#1953 Autism and Type One
Autism and Type One
Sam's son Lucas is autistic and has had type 1 for five years. She talks about sensory limits and food, what the pump does and doesn't do for them, and heading into middle school.
Jump to a moment
- Lucas is autistic and has had type 1 for five years. Sam noticed something around age two — essentially no speech, sounds but no communication, an infant who couldn't be consoled and didn't sleep through the night until four or five. Speech and occupational therapy followed. Her wry observation is that years of three-hour nights meant adjusting to type 1 sleep was not the hard part.
- Sensory issues shaped what he could eat. For a long time his menu was genuinely limited by sensory tolerance, which is a very different carb-counting problem than picky eating. Notably, the diabetes gear itself has not been the sensory battle she feared — hard at first, but with consistent Omnipod and Dexcom use since about six months post-diagnosis, he tolerates it.
- Her husband didn't want a CGM at first. She describes talking through that early resistance after diagnosis, and where they landed. They now run Omnipod 5 with Dexcom, and Lucas's most recent A1c was 6.2.
- She doesn't let the algorithm drive. Sam is candid that Omnipod 5's automation has never quite hit him correctly, so she stays hands-on rather than relying on it. Scott's suggestion is to put the focus into pre-bolus timing and accurately assessing how much he's actually eating. Settings and targets belong with a care team — none of this is medical advice.
- Middle school is the thing keeping her up. She's using the transition as a reason to reassess everything, and she's frank about a school nurse she doesn't have confidence in. The tension she names is real and common: she knows what to do and is at the school constantly, but she doesn't want Lucas to be the kid whose alarms disrupt the class — especially with phones being restricted.
- Diabetes Pro Tip series — Episodes 1000-1025 — settings, pre-bolusing, and food impact, the areas discussed here.
- 504 plan builder — Build a school plan, a substitute-teacher sheet, and responses for the meeting.
- Bold Beginnings series — Scott and Jenny Smith for families early in the process.
Every word of the conversation
Cold open & sponsors0:06
Hello, friends, and welcome back to the Juice Box podcast. On today's episode of the podcast, there will be nothing that you should take as advice, medical or otherwise. So please, please consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan or becoming bold with insulin. Is there anything better than helping the t one d exchange at t1dexchange.org/juicebox? I've been talking about this all month, my friends.
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Meet Sam and Lucas2:02
My name is Samantha. I go by Sam mostly. My son is Lucas Dawson. He is a type one diabetic. He's been type one for five years now, and we live in Central Pennsylvania.
Oh, near where my son went to college. Oh. I love your intake form. What are some themes or you hope to cover in this episode? I don't have a specific theme.
Oh, I didn't necessarily have a specific theme either. I guess just going over what I've been doing over the past five years that's worked for us and our family. But if you have any questions for me, go for
it. I I hope to have listen. I don't If I don't have questions for you, this is gonna get boring really quickly. So Yeah. Let's go back five years.
Why did you pick five years? Is when your son was diagnosed?
Oh, yeah. Yeah. So he was diagnosed in August of, whatever five years ago was. Jeez. What year is
it now?
Yeah. Yeah. '21. Mhmm. It goes by so quick.
I can't keep up. Yeah. That's when he was diagnosed, and that's August is always our you know, I think about it around this time, so we're getting up on it soon.
Yeah. Actually, August in just a couple of days. Does it make Yeah. Make you feel any certain way at the, you know, at the anniversary?
You know, it just it brings me back to the time when we were diagnosed, which was a really scary time and all those feelings that came up, when it happened. Now we're great, but, you know, back then, it does it does bring that feeling of, like, dread up and how I felt in the hospital. And
How did you feel?
Oh, I was scared to death. I knew nothing. I'm not type one. There's we don't have any type ones in my family. I did, thankfully, grow up with a best friend whose brother was type one, so I kind of knew the signs and symptoms before we got diagnosed.
And so is that how you figured it out, or how did you
Yeah. My son had actually been on a trip with his grandparents to the Washington Zoo at the time, and they were, you know, telling me, he keeps going to the bathroom. And before that, he had kinda started, like, going to the bathroom more frequently. But because he is also on the autism spectrum, I thought maybe it was, like, a sensory thing because he loves to visit bathrooms. So I didn't really think much of it at first when it started happening.
Hey. Quick sidebar, Sam. You you said Sam, people like Sam. Right?
Yes.
What does he like about the bathrooms?
I'm not sure. I think it's just, like, every bathroom's a little different. Everywhere we go, he has to go into the bathroom, see the facilities, wash his hands a dozen times. We just let him do it at this point.
I wasn't sure if it was something about the porcelain or the mirrors.
You know, I I I have no idea. Sometimes he comes up very excited from the bathroom. There would be a mitt in there or something. He has to tell us about it. It was a fancy bathroom.
There's a man in there with towelettes.
And Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's told us words on the walls. What's this mean?
I'm like, dude. Okay. Enough with the bathroom.
Not for nothing. He's gonna love a bathroom at a strip club.
Oh my gosh. Yeah. We've been to the city, and some of those bathrooms, I hear all about them. Can't wait till the strip club days.
They've got the rollers to get the glitter off you. This is all just
from
memory. I don't really I have not been to a strip club in, like, thirty years. I just wanna say, and and the guy will have, towels. He gives his, like, different, like, aftershaves and colognes.
Tell him. I'm like, don't talk to them. They'll want money. And I
Can you imagine he comes out? He's like, I need $40. I bought a couple things in the bathroom. Bathroom.
He would. Luke Luke would figure it out. Like, yeah. That's a situation we would be putting.
The early signs5:43
How old was he when you realized he was on the spectrum?
It was pretty early. Around two years old is when it really was apparent to me that something was a little off. We would we were on through speech therapy and occupational therapy and all that during that time between two and when he started preschool, which was probably around four.
Okay. What what are some early signs of that?
Our early signs, for autism were just complete, like, lack of speech. There was nothing. There was sounds, but he really didn't communicate with us. And as an infant, put him down. He wasn't happy.
Pick him up. He wasn't happy. I had a very inconsolable infant. He didn't sleep through the night until he was about four or five years old. Oh, that must have
been magic.
Every yeah. Every three hours, we were up. So getting used to type one wasn't very hard for me as far as the sleep.
An inconsolable infant, and no sleep6:42
Is he your only child, or are there more?
He is my second. I have an older daughter who's 16.
Okay. Can I ask second marriage?
No. No? First marriage, no.
Just got bored for a long time and then Well,
I have PCOS, so we had a hard time conceding with him. We always wanted a second, but it just didn't come naturally. I've always had PCOS. And into my twenties, it got progressively worse. And I couldn't lose weight.
Weight wasn't coming off. They wanted to put me on metformin, and I decided to have gastric surgery instead, which led me to being able to conceive Luke.
Wow. Yes. Symptoms of PCOS?
Oh, my symptoms were just complete lack of menstrual cycle at some point in my life, but I didn't have a menstrual for two years, weight gain, hair growth on the face. And after my daughter, I had been told through my doctor that I had multiple cysts on my ovaries. So that's the original way we kind of figured that out.
Did you remove the cysts?
No. There was nothing as far as that goes. They were the general thing is just go on birth control, and it will work itself out sort of thing as far as symptoms.
