#270 Four, Not on the Floor
Scott Benner
Alexandra is Maya's Mom.…
This is just a small slice of their life with type 1 diabetes.
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DISCLAIMER: This text is the output of AI based transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors and should not be treated as an authoritative record. Nothing that you read here constitutes advice medical or otherwise. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making changes to a healthcare plan.
Scott Benner 0:00
You are listening to Episode 270 of the Juicebox Podcast. Today's episode is sponsored by Dexcom on the pod and dancing for diabetes, you can go to dexcom.com forward slash juice box, my omnipod.com forward slash juice box or dancing the number four diabetes.com to learn more about the sponsors I'm struggling with what to name this episode. You know, real quickly just before I get to that, let me just say this and get it out of the way. Nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before making any changes to your medical plan or becoming bold with insulin. I don't know what to call this episode. have a few ideas. I think they're all strong for not on the floor. Be bold, Alexandra. Abnormal is good. acceptance is a 45 minute train ride from London. All right. Alexandra is a 45 minute train ride from London. It's really long for not on the floor for on the floor. This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is called for not on the floor. And it's with Alexandra, who happens to live about a 45 minute train ride from London. And she's the mother of a little girl who has type one diabetes.
Alexandra 1:29
My name is Alexandra. I'm married to Damien. I'm a mother of two children, Ethan who is 10 a non diabetic and Maya who is diabetic and she's age seven. We live in the UK, just south of Milton Keynes. And so for those of you that don't live in the UK, probably about 45 minute train ride north of London.
Unknown Speaker 1:52
So to put it into perspective,
Scott Benner 1:54
I was gonna guess Texas by your accent. Now I'm hearing it now that you said it. So how old was Maya when she was diagnosed?
Alexandra 2:04
So she was diagnosed in December 2017. It was six time.
Scott Benner 2:10
So she's only been a year you don't even a year and a half yet. Right
Alexandra 2:13
now we're about 15 months in.
Unknown Speaker 2:15
Okay. Well,
Scott Benner 2:17
how's it going?
Alexandra 2:18
Well, it'll, you know, consideration is going really quite well. And so we're on MDI, and but as of yesterday, some really exciting news happens. So I'll talk about that. But yeah, we've been on MDI since obviously, since the start, and we're kind of managing it. And he's okay with it. And I'm okay with it, too. But obviously, we have been, I use the word fighting, but wanting to get onto a pump. from very early on, and really probably from listening to your podcast, to be honest. And I realized quite early on that we didn't really, we would have much better management if we were able to use a normal part. And so when you say you're okay with it, you mean she's okay with the injections, and you're okay giving them to her? Yes. But also, I mean, I think I find it very, I struggle sometimes with the dose thing, because, you know, obviously, the increments are only half a unit and she's only little. Sometimes I've had to wait for her to go high to correct, which seems crazy. Because Yeah, half a unit is a lot for her. So I've struggled with that, because I'm, and again since listening to the podcast wanting to keep her range, really tight. And that's sometimes very difficult to do when, when you're on injections, and
Scott Benner 3:46
you have a CGM, you have a glucose monitor. We
Alexandra 3:48
do. We've got the dexcom. We self funded, isn't that different in the UK, we've got the NHS. And so we get a lot of we're very, very lucky when I hear some of the stories of what happens in the States and elsewhere in the world. And we get everything collectively for free. Yeah. But you have to have certain criteria that you have to pay to obviously to be able to get certain things. So initially we self funded the Dexcom and we got the big five initially. And it was the way I liken it it's a little bit like driving on a motorway in torrential rain, and your windscreen wipers don't work. And and then suddenly we got the Dexcom windscreen wipers started to work and it's just like someone that Yeah, turn the lights on. And
Unknown Speaker 4:40
that's gone. Glen, how long have you had that?
Alexandra 4:43
So probably, probably a year we tried the Libra start with which I absolutely hated as dice. And then yeah, the dates comes probably March or April of last year, so quite quite quickly.
Scott Benner 4:58
I have a question about honeymooning. Okay. Do you still feel like at that moment, you're getting some functionality from her pancreas?
Alexandra 5:07
Do you know what i have? No idea. i? i? We've never had a moment where she hasn't needed insulin. Okay. Yeah, I yeah. Doesn't there's never been a moment where we've gone. Oh, gosh, this is definitely she's definitely in the honeymoon period.
Scott Benner 5:24
I have never even felt it. When she was diagnosed. What was her blood sugar levels of time?
Alexandra 5:28
So I've got, I've printed off the conversion. She was 33. So she was I'm over 600.
Scott Benner 5:39
Okay, so Hi. And do you think looking back was she? Did you figure this out? Like, right away? Or Had it been going on for a while before she got diagnosed?
Alexandra 5:48
Yeah, I mean, hindsight isn't it's such a beautiful thing. I think he definitely had some pretty severe symptoms. And probably two weeks before she was diagnosed. But thinking back on it, and I think she probably was in trouble beyond. Beyond that, then it hurts me to think that, you know, I didn't pick up on it. But, you know, like so many people. I knew nothing about type one diabetes, absolutely nothing. And it makes me chuckle now and think how I, you know, I did the usual googling of symptoms. And it came up with diabetes. And I said to my mother in law, I said, Archie, no, Carol, I think she might have diabetes. And my mother in law, what? Yeah, he probably does. And we kind of went, that was it and I, and I cut in my head I thought she needs I know, it sounds so crazy. Now when I, when I think about it when I hear myself say it, but I just thought that we'd have to change her diet. And we'd, you know, she'd needs I don't know, medication or something. I had no clue at all. And it was only when I went into the doctor surgery and she had a finger prick that I realized the severity of it. And when we got into hospital, and you know, she had her first injection and I was just like, oh my god, this is this is big. This is big stuff. Yeah, you
Scott Benner 7:08
were just planning on like throwing away like Oreos, and they're like, here's the insulin and the needles, like, Well hold on a second.
Unknown Speaker 7:17
Exactly. I
Alexandra 7:18
was just, I was, I feel so embarrassed, that I knew nothing about it. But then why would you know, so many people, I know nothing about it. And I can see that in my immediate circle of friends and and acquaintances that people just don't understand that.
Scott Benner 7:35
At the end of this episode, there will be detailed information on how to get tickets for the 19th annual dancing for diabetes show being held on Saturday, November 9, in Orlando, Florida. Check it out. There's no real reason to I mean, to be perfectly honest, there's diseases in the world that I have no concept of. Yeah. And you would have no reason to me that you didn't listen to you had a you had a son, right? And he was yummy. You'd kept him alive for eight years or so. And everything was going great. And then you're like, well, I'll just do it again with this one. And then we'll sell the house and get divorced and we'll die. We're gonna live our lives. Right. And, and then, you know, something like this pops up. There's no, you shouldn't be looking, I would, I would hope that you could find a way to forgive yourself. Because I think everyone feels like that. But at the same time, it's not valuable for you to hold on to
Unknown Speaker 8:28
know exactly.
