#2006 My Body Did It for the Plot

JBP #2006 — My Body Did It for the Plot
Episode 2006November 12, 20261 hr 35 min

My Body Did It for the Plot

Argelis spent ten years being told it was anxiety. Then came celiac, type 1 at 26 in DKA, and six months later a brain hemorrhage at a church altar.

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Touched By Type 1
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50 chapters

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Key Takeaways
  • Content note: from about 1:10 to 1:12, Argelis talks about a period when she didn't want to be alive. She asked that listeners be given a warning. If you are struggling, you can call or text 988 in the US.
  • Starting at 16 on her high school drumline, Argelis would lose her vision, go cold and pass out, sometimes for hours. For about ten years, doctors told her it was anxiety. One asked if she was intoxicated. She had friends record her episodes because doctors didn't believe her. She was diagnosed with celiac in 2021, and going gluten-free didn't stop the episodes.
  • In 2024 she got very thirsty and lost about 30 pounds and two clothing sizes, and she liked how she looked. Her line for it: she felt so confident in her body when it was dying. In May 2025, at 26, the medical team at her church checked her blood sugar and sent her to the ER in DKA. She went home with thirty minutes of training, a 1:15 carb ratio that turned out to be closer to 1:6 or 1:7, and a few hundred dollars of supplies insurance didn't cover. One doctor in the hospital suggested a pill and diet instead of insulin. An endocrinologist who has type 1 was the first medical professional she felt safe with.
  • Six months later she felt a thunderclap in her head at a church altar. EMTs checked her blood sugar, said it was fine, and said she just had a headache. In the car she typed her symptoms into Gemini, which told her it could be a brain hemorrhage and she needed a CT. She passed out three times on the way to the ER. It was a pituitary hemorrhage, with two benign growths too small to operate on. She spent months relearning how to walk and talk.
  • She managed type 1 almost entirely on her own, after a breakup, with no car and with her job threatening to fire her. Social media, coaching, a dietitian through work and AI tools helped her get her A1C from 13.9 to 5.4, keep her job, and file her ADA and FMLA paperwork. She's now rebuilding her relationship with her mom and making content as Argelis Canvas.
Resources Mentioned
Full Episode Transcript

Every word of the conversation

50 chapters 18,341 words ≈78 min read

Welcome and Sponsors0:03

Scott0:03

Hello, friends, and welcome back to the Juicebox 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 Juicebox 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 Juicebox 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. Today, we've got a great podcast and it's sponsored by great advertisers, US Med, the Eversense 365, and twiist. You know about twiist?

It's an insulin pump. I'll tell you all about in a second. I'm having an on body vibe alert. This episode of the Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by the Eversense 365, 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. Eversensecgm.com/juicebox. This episode of the podcast is sponsored by the twiist AID system powered by Tidepool that features the twiist Loop algorithm, which you can target to a glucose level as low as 87. Wanna learn more? Go to visit.twiist.com/juicebox.

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Meet Argelis2:23

Argelis2:23

Hello. My name is Argelis. I am a creative, who just got diagnosed with diabetes about a year ago. I was 26. And then a little bit after that, I had a pituitary brain hemorrhage, and I had to learn how to walk and still have type one diabetes.

So now I'm on this journey of rediscovering what I love, what makes me feel excited to pursue life in a different way. And I think it's been one of the most profound journeys I've taken in my life. So I'm super excited to be here and talk about it. Well, our job is thank you for coming and doing this with me.

Scott2:58

You have to tell

Argelis2:59

me for having me.

Scott3:00

Are you kidding me? Absolutely. I already know from from chatting with you for three seconds before we started here, we're gonna have fun. So I I don't... I wanna make sure I understand.

Like, up until, like, 26 years old, no health issues, and then boom, you have type one?

Ten Years of Being Told It's Anxiety3:18

Argelis3:18

See, the medical system in this country. I had issues on and off for about ten years that no one could really tell me what was going on besides you have anxiety. And I was like, I have anxiety because you're not doing your job. So it was ten years of having different, like, syncope episodes and not really understanding what was going on. And then I got DKA in, what, 2025, and I didn't really know what was going on.

I dropped, like, 30 pound and dropped two sizes of clothing, and I was like, oh my god. I'm scinchy. And the doctors were like, you're dying. And I was like, what do you mean?

Scott3:54

I'm not I'm not I'm not dying. It's happening. You're misunderstanding what's going on.

Argelis3:58

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm the moment now.

I'm, like, fitting these awesome clothes, and they're like, girl, would you like to fit in life? And so here I am.

Scott4:07

Gosh.

Argelis4:07

Well well, tell me happened.

Scott4:10

Tell me first about the passing out, like, since you were 16?

Drumline and Passing Out4:14

Argelis4:14

Yeah. I mean, when I was in 16, I started, like, was in high school and I did marching band.

Scott4:21

Uh-huh.

Argelis4:21

And I was on drumline. And at first, it was just like, well, you're a five two girl on drumline. There's no other girls on drumline. So it's like, maybe I'm just built differently. I'm carrying all this heavy equipment all the time.

Maybe it's just that's the reason I'm fatigued. And, no, I I would be in the middle of rehearsals and then just not see clearly and then have to take breaks or pass out, and it was a lot. It was, like, three years of going through all of this. But previous to that, I I didn't really have any, like, health issues.

Scott4:51

So I

Argelis4:52

was just like, maybe maybe band is banding me a little bit too hard. Well Did you go Yeah. No. It started there.

Scott4:59

Did you go to a doctor during those three years?

Walking Around With Snacks5:01

Argelis5:01

I definitely did. They did off a bunch of blood work. The only thing that they really said was, hey. They went back and forth. So they were like, hey.

Like, she might have hypoglycemia. She might have hyperglycemia. Like, her stuff looks fine, but, like, maybe it's that. So what they ended up doing was having me walk around with snacks like Dora the Explorer. And so I can't complain.

Like, in high school, everybody wanted to bring food in the classrooms all the time, and I was like, I have snacks. But other than that, it was confusing because, I mean, I would be at home, we would have dinner, and then I would get up, and I would fall right over. And so there was a lot of just confusion, especially being raised by a single mom for the majority of my life being Puerto Rican in this country, people have a tendency in the medical system to look at women specifically and be like, hey. They're just having hysterics. Hey.

They're just being, like, dramatic. Like, hello?

Scott5:58

Yeah. You're having... You know, she's caught the vapors. She's so upset.

Argelis6:02

Yeah. It is Yeah.

Scott6:04

Yeah. It's interesting when they can't figure it out. Like, I've No. Listen. I've seen guys go to the to the doctor.

They can't figure out what's wrong with them. No one's ever said they're probably hysterical. And... You know? Or, you know, are you sure you're not you're not, you know, nervous or anxious or, you know, you just might be...

It's it's it's not... I mean, I've seen it happen with my wife where she's having, like, an actual medical problem that we figured out eventually. But in the lead up to it, and I don't mean, like, a couple of days or weeks, like, years, where people would say, well, are you sure you're not depressed? And she's like, no. I'm I'm not depressed.

You know? Like, are you sure it's not this? Like, you must have changed this. She goes, I haven't. I haven't...

I promise I haven't changed that. I'm not depressed. Something's going on. They're like, try depression medication.

Argelis6:49

They're like, man, you are making me depressed.

Scott6:51

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This this is making

Argelis6:53

me the problem. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Scott6:56

Well, I'm so... I'm sorry that happened to you, but it doesn't not make sense that it's... Because I have... I mean, ten years is a stretch of time, obviously. But I have talked to people who prior to their type one diagnosis would experience low blood sugars.

Argelis7:11

Yes. Yeah. Yes.

Scott7:12

It's something that

Argelis7:13

And then you don't see it. The thing is, like, if you are not taking insulin, even, like, a low blood sugar moment for you can be passed off as normal. And by the time you get your blood sugar checked, if you don't know what you're looking for and you go to the hospital, it's normal.

Scott7:25

Yeah.

Is She Intoxicated?7:26

Argelis7:26

So there was just a lot of... Like, there was a... An episode when I was, what, maybe a freshman in college, where my mother had gotten married and my stepfather at the time was taking me to the doctors, and I could barely walk. And when we walked in, they looked at us and they were like, is she intoxicated? And my stepfather wanted to strangle them.

Yeah. So there was just, like, a lot of of learning that my body was wired differently. I couldn't tell you why. It really got to me because I was like, what the hell is happening? But you learn that the only way to move forward is to adapt.

Episodes in College8:07

Argelis8:07

So, I mean, that led to all of my college years just, like, understanding that maybe five minutes before I would have an episode, my vision would go in and out. My hands would start to get really cold, I'd start to feel like I'm going underwater a little bit. And I would excuse myself from the classroom, and I would go to the restroom. And sometimes it would be thirty minutes in there where I didn't feel well. Sometimes I would pass out in the bathroom and then not know how long it would be.

And when I would go back to class, my stuff would be left outside the door and everybody would be gone. Turns out three hours had passed. Oh. But I didn't have medical insurance. So a lot of that was just, like, until my mom got married, to a military veteran and we actually got put on health insurance, a lot of it was just like, I can't afford to to go to the doctor.

I can't afford more going to the doctor and more no answers and more debt. So let's just adapt. And then, you know, life rolls around. And

Scott9:01

How how frequently were those things happening to you where you'd have to leave the classroom or, like, is that a weekly occurrence?

Argelis9:08

Biweekly. Biweekly, at least. Times a month. Yeah. Biweekly, at least.

Scott9:12

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Videos for the Doctors11:27

Argelis11:27

It would come on. It would come and go. So there would be some months where it didn't happen at all, and then some months, maybe, like, six months at a time, it'd be really intense. But there was no, like, linearity in it. So it was very difficult to really explain to a professional where it's like, hey.

Like, this is what I've seen happen. I even had friends take videos of when they would see episodes happen. That's how we found out that I had, like, tonsils that were too big when I was a kid. I wouldn't be able to sleep, and my mom would take videos of, like, the sleep apnea because when you're awake, you can't see it.

Scott12:01

Yeah.

Argelis12:01

So if it wasn't for, like, my mom doing those videos as a kid, they would have never known I needed to take my tonsils out. So I was just like, hey. If I ever have an episode, I mean, of course, just prop me up against the wall, but record it because doctors don't believe you. They just think you have anxiety and you need to go to psych. K.