It'll work itself out. You'll stop coming in here and complain to us, then you'll
die. Exactly. Yeah. Not this yeah. It doesn't get worked out, obviously.
Yeah. Just go leave us. Yeah. We're not helping.
Yeah. Exactly.
Yeah. So other autoimmune stuff in your family, let me let me guess. Somebody's gotta have hypothyroidism. Right?
You would think. We've never I mean, my sister was diagnosed with it, but I
I'm counting your sister as your family.
Okay. Yeah. Sorry. Because she's, like, my half sister. She's she's my mom.
So it's like, yeah, she's my sister, but she's the only one that I knew that was ever diagnosed with it. Her daughter has it currently Mhmm. Was diagnosed, isn't taking medication for it, and is pregnant at the moment. Pretty not happy with that.
Sam, I didn't know you were gonna get judgy in the middle of this. That's awesome.
Thank you. No. I the little judgy for family.
I saw that meme recently about three women standing around, and it says, I'm currently deciding if I'm going to, smile or start some So okay. Wait. So now we have two hypothyroidism in the family. Any Yes. Any celiac?
No. Luke also has he has Hashimoto's on top of his diabetes.
And when I said, does anybody have Hashimoto's, how come you didn't go, yeah, three people?
Sorry. I thought you meant, like, outside of, like, our general, like No. No. Nobody in the family outside of Luke. Okay.
I've been tested over and over again. I've got nothing. But yeah.
Okay. How about psoriasis? No. Nobody's got psoriasis. Anybody's fingers get cold?
Get blue?
Mine do. I'm actually going through something right now medically where we're we're trying to get some tests done. I have no blue hands, but I'm just constantly cold. The hands hurt sort of situation.
What's your TSH at when they test it and tell you you don't have hypothyroidism?
Oh, I'm not really sure off the top of my head. I know it's on my chart, and I could look at it, but I'd have to put you on speaker.
I swear I would be happy to wait.
Okay. Give me one second here.
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Five years ago, in August12:06
Check it out.
I know. They just did it. Mhmm. I just got all these tests done.
And they said, nope. It's all good.
Yeah. And that's you know, you hear that, you're like, oh, there's other tests, and they can look deeper, and you might actually have an issue. I've been having issues, but, yeah, they do the test, and they're like, you're fine.
What are your other issues that are hypothyroidism related? Hair falling out, tired all the time, dry skin, weight gain?
I mean, I've had all that my whole life. That's the thing. And currently, I'm on a GLP one, so all that's kind of Getting better. Yeah.
I can't wait to find out if your TSH is over two. I'm ex what
is it? Not. The TSH was 1.01.
Wow. Okay. Alright then. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah.
So, like, that was good, and I was like, okay.
So then
And you know other stuff.
Shift to the shift to the other stuff. Are you anemic?
No. Oh, I was. Well, because leading back to the weight loss surgery, I'm now dealing with some iron deficiencies and so on and so forth.
Did they zhuzh you up with the infusion?
Oh, yeah. Yeah. I got that last year, and now I'm on b twelve shots for the rest of my life.
How great is the iron infusion? Like, breakthrough?
I thought I would feel way better than I did, honestly.
How much did give you? They gotta give you all the good juice. You can't just get a little
They they sent me there for three hours. It was it was a three hour ordeal.
So Wait. Wait. What? Mine goes in at forty minutes last time I did it.
Oh, no. No. This was a full blown, like, I basically had zero.
Wow. How many times did you go back?
None. None. So far, none.
Yeah. Wait. Wait. They only they infused you one time. You remember if it was called Venifer?
I don't remember what it was called. I know it was last year. They sat me there for, like, three hours, and I I felt so horrible because I mixed in with all the people that were doing, like, chemotherapy.
It is a sad it is a sad room.
Yeah. I was just like, oh, boy. And I'm just here because I was fat and had weight loss surgery. Now I'm off.
No. I'm sure that's not why you were there. Wait. Wait. Hold on a second.
Say do you know what your ferritin level was back then?
Let me see here.
I love that you have labs.
Oh, yeah. I have tons. Oh, let's see. This was oh, it was only two years ago. Wow.
I'm almost up. 10. I don't know how they do this.
Like, what's the brain? Your was 10?
Yeah. It's like Oh, you must value 10. Yeah. I had, like, nothing.
You must have been passing out.
No. I wasn't. Like, the only symptom was I kept shaking my leg all the time.
Your leg was bouncing?
Yeah. They were like, well, that can be a sign of low iron. I was like, alright. They'll let me say it hasn't really went away since they've done things. So
So so they gave you one iron infusion for a 10 ferritin.
Yeah.
I am gonna tell you that was not enough. May I may I suggest
tell you my ferritin now is much higher.
What what is it now?
One forty seven.
Okay. I mean, it's not terrible.
It's it's not as bad?
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No. One forty seven is actually, it's fine.
I mean, 70 under 70, we'll call low. One forties I mean, listen. It's not terrible. I would see hematologist, like, six months from now and check it again.
Well, I definitely have to go back in six months because now I have high cholesterol after losing a 130 pounds. Don't ask me how. I don't know.
Your cholesterol went up?
Oh, yeah. Significantly. You lost a 130
pounds on GLP?
I did in eighteen months.
Good. Which one did you take?
Zepbound, and then they changed me to Wagobi because of insurance, and now I'm back. I was on Mounjaro. They changed to Mounjaro, and now I'm on Zepbound again.
Hello, insurance. Yeah. I take the Zepbound. Just took it last night. How much do you take?
What's your injection?
I've been on five consistently for eighteen weeks.
Wow. You lost a 130 pounds on five milligrams.
I did.
Look at you. That's awesome.
But, you know, you also have to factor in the weight loss surgery aspect and all that.
I'll factor in whatever I want. It's my podcast.
And so eleven years ago, so it's not all all all. You know?
Well, let's be clear. You had weight loss bariatric surgery how many years Eleven. And did you lose any weight?
I lost a 100 pounds.
Okay. Did you put it back on?
Over time. Yes.
Okay. So
you Basically, pandemic, I had a lot of stuff happen and yeah.
Yeah. You lost a 100 pounds, put a 100 pounds a 100 pounds back on.
To be fair okay. I lost a 100 pounds in a year, and then a year to the day, I found out I was pregnant with Luke.
Okay. Go ahead. You I mean, you do gain weight when you're so alright. I need I need context. Ready?
How tall are you?
Five three.
Okay. And at your highest weight, you were?
Two sixty.
And now today?
One thirty one. How about that? So about thirty pounds. It's bit shifted. You know?
Better living through chemistry.
Yes.
How about that? Well, how do you talk about what you think the GLP has done for you, if anything.
Oh, goodness. Clarity for one. You can I just my mind is completely different? I feel altered as far as that goes. Because I I will say I have an addictive personality.
Mhmm. There's addiction in my family, but my my addiction was never drugs. It was food.
K.
So that has completely like, the the addictive personality part, food isn't necessarily anything I really think about much other than when I'm hungry and obviously need it, but that that thought process is gone. Inflammation, my body, things don't hurt nearly as much as they used to.
