#150 Process over Outcome
Scott Benner
Alabama Softball catcher Molly Fichtner...
Molly Fichtner has been living with T1D for a long time and in that time she has accomplished quite a bit. Now a division 1 softball coach Molly was the catcher at Alabama during their most recent championship run. Her story is a good one and one that I've never forgotten.
You can also listen to the Juicebox Podcast on: Apple Podcasts/iOS - google play/android - iheart radio - or your favorite podcast app. Now on Spotify.
Check out the article that I wrote about Molly in 2014.
You can contact Molly at mollyfichtner@att.net
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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
Well, we've reached somewhat of a milestone here today. This is Episode 150 of the Juicebox Podcast. We are sponsored today by Omni pod and Dexcom Dexcom of course I continuous glucose monitor that I base most of what I do with Arden around and on the pod, a tubeless insulin pump you heard me tubeless insulin pump that Arden's been using since she was four years old. We love both of them, and that's why they're sponsors on the podcast. Later, you can go to my Omni pod.com forward slash juice box or dexcom.com forward slash juicebox. To find out more.
Unknown Speaker 0:37
Also, there's
Scott Benner 0:38
going to be links in your show notes. At the end of this episode, I'm going to give you an update on Isabel me when I was talking to Isabel's mom this morning, and I've got a little bit of an update on how her health and her recovery Skelly, if you're interested, it'll be at the end. As always, please, please, please, please, please understand that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice medical otherwise, always consult a physician before making changes to your health care plan.
I don't want to under oversell today's episode, but let me just say that you might not know the name Molly Fichtner. But Molly was the catcher for Alabama's softball team. There are only a few really intense places to play collegiate division one softball, women's softball, Alabama is one of them. You really need to be able to play to be there. Molly did it with Type One Diabetes. I can't explain to you why have I explained to you why you need to listen to this entire episode, then I would just have to repeat the episode. But just let me say that. I know I say this a lot. Let me let me go back for a second. I say this is a great episode. But you have to understand I recorded this months ago. And now just recently, I've listened back for editing to take out like you know when people bang on desks and coffee and things like that. So you guys don't have to hear that. But as I do that, I get to listen back to the episode. I'm telling you. I'm proud of this podcast. I'm proud of Molly. I am proud of this episode. I hope you love it. This is Episode 150. The Juicebox Podcast process over outcome.
Molly Fichtner 2:27
My name is Molly Fichtner. I'm an assistant softball coach at East Carolina University I played at the University of Alabama. softball graduated in 2014 and played in the Pro League for one year for the Dallas charge. And I have been type one diabetic for 13 years.
Scott Benner 2:44
And how did we meet Molly I forgot. I guess I know what happened after we met with you remember? How did I reach out to you? Yeah, I
Molly Fichtner 2:52
think he reached out to me it was shortly after the World Series. My senior year I remember we had just lost national championship I think it was about a week later, I was about to start summer school for my master's degree. And I remember you had reached out to me, I think via email, and
Scott Benner 3:10
remembering that somebody contacted me, because I was doing a lot of like writing at that point. And I was putting a lot of stuff on Huffington Post. And somebody contacted me and said, Hey, Alabama, just like came in second in the in, you know, the college softball World Series. I think their catcher has type one diabetes, and I was like, Oh, alright, and so I picked around a little bit and figured out where you were and then you were kind enough not to yell stranger danger when you got the email and, and then we then we sat and spoke and I just remember thinking, I don't know how spectacular that was like I think for some, for some reason, Molly and I this is probably completely unfair. But, you know, having diabetes and doing something that intense is, of course really impressive. But I know for me, your height is what made it impressive to me. Like in the very beginning, I knew anything about you. I thought that girls catching for Alabama. She's like she's saying she's five, three, if she's saying she's five, three, is she? Three? Because who says they're five, three? Like that's easily Five, four lie, right? So how tall are you really?
Molly Fichtner 4:16
I'm actually about five, two and a half. So I do round up.
