#1769 Top Dog
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Kathleen discusses her 24-year journey using Type 1 tools for Type 2 management. She covers Mounjaro success, evolving tech, and why CGMs now beat alert dogs.
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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 (0:0) Here we are back together again, friends, for another episode of the Juice Box podcast.
Kathleen (0:15) Okay. (0:16) I'm Kathleen. (0:18) I am a type two diabetic who has been treated as a type one diabetic since 2005.
Scott Benner (0:29) I am here to tell you about Juice Cruise 2026. (0:33) We will be departing from Miami on 06/21/2026 for a seven night trip going to The Caribbean. (0:40) That's right. (0:41) We're gonna leave Miami and then stop at Coco Cay in The Bahamas. (0:45) After that, it's on to Saint Kitts, Saint Thomas, and a beautiful cruise through the Virgin Islands.
Scott Benner (0:51) The first juice cruise was awesome. (0:53) The second one's gonna be bigger, better, and bolder. (0:57) This is your opportunity to relax while making lifelong friends who have type one diabetes. (1:03) Expand your community and your knowledge on juice cruise twenty twenty six. (1:07) Learn more right now at juiceboxpodcast.com/juicecruise.
Scott Benner (1:12) At that link, you'll also find photographs from the first cruise. (1:17) Nothing you hear on the juice box podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. (1:22) Always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan. (1:30) US Med is sponsoring this episode of the juice box podcast, and we've been getting our diabetes supplies from US Med for years. (1:38) You can as well.
Scott Benner (1:40) Usmed.com/juicebox or call (888) 721-1514. (1:47) Use the link or the number, get your free benefits check, and get started today with US Med. (1:52) Today's episode is also sponsored by Eversense three sixty five, the only one year wear CGM. (2:00) That's one insertion and one CGM a year. (2:04) One CGM, one year.
Scott Benner (2:06) Not every ten or fourteen days. (2:08) Ever since cgm.com/juicebox. (2:12) The podcast is also sponsored today by Tandem Mobi, the impressively small insulin pump. (2:18) Tandem Mobi features Tandem's newest algorithm, Control IQ Plus technology. (2:23) It's designed for greater discretion, more freedom, and improved time and range.
Scott Benner (2:27) Learn more and get started today @tandemdiabetes.comslashjuicebox.
Kathleen (2:32) Okay. (2:33) I'm Kathleen. (2:35) I am a type two diabetic who has been treated as a type one diabetic since 2005. (2:45) I was diagnosed in 2002. (2:48) Doing the type two thing didn't work for me, and so I did the type one.
Kathleen (2:53) I'm a dog trainer, and I have had I have two diabetes alert dogs, and I had a third.
Scott Benner (3:02) Oh, well, Kathleen, let's go back to the beginning here. (3:04) So tell me how old you are today.
Kathleen (3:07) 66.
Scott Benner (3:08) 66. (3:09) And how long ago did somebody diagnose you with diabetes?
Kathleen (3:12) I was diagnosed in 2002. (3:15) I was 42
Scott Benner (3:17) Okay.
Kathleen (3:17) Which is the same age that my father was diagnosed.
Scott Benner (3:21) And as a
Kathleen (3:21) type died.
Scott Benner (3:23) Go ahead. (3:23) I'm sorry.
Kathleen (3:24) Okay. (3:24) He died at 48.
Scott Benner (3:26) Oh my gosh.
Kathleen (3:27) I was diagnosed at four zero two, 42 with this thing that killed my father.
Scott Benner (3:33) And
Kathleen (3:35) I am a computer scientist. (3:37) I have taught it for over thirty years. (3:40) So you know what? (3:41) I initially I didn't start using technology for two years, and I didn't go to an endocrinologist for another two. (3:50) And I'm actually the oldest living diabetic blogger.
Scott Benner (3:55) Oh, hold on a second, Kathleen. (3:57) Wait. (3:57) There's too much to unpack here. (3:58) So let's let's start slow. (3:59) Your your dad's diagnosed at 42 type two, but died six years later from diabetes or for something else?
Kathleen (4:06) From diet well, complications of diabetes. (4:09) He had congestive heart failure for three years.
Scott Benner (4:11) Okay. (4:12) And then you're diagnosed at the same age many years later with type two diabetes as well. (4:18) And do you feel like that means, oh gosh, I'll be dead soon when that initially happens to you, or do you not think like that?
Kathleen (4:25) Oh, yeah. (4:26) I did.
Scott Benner (4:27) Oh, okay.
Kathleen (4:27) My mother did. (4:28) Everybody in my family thought I was gonna die like my dad did.
Scott Benner (4:33) Did you think that?
Kathleen (4:35) Yeah.
Scott Benner (4:36) Okay. (4:36) And what did you mean by you didn't touch technology for two years? (4:40) And and also, what did you mean that you're you're being treated like a type one? (4:43) You just mean that you went to injectable insulin?
Kathleen (4:46) Oh, I'm on an insulin pump. (4:48) I'm on the Omnipod five with the Dexcom g seven.
Scott Benner (4:51) Okay.
Kathleen (4:51) I was on loop for a while, but I kept going low, and I didn't like the politics.
Scott Benner (4:56) You didn't like the politics.
Kathleen (4:57) We won't go into there.
Scott Benner (4:59) So okay. (5:01) Taking you back to your diagnosis, though. (5:03) You have a type two diagnosis, and you are you telling me right now you have type two diabetes?
Kathleen (5:07) Well, my endocrinologist is driving me a little bit nuts. (5:12) Now to start with, I'm at least three generation diabetes. (5:16) My grand my father's parents also died of complications of diabetes. (5:21) So both his parents died of complications of diabetes. (5:24) Okay.
Kathleen (5:25) And then my mother also has diabetes.
Scott Benner (5:27) Type two.
Kathleen (5:28) But I type two. (5:30) And they gave me metformin. (5:33) I was a classroom teacher at the time, high school. (5:37) Fortunately, the restroom was three doors away, but you can't just leave a group of high school students to go to the restroom. (5:45) And especially five or six or seven times a day.
Kathleen (5:49) You can't do that.
Scott Benner (5:50) Wow.
Kathleen (5:50) And so I had to go to another method. (5:56) And my cousin at the time was a teaching pharmacist, and she worked with the VA, and she had a lot of people on insulin. (6:07) And she said, why don't you just go on insulin? (6:10) You're not gonna have the side effects. (6:11) So I went to my primary care physician and said, you know, this medication isn't working for me.
Kathleen (6:17) Here's my co who my cousin is. (6:19) She's published. (6:22) She wants she suggested to go on insulin. (6:24) He says, great. (6:25) That's the gold standard.
Kathleen (6:27) And he hooked me up with, oh my god. (6:29) Don't do this. (6:31) Lily, thirty seventy insulin. (6:34) It was awful because you have to time your meals around it, and it just doesn't work well. (6:39) And it certainly didn't work well for me.
Kathleen (6:40) So I'm researching stuff, and I had been blogging, and I still have my blog's still out there.
Scott Benner (6:46) Well, Kathleen, are you telling me that initially he gave you something, like, similar to regular Miles per hour or something like that?
Kathleen (6:53) Well, it was they still make it. (6:55) It's Lily's $30.70 or $70.30. (6:59) $70.70 70.
Scott Benner (7:01) Okay. (7:01) Because when you said 7, I didn't so $70.30 they started you with?
Kathleen (7:05) Yeah. (7:06) They Okay. (7:06) The first insulin I was on was seventy thirty. (7:09) So I'm struggling with this, gaining weight, and working out, and passing out, and it's just lovely. (7:16) And so I tell him all the problems I'm having, and he says, you're a technologist.
Kathleen (7:23) Go research insulin pumps. (7:26) So Medtronic was not interested in dealing with the type two at all, but Animas was. (7:33) So I went on the Animas pump, and things went a whole lot better. (7:39) And was able to work out, was able to teach, was able to do everything I needed to do on the Animus pump. (7:47) Mhmm.
Kathleen (7:47) And I was on it for I was on several permutations in the Animus pump. (7:52) I did go to Medtronic for a while because that's all my insurance would cover, and Medtronic still didn't like it. (8:00) And they had started doing the an automated stuff, and I lost my endocrinologist tired, and he switched me to another endocrinologist. (8:12) My insurance didn't wanna cover him. (8:15) It was a mess.
Kathleen (8:16) So And then I
Scott Benner (8:17) Let me make sure I'm understanding because you're going quickly, and we're jumping through. (8:22) Mhmm. (8:22) The metformin, lot of pooping can't do that. (8:25) So somebody says, try insulin, but they put you on seventy thirty, which is that premix. (8:30) It's like, you know, it's 70%, like, long acting, 30% short acting, and then you've kinda gotta, like, time your food around it.
Scott Benner (8:39) That doesn't work. (8:40) You're getting low. (8:40) You're passing out. (8:41) Bad stuff's happening there. (8:42) Yep.
Scott Benner (8:43) And this is all happening through a GP. (8:45) That GP says, hey. (8:46) You understand technology. (8:48) Why don't you look into an insulin pump? (8:49) You get yourself an insulin pump.
Scott Benner (8:50) Things get better. (8:51) How long is that process from, I have diabetes, I poop in myself, I've got an insulin pump. (8:57) How long does it take you to get to that pump?
Kathleen (8:59) Two years.
Scott Benner (9:00) Two years. (9:01) Okay. (9:01) And then you're 44 at that point? (9:04) Right. (9:05) Okay.
Scott Benner (9:06) And do you ever get checked? (9:07) Like, do they ever do a c peptide on you or anything like that?
Kathleen (9:11) Yes. (9:12) And they said I was type two.
Scott Benner (9:16) Okay. (9:17) Type two. (9:17) But you're type two, but you have a a pretty big insulin need, so better just to do it this way.
Kathleen (9:23) Now Right. (9:24) I was I was doing about eighty to a hundred units a day.
Scott Benner (9:28) Okay. (9:30) And that's been for a long time now. (9:32) You've been you've been managing like that?
Kathleen (9:34) Yeah.
Scott Benner (9:35) Okay. (9:35) In the last handful of years, have they given you anything else? (9:41) Have they did they try to get you back on metformin or do anything to try to get your insulin needs lower?