Can I
ask I
Was that was that because people will say, no matter what you say about GLPs, people are gonna go, that's because you lost a bunch of weight? But were did you did the pain go away before the weight went away?
The pain did go away before the weight went away. And, you know, you just feel it's funny because you can feel the inflammation leave your body almost after taking these things. And when I've taken time off of it as well. Like, I'll take a couple weeks off, and you could just feel your body tense back up and that inflammation come back. It's the craziest thing.
Yeah. Why do you take time off?
Sometimes I take time off. I had to take time off because I had surgery recently and just decided I just I didn't wanna, you know, limit myself when I wasn't feeling well off me after surgery, so I took a good three weeks off just so my body could heal properly.
Yeah. I don't know if that's real or not. I I I swear to you, I've had a couple of procedures, and I will time it so that I don't have to skip a dose.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
I I I've done it a couple of times. They're like, well, we don't want you on that GLP, and I go, why? Then they don't quite know why other than the package insert tells them to tell me that. And and then I go, okay. I said, well, if the procedure's on Friday, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna shoot my GLP on Saturday.
And then on when Friday comes around, I won't have had it for six, almost seven days. They go they go, okay. That's fine. And then I come home, and I go, where's my GLP pen? And then I hit myself with it immediately.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I I'd like to talk about the clarity a little more because I have experienced the clarity piece. Oh, yeah.
Million percent. Like, the
I mean, there's no doubt about it. I I also had spent six years on an SRI, which was new to me. I'd never been on one before and gained a bunch of weight on it, obviously, as well. That wasn't helping. But after I started taking my GLP, like, things just changed.
I've now been off of my SSRI for, like, eighteen months and haven't thought twice about going back to it.
Why were you on it?
Just general depression, anxiety. Like I said, during the pandemic, there was a lot of things happening in my life, and all of it was just kind of a weight that I couldn't bear on my own at that time.
Yeah. And it's gone now.
That Yeah. Yeah. I I've also gotten off of my birth control, which I had been taking that since I was 13 years old.
For the PCOS?
Yeah. For PCOS and PMDD.
What is PMDD?
Gosh. Don't don't oh, okay. I got a thing. Hold on.
Take your time. Yeah. Also, are you from this way? Are you from East and moved to Central PA, or are you from Central PA?
So I am originally from Maryland. We then moved to New Jersey and then to Pennsylvania, but born in Delaware. So all the East Coast here, just a little pocket.
I heard the whom earlier.
Yeah. Yeah. So PMDD stands for, premenstrual dysphoric disorder. I just always tell people during that time of the month, you got people that have PMS, and that kinda comes and goes. But with PMDD, I basically will have one good week out of every month where I feel normal, not
Wait. Wait. What was that one?
Yeah. It's suicidal. But, yeah, it'll give you suicidal tendencies with it sometimes because it it's just one of those things. It's a mental thing that happens during that time of the month that can be way heavier than just PMS.
But none of this is happening now?
No. I've had no. It's just, like, gone. It's the craziest thing, and I have dealt with it my whole life. My daughter currently deals with it.
How come we're not treating her with the with the juice?
Well, because she's 16 and she's not overweight. We we bay we literally weigh the same amount right now.
Here's what I would say some people might tell you to do, certainly not me
Right.
Is to have your doctor put up your dose and then split it and give her some of it. That's not a thing I would do personally.
Look. Just wanna say. At 16 years old, there's a lot of things I would love to do. Because let me tell you, some days I look at her and it's that time of the month, and I go, here's half a gummy. You know, if you just took this, you might feel okay for But I'm not gonna do that.
Why don't you
get high and calm down?
Severe A little bit.
Severe irritability, anger, or conflict with others. Depression, hopelessness, tearfulness, or feeling worthless, anxiety, tension, panic, or feeling on edge, sudden intense mood swings, feeling overwhelmed or unable to cope, trouble concentrating or brain fog, loss of interest of normal activities, fatigue or very low energy, sleeping too much, insomnia, disrupted sleep, food cravings, overeating, appetite change, breast tenderness, bloating, headaches, muscle or joint, and temporary weight gain. That is how PMDD is described. Does that sound
Yeah. Now it's a fun time.
And you're telling me the GLP affects that?
Yeah. I mean, I feel completely
possible because I was online, Sam, and it told me, obviously, you're just fat and you can't control it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry.
I'm sorry.
The Internet disagreement. I've been fat my whole life. A lot of people on these GLP ones, you know, they don't they don't know what that's like. They haven't been heavy, a lot of them, for their whole lives. So I don't know.
I take whatever anybody says to me over GLP ones with a grain of salt nowadays. I'm living proof to myself. You know?
Oh, me too. I will tell you that I was overweight my whole life, and I I I believe I'm being honest when I tell you that I don't eat any differently now than I did then.
No. Nope.
Yeah.
Nope. I I put in the same amount of effort. I've had a gym membership my whole adult life. I've went to the gym. I've done all the things that I'm doing now.
I've done the calorie count, and I've done the phetermine. I've done the weight watchers, and nothing has ever gotten me anywhere further than maybe fifteen, twenty pounds.
Yeah. I I try to re remind myself all the time that I had done so many different things to try to lose weight, and some of them were, like, fasting ideas. Mhmm. So I once did the baked potato diet
Mhmm.
As I learned it from Penn from Penn and Teller,
who Yes. Yeah.
But was it you're like, I used to be fat, Scott. I know about the baked potato diet and Pennanteller. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Right. Because you're out there desperately looking for something. Right? Oh, yeah. Yeah.
So I do I did that one time, dry baked potatoes for as long as you can do it for, and I made it ten days one time. Oh my gosh. It was horrifying. And I did not lose as much weight as I lost on seven days of my very first GLP shot that, of course, back then was only the the introductory dose, which they they tell you they call it not, it's not even
It's not the therapeutic
dose. Therapeutic dose. Thank you. I couldn't come up with the phrase.
Yes.
It's not a therapeutic dose, and yet I lost 14 pounds on it in seven days.
Yeah. I mean, there's no denying how great the GLP ones are. I I can't even with weight loss surgery, I was not as successful. And I I keep telling people this. I wouldn't have had the surgery had GLP ones been offered to me back then.
Yep. It just wouldn't
have been a thing.
Yeah. Now you you learned a lesson that I learned for sure. For sure. So one thirty five three now. You must not even feel like you're how long did it take you to feel like yourself?
I still don't feel like myself. I think I'm still evolving. We've just gotten to the point where we're we're weightlifting. So
Good
for There's constant change still happening.
The husband doing it too?
No. No. My husband is also on a GLP one. He is type two diabetic. Mhmm.
Does he does he describe any of these things, or is this something specific to your experience?
No. He doesn't. And I you know, he is kinda stuck in his old ways in the way he lives, and, you know, I just kind of move on with myself. He he lost weight with it. He's been on multiple different GOPs.
I think we started with Trulicity. I'm back
with you.
Yeah. Trulicity, but we couldn't get it. It was hard to get, so they moved into Mounjaro. And I think he was also on McGovy for a short period of time.
So he has lost weight on it. Has he kept that weight off?
He's so far. Yeah. He's still he's on he's kinda dosed out almost on the Mounjaro, though. I think he's at twelve.