All of this to say, like, yeah, I'm thankful to to be on the other side and finally have receipts and a paper trail, but it was also really humbling to be like, oh, this doesn't have a cure, so let's just adapt again. Well well, be...

Living With Uncertainty12:32

Scott12:32

Before we get to the diabetes, like, can you maybe shed somewhere light on what it's like to live with uncertainty uncertainty around your ability to control yourself?

Argelis12:43

Oh. I think it's more so you can control certain aspects. You just can't control your body. So even though I couldn't control the feelings that I was having, I learned to be able to tell the science beforehand. I learned what I wanted to do to make sure I kept my dignity in those situations, and then I would execute that.

I wouldn't be able to know how long an episode would be, but I made sure to put myself in a secluded space. If there was ever a moment where I did not trust that I would be able to do that or I felt like something was a little bit stranger than normal, then I would go to the hospital myself. I would, you know, call an Uber or I would have a friend take me, which was very few and far between. So it was more so control the variables because you can't control the situation itself. And that's what I kinda clunked to.

But, of course, it was frustrating to feel different from everybody around me.

Scott13:44

Yeah. What what do you think it it is about you that had you chose... I mean, you chose to, like, embolden yourself instead of feeling, like, put upon somehow. Like, how do... Why...

Do you think that's a personality trait?

Argelis13:59

Oh, try rephrasing that for me.

Scott14:02

Why did you choose empowerment over woe is me?

Argelis14:06

Oh, that's not... Is that a whole lot?... Moment... It's interesting that you say it like that. I think it's more so when you are dealt with the situation for so long, of course, there are feelings of, like, man, I wish I was like other people, but you still need to move.

Yeah. So it's just a matter of adaptation.

Scott14:28

But why doesn't why doesn't it bury you, that feeling?

Drumline Grit14:35

Argelis14:35

I guess for me, I have spent a lot of my life being resourceful and finding solutions to things where there's not solutions currently. So I don't know if it's necessarily something I I thought to myself or was like, I need to be powerful. But it was more so maybe when everything first started happening, I was in an environment that was a competitive sport environment. People don't consider marching band a sport. We were very competitive.

We went to nationals. We were... I mean, our instructors are really strict, and then I was surrounded by men six days out of the week, for three years. Being kinda whipped into shape, that's gonna sound crazy. But when you are put through such rigorous training, and then you're going through these things with your body, it's just like shape up and move.

I don't know. I wanted to do the sport. I didn't wanna lose the sport. So

Scott15:30

Kept going.

Argelis15:30

Let's just adapt. Yeah. Let's just adapt. So it was definitely a journey, and I had some really, really great friends through that process. But maybe that's why.

Maybe it was a season in my life that it happened. But there were definitely moments where it was hard for sure. I can't tell you that there wasn't.

Scott15:47

No. I would imagine so. Any support from your mom on... With this, or was there no way for people to be helpful at all?

Her Mom15:55

Argelis15:55

I think my mom did as much as she knew how to do. But when you are faced with, like, a situation that just seems to keep evolving, there's only so much you can do. So, I mean, she would do her best to take me to doctors. She would do her best to make sure that when things happen, like I was sitting down, she would try to record because that's what she did when I was a kid, and that's how we were, again, able to know that I needed surgery for my tonsils to be removed. So she would do that, and then when I was a minor, we would go to doctor's appointments, and she would try to explain the perspective from someone watching the episode take place versus me.

Scott16:33

Okay.

Argelis16:33

But after a certain point, I mean, doctors were just like, okay. There's two Hispanic women in my office who clearly are just hysterical. Let's just, you know, put her on anti anxiety medication, which that not really the scene that my mom and I were really for anyway. My mom was a health coach. So at the time, just medicine for mental health was kinda taboo.

Being Hispanic and mental health, it's like mental health doesn't exist. It was it was a lot of back and forth. There was a lot of learning through it. But when I became an adult, what, a couple years later, and I was in college navigating this by myself, I... You know, it was more so just like I've had it longer on my own than I had it with her.

Mhmm. So she was helpful to a point, but I had to take over a person.

Scott17:20

So tell me about when your diagnosis came for the type one.

A Year of DKA Symptoms17:24

Argelis17:24

Oh, that's fun. So it's a fun way to answer that. Here's the thing. The year prior... Because there was, like, a year of, like, DKA symptoms before I kinda knew it was happening.

I had an infection. I went to the dentist, and it was supposed to be just, a routine thing. They cleaned out a tooth, gave me a crown, did all this stuff. And then about two weeks later, I started getting super thirsty. This was, like, May 2024.

Mhmm. Super thirsty. I started having the symptoms of, like, not being able to sleep, having to wake up, use the restroom. But I was just like, maybe it's the stress. Maybe it's this.

Maybe it's that. It wasn't until, like, maybe October where I really started seeing a weight change. So I would go to sleep super just, like, full of water in my stomach, and then I'd wake up, like, super skinny. I was like, oh my god. My body's metabolism is great.

So that was just October. I saw some family in December, and they looked at me, and they're like, okay. Whatever you're doing, don't do more of it. Because right now, I... This is probably the skinniest that we've ever seen you, but please don't do anything else because at that point, you're gonna lose everything.

Scott18:43

Well, were you do... But were you doing anything where you could have been like, well, I have been doing this, or did... You were just

Argelis18:49

Oh, good question. So I... I've struggled... Well, I had English. I struggled with having a broken car on and off.

So a lot of the time I was walking. I would walk to the grocery store, you know, carry my bags home. It was all within, a mile or two, so it wasn't anything crazy. But I was walking a lot. So I just put it off with that.

I was like, maybe it's the stress. Maybe I'm walking too much. Maybe I'm not sleeping enough, but it should be fine. I don't know. As a woman, I I was just excited to see, you know, changes in me, and I I thought, well, I'm finally able to wear some of these clothes and feel confident, And that was a nice experience.

I think the learning curve with diabetes was I felt so confident in my body when it was dying.

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Confident in a Body That Was Dying20:41

Argelis20:41

That it was really humbling to get to a point where it was like, oh, maybe I should just learn to love me Mhmm. For me and not what I look like. And now even though I'm a little bit heavier than I was before I even knew I had diabetes, I think I feel more confident in myself now than I did then. And it's just because of healing. You know?

But, yeah, it was a lot of not really understanding what was going on. By the time I really started to put two and two together, it was, like, the first or second week of May the following year. I couldn't sleep because I was so thirsty. That's how bad it was. So it was like I couldn't ignore it anymore.

And, of course, I'm coming off my birthday. I had eaten basically a whole gluten free cake to myself, and I was feeling like crap, and I had no idea why. And so I was like, well, I work corporate. So one of the things that we have, with our insurance is we have telehealth doctors that we can just call 247. And I was just like, hey.

Like, I really don't like doctors, and I really don't trust doctors, but something's up. It was kind of reaching that point, like, in college where I was mentioning, hey. If something seems a little bit off beyond my off, maybe I should reach out for help. So I was getting to the point where it was like, okay. This is a little bit strange even for me, so let me see what's going on.

When I spoke to the telehealth doctor, he scheduled blood work for me to get screened for diabetes because he was like, have you ever considered that? Do you have family history? And I was like, maybe my great aunt had type two, but I don't know. Right. I didn't know anything

Scott22:21

about

Argelis22:21

that.

Scott22:21

Did you

Argelis22:22

And I'm sorry.

Scott22:23

At that point, did you did you have celiac at that point?

Celiac First22:26

Argelis22:26

I did. I had celiac in 2021, or I found out in 2021, and then about four years after, I I got diabetes.

Scott22:35

Celiac diagnosis, you go gluten free. Did that change the passing out?

Argelis22:41

No. And that was the most frustrating part. No. I was Italian. And so for me, I was just like, so I'm thinking I finally have some answers.

I'm changing my whole diet, and I still feel like crap. At least I'm not like my stomach is a rock anymore, but I'm still passing out, which is, for me, from my experiences, was a lot more humiliating than having my stomach feel like a rock and having the cold sweats because I would wear really oversized sweaters, and I would just go out... I'd go outside and just try to make it work. You can't really do that when you're passed out. Well, so Hold on.

I have...

Scott23:17

Give me give me a second. I have two questions here. So

Argelis23:20

Yeah. You're good.

Scott23:21

So celiac came first. You were eating gluten free, still passing out.

Argelis23:24

I was.

Scott23:25

Then you get diagnosed with type one. I'm gonna ask you in a second if the passing out stopped after the diagnosis. But first, you just confused me for a second, so I just need clarity. Sure. You said Puerto Rican and Italian at some point, so I wanna understand your your

Puerto Rican and Italian23:38

Argelis23:38

Yes. Yes. Okay. So my parents were born in Puerto Rico. I was born in Puerto Rico.

My mom's grandparents are Italian. So we have Luccessi and Luciani in our blood, from the Italy side, but my immediate family is from PR. And my dad's lineage is in PR.

Scott23:58

Okay.

Argelis23:58

But my mom has some lineage in in, like, Italian blood and all that stuff. So we had incorporated a lot of that for, like, holidays and foods and that type of thing.

Scott24:07

I'm good. Thank you. Go ahead. Well, it's just those

Argelis24:10

Yeah. No worries.

Scott24:10

It's those little

Argelis24:11

It's a weird mix.

Scott24:12

Well, no. It's not it's not that. I don't... Listen. I couldn't possibly care what your mix is.

What I what I what I know is when people are listening, if there's if things get said that seem like they conflict, people can start to think like, oh, this is made up, this story. And so, like Yeah.

Argelis24:28

No. Thanks for clarifying that. No. No.

Scott24:29

Because you were just so clearly, like, Puerto Rico, and then you were like, because I'm Italian. I went, uh-oh. This is gonna stop people in their tracks. Yeah. So I'm good.

Argelis24:36

Yeah. Thanks for asking.

Scott24:37

No. No. Of course. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Now you're diagnosed with type one. Does the passing out stop then?

Did the Passing Out Stop?24:48

Argelis24:48

Reason. No. It's not the same as it was before. Gotcha. Yeah.

I mean, when the passing out happened back then, when I would eat sugar, I would just tank even worse.

Scott25:00

Yes.

Argelis25:00

So what I would eat was protein instead.

Scott25:02

So

Argelis25:03

Now I know that, you know, because I have insulin in me, I need actual sugar. So that helps me go up a lot faster.

Scott25:11

But Is the

Argelis25:12

still happens.

