#1731 Medtronic for the Win
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Diagnosed 49 years ago, Linda shares her philosophy on "borrowed time" and her incredible feat of running 7 marathons on 7 continents in 7 days—three separate times.
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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 Juice Box podcast.
Linda (0:14) I am Linda Carrier, and I live in North Carolina. (0:19) I'm a long distance runner and a type one diabetic for forty nine years.
Scott Benner (0:25) Hey. (0:26) Do you need support? (0:27) I have some stuff for you. (0:28) It's all free. (0:29) Juiceboxpodcast.com.
Scott Benner (0:31) Click on support in the menu. (0:32) Let's see what you get there. (0:33) A one c and blood glucose calculator. (0:36) People love that. (0:36) That's actually, I think, the most popular page on the website some months.
Scott Benner (0:39) A list of great endocrinologists from listeners, that's from all over the country. (0:44) There's a link to the private Facebook group, to the Circle community, and we have a a fantastic thing there. (0:51) American Sign Language. (0:53) There's a great sign language interpreter who did the entire bold beginning series in ASL. (0:58) So if you know anybody who would benefit from that, please send them that way.
Scott Benner (1:02) Just go to juiceboxpodcast.com and click on support. (1:05) While you're there, check out the guides, like the pre bolusing guide, fat and protein insulin calculator, oh gosh, thyroid, GLP, caregiver burnout. (1:14) You should go to the website. (1:15) Click around a little bit on those menus. (1:17) It really there's a lot more there than you think.
Scott Benner (1:19) Nothing you hear on the Juice Box podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. (1:24) Always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan. (1:30) Today's podcast episode is sponsored by Medtronic Diabetes, who is making life with diabetes easier with the MiniMed seven eighty g system and their new sensor options, which include the Instinct sensor made by Abbott. (1:44) Would you like to unleash the full potential of the MiniMed seven eighty g system? (1:49) You can do that at my link, medtronicdiabetes.com/juicebox.
Scott Benner (1:54) Today's episode is also sponsored by the Kontoor Next Gen blood glucose meter. (1:59) Learn more and get started today at kontoornext.com/juicebox.
Linda (2:05) I am Linda Carrier, and I live in North Carolina. (2:10) I'm a long distance runner and a type one diabetic for forty nine years.
Scott Benner (2:15) And, Linda, is it true you're here to give me advice on where to move into my retirement because North Carolina is on the shortlist?
Linda (2:22) It is. (2:23) It should be. (2:23) And, yeah, because I I actually live in Pinehurst, which is the, you know, golfing capital of the world pretty much, in The US. (2:30) And we moved there because we retired, and it is perfect. (2:34) It's a small little town and just beautiful, and you can pretty much golf year round.
Speaker 3 (2:39) And Okay.
Linda (2:40) You know, there's so many golf courses.
Scott Benner (2:42) The humidity and the hurricanes. (2:43) These are what my biggest concerns.
Linda (2:45) Alright. (2:46) Well, I can tell you in Pinehurst because it's it's probably probably an hour and a half, two hours from the coast. (2:52) So when there's hurricanes that come through, it'll get a little windy and, and dump a little bit more rain, but but you don't have the damage like you see Mhmm. (3:01) In news. (3:03) I will say the humidity, which I moved from Seattle, so there's they don't know the definition of humidity there.
Linda (3:10) I lived there for almost thirty years, but moved to Pinehurst, North Carolina. (3:15) And the humidity, especially in, like, July and August, is is bad.
Scott Benner (3:20) Okay.
Linda (3:20) So you just you just basically learned to you know, if you're gonna go golf, you golf early in the morning or later in the afternoon. (3:27) And then, you know, I mean, they just go in air conditioning during the bed.
Scott Benner (3:33) Aren't you super active with running, though? (3:35) How often do you run?
Linda (3:37) I run almost every day. (3:38) Running in the humidity is hard. (3:40) Yeah. (3:41) It's really hard. (3:42) And so I was running outdoors a lot, and you'd have to carry multiple bottles of water.
Linda (3:48) So a lot sometimes I would I would call my husband. (3:50) Right? (3:51) And I would say, I'm over here. (3:52) Can you bring another, you know, another bottle of water? (3:55) Because you can only carry so much.
Linda (3:57) But then I, you know, I started running a little bit later in the morning because I took a part time job working on a golf course. (4:03) By the time I get home, there was too much traffic, and we don't really have sidewalks here in the Pinehurst.
Scott Benner (4:10) Okay.
Linda (4:10) You know, Southern Pines kinda area, not a lot of sidewalks, so you're running on the road. (4:14) And with that kind of traffic, and especially with the retirement community, you know, you don't want target for them.
Scott Benner (4:20) Well, it was like you got a lot of geezers out here. (4:22) They're gonna pick you off. (4:23) You gotta be careful.
Speaker 3 (4:25) Exactly. (4:25) Because they can't see me. (4:26) Right? (4:26) I was like, oh my god. (4:27) I'm not
Linda (4:28) paying attention. (4:28) Whatever. (4:29) A slow movement. (4:30) Right? (4:30) Slow reaction time.
Linda (4:31) So so I started running on a treadmill, but I'm running in a in a garage. (4:36) So I've got multiple fans blowing.
Scott Benner (4:38) Oh my gosh. (4:39) You are committed to this. (4:40) Okay. (4:41) Alright. (4:41) Let's find out more about all this.
Scott Benner (4:42) You just talked me out of North Carolina, but I appreciate it. (4:45) Now, although I'm not running anywhere, if I'm being honest, But still, you were diagnosed with type one at what age?
Linda (4:53) I was 14.
Scott Benner (4:54) No kidding. (4:55) How how do you remember the year or how long ago that was?
Linda (4:58) That was forty nine years ago.
Scott Benner (5:00) Forty nine
Linda (5:00) years I was 14. (5:03) Just had now hit in forty nine years, actually, because it was November. (5:06) I can't remember the exact date, but I for some reason, I think it was November 14. (5:10) My sister had been diagnosed seven years earlier when she was eight. (5:14) Really?
Linda (5:14) So I yeah. (5:15) So I knew, you know, kinda we we knew the signs. (5:19) You know? (5:19) So when I stay in the signs, I I was diagnosed earlier than she was, obviously. (5:25) But, like, five years later, my brother was diagnosed.
Scott Benner (5:27) So Woah. (5:27) How many well, hold on. (5:28) How many brothers and sisters do you have?
Linda (5:30) I have seven. (5:31) Or I have six. (5:32) There's seven of us kids. (5:33) And so
Scott Benner (5:34) Or three for six. (5:35) Wow. (5:35) Half of you. (5:36) Oh, let me ask you. (5:37) Is there other autoimmune in your family?
Scott Benner (5:39) Your mom, your dad, grandmother's, grandfather's? (5:42) I'm looking for celiac, anything like that. (5:45) Hypothyroidism?
Linda (5:47) Yeah. (5:48) Nothing in, in in the like, my parents' family that we know of. (5:54) However, the nieces and nephews now have I have a niece and a nephew who have celiac. (6:01) Mhmm. (6:01) And So I think, you know, it's all kind of somehow related.
Linda (6:05) Yeah. (6:05) Like, vitiligo, eczema, anything like
Scott Benner (6:10) Nope. (6:10) No. (6:11) Wow. (6:11) That's bizarre.
Linda (6:12) Yeah. (6:13) Oh. (6:13) Yeah. (6:13) Yeah. (6:14) The doctors at at for a while there thought it was some you know, something to do with a, you know, hereditary type thing, but they started then and even in my neighborhood, we had a couple kids come down with it.
Linda (6:25) So over the years. (6:27) So we lived in a very Catholic community, and so there were a lot of families with, you know, kids you know, the probably the number of kids were somewhere between five and nine, you know, per family. (6:37) So we had a big, you know, neighborhood of children.
Scott Benner (6:40) Linda, a lot of Irish English backgrounds?
Linda (6:42) Yes. (6:42) Irish English. (6:43) Yep.
Speaker 3 (6:43) Yep. (6:43) Okay.
Scott Benner (6:44) Alright. (6:44) There's I see a lot of autoimmune running in the Irish, and English backgrounds when I talk to people. (6:49) That's interesting. (6:50) Yep. (6:50) I once Yeah.
Scott Benner (6:51) Interviewed a woman who grew up near a dump and, like, everybody on the street had diabetes.
Linda (6:56) Oh, see. (6:56) They were saying they thought it could be environmental as well, a combination.
Scott Benner (7:00) Ain't that really something? (7:01) Mhmm. (7:02) Well and your brother and sister are still with us doing well, or how's it going for them?
Linda (7:07) My brother's doing well. (7:09) My sister ended up with cancer, when she was 42, and she died within ten months of being diagnosed. (7:17) So Sorry. (7:17) And that, you know, that was so so hard. (7:20) You know, when you think about you're only you're not only dealing with type one diabetes, but then, you know, with the cancer and what it does, the chemo and radiation and all that stuff that does to you.
Linda (7:30) You know? (7:30) It's and hard to manage her diabetes even while she was on a pump Yeah. (7:35) But still extremely hard. (7:36) And this was, you know, twenty years ago. (7:38) I I just thought, you know, that's that seems so unfair.
Linda (7:41) Right? (7:41) That you have you know?
Scott Benner (7:43) I remember being incredibly upset when my daughter got a thyroid diagnosis on top of her type one diagnosis. (7:49) Yeah. (7:50) Mhmm. (7:50) Just feeling like, hey. (7:51) You feel like that coyote when the the boulder falls on him, then the and then the roadrunner runs by and picks at your face a little bit.
Scott Benner (7:57) You're like, hey. (7:58) It's not enough. (7:58) You know what I mean? (7:59) So oh my gosh. (8:01) What were, expectations for you when you were diagnosed?
Scott Benner (8:04) Like, I've you know, I mean, you say forty nine years ago?
Linda (8:07) Yes. (8:08) Forty nine or, yeah, forty nine years ago.
Scott Benner (8:09) Like, '75, '76?
