#1862 Type 3C in Texas
Tabby recounts surviving severe necrotizing pancreatitis and sepsis from misdiagnosed gallstones , leading to a partial pancreatectomy , Type 3c diabetes management , and an unexpected miracle pregnancy.
Key Takeaways
- Understanding Type 3c Diabetes Etiology: Unlike Type 1 (autoimmune) or Type 2 (insulin resistance), Type 3c diabetes arises from structural damage, injury, or partial/full surgical resection of the pancreas, frequently precipitated by severe medical crises like necrotizing pancreatitis[cite: 2176, 2388, 2486, 2526].
- Recognizing Atypical Postpartum Gallbladder Symptoms: Postpartum gallbladder complications can manifest as severe referred pain between the shoulder blades rather than standard abdominal distress, occasionally leading clinicians to misattribute the issue to residual epidural back pain[cite: 2228, 2236, 2244].
- The Critical Importance of Restested Imaging: Severe medical oversight can occur when clinical teams delay follow-up CT scans or assume a patient's physical decline is due to a psychological lack of motivation rather than recognizing underlying necrotizing organ failure and septic shock[cite: 2271, 2324, 2388, 2394, 2397].
- Mandatory Prescription Digestive Enzyme Therapy: Losing significant pancreatic tissue impairs both endocrine and exocrine functions; individuals who undergo major pancreatectomies must take prescribed digestive enzymes with all food to properly process nutrients and prevent chronic abdominal distress[cite: 2486, 2705, 2710, 2714, 2720].
- Post-Splenectomy Biomarker Tracking: Undergoing a simultaneous splenectomy can disrupt baseline nutritional profiles, necessitating diligent monitoring for standard deficiencies like severely low ferritin levels (e.g., a level of 11) to coordinate timely iron infusions or clinical supplementation[cite: 2487, 2768, 2769, 2770, 2771].
Resources Mentioned
- Juicebox Podcast Website: juiceboxpodcast.com
- Juicebox Podcast Search Directory (JBFAQ): juiceboxpodcast.com/jbfaq
- Eversense 365 CGM: eversensecgm.com/juicebox
- Tandem Diabetes Care (Tandem Mobi Pump): tandemdiabetes.com/juicebox
- Touched by Type One Advocacy Organization: touchedbytype1.org
- Wrong Way Recording Production Services: wrongwayrecording.com
Introduction and Overview of Type 3c Diabetes
Scott BennerFriends, we're all back together for the next episode of the Juice Box podcast. Welcome.
TabbyHey. I'm Tabby, and I have type three c diabetes.
Scott BennerIf you're new to type one diabetes, begin with the bold beginnings series from the podcast. Don't take my word for it. Listen to what reviewers have said. Bold beginnings is the best first step. I learned more in those episodes than anywhere else.
Scott BennerThis is when everything finally clicked. People say it takes the stress out of the early days and replaces it with clarity. They tell me this should come with the diagnosis packet that I got at the hospital. And after they listen, they recommend it to everyone who's struggling. It's straightforward, practical, and easy to listen to.
Scott BennerBold Beginnings gives you the basics in a way that actually makes sense. If you're looking for community around type one diabetes, check out the Juice Box Podcast private Facebook group. Juice Box Podcast, type one diabetes. But everybody is welcome. Type one, type two, gestational, loved ones, it doesn't matter to me.
Scott BennerIf you're impacted by diabetes and you're looking for support, comfort, or community, check out Juice Box podcast, type one diabetes on Facebook. Nothing you hear on the Juice Box podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. Always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan. I'd like to thank the Eversense three sixty five for sponsoring this episode of the Juice Box podcast and remind you that if you want the only sensor that gets inserted once a year and not every fourteen days, you want the Eversense CGM. Eversensecgm.com/juicebox.
Scott BennerOne year, one CGM. Today's episode is also sponsored by the Tandem Mobi system with Control IQ plus technology. If you are looking for the only system with auto bolus, multiple wear options, and full control from your personal iPhone, you're looking for Tandem's newest pump and algorithm. Use my link to support the podcast, tandemdiabetes.com/juicebox. Check it out.
Scott BennerThe podcast is also sponsored today by Touched by Type One. Please take a moment to learn more about them at touchedbytype1.org on Facebook and Instagram. Touchedbytype1.org. Check out their many programs, their annual conference, awareness campaign, their d box program, dancing for diabetes. They have a dance program for local kids, a golf night, and so much more. Touchedbytype1.org. You're looking to help or you wanna see people helping people with typeone, you want touchedbytype1.org.
TabbyHey. I'm Tabby, and I have type three c diabetes. I've had that I've been diagnosed since November 2025 after a rare medical event occurred in June 2023.
Scott BennerYou had a rare medical event?
TabbyYes.
Scott BennerAlright. We'll figure that out. Prior to this well, how old are you now?
TabbyI am 28.
Scott BennerOkay. Prior to this rare event, how had your health been throughout your life?
A Pregnancy Loss and Cryptic Gallbladder Symptoms
TabbyPerfecty normal.
Scott BennerYeah. Nothing remarkable happened?
TabbyNo. I was battling a little bit of infertility due to some PCOS, but otherwise, very healthy. No concerns. No doctors, really.
Scott BennerWhat, weapons did you use to battle infertility?
TabbyWe used medicated cycles. So and then, ultimately, we got pregnant using IUI.
Scott BennerWhat's that?
TabbyIntrauterine insemination. Okay. So it's one step before IVF.
Scott BennerDo you ever think of trying GLPs?
TabbyI did, but it was not recommended by my medical team for some reason. And now I'm not able to because of my pancreas.
Scott BennerOh, wow. Yeah. You but you know what I'm talking about. Right? That that that group of ladies online who all have PCOS and seem to get pregnant after using a GLP medication?
TabbyYes. There there definitely have been a lot of success stories linked to those.
Scott BennerYeah. Oh, you slowed down as if you this was something you were hoping for, but your medical team didn't like. Did it was it disappointing when that turned out that way?
TabbyA little bit, but it all worked out the way that it was supposed to.
Scott BennerYeah. Cool. Got a baby out of it?
TabbyYes. I did.
Scott BennerWhat's that kid's name?
TabbyHis name is Forrest.
Scott BennerOh, that's awesome. How old is he?
TabbyHe is fifth 14.
Scott Benner14. Oh, wow. What a time. I like that time. People say they like them a little bigger so they can move around, but I think it's fun when they're like a little football with a personality in a face.
TabbyYes. This is my perfect this is my favorite age.
Scott BennerYeah. Well, they're all gonna be until they it's a boy. Right until whenever the hormones kick in. You'll stop you'll stop liking it as much around then, whatever that is. Don't worry. It wears off when they're, like, in their mid twenties. So what rare medical event happened? I guess we we can't stretch this out. Like, what happened to you?
TabbySo in 2023, I was pregnant with our first son after a successful medicated cycle and IUI through the fertility clinic. At twenty weeks, I went into labor. I did not know that I was in labor because I didn't know that you could go into labor at twenty weeks, but you can. I had that baby, and we lost him because he was, unfortunately, just a little smaller than what the hospital had the capabilities to to be able to to work with in the NICU.
Scott BennerRight.
TabbyAfter that, I had a very odd hormonal fluctuation through postpartum from that that caused my gallbladder to fill with gallstones. That does happen after pregnancy for some women, and a lot of times it gets caught pretty quick, and they can have a quick surgery to get their gallbladder removed, and then they're on their way. That is not what happened in my case. My gallbladder was giving me trouble for about a month. I had been to the ER three different times, and it was never identified that that I had any gallstones.
Scott BennerWhen you say the the gallbladder fills with stones, like, how long does that process take?
TabbyIt can kind of depend on the individual, but in my case, they suspected that it happened in about two weeks. Delivery.
Scott BennerOh my gosh. No kidding.
TabbyYes.
Scott BennerWhat's that what's that feel like while it's happening? Are you aware that it's happening?