Alexandra 8:30
But yeah, and I that's one thing, I must say I'm very keen to in the smallest way that I can make, give, I guess, my immediate network, some awareness of what type one is about? Because I do feel it's it's vital that that we do educate people, because there is this terrible misunderstanding of what the what the disease is. And the comparisons between type two and type one all the time.
Scott Benner 9:00
Yeah, a lot. A lot of the things mimic other stuff. And then doctors say things like, oh, they're just you know, they have the flu, or they have this and they have that and then you keep getting some people keep getting sent home and are lucky to even end up getting diagnosed and not you know, absolutely losing their life to a misdiagnosis. So I understand. Well, before we move forward, I Are you wearing Apple wired headphones? Yeah, I can tell because every once in a while, I think the microphones rubbing whatever shirt you're wearing.
Unknown Speaker 9:29
Right? So
Scott Benner 9:30
right away, it's not a big deal. But if you could, I think probably the people listening can't hear but I
Unknown Speaker 9:36
can then I start thinking about it. Okay.
Scott Benner 9:39
I don't think I hope I'm hoping that's not ADHD. I think it might just be that I'm concerned that the podcast sounds good, but I start I just it's like, it's like, it sounds like little like wind chimes far off in my ears. And I'm like, What? Ah, okay. Anyway. Okay, so let's let's go backwards a little bit. After she's diagnosed view, look back at the past. History and say to yourself, wow, there's a lot of people with diabetes and endocrine issues. And can you not really find any or
Alexandra 10:06
no, nothing? Nothing? Certainly not. No.
Scott Benner 10:11
Okay. All right. So then it really was out of left field. How did your mother in law? Well, you guys, were just googling and you're like, this makes sense.
Unknown Speaker 10:18
Yeah, yeah.
Alexandra 10:20
Yes. And she just said, Yeah, that makes sense. If she it sounds like the symptoms are right, but we haven't kind of made the differentiation between type one and type two. So we, yeah, we just kind of figured it would be fine. It was going to be really easy to vertical reason to, you know, to manage. And of course, when we realize that, yeah, gosh, we're gonna have to inject this child with insulin several times a day and break a finger several times a day. And, wow, this is going to be a real life change. And it has been a life change. But I think you go through several stages, don't you have sort of denial and then grief? And then I don't know what and I think we've just come to a place now where it's just acceptance. And this is our new normal. And yeah, and we take every day as it comes in. And I think that's my husband's doing Actually, he, I would sometimes get upset with her being too high or, or just struggling. Yeah, you know, insulin, like water or whatever. And he said, Look, we'll wake up tomorrow morning, and it'll be a new day, you can just start again. And actually, in doing that, I've managed to her HBM a hv, one C has come down, and it's my whole way of off to her has become much more chilled. Taking every single day as it comes.
Scott Benner 11:44
Yeah, I don't, I don't speak about it as frequently as I should, probably. But there was a moment when I thought when I was I was getting so good at it right that when it didn't go the way I wanted to, I found it really frustrating. Yeah, and I just did the same thing that I'm sure you guys did, I said to myself, this is obviously not a sustainable attitude for me, you know, we're gonna keep Arden's blood sugar from spiking up as much as possible. But if it happens, I'm just gonna get it back down again, I'm not gonna spend any time punishing myself over it.
Alexandra 12:18
Yeah, that's it. And that's kind of where I'm at as well. And I've started to use in a different way, I use a sugar mate. And I've changed the year, the way it can, it'll tell you your estimated HB one C. And instead of being over a 90 day period, I've changed it to a one day period. And what I do is I just try and keep that as low as possible, and what it's done. I had an appointment yesterday with our diabetes consultant. And what it's done is it's brought me doing that it's brought her a number down, which is great. But the other thing and you know, I know that obviously, obviously, I'm a fan of the podcast, otherwise I wouldn't be on here. But your words resonate by heads, or people Alexandra people's what's what's the worst that can happen worst that can happen is I have to give her an apple. And, and I think that's helped enormously as well, especially over the last three months, where I've kind of taken, listens to your podcasts, perhaps in a different way, and being less scared. And, you know, she's actually a happier child because of it because blood sugar is a more normal,
Scott Benner 13:28
I am really happy for you. And I'm very nice of you to say but but I'm just I'm excited for you guys that that you feel like you're moving forward. Yeah. So you said you you think you're listening to the podcast in a different way now. So I'm interested in this because I don't have the experience, obviously, of hearing it, you know, from the go. So when you heard it initially, what did it sound like to you? Was it just words you didn't understand? or ideas that you couldn't wrap your head around? Like, how did it strike you initially?
Alexandra 13:55
It's really interesting, because I cannot I can't remember how I found your podcast if I'm absolutely honest. And but when I did find it, I was literally binge listening. It was hilarious. And I had it on in the car. I had it on when I was walking dog, you know, I was just listening to it all the time. And because Maya is on MDI, and at the time, he wasn't even on Dexcom. And like a lot of it was just a lot of jargon. And I guess some of it just went over my head, but some of it must have been thinking in then obviously she got the Dexcom she got the G five and obviously at the time, I think it was on the G five as well. So a lot of that was under thinking in as well which was great. And it was then that I started to battle for my to get the Omnipod as well. I was very conscious that I was very conscious, that that's what I wanted. I want to emulate I guess what you guys are doing as well. And and I sort of binge listened for a month. And then I stopped. And I probably didn't listen to the podcast for a good two, three months, I guess. And what was interesting was my thresholds for Myers Myers, blood sugars, bought, quite lacks. And I thought it was okay for her to be, you know, 200. And it was only when I started listening to the podcast again, I was like, What am I doing? You know, and I brought her threshold back down to I don't know, maybe it wasn't by much, but it was by you know, 170 or something. And then suddenly, it just made sense. Again, be bold with insulin, Alexandra don't, you know, you don't need to be scared of this. And it was only by listening to you, but listening to you constantly, rather than kind of, you know, giving off on it for a few months, actually realize it's made a difference.