Linda (8:12) Yes.
Scott Benner (8:12) Oh, the bicentennial. (8:14) Like, I've had people women especially, by the way, diagnosed a long time ago tell me that their doctors one one woman was told by her doctor to drop out of college and go home because she wasn't gonna live long enough to need her degree, and no man would want her. (8:27) So she should go off and live her life. (8:29) And it's actual direction from a physician. (8:31) So, like, I'm wondering, like, in that time period, what was the messaging to you?
Linda (8:36) Yeah. (8:37) So the messaging to me was, we wouldn't live long. (8:40) Right? (8:41) So but it was more about not being active. (8:44) Right?
Linda (8:44) Because I was I was very active. (8:45) I was a kind of a little hyper kid. (8:47) Mhmm. (8:48) And as soon as I was diagnosed, my my parents and the doctor and everybody was like, okay. (8:52) You you cannot continue to play baseball and softball, and, you know, you should you should learn to love reading more, you know, be like your older sister and just or or your younger sister and, you know, learn to, you know, paint and draw and and read.
Linda (9:06) You know? (9:07) And and and but, you know, even when when I got diagnosed, I actually looked that up. (9:12) And I remember as a as a kid when my sister was diagnosed, I was seven. (9:17) So it was probably when I was eight or nine, I heard overheard my parents talking about how sad they were that she wouldn't probably live much into her, you know, adult years, right, after teenage years. (9:28) She was kind of a brittle brittle diabetic, and so she was, DKA when they were able to identify that she had diabetes, like hours away from going into a coma.
Linda (9:37) Mhmm. (9:38) You know, so she already had some some issues there. (9:41) But when I got diagnosed, I decided to, you know, back in the day, you know, look at the encyclopedias, you know, and and try and do some research to find out, like, how long do people actually live with type one diabetes? (9:54) And I couldn't find anybody who had had it past twenty years. (9:57) Thought that, oh, okay.
Linda (9:58) You know? (9:58) And for someone who's 14, you know, twenty years seemed like, you know, I'd be, like, old by the time I died, you know, at 34. (10:04) I remember dating my husband, and and, when he asked me to marry him, you know, I I basically told him, I said, you know, I'm probably going to be dead before I'm 34. (10:13) So, you know, if you're okay with that, you know, that's that's good. (10:17) And he was like, as much time as I've got with you, that's I'll take it.
Linda (10:21) You know? (10:21) And and here I am now, you know, 63, you know, and it's like
Scott Benner (10:25) A young woman in love and and thought you weren't gonna live much longer.
Speaker 3 (10:29) Right. (10:29) Mhmm.
Scott Benner (10:30) Was there any, I don't know, evidence in your life that was pointing towards this, or was it just the fact that your parents were worried that your sister would pass and that you couldn't find record of somebody living very long with type one? (10:42) Was that all?
Linda (10:43) Yeah. (10:44) The latter. (10:44) There was nothing. (10:45) I was not I wasn't having any issues. (10:48) I didn't you know, I wasn't losing any toes or fingers, and my diabetes was in control, but but I couldn't find anybody.
Linda (10:54) Then I thought, well, eventually, it'll just die. (10:56) You know? (10:57) And I Yeah. (10:58) Sure died, but it was like, somehow, they just don't live after twenty years of Can I ask you, did that put you
Scott Benner (11:03) in a mindset of YOLO? (11:06) You know what I mean? (11:07) Like, I you only live once. (11:08) Let's go. (11:09) Or did it put it didn't it didn't make you sad.
Scott Benner (11:12) It made you, like, let's go for it.
Linda (11:14) Right. (11:14) Absolutely. (11:15) Yeah. (11:15) It didn't make me sad. (11:16) I think it's mainly because, you know, everybody dies, but I knew that.
Linda (11:20) And it was just more about what can I get done before I die? (11:24) You know? (11:25) What can I do? (11:25) What I'm gonna live. (11:26) You don't wanna leave something behind.
Linda (11:28) I wanna make sure that, you know, I get I I don't leave any you know, I'm not I don't have any regrets. (11:33) Yeah. (11:34) Right? (11:34) What I was most worried about is is dying with with regrets of not doing something. (11:38) And so yeah.
Linda (11:39) So that that's how I I pretty much approached it, you know, and that
Scott Benner (11:43) I think that's wonderful, by the way. (11:44) And and I'm wondering, like, does that fit the rest of your personality, or was it something you adopted when you were faced with this? (11:53) Does that make sense? (11:54) Like, were you like a a glasses half full person before this?
Linda (11:57) Probably. (11:57) Yeah. (11:58) I'm trying to think what I was like before I was 14.
Scott Benner (12:00) Yeah. (12:01) It's a long time ago. (12:02) If you don't have a if you don't have a quick answer for it, you probably don't remember. (12:05) And I'm taking my, experience on, trying to remember what happened last week. (12:09) So Right.
Scott Benner (12:11) But I just I was wondering, like, if it if it shifted you or if you were that person. (12:15) I I try to figure that out when I talk to people all the time because you do you do speak to people who have your attitude and you speak to people who are, you know, struggling and have trouble finding a happy attitude. (12:26) And I'm always wondering if it's nature, nurture, decision, like, or somewhere in between, but it's okay if you don't know.
Linda (12:33) Yeah. (12:33) I I think I've always been like that, but, you know, I'd have to probably, you know
Scott Benner (12:37) Really think about.
Linda (12:38) Yeah. (12:38) Somebody yeah. (12:39) I have no idea, but I I think so. (12:41) I don't think it actually really changed much. (12:44) I mean, I I will say that there are things that happened in my life, in our life, my husband's life, that has reconfirmed, you know, that life is short, and you just have to really, you know, live your life to the fullest, you know, with his best friend dying at a very young age and, you know, and just even with my sister passing away and she had some regrets.
Linda (13:03) You know, you you just kinda reconfirms. (13:05) And it's like, yeah. (13:05) I always have that. (13:06) Right? (13:06) It's like because I mean, life gets in the way and you're working and you're doing stuff and, you know, and then you're you know, when you get opportunities, I I always do the best that I can to, you know, grab every opportunity that's presented in front of me.
Linda (13:19) Yeah. (13:19) Because I think, you know, it's like, you only live once and, you know, it's like.
Scott Benner (13:24) I feel like wasted time is maybe the biggest sin you can commit.
Linda (13:28) Yes.
Scott Benner (13:28) Yeah. (13:29) Really, really something. (13:30) Okay. (13:31) So what was management like back then? (13:33) You know, 14 years old, were you, like, shooting insulin once a day?
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Linda (15:57) Yeah. (15:57) So I actually, gave two shots a day mixing insulin like regular and NPH in a syringe, in the morning and at night. (16:06) And then what was hard for me is because I'm not much of a of an eater, or a foodie, and and it's very hard when you're giving couple shots a day. (16:15) And, you know, in insulin back then, you know, like, with the long acting or short acting, it peaks at certain times. (16:21) So you pretty quickly learn that when you're given your shot before school, that you definitely have to have something you know, you have to eat something around, like, 10AM, so I'd have couple grapes or whatever.
Linda (16:35) And then you have to have lunch at noon because your sugars would drop. (16:38) You know, your glucose, know, would just drop. (16:40) And so you had to be on this, like, regimented schedule of eating something at 03:00, dinner at 05:00. (16:47) You know? (16:47) Just and and I hate I am not as, like, that tight of a scheduled person.
Linda (16:52) And so if I had to say anything I hated about it, it was that. (16:56) It was it was always having to, you know, just, like, know you had to even if you're not hungry. (17:01) You know, my mom's pushing the peanut butter sandwich in front of my face. (17:04) I'm like, I'm even hungry. (17:05) You know?
Linda (17:06) And it's like, eat. (17:07) And you knew you had to because your, you know, your sugars were dropping. (17:10) I did that until we got married and moved to Sweden. (17:15) So I lived in Sweden for two years. (17:17) And there, the doctors were just trying out the NovoPen where you got rid of the the actual mean, I still had to do one long acting, so I'd have a, you know, an injection I'd have to do in the morning.
Linda (17:29) But then I used this NovoPen, which is just regular, insulin, and you can, you know, just give it when you're eating. (17:37) You know? (17:38) So it was like, that was so freeing. (17:40) I remember, like, this is like heaven sent. (17:42) You know?
Linda (17:43) I was Yeah. (17:43) That was the best thing ever. (17:46) You know? (17:46) And I did that for a couple years until I moved to Seattle. (17:51) So after Sweden, I was mid twenties, 26, 27, something like a 28 when we moved to Seattle.
Linda (18:00) And it was there that I got, an endocrinologist who was an actual type one diabetic and started showing me the insulin pump and and how it's different and all about it. (18:13) And at that same time, my sister had just gone on to the insulin pump, and she was using the Medtronic one and so was he. (18:21) So I was like, So I started asking her all kinds of questions, you know, because who not to ask your doctor and your sister who were on it, you know, what the pros and cons were.
Speaker 3 (18:30) So that's
Linda (18:31) kind of where I started it. (18:32) Yeah.
Scott Benner (18:32) Before we jump into that, I'm gonna ask a deeper question. (18:35) I'm sorry if this isn't what you were expecting today. (18:37) But do you think that because by nature, you didn't like the scheduling and, you know, it was it was harder for you to eat when you didn't want to, etcetera. (18:46) Can I ask you, did you find yourself looking for control in other aspects of life to make up for being out of control in that situation, or was that never an issue for you?
Linda (18:55) I don't know. (18:56) Probably. (18:56) Because that's I think that's typical. (18:59) You know, when you feel you can't control one thing, you try and control something that's that you can't control. (19:04) So I probably did.
Linda (19:06) I was running at the time a lot, and so that probably was where I could control, you know, what I did and how I did it, even though it wasn't, you know, still, you know, what they would recommend. (19:19) And I think maybe with some schooling and stuff, maybe. (19:22) Probably. (19:22) I don't know if I can think to one specific thing, but I know I do when I can't control one thing, I do tend to grab control of something else. (19:31) Yeah.