I do 12 and a half.
Do you? Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Love twelve.
But he's been on I mean, he's been on it for probably five years now.
I'd drink it if they needed to. I I advocated for it to be spread out of airplanes. I don't I don't I don't think you should have a choice into whether or not you take it. I'm I'm just kidding. It's it's just been so helpful.
It has. It has. Absolutely.
And And I'd like to point out that it's very likely that the issue that you and I have is not the same issue that your husband has, which is No. Which is which is even more amazing because it's helped him in a completely different way.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. No doubt.
Yeah. We are so close to something. Like, you and I, how old are you?
I'm 36.
Oh my god, Sam. You, for sure, me maybe, are gonna live long enough to see you get a few blood tests, and then they give you, like, a little peptide. I I I I sound like RFK now, but I trust me.
It's not like Oh my gosh. Don't need me.
It's not what I'm talking about. But, like
I go in there.
You're gonna get you're gonna get, like, a you're gonna get, like, a little blend of, like, peptides that are, like, made to fix offset the whatever's going wrong in your body thing.
I would love that. I I literally just asked my doctor. I'm like, is there a vitamin shot I can just take? Just give me the shot for everything.
I'm with you. I I swear to god, I I walked through my living room the other day. I was like, oh, I forgot my shot. Walked out in the kitchen. I went to the refrigerator.
I said to my wife, do you need your pen? And she goes, yes, please. I took two pens out. I like to let them warm to room temperature before I jam them in. Don't even know why.
Just do it. I let mine sit out. And then I think I was pouring a drink for myself, paused, shot that stuff, tossed that thing in the trash, finished pouring my drink, and kept going. And I didn't feel any different than I feel when I am taking my vitamins.
It's true. And, you know, when you describe it like that, it sounds a bit dystopian. But
I know, but it's only because it's not how you think about it. You know, it's funny. Yeah. Isn't it funny to say that that sounds dystopian? But you know what sounded normal?
You unable to get pregnant, significant overweight, pain, trouble concentrating, brain fog, feeling overwhelmed, sudden anxiety, tension, depression, hopelessness. All that, we thought that was normal. But Yeah.
And it's totally not.
But but but because it's getting injected, it seems weird to people. And and because if you could take this thing in a pill, no one would act funny about it. I really I really believe that. I think it's the I think it's the the way it's introduced into your body is the thing that freaks people out. I I this is gonna seem apropos of nothing for a second, but I learned this past week that many people have an aversion to seeing people on T shirt images.
On T shirt images?
Yes. They don't like to see people on T shirts.
Okay.
Okay? It's a thing. And so if that's true, I I say to you, imagine how many other, I don't know, experiences you're having with the exterior world that really, when you stop and talk about them, make no sense. And one of one of one of them is if you take a pill, that's a vitamin. If you inject it, it's you know what I mean?
Surgery or, like, like, something whatever, like, more drastic it is.
Oh, yeah. I mean, even with diabetes, the you think, like, you need it. Oh, yeah. People will stare. You know?
What about yeah. What about all the people who are like, well, I didn't wanna get a CGM. I didn't want something on my body. You'd prefer instead out of whack blood sugars that
We we had that argument, actually. My husband and I, he, at first, did not want to put a CGM on our child after diagnosis.
The CGM her husband didn’t want30:45
Because he didn't want him to be healthy? What was his reason?
I don't know. He just thought it was, like, this weird thing or, you know, it would maybe hurt him. And I'm not sure what the the thought process there was because he never you know, he was the first one to inject him with insulin Mhmm. In the hospital where I couldn't do it.
Yeah.
But it was me going, oh, no. He needs like, I want the CGM on him.
Yeah. Well, if I mean, look. If weird means different than what I'm used to, not completely natural, then okay. Like, I get what he's saying, but you you have to reslot your situation. You can't just Yeah.
You're gonna
do different things him. Like, Luke is maybe a little bit different than most kids that we are around, and he just thought that it would make him even more different. Yeah. Yeah. Cast out sort of thing.
Right. And did that end up being a situation at all?
No. No. Not at all, obviously. Yeah. But, you know, it's something I think sometimes people worry about with their kids.
Is Luke's weight an issue?
Luke's weight has been a bit of an issue. He is a bigger kid. He comes from bigger parents. We try our best as far as weight goes and eating and all that jazz. But, for a long time, because of his sensory issues, we were limited to what we he ate.
Sensory issues and a narrow menu32:04
No. Of course. Also, I'd love to point something out. I hope this Sure. Lands well with you.
We just spent twenty minutes talking about how something is clearly not tuned well in your body. And yet when I asked you about Luke, you said, well, he comes from bigger parents. You didn't you didn't mention that he very well might have a similar issue to what you have.
He may. Yeah.
Why do you think that is?
I'm not sure because I I don't I don't I don't know. I'm not sure.
I'm just I I listen. I'm not I didn't think you'd have the answer. I well, I'm asking you to point out to the people listening. Sam, you are just an avatar so the people listening can hear my thoughts. I don't know if you understand how the podcast works.
Right. Yeah. Yeah. But Oh, yeah.
Yeah. Oh, yeah. I listen. I know what's going on. Okay.
I just I I think that's incredibly informative. Like, you know how powerful the the replacement of something has been for you. You were angry that someone you love won't take their thyroid medication.
Yeah.
But when I asked you about your son, instead of saying he might have some of these issues, we probably should look into that. You said, well, he's from bigger parents.
Yeah.
As if that's the reason. That's not the reason.
That's not the reason. Yeah. No. You're right.
Because when you're tuned well, you're not a bigger person.
True. True. Mhmm. I guess I've thought more of myself not being tuned right. And when I was his age and in that younger self, I go, well, I'm from a bigger family.
Oh, Sam. Until we learned about the GLPs, it's how I felt.
Oh, yeah.
Like, my dad's heavy. My brother's heavy. That makes
sense. Just what it is anymore. You know?
This is
how we are.
Yeah. I'm just telling you, like, I hope there's a big shift in the way people are thinking.
Oh, yeah. Look. If g o p well, if my parents had offered me g o p one when I was Luke's age, I would have been flabbergasted to take it. And But the world would've known.
Yeah. But the world's different now. Now I know Luke probably has sensory issues, but he also takes an injection for his blood sugar.
Injections, and what he tolerates34:14
Yes. So do you
think he do you think he could handle the
I have thought about it. It is definitely been a thought in my mind again. There is my husband who also has a thought about it, and his is absolutely not in a 100 years.
Cared about your husband's thoughts, Sam, honestly. You know what I mean? Like, I know my wife doesn't care about what I think. So you you don't have to pretend that he gets an equal vote. That's not how this works, Sam.
You're cute and ladylike, and he does what you tell him. This is how the world works. I don't understand why you girls aren't in better charge of things.
It's true. It's true. All we have to do is lift our shirts, and you
guys are not Sam, I don't wanna say it. But if I had breasts, I'd be running the world. I just wanna say. Okay?
It does. You know? People don't think about it. But
I think about it. I was actually
I'm there, but, like, I don't say it.
I actually was looking into there's a a really popular OnlyFans person who has type one diabetes, and I am thinking about inviting her on the podcast.
