#1988 Six Years of Questions
Six Years of Questions
April's two kids were diagnosed four months apart. She saved up six years of questions and asked every one of them, starting with: just tell me the bolus.
Jump to a moment
- Her son Jack was diagnosed in November 2020 at nine, her daughter Sienna in February 2021 at eight. In hindsight Sienna's symptoms came first — she had always peed constantly and always had headaches, so the family had a ready excuse for every one of them. Jack's were caught in days because a Utah family who lost a daughter to undiagnosed diabetes had stuck in April's mind: he kept walking back to the truck for water instead of fishing from the shore.
- The Panda Express answer, which is the one she waited six years for. Orange chicken, noodles, no other variables: pre-bolus as long as it takes, roughly 15 to 20 minutes out, about 40 carbs up front and another 40 as she starts eating, call it 80 total — a blanket of insulin laid over the timeline of the food rather than a single number at the start. Scott stops mid-answer to re-read the disclaimer.
- On menstrual cycles he will not give you a four-week chart, and says the chart is not the point: more, more, more, then just right, then less, then it ramps again. Which week lands where does not matter because it is cyclical — you learn your own pattern and stop needing to know why.
- A 5.5 A1C is a knowable quantity, not a personality trait. Put him in a white room with a kid who listens and he says he can do it on settings and timing alone. Everything above that number is the human part — the 200 you decide not to say anything about today, and the difference between a seven aimed at six and a seven aimed at seven and a half.
- Her kids want their high alarms off at school. Scott's answer: he cannot construct the argument that a low alarm matters because it could kill you today but a high alarm does not because it will only kill you later. He did not arrive at 236 pounds on the first day either.
- Bold Beginnings Series — The newly diagnosed questions answered plainly — where April would send anyone three weeks in
- Juicebox Podcast Pro Tip Series — Management fundamentals with Jenny Smith, episodes 1000–1025
- Twiist — An insulin pump with the twiist loop algorithm, targetable as low as 87 — or call (877) 489-4478
- US Med — Dexcom, Libre, Omnipod, Tandem, iLet and more — or call (888) 721-1514
- Eversense 365 — One insertion a year, with unlimited data sharing through the Eversense Now app
Every word of the conversation
Welcome and Sponsors0:04
Hello, friends, and welcome back to the Juice Box podcast. If you don't love today's episode, you can have your money back. You should not, in any way, shape, or form, take anything you hear on the juice box podcast. As medical advice, I'm talking about medical advice, regular advice, any kind of advice. This is a podcast.
Nothing you hear on the juice box podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. Always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan. I cannot stress that enough. Hey. If you have type one diabetes or you're the parent or guardian of someone who does and you're over 18 years old and a US resident and you would like to help type one diabetes research, please go to t1dexchange.org/juicebox and complete their survey.
And when you're done that, head over to YouTube and follow my YouTube account because I've been posting some pretty great stuff there lately, and I think you would like it. That's pretty much it. Here's the show. Today, we've got a great podcast, and it's sponsored by great advertisers. US Med, the Eversense three sixty five, and Twist.
You know about Twist? It's an insulin pump. I'll tell you all about it in a second. I'm having an on body vibe alert. This episode of the Juice Box podcast is sponsored by the Eversense three sixty five, the only one year wear CGM.
That is one insertion and one CGM a year. One CGM, one year. Not every ten or fourteen days. Ever since cgm.com/juicebox. This episode of the podcast is sponsored by the Twist AID system powered by Tidepool.
That features the Twist loop algorithm, which you can target to a glucose level as low as 87. Wanna learn more? Go to visit .twist.com/juicebox. That's visit .twist.com/juicebox, and twist has two i's. Understand?
Twiist.com. Visit .twist.com/juicebox. Hey. US Med is a longtime sponsor of the podcast. It's where we get our diabetes supplies from.
You could as well. Usmed.com/juicebox, or you can call (888) 721-1514. US Med, that's where my daughter gets your supplies. Use the link or the number. Get your free benefits check today and get started with US Med.
Meet April2:22
My name is April. I am the mother of two type one kids, teens. They're not kids anymore. They're teens, which is completely different from type one kids. And I love the podcast.
I've been listening for years, and it saved my life literally and my kids' lives, literally.
Wait. Lit... Alright. We'll get back to literally. But Literally.
But tell me how, how is raising a teen with type one different than raising a younger child with type one?
Oh, I feel like it's just such a more delicate balance than when they were... My kids were diagnosed. If there is such a thing, they were diagnosed at the perfect ages. My son was nine. He was diagnosed in November 2020.
Four Months Apart3:10
He was nine. And then my daughter was diagnosed in February 2021, and she was eight. So just old enough to communicate with and talk through things with and be able to reason with, but still young enough that they seem to be reasonably adjusted and doing fine with their diagnosis. And, you know, they weren't babies. Yeah.
I see people on Instagram, and that just seems like such a nightmare. I went over once and helped a newly diagnosed family put on their first Dexcom, and the Dexcom was literally as big as his butt cheek. It was so sad. I cried the whole way home. So I'm very grateful for the age my kids were, and they were just easier than.
They just did what I said. They asked my opinion a lot. We did it more together than we do now. They are away from me often, and they know everything already.
So Since they
know they do a pretty good job. They they do a good enough job that I try not to complain at them, you know, as often as I can as often as I can. So Well, I Yeah. That's probably the biggest thing.
I take your point. Right? They're old enough to listen, not not old enough to complain and argue. Right?
Exactly. Yeah.
Yeah. They're right in that sweet spot. I mean, everybody knows that's the sweet spot of raising kids. There's there's... You know, every every part of raising a kid has its pros and cons.
But if you're just talking about the part where they think you know everything and they're willing to listen and they don't call you names behind your back, eight nine is not a bad time.
It it was it was really perfect. Yeah. They both had great attitudes and... Yeah. So I do consider myself pretty lucky as far as that goes.
But, yeah, that is not where we are anymore. Although, like you said, there's pros and cons to both, and they're... It's nice now that none of us feel crazy. We're all adjusted, and we don't cry anymore. We don't fight over pump changes or Dexcom changes.
They just do it. You know? So, like, my physical load in it is just when they want it from me. It's not me having to do it, which is a nice place to be.
Yeah. What are they now? 14 ish around there? 15?
13 and 15. 13. Mhmm. My my younger daughter is almost 14, so we're coming upon six years.
These the only two kids, or are there others?
I have a 24 year old, yeah, from my first marriage, but she... I do think that the gene is probably from me because I I know you always ask that I have hypothyroidism.
Mhmm.
And my mom has... I don't know what it is. She calls it autoimmune disease. She And I don't even know.
She she has a name for it? My my my wife's grandmother
That's just it.
Oh, my wife's grandmother would call, she'd say I have the sprue, and I think that meant celiac. So so so you're
That's funny.
So you... Wait. The person in your life calls it the autoimmune disease? I have an autoimmune disease?
Yeah. She says that I have autoimmune disease. Well, so she also... We're we're working. She just moved across the street from me, and I was like, if we're gonna be neighbors, you cannot call this diabetes anymore.
And I don't know what diverticulitis is, but we don't have that. So we don't need to talk about that anymore.
She says diverticulitis a lot?
Yeah. That's like a... That's the answer for a lot
of things. Oh, oh, I see. Everything that's wrong is... I... I've got diverticulitis.
Yeah. Of Clearly, our our generation's just diabetes, diverticulitis, and autoimmune disease.
Gotcha. Well, diet The health concerns over there. Tell her diet can't beat us, and then see what she says there. Well, that's that's Yeah. She's moving close to you so you can be helpful?
Yeah.
Okay. Yeah. That's nice. Your 24 year old, does she have any autoimmune stuff?
No. Not yet. She's the one that wouldn't be able to handle it well either, so we're, like, crossing our fingers that that stays far away from her. She's never gotten the antibody test or anything. She just doesn't wanna know.
She's like, at this point, I I don't really care to know. We'll just figure it out
Okay.
As it comes.
Listen. There's... Most days I feel like I can't I can't deal with any of this either, so I I take I take her point. Yeah. I guess because some people are gonna, want me to ask you, did your kids have COVID before they were diagnosed?
Asymptomatic COVID in October7:30
Yeah. My son did. Mhmm. He did. He, had it in October 2020.
Our whole family... Oh, wait. Actually, I didn't know that he had it. I... You forget.
My husband and I had it really bad and lost our smell and everything. And we live in Utah. Everything was still pretty. Everything was really relaxed here.
Mhmm.
But at that time, it wasn't. Well, I guess compared to the rest of the world, it probably was, but it it was still very. And so we were, what was it called? What did we call that? Quarantine.
Quarantine.
And so he wasn't around anybody else, but, he never had symptoms. So then after he was diagnosed, then people with diabetes, people asked me about it if that was... Can you hear that dinging? Sorry.
No. I'm good. Don't worry.
Oh, okay. My my text messages are coming in.
You listen a lot, right,
to the podcast? I do not as much as I did. I used to be diehard, but, of course, now it's... But, yeah, I I still drop in monthly.
My point my point is is you've heard me enough to know that if it was something I could hear, I would have complained about it by now. So it's fine. I I can't I can't hear the data.
That's true. You don't edit much out. You usually kinda
do this sometimes. So... Yeah. Oh, oh, I'm sorry.
So... Okay. So, anyways, we went... After he was diagnosed with diabetes, we went and got a test to see if he had had COVID. Whatever that test was, you could go.
Okay.
I think it was a blood draw, and he had had COVID. So he didn't have symptoms. My husband and I did, and he had had COVID. I'm assuming he had it at the same time as us because we're all quarantined together still. And then my daughter, we are a vaccinated family, but I don't do flu shots probably just because I'm type b, and it just seems like one other thing to do, and I don't really care to do that.
You're type b? What does type what does type b mean? I 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 a number of years now because that's how long we've been using US Med.
Usmed.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.
It means I'm a nightmare, and I cannot believe that God thought I could handle two diabetic children. Although, I do do a fairly good job, have to say, but, you know, I'm just disorganized. I'm kind of just, like, dealing with the day as it comes and just whatever has to happen. And for me, it's just never been a flu shot.
Are you... Can I ask for a second? Are... Do you have a fairly successful life? Yeah.
Yeah. I
would say yes.
I I I think it's funny when people talk about it. Like, oh, I I mean, you say I deal with the day as it comes, but what what would I say? I'd say that I reorder my to do list by necessity. It's all just the way you frame it. You you know what I mean?
Like, I mean, if you're paying your bills and your kids are warm and safe and everything and no one's street fighting, on Instagram, I think you're probably doing fine. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Check and check. We've got all those we've got all those things are are all correct.
You've never been in an you've never been in an Instagram reel punching another person in the face? Good for you.
Close, but no.
Not. April's, like, not yet, but I don't know if you heard. My mom's moving across the street.
If I'm gonna be fighting anyone in Instagram, it's gonna be in the comments, I think. I've almost fought a couple people in Instagram comments, but I've held my own. There's no cameras around.
I don't hold them back. Oh, so... I'm sorry. So your your... Did your daughter have COVID too?
No. Well, oddly... Funny enough, she refused to do... It was a finger poke. That's what it was to get that that test, and she wouldn't do it.
And I... Again, I was just like, okay. Whatever. I don't care. And then, you know, she get...
A Graphic About a Kid Who Died of a Cold11:56
I got... So I got her the flu shot that year trying to protect Jack, my old... My son. You know, our family got flu shots that year. I was out of my mind with concern.
Mhmm. I had seen, like, a graphic that was like, we need a cure. This 10 year old died of the common cold, and I couldn't get anybody to explain that to me. Like, it almost makes me cry even, like, thinking of me, like that version of me that saw that graphic. And I sent it to two of my friends that were nurses and was like, what does this mean?
How how does somebody with diabetes die of a cold? And me... They were both like, I don't know. Like, you know, I I don't know what that would mean. And I'm like, well, somebody with diabetes posted this, and so they know that this is true.
And why did they die of a cold?
And Oh. And they couldn't give me
an answer.
Other people know things are true just because they're willing to put them on the Internet?
Oh my gosh. I don't know. Were you really...... Man. I thought everything was true on the Internet.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No.
I I hear you. So you were...
I mean, obviously, that was true. Like, they had developed ketones. They weren't watching, you know, whatever. Like, the cold didn't kill them. DKA killed them.
Right.
So if you watch for DKA when your child has a cold, they're not gonna die of a cold. But I couldn't... I didn't know that yet.
You couldn't separate it that early. So in the beginning, you just thought if my kid gets sick, he probably will just die because the lady on the Internet said it.
Yes. Yeah. I was so worried.
I hear you.
We... There's, a a story that me and my best friend, so then my daughter was diagnosed, assumingly she had an autoimmune response after the flu shot, which is normal. You know? But then looking back, she had symptoms earlier than Jack. Mhmm.
We just
Didn't see her.
Had ways of excusing them quicker. Yeah. She'd always peed a 100 times a day, and she always had water. You know? So...
But, she was sick. She was having headaches. She was not feeling good, you know, in that fall, and I kinda chalked it up to different anxieties or whatever. And then, yeah, after that was diagnosed and
April, make sure noticed
it pretty
I understand the timeline. You think your daughter was a slower onset that began before your sons. You just didn't put the pieces together.
For sure.
Okay. Alright.
For sure. Yeah. Well, not... Yeah. I'm gonna say for sure.
I guess you can't you can't say that about really much.
But Feels like that.
Was not feeling well that fall. Mhmm. But then Jack, he had his... Like, he was easy to potty train. He was just such an easy kid, never asked for anything.
Kisses for Kai14:29
And I caught his, diagnose... His, you know, symptoms so fast from a viral family here in Utah that had lost their daughter, to an an... You know, undiagnosed diabetes
Oh, gosh.
Kisses for Kai c. I don't know if you've seen them Sure. That family around. But...
I'm very aware.
Sorry. What was that?
I'm sorry. I am very aware of them. Yes.
Yeah. Yeah. You know, they were close to our community, and it had just always stuck in my mind for the years. Actually, I had even had Sienna tested for diabetes when she was, like, three because of that, because she peed all the time. And it was a no.
You know? And they were like, we've had so many families come in because of this, but sure. We'll test her. And, anyways... Yeah.
Walking Back to the Truck for Water15:17
So Jack peed in the middle of the night once, and it woke me up. And then the next day, him and my husband went fishing, and he kept going back up to the truck for water bottles and, like, you know, interrupting their fishing streams. Mhmm. And my husband came home frustrated. He was like, we didn't even get to fish because we had to keep walking back up to the cooler because Jack was thirsty.