Scott Benner 16:05
Oh, are we talking about difference makers, then let's talk about the Omni pod tubeless, insulin pump, and all the ways that it can make a difference in your life. See what I've done there. I've brought together what has just happened in the podcast, right into the ad. It's kind of making you feel like oh, my gosh, Scott, this is a continuation of what Alexandra was just saying. I know it's slick, my omnipod.com forward slash juicebox. Here's what happens when you go there. Now keep in mind, you can remember to type that in, or links in your show notes to the podcast player or at Juicebox podcast.com. But anyway, whether you click on the link, or just type it in the browser yourself, what's going to happen when you get there is first you're going to be presented with great information about the Omni pod tubeless insulin pump, more importantly, you're going to be presented with an opportunity to have a no obligation, absolutely free demonstration unit sent to your house. That's right, they're gonna send you a pod experience kit, right? comes right to your house, you get this pod and you save yourself, I can try this on I can wear it for days, take a shower with it if I want to. I mean, I could put it next to my pillow and talk to it like it's a person, you can really do whatever you want with it, I think your time would probably be better spent if you were it to see exactly how it was. But anyway, I'm not judging you. Miami pod.com forward slash juice box, get a free pod experience kit sent right to your home today. So you can try it on the on the pod and see what you think there's no reason you should have to take my word for it, when you can wear it yourself. My omnipod.com forward slash juice box. This is an excellent opportunity for you to find out what it would be like to wear the insulin pump that Arden has had for 11 years. I think that your experience probably mimics a lot of people's where you find information that's different than what maybe your doctor said. And then you have to just make all that right in your mind. You know, like you have to hear it, absorb it and probably put it down for a second. And then see was it right for us? Did you know was it wrong? I think you saw that while you were doing it. It made sense, then you stepped away from it. And things kind of trended the way you weren't hoping? Some people would say that they need the podcast to reinforce. Yeah, right. I've heard that from people. I also think that there's a possibility that you haven't been at it that long. And that in time, it will just become so commonplace in your life, you won't need it to be reinforced maybe as much. But a reminder once in a while cannot listen, as long as you don't unsubscribe. It's okay. If you don't listen,
Alexandra 18:48
though, but I think what is interesting is when you change the thresholds, and you know, if you say it's okay to be wells, you know, 200 220 if you say it's okay, then it becomes Okay, that makes sense. I know that sounds crazy. But if you just bring the threshold down, which is what we've done on her decks calm, you just bring it down. And then suddenly, when the alarm goes off, I'm like, well, we need to correct her.
Unknown Speaker 19:15
It's so simple. It's so silly, but actually, it's made a huge difference. And it's sort of not it's sort of very human when you think about it, right. Like,
Scott Benner 19:24
I don't know, I gained five pounds. Well, it's only five pounds. Yeah, you know, I was I ignored somebody today who needed something I don't usually do that. I only had one cigarette, you know, like, like, whatever it ends up being that you just sort of go like, well, well, a little bits not bad. And maybe it's not if you stayed a little bit, but a lot of times a little bit becomes more
Alexandra 19:47
and then it becomes normal,
Scott Benner 19:48
right? And then all of a sudden it's normal. And that's when your that's when you're lost. You know when you I think all the way back to a very very early episode. When mother came on and said, I just remember I can hear her, like her voice in my head still. And she's like, I got to a point where I told myself 200 was good. And then it just became good. I never even questioned it before. And I think I in that moment, I said, geez, my blood sugar is probably at five right now. 200 is 115 points or more than double? Yeah. And, but but it's that. It's that sort of sliding scale. It's how we it's how we slip away from everything. It's how you slip away from who you want to be. It's how you slip away from morality. It's, you know, I'm the least I'm the last person who should be telling you about morality. But I mean, it really is, it is how like, right, you just go, Oh, I just, you know, I stole a pad of paper from my job. It's not a big deal. You know. And then six years later, you're in court, you know, you've been embezzling money.
Unknown Speaker 20:47
Like it just slippery, slippery slope,
Scott Benner 20:49
right? Absolutely. And you have what you probably don't realize, and of course, makes a lot of sense. You have a very British way about you. It's, it's it's very, it's Matter of fact. And so like even you said earlier, like you like I looked online, and I thought Maya probably has diabetes. And my mother in law said, Yes, she probably does. That's very British sentence. And so no one cried or throw anything against the wall or said no, no, probably not. You were just like, I agree. And
Unknown Speaker 21:22
it so happened, that happened.
Scott Benner 21:25
Go ahead. I'm sorry. I didn't hear you there.
Alexandra 21:26
I said they had to have definitely been tears. Not not at that point, right. Yeah.
Scott Benner 21:33
But even with this idea of like, Okay, well, let's just 150 it's just, you know, you know, and you just keep letting it go. And so, you know, it bears repeating. And I probably will for a very long time. But you can think of it any way you want, you get what you expect, you know, where you get to react sooner with less insulin which creates, which stops a spike or drifting high blood sugar and also lessens the possibility of you being low later on, right? Like that idea that if you know, you're diagnosed up at 100, to 110. And you just nudge it back down again, well, now you're back to 100. And you're stable, and it's over. But if you let it start flying up, and it takes more insulin, you get insulin resistant, you create an imbalance in the insulin and the impact of your body at some point. And eventually the insulins leftover, and you end up low, and then you roller coaster, and it's just it's the, um, it's thinking about problems in levels? I am, I used to tell my wife, I don't think I think that a lot of people don't see past a couple levels of an idea. You know, like, there's the surface idea. You know, like, I don't want my blood sugar to get higher. Well, that seems obvious to everybody. And some people just stop there. They don't think about it anymore. But as you look deeper and deeper, and you dig down into the situation, you can see there's ways to affect it. And some of them are just not obvious to the naked eye. But once you understand them, I mean, really, it just, it's sort of life changing, you know? Yeah, yeah. No, I'm very happy for you that you figured this out. You're very welcome. Where are you at in the process of getting a pump.
Alexandra 23:18
This is where it all gets quite exciting. So I did email you a while back, getting very frustrated with the hospital, because they were saying that for Maya to get on the pod, she needed to be on a minimum, daily amount of insulin. And that minimum was 20 units. And I couldn't get my head around it because I was kind of working out. And, you know, looking at babies with OSH pods on them, you know, like, yeah, and surely there are less insulin than Maya. And I was some pretty frustrated with it. And be yesterday at clinic, we bought to the magic number. So we're now at 20 units a day, which means that literally tomorrow we're going back into London, and she's going to have a pump fitted, and we're doing pump school next week. So it's really exciting because you're talking about, you know, bumping, no double arrow off at 10. I can't, I can't correct her at 110 because our for unit is at 110 we'll send her too low. And that's what I'm excited about with a with an omni pod because I'm gonna have much more flexibility in being able to to really notch high blood sugars, so that we don't have high highs and low lows
Scott Benner 24:40
plus, you're gonna have control over her basal insulin, which is good.
Unknown Speaker 24:44
That's exactly why these guys affect those things.
Scott Benner 24:46
So I'm very excited. As I hear you saying that because I know the person from Omni pod who had to relocate to the UK to to get things going over there. And I bet you if he heard that he'd be really excited. For you,
Unknown Speaker 25:00
yeah. So I, we
Alexandra 25:04
have them in the states as well, I think they were originally from the States. But we went to our friends for life conference in up in Scotland in October. And we met a whole load of guys from insolate. And, and we were very keen to get cracking with it, the whole family tried the demo pod on and had the demo pod on for a couple of days. And so, yeah, we're really excited about it. And I think it's going to make a huge difference to to how we live with diabetes. Interestingly, the the jump from the G five to the V six with the Dexcom with exactly the same, Damian turned around to me and said, it feels like she doesn't have diabetes anymore, which is create a crazy thing to say. But even the fact that we weren't having to fingerprint her made a huge difference on a daily basis.