You've that would actually be a really good story. I mean, we don't you don't have any podcasts like that.
Not yet. I do have one. There was a girl actually, there's a girl on who was, like, exotic dancing. I think I'm supposed to, like, say that, but, like, she was a stripper. And, her story was really interesting, but she was more newly diagnosed.
Anyway, this is not the point. My point is this. Your husband, he doesn't know what he's talking about. And, I make a podcast. You should probably listening to me.
I would tell you I'm gonna try I don't think I can get this person to come on the show. So I will just tell you that I am, like, aware of these people, right, who Right. Husband type two, overweight, whole life, wife overweight, some mental health stuff. Both of the kids, I I call them, like, significantly overweight even through their teens. Right?
Right.
Husband goes on the GLP for the type two, has an amazing experience. A one c lower weight. Looks like a completely different person. Describes a lot of the things you're talking about, not the stuff we're talking about. Not the, like, oh, I have more clarity.
I have like that. So it was for him more about blood sugar regulation. Right?
Right.
The wife says to me, I really think I should try to do this. And she was she was big. You know? Like, she was bursting at the seams, like, big. And not a tall person, you know, all having all kinds of issues, but we can't afford the the GLP.
And I said, I bet that if you have to pay $600 a month for the GLP, I bet you will get most, if not all, of that money back on your food bill.
Oh, yeah. Right. Food is not as important as it once was.
Million percent. And so that person later came back to me a year or so later with a photograph of themselves looking like a completely different human being and a little note that said, thank you for bullying me into taking GLP medication. Aw. So because I did. I was very pushy, but this is in my private life.
And what she ended up doing was increasing, increasing, increasing her her dose, but then splitting it between her kids.
Oh, wow.
And if you could see how wonderful her children look and feel now, it would make you cry.
Now that is the other thing that has held me back from talking to his doctor about it is the fact that I think it's just Wegovy that is now being covered for children. Is that correct? Is any
She tried to get it covered. The didn't want to prescribe it for one of the children. She started giving it to her on her own. Then Right. Then they did the ballsy thing of going to the doctor and saying, alright.
Here she is six weeks into Wow. These injections. She's already lost fifteen, twenty pounds. You need to give her the prescript there was some fighting. Like, it wasn't the doctor did not like being circumvented.
Right? Imagine. Yeah. It didn't it didn't go great at first, but they worked their way through it. And and now the the not only does the girl look better, not only does she feel better, but she's like she's like, that whole personality that I knew she had that never came out, it was hiding below it was hiding behind how she felt about herself.
Right. And 100%. Think one of the things is, like, people forget that mental aspect of trying to lose weight and then not losing weight, and then the difference between that fight and going on a GLP and actually seeing the progress. Yeah. That's addictive.
Yeah. Well, the the son who was the the the holdout who was like, I'm not doing that. I'm gonna work out. I'm gonna like, you know, that that angle, like, I'll overcome it.
That
thing gave into it nine months ago. Looks fantastic.
Yeah.
Yeah. It's really it's I think it's beautiful. Like, I I
If they told me that I could put him on Mounjaro or Zepbound tomorrow, I would. But I had a negative experience with Ozempic and Wegovy, which is why I'm just kinda waiting on it to see if things change.
I mean, you're taking five and doing great. Yeah. Imagine if you were taking seven and a half.
But Oh, I don't know if I'd be able to stomach the seven and
a half. No. No. No. No.
But you don't use two and a half of it.
That yeah. I get what you're saying
for him. Right? You hear on
the podcast. Hold on one
second, Sam. Sam, Sam, one second. Nothing you hear on the Juice Box podcast should be considered advice. No. Always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan.
I'm saying that five a seven and a half probably does him and you.
Yeah. I I'm not even sure, like, how I would do that because it's the auto injector pen.
Like Inject them into a into a
A vial. Right? Like, what do buy it Amazon,
and then you draw it out with insulin needles, and you're on your
Well, I thought about this. Okay.
I know you have. Yeah. Go ahead. Yeah. Tell but tell people why you've thought about it.
Because because I know his struggle. I've been there. I was the kid. I've been a hundred and eighty pounds since I was 10 years old. Luke's currently 10 years old, and he is a hundred and forty pounds.
He has just reached his point where he has not gained any weight for the first time we've been going to the endo in five years. They've seen just a consistent flat line in his weight, and that's mostly because he's gotten taller, I think. But
If you laid out all that happened to you
Oh, yeah. I mean, I wouldn't want my son to go through all that. Yeah.
Right. Do and are there overlaps? Like, do you think that there's some inflammation that could be reduced for him? Does he have joint pain? Is there any those things happening for him?
You can't find that information out from Luke.
Oh, okay.
He he has a hard time with pain. Like, he doesn't he can't really tell if he's in pain, which is hard for lows and highs. We are still struggling to, you know, decipher
Mhmm.
What he's feeling like most days.
I'm sorry.
Oh, no. It's fine. We're getting there. He's getting there. It's it's just some days are better than others with the telling us how he's feeling.
I laughed at the, oh, it's fine. Because how many people have I spoken to who have diabetes or are the parents of someone with type one? And you say, like, something horrible happens to you. I'm so sorry. Oh, fine.
It's okay. I I got small potatoes now.
Real big deal. Don't worry. Jeez. Well, anyway, I I'd like to jump over to how you manage his diabetes. So, was does any of the sensory stuff get in in the way?
What sensory stuff does and doesn’t affect42:17
Like, you're you know, he obviously, the CGM worked for him well. Does he use a pump? Do does he do injections?
He uses it all. We are just getting to the point in our care where he is starting to become more interested in his own self care, taking care of himself a little bit more. He, you know, he doesn't deal with the sensory thing that much with the diabetes. He's kinda gotten used to it over the past five years. At first, it was really hard for him, but, you know, consistently, we've we've had a we've had the Omnipod, and we've had the Dexcom now.
I think he was probably six months in to diagnose us when we got both of them. So
Yeah. What what do you mean he's looking to take on more responsibility? How is that happening?
Middle school is coming43:00
Well, we're going to middle school this year. He has gotten to the point where he knows how to put on his devices by himself now, to camp, which has helped him with that.
Nice.
He goes to that every summer for a week.
And Which camp does he go to?
He goes to a very small camp. It's called Keystone Diabetic Kids Camp in Pennsylvania. And it's very small, and that's probably perfect for him, but he really loves it.
And he's learning things there.
Yeah. Yeah. The last couple this year, they said he was very good with keeping on his diet and watching what he ate, which is impressive for him.
Does he because he doesn't understand consequentially or doesn't have an ability to stop?
A little bit of both. He is getting better at the consequences of things. Like, he sees, okay. Well, I can't eat cereal only because I don't shoot my blood sugar out, but he's also become a little bit of a narc. He comes to the doctors and tells them all about the donuts dad buys.
And
he's he's he's he's giving
you guys up. He's become a narc.
Well, that's good. He means he understands it.
He does. He does. Yeah. He's definitely getting there, and he'll go, well, I don't want to have the bread because I know it's gonna shoot me up, so I'll just take the meat. And I'm like, okay.
It's nice. I I had an opportunity at a donut the other day, and I took a bite. And I thought, oh, this is good. And then I took a second bite, and I thought, oh, I'm done.