Kathleen (9:47) Yeah. (9:49) Now the endocrinologist knows that I don't tolerate metformin, and so she doesn't ask me to put she didn't ask me to go on to that. (10:00) Now I have a male endocrinologist, and he's never brought it up either. (10:06) They do have me on Farxiga. (10:09) I've actually been on the doctor that disappeared, my insurance wouldn't cover.
Kathleen (10:16) He had me on Victoza, and that helped a lot because after with being on insulin for so long and on I started getting a low unawareness. (10:30) And I've been on all of the CGMs from the first Dexcom, and they weren't great.
Scott Benner (10:39) In the beginning?
Kathleen (10:40) And yeah. (10:42) They weren't great. (10:44) And so I've been managing all this time, and a friend of mine gave me a little beagle, and her name was Sweet Temptation. (10:55) Hess just heard Sweet Temptation. (10:57) And I called her dulce because we had some dulce in my class.
Kathleen (11:02) And such dog was every time someone gives me a a dog or beagle, they give me a worse one than the one before. (11:10) She's bouncing off the walls. (11:11) And one day I said, Dulce, you need a job. (11:16) And it just hit me that I've been training dogs forever. (11:23) And I had trained drug dogs.
Kathleen (11:25) Why couldn't I train a dog to recognize my looks? (11:30) So I researched it, and I did it. (11:34) And my endocrinologist at the time, this is the one that retired, he fell in love with her, and he liked corgis. (11:47) And so he wrote a letter, and she started going to school with me. (11:51) You know, it's so ironic that she had a sweet face and the breeder named her sweet temptation, and I named her Dulce.
Kathleen (11:59) You know, logically, she should be a diabetes alert dog, and she was really good at it. (12:05) She always told me way before the Dexcom did I've always been on Dexcoms. (12:12) And she went everywhere with me, and she was tiny. (12:17) She was 15 pounds beagle, and she was perfect. (12:22) In fact, one night, I went to the gym without her.
Kathleen (12:26) And the next day, they said, don't you ever come to this gym again without the dog.
Scott Benner (12:31) Did they miss the dog, or they were afraid you were gonna get low?
Kathleen (12:34) I think I went low. (12:35) Because I have a friend who is a dog trainer, and we would go to the dog show where she lives. (12:44) And we go out to dinner with her, and she would go low, and she would deny that she'd ever go low. (12:51) She did not remember that she had gone low. (12:55) So that makes you wonder when you see somebody else do that.
Kathleen (12:58) How many times have you gone low and you didn't know it?
Scott Benner (13:00) Happens to you maybe. (13:01) The Victoza, are you still on that?
Kathleen (13:04) No. (13:04) I'm on Mounjaro now. (13:06) That's a whole fun story to that in itself.
Scott Benner (13:08) I mean, it just makes a ton of sense for you to be on that. (13:11) So how long did they leave you on the Victoza for? (13:15) When did you switch over to the GLP with Mounjaro? (13:21) Let's talk about the Tandem Mobi insulin pump from today's sponsor, Tandem Diabetes Care. (13:26) Their newest algorithm, Control IQ plus technology and the new Tandem Mobi pump offer you unique opportunities to have better control.
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Kathleen (15:50) That that's a long story. (15:52) So I was on Victoza. (15:54) I don't remember exactly how long, but that gave me my, low awareness back. (16:00) And it controlled my blood sugar, but it didn't help me lose weight.
Scott Benner (16:04) Okay.
Kathleen (16:05) And so when Ozempic came out by a different endocrinologist, this is a female only female one, she put me on Ozempic. (16:16) Mhmm. (16:16) And I gained weight on Ozempic. (16:21) Isn't that crazy?
Scott Benner (16:22) Can I ask you, do you think it's diet related, exercise? (16:25) What what do you
Kathleen (16:26) It's two things. (16:28) It's sleep apnea, and I have a binge eating disorder.
Scott Benner (16:33) Okay.
Kathleen (16:34) And so it's those two things because teaching high school is kinda stressful.
Scott Benner (16:39) I don't
Kathleen (16:40) know if you've ever figured that out or anybody else has.
Scott Benner (16:42) I was very nice to those high school teachers. (16:44) I don't know what you're talking about.
Kathleen (16:50) I was actually really good with all the die I only had two diabetic in my 25 of teaching public school, and I only had two diabetics in my classroom. (17:01) And I was really good to them. (17:03) They could keep whatever they wanted in my room. (17:05) Everybody I had to teach computer science. (17:08) I had have room for 28 computers.
Kathleen (17:10) I had storage. (17:12) So if you wanted to store your lacrosse equipment in my room, go right ahead. (17:17) If you want to store snacks and stuff, if you wanna put something in my refrigerator, go right ahead, but you gotta ask me because it's locked.
Scott Benner (17:25) Tell me something. (17:26) When you go on the Ozempic, you said you gained weight. (17:28) What was the dose of Ozempic they gave you?
Kathleen (17:31) Well, I could I I don't remember what the dosage on Ozempic is, but I could never get a therapeutic dose. (17:37) The pharmacist the pharmacy would never let me was never able to get me a higher dose.
Scott Benner (17:45) Because why?
Kathleen (17:47) Oh, there was an Ozempic shortage.
Scott Benner (17:49) Because of the shortage.
Kathleen (17:50) Okay. (17:50) So you were using it, but of the shortage.
Scott Benner (17:52) You were using it, but you weren't using enough?
Kathleen (17:55) I was not I never could never get enough.
Scott Benner (17:57) Okay.
Kathleen (17:58) Because they I think I was only on the second dose. (18:01) They could get you you know, you you try to rate up, and I think I was only on the second dose of the Ozempic. (18:09) Mhmm. (18:09) And every time we tried to increase it, the pharmacy literally couldn't get it and had to give me the other dose. (18:17) So that was infuriating that so many people were getting it, and I couldn't.
Kathleen (18:22) But my doctor all along had wanted me on Montero, but my insurance wouldn't cover it. (18:27) Well, when I turned 65, it was covered. (18:31) Mhmm. (18:31) The insurance changed. (18:34) And not a lot, but it changed, and everything's covered with my insurance
Scott Benner (18:39) Okay.
Kathleen (18:39) Right now. (18:40) I mean, literally everything. (18:41) I was looking up some things today, and I can get a Medtronic pump through the pharmacy.
Scott Benner (18:46) Awesome. (18:46) Well, okay. (18:47) So how long have you been on the Mounjaro then?
Kathleen (18:50) I've been on Mounjaro for two years.
Scott Benner (18:52) Okay. (18:52) Oh, okay.
Kathleen (18:53) And I am at the lowest weight I've ever been. (18:55) So my highest weight and this drives me nuts. (18:58) At my highest weight, I weighed three hundred and twenty pounds, and I was running three dogs in agility. (19:04) And that's about 40,000 steps a day.
Scott Benner (19:08) Mhmm. (19:09) Three hundred and twenty pounds. (19:10) How tall?
Kathleen (19:11) Five four.
Scott Benner (19:12) Five four?
Kathleen (19:12) Five three.
Scott Benner (19:13) Okay. (19:13) And so I mean, significantly overweight.
Kathleen (19:17) Oh, god. (19:17) Yes.
Scott Benner (19:17) Yeah. (19:18) Yeah. (19:18) Okay. (19:19) You go on two years ago at three twenty. (19:22) Can you tell me what you weigh now?
Kathleen (19:24) Well, I wasn't at three twenty then. (19:26) I had a lap band done about twelve years ago.
Scott Benner (19:30) Okay.
Kathleen (19:31) And that was that was not and that was not good. (19:35) It it helped. (19:37) And my set point where my body wants to be down with the LAP BAND is two hundred and sixty. (19:43) And, oh, what did they tell you about the LAP BAND? (19:46) You'll lose 60 pounds on it.
Kathleen (19:48) So I've been stuck at two sixty for a lot while. (19:52) I'll go on Chitty Craig, or I'll do there was something called Profile, which honestly was the no food diet. (20:01) It was low no carb, low fat, low protein. (20:07) I mean, literally, no food diet.
Scott Benner (20:09) Kathleen, tell me And What's your dose of Mounjaro?
Kathleen (20:14) Twelve point five.
Scott Benner (20:14) You're at twelve point five. (20:16) And you are you I mean, listen. (20:19) Are you eating through it? (20:20) Are you able to get calories in even though you're on it? (20:25) When you think of a CGM and all the good that it brings in your life, is the first thing you think about, I love that I have to change it all the time.
Scott Benner (20:32) I love the warm up period every time I have to change it. (20:35) I love that when I bump into a door frame, sometimes it gets ripped off. (20:39) I love that the adhesive kinda gets mushy sometimes when I sweat and falls off. (20:43) No. (20:43) These are not the things that you love about a CGM.
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Scott Benner (21:24) One year, one CGM.
Kathleen (21:26) Oh, yeah. (21:28) So right now, I'm at just below two twenty, and this is the lowest I've weighed probably since I was diabetic.
Scott Benner (21:38) Okay.
Kathleen (21:39) And I go to a big gym. (21:42) I go to a lifetime. (21:43) It's a huge gym. (21:45) Everybody that works there knows my name. (21:48) Everybody who goes to the and I've been there since it opened almost two years ago.
Kathleen (21:54) Someone on the way out that works there says, do you live here? (21:58) And I said, yeah. (21:59) I do. (22:00) And I go to the gym six days a week. (22:03) Since I've been teaching, I've gone to a gym, and I have worked out.
Kathleen (22:08) Now there have been times that teaching got a little too busy, and I missed weeks, But I've always had a gym membership. (22:15) I've always worked out. (22:16) I mean, I've ran dog agility with three dogs. (22:20) So at three hundred and twenty pounds. (22:23) And so I'm athletic.
Kathleen (22:26) It's just a lot of me. (22:28) And I've been doing Arnold Schwarzenegger's pump club for a hundred and thirteen weeks. (22:35) I finished a 113 yesterday.
Scott Benner (22:37) Amazing. (22:38) But you've lost a 100 pounds in two years.
Kathleen (22:40) No. (22:41) I started when they put me on I was
Scott Benner (22:43) From the lap band till now?
Kathleen (22:44) I lost 60 pounds from the lap band.
Scott Benner (22:47) Okay. (22:47) Then another 40 from the Monjaro.
Kathleen (22:49) Then I've lost another 40 on Monjaro.
Scott Benner (22:51) And that's been two years you've been on that?
Kathleen (22:54) Yeah.
