#1873 Bend with Zevi
Sabrina discusses her vigilant approach to managing her two-year-old son Zevi’s Type 1 diabetes. Listen as she navigates diluted insulin, looping, and "vibe bolusing" a toddler.
Key Takeaways
- Trust Your Parental Instincts: Sabrina's persistence at the pediatrician and the ER, despite doctors initially dismissing Zevi's symptoms, ultimately saved his life from a fatal DKA event.
- Toddler Management Requires Flexibility: Managing a toddler's unpredictable eating habits is challenging. Strategies like "vibe bolusing," using diluted U-10 insulin, and breaking down snacks to match insulin action times can help maintain stable blood sugars.
- The Power and Fatigue of Technology: Tools like CGMs and looping algorithms offer incredible insights and tighter control (like Zevi's 5.3 A1C), but the constant stream of data requires parents to manage their own mental fatigue.
- Illnesses Drastically Impact Insulin Needs: Common childhood illnesses, and even hidden ones like RSV or parasites, can cause sudden and massive shifts in insulin resistance and daily needs.
- Accept Your Management Phase: Hyper-vigilant diabetes management may be absolutely necessary during the toddler years, but it's important to recognize that this phase is temporary and strategies must evolve as the child grows.
Resources Mentioned
- ABLE Now: ablenow.com
- US Med: usmed.com/juicebox or call (888) 721-1514
- Omnipod 5: omnipod.com/juicebox
- Small Sips Series: juiceboxpodcast.com (Click on "Series")
- Wrong Way Recording: wrongwayrecording.com
- Juice Box Podcast Private Facebook Group: Search "Juice Box Podcast, type 1 diabetes" on Facebook
Introduction & Sponsors
Scott BennerWelcome back, friends. You are listening to the Juice Box podcast.
SabrinaHi. I'm Sabrina, Zevi's mom, and we're here talking about my son.
Scott BennerHave you tried the small sip series? They're curated takeaways from the Juice Box podcast voted on by listeners as the most helpful insights for managing their diabetes. These bite sized pieces of wisdom cover essential topics like insulin timing, carb management, and balancing highs and lows, making it easier for you to incorporate real life strategies into your daily routine. Dive deep, take a sip, and discover what our community finds most valuable on the journey to better diabetes management. For more information on small sips, go to juiceboxpodcast.com. Click on the word series in the menu.
Scott BennerWhile you're listening, please remember that 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 or becoming bold with insulin. This episode is sponsored by Able Now, tax advantaged savings accounts for eligible individuals with disabilities. If you or your child lives with diabetes, you may qualify for an Able account because of ongoing medical needs, and many people in the diabetes community do.
Scott BennerWith ABLE Now, you can save for future expenses without affecting eligibility for certain disability benefits such as Medicaid. Learn more and check your eligibility at ablenow.com. You spell that ablenow.com. Today's episode is also sponsored by usmed.com/juicebox. You can get your diabetes supplies from the same place that we do, and I'm talking about Dexcom, Libre, Omnipod, Tandem, and so much more.
Scott BennerUsmed.com/juicebox or call (888) 721-1514. The podcast is also sponsored today by Omnipod five. Omnipod five is a tube free automated insulin delivery system that's been shown to significantly improve a one c and time and range for people with type one diabetes when they've switched from daily injections. Learn more and get started today at omnipod.com/juicebox. At my link, you can get a free starter kit right now.
Scott BennerTerms and conditions apply. Eligibility may vary. Full terms and conditions can be found at omnipod.com/juicebox.
Meet Sabrina and Zevi
SabrinaHi. I'm Sabrina, Zevi's mom, and we're here talking about my son.
Scott BennerHis name is say again?
SabrinaZevi. Zevi. Like, Zev, but legally, it's Zevi with an I.
Scott BennerLike, drove the Zevi to the levy, but the levy was drunk?
SabrinaYeah. Exactly that.
Speaker 3Gotcha.
SabrinaI never even thought about that, but yes.
Scott BennerOh, that's nice.
SabrinaYeah. Now I'm gonna have to play that song to him.
Scott BennerHow old is Zevi?
SabrinaHe's two and a half.
Scott BennerWow. And your first?
SabrinaMy first and only. Yes.
Scott BennerYour first why the only part?
SabrinaHe's just spectacular, and I can't imagine. I don't know.
Scott BennerWon't need another one.
SabrinaYeah. I don't need another one. He's he's I'm also 40 years old, but not you know? I don't know. He's just everything that I could imagine.
Scott BennerThat's lovely.
SabrinaThe most spectacular little boy. Nice.
Scott BennerHow do you get to being pregnant when you're 38? What's the pathway to that?
SabrinaWell, everyone thought I think I was gonna be just, like, an old maid, never married, and met my husband kinda late and got pregnant. We started trying about three, two months after getting married because everyone told me it was gonna take, like it could take a year. Got pregnant, like, almost immediately.
Scott BennerRuined that for your husband. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
SabrinaSo Jokes on him. On me.
Scott BennerYeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3Yeah. So
Sabrinaand I was very up in the air about, like, even during labor, I was like, get them out of me. Like, I I didn't know if I wanted I love kids. I was very on the fence of, like, do I wanna have a child? Because I was 37 years old at the time. he he was born, like, two months before I turned 38.
Scott BennerSo That's I I talk about that for a second. That's a long time to, like, settle into what life is. Right? And then suddenly
SabrinaFor sure. No. I was
Scott BennerYou let the boy in, and then you let the boy in for real, and then you have baby come out.
Speaker 3Yeah.
SabrinaYeah. I'm very I mean, I dated a lot, and I'm very just comfortable in my life and independence and but also desperately wanted to meet someone and then kinda gave up on that in a certain way of just, like, I'm just gonna enjoy myself. And then pandemic hit, and we met, and just very, like, natural progression.
Scott BennerWere you disappointed or happy when he turned out to be somebody you could marry?
SabrinaOh, no. Very I we said I love you within two weeks. It was, like, very, it felt very natural. I don't know. Like
Scott BennerJust felt good.
SabrinaYeah. It it was very easy. And I had been on some you know, been through so many things where it just felt, like, hard.
Scott BennerMhmm.
SabrinaAnd it's not supposed to be hard. It's supposed to just feel like you know the person. Yeah. No. I I I I wasn't, like, forcing anything.
SabrinaI didn't have, like, a timeline. You know? I just wanted to be married to my best friend. I think it was at the end of the day, you know you know, I
Scott BennerNo, like God. Anger or sadness that it didn't happen sooner, or you're just happy it happened?
SabrinaNo. Not at all.
Scott BennerGood for you.
SabrinaI was, I mean, for me personally, I don't think I could have shown up as a mother and what in the same way in my twenties or even early thirties.
Scott BennerOkay.
SabrinaI I needed to, like, travel all over the world and grow my business and just get more and more confident in who I am Mhmm. If that makes sense. I yeah.
Scott BennerYou're an only child?
SabrinaNo. I'm the youngest of four
Scott BennerWow. Oh, youngest of four.
SabrinaYeah. I'm the youngest of four.
Scott BennerYou grew up. Nobody was even paying attention to you.
SabrinaNo. Everyone paid attention to me. Really?
Scott BennerTell tell tell me a little more.
SabrinaIt was just kind of the running you know, I'm yeah. I don't know. I was I was like my mom's tag along and always spent time with my parents. And, you know, I was very big into sports, and I don't know. I just kinda I was, like, a nerd, but, like, a sporty nerd and just kinda, like, kept myself in certain ways.
Scott BennerYeah.
SabrinaBut, no, I'm I'm very much the baby of the family and in the good ways and the bad ways of, like, of course, you're saying that Sabrina. You know, that kinda
Scott BennerYeah. The three are like, you know, I don't know what she's talking about. I I believe this summer, I will be married for thirty years.
Speaker 3Mhmm.
Scott BennerAnd last night, my wife we we're getting ready. I just built, a recording studio in an office.
SabrinaOh, nice.
Scott BennerYeah. To to move everything into it. So it's up to the part now where we're getting it painted.
SabrinaOkay.
Scott BennerAnd my wife just come we're not talking about it at all. Like, it's not happening. She walks into the room and she says, oh, you know, the guy's coming over to paint soon. And I said, yeah. She goes, I was just in the powder room.
Scott BennerI stepped right in front of her sentence and I said, on the left side, there's a piece of trim on the wainscoting that needs to be caulked underneath. And she goes, oh my god. How did you know that? I said, well, sweetheart, we've been together for thirty years. I was like, you don't think that you and I see things, like, kinda the same way now?
Scott BennerWhich is frightening because we are completely different kinds of people. Yeah. And this is not an easy it's not like there's a giant crack on the wall. I there's Yeah. A tiny little line underneath of a lip that if I'm being honest with you, you pretty much have to be leaning forward while you were sitting on the toilet to see.
SabrinaI I'm gonna say, I you it's the details. It's the it's every I I get it. No. I yeah.
Scott BennerMy wife, like, she looked like like a little girl for a half a second when she looked at me. Almost like she was like, oh, this is a good guy. Like, that was it's a weird it's weird where you see, like, things like that kinda pop up after you've been together for a really long time. Anyway, I said, see, we we agree on all kinds of stuff. And she goes, don't get carried away.