Yeah. Yeah. That's the yeah. You're able to stop now.
Yeah. I got the thing. Thank you. This was nice. I don't need to eat the entire thing.
No. It's not half as good as we we build it up to be sometimes.
No. Of yeah. Addiction stuff. So Yeah. Talk I I'm I'm banging around a little bit.
But, you you said there's addiction in your family, but yours yours is around food. Mhmm. Your did do you have what they call the food noise, or was it just
I do.
You do? What what I do. Can you describe it to people?
It's like a pool. Like, the doughnut you're describing. Like, I just I wouldn't have been able to pull myself away before. Mhmm. My mind would have been stuck on that doughnut and not have been able to get off of it.
I would have thought about it, obsessed about it until I got it. And if I didn't get it well, I would have gotten it eventually.
I would have get I would have found a way to the doughnut.
Yeah. I would have found a way. And that's yeah. No. I was the kid sneaking food.
You know? Grown.
And you don't feel like that any longer?
No. No.
That's something. And are you hungry at all?
I have to think like, I do think about I that's the thing. You're not hungry. I literally have to set times for myself throughout the day to eat.
Yeah. I just explained I think I've been on it for, like, over three years now.
Okay.
I just was telling somebody the other day. They were asking me about it, and they said about the hungry thing. And I said, here's the best story I can give you to understand how it shut off hunger. I said I once was sitting at a traffic light, and my stomach started to hurt. And I thought, oh god.
I'm getting sick. Like, I actually thought, like, am I gonna vomit? And and and then I start maybe I got a stomach virus. Like, I was like, I fell down a rabbit hole. Oh my god.
I'm sick. And inside of two minutes, I realized I forgot to take the GLP three days before.
Oh,
no. And I was hungry and didn't know what it felt like because I hadn't been hungry in a couple of years. I'm not even I'm not even kidding.
Yeah. No. I get like that sometimes. I'm like, what is this?
And I hear people who are like, oh, that's horrible. I'm like, it's not it's not horrible at all.
It's not. It's like one of those things, like, with diabetes, you just kind of it's you live with it, and it's just something that's there. It Yeah. You don't think twice about it.
We still went out, to dinner for Arden's, birthday the other night. We had a great dinner. I was excited when I got there. Was like, oh, I know what I'm gonna get. It's gonna be good.
It was awesome. All that. I'm just not like I don't know. Like, I'm not I I the way I usually say this, I have not felt hungry in my stomach or in my head in three years.
Yeah. No. That's true. Yeah. I mean, I take a lot home now.
You just have dinner and you have second dinner later.
Yeah. Your second dinner, third dinner Yeah. Where we had to throw it out. I couldn't eat it all. Right.
Yeah. We it took us a while in the beginning to learn. Like, we we we started by ordering things or making things the way we used to, and they're like, well, this is way too much food. Like like, we and then before you know it, you don't have as much around. It doesn't matter.
Things aren't going bad the same way. Like, it's all just like it's freeing. I know people
think the learning curve though too, especially when you have kids in the house. It's like, you can't not have food even though it's it doesn't bother you.
I well, yeah. They're you're you're a 100% to call it a learning curve, I think, is exactly right because there were there were a stretch of time where the kids were like, are you guys gonna make dinner? And I'm like,
I don't think so.
Yeah. I mean, if you're hungry, you can make something for yourself, but I'm not involved. Now
Right. Going on husband will be downstairs playing games. I'm doing my thing working or whatever. It's been, like, six hours, and the kids are just like, are we gonna eat? I'm like, I don't know.
Why don't you shut up and take some of that GLP? Okay? Yeah.
Take some GLP. Leave me alone. Just go jump on the trampoline. You'll be fine.
So you said about clarity earlier, and I wondered if you meant the same thing that I experienced. I feel differently now in that from the time I open my eyes until the time I have to force myself to go to sleep because I don't wanna go to sleep because there's things I want to do. And and and and I I have what it feels like boundless mental energy now.
Yeah. Is that Yeah. That that's that's pretty much what I go through. Boundless mental energy and just energy in general.
No kidding. Right?
Like, I could stay up all day and do everything. I like I said, I bake from home. So there are days that I wake up at seven, and I'm not stopping until 11:00
at night. And and you'll and you're enjoying it too.
Yes. And then I go around 09:00. I go, shit. Haven't eaten anything all day. Well,
I so listen. I don't wanna tell I don't want people to, like, imagine me, like, strung out in the middle of the night, like, continue. I go to I go to bed. Like, you know what I mean? Like, I I'm an adult.
I go, it doesn't matter if I'm tired or not. It's time to go to bed.
But they do have that. They say that you can become, like you know, you can't sleep well on a GLP one. Do you have that?
No. I sleep like a baby.
You do? Good for you.
Yeah. Fantastic. All that, I had the GERD, that's gone. I had my feet hurt. That's gone.
My back hurt. That's gone.
Yeah. All the ailments are gone.
Yeah. My neck's still stiff, but I think that's
That's age.
Yeah. I think that might be because I'm old and stressed out. But even stress is, I don't really feel stressed that way.
Do know? You know
what I mean? It's fantastic. I don't wanna say it fixes everything, but it might.
And The only thing that I've been deal like, I've become a pretty much I'm not an insomniac, but I have a hard time sleeping. So right now, we're trying to figure out is that perimenopause? Is it your GOP, or is it PCOS? Or, like, something's going on. It shouldn't
be perimenopause in your thirties, should
it? Oh, no. That's when perimenopause starts. Oh, you got a lot to learn. Stop.
Yeah. You girls are
you girls are not set up for
a long haul. Yeah. Yeah. But yes.
I you know what I think I think about when I, because people who listen will know there's, like, a couple of like, I have a few reptiles that I keep. And people talk about you don't just breed them over and over again because you burn them out. It shortens their life. Mhmm. And I really sometimes think nature did not make women to live a long time.
No. It it it made you to, like, make babies and get out of the way Yep. Is almost how it feels, which is Yeah. You know, obviously, not what we're gonna let happen, but, like, I love the fight against fixing that.
Yeah. I mean, I'm I'm ready. Like, bring on the shots, the test shot. Whatever you wanna give me, I'll take it. Sam's doctor was asking.
She's like, well, do you want to go the natural route? Or I'm like, you know what? I I don't wanna go the route where I have to feel anything happening, so let's do that.
What about, like will will you start to look into, like, those different patches to
balance Yeah. No. Give it all to me. I'm give me all the stuff.
Since my wife started doing these things so my wife was kinda thrust into them because of perimenopause. Mhmm. And then she started doing the things. I have to tell you, like, she's a I don't wanna say this out loud. She's a nicer person.
I can't wait.
She really is. She's she's been really lovely
the last couple years. Yeah. I'm not there yet.
You know,
I there
yet? You I mean, not don't get me wrong. Like, you know what mean? Like but, like, some of that stuff you talked about about, like, inconsistencies or feeling a certain way when you don't wanna feel that way. Like, doesn't seem to struggle with that stuff the same way anymore.
I I'm jealous.
Get yourself that hat.
Gripping onto the couch. I got the THC. I got the caffeine. I'm just waiting Yeah. Like for the blood work to come back.