Scott Benner (19:31) I mean, everybody does. (19:32) I was just wondering if, like like, if you recognize because you're you're I guess you're not an older person, but you're, you know, you're an older person. (19:39) And you probably had some, like, moments to, you know, where you've looked back and and tried to apply some hindsight to your life. (19:45) And I was just wondering, like, is the running a thing you could control? (19:48) Or you sounded passionate about the idea of not liking being on that schedule.
Scott Benner (19:52) Because, you know, I know other people have had diabetes time, you know, distances as you have. (19:56) Some of them loved that scheduling. (19:59) It fed right into their personality, and others, no. (20:03) You know? (20:04) So I'm just very interested by all that.
Linda (20:06) Yeah. (20:07) No. (20:07) I hated it. (20:07) I hated it, and I and it probably I mean, because I've been running since I was a a kid, you know, like, five, six, seven years old, and and I probably did more of that. (20:18) And I do know that when I can't control something, I do tend to look for something I can better control.
Linda (20:24) So just so that you
Scott Benner (20:26) Did an insulin pump end up helping you with that?
Linda (20:29) It did. (20:30) Oh my gosh. (20:31) Yes. (20:31) That was, like, that was, like, heaven sent too, I thought. (20:33) Because even with the, you know, the NovoPen thing I used, you still had the daily injection in the morning with your long acting, and then you had the multiple you know, so if you ate two times a day, you had at least two more shots you're giving.
Linda (20:46) So you had, like you're still stabbing yourself three times a day at a minimum. (20:50) Mhmm. (20:50) And with the insulin pump, you know, you apply it once every three days. (20:55) You know, at the time I, you know, started it with them, I think it was a Paradigm pump. (20:58) And I thought, oh my gosh.
Linda (20:59) This is even this is even more free. (21:01) I'm like, this is awesome. (21:03) You know, but you had the other challenges of and the thing I was concerned about was, like, what do you do with it? (21:07) You know, it's the size of a pager. (21:08) You You know?
Linda (21:09) How do you how do you run with this thing? (21:10) Where do you put it when you have a dress on? (21:12) What's when I'm doing any kind of other sports. (21:14) You know? (21:14) Right.
Linda (21:15) Where do I you know? (21:16) Or when I'm showering or when I'm sleeping, you know, what what happens to this thing? (21:20) How do you you can't really disconnect from it. (21:22) So, you know, that's why I use my doctor and my my sister. (21:25) You know?
Linda (21:26) Like, how do you you know? (21:27) Even relations with your husband. (21:28) What do you do with this thing? (21:29) Know? (21:29) It's like, you know, it's like you know?
Linda (21:32) And so that's that's a quick solution. (21:34) Right? (21:35) You'd I mean, people had all kinds of things. (21:36) And, you know, nowadays, there's all kinds of tools and, websites and all kinds of stuff about, you know, like, almost like garter belt type stuff that you can put the pump in your, you know, something around your thigh so that it doesn't show on your dress or
Scott Benner (21:51) Yeah.
Linda (21:51) You know, you know, pocket in your bra. (21:54) You know? (21:54) There's all kinds of things that they didn't have twenty twenty five years ago.
Scott Benner (21:58) Right. (21:59) Right. (21:59) Hey. (21:59) At what point in this process do you realize you're not gonna die when you're 34?
Linda (22:04) When I hit 34.
Scott Benner (22:06) Really? (22:06) So you got that pump, and then you lived another almost decade thinking, like, well, it's easier, and that's awesome, but I'm still out of here soon.
Linda (22:14) Right. (22:14) Exactly. (22:15) Wow. (22:16) And we we celebrated when it was my 30, I'm like, I am still alive. (22:20) You know?
Linda (22:20) So Linda, let me stop you for
Scott Benner (22:22) a second. (22:22) Did you feel like you were an egg timer because of I mean, was your health really poor? (22:27) Like, is there any no. (22:28) There was nothing leading you to the idea that you were gonna expire. (22:31) You just thought, like, like, a light switch is gonna flip and you're gonna go and fall over?
Scott Benner (22:35) Like, what what did you expect, I guess, I'm asking?
Linda (22:38) I kinda did. (22:38) I I kinda like well, I actually thought, you know, that something would happen. (22:42) Because my my dad told me, I remember him talking to both my sister and me about it. (22:48) So I was probably right newly diagnosed, and Kelly had had it for seven years or so. (22:54) And so I remember him telling us because I I had a lot of questions.
Linda (22:57) I was asking, like, you know, what you know, why why do people die from this? (23:01) How does this work? (23:01) You know? (23:02) So I was doing a lot of research and and just trying to verify what I was understanding. (23:06) And he told me that the the long term effects of having type one diabetes is what kills you.
Linda (23:16) And he said it was the the wide variances of high blood sugars to low blood sugars or just your body always you know, you get sick and your blood sugars are up and your, you know, your glucose levels were up. (23:27) And, you know, it was that constant up and down, you know, in the the like, climbing mountains. (23:33) You know?
Scott Benner (23:33) Has a variability.
Linda (23:35) Yeah. (23:35) He says it not wears. (23:36) He says it not just wears on your body. (23:38) It wears on every organ you have, every, you know, your brain, your liver, your kidneys, your, you know, everything. (23:45) And so in my head, you know, maybe not the brightest person, but I thought, oh, eventually, you know, like an organ fails and then you just die.
Linda (23:52) Yeah. (23:53) And so I I wasn't sure. (23:54) Right? (23:54) I was like, I'm not not sure what it is. (23:56) And and I did know you know, I've obviously was doing some of this research, but I didn't know that that's usually the cause of, like, kidney failure and, you know, people losing their, you know, their their toes or their legs, you know, because of the poor control.
Linda (24:10) And so I was one thing I I had absolutely and that's know, if you wanna know about what I was gonna control, if I couldn't control my eating, was I control the you know, like, what my blood sugars were. (24:21) And so I was a little, you know, type a personality type with making sure that they weren't Right. (24:26) Swinging. (24:27) Right? (24:28) I mean, they're always swinging, but not wildly.
Linda (24:30) And so
Scott Benner (24:31) Did you open your eyes on that morning of your 30 birthday and think, Okay.
Speaker 3 (24:36) Yeah. (24:36) I did. (24:37) Pretty much. (24:37) I well, maybe I'll be the
Linda (24:40) first one living past day or
Scott Benner (24:41) twenty years. (24:42) I'm gonna be in an encyclopedia one day.
Linda (24:44) Exactly. (24:45) But then does that go away? (24:46) Like, do you
Scott Benner (24:47) give it away? (24:47) Like, oh, I guess I'm okay, or or is it a continuing learning experience? (24:52) Like, you're using a pump now. (24:53) You have better control. (24:54) You have less variability.
Scott Benner (24:55) Do you just think, like, well, maybe the damage that I've been worried isn't accumulating as quickly or isn't accumulating at all? (25:02) Like, where did it put your mindset then?
Linda (25:04) It put my mindset at that I I think I'm living on borrowed time. (25:09) And as much as I can do to continue to live on this borrowed time, you know, I'll do. (25:16) And I do think that, in my own personal opinion, I think that as long as I control my glucose levels, you know, and just making sure that they're not wildly swinging, I think I get extra time. (25:30) And so it's like my my reward. (25:33) You know?
Linda (25:33) So I I just kinda that's how I look at it. (25:36) I just always think I'm living on borrowed time. (25:37) And so if I am, then that's allowing me to to do things and, you know, and and doing some of the things I wanna do. (25:44) Like, you know, I was bungee jumping in, you know, New Zealand a few years back, and I'm, like, loving every minute of it. (25:50) And I'm like, okay.
Linda (25:51) I could die if these things came off, but I'm like, I'm on borrowed time. (25:54) Awesome. (25:54) You know? (25:55) So
Scott Benner (25:55) Oh, it's free. (25:56) You find it freeing.
Linda (25:58) Yeah. (25:58) I do, actually. (25:59) Yeah. (26:00) How about that?
Scott Benner (26:00) That's really interesting. (26:02) Was your husband bummed when you didn't die? (26:03) Did he think, like he's like, oh, I thought I wasn't gonna have to be married this lady forever, did he seem happy too?
Linda (26:09) I know. (26:09) I think I think he's happy that I'm still around. (26:11) Yeah.
Scott Benner (26:11) I imagine. (26:12) Tell me about a one c's on a pump in the early days. (26:17) How things have changed moving forward? (26:18) When did you find a CGM? (26:20) Like, how have you because you're a person who's coming along with technology, which I think is important.
Scott Benner (26:24) So how are you finding yourself staying connected with these changes that are being made? (26:31) And when do you decide, okay. (26:33) I'm gonna try another thing? (26:35) How do you open yourself up to that, I guess?
Linda (26:37) I kinda worked in technology too. (26:39) So so I understand a lot of the technology, and I'm I like to embrace it, but I'm not one that will be the first one in front of the bus. (26:48) Mhmm. (26:48) Right? (26:48) Like, I'm like, I will wait for that bus to pass a couple times and make sure it's not too close to the curb and, you know, whatever that might be.
Linda (26:54) Right? (26:55) I let other people try it first because it's something that, you know, that that needs to work well. (27:01) I will look at so, like so when I got the pump, you know, that first one, didn't have a CGM, obviously, so you're still, you know, checking your your glucose levels and, and then managing it like you should. (27:12) And being a type a personality type, you know, I was I was really controlling it. (27:17) I will say when I started upgrading because I've always been on the Medtronic pump.
Linda (27:21) Very loyal. (27:23) I loved everything about it. (27:24) And so I'd be like it. (27:25) You know? (27:26) If it's not broken, why why change?
Linda (27:28) But I do look at the different ones, like the ones that are you know, it doesn't have the tubing or the, you know, three days on your arm and, you know, that kind of stuff. (27:36) I do look at all that stuff, and I I make the decision based on if it would work for my lifestyle, you know, and how much insulin I take and that kind of stuff. (27:44) And so for right now, I've I've stayed with the Medtronic pump and the with the tube and all that. (27:51) I will say that as the CGM started coming out, I did go with the CGM, the early one, and that had a long needle needle. (28:01) And so and I'm on the thin side.