Scott Benner 4:24
But it's just as odd or as unfair as it is. Like that's the first thing that occurred to me because I can tell you that a couple of summers ago, my son was down in the south and he was in Georgia playing baseball trying to get somebody interested in him. And he came up to the room. We were staying in a hotel he him to the room and he goes I just met a freshman downstairs, a girl who committed the Florida to play softball. And I said she's a freshman in high school and he said yeah, I said, Wow, that's crazy. He goes not if you saw her, she's like six one. Right and she was really blonde and I said those Florida teams only take blonde softball players. It's probably Do with her height, you know. And if no one's ever watched a flight, you know what I'm saying no one's ever watched a Florida college collegiate softball game. It's fine models who could play softball and put them on a softball team together. But anyway, so I just always, because in baseball, it is very much like that, like my son's 511. He, I don't think I'm overstating has D one baseball skills. But the one schools don't particularly care because he's not over six feet tall. You know, like, it's just sort of how they think about it. So you know what I mean? So when I heard you were five, three, and then I imagined you were five, two, I thought this girl must really be able to play, you know, so you said, Tell me a little bit about, I guess, you know, you don't have to go too far into it as a really, as a really young kid. But what's the first thing that attracted you to softball? And how did you make it to play in college? Because that is very impressive to do with or without diabetes? Yeah, I
Molly Fichtner 6:01
mean, obviously, I think growing up, my parents always said, Molly, you were born with the ball in your hand. So I I just I always love sports. And I just had a passion for it. And I remember I played everything else for it, not to mankind folly until I hit about 12 years old, 13 years old. And at that point, that's when I was actually diagnosed during my basketball season when I was 12 years old. And at that point, after I got really into salt, I think I was 13, actually, and my dad sat me down. He's like, you know, Molly, I want you to choose a sport, and I want you to go after it. And at that point, it was just softball. I just absolutely love softball. And I do remember, I mean, obviously, my high was it was it was hard. Because I, I did get a lot of feedback from college coaches. That said, I was too short to play for the program. And obviously, that, you know, trying to explain to a 1516 year old that you're not going to play on my college because you're too short. I don't have any control of that. It was it was you know, it, it hurt. But I had a coach come up to me one day, and he said, you know, Molly goes, even though you're five, two, all you got to do is play like you're six, four. And I said okay, and and I didn't. And, you know, fortunately, it worked out. I went to Texas School on originally from Houston, and I got recruited to University of Texas, San Antonio, played there for two years had a wonderful experience. And then I transferred to the University of Alabama, and I played for patrick murphy for two more years. And I think the cool thing about him was, he never worried about height, if he could play the boy. And He always talks about two, he says, The coolest thing about softball is height doesn't really matter. And you can be successful and things like that. So, I mean, I really lucked out in my career. But like I said, there was obviously, you know, those people that you know, kind of said the same thing that your son was dealing with, in the sense where, you know, you're too small to play for my program, you're a catch, you're in your power here. Well, why would I get you at five to win, I can go get someone at six foot that has 60 pounds on you. You know, but that was just one of those things where, you know, the more the more people said, No, I was like, Alright, fine, I'm gonna work my butt off. And hopefully I'll prove to you wrong one day.