Why won't I calm down? Yeah. Have you have you considered I mean, when you said they put you on an SSRI all those years ago, what was it?
Zoloft.
Yeah. There's there's more mild stuff now that at lower doses seems to help people with, like, anxiety and stuff like that. Have you asked again? Yeah. Or you're not interested?
I'm just not interested. I didn't like the way that any of it really made me feel in the end.
Yeah. No.
That's So I just I'm trying to stay away from it. And the fun thing was now they they've diagnosed me with fibromyalgia, and they go, oh, what's the cure for that? Or, like, what are we gonna do? And they're like, oh, well, an SSRI. And I'm like, well, you know, I guess I'll just keep with the THC.
Her own diagnoses53:07
Is it does that help?
With the pain that I've been feeling. Yeah.
Okay.
It helps.
Yeah. There's yeah. I I can't think of the one. There's one that's basically an SSRI, but they give it in such a low dose that it acts as, like, more of an antianxiety thing. I hear
Yeah. It was probably whatever she was trying to pan off on me. I think it was Lyrica, and I'm not sure if that's what it was. But yeah. Yeah.
That's what the suggestion to me was.
Listen. Whatever works. That's all.
Yeah. Whatever works. We're just gonna we're just gonna, you know, do it. Rough it. Rough life.
You know?
Just bang.
Rough it out.
I'm just gonna bang through it till I'm dead. Alright.
That's it. I mean, I've I've made it this far.
Yeah. I give it up now. Luke count his own carbs? Does he do his own dosing? How do you manage all that stuff?
We we are we're in the process of trying like, he can totally read carbs on the back of the the paper, and he but adding them up in his head, he hasn't quite gotten there yet.
Mhmm. Do you think he will?
Yeah. Maybe eventually. He he doesn't check himself. That's the thing. He constantly needs a reminder.
He's a constant reminder kid. Like, it's in one ear out the other sort of thing. So he's not doing it necessarily on his own yet. I'm like, okay. Well, let's set a timer for an hour, and it'll go off and you check your number.
Does he do it when the timer goes off?
Yeah. He'll do it when the timer goes off because he's being reminded of it. Okay. But like me, I sit here all day looking at numbers. So
A 6.2, and how they got there54:40
Well, what's his, what's his a one c currently?
I believe his a one c last time was at a 6.2.
Oh, you're doing so well. But are you doing well because you're staring?
Probably. I'm a constant bumper. We bump a lot.
Well, what and you're on Omnipod five?
Yeah. So the thing with me is I'm not good with numbers. I'm I I also have learning disabilities growing up numbers, and you don't get along. So we don't rely necessarily on the Omnipod to do it, like, its thing because it never it never has hit him correctly. Like, oh, it's got insulin going into him, but he'll be high.
So I feel like I'm constantly just, you know, multi doing it myself. I don't add the carbs into the little calculator. I just go, oh, he's you know, we're gonna give him six units of insulin.
What's the target set at in the Omnipod five?
Yeah. I don't know.
But you gotta set the target low. So
It was no. It's at a 120. That's what it is.
Alright. So the new pods are are gonna get to you soon with a target of a 100.
Yeah. I'm I mean, I'm hopeful that maybe it'll do its thing, and I don't know. I feel like it changes every day for us. Like, he can, you know, eat the same lunch every day, and somehow it hits him differently.
Well, there's a lot of variables, obviously.
There are. Yeah. There's a lot.
Yeah. And it's not easy to remember what they all are on every day, but I think the big ones, you know, are activity level, what's he eating, and, you know, is this the first or third day of the infusion set?
It seems to be that messes us up the most is, like, okay. We're on day two, and it's starting to, you know, crap out on us. Also, the placement. Sometimes certain places don't hit as well as other places on his body. So that's kinda what we fight with the most.
Yeah. It's just keeping it like, oh, I gotta change it now. Let me just change it before. And, you know, sometimes life happens, and you'll have 35 units, and you're like, well, it's clearly not gonna hit him as well. So it's 35, but it's probably more like 10 units in this reservoir.
Yeah. So listen. You're doing a great job, but we don't want you burning yourself out either.
I know. I have not found the balance yet. And with middle school coming up, I'm not sure what our balance is gonna look like right now, which is really stressing me out.
Pre-bolusing and reassessing57:12
Well, can I suggest, first of all, like, get you to the 100 target pumps as quickly as you can? Yeah. And then put a lot of your focus into pre bolus and making sure you're accurately assessing the amount of food he's taking in. I said Yeah. I think those
things do. I try to do that. Like, I I'll measure. I'm a measure. I'll measure out the food, and we'll count all the carbs correctly.
Mhmm.
And then I just don't use the calculator thing up top, which my endo is always like, why aren't you doing that? I don't know.
So you won't tell the system how much he's eating?
Yeah. I just I mean, I just give him the units most of the time.
But why not why not let it know what's going on? So because you're saying it's not adjusting, but it doesn't know what's going on again.
I think we just lived like this for so long that it's what's normal.
Okay. We'll live like this now. Change.
I know. I will. I have to because I don't think it's gonna, you know, do us any good in middle school.
And, Sam, it's you're so are you having trouble letting go of the control?
I think so. Probably. I I, I'm the mom that's always over at the school. If something goes wrong, I'm there.
Are you worried that it won't work out well, or are you sad that it might not need you?
I'm worried it won't work out well. I mean, there's been we did used to do that. Like, we were adding it all in, doing this and that. And then there would be days where it wasn't hitting him, and I was like, you know, okay. Well, let's give him five units, whatever.
And then it just kind of snowballed into we're not doing that anymore Mhmm. Because it came easier. Became easier to go, oh, well, sometimes Luke, he'll eat a meal and you bolus him for the 60, you know, grams of carb, but then he'll want something right after that.
Yeah.
So in my head, I go, well, I'm just gonna give him, like, seven or eight units to make up for whatever he's having after his lunch.
Why don't you just put in more carbs?
I don't know because it it just seemed easier.
Sam, why are you fighting with me? I'm on your husband's side now. What do you think of that?
No. No. Hey. He doesn't do any of
it. Yeah. So Screw him. That's not
he's not about him.
Mm-mm. Is he, is your husband a little, on the spectrum y?
No. He's not. I think it came from I know they say it comes from the dads, but I I don't tend to believe that on our sit or case.
In our wait. What is it you don't wanna say about your husband right now? Do you not wanna say
about He he's good. He's good. I'm talking about myself. I don't think his autism came from his dad.
But are you saying your husband's, like, too chill? What is it you're saying?
I don't know if he's too chill. It's just he you know, I'm the main person at home all the time. He works outside of the house, and I'm the one that is doing all the stuff. Not to say he doesn't when he's here, but I'm the main provider.
Do you feel overwhelmed?
I used to. Now that we're getting into this older age, it's not as hard. For a long time, yeah, their resentment, all that. Oh, yeah.
Yeah. You were like, I'm doing all this, and you're out there
Mhmm. With your
friends, doing your dumb job.
To date, I think he's only been to one or two endo appointments in five years. So
And and how does that make you feel?
Oh, I mean, you know, main provide you know, you feel isolated sometimes in it by yourself. Of course.
Yeah.