And I was like, oh, those are symptoms of type one diabetes. And he was like, oh, you you just... You've always jumped to the worst case scenario. I'm like, I do. You're right, and it's gonna save a lot of money.
April April,
how is it possible that you didn't say to him when he said you always jumped to the worst case scenario? You didn't say, how come you didn't think to bring the water down to the boat?
So true. They were fishing from the shore, but, like, that
would be way too reasonable. Just bring the cooler to the shore. What are we doing? 100%. The most boy thing I've heard so far today.
I couldn't fish. I had to keep walking back to the water.
My boys are so boy. They are very, very boys for sure. Like, I I always joke. My husband, you actually talked with him once about trying to get your son in your son in touch with
I remember.
Scouts or maybe college coaches. And, yeah, I I joked for a long time that when Jack was, you know, 12, that fun year of baseball that they were the same age. Like, he coached him, and Jack's best friends were Ryan's best friends. And, know, they were at the same age for a couple years there, it was so fun.
Can I tell you
So, yeah, they're very boy y?
He Came Back Up for His Glove16:47
My my son left my son left for a weekend with with friends on Friday, and he's, you know, like, taking stuff downstairs, and a buddy of his is gonna come by and pick him up. And they're gonna drive to some lake, and one of the kids has a place there, and they're gonna hang out for the weekend. And I... He, he walks past me, and I was like, I'll see you. He's like, bye.
And he left. But then he ran back up the stairs, and he's like, I forgot my glove. And I said, I thought you guys weren't playing golf. And I... Because I thought he was coming back up for, like, golf gloves.
And he said, what? And I said, you said you forgot your glove. I thought you weren't gonna play golf. And he turned and... I was kinda yelling out into the hallway to him.
And he turned and came into the room, and he had his baseball glove. And he's like, this thing's, like, brand new. He's like, I'm gonna have to break this in again. And I said, yeah. You haven't used that in a really long time.
And he goes, I don't even know the last time I threw a baseball. And I said, I I do. And, you know, and then... And I told him, like, exactly where we were and when we did it and everything. And I said, were in the backyard.
Don't make me cry.
Oh, wait. Wait. April. I was like, we were in the backyard, and you were pitching and talking about going down south and going to this pitching clinic and maybe working out there for a month. And and so that's why you were still throwing after college ended.
And I was like, and then a couple days later, you know, you told me that, you know, and this whole thing about how I'm not gonna... I think I'm not gonna... I'm gonna stop playing baseball and everything. And they said to him, we haven't had a catch since then. And he's like, oh.
And I and I was like, well, that's, like, maybe three or four months after you graduated from college. So that's, like, four years ago. And he's like, oh, he goes... He just goes, like, I have to take your word for it. And he and he's like, see you.
And he left. I don't think he made it halfway down the stairs, and I was like, oh, I'm gonna cry. I was like I was like, I'm gonna cry. So, I didn't pretty teared up for you. Yeah.
I I just teared up. I didn't cry, but I was so happy to see him take his glove with him.
And Baseball is the most special sport that nobody understands unless you live it because I thought it was so boring. I remember going to my nephew's games, baseball games. I mean, like, we are not doing this. This is torture. I hate this.
I
I had a baseball player. Particularly emotional, like, moment a couple of weeks ago. And my wife and I were just talking. Like, we were kinda sharing back and forth things we're worried about about the future. And I said, how do know...
I might... I I could be a lady. It's hard to know exactly. But, I said, I said, you know what I'm really worried about? And she goes, what?
And I said, the day Cole moves away, I wanna have a catch with it. I'm I'm so afraid that, like, the... What happens that day is gonna get crazy, and I'm gonna forget to take him outside and throw a ball with him for a couple of minutes. And she's like, that's one of your major concern. I'm like, that's one of my major concerns is that I'm not gonna, like, pull Cole aside before he leaves for good and just go out back and chat with him for a little bit and throw a ball.
And and then I started crying telling her. She's like, are you okay? I'm like, I don't think so. So No. Yeah.
Older kids is not okay. It's not it's not okay. It's it's cruel, and it's so sad.
Yeah. Well
They grow up way too fast. The diabetics could rush a lot. You know?
It'd be Like, if you guys could, like, figure this out quicker, that'd be great. So your so your kids are diagnosed. You're... I mean, a lot of pressure, obviously, trying to figure things out, and you have another diagnosis not long after that. Would you say that one of them was more impactful than the other?
Did you feel a little ready when the second one came, or did it come so quickly you hadn't really figured anything out yet? Today's episode is sponsored by a long term CGM that's going to help you to stay on top of your glucose readings, the Eversense three sixty five. I'm talking, of course, about the world's first and only CGM that lasts for one year. One year, one CGM. Are you tired of those other CGMs, the ones that give you all those problems that you didn't expect, knocking them off, false alerts not lasting as long as they're supposed to.
If you're tired of those constant frustrations, use my link eversincecgm.com/juicebox to learn more about the Eversense three sixty five. Some of you may be able to experience the Eversense three sixty five for as low as a $199 for a full year. At my link, you'll find those details and can learn more about eligibility. Once again, eversincecgm.com/juicebox. Check it out.
The Twist AID system adjusts basal insulin every five minutes using a six hour prediction of where glucose may be going, helping things to stay on track throughout the day. And for the person wearing it, Twist is the only automated insulin delivery system that can be controlled from an Apple Watch, making it easier to check-in, enter carbs, or deliver insulin discreetly when pulling out a phone or a pump is not convenient. The pump is small and lightweight, so it can clip on your clothing, go in a pocket, or be used with third party adhesives depending on what the day looks like. Even with that small size, it can hold up to 300 units, so you're never giving up capacity to get that flexibility. With Twist's inside app, up to 15 people can follow along with glucose levels, active insulin carb information, and important alerts from the Twist pump app, so you can stay connected without feeling like you need to hover.
To learn more, go to my link, visit.twist.com/juicebox. That's visit.twist.com/juicebox. Twist has two i's.
Harder By About a Thousand22:34
My daughter's diagnosis was harder by about a thousand. Because? Probably because... Well, for one thing, my son is just so happy go lucky and easy. He didn't...
He was doing his own shots in the hospital, and I don't think he ever, to date, has shed a tear over any upset situation regarding diabetes. Yeah. He's just been really easy from the get go. Even when we thought, like, oh, we can't eat sugar or, you know, on our way to the hospital, he was positive about it and just really easy. And and his sister did follow in his footsteps largely, but she was still younger, and she was a little...
She was scared seeing what her brother had been going through. And I knew probably largely from the podcast how much harder it was for a girl. And then just being a girl, being a mom, like, in the mix of life thinking, like, she's gonna be my age one day and dealing with, like, how hard life is right now, and she's gonna have diabetes. And then also just, like, the technology for a girl to wear, which hasn't been an issue for her at all. She's never hidden her tech, but I didn't know how she would handle that.
You know?
Sure.
So she was a dancer, and so it was just like it was... Her body was just gonna look different and be different anyway. And then also just two just felt a lot heavier. So they were both hard, but for some reason, that one took me down for a couple months.
Okay.
For sure.
You found the podcast very early on after your son's diagnosis?
Yeah. I I found it so early that I I went back and listened mostly from the beginning. I think you were under a 100 episodes at that point. Right? Does that sound right in 2020?
Anyway I don't know.
It was it was a it was a reasonable enough amount. Like, if somebody's diagnosed today, they could... You'd probably go back to the beginning to kinda see, like, where you started or what your approach was then. That was my thought.
Okay.
But I think I did get, like, reasonably close too. But I I I had also realized the series were where I needed to focus. Yeah. And... Yeah.
So it had... But, yeah, I found it early, probably within three weeks. My neighbor, a neighbor of mine, had come over and recommended it to me. She's like, when you can breathe, this is what you need to do.
K.
And so
Well, I'm looking here. Episode 300 was in January 2020. So I I was probably in the three hundreds around that time. But even
at that Maybe I remember you getting to a thousand because I remember you were emotional. Right? Or do you think that was 500? I was kinda just like this quiet.
Now talking about my son's baseball glove. So episode five... When I got to 500 episodes, that was July 2021. Yeah. And I was talking about
I remember just listening to it, and you were, like, really proud, and it was kind of like a Yeah. Milestone moment. I'm still very thinking maybe that was 100.
Thank you.
Yeah. You should be.
I'm still pretty proud. So you... So if you were that far along then, yeah, then the pro tip series was in existence already. Is that what you found?
Yeah. I really liked defining diabetes. I really liked that one. I think I started there because or or maybe it was variables. Those two, I think I listened to before the pro tips because there was just...
I didn't know what somebody meant when they said bolus. You know, we were still saying dose. We kind of still do because that was the word we were born with. Mhmm. Yeah.
There was just a lot of terms that I didn't know. And then... I mean, I probably binged those in a couple of weeks. And then I was onto the pro tip series by the time Sandra was diagnosed, so she had much easier management. I would say we we knew a lot by then.
Cutting a Fruit Snack in Half26:32
Like, with Jack, there's so many silly things that I can recall, like cutting a fruit snack in half, several times to equal 15 grams of... I mean, just... And then, like, him picking up a Styrofoam cup from the gas station and drinking it and me just, like, losing his mind, losing my mind that he had taken a drink of a full sugar soda. Like, I just didn't... I didn't know anything.
I was so scared all the time of everything. And then as I started to listen to this... The podcast,
I Wow.
Became a lot less scared. So by the time Sienna was diagnosed, I was more reasonable, but I was just a lot more emotional with her than I was, Jack.
More Sure. Reasonable. Reasonable about the diabetes, more emotional about what had happened to her.
Exact... That's exactly right.
Interesting. Because you're... And you said how hard life is as a woman at your... How old are you?
I'm 46, I think.
What were you talking about? Like, perimenopause, stuff like that?
Well, my doctor says I'm not in perimenopause, and I'm like, well, what are you... What do we blame this on?
Well, what's
Why am I crazy?
Why You know? Why
am I hot? Why am I why am I mad? Why...
Why am I hot? Why am I mad?
Yeah. Give me the reasons, and it's not perimenopause. So I guess she says I'm lucky, so that's great news. Now, you know, it's just like... It's just whack a mole.
Life's just busy when... And not to say that it's not for men. It is. Like, being middle aged is... It takes a lot of work.
Yeah. I So I had I had some dirt to spread around. Like, you know, I have a, like, a dead spot in my yard. Right? And I thought, well...
I thought you were talking about gossip. I'm like, this is exciting.
No. I... Listen.... Dirt you got. I have plenty of dirt about that kind of stuff, but I am not a person who does that, so I won't be doing any of that.
I respect it.
Thank you. I, no. I I have, like, this little, like... It's a spot in my yard that's just... It won't it won't go grass.
And I had one other spot. We had to put a French drain. I don't know if this is boring for people, but there's too little too much water gathering in a place, and I had to dig a trench and put in this, like, drain to move the water away. So I needed some topsoil to put there so I could try to get grass to grow back. And I thought, well, if I have to get topsoil to put there, I'll get it for this other spot too and see if I can get grass to grow in this other spot.
So, you know, a couple $100 worth of dirt shows up at my house and gets dumped in a pile. And I look at it, and I think, I'm too old to move all that around, like, in any reasonable amount of time. And I I had some time. My son takes off and goes somewhere else, and I I called my nephew up. Was like, you got a couple hours.
I was like, I can give you a couple bucks if you wanna come help me just kind of wheelbarrow this turd around. You know? So it's three hours of him doing 80% of the work, and then 20% of it is me. And I got done that night. I was like, oh my god.
I feel terrible. Like, I was tired and achy and, like, just ridiculous. Like, really silly ridiculous. And then that night, I go to sleep, and I said to Arden before we went to bed, I went, hey. Do me a favor.
My old is tired. No diabetes stuff tonight. Okay? I was like, if you're in control of this at all, could you please, like, wield back control this evening? And she laughed, and I was like, thanks.
03:30 in the morning, my wife is like, Arden's blood sugar's low. And I... And it woke me up. And all I did, like, I've done a million times before in my life, is walked into her bedroom. I was like, hey.
Your blood sugar's low. She had this thing. I was like, this will do it. Eat this. She ate it.
I walked back to my room, and I thought that'll definitely do it. Like, I I looked at her numbers. I looked at how... I looked at what the algorithm had been doing, like, the hour before, and I was like, this is a slow drift to, like, a 60 blood sugar. What she just did is a 100% gonna, like, take care of this.
I set a temporary, target a little higher so it wouldn't bolus right away when she went up, and I was done in five minutes. And I laid back down, and one of those old thoughts crept into my head from when she was younger. I thought, let me just let the CGM cycle a couple of times before I go to sleep. So I did, and it was, like, two two generations of this of this CGM. So maybe ten minutes later, her blood sugar had a diagonal arrow up.
It was exactly what I thought it was gonna be. I'm gonna go back to sleep, and then I couldn't fall back asleep. And I think I sat up from 03:30 to, like, 06:00 in the morning, but I had to be up at eight. I I had to be up at eight, and I had, like, an hour and a half drive to go in one direction. I had to meet somebody and drive back another hour and a half.
I got home yesterday at, like, 03:00 in the afternoon. You would have thought I single handedly won World War two, the way I looked and how I felt. And it was... It's bizarre because all I did was move a little dirt around outside, which, by the way, not on a hot day, and, then not get quite as much sleep and drive a little bit. And you you literally would have thought I I was part of, like, the the invasion that took Normandy.
So I was I was wrecked. Mhmm. I don't. I take your points. But because you're a woman and you're having...
You're going through things, you started layering that on top of what's gonna happen to your daughter later Yeah. That fear.
Yeah. I... Yeah. I just... She was my little girl.
You know? She was just... Like, Jack's just like a brute. He just... Right now, he he just had shoulder surgery.
Mhmm. Diving back into first base, dislocated his shoulder, kinda get it to he could still hit throughout the season, so it was freshman year. He was able to be a DH, and so that was okay. And he, you know, handled that well. It wasn't healing, so he had surgery on it at the end of July.
This weekend, he was up with friends in a in a cabin, and, they were drifting in a razor, and it flipped. And he went like this to protect his shoulder, which kinda pushed the bottom half of his body out the door. There wasn't a door. Right. And he landed on it.
It landed on his ankle. So now he has... We... He... We...
I I went and got him. The mom is in emergency room, like, Tom and her. She, like, made sure that he was fine otherwise. And I was like, just don't take him to this little mountain clinic. Like, bring him to me, and I will take him to our children's hospital here.
