin resistant? I mean, obviously,
Leslie 1:02:37
yeah, so he doesn't. He only takes Metformin. Okay. So he was diagnosed type two in February. Then my mom, who lives with us, had a knee replacement in April, six weeks to the day after that, my husband goes into the hospital for what we thought was a heart attack, ends up with open heart surgery. And then eight months after seven months after that, Ephraim was
Scott Benner 1:03:01
diagnosed. Wait, so your husband had open heart surgery for what did? Very dramatic. No. How did that happen? What was that we're
Leslie 1:03:10
coming? We had dropped Ephraim off at dance, and I come home when I need to dye a costume for him to match the ladies. And so I have my husband send him outside to get a bucket for the dye, and he goes, gets the bucket, rinses it out, comes in the house, and I'm, you know, walking around, doing things, and I look over at him, and he's droopy. And I said, are you okay? And so then he in the meantime, he'd gotten my mom's blood pressure cuff. We just have things so it works out, took his blood pressure and it was something crazy, like 180 over. I don't remember what it was, but it was, it was crazy. And I said, Excuse me, I think we need to go to the emergency room. Yeah. And he was like, just bring me a baby aspirin. Jesus. How old is he? He is 10 years older than me. Um, at this time he was like, 52 so I said, I will bring you the baby
Scott Benner 1:04:02
aspirin. You can take it on the way to the hospital. Yeah?
Leslie 1:04:05
Basically, I said, but you're going to take your blood pressure again right now. If that wasn't, if that was accurate, then we're going to, I'm not raising these three kids by myself. Yeah? Like, I'm, like, we have life insurance, but, but, yeah, I don't, yeah, I don't want to.
Scott Benner 1:04:17
It's not going to paint the house, so let's go. Not no. Oh, no, kidding. And what? What was the problem?
Leslie 1:04:23
So they, you know, they kept him instead of sending him home because he didn't have a heart attack. But they said, if we keep him, he can get the test like tomorrow, instead of coming back in three weeks. So they kept him, did the stress test, did the heart calf to look and so they were thinking, they'll do the heart catheterization and put in a stent and he'll be fine. Well, that was over in like 20 minutes, so I knew that they couldn't fix whatever was broken with that procedure, because it would have taken longer. And turns out, he had a 90% blockage in his aorta, which is the widow maker. And right above that, he had a an aneurysm. So they couldn't, they couldn't use a stent, so, so he had to have open heart surgery. So he he also got transferred to a better hospital.
Scott Benner 1:05:12
Hey, is that the heart problems running his family? Yes, yes. Does type two? Yes? Do you think that he's had type two implications for much longer than he's been on Metformin?
Leslie 1:05:26
I think he had type two implications for a couple of years before.
Scott Benner 1:05:30
What's his a 1c right now? Think it was 6.3 does he have any weight to lose? Yes, yeah. What's my next question?
Leslie 1:05:40
So he tried tricep a time, or Manjaro, is my Manjaro trize. He tried the Manjaro. He he could not handle
Scott Benner 1:05:50
the side effects. What does that mean? He couldn't handle the side effects.
Leslie 1:05:53
He said it made him feel like crap, and he just couldn't. So he may try something.
Scott Benner 1:05:57
How long did he try it for? I don't know, but how long you guys been? You guys been married for so long? You're like, I don't know.
Leslie 1:06:03
I don't really care. Can I be honest with you? We have been married for 18 and a half years.
Scott Benner 1:06:07
That's not long enough for you not to know how long he tried Manjaro. It was
Leslie 1:06:12
a few months well, so at the same time, I was trying to get one just for weight loss for myself. But of course, insurance doesn't cover that.
Scott Benner 1:06:19
Yeah, but you tell me, it made him feel nauseous. It made him I'm not sure what all the problems, what was going on? Can I talk to him for a second? Leslie, I'm done with you now. Bring your husband, and I want to hear about this real quick. Does he want to be on a podcast for five minutes?
Leslie 1:06:34
Oh, I think he's on the phone. Unbelievable. He is really popular guy.
Scott Benner 1:06:38
These people their lives and things to do. All right. Well, listen, if he wants to come,
Leslie 1:06:43
he might be coming. Is he coming? Come here. Scott has questions for you.
Scott Benner 1:06:47
All right, Leslie, I'm done with you now. Okay, what's your husband's
Leslie 1:06:50
name? His name is Stacy. All right, cool. Fun fact. He looks like Santa Claus.
Scott Benner 1:06:54
How is that a fun fact for him? What do you mean? Like he's got a white beard?
Speaker 1 1:06:59
Oh, I look like Santa. I portray Santa.