Scott25:12

Is the theory that back then your body was... I don't wanna use the word dysregulated, but, obviously, like, you're you're heading towards type one diabetes at some point, or maybe you

Argelis25:21

have a

Scott25:21

lot of. Who knows? And then you're... You take in carbs, and your body was overcompensating with insulin and making you low. Is that the idea of what you think was happening?

Argelis25:31

I I have no clue. I would just kind of explain it like... I don't know. When people would eat a bunch of sugar, they would go, like, super hyper and then they'd crash afterwards.

Scott25:42

So I

Argelis25:43

would just kinda think of it as like a kid where I was just like, maybe my body is acting like that where it just can't handle more sugar, it just taps out. I don't know. I couldn't tell you. It was very confusing for people in my life too because everybody thinks, okay. You're passing out.

You need sugar. Was before diabetes, of course. And I was just like, you don't get it? I need protein. And they're like, you're definitely making this up because other people need sugar.

Scott26:06

I gotcha.

Argelis26:06

And then when I got diabetes, I I understood now the differences on what my body needed.

Scott26:11

Okay. So let's pivot a little bit to being diagnosed with type one as a, I mean, a reasonably young person. Are you Sure. Dating, married? Do live by yourself?

Like, are you

Argelis26:22

I am me, myself, and I am the lord. I have a roommate. I, you know, I live in an apartment. I work from home, and I work corporate. So that has been my stage of life as of this moment.

Scott26:34

Okay. Okay. And so when you're diagnosed, you're a little on your own, but you have a roommate. You don't live with your parents or anything like that, obviously. What's the diagnosis like?

Can you talk... Walk me through how it made you feel and how you try to move forward from it?

Diagnosed at Church26:48

Argelis26:48

So at the time, I was dating somebody, and, I had been with them for three years. And when things started first happening in October where I pointed that out to my partner at the time, it's like, I feel like I like I look... Like I've lost a lot of weight. Can you notice? And that's such a as a man, he was like, girl, you complain when you gain weight.

You complain when you lose weight. Like, pick one. So he had seen a lot of the health issues that I had, of course, while we were dating, and he was very supportive of that. When we finally got, you know, the diagnosis for type one, we were in the same place. We were going to church and all this.

I found out my blood sugar was really, really high. We had a medical team at the church who tested my blood sugar, and then they were the ones telling me I needed to go to the ER. So he was with me during that process. And, when we get to the ER, and, of course, they mentioned DKA, ICU, all these things, I'm like, what is this alphabet soup?

Scott27:48

Yeah.

Argelis27:49

So, you know, we're kinda going through it in real time, and we had very different takeaways. For me, it was like, I always thought that when I had some type of answer, there would be a cure and this would be over. Mhmm. That was really, really hard for me to wrap my head around because celiac was already really hard and changed my life. How do I manage this thing now that if I do this medicine wrong, I'm dead?

If I do too little, I'm dead. If I do too much, like, it just... It felt almost impossible from the beginning. For him, it was like, well, you finally have an answer. Why are you so frustrated?

Yeah. And I was like, you son of a gun. Right. So we had very different takeaways. And at the time, I was actually living on my own in an apartment.

Alone in an Apartment28:42

Argelis28:42

I was at the end of a lease, and we had maybe split up a couple weeks after that diagnosis. I was still very fresh into it. I didn't have much communication with my family. I had just gotten out of a three year breakup. I don't have a car because my car is broken, and I'm living in this apartment working from home.

I didn't have a support team. I had thirty minutes of training at the hospital. I never poked an orange with insulin like a lot of people did. I'd never even given myself insulin before I left. All they have me do was test my sugar with a fossil fuel glucometer bigger than my face.

And then they're like, okay. Go home. I mean, even when I got to the pharmacy to pick up the equipment, none of it was covered by my insurance. So, thankfully, I I love numbers, and I'm pretty smart with my finances. I always have an emergency fund, but it was a couple of $100 just to get the medicine that they told me I needed to live.

Yeah. So I get it. I go home. I go back to work after a week in the hospital. My job is trying to fire me because I'm out of work for a week, and I don't know what documents they need.

So I start fighting this battle of ADA, FMLA. I don't know what's going on. And I'm trying to give myself insulin, and I'm I'm crashing. Like, I'm giving myself too much. My blood sugars are not, like, under 70.

They're more, like, a 130, nineties, that type of thing. But I was, like, I was crashing out like I was 40, because it was just so fresh. It was so new. My body was healing. All of this to say, it was very isolating.

And one of the biggest things that I learned in that process was if I thought I was resourceful before, I'm thankful for social media, because I did what any Gen Zer would do, and I was like, there's no way. There's absolutely no way that no one else has this. I might not know anything about this, and I might not know anybody who has this, but there's gotta be something.

Scott30:44

Sure.

Finding Help on Social Media30:45

Argelis30:45

So I ran into you guys. I ran into Risely. I ran into Breakthrough T1D. You know, I signed up for the D-Box from Touched By Type 1 and got some resources. Like, I literally...

Everything on social media really helped change the game. So getting a medical bracelet, you know, learning the differences between hypos and hypers, like, all of that diabetes education was social media for me. And it's interesting because I hear a lot from people who got diabetes when they were a kid and they had, like, their parents or they had, like, the medical professionals walking them through it. And I think that that's such a beautiful experience, and I'm definitely not here to speak on that experience because I I don't know what that's like. But on the adult side, because most professionals are not used to someone who's an adult getting type one, when they see you and you tell them you have type one, they assume that you know what you're doing.

So they didn't really like... They didn't give support because when they see an adult with type one, they think, okay. They've had it for a while. But for me, I I had only had it for maybe a month or so. So there's so much help that I needed.

So I'm thankful to you guys, and I'm thankful for Risely, and all of the resources that I found online because it really helped me find my footing again. But it was really disorienting and isolating and abating.

Scott32:05

Pretty much. I can't... I honestly, I can't imagine. It's, to be alone, to have just broken up with someone, to find out your insurance isn't gonna cover, to have a problem with your job. Plus, it...

It's not lost on me that just in the course of... I mean, you pointed it out, but, like, I kept listening afterwards. You said, like, you know, alphabet soup, but it's DKA, ICU, FMLA. You

Argelis32:30

know? ADA. ADA. All this stuff.

Scott32:32

Know? Like, you're just like, what is... Like, how do all these new things come rushing into my life at the same time and the fear around the insulin? And I am having outcomes with the insulin that are not optimal. So I don't even feel like I know what I'm doing about that.

Then you get scared to eat. It just Yes. It's a tumble. Yes. You you know?

Argelis32:49

Yeah. For sure. Yeah. Yeah. You just pick

Scott32:52

you just pick through it slowly till it begins to make sense, or did something come all at once to help you? Was it people? Was it information?

A Creature of Knowledge33:02

Argelis33:02

I am a creature of knowledge. I feel most in control when I know what I'm doing. I don't need a situation to be perfect as much as I just need to know the way through. Mhmm. So a lot of it for me was I couldn't really sleep a lot in the beginning.

I think for the first month and a half, I was fighting to keep my job. My relationship was on the rocks, and I was just like, well, if I'm awake anyway, might as well learn. So, I mean, I found out, you know, through Breakthrough T1D, they sent me some resources too, and they sent me a book. And I can't remember what the name of book that they sent is. But, I started learning a little bit more about the differences between type one and type two, what I would need, getting a medical bracelet.

And the more I learned, the more I felt in control of an uncontrollable thing. Mhmm. So just controlling the variables. But I I I just kept going. I don't...

I found glow gummies, and that helped me a lot to get up quickly. So I was appreciative of that. I really thought they were a lot older of a company than they are. They really just started, what, a year, two years ago, and that was around the time I got diagnosed. I was like, perfect time to get diagnosed.

So, yeah, I think it was just I needed... There was, I don't know, there was no there's no other option but go through. It's either go through or go through. And so that's what I did. That's awesome.

I don't know. I was learning as much as I could, and I kept going.

Scott34:31

It's it's really amazing. And you... At your age, all that comes, what, through Instagram, TikTok, that kind of stuff?

Argelis34:37

I had Instagram. I had Instagram. I didn't really have TikTok until I started doing content in January. But I, yeah, I would join, like, free workshops with Lauren from Risely, and I would just go on YouTube and hear people's testimonials of how they got diagnosed with diabetes and what they had. I really had to just normalize it because it just...

All of it was really abrupt. So it... Because it's like you can't go back to life before diabetes, so I had to acclimate myself to, okay. Well, this is new. I understand you don't want this.

We're here. So let me just learn from the people who have carried this before me. And it was really wonderful to see the social media side of t one d. I ran into, Alex. Alex does, type one content through Instagram or through TikTok, and he would...

He was the first example of someone my age who did not care about what he ate. And from someone... I literally ate the same meal, for six months straight to bring down my a one c from 13.9 to 5.4. Do I recommend it? Absolutely not.

But seeing Alex, do content on Instagram and TikTok showed me, okay. So my life is not just ground beef, lettuce, tomatoes. Like, I can actually be a human again. Mhmm. So it was it was a bit of that.

I also realized that through my, job, I could sign up for a dietitian for free. So I had a couple sessions with them just to learn food portions. Maybe about until, like, month three or four, I went back to AdventHealth, and I was like, do you guys have anything for adults? And so they signed me up with a diabetes educator for a little bit. So just solidified more of the knowledge from my dietitian about food portions.

Scott36:33

Yeah.

Celiac as a Head Start36:34

Argelis36:34

With celiac, you're already super conscious about the ingredients and everything. So I feel like celiac was my precursor to diabetes. Now when I was healing my a one c, I was already super food disciplined. It was just the portions of the food that I was eating.

Scott36:49

Okay. Did you find So... Yeah. You were eating a lot more or less than what was the the label was indicating? Or how did you...

How did that help you?

Argelis36:59

I ate more carbs, than everything else. With celiac, I thought, well, I can barely eat the foods that I wanna eat because I was used to eating in a certain way. So I'm gonna overdo potatoes because I love potatoes. I would have comfort foods. Right?

But with diabetes and healing, your a one c, you can't really do that in the same way. Yeah. And I just had to learn how to balance my meals better so that my blood sugar wouldn't spike. But I didn't know anything about that. I didn't know, like, eating foods in a specific order on your plate can help with that.

There was a lot of just, like, little details that you wouldn't have a clue of if you did have diabetes. Like No. No. No.