And, so we just met. Instead of sitting for two hours at the clinic Yeah. And us driving five hours to get him, we met and got him and brought him home to our hospital. I would have never asked that of his sisters. Like, he had to drive for five hours in a bumpy truck with a foot that hurt to breathe on.
Like, he's just... And and he should be devastated. He's just so easy. You know? I took so just quick.
A happy kid. I'm just so grateful for him. And his example does rub off on all of us, so that... He he was just born that way. Nobody here can take credit for that.
He just came that way. And, yeah, he just... It was hard for me to, like, ever really feel bad for him. I I did, but you really can't when somebody's not feeling bad for themselves. You know?
Like, he was just fine. He never felt bad for himself. But then when Sienna came along, I just felt so sad. Probably just how every parent feels for their kid. I just was devastated for her.
Now You know?
Any of that worry and concern end up being necessary, or has she been fine?
Encouraging Diabetes34:22
She's been totally fine. She really has been. She's been completely fine. I I I have an Instagram page where, you know, I I feel like I tried to do what the podcast and even the Facebook group did for me. When you...
It's... You can't talk about diabetes without talking about the hardships. It's just not possible. Mhmm. But I think the thing that drew me to your podcast and that kept me there was it was just really solutions based, which is what anybody wants.
Nobody wants... Like, we just want answers. We wanna control it. We wanna fix it. We wanna make a best case scenario.
Like, that's what parents want for their kids is answers, and it feels like there's none of those when you're first diagnosed. It feels completely crazy and out of your control. And so there was so much commiserating and drama and crying and hardships in these other Facebook groups. I couldn't stay in there for more than a day. I was doing that to myself.
I couldn't take it on for other people. And so, once I got my wits about me, then we kind of just started an Instagram page trying our best to just be like, hey. There is a way to live and to live well. It doesn't mean it's not hard, but there's a lot of hard. You know?
I mean, I I know that this is completely crazy, but my older daughter struggled with acne, and she struggled socially for a few years. You know? And and in in my mind's eye, like, postpartum depression, my kids getting diagnosed with diabetes, and those years for my daughter, they feel pretty interchangeable. Like, life is hard. And if you can find a way to, like, get on top of the hard and just keep going, you're gonna be better than just, like, drowning in it, you know, succumbing to it Yeah.
No matter whether... No matter what you're dealing with. So, yeah, I just felt like that was our approach, and Sienna just jumped on board with it. Anyways, all of that to say... So I do try and reiterate that to people sometimes.
Like, my kids aren't your kids. They were diagnosed at an early time, and they're just easy kids. Not to say that they're easy all the time, and especially right now is probably our hardest time with diabetes and the balance there. But, yeah, try not to compare yourself because whatever reason, these kids are just a little bit more resilient. They just kinda...
Probably because I'm not, so there had to be... There are karmic balance there.
Look. We gotta pull it together. This lady is gonna be no help whatsoever. So
Exactly. Exactly. They know. They know. They do their own laundry.
They're like, if we want socks, we gotta wash those ourselves. Because mom's so She's not
getting those socks. Well, I think that I think that it's interesting what you said. For first of all, what struck me is the idea of, like, you know, how quickly it can turn into one, you know, flu over the cuckoo's nest where everybody is just in a room just being being sad together, you know, or being or being a... Yeah. It's it's very easy to fall into that despair and then find comfort in other people's despair.
I'm with you. Yes. I think, obviously, because of the way I make this, I'm with you. I think that there are simple actionable things that you can do that will move you incrementally forward. And that one day, not to oversimplify it, but you'll have been through it enough times where it just suddenly isn't a thing you talk about a lot, and it's not overwhelming.
And like you said earlier, like, you're not fighting all the time or arguing or crying or worried, you know, or thinking or thinking that, like, you know, five sips of a sugary drink stand. I mean, did you really cut a gummy bear in half? Yes. I said save.
So, like I think
the fruit
snacks that we had that, like, first week of diagnosis were... Must have been 16. I I don't know. Like, I don't know what math or what reasoning I was doing, but we cut first half. Isn't that a
No.
But see insane.
It's... If... It... What it moreover is is just a great example that you don't exactly know what's going on, and everything is scary. And that's why my point is, you know, simple stuff.
Like, you said defining diabetes was helpful. Like, first, understand what these terms are that people are throwing around. I mean, you're saying them. You should know what they are and what they do. And after that, like, have some experiences.
Learn how to get your settings straight. Like, it it really is as simple as I'm... Listen. It's not simple, but it is as simple as I'm making it sound. I've just, you know, spent some time this summer putting together a survey of what people like and don't like about the podcast and if it's been helpful to them or not.
It's a pretty thoughtful... Like, it's set up in a pretty thoughtful way. It's not just me saying, like, say nice stuff about me. Like, you know what I mean? Like, it's...
It it... It's there so that we can get, like, a pretty reasonable answer. And the answer I seem to be getting back is that for motivated people who listen to the podcast... I... And I just mean by motivated, like, they show up and they do the thing and listen to it and try to learn something and move on with whatever it is they can grasp.
No matter who they are or what situation they're in, they all seem to have a pretty good outcome. So I must be right. Like, you know, there's some basic foundational ideas. You have to understand what they mean. You have to learn how to put them into practice.
And then after that, you've gotta practice. Practice in regular life is, you know, is easy to deal with. But when you're living through days like you're, you know, the one... The ones that you're talking about that can be hard or even the ones that can be easy, time takes... Time is long.
Every day is not a problem. Every problem is an opportunity. It's hard to see them as opportunities because they feel like problems. But you eventually do just... Like, if you don't give up, you really do just wake up one day and think like, oh, my intention and my knowledge really do lead in this spot mostly over and over again.
Yeah.
Yeah. It's it's... It really... Listen. You can apply it to anything.
It really is simple. Just be be the thing, do the thing, wait it out, you'll win. And, you know
Well... And I think that the thing... I think that where mo... Where some people are missing is the thing. Like, there's a lot of people that ignore the thing in in...
And and, again, I I just reiterate this because I I don't want people to feel hopeless. But at the same time, I I I get the opportunity to be strict with my kids because it works. There's a few different things that live in my head from early diagnosis that, you know, I repeat or that kind of become my mantra because I do see people that that don't do the thing because it's too hard to fight your kids on it or to get them to listen. I don't know. I just...
You said something at one point that was like, you wouldn't let your kids take... Like, I don't care if she doesn't wanna wear a pump. Like, I I... If she needed... I wouldn't let her take, like, a horse tranquilizer or something like that.
You know what I'm...
I guarantee you I told you a story about my father and that one time a doctor... You know, back in the day, they didn't care if pills tasted good or how big they were. They didn't know about stuff like that. So I got sick one time, and they gave me a pill that was, like, like, a horse pill. It was huge.
And my dad was like, put it in your mouth and swallow it. And I I was like, it doesn't taste good. And he's like, I don't care. And he's like... And I was like, it's hard to swallow.
And he goes, I don't care. And I just think back, I'm like, that man would not let me say, oh, I don't like having something on me, so I'm not gonna have as reasonable... Like, know, have have access to temporary basal rates. You you know I mean? Or something to that effect.
And by the way, if you don't wanna do a pump, don't do one. I'm not saying that. I'm saying that, like, what a weird world where you're letting a seven year old make medical decisions. Like, what else is that kid in charge of? How you pay the mortgage?
Like, when are you listening to a little kid ever? They don't know what the hell they're... You barely know what you're talking about. You think the seven year old knows? That that...
You know what I mean?
Such a good way to say it.
Yeah. Like, come on. Like, somebody's gotta be responsible, and everything's not fun. And so, you know, sometimes you gotta do things you gotta do, and they're not always pleasant. And and listen.
I'm not saying torture somebody, but, I mean, a couple of unpleasant moments... And by the way, I wasn't sick anymore because my dad made me take that that pill. Like... So
Mhmm. You know
what I mean? I just... I feel
like You have to lead them through it. You don't let them stick their finger in a light socket. You know? Like, you're in charge of the best outcomes. You cover the light socket with the covers or, you know, whatever.
Like, you're the one that's in charge of making it okay and leading them through that.
Parenting Isn't Being Somebody's Friend43:05
Yeah. And I mean, not to be overly simplistic, but parenting's not being somebody's friend. And, you know, like, I don't want you to... And and people could hear that and have... You know, I'm not saying scream and yell
and make don't like to hear that. Yeah. It's not It's not fun. Not well received. But
Yeah. It... It's definitely not fun. I mean, I've No. I haven't enjoyed one second of this.
So I I keep waiting. This morning, my wife my wife wakes up. She goes, what time is it? And I told her, she goes, could you rub my head for a minute? And I was like, yeah.
Sure. So I rubbed her head. While I'm rubbing her head, I get a text from Martin. Could you come rub my knee? And I was like, oh, sure.
So, like, I I I... Know, I've... Art was like, oh, my knee hurts. I was, yeah. I'm, like, yeah.
I'm rubbing her knee and everything. And I said, you know, I keep thinking one day I'm gonna wake up. Someone's gonna rub my head. And I was like... I said, do you think that'll happen ever?
And she goes, well, hasn't so far, but maybe. And I was like, you're right. Maybe tomorrow's gonna be the Yeah. Yeah. Tomorrow will be the day.
But but that's not the point. That's not why I got married and had kids. Or do you know what I mean? Like, it just... Like, I think what happens is that society goes through, like, moments where it's popular to feel a thing or say a thing, and then it becomes, like dogma.
And then you can't say the opposite of it because if you say the opposite of it, you're bad or you're wrong or you hate children or whatever the hell. You you you know what I mean? And and you don't realize you're being manipulated by somebody often through social media or media in general or ways that we can talk to people in in big in big spots. And this is not new to, like, the Instagram era or the TikTok era. Like, this has been going on forever.
Like, you know, a narrative gets set up by somebody who has an interest. I don't know what their interest is, and I don't have time to think about it. But I guarantee you it's money or greed. And so so you say one thing and someone else says another thing. And if their interest in it is greedier or moneyer than yours is, then they're gonna keep upping the the the, I don't know, the shame of it to put back on you until you shut up and stop saying it out loud.
And then if you... If once you're alive long enough, what you'll see is that everyone will fall in line, do the thing until a louder majority decides this is enough, then they speak up, and then the pendulum swings back in the other direction. It... I've watched it... Yeah.
It's the it's the pendulum that really, like
It's exactly right.
Causes the issue.
I've been alive long enough now that I've actually seen some arguments happen more than once through the zeitgeist of of of humanity. And so, like, I'm like, oh, I know how this goes. They say this. That one says that. This one gets scared of this.
When they see you scared, they double down. They're gonna reap the rewards from it for a couple of years. And then once they're fat and happy enough, they'll I almost said f off, but I'm trying not to curse anymore on the podcast. They'll they'll go away because they've gotten what they want out of it. Then you'll all think that you found your balls and spoken up again, and then it'll swing back in the other direction.
And while it's swinging back, somebody on that side will find a way to make money off of it. And then that'll happen for a while until somebody notices that there's money to be made, then they'll reach out from the other side and yank it back again. You're just gonna keep doing this to each other
So for a
and over.
Anybody that... That's lost us on that, we're talking about parenting
strategies. Parenting strategies.
And Yeah. Uh-huh. On a global level, living life strategies.
Yeah. But but that is exactly what happens. Yeah.
And we are meant to be parents. Right? Like, that is the... That's the the setup there. Like, no matter what, we we have a stewardship over creating best outcomes for our kids.
Anything Besides Feel Sorry for Me46:51
And one of the one of the other voices that... Probably the strongest one that's in my head is a a good friend. She also had two kids or two siblings with diabetes. I ended up being in contact with one of them. And, both of the kids have ended up...
So they're adults now. They're my age in transplant. So about the same time my kids were getting diagnosed, these two adults were getting transplants.
Okay.
So for anybody that doesn't know, you end up needing a kidney transplant. When they do that, they also give you a pancreas transplant, so you no longer have diabetes. But you are on immunosuppressant drugs for the rest of your life. Anyways... So I had met her shortly after.
The brother, the transplant didn't work. He's, you know, unwell. He has not lived a good life. The sister, the one that I'm in touch with, has lived a good life. You know?
And you always look look for that. Like, you always wanna find the people that are adults and okay. You know, they have kids. They have families. They have eyes and feet, and they're okay.
And she is one of them, and I I am very grateful for our friendship and all that she's opened up to me. But, she did have a transplant, and she said that one of the things that she works through, is she's like, I wish my mom would have done anything besides feel sorry for me.
Okay.
It's like that that got that got us nowhere. You know? And I... Like, even saying that will make me bald because I feel so bad for the mom. Like, if my kids had been diagnosed with nothing, no knowledge, I mean, nothing.
It was a mess back then. You know? I would have done the same thing. That would have been the only tools I had, which was just empathy and sympathy. But that...
That's not what we have right now. We have so many tools there. If you're... I guess if you're lucky enough, not not... These tools aren't offered to everybody.
They're expensive as freaking crap. I have... I had to get a full time job so that my kids can have the best diabetic care that our family can get... Give them. But even that is a privilege, you know, that I was able to find that job.
And, anyways, it's a privilege to have this diabetic technology that my kids have, and I am not gonna let them waste it best as I can. Now we walk through that kindly. Right? Like, I lead them through that, but it is... This is a privilege.
And I feel so bad for that mom, and I feel so bad for her adult kids, For their realities and where they are now, it's hard.
But Yes.
Those are the words that are my beacon of light is like, wish my mom would have done anything besides feel bad for me.
Right. Right. And be... And it's funny enough because it was your inclination at the beginning. Right?
Like, oh, no. What's gonna happen? Blah blah blah. Like, I I... Listen.
None of that's lost to me. I think if you listen to this podcast long enough, you'll hear that I'm a very caring person. Like, I really do try hard to put myself in other people's shoes. I... I'm also the kind of person who will tell you the story about my dad and the pill, and I don't have any...
Like, I I don't... I'm not gonna make any pretense about it. I'm not gonna apologize for it. But you just did a thing, which... And I'm not saying you did a bad thing, but you just did a thing that I I basically alluded to five minutes ago, which is I've been alive long enough to know that you didn't used to have to tell a story about, oh, I had to get a part time job to help pay for my kids' stuff and then take out a sidebar to make sure that everyone who doesn't have that money knows that you're a...
You you feel for them. Yep. That is not a thing that used to happen in conversation. Like, you're trying to tell me a story about, like, hey. I know my kids needed this stuff.
It wasn't easy for us. I had to go get a job to help pay for it. I'll now pause for sixty seconds to remind us all that not everybody's lucky enough to have diabetes. And, of course, they're not. But what does that got to do with what you were just saying to me?