Scott BennerAnd I was like, oh, okay. So so, anyway, so baby goes in, starts cooking, comes out. Was the pregnancy easy?
SabrinaEasy, medically speaking. I just was so nauseous and morning sickness all day every day pretty much until he came out of me.
Scott BennerOkay.
SabrinaAnd it would just was instantly gone. But it was very tough. Like, I felt like I was, like, dying for two months in the beginning, barely got out of bed, which is, like, big for me because I'm very active.
Scott BennerMhmm.
SabrinaAnd then slowly kinda got a little bit better. But but, no, I I mean, I'm I'm not exaggerating when I say, like, during labor. I'm even my mom was in the room with us, and she's a photographer. So she was like, this is, like, her Super Bowl.
Speaker 3She's, like, finally yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
SabrinaYeah. She's, like, in there. Well, he's like, I'm pushing. He's almost out. And the the the midwife, I use a midwife at the hospital, and she was like, oh, you can't record this.
SabrinaShe was like, oh, okay. To my head, I'm going, oh, she's gonna record this.
Scott BennerNo. Of course, I won't. Don't worry about it. It'll be yeah. Yeah.
SabrinaBut, no, I'm literally yelling her, like, going, just get it out of me. Like, I don't even want this. You know?
Scott BennerGive it back. Did someone keep a receipt? Yeah. Yeah. No.
SabrinaI it was Good. Yeah. So, I mean, that was I've been back and forth for almost the whole pregnancy of, like, I think I want this. I don't know. And then as soon as he came out, I was like, oh my god.
SabrinaHe's just amazing.
Scott BennerSo that that's what gets thrown inside you. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
Autoimmune Issues & Experimenting with GLP-1s
Scott BennerSo husband's side, your side, we're looking for any autoimmune issues, anything like that?
SabrinaAutoimmune is my side. Only recently have we real like, so my mom is celiac, kinda started around COVID, and she's had a lot of health complications. But before that, not really. Like, no die I mean, my dad has, like he he's not he doesn't mean he doesn't take care of himself very well. So he has kind of, like, teetered on, like, that you know, being diabetic type two
Scott BennerType two.
SabrinaOn and off.
Speaker 3Yeah. But
Sabrinanot it it's not, you know, it's not type one, and it's we don't have
Scott BennerThyroid? Vitiligo?
SabrinaKind of. See, that's the thing is I didn't realize how many autoimmune issues there were until I started to understand autoimmune.
Scott BennerYeah.
SabrinaSo my sister one of my sisters has Hashimoto's. Mhmm. And but she was diagnosed, you know, three, four, I don't know how many years ago. So it wasn't it wasn't always, like, on the forefront. I didn't grow up with it thinking, like, oh, this is you know, I was I kinda stumbled on my autoimmune.
SabrinaI have, like, a tissue disease. It's called, like, limited sclerosis. Okay. But I don't have present as, like, many normal symptoms, but I just have, like, a lot of, like, joint and muscle pain, which is a whole other conversation in your podcast actually.
Speaker 3Mhmm.
SabrinaKinda, like, opened my eyes to, like, using something that I'm we're, like, experimenting with right now, GLP one, which is wild. Oh. Yeah. And I have, like, absolutely no weight to lose, So it's I am micro go microdosing the microdose.
Scott BennerTo see.
SabrinaAnd it's still affecting me almost too much. Like, I've lost too much weight in two weeks.
Scott BennerYeah. You just gotta keep eating.
Speaker 3You
Sabrinajust eat. Very I am so I felt like I'm pregnant again, honestly. And it's like I'm, like, force feeding my yeah. It's it's been very hard.
Scott BennerI have to tell you that last night, Arden's finishing up a semester, so she had, like, tests yesterday. She comes home. She's wrecked. Right? She's like, have a headache.
Scott BennerI I didn't eat. Like, I'm like, you know, Kelly's like, I'm hungry. I was I was like, oh, I could eat. And then I get a text about, like, what do you want? This text chain is clearly showing everyone that no one's cooking.
Scott BennerRight? Like, someone's Yeah. Trying to figure out where to go get food. I just want some dead flesh. I don't really care what it is.
Scott BennerEven my son was like, I'm in because, you know, he usually is like, no. You people, like, I'll eat on my own. But we stood around trying to imagine what to eat, and everybody was like, I don't know. I don't know. Like, nobody could and it's the GLP.
Scott BennerLike, everybody's like, I don't know.
SabrinaWell, the the intention for me is it's supposed to there's a theory that it's supposed to reduce inflammation.
Scott BennerRight.
SabrinaAnd everything it just feels like I ran a marathon every day for, like, the past almost two years. Mhmm. And I haven't I mean, I have done some kind of workout during the day, but, like, nothing like I you know, I'm taking if the lowest dose, I think it's, like, two point five is, like, the smallest.
Speaker 3Mhmm.
SabrinaI'm taking one point two five, and I still think it's too much.
Scott BennerHow are you injecting it?
SabrinaJust in my belly. And I which is a good thing in some ways because I'm showing Zevi because we don't really give him, maybe giving him two or three injections Mhmm. Since the hospital before he got he got his pump in the hospital.
Scott BennerSaying, are you drawing it out with, like, an insulin needle?
SabrinaI'm drawing it out. Yeah. I'm using, like, my little, like yeah. I'm with our syringes.
Scott BennerYeah. I mean, are you try have you tried less, like, than even the can?
SabrinaI tried even less this past week. Yeah. Okay. I have a meet I have an appointment today with the endo, but, it it's just kind of yeah. It's like a really a rheumatology issue, but we're going this route just to, like, an experiment for, like, a month or so.
Scott BennerNo. Sure. Do you think it's touching anything?
SabrinaI kinda do because I don't feel the achiness in, like, my knees and my ankles as much. And but it's it's hard. I I just can't in some ways, I feel a little bit better. In other ways, I'm you know, my sleep is, you know, pretty disjointed Mhmm. Natur you know, normally now.
SabrinaSo
Scott BennerYeah. Because of the vape. Yeah.
SabrinaI don't know. It's you know? Yeah. But I never even thought about it until all your episodes because I was researching, not that Zevi would use it right now, but, like, maybe, you know, in the future, it would be something that would reduce, you know, his insulin needs.
Scott BennerMhmm.
SabrinaAnd and then I kept kinda, like, going down a rabbit hole and then kinda stumbled on, and I presented it to the rheumatologist. She's like, I don't feel comfortable. Like, I don't know anything about it, but will you reach out to the endo? And immediately, she was like, let's try that. That sounds, you know, sounds okay.
SabrinaLet's try it. Yeah. I'm I'm willing.
Scott BennerYeah. Yeah. And you're listen. I'm gonna make a leap here, if I'm wrong, I'll slap my own hand. But some anxiety for you?
SabrinaI'm a neurotic Jew. Yeah. I'm I'm
Scott BennerI didn't wanna say it. When I heard Zevi, I was like, I know what's going on here. But I get it.
SabrinaI I'm very I I'm, like, the most chill anxious person you'll ever meet. I could care less about so many things, but, yeah, I'm just naturally you know, I'm very type a. So yeah. No. I
Scott BennerSo let let me share something with people. So when you you pop you all you guys, when you come on to record, like, we talk for a a few minutes before we start. It's mostly to get technical stuff together. And you popped on and I could see you, which is not everybody is even, like, has a camera on and I'm you're sitting in front of a laptop. So I don't want you doing that because it doesn't sound good.
Scott BennerAnd so I'm trying to pick through what's going on and I realized that you're on your laptop because you want to be able to watch your son's blood sugar on your phone.
Sponsors & Supplies Break
Scott BennerAs I told you earlier, Able Now is sponsoring this episode. Able Now, of course, tax advantaged Able accounts for eligible individuals with disabilities. If you or your child lives with diabetes, you may qualify for an ABLE account because of ongoing medical needs. Many people in the diabetes community do.
Scott BennerWith ABLE now, you can save for future expenses without affecting eligibility for certain disability benefits such as Medicaid. And thanks to updates to federal law, ABLE accounts are now available to more people than ever before. That means more individuals and families can use ABLE now to save and invest. Funds in an ABLE now account can be used for a wide range of everyday needs, including education, transportation, health care, assistive technology, and more. There's no enrollment fee, and you can open an Able Now account with a small initial contribution and build from there.
Scott BennerLearn more and check your eligibility at ablenow.com. That's ablenow.com, ablenow.com.
Scott BennerI used to hate ordering my daughter's diabetes supplies. I never had a good experience, and it was frustrating. But it hasn't been that way for a while, actually, for about three years now because that's how long we've been using US Med.
Scott BennerUsmed.com/juicebox or call (888) 721-1514. US Med is the number one distributor for Freestyle Libre systems nationwide. They are the number one specialty distributor for Omnipod Dash, the number one fastest growing tandem distributor nationwide, the number one rated distributor in Dexcom customer satisfaction surveys. They have served over one million people with diabetes since 1996, and they always provide ninety days worth of supplies and fast and free shipping. US Med carries everything from insulin pumps and diabetes testing supplies to the latest CGMs, like the Libre three and Dexcom g seven.