TabbySo I did not know what was happening. I was having extreme sharp pain in the center of my shoulder blades in my back, which is part of the reason that it wasn't identified because they look for abdominal pain. Mhmm. And so I would have these events randomly in the middle of the night where I would just be in excruciating pain so much so that we would end up having to go to the ER. Yeah. And and looking back on it, there was a component there of it was related the severe episodes of pain were related to what I was eating or what I was drinking. Mhmm. And so I would eat something that would flare it up, and then I'd have that pain. But I didn't know that that's what was happening because it was so random oh at the time.
Scott BennerKind of a referred pain from maybe, like, a fat content of something or something like that.
TabbyRight.
Scott BennerYeah. Okay.
Systemic Misdiagnosis and the Transfer Crisis
TabbySo I was going through with that. We were going in and out of ERs. Every time I would go in, they would kinda send me back to postpartum because I was still within that six week window, and they would check everything out. And, ultimately, it was decided that it was most likely some sort of residual back pain from receiving an epidural. I did not know what is normal after receiving an epidural because that was my first time ever delivering. And so I was like, okay. Well, this is just part of it. It'll go away soon, and we'll go from there.
Scott BennerYeah.
TabbyAnd we just kind of were dealing with the pain episodes at home after that, and things were smooth sailing. About six weeks postpartum, I was working from home on my computer, and I got very sick very fast and had very excruciating pain everywhere, not just my back. My abdomen, my my entire body was just out of nowhere, something was not right. Mhmm. I ended up having to be ambulanced from my home to the nearest available trauma medical center. The one that I was taken to, they reviewed everything, and they determined that I had the gallstones and that my gallbladder had actually ruptured. And those stones essentially got stuck in all of the ducts in my body. Normally, that happens, they pass on their own in about twenty four hours, and you're kind of good to go after that, and then you start the healing process. One of the ducts that my gallstones were stuck in was my pancreatic duct.
TabbyThat does cause pancreatitis. And so they diagnosed me with pancreatitis. They had the gallstone there. They basically were like, this gallstone's gonna pass in a couple days. The pancreatitis will heal in a couple days. It'll probably take four to six days in the hospital, but then you should be kinda back to normal on your way back home. You may have to be on a little bit of a lower scale diet for a little bit and build your way back up, but you should be good to go in a couple days.
Scott BennerOkay. So it kinda sucks, but you have a plan that seems doable.
TabbyRight.
Scott BennerYeah. Okay.
TabbyThat is not what happened.
Scott BennerI was gonna say. They were wrong about that. Hey. By the way, in in the in that time frame, how many people have been right about what they told you in the hospital?
TabbyNone.
Scott BennerOkay. There you go. That's fine. Unfortunately.
Scott BennerNo. It's fine. Everything's fine. Don't worry.
TabbyThey were correct that I had pancreatitis.
Scott BennerOh, there you go. Look.
TabbyThey did get that right. So so, yeah, so the three to four days goes by, and I am substantially worse. Like, can hardly move, have developed pneumonia. Pain is so I can't even describe the pain that pancreatitis causes.
Scott BennerMhmm.
TabbyWe're going back and forth with the medical team quite a bit because I want them to do some more testing and and figure out why I'm getting worse and not getting better. I guess there were a few of my blood markers that were going trending back towards normal. So they were under the impression that it just needed more time and that we didn't really need to do anything. We just kinda needed to give it a minute to let the rest of them catch up. I had an instant with with that medical team where they believed and they voiced this opinion that I was not getting better because I didn't want to get better. They noted that I wasn't getting out of bed. I wasn't trying to walk up and down the halls to help with my respiratory. I wasn't doing all these things. So they ordered PT to come and take me and walk me up and down the halls multiple times a day. I ended up on oxygen through that because I couldn't I literally physically couldn't walk up and down the halls. And finally, we got to a point at about day eight of hospitalization where I'm still very bad off and very much struggling to breathe and in the severe amounts of pain where we went back and forth, and we were trying to get the doctor to to just run another scan and see if they see anything that might look different from when we first came in. We went back and forth with him for a total of five days. He was insistent that I was fine and that they were ready to discharge me, but I clearly wasn't ready to go home. So they wanted us to pick a long term care facility for me to go to until I could transition back home. My husband and I were very hesitant to do that. We we did look at them. We found one that worked with our insurance, and we we basically decided that we were gonna push and push and push to get another scan, but that, ultimately, if we had to go do this long term care thing that that we would. We are prepared to do that.
Scott BennerAt this point, are you pretty aware that you're not being helped?
TabbyYes.
Scott BennerYou are. You start you they leave the room and you and your husband are looking at each other and going, these people don't know what the hell they're talking about. Right?
TabbyYes.
Scott BennerOkay.
TabbySo so just for reference of, like, how down I was, I could not even physically check my phone for nine days.
Scott BennerDidn't have the energy to pick it up, look at it, the that's No. That's how beat you are. Beat up.
TabbyAnd I was out of it, and I just, like, couldn't
Scott BennerYeah.
TabbyI just was not functioning, and I just did not have the energy to even mess with it, which for me is saying a lot because I'm always on my phone. Everybody knows that.
Scott BennerYou're like, listen. I'm at the right age. They got me with that phone. Okay? I'm just gonna say, let's just admit to that right now. Yeah. I'd love to know more about those I I don't wanna stop your story, but I do wanna understand those conversations alone with your husband, your new baby. Right? And you're just
TabbyWell, so I didn't have baby at this point.
Scott BennerOh, this was after the first. Excuse me. So the Yeah. So it's the two of you. Yeah. And you are clearly degrading, and they're going, hey. It's time to go home. What do you do there? How do you get to some sort of an answer, or do you not?
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TabbyMy husband was a a very good advocate for me when I wasn't really able to be one for myself. He wasn't really taking that as a an answer.
Scott BennerMhmm.
TabbyHe kind of came to the conclusion that we'll essentially kind of back end our way into forcing them to get a scan.
Scott BennerYeah. Because they're gonna see a pocket full of stones when they look. Right?
TabbyWell, so at this point, they'd already identified the stones and the pancreatitis. We just wanted them to see if there was something more going on because the pancreatitis should have already resolved itself.
Scott BennerI see. I'm sorry.
TabbyYeah. So so my husband says, you know, we've got this long term care facility. We found the one that we're okay with using. It works with our insurance. Let's just sit him down one more time, explain our concerns, tell him we want another scan. If he wants to fight it, he said, we're just basically gonna tell him, we'll go to long term care today if you run another scan.
Scott BennerOkay. And You're like a squatter. You're like, listen. If you give me one more meal, I'll get out of here. I promise.
TabbyYep. Yeah. Okay. So we did, and that is that is how we got our scan. And they took me back for that CT scan. I got back to my room, and my husband and I were talking. And I just told him, I said, you know, something is is really not right. And I said, I don't know what it is. I don't know what they're gonna come back with. I said, but this is something's not right. 20 later, there were about three doctors that walked in, none of which were the medical team that I had had. I never saw that doctor again.
Scott BennerYeah.
TabbyAnd one of them stepped forward. Literally, all he said to us was, you're getting significantly worse for transferring you to a higher level of care, and then they walked out. They didn't give us a chance to ask what was going on. They didn't give us a chance to understand anything. They did gave no explanations. All they said was, you're getting significantly worse. We're transferring you to a higher level of care.
Scott BennerWithin that hospital or into a different building?
TabbyTo a different hospital system. Yeah. And my first thought was, I'm dying. Like, why else would they have said it like that and not given any context or told us what was going on and came in so quick and left so quick? So I was paranoid that I was dying.
Scott BennerYeah. No. I mean, that or like unless you have enough wherewithal to go, these idiots figured out that they can't do this. So they're gonna move me somewhere else, which is hopefully what happened. And I like that they gave you the oopsie switcheroo with the doctors like the oh, yeah. Yeah. The guy who's been, you know, dragging you over the coals for days and days and days, like, we we're not gonna let you talk to him anymore. We'll go get somebody else now. Nice. Yeah.