And the and the and the truth is is what it has to do is that over the last ten or fifteen years, we have been told that you can't celebrate any sort of success without making sure to take time to remind everybody that not everybody has the same luck. We all know not everybody has the same luck or opportunity or or whatnot. Like, it's a weird thing to have to say it. But why is that important? Because when I started making when I started making the podcast, I was doing kind of a similar thing.
I was looking at the blogging sphere and watching everybody. This has nothing to do with apologizing to, to people for their lives not being the same as everyone else's. This has to do with... They'd write about something about their diabetes, and then they'd spend another paragraph apologizing for having said it out loud. It was very interesting.
Like, somebody would say, well, you know, I'm having all this, like, trouble with my blood sugar. And a person who knew better would say, well, you know, what I do is I put my insulin in, and then I wait, you know, ten or fifteen minutes until my blood sugar... You know, I pre bolus, basically. And then they'd finish that thought in their paragraph, and then the next paragraph would be a long dissertation about how dangerous that could be and that you should talk to your doctor first before pre bolus thing. And I would always look at that and think, you just told them the answer and then talk them out of it in the very next step.
Like, you definitely taught... You made it sound scary afterwards in the very next step. And I was like, that's why no one's having any success. And then I meet some of these bloggers in places, and they're rolling around with five five a one c's. And I'm like, why don't you tell people how you do it?
And they go, I don't wanna be part of that culture. I'm not... I... It's not it's not for me to say. And and they were doing the same thing.
They were telling you something then apologizing for it, then telling you something then... Or telling you something then telling you how scary it was. And I was like, what if we just told them this is what pre policing is? You're an adult. Why don't you go figure out if it's something you wanna do or not?
Instead of me then scaring you about it five seconds later. I don't... I just think that one of the reasons that your kids are okay today is because I grew up in a time in the world where I don't feel compelled to apologize for how I feel about something. And and people and people will still, like, you know, talking about... You know, I know you wanna talk a little bit about social media and your kids and stuff like that, and we should, and we'll pivot right here to it, actually.
But no matter what I do day to day on this podcast, I am gonna hear from people who think I am that that think I'm Gandhi. I'm gonna hear from people who think that I'm the devil. I'm gonna hear from people who think that I'm pushing devices on behalf of somebody. I'm gonna hear from people who think that I'm pushing drugs on behalf of somebody. I'm a carb pusher.
You saved my life. Like, I... If you listen to the course of a day what people's reaction to this podcast is, you might think I'm 10 different people, five of them awesome, Five of them absolutely the ruination of the world. I'm the same guy saying the same thing, and it all depends on how people are preprogrammed to respond to that stuff at this point, I think. So, anyway Yeah.
You're right. You're right.
It's just ridiculous. You're totally right. The whole thing's ridiculous. Listen to me. Learn how to make your settings right.
Learn how to pre bolus. Use insulin correctly. Learn from your mistakes. Don't wallow in your... In self pity.
Keep moving. You'll probably be okay. Agreed. Yeah. That's it.
And and maybe some of you won't be. I'm sorry. That's terrible. We all don't get
No. If you do those things, you will be. Like, do do do
you think you
debunked brittle diabetic? Like, have we debunked that?
I must have because I see other creators glomming onto my messaging. So, yeah, I guess it must be working because people are doing it now. Also, while I'm complaining and I will just complain for half of a second, when I decide to write about something on my blog and you think it's a great idea, maybe don't do it right away the week later. Like, wait a little bit. Pretend for a second you didn't get the idea from me.
That's all I just want to say out in the world for the people who we know are listening....
Message is for someone.
Yeah. Yeah. It certainly someone. Why you why don't you wait a half a second before taking my idea? It's okay.
Have a
a smidge of pride. I mean,
just have the tiniest bit of self respect. That's all I'm saying. Okay. We'll move on now.
K. I'm I'm glad. Yeah. We're... I'm fine.
April, I'm fine. Don't worry
about it. I I don't... I I need to... I guess I didn't know you're still blogging, so I'll I'll need to
How He Blogs in 202655:29
find out. Is that... Well, can I tell you something? I blog 2026. Do you wanna know how I blog now?
So the way I used to... The the waste... The way I used to blog was I'd have a thought, and I'd sit down and write and write and write and think, okay. That sounds okay. And then I put it away, and I'd be like, don't really have all my information yet, or I gotta go do some research about this piece here because I'm not sure.
Or I have to wait till I have some more experiences. The way I blog now is... I mean, I... I'm absolutely... You can go look at the blog posts.
I think you'll find them to be fairly worth your while. I have ideas, and I sit down with a writing partner who is an AI thing, and I let it do the research for me. And and then I look at the research it does, and I go, yeah. That's kinda how I was feeling right there. Like, that's the thing I thought that it would have taken me six more months to find out, or I would have never had the time to go dive into the research to find out if that that study even ever happened.
And, you know, it's very well documented that it's it's AI. And, but I'm basically directing the AI through the things. And I think that they are... It's not blogging like, oh my goodness. This is how I feel.
I'm so happy. I'm so sad. Aren't you happy and sad too? Like, it's not the manipulative it's not the manipulative human blogging that had been so popular for a long time. It's really just ideas that I have or things that I'm interested in or things that I think somebody should be paying attention to and put together in a way that I think is is readable and understandable and gives you enough links that you can go and try to check out more for yourself and see what you think.
I'll go back.
I I do think that that's the number one thing that people newly die... Like, if you're newly diagnosed, you're listening to this episode, like, learn. Learn. Click the links. Learn more.
Spend time every single day. Two hours a day. I... I'm not... I would listen to two or three podcasts a day to catch up and to listen.
And I read books, and I listened to... Well, there wasn't a lot of YouTube content at that time. No. No. No.
Books and and your podcast. And it... It's just like you have to learn. You you have to learn.
Stop Looking at Those People Like That57:47
Also, stop looking at those people curious. Yeah. Stop looking at those people like they're like they're Jesus Christ himself. Like, I'm just a guy. I have a thought.
I put it out there. You gotta keep going with it. Like, I'm not gonna give you the answer, like, exactly the way you want it or
I do wish you would do that.
You think I... You wish I would just tell people what to do. Is that what you're saying?
I wish you would just tell me what to do. Yeah. Like, I... We're we're at an hour, and if you're gonna kick me off, I didn't get to any of my questions. No.
I'm not gonna kick you off, April.
I'm not
gonna kick you off. We can keep going. That's not the point. Also, I'd... Listen.
If the pro tip series isn't me just telling you what to do, it's me telling you what I do. You can go do whatever you want. But, like, listen. This isn't... It's really not difficult.
Settings, timing, understand the impacts of your food, don't stare at a high blood sugar a one c in about 6.1. Done. That... It's over. Yeah.
It's not that hard. Now get
that complexion. Everybody wants. Do you wanna know what I think people want?
Go ahead.
If I were to speak for the people. Okay. So you have the Dose four series or Bolas four. Bolas I I do love. I listen to those.
And I do like them, and I'm at a I'm at a spot where you and Jenny can speak, and I can speak with you. Like, I'm interpreting what you're saying.
Mhmm.
But I want you... That this is one of my top number one questions that I have. This is all I've wanted you to do for me.
Okay. So hold on, everyone. April has questions. She... Before we started recording, she said, I have questions that I wrote down that I wanna ask you if we have time.
I And was like, absolutely. She's like, I know I've asked you questions online, blah blah blah. But... And I'm... Hold your questions for one second.
Okay? And then we're gonna jump right into them. August 12, about fifteen days ago, I put together a blog post called, are people with type one diabetes immune compromised? And I think it is a reasonable description of that idea. You should go check it out if you care.
But what I can tell you is I see people argue online about this all the freaking time. All the time. Okay? I wrote an article, and I'm gonna tell you I wrote it, but I didn't write it. But I did because it wouldn't exist without filed it.
It wouldn't... Yes. It wouldn't exist without me. Okay? Yeah.
And it... The whole thing, it's called your thyroid dose was set for a different body. It's literally an article just to make sure that people with type one diabetes know that when they go on their thyroid medication, it's set by weight.
Do they almost all?
A lot of people have thyroid issues, but that's not
My kids have thyroid antibodies. Yeah.
Yeah.
So I'm sure it's coming, but I just didn't know, like... I actually didn't know how
But the but the over... The overlap for the article article is is that that a lot of them are also going on GLP ones now. So something you're seeing happen is that people are losing weight, and their doctors are not thinking to adjust their thyroid medications. No one is gonna write that article for you but me. Okay?
And and so go take a look at it. Here's one here that I did last month that I may or may not have been alluding to a moment ago. It's titled GLP ones keeping, keep surprising us. Now it's skin disease. It's basically built around the idea that a lot of people with psoriasis are seeing, like, good outcomes from GLPs.
But if you really read it and get through it, there's a lot of research coming for people with type one diabetes and other issues. Like, you're gonna see you're gonna see GLPs used for a lot more, you know, in the next couple of years and and with, I think, some pretty resounding success. You know, there's here what data... A lot of my stuff is gonna tell you what the data actually means, not what the headlines hope for you to want from them about, like, different cures I'm making. Exciting.
Yeah. And then from there, like, why does movie theater popcorn wreck your blood sugar? I put that out this summer because people go to the movies, and, you know, they... And that's the thing that they are always struggling with, etcetera, and so on. Like, I do stuff like that all the time.
If you ask me, did I write every word of it? I didn't. But every word of it wouldn't be there without me because I'm the one going, no. That's not what we should be talking about there. Like...
And I don't just say, let's talk about this. I say, what's the truth about this right here? Is there research around this? What does that research say? Oh, it says that.
Make people aware of that, and then give them a link back to it in case they wanna go look for more of it. This is not, like, this is not sexy link clicking that it's gonna make me... I'm not selling ads on this or, like, anything like that.
You know, I have always thought that. I wanted to tell you, like, you should put the... You were... At some point, you were go... I don't know if you're going back and forth or whatnot, but you were talking about, like, making the podcast, like, a paid subscription or whatever, which I would have happily paid for.
My thought about that was, like, you can put the... These podcasts that we do behind a paywall and then put the the series that saves lives, like your Jenny series and your series free. Yeah. I make money. Like a morally
make enough money.
Way to go about
it. I do okay. You're not Like,
I'm fine. Yeah. Yeah.
I just Well, this
was this was probably five years ago.
Well, yeah.
But You were were room... You were, like, want talking about it on one of the podcasts.
Yeah. Because some company came to
me this is entertaining.
Somebody Told Him to Paywall It1:03:10
Yeah. Well, some company came to me and said, like, you should paywall your podcast. You have, like, millions of listeners. This is... You...
This is how much money you'll make. And I was like, I ain't doing that. Like, I really... All I thought about about that was It'd be hard. Well, then it it...
You know, it's so funny because I'm not a person who would say out loud, like, we have to stop and realize that everybody doesn't have the same privilege. I'm just a person who quietly lives my life that way. So I just... I looked at the podcast, and I thought the minute you put a a price tag on it, you limit people from finding it, and everybody should have access to it. You know?
I'm also... I'm... You know, I'm I'm... Everything I say is gonna sound like I'm fighting with it. I don't like coaching.
I don't think health coaching's cool for the most part. I get why people do why people do it. If I was in that situation, I might do it too as a as a job, but I happen to be in a position where I get to say, I don't wanna charge you to learn how to make your your settings better. It's not a thing I'm
comfortable with. Is entertainment. That is life saving. So that's free. Morally, you can feel good about saving lives, and that's free content.
This is entertainment. Lot of so there's a lot of, like, lines there. I would also tell you that without the entertaining part, people don't find the other stuff. And without the other stuff, they don't find the entertaining part. And then they'll...
You know? And then the community helps them to feel less alone. You don't want them to just have the pro tips. Like, listen. I've got this all thought through.
I... It works well because of what it is, and then I don't have to stop and scrounge around and try to find a way to make money out of it. I mean, it's just... And it's and it's absolutely... I find it to be absolutely laborious watching people online, like, scraping and scrimping to get some, like, clicks on a reel or get a couple of views on something so they can go to some company and charge them a couple $100 to make videos.
They can do another one so they can... I just... It's it's just... Oh my god. It's it's terrible.
Like, I'm so happy not to be in that situation. Like, I I... And I think it ruins the community. I think it just turns Yeah. And it's not around to me.
Listen. You can take diabetes out of it. Like, everyone is trying... Your time and attention is a commodity, and everyone is trying to get it so they can go sell it to somebody else. And while that is probably how this podcast works in theory because I sell ads on it, I don't think of it that way.
I think of it backwards. I make the podcast valuable for people. That's why somebody wants to buy an ad on it. Other people are trying to make clicks any way they can so they can sell an ad on it. And trust me, there's a difference.
So when you don't hear me yelling about, like, a cure every five seconds or it doesn't look like I'm just recycling the same... Like, I will tell you that there are so many diabetes podcasters and content creators and Facebook creators and all this other stuff that when I look at their stuff, what I think they did was I think they went to AI and said, tell me the 10 things that people argue about online. Now adapt them to diabetes. What are those 10 things? And then they just regurgitate the same crap over and over and over again to try to get poor people like you upset, right, about a...
About dying from a cold. And then they... And then look at what the downstream... For all them listening, and we all know you're all listening. Okay?
So, like, look at the downstream effect of that for April. Like, one of you goes online to try to get clicks and starts talking about some poor kid's life that ended too soon, and it makes this poor lady mental. And then... You know what I mean? Like...
But what...
I almost lost a best friend over it. I'm not Why didn't you even get to that story?
People When say people say I'm complaining about not... Trust me. I'm not complaining. My life is fine. Y'all can do whatever you want.
I'm gonna be fine one way or the other. What I'm telling you is is that this is what's happening to you and and... Or or this is what you're doing to people. So just
For the record, I don't do that on my on my Instagram
page. Thank you. It's lovely.
You're welcome.
That's just one person.
Follow me. It's a good account.
I'll do it. What's it called?
Encouraging Diabetes. Write in the name.
I'll look. I mean, I do... Mostly my
my I fluff you a lot over there.
My I do. I know you do. My Instagram is mostly about, like, lizards, if I'm being perfectly honest.
I have seen that. I've no... I'm I've wondered if you needed some I'm fine. Help.
No. No. I... I'm fine. Okay.
So you're
You're alright. You are fine.
You have questions for me. I'm willing to answer them now. Please go.
Six Years of Questions1:07:43
I've been wanting them for six years worth of questions.
Go. Go. Go.
Okay. Okay. So what I'm saying, like, what do people want? Listen. If you're newly die...