Scott Benner 25:53
I think especially in the beginning, I think I think the testing in the beginning is the most visceral part of it, except for maybe the fear of the lows. You know what I mean by that, like the it's the stabbing with the needles, it's the poking your fingers. It's
Unknown Speaker 26:08
this invasive. Yeah, that's the stuff, right? Yeah.
Alexandra 26:12
So invasive, and I think that's made a huge difference to her. And, and we've another app that we use is is my sugar, which is a really cool little app, and they all have corporate, you know, carb ratios and stuff in there. And it has this little diabetes monster that does dances every time you put blood sugars in. And and my loves it. And and yeah, that's that's helped enormously as well. We just use that instead of doing a finger prick. And, and looking at the meter, we just use this app. It's just so it's so cool. It's so cool. Yeah,
Scott Benner 26:44
there's so many advances I've never seen. I don't think I've ever used my sugar, but I know about it. And I just think that there needs to be more things like that. So that, like you can find what works for you. Yeah, you know, there's somebody who doesn't need it, somebody that does need it. And by the way, get cracking is a strong candidate for the title of this episode. Just so you know.
Unknown Speaker 27:07
Cracking fair,
Scott Benner 27:09
it could be, you never know. I okay, so let me ask you a little bit about like management ideas around the house. So are you? Uh, do you have a job that you leave the house for you stay at home? Or how does that work? Well,
Alexandra 27:23
I work for myself. So I can be very flexible in in how I work. So I'm very, very fortunate in that position. And so I work from home effectively. And I can work as and when I want. Does this make us a primary caregiver for the diabetes? It does? Indeed, yes, absolutely. Yeah.
Scott Benner 27:42
How do you find I think it's important to have a primary person but does so how much involvement Does your husband have versus you if you it's hilarious? So
Alexandra 27:55
I'm gonna say very little, but that's not that's not fair on him. So he does when I'm not around. He's perfectly capable of looking after my eye more than more than capable. But it is hilarious how he will sleep through all of the Dexcom alarms at night. And very similarly to when our children were babies. That
Scott Benner 28:13
might be voicing.
Alexandra 28:14
I think it might be. But, but no, so I'm the primary caregiver, thoughts to diabetes. And I have a much better understanding more in depth understanding when it comes to Myers diabetes, if that makes sense. And because I think sometimes you have an intuitive thing as well. It's not just what the machine tells you, or you know how much insulin to give, it's kind of it's using your intuitiveness about it as well. And I don't think Damien's got that quite, he will, is much more Matter of fact. So if you know if the app tells him to give her a free unit, so we'll give her three units. We'll give it to her now. And then he'll wait for 10 minutes, he'll put his his timer on and wait for 10 minutes, 15 minutes, and then then you can your feeder? I'm a little bit more flexible than that. And I guess that's just from from being with her and managing that with her day to day.
Scott Benner 29:15
How frequently do you get in the situation? You're like, you know what, I have figured out like a next level idea around her management and I want to pass it off to my husband, do you? How do you find that easy to do? Does he pick it up quickly? Is it a Is it a very?
Alexandra 29:30
He does. And I think sometimes what he finds is that he feels like I'm telling him off. And I'm not I'm just trying to sort of pass information on to him or knowledge that I've got in my head that I want him to know about. And sometimes it will be because we haven't done well, he hasn't done something quite, you know, something hasn't gone quite to plan and I'll say well, you know, you could have done this or and he'll take it the wrong way like you think from falling off, which of course I'm not So that's sometimes tricky, but the fact he's coming to pump school next week is going to be a really good thing. Because he's gonna, he's gonna see exactly, you know how to how to work it from from day one, we're both going to be novices again.
Scott Benner 30:15
Yeah, you'll you'll, they'll say, it's not too it's not too hard. It's better, but I was gonna say that, I think it's common in that situation that you described, like, you know, like you trying to say something to a spouse, and I think they feel a little maybe defensive, you know, because they don't want to think of themselves as not understanding how to help the kids. Right. And at the same time, you probably do understand better than he does. And at the same time, you're in a situation where you're probably tired, and you don't have a lot of free time to be, you know, it's not like, it's okay, everyone, it's diabetes hour, let's all sit down, you know, we'll get a drink. And we'll tell you, it's not like that. It's like, as you're passing each other in the kitchen, like, Oh, I meant to tell you about this, or you should try this. And if there's not a lot of hours the day sometimes, and I think that what you're describing is pretty common for everybody. I know that. I struggled the same way, like explaining things to Kelly. And I would try I tried all of these different ideas once to get her to want to use more insulin. And finally, you know, you guys have heard me say it on the podcast. But finally, what I said to her was that you have to want to be on the low side, it's a mindset, it's not a, it's not a it's not a measurement, right? It's not a calculation like you'd rather be lower, or stopping a falling blood sugar than fighting with a high one. Like if you wake up every morning, and that's your mindset, it will go better most days. Right? Like it, which is another way of saying, right, be aggressive or be bold, or whatever you want to say there's 1000 different ways to say it. But until I said it like that to her. I don't think that she was hearing what I was saying, or I wasn't saying it in a way that she was understanding it, you know,
Alexandra 32:04
it's very, it's not going back to what's acceptable and what isn't. And, and Isn't it funny how suddenly, they lower numbers onto scary because I'm used to them, because that's where she is. And, and that's where I want her to be. And suddenly it doesn't it's not as it's not as scary. But interestingly, you know that there's another reason why we're looking forward to having a pump is I'll give you an example. On Sunday, it was the most beautiful day here in the UK. And we were in the garden the whole day. And they were building a den in the trees. And she was running around the garden touting I love my life. And it was just brilliant. He had six hypose on Sunday. And all I wanted to do is giving him sipping, you know, she's sipping Lucas aid. And if you have that in the States, it's like a sugar drink. And I kept on sort of giving her 10 milliliters here, you know, 20 milliliters here. And all I wanted to do with her bazelon I couldn't do it. There
Scott Benner 33:13
match inside until that slow salt work for a second please. Well, you know, to your point. And to expand a little bit two nights ago, I have no idea why. But Arden, you know, just didn't need as much basal insulin as she usually does. And I did, she had a snack around 8pm I boast for the way I normally would, she got on the lower side like 70, you know, 6970 and she kept trying to go low. And I kept trying to get her back up again. And it got to the point where I had to think I did a Temp Basal decrease, almost like 50% for like four hours from like 10pm till 2am and that cap are good all night long. But last night, at the same time at night, when she asked for a snack, I still did what I thought was right. You know, I didn't I didn't say to myself, well, she was low yesterday. So I'm going to be you know, I'm going to be a little less aggressive here. I did exactly what I thought was right. And it ended up being okay, I don't know why one night to the other a change. It's sort of doesn't matter to me. You know, like what matters is is that if I would have been scared on day two, because of what happened on day one, then her blood sugar on day two would have gone way up. So I just I thought okay, I'd rather be low than high. So I'm gonna keep doing what I know is the right thing to do here. If it doesn't work out for us, then we'll deal with it, but I'm not gonna let her get high over.