TabbyYeah. So they did that, and they went out, and it was hours before we got an update on anything. And even then, it was because a nurse finally spoke up and told me when she came in the room to give me medicine for pain. My husband had been going out to the nurse's desk to ask, speaking to the doctors. Nobody would give us any information on where they were transferring us, why they were transferring us. All we knew is that they were needing to send us to a bigger hospital, and they were trying to figure that out. I was very confused by that because I know that you typically in those emergent type situations, it doesn't take ten hours for them to finally get the approval to transfer you to a trauma center. Mhmm. And so I was very confused about that. We we kept asking. We kept begging. Nobody would tell us anything. We both were just, like, terrified at this point. And then we're also just sitting in the room basically speculating like, great. Well, now I'm getting significantly worse, and I'm just sitting in this room getting worse.
Scott BennerAnd they haven't shown any propensity to rush so far? No. Am I gonna sit here for five more days getting worse or five more minutes or, like, that feeling. Right?
TabbyYeah. And they didn't, like, change any of my meds. They didn't, like so it wasn't like they acted like they were treating it until I got transferred. It was literally just like, okay. You're doing pretty bad. We're gonna move you. Okay. Bye. That was what we knew for the next ten hours.
Scott BennerTen hours?
TabbyYes. Jeez. A nurse came to give me my pain medicine, and I finally just kinda broke down and told her. I said, you know, I just I just need to know what is wrong with me. I was like, like, I don't I don't understand why they didn't tell me. I don't understand why we haven't moved yet. I don't understand. I've told you four times I wanna go to Medical City at this location because that's the hospital that I know. That's the hospital that I trust. That's where some of my my other medical team is already here. I don't understand why it's this hard. Mhmm. She was like, I know. And she was kinda hesitant. And the way she said it, I knew that she knew something. And so I called her on it. I said, you know something. And she was like, what do you mean? And I was like, you're not telling me something, and I want to know what it is. Right. And she finally said that they had been trying for hours to get me transferred to another hospital, but that two of the three major medical centers in the Dallas area had turned down the case because they were not willing to assume responsibility. And that if the third one also turned it down, then they were going to have to helicopter flight me to Houston.
Necrotizing Pancreatitis and Extensive Resection Surgery
Scott BennerReally? So nobody had the balls to help you at this point? So you you were at the place
TabbyThe Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. One of the places didn't have the knowledge to help you. The rest of them didn't have the nerve to help you.
TabbyYeah.
Scott BennerOh my gosh. So now she's telling you that, and you're thinking, I'm done. Right?
TabbyYeah.
Scott BennerOkay. Yeah. Pretty much. So, luckily, the third hospital did accept the case. They did pull me over there. I got moved at, like, ten, 11:00 at night. They moved me over, like, right during the time frame that I was supposed to get the pain medicine. So I was in excruciating pain. They they couldn't do anything at the new hospital as far as treatment goes until they had all the scans and the records and everything to see exactly what they were dealing with. And so it was probably another two to three hours at that first hospital before they could even give me any kind of medicine to help at all Jeez. because they wanted the trauma team and the surgical team
Scott BennerTo see you the way you were, not all
Tabbyto get exactly where it was. Yeah. And so they did. They came in. I wanna say it was, like, one or 02:00 in the morning, and the lead trauma surgeon on the case came in. And and she she had a bunch of residents and interns and all kinds of stuff with her, which they did throughout my hospital stay, end up kind of using it as a teaching case. I saw all kinds of medical students.
Scott BennerAnd Awesome. You're like, at least my death is gonna help somebody. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Jesus.
TabbyAnd so she she sat us down, and she very calmly, but very direct. And I I mean, I had told her, you know, I said I want to know exactly what is going on. I don't want you to sugarcoat it. I don't like, at this point, I just need to know exactly what is happening.
Scott BennerSure. Sure.
TabbySo she did. She sat us down, and she told us that for the last thirteen days in that hospital, I actually had necrotizing pancreatitis, not pancreatitis. My pancreas was actively dying for thirteen days.
Scott BennerOh, how are they able to figure that out so quickly when nobody else could?
TabbyThey had the scans that they had finally taken that thirteenth day. Hey. At the end of this story, does it end with your name being on the side of the hospital now? What's going on exactly with that?
TabbyI wish.
Scott BennerOkay. Jeez. Alright. So now you have that. That by the way, necrotizing sounds scary.
TabbySo I was in active organ failure. Blood flow was cut off from my pancreas due to that gallstone still being stuck in there. They never confirmed that it passed, and it didn't. So it just had been shutting everything off in there. I was in severe sepsis. I had over a liter of abdominal fluid on my pancreatic area, and I basically was in septic shock at that point.
Scott BennerOh my god.
TabbyNormally, what they would do in that case is they would take you into the OR, and they would drain that fluid off. And they would start some pretty strong antibiotics, do a small procedure endoscopically that would remove at least the major dead portions of the organ just to try and get it to a point to where the part that is still functioning can function fully.
Scott BennerMhmm.
TabbyShe basically told us all of that information, and then she said, you know, I would love to take you in right now and do that. And she said, but if I take you into the OR right now, you're not gonna make it out. Oh. It ended up taking them about three weeks to stabilize me enough to take me back for a procedure. They took me back for about fifteen minutes and drained off the fluid and did a little bit of pulling the dead pancreas and brought me back out. And then I healed for another one to two weeks, went back in for ten to fifteen minutes so they could pull a little bit more of the dead pancreas out. That repeated for quite a while. I ended up in the hospital a total of fifty eight days.
Scott BennerI wish you could see my face right now. I'm mortified, and this didn't happen to me.
TabbyYeah.
Scott BennerFifty eight days. Same and but I imagine you popped out on day 59. You're right back to your life. Right? No problems. You're really not suing anybody?
TabbyI probably should have, truthfully. I mean right? By the time proponent of it, but, like, this seems like
TabbyThat was kind of my thing is I was very adamant that, like, well, they made a mistake. I don't wanna ruin the doctor's life. I don't wanna make a big deal out of it. And at that point, we were still kind of being told that things should go relatively back to normal. I mean, there were gonna be a few things that I was gonna struggle with long term, but it shouldn't have been anything major.
Scott BennerOh, okay.
TabbyAnd so I I left it, and I convinced myself that it was gonna get better. It was gonna get better. And every time something horrible would happen, I would just tell myself, well, it's gonna get better. And then finally, by the time I realized that my life is completely different and completely altered and my health is to a detriment because of it. It was too late because you only have two years from the day that the medical event starts in the hospital in order to
Scott BennerI see. So it did occur to you at some point to look at look into that.
TabbyIt did. It was just too late. Yes. Otherwise. Wow. Okay. I'm sorry. So they nursed you to enough health to do the surgery? Yeah. What all does that surgery entail?
TabbySo, basically, they just would go in and scrape out a small portion of the dead pancreas and any fluid collections that built up from the sepsis.
Scott BennerSo some of the pancreas is still operating?
TabbyYes.
Scott BennerOkay. Alright. Yep. That's all. We'll just do that. Just a little scrape, scrape it. But by the way, what caused all this though?
TabbySo that that gallstone that was stuck in the pancreatic duct, it never passed.
Scott BennerThat's the one thing? Yep. Jeez. That's some bad luck. I'm not gonna lie to you. Honestly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. My goodness. Terrible. Okay. So procedure's over. They send you home. What's the recovery like?