Scott BennerThey accept Medicare nationwide and over 800 private insurers. Find out why US Med has an a plus rating with the Better Business Bureau at usmed.com/juicebox, or just call them at (888) 721-1514. Get started right now, and you'll be getting your supplies the same way we do.
Managing Toddler Blood Sugars & "Vibe Bolusing"
SabrinaOh, yeah. I don't stop watching it. I didn't I mean, it's been, like, a whole thing even, like, at the yoga studio I go to is I I, you know, I wrap it in a T shirt and I, like, hide it. Because I we loop, so, like, I can see everything now. The other you know, beforehand, it was, like, harder, like, you know, following is, you know, the technology.
SabrinaI find that, yes, as much as I need the mental break, well, like, for that hour, I'm swimming or working out or whatever. Like, I get, like, one hour every twenty four hours kinda to myself. Yeah. Maybe. I find that I'm able to step in and take over and manage him so much better when I've been watching the trend.
SabrinaLike, okay. I know that he had this for breakfast. How did it affect him when I gave him eleven units today instead of twelve units? But I gave him two blackberries, you know, before I left, and now he's now he's five points. Okay.
SabrinaMaybe if I gave him this, and I'd like I don't know. It's like an experiment every day. But I people I
Scott BennerDiluted insulin so they're not confused while you're talking.
SabrinaYeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. That's a huge thing.
SabrinaSo he's on u ten diluted. He's been on that since diagnosis. As much as every you know, I've it's been encouraged like, oh, well, maybe it could go, you know, go to u 25. Our pump regularly throughout the night will give point zero five, you know, just to kinda keep them stable. And I give him point one.
SabrinaI probably give him seventy doses throughout the day. Like Oh. Big doses, tiny doses. I manage it like I'm the algorithm.
Scott BennerOh, you you're gonna make yourself crazy.
SabrinaI'm gonna make myself crazy. But he's, you know, for the most part minus here or there, he's pretty stable, and it's very hard anticipating a toddler. I know eventually it won't be this difficult. But but yes. No.
SabrinaI, I am his pump.
Scott BennerYeah. Well, listen. I did it for a long time too. I can't I can't scold you. So Yeah.
Scott BennerHow come while we were getting set up, your your husband's with him? And that just in the last fifteen minutes, you've described this boy as, like, perfect. This you've met him. You knew right away he's your best friend, blah blah blah. And then you just need an hour to talk to me and you don't you can't trust it?
Scott BennerOr what's the thing? Today's episode is brought to you by Omnipod. We talk a lot about ways to lower your a one c on this podcast. Did you know that the Omnipod five was shown to lower a one c? That's right.
Scott BennerOmnipod five is a tube free automated insulin delivery system, and it was shown to significantly improve a one c and time and range for people with type one diabetes when they switched from daily injections. My daughter is about to turn 21 years old, and she has been wearing an Omnipod every day since she was four. It has been a friend to our family, and I think it could be a friend to yours. If you're ready to try Omnipod five for yourself or your family, use my link now to get started. Omnipod.com/juicebox.
Scott BennerGet that free Omnipod five starter kit today. Terms and conditions apply. Eligibility may vary. Full terms and conditions can be found at omnipod.com/juicebox.
SabrinaYeah. Well well, we just had a little I don't even know. I there's been, I think, three nights since we've been home from the I mean, he's been he this has been going on now. We've we're on, like, over a year and a half now of of diabetes stuff. One time, I was so sleep deprived after the hospital.
SabrinaI think two weeks in, I dosed him eight units diluted instead of eight carbs, and that completely that was the most insulin we'd ever given him. So we were, like, having, like, a complete I mean, granted that's, like, a quarter of a banana in the middle of the night. You know? Like, even that's even too much. And then last night, what I had kinda mentioned was and my husband woke me up to be like, there was a 192 carbs were inputted.
SabrinaI don't even know how because I only dosed him point two. So I think that it somehow, like, with the phone, because I leave the his transmitter open, I don't even I still I can't try to figure I'm trying to, like, recreate it because it even gives you a warning. Like, are you sure you wanna do this? And I'd have to press yes. And, like, that's not how I dose him at night, so I'm still confused.
SabrinaSo we're fighting a low blood sugar right now. So not watching his sugars is
Scott BennerK. Couple things.
SabrinaI don't know. Yeah.
Scott BennerHow low is he?
SabrinaHe went I mean, the Dexcom was saying 42, but I was starting to feed him half a juice box grapes leading up to that. It's just, ten units in the middle of the night is a lot diluted again.
Scott BennerDo you want to look right now and take the phone away and check his blood sugar? Go ahead.
SabrinaSays fifty five. Hold on. He Leo's probably okay. But all his POPs were you know you know, it that's that's the issue with technology. Right?
SabrinaSo Dexcom could say 51, and he was at 68. You know? So I'm constantly cal you know, recalibrating.
Speaker 3Oh.
SabrinaBut he he should be okay right now. We gave him some maple syrup, which we almost never give in his gum. So it was
Scott BennerHow long has he had diabetes now?
SabrinaSo he was diagnosed at 10 old. So it was 09/20/2024.
Scott BennerWhat do you what do you weigh at 10 old?
SabrinaOh my gosh. I should know this. He's twenty
Scott Bennersix
Sabrinapounds right now. I don't even know. Nineteen eighteen eighteen pounds? I don't even know. Wow.
Zevi's Harrowing Diagnosis Story
SabrinaThat's too much. I don't know. Yeah. Pounds? I mean, tiny.
SabrinaHe I had noticed maybe, like, about four days beforehand, five days, I remember him napping.
Scott BennerMhmm.
SabrinaAnd I kinda like or he was, like, playing around like, kinda rolling around, and I was like, man, you're kinda, like, losing some of your baby weight. You know? Mhmm. And I could, like, kinda, like, see his rib cage a little bit more, and he's he's my husband's side. But in terms of, like, you know, he has, like, you know, little chubby cheeks, and his arms have some, like, cushion to him, and he's just ugh.
SabrinaYou just wanna squeeze him.
Scott BennerYeah.
SabrinaAnd I didn't really think anything of it. You know? We honestly stumbled. Like, I had no idea. Like, I didn't even know what diabetes was, if I'm being frank.
SabrinaI I truly had no idea what insulin was. This was I laughed when our pediatrician I brought him in. So it was I think on a Thursday, he started having this, like, you know, the breathing.
Scott BennerMhmm.
SabrinaAnd I thought that because he had fallen into, like, his playmat. And I was like, man, maybe he, like, punctured a lung. You know? I'm like a first time parent, so everything's like I don't know. You know?
Scott BennerI hear you. He probably fell and got some crazy disease. Yeah.
SabrinaYeah. Yeah. Exactly. Mhmm. So I'm you know?
SabrinaBut at the same time, I'm like, I'm, you know, I'm with him every second of the day. So I'm just watching him. But that afternoon, we live very close to the beach. So I walked him down to the beach, and he's, like, crawling into my lap to, like, lay down
Speaker 3Mhmm.
SabrinaLike, the whole time. And I'm going and he's, like, falling asleep. Like, we had just woken up from a nap. He's, like, doing his head shaking, like, to fall back asleep. And I say to my husband, like, I something does not feel right.
SabrinaLike, I I I don't this doesn't make sense to me. Like, what is his breathing? Like, his belly? Like, does he does he have RSV? That's what also popped in my head.
SabrinaSo I reached out to his pediatrician. We went in that Friday morning worried, you know, about Monday morning. Like, if I waited the whole weekend, and what if he had a virus? You know? Not that you can really do for anything for a virus, but never you know,
Scott Bennernevertheless So You don't wanna get stuck over the weekend not having access.
SabrinaSo I we I took him in, and I actually let him nap in the car on the way to the p d like, I was driving circles trying to get him back to sleep. Mhmm. And then I took him in, and and he was, like, you know, awake. And they're like, I was apologizing, Gwen. I know I'm wasting your time.
SabrinaI'm really sorry for, like, rushing in. You know? And there he the doctor came in, and he was just stumped. And he's just sitting there. He's, like, googling.
SabrinaAnd he looked at me and goes, yeah. You he either needs a chest X-ray or he is diabetic. And I, like, laughed. I was like, he's not diabetic. What are you even talking about?
SabrinaYou know?
Scott BennerLook at his little chubby cheeks. I know. Yeah. Yeah.
SabrinaLittle chubby cheeks. And and I was going to rush home because so and then bad news, their test strips had expired because they never checked blood sugar in their office. So they tried, like, three different times, and everything wasn't working. And I was gonna run home to grab a glucose, like, meter that I had from pregnancy because I refused to do the glucose drink. So I was just checking my sugar.
Scott BennerSo wait. So you took you took the doctor seriously? Because it's funny because
SabrinaNo. I took the doctor seriously. I he said, he goes, you need to go to the emergency room right now. I'm gonna call Mission. And I say, okay.
Scott BennerI just think it's interesting because you again, I know you for twenty three minutes.
SabrinaBut Yeah.
Speaker 3You feel No. I usually don't listen.