Scott Benner (22:55) And so but tell me in the course of a day, do you know how many calories you're taking in daily?
Kathleen (23:01) No. (23:02) I use Arnold's FUBAR diet, and I never meet any of his targets. (23:08) I don't eat enough protein according to him. (23:11) I don't eat enough carbs according to him. (23:14) I don't eat enough fat.
Scott Benner (23:15) Now listen. (23:16) He had a pretty massive heart attack in his fifties. (23:18) So
Kathleen (23:19) I'm actually doing the exact same workout he does today, and it is six days a week. (23:28) Right now, I'm at five sets of 20 reps, six exercises. (23:34) I get in. (23:35) I get out.
Scott Benner (23:35) Wait. (23:36) But you're doing those exercises six days a week. (23:38) You're on 12 and a half of Mounjaro, and you tell me that seven days will go by and your weight won't change?
Kathleen (23:44) I'm losing a pound or two a month Okay. (23:48) According to my which is okay. (23:51) I can live with that.
Scott Benner (23:52) Yeah.
Kathleen (23:52) This is what's so much fun. (23:54) My endocrinologist is like, oh, this is great. (23:57) You're doing great. (23:58) Just keep doing what you're doing. (24:00) Do you have food noise?
Kathleen (24:01) Do you wanna go up on the Montreal? (24:03) And I'm like, no. (24:04) I don't have food noise. (24:05) I don't eat and all this other stuff. (24:09) And then a week later, I go to my primary care physician.
Kathleen (24:14) You're not losing enough weight. (24:17) And I'm like, please people. (24:20) Get on the same page. (24:22) And I like the endocrinologist. (24:24) Well, I like the endocrinologist page better than I do my primary care physician.
Scott Benner (24:29) Well well, listen. (24:30) If a year from now, you're 24 lighter than you are today, I think that's fantastic. (24:37) I also why would you not move up to the 15 on the Mounjaro?
Kathleen (24:41) I don't need it. (24:42) I'm not eating enough food as it is. (24:44) Okay. (24:45) Okay. (24:46) So I there was there was a diagnosis in there you kinda missed.
Kathleen (24:51) Sleep apnea.
Scott Benner (24:53) That hasn't gotten any better with the 100 pounds going?
Kathleen (24:56) Oh, no. (24:57) Because of the reason I have sleep apnea.
Scott Benner (25:01) Which is?
Kathleen (25:01) When I was 20, I got hit by a car.
Scott Benner (25:06) In the mouth?
Kathleen (25:07) I went through his windshield.
Scott Benner (25:08) Oh my god. (25:09) Oh, tell me more. (25:10) Were you were were you walking?
Kathleen (25:11) So no. (25:13) I was riding a bike. (25:14) So and then this was they hadn't even thought about e bikes yet. (25:18) But but they also didn't think about helmets. (25:20) So, anyway, when I was in college, I lived several miles from campus, and I had a car, but gas was more expensive than it is right now, literally.
Kathleen (25:31) And because I just paid $1.99 for gas the other day. (25:35) And I was paying 3 to $4 a gallon back then, and that car had no fuel efficiency. (25:41) No car did. (25:42) So I was running a bike everywhere. (25:44) And I even rode bike from Hattiesburg to Jackson and back on a weekend.
Kathleen (25:49) I'm drive riding my bike home one day, and a car hits me, and I go through his windshield. (25:55) I broke my jaw. (25:56) But there wasn't anything at the time that they I'm not even sure they knew I broke my jaw for another year, but there was nothing they could do to fix it. (26:04) But they also didn't realize I had sleep apnea. (26:08) And I wasn't diagnosed with sleep apnea until I was teaching math because I'd fall asleep while I was waiting for the kids to give me the answer.
Scott Benner (26:20) I was Listen. (26:20) I used to fall asleep in math class too. (26:22) So
Kathleen (26:23) No. (26:23) I was standing at a board.
Scott Benner (26:25) Oh. (26:26) You know? (26:26) That's different. (26:27) I don't know if I could have done it standing
Kathleen (26:28) up. (26:28) I was a teacher standing at the board writing a problem and waiting for the heads to come up with an answer and I'd fall asleep.
Scott Benner (26:37) No. (26:37) That's a different skill. (26:38) I don't know if I have that one.
Kathleen (26:39) Well, it's not a skill. (26:40) Let me tell you. (26:40) It's not something you wanna do.
Scott Benner (26:42) Yeah.
Kathleen (26:42) Yeah. (26:42) And I I mean, I would wake up fairly quickly, but I'd also fall asleep at lights driving. (26:48) So that was no fun. (26:49) So I got into him. (26:52) I still see that doctor, but and he thinks I'll always have sleep apnea because of the broken jaw, and I drive dentist crazy because of the jaw.
Kathleen (27:00) So that's a lot of the weight problems is I've been really struggling with sleep lately, and I've been working hard at that, and I do see a specialist.
Scott Benner (27:12) Kathleen, do have ADHD?
Kathleen (27:13) I don't think so.
Scott Benner (27:14) No? (27:14) Anything else going on? (27:16) Like, any other thing in your life happening of medical stuff besides this? (27:22) No. (27:22) No.
Scott Benner (27:23) Okay. (27:24) Alright. (27:24) So you're doing the exercise. (27:25) You're losing the weight. (27:26) You're doing the thing.
Scott Benner (27:27) Can I pivot for a second? (27:28) Before we started recording, you said, I've known about you for twenty years. (27:32) What did you mean by that?
Kathleen (27:34) Well, I'm the first living diabetic blogger.
Scott Benner (27:38) So you were blogging twenty years ago?
Kathleen (27:41) Well, no.
Scott Benner (27:42) No? (27:43) How long ago?
Kathleen (27:43) I was blogging in 2004.
Scott Benner (27:47) 2004. (27:48) And you were writing a type two blog?
Kathleen (27:49) Yeah.
Scott Benner (27:50) Yeah.
Kathleen (27:51) And it's still there.
Scott Benner (27:52) Is it? (27:53) What's it called?
Kathleen (27:53) I still post it. (27:55) Well, it's kweaver.org, kweaver.org.
Scott Benner (27:59) Okay. (28:00) Nice. (28:00) You knew me as a blogger?
Kathleen (28:03) Yeah. (28:03) Oh. (28:04) I've read your book.
Scott Benner (28:05) Have you really? (28:06) Thank you.
Kathleen (28:07) Yeah. (28:08) I bought a copy of it and read it.
Scott Benner (28:10) It's very nice of you. (28:10) I appreciate that.
Kathleen (28:11) I think I put I think I put it in the school library.
Scott Benner (28:14) Oh, that's
Kathleen (28:16) Anytime I read something that's kind of interesting and is appropriate for teenagers when I get done with it, I put I would put it in a school library.
Scott Benner (28:25) Yeah. (28:26) Oh, yeah. (28:27) Here's your blog. (28:28) Look at that. (28:28) I'm looking at your blog.
Kathleen (28:30) Cool. (28:30) Yeah. (28:31) There's some other blogs that I kinda I have to have a technology blog link to it. (28:36) And
Scott Benner (28:37) I see.
Kathleen (28:37) Anytime I get into a problem, I document it so I can go back and don't have to research it again.
Scott Benner (28:43) Figure it again.
Kathleen (28:44) And then I do some dog training stuff every once in a while.
Scott Benner (28:47) Nice. (28:47) Oh, that's really cool. (28:48) Wow. (28:49) So you've been blogging forever. (28:50) What made you start doing that?
Scott Benner (28:52) I mean, type two blogging was not common.
Kathleen (28:55) Well, it never was. (28:56) Yeah. (28:57) When I was researching diabetes, I ran across the doctor who Cantor. (29:03) Mhmm. (29:04) Robert Cantor.
Kathleen (29:06) I ran across his blog when I was researching insulin pumps, and I started when I was researching insulin pumps, I kinda dived into the medical blogging world. (29:17) There was a pediatrician over in Fort Worth that was blogging. (29:23) And then did you know the story of the flea?
Scott Benner (29:25) The flea?
Kathleen (29:27) Yeah. (29:27) He was a pediatrician.
Scott Benner (29:29) Oh, I thought he was a
Kathleen (29:29) guy that played his stuff. (29:31) No. (29:32) He he was a pediatrician, and he blocked us the flea. (29:35) And his practice got sued because they killed a diabetic child.
Scott Benner (29:40) His practice got sued? (29:41) Oh, jeez. (29:42) I thought you meant the guitar player from Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Kathleen (29:45) No. (29:46) No. (29:46) This was before Red Hot Chili Peppers, I think.
Scott Benner (29:49) Really? (29:50) That's crazy.
Kathleen (29:51) So there was a guy there was a pediatrician that blogged us the flea, and his practice got sued because one of their patients was an undiagnosed diabetic, and he is in court. (30:08) And the defense attorney asked him if he was the flea, and he said he had to say yes. (30:14) He couldn't lie. (30:16) And they immediately won the course and went the the case. (30:20) And the problem was is this this fancy pediatrician clinic had all seen these kids' labs and nobody ran a blood sugar.
Scott Benner (30:29) I'm trying to find anything about this online. (30:31) Hold on a second. (30:32) So the flea the flea was a was a, I don't know, a diabetologist? (30:41) He was an endo?
Kathleen (30:42) No. (30:43) He was a pit pediatrician. (30:44) It was a pediatrician practice that missed this type one diagnosis, and the kid died.
Scott Benner (30:51) I don't think you can sue people for that, can you?
Kathleen (30:54) Well, they did, they won because he had been blogging about the court case.
Scott Benner (30:58) Oh, crazy.
Kathleen (31:01) Yeah.
Scott Benner (31:02) The mid twenty a Boston pediatrician, Robert Lindeman, logged under the pseudonym flea. (31:08) He wrote candidly online about medical topics eventually about his own medical malpractice trial involving the death of a diabetic child. (31:14) During the trial, opposing counsel exposed him as the flea.
Kathleen (31:18) Mhmm. (31:19) And that's when they lost the case.
Scott Benner (31:21) How about that? (31:22) The story of the flea is often mentioned in legal and blogging circles as a cautionary tale about physicians blogging and anonymity. (31:28) How about that? (31:29) Oh, that's interesting. (31:31) But why did you tell me about that?
Scott Benner (31:32) I'm sorry. (31:32) I got lost in what it was and forgot
Kathleen (31:34) what Because all of those medical blocks is what got me
Scott Benner (31:40) Thinking about it.