Linda (28:03) And so it was really hard to find a place that you could put it that, wasn't into a, you know, like, into a muscle or through blood vessels and, you know, just so I didn't use it as much, but I did like the technology of it. (28:19) And then as soon as it started changing where it was easier to insert, easier to use, I embraced it fully. (28:26) And then as soon as it started getting into where it was the with a loop technology, right, where it'd feedback to the pump, I'm like, oh, yeah. (28:32) Give me this. (28:33) Right?
Linda (28:33) So I mean, you still always being a control freak or a type a personality. (28:37) I always will check my, you know, my blood sugar, you know, once a week now. (28:43) Used to do it, like, every day, but the technology has has allowed me to stop, you know, poking my fingers four times a day. (28:51) This technology I'm on right now, it checks it every five minutes.
Scott Benner (28:54) Yeah.
Linda (28:54) So I don't go low anymore at night, where at the in the past, even on the older pumps, my husband would wake up in the middle of the night and just check my chest or my back to see if I was sweating, and then would wake me up and say, you need to drink some juice. (29:09) As soon as I got this pump, he even told me he's like, oh my gosh. (29:13) You know, it's it's so freeing for him.
Scott Benner (29:15) Yeah.
Linda (29:15) I know it's working. (29:16) He says, even if I do wake up and I put my hand on you, you're not, you know, you're not a sweat ball. (29:21) And, and then it you know, if if my blood sugars do drop, you know, it'll it has this alarm that would wake up the neighbors. (29:27) I rarely even have that anymore. (29:29) I mean, rarely, rarely, rarely.
Scott Benner (29:31) No. (29:31) I know. (29:31) Linda, give me a second. (29:32) So do you think that you were low a lot while you were sleeping? (29:37) Absolutely.
Scott Benner (29:38) You are. (29:38) Okay.
Linda (29:39) Yeah. (29:39) And that's usually when I dropped was at night. (29:42) And no matter what I did to change, you know, to try and get it to so I didn't drop at night, I always dropped at night. (29:49) Mhmm. (29:50) And I don't know what that is, but it's it was just me.
Scott Benner (29:52) When you watch those algorithms really work, to me, that's when my understanding, like, I don't know, like, scaled up. (30:00) Like, I used to so my daughter's 21. (30:02) Right? (30:02) And she was diagnosed when she was two. (30:05) And I think I figured out about the time when she started using the CGM, and I started realizing, like, what I was seeing happen and how the insulin was impacting her and how some foods would impact differently than others and
Linda (30:18) Yep.
Scott Benner (30:18) Started getting a bigger picture. (30:20) I started acting like an algorithm, almost texting or being like, hey. (30:23) Can you do a temp basal decrease here? (30:26) You know, like, let's do a 50% decrease for two hours. (30:29) Let's do a 20% increase for thirty minutes.
Scott Benner (30:32) Boneless again. (30:33) Like, we were doing all that. (30:35) And then I did that for years, kept her a one c very nicely in the low sixes. (30:39) Then she got on an algorithm, and I could see it working in front of me. (30:43) And I was like, oh my god.
Scott Benner (30:44) That thing's doing what I was doing.
Linda (30:46) Right. (30:47) Exactly.
Scott Benner (30:47) And then I was like, oh, I'm gonna sleep. (30:50) And then I oh, and then the sleep came back, which is what you're talking about too is awesome. (30:54) Like, just any regaining of sleep is just really incredible. (30:59) And so I was like, wow. (31:01) That's the thing I've been doing for all these years.
Scott Benner (31:03) It's doing it automatically now.
Linda (31:04) Yep. (31:05) And we love that. (31:06) I'll I love it. (31:07) My husband loves it. (31:08) You love it.
Linda (31:08) Yeah. (31:08) Your daughter probably loves it. (31:10) It's amazing.
Scott Benner (31:11) Well, she does she didn't grow up when you grow up. (31:13) She doesn't even know she loves it.
Linda (31:14) Right.
Scott Benner (31:15) Just trust me. (31:16) If somebody took it from her, she'd like, hey. (31:17) Woah. (31:17) What's going on? (31:18) But she doesn't know it's her normal.
Scott Benner (31:20) And so that's interesting for you because you live through other normals to get to this one.
Linda (31:24) Mhmm. (31:25) And this normal is and I'll tell people all the time, especially for newly diagnosed people, this is almost for me, at least from knowing what I was like, you know, what I was going through at the age of 14 to where I'm at today, is like I I feel like a nondiabetic 99% of the time because I don't even think about it. (31:44) I mean, it's it's hooked to me. (31:45) Right? (31:46) So I I know it's there.
Linda (31:47) My old pump, used to call Chatty Cathy because it always beep at me. (31:51) Beep beep. (31:51) You know? (31:52) Calibrate. (31:53) Have you you know, your blood sugar's up.
Linda (31:54) Your blood sugar's low. (31:55) You know? (31:56) How would it be? (31:56) You haven't touched me in two hours or whatever.
Scott Benner (31:58) You know? (31:59) My
Linda (32:00) gosh. (32:00) Chatty Cathy here. (32:02) Taking it out and do you know, and hitting the buttons and doing that. (32:06) This one, I rarely ever have to do that. (32:08) Right?
Linda (32:08) It's like you know, because it keeps everything pretty normal for me, you know, except for when I'm eating. (32:14) Obviously, you have to, you know, give some some insulin. (32:16) I don't get a bolus. (32:17) But but I rarely it's like it's almost like being a nondiabetic again. (32:22) It's kinda weird.
Scott Benner (32:23) So Yeah. (32:23) Let me ask you. (32:24) I mean, Medtronic's come out with mean, I you're still with Medtronic pump. (32:28) Right?
Linda (32:28) Yes. (32:28) Yes.
Scott Benner (32:28) Absolutely. (32:29) Use the seven eighty g?
Linda (32:31) Yep. (32:31) Seven eighty g with a g four sensor.
Scott Benner (32:33) Okay. (32:34) And now they've got new sensors coming. (32:36) Will you try different sensors?
Linda (32:39) I probably will. (32:40) But right now, I have no concerns with the g four. (32:43) It works for me.
Scott Benner (32:44) Yeah.
Linda (32:45) I know there's some people that it doesn't, and I don't know I don't know why. (32:49) I mean, we're all different. (32:50) Right? (32:50) So it works for me. (32:51) I rarely have the only time I ever have an issue is if I hit into a, like, a muscle or a, get a bleeder.
Linda (32:59) I rarely ever get, I think, maybe once or twice if that I've ever had at work. (33:04) It just says change sensor.
Scott Benner (33:06) Okay.
Linda (33:07) Very, very rarely. (33:07) And so it works for me. (33:09) I do like the newer sensors in that it lasts longer. (33:14) You know? (33:14) So they're this one lasts for me, at least, it always lasts to seven days or six and a half days sometimes depending on I'll change it if I you know, depending on the timing.
Linda (33:23) But it always lasts the the the amount of days. (33:25) But the fifteen day, I was always you know, I'm always like,
Scott Benner (33:29) That doesn't sound bad. (33:30) Right? (33:30) Yeah. (33:30) Yeah. (33:31) I imagine you'll change if if you wanna change.
Scott Benner (33:33) And and if you have something that's working for you, then that's perfect too. (33:36) Right. (33:37) What about, like, if they were to come out with other pumps? (33:40) You know, would you be interested in a version that looks different than the pump you have now, or you're pretty happy where you are?
Linda (33:48) Like, there's a couple things I always I put on my wish list if I, you know, if I ran the world. (33:52) I would love this pump to be thinner, smaller, or any pump to be thinner and smaller. (33:57) Now my brother had had changed a couple years ago to a different pump, and his is thinner and smaller, but he's been having a lot of issues with it. (34:04) But and I I don't have any issues with mine. (34:07) And it's, you know, size of a, like, a pager if anybody even really knows what a pager is anymore.
Linda (34:12) But you know? (34:12) So it's not that big. (34:13) But I would love to have something that's a little bit lighter and smaller, maybe thinner. (34:18) It doesn't have to even be, like, too much smaller, but it'd be good if it was thinner. (34:23) Right?
Linda (34:23) Because then you worry about it showing through your pants pocket or your your bra, you know, or wherever. (34:29) And I would love to be able to I think with the technology, I and I know it's I know it's coming eventually, but I would love to be able to turn off or be able to release an alarm, give a bolus or your phone Okay. (34:44) Or something instead of having to reach into you. (34:46) You know? (34:46) Because when you're at a dinner party as a woman and I'm you know, I've got my pump tucked into my bra, you know, in the front of my dress that has a high neck, you know, I have to almost go into the, you know, go into the bathroom, right, to reach under and try and grab my pump and, you know, and and bolus for the dinner we're gonna have, right, and tuck it back in and, you know, and and I would love to be able to just sit like normal people and just be able to, you know, to do what I needed to do.
Linda (35:12) Right?
Scott Benner (35:12) Yeah. (35:12) Make some quiet adjustments. (35:13) It's funny. (35:14) I thought you were gonna, like, say, oh, I you know, I hope I hope Medtronic makes a patch pump or something like that, but that's not really your it's more functional stuff for you.
Linda (35:21) More functional stuff. (35:22) Yeah. (35:23) That's that's more important to me than than, yeah, like, the patch pump. (35:27) I mean, that'd be awesome. (35:28) But, you know, but I if I still had to, you know, I don't know, wherever you put your patch pump.
Linda (35:33) You know? (35:34) If I had to, like, go around and roll up my sleeve to be able to do something
Scott Benner (35:37) you'd to have to at that point. (35:39) No. (35:39) But I do. (35:39) I am picturing you reaching down the top of your sweater, like, rooting around at dinner while everybody's looking at you. (35:45) Yep.