Scott BennerYeah. If you feel like a person even would've looked and been like, this asshole's googling. He has no idea what he's talking about. I'll get out of here and figure this out on my own. But
Sabrinayou Yeah. No. I I no. I I normally, I'd be like, I'm not really gonna do that, but okay. But I get in the car, and I start, you know, kinda like like, my mind's running.
SabrinaAnd he had fallen asleep on the way to, of course, because he's a DKA, to the hospital. And I even let him, like, sleep for a few minutes in the car seat, and then I, like, was like, I I should take him in. Like, I you know? Mhmm. We get in.
SabrinaWe're in triage. They're trying to tell me to go home. They're like, nothing is wrong with him. He is so healthy. You should go home.
SabrinaYou're gonna waste your time. And I was like, my doctor really, really, really wanted me to get his blood sugar checked. Can you just do that or chest X-ray, you know, and or Yeah. They're like, truly, you're wasting your time. But if you really wanna wait, okay.
Scott BennerSabrina, neuroses to the rescue.
SabrinaI know. Thank god.
Scott BennerRight? The boy is gonna kill you. But it saved the boy.
SabrinaNo. I I mean, I because he perk you would have he hides it very well. Like, it's very hard to know when he's not feeling well Sure. Which yeah. So, anyway, so my husband shows up.
SabrinaWe're just kinda playing in the, like, kid's room. An hour goes by. I have probably bothered them, I don't even know, three or four times. Like, can you please check the blood sugar? Can you plea you know?
SabrinaMhmm. Can you please do this? They come in. They for COVID, everything else. We go back into the little, whatever, you know, lab area, and they check, and I see five forty pop up.
SabrinaAnd I'm like, I don't understand anything about blood sugar. Right?
Scott BennerYeah.
SabrinaAnd I'm like, but that doesn't that doesn't make sense because that's not what my blood sugar was when I was checking it. Right?
Scott BennerSo you had something to compare
Sabrinait conscious person. Like, I under I I know wellness. But I this was, like, so out of my wheelhouse of, like, he's a baby. I don't know. You know?
SabrinaAnd they think their machines are broken. So they rush us to another room, and then it's even higher. And then all of sudden, it just so we went from
Scott BennerYou should go home. To where where where little Zebi would have probably died in his crib, by the way. And Yeah. Yeah. Right.
SabrinaHe would have he probably would have died within a few hours. Yeah.
Speaker 3Jeez.
SabrinaAnd you would have no idea because he was just, like, you know, smiling and playing with us for the most part, you know, other than the you know, one of the ER doctors came in being like, this is impossible. You know? And then I they must have called, the Children's Hospital, and they didn't even want a chance taking him in an ambulance, so we, got helicoptered over there.
Scott BennerThey went from sending you home to putting him in a helicopter.
SabrinaI know. Yeah. No. It was very, he was I, like, I don't sit back and think about I mean, I think about it in, like, when I'm, like, snuggling him at night kinda thing. You know?
SabrinaYeah. I just don't, yeah. I I Serena, that would Worst worst afternoon of
Speaker 3my life.
Scott BennerYeah. Okay. Well, the worst days when you met the boy because that's what put this all into emotion. But you you were so okay by yourself, by the way, dating a lot, having a good time. You probably had a fabulous little place you lived in.
Scott BennerAnd, right?
SabrinaBut Yes. No. I I loved my house.
Managing Expectations & Navigating Burnout
Scott BennerWhat kind of business? You said you have your own business. We had a like, what type of business is it?
SabrinaSo I'm a writer by trade, but COVID really changed. So I always stopped, like
Scott BennerYeah.
SabrinaDoing, like, marketing con you know, I'm a I I have, rental properties. So I have, like, a little, like, you know, rental landlord business of sorts that allows me I'm, like, full time mom. But
Scott Benneryou.
Speaker 3That's
Sabrinaawesome. Of you know, I can work from my phone unless I have a move out clean or something or, you know, there's a sewage leak in a unit, which happened a year and a half ago.
Scott BennerI was gonna say you didn't just make that up.
SabrinaNo. That was a whole thing. But very few days a year do I, you know, leave Zebi for, you know, five, six hours to to get to a property if I can't, you know, obviously take him in those kind of situations.
Scott BennerHow how much of his diagnosis story fuels how you are today, or is this how you would be? I'm And not judging you, but is
Sabrinathis This is how I would be, but it, honestly, I you know? I mean, trust me. It's like a cons I people criticize. I I appreciate how I am because I wouldn't I wouldn't be able to manage him. I mean, listen.
SabrinaCompared to it's incredibly challenging with an infant. It's incredibly challenging with a toddler. I mean, the the couple hiccups the last couple weeks have been going to his friends and then setting them setting, like, snacks out and, like, not understanding how much is he gonna eat of that and then bolusing too much and then not bolusing enough and Yeah. Just got you know, just it's very chaotic feeling. It's not, like, enjoyable, you know, for me.
Scott BennerYou are gonna go through every station of diabetes almost. Like, every freaking one of them.
SabrinaAnd I understand every different, like, phase has its own challenges Yeah. For sure. I mean, I've seen the different it's but in a nor you know, I mean, the kid eat I mean, we we stay away from wheat products. I just find grain to be so difficult to manage. I mean, we I mean, we've stayed up ten hours one night after pizza.
SabrinaIt was just like, this is not worthwhile in my, like, my opinion. It's it's so chaotic, and then it the fear of low you know, of, like, a really a dangerous low.
Scott BennerWell, it's such a a small amount of insulin too that does such a big it has such a big impact on Exactly.
SabrinaI mean, an extra point one can if you're last summer, we were my parents live in Michigan, and we were out there for a week. And we weren't looping at that time. We were on just the the o p five.
Scott BennerMhmm.
SabrinaAudi pi five. And in the middle of the night, I I out of nowhere, his Dexcom wasn't connected. It was like a brief sensor issue. And for some reason, the pump was giving him audible listening point 3.2, point two, which is not, again, diluted. So that's point zero three, point zero two, like, teeny amounts of insulin.
SabrinaBut for him in the middle of the night, it's massive. And I didn't wake up to an alarm until he was around 60, gave some juice, didn't stop, was 44, and then I finger pricked, and he was 22.
Scott BennerCan we take a left turn for a half a second? For those of you listening who don't know Jewish people, some of my wording will sound weird to you. But Jews in Michigan. So, like and Zevi, are you guys, like, Ashkenazi or Hasidic?
SabrinaNo. Not at all. No. Not religious whatsoever. Yeah.
SabrinaNo. We're, we're Ashkenazi. I'm, very culturally Jewish. Both sides of my family are, like, very Jew like, Jewy of Jew, but not, you know, at the most reformed temple. Zevi means wolf, which was, like, I each family member in my family like, growing up, we had, like, these animals at our lake house, like, painted on a cabin, and I was the wolf.
SabrinaIt was kind of thrown out as a suggestion by my mom for a name, and I only know of one Zevi.
Scott BennerOkay. Because you threw me when you popped on the camera, that was your hair. And then you said his name was Zevi, I was like, none of this is making sense to me. So I and by the way, my friends who are listening who are Jewish are so proud of me right now for pulling this apart. And the rest of you are so confused.
Scott BennerSo I'm sorry. Yeah.
SabrinaYeah. So confused. Yeah. So confused.
Scott BennerBut okay. Alright. Oh, okay. Awesome. So you just like the name?
SabrinaOh, I just love the name. Yeah. I just thought it was unique, and it it in Hebrew, it's, like, stands for loyalty and family.
Scott BennerMhmm.
SabrinaAnd I wanted to name it name him in a way, like, honor my dad's parents.
Scott BennerOh, nice.
SabrinaHad not yet been, like, recognized for by the other grand shit, like, in their names.
Scott BennerOh, I see.
SabrinaAnd they were very, very family oriented, very loyal. Like, that was kind of, you know, what, you know, defined them. So Lovely. It was, you know, kind of a tilt to my dad. So Tell me how
Scott Benneryou see this going. Because I imagine you have game plan this diabetes out to your death and already figured out who to put him with if you go like, you probably got this worked out six ways from Sunday.
Speaker 3So You
Sabrinaknow, it's funny. I I don't I I future trip, but I'm not like a like, I used to just book a one way ticket somewhere and just, like, arrive in Guatemala and be like, where am I
Speaker 3staying? Yeah.
SabrinaSo I don't always I have plans for sure. It's more just like, I know this is working right now, if that makes sense. But I think about him my goal is to involve him as much as possible. Like, he knows how to check his sugar. I mean, does he do it perfectly?
SabrinaNo. You know, he kinda moves his hand too much. You know? But I he helps me with his pump changes. He helps me with his Dexcom.
SabrinaHe knows all his you know, everything that's going on for the most part. There's a lot of guessing of what he'll tell me what he wants to eat, but it's like, but are you gonna eat that? Are you gonna decide in two minutes that you actually want apple and peanut butter, but I only dosed you for the scramble, you know,
Scott Bennerthat
Sabrinakind of thing? Yeah. So as he gets older, I think that part will feel a lot easier that the dose is not I'm gonna give you twelve units, and if you don't dilute it again. So twelve sounds probably massive for his size, but it is a big dose in breakfast. But breakfast, he just needs, like, two, three times more than any other time of day.