Oh my gosh. The honeymoon. What a nightmare the honeymoon was. If you're in the honeymoon, don't listen to any of this. But, I have just died to know an exact bolus.
And maybe you are under a gag order, but let's say, you know, you guys do the the dose four series or bolus four series, and it's great, and it does make perfect sense. And I love it. I listen to all of those. Well, I think I'm all caught up. But, anyway, I just want to hear you say.
Just Tell Me the Bolus1:08:24
Let's... There's no variables. Arden is gonna eat orange chicken with noodles from Panda Express.
Okay.
She has no variables. She has a a new pump site. We can give that as the variable. She has a fresh pump site. She's not gonna go running.
She's in a neutral point of her cycle, and she has no other variables. She's gonna eat the whole thing. So we're gonna say a whole two meat plateful of orange chicken.
Oh my god.
I want you to tell me what your bolus is. You don't have to talk about the protein. You don't have to talk about the sauce or the breading or the noodles. I just wanna hear what you say. Do this.
How are you supposed to talk about that without talking about all the other stuff? I mean, you said
orange chicken.... And all the other ones.
Yeah. Orange chicken.... Chicken. With rice?
This is just me and you... Like, we're neighbors, or I'm your sister, and you're helping me dose my daughter. And so you're gonna say, you're already fifty grams right now. Yeah. I just wanna know the bolus.
Oh, so if it's... This is apropos of nothing. No one do this. Okay? But if you're talking about orange chicken
Exactly. Exactly.
And... So orange chicken with sugar on it and running the chicken and the and the rice, that's it. Just rice and chicken?
We're gonna have noodles. We like noodles.
The Wait. Orange chicken and noodles? Cabbage. Mhmm. Oh, well, we're gonna have to pre bowl us.
And, I mean, we're gonna wanna How long? As long as it takes. So if you're... If I'm... Am I driving to the Panda Express, or is some person who lost their job to AI bringing it to my house?
What's going on?
You're in the you're in the drive through of Panda Express ordering, and you live ten minutes from home.
You just said something to me that I don't know is true. There's a drive through at a place called Panda Express.
Ours has a drive through. We don't go through it very often. That's for sure.
When people ask you if America is, on the decline, answer, there's a drive through at Panda Express. That's the only thing you have to say. Okay. So what I would say is no matter what her blood sugar is... I mean, if it's over if it's over 80, I would wanna see a fifteen, twenty minute pre bolus because I really want the insulin on our side before the sugar on the coating of that chicken starts going in it.
And I would also say that there's gonna be a lot of impact over a timeline because of the white rice and the noodles, so I don't want all the insulin in upfront. But if if you're telling me she's really gonna eat it all without me going online and finding out what carbs are or counting the chicken pieces or doing any of that, just talking about Arden specifically, I'd say I'd like to see a 40 carb bolus twenty minutes before, and probably as soon as she starts eating, if not, like, ten minutes later, I'd put in 40 more. And so around 80 carbs for her for that. And then I would then I would, like, get ahold of myself and try to do some sort of account on that on that chicken and the and the noodles and the rice and try to make sure that I'm somewhere near the right number. But I would tell you that I think whatever's gonna happen about an hour after that first bolus is gonna tell you if it was enough or not.
Best guess.
And so you do 40 up front. You do another 40 when she starts to eat. Would you extend that 40, or you do two full forties and then put an extended on after told Or you just can let the algorithm take care
of that? Well, you just took out the variables. I didn't think there was an algorithm. I thought I was just I was just throwing insulin in in two different shots trying to curb the initial sugar hit and then try to jump on top of the secondary, spike from the the rice and the and the and the, the pasta. That's what I was doing in my mind.
If But you're gonna tell me she's on an
That's good enough.
Yeah. I mean, on an algorithm, then, you know, what's gonna happen is if you don't get in enough that the algorithm can horse trade with the bowl... The basil because they... The... Once you put it in, the the algorithm's gonna give away the basil, and you have to have enough in there to overpower the food plus all the stuff that the algorithm's not thinking about, the fat and the protein and the secondary, like, bump, all that stuff.
I mean, in the end, I would just put a blanket of insulin over top of the timeline of the impact of the food. That's really it. Yeah. Go ahead. What's your next question?
Oh, by the way, real quick. Okay.
But That's a good answer.
April, nothing you hear on the juice box podcast be considered advice, medical, otherwise. Always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan. Okay. Go ahead. Next.
Or we're becoming bold with insulin. You took that part out.
I I... It's in there sometimes.
It out.
It's in sometimes and in lot of other times. Go ahead. Go. Go. Go.
Alright. Mhmm.
K. Next one. What does Jenny eat for breakfast? You guys reference her same breakfast that she has because she knows what to do with it. I don't know what it is.
I don't I wanna know what she's doing for and I aren't married. Right?
You guys talk enough about food and diabetes. I would assume she
I'm gonna You've
asked at some point.
I don't know that I have, but I would bet Jenny is a Burry's, maybe some oatmeal, some oats maybe, some granola, an egg. Mhmm.
I I...
That's my
guess. Whites.
I bet you she eats the yolk, and, she's crazy. No. I I would... Listen. Jenny eats the way you think Jenny eats.
Yeah. Yeah. Alright. I just wanted to know exactly what she had milled out, especially if it contained oats because, you know, milling oats is a practice.
I would... It wouldn't be a lot, I don't think. I bet you her carbs with... Even with the fruit, and this is really just me guessing. I would imagine the carbs for Jenny's breakfast doesn't go much over 25 or 30, be my guess.
Mhmm. That's it. I mean, I don't know. I have to ask her. I'll ask her on stage.
We're doing a bolus four live at touched by type one in September. Yeah.
I need I need to I need to go to an event. I... I've never gone to an event. I need to. I think I would really enjoy it.
Yeah. You would. Okay. Next question. Go ahead.
I can't believe that was one of your questions.
Alright. Me neither. Alright. I... This is a question.
It's... You've maybe covered it somewhere, but I want... I wanna know if you know specifically because we are just putting our toes into this this world. Cycle week one, insulin resistant. Oh, wait.
Let's let's say cycle week four, insulin sensitive, because we're having double arrows that are crazy out of nowhere that we've never had. But I'm asking you. I'm asking you what So Could you list out the weeks of the month?
I don't think I can we... Don't think I can. Typically look like. No. I don't think I can.
I think that I can tell you that... I think that I I don't keep... So here's why. I'm not keeping track of Arden's period. That'd be weird.
Okay.
You used to.
No. I've talked about a lot. No. No. I keep track of what happens.
So Yes. There's like Agreed.
Yes. There's like a gen... Generally a week where you need more, and then there's a week where suddenly things are, like, what you would consider to be like, oh gosh. If I could wish for it to be this way, this is how it would be. And then there's another week where suddenly it's, like, less, and then it ramps up again, and then there's more.
But how that falls against the event, I I am... I'm a boy too. Like, I don't have that committed to memory. If I had to guess out loud, I think it's more the week before, pretty normal during, as soon as it's over, more... A little less, and then the more starts again.
Is that how is that how you see it?
I I I think that that's how it's going to look. Yes.
Yeah. That's But but at the same time, like, if I got the... If it's, like, the week before is less and this one's... If I got that backwards, it doesn't matter to me because it's cyclical. It's just Mhmm.
It's just
You're right.
It's more more more just the right amount, just the right amount, less less less, more more more more more more just the right amount, less less.
And and who cares why?
I couldn't possibly care less.
What it is.
Just roll. Like, do that thing in that big Willie song. Just roll with it. Although, he's he's persona non grata now because he slapped Chris Rock. So, just be flexible.
Okay?
K. K. Got it.
Also, if Okay. I I don't I don't have a lot of opinions about, this, but he should not have hit Chris Rock. I just wanna say that that's my opinion about that.
I know. That wasn't the case.
How about Chris Rock? Standing his ground like that. I was like, That's crazy.
He did handle that well. That was respect. Yeah.
That was guys were. That was that was pretty fun. Alright. Next question. Go
How Do You Feel About Diaversaries1:17:20
Okay. Next question. How do you feel about diavosaries? What do you guys do for that?
Are you asking what we do for it or how I feel about it?
Both.
Alright. Well, ask ask one and then ask me the other one.
Okay. How do you feel about diversaries?
I think that people should do whatever makes them happy. And if having a celebration and making a cake and putting on a hat and taking a picture and saying, I'm stronger than this thing. I made it another year and screw diabetes, and we won. I think that's... I genuinely think that's awesome.
And you should a 100% do that to any degree or level that you want. May... Maybe we should stop for a second and and and and shy out that, if you have the privilege of being able to afford a cake, then you should do that. But, no, I think you should do I think you should do whatever floats your boat. Like, I am a live and let live person, and I think that's fantastic, and I genuinely mean that.
Is it something I would do? No. But I also don't judge you on what I would do. I judge you on what you would do, and what you would do sounds pretty awesome to me. I think it's great when people have diversaries and that they're super excited and everything.
And I don't think... I don't have a thought about them based on my opinion of them. It's not a thing. I... It doesn't occur to me.
And I
So that day comes and goes and you guys
What what... I don't know I don't know what day that is. You think I know the day Arden was diagnosed with diabetes? Mhmm. No.
No? I don't know. It's in August, I think. End of August, maybe? Wait.
Yeah.
It's You didn't know that you were lucky. You don't have to go to Teppanyaki or buy some Starbucks if you can afford it.
I don't know. Listen. I don't think my, my wife and I celebrated our thirtieth anniversary a couple weeks ago. And I went out and I got my wife a a bouquet of, 30 red roses, and then I had the florist put a pink and a white rose in the top in the middle, like like a cake topper, like a like a a husband and wife on a cake. And I brought them home, and I put them on the countertop.
I got... Bought a card, and on the card, I wrote something lovely to her. And I signed it the way I signed, like, the first card I ever gave her. And I left it on the counter. Aw.
You're lovely for saying ah like that. Ask me what my wife got for me. She did not get me.
That's just your wife?
No. No. She didn't get me anything. Okay. And and we didn't go to dinner.
We didn't... Mean, maybe we went out to dinner, but I don't even remember. Like, the the... We're working. Okay?
Alright, April. We're hustling. I'm I'm over here.
To do.
Yeah. I am trying to get through and do so I can stop. Like, my whole goal is to is to retire in a healthy manner such that I can enjoy the rest of my life before cancer or a fall in the shower or some terrible... A a very, family in my town right now. Poor guy wakes up one day with a headache, and he's got brain cancer.
Way way too young. Right? Like, I'm trying to I'm trying to pay my bills, feed my family, get my kids off to a good start, nourish my soul by making this podcast, help all of you, save a little bit of money, and and dip. That's what I'm trying to do. Yeah.
I ain't got time for the rest of this. Like, I don't know. Like, if I told you what my weekend was like, where I jammed in pleasure for myself, probably sounds sad to people. I had a great time. I don't...
I I am not... I don't have downtime. I don't remember the last time I sat on my sofa. But one day, I'm gonna be able to tell you, I don't remember the last time I got off this god sofa. Like like, I'm trying to, like...
I'm I don't know. I don't think about the world that way. Like, I'm going. My wife is a hustler. I'm a hustler.
We're trying to... And I don't mean hustler, like, trying to, like, hustle it out. I mean, like, we're we're grinding. You know what I mean? Yeah.
And so... And I don't know that grinding's the right way to be. Maybe we're wrong. I couldn't even begin to tell you. Maybe we should figure out when the hell Arden's...
Was diagnosed and get together and have a big f u celebration around it or celebrate being here another year or something like that. It's just not how it occurs to me. I could tell you for sure it's not how it occurs to Arden.
So... Yeah. I'm so curious about Arden. There's so many... I I I could have, like, so long conversations.
Have you seen her her
efforts?... Temperament seems... Yeah. Well, too. When she had when she
gotta listen to I don't understand. There's, like, 10 episodes called I don't understand, and it's just me and, like, college age Arden talking about things she doesn't understand. For instance, money and other stuff like that.
If you listen to her K.
Like, she's different now. She's older again, and I am gonna try to get her to come back on again. But, like, she... I I say this all the time, and this is the way I would I would describe it. You go find Arden right now or at any point in her history and ask her about herself, and then maybe the last thing she's gonna tell you is that she has diabetes.
If she remembers to say that, I don't think she would say that.
Yeah. So... That's how both of my kids are too. More and more, as they get older, they... It's not something...
And and I've noticed, like, you know, when you see people with diabetes in the wild, it was exciting for a couple of years there now. And now I noticed that, like, you know, we'll be standing in line and, wow, a lot of people have diabetes or at least a lot of people have
CGMs. Diabetes. Lot of people are in CGMs. Yeah.
Yeah. And you'll you can see the exchange, you know, when you see two teenagers with diabetes, and you can see them see... Connect the dots, see the see the tech, and the common... You know, you don't say anything, and I'm not gonna say anything. So...
Know? Or just, get on with your life.
Like Well, so
we never even have that much of a thought about it.
Yeah. I'm gonna apply something I said a minute ago to this too. Like, I... I'm gonna say something, and I'm gonna sound like I'm arguing with myself. I go to diabetes events.
Right? I I said I'll be in touch by type one next month. This summer, I went to ADA, ADCES, Friends for Life. I took a group of people on a cruise. I've been around people with type one diabetes in a in a gathering, and it's never ever let me down.
It's always been an amazing experience to watch them together. I can see all the value that comes from them, for them, and just all the lightness it brings them or new ideas or camaraderie or release. Tons of... I could go on forever about what I think it does for people. I think it's fantastic.
I don't know that I would ever be out in public and see somebody with a CGM on and be like, oh my god. You have a CGM? My daughter has diabetes. I'm not that person. I wouldn't do that.
But if you put me in
this a 100% did it. Like, early.
I know. I I I know. I I I smell it on you. It's okay. But, like, but what I'm telling you is that, like, you know, I would never I would never do that.
But, like... But take me to one of those events, and I'll bask in it. I think it's amazing. So I'm Yeah. I'm not...
And I'm not But
those are... That's, like, completely different situations. One's just, like
I think so too.
Don't disrupt my day to, like, tell me... Let's not talk about diabetes right now. I'm in line at an amusement park. I'm not trying to do that. But when you're...
I I don't think that either of my kids at this point would be like, well, you know, it's gonna be 4 or $5,000 to get to Florida, go to the event, go to Disney World. They would choose a different a different vacation at this point otherwise.
You know? And... I'm with you. And by the way, the people that are there are like, oh my god. I love this.
And if you also said to me, if I'm gonna drop $4 on a vacation, I'm not gonna go to a diabetes event, I would understand that too. It's all just personal preference.