Scott Benner 8:21
It's such a great example of how people just think there's a way that things have to be done. You know, like, well, you need to be this tall to do this, or you can't, you know, we can't have a kid out here with diabetes doing this. Like it's too hard. Yeah. You know, like, I wonder if people realize how much in the world is said and repeated and done. Just because someone did it before them. No one even wonders if that was correct when that person said it. Yeah, you know, you don't you don't wonder where this thought originated from. I know some pretty stupid people. I bet you, you were doing things right now in the world based off of the the harebrained idea of a person who if you had five minutes to talk to him, You think I would never take their advice. Yeah, you know, and, and so and it just, it just proliferates and goes on and on to the point where, and I totally will not mention the program. But my son worked out this past summer for a team. And I said to him, Look, it's a it's a one double A school, I said, but they can't win a baseball game to save their life. I said, maybe they just be happy to have a kid who could play baseball. Anyway, worked out the whole thing, same story, wish we were a little bigger, blah, blah, blah. You know, that was that. And so we went to the trouble of finding some of their games online. And again, and we watched a couple of innings and I'm going to tell you these boys came out and they were prototypes. They look like if I said to you, Molly make a baseball player. You would make these boys they were sick. They were six, two, they were 190 pounds. They were strong. They were pretty. They would look good in their uniform. And then for three innings. I watched them not be able to feel the ground ball. Time and they couldn't catch a fly ball. They weren't baseball players. Were just really big athletes. And and I thought, okay, that's an eye. And what I told my son was, that's how this guy sees it, you're not going to change his mind will go somewhere where they will appreciate you and and flourish there. You know, yeah, that's exactly what he's been doing. But to kind of relate it back to diabetes a little bit. I do see things like that a little bit, too, when you're when your endo is telling you, this is how we do it. You know, you can't have a pump until you've been injecting for a year. Why? I don't know. It's just they don't they never say I don't know. But that's what they're thinking they go, I don't know. That's what we always do. You know, that's just that's the plan. That's how we do things. You need to challenge those things. When someone says something to you. It doesn't sit right in your gut, you have to stop and say, is there a good reason I'm taking this person's advice, because everything in my head is telling me that might not be correct. Maybe I should look at this a little differently. I'm assuming you had to do that a bunch of times, not just with the softball, but then I mean, you were playing with, it's not like you were playing with I don't know what you're used. Now. You popping Do you have a C jam, do anything like that?
Molly Fichtner 11:07
Oh, I have a poem by the tandem the T slim.
Unknown Speaker 11:12
Okay, good. So
Scott Benner 11:13
but when you were playing you were probably just injecting and
Molly Fichtner 11:16
Yeah, exactly. When when I was playing, I was only on the injections and the pins, novolog pins. And then I obviously just always have my meter with me. How often?
Scott Benner 11:27
How often because it's so you're not just playing softball, which is incredibly intense. But you're doing it in Alabama, where it's hot, and it's humid, right? Mm hmm. How? How many times? Do you remember? thinking of yourself, wow, I need to go find out what my blood sugar is? Or, like, do you ever have Have you had those feelings while you were playing? And how did you handle them?
Molly Fichtner 11:48
No, I know, honestly, I feel like I'm pretty blessed in the sense where I know my body really well. So even if I'm at 90, and I'm running around, I'll absolutely feel myself already and be like, Okay, I gotta go get some Gatorade for the rest of practice, you know, and things like that. Which, I mean, like I said, I'm very blessed with that, because a lot of people can't really feel it till they're about 60 or 50. And then they have to sit out for 15 minutes. But I also had great athletic trainers, who, even when I got distracted, and I wouldn't remember because, you know, I feel fine. They would be like, hey, Mama, come here. Let's test let's see where you're at, and things like that. I think the biggest thing that I struggle with honestly, good, because, you know, it's kind of just a regimen after a while, it's the same thing every single day in my body gets used to it. I think the hardest thing was on game days, game nights, I had my adrenaline would just go out the roof. And I remember, actually one one particular example we were it was at the College World Series. And this was my first game we were about to get off the bus to warm up to play at the University of Oklahoma, which of course playing the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma City. It's basically about 8000 fans cheering against you, and about 2000 cheering for you. So that's just, you know, the home crowd advantage. And this was my first obviously, like I said, my first college world series game. And I tested when we were on our charter bus going over and I was about 170. And I was like, okay, not a big deal. I'll probably drop a little bit after warm up, so I'll be good to go. And once I warmed up our pitcher, it was about 25 minutes. So game time and I'm warming up the pitcher in the bullpen. And my athletic trainer comes over and she's like, hey, Molly, let's test real quick before the game and I said, Okay, so we test and I didn't feel like super funny. I mean, I felt a little out of it, but not crazy. And my blood sugar was about 340. And it was literally just the adrenaline that hit me like, like, it like hit me like a freight train. Because I was I was so excited. I was so pumped to take the field. And I was like, What the heck because I didn't have any Gatorade. I didn't need anything. It was literally just, I was so excited for this game. Excuse me. And I remember thinking, Okay, how much insulin do I take? Because after the game when my journal goes down, am I you know, plummet and I might go low. So I remember I think I took like half a unit maybe which isn't that much. And as soon as we got started by the third inning, I was back in 100. It was a crazy thing.