Scott37:38

And and So one talked to you about how to cover the food well with insulin to to make sure that your settings were good, like, that stuff.

Argelis37:47

I was on MDI. I was on MDI That's... Mean for the first...

Scott37:51

Yeah. But you still have settings. You still have carb ratio, sensitivity factor for corrections, you know, and

One to Fifteen37:57

Argelis37:57

I noticed... Yeah. They did... When I when I left the ICU and I went home, they gave me the number of the endocrinologist who was working with me for, like, the first week or two. By week two, she was like, hey.

You can't talk to me anymore because you're... You've been out for two weeks. You're no longer here. Like, I wish you the best of luck. And I was like, oh, I thought this was, you know, a person who was gonna be a part of my sport team.

But they basically... What was it? They had given me, of course, the one unit of insulin for 15 carbs. So I just followed that until I realized it wasn't working. I realized that at the time, I was more, like, one to six, maybe one to seven, not one to 15.

Scott38:40

So that was the... That's the hospital that gave you the one to 15 as a start?

Argelis38:45

Yeah. And

Scott38:46

Yeah. And never said to you, this might not be accurate or could change.

Argelis38:49

Oh, no. No. No. No. They told me it's one to 15.

You're gonna have normal life. There are plenty of people who have a normal life. Like, you're gonna be just fine. You just do this, and it's gonna be a process and you'll learn, but you're gonna be normal. I even had a doctor in the ICU tell me, she...

This is crazy. This is absolutely absolutely insane. Insane. This just goes to show you how across the board, and I'm not to bash the medical system. I just don't think that the medical system understands chronic illness the way that they do, like, emergency, like, life threatening things.

If you're losing your leg, it's different than I have lupus. You know? Like, it's a little different, so they don't know how to handle chronic illness as well. But there was a doctor who came in when we were talking about the different types of treatment, like insulin injections. Injections.

They they even even were were talking talking about some pill that you can take, instead of doing injections because they weren't for sure for sure that I had type one. They were, like, 95% certain.

Scott39:47

They were a

Argelis39:47

100% certain.

Scott39:48

Were they trying to give you metformin?

The Pill and the Health Coach39:50

Argelis39:50

It wasn't it wasn't metformin. It was it was something similar where it was, like, supposed to take the place of making me more insulin sensitive. And there was a doctor who said, well, you know, you're gonna be just fine. Like, I had gestational diabetes, which I feel is so much worse than having, like, diabetes because you have it when you're pregnant. You can't have the same amounts of...

Like, you can't eat the same way, and it's super abrupt. And I believed her because I didn't know anything. And my mom was a health coach, and this woman said that she was a health coach too. And not to say anything bad about health coaches because my mom is a health coach, but she had made it sound like I can cure my diabetes by eating strict and that I wouldn't need insulin injections because I was young and my body could adapt, and she would put me on this pill instead that would help me become more insulin sensitive.

Scott40:43

And did you meet her behind a dumpster at a seven Eleven, or where did you meet her exactly?

Argelis40:47

I met her in the hospital room in this glorious gown with, you know, my back and my booty in the air. No. But, like, for real, like, it would... Those gowns are so atrocious. Oh my god.

But, like, no. It... I really... I remember there was a nurse who walked in, while this doctor was talking to me, and they rolled their eyes in the corner. And I was so confused because I was like, why are all of these doctors in the same hospital telling me all these different things?

Like, one was like, hey. One unit of insulin for, you know, 15 grams of carbs. You need to do insulin shots. The other one was like, you need to do pills. And they're like, which one do you wanna do?

Scott41:23

And I was like Yeah.

Argelis41:24

What do you mean? Which one do I wanna... I don't know. You're the doctor.

Scott41:28

So it was

Argelis41:29

a lot. That was a lot.

Scott41:31

I learned. Three weeks ago, I was like, look how skinny I am. I don't I don't know what's happening. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Wait. Where... Is this a city or, like, where... About where was this?

Argelis41:41

Central Florida. Central Florida. Okay. Yeah. Central Florida.

An Endo Who Has Type 141:44

Argelis41:44

So it was just... It was it was a lot to take in. And looking back now, one, I'm so grateful that I actually got on insulin pens because I would have ended up right back there. Yeah. When I saw an endocrinologist a couple of weeks after being discharged, she also had type one, and she was the first medical professional who looked me in the face and I felt safe with.

And she was like, hey. You're gonna be okay. I'm gonna give you some resources. She didn't talk to me for seven minutes, and she was done. She actually spoke to me with...

For, like, thirty to forty minutes.

Scott42:23

Yeah.

Argelis42:23

She really walked me through my questions. I mean, for the first month and a half, I was struggling to get insulin, insulin, insurance approved CGMs. So I was terrified that, because I didn't have, like, that diagnosis of type one in the very beginning. They just said I had diabetes. They weren't sure yet.

And I was terrified that I was gonna go to sleep. And because I was taking insulin, what if I did it wrong and then I wouldn't wake up? It was a very real fear that I had.

Scott42:48

Sure.

Argelis42:50

And she... If it wasn't for her and the fact that I'm Gen Z and I have social media, that process would have been very, very difficult. Just the first initial stages. And I saw her every couple of months, but at least having one medical professional after ten years of not really trusting anybody, having one medical professional who looked at me like a human and said, I literally have what you have. I'm gonna help you.

That changed so much. Yeah. And then eventually, I, you know, kept moving on and went coaching and did all this stuff, but that was kind

Scott43:25

of the process. It's worth shining a light on that even after a decade of not being helped, just one person doing their job

Argelis43:31

One person.

Scott43:32

Changed your your outlook on everything. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting, isn't it? Yeah.

It's very interesting. Also, I...

Argelis43:39

There's there's...

Scott43:40

I don't think it's doctor bashing to point out what happened to you. You know what I mean? Like, I... It's a... I I don't know.

If if if you were in your home and a guy came bursting through the door with a gun, stole your dog, and later you described it as your home was broken into, we don't call that criminal bashing for some reason. Like like, it's what happened. It wasn't pleasant. It's not a thing you expect from other people. It's certainly not what you want from them.

But, I mean, it is an accurate description of what happened. So I think if doctors don't wanna get bashed, maybe they should walk into a room not going, you probably don't even need insulin. I'll give you a pill. It's gonna be great. You know what I mean?

Medical Gaslighting44:20

Argelis44:20

And I've seen... Yeah. I mean, I've seen I've seen doctors do a really great job with different diseases before. I've seen, you know, my grandfather on my mom's side go on dialysis, and doctors really care for him. I've seen my other grandfather from my father's side go through lung cancer and beat it twice.

And I've seen doctors really hold his hand through that. So I've seen really wonderful medical professionals. And in my head, I think after the medical gaslighting of so long, I really thought it was in my head. I really thought, okay. Maybe it's just me.

Scott44:52

Yeah.

Argelis44:53

I think Until I finally saw the papers, and I was like, oh my god. And then six months after, I had a brain hemorrhage, and I was like, what the actual crap? Like, you guys really missed a lot.

Scott45:02

Argelis, we haven't gotten to that part yet. Hold on a second.

Argelis45:05

So it was a process.

Scott45:06

But it's... The way you just said it made me feel this way. Right? Like, I can take my car to a mechanic who can fix it, and that's great because that's all I needed. But if I have to leave with a fixed car that I also understand how it got fixed, that's different.

And so you can... Yeah. If you have to go on dialysis, if you have cancer, if you break your leg, you're gonna go to the mechanic. The mechanic's gonna fix the thing for you, you're gonna leave, and you're gonna go on your way. And you'll be like, what a great mechanic.

That was awesome. But Yeah. The the difference between just doing it and having to explain it seems to be where the the problem is, is that there are some educators, some people around diabetes who are awesome at explaining it, and some that aren't, and some that don't even appear to understand what they're talking about. And then there's great ones. Like, don't get me wrong.

I've met tons of great endocrinologists and nurse practitioners, etcetera, and so on, and people who understand how to lay it out for you and give you resources and walk you through those resources, not say things to you like, well, it's been two weeks. You're not allowed to call me anymore. Even though I understand how that happened. Like, she's a a hospital person. You're supposed to go to a doctor after that.

It's not her anymore, but that's not what happened to you. Like, she told you what she was supposed to tell you. Hey. You can't keep calling me. I work for the hospital, not this.

You know, go figure it out.

Argelis46:27

Doesn't your nearest hospital.

Scott46:28

Well, that doesn't tell the the story of you hanging up the phone and now being alone again in that apartment. You you know, like... And then what do you mean go find... Where am I gonna go find another doctor? Where am gonna go find...

And then I find one, and they're like, have the magic pill. Have a bean. We'll grow a a beanstalk and climb to the top and find beanstalk. And we'll find the we'll find the giant. It's gonna be amazing.

Like like, what the hell? Right? Like

Argelis46:52

Yeah. And point I I hear what you're saying.

Scott46:54

Also, if I sound crazy, it's only because I've had 2,000 conversations and most of them go like this. So Yeah. I mean, other......

Argelis47:01

Imagine your perspective.

Scott47:02

Yeah. My perspective is a lot of people struggle unnecessarily because somebody can't explain something to them. That's pretty much all I'm seeing. Because once it got explained to you, you're doing okay.

Screening Is New?47:15

Argelis47:15

Yeah. I... Again, I think the biggest disconnect is just the lack of understanding for chronic illness. And when I talked to my endocrinologist, I was like, why didn't anybody think if you... Because I got everything checked in ten years that I could think of.

My heart, my ears. You know? I did the balance test. I even did physical therapy. I did a whole bunch of things.

I was like, why didn't they test me for any type of autoimmune diseases? And she was like, the screening for type one diabetes is still very, very new. So when you started having these things, this didn't exist yet.

Scott47:47

Wait. Wait. Hold on. Stop. The screening for type one diabetes is new?

Argelis47:51

She said that the screening, like, for the antibodies has gotten better over the years, but it didn't really... It wasn't known in the same way as it is now, and it was newer. Oh,

Scott48:00

didn't exist.... Gonna call bullshit on that for you. Okay. This was two years ago. Right?

Argelis48:06

Yes.

Scott48:07

Yeah. There's c there's c peptide test two years ago. That... That's not... I...

Yeah. It's okay. Everything's fine. Let's just calm down. What happened in your brain?

Argelis48:17

That's starting to trigger you.

Scott48:18

No. No. No. No. What what happened in your...