Scott Benner (35:46) So, I mean, I I take your point. (35:47) I kinda wanna, like, ping pong a little bit over to all this running you do because now we have, like, a we have a really good idea of where you started and where you, you know, where you've gotten to as far as how you manage. (35:59) But you've also talked about being low a lot overnight back in the day and everything, but you've been running through that whole thing.
Linda (36:06) Yes.
Scott Benner (36:07) I guess I'm really interested to know what you figured out in the beginning and how it's changed over time.
Linda (36:13) So at the beginning so I've been running as a kid, and then I didn't stop running even as after I got diagnosed. (36:19) I started probably running more when I was in my, probably early late twenties, early thirties
Scott Benner (36:27) Mhmm.
Linda (36:28) And running my, like, first half marathon, that kind of stuff. (36:31) And so I wasn't on a pump until I was, getting ready to run my first marathon. (36:36) So when I was just doing insulin injections, I would usually if I just went out for a six mile run, I didn't think anything about it. (36:44) I would just take some candies with me and just go. (36:47) But I had no idea what my blood sugars were.
Linda (36:49) You know, I knew what they were before I started, but I didn't know, you know, during the run if there was any kind of issues. (36:54) And so but I always had something with me. (36:56) I was more worried about it being low than I was about it being high. (36:59) So I always carried some kind of, you know, like, Skittles or something with me.
Scott Benner (37:03) Yeah.
Linda (37:03) I you know, at night, I would have a couple issues, you know, with running, you know, like a half marathon. (37:11) I quickly learned that you expend a lot of this energy and you're burning your sugars and that kind of stuff. (37:17) And so I'd eat right after. (37:18) It'd be great. (37:20) But within the next twelve hours or twenty four hours, my blood sugars would drop a lot.
Linda (37:25) And then I didn't really notice I didn't really know that why that was happening other than, you know, I thought, well, maybe it's because I've, you know, exercising a little bit longer, but I'm thinking, what? (37:34) It's been twenty hours. (37:35) Why is my blood sugar still low? (37:37) And, apparently, you know, I was talking to my endocrinologist, which is very important for anybody who's a type one diabetic. (37:43) Get a good endocrinologist and trust that person and make sure that they know about the technology.
Linda (37:48) But, you know, I had an endocrinologist, and they were telling me that that's, you know, you're still burning, you know, twenty twelve to twenty four hours after the fact. (37:56) And so I had to make sure I was eating a little bit more maybe pasta or something, you know, eight hours later. (38:04) You know, just get something in you so that it's it's balancing it out. (38:07) And so it kind of put me a little bit back to, like, you know, when I was giving individual injections, you know, back when I was 14 and I have to stick to that schedule. (38:16) I was like, oh, this kinda sucks.
Linda (38:17) Well, then I went on the pump, and that was very freeing. (38:21) And then, you know, and then you could see, you know, and it would it would drop. (38:24) I could adjust it, you know, so I'd give half the amount of insulin for the next twenty four hours. (38:30) So I would put it at 50%. (38:32) And then all of sudden, that was great.
Linda (38:34) You know? (38:34) And then I back and put it back to normal. (38:36) You know? (38:37) So, you know, the doctor, my endocrinologist at the time was the one that was, like, messing around with that and making sure I could do that. (38:43) So I didn't change it.
Linda (38:45) I didn't change anything while I was running, but I changed it afterwards Yeah. (38:49) Because usually where I had my issues. (38:51) And then, obviously, when I get on this, you know, seven eighty g, you know, with the g four, you know, sensor, I now can run a marathon where all I do during the whole race is I will take at the water stops, I'll drink like, I'll take you know, they have Dixie cups of, like, Gatorade or Powerade or whatever and water. (39:10) And so I will pour a little bit of the water and pour the Gatorade or Powerade or whatever in it. (39:15) I'll take a sip of that you know, like, whatever it is, two ounces, and keep going.
Linda (39:19) And so at every water stop, that's all I would do is take a little bit of that Gatorade with some water, just water it down a little bit. (39:26) And and I almost always will end the race at, you know, about 01:10, 01:12, something like that. (39:32) Right? (39:32) And and then even after the race, the pump because it's looking at you every five minutes. (39:37) Right?
Linda (39:37) It'll just adjust automatically. (39:39) So I don't have to, you know, make any for me, at least, I don't have to make any adjustments to the pump even twenty four hours after the race.
Scott Benner (39:47) Well, it's doing it then. (39:48) Yeah. (39:48) And and but do you find yourself getting low 20 you know, in the hours after the race?
Linda (39:54) Not usually.
Scott Benner (39:54) Not usually. (39:55) And how many and and I guess this is the part that'll freak people out. (39:58) Tell people how old you are again.
Linda (40:00) I am 63 years old.
Scott Benner (40:01) How many of these marathons have you run?
Linda (40:04) I am running, well, I have run 95, so I'm running my ninety sixth on Sunday.
Scott Benner (40:11) Wow. (40:11) Can I tell you my running story?
Linda (40:13) Yes.
Scott Benner (40:14) I was going into the grocery store yesterday and these two older people were walking out. (40:17) It was a windy day. (40:18) And they pulled out their turkey and the receipt blew away and the old man yelled, damn it. (40:22) And I said, do you need that? (40:24) And he said, yeah.
Scott Benner (40:25) And I ran it down and I got it for That was it. (40:28) That's as much as I've run-in the last six months, I just want you to say. (40:31) And I was pretty proud of myself, honestly, because I didn't pull anything. (40:34) You were doing it a little differently. (40:35) By the way, they were grateful for that receipt.
Scott Benner (40:37) I I wonder what they wanted the receipt for. (40:39) They were so upset. (40:41) Maybe maybe it had, a coupon for a free it's around Thanksgiving. (40:44) It's like a free bird coupon on there or something. (40:46) I don't know exactly.
Scott Benner (40:47) Anyway, this is not the point, Linda. (40:49) But I got that thing. (40:50) No problem. (40:51) Now you you're doing it differently. (40:53) You are I mean, there are you traveling the country and doing this?
Scott Benner (40:57) Is this, a thing? (40:58) Explain to me what you're doing here.
Linda (41:00) So I've been running marathons for twenty five, twenty seven years, something like that. (41:04) Ran when I ran my first one, I was just, like, shocked that kinda, like, you know, when I hit 34 or whatever, shocked that I was still alive. (41:11) I was like, oh, it didn't kill me. (41:13) I'm I'm still alive. (41:14) Okay.
Linda (41:14) Let's see if that was just a fluke. (41:16) And so I started running. (41:17) I ran another one, like, a year later. (41:19) But I really like that distance. (41:21) And so as I continue to run, probably run one a year.
Linda (41:24) You know, I was working, going to school, that kind of stuff. (41:27) And so as I continued, you know, just running, social media started. (41:33) And as soon as I got on to any of the social media sites, you know, it could be Facebook or Instagram or, you know, x or Twitter or whatever it is. (41:41) Yeah. (41:42) That's when you that's when I started seeing things like the world marathon majors, where you could run Chicago and New York and Boston and London and Berlin and Tokyo and now Sydney.
Linda (41:55) And I thought, oh, that'd be really cool. (41:57) And so I thought, okay. (41:58) Go. (41:58) Let me see if I can do that. (42:00) And so I finished all those in 2015.
Linda (42:03) I'm still running marathons, and I, you know, I obviously was trying to qualify for Boston. (42:08) That's why I got, like, qualified for Boston three times. (42:10) And one of those was for the, world marathon majors. (42:14) And then I continued. (42:15) You know, you still see these social media stuff, and then I see you know, I'm I'm learning more about ultramarathons, and I thought, oh, this is really cool.
Linda (42:23) Yeah. (42:23) People run 50 miles and 100 miles and even longer and, you know, even multiple day, you know, stages of races. (42:31) And so I decided when it was my fiftieth birthday, I wanted to run a 50 miler. (42:37) So that month of my fiftieth birthday, I ran a 50 mile race in Washington State, one of the what was that one called? (42:45) Mount Sai Mhmm.
Linda (42:46) Marathon. (42:47) So I did that, and it didn't kill me. (42:49) I thought that's great. (42:50) And then I saw in, gosh, 2017, '20 no. (42:55) 2015, I saw I've been on Instagram, but it was, the World Marathon Challenge.
Linda (43:04) And this is running seven marathons, on seven continents in seven days. (43:09) And it was the first time in 2015. (43:11) And I followed it for that entire week of these people going from one continent to the next. (43:15) And, you know, it was like, you go to bed, they've already got one done. (43:18) And then you wake up, and they've run another one.
Linda (43:20) And, you know, I thought, my god. (43:21) This is fantastic. (43:23) So I followed him. (43:24) And then the next year, they were doing it again. (43:26) And I remember telling my husband, like, wow.
Linda (43:28) This must be a thing. (43:30) He retired in 2017, and I was telling him, he's I was like, oh my god. (43:35) They're doing it again in 2017. (43:36) And he said he goes, why don't you go ahead and sign up and see if you can do that? (43:40) So I I did.
Linda (43:41) I applied. (43:42) And they basically said, oh, you're a type one diabetic. (43:45) Get get approval from your doctor. (43:47) In the meantime, we're moving from Seattle to Pinehurst, North Carolina. (43:51) So I had to had to get a new doctor, a new endocrinologist.
Linda (43:54) And so when I met with her and told her kinda who I was and what I do and, you know, and she's like, yeah. (44:00) They we don't usually deal with extreme athletes. (44:03) I'm like, I'm not extreme. (44:04) I'm like, I just I just like to run. (44:06) But she's like, oh, no.
Linda (44:07) You're you kinda do extreme stuff. (44:09) And so but she didn't run screaming from the room. (44:11) So she's like, alright. (44:12) Let's see what we can do if you're gonna do this. (44:14) And so we did everything that we needed to do and and got accepted to run this race.