Alexandra 34:40
Yeah, and what interestingly as well is I'm not scared of a 70 anymore. Good. Um, and again, that's from the podcast, you know, when we would when she was diagnosed, you know, what was it I think the phrases for is on the floor. So basically, you know, anything under four, so any any Under sort of 73, you know, wow, get on it. And that's the and then they were saying, you know, you've got to give 15 grams of sugar fast acting sugar. And so you do that and then go, you know, she goes to behind. This is like, this is ridiculous. You know, it. It's funny how the educate they educate you it's sort of blanket education for everybody. Yeah.
Unknown Speaker 35:25
Yeah, it's pretty much,
Scott Benner 35:27
right. I mean, it's the don't die advice. It's just really Oh, and by the way, this is interesting. This is gonna be a little aside. So for is on the floors, obviously, somebody somebody said to you about a blood sugar being for me really loud. It's also a musical term. And it's sort of a slang term for older car situation. And I'm, what does that exist? They're a four speed transmission. With no filter on the floor. I think that's from like the 1950s. That's funny, right? But it's also a rhythm pattern in music. But I just when you said that, I was like, I bet you that means something completely different here than it does.
Alexandra 36:06
Yeah, for is on the floor. Yeah,
Scott Benner 36:08
that's excellent. And, and now a strong contender for the title of that.
Alexandra 36:13
For is not on the floor, as far as I'm concerned, because she can be under four and we can still manage. I mean, obviously, I don't want her to be missing it. You know, 65 for too long. I want to bring it back up, but quite happy for her. You know, to be under four. Yeah. Yeah, I'm not scared of it.
Scott Benner 36:35
And also, they need to know what that all is, like. So I'll give you like an example from the other night. So Arden's, you know, it's it's nine o'clock ish, you know, and she hasn't had a snack that night, which I probably planned ahead for a little bit. So I had her kind of moving down, and I kept thinking the idea of a snack was going to come up before bed, and it just didn't. So she's at, and then it's drifting a little lower, and I start noticing the drift is moving quicker than, than anticipated. And I said to her, Hey, if you're gonna need to get a snack right now, or I think you're going to end up lower. And she kept saying almost on my homework, I will hold on, I got I got pulled off a bunch of times, and I saw what was happening. And I caught, I could have pushed her farther, but it wasn't dropping fast. So I sort of just let it happen. So finally, she stands up, and she goes, I do need to get something to eat, I'm getting a little dizzy. And I said, Yeah, okay, like, Well, you know, I told you 20 minutes ago, and I'm not gonna, you know, I'm not gonna make you feel bad about it. But like, you know, there was a way to handle this for you wouldn't have gotten to this point. And just trying to put that into our head that there was a spot when she could have had that snack, or done something with their babies or something like that, and avoided this little unpleasantness. And she went down to 56. And she snacking away, and I could already see it coming back up, you know, like, it wasn't like she was continuing to fall. So she's just gonna sit at 56 for a couple of minutes, and then head back up again, which is exactly what happened. And at some point, I asked her a question, and she laughed, and she's like, Can I just answer that in a minute from now when I'm a little, not day? And I was like, Yeah, sure. And then so I let her blood sugar come back up, we didn't over treat, we got it in the right spot. And I just said to her, look, I'm not, you know, I'm not coming down on you, I just want you to know that there was a time here where you could have avoided this, this budget. And you have to pay attention to that a little bit.
Alexandra 38:29
Yeah. And that's what we try to do as well. So we definitely use the trends. Next on to this watch where she's going. And if we see that there's, it's very likely that in the next 10 1520 minutes, she's going to go low, then we'll, we'll you know, just nudge it back again. And to stop to stop that from happening. And they do that at school as well, we're very fortunate as well, because I don't know what it's like necessarily in the United States. But in the UK. I belong to a Facebook group where they talk about sort of rights at school and stuff. And it's not always easy with type one diabetics and school and managing it at school. And we're very lucky in the both of our children go to an independent school and a fee paying school. So if there's a nurse or a matron at the school, and she's fantastic. Her brother is type one. So she's always right from the start had an understanding of how to how to manage it. And we're on WhatsApp for the whole day. So she and I will be communicating via WhatsApp and talking about how we look after her and it's actually a lunchtime, she'll send me a photograph of her food and I'll carve it and then they'll they'll do the injections and such. So we've been really, really lucky at school. You're working on cert that's on the medical Yeah, on a medical level. It's been fantastic. There have been some The teachers haven't quite understood the severity of one she has. She's definitely fallen back, we feel that she's fallen back educationally that perhaps, you know, some of the highs have meant that he hasn't taken in the information as well as appears and that that's been a little bit a little bit tricky.
Scott Benner 40:21
She leave the room frequently.
Alexandra 40:24
Less so now. Where's the matron, we'll go in and but, you know, or Skittles on a desk if she's too low? Or, you know, again to nudge the her blood sugar's if she's high, she'll have to come out of the classroom to have her injection, they won't do it obviously in class.
Scott Benner 40:42
Do you think once she has the Omni pod, will they? Will she just walk into class and give her hands on there? Yes. Thanks in a while, I like to go back to the basics on the ads. Do you know that the dexcom g six continuous glucose monitoring system is a small wearable sensor, and transmitter that sends your glucose numbers to a smart device, like an android or an iPhone or a receiver every five minutes? It's completely easy to wear and easy to use. Did you know that? Sometimes I'm just like, get a Dexcom. And I think what if they don't know what it is? But you must know, right? You're listening to the podcast, maybe you're new. Let me just pardon. If you're new. Just try to imagine this. Imagine instead of testing with a finger stick to know what your blood sugar is, and only finding out what your blood sugar is for that moment. You had a way of knowing what your blood sugar is all of the time. And not just what the number is, but the direction and speed that the blood sugar is moving. Like are you 185 diagonal down like is there a little arrow pointing diagonal down, which means you're falling like a couple points a minute. He said number stable, said flying up really fast that flying down very quickly. These things are nice to know they make it easier to make better decisions about food and insulin. And the dexcom g six brings you this next level information, you should check it out. It's at dexcom.com forward slash juice box. There, you'll find out everything you need to know, artists have been using Dexcom forever. And to be perfectly honest, it is at the very center of the decision making process that we have with Arden's blood sugar. I share this with you only because it makes my point. My daughter's a one C has been between five two and six two for over five years with zero diet restrictions, largely because of the information that we get back from the dexcom g six, continuous glucose monitor. There are links in your show notes at Juicebox podcast.com. These are my results. Yours may vary. Do you think once she has the Omnipod will they will she just walk into class and give her insulin there?