Scott Benner 1:07:02
Stacy. How are you? I'm Scott, good. Hey, I just have a couple of questions. You tried Manjaro correct for about two months. What level like? What dose? Dose is the word I was looking
Speaker 1 1:07:16
for. She started me off on the 2.5 and I got up to 7.5 okay, and time I hit the 7.5 the side effects of nausea, vomiting, it just wasn't worth it to me.
Scott Benner 1:07:29
So were you getting benefits at the five? Like, was your A, 1c, lower? Your blood sugars better. Were you losing weight?
Speaker 1 1:07:37
Blood sugars were probably better. Yes, I did lose probably five, eight pounds in that time frame. Okay, just that short amount of time. So I have a follow up appointment. I'm gonna talk to her about staying at the five for a while and seeing how that
Scott Benner 1:07:52
goes. Tell me about the nausea and the vomit like did you change how you were eating? Were you eating a lot of fatty or greasy foods on the 7.5
Speaker 1 1:08:00
No, I wasn't hardly eating anything. And that was concerning to Leslie, because I was like, no food sounds good,
Scott Benner 1:08:07
yeah, no, I hear what you're saying. Like, there's days, yeah, I think I had two eggs so far today.
Speaker 1 1:08:12
Yeah, you gotta, like, force yourself to eat or drink a protein shake,
Scott Benner 1:08:15
right, right? But So you started at the 7.5 you had nausea, and then nausea was making you vomit. You don't think you were backed up. Were you still going to the bathroom?
Speaker 1 1:08:25
No, oh yeah, I was still going to the bathroom. No, that. It was the nausea and then the vomiting. I was like, I don't even like being around people who are vomiting and let alone me vomiting. So I was like, it's not worth it. Yeah, so did you think to try to go back to the five? That's all I said. I'm going to talk to her about going back to the five, yeah,
Scott Benner 1:08:42
I'd be interested in that for you. Because, I mean, especially, she was explaining about your heart issue and, and type, type two, and, etc. And, I mean, a, six, four, a, 1c, on a Metformin is nice, but, like, I mean, obviously you'd love to see it lower,
Speaker 1 1:08:56
right? Yeah. And that's what she was saying. She liked to see it lower, but she was more concerned about me losing the weight because the Metformin, you know, it's like taking candy. It really wasn't helping us doing anything, yeah, no. How much weight do you think you could lose? I want right now, I'm probably at 235 I want to get down to at least 200
Scott Benner 1:09:14
How tall are you? Nine feet tall. How tall are you?
Speaker 1 1:09:17
Exactly? Yeah, I wish probably five seven and a half.
Scott Benner 1:09:21
Let me tell you something. I'll share a good day. I'll share this with you, and hopefully it'll be valuable for you. I'm five nine, and the day I started a GLP over two years ago, I weighed 236 pounds, and I got into my I told my wife, I was like, Look, I need to, obviously, I need to lose 20 pounds. So my wife's like, 20 pounds, you think that's how much you think that's how much you have to lose? And I'm like, No 20s, right? I lost 20. And looked in the mirror, and I was like, Oh, well, obviously I need to lose 30 pounds. And then I got down to 200 and I was like, Oh, maybe I should be more like 190 pounds. And this morning I was 166 pounds. Is that what I was this morning? Yeah, 166 Six, and I'm telling you, I've got five more pounds to go. Holy moly, yeah. And so I think what happens is, over time, you just get a confused view of your body because you think of yourself as stocky or strong or something. Like, I don't know exactly how you think of it, but like, I'm speaking for myself, and that's the end of it. Like I probably my body, probably, if I go ahead and add back on some muscle that you know, that I think I need to have, I think maybe there's a world where I weigh 165 or 170 and that would be if I was in a perfect balance of fat and and muscle on my frame. But if I just stay a thin person, and I never add weight back, I still have a handful of fat around my stomach that I have to get rid of. And I weigh 166 right now. So I'm going to tell you that I think I'm around my correct weight. I just don't think my body composition is right at the moment, the balance between muscle and and everything else. But if you think you need to be 200 pounds, I think you're probably wrong.
Speaker 1 1:11:06
Yeah, probably. But that was just my, you know, my short term goal for right now.
Scott Benner 1:11:10
Oh no, no, no. I'm not saying it's not a good goal to, like, shoot for. I'm saying, like, when you step back and see the big picture, yeah, I was shocked by the number when it was over. And even seeing myself in the mirror, I was like, I never thought this is the size that I was supposed to be at. But now when I look at myself, I'm like, this is clearly this is the size My body's supposed to be. Yeah, yeah. I hope you figure something out at the very least. I hope the five helps you. Have you considered just trying ozempic Instead of Manjaro. No.