SabrinaBut if he doesn't want that, then I know that he's always gonna want, like, two grapes. You know? And, also, ten units is there's I I don't carb count, really. I mean, I kinda do, but I don't I don't use, like, ratios. I kind of, like, look at I don't know.
SabrinaI have, like, made up my own way to do it.
Scott BennerYou're vibe bolus thing.
SabrinaI literally vibe bolus. I kinda look at it, and I go, well, you have this much on board. You were just running around. You're about sleep in two hours. I don't want you to have too much in you, but I need you to have enough to avoid that.
SabrinaAnd then I think that you're gonna probably want some Larabar. And maybe, you know, maybe you'll have a little bit of this, and this looks like two units, but this really needs five units. And I I don't know how to explain to someone how it which is the reason that no one else can really take care of him. His main ability much.
Scott BennerThere's too much nuance. And and I would imagine too that it's probably the height of as soon as you figure something out, something changes too.
SabrinaEverything change. I just also discovered I I think this is what it is because I can't make sense of it. Otherwise, I thought he was getting sick constantly, like, almost getting sick and not showing symptoms. I didn't know that you could have growth hormone spikes during the day. Mhmm.
SabrinaSo all of a sudden at, like, around 10AM, not every day, just all of a sudden, so I have to, like, be ready for it. He could need an extra eight to ten units. But I also that one time that I was like, okay. This is it. And I bolus six units up front, he tanked because it wasn't that that day.
Scott BennerYeah.
SabrinaHe's So there's just so many
Scott BennerYou what? What's the u you're using? The
SabrinaHumalog, you mean?
Scott BennerNo. The u 10.
SabrinaU 10. So it's one tenth. I'm just gonna look at his sugar real quick. Okay. He's up at ten eighty
Scott Bennerthree now. So you're using u he's using u ten right now?
SabrinaU ten. Yes. So it's tenth the strength of normal Humalog.
Scott BennerRight. So a a unit of your bolus insulin
SabrinaIs point one for most people.
Scott BennerIs point one for most people. Okay.
SabrinaWhich is like, so when people say to me, like like, I I follow a lot of different, like, type one. That's kinda how I use social media. It's either that or, like, parenting. Like, put this activity together in the morning kinda thing. I surprise him every morning with something.
SabrinaSo I follow type one stuff because it's very educational piece. So, like, your podcast Facebook group and the diapers and diabetes one. Yeah. And mom's a type you know, that kind of thing. And then I follow some, like, this Addy t one d.
SabrinaI don't know what her thing is, but I like watching her stuff because
Scott Bennerdark hair. Right?
SabrinaYeah. She has dark hair, and she runs. And it's fascinating to me to see how her blood sugar is affected with running. And, you know, I think that she kinda smart carbs it, but at the same time kinda goes for it when she's, like, traveling, which is not necessarily exactly how I eat, but I want Zebi to feel like he has more free I mean, I smart carve it kinda with him. You know, I just thought you know, I mean, that's just how I would feed him probably anyways.
SabrinaLike, I don't give him junk food. But
Scott BennerDefine that for interesting to find. Define smart carb.
SabrinaI guess I don't really even know. I I just try to feed him whole foods.
Speaker 3Okay.
SabrinaSo we still have dried mango, but I'm not giving him I'm not feeding him goldfish. I'm making flaxseed homemade crackers or almond flour crackers. Or I'm making you know, we have cupcakes, but I make it with egg and almond flour and a little bit of maple syrup. And he needs a lot of a decent amount of insulin for it, but there's no spike. So it's just like a hefty temp basil for, like, two hours kind of thing.
Scott BennerTrying make mango sounds good. Do you make that yourself, or do you buy that?
SabrinaNo. No. No. I buy it, but this is where I used to give
Scott Bennerit to him. You for a second? I love when you laugh at yourself when you know you're about to say something, and most people are gonna be like, what is this lady talking about?
SabrinaWhat is this lady talking about? She's insane. Yeah. No. I I get it all the time.
SabrinaPeople just kinda like, you know, like, really, Sabrina? Well, so what I do is I take, like, press and seal, and I rip off little pieces. And he has to open each it's the only way that I don't have to dose him a massive amount of insulin, and, yeah, I can sugar surf while he gets dried mango.
Scott BennerWait. So what do you like, you've you make him get it out of the package himself to make create
Sabrinatime? Like I like I like prep it where, like, I break it into pieces so it's, like, individually wrapped, basically. Okay. Because, otherwise, instead of having to give him fifteen units for one piece of mango that he'd eat in a second
Scott BennerMhmm.
SabrinaHe can typically almost not get dosed if it's on the tail end of the dose. Like, if it's peaking and he has 10 units still on board, I can just give him a handful of, you know, like, little tiny wrapped mango bites.
Speaker 3Uh-huh.
SabrinaAnd he'll, like, unwrap them, and he likes collecting and throwing in the trash.
Scott BennerYou you must love the way I talk about insulin.
SabrinaSo you're bold with insulin episode. I was doing that. I just didn't understand what I was doing. Does that make sense?
Scott BennerNo. I hear it when you're talking.
SabrinaAnd so when I had a friend. I haven't seen him in forever. I was gonna say his name, and
Speaker 3I was like, don't say his name.
SabrinaWhy no one knows who he is. I understand what you were saying earlier now. But his daughter was diagnosed at three. So when Zevi was diagnosed, another a mutual friend was like, you should reach out to him. You know?
SabrinaAnd, of course, I had no idea that his daughter had been diagnosed. And I we text here and there, like, you know, oh, you could, you know, try this for the pizza crust, or try this for, you know, whatever. And he was the one that was like, you should listen to this bold with insulin because I was already kinda, like, sharing with him how we've been approaching it.
Scott BennerYeah.
SabrinaBecause I as much as Lowe's give me anxiety at not really. But in sir, if if there's a lot on board, I'm like, shoot. You know? What am I I have these little gummy packs. Like, they're just, like, Solier, I think, is the brand.
Speaker 3Mhmm.
SabrinaAnd that that can handle anything. But
Scott BennerIt's like jet fuel.
SabrinaIt's jet fuel. Yeah. That I mean, it takes a second, and once it kicks in, it's like, oh my gosh. You know? But I can handle it if it's on the tail end.
SabrinaRight? Everything's just, like, on timing. But I the highs, I mean, he's almost never high. So, like, he was four hours high on Sunday after our, like, a barbecue thing, and he was all right around 70 for, like, a whole hour. Like, I almost couldn't get him up.
SabrinaAnd then all of a sudden, the cup get filled. Like, he didn't need any more almost.
Scott BennerMhmm.
SabrinaAnd just
Scott Bennerand
SabrinaI thought his pump failed. I couldn't get him down. And then then slowly started coming down.
Scott BennerWas the high number? How how high?
SabrinaI think he went up to two sixty that day. So not like anything crate but, again, I'm on top of the insulin.
Scott BennerSo under so than you're accustomed to. So
SabrinaYeah. It was you know what? In those situations, it's it takes away from my ability to just connect. Like, other people might not realize what's going on in my head, but it's it is a second by I mean, it's always a second by second managing for me because I'm trying to anticipate what he's gonna wanna eat and, like, what who's gonna have food. You know?
SabrinaLike, okay. Maybe I should start a pre you know, a temp basil right now. So whatever. But it takes away from the, like, enjoyment of, like, being at these ex you know, at these parties.
Scott BennerNo. I know.
SabrinaWhen that happens because I'm like, is this pump not working? Like, did he knock it because he just tackled his friend who hit his head on the fence and Zevi has a bump on his head or Zevi just bit him on the shoulder?
Scott BennerI hear
Sabrinayou. And now you know? Yeah. So
Scott BennerI did this experiment one day where I thought for sure I'd be able to see Arden's blood sugar in her face. I took pictures of her, like, all day long.
SabrinaUh-huh.
Scott BennerAnd I would take a picture, and then I connected it to her blood sugar, Like Mhmm. Like, you know, dark circles under her eyes or anything like that. And then I put them aside, mixed them up, and then tried to guess the blood sugar by the I could never and I was like, I spent, like, two days trying to figure that out.
SabrinaOh, that's interesting. I I smell his breath, so that's, like, a big thing for me is I I'm a very big
Scott BennerYeah.
Speaker 3Yeah.
SabrinaYeah. It's it's a it's the weird like, that, like, a nondiabetic parent would never understand of, like, trying to figure out these little quirks to, like, you know, oh, maybe I'll be able to see it before, you know, or maybe I can smell it before you know?
Scott BennerAnd then I got by the way, got to the end of my experiment. I was like, well, that's not valuable. So like, but I was just looking
SabrinaThat's good to know because maybe that would have come across my desk at some point, and I could be like, yep. Nope.
Scott BennerYou're looking for some way to figure it out without poking your finger. Yeah. No. That point me in a direct so my point is that I am I'm well aware of that feeling of that you're just constantly taking in all the data around you even though you don't know how much of it's actually important, hoping that something's gonna suddenly make sense or
SabrinaYeah.