Scott Benner 14:33
Now we have to Bolus for Arden's adrenaline a lot. But you can't because you're trying to stop that spike, right? But at the same time, what if it doesn't come? What if she's just not excited about today's game or nervous like I've talked about it all the time. Like, if you take Arden out in the backyard and her blood sugar's 150 and she runs around like crazy, your blood sugar goes down. If you take her out in the backyard and the running around includes keeping score and she feels like that's important and She wants to win her blood sugar goes up. So yeah, so she's a competitive person she wants to win. And and and that brings adrenaline and then you have to bolster gentlemen, just like you said the amazing thing about bolusing for adrenaline is the minute the adrenaline's gone. And I really almost mean the minute it's gone, you know, maybe 10 minutes, maybe 15. If the insulin still in there working, there's nothing holding that insulin up anymore. It's, it's, it's amazing. It's crazy. And then you have to feed the insulin after that. So how do you we had a this summer Arden was playing in the Little League World Series tournament, they made it all the way into the regional round, and they won New Jersey. And they actually they came in fifth, I think in the region. By the time it was over. They said, awesome, a great run. It's so much fun. And but my goodness, did her blood sugar get low every night, they were in that regional tournament. And it and it wasn't just like, oh, a little low, it was the low that you fed. And then the low looked at you and when the just sat there, you know, like the 50 blood sugars were like, well, I've given enough food and carbs. Now we're a bunch of good should be 7000. But it's 50. Yeah. And then you would drift off and you think, okay, you'd be shutting off bezels and everything. Does that happen? Did that happen to you frequently? And how do you handle that when
Unknown Speaker 16:17
you're by yourself?
Molly Fichtner 16:18
Yeah. So I actually I there was a lot of times when I was in travel blog, the same thing happened to me, it was always at night, you know, you play all day, then you go out for a nice dinner. And then I go home and about 930 at night, right before I hit the bed. Oh my gosh, it was 70 or 60. And it was you know, it's kind of a pain in the rear end in the sense where, okay, now I have to stay up even though I'm exhausted, I need to stay up and make sure my blood sugar's are normal, or I'm waking up every 10 minutes to test. So it just it just comes with it. Um, but as far as like, just in general, I've been living I mean, obviously, when I was at Alabama when I was in college, I always had roommates. And once I left Alabama to go up to Dartmouth to start my coaching career after my year as a volunteer in Alabama. I live by myself. And living by myself, I think the big thing was, I kind of had to get to know my neighbors a little bit. And this is where if I ever needed anything, I could obviously have them right there for me. I this kind of funny to say and hopefully nobody judges me for this, but I'm 25 years old, and I text my mom every night and every morning when I wake up, just so she knows that, you know, all is good. You know, I'm heading to bed, and things like that. And she'll know when I wake up. And sometimes if I get to text her when I wake up, she'll text me or call me at 11 o'clock. And she's like, are you uh, are you okay? Just just to check on me. But I also you know, I know that gives her peace of mind, especially with me living by myself, and things like that. I do remember. Eric,
Scott Benner 18:00
can I ask you a question?
Unknown Speaker 18:01
Absolutely. texting her? Yes.
Scott Benner 18:03
Is it a mutual thing? Is it something you do for her?
Molly Fichtner 18:08
Yes, it's it's absolutely more for her than it is for me, in the sense where I, I had a friend in high school who passed away in the middle of the night. And it was two weeks after our graduation. And he was obviously type one diabetic he had gone low in the moment I passed away. And I remember at that point it it obviously scares you when when that when stuff like that happens, because you know that we're very well could be any of us, you know, just go into sleep and then just not waking up. And after that I knew it took a toll on my mom, and she was a little bit more worried than she ever was about it. And so at that point in high school, that's just what I did. I just, you know, obviously I was living with her. And then that summer when I went off to University of Texas, San Antonio, that's when I really started doing it all the time just for her. And you know, of course, I love my mom. So I'm going to talk to her. But, you know, it's just kind of one of those things where she knows I'm okay. And things like that. Now, if I get a roommate, you know, because I did have roommates, I still did it just in case. Now granted, my mom always had my roommates numbers for that kind of stuff. So
Scott Benner 19:18
I'm just imagining you up at Dartmouth telling your neighbor Hey, listen, if you feel like you hear a book hit the wall. That's not a cat knocking something over. I need your help.