Kathleen (31:40) Blogging about type two diabetes.
Scott Benner (31:42) Okay.
Kathleen (31:43) And if you you go back, I mean, there's posts from 2005 because I'm a computer scientist. (31:50) Anytime I do research, I sit down and write it down, and it was really handy to put it in a blog. (31:56) So like I said, it I mean, that's part of being a computer scientist. (32:00) Haven't took bachelor's degree in computer science. (32:02) I have a master's degree on how to teach it.
Kathleen (32:05) And that's part of being a computer scientist is that you write down I mean, write down what you did.
Scott Benner (32:10) Yeah. (32:10) You document it.
Kathleen (32:11) If you don't write it down, you didn't do it.
Scott Benner (32:13) Do you think the blog helped you? (32:15) Do you know how many readers it had, or was it something that was more like a I don't know. (32:19) Just a journal for yourself?
Kathleen (32:20) Well, it was mostly a journal for myself, and I figured that, you know, if anybody found it, they wouldn't have to go down the same rabbit holes I did. (32:29) Mhmm. (32:30) And so I was blogging anonymously. (32:33) My name wasn't in my I don't remember. (32:38) Oh, I used TypePad.
Scott Benner (32:39) Are you blog like a dork, Kathleen? (32:41) You're just over there coding yourself.
Kathleen (32:43) Excuse me. (32:44) I'm not a dork. (32:45) I'm a nerd. (32:46) Nerds make money being nerdy. (32:50) Torks don't.
Kathleen (32:50) That was what I always told my student. (32:54) I am a nerd. (32:54) In fact, the government knows I'm a nerd because my ham radio plate is a E5TN teaches nerds.
Scott Benner (33:05) Well, I looked a little bit here. (33:07) It says kweaver.org host post from Kathleen Weaver. (33:10) It's, and one of her entries discusses how she developed type two diabetes after under undiagnosed sleep apnea from a head injury. (33:18) Her writing is personal reflective rather than dedicated advice. (33:22) It's part memoir diary style content.
Scott Benner (33:24) Does that seem,
Kathleen (33:25) Is that what AI told you?
Scott Benner (33:27) That's what AI told me about you.
Kathleen (33:29) Okay.
Scott Benner (33:29) That's not bad. (33:30) Do you agree with AI?
Kathleen (33:32) Yeah. (33:32) That's pretty close to But yeah.
Scott Benner (33:35) Weird to hear yourself synopsized like that.
Kathleen (33:37) I was outed by it was an online newspaper for oh, what's the radio service that probably Trump shut down that we used to propagandize Europe and all?
Scott Benner (33:52) I mean, that's a lot of political stuff I'm not sure about. (33:55) But do you mean NPR?
Kathleen (33:56) No. (33:56) No? (33:57) It's different than NPR.
Scott Benner (33:59) I don't know. (33:59) But you were But
Kathleen (34:00) NPR is left and what I'm thinking about is government. (34:05) And one of the to save money, somebody shut it down and probably Elon.
Scott Benner (34:09) I have no idea. (34:10) What what are you saying to me though? (34:11) How can you be outed? (34:12) Were you listen. (34:13) In fairness, you're writing a blog.
Scott Benner (34:14) Not a lot of people are reading. (34:15) Right? (34:16) So, like, how do
Kathleen (34:17) you Well, apparently, somebody did because there was was an article. (34:21) I got a phone call at school. (34:24) They left a message and you know, because that's how you call teachers is you leave a message with the front office. (34:29) Mhmm. (34:29) And even though we had cell phones, he didn't know my cell phone number.
Kathleen (34:33) We had cell phones real easy early because it was easier to give us cheap cell phones. (34:37) So that's a whole fun story. (34:39) It was easier to give us cheap cell phones than it was to put landlines in our room, and most of the the I'm in North Texas, and most of the school districts did that for people. (34:48) It was easier to give us a cell phone than it was to put a landline in our room. (34:52) There's this radio service.
Kathleen (34:54) It's like in Europe and all that says nice things about America, and they found my blog, and they wrote an article about it. (35:03) And they called me up at school to find out well, Weaver's a pretty common last name. (35:09) Okay. (35:10) And I just had I've never referred to myself in by my name. (35:14) But, anyway, they found me, and they wrote an article about me.
Kathleen (35:17) So I've I've gotten some publicity. (35:21) I've gotten some money for the blog every few years. (35:25) I haven't in a while. (35:26) Yeah. (35:27) But you know?
Scott Benner (35:28) How'd you get paid to blog? (35:29) I don't think I ever made a nickel blogging.
Kathleen (35:31) AstraZeneca put any ad on there.
Scott Benner (35:34) Really? (35:35) Bastards. (35:36) Nobody called me.
Kathleen (35:37) Well, they didn't call me. (35:38) They emailed me. (35:38) Did you read all your emails?
Scott Benner (35:40) You're telling me I've there's a treasure trove of fifteen year old emails in there that I haven't found?
Kathleen (35:47) Apparently. (35:48) Because that's how I got mine as they emailed me. (35:51) Yeah. (35:51) I would get ads every once in a while. (35:53) I never, you know, pursued it because, you know, the the technology blog is existing too.
Kathleen (36:01) And no one ever wanted to advertise on it, but, you know, like I said, anytime I research something, I put it there. (36:09) So if somebody does a search, they'll find it.
Scott Benner (36:11) Have you ever heard from people that read your blog? (36:14) Or Oh,
Kathleen (36:15) yeah. (36:15) Yeah. (36:15) Diabetes Mind and I corresponded in email quite a bit. (36:20) I was several years before her, and I gave her some advice, and I told her how some of the technology worked.
Scott Benner (36:28) That's Amy. (36:29) Right?
Kathleen (36:29) Yeah. (36:30) Amy.
Scott Benner (36:31) She sold that, I think, to Healthline.
Kathleen (36:33) Yes. (36:33) She did. (36:34) She did. (36:34) Yeah. (36:35) No one wanted to buy my blog.
Kathleen (36:39) I just wanna put ads on it.
Scott Benner (36:40) Somebody offered to buy my podcast once.
Kathleen (36:43) Yeah. (36:44) You I've heard that on your podcast.
Scott Benner (36:46) I think I did the right thing saying that.
Kathleen (36:48) Yeah. (36:48) I've you're one of the die diabetes Scott. (36:52) So, like, Scott Johnson and Scott oh, he's on LinkedIn all the time and does politics.
Scott Benner (36:57) Shermel. (36:58) Shermel. (36:58) He's yeah. (36:59) He's been on the show.
Kathleen (37:00) Yeah. (37:01) I know.
Scott Benner (37:01) Yeah. (37:01) Scott Johnson works for Blue Circle Health now.
Kathleen (37:04) Right. (37:05) Yeah. (37:05) And then yeah. (37:07) And this is see, I knew them. (37:09) I was blogging before any of them, and I knew them when, you know, when they started their blogs.
Kathleen (37:13) I
Scott Benner (37:13) linked to
Kathleen (37:14) them all.
Scott Benner (37:14) That's crazy because Scott started pretty early, Johnson. (37:17) Like, make
Kathleen (37:17) Well, I right. (37:19) He did, but I I was blogging before he was. (37:21) I've met him in person, and he met Dulce.
Scott Benner (37:24) No kidding. (37:25) Yeah. (37:25) I mean, the way I always thought of the beginning was Carrie Sparling whose husband
Kathleen (37:32) That was before her.
Scott Benner (37:32) Whose husband wrote the Greenland and Greenland two movie. (37:36) And Well, George
Kathleen (37:38) He's written a bunch.
Scott Benner (37:39) He's done more than that, but there's the ones people I think would know. (37:42) And then Okay. (37:42) George Simmons who wrote about type two diabetes. (37:45) You must know, George.
Kathleen (37:46) I've met George.
Scott Benner (37:47) Yeah. (37:47) George is lovely. (37:48) And, not that they're all not lovely, but because now I
Kathleen (37:51) Every one of them is lovely.
Scott Benner (37:52) Now I said George is lovely. (37:53) They'll be like, he doesn't think the other two are lovely. (37:55) They're all lovely, really. (37:56) And But they really are. (37:57) And Scott, but those three were the first three I was aware of.
Kathleen (38:01) Well and I was confused this morning because I got an ad or this week because I've gotten an ad for Pump Feals, and apparently, the guy who runs it, Scott.
Scott Benner (38:10) I don't know about that. (38:11) I barely know about me. (38:12) I got a lot of stuff going on here.
Kathleen (38:13) Because I they had a birthday sale, and it was Scott's birthday. (38:17) And I thought, well, is it you? (38:19) And I looked and no. (38:20) It was
Scott Benner (38:21) not me. (38:22) I don't do anything
Kathleen (38:23) with pump pills.
Scott Benner (38:23) I don't do anything with pump pills. (38:25) Not that I wouldn't. (38:25) I did just recently finish up ads with Skin Grip that went pretty well. (38:29) Oh, good. (38:29) So had you ever been to any of those blogging conferences?
Scott Benner (38:31) Have you and I ever been in the same place?
Kathleen (38:33) You and I have never been in the same place.
Scott Benner (38:35) No? (38:36) Okay.
Kathleen (38:36) You would know because I woulda had a beagle with me.
Scott Benner (38:39) You woulda a beagle with you. (38:40) Alright. (38:41) Listen. (38:41) I appreciate that you think I would know because of that. (38:43) I don't remember three days ago.
Scott Benner (38:45) So
Kathleen (38:45) No. (38:45) No. (38:46) You would remember everybody who's ever met Dulce remembers her.
Scott Benner (38:50) Okay. (38:51) Well, you don't know me very well.
Kathleen (38:52) At Astra Ven at at Astra
Scott Benner (38:55) Zeneca?
Kathleen (38:55) Can't say it now. (38:57) Yeah. (38:57) They invited me and paid for me to come to a thing that they invited a whole bunch of social media people to.
Scott Benner (39:05) Okay.
Kathleen (39:05) And there's a picture of Dulce in the somewhere on the Internet. (39:10) Because a lot of people like to fake service dog, spot her.
Scott Benner (39:15) When you think back on that time you spent doing all that, whether five people read it or 500 or 5,000, not not really mattering, what do you think that the process of blogging did for you? (39:27) Do do you have positive takeaways from it?