But I do think if I made them, they would thrive. They would love that. Well, I wouldn't even have to make money. Just like, this is what we're doing, and they would do it. But they...
I do think that they would love it. I really think that they would find leadership in it and Yeah. Ownership
I don't doubt that.
Of all of it. I think they would love it. Like you said, they would bask in it.
I do think doubt that at all. I also think that every... Everything within time and people get there different ways, you know, etcetera. Go ahead. Alright.
Next question. I'm super excited.
Okay. What was the hardest part of your diabetes journey with Arden aside from the very beginning? Because I think that's the hardest part for everybody. Right? I would assume.
What's the hardest part? Is it not
Can you think of, like, a phase highlight?...
All the hardest part? Yeah.
But there's gotta be something that was a little bit harder, a little bit more emotional. Like, one time you said how she was eating cereal in the middle of the night and it made you cry. Like, was it the middle of the night? Like, what? The middle of the nights aren't hard for me.
That one seems a pretty easy obvious. If you don't get up, your kid's gonna die. I'm I'm happily up. I'm up. It's not hard.
A Little Ballerina in a Car Seat1:26:22
Arden was in a ballet class when she was a little kid, and she hadn't had diabetes very long. And she got low in the class, and I had to take her out. And I sat her in the car, and I was testing her blood sugar. And she was really low, and I didn't think I could stop it. And I thought she was gonna die.
Like, I thought she was gonna die sitting in her car seat with me standing next to the car trying to save her, and I didn't know what to... I I didn't feel like I was doing... I I I remember that it was before all the technology, so I had a meter. And I remember not having enough data to feel confident in what I was doing and suddenly realizing that I didn't know if I had a finite number... Amount of of, like, sugar with me, and would it be enough?
And then I think I finally got it to stop, and then I shut the door, and I cried in the parking lot before I got in the car. That was hard.
And then
I got pulled little Go ahead.
Just a little ballerina in tights in a car seat Yeah. And a meter.
Yeah. Well, see, the problem is is you picture the world through Instagram now. You feel like you can see it. But, like, I was just standing there feeling like, oh, I just tried to do? Yeah.
I just tried to take her to, like, class, like, to her little dance class. And whatever I did or didn't do or whatever, I thought... I I I I was pretty certain she was gonna die and that I wasn't gonna be able to stop it. And then I did, and it was fine. I I once was racing home in a car to get her.
She had... She was low. Again, no... There's no technology. Right?
She was low, and I got her to agree to eat ice cream. So I was racing to my house to get ice cream. And then she's like, where are we going? I'm like, home for ice cream. And she's like, that's not the kind of ice cream I meant.
And then I realized she meant, like, a soft serve place, and I was driving away from it. Like, stopped in the street, turned around because I was like, no, Arden. We're just gonna go home. We're gonna have cream. Like, this is important.
And she was, like, low enough that she was real defiant about it. And I stopped reverse course, was driving to the ice cream place, got pulled over by a cop, got out of the car, explained explained what what was was going going on on to to the the cop, cop, was, like, standing next to the car testing her blood sugar over and over again with a meter. He still... The the cop was like, okay. Like, ran my license, everything.
Let me go. And, I got to the ice cream place, and she was fine. And where the anger comes is that, like, some weeks later in the mail, that cop sent me a ticket for speeding. And I took all of that anger into court and let it out into court, and I did not get a ticket, in case you're wondering.
That's alright.
I remember Oh. It was tar... I remember pulling over on a highway the week she was diagnosed. We were coming home from where she was diagnosed. And we were driving home late at night, and she...
Her blood sugar was going up. And I remember saying to Kelly, like, we have to give her insulin. And Kelly's like, well, how are we gonna do that? Like, she was in the back and, like, we were driving, and it was needles. And I was like, we're gonna have to pull over to give her insulin.
So, like, I pulled over on the highway with, like, cars, like, whipping by in the car... Like, we had an SUV, and it was, like, rocking from the air and everything. And I'm like, oh, we're gonna get we're gonna... We're all gonna die trying to give Art an insulin. Like, it's how it felt.
You know? And then I'm back there and, like, crammed in the car, and I'm looking at my son. And he's like, what the hell's going on? Because this is not how our life was, like, seven days ago. And, I'm fumbling with this needle trying to, like, work it all out and everything.
Like, that's, like, stuff that sticks in my head a little more. Mhmm. You know, dropping her off at college. And Kelly asked me when we left, this is gonna be okay. And I said, I genuinely believe that this is either gonna be fine or she's gonna be dead in forty eight hours.
Like, I'm... It's just like one or the other. And, because Arden never woke up once overnight for a low blood sugar. And then we I thought
that was interesting that you Yeah. Now that she's back home, you are the one... You just do that because it's nice. Like, you rub her knee, and you get up with her because Oh. It's nice.
The rub their knee, like, you know, I rub my... I scratch my son's back if he's got an itch and, like, that kind of stuff.
But Right. But it's, like, along the same thing. You just do it because it's nice. But she's lived alone for four years. She's done it before.
It's also pretty specific is what she explained was and is to this day is that if she's not here, she wakes up. She's like, when I know it's me, I wake up. If it's on me, I wake up. She goes, something happens the minute I get back in this house. It feels like somebody's got my back, and I don't hear it anymore.
But I wasn't sure Since
a nice reprieve. Reprieve.
Right. Right. So she gets to take it easy a little bit. But when we dropped her at college, I was like, I don't know if she's gonna wake up. Like, I thought it might be the next four years of my life me just getting up and calling her and waking her up at night if she was low.
Mhmm. And then that didn't end up being the situation. Right? It it still happened once or twice. When she's too far away to help and something goes wrong, that's still really difficult.
And Yeah. And to tell yourself that to tell yourself that I'm gonna do everything I can do. And if Arden should die when I'm not there, it's not my fault. But I'm just gonna take the steps and do the thing, and I know this has worked before. It's worked for decades.
It should work again the next time. Like, just trust the process kind of feeling. Like, be an astronaut. You know what I mean? Just pick the next thing that's trying to kill us and topple that, then move on down the list to the next thing that's trying to kill us and topple that.
Like, I... That's hard to, like, to find comfort in, but it tends tends to work. The process tends to work. So
Well, this is kind of like a dark... Maybe this could be... Maybe it already is one of your podcast... Or, I mean, blog topics, but it doesn't... May...
Maybe you know. Actually, I don't even know if I can, like, ask the question out loud because it makes me cry, and it also just seems like a weird... But, like, it doesn't seem like very many people die from a low. Does it to you?
Oh, no. I know what you mean. Yeah. Yeah. It doesn't seem like that happens to many people.
No. It it Not that you
should let your foot off the gas or put your guard down.
No. That's You
need to pay attention. But it's
like saying that.
There's not a lot of data for someone to be like, okay. I'm gonna go low. Let's see what happens. Like, just don't save me, and then let's get some data here
Sure.
See how long it takes. Or Well,
it's another thing.
You know, I've never seek... Like, sought out that information, but I I do wish that was just inherently in my brain and body.
I I will tell you that, you know, this is exactly what we were talking about earlier. Like, this is a thing you're gonna talk about, and people are gonna be super upset by it or, like, oh my god. Thank you for saying that. Like, it's one it's
one of the other.
Right? Because people have died in their sleep and will again. Like, that's not Yeah. Not gonna happen. There's also people whose scenarios have been be...
Made more public than others, and you don't know all the details about it. Like, what you hear is person a went to sleep and didn't wake up, and they had too much insulin and they died. Okay? You don't you don't hear the part of the story where person a had been under managing their diabetes for three weeks, living with 350 blood sugars all day long. One day got sick of it, like, gave themselves a massive bolus and laid down and went to bed and then passed away in their sleep.
Like, not that either of those things is less tragic or less sad or that this person deserves anything that happens after that. Like, that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that's a lot of context around people fall asleep and die. Like, you you...
So That's, like, one of the things that I... Sorry to cut you off, but one of the things that I feel like you look for, like, the information that you seek out is, like, what makes them different from me? Like... So it is a differentiating experience that people wanna know. Maybe...
Or maybe you don't wanna know, but you're like, oh, that's not gonna happen to me because we don't do that. Or my kids aren't gonna experience that because we do things differently.
Yeah. I mean, also
And so the context does matter.
Yeah. Context is important.
Somehow in comfort.
Well, it's it's like saying anything. It's like, you know, this many people die every year in a car accident. Well, that's that's a misleading number because some of those people are drunk, And some of those people fell asleep while they were driving, and they had extenuating circumstances about why they fell asleep. And, like, it's not just as simple as, like, people go out in the road. They're completely coherent, completely paying attention.
Oh my goodness gracious. Look what happened. Like, there's there's there's levels to to how these things happen. They're important if you're gonna talk about them in context like that. Am I worried that my daughter will die in her sleep?
I don't live without worry. Could it happen? 100% it could happen. Right? Like
I remember when you said you didn't you didn't check... You just waited for the Dexcom alarms to come, that you didn't, like, check the Dexcom. That blew my mind at the time.
Oh, that I don't
Absolutely blew my mind.
I don't look at the Dexcom. I just wait for the alarms.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Which is, of course, what I do now.
Right.
And maybe we should. That... That's actually my last question. Well, I I could go, like I said, two hours
back. You got time. I'm... I mean, what am I doing? I'm just making a podcast.
It's my whole life. I mean... Yeah.
I mean, I actually do have to work at something.
What do guys do?... My
job, although. I I wish I wish this was my job. I wish I was your cohost. If you're ever in the market, you would just split revenue.
I'm not looking to split a dollar with you or anybody else. And I'm Just...
We don't have to answer now. Just think about it. No. Don't have to answer today.
April, it's a no, but I appreciate the offer. And, and some of you... I say this all the time, and I I know it... Some of you have to have a real job. Okay?
Like, I... I'm sorry how the world works. I get to make a podcast. You have to go do the thing you have to do. Just remember there was a time when I had a terrible job, so it's fine.
Alright. And and keep coming. Like, you know, jeez. Another one popped up this morning. I'm gonna make a podcast about diabetes.
I'm like, go ahead. Keep trying.
I'm not... I I would never replicate what already exists. You could do. I would never...
You should you should try. I
would do.
I would take great glee in in, in continuing on and doing what I'm doing and watching how it goes for you. So, anyway, what's this question?
It would just be straight up plagiarism.
What's...
You'd be able to sue me. Okay.
Last question. No no one can sue anybody for making a podcast. That's for sure. Good.
Really? No. But if I just, like, said... I, like, I just verbatim was like, nothing you hear... See you here on the juice box.
And it was just
literally word for word.
Thought I'd be able to procreate.
No. I think I would just laugh, honestly. I'd be like, that's hilarious. I mean, I assume some point somebody's just gonna make an AI thing to just, like, resay what other people have said. Right?
Like, that's gotta be coming soon. So Enjoy. Anyway, go with this question. This is a very important question.
Five Five, No Problem1:37:25
Okay. My question is, I'm making assumptions. I feel like Arden and my daughter are similar. And, actually, my daughter's... She's...
She... They're both doing pretty well. I I feel very proud of them in a million different ways, and I I feel pretty proud of them with their management. Could we tighten things up? Yeah.
We could. And it's, me as their mom, I am just wondering. It used to be part of your tagline that you would say, like, kept my daughter's a one c 5.7 for... You know, and you included her puberty years... Teen years.
It's not even... I mean, puberty, sure, but it's less the puberty and the hormones that I think get in the way more than just, like, the the... How how... What's worth pushing on right now and today. Oh.
You know what I mean? And how how to get the best response. So, again, as I've mentioned, my kids are are reasonably easy kids. But as their mom, I know they know most of what needs to be known, and they do an okay job. Like, how did you...
What was your tightrope? Did you have one, or did she just stay in line? Did she just pre bolus every single time? Did she just
Well, stop.
A good job. You for help with the carb count. Like, if they would keep me included in it, we could be at that 5.5, but they're not really wanting me to be included in it anymore.
No. Right. So, I mean... Well, first of all, they're still pretty young. Right?
So when Arden was 14 or 15, I mean, you know, we were, I mean, doing it together, like, not as much. Like you say, like, you know, we... There's more separation, and you're not involved as much. But then there's the, you know, kind of, like, the... You know, looking at the graph at the end of the day or at the end of the week and saying, like, alright.
I mean, this pretty much went okay, or here's where it could've went better or something. And then once in a while, you'll say, hey. You gotta remember to bolus. Like, don't forget to pre bolus, stuff like that. I...
Listen. Totally. Yeah. Last night, I was doing something with her, and she's with a boba tea in her hand. And I picked up my phone because I've now been in the room with her for twenty minutes.
I don't see anybody bolusing. And, I look at her, and I go, you... You're gonna bolus for that? She goes, oh, yeah. And then she just...
She does. You know? So what I would tell you is that if you put... If you took young me who wasn't sleepy after shoveling dirt, okay, if you took young me and put me in charge of a kid that was in that age range, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, right around there, 15. Right?
Like, and you put me in charge of that kid. I'm knocked down at five and a half a one c. No problem. I... It's about it's about getting your settings right and bolusing at the right time.
I can do that. That's not a problem. What comes next what comes next is the formation of an adult And a human being who's autonomous and thinks for themselves and cares about other things differently and doesn't have the same experiences that I have, they... She doesn't have the pressure of raising a child with type one diabetes. It's completely different for her.
She's not worried about her the way I'm worried about her, which is a weird thing about humans, but absolutely true. She will eventually worry for her own kids or herself the way I worry for her now. And so my thought is healthy as you can, best as you can, model the way you'd like it to happen. Try not to be crazy. Keep a good relationship.
You don't want anybody hating each other until they start to do the thing, which is branch off, think they know better than you, decide they're gonna go out in the world and do, you know, whatever they want. And then they're, you know, fearless, and they can't get sick and all the other things that they think of. You... Everything you've heard people talk about on the podcast over and over again as they've gotten older, I've taken those people's stories to heart. And and I've said to myself, what I want when I wake back up again, and my daughter's in her mid twenties, and she's more of a fully formed human being, I want for us to still have a great relationship and for her to have a health outcome day to day, week and week and month to month and year to year, that's commiserate with long life happiness, fewer problems, that kind of thing.
But if you think, like, you're gonna just tell your kids, like, this is how it happens. Go do it. And they're going to do that every day forever. You're out of your freaking mind. And I'm not talking to you.
I'm talking to everybody listening. Like, that is not gonna be how that goes. So you're always going to be giving and taking and and, you know, just think of, like... I don't know. Think of, like, a big scale, you know, like, a...