Molly Fichtner 19:28
Right? Geez. Right I'm like, I remember growing up I had kids we had a two story house. So after I got diagnosed, my mom and dad did was they put kids their bedroom was downstairs and mine was upstairs. And they put a bill Bell right on my nightstand so if I ever turned over and I knew them I just ring the bell as loud as I could. And they would be up there you know, in two seconds but and of course you know my mom, I'm like I said I'm so 25 and when I go home for Christmas and stuff she'll and she does it to me My sister she'll like randomly like walking in the middle of night. Just make sure we're breathing. And I'm like, Mom, okay, this is a little weird. Well, I
Scott Benner 20:08
it's funny we were, I was talking to Mike because my son's getting ready to go to college next year. And we were having this conversation about something. And I told him I said, You know, I, it's hard to imagine it really, it sounds sort of like a platitude, but it's hard to imagine, before you have kids that you really do get up every morning and think that, you know, this is my, my sole purpose on this planet is to make sure that kids happy and doesn't die. But that's pretty much it. Like, that's, that's what I'm trying to accomplish. And because what is it? What is it that, you know, I don't what is my life become if my children suddenly disappear? Like, how would I go on? Like, why would that? Why would anything be meaningful after that? Like, I'm sure it could be. Don't Don't get me wrong, but it's hard to imagine before anything like that happens. And so I don't know. Like, it's just, it's completely delightful that your mom does that. But it's nicer that you do it. And I'm also imagining, too, it's you guys have this connection. Now. Even if it's just a text message at night in the morning that that you that you might not have without diabetes, maybe you would have been like, Hey, I'm going to college suckers. And yeah, that
Unknown Speaker 21:14
might have been the end of it. Okay, exactly.
Scott Benner 21:16
So, Alright, so let's get a little softball geeky for a second. What's it feel like to hit a ball over a fence in a game? But what is it? Like? When do you When do you feel human? Again? Like how long until you don't feel like a superhero?
Molly Fichtner 21:33
After? Oh, gosh, I mean, I think honestly, it kind of depends on on my teammates, sense where how long they celebrate, and how long I celebrate. And then, you know, so I mean, obviously, when you're running around the bases, there's obviously no greater feeling than that, you know, rounding third heading home where all your teammates are just as happy as if they hit it themselves. That's, that's where the true celebration lies, in my opinion, is, you know, when you when you see someone genuinely excited for you, and not pissed off, because you're starting over them or whatever it is. And then when you go back to the dugout, however long they want to celebrate is how long I'll celebrate. And then once it's over, you know, it's over. And it's not a big deal. And, obviously, you know, the next person goes, and then let's see, the next person is a home run. Now, it's all about that person for the next couple minutes.
Scott Benner 22:25
I love that. You know, I don't know how people feel about softball in general. And I don't know what I would know about it without Arden playing. But the amazing thing about softball is that the field you played on in college, was the same size field you played on and literally, like that field doesn't get bigger, but that ball does not want to go much farther than basically designed to not want to go that far. And when you can really, there's a joy I watch when I watch my kids play, like, you know, I think that people think that hitting is just this thing you do. But you know, you're trying to put the right swing on and get your timing right and everything. And you're basically guessing when your hands start moving. And all of that comes together. It's just It feels like the culmination of every practice swing you've ever taken, right up until that moment, like it's something you know.
Molly Fichtner 23:16
And I mean, it happened so fast to Sky. I mean, when you're looking at pitches on 6869, you know, hitting 70 every once in a while. It happens so fast. I mean, you swing the bat, the ball goes, and then Whoa, okay, it's over. That was quick.