Kathleen (39:30) Oh, yeah. (39:30) I mean, it's like I said, I'm a computer scientist. (39:34) You didn't do any research if you don't write it down. (39:37) So I wrote it down, and you have to put it somewhere where other people can find it. (39:40) That's part of being the computer scientist that I am.
Scott Benner (39:45) Do you think it benefited your health or your psychological wellness, or is there anything you can point to and say that by writing or sharing this, I felt did experience something?
Kathleen (39:57) Meeting all those different people. (39:59) Oh, here's another Scott, Hanselman. (40:02) I've met him. (40:03) He's met the dog.
Scott Benner (40:05) That name. (40:06) I can picture an an avatar, but that's about it.
Kathleen (40:08) Works for Microsoft, and he wrote the first diabetes blog for the PalmPilot.
Scott Benner (40:15) Oh, no kidding. (40:16) Yeah. (40:16) I mean, I know that name for sure. (40:18) I feel
Kathleen (40:19) like He's a Scott. (40:20) He's another one of the diabetes Scotts, and he's blogged a bit. (40:23) He blogs. (40:24) He blogs to this day as part of his job with Microsoft.
Scott Benner (40:27) Oh, am I a diabetes Scott?
Kathleen (40:30) Yes.
Scott Benner (40:30) Oh, in your mind, you I am. (40:32) How about that?
Kathleen (40:33) Well, the whole that whole people in that were blogging at that time, you were one of the Scotts.
Scott Benner (40:40) So I did a thing where listen. (40:45) I just started to write. (40:46) I wasn't aware of a community or an idea. (40:50) Like, I've said this before. (40:51) I'm embarrassed enough to say it again, but I'm I'm embarrassed, but I'll say it again.
Scott Benner (40:55) When I found out someone else was writing a diabetes blog, I was shocked. (40:59) I thought for certain I was the only person doing it, is such an odd thing, and I understand all that. (41:04) But, like, meaning that I just started doing it, I was unaware of the rest of the world being involved in any of it. (41:09) Blogging was very early on. (41:11) It was not an even an easy thing to get a blog set up.
Kathleen (41:14) Well, I had to download the software and compile and and put it on a machine and the whole bit.
Scott Benner (41:21) Yeah. (41:21) No. (41:21) I mean, that's crazy. (41:22) I used iWeb.
Kathleen (41:23) But I'm a computer scientist. (41:25) It was like lunch.
Scott Benner (41:26) Well, for you, I used iWeb. (41:29) I thought it was crazy. (41:30) And when I finally realized someone else was writing a, like, write doing this, I I wouldn't even call myself a blogger. (41:37) I didn't know I was doing that even. (41:39) When I realized that I was like, oh, that felt so strange to me.
Scott Benner (41:42) Like, I for sure thought, like, I was, you know, like, I just landed on the new world. (41:46) I'm like, I'm here first. (41:47) And then everybody's like, no. (41:48) There's a few of us over here already. (41:50) I was like, oh, okay.
Kathleen (41:51) And there's Kathleen here somewhere.
Scott Benner (41:52) Yeah. (41:53) No kidding. (41:53) And then so then I realized, oh, obviously, more people are doing it than me. (41:57) And I felt silly for a second, but whatever. (41:59) Then I started seeing people arguing with each other about stealing each other's ideas and stuff like that.
Scott Benner (42:05) And I just thought, am not gonna pay a lick of attention to anybody else because I don't want anybody saying I took their idea. (42:12) So I'm not gonna read anything anybody writes. (42:14) I don't give a crap what happens. (42:16) I isolated myself in that situation. (42:19) Also, it would be easy to think of it as, like, a community or a club that I was meaningfully staying out of, but it didn't really exist that way in my mind.
Scott Benner (42:27) So when they were having blogging conferences, I was unaware of them. (42:32) Nobody would invite me to them. (42:33) I didn't I was outside of that completely. (42:37) And I think that's what helped my thing grow so well. (42:40) It grew outside of the bubble that everybody else existed in because I wasn't trying to get the same thousand people that read their blog to read mine too.
Scott Benner (42:49) Mine just grew by word-of-mouth.
Kathleen (42:52) And see, I never cared. (42:54) I mean, I literally I mean, I joined some diabetes rings, and I did promote other people's stuff.
Scott Benner (43:02) Mhmm.
Kathleen (43:02) Like, I did promoted you know, said things about Carrie's, and I said things about Scott Johnson. (43:09) And and, you know, if they asked me technical questions, I'd answer them and because that's my niche. (43:16) So I I knew I was first, and I didn't care.
Scott Benner (43:20) It never really even so I didn't even have a counter on my website. (43:23) I was completely unaware of
Kathleen (43:25) Oh, no. (43:25) I didn't have either. (43:26) Yeah. (43:27) I I didn't. (43:28) I literally didn't care if anybody ever read it because what it the whole purpose of it was is so that chat GPT later could go read my blog and give people the answers on the research that I did.
Scott Benner (43:41) Very nice idea. (43:41) Yeah. (43:42) A company who was it? (43:44) Sanofi. (43:45) Until Sanofi came to me and asked me to come in for a meeting, I didn't really recognize, like, anything about it.
Scott Benner (43:52) So try to imagine, like, I got a phone call from, like, a pharma company, like, would you like to come in and talk about blogging with us? (43:59) And I was like, sure. (44:01) And so I thought, well, I'll take the lunch. (44:02) You know what I mean? (44:03) So I went to lunch, sat down.
Scott Benner (44:05) This wonderful woman named Laura sat in front of me, and she dropped what looked it was it it felt like six reams of paper in front of me, like, you know, and she's like, you know, would it surprise you to know that you have might get the number wrong here, but I think she said, would it surprise you to know that you have the thirty sixth most popular diabetes blog in the world? (44:26) And I said I laughed and I said, that would only not surprise me if there were only 37 diabetes blogs in the whole world. (44:34) And and she goes, well, there's over 4,000. (44:38) And I was like, really? (44:40) And so that's when she told me they had found over 4,000 diabetes blogs and that mine was number 36, like, on the planet.
Scott Benner (44:49) And I said, that's insane. (44:52) And she goes, how many downloads do you have? (44:53) And I said, I don't know. (44:55) I was like, how do you know that? (44:57) And she goes, wait.
Scott Benner (44:58) There could be, like, a counter on your website. (45:00) I was like, no. (45:01) I don't have that. (45:02) And that was the first time I recognized how far the thing was reaching. (45:05) Because I would get emails from people, but it's hard to gauge from that.
Scott Benner (45:08) You know?
Kathleen (45:09) But but you were different than everybody else, and you reached an audience that no one else had.
Scott Benner (45:15) You think?
Kathleen (45:16) Because you had a very young child who was diagnosed with diabetes, and you were helping other and you have always helped parents with children with diabetes.
Scott Benner (45:31) I don't even see any of it that way. (45:33) It's funny. (45:33) Like, because it wasn't my goal. (45:35) Have.
Kathleen (45:35) Yeah. (45:35) And it's a really good thing. (45:37) I get I I have no patience for parents. (45:41) I have plenty of patience for kids, but I have absolutely no patience for parents.
Scott Benner (45:45) So I might
Kathleen (45:46) come and be
Scott Benner (45:46) a teacher. (45:47) Right?
Kathleen (45:48) Oh, yeah. (45:49) Yeah. (45:51) But those acorns don't fall far from those trees. (45:53) Let me tell you.
Scott Benner (45:55) Oh, you hit them with your lawn mower. (45:57) They they get broken up. (45:57) Don't worry. (45:58) It's fine.
Kathleen (45:59) Oh, the squirrels ate them at my house.
Scott Benner (46:03) Well, I just it's nice of you to say, and and it was my intention to help people, but I didn't have any idea of scope or scale. (46:09) I didn't I and I wasn't I genuinely wasn't focused on it. (46:12) And, like, it's easy to say I didn't make any money at it. (46:15) There was no way to make money at it. (46:16) Like, you know, like so people would put, like, a Google AdSense ad on their front page and it would make them $50 a month or something like that.
Scott Benner (46:24) But I used actually, what I told my wife asked me one day, are you gonna do that? (46:27) And I said, why put an ad on here just to make an amount of money that's not gonna make any difference to anybody? (46:32) Like, you know what I mean? (46:33) Like, I just I'm not doing that. (46:35) And then I started meeting other people who blogged.
Scott Benner (46:38) There's a person that sticks on my mind. (46:39) Would never say their name, but they wrote a good blog. (46:42) People liked it. (46:44) I asked one time about some plans they might have have in the future for it and they were like, honestly, I don't even like doing this. (46:50) I just do it because it brings in, like, $400 a month in these, like, Google AdSense ads.
Scott Benner (46:56) And and that, like, kinda broke my heart a little bit. (46:59) Like, they were done with it already, but they just they wanted the $400. (47:03) So they kept doing it, and that didn't listen. (47:05) I understood, and I have no problem with people making a living. (47:09) But anyway, they feel like they can do it as long as it's not hurting anybody.
Scott Benner (47:12) And the and the blog certainly wasn't hurting anybody. (47:13) It was really valuable, But it was just that the person was just like, if I had my choice, I would not do this. (47:20) And I was like, oh, okay. (47:21) I'm like, I like doing it.
Kathleen (47:23) I really like doing it too. (47:25) Yeah. (47:26) I just haven't had as much to say. (47:29) Things haven't. (47:30) I haven't had to research as you know, like I did.
Scott Benner (47:33) Because the way you do it. (47:34) Yeah.
Kathleen (47:34) Because of the way I do it, and it's it's working for me.
Scott Benner (47:38) Well, I just found that the podcast reach people faster.
Kathleen (47:41) Oh, yeah.
Scott Benner (47:42) Yeah. (47:42) And it and it lends better to how my brain works too because when I have to write, like, first, I have to vomit it all out and then I have to go back and make sense of it and then put it back together in a way that people can read. (47:54) It's just it's arduous and people don't read much anymore to begin with. (47:57) So truth be told now, I just you know, I I put stuff on the blog when it you know, when I'm like, oh, that's interesting or somebody might wanna know about that or something like that. (48:06) Or if I just think that
Kathleen (48:08) That's what I do now is Yeah. (48:10) You know? (48:10) Like I said, when I I had a I've taken some classes at the local community college, and I was having trouble with textbook platform. (48:19) And I had to, like, go through back doors and stuff, I wrote all that down. (48:23) Yep.