You... I I don't wanna curse, but all you MFers, you gotta try a little harder. Like like, it just... It... You...

Why would you tell somebody that testing for, like, for diabetes is a new thing two years ago? No. It's not. Stop it. I had Get

Argelis48:35

some get some help.

Editing Carbs on twiist48:36

Scott48:36

I interviewed I interviewed a person the other day

Argelis48:39

Thumbna.

Scott48:39

Who told me that that they are on the twiist pump. And I don't know if you know. On the twiist pump, can edit your you can edit your meals. Like, you could, like, put in, like, hey. I have 35 carbs.

Right? And then an hour later, you know what? Actually, that was, like, 37 carbs or 40 carbs. You go back and edit it. It's a function of the pump, which is really helpful because it also helps the algorithm to understand what's inside of you.

Yeah. This person goes to their endocrinologist, and the endocrinologist sees the edits and says, oh, you're not supposed to be using that. They're for emergencies only.

Argelis49:15

What do you mean?

Scott49:16

Which is not true.

Argelis49:17

It's settings.

Scott49:17

And and and so then if... To to... Then I texted a friend of mine who works at twiist and told that person that, and I could hear them driving their head through the drywall over the text.

Argelis49:30

Oh my god.

Scott49:30

Because you're you're putting good in... You put a good product into the world. You put good information out to help people use it. It gets all the way to a person who tries it, and then they use it correctly, and a doctor yells at them for it. How you suppose...

How any of us suppose they get anywhere if that's how this all works? Now let's go to your brain. How did you get a brain hemorrhage? What the hell?

Argelis49:53

How did you do that?

Scott49:54

Yeah. You know? What'd do?

My Body Decided Violence49:55

Argelis49:55

One day, I woke up and and my body decided violence.

Scott49:58

I know you I know you hit yourself with one of those drum things one time. Bang.

Argelis50:01

I definitely... It was me. I'm the problem. No. I literally...

I think to myself, a lot of the time as a kid, I I I walked through really interesting situations, and, I thought, you know, as an adult, I'm gonna go out and do my own thing and live my life, and I kinda joke about it where it's like, you know what? My body... Once I became an adult and I started living by myself, it was like, you know what? This is so peaceful. We're bored.

You wanna know what we should do? Civil war. Civil war would be great. So, you know, my body did it for the plot. No.

How did I get how did I get a brain hemorrhage? Here's the thing. Do you know how many freaking MRIs and CTs I had done before I had the brain hemorrhage? A lot. Over the course of ten years, I got them done so many times.

They never found anything. I I was going through it. This was six months into t one d, and I was very miserable. And I was still going through the breakup, still very fresh for me. And I god, I had a friend of mine who was like, you know what?

A Thunderclap at the Altar51:07

Argelis51:07

Let's go to church tonight. And I was like, you know what? Lord knows I'm in need of Jesus. So I went to church, and, we're having this worship set at church. And I go to the altar, and I'm having my moment with the Lord, and I find myself getting kinda angry.

I'm being at this altar and I'm I'm talking to God and I'm like, Lord, I am angry. And so I start just crying. I'm having this moment with God. All of a sudden, I kid you not, I have the worst, like, thunderclap in my head. And I'm thinking, I'm right next to the stereo at this church.

It's probably the music. I try to, like, I'm on my hands and knees, and so I try to, like, scoot back and I can't, but it's so painful. So I go into fetal position at the altar, and I try to just wait out the rest of the worship set so that someone can help me off of this altar because for some reason, I know pain, and I don't know what the hell just happened to me, but something's wrong. Mhmm. And...

Oh my god. My my atheist friends are like, girl, you are allergic to Jesus. You went to church the first time, got diabetes. You go to church again. Yeah.

What are we gonna do? Wrap you in bubble wrap? Like, what the hell?

Scott52:17

You're complaining to God.

Argelis52:18

You can't even go you can't even go to church.

Scott52:21

You you complained to God and and and God's I'm complaining to God. God's like God's like, oh, this one's so annoying. Kill it.

Argelis52:30

No. It was just... It was funny because I was like, oh my god. These... I look back, and I'm like, man.

When people first saw this, they probably were like, oh my gosh. She's so touched by the holy ghost.

Scott52:38

Oh, yeah. No. For sure. People were like, oh, look at her.

Argelis52:41

She's having a moment with god. And in my head, I'm like, yeah. I'm really about to go see Jesus for real. No. So these two girls, they see me, and they're like, hey.

Do you need help? And I was like, yes. And they literally wrap my arms over their shoulders, and they're, like, walking me out like I'm this athlete that's getting walked off a football field. Yeah. They they put me in the bathroom.

They're trying to figure out what's going on. They me on the floor. They call, you know, 911. EMTs come in. They check my blood sugar, and they think that's the problem with having diabetes and having other autoimmune stuff.

Everything is diabetes now. So if they checked my blood sugar and it was normal, I was just making things up. There was no reason for my head to be hurting. There was no reason for why I felt so nauseous. There was no reason for why I couldn't walk normally.

She Just Has a Headache53:24

Argelis53:24

My blood sugar was fine, so I'm fine. I just have a headache. The EMTs literally looked at me, and they're like, she just has a headache. Like, I mean, we can take her to the hospital, but, like, she's fine. And in my head, I was like, one, I don't trust these EMTs.

Scott53:40

Yeah.

Argelis53:40

Number two, something's really wrong here. I'm struggling to even speak normally. So I declined the ambulance ride with them, and I had gone with my friend, like I mentioned. I was like, you know what? Let...

Let's just go to your car. So we left the service, and I kid you, you're gonna laugh at me. Literally... Do you know the the AI Gemini feature that's on phones? Not ChatGPT, not Siri.

There's a... For, Androids, there's an AI feature called Gemini. Yeah. I kid you not, Gemini saved life. I went to the car, and I was like, okay, Gemini, these are the symptoms I just had.

Tell me what I should do. And literally, my phone was like, you may have had a brain hemorrhage. You need to go to the ER and at least get a CT scan. Well, I'm going to the ER. My my friend is driving me.

I pass out three times in the car on the way to the ER. When we get to the ER, I am presenting as stroke patient. So they rush me to the back. They test me negative for stroke. They throw me in a CT.

And when they come back, they're like, we have to send you to the ICU. You... You've had a brain hemorrhage.

AI Slop and Virtue Signaling54:54

Scott54:54

That's insane. Well, hey. Let's take a half a second here for the older people. Okay? I'm old, but I don't count because I'm young at all.

Argelis55:06

I got you.

Scott55:06

I I spend... So I had to I had to put a post up in my Facebook group last night that just very simply said, hey. Everything that's made with AI isn't just automatically bad. And, you know, if somebody puts something up and it's generated with AI or made with it or whatever and it's got merit, then it's got merit. If it's wrong, say that.

If it's... You know, but you can't just... Yeah. Like, stop virtue signaling. Like, I believe Argelis, listen.

I... I'm I'm old. So I'll just say whatever I want. I don't honestly care. Okay?

Argelis55:39

No. Please go ahead.

Scott55:40

I think that saying AI slop out loud is the new virtue signaling. It's the...

Argelis55:46

It's it's Tell me a little bit about that.

Scott55:48

What do mean? It's the new, like, I know what's right for the world, and I just wanna let you all know that I'm on the right side of what's going on. And, like, you know, AI slop, like like like, that right away. Like, by the way, there's bad AI content. I'm certainly not saying otherwise, but it's all now got lumped into one thing.

Argelis56:07

And Yes.

Scott56:07

It... And it's just

Argelis56:08

And it does different things.

Scott56:09

Yeah. It does a lot of different things. Like, you know, help a girl crawling out of a church to get to the hospital and save her own life. And then, like, you can't dismiss that part of it. Like, it's it's it's a it's a big thing.

So It's a tool. I also a tool. Yeah. Yeah. And and you don't see it...

Like, you clearly thought to go to it immediately. Yeah. Yeah. I I... Listen.

Yeah.

Argelis56:33

I mean, it was mostly because, like, navigating navigating type one on my own. I needed to have answers for questions that people were asking that I didn't have. And I knew very quickly that there was a lot of things I needed to juggle. And because I didn't have a support system, I had to figure out how to delegate. And the only thing that I was able to delegate with was an AI tool.

AI as Her Support System56:55

Argelis56:55

Mhmm. So I would use the AI tool to help me navigate x y or find more information. Like... And it's helped a lot of different ADA, FMLA things that I need for work. Like, it's been such, an ingenious asset that I have, because for someone who navigated a lot of different illness symptoms alone for so long, it it helped.

So, naturally, I was just like, okay. Well, AI is objective. It's not gonna see a Hispanic girl and immediately think she's having, like, an anxiety attack because she feels like God is mad at her for something at a church, and I'm just here doing my EMT shift job. Like, it's gonna take the symptoms to just compute something objective. Even if it's wrong

Scott57:35

But that is your

Argelis57:36

it's gonna compute.

Scott57:37

That is your thought, though. Right? From your perspective that those EMTs came up and saw a Puerto Rican girl outside of a church looked hysterical and was like, she's fine. She got a headache. Is that is that how you felt?

That's what you felt?

Argelis57:49

They literally were rolling their eyes and saying, well, her blood sugar is fine. Oh. Her blood sugar is fine. Like, check her check her... I finally...

I was on a Libre, I think. Mhmm. Check the Libre. You know? She's fine.

She's not she's not bleeding. I'm sure that they're used to, like, people bleeding out and stuff. Yeah. You know, people, like, on... Their houses are...

I don't know. Like, I just... I didn't present that way. It was a girl on a bathroom floor who couldn't walk in a straight line and felt nauseous. Like, I don't know how you can't even think concussion.

Like, that would have been a pretty logical that I wasn't concussed.

Scott58:23

And your

Argelis58:23

But, like,

Scott58:24

your your Gemini assistant didn't look at you and see your hair, your skin tone, or where you are. It just took the facts and said this is what probably happened.

Argelis58:33

Yeah. And it saved my life.

The DoorDash Story58:34

Scott58:34

Well, listen. I get... Not just that. I I know a person who recently is a person who does DoorDash for extra money. Right?

Argelis58:42

And Yeah.

Scott58:42

And I I guess that sometimes there can be confusion about the app and stuff, and some people will get, like like, I guess, just told they can't do DoorDash anymore. And What? Yeah. And and then it's hard to contact the company. And so there's this person I know who, you know, is, you know, supplementing their income with this and was planning on doing it over a full summer as they had in the past.