Scott Benner 23:35
To call, I was like that was not a great fit goes. I don't know what happened. He's like, I got up there. The kid was throwing 88. And I was like, wow, this is quick. And so he's like, I took one and I thought, all right, I can I'll hit with a strike. I don't care about that. He goes, but then he came back with a breaking ball because the breaking ball had begun 70 threes, and I didn't know what broke into laughter I missed it. And I was like, and go it's just a really? I don't know, like, maybe it's just from watching someone work so hard at something and see it, you know, come together. Like, yeah, it's crazy to think that you could I know, it's such an overused cliche about you know, the baseball's about, you know, you know, it's more about failure than it is about success and stuff like that, and all that stuff, but it's just, it's just fascinating. When it happens. It almost feels like it's a mistake when it works. You know, like, like, it makes sense when you strike out and the good pitcher, so
Unknown Speaker 24:30
yeah, good. So
Scott Benner 24:30
when you and I spoke years ago now literally, it's been three years maybe, if not more, and and you said something during this interview that I want to tell you that I probably understood in theory, but I never put it to words before with my kids. And I have now said it to them and anyone else who would listen a million times since then. Right? And so you talked about I used to talk about it like this. I would say hey, You know, I heard some mom talking about how our kid turned to double play today. But, you know, they were at standing near second base when a kid who couldn't run hit the ball directly to them, they picked it up stepped on second through it the first to be perfectly honest, they could have rolled it the first and beat. Right? It wasn't, it wasn't exactly a baseball phenomenon what they did, yeah, but the result of what they did was was a double play. And so they run around yelling, I'm, you know, I made a double play today, unless, you know, blah, blah. But you said to me, at Alabama, we talked about process in process over the result. I don't know what the exact quote is. How did it How did you guys say it?
Molly Fichtner 25:40
Yeah, it was a process over outcome
Scott Benner 25:43
outcome. Okay. And so that's the concept that you could possibly do everything correctly, and it may not go your way. Or something may go right for you. But if you did it wrong. It's sorted doesn't count. Yeah. Right. Right. And and that's an odd thing to say, right? But, but it because you're in a situation where you have to do it again. And again, and again. And again. It's better to do it right five times. And it only work out twice than it is to do it wrong five times to get lucky
Molly Fichtner 26:12
once. Exactly. I mean, let's be honest, a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while. Right? Exactly.
Unknown Speaker 26:20
So I took a driver, but
Scott Benner 26:23
that concept, not only helped me help my son get to a point where I think he can play baseball in college. It not only helped me with my daughter and her softball, but it helped in just everyday life. It helps with diabetes, it helps with everything. It really does. You can't just be thrilled that you walked outside bend over and like I found five bucks, but you have to know how to make $5 you know, you can't just go Hey, I bought it, you know, I Bolus to dinner and my blood sugar never went over 110 that went to 19 it sat there. How did you do it? I don't know. But I want you to I want to know like how, let's let's, let's figure out the process. And I just can't thank you enough for having said that to me that day.
Molly Fichtner 27:09
Oh, you can name Patrick Murphy. He's the one that
Scott Benner 27:14
I hear what you're saying. But I think that's I think that's sort of maybe a an allegory for this podcast really is that you know, somebody is going to say something that you never thought of before or you never put in the terms that they put it in. And when it hits you like that, and you see it work, tell someone else. You know, don't keep that to yourself that that's good stuff. You know. I don't know if I'm explaining it as deeply as I I feel it, but it is pretty much everything. Yeah. You know, it really pretty much is like it's it's your intent. It's your desire. It's your work ethic. It's not, it's not lucking and you can't just be happy to lie. I mean listen, every once in a while I'm happy to look into something but yeah, it's bigger than that. You know what I mean? I can you when you talk about it now as a coach, do you see kids? Do they feel it the way you felt it? Are you having the same bucket passing it on to other people? I was just reminded the other day of how simple and easy it is to use the Omni pod tool sits on top. Here's what we need to change Arden's pump later