Kathleen (48:24) Might have to do that again.
Scott Benner (48:25) One of my blog pages that's incredibly popular right now is just the fat and protein calculator and a description of how that works. (48:32) And that thing gets pretty pretty crazy downloads.
Kathleen (48:35) Yep.
Scott Benner (48:35) The a one c calculator of all the bizarre things, like, boom. (48:40) Like, I I guess everybody who hears that doesn't have one on their website is gonna be doing it now. (48:44) But, like, I get crazy traffic from an a one c calculator, and then the podcast basically brings in the rest of the of the traffic. (48:51) I mean, I I do like writing. (48:53) I miss it a little bit because now when I write, it's it's done more I mean, in in total honesty, like, when I write now, I sit down, I write out what I mean.
Scott Benner (49:03) You know? (49:04) And then if it has something to do with a an episode of the podcast, then I'll I'll just feed what I wrote and the podcast episode into chat GPT or something like that or Gemini or whatever and say, like, look. (49:16) This is what I wrote. (49:17) It's referring to this. (49:19) Can you put a blog post together about it?
Scott Benner (49:21) And then it just kinda hammers it together in my voice and, you know, truth be told, people seem to like that much better than they like it when I just write. (49:28) So which I find it's a happy coincidence because I don't have time to write like that anymore, and, apparently, people like it better. (49:35) So
Kathleen (49:36) Well, I don't work that hard at writing, but I was trained to technical write when I was in college. (49:45) And, you know, anytime we turn things in, we had to write documentation for it. (49:52) And I make kids do that. (49:53) It's so funny because any of the college professors at any of the universities in Texas know my students as soon as they see their first assignment. (50:04) It was like, you had wavered in here.
Kathleen (50:06) Like, yep.
Scott Benner (50:07) Well, you know, Kathleen, I get for years, people complain to me about the, the descriptions of the podcast episodes because my descriptions are like, Kathleen has type two diabetes. (50:18) Like, that's what I that's what I would write after you and I recorded together. (50:23) And it's for a couple of reasons. (50:24) It's a, because I sit down and do it much later after the recording, so it's kinda out of my head. (50:29) But b, I'm an audio person, so I don't give the the description is meaningless to me.
Scott Benner (50:34) I listen to podcasts. (50:35) I've never once read the description for any of them. (50:37) Like, it's just I like the host or, you know, the vibe or whatever. (50:41) Like, I'll put it on and I'll see what I think. (50:43) You know, I don't need you to tell me what it's about, but also because a description can only be so long.
Scott Benner (50:48) So, like, is my description for you, Kathleen, diagnosed twenty years ago as a type two, you know, manages herself now as a type, you know, with insulin and technology and GLP medications. (51:02) So that's not that's Dogs. (51:03) Yeah. (51:03) And then dog and
Kathleen (51:04) she's got beagles.
Scott Benner (51:05) Dogs. (51:05) She got dogs.
Kathleen (51:05) I'm a because we haven't gotten to the main point of why I wanted to be on your podcast.
Scott Benner (51:11) Give me one second. (51:12) We'll jump right to it. (51:13) Alright. (51:13) Great. (51:13) And then what do I add then?
Scott Benner (51:14) Like and she asked, also, she was a blogger who knew Scott twenty years ago and that's not a description. (51:19) That's a synopsis. (51:20) Right. (51:20) That I have two sentences to put a description in your thing. (51:23) So, you know, people complain, they complain, they complain.
Scott Benner (51:26) I get all the time, like, make a better description. (51:28) I'm like, leave me alone. (51:30) And then one day, I was like, why am I fighting with these people? (51:32) I take the transcript, I drop it into Gemini, and I say, need a 30 word or fewer description for a podcast. (51:40) And it spits it out.
Scott Benner (51:41) And by the way, everyone loves them. (51:42) And as I look at it, I think I could have never written that. (51:45) I don't know enough about the the you know, two months later, I don't know enough about the the episode to even do that. (51:50) And I can't sit and listen to it and take notes and make a disc you know, where most of you probably don't look at it anyway except the ones who are really bothered by it. (51:57) And so it's just been it's a I don't know.
Scott Benner (52:00) Like, it's the podcast is more popular today than it was yesterday. (52:05) And it continues to just grow and get bigger and the feedback gets wider and wider from people who find it valuable. (52:14) And I just I really like doing it. (52:16) Like, so I just you know, I keep going. (52:18) What made you wanna come on the podcast?
Scott Benner (52:20) Let's button up with that. (52:21) Like, what is the thing that got you here?
Kathleen (52:23) People should not get diabetes alert, docs.
Scott Benner (52:26) Oh, I thought you were gonna say people should not get diabetes. (52:28) I was like, you're goddamn right, Kathleen. (52:30) You figured it out. (52:32) Wait. (52:32) Why should they get because they can make their own.
Kathleen (52:35) Well, no. (52:36) Their dogs are expensive.
Scott Benner (52:38) Okay.
Kathleen (52:38) I just took Obi, my male beagle, to my vet for his annual, and 360 later. (52:47) And I've gotta take another one tomorrow, and it'll be another $360.
Scott Benner (52:52) So you're just saying the dogs are nice, but they're really expensive? (52:57) Yeah. (52:58) Yeah. (52:58) And get a CGM? (53:00) Is that your message?
Kathleen (53:01) Yeah. (53:02) They play CGMs work just as well as the dogs do now. (53:06) When I got Dulce, that was she died two years ago at 15.
Scott Benner (53:11) I'm sorry.
Kathleen (53:11) And beagles, she lived the best life
Scott Benner (53:15) Awesome.
Kathleen (53:15) Any dog could have.
Scott Benner (53:17) That's awesome.
Kathleen (53:17) I have had told people tell me when they die, they wanna be reincarnated as one of my dogs.
Scott Benner (53:23) Oh, that's a nice compliment.
Kathleen (53:26) Well and people give me dogs. (53:28) I have Lola right now, and she is not gonna be trained as a diabetes alert I did not train Obi as a diabetes alert dog.
Scott Benner (53:37) Is his full name Obi Wan Kenobi, by the way?
Kathleen (53:41) No. (53:41) That's use the force. (53:42) Oh. (53:44) It's a whole bunch of people's names use the force. (53:46) His daddy is Anakin, and Anakin is one of the top beagles ever.
Scott Benner (53:51) No kidding. (53:52) How do you know that?
Kathleen (53:53) Well, I know Anakin.
Scott Benner (53:55) But, I mean, is he rated on some, like, beagle list or
Kathleen (53:57) something? (53:58) Fish.
Scott Benner (53:59) Because I'm because it it's that easy, Kathleen. (54:01) I'm one of the top rated podcasters ever. (54:03) I just wanna say that now.
Kathleen (54:03) No. (54:04) No. (54:04) You have to win the national specialty, and you have to have at least gotten award of merit at Westminster. (54:13) Mhmm. (54:14) He shows in Europe.
Scott Benner (54:16) Oh my gosh.
Kathleen (54:16) So, yeah, so Anakin is one of and he has lots of really good puppies. (54:23) And one of the measures of a top beagle or a top dog is how many champion offspring do you have, and that's where the free dogs come in. (54:32) And then there's quotes around the free. (54:35) Because when someone gives me a dog, I take care of all the expenses I show them. (54:41) And I've been working on Lola for a while.
Kathleen (54:44) Obi's an interesting story because I had my diabetes completely under control. (54:50) Anyone see prob below 6.5. (54:52) Mhmm. (54:53) And he had never seen a low blood sugar. (54:55) And we go drive to Boston because you don't wanna really fly with a dog, especially go to a dog show because you have more dog luggage than you have people luggage.
Kathleen (55:04) So we're driving to Boston, and I go to sleep in a hotel, and he wakes up. (55:12) And he wakes me up, and he's in a crate. (55:15) So I'm like, okay. (55:16) Obi needs to go out. (55:17) But I'm a good diabetic, and the first thing I do is I check my blood sugar.
Kathleen (55:20) Oh, my blood sugar's dropping, and he caught it twenty minutes before the CGM. (55:25) I ate a lifesaver. (55:26) He curled up and went back to sleep. (55:29) Same thing happens again the next night. (55:31) Of course, my activity level is lower because I'm driving all day.
Kathleen (55:36) I'm literally driving all day. (55:38) Mhmm. (55:38) So I have too much insulin in my system. (55:41) I had to get ahold of my endocrinologist anyway, and we did some adjustments. (55:47) And I'd forgotten that my Dexcom transmitter was expired, so I picked one up in Boston while I was up there.
Kathleen (55:55) And she had to write the prescription. (55:57) That's why I called her in the first place. (55:58) I did not go low the rest of the trip. (56:01) The dog did not wake me up in the middle of the night. (56:03) And by the way, both times, when I ate a lifesaver, he curled up and went back to sleep.
Scott Benner (56:08) Well, first of all, when somebody gives you a dog, why don't you make them give you money too? (56:12) Why don't you say, hey. (56:12) That's nice, but let's give Kathleen a little cash to
Kathleen (56:15) take over the is no money in dogs.
Scott Benner (56:17) Well, then there's no dogs in my house then. (56:19) I I can't take Well,
Kathleen (56:20) that's why you you don't have
Scott Benner (56:21) a dog. (56:22) Well, listen. (56:23) I have two dogs, but I hear what you're saying.
Kathleen (56:24) Beagle. (56:25) Any one of the ones that I have right now would go if you bought a beagle, I don't know what the going price is right now. (56:32) It's probably gone up. (56:34) We're talking 3 or $4,000.
Scott Benner (56:36) For sale. (56:37) Right now, slap a for sale sign right on all those people.
Kathleen (56:39) Puppy. (56:40) Well, we need puppies are worth more money than adult dogs unless they've proven themselves. (56:46) There's a lady down in Florida who is leasing and placing dogs because she has to move. (56:54) And I don't know how much money you have to give her, but I'm sure it's quite a bit. (56:58) So Obie was not supposed to be the pick of the litter, but he's the only one in the litter who has a championship.
Scott Benner (57:05) How about that? (57:06) Hey. (57:06) Listen. (57:07) Are you Woodstock, or are you Charlie in this scenario? (57:12) Right?
Scott Benner (57:13) Snoopy's not beagle. (57:14) Are you the bird or the boy? (57:16) I'm neither. (57:17) You're neither. (57:18) Which one?