Linda (44:18) And so I did it in 2019 and, ran seven marathons, seven continents, seven days. (44:24) And some of the things, you know, when running that, you have to worry about, like, you know, you're in Antarctica. (44:29) You know? (44:30) I don't want my pump to freeze, you know, when I'm in Antarctica and need it for the next six days. (44:35) So, you know, you had to, you know, figure out how to to work around some of those challenges.
Linda (44:39) And then, you know, within six hours or whatever, we're in Cape Town, South Africa, and it's, you know, a 100% humidity and 92 degrees. (44:46) You're like, okay. (44:47) I don't want the pump to overheat either. (44:49) Right?
Scott Benner (44:50) So Yeah. (44:50) Yeah.
Linda (44:50) You know? (44:51) So you have those kinds of challenges along with running, but I've always been kind of into this running. (44:56) And then along the way through all of this, I saw where they do this run a marathon in all 50 states. (45:03) So while I was running other marathons, training and doing whatever, I was checking off the states. (45:09) So I travel around the country in US, right, in different states and checking off those states.
Linda (45:15) So I just finished that 50 state, marathon in Twin Cities, Minnesota, sponsored by Medtronic. (45:24) It's a marathon sponsored by Medtronic. (45:26) And I thought, what better way to finish, you know, this 50 states wearing the Medtronic pump running a race sponsored by Medtronic. (45:34) Right? (45:35) And I thought, I'm just gonna do that.
Linda (45:37) And so it it worked out perfectly. (45:38) And so I I just finished that. (45:41) And so I just look I always look for challenges. (45:43) And so Yeah.
Scott Benner (45:44) I'm struck by how different people are because you found these people, this group of people online, and you're like, this is inspiration. (45:50) I would have turned to somebody and said, I found a group of crazy people online. (45:54) They're running all over the place. (45:55) But you were like, no. (45:56) No.
Scott Benner (45:56) These are my people. (45:57) By the way, 50 states, what's the time frame? (46:00) How many years did it take you to run 50 different marathons in 50 different states?
Linda (46:05) Gosh. (46:05) Well, I didn't I really wasn't paying any attention to it. (46:08) So
Scott Benner (46:08) I In years?
Linda (46:10) I I've been running, like I ran in, like, Seattle, like, I don't know, eight times because I lived there. (46:14) Right? (46:14) So in Portland, like, a couple times because I really wasn't really thinking about the 50 states until probably it might have been around in 2015, so I had to go back.
Scott Benner (46:24) You've been focused on this for a decade. (46:26) I can't how I can't how you my god. (46:28) Why are you a special person? (46:30) This is now my new question, Linda. (46:31) Like, how did you focus on that for a decade?
Scott Benner (46:33) How do you decide to go did your husband go with you seven continents? (46:37) Seven days? (46:38) Seven days. (46:39) Like, where you just, like I I've talked to somebody who's done this before. (46:42) Like, you know, on a plane, you land, you run, you get back on a plane, you land that just like that.
Scott Benner (46:47) Right?
Linda (46:48) Yeah. (46:48) You do. (46:49) And, and I've done it three times actually. (46:51) I'm not Wait.
Scott Benner (46:52) Stop. (46:52) No. (46:52) Linda, stop. (46:53) You've done seven continents in seven days three times?
Speaker 3 (46:56) Yes.
Scott Benner (46:56) Alright. (46:57) I'm gonna ask a different question. (46:59) What's wrong with you? (47:00) Tell everybody right now.
Linda (47:04) I know. (47:04) My husband, all he keeps saying is you're not normal.
Scott Benner (47:06) I'm like Well, yeah.
Linda (47:09) I'm like no. (47:11) It's it's fun. (47:12) And it's a he did go with me the third time. (47:15) So because he, you know, he he looks at me as, like, somebody with type one diabetes, and he understands that. (47:21) But he also sees me I'm always running.
Linda (47:23) And he's he told me after watching this, the World Marathon Challenge, the third time, and he was watching all of us run this thing. (47:32) He goes, wow. (47:33) I didn't realize how hard it was. (47:34) He goes, you always make things look so easy. (47:36) You're like, I'm going for a 20 miler.
Linda (47:38) And I go, okay. (47:39) I'll see you in I'll see you in a little bit. (47:41) And he goes and does his thing, and he's like, and then you're you're done. (47:43) And and we go and get something to eat, and then we go about our day and play golf or whatever. (47:47) He was like yeah.
Linda (47:49) He goes, I didn't realize how hard that was. (47:51) And Did you guys have kids? (47:53) No. (47:53) And that's why we do some of this stuff. (47:55) Yes.
Scott Benner (47:55) Oh, I was gonna say because, like, where are you getting all this money from? (47:58) My kids are sucking me dry. (48:00) Was that on purpose? (48:01) Was that, I'm gonna be dead soon. (48:02) I don't wanna have children thing?
Linda (48:04) I don't know. (48:05) It was more about a little bit of it was. (48:07) Right? (48:07) Because I I really worried about having kids and leaving them, you know, and having my husband to raise them. (48:14) And so that that did play into a lot of it.
Linda (48:19) And then we both had jobs where he traveled a ton for his job. (48:23) I mean, he could be he worked for Boeing. (48:24) So he could be gone months at a time. (48:26) And I thought, man, if I died, you won't have those children.
Scott Benner (48:30) So many of your decisions are made around whether or not you expire out of nowhere. (48:34) I mean, it sound like you're incredibly healthy. (48:35) Do you have any complications?
Linda (48:38) No. (48:38) I've not had any. (48:39) Even my eye doctor's like, she every time I see her, she's like, it's amazing. (48:43) I can't even tell you're a diabetic with
Scott Benner (48:44) your eye. (48:45) You're running so far. (48:46) It probably the diabetes can't catch up to you to grab on, I would imagine.
Linda (48:49) I tell people I'm running away from it. (48:51) Know.
Scott Benner (48:52) Well, that's isn't it exciting though to know that there's a generation of kids right now that are gonna get diagnosed at 14 who will never be told your life is gonna be shorter?
Linda (49:02) Right.
Scott Benner (49:02) Who won't be told you can't run, you know, who are never gonna have the fears and the concerns that you grew up with.
Linda (49:09) Right. (49:09) Yes. (49:09) I I know. (49:10) It's it's amazing. (49:11) And and, I was talking to a a kid, and I wanna say he was, gosh, like, maybe 20.
Linda (49:17) He was diagnosed, I think he said when he was two, 18, two years. (49:22) And he, he also has the same kind of outlook that I do. (49:26) And he goes, you know what? (49:27) He goes, the difference between you and me, he says, is that he goes, and what I see with other people who have been diagnosed, you know, like, maybe in their teens or even their twenties, you know, later in life, he says, most of them mourn their prior life. (49:42) He goes, I see that a lot.
Linda (49:44) They all mourn what it was like before they had die diabetes. (49:49) And he says, I don't know any different. (49:51) So this is my he goes, so this he goes, so I have nothing to mourn. (49:55) He goes, do you find that? (49:56) And I'm like, no.
Linda (49:58) I I don't. (49:59) You know? (49:59) I was like,
Scott Benner (50:00) anyway seen it go all different ways, Linda. (50:02) Like, I really have. (50:03) Like, I I take this point. (50:04) I've recorded, like, over 2,000 times with people with type one diabetes, and we'll and I'll probably do another 250 recordings in 2026 and the year after and over. (50:14) And by the time I get done doing this, I'll probably have recorded with, like, 3,000 different people.
Scott Benner (50:18) Wow. (50:19) I do find that people take their situation, then look at the opposite, and then make a decision. (50:25) Oh, that must be why I'm this way. (50:27) But that person who said that to you, I've talked to people who are in that exact same situation who have the exact opposite takeaway. (50:33) So I I don't know.
Scott Benner (50:34) I think it's so personal that and you don't even realize why you feel the way you feel sometimes. (50:38) Mhmm. (50:39) That makes sense?
Linda (50:40) Yeah. (50:40) I yeah. (50:41) I absolutely agree with you. (50:42) Yeah.
Scott Benner (50:42) It's not a crazy way to start your decision making process. (50:46) Like, my daughter's too. (50:47) She doesn't remember not having diabetes, but she is also not thrilled about it. (50:51) You you know? (50:52) Like, it's she's not running around going like, no big deal.
Scott Benner (50:54) There are places in her life that it really impacts her, and it's Yeah. (50:57) And it's difficult. (50:59) And there are parts of it that she just skates through. (51:01) I don't know. (51:02) And if she was a slightly different person, if that was my son and not my daughter, he's got a different personality, he would he'd intersect with it differently too.
Linda (51:09) That's true. (51:10) That's very true. (51:11) Because even my brother, he he was in denial for the first probably five, six, seven years. (51:17) Yeah. (51:17) Like, he just thought he was didn't need insulin.
Linda (51:19) He wouldn't give it. (51:20) I'm like, what are you doing? (51:21) You know? (51:22) Until his until his case started having his retinas detach. (51:25) And then he realized, oh, boy.
Scott Benner (51:26) Figured it out then. (51:27) Yeah. (51:27) Yeah. (51:27) I bet. (51:28) Real quick.
Scott Benner (51:28) Yeah. (51:29) So what was he doing? (51:30) Giving himself basal and no bolusing?
Linda (51:32) Yeah. (51:32) He wasn't doing any of it. (51:34) No.
Scott Benner (51:34) Oh, was he did he have Lada maybe back then and they didn't know it? (51:37) Was he, like, a slow onset?
Linda (51:39) No. (51:40) He was diagnosed pretty early. (51:41) My my parents, because they were you know, they had seven kids, so it was three of us, right, that had it. (51:47) But at the time, it was just two of us. (51:49) But after after my sister was diagnosed, my mom used to because back in the day, you didn't have, like, a little machine that you could poke your own finger and put blood on a, you know, stick and within, you know, twenty seconds or whatever.
Linda (52:01) You used to have to pee in a cup, use an eyedropper, put a tablet, in the in the eyedropper, put so many drops of urine on it, and it would turn a different color. (52:13) You would compare that to the scale on the back of this bottle that the tablets came in to see kind of what your range was, but it could be, like, 60 to 200. (52:23) Mhmm. (52:24) You know, $2.00 1 to 400. (52:26) You know?