Speaker 1 1:11:35
And that was another thing I'm gonna talk to her about, just maybe switching up and seeing a different one would know,
Scott Benner 1:11:41
yeah, you because the Manjaro has a G, I P in it. Also, for weight loss, maybe you're not jiving well with that, like, who knows? Yeah, yeah. Also, how long were you nauseous for it before you stopped using it? Oh, probably good, three weeks. Yeah, yeah. I'm not sure if there's an amount of time where you might have gotten a little more accustomed to it was the nausea worse at the beginning of the week than at the end.
Speaker 1 1:12:06
No, it was actually torching in a week, probably as it was wearing off. Oh, because I was set, I had it set up, or routinely on Monday mornings before I went to work, I was giving myself my shots,
Scott Benner 1:12:18
and then by what, four or five days later, you started to feel nauseous. Yep, huh. So is there an argument to be made that you needed more, not less, or a different coverage of it?
Speaker 1 1:12:27
Maybe, maybe, like I said, I got an appointment with during the next couple of weeks. I gotta look at the calendar again.
Scott Benner 1:12:35
Yeah, I'd encourage you not to give up. That's the only thing. And I would tell you, if you get constipated, you could add, like, magnesium oxide to your regimen of, you know, vitamins, and that'll keep things moving if you get constipated. I don't know if you will or not, obviously, right, but I wish you a ton of luck, because obviously we don't want to see you, and we don't, we don't want to see you having another surgery, that's for sure. That must have been scary as hell, huh? No, yeah, yeah. What's the recovery like from that, I
Speaker 1 1:13:01
wouldn't want to ever do it again, but I was out of the hospital in three days. They said I was like, psycho Trooper to get out. And they're like, you can rest at home. You don't need to rest here, because the goal was, before you left the hospital, you had to climb a flight of stairs up and down. And they had me out walking. The next day, I had the chest tube still in, and I was up walking, wow,
Scott Benner 1:13:24
yeah, you were determined to get out of there,
Speaker 1 1:13:26
yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, the worst thing was ever coughing or sneezing was
Scott Benner 1:13:32
the worst? Yeah. How long until you felt like, back to yourself? It's probably a year. No kidding, and now, yeah, you're there now. But like, do you feel like, with that blockage going is there a noticeable difference in, I don't know how your body works?
Speaker 1 1:13:46
Yeah, yeah, definitely. It was a definite nest. It was different because I wasn't fatigued all the time, yeah. Oh, and they're like, Yeah, your body was starving for oxygen and
Scott Benner 1:13:57
but scary, man, yeah. Did they tell you how long you were from just shutting off.
Speaker 1 1:14:02
No, they said if, if it would have ruptured, the aneurysm would have ruptured, I would have never made it from the from my house to the hospital, and we're probably half a mile, mile to the hospital.
Scott Benner 1:14:12
That's scary. Holy crap. You're gonna make me go to the cardiologist. Well, I'm glad you're doing better now, and I hope you're able to figure out the other part of it. I appreciate you setting up the microphone for Leslie and everything today. I just wanted to ask you that question about the GLP. So I appreciate you jumping on. Thank you.
Speaker 1 1:14:28
Yeah, and I've listened, I listened to the one that you put on there about the glps.
Scott Benner 1:14:33
Oh, you are listening to them. Oh, yeah, yeah. I have a ton of them. There's been a lot of people are using them now, a lot more than usual, or a lot more than even a couple of years ago, especially type ones. My brother, who I'm adopted, so it's not like a blood thing, but like my brothers, has type two diabetes, and he is really like flourishing on a GLP, as far as his a 1c and his weight goes, and just his life in general. So I hope you can find something that'll. That it balances you feeling well with actually getting all the benefits that come with it. Because a couple years from now on one I think you'd you'd lose that weight, and you'd be surprised. It takes a while, you know, but it does happen, like pretty consistently, yeah, yeah. It's a valuable thing for sure. Anyway, I appreciate you taking your time. Thank you so much, and please tell Leslie, I said, thank you as well. Sure will thank you. Have a great
Speaker 1 1:15:24
day. Bye, bye.
Scott Benner 1:15:34
Head now to tandem diabetes.com/juicebox and check out today's sponsor tandem diabetes care. I think you're going to find exactly what you're looking for at that link, including a way to sign up and get started with the tandem Moby system. Dexcom sponsored this episode of The Juicebox podcast. Learn more about the Dexcom g7 at my link, dexcom.com/juicebox a huge thanks to us med for sponsoring this episode of The Juicebox podcast. Don't forget us med.com/juicebox, this is where we get our diabetes supplies from. You can as well use the link or call 888-721-1514, use the link or call the number get your free benefits check so that you can start getting your diabetes supplies the way we do from us. Med,
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