Scott BennerHelp you take a leap or something like that. I I hope for you that that will slow down, by the way. Like, when he gets bigger and you can do
SabrinaI know it will. I'll you know, I'll yeah. There's just a lot that I know there'll be other challenges, of course, like puberty, all that kind of stuff. But this will he can understand I mean, he understands he just he hates waiting for I've been starting, like, trying to, like, put a tie let's put a timer on the pre bolus, and he just hates it. You know?
SabrinaYeah. And I try to make it fun and silly, but it's just, you know, no toddler wants to like, when they want something, they want something.
Scott BennerYou know? I've come to the conclusion after making this podcast for twelve years that there's nobody on the face of the planet that wants to pre bolus their insulin, and I understand why.
SabrinaThat's why I'm trying to constantly anticipate so he doesn't have to kind of suffer through the pre bolus.
Scott BennerLike yeah. Listen. I'm gonna yeah, but you just for the people listening who are like, she gotta calm down. But, like, I'm gonna tell you right now. I would just do what you're doing so you know.
Scott BennerNo. I mean, listen.
SabrinaHis a one c is 5.3. He's in range 92 to 99 a 100% of the time. His average glucose is if it's not a crazy whatever, it's somewhere between a 100 and a 105, sometimes 95, sometimes standard deviation 17 to 22. You know? I mean, he's very stable.
Looping & Navigating Childhood Illnesses
SabrinaYou know?
Scott BennerTalk about how loop has helped you with that, if it if it has.
SabrinaYeah. So, again, the loop was really with the intention of nighttime because so he was a heavy nurser before diagnosis. And, obviously, leading up to it, he was nursing like crazy, and I didn't understand what was going on.
Scott BennerMhmm.
SabrinaOr, like, I just thought it was normal, but everyone else was like, he should be sleeping through the night. And I was like, I don't know. He just wakes up to nurse seven times. You know?
Scott BennerYeah.
SabrinaBut the the nursing was what used to I mean, I'd be up for so I would nurse him in the middle of the night, say it was, like, 12AM or something. And before looping, I would he would nurse. And if his sugar wasn't high, like, wasn't above one twenty, I couldn't dose him because then he would drop low because the milk takes about thirty minutes in the middle of the night to kick in.
Scott BennerOkay.
SabrinaSo I would have to just keep myself awake. And once in a blue moon, I would fall back asleep, and then he would I would miss that window, and then he'd go high. And then it would be you're chasing the you know, you're timing insulin wrong. So I would be up every time he nurse for, like, about an hour.
Scott BennerMhmm.
SabrinaAnd which is incredibly exhausting when he's up nursing three, four, five, six times a night. You know? Typically, you know, now he doesn't nurse as often last night a couple times. Most nights, nurses asleep and then, you know, nurses maybe around five, five, 08:30 in the morning. You know, I mean, he's two and a half, so he's not using it in the same way, you know, as much.
SabrinaBut the looping, I wanted the auto bolus. Like, it communicates better with his Dexcom, and, like, I can have settings that it just it were I mean and, also, the target on o p five was at one ten. And, not that 01:10 is terrible, but if he can be running at 80 and steady with almost no insulin on board, I much prefer that to one ten.
Scott BennerOkay.
SabrinaSo it you know, once I can kinda you know, despite growth hormone spikes during the night and that takes, you know, a handful of units to get him down, and then I kinda wait till he stabilizes. But, normally, if he's just you know, it just it keep I mean, he's real steady through the night. And then there's this off nights that an extra point two that he would normally get anyways. For some reason, he's just extra sensitive, and then he goes low.
Scott BennerYeah. I love how your brain effortlessly jumps between the u 10 and the point and the actual measurement. Like or or is that not what's happening? Are you actually
SabrinaIt's point two. Yeah. But I could
Scott Bennersay point zero Okay. So point two of u 10, which is point zero two. And how much does he weigh?
SabrinaNow he weighs about twenty eight pounds.
Scott BennerOkay.
SabrinaTwenty yeah. So he there there there has been a lot of so in the last July, one of the things I had shared with you. So last July, I started at his endo appointment. I was or August, I mean, he for the lead month leading up to it, he was saying, mama, I'm tired. Mama, I'm tired.
SabrinaAnd I was like, this doesn't seem right. Like, I don't know any 20 old who's telling me that, you know, they're tired, you know, and wanting to go back to sleep. So we did some blood work in November, and only one level, like, as ALP. It was like a alkaline phosphate or something. That was, like, relatively, like, pretty high elevated, not, like, super elevated.
Scott BennerMhmm.
SabrinaAnd then by January, he basically had a month, five weeks straight of diarrhea. And I was on the phone with every doctor I could think of, every you know, trying to figure out what was going on because he was, like, itchy. And and it it was causing, like in some ways, his sugar wasn't so affected, but at other times, it was. It turns out, well, the lab at the hospital messed up the viral swab, the first ER visit, because we had to sedate him to get blood drawn because he absolutely loses his mind
Scott BennerOkay.
SabrinaIn a blood draw. He had RSV, tested positive for salmonella, and had a parasite.
Scott BennerWee.
SabrinaSo there was yeah. It was insane in this in the winter. I don't even know how because, like, I'm a clean freak, and, like, he eats really, like, fresh food. I mean, we throw out stuff after two you know? It was just a crazy
Scott BennerWell, tell me how you how's all that get handled? What what how what kind of parasite? How did they find out a parasite?
SabrinaWe were at a a GI doctor.
Scott BennerBecause of the diarrhea, they looked for that.
SabrinaBy the die yeah. So you're doing, like, a ton of stool tests, and we he ended up I'm not I'm, an antibiotic person only if you absolutely, absolutely need antibiotics, you know, kind of thing. I don't just, like, free, you
Scott Bennerknow Yeah.
SabrinaWilly nilly them. And and he went on one round, and it it has, like, turned everything around. But but it's all these little things that people when, like, when he gets sick, you know, or if he has a cold, it's it's not just like, oh, he has a runny nose. It just wreaks havoc on, like, his insulin needs can, like, triple. It's so unpredictable.
SabrinaAnd and so the winter was just insane this past winter with, like, trying to figure out everything that was going on. But so my that's where it's like, okay. Yeah. I'm neurotic, and I'm incredibly type a. But I
Scott BennerCaught it.
SabrinaI mean, I was so annoying to the endo receptionist that she literally hung up the phone on me because I had so many call tickets in. And I was like, can you just please stop speak to me a little bit kinder tone? And she hung up the phone. And I want and that was before we found out everything that was wrong. And I wanted to, like, call back and be like, just so you know, like, something was actually really wrong.
SabrinaYou know? He was very ill.
Scott BennerI was right. And you were wrong. And you should have been nicer to me. And you're not good at your job.
SabrinaI mean, he hadn't gained weight in, like, four months.
Scott BennerOh my god. Well, yeah. Yeah. That's no good.
SabrinaYeah. I mean, there was a lot going on.
Scott BennerSo My only disappointment with that story is you said ton of stool tests, I really wish you would have used a liquid measure to make that statement. But other than that, I was I was really happy to hear it. Yeah.
Speaker 3It's been
Sabrinaa lot it's a lot a lot of poop tests.
Scott BennerA gallon of poop tests, Scott. Was a gallon of them. It's funny, isn't it? Because I think it would be interest I think it would be easy for people to listen to you. You don't know.
Scott BennerAnd I'm from the Northeast, so in my mind, you're not speaking quickly. I'm actually, like, you're at a comfortable pace for me.
SabrinaAm I speaking quick? I speak quickly.
Scott BennerImagine everyone else is like, holy hell that I put this on time too by mistake. Flash? Yeah. Like, if you and I let go, like, in a in a in a just like a party situation, I imagine we'd just be talking over each other the entire time and still the conversation.
SabrinaBut I would follow the conversation. It's just like tangential. Like, it's just like it's just all over the place like this tangent, this tangent, this tangent, like yeah.
Scott BennerOnly aware of it because I know people are listening and I don't like to put voices over top of each other. But if you and I were just speaking, I I know that when I'm talking and you're talking, we're both hearing each other.
SabrinaSo No. I'm I yeah. I well, so I apologize to anyone who's speaking.
Finding Balance & Looking to the Future
Scott BennerI'm making the point that the bigger point that to some of the people listening, you sound like you're out of your mind. But I also raised a two year old with type one diabetes, so it doesn't sound crazy to me. And look at all the things that you've figured out along the way by being this attentive. And so while I think some people might be like, oh, she's gonna burn out, I don't know that you will. You might this might just be how you are.
SabrinaI it's kind of how I am, but also doing all of this is I mean, I manage it so like, I just under I can I I understand how his body's re the difference of even just six months ago for me is massive?
Scott BennerYeah.
SabrinaIt it ends up allowing me to give him, like, a steadier, like, day to day because I know how to anticipate and manage it. Does that make sense? Like, it causes me less stress to to have done all this work in, a neurotic way to figure it out as opposed to just, oh, let's just go on a roller coaster.
Scott BennerYeah. No. No. No. I agree with you.
Scott BennerDo you imagine yourself, like, this getting less lesser as time goes on? Like, do you want to be looking at it less moving forward? Yeah.