There was some confusion about the app, and DoorDash just, like, shut them off. And they were like, no. That's not what happened. Like, how do I fight back against this? And it took them...

You know, they they took it for a while. They were going back and forth the way they were supposed to, like, contacting DoorDash the way they were asking to be and everything, and it just wasn't getting resolved. And now this person's four, six, eight weeks into the summertime losing all this income. And Wow. They went to ChatGPT, and not only did ChatGPT explain to them what to do, it wrote the thing for them that they had to write.

They submitted it

Argelis59:40

to Yes.

Scott59:41

To DoorDash.

Argelis59:41

Oh,

Scott59:42

yes. DoorDash. DoorDash's lawyers were like, this is ironclad and wrote and wrote her a check for $8,000 for the money she lost over the summertime.

Argelis59:52

Yes. Yes. Yes. That is the only reason. If it wasn't for Gemini, I would have lost my job.

Like, I literally had to fight to make sure I had the right documents in. I had to send out the right emails. I literally had to... And this is all while navigating insulin for the first time. Mhmm.

So I absolutely did that too. Like, I needed to I needed to know what words I needed to use. I do... Lit... Oh my god.

Yes. I completely relate with that. Yeah. It does. I'm not saying use it for everything, but there are certain contexts.

And, of course, double check always before you ever submit anything. But, like, yes.

Scott1:00:27

Like, it's so sad that

Argelis1:00:29

we're here.

Scott1:00:30

Yeah. But it gets you a lot closer than you were gonna get on your own.

Argelis1:00:33

100%.

Scott1:00:34

Right. 100%. And somebody could say, well, hire an attorney so I can't afford an attorney. If that's what I...

Trying to File an ADA Claim1:00:38

Argelis1:00:38

I can't afford an attorney. Like, there's been so many moments where I need to fight. I even have tried to submit a a claim to ADA because I met up with, like, an ADA table in one of the conferences that we have, like our diabetes conferences. And I went up and I spoke to one of the ADA people who were at the, tent about my situations at work, and they were like, hey. Please submit a claim.

I'd love to be able to help you. But the amount of questions that they ask and working full time and dealing with, like, life, I've tried to submit it two or three times, and I can't even do that Yeah. Because the questions are so extensive. You need all the details. You need all the papers.

And I work a very detailed, oriented job, and I have to navigate that in myself. So it... It's so hard to navigate, one, being the person who has the illness, two, make sure that you are your own secretary and bookkeeper and advocate and then do the job that you are expected to do like everybody else while also go to the... All the appointments that you need so that you can function like everybody else.

Scott1:01:43

Mhmm.

Argelis1:01:44

What happens when you need an appointment tomorrow insurance says you can't have it for the next three months?

Scott1:01:50

Yeah.

Argelis1:01:50

But you're supposed to go back to work and act like you... It's it's so much. And so, of course, like, as someone who has chronic illness and multiple chronic illnesses and I'm still being tested for more because my blood work came back and they're like, yeah. There looks like there's something else here too. So now I'm being screened for lupus as well and scrogins and all this stuff.

Lupus and Sjögren's Screening1:02:09

Argelis1:02:09

I don't even know how to say that. Sjogren's. So there's still more thing... That one. Yeah.

I'm still being tested for that. And it's just like, yeah, someone who is, I'm high functioning. I I have goals. I have dreams. There are things I wanna do, but I need help.

And this tool has been that. So there are definite... It's just a tool. And I don't think it should replacement of people, but I think this has been such a huge reason for why I've been able to move forward in the ways I have.

Running a Company Alone1:02:40

Scott1:02:40

I appreciate you sharing it because I end up doing it a lot, and then I just feel like I'm... People are like, well, he just does it. But I I... Listen. I run a fairly complex company by myself.

Argelis1:02:50

You do? Yeah. And and Yeah. You do. Hope that And it's You can say that.

And and

Scott1:02:54

it's because I'm able to do things that, you know, I I have... At any moment in my day, I I I can't believe I talk like this now, to be perfectly honest with you. But as a person who grew up in the seventies, I'm like, I... This is, like, the future I was promised. I'm excited about it.

And, like, you Oh, really?

Argelis1:03:12

That's so cool.

Scott1:03:13

Yeah. Mean, you you you grew up with, like, phones and, like, you know, the Internet and everything. Like, I'm like, oh, this is what everyone was talking about. But I probably have five or six different agents running different things at all times. I responded back to a pretty complex letter yesterday from a new advertiser, and we worked out a ton of things that are gonna get done.

I didn't write that letter. I I had to, one of my advertisers asked for... Usually, they they don't usually, they don't sign back up till the next year, like, later in the year, but this one was like, hey. I need to do it earlier this year because of how my budgeting's gonna fall, and I didn't have time to do it. So I Yeah.

I literally went to a panel, and I said, hey. Go look back at all the other invoices Yep. That we've done over the years. I don't wanna raise their price. Let's match up with what we've done in the past.

I want you to offer this to them and this and this because we'd like to grow this. Also, let's leave the door open for this to happen later in the year. Blah blah blah. By the way, I didn't even type it. I just sat here and talked to You

Argelis1:04:14

said it.

Scott1:04:15

Yeah. Into a microphone. And then I looked over later, I was like, oh, that's... And I read it, and I was like, that's what I wanted. And then I didn't even email it.

I just said send that to her. And then it did. And I was like, goddamn. Let's go. And so, like, if I had do all that on my own, I'd be dead man walking.

I don't have enough. I've... I just looked up at my board because I don't even know when I counted through. I have 12 different advertisers I work with. I have contracts with those people.

They have desires. They have things they want. They wanna change their ads. They wanna say things on certain days. They wanna...

Like, I can't... And then I create five... Well, five is the minimum. I probably create eight or nine hours of content every week.

Argelis1:04:55

Yeah.

Scott1:04:56

And that's gotta get edited, and it's gotta get, like, put together.

Argelis1:04:59

And you're one person.

Scott1:05:00

You're one person. So it it

Argelis1:05:02

makes sense... Like, it makes sense when you have all these details to navigate. Like, we are now in an era where we have tools who can help us with these things. So I think it's it's effective with time. It's efficient with time.

I'm not saying, you know, use that for every single thing, but when it comes to organization, when it comes to detail refining, when it comes to communication sometimes, it is a very invaluable asset that has helped me and has saved my life and has also been the reason Yeah. Why I'm able to keep, you know, my job, or has been one of the reasons why I was able to keep my job.

Scott1:05:35

I'm a

Argelis1:05:36

I'm So, yes, I'm an advocate for that.

Scott1:05:38

Good. Good. I'm gonna say one last thing on it, and then I'm gonna get to your brain hemorrhage.

Argelis1:05:42

To your brain? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Scott1:05:44

Yeah. I think that people can hear AI sometimes and go, I don't need something to, like, you know, check-in to my flight. That's ridiculous. I agree with you. Yeah.

That's completely ridiculous. That's not... That's... The people who are being productive with it, that's not how they're using it. So either...

Like, look past your social media to find out what it is and stop telling me that it makes pictures with six fingers because it stopped doing that.

Argelis1:06:11

It can.

Scott1:06:11

Yep. But it basically stopped doing that about eighteen months ago. And so, like like, I I know you're stuck on the thing you saw on Facebook one time about what this is, but dig in or don't at your own peril. But, like, the people using it are gonna zoom past you.

Argelis1:06:28

So you want to use it, it's there.

Scott1:06:30

If you

Argelis1:06:31

wanna learn about it, you can. If you don't, that's okay.

Scott1:06:33

Yeah. Oh, also, I couldn't possibly care less what you do. Just

Argelis1:06:38

Just do what you want.

Scott1:06:39

Do what you need do. Complaining about everything all the time. Like, it's it's... Anyway. Okay.

Back in the ICU1:06:46

Scott1:06:46

Your brain exploded. You're in the hospital. What happened?

Argelis1:06:49

Yeah. Yeah. I'm in there, and I'm like, oh god. This again. I don't know.

Scott1:06:53

So hospital. I'm back. I'm back, everybody. I'm back.

Argelis1:06:56

Oh my god. My staycation extended. No. It was it was a lot. It was a lot.

I I think... This is gonna sound crazy. I think that being in the ICU with diabetes was more traumatizing than having diabetes for the first month by myself. And I I say that because, one, when I was in the ICU, a lot of the time, even though it happened with my partner right next to me, my partner worked. So...

And I didn't really have contact with my family. So I was pretty much in the hospital on my own for about a week. Mhmm. And there's a lot of... I was afraid of needles, and I I have a whole story for that, where they, like, left my...

I literally left the hospital with my arms looking purple and black and green because of the amount of times that multiple people stuck me, laughed about it because they couldn't find my veins, and it was it was very traumatic for me. And so having to go back to the ICU again, I was more terrified of that than the brain hemorrhage. I don't know. Something about, like, diabetes trying to kill you every Tuesday because you took too much insulin and then being told, like, oh, you have a brain hemorrhage. Like, you're...

You might die. It's like, yeah. My diabetes tries to do that every week, but we'll see. So I get I get to the the ICU, and I'll be honest, it was very different. So the first time when I got sent to the ICU with type one diabetes, they were like, yeah.

You were dying, but we can save you. You're in the right place.

Scott1:08:28

Mhmm.

Two Growths1:08:29

Argelis1:08:29

This time, it was like, hey. Do you have someone to make medical decisions for you if you can't? I was like, what do you mean? Yeah. So, yeah, they they found out I had two cysts.

At the at the time, they were like, you have two growths in your brain. We don't know how big they are. We just know that they're there. We can't even tell you why you had the brain hemorrhage. I had a pituitary brain hemorrhage, and the pituitary is very, very small in your brain.

It's in the center of your brain. And so because the brain hemorrhage was very fresh when they did the CT, the blood was covering a lot of the pituitary gland itself. So it was very, very hard to see the actualities of what was happening. They could just tell that there were growths. Mhmm.

And so because of that, they were like, hey. We've gotta do a lot more extensive tests, but we need to see how big these growths are. If they're big enough, we're gonna go in and do surgery and remove them, but we won't have any time to tell you that you're gonna have the surgery beforehand. We're gonna have to rush you in. And I was like, okay.

Okay. Okay. What do you mean? The neurosurgeon was basically just explaining to me that they were very grim. They were very grim.