Alexandra 42:43
Yes. Good. Yeah, I'm sure that that'll it'll help enormously.
Scott Benner 42:47
Yeah, just not missing a couple of minutes of explanation.
Alexandra 42:54
Yeah, it is a big deal. And it was interesting. One of the teachers the other day, we had like a parent consultation. And she said to me, so I think Maya needs to become a little bit more independent. I'm like, Yeah, she's seven. And she said, Yeah, you know, so perhaps at lunchtime, get her own food. And he could she could do that herself. And I'm like, no. And then she said to me, and you know, when her alarm goes off? Does she know what that means? None that Yeah, she knows when she's, you know, what the numbers mean? And she said, Well, maybe she could just treat yourself, you know, oh, give herself some sugar. Or I was like, No.
Scott Benner 43:37
How would she know how much to give herself?
Alexandra 43:39
Yeah, that's not gonna happen. And it was, again, a kind of realization that not everybody understands this, because she looks so well. Yeah, he looks well, she's happy. She's bubbly. She's, but yet, you know, the reason she looks so well is that we look after her.
Unknown Speaker 43:55
And, yeah, when I was
Scott Benner 43:57
getting Arden into kindergarten, so she's five. I happen to know somebody who is in the room at the at the school board level in the meeting, who kind of reported back to me and they said at one point someone at the highest level that that meeting, said, Why can't she just do this herself? And I was like, I was like, really? She said, I said, but she's five? Like, can they really do anything themselves? Should we put them in charge of like, major medical decisions? Do you think, you know, and, and all that sentence meant was? That sounds like a lot of work for us? Or am I gonna have to pay someone else to be involved in this? Or, you know, like, how do we get out of being responsible? You know, it's just, but your thing is just funny because it's just funny. I mean, like, I love your answer, but she's seven. So no, you know what, no way Like, seriously list the important things that your seven year olds in charge of
Unknown Speaker 44:59
nothing
Scott Benner 45:01
If I like the heat turned down on the first floor of our house at night, I wouldn't even put my kid in charge of that.
Unknown Speaker 45:08
Exactly that guitar no one. Was there seven,
Alexandra 45:13
I had to I had to walk away if I'm honest, I couldn't quite cope with it.
Scott Benner 45:18
Well, it's funny and to speak about it seriously, for a second, it is no really different than what you talked about the beginning. They just don't know. And it's fine. But sometimes when people don't know and they say things that are uninformed, it really is infuriating. Yeah, you know, it's just because you've been through, you've been through so much, in not even a year and a half, 24 hours a day, like the last thing you need is some chucklehead walking up to you and saying something stupid, you know, like, like, I don't have enough bandwidth to inform you about diabetes. Like I just I don't have any more energy, please leave me alone and go away? And yeah, no, I hear it. I really do. Okay, so
Unknown Speaker 46:02
you are
Scott Benner 46:04
you live in a place where your medications are? Are they free? Like does your insulin like,
Unknown Speaker 46:11
john,
Scott Benner 46:12
break it down? For me a little bit? Like, let's start at a very basic level, do you have health insurance? Or is that not how it works?
Alexandra 46:19
It's not how it works. So everybody's entitled to medication and medical care on the National Health Service. And so if we go to the doctors, or certainly children, if I need any form of medication, whether it be insulin or finger test strips, or whatever it might be, we can get everything for free. Okay, after a certain age, and I think it's 18. And then you have to start paying for your prescriptions. So it's but it's my It's nothing, it's like eight pounds. I don't even know what that isn't dollars, but it's really not a lot of money. But for my literally every time we go to the hospital, every time we go to the doctor, every time we get vials of insulin or anything, it's all free. It's incredible.
Scott Benner 47:14
Yeah. Now for perspective for people listening in the United States who are maybe like right now like, see, Texas is bigger than England. Okay, so it's not, you know, it's there is an issue with your generally speaking of it, you're, you're a country in charge of fewer people. And, and so it's probably more doable, but at the same time, if it's doable, then it's probably scalable.
Alexandra 47:41
I think we when I say it's free, obviously, we will pay tax, right? Clearly, you know, a proportion of that tax going towards the National Health Service. And so, we say it's free, but in a roundabout kind of way, we're paying for it anyway. But
Unknown Speaker 47:58
your mind, do you know what the tax rate is in England? Um,
Scott Benner 48:05
is it a funny thing?
Alexandra 48:08
So I don't I know that there's a high tax rate special, I think it's like an tax, and then it goes down in increments. Depending on how much you earn,
Scott Benner 48:19
okay, I'm looking here for a second. So taxable income in 2017 2018, England, Wales, Northern Ireland, so from zero to 1150 pounds, 1100 and 50 pounds. Yeah,
Alexandra 48:31
it's free. That's tax
Scott Benner 48:33
free, tax free. 11 5001 to 45,000 is 20%. Now, here's an interesting 140 5000 250,000 is 40%. Can you put 150,000 pounds into American dollars for me? Scott,
Unknown Speaker 48:50
hold on a second. I can fit I got the internet, hold on. Hold on 150 150,000 pounds in dollars.
Alexandra 49:02
I mean, that's a that's a big salary. Okay,
Scott Benner 49:05
so 15,000 pounds is like $19,000 and 50,000 pounds is like $200,000 a year. But I think that's that's important to note, right? Is that at $200,000 a year in England, you're being taxed at 40%. I'm gonna guess because a lot of two family household two income households around here might reach near $200,000. I think here you may be only paid 25 to 28%.
Alexandra 49:36
Well, there we go.
Scott Benner 49:37
Right. And so it is interesting isn't like I get it for free, except you give away 10% more of your income than some other people. So
Alexandra 49:44
that's it. And of course that's right. And some people are using the medical system a lot more than others. And, you know, it just so happens that I have a daughter who is type one diabetic so we're at the hospital every three months then benefit from it. Yeah. We benefit from it. But of course, if I had two healthy children and obviously myself and Damien completely healthy, then you know, we're not using using the NHS as much. So you know, it's it's swings and roundabouts.
Scott Benner 50:13
Let me get your opinion for some because you have a unique perspective, right? Like, and I don't know your income. And I'm not asking it. But let me let me say this, if you found yourself paying 40% of your income, you didn't have children who needed the health system, and you didn't need the health system. Now that you know what it's like to live with diabetes, are you okay with that? Like, are you? Are you happy to think Well, there's someone out there who really needs it, who's not being impeded, who's not being, you know, who's not losing their livelihood over this, like, they can just walk into a place and get the insulin they need? Like, does that make you happy? Or does that make you feel like, Oh, I wish I did have some of my money back?