And you want your partner there to know what's going on because he's better with the numbers. So, literally, our endo writes down everything if she changes anything so that I can give it to him later, and he changes it in the pump.
So could you go to your husband and say, hey. I think that we can let this automation do a little more work, and it's gonna be a lot easier on me and better for Luke. Could you help me make some adjustments
here for seven? And I have. We've we've done that. It's just like I said, it's the summer, and I think I just got lazy with it.
Yeah.
But it's school's coming up. It's not going anywhere, and I really have to buckle down and get this going before we get there.
Well, yeah, you're in Pennsylvania. So you where do you guys start? Like, first week of September?
No. August 25.
Really? Okay.
Yeah. Yeah. We get out a little early in June. I think they were done by the June 5. So
Okay. Okay. Well, I think you'll do it. I think I think this is a I mean, because you're using it seems to me you're using the middle school adjustment as, like, a reason to, like, reassess everything.
There's a lot of reassessment right now for him just a lot of things are changing. We we our endo is gone that we loved and relied on. She left us this past month.
Did she break up with you or die, or what happened?
She I don't know what she she's not working in the office anymore. She's just doing the emergency emergency room, room, and I I don't know why.
Oh, like, it's somebody
just left. Life went on, I guess.
Somebody prioritizing their own happiness over yours. Unbelievable.
That's fine. That's fine. But I am gonna miss her. And right now, we have a just a nurse practitioner that we've seen at the endo, and I'm like, this isn't the same kind of care that we were getting with our actual endo. Mhmm.
So Yeah. That's kind of a bummer. That's changed. And then we go into middle school. That's changing.
The nurse, the phone, and the plan1:02:45
The nurse isn't someone I particularly enjoy that works at the middle school. She's
not somebody I particularly enjoy.
No. She came in well, maybe I just got the wrong reading, but I've heard stories. But she did come into an IEP meeting smelling like cigarettes and wearing booty shorts.
So Wait. Booty shorts and cigarettes?
Yeah.
Well, that's can we call your episode booty shorts and cigarettes?
Go for it. I love that.
Alright. That's what we're doing for sure. That's awesome. Yeah. I mean, listen.
You gotta decide. Is it about is it about being right? Is it about being winning, or is it about getting what you need?
Yeah. And that's that's kinda where I'm at because for a while, I go, well, you know, we're not gonna utilize the school nurse. I'm just gonna try to text him back and forth and do it that way. And we do do that at home. Like, that's if I'm out of the house, I text him.
You know, we go back and forth. But at school, it's a different setting, and I don't wanna be I don't want him to be the distracting kid in class.
Oh, listen. It's how Arden and I simplified her care by texting it.
I know. Yeah. And now y'all always schools wanna get rid of the phones. And
Well, that know, I just way, they should probably do that, but not for my kid. My kid's gotta Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. I do wonder, though, if it's going to make kids with their phones be more outcasted from their peers.
What if it just if it just set you up like a king? You were like, I have mine, you don't have yours.
Hey. That too. Because then you get the popular kids that go, give me your son. I wanna call my mom.
Yeah. Nobody wants to call their mom, by the way. Everybody's
just I don't know. Mine calls me.
They what do they call you and talk about?
Oh, my daughter. She calls me. She's like, come pick me up. Wanna go get lunch? I'm like, girl, go back to school.
She's trying to get out of school. She's
not calling you.
You made it sound like she was calling you. She was calling for a ride.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. No. They just use and abuse me. That's parenthood.
Right?
I mean, so far.
Yeah.
That's that's what I've noticed so far. I used to my neighbor had two sets of twins when I was younger, and they were older than us. And there were days that I swear that it just felt like cars went in and out and in and out of her driveway. It's fascinating. You know, just absolutely fascinating.
So I was like I was like, where are you going, Joey? I don't know. We're taking them to something and picking them up for something and taking them back to something, and there's four of them. And I was like, oh, you're in trouble.
Yeah. It's it's funny because sometimes the 16 year old, she needs me more than the diabetic does. I'm back and forth to the school all year long. We got chorus and theater and band and I'm just like, okay.
Yep. Well, Sam, I appreciate you coming on here and doing this. I hope that you get these things figured out. I'm thrilled for you that you're feeling better and that you're living better through science. I mean,
that's fantastic. Absolutely. You do.
Thank you. I'm a 100% calling this one cigarettes and booty shorts.
Please do.
Because people the entire time will be like, what's going on? Why is it that?
Get to the booty shorts.
I'm writing it down so I don't forget. But, seriously, I think that I think it's a tough call, right, with the the school nurse and you, you know, you know what you know what to do. And at the same time, you don't wanna be too involved, and I understand all that part. But you just gotta, in the end, do what is best and what Yeah. And what what you find to be easiest, most reliable with the best returns.
And
don't forget to do that and see how it goes and figure it out. I
wish you a ton of luck. Congratulations on all the improvements you've been able to make for you and your family.
Thank you.
You're very welcome, and I appreciate you taking the time to come on here and talk about all this.
Thank you.
Yeah. Absolutely. Can you hold on one second for me?
Yep.
Heck of an episode today, wouldn't you say? Let's thank Dexcom and the Omnipod five for sponsoring. That's right, my friends. We were sponsored today by the Dexcom g seven. Dexcom.com/juicebox.
Head over there right now. Look into that fifteen day Dexcom g seven. Fifteen days a long time. It's like half a month. Don't check my math but I'm pretty sure I'm right.
And let's also thank the Omnipod five. My goodness gracious. Omnipod five tubeless. That beautiful algorithm is updated now with that new 100 target. Get in there, find out more about it.
Omnipod.com/juicebox. You want some tubeless insulin pumping? Yeah. You do. By any chance, have you tried the small sip series?
It's 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. Take a deep dive, 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 and then go oh, actually we changed the website. Let me see.
Go to juiceboxpodcast.com and from there, there's these two little lines on the right side top, that's the menu, then click that, then click series, then there's pro there's small sips right there, pro tips at the top, all beginnings, bolus four, asks there's a lot of them there. There's actually a little search there too. Could you just type small sips into the search? Oh, wow. That search works great.
Look at that. And then you could go right to, like, all results for small sips. Oh, and that takes you to the FAQ. You should check out the FAQ page too. I think that's juiceboxpodcast.com/jbfaq.
Seriously, that thing's amazing. Actually, the whole website is I mean, have you, like, seen it? You should you should go check out the website. The website rocks. It is a potpourri, a never ending cornucopia of support for you and your diabetes journey.
That's right. It really is. What else we got over here? Oh, I don't like the way that works. I'm gonna fix that.
Note to self. Change the change the masthead on the frequently asked questions page. Yeah. I don't like that. Fix that.
Oh, Claude. Oh, hell. I forgot to say thank you. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back again very, very soon.
What is that noise? Stop it. Stop. Can you hear that? It's my chameleon squeaking.
Are you squeaking? What are you rubbing the branch against the don't tell people I have reptiles. They'll think I'm weird. Thanks so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of the juice box podcast.
Look at me. Get all deep in there with another episode of the juice box podcast. You can hear it. What was that? Oh, I'm getting alarms and alerts on my phone.
I was gonna get real deep and tell you about the juice box podcast.
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