TabbyYeah. So it's day 59. I'm home. We're told kind of maintain my softer food and more so liquids, like smoothies and protein shakes and things like that for a couple weeks, and then I could build back up to to regular food. And and slowly but surely, it should should heal, and I should start feeling better, and I should be a lot stronger. And, I mean, I did go home on a lot of different medications to help with various things that were going on in my body just from the procedures and the sepsis and antibiotics and all of the things. So we got home, and things were actually really good for a little over a month. I didn't have any issues. We we actually ended up taking a trip to Chicago. My husband and I did just because we had flight miles. And between the the incident with with our first son and then immediately going into this and fighting for my life and then spending the two months in the hospital, it just kinda felt like we needed a break.
Scott BennerYeah. I'm going on vacation for a while if I'm you.
TabbyWe took a little just a little weekend trip because we were scared of my health and everything. We popped up Chicago, and everything was great.
Scott BennerYou picked Chicago? Yeah. And then we came back. And within a couple weeks, I ended up back in the hospital with severe pancreas pain. And, essentially, I was having another flare of pancreatitis. And they were kinda like, well, that's not completely uncommon, but it's also not something that we anticipated. So I had, like, a week hospital stay. I was stuck there. I had to go back to liquid diet, kinda start that process back up again. Ended up getting to go home, was doing good for a little bit, and then that just kind of kept happening for a couple months.
Scott BennerOh, like, you ended up in the hospital multiple times from that?
TabbyYes. Okay. Yep. So at that point, they determined that I had chronic pancreatitis and or they suspected that I had chronic pancreatitis. And in October, they ended up going ahead and and finally removing my gallbladder. They didn't wanna perform that big of a surgery before because I was still kinda septic, and there was just concern with with going into that big of a procedure. Mhmm. So we finally got that done October 2023. Very shortly after that, I had another hospital stay due to just nausea, vomiting, pain, all the things. They finally looked at everything. They determined that it would be best if we if I went on pancreatic rest for a minimum of eight weeks. Did a surgical procedure to put in a g tube. I used a feeding tube with only the formula and the feeding tube. It ended up being many weeks total through the end of the year, essentially. And the hope was that since we gave my body that nine weeks to to really heal with no food being processed through the pancreas, through anything, it was just that g tube formula Mhmm that was, like, what my body needed to kinda kick start and and get going. Well, I got that g tube removed on my birthday of 2024. Things just did not get better. I kept having those hospital stays. Each stent was, like, a week at a time. It was a minimum of one a month, if not more. It was very back and forth. So we finally went to my medical team in March 2024. It was very March 2024
Scott BennerMhmm.
Tabbyand told them that it was time for us to figure out what my options were to kinda fix this problem. To stop work. Mentioned
Scott BennerThe repetitiveness of what was happening.
TabbyYes. Yeah. And they had mentioned, like, possible larger procedure to kinda help with things. They said there were a few different things that we could could do and try, and we had tried all the kinda little things. And so we knew that there were some big things that you could try, but we hadn't made it to that point yet. Mhmm. And so we did officially get to that point, my husband and I did, where we were like, okay. This is like, we wanna at least know what the bigger options are. So we got a referral to an incredible surgeon at Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas. We ended up getting to speak with kind of the head of transplants there. We sat in his office, and we did a consultation. He had already looked at all my medical records, so he was kinda familiar with what was going on. My GI surgeon had kinda briefed him on how things had gone the last ten months. We sit in his office for our surgical consultation. He goes over the options, talks about partial pancreas removal, full pancreas removal, what those would look like, where he thinks we're at, what he thinks he could do. We are sitting there with him, and and I asked him. I said, you know, what do you feel is your kind of recommendation on this? I know you're saying that that you think you could could do it this way or could do it that way, and these are the the repercussions of both. But but what would you, as a surgeon
Scott BennerYeah.
Tabbyand
Scott BennerTell me what to do.
TabbyAnd he looked at us, and he said, you know, I can't make this decision for you. And he said, but what I will tell you is that I have a lot of people come and consult with me, some people from all over the world. And he said, I tell a lot of them I would not do surgery on you. You don't need this big of a life change based on what's going on. Mhmm. He said, I'm telling you, I would do this surgery next month.
Scott BennerOh, good news. More good news. Jesus. And Yeah. That's sobering. Yeah. Yeah.
TabbyAnd he did. He did that surgery. I ended up I mean, technically, that that appointment was March, and then I got scheduled for May procedure. I went in, and I had to have a major abdominal abdominal surgery. I have a scar that goes from the middle of my breastbone down to below my belly button. And they had to take out about sixty percent of my pancreas. They took out my entire spleen, and then they ended up also having to take about fifteen percent of my stomach because it was all messed up in there with with dead and necrotic tissue.
Scott BennerOh my gosh. No more McDonald's either. Right? You can't do with Reese anymore. Yeah. It's okay. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. And still you didn't sue anybody?
TabbyNo. I gotta get you for a neighbor. You seem awesome. You're in Texas. Is that right?
TabbyYes.
Scott BennerWhereabouts in Texas do I not wanna move? Can you put a finger on the map for me?
TabbyI could tell you from a medical standpoint, I would not move to Mesquite, Texas. Okay.
Scott BennerThank you. That's what I was wondering. As a person who's been, like, nudging his wife about moving south, and one of the things she says to me is, like, we're make sure we're near a good hospital. I was like, yeah. Sure. Because I'm, like, trying to get a little more rural.
TabbyI've had great experiences with the ones closer to Downtown Dallas.
Scott BennerOkay. So if I was thinking Tennessee, like, stay closer to Nashville. Is that what you're saying to me? Think Something like that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. My goodness. Oh, my. My. My. My. Hey. She looks really sick. What do you think we should do? I don't know. Maybe it'll stop. Let's wait nine or ten days and just see if it goes away first. No. It's not going away. What do you wanna do? We'll give her to somebody else. They don't want her. Oh, no. We waited too long. They would've killed you if you didn't leave there, by the way.
TabbyOh, yeah. Well, and fun fact, I actually whenever I did look at the possibility of talking to a lawyer, I actually found a case that also happened in Dallas where a man was in the exact same situation as me, and he did end up going to long term care instead of kind of pushing back.
Scott BennerEnded up being real long term?
TabbyTwo weeks later, he died.
Scott BennerYeah. And his family did sue.
Scott BennerI would imagine. My goodness gracious. I mean, listen. It's it's a tough job being a doctor, but, like, you know, Google it if you can't figure it out. Don't just tell me, I don't know. We'll wait another day. We'll see what happens. We'll wait. We'll wait. We'll wait. It's gonna be fine. Jeez. And then as you're clearly degrading, nobody's doing anything. I mean, really, it sounded like they were all just dumbfounded. You know? Yeah. Yeah. That's gotta be incredible for too because I truly was struggling so much physically
TabbyYeah. And just, like, mentally being able to kinda stay in and out of it. Whenever he came and told me that I wasn't getting better because I didn't want to get better or because I wasn't walking up and down the halls and trying to
Scott BennerHe told you you need to go for a walk.
TabbyI was like, I felt so defeated. And then he's getting
Scott BennerI'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm laughing. I'm so sorry. What a fuck. Honestly.
TabbyAnd he scheduled that PT, and I'm, like, trying to walk up and down this hall. And I feel like a failure the whole time I'm doing it because I can barely make it three doors down. And looking back, I'm like, this guy, that's literally insane what happened.
Scott BennerOh, no. No. No. No. No. No. You you TP his, his house, like, at Halloween, though. Right?
TabbyIf I knew where it was.
Scott BennerI mean, you know, something something harmless, but I've you know, maybe an egg or two on a window. I don't know. My goodness. Okay. I'm so sorry. I lost track of your thing. They they took out all your business and then what happened?
TabbyYeah. So he told us prior to that surgery that there was about a fifty percent chance that I would develop type three c diabetes in the next five years. So some people do, some people don't. It just really depends on how much of your pancreas is still functioning and how well it's working and and all of those different things that goes by percentage of pancreas left and other health factors and all the things. Okay. So, essentially, with my risk factors, there was about a fifty percent chance that I would develop type three c in the next five years.