They weren't optimistic. They didn't really know what they were dealing with. And I asked him, and I was like, okay. Well, what are my chances? Cool.

So it's like, don't be straight. Yeah. And they're like, well, anytime, you know, we're talking about brain surgery, yeah, you could die. I was like, okay. And they're like, I...

What? And I was like, I mean... Yeah. What am I gonna do? Cry about...

A Dark Season (Content Note)1:10:04

Argelis1:10:04

I'm here. Like Right. Full, I guess. I I told Lauren when I was speaking about this on her podcast, and I told her the same thing I'm gonna tell you. If you feel like this is something that's okay to share with listeners, please do.

If you need to put warnings, you can. But for me, like, I was so sad, and I was so miserable for a lot of the time that I was dealing with diabetes on my own that earlier before I even went to church that day, I am Christian, and so I have a relationship with Jesus. I have a relationship with God. And I told God, was like, listen. Like, could you could you take my life for me?

Like, I'm not gonna end it myself, but I would like to leave. Can you please take my life now? I don't wanna be here. I won't do it myself because for me, my my faith is that I'm not the author of life, so I have no reason to be, you know, deciding who lives and who dies. But, like, god, if you please take my life, I don't wanna be here.

And then I had the brain hemorrhage, and I was like, oh my god. He's answering me. And I... Like, for me, being told those things, like, I was like, I don't wanna die as much as I don't wanna feel this pain, because I felt like there was so much more that I hadn't lived yet. I was still so young, and so told, like, hey.

Like, we might have to have you in brain surgery within the next forty eight hours. You might not get out of that. A part of me was at peace because it might all be over now, and I might not have to feel this much pain. The other part was just like, okay. Well, I haven't been in communication with my family for about a year, but I should probably give the woman who raised me a heads up.

It'd be really messed up. It's just like one day she's not here. Be like, yeah. Your daughter's been gone for, like, six months. Like, I I feel like that's so messed up.

Calling Her Mom1:11:53

Argelis1:11:53

I So was just like, let me let me give my mom a heads up. And so I I gave her a call, I was like, hey. I'm fine. And she was like, you're in the hospital, aren't you? Because she wouldn't call me if you weren't at the hospital.

Was like, I am. However, let me just ask you a question. How comfortable would you be, if you needed to make medical decisions on my behalf? And she was like, Argelis, what's go... I mean, I'm your mother.

Of course. I'm fine with that. I'm comfortable with that. What's going on? I was like, don't worry about anything else.

That's all I needed to know. You'll know what I know when I know. I didn't tell her about the brain hemorrhage. I didn't tell her about the... Because I I didn't have enough information, and my mom had recently had a stroke a couple years back.

I didn't wanna stress her out. She doesn't do good with stress. So I was just like, hey. Everything's fine. I just wanted to run this by you.

This is something that you may see or may have, you know, be encountered with. So I just wanna give you a heads up. Right now I'm fine. I'll let you know when I have more information. For the very, very close friends in my life, I reached out and I told them what happened.

I told them, hey. I have two growths in my brain. If they're big enough, they'll go in and do surgery. I may not get out of it. I'll give you a heads up.

However, I wanted you to know because I love you and I care about you. I don't want you to stress out. Just letting you know because I feel like it'd be really messed up just like, hey. It's Tuesday, and Argelis is gone. You know?

Like, I don't wanna do that to you. I love you. I care about you. Whatever. I even called my ex, because we had a role that we were not communicating unless one of us were in the hospital.

And so I did that, I reached out. And, you know, I was I was at peace, but it was still just, like, a very weighty, difficult thing to carry. I told myself that if I did get out of it, something had to give because I couldn't... What? I was already struggling with type one.

Now I I don't know how to live being a brain hemorrhage survivor. And, also, like, what does it mean that I have two tumors in my head? What am I, mega witch kid? Like, what am I doing? Like, I don't I don't...

What am I doing? What have I done with my life? I've not done anything that I'm super, super, like, proud of. I wanna live. I wanna do the things that probably haven't told anybody about, like jump off a cliff for fun and...

No. No. No. With a parachute. With a parachute.

With a parachute. Let me... Like, I wanna go paragliding, and there are all these really cool things that I've kinda pushed down and not done. I wanna make music. I wanna act.

I wanna dance. I wanna make content. Like, why haven't I lived yet? So if I survived, I was gonna I was gonna pursue those things radically, and not give a crap if no one else around me understood why I was doing it because it's my life.

Why She Stepped Away1:14:30

Scott1:14:30

Let me ask a couple clarifying questions because I wanna make sure I understand everything that's going on. Yeah. Contextually, why were you not speaking to your mom?

Argelis1:14:41

There were some issues that took place. And in that season of my life, I needed to disengage.

Scott1:14:47

Okay. Something that she didn't understand about you or you didn't understand about her?

Argelis1:14:53

It's a little bit more complicated than that. I'm not the most comfortable getting into that just because it involves someone outside of myself.

Scott1:14:59

That's okay.

Argelis1:14:59

But I did make the decision to to make peace and to put some distance, and it was necessary at the time.

Scott1:15:05

Okay.

Argelis1:15:06

But the reason I did integrate her was because... I mean, we're dealing with a life or death here. So even though we're, you know, even though we're not talking, she's still the woman who raised me. And she did that a lot.

Scott1:15:19

So I wanna

Argelis1:15:19

give her a

Scott1:15:20

heads up. Yeah. Yeah. But the follow-up to that is did this experience change your relationship at all?

Argelis1:15:26

Oh, I mean, we had to start rebuilding, but it was... Yeah. It definitely changed it because I wasn't

Scott1:15:32

the same. Mhmm.

Argelis1:15:33

I wasn't the same person, but neither was she. It's still... It's almost a year now. Wow. It's crazy.

Scott1:15:41

Does it feel more hopeful now than it did before you called her?

Argelis1:15:46

It feels... I still have very, very firm boundaries with how much I let anybody, know or into my life. Even though I'm very, I feel like I'm very open and honest, I also do have very, very firm boundaries with my peace.

Scott1:16:02

Okay.

Rebuilding1:16:03

Argelis1:16:03

So I feel like we have something that's a little bit more grounded. And I'm thankful for that, but I have seen that she has also understood now a little bit more of what it's like to live with chronic illness. So she's been learning more about, like, diabetes and more about celiac, and more about, like, the brain stuff because now she's like, okay. Well, I have somebody in my life interview, like, personally that is going through these things, and I wanna learn more about it. Whereas before, we didn't know what we were dealing so when I got diabetes, she wasn't in my life.

When she was reintroduced, I not only had a brain hemorrhage, was having type one.

Scott1:16:38

Yeah.

Argelis1:16:39

So I've seen her really try to learn as much as she can. And that's been at least that's been really helpful because at least I started to have some help. Like, hey. Do you need more glow gummies? Like, are you running low?

Which also we love glow gummies here. Like, do you need more, overpatches for, you know, your CGM? Like, having someone think about these questions. That was really nice to have because I didn't have that. So in in that sense, it was helpful too.

It was new. It was a very new thing that we were building again. That's that's kinda nice. I'm... I hope it continues for Thank you.

I appreciate that.

Scott1:17:16

No. I mean, you know, it could be the beginning of... You don't know. You're young. You know what I mean?

Like, it could be a long time, but, you know, you guys have a long time to rebuild. So Yeah. So the... Is... So you have surgery.

Obviously, you're okay, so it went okay. Oh,

Argelis1:17:32

let me clarify. Did it not

Scott1:17:33

go okay?

Too Small to Operate1:17:34

Argelis1:17:34

Found... Let me... So they found the growths, but because they were in the pituitary gland and they weren't big enough to operate on without being dangerous. They literally told me, yeah, we can't tell you why you have them. We can't even tell you why you had the brain hemorrhage, but we can't operate on them.

So, we're gonna discharge you. I was like, what? What do you mean?

Scott1:17:54

I feel like

Argelis1:17:55

you should... You just told me I have growths in my head.

Scott1:17:57

I feel like you should I feel like you should move. I just wanna say that. Right?

Argelis1:18:02

They were like they were like, they're not big enough to operate on. We can't tell you, like, why you had a brain hemorrhage. Everything's still too fresh. You need to follow-up with a neurosurgeon. And I was like, wait.

You're just gonna just... They tried to literally... Oh my god. I kid you not. I kid you not, Scott.

They tried to send me back to work the next day, and I had already gone through diabetes like this. I was in the hospital for three days, with the brain hemorrhage. Just... They were doing all the tests. They were doing all the blood work.

They were trying to see if the tumors were big enough. They did not do surgery. They literally just discharged me. So from the bed, when I could function, I literally called my HR for corporate. I filed short term.

They actually approved it for the first time in my life. And then when they did discharge me, I qualified for short term disability. So I was three months on my own trying to learn how to walk normally, trying to learn how to talk normally because I could speak very slowly, but not to the same cadence as I am now. Jeez. I couldn't even be on the phone for longer than, like, maybe two to five minutes, then I would be exhausted.

Scott1:19:07

Do you find a doctor then for this immediately?

Learning to Walk Again1:19:10

Argelis1:19:10

I I mean, I went on Cigna, and I found another neurosurgeon that was closer to my area, and I saw them within, like, two weeks. But it was two weeks before I saw somebody else. And so I had, roommates drive me home at the time, and I stayed in bed. I, at that time, got connected with Risely, because I was, what, I was now out of work for three months with short term trying to get out of bed, and I couldn't. Remember, I didn't have a car, so I was...

I had a broken car, so I was walking everywhere, and I can't even walk. So it was just like Yeah. I didn't know what I would be able to do if I could do anything again. I didn't know how long it would take me to recover. No one was telling me what I should do or what I shouldn't do.

When I did end up seeing a neurosurgeon, they were like, hey. Let... Because we don't really know why this happened, I'm just gonna put you on a 10 pound weight limit, so you can't lift anything, more than 10 pounds until I tell you. And I literally just got cleared of that maybe a month or two ago. But, like, really, they they couldn't tell me anything.

And when I saw the neurosurgeon, I was like, first of all, I had, glasses. So I had, like... When you're playing video games in your streamer, you have, like, blue light glasses, but, like, they're intense. They're, like, orange or yellow. They're not clear.

I would wear those everywhere because I was very sensitive to light after the brain hemorrhage. So I was wearing those on my face, and I was struggling to talk normally. And I was like, hey. I can't... I literally work corporate.