SabrinaI think when I don't know. I mean, I I hope so. Some of that will be, mom, I want one slice of pizza. You know? I want you you know, I want this.
SabrinaI want you know, the because I if he wants more, I give him more. I might say, like, you know, if I don't have the insulin pre bolus and I know he's about to nap, I do kind of fib of, like, oh, we're out of Larabars. You know, we don't that was that was all we had, you know, that that half.
Scott BennerMhmm.
SabrinaBecause I don't want him to go low during his nap. Like, he he he'll either skyrocket and I don't give enough, or he'll go low, and then I'm disrupting him and it's you know?
Scott BennerYou're giving me PTSD thinking about, afternoon nap time. Jesus. Ugh.
SabrinaThe naps are just I mean, when when he stops napping, I feel like the days will even be so much I understand. I like, I'm so hypervigilant with it.
Scott BennerMhmm.
SabrinaIt makes the day so much easier when I'm just, like, on it, if that makes sense. It's so much more stressful when I'm not watching it diligently because something because he is so sensitive. I mean, he shot up to two seventy five a week and a half ago or two weeks ago at our friend's backyard because I was 50 feet from him, and he wanted strawberries. I didn't bolus him right in that moment, and he had two or three strawberries.
Scott BennerMhmm.
SabrinaAnd he had 10 units on board already.
Scott BennerIt didn't matter. Right?
SabrinaAnd it didn't matter. Yeah. And so then I spent four hours trying to safely bring him down before bedtime versus if I just was right there and maybe he It just wouldn't have happened. And and because I can't expect other people to understand you know, I I yeah. Does that
Scott Bennermake sense? Yeah. You're gonna sound crazy to people who don't know know about diabetes. Yeah. Yeah.
SabrinaAnd I trust me. I hear it all the time of, like, you need to let other people take care. And, like, how? He's dropped from a 100 to 44 in ten minutes, and he there was, like, almost no reason.
Scott BennerYeah. What are you gonna do about it? Because I'm the only one staring at him like this.
SabrinaCheck his blood sugar manually.
Scott BennerYou're his own personal AI assistant. You you know everything. Like, you have a you have a large language model of, you know, information about his diabetes. But I'm telling you a couple things. Listen.
Scott BennerI'll pass on a little bit of of of my
SabrinaYeah. Please do.
Scott BennerMe and my it is gonna get easier. You are gonna need to let go as time goes on. Somebody is eventually gonna be able to watch your son for you, and you're gonna be able to go Yeah.
SabrinaFor sure. Well, also, I'm hoping by including him that he'll be, like, part of his own management.
Scott BennerI hope so
Sabrinatoo. You know, sooner than later, you know, that he can say, oh, well, you know, I'm gonna have this. I need a bolus this. You know?
Scott BennerJust keep in mind that is kinda like hippie dippie as it's gonna sound. So you can only put people on a path. You can't make them do something.
SabrinaFor sure.
Scott BennerYeah. Yeah. So Yeah. Yeah. There's gonna be an episode that comes out in a couple of months.
Scott BennerAnd it's recorded recently with this mom whose kid was diagnosed at, like, 15 years old. And this kid's, like, you know, athletic on the ski team at school, like, you know, having a nice little life diagnosed with type one Mhmm. Quickly tumbles down a rabbit hole, drinking, drugs. They just send him off to a place, like, not a thing they thought was gonna happen to him. And and even as he and he's a thoughtful kid.
Scott BennerLike, it's not like, he was just you know, he's got ADHD. He was probably self medicating, you know, but it it tumbled quickly on him. And my point is is that, like, a, you know, a year before that, that was not on their radar at all. Mhmm. And even as they're trying to help him and he's open to the help, it's still, like, people are really on their own course and you can only do so much.
Scott BennerSo I say, like, I like everything you're talking about, but if it doesn't go exactly the way you're imagining it, you're gonna have to be flexible and and bend with Zevi and do you know what I mean?
Speaker 3Oh, for yeah.
SabrinaI I hear what you're saying.
Scott BennerYeah.
SabrinaYeah. No. I I think I I my goal is to show up how he needs me. Does that make sense?
Scott BennerNo. I think you're gonna do a good job.
SabrinaYeah. It's how I think is best, you know, because he's two.
Scott BennerRight.
SabrinaRight. You know, I mean, listen. I I I want an athlete. He might just be a musician, you know, in which I was a musician too. But, you know, I I you have to I I hear what you're saying.
Scott BennerYeah. You can only do what you can do.
SabrinaIt's very hard when it it is relay directly related to his health.
Scott BennerOh, I know.
SabrinaKeeping him alive. You know? So when people are like, oh, which I know you know. Yeah. It's when when, you know, people I mean, I constantly hear it from especially family of you know, who don't live by us.
SabrinaSo they've not really seen the day to day and understanding, you know, well, someone has to be able to watch them, and it's like, I don't think you understand how nuanced this is.
Scott BennerI exactly right now.
Speaker 3It's yeah.
SabrinaIt's just not.
Scott BennerYeah. Listen. I'll tell you that this too. Like, I'd I'd be remiss not to tell you. You need to sleep more than you think you need to.
SabrinaOh, I I know. My sleep is, I'm so much better than it used to be, though.
Scott BennerGood. Good.
SabrinaGood. So much. Yeah. No. I yeah.
Scott BennerMy expectation is you'll look back one day and just see this as a fraught time that you put a lot of extra effort into because it needed it, and then you backed out of it slowly when it didn't need as much. And if you do that, you're gonna be right on. If you don't do that, then he's gonna hate you. You're gonna hate this. Like, it's gonna you'll be ragged.
Scott BennerI also you know, you're an older mom when you started, so you have no idea what's gonna happen in the next five years. I can tell you because I've been there. But, like, this, like, staying up and it's all okay, it goes away really quickly.
SabrinaOh, it's yeah. It's, I mean, I sleep so much more than than I was.
Speaker 3Okay. Yeah.
SabrinaYeah. No. I yeah. So yeah. I probably just sound cracked out.
SabrinaAnd I and I'm not a coffee like, I don't I don't take anything. So, this is just pure, you know
Scott BennerI usually say to people when they're like, oh my god. Like, I'm like, imagine me drunk or high. Like, what a what an unnecessary level up that would be.
SabrinaYeah.
Scott BennerYeah. Yeah. No. I hear you. I think you do listen.
Scott BennerYou're in a really difficult situation. It's incredibly difficult. I've been through it. I was listen. Freestyle meter, test strips, syringes.
Scott BennerThey didn't even give me half unit syringes right away. I had to, like, find out those existed. And the Lily red glucagon box. That's what we had in the house. Yeah.
Scott BennerSo and Levemir and it was Lantus at first and NovoLog. I think we figured out the Lantus was burning. She like, it stung her, so we moved
Sabrinato Levemir. Had you guys didn't they didn't have Dexcoms when she was first diagnosed. Right? Yeah.
Scott BennerNothing like that.
SabrinaThat to me, that is I mean, we still finger poke a lot, but that is like I mean, it it literally saved his life in the hospital. I mean, every I I couldn't I would be poking him 200 times a day I mean, 300 times a day.
Scott BennerI had it down to about 13 to 15 if you did in in the right places. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I've told that story before. Like, when I hold Arden's hand, like, I realized I've held Arden's hand through, like, every day of her life almost Yeah.
Scott BennerYou know, because of the finger pokes. And it's funny now. Like, I mean, she still does them, but it's not obviously, you're not doing it 13 times a day anymore.
SabrinaYeah. Yeah.
Scott BennerIt's just it's a I I don't use this word hardly ever, but those things are a blessing. Like, that's why when I see people, like, get about them online, I'm like, you'd you know, be careful what you wish for because
SabrinaFor sure.
Scott BennerYeah.
SabrinaYeah. No. I I mean, I was pretty frustrated last week. I it was just the amount of, like, this one failed. This one failed.
SabrinaThis one failed. At the end of the day, I'm so I mean, when people say they, like, leave the hospital without them, I'm like, what? Like, I I would be, like, banging on the door. I I I mean, the first moment you're diagnosed, you should get a Dexcom on you. Like, I I had a pump on him within, I think, days six or seven in the hospital.
SabrinaIt is unbelievably helpful. It's just what also it gives you is a ton of information, which I love, but I do go back to, like, the whole ignorance is bliss. Like, I understand why people weren't so hands on years ago because you just didn't know what was going on. You know?
Scott BennerThis really is, I think, a thoughtful story, but if I hope no one can attribute it to anybody. But a long time ago, I knew a person whose child had type one diabetes, like, way before the game. Like, you know, like, way before, you know, probably ten years before Arden, you know, whatnot. And that person, when CGMs first came out, they were, you know, pretty vocal about, like, you people are out of your minds. My kid has, you know, been living with this forever.
Scott BennerYou don't need these things. They're gonna make you crazy. The people are staring at these numbers all the time, blah blah blah blah blah. You don't know. It's easy.
Scott BennerBlah blah. Then one day, their kid as an adult gets one of those things. And then they pivot to, like, these things are amazing. They're magical and blah blah blah. And I'm like, oh, okay.