Scott BennerI mean, the way things are going, I would have just assumed it was gonna happen if I was you. But yeah. Yeah. I would also think a tree is about to fall on me almost constantly. Well,
A Miracle Pregnancy and Managing Type 3c Day-to-Day
Tabbyso then the the funny thing is after that surgery, I actually did feel so much better.
Scott BennerYeah. I bet.
TabbyI really did. That summer, I went on two cruises with family, and it I was tired, and my stamina was very low just by nature of everything that had happened.
Scott BennerYeah. Yeah. But I was truthfully, genuinely doing better and feeling better. Mhmm. Recovery time for that surgery was supposed to be eight to twelve weeks. Apparently, what we learned at about the eight to nine week mark in recovery is that when they did surgery to remove everything, they also apparently somehow magically sprinkled some fairy dust in there and cured my infertility.
Scott BennerHey. Well, it's something good. Oh, you got pregnant before you should have.
TabbyBecause I ended up pregnant. Yes. Ended up pregnant. I you know how it happens though. Right? It's just that Yes. yeah. You don't just end
Scott Bennerup pregnant.
TabbyWe are aware. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We know exactly when it happens. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I would I would imagine.
TabbySo yes. I'm nine weeks post major abdominal surgery, already have a completely wrecked abdomen that is nothing but scar tissue.
Scott BennerYeah.
TabbyAnd I felt very off. And because I was on a lot of different medications from healing from the procedures and from the surgery and all of the different things. I just was kind of I don't even know why I took a pregnancy test, but I in my head, I was just like, you know what? Something doesn't feel right. And if I am pregnant, I don't need I don't wanna take all this medicine. Like,
Scott BennerOh, so let me just check real quick. Yeah. But that's not gonna be it. It's probably what you're thinking. Right? Like, this won't be it.
TabbyAnd so it's just like we just we're kinda like, okay. I didn't think much of it. I'm working on my computer that day. Whatever. Everything's fine. And I go back to the bathroom to go to restroom again, and I saw it on the counter, and I was like, what?
Scott BennerI guess if you leave it sit here too long, it shows positive. Yeah. And so
Tabbyand and they even say, like, when you've gone through infertility and you've you've been a little line crazy as we call it, you're, like, trained to look for those. And then everybody says, like, if it's been longer than this time, you can't trust it. It could be inaccurate, whatever. So that's what I told myself. I was like, well, this has been sitting here for three hours. Truly.
Scott BennerI love that you took it and didn't think it was a possibility so much so that you never went back to look at it again. Yeah. Yeah.
TabbySo I was like, there's no way. So then I was like, oh, well, I'll just take a digital test because that'll really tell me. Like, fifteen seconds later, it popped up and said pregnant. And I was like, oh, okay.
Scott BennerWhat is what was your internal reaction? Like because I think I would have gone with you have to be kidding me. What got you?
TabbyIt was, I mean, that and I was genuinely terrified at that moment. Oh. Because I was like, this
Scott BennerYou got robbed of being happy too when that happened. You know what I mean?
TabbyExactly.
Scott BennerYeah. Yeah.
TabbyYeah. And it was just one of those things where, like, I just felt like in my head immediately, I was like, okay. I couldn't even fully sustain the first pregnancy. And now I've my body's been through all this, and I'm post this major surgery. And now I'm pregnant. Like, there's no way I'm gonna be able to to sustain this pregnancy.
Scott BennerYeah. How does it feel when that scar stretches too? Itchy?
TabbyOh, yeah. Yeah. Itchy. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, god. So now you tell me you didn't have to consider terminating the pregnancy. You've been trying your okay. Okay. Good. I don't want you having to go on through that.
TabbyMy medical team, my OB is incredible. She was very good from the very start of it. She was my same OB with the first pregnancy, so she knew what had already happened. She knew what I was going through medically, and she was very quick to I mean, she was honest with me, she told me, like, this is not gonna be easy. It's gonna be a very hard pregnancy, and there's gonna be a lot of things that we're gonna we're gonna check from a high risk perspective, and we're putting you into basically the highest risk category. So I was treated almost as if I was someone who was pregnant with, like, twins or triplets. Yeah. There was so much going on. And so she actually because she was actually through a different hospital than all my pancreas had been through. Mhmm.
TabbyAnd so she actually got with my entire medical team at the hospital with my pancreas and had the GI teams there send all of my records and their notes and just general profile summary of health to the GI team at the hospital that she was at in case I ever had to be admitted so that there was a pain like, a GI team on standby that knew my case and was familiar with it that she could pull in to help. She coordinated everything from my pain management team to my GI to everyone. All the specialists, she made sure that every doctor I had at Baylor University Medical Center, she made sure that there was a doctor of the same specialty and level of confidence that understood my case at her facility in the event that I ended up having to be impatient throughout my pregnancy.
Scott BennerIt makes a big difference to be with somebody who understands what to do, doesn't it?
TabbyYes. Yeah. Oh, yeah. She was she was phenomenal. And so she did and she dealt with me the whole pregnancy. I mean, I was I was terrified the whole time. I kept calling the OB office. It's like, you know, I think something's wrong. I think this doesn't feel right. And she'd bring me in, and they do an ultrasound, and they check. And most of the time, it was just to know this is you just got scar tissue. It just feels a little different than last time. Like but, I mean, I did have a few instances throughout that pregnancy where where I had to be impatient, and the struggle was real.
Scott BennerHow hard is it to trust people at their word after you've gone through all that, though?
TabbyVery.
Scott BennerYeah. Right? Like, must you must second guess everything constantly.
TabbyI do.
Scott BennerIs it stick with you since then? I bet you the pediatrician's not getting an easy go.
TabbyNo. Well, Well and and honestly and this is something I've been working on personally just from a healing perspective Yeah because truthfully speaking, I now no matter how hard I try not to, I now operate under a well, what if we're missing something small?
Scott BennerSo I live most of my life thinking nobody knows what they're talking about. I I think that's a baseline survival skill, to be honest with you.
TabbyBecause, I mean, to me, we we miss something that should have been as quick as a simple gallbladder procedure after pregnancy. And we missed those gallstones, and because of it, I almost died.
Scott BennerIt's fascinating that it's not the thing that, like like, we did this. It didn't work. We should go back and check again to make sure we got the gallstones. Like, how do you how do you skip over that part? I don't even know a good way to say this. So, yeah, if you have a bucket leaking and it's got a hole in it and I say, hey. Patch the hole. And I patch the hole and it keeps leaking. I don't start looking for other reasons why the water's coming out of the bucket. I go, we must not have patched the hole correctly. It's fascinating that they didn't just go back and say, maybe just this didn't work out the first time the way it was supposed to. Let's double check. It seems like common sense beyond a medical thing, honestly.
TabbyWe thought so. But but
Scott BennerMy gosh.
TabbySo yeah. So go through all that. Got my pregnancy test. Everything is is moving. Yay. We're pregnant.
TabbyThings are moving pretty quick with the the high risk OB and the my regular OB, and we get going. And then as one would expect, I got diagnosed with gestational diabetes at about eleven weeks. Mhmm. I didn't even have to do a blood glucose or the the gross drink thing because
Scott Bennerthink they were like, no. It's okay. We know.
TabbyIt was like, yeah. This is we already know.
Scott BennerDid you think it was just as gestational, or did you think, oh, no. I'm gonna have type one diabetes?
TabbyI knew that it was gestational, but I felt very strongly. They would they kept telling me that gestational goes away generally after you're pregnant. Mhmm. And it does for for the for a normal person. I knew when I got diagnosed that early with gestational that it was not going to be long before I got diagnosed type three c.
Scott BennerYeah. You don't bother buying lottery tickets. Right?
TabbyOh, no.
Scott BennerYou don't. I'm like the the most unlucky person. Was gonna say. If I was you, I would just look left, right, left a couple of times and cross the street very carefully and and never waste it never waste a dollar on a scratcher. I don't think it's gonna go your way.