I work talking to students professionally representing a school. I can't even, like, be on the phone for two minutes without being exhausted for the rest of, like, the day. Right. I can't do this. And so he was like, okay.

I'm gonna give you, I know that you qualified for short term, but we're also gonna give you an additional six weeks. So I had that time to rest and recoup, and I didn't see him again until I got the the brain scan done again in January, and I was healing fine. And he was like, hey. It's very clear that you did have a brain hemorrhage, and it... It's healing really well.

I'm not gonna have you lift 10 pounds or anything yet. We can actually see the two different growths. One of them looks bigger than the other, but they're they're benign. So they're they're not... Don't know why you had a brain hemorrhage in the first place because it...

They they don't have anything. Like, they don't have any... They're not they're not cancerous. I don't know what happened. I was just like, bro, if you don't know, how am I supposed to know?

Neurologists vs. Neurosurgeons1:21:33

Argelis1:21:33

Neurosurgeons and neurologists have been going back and forth on my brain scan because the neurologists are like, she never had a brain hemorrhage. You know, she... What? She has, like, two little cysts next to her pituitary gland. She's never had a brain hemorrhage.

The neurosurgeons look for something different, and so the neurosurgeons, when they look at my scans, are like, no. It's really clear you had a brain hemorrhage. But you can't see it now because you've healed and the blood is gone. And if someone who, again, has been medically gaslit for years, it's like, one, I couldn't walk. I could not walk.

I could not speak normally. I could not. It took me months to get back to where I am now. Mhmm. Like, I know that I had a brain hemorrhage.

I saw my scan. I'd studied neuroscience in in university, and it was funny because I ended up seeing my own scan months after it happened. And when you're a a neuroscience major, you you want to study the brain and the brain's anatomy. And so when you re... If you see something cool on a scan, you're like, oh my god.

This brain is so cool. See, here's the thing. It was very humbling to look at my scan and go, oh my god. That's a cool brain. Oh, that's mine, isn't it?

And so I saw my scan, and I saw the blood. It wasn't like a normal brain hemorrhage where it was a ton of blood because, again, the pituitary is very, very small. But I saw it, and so I know... If I never saw that scan, I would believe the neurologist because of all the just medical gaslighting that I had where it was like, yeah. It was just me.

I just had a headache. Like, I just could Yeah. It's been a lot. It's been a lot

Scott1:23:12

I mean just I can

Argelis1:23:14

dealing with the aftermath of those things, Scott, if I'm being honest. I'm thankful to be here, but it... It's been a lot.

Scott1:23:19

No. I can tell. And I've also, you know, been through it myself with my daughter and and, of course, people's conversations on here.

Argelis1:23:26

So You see it. Yeah. It's

Scott1:23:28

it's... It really is... I I don't... I I I guess I don't really know another way to put it other than there's limitations on what people understand. And

Argelis1:23:38

Of course.

Scott1:23:39

You gotta go you gotta go somewhere. So you go there, and then it's a crapshoot. You get what you get, and then it's up to you to push through, figure it out. You know, the way people like to say it is you have to advocate for yourself, which I I find to be a bit of an insulting way to say that you have to force somebody to be honest as to whether or not they know what they're talking about and can do it. But, I mean, I guess that's what it is.

So, you know, keep fighting is is is my advice. Where where are you now? Like, how would you describe your your current situation?

Where She Is Now1:24:16

Argelis1:24:16

I am so, so, so proud of all of the different things that I've seen myself walk through. Mhmm. I think growing up, I struggled to really believe that I was someone worth loving, that I was not strong, that I didn't have value. And it's interesting that losing everything that I knew and losing the people that I loved in my life and that period of isolation, true isolation, when I was walking through these things forced me to either wake up and see it or wake up and be miserable again. I think that season taught me, one, how to be there for myself, how to see myself the way that I wish someone else did.

It taught me how to love myself. And I'm so grateful for that even though it was very, very difficult, and I, of course, don't wanna relive that. It fundamentally changed me. I would not be the Argelis that I I know and I love and I am today, without, one, the ex relationship that I had, because there were a lot of beautiful things that I did learn in that even if it ended. That's number one.

And number two, diabetes in general, diabetes and the brain hemorrhage. And after those two things, when I did start to heal, I mean, I had short term disability again, to really just have some time to evaluate me and what I wanted and what made sense. And I started coaching with Risely around the time that I started short term disability, and I started relearning what I could do again. I didn't really know what was in the cards for me, and I'm so thankful for everything. I know that's such a really weird way to say it, but I...

Of course, I still struggle, and I, of course, have really hard days sometimes, but all of us do when we're carrying this. This isn't something that's gonna go away yet. But I've come so far. Yeah. I've come so far, and I've I've found my resilience, and I've found my strength, and I found what I wanna do for the rest of my life.

Argelis Canvas1:26:25

Argelis1:26:25

I'm a creative. I'm making content through the Argelis Canvas on Instagram and on TikTok, which is just kind of for me, it's like a scrapbook. I scrapbooked a lot as a kid. So for me, it's a digital scrapbook of just kinda being able to see what I am able to do now with this new version of me.

Scott1:26:43

Very nice.

Argelis1:26:45

You know? So it's not a a perfect science. It's not like a I just have victories now because I endured so much. It's more so that I choose to focus my attention on the goals that I would like to accomplish, the things that I am able to do. And for the things that I'm not able to do, I have grace, and I have patience.

Scott1:27:04

Good for you. I mean, listen. They say a little bit of friction is good for you. You got more friction than one person deserves, but still Meh.

Argelis1:27:11

It it

Scott1:27:14

does really it does really help build a person, you know, to fight through things, and you certainly have done that. I I applaud you.

War Stories1:27:22

Argelis1:27:22

I feel like you've done that too. I feel like we all have in this community, and so it's really cool to... It's almost like what are your war stories? It's like, what have you what have you... It makes us more human.

I think it just connects us in a way that other things probably can't. And it's so beautiful to see that even though, like, we we have such a small community in the grand scheme of things having type one. But when I really look at all of us, yeah, we struggle, but we are some of the most intelligent, resourceful, creative, expressive, strong willed people that exist. And what an honor and what a privilege it is to know other people and connect with other people who have that. Do I wish that our bodies worked normally?

Yes. Do do I wish that we didn't have to suffer in this way because of the medical system or because of ourselves or because of lack of resources in this country? Like, insulin should not be $700. I'm sorry. Yes.

Of course. But I I think almost losing your life makes you realize what really matters and how short time actually is. So I think it's beautiful that we are able to have a second chance at all. If we were born even a little sooner, like, we might not have been able to do that.

Scott1:28:40

A 100%? That's a nice way to We

Argelis1:28:42

have that.

Scott1:28:42

It's a nice way to wrap up your story. I'll tell you too. I will, I'll add on to it by telling you that my daughter's had type one for twenty years now. And if this is what makes me more human, I'm willing to be less human. So I would prefer...

Argelis1:28:54

I would like some of this to go away if I hear you.

Scott1:28:56

Yeah. I'm good. But I also I also believe your message as well. I just have been at it a little longer. That's all.

Argelis1:29:03

You have. You have. It's real. I'm I'm just an adult navigating this. So for me, that's what I've had to use to keep going.

But for other people, it's it's definitely different. And so it's really humbling, and I'm thankful to hear your perspective too.

Scott1:29:15

No. You're nice. I used the same thing you used, and I don't think it's not... It's incredibly valuable. Yeah.

I just... It's funny as you were talking, and you were... I thought, like, I could use with a little less of it. Like, I'm I'm... I I I get that.

The way I the way I explain it to people usually is that by the time my daughter had type one for a few years, I felt like I already had the perspective of an old man. And now Yes. And twenty years later, now I feel like I've... I... Now I feel like I've got the perspective of, like, a 200 year old person, and I'm I'm good with...

I I think I've got enough now. I'm good. So I... I'd like a Great. Couple I'd like a couple of things to go smoothly if that's not...

I'm in trouble.

What the Show Meant to Her1:29:52

Argelis1:29:52

No. I think... No. That's so valid. I also just wanna say, like, as someone who's brand new to this, and this might just be a little bit of solace.

Like, it might not mean that much, but I... I'm truly, truly, truly so thankful that this exists, what you're doing exists Oh. As someone who didn't have, one family that understood, but two, like, seeing other people rally against this thing for a person that they care about. Like, you you saw your daughter go through these changes and you became a voice. And though it's difficult and there's a lot of things that you're juggling, you're never really gonna know the full scope of the knowledge that you've impacted other people with.

And as someone who navigated a lot of this in the beginning on her own, I really needed this. Yeah. And I'm so thankful that this... I'm I'm so sorry that you guys went through everything that you did, but I'm also so thankful that you decided to make something too because that making something helped people like me get through their somethings too. So thank you so, so, so much for having this and for sharing even though it's difficult, even though it sucks to talk about sometimes.

I'm so thankful for you.

Scott1:31:09

You're lovely. Thank you so much. No. No. No.

I appreciate it. I hope I hope I get a split second before I die because I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna try to reflect on that at some point. And I I mean, honestly, I I I I feel like I've helped people, and that's

Argelis1:31:24

You have to. You really do have.

Scott1:31:26

The kind of the goal here. So, yeah, I appreciate you saying that. It's very nice. And let's just stop there before I say something silly. You were so lovely.

I'll

Argelis1:31:34

I'll just see

Scott1:31:34

if that's Sounds like

Argelis1:31:35

a plan. Alright. Well,

Scott1:31:37

thanks again for coming on. Hold on one second for me. Don't go anywhere. Okay?

Argelis1:31:41

Sure.

Sponsors and Close1:31:43

Scott1:31:43

To learn more and see if you might be able to get twiist from the pharmacy and try it for free, head to visit.twiist.com/juicebox. That's visit.twiist.com/juicebox. Or give them a call at 18774. That's +1 (877) 489-4478, and tell them Scott sent you. twiist 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 Juicebox Podcast. There are links in the show notes and links at juiceboxpodcast.com to US Med, twiist, and today's other awesome sponsor, the Eversense CGM.

They make, of course, the Eversense 365, 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. Eversensecgm.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 Juicebox Podcast private Facebook group. Juicebox 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 Juicebox Podcast private Facebook group. Juicebox 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, or 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 Juicebox 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.

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Once again, I've been Scott. You've been fantastic, and we'll be right back with another episode of the Juicebox Podcast.

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