An old scale, like, you know, where there's, like, you know, weight on one side and you put something on the other side to see how much it weighs. Right? And, the way I think of it is that, you know, each side of that scale, there's a hole in the dish. So you're putting in effort or you're putting in love or you're putting in concern, and it's draining out of the bottom as fast as you're putting it in the top. But there's still, like, ever changing on the other side.
Dad, I don't wanna do that. Leave me alone. I'm an adult. That kind of stuff. And that stuff is going in the top and draining out the bottom.
Like, one day, it's... I'm an adult. I don't need help. You can't just now say, well, that's it. She's an adult.
She doesn't need help. I will... I'll never try to help again because as fast as she says it, it drains out the bottom again. Right? So, like, you're always...
She's always putting stuff in the top of hers. It's coming out the bottom. She's putting in new stuff on her side, and I'm on the other side trying to meet it with an amount of ballast and ideas and feelings that are trying to keep those scales from banging hard one way or the other. And you have to do all of that without everybody hating each other when it's over. That's it.
And that's
I like the idea. Yeah. I I I appreciate the visuals. The the tug of war visual or... Yeah.
Tug of war.
Yeah. Oh, for the pre bowl?
That visual helped me. Yeah. For the pre bowl thing. That one helped me a lot, and that that... It's a really good visual.
Somehow, that tug of war visual might be my greatest gift to society.
Yeah. Yeah.
And so I
think I think it is. Well, and it's just easy for the kids to understand that
Yeah.
You know, to, like, explain it to my mom, my kids, whoever it is that we're, like, trying to help it.
But about...
That's a really good visual too.
Yeah. But about parenting. Right? It's just... I mean, you can think of it any way you want.
It's a stick, you know, on a fulcrum with two buckets, and you're dumping water on one side, and they're dumping water on the other side. And the thing you're dumping in is not the thing they're dumping in, but you've gotta match their effort and match the and match the loss over and over again to keep from tilting too far. That's just the whole
So exhausting.
Of course it is. What'd you think was gonna happen? The the... This is terrible. Did you not see how old your mom looked when you were like, oh, I'll have a baby?
You kill... You almost killed that poor woman. Yeah. Yeah. Right.
And now these are gosh. These kids a divorce. It almost killed her.
These kids are gonna try to kill you now. Like... Right? Like... So, like...
And the... And this is... And and you you live in a more modern world where, like, what your mom thought was, well, she'll hate me, but she'll be okay. And I don't think we think that we don't think that way anymore. We think now, like, may...
Maybe there's a balance to be had in here. At least I think there's a balance to be had in here. And there are going to be some days to bring it to diabetes that you're gonna look at a 200 blood sugar for a couple of hours and say, I'm looking at him. I'm looking at her. And right now, I gotta tell you, the juice ain't worth the squeeze I mentioned in this 200 blood sugar.
Now I can't stay like this for ten hours. I can't stay like this for ten days, ten weeks, ten months. But right now, we're gonna lose more than we're gonna gain if I say something about this. Or then you look for other times when they're more open to it, and then you you give them a little extra there. And also, very honestly, like, don't try to trick them.
Like, you know, like, have those... Like, my mom used to do that all the time. Like, I'd be like, oh my god. She thinks she's, like... She thinks she's a master manipulator.
She thinks she's telling me the story about her friend. This story is really about a thing she wants me to do, and she doesn't even think I know. This is ridiculous. She's terrible at this. Like, don't do that stuff.
Just be, like, clear. And when people push back and they're not ready for it, I'm gonna tell you that from the conversations I've had with other people, you don't stop, but you don't, like, double down. Like, if somebody's not ready to hear something from you, you'd rather live to fight another day. But at the same time
Okay. So I have a specific question. Like, I I I like I love everything that you're saying, but I like grand... Like, specifics. So two specific questions within that.
Go ahead.
I like the idea. Like, at night, you guys would go over her graphs. Okay. Three questions. We have ten minutes, and then I literally have to do my job.
Do your three questions.
At age 15, what was the percentage of her and you? Are you still 50% involved and she's 50? Are you seventy thirty? Or are you... You know, she's 80 or 20 at age 15?
I mean, probably. I mean, 60, 40 me. More me than her. I don't know how to put an exact number on it. More me than her.
Wow. That's good. Yeah. Yeah. More more me than her.
Because I'm not there, so I need to I need to get my skill back in alignment a little, figure out a way to, like, stay a little bit more involved. So that's good because this is what they... This is, like, their feedback. It's like, listen. We're under what our endo needs us to be, and we're happy, and we don't hate this.
And we wouldn't... We're... We don't... We're even complaining about it.
So Well, that's all well and good. What's the endo want? Seven? Yeah. Well, that's not okay.
Is it?
Do you... Are you okay with seven?
I mean, when you say 5.5, no problem. You should go read the comments on, I can send it to you on a reel. I said... I offered my kids at the beginning of the summer, hey. If you'll get your a one c's down to 6.5 at the end of...
You know, just like on the follow or on their DexCom now, it says their a one c's. I'm not talking about at their next visit. I'm just saying, like, month over month. If you get your a one c's down... I don't remember what I put the numbers at.
6.5 is... You'd get this amount of dollars. 6.3, you'd get this amount of money. Like, as a allowance, you know, we pay for good grades. We pay for
Okay.
Chores, whatever. Like, this is just... It's there for the taking. No shame. Literally, no shame wrapped around it.
If you wanna take it on and do a little better job, you can get paid for it. And if you don't, that's okay. I'm proud of where you are, and we're not gonna fight about it. Not not many positive not many positive thoughts
on worried about what the Internet thinks?
Mostly I'm not. Yeah. I'm just saying, like, hearing you say 5.5 no problem, like, really does blow my mind because it does seem like it would be
But for me, if I was in control of everything, And and by the way, not for me if it was me. If it was me with diabetes, I don't know how that would go. I'm telling you if you give me a little a little blob of a human being
Okay. Who listens No. I'm saying if I have diabetes, I could have a 5.5.
Oh, I don't know about that from myself.
You're saying?
No. No. I'm saying I'm saying that if you give me another human being who listens and doesn't argue, I know functionally what to do to end at a five five a one c. And I and I have the motivation and the desire to do those things over and over such that that's the outcome. My point is is that it is a doable thing.
It's a knowable entity, a quantity. Now, like, you put in the rest of life into it, It ain't... It's not easy. I'm not saying it's easy. I am saying it's doable.
Now you start putting in other variables or other speed bumps or other people's opinions or other people's desires that, like, I don't care. I don't wanna do this. Well, that's how you end up with a slightly higher and higher and higher blood sugar. Right? Like, because people make allowances.
Well, I'm not gonna pre bolus here because I don't feel like it, or I'm not gonna bolus my one eighty because I don't wanna stop playing with my friends, or I don't want somebody to realize that, well, I've just forgot. Like, all that other stuff. I'm saying put me in a white room with a kid and nothing else to think about. I can make their a one c five five. Could probably make it five.
Like, that's not the point. I I know the functional way to do it. The rest of it, I'm I'm arguing the other people's sides online, is is the human side of it. And that's where you have to make a decision. Like, is the juice worth the squeeze?
Do I want them to be unhappy? But what's the tipping point between, like, happiness and ignoring? And, like... And that's your problem as an adult and as a parent. It's like, you're like, well, yeah.
Right now, we... We're not bolusing a one eighty blood sugar because we don't want it to be all about diabetes. But what happens when we start getting to a two thirty blood sugar that we're not bolusing or a two fifty blood that we're not bolusing? Like, what happens when the ignoring turns into more commonplace? And now suddenly we're two fifty all the time.
My a one c is 8.5, and now I'm in the doctor's office going, don't know what happened. Well, you know what happened. Like, like... But Yeah. You...
Like, that kind of a problem. But what I'm telling you is I've interviewed enough people. I wanna give a lot of credit to young, smart women in their late twenties who have come on this podcast and said, I was diagnosed in high school. My mom helped me. We were fine.
I went to college. I stopped listening. My a one c went up into the eights, the nines, the tens. I didn't, like, do anything about it. And what they'll tell me as adults back looking is my mom tried to help me.
I pushed her away. As an adult, I wish she would not have stopped trying to help me. Now that's a weird place to be in because you're being told by a 20 year old, leave me alone. I know what I'm doing. But that 20 year old, 29 year old self is saying, somebody stop listening to me.
I don't know what the hell I'm talking about. And now I'm 29, and I got neuropathy. Right? Like... Or I'm 29, and I...
I'm not ready have a baby, and now I wanna have a baby, but I don't know how to keep my a one c down because I stopped learning when I was 17. And I told my mom to go to hell, she listened to me. This isn't about diabetes. This is about parenting. Right?
It's about supporting. It's about it's about structure and being there for people and knowing when they don't know for themselves. One of the... I think one of the funniest things I see people who are trying to be creators online do is they go onto their feeds and they go, hey, guys. What would you like me to talk about?
When you find yourself texting, writing in a text chat box to a bunch of strangers that you need them to tell you how to make stuff for your content, you're done. Give up and go home. Because those people don't need what they think they need. They need what somebody else who's more learned or in a different spot or has been through this before knows that they need. They need what the 29 year old thinks, not what the 20 year old thinks.
If you're asking them what they need, you're in as bad a shape as they are. Okay? Now most people hear that. Common sense people hear that and go, that's right. With more experience comes more knowledge.
With more knowledge comes more understanding. But then there's a few people on the Internet that'll hear that and go, oh my god. You think you know better than other people? No. I think you're mentally ill.
That's what I think. Okay? So, like, yeah, I know better than other people. I've been through it already. I at least have an experience and a perspective that they don't have yet.
Is mine right? I don't know, but here it is. Same thing with parenting. Hey, sweetie. I gotta be honest with you.
I'm not you. I don't know what your life is like. I don't have type one diabetes, but I have been alive thirty five years longer. And I'm pretty sure that we're gonna wanna keep your a one c a little lower than seven just because the ADA says it's okay. Because the ADA says it's okay.
Because that the the research that they've done says that aggregate over the entire population based on how many people are still MDI and how many people are on AID systems and how many people have CGMs. What we can reasonably expect is if we put that whole group together and do some math around it, you should be able to stay at a seven. They're not telling you a seven's healthy. They're saying that that's what we think the masses can achieve. Right?
Are you the masses? If you are, good. Go look for a seven. If you're a person who can't do as well, do as good as you can. If you're a person who can do better, not doing better because someone else told you it's not important to try hard, I...
If that's a decision you wanna make, make that decision. I don't make decisions like that. When I make decisions, I try, I grind, I go harder, I look for ways to win, to succeed, to be to be healthy, happy, etcetera. Same thing with all these others, like, if I don't have a thousand conversations with people about GLP medications every day long. I just had one on Saturday.
Guy says to me, you're have to take that forever? And I said, well, I think if I hope to be healthy and happy, I do. And then I have to spend the... Hour explaining that my body metabolically was a mess, and and you think it's because I didn't eat right. I'm telling you, I eat the same today as I did five years ago.
Except today, I'm sixty five, seventy pounds lighter and much more healthy because whatever's in that peptide that's in that GLP is clearly deficient in my body. And when you put it in blah blah blah blah blah, and then you explain the whole thing and they go, I don't know, man. It seems like cheating to me. Great asshole. Go die.
I don't care. Like like like, you're standing there four hundred pounds telling me it seems like cheating. Cheating who? Who are you cheating? I don't know what you're talking about.
So if you want the whole world to make sense, you're gonna be in trouble. But if you need the ADA to tell you where your a one c should be, I also think you're in trouble. I don't think that it's up to the ADA, your doctor, or anybody else. I'm gonna tell you right now, if you don't have type one diabetes and you're walking around, your blood sugar is somewhere between 80 and probably a 130 depending on if you've eaten or not. Maybe it's going up to a 140 for a half a second.
And by the way, at some points during the day, it goes down to as low as 60 if you don't have type one diabetes. I know that when you don't have type one diabetes and they do your a one c, your a one c is in the fours. Right? So do I think you can keep your a one c in the fours using man made insulin? It'd be it'd be hard.
I've... I know a couple people that do it. It would be it would be hard. And is that difficulty... Is the juice worth the squeeze on that difficulty?
What it does to you psychologically as a person? That's a... That's all the same and yet a different conversation. So we pick the level of effort we're willing to give. We pick the level of effort we have to give.
We consider the continuity of our technology. Do I have a CGM and an AID system? Do... Can I afford these things? Do I have access to good tools around them?
Like, all of this stuff has something to do with your outcome, and your age has something to do with it too. Is your 15 year old who's self managing mostly with a seven a one c? I think that's fantastic. I think that's amazing. I don't think that that's the goal forever, but for now, that's it's awesome.
Like, it really is. As long as they know that, like, going forward, we're gonna want that number to be lower, stable. You know what I mean? We're trying not to have spikes that that last too long. We don't want those spikes turned to lows that have to be fed with food.
There's tons of reasons why we don't want this stuff to happen. But for now, way to go, kid. I'm proud of you. But way to go, kid. I'm proud of you doesn't mean we're there.
We're done. Give up. Right. Anyway
Alarms Going Off in Class1:57:51
Well, that's that's what we talked about a lot. It's like, you know, they're a big thing for both of them, especially as the school year starts is, like, having high alarms on really at all. You know? I mean, not that not that they ever get to, like, three or 400, but two hundreds are... I I would like their high alarms to be at one sixty, and let's start, you know, making some adjustments at one sixty.
It's easier to figure out, and we talk about that. And I'm like, alright. Well, I will agree. I'll let you have your high alarms off until you're comfortable having them on. It probably won't happen.
I don't see either of them wanting to have them this year.
What... Why don't they want their high alarms on? I'm sorry.
They just don't want them to go off in class. Oh. You know, they don't want their low alarms to go off in class, but, obviously Let me say it's it's nonnegotiable, but, b, you can't work.
I'll give you my my opinion on that. I... It's gonna be just it's gonna be just like the diversaries. If that's how you feel, I say good for you. You should do what you want.
If my daughter told me I'm shutting off my high alarms, I'd go, no. You're not. And if she said I'm 22, I'm doing whatever I want, I'd I'd say, well, good luck paying for that car because I ain't paying for it anymore. Like like like, you wanna be an adult, make a decision like that. Rock and roll.
Go make it. I mean, good for you. God bless. I hope everything goes well. I'll see you at Thanksgiving.
Okay. But, like, if but if I'm still involved a little bit, I'm not comfortable with that. I don't know I don't know... I'm not good at making the argument that it's okay. I need my low alarm on because I don't wanna die today, but I don't need my high alarm on because that won't kill me till later?