TabbyOh, yeah. We joke about it all the time that if you do. If it can only happen to one person in the world, it's probably happening.
Scott BennerSo listen, guys. If if if a if a asteroid ever hits the planet, be sure you know it landed wherever you are. Yeah. Honestly. Everyone died, but I got to go first, Scott. Don't worry. My gosh. Do you have any brothers or sisters?
TabbyI do. I have a lot of siblings. Any of them have any kind of, like, odd health issues?
TabbyNope. Just me.
Scott BennerJust you you've a lot of siblings? You're like, my mom made a lot of babies. Is that what you're saying?
TabbyWell, no. I have I just call them all my siblings. Like, the family that I need for, I ended up moving with them moving in with them during college. And
Scott BennerA lot of people in your life. None of them are sick. That's what you're saying. That's what you're saying. You don't have any autoimmune issues. Right? Like, you weren't gonna touch diabetes or autoimmune without without this. Nope. Okay. Yeah.
Scott BennerMy goodness. How do you learn about type one when you're dropped into it from this perspective?
TabbyHonestly, it was it was very difficult for me because type three c is not very well known. Yeah.
TabbySo it was all the research and the things that you see online and and all the the things that you can use to help with diabetes are all geared towards a type one or a type two. And so I would go to these appointments, and I had no idea of, like, okay. Am I more like type one? Am I more like type two? I didn't I didn't know. I didn't fully understand. And a lot of the, like, online even when you sign up to get, like, an Omnipod or this or that, like, the option is type one or type two. So it was it was very, very challenging to navigate. I have a good endocrine team, and and they were very, very helpful throughout it. And they did a great job. But even their office, I mean, they knew we knew that I was gonna have type three c and that it was gonna be diagnosed a year before it was officially diagnosed. And they still the appointment where I was diagnosed, they still put it in as type two. And then I had to have them update my records. And they did, but it was like they still it's just not something that that really many teams are
Scott Bennerare used to.
Scott BennerAnd the naming structure ended up being complicated for you because, I mean, listen, you don't have a pancreas anymore. You're gonna get treated like a type one, and you're gonna need to manage like a type one. But because type one diabetes means what it means and type two means what it means, does it feel like you're co opting something? Because I've heard people say that before. Like, I didn't wanna call myself type one. I mean, I am, but I'm not. I don't wanna offend peep do you have all those thoughts?
TabbyI I do. Generally, if somebody asks me, I I say type three c, and then they they inevitably always ask what that is, and so I have to explain it. And that's fine. But it is weird. Yeah. Because it's and and the other thing is, like, I I do still have a little bit of my pancreas. So it's like there is still a little bit functioning in there. It just will never ever again be able to sustain how much insulin production it it needs to.
Scott BennerYou actually need. Yeah.
TabbySo, yeah, it's it's
Scott BennerThis is gonna sound completely ridiculous, but it's like the stolen valor thing. Right? You know, when we you ever hear people like they they kinda make up their military service and it's a very offensive thing to do? Like, you're like, you weren't really there. Like, it almost feels like you're like, whatever it is that a type one goes
Tabbythrough.
TabbyYeah. That's exactly right.
Scott BennerYeah. You can't take credit for it. Right? That they're all the wrong words, but do you know what I mean?
TabbyYeah. Yes. I know exactly what you're saying.
Scott BennerOkay. I'm glad because because I wasn't doing a good job.
TabbyNo. I got it. Yeah. It's yeah. It is weird. And it's odd too because it's like every person with diabetes has their own unique journey, and it's been very challenging for pretty much everybody that's had it. And so it's like, it's tricky because, again, I don't wanna step on any toes, and I don't want anyone to feel like I know what it's like to be a type one diabetic for my entire life because I don't.
Scott BennerBut there's also no club of type three c's, really.
TabbyRight.
Scott BennerYeah. She's a type of yourself.
TabbyOn the same point of that is I may not have had the learning how to work a pump at eight years old and dealing with it at school and all those things, but I did have quite the journey to
Scott BennerWell, yeah, people are still I mean, people are still diagnosed at your age and other ages, but I would just think, like, if communally, you were adopted in, that's how I would see it. Like, I I can understand I mean, I can understand someone looking up
TabbyAnd that's mostly how it's been.
Scott BennerYeah. Would imagine. Yeah. I would imagine it's mostly been a reasonable experience for you. But Yeah. Yeah. And every once in while, get somebody that's surly about it. Like, you don't have type one. Like, yeah. I don't know. We both need insulin or the same thing happens. So Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Interesting. Kabi. Damn. So tell me how it's going. Like, what'd you figure out? How are you been able to manage it? You know, have have you Yeah.
TabbySo, thankfully, my endocrine team was was very good, and we had a conversation kind of middle of last year, really right right when my son got out the NICU. We sat down, and I I basically told her, I said, you know, I'm pretty sure that this is gonna go south fast. And so I checked all my labs. We had everything on record. And and I told her, I said, you know, this is gonna sound bad, but I've hit my out of pocket max on medical for the last three years.
Scott BennerMhmm.
TabbyAnd I've already hit my out of pocket max for this year. So I know it's harder to get qualifications for pumps and things like that based on my diagnosis. I said, but we know that that's what I need. So whatever data or labs or whatever we have to collect between now and the end of the year to get that official diagnosis, so I qualify for a pump at the end of the year?
Scott BennerYeah. Let's get to it so it I don't have to pay more money at the next year. Right? You're you're like, everything's free right now. I need it now. Right.
TabbyYeah. And so so they did. They they did. They we got everything we needed. My blood sugar had to get kinda bad, honestly, before we officially did it. And so we did. My a one c ended up at, like, 7.4, I think. And at that point, we had enough data on my Libres and things that had been monitoring, and I was doing the injections at home. And I was up to a relatively high amount of insulin for for someone who was doing injections. And so they submitted the claim November 27 with my insurance to get prior authorization for a pump and insulin and everything, and it was accepted. And I ended up getting a ninety day supply of insulin and Omnipods right before the end of the year.
Scott BennerGood. That's great.
TabbySo it was really good.
Scott BennerHow are you doing? Like, how's your a one c and your time in range, or how are you adjusting to it? Like
TabbySo my a one c did drop down to 5.3
Scott BennerOh.
Tabbyat my appointment in was either January or early February. And so that would have been about two months on pump.
Scott BennerSo what what do do you eat? Like, a dust and kale? How do you, what's your diet like?
TabbyI have been very cautious of what I'm eating, and don't get me wrong. I still eat some sugar sometimes. Like, I still like sweet treats, but anywhere that I can make a swap, I have made a swap.
Scott BennerOkay. But if I see you going for the digestive enzymes, something's going on. Right?
TabbyWell, I actually have to take digestive enzymes every time I eat. Yeah.
Scott BennerNo matter what. What what about, like, you had dinner. It's all good. It's two hours later. You're cruising through the kitchen on the way back to the television. You grab four hard pretzels out of a bag. You need to put an enzyme in with it?
TabbyThat, I wouldn't.
Scott BennerOkay. Okay. But otherwise, no gallbladder.
TabbyYeah. So the way it works is I'm supposed to take one one to two with snacks and then two to three with meals. And so it just kinda depends. Like, if I'm getting a snack that's that's like pretzels or almonds or
Scott BennerMhmm.
Tabbysomething relatively fairly normal, then I usually will not take any or only take one. But if I'm getting a snack that's like an ice cream Snickers bar or a piece of pizza or something like that, then I'll definitely do the higher dose of the digestive enzymes.
Scott BennerWhat happens if you don't take them?
TabbyMy body really struggles to digest food in general.
Scott BennerYou get, like, belly pain. And
TabbyYeah. Very uncomfortable. Yeah. Abdominal pain, pancreatic pain.
Scott BennerWhen they explained that to you after the surgery, did they tell you it's all about the gallbladder, or did they also mention that the pancreas had something to do with it too?
TabbyIt all started with the gallbladder, but but yeah. I mean, the pancreas didn't really help out.