Scott Benner (57:18) Who are you in this scenario?
Kathleen (57:19) My kids asked me if I was the dog whisperer Mhmm. (57:24) When I was because they knew well, one of the extra credit questions on any test was a random one of my dogs. (57:30) You get five points For remembering something. (57:32) If he remembered my one of my and there was a specific doc. (57:36) There was a specific thing you had to remember about that doc.
Scott Benner (57:39) Hey. (57:39) How old are your kids?
Kathleen (57:40) I have no children.
Scott Benner (57:41) Oh, I thought you said my kid. (57:42) You oh, you meant the kids at school. (57:44) Okay. (57:44) Okay.
Kathleen (57:44) Alright. (57:45) Yeah. (57:45) My oldest child Mhmm. (57:47) Who actually calls me mom is probably 50 now.
Scott Benner (57:51) Oh, jeez. (57:52) You've been doing a long time.
Kathleen (57:54) Yeah. (57:54) I've taught high school for well, I've taught computer science for over thirty years. (57:58) I'm still listed as an instructor with Johns Hopkins. (58:02) I just don't have students right now. (58:03) It's Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth.
Scott Benner (58:07) I I should have been sent there.
Kathleen (58:09) And
Scott Benner (58:10) Sorry. (58:10) I'm just joking. (58:11) I don't think I was a talented youth. (58:13) Oh god.
Kathleen (58:14) You have to pass a test to take my class.
Scott Benner (58:16) No. (58:16) I wasn't gonna be doing that.
Kathleen (58:17) No. (58:17) No. (58:18) I really seriously. (58:19) Yeah. (58:20) And then I've done that the last eleven years.
Scott Benner (58:23) Okay.
Kathleen (58:24) They cut my classes on my tenth anniversary. (58:27) They for everybody that it was websites.
Scott Benner (58:30) Yeah. (58:30) Not just you.
Kathleen (58:31) Not just me, but it just happened to be.
Scott Benner (58:34) Kathleen, let me pivot you around a little bit here. (58:36) So on your health, like, what are your goals? (58:39) Like, are you trying to lose more weight? (58:41) Are you I I didn't ask your a one c. (58:43) I would like to know what your a one c is.
Scott Benner (58:44) Like, what are you trying to accomplish here, you know, in the next handful of years?
Kathleen (58:50) Well, my a one c is 5.9. (58:52) I just wanna live longer than my father, and I've managed to do that.
Scott Benner (58:55) Oh, you gotta get a new goal then.
Kathleen (58:57) And then my other goal is I wanna run agility again. (59:00) I've got three two and a half dogs well, Lola's not really trained. (59:06) I have two dogs trained to run agility trials. (59:09) So I've had the top obedience beagle in the country for, like, eight years.
Scott Benner (59:17) And you like to
Kathleen (59:18) be out of the obedience show? (59:19) Beagle, you have to qualify a certain number of times, and they accumulate points based on that. (59:26) And they give you award at the National Beagle Specialty each year. (59:29) And she got that eight times.
Scott Benner (59:30) Yeah.
Kathleen (59:32) So I'm a very I'm a not only a very talented teacher, but I'm also a very talented dog trainer. (59:38) And it was dog training that got me into teaching.
Scott Benner (59:41) Wait. (59:41) The dog thing is like, don't people do that either, like, as a hobby or as a an outlet to sell puppies. (59:48) Right? (59:48) Like but you're not doing you're not selling anything. (59:51) So are you just No.
Scott Benner (59:52) You just enjoy doing it?
Kathleen (59:53) It's I enjoy the people that go there.
Scott Benner (59:57) Yeah.
Kathleen (59:58) I I actually enjoy showing dogs. (1:00:02) If I'm sitting at a dog show, you know, waiting for my turn, somebody will come up to me and, hey, Kathleen. (1:00:09) I have an extra dog. (1:00:09) Will you take it in the ring for me? (1:00:11) And I'll take the dog in the ring.
Kathleen (1:00:13) Now I'm supposed to be wearing a huge l on my forehead when I take a dog into the ring, but that doesn't always happen. (1:00:20) The National Beagle Specialty was up here in North Texas. (1:00:23) I was down near Austin at a dog show, and she knows me pretty well. (1:00:29) We've been at National Specialties before and all this other stuff. (1:00:32) And she handed me a brand new puppy that had never been in the ring before.
Kathleen (1:00:36) And she said, Kathleen, you don't have too many dogs. (1:00:38) Will you take my puppy yet? (1:00:40) This dog didn't know how to walk on a leash. (1:00:43) And by the time the weekend was done, I had this dog showing to where it could win. (1:00:51) And she was able to sell it at the national specialty for more money because I had trained her dog for I guess it was two weekends I
Scott Benner (1:00:59) should done. (1:01:00) Taste of that then? (1:01:01) What's it? (1:01:01) Where does Kathleen make her money on that situation?
Kathleen (1:01:04) There's no money in it. (1:01:06) There are professional handlers.
Scott Benner (1:01:08) You say, look. (1:01:08) I'll walk your dog and get it straight for you, but, I get to wet my beak afterwards. (1:01:12) That's what you say, wet my beak. (1:01:14) And then they they they they know that you're in for 10%. (1:01:17) You know what I mean?
Kathleen (1:01:17) Well, no. (1:01:18) No. (1:01:18) No. (1:01:19) I I'm like the okay. (1:01:20) So my
Scott Benner (1:01:21) Why did that make you giggle, Kathleen? (1:01:23) What what happened there?
Kathleen (1:01:24) I I'm not in it for money.
Scott Benner (1:01:26) No. (1:01:26) But I mean, you did
Kathleen (1:01:27) the work. (1:01:27) Anything anything for money.
Scott Benner (1:01:28) No. (1:01:29) But but you've trained up the dog, and she sold it for more money. (1:01:32) Fair's fair.
Kathleen (1:01:33) I know. (1:01:33) But I'm like, Carrie, you know well, let's so I get a the next dog for free.
Scott Benner (1:01:38) Well, yeah, but that dog just cost you more money.
Kathleen (1:01:40) And so I don't have to pay. (1:01:41) No. (1:01:42) That dog didn't cost me anymore.
Scott Benner (1:01:43) It will. (1:01:44) You gotta feed the damn thing and take it to the doctor.
Kathleen (1:01:46) Yeah. (1:01:47) The the dog that lives at my house, I I spend money on. (1:01:52) So all three dogs in my house, co own. (1:01:55) Dulce, I did give him her money, but it was just so her no. (1:02:01) Her her name what?
Kathleen (1:02:03) No. (1:02:03) Her name was not on the paper. (1:02:05) I didn't want her I mean, she's on the papers for as a breeder. (1:02:09) But Dulce, I was doing agility with, but she had issues.
Scott Benner (1:02:13) I'm not okay with this. (1:02:14) The next person hands you a dog better also be handing you some money. (1:02:17) That's what I want. (1:02:18) No. (1:02:18) No, Kathleen.
Scott Benner (1:02:19) I'm gonna just pick up for you. (1:02:20) You call me. (1:02:20) You call me next time. (1:02:21) I'll do the talking. (1:02:22) Don't worry.
Scott Benner (1:02:23) Get you.
Kathleen (1:02:24) Well, I think just to give me a dog, I don't have to spend two years training before I can get it in a ring.
Scott Benner (1:02:30) Sounds like that other one. (1:02:31) Two weeks, you put up their price. (1:02:33) In two weeks.
Kathleen (1:02:34) I know.
Scott Benner (1:02:35) I want Kathleen enjoying profit sharing on that. (1:02:38) That's all I'm saying. (1:02:39) Kathleen, this
Kathleen (1:02:39) is There's did did I have people who make money and dogs, so the professional handlers? (1:02:44) And I don't wanna be one of those people.
Scott Benner (1:02:46) No. (1:02:46) You don't have to have a whole business. (1:02:48) I'm just saying if somebody hands you a dog that doesn't look like it's ever seen a leash before and two weeks later, they're selling it at a profit, you should get a little bit of that money. (1:02:57) You giggled again. (1:02:59) Why are you so delightful?
Scott Benner (1:03:00) Why did you giggle again?
Kathleen (1:03:02) Well, that's just because I'm a nice person.
Scott Benner (1:03:04) No. (1:03:05) Bullshit. (1:03:05) I want that. (1:03:06) I want I want
Kathleen (1:03:07) because you I'm a nice person. (1:03:09) But the funny thing is is when they needed somebody to get kids to settle down, they go and get me.
Scott Benner (1:03:15) Yeah. (1:03:15) Exactly. (1:03:16) And you walk those kids around on a leash till they calm down too. (1:03:18) And then someone else and then someone else then someone else takes them in their class and teaches them for something. (1:03:24) I don't I percent, Kathleen.
Scott Benner (1:03:26) 10%. (1:03:27) I don't touch a dog.
Kathleen (1:03:28) Yeah. (1:03:29) 10% of nothing is nothing.
Scott Benner (1:03:31) Yeah. (1:03:31) When they sell
Kathleen (1:03:32) that dog make any money. (1:03:33) She first of all, she didn't make any money off that puppy. (1:03:35) She had to import the I think that one was one of her imports.
Scott Benner (1:03:38) I don't care. (1:03:39) She would have made less if it wasn't for you. (1:03:41) What do you think of that?
Kathleen (1:03:42) Well, that's true, but I don't care.
Scott Benner (1:03:44) I I alright. (1:03:44) You're a lovely person.
Kathleen (1:03:45) Known as a nice person.
Scott Benner (1:03:47) Alright. (1:03:48) Listen. (1:03:48) I do a lot of things for free too. (1:03:49) I I I don't I don't not understand what you're saying.
Kathleen (1:03:52) Back to the dog thing, they're very expensive. (1:03:55) CGMs are a lot cheaper. (1:03:57) And now it's 2,026. (1:03:59) I have a 5.9 a one c, and I run an Omnipod and Dexcom g seven.
Scott Benner (1:04:05) Yeah.
Kathleen (1:04:06) And I never calibrate.
Scott Benner (1:04:08) Yeah. (1:04:08) And tell them that Dexcom's never your floor once. (1:04:10) Right?
Kathleen (1:04:12) Exactly.
Scott Benner (1:04:13) Leave it at that, Kathleen.
Kathleen (1:04:14) They've never thrown up.
Scott Benner (1:04:16) Exactly. (1:04:17) Never once never once lifted its leg on your sofa.