Linda (52:26) So you never really knew what you were in, but my mom would have us, she would do that about once a month with all of us kids. (52:33) So we knew, my mom would know pretty quickly because and then she obviously recognized the signs, which I think today when you hear these kids that are dying, because the parents don't know or the or the doctors even do not know the signs of type one diabetes. (52:48) And that with all the the available, you know, information and the tools that we use for that kind of stuff, for someone to not be aware of the signs of that is is just it's just baffling to me. (53:03) And I think as as a group and I and I keep trying to do this too is try to bring awareness because not just within my, you know, my immediate friends and family because I think they pretty much know. (53:15) But, you know, you we've gotta expand it out even further because it's you know, when they're thinking your kid is, you know, wow.
Linda (53:22) You know, might be because it's hot out. (53:24) They're really thirsty now, but then because they're drinking a lot. (53:26) Now they're peeing a lot. (53:27) You know? (53:27) It's like Yeah.
Linda (53:28) You know, just know the signs. (53:30) You know? (53:30) But but he knew. (53:32) We caught him early, but he just was in denial. (53:35) And so my parents would make him give his, insulin injections because he was still on injections at the time too.
Linda (53:42) If he could get away with not doing it and he'd fake it, he would. (53:45) And I don't know if he was because he was afraid of needles or I don't know
Speaker 3 (53:49) what I think he was
Linda (53:49) just in denial. (53:50) Yeah. (53:50) It was the most bizarre thing. (53:52) I was like, wow. (53:53) You got two sisters with it and are dealing with it, and you, like or acting like it didn't pertain to you.
Scott Benner (53:59) So one of my bigger takeaways is that, you know, sometimes people get labeled as noncompliant. (54:05) I don't think people are noncompliant. (54:06) I just think that I think it just everyone's personality is different. (54:11) Their struggles are different, and they react to things differently. (54:15) I don't think anybody doesn't want to be healthy.
Scott Benner (54:18) You know? (54:19) I just think there are a lot of other implications and reasons why we act the way we act, and I don't know that we can always take credit for them. (54:26) Like, I don't know that you can take credit for being, like, a runner who's doing all the things you're doing any more than your brother could be at fault Right. (54:35) For what he did. (54:35) Exactly.
Scott Benner (54:36) What I mean? (54:36) Mhmm. (54:36) Yeah. (54:37) And it's why I'm sorry. (54:39) It's why it's nice that this technology exists.
Scott Benner (54:41) Right? (54:42) Because no matter what side of the spectrum you're on, at this point, it can we could slap a CGM and a pump on you. (54:49) You can live a nice long life.
Linda (54:51) Right.
Scott Benner (54:51) Yeah. (54:51) You know, a a healthy life, a life free of complications, and then you can decide how much effort you're gonna put into it after that.
Linda (54:58) Right.
Scott Benner (54:59) But just having the gear on really I mean, it it just propels you into a a different world that did not exist when you were diagnosed.
Linda (55:07) Right. (55:07) Yeah. (55:07) That's exactly true. (55:08) Yeah. (55:08) Because, I mean, if you take a kid now that's diagnosed and and he's like my brother.
Linda (55:13) Right? (55:13) You put a pump on him and a CGM. (55:15) I mean, I don't even have to some of these people don't even give a bolus when they're eating. (55:20) Right? (55:20) Because a pump will make up for a lot of it.
Linda (55:22) Right? (55:23) So you're not you're not gonna
Scott Benner (55:24) You could end up easily in a with an a one c in the sevens and Right. (55:27) And not be that engaged, honestly.
Speaker 3 (55:30) Yeah. (55:30) Exactly.
Scott Benner (55:30) I mean, I'd be better for you if you were pre ballistic your meals and and doing all your things. (55:34) Like, I'm not saying otherwise. (55:36) But I'm saying that given, you know, given due respect to the fact that there are a lot of different people with a lot of different struggles and a lot of different brains, and this technology is life changing for an entire, worldwide community of people living with type one diabetes.
Linda (55:52) Absolutely. (55:53) Yeah. (55:53) I just yeah. (55:55) It just is I I'm I'm thankful. (55:57) Right?
Linda (55:57) I just every day, it's like I'm thankful. (55:59) And I and I'm kind of excited about what's coming up. (56:02) Right? (56:02) What new things can people think about? (56:04) Because even, you know, twenty years ago, I never would have thought that the pump with the CGM and that it would be in this closed loop system that, you know, could almost make it feel like you weren't even a diabetic anymore.
Linda (56:14) Right? (56:14) I I just never even I've never even it didn't cross my mind, and now you've got it. (56:20) You know? (56:20) It's like, what else can they do? (56:22) You know?
Scott Benner (56:22) It's like expectations, Linda, and I know not a lot about much, but my expectations are that, with the help of coders and AI, that they're gonna find better and better ways to make these algorithms work and that, you know, outcomes can get better, you know, moving forward and probably more quickly than you imagine right now too. (56:41) Like, you Right. (56:41) You've really lived like, your your life's been like you're I don't know. (56:45) How much older than me? (56:47) I'm 54.
Scott Benner (56:48) Right? (56:48) But Mhmm. (56:49) You've lived through such a shift in technology in your life and not just through medical stuff. (56:54) Right? (56:55) Like, you're young enough now to, like, still look up and say, hey.
Scott Benner (56:58) This AI thing's crazy.
Speaker 3 (57:00) Right.
Scott Benner (57:00) Right? (57:01) And it and you live through the Internet. (57:03) You know how hard it is to tell people that, like, I didn't have the Internet for a big chunk of my life? (57:08) You know, you try to explain that world to them. (57:09) Or I just got interviewed the other day by a college student who was like, you know, tell me about your media consumption when you were younger.
Scott Benner (57:15) I was like, media consumption. (57:17) I was like, my friend, it was ABC, CBS, and NBC. (57:20) And if I wanted to consume it, I sat in front of it when they told me it was on and that was that. (57:23) And he's like, well, what if you wanted to watch it again? (57:25) I was like, I don't know.
Scott Benner (57:26) Like, that didn't happen.
Speaker 3 (57:28) Right. (57:28) Yeah. (57:28) Didn't happen.
Scott Benner (57:29) Yeah. (57:29) And I told him, said, you know, I can sing the the Mounds Almond Joy song from the commercial because every year in October, I made sure to sit in front of my television to watch the Charlie Brown Halloween special. (57:42) Yes. (57:43) And that company always bought an ad on it. (57:45) And so, like, that's how I know that mounds, you know, mounds don't you know, that whole thing.
Linda (57:51) And, like and I was like,
Scott Benner (57:52) but then that's it. (57:53) Like, I was like, you know, you saw a movie in a theater and if you missed it, it was gone. (57:56) You never saw it.
Linda (57:57) Right. (57:58) Exactly. (57:58) Yeah.
Scott Benner (57:59) The way things have changed now like that, the way it's gonna apply to this stuff, I think is gonna be insane. (58:06) Like, I I
Linda (58:07) think You know what I mean?
Scott Benner (58:08) Like, I don't know that you're not gonna live in a world you, even though you even though you died thirty years ago, Linda, I don't know that you're not gonna get to live in a world. (58:16) My daughter's definitely gonna get to live in a world
Linda (58:18) Absolutely.
Scott Benner (58:19) Where she's gonna open up her phone one day and say, hey. (58:22) I'm having pizza, but it's at Pizza Hut, not at Domino's. (58:26) Don't forget Pizza Hut hits us differently. (58:28) It's already gonna be 10 steps ahead of her because it's gonna have location on and know where she's at. (58:33) Yep.
Scott Benner (58:33) Like, I don't think that's crazy. (58:35) So I
Linda (58:36) know. (58:36) I agree. (58:37) I totally agree with you. (58:39) And I also think that, you know, it's like, you know, you talk about how we how we learn things and, you know, and, like, the social media type stuff, you know, I was talking about earlier. (58:48) I'll tell you one of the things that I have really because I'm a I'm a Medtronic ambassador.
Linda (58:53) Yeah. (58:53) Yeah. (58:54) And one of the things that you know, when we get together with some of these other people who have type one diabetes, the things that you can learn from these other ambassadors and other type one diabetics that I never even would have thought of. (59:07) Right? (59:08) So, like, I was just over in the New York City Marathon, and we're supporting a couple of these runners that were type one diabetics.
Linda (59:15) And the majority of them were running their marathon for the first time. (59:18) And one of them, I was talking to her, and she's like, she puts her pump, you know, in the back of her, like, her, like, sports bra somewhere in the back. (59:26) And I'm thinking, how do you do that? (59:28) Right? (59:28) And how do you you know, it's like, what's you know and and we're all, like, turn you know, talking about the different patches you wear to cover your CGM when it's really hot and sweaty.
Linda (59:36) And, you know, there's so many things that, you know, as the technology changes that I haven't yet, like a lot of these were using some of the new sensors. (59:46) And I you know, obviously, I'm I'm like for them to try them out first.
Speaker 3 (59:49) I'm like
Scott Benner (59:49) I heard you say that earlier. (59:50) Yeah. (59:51) Yeah. (59:51) I know.
Linda (59:51) And I'll I'll use them. (59:53) You know? (59:53) And then I'm like, I'll let you try them out first. (59:55) But I start asking you, start asking the questions. (59:56) What do you like about it?
Linda (59:57) What don't you like about it? (59:58) What do you do? (59:58) You know? (59:59) How does it how does it do? (1:00:00) And how do you you know, when you're running, what do you do?
Linda (1:00:02) And you know? (1:00:02) But you learn so much from people that are in the community as well. (1:00:06) Yeah. (1:00:06) You know? (1:00:07) Not just the and I think companies like Medtronic, right, they also get that feedback, and they could they use it, I think, you know, to to make it better and easier for for all of us.