Scott Benner SlideDidn't help anything as as things started to kinda go south. Because, you know, people would act, you know, with type one diabetes, I mean, the pancreas does more than just make insulin. And, you know, so you lose some other functionality, and digestion is part of it too. Right. So, yeah, when you lose everything, then you're stuck.
Scott BennerIs it a pain in the butt, or are you getting used to it, the taking the enzymes?
TabbyI'm kinda used to it now. I mean, I know what foods I definitely need them with and what foods I can kinda get away without taking them.
Scott BennerMhmm.
TabbyI know when to take them before meals, because I usually take mine about thirty minutes before meals, and that seems to be a good timing for me on when to take it. I've kinda learned learned my body on the enzymes.
Scott BennerSo some too myself. By the way, don't have any of your problems, but I take them once in a while too. I mean, I'm sure yours are prescribed and mine are over the counter. But
TabbyYes. Mine are prescribed.
Scott BennerYeah. Yeah. But I'm an old man who shows up at a diner with a pill in his pocket. You know what I mean? My wife's like, can you get something to put those in? I was like, my pocket works fine.
TabbyNo. They make these little things on Amazon. They're actually, like, really small. It's like a little silver, very small.
Scott BennerNo. I mean, I realize I'm a I realize I'm a dirtbag. I know it. I know know what's happening.
TabbyI was gonna say, because I have I have them hooked to my wristlet.
Scott BennerOh, it's a good idea.
TabbyAnd each one holds three.
Scott BennerYeah. That's a great idea. Because when you pull a loose pill out of your pocket, people look at you. I'm not gonna lie. They're like, that guy's getting high right now. I know for sure. But but no. I I I don't know. I find them helpful, to be perfectly honest. But anyway so okay. I'm sorry. How do you know who I am? Like, how did you end up on the podcast?
TabbyYeah. So I actually saw a a post was recommended to me or something was in my pancreatectomy support group Facebook group.
Scott BennerMhmm.
TabbyAnd they had shared your podcast of one that you just reshared recently of somebody who had type three c from years ago that had passed away. And so you had shared it and reshared it in in her honor.
Scott BennerOh, yeah. Yeah.
TabbyAnd so I listened to the whole podcast, and I thought it was incredible. And I just thought it was really cool that that she was willing to to share her story and her experience. And and I thought it was really cool that you were sharing
Scott Bennerconversation to begin
Tabbyunique Yeah. circumstance.
Scott BennerI've had a number of people with three c on over the years.
TabbyYes. Yeah. I've listened to a lot of them now Yeah. now that I have found it. Yeah. I was talking to a friend about it, and you know your phone's always listening. So then on Facebook, later, it had come across my page that you had the thing where you were I was looking for
Scott Bennerlooking for you to come on.
TabbyYeah. Where you had some openings.
Scott BennerYeah. Yeah. Oh, that's awesome. I'm glad.
TabbyAnd then that communication started between you and I and
Scott BennerYeah. Her mom reached out to me to tell me that she'd passed away and we were going back and forth talking a little bit and we we came up with, like, reposting the episode, you know, in in her honor. I'm glad I found you. Yeah. Me too. My gosh.
TabbyYeah. Because I've already I mean, even just listening to your podcast, the little bit that I've been able to since that transpired, I I've learned a lot of different just even little tips and tricks that, like, I don't think I ever would have known if Yeah. I didn't listen.
Scott BennerThat's awesome. I'm glad. I'm happy whenever it helps somebody. Is this the end of the bad stuff, or did more happen? Like, you're good now. Right? Like, Yeah. there's nothing else health wise happening? Or or or let me ask you, are you still run down? Like, how long has it been? Like, tell me, like, how much time has it been since you've were like, okay. I have type one or, you know, I have type three c now. I'm managing fully with insulin. How long has it been since then to now?
TabbyFully managing with the diabetes and on the pump since December December.
Scott Benner2025?
Tabby2025. Yes.
Scott BennerNot that long then.
TabbyNo. Okay. And things things are getting better. We are finding things that that work and that help, and, we just identified a few health things that I was having some deficiencies and things like that. So we got supplements on board, and I had to do an infusion. And but, honestly, I felt 10 times better after that, so that was good.
Scott BennerIron infusion?
TabbySo I haven't done the iron infusion yet, but I most likely am gonna have to do one of those here very quick. Yeah. The one that they had me do was more so, like, almost every vitamin and mineral under the sun because that was depleted in my follicle.
Scott BennerDo you have low ferritin?
TabbyI do. Yeah. I do have very low. Yes. Which they said that can it can be common after splenectomy.
Scott BennerOkay. Do you know what your ferritin is?
TabbyIt was 11.
Scott BennerOh, no. You need the you need the juice. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I've done it a couple times in my life. It's awesome. Yeah. Why are you not getting it? What's happening?
TabbyWell, so they wanted to try supplementation first.
Scott BennerMm-mm. That's bullshit. It's not gonna work. Just tell them you want the other thing. Yeah.
TabbyYeah. Well, my doctor, thankfully, he's very good about kind of working not around my insurance, but with my insurance.
Scott BennerSo your side. Yeah.
TabbyHe has kinda learned what they're just gonna deny without him having to
Scott BennerTrying something else first.
TabbyYes. And so so we tried we were trying this for three weeks, and then, literally, I'm supposed to go on a cruise in a couple weeks. And so he basically said before that to just call him, and we'll get blood work done. And that way, if it's still low, then we'll go ahead and abuse before.
Scott BennerI wish you would have found me sooner. I'd I do a cruise in June with a bunch of listeners.
TabbyNo. So I saw that actually. It popped up on my Facebook too. Yeah. And I also was like, man, I wish I would have known that. But
Scott BennerThat's him. Hopefully, we'll do it again next year. It's not a thing that makes money, so it's a a labor of love for a lot of people. Like, it's a lot of a lot of hard work that goes into making it happen. And then, hopefully, we can get it to go for a third year. So it is really awesome. It I'll I'll tell you. To get everybody together, all, you know, different, you know, races, religions, ages, type ones, parents of, and watch them just effortlessly blend together in a happy little group is very interesting. It's very cool.
TabbyYeah. No. I would honestly, I thought it was so cool. I was looking at it to see, but I just can't make it happen before June.
Scott BennerIt's a good ship too. It's, I don't know if you've ever done that one. It's a celebrity beyond. It's really good.
TabbySee, I haven't. Yeah. We haven't done a celebrity yet, but we love cruises in my house.
Scott BennerWell, I could tell your story. You're in a cruise every time you look up, you're on a cruise.
TabbyYeah. That's true.
Scott BennerThey go out of Galveston, so that's not bad at all. Right?
TabbyYeah. No. It's that's where we usually go out of.
Scott BennerThat where our first one went out of, Galveston. It was a good time. Is there anything I haven't asked you about or anything that I've forgotten or I don't wanna miss any of your story because sometimes I get chatty and I redirect the conversation.
TabbyNo. You're good.
Scott BennerI did alright?
TabbyYeah.
Scott BennerThat's all I heard. I heard I did okay. Do you have you tried the management stuff? Have you tried, like, pro tips or small sips or any of those series that are about insulin?
TabbyI have not yet, but I want to.
Scott BennerDo it. Try the small sips first as an entree. They're literally, like, ten minutes long, each of them.
TabbyOkay. Yeah. And those are on your website. Right?
Scott BennerYeah. You can get them there. You can go I mean, do you have an iPhone?
TabbyYes.
Scott BennerApple Podcasts? Just select subscribe to the podcast and type in juice box small sips. They'll all pop up.
TabbyOh, okay. Perfect.