I don't understand. That argument makes literally no sense to me. And if a 15 year old was making that argument with me, I would say back to them, just because it's not gonna kill you today or hurt you today or or cause you some sort of, like, decay today doesn't mean it's not happening and you don't see it. I might say to them, you know, like, I didn't end up at two hundred and thirty six pounds on the first day. Right?
And, like... But but I Exactly. But the decisions I made today certainly got me there at some point. I would say that about... I would see...
It's... It... You wouldn't... It's bizarre to me because if if I know... I've only talked to you for two...
Christ, we've been talking for two hours. But I've only been talking to you for two hours. Bye. You just got yourself a two part episode. Well done, April.
So, but but... Right? Right. I I would say to you, I bet you this is true. If your daughter came to you right now and said, hey, mom.
I'm having trouble, like, getting through school a little bit. I'm thinking of grinding up my friend's Adderall and snorting it. I don't think it's gonna hurt me today, and I got a lot of work to get done over the next twenty four hours. Would you go, well, if that's how you feel, go ahead and do that then.
Just a little bit. Just a
little noshed up. Little toot, sweetie. Just get you right. Yeah. No.
No. You you you wouldn't say that. But but if she start... If she started doing that and then three years from now was like, oh my god, mom. Like, I'm in college.
I'm like, just do a little coke, but it's really great. Like like, you know, like, you would be like... You... If you wouldn't look back a
lot done.
If you wouldn't look back at the part with the the the Adderall and go, oh, we probably shouldn't have done that. Like like... Yeah. Because, you know, like... Because you're you're making a decision and you're moving in a direction.
Okay? So there's something about being purposeful about who you think you are. You know, like, self talk is really valuable. You are what you say you are. And you...
And when you and when you start saying those things about yourself, you start moving in that direction. And whether you know it or not, eventually, that becomes more of who you are and more of how you operate and more of where you end up. I make an incredibly popular diabetes podcast because twelve years ago, I decided I was gonna try to do that. And so then I just, every day, made decisions and took steps that moved me in that direction. And what do you know?
I didn't give up, and here I am. That's a lovely story to tell. What if twelve years ago, I started walking in a different direction? And it wasn't so harmful at first, but eventually, you're gonna end up in that situation. You know how many kids at 14 years old have a beer to deal with their anxiety?
That that turns into a 50 year old person drinking by themselves in the middle of the day. And if you think it doesn't and you're willing to take the risk to wait thirty five years to find out for sure or not, that's between you and your maker. I couldn't possibly give less what you do. I'm just telling you that that's the reason I don't do that because I believe that that's gonna lead me in a direction that so slowly will move me that I won't even notice it happening. That one day, I will just end up somewhere I don't wanna be, and it will be too late to come back from that spot, or I will end up spending the rest of my life course correcting away from this.
So instead, I aim for an a one c in the fives based on everything I know, and then I trade away from that for my daughter's happiness, her mental health, trying to continue to balance that scale in a way that when she pops up at 25 or 26 and her brain's all fully formed and some boy has been nice enough to her for long enough that she thinks I might make a baby, that she'll think, oh, and I have to be healthy so that I can raise this kid. And she and I will have a good relationship. She'll know enough about her diabetes that she'll start doing what I do for her now because she will start caring about herself and or that kid the way I care about her, and we will not have drifted too far away from an a one c and the fives when that happens. And then she'll do whatever she wants and I'll be so old, I wouldn't care what happens to her one way or thereof, April. Because I'll probably be like falling in the bathtub screaming for my wife at that point.
Like... So, like, I will just get... Right? That's it. So have I made sense?
I'm ready. Do all the things I just said to
you before.
That's fine. Yeah. I got it. Alright. Fixed your life I
got it.
And everyone else is listening.
I'm ready. I'm ready. Put me in coach. I'm ready. I needed a pep talk.
I need I needed somebody to, like, pump me up. And and listen. I do have high expectations of them, but I do see their point. Like you're saying, like Yeah. Self managing, you're in the seventh, like, way to go.
But you're exactly right. Like, that's the way we're going. Like, we need... I need to just make sure that I keep them on track this way. And, like, don't just be like, okay.
Seven That makes sense. Seven with positive... I'm grateful for you.
Yeah. I'm sorry. A seven with positive talk towards a six over time Yes. Aggregates back to a six. A seven with positive talk towards seven and a half turns into a nine.
And then you don't even think about, like, brain fog, lack of clarity. You lose your your your gojo. Right? Like, you start to have an energy problems. And now suddenly, you're caught in a fog, and the fog is half of the thing keeping you out of getting out of the fog.
I mean, like Yeah. I I I I I can't be I can't be smart for everybody, April. Okay? I just... I'm busy.
I got it.
Listen. It's not. Listen. I'm smart. I just needed a pep talk.
I needed I needed someone to
just I'm just kidding. I'm making
a fun guess here.
April, I need godfather. I need a third of
the godfather, you need to step up and be like, people. People.
To do the right thing, you'll be fine. I need to make a third of these people angry at me by the end just so they'll come back and listen tomorrow to see what other dumb thing I'm gonna say. You don't understand. I got, like, this whole process. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. It's... Think... I think... Let's Let's see.
I think... Because next year, how am I gonna help the next April if they're not all still here?
Well, how are you gonna retire?
I got ten years, baby.
One... Last question.
Good.
Last question. Two minute answer.
Yeah. Go ahead.
Do you got a two... Do you have two minute answers? I don't know.
Why not? Let's find out. I'll I'll run a time... I'll run a timer. When you...
Go ahead. Ask your question. I'll run a timer.
Okay. Okay. So then if you're gonna end it, I'm gonna say thank you so much. Oh, you're welcome.... Been really fun, and I've been looking forward to this for a long time.
I actually was scheduled to be on it before in between Jack and Sienna's diagnosis.
Really?
Like, I scheduled. Yes. And then I think I was supposed to come on, like, in two weeks, and then my daughter was diagnosed. And I was like
Ain't that crazy? That's years ago.
Had nothing to offer.
Okay.
Yeah. Alright. Anyway... Well, you're
very welcome. I've enjoyed this too. Question. Ask your question, and I will hit start when I start to talk on my two minute timer. Go ahead.
Will Our Kids See a Cure2:06:25
Okay. Will our kids see a cure?
No. There. I'm done. Yeah. Not the way you think.
Not... Is there not gonna see through the way you're think... The way people think about it? Like, do you... If you're asking me, will a kid get diabetes one day, walk into the office and go, hey, man.
I got diabetes. And the guy go, oh, no problem. And then reach over to him and flip a switch or give him a pill or hit him with a shot, and it all just goes back. No. Our kids aren't gonna see that as near as I can tell.
If they do, something about AI will get us there, but it's not gonna be through human perseverance. That's, by the way, not my timer. That's Arden's blood sugar going over
I know.
Over one over one twenty.
Oh, one twenty. Yeah. Yeah.
High alarms at one fifty. And so and so... No. I don't think that they're gonna magically cure it. I'm also gonna tell you that if you go Google everything that humanity has cured, the list is shockingly short, and it is not a thing we've so far been good at doing, which is taking something and just making it stop when it comes to health.
Now do I think your kids will be able to go to a guy who will inject a bunch of cells into their liver or their pinky or either, I don't know, their left testicle and then give them a thing and it's gonna make insulin for them? Like, yeah. Sure. I... That's happening now.
Now, you know, so is it doable?
But will it be part of just, like, society? Like, it will... Will it be part of the thing?
If it's part of the thing You if your eyes are bad, get glasses.
Pancreas goes bad, you get islets. Oh. It's, like, part of the thing.
It... That's Twenty seconds. That's money. That... So then then the world has to fundamentally change how reward structures work.
And if that can happen, then maybe. And there's an argument to be made that, you know, AI could move us in that direction or AI could move us away from that direction. We're now... We don't know yet. But could it happen?
Yes. Will it happen? Maybe. Would I bet on it? No.
Alright. I agree with it. That was
two... Oops. Two minutes.
Oh, good to go. You even got another kind of another second question there.
I did. I did great.
Are gonna be proud.
No. They're gonna hate me because, like, some people are gonna be like, oh my god. There's gonna be a cure. And if you have a big podcast and if you would just get behind it, then I know. Like, I have some control over whether or not they cure diabetes.
I don't to the crazy people online who think I I have something to do with it. I do not. And and... But I just think that... Listen.
Is it within the realm of possibility? I think we've already kinda proven that it is. Right? There's, what, nine, 10, 11 people walking around right now making their own insulin, getting an infusion every twenty one days to make sure that it doesn't go the wrong way. And so far, it's been okay.
But I just had... It's like Katie Beth back on. She's gonna be back on the podcast soon, right, to remind me that the first time I spoke to her about the Eladon trial, she had just had it happen to her. Like, she was just getting the news that she was gonna stop using insulin, and now she's been back on to talk about it again, which will be probably by the time yours is up. Hers will be out already.
It's only been, like, months, six, eight, nine months since she... So it's... If you think she can't wake up a year from now and this doesn't work anymore, you're out of your mind. Like, it could completely go the other way. I...
It doesn't seem like it is, which is great and very encouraging, but we don't have any, like, answers. Right? Like, about specific answers. Once you have them, then it's about insurance and money, who gets it. You know what I mean?
Like, it's Privilege. Yeah. It's gonna be about privilege. It's gonna... Of of one way or the other, like...
And about just time. Let's say their privilege didn't exist. There's two million people walking around with type one diabetes. Who's given every one of them that's... That procedure?
Like, right now, there's a guy that does it. He can't do two million of them. So... You know what I mean? So now you gotta, like...
Let's say it works. Now you gotta train other people. You gotta get the islet cells. You gotta get enough medication. You gotta get the infusion centers.
You gotta get the whole thing up and running.
Crumble cookie is? Like, do you know
what crumble
cookie is there from Utah? Yeah. He scaled that that fast.
Oh, it's because he's selling fork cookies.
Cookies and delivery and become a billionaire. Like, we can we can we can reproduce that. Don't don't yuck our young. We can do that.
I am gonna say something incredibly controversial. Oh. Don't think I don't think those cookies are good at all. I really hate crumble cookies.
Controversial here in Utah. We've got a lot of competitors.
Terrible cookies. Not the point. And then maybe that is the point. Maybe it was great when he started, and when he scaled it up, maybe it didn't go as well during scale. So...
But my point is that all this stuff has to happen. So if your kid's 15 and and I can take the last fifty five years of my life watching society try to accomplish things, no. It's not gonna happen because people have not proven to be able to do stuff like that in that short amount of time. And I know I'm calling fifty five years a short amount of time. It's in a short amount of time.
Okay? If... To my point about AI is if it does happen, something about the scalability of it, about the delivery of it, about the about the maintenance of it is going to have to get automated to take it out of the need for people to help you. Because I went to the grocery store the other day and complained to the manager that every one of the cashiers is wearing a dirty shirt, and he said, that's not within my control. So when we live on a planet where the manager of a grocery store doesn't believe that he's in control as to whether or not the employees come in and clean clothing or not, I don't know how you think we're gonna get two million people a cure for diabetes.
You're gonna need a machine to take
science class. You're a 15 year old boy in science class.
Yeah.
What did those alarms do to you?
What did those alarms do to me? It made me... It made me do... It made
me back to 15 year old Scott.
Yeah. It's making me do the same thing it's making me do right now. It's making me send Arden a note that says, hey, bolus. And then... And because You're at home.
Because I wouldn't... You're you're talking to a guy who sent a find your iPhone message to my daughter when she didn't answer her text. You ever get a find your iPhone message?
My my... It it... That's what my kids joke about is, like, the trigger. That's gonna be what they're gonna consider triggering.
Guess what? They can get over it. Okay? My dad used to kick me under a coffee table. They can get over their their phone beeping.
I...
I said that one time in our endo office, like, put it on the list. Save it for the couch. I
I... Go tell your therapist. Like, we're... How about how about... When you're at that therapist, you'll be alive and healthy.
You're welcome. Now... Yeah. So, like... So I texted her.
She didn't answer. She didn't answer. She didn't answer. I sent a find your iPhone. They're incredibly invasive.
It went off in the thing. She's like, dad, I can't believe you did that. And I said, doesn't have to ever happen again. Just answer your phone. There.
Done. And guess what
she did? See. What popped up again.
And what did she do after that, April? She answered her phone because she don't to beep. That's all. Oh my god. You embarrassed her.
She's gonna have a trauma. Shut up, losers. Goodbye. I'm done. I can't I can't with everybody.
To learn more and see if you might be able to get Twist from the pharmacy and try it for free, head to visit.twist.com/juicebox. That's visit.twist.com/juicebox, or give them a call at 18774. That's +1 (877) 489-4478 and tell them Scott sent you. TWIST requires a prescription and is indicated for people with type one diabetes six and older. Arden has been getting her diabetes supplies from US Med for years.
You can as well. Usmed.com/juicebox or call (888) 721-1514. Many thanks to US Med for sponsoring this episode and for being and for being longtime sponsors of the juice box podcast. There are links in the show notes and links at juiceboxpodcast.com to US Med, Twist, and today's other awesome sponsor, the Eversense CGM. They make, of course, the Eversense three sixty five, and that thing lasts an entire year.
One insertion every year. Come on. You probably feel like I'm messing with you, but I'm not. Ever since cgm.com/juicebox. Check it out.
Let's face it. Diabetes is tough, but it's easier when you have a community around you. So if you're looking for a great community around type one diabetes, check out the juice box podcast private Facebook group. Juice box podcast type one diabetes, but everyone's welcome. Type 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 the Juice Box podcast private Facebook group. Juice Box podcast, type one diabetes on Facebook. I promise you it is the most unfacebook like experience that you'll ever ever find. What a great group of people. I don't like saying this usually because it dates the ad, but right now there are 86,000 active members.
86,000 people in there who might have your experience, know what to say, just be a great shoulder to lean on. Don't be too proud to find a community. It really does help. And it's completely free. Juicebox podcast, type one diabetes on Facebook.
I just wanna say thank you so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of the juice box podcast. If you're not subscribed, please subscribe in a podcast app. It really helps Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or whatever your favorite audio app is. Like and subscribe.
You know what the kids say on the YouTube, like and subscribe. It really does help. And if you're already subscribed, please tell a friend or your endo or somebody you think might enjoy the podcast as well. Word-of-mouth is the only way that it grows. Once again, I've been Scott.
You've been fantastic, and we'll be right back with another episode of the juice box podcast.
Read the full disclaimer
© 2007–2026 Juicebox Podcast. All rights reserved.