Linda (1:00:18) And and that, I'm also very appreciative of. (1:00:21) And you get a lot of you know, you get surveys from all kinds of people, you know, even beyond type one. (1:00:25) You know? (1:00:25) What's what works for you? (1:00:27) What doesn't work for you?
Linda (1:00:28) You know? (1:00:28) Medtronic. (1:00:29) I mean, different different people. (1:00:30) And I think it's all about, you know, trying to get the technology to do as much for you, you know, so you do live a hassle free, you know, worry free life that I think we all deserve. (1:00:42) Right?
Linda (1:00:42) And just
Scott Benner (1:00:43) Yeah.
Linda (1:00:43) You know? (1:00:43) Because we, you know, got diagnosed with this disease. (1:00:46) You know? (1:00:46) It doesn't mean our life ends. (1:00:48) It doesn't mean we have to stop doing anything.
Linda (1:00:50) Right? (1:00:50) But if anything we could do to to share, you know, what we know, what works for us, that might work for one somebody else, and they can use that then to maybe create, you know, newer technology that can make it easier. (1:01:04) You know? (1:01:04) I mean, if you're know, if you got a lot of, you know, technicians or, you know, software engineers that are men that aren't type type one diabetics, they're creating these devices to, you know, better control our blood sugars, but it's you know, it doesn't fit in a tight fitting dress. (1:01:20) You know?
Scott Benner (1:01:20) Yeah. (1:01:21) Or it doesn't think or if it didn't think about the fluctuations from hormones from your cycle or whatever. (1:01:26) Exactly. (1:01:27) And, Linda, you're you're preaching to the choir. (1:01:29) I have a I have a private Facebook group for the podcast that has 76,000 active members in it.
Linda (1:01:36) Oh my gosh. (1:01:37) Wow.
Scott Benner (1:01:37) It does a 120 to a 160 new posts every day and 8,000 likes and comments every twenty four hours.
Linda (1:01:45) Oh my god.
Scott Benner (1:01:46) To say that I believe that community and the connection to other people is maybe half of it, it might be an understatement. (1:01:54) I think I from my from my point of view, you need good tools, good direction. (1:01:59) Yeah. (1:01:59) You need the, the ability to make changes to your settings on your own Yeah. (1:02:03) And the confidence that comes with it.
Scott Benner (1:02:06) And then you need the understanding and connection of other people who understand your situation. (1:02:12) That is really most of this thing. (1:02:14) If you have those things, you are way, way ahead. (1:02:17) You're almost golden.
Linda (1:02:18) Yeah. (1:02:18) Yeah. (1:02:19) I agree.
Scott Benner (1:02:19) Yeah. (1:02:20) I I I believe that a million percent.
Linda (1:02:23) Yep. (1:02:23) I agree.
Scott Benner (1:02:24) Is there anything I have not asked you that I should have? (1:02:27) Anything that you were gonna hang up and go, I cannot believe we didn't talk about I mean, have you been to the moon? (1:02:34) I mean, you're seven continents seven days three times. (1:02:37) Are you gonna do it again? (1:02:38) Are you gonna give up?
Scott Benner (1:02:39) Like, at
Linda (1:02:40) what at what age do
Scott Benner (1:02:41) you go, hey. (1:02:41) You know what? (1:02:42) I'm done with this.
Linda (1:02:44) No. (1:02:45) I can't imagine. (1:02:46) I I I I've always told my husband if I end up, like, you know, having a heart attack on a on a race and I'm a few meters from the, you know, the finish line, drag my ass across there and put on me. (1:02:57) You know? (1:02:58) Bury me with it.
Linda (1:02:59) But but, no, I'm not I'm not giving up. (1:03:00) And I think, you know, I think it's one of the reasons why I'm in such good control is because I am very active. (1:03:07) Always have been, you know, so I didn't stop once I got diagnosed. (1:03:10) Yeah. (1:03:11) And then, you know, and I and I think it's important.
Linda (1:03:13) And then, you know, I'm gonna you know, after I'm right now trying to run a 100 marathons. (1:03:18) So I'm only a couple away, but I'm gonna finish and I'm trying to finish my hundredth running the Sydney marathon in August year. (1:03:27) And then I'm I just saw a new race that was called the deepest marathon in the world, and it's in some kind of mine in Sweden. (1:03:38) And so I was like, I might have to check that one out.
Scott Benner (1:03:41) I'm not gonna bother asking you what your favorite Netflix series is because I don't think you watch televisions.
Linda (1:03:48) I I don't. (1:03:50) Don't. (1:03:51) Watch t I rarely watch TV. (1:03:53) But yeah. (1:03:53) But it's like you know, so I'm gonna just be over the next you know, after I'm done with the 100, I'll probably look for things that are a little bit, you know Yeah.
Linda (1:04:01) Unique. (1:04:01) You know? (1:04:02) Like, I I do wanna run North Pole. (1:04:03) So I'm gonna if I do North Pole, probably do this deepest marathon, I'll probably I wanna definitely do Athens, Greece because that's where it all started. (1:04:10) So I haven't
Scott Benner (1:04:11) Does it go through the ruins and everything in Athens?
Linda (1:04:14) I don't know where I have I've not actually looked at the route, but they say it's supposedly the the first the route that actually started the whole marathon. (1:04:21) So
Scott Benner (1:04:22) Your life is way better than mine. (1:04:24) Let me just say now that Medtronic, if they need somebody to do a podcast with you after you've run one of these, like, on location, I think I should be asked. (1:04:30) There's a couple of play not not did you say Antarctica? (1:04:33) Not there. (1:04:33) But you have a you have a great life.
Scott Benner (1:04:35) This is really awesome. (1:04:36) Good for you for making that life for yourself after somebody told you weren't gonna have one. (1:04:39) Really wonderful. (1:04:40) Really, really lovely.
Linda (1:04:41) I know I'm like, I wasn't gonna live this. (1:04:43) Woe was me, and I'm gonna die in a couple years. (1:04:45) I'm like, nope. (1:04:46) I'm gonna I'm gonna enjoy every minute I'm on it. (1:04:49) Right?
Scott Benner (1:04:49) So That's beautiful. (1:04:50) It really is. (1:04:51) Linda, I appreciate you taking the time spending this day with me.
Linda (1:04:53) No. (1:04:54) Thank you for asking.
Scott Benner (1:04:55) No. (1:04:55) It's a it's a pleasure. (1:04:56) You were you're just delightful.
Linda (1:04:58) Oh, thank you. (1:04:59) You are too.
Scott Benner (1:05:00) Oh, you didn't have to say that, but it's true. (1:05:03) Hold on one second for me. (1:05:04) Thank you.
Speaker 3 (1:05:05) Okay.
Scott Benner (1:05:13) I'd like to remind you again about the MiniMed seven eighty g automated insulin delivery system, which, of course, anticipates, adjusts, and corrects every five minutes twenty four seven. (1:05:23) It works around the clock so you can focus on what matters. (1:05:28) The Juice Box community knows the importance of using technology to simplify managing diabetes. (1:05:33) To learn more about how you can spend less time and effort managing your diabetes, visit my link, medtronicdiabetes.com/juicebox. (1:05:43) I'd like to thank the blood glucose meter that my daughter carries, the Kontoor Next Gen blood glucose meter.
Scott Benner (1:05:52) Learn more and get started today at kontoornext.com/juicebox. (1:05:58) And don't forget, you may be paying more through your insurance right now for the meter you have than you would pay for the Kontoor Next Gen in cash. (1:06:07) There are links in the show notes of the audio app you're listening in right now and links at juiceboxpodcast.com to Kontoor and all of the sponsors. (1:06:18) Thank you so much for listening. (1:06:19) I'll be back very soon with another episode of the juice box podcast.
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Scott Benner (1:06:52) If you're looking for community around type one diabetes, check out the Juice Box Podcast private Facebook group. (1:06:59) Juice box podcast, type one diabetes. (1:07:02) But everybody is welcome. (1:07:03) Type one, type two, gestational, loved ones, it doesn't matter to me. (1:07:08) If you're impacted by diabetes and you're looking for support, comfort, or community, check out Juice Box podcast, type one diabetes on Facebook.
Scott Benner (1:07:17) Oh my, did I get lucky. (1:07:19) The Celebrity Cruise Line reached out to me and said, how would you like to come on a cruise before your Juice Cruise so you can get a real good look at the Celebrity Beyond cruise ship and share some video with your listeners? (1:07:33) I said, thank you. (1:07:36) So that's where I might be right now. (1:07:38) If it's December let me actually find a date for you.
Scott Benner (1:07:41) Not a 100% sure. (1:07:42) I think I'm going in December right before Christmas. (1:07:46) Like, you know, like, I don't know, like, the December. (1:07:49) I'm sorry. (1:07:50) Know this isn't much of a that.
Scott Benner (1:07:51) But if you wanna see video from me on the cruise ship, my wife and I are gonna head out and really check it out to see what it's all about to grab some great video for you. (1:07:59) Get it up on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook so you can see what you'd be getting if you came along on Juice Cruise 2026, which, of course, leaves from Miami on 06/21/2026. (1:08:12) We're gonna be going to Coco Cay in The Bahamas, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Saint Kitts And Nevis. (1:08:17) Do not miss it. (1:08:17) It's a great opportunity to meet other people living with type one diabetes to form friendships, to learn things, and just swap stories.
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Scott Benner (1:08:45) And let me tell you something. (1:08:46) If this ship is a tenth as nice as this video is, I am in for a great time, and so are you. (1:08:53) Juiceboxpodcast.com/juicecruise. (1:08:56) Come along. (1:08:58) If you're living with type one diabetes, the after dark collection from the Juice Box podcast is the only place to hear the stories that no one else talks about.
Scott Benner (1:09:07) From drugs to depression, self harm, trauma, addiction, and so much more. (1:09:14) Go to juiceboxpodcast.com, up in the menu, and click on after dark. (1:09:19) There, you'll see a full list of all of the after dark episodes. (1:09:23) Have a podcast? (1:09:24) Want it to sound fantastic?
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