Scott BennerYeah. But my website I'm actually my website's getting pretty damn good. It took me, like, a decade, but I'm really getting on top of it now. I'm just gonna tell you about this because I don't know who else to tell. So I added this web page. It's juiceboxpodcast.com, but then it's, I think it's jbfaq. Is that right? Yes. Okay. And so what I did was I took, this list I had, from listeners. It's a struggles list that originally was like 80 or 90 pages. People just sent in all the things they struggled with. And we kinda synthesized them down to, like, common themes, things that people struggle with over and over again. And we blended that. And by we, I mean, me and my friend Claude. We blended that with the top 350 most Googled questions about type one diabetes, and then blended that with returns from this this, Facebook post that really blew up well with advice for parents of a newly diagnosed kid. So I took the advice for the parents, and I synthesized them. I basically reversed engineered them into questions, combined them all together, and then I took all of the management episodes of the podcast and mapped all those questions to episodes that are valuable for if you have those questions.
TabbyOh, that's yeah. That's great. I'll definitely check that out.
Scott BennerThere's like a search bar at the top and you start typing and it just drives you towards content. So if you're I don't know. If you're having trouble, like, you know, I can't set Bazel. Right? Boom. It just sends you the episodes that help you with it. It's really cool.
TabbyYeah. That is really cool. Yeah. And so I do think I listened to a few of the small steps because I definitely listened to some smaller
Scott BennerLike, episodes.
TabbyShorter podcast Yeah. through the thing. And then I went on your website. I was looking at all the resources, and honestly, like, I was just so impressed Thank you. by everything on the website.
Scott BennerI appreciate it. That's me.
TabbySo many resources that I was like, okay. I have not don't know what to do to look at first.
Scott BennerYeah. Yeah. That's me and AI, by the way. We work together.
TabbyI love AI.
Scott BennerYeah. No kidding. I've had these ideas about my website for years, and I never ever ever could figure out how to take care of it. And no kidding. I was starting to get there with Google Gemini. And then I don't know what happened, but Anthropic updated Claude about a month ago. And I was like, oh, we're ready for prime time. I know what to do. And I've been, like, head down working on my website for, like, a month and a half now, and it really looks awesome. So and it's Oh,
Tabbyit does. It's funky. And I'm not I mean, I'm no expert, and obviously, this is not technically a product. But my my background is in product engineering and and innovation and product marketing. I'm very impressed by your website.
Scott BennerThank you.
TabbyI think it's great. I think it's resourceful, and I think it's gonna help a lot of people.
Scott BennerI appreciate it. I was telling well, right now, my basement's being turned into a podcast studio. So there are people down there working, and they're people I've known my whole life. So they're not just they're not, like, just guys down there swinging hammers that I've never met before. They're people I've known in a really long time. And I was standing with them the other day, and they were they kind of you know, it's like a two worlds thing. I I think it's hard for people to believe you make a living making a podcast. You know what mean? Like, it flips people out. And, anyway and so we just kinda asked some questions going back and forth about a little bit. And I said, you know, it's gonna sound crazy to you. I was like, but this is as close as I think I'll ever feel to a job like yours because I start with ideas in my head and with tools, even though they're physical tools and physical materials. I take tools and digital materials and build something out of my imagination. And I was like, it really I think it's as close as I'm ever gonna come to, like, you know, putting up a wall or doing something like that that I'm seeing you guys do right now. I don't know if they believe me or not, but I really feel like that. Like, I've had these ideas for so long, and I just didn't have the right tools to put them together. But I had all the material, which is my data and my, you know, and my content. And I just I just needed to be able to, like, hammer together into something. This did it. So, hopefully, it won't blow the world up.
TabbySo great. And I actually I've been thinking about that a lot too because I've I've started sharing my story a little bit on on social media and just kind of and have a growing community, small community on TikTok just of of other moms that have had health challenges, other moms in general, and other people who have chronic illnesses. And and I've been sharing, like, my different experiences at the hospitals and sharing about my story a little bit. And really my hope is that that I can raise awareness for for some of these things and and help someone. And I think that's a lot of what I've gathered. A lot of the people who who run these types of podcasts want to. Yeah. And so I'm thankful that you're putting the time into it because I've I've learned a lot through it, and I think that that it has helped me. And it's given me an avenue to be able to to kinda share what happened to me. And
Scott BennerThank you.
TabbyThat's great.
Scott BennerI I appreciate it. I wish you luck doing the same. It's just it's a it's lovely to get out there and and share stuff and let people feel like they're not alone. It's really, actually incredibly important. Okay. Well, we've been at this enough. I can hear the editor right now. He's saying, stop right now. We've got a good length. Keep going too long and we're in trouble. Yeah. Seriously, I appreciate you spending the time sharing this with me. I wanted to tell you, there's no pressure here, but I am interested in you, like, two years from now. If you wanna try to come back on at some point, like, really in the future
TabbyYeah.
Scott BennerI'm interested because right now, you're talking about diabetes coming out of the lens of having all this happen to you. The getting diabetes is almost, I'm not gonna say it's good news, but at least it's the end of all your pain and your suffering and all that stuff. I wonder if if you'll sound more like a regular old type one a few years from now where you're like, Scott, this is grinding on me. Like, you you know what I mean? Like, I'm wondering if you'll if you if that experience will happen or if this part will carry you further. It's it's in the back of my mind. But if you, you wake up a couple years now and you wanna be on a podcast, contact me back again.
TabbyOh, for sure.
Scott BennerCool.
TabbyI absolutely will.
Scott BennerThank you. I really appreciate it. Congratulations on the baby too. Forest is a cool name.
TabbyThank you.
Scott BennerYeah. You're welcome.
TabbyAnd thank you for for the opportunity. And
Scott BennerOh, it's a pleasure. You don't have to thank me, please. I need something to put my ads on. You don't have to thank me.
TabbyI feel that.
Scott BennerAlright. Hold on one second. Thanks.
Scott BennerThis episode was sponsored by Touched by Type one. I want you to go find them on Facebook, Instagram, and give them a follow, and then head to touchedbytype1.org where you're gonna learn all about their programs and resources for people with type one diabetes. Are you tired of getting a rash from your CGM adhesive? Give the Eversense three sixty five a try. Eversensecgm.com/juicebox. Beautiful silicone that they use. It changes every day, keeps it fresh. Not only that, you only have to change the sensor once a year. So, I mean, that's better. Today's episode of the juice box podcast was sponsored by the new Tandem Mobi system and Control IQ plus technology. Learn more and get started today at tandemdiabetes.com/juicebox. Check it out. Okay. Well, here we are at the end of the episode. You're still with me? Thank you. I really do appreciate that. What else could you do for me? Why don't you tell a friend about the show or leave a five star review? Maybe you could make sure you're following or subscribe in your podcast app, go to YouTube and follow me, or Instagram, TikTok. Oh, gosh. Here's one. Make sure you're following the podcast in the private Facebook group as well as the public Facebook page. You don't wanna miss please, do you not know about the private group? You have to join the private group. As of this recording, it has 74,000 members. They're active talking about diabetes. Whatever you need to know, there's a conversation happening in there right now. And I'm there all the time. Tag me. I'll say hi. If you'd like to hear about diabetes management in easy to take in bits, check out the small sips. That's the series on the Juice Box podcast that listeners are talking about like it's a cheat code. These are perfect little bursts of clarity, one person said. I finally understood things I've heard a 100 times. Short, simple, and somehow exactly what I needed. 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. Nothing overwhelming, no fire hose of information, just steady helpful nudges that actually stick. People listen in their car, on walks, or rather actually bolus ing anytime that they need a quick shot of perspective. And the reviews, they all say the same thing. Small sips makes diabetes make sense. Search for the Juice Box podcast, small sips, wherever you get audio. If you have a podcast and you need a fantastic editor, you want Rob from Wrong Way Recording. Listen. Truth be told, I'm, like, 20% smarter when Rob edits me. He takes out all the, like, gaps of time and when I go and stuff like that. And it just I don't know, man. Like, I listen back and I'm like, why do I sound smarter? And then I remember because I did one smart thing. I hired Rob at wrong way recording dot com.