Kathleen (1:04:21) Oh, no. (1:04:22) They Obi lifts his leg on me. (1:04:24) He gets very upset when I and you'll love this. (1:04:27) He gets very bothered when I'm at a dog show talking to another male human, or I think male dogs do it too. (1:04:37) And while I'm talking to a male human, he'll just calmly lift his leg and pee on me.
Scott Benner (1:04:42) Oh my god. (1:04:42) I'm laughing the whole time. (1:04:44) That's ridiculous. (1:04:45) I was gonna Kathleen, I have to go because I have a a a life, and I gotta work. (1:04:52) But this has been really nice catching up with you.
Scott Benner (1:04:54) I'm sorry we didn't know each other back in the day when you were writing blogs, but it was been really nice to
Kathleen (1:04:57) to get to know
Scott Benner (1:04:58) you now.
Kathleen (1:04:58) You just didn't know who I was and I didn't care.
Scott Benner (1:05:01) Oh, okay. (1:05:02) Again, the same beautiful attitude. (1:05:04) I I was very busy sitting here in my underwear writing a blog. (1:05:08) And by the way, if you read that old blog, just remember, I was in my underwear while I was writing it. (1:05:13) Usually, it was like late at night and I was like, oh, let me just
Kathleen (1:05:16) And get the book too?
Scott Benner (1:05:17) The book I the book I treated as a job. (1:05:19) I got up every morning, and I wrote all day long when I wrote the book. (1:05:24) I did it for six months.
Kathleen (1:05:26) So That might be what I need to do to write a book.
Scott Benner (1:05:28) Yeah. (1:05:28) I mean, the truth be told, like, I made the money that they paid me to write it and never a dollar after that. (1:05:34) And, you know, if you're talking about, like, you know, the juice and the squeeze, then there's there's none there. (1:05:41) I made, you know, I made 2¢ an hour, you know, to write the book. (1:05:45) Once it's written, you're not famous, so it's not actually gonna sell.
Scott Benner (1:05:48) And then you have to publish publicize it yourself because then the publisher is not going to help you with it either. (1:05:54) The one thing I learned long after I wrote the book was that when offered to me, it was offered to me because the publishing house needed another book that fit that category and they didn't have one lined up for the season. (1:06:10) And they met me because I wrote a sidebar for Leanne Callantine's book. (1:06:17) There's a name I would never use except with you because you you probably know that name. (1:06:21) And so I I wrote a sidebar for her book.
Scott Benner (1:06:24) The publisher came to me and said they like the sidebar. (1:06:27) And would I like to write my own book about diabetes? (1:06:30) I said no, but I would like to write a book about being a stay at home dad. (1:06:33) And then that's how that happened. (1:06:35) And what I realized later is that when it got done, they were pleasantly surprised that it was any good and that they didn't really care in the interim if it was good or not.
Scott Benner (1:06:46) They needed the book. (1:06:47) And so for a low price, they got a first time author to write for them then they had the book. (1:06:52) When it got done, the publisher came to me and they were like, hey. (1:06:56) Bonus. (1:06:56) This thing's actually good.
Scott Benner (1:06:58) Thank you. (1:06:59) And that was the they were, like, pleasantly surprised. (1:07:02) But still, they didn't put any effort into publicity. (1:07:04) Anything you saw me doing back then, whether like, from blog talk radio show to the Katie Couric show, and I was on NPR in Philly. (1:07:13) Like, I did a lot of stuff to publicize the book, but I made all of that stuff happen myself.
Scott Benner (1:07:18) They didn't help with that at all. (1:07:19) This is the hardest $5,000 I've ever made in my life. (1:07:25) And it definitely was not worth monetarily not worth the effort that was put into it because it was I mean, honestly, six months, you know, to write $5,000, I probably could have, like, made french fries.
Kathleen (1:07:39) Yeah. (1:07:39) You lost money. (1:07:40) Yeah.
Scott Benner (1:07:40) I I could have made I could have done the fries at McDonald's.
Kathleen (1:07:42) Even as a teacher, I make more money in six months.
Scott Benner (1:07:45) And you're like, and that's terrible. (1:07:47) And then on top of all that, then the publicity of it went on for another six, twelve months getting yourself to Philly to be on the radio or, you know, being at some location to get interviewed or that kind of for a, you know, a newspaper article or whatever. (1:08:03) But I will tell you, you know, I I don't know if I ever said this out loud, but one of the, nicest things that came from writing the book is that on Father's Day, my mom got to open a section of her local newspaper in Philadelphia, and I was on the front page of it.
Kathleen (1:08:19) Oh, that's cool.
Scott Benner (1:08:20) And she I remember how excited she was to, like, flip through the paper that day and then and see me there. (1:08:26) So it might have all been worth that. (1:08:28) I'm not sure. (1:08:28) Anyway
Kathleen (1:08:29) One of my dogs was in the Dallas Morning Games.
Scott Benner (1:08:31) Are you comparing me to your dogs? (1:08:33) Is that what's happening right now?
Kathleen (1:08:34) Yes.
Scott Benner (1:08:35) Yeah. (1:08:35) Kathleen, this interview is over. (1:08:38) Seriously, I really do
Kathleen (1:08:39) appreciate you. (1:08:40) Are a lot cuter than you are.
Scott Benner (1:08:41) Hey. (1:08:42) Hey. (1:08:42) You haven't seen a recent photo. (1:08:44) You don't know. (1:08:45) I've been on the GLP too.
Kathleen (1:08:48) Yeah. (1:08:48) I know. (1:08:49) I've I've listened to that. (1:08:50) I've listened to quite a bit of your podcast insulin. (1:08:53) Well, the Omnipod series, I'm always posting for people, and that really helped me a lot.
Scott Benner (1:08:58) Yeah. (1:08:59) No. (1:08:59) I'm glad. (1:08:59) I'm glad it it it it's been I think that series has been valuable too. (1:09:03) I mean, you have no idea.
Scott Benner (1:09:05) Hundreds and hundreds. (1:09:07) I'm not saying hundreds of thousands like it was a 101,000. (1:09:10) Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people have listened to that Omnipod five series. (1:09:14) Pretty cool how many people have been, been able to to get something out of it.
Kathleen (1:09:19) Well, it's amazing and the number of people that don't know how it works.
Scott Benner (1:09:23) Yeah. (1:09:23) Well, hopefully, it's gonna start working a little differently too because they're in the middle of updating the algorithm right now. (1:09:30) So be cool if it even jumped up a little bit, you know, in in its value for people. (1:09:36) But, Kathleen, I do actually have to go. (1:09:37) I'm sorry.
Scott Benner (1:09:38) I'm gonna cut you off.
Kathleen (1:09:38) Yeah. (1:09:38) I do too.
Scott Benner (1:09:39) Yep. (1:09:39) This is gonna be this
Kathleen (1:09:40) is it.
Scott Benner (1:09:41) Thank you. (1:09:41) This is gonna be out in about two months. (1:09:43) Okay?
Kathleen (1:09:43) Okay.
Scott Benner (1:09:44) Alright. (1:09:44) Awesome. (1:09:44) Thank you. (1:09:45) Take care.
Kathleen (1:09:46) You too.
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Scott Benner (1:10:46) Well, here we are at the end of the episode. (1:10:48) You're still with me? (1:10:49) Thank you. (1:10:50) I really do appreciate that. (1:10:52) What else could you do for me?
Scott Benner (1:10:54) Why don't you tell a friend about the show or leave a five star review? (1:10:57) Maybe you could make sure you're following or subscribe in your podcast app, go to YouTube and follow me or Instagram, TikTok. (1:11:06) Oh, gosh. (1:11:07) Here's one. (1:11:08) Make sure you're following the podcast in the private Facebook group as well as the public Facebook page.
Scott Benner (1:11:14) You don't wanna miss please, do you not know about the private group? (1:11:18) You have to join the private group. (1:11:19) As of this recording, it has 74,000 members. (1:11:23) They're active talking about diabetes. (1:11:26) Whatever you need to know, there's a conversation happening in there right now.
Scott Benner (1:11:29) And I'm there all the time. (1:11:30) Tag me. (1:11:31) I'll say hi. (1:11:34) If you're new to type one diabetes, begin with the bold beginning series from the podcast. (1:11:39) Don't take my word for it.
Scott Benner (1:11:41) Listen to what reviewers have said. (1:11:43) Bold beginnings is the best first step. (1:11:45) I learned more in those episodes than anywhere else. (1:11:48) This is when everything finally clicked. (1:11:50) People say it takes the stress out of the early days and replaces it with clarity.
Scott Benner (1:11:54) They tell me this should come with the diagnosis packet that I got at the hospital. (1:11:58) And after they listen, they recommend it to everyone who's struggling. (1:12:02) It's straightforward, practical, and easy to listen to. (1:12:05) Bold Beginnings gives you the basics in a way that actually makes sense. (1:12:10) If you'd like to hear about diabetes management in easy to take in bits, check out the Small Sips.
Scott Benner (1:12:16) That's the series on the Juice Box podcast that listeners are talking about like it's a cheat code. (1:12:22) These are perfect little bursts of clarity, one person said. (1:12:25) I finally understood things I've heard a 100 times. (1:12:28) Short, simple, and somehow exactly what I needed. (1:12:31) People say small sips feels like someone pulling up a chair, sliding a cup across the table, and giving you one clean idea at a time.
Scott Benner (1:12:39) Nothing overwhelming, no fire hose of information, just steady helpful nudges that actually stick. (1:12:45) People listen in their car, on walks, or rather actually bolus ing anytime that they need a quick shot of perspective. (1:12:52) And the reviews, they all say the same thing. (1:12:55) Small sips makes diabetes make sense. (1:12:58) Search for the Juice Box podcast, small sips, wherever you get audio.
Scott Benner (1:13:03) If you have a podcast and you need a fantastic editor, you want Rob from Wrong Way Recording. (1:13:09) Listen. (1:13:10) Truth be told, I'm, like, 20 smarter when Rob edits me. (1:13:13) He takes out all the, like, gaps of time and when I go, and stuff like that. (1:13:19) And it just I don't know, man.
Scott Benner (1:13:20) Like, I listen back and I'm like, why do I sound smarter? (1:13:23) And then I remember because I did one smart thing. (1:13:26) I hired Rob at wrongwayrecording.com.
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