Scott BennerI remember you saying, what are we all doing? But whatnot. And now more recently, their their child has, as an adult, shared their having a complication already at a fairly young age.
SabrinaYeah.
Scott BennerAnd I I of course, that's I that's terrible, and I don't wish that on anybody. But I think it's just a good example of, like, you only know what you know.
SabrinaYeah. I agree.
Scott BennerYeah. And people get defensive of the way we did it all the time. Like, oh, you don't know the way I did it. It was much better. Like, I could if you want me to tell you how much better Guns N' Roses is than Sydney Sweeney, I can absolutely tell you that.
Scott BennerI don't know if it's true or not. I just how it feels to me. And and, you know, because I lived through a certain era. When it comes to this, people can call you crazy if they want to. Okay?
Scott BennerBut you your kid's gonna have a far less likelihood of a complication because of the effort you're putting in right now. Now that's up to you and your husband to decide if that's a fair trade off for your life. My wife
SabrinaIt is. It's not even, like, a second thought. But yeah. No. I Yeah.
Scott BennerThat's That's how my wife and I thought about it. I I as soon as Arden was diagnosed, I would say to myself, like, alright. Look. She didn't ask to be here. We did this.
Scott BennerLike, we brought her here. And now this happened. It's beyond anybody's control. This is gonna take an extra level of effort from me now, and that is gonna mean that some things that I expected from my life are not gonna happen. And Yeah.
Scott BennerI gotta be and I have to find a way to do that without being shitty about it to her or to anybody else. Otherwise, I'm just gonna create a different problem somewhere else. So the way I used to say it is, you know, you find people all the time when they're talking about having babies or they're pregnant. They're like, oh, you know, I'd throw myself in front of a bus or somebody shot at us, I jump in front of the bullet. And some people jump in front of the bullet and some people don't.
Scott BennerSome people hear the gun and go, oops. I couldn't get there in time. And you Yeah. You you decide which one who you're gonna be in that, but be honest about it at the very least. Like, I love how forthcoming you are about it.
Scott BennerYou're just
SabrinaOh, no. I am I I am not trying to hide the fact No. Literally do anything. I have Zevi just came in here. We woke up a little.
SabrinaAre we upset? He just wanted me. Makes sense. You wanna say hi? Say hi, Scott.
Scott BennerZevi, how are you, buddy? How was your nap?
SabrinaMy we well, we just woke up from the morning, and I think that we are just wanting mama.
Scott BennerOh, this is this is the morning wake up. Oh, yeah. You're in the West Coast.
SabrinaYeah. We I yeah. I've been up with where are we at? 76. Okay.
SabrinaYeah. It's still this
Scott BennerLook at you. You fixed the you fixed the low, and you have him at seventy six.
SabrinaYeah. That's great. It's but, yeah, he's it's
Scott BennerHe's gonna be hungry.
SabrinaYeah. He's gonna be hungry.
Scott BennerYeah. What's for breakfast?
Speaker 3How you doing? I don't know. What's for breakfast?
SabrinaYou want green eggs?
Speaker 3Yeah. Should we make green eggs? Yeah.
SabrinaDo you want you know what
Speaker 3we haven't done in a while is waffles. Yeah. Should we make a waffle this morning? Yeah.
Scott BennerWell, you're gonna make me cry. I feel so old.
SabrinaThere you go, bub. There's a little bit of juice. Yeah. He's still kinda he went up a little bit. Not really.
SabrinaI don't think he even went above 90.
Scott BennerWow. Yeah. It was well, you you said he got too much insulin.
SabrinaUnit. One normal strength unit
Scott BennerRight.
SabrinaThat was given.
Speaker 3Is how
Sabrinamuch it's taken to you know?
Scott BennerBut I also think great learning experience there because you have that Oh, great. Lot of insulin.
SabrinaBut I still have to, like, recreate. I'm just, like, still trying to understand how yeah. I I I mean, I am I was, like, seeing cross eyed, I know, at 3AM in the morning, but yeah. I mean,
Scott BennerI wouldn't I wouldn't spend a lot of time trying to figure out what you did when you were asleep. Just
SabrinaYeah.
Scott BennerYou know, that I don't know that you're gonna come up. I don't know that it's gonna be Just you probably did some you probably pushed the wrong buttons and Yeah. That's that. But you know? Yeah.
Scott BennerWell, I appreciate you sharing this all with them. I'm gonna let you make waffles. I think
SabrinaI gotta I gotta remember to play that song for him.
Scott BennerI think it's a sad song about death. Hold on a second.
Speaker 3Let's see.
Scott BennerBut I It's still upbeat when they sing it.
SabrinaWe we play music and sing songs all day long, so he might kinda I just won't
Scott BennerYou just won't tell him what it's about, that song. I
Sabrinawhat won't tell it's about, bub.
Scott BennerGosh. No. You know, it's so funny because I grew up with, like, FM radio, but that sounds like an old thing to say now. But I've heard that song a million times in my life and
SabrinaI did too, but you sound older saying
Scott Bennerit. I now don't know that I know what it's about. So, anyway, I really appreciate you doing this. I I have to tell you Yeah.
SabrinaNo. Thank you. I I do I do wanna say just how I don't I certainly don't listen have a chance to listen to every single episode,
Speaker 3but
Sabrinait has been it's just refreshing having information that is actually helpful.
Scott BennerMhmm.
SabrinaI I I really appreciate our endocrinologist, but we have certainly talked to other endocrinologists where it's just like, I you just don't know what you're talking about. Yeah. And having like, just connecting with, especially, other parents or have it your community is spectacular. I I just I I cannot thank you enough. So
Scott BennerWell, I appreciate it. I I'm really proud of it. I'm I Yeah.
SabrinaYou should be.
Scott BennerSounds odd to some people, but I I see how many people it helps all the time. It's really awesome.
SabrinaIt's very it's it is invaluable.
Scott BennerYeah. So Hey. Give me twenty seconds, and then I'll let you go. American Pie by Don McClain in plain terms. The song is nostalgic, symbolic.
Scott BennerLook back at the loss of innocence in early rock and roll, especially tied to the day the music died, referring to the 1959 plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper. That's what it's about.
Speaker 3But we'll just make it about waffles. Inside. And over the garbage truck inside.
SabrinaWait in front the garbage truck inside? No. Is it in the garage?
Speaker 3On the on the sink. I think it's up.
Scott BennerHe's already planning on his day. He's like, lady plan out his day. We left some stuff outside. We gotta get we gotta get jumping here.
SabrinaWe are very, very truck heavy household.
Scott BennerSo That's awesome.
SabrinaDo you wanna say say, Scott, have a nice day?
Speaker 3Have a nice day. Have a nice day.
Scott BennerYou have a nice day too, Zevi. It was nice to meet you.
SabrinaThank you, Scott.
Scott BennerBye. Thank you. Okay. Bye. Bye.
Outro & Closing Sponsors
Scott BennerA huge thanks to today's sponsor, AbleNow. AbleNow offers tax advantaged able accounts for eligible individuals with disabilities. If you or your child lives with diabetes, you may qualify because of ongoing medical needs. With AbleNow, you can save for a wide range of disability related expenses without affecting eligibility for certain disability benefits such as Medicaid. And thanks to recent federal law updates, more people are eligible than ever before.
Scott BennerLearn more and check your eligibility at ablenow.com. You spell that, ablenow.com. There's links in the show notes and links at juiceboxpodcast.com. This episode of the juice box podcast is sponsored by Omnipod five. Omnipod five is a tube free automated insulin delivery system that's been shown to significantly improve a one c and time and range for people with type one diabetes when they've switched from daily injections.
Scott BennerLearn more and get started today at omnipod.com/juicebox. At my link, you can get a free starter kit right now. Terms and conditions apply. Eligibility may vary. Full terms and conditions can be found at omnipod.com/juicebox.
Scott BennerThis episode of the juice box podcast was sponsored by US Med. Usmed.com/juicebox or call (888) 721-1514. Get started today with US Med. Links in the show notes. Links at juiceboxpodcast.com.
Scott BennerIf you've listened to any number of podcasts or maybe watched a YouTube video, you're very accustomed to listening to the creator of that content ask you and sometimes just outright beg you without any feeling of self respect for you to follow, subscribe, share an episode. The reason that happens in podcasting specifically is because podcast players don't have a sophisticated recommendation engine like YouTube or TikTok does. They can't watch listener behavior and then give you content that you might like. Word-of-mouth skips that line completely. It's an instantly expanding reach engine and really the only thing I've ever found that helps to keep the Juice Box podcast growing.
Scott BennerSo subscribe and follow because that the algorithm understands. Set up automatic downloads, listen to the show, but share it with somebody else. Leave a five star review. Make it a thoughtful review that the algorithm can understand. I really appreciate the time it takes you to do those things.
Scott BennerAnd I hate that I have to say this to you because I feel like an idiot. But subscribe and follow, tell a friend, please and thank you. 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.
Scott BennerType one, type two, gestational, loved ones, it doesn't matter to me. If you're impacted by diabetes and you're looking for support, comfort, or community, check out Juice Box podcast, type one diabetes on Facebook. 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.
Scott BennerHe 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 wrongwayrecording.com.