Alexandra 50:50
It's a really interesting question. And I think, now that we've got that health care, obviously, you know, it's, it's a given isn't it, of course, that there are people unfortunately, that do take advantage of the fact that it's all free. And I think sometimes, perhaps, the minor things will make an appointment, go and see a doctor, when in fact, they don't really need to. And I think that happens a lot more. I actually grew up in Belgium, and I spent the first 30 years of my life in Belgium and and their medic, it's not free, you have to pay into a you pay into a kind of medical system, and you pay you pay every month. And so when I came to the UK, I was so grateful for sickness, you know, because it was so different to what I was used to and what I grew up with. So um, but yeah, you know, it's, it isn't it is outstanding,
Scott Benner 51:55
and no hassle, by the way, coming from Belgium to the UK. The UK doesn't shake you down. They boom, you just you're here and you get services.
Alexandra 52:01
It's complicated. I was I my parents are both British. I was born in Belgium. So I put a British passport driver's
Scott Benner 52:09
okay. Yeah, you don't have to tell me it's complicated. Sometimes I flip on. And I watch your politics sometimes. And just like that, it's complicated. What's happening,
Alexandra 52:18
but we don't know what's happening either. We just hope it we just hope it won't happen. And I find sometimes
Scott Benner 52:25
I sit there. I'm like, well, that woman just got done speaking. And I think that old man is gonna yell at her now. I'm like, Let's wait and see what then he stands up and he yells at him. I don't even know why he's upset.
Alexandra 52:35
pure entertainment.
Unknown Speaker 52:37
does seem like a so pop. And
Alexandra 52:38
what is scary is your entertainment. But it's actually reality. So that's kind of what some what is scary at the moment.
Scott Benner 52:45
Then the man of the chair in the back of the room, he stands up and yells at everybody. I'm like, everyone's yelling.
Alexandra 52:50
So he's all he's all local MP berco. So yes, he's the speaker. When he tells everyone to be quiet,
Scott Benner 52:57
they really do Shut up. By the way, when he says they do it. No one's watching parliament on television Really?
Unknown Speaker 53:06
Really, really is a good time, honestly.
Scott Benner 53:09
Okay, yeah. So you know, it just made me it makes me think that, as I see, I think it's a mindset, right. And I do wonder how much of that mindset comes from the perspective of diabetes? Because as you get older, generally speaking, if you're lucky, you start you do a little better, right? And that's the hope. And as you do better, do you see that extra? You know, quote, unquote, extra money you have? As? Is it? You know, where you? Are you? You know, are you the guy on The Simpsons? Are you just are you, Mr. Burns? Are you just like, it's mine, it's mine, it's mine, nobody can have it? Or do you say to yourself, alright, well, now I can afford to make the roads a little better, or, you know, if I have to give away another thousand dollars this year, so that some family that I don't know, doesn't have to struggle to pay for their food or medication? Like, can I be okay with that? You know, like, it's a mindset. Really,
Alexandra 54:02
it is. And I think, you know, I, as I've got older, I think you do have to come from a place of contribution. And, and, and I do believe that what, you know, I do believe that what goes around comes around, so, I think, I don't think it's a bad thing. Yeah. And
Scott Benner 54:18
isn't it interesting when it's medical, right? It's, you either have that perspective, or you don't you don't realize how lucky you are not to having you know, you don't realize how lucky your ignorance is, when you say, oh, let them pay for it themselves. You're playing right. You know, any person, you know, any working person has an income that's probably barely getting them by. And then if I just show up one day and say, Okay, now there's, you know, $4,000 more of cost this year for you? Well, I didn't have an extra $4,000 to begin with. And and now you're telling me that that's for medicine that keeps me alive, or?
Alexandra 54:54
Yeah, and I must say that I listened to your podcast and obviously the majority See if your guests are American and I hear, you know, some of the, you know, Medicare and all this. And I must admit a lot of that goes over my head, but the gist of it is basically you pay you pay for your medication, and it makes me feel incredibly grateful that, that, you know, I can go and get five vials of insulin for Maya and not have to worry about whether, you know, the insurance is gonna pay for it or whatever I'm, you know, as I said, I don't really understand how your system works, but but it sounds, it sounds a lot less complicated here. So, yeah,
Scott Benner 55:35
more people have their hand out here in our system, whether that be insurance companies, or, you know, Pharmacy Benefits managers, we're just basically middlemen between the companies who make the drugs and the and the devices and the insurance company and then to you it's like this for it's like this four star, you know, four pointed star of everyone has their hand out and you're the one paying everybody, you pay the insurance company, you pay the benefits manager, you pay the you know, the pharmaceutical company, you're paying, paying paying those three people to get your stuff.
Alexandra 56:07
So having said that, with what's going on in the UK and Brexit, there have been some concerns about availability of insulin, which in the UK, yeah, that has, that has been a concern. And obviously, when you bring it off at the, at the hospital, they say, Oh, no, don't worry about it, it's fine. But it is a concern. Of course it is, you know,
Scott Benner 56:27
where you're gonna find because you have yelling, man yelling man with hammer and sad lady taking care of the whole thing. As far as I can tell.
Unknown Speaker 56:34
It'll be fine.
Scott Benner 56:35
It'll be fine. Sure, oil. Everything's gonna be great. I there's obviously a lot of common sense in the way your your healthcare is handled. And I don't think that we couldn't use some more common sense, but I think as long as people are making money at it, they're not gonna, they're not gonna let go of their revenue stream. You know, that's just that's capitalism. You know, so we'll say, it's all it's all ever changing. It's always a big fight. And I think as long as most people are covered, they're not gonna they're not gonna change anything.
Unknown Speaker 57:14
They won't change it.
Scott Benner 57:15
Yeah, they're gonna be okay with that. I don't know what the number is. I think it's 8%. Is it 8%? or something? There's like this low percentage, you know, when you look at it numbers wise, but there are people who can't afford insulin. So yeah, I think if one of them can afford it, that's a high percentage. But that's not how that's not how that's not how they view it's not how business looks at it, right? It's exactly right. Okay, so Maya is doing great. She's, you know, you're doing it sounds like you're doing terrific. Your husband's learning he's coming along. He is, do you think about Do you ever look at your son and think, oh, gosh, is this gonna happen to him?
Alexandra 57:56
Also, at the beginning, like, oh, my goodness, I have to come here your ties come here on your fingerprint desk, right? Little lad. And Although to be fair, he'd come to me and say, Mommy, I'm feeling tired or, you know, whatever. And can I just ask my blood sugars? So but, you know, if it happens, it happens. Which is quite a pragmatic way of looking at it. There's not much we can do about it. Regardless, we have done the trial, and he's had his blood sugars, nice blood sugars. He's had blood taken and tested for antibodies. So we will. That's it on that. So we will do that every year on back negative. So we will do that every year. But to be honest, even if it came back positive. I mean, like, what does that give you? Like, I know what the signs are anyway. It's Yeah, it's not like that's going to be particularly helpful. But yeah, it does. Of course, it worries me. I would rather he didn't get diabetes. He can see, he can see from how my is that it's not much fun sometimes. And but he's funny, because he's turns around sometimes and goes, Well, let me you know, I wouldn't. I wouldn't complain if blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, Yeah,
Scott Benner 59:19
he's just looking for a way to show up his sister. What do you see? They're, they're right at the good distance. They're like three years apart. Wait, do you see how that goes over the next? Oh, my gosh, it's just sometimes it's, it's my kids are pretty good with each other. And yet when they go with each other, you're like, Oh, it's exhausting. Just shut up.
Alexandra 59:41
Yeah. I think I think what what saddens me slightly is that Ethan has just come back from an amazing week of skiing in France with with his school. And that's obviously was a very easy decision. And off he went, and he had an amazing week, and I didn't even think twice About how much fun he was having. And but I know that obviously, when the time comes that Maya wants to go off on a ski trip with school, things are going to be, you know, somewhat different. And that's sad. Because although she is a normal kid, he is a normal kid. There are still so many things that we have to plan. Not so it's just can't be impulsive anymore.
Unknown Speaker 1:00:25
That saddens me
Scott Benner 1:00:26
that you can't just throw your hands up and be like, let's do it. And we'll figure it out. We go figure it out before you listen, you just made me think of, I mean, Arden's just a freshman in high school. She'll be 15 this summer. But she's, you know, been talking about being involved in fashion for most of her life. And she said to us like offhandedly the other day. Would you mind? Would it be okay, if I went to college in France? And I think, yeah, it was like, and I said, Yeah, sure. Of course, that'd be fine. You know, like, we were just all like, Well, of course. Meanwhile, if she didn't have diabetes, I'd be like, that sounds expensive. So no, but but, but I just said yes. Because I didn't want her to think that because of her diabetes, I was considering that she couldn't do it. Yeah, right. I don't know what she'll ever do. If that'll be what her you know, her focus remains, but, but I just didn't feel like saying no, was a good idea. I was just like, Oh, yeah, absolutely. Because I think she was sort of mining for Am I going to mention her blood sugar in this. And this is where, at the moment, I just sit back and think, oh, that on the Hot horizon will be out, you know, in a year or so. And that algorithm will be okay. And then you know, we'll be able to manage the rest, you know, over distance, I have to tell you that, um, two weeks from now, we're planning on going out to visit my son at college and watch him play baseball. And Arden just said, My friends are having a party that day, like, it's a birthday party, and it's asleep over and I'd like to go to that. And so I, I just did the math in my head real quick. And I was like, yeah, that's fine. You know, that'll be okay. I'm talking about driving three hours away from my home. I can't just get back. Yeah, you know, but I think I can do it. You know, I think that the stuff we talked about on this podcast and the technology we have, I think I could do it. So yes, I said, Okay, well, we'll try
Unknown Speaker 1:02:21
it well,
Alexandra 1:02:21
if she How about how much comes to London instead? And and then we'll look after.
Scott Benner 1:02:25
But listen, I'm up for that. Thank you very much. Diabetes exchange program,
Unknown Speaker 1:02:31
I'm gonna say I will send my registers I need
Scott Benner 1:02:33
to know about pharmaceutical companies, because I live in New Jersey. So that's pretty much all I can tell her about from here. pharma companies, banks, and I can tell her about the sopranos probably
Unknown Speaker 1:02:44
so very cool. Well, absolutely. This
Scott Benner 1:02:48
was really great. I really appreciate you coming on. I realized for people I You should know that we had to adjust. You had made an appointment to be on the show. And then there was I think, my I had a class or something, right? Yeah. And I lost track of that fact. and ended up like Skyping. You while you're like, do you remember what animal you were looking at when I called you?
Alexandra 1:03:18
Well, it wasn't actually the zoo. It was the National History Museum in Tring, which is a great little, little museum. And I think I was with the stuffed lion. Time.
Unknown Speaker 1:03:30
I apologize.
Scott Benner 1:03:33
As soon as you said it, I thought, Oh, that's right. This is not the correct I. But again, for any of you who don't know me that I get this podcast up every week is an absolute act of God. So
Unknown Speaker 1:03:45
we thank you for well, please, you have
Scott Benner 1:03:46
no idea how counterintuitive it is to my personality that I do this on a weekly basis. But thank you very much for coming on.
Unknown Speaker 1:03:54
Thank you for having me. Oh, it's my pleasure.
Scott Benner 1:04:02
huge thank you to Alexandra for coming on the show and sharing her family story. Thank you also to Dexcom on the pod and dancing for diabetes for being such steadfast sponsors of the show, please check them out. Go to dexcom.com forward slash juicebox. My omnipod.com forward slash juicebox. And of course, dancing the number four diabetes.com. Actually, let me tell you a little something more about dancing for diabetes while I have you. Dancing for diabetes has an annual showcase in Central Florida for dancers that has raised nearly listen to this one half of a million dollars for Type One Diabetes Research. Now the 19th annual dancing for diabetes show will be held on Saturday, November 9 at the Bob Carr theater in Orlando, Florida. Tickets for the show range from 15 to $35 each, and they may be purchased online at www Dr. Phillips center.org dancy for diabetes is a nonprofit organization based in Central Florida with a mission to spread awareness through the art of dance about type one diabetes. They want to raise funds to find a cure, and to inspire those with Type One Diabetes to live healthy and active lives. And on top of all that, I really like what they do. Dancing the number four diabetes.com if you want to get tickets to the show, Dr. Philip center.org. You know what, you sat through a long ad there at the end a little bonus for you. That's right. Scott's always on your side. Here's what it sounds like right before we start recording the show. You ready? Hey,
Alexandra 1:05:44
look, I'm on my iPad, the headphones.
Scott Benner 1:05:48
It's amazing. Honestly, some of the best recordings I've done, people are like, Oh, I'm in an airport on my phone.
Unknown Speaker 1:05:55
Okay, whatever works.
Scott Benner 1:05:58
So this is I'm sure you've listened to enough to be able to know this, but it's fairly informal. Yep. We're what I'll do is in a second, I'll just ask you to introduce yourself anyway. You want to be known. It could be you know, your real name, your just your first name, whatever you are comfortable with. Okay. Then we'll start chatting. And then like an hour from now, you'll be like, Oh, my God, we're done already. And that'll be it.
Alexandra 1:06:22
I know. That's what worries me is like, what what will I talk about? I'm sure it'll happen.
Scott Benner 1:06:27
Are you really are you concerned that you might not know what to say?
Unknown Speaker 1:06:31
No.
Scott Benner 1:06:35
All right. So whenever you're ready, go ahead. Introduce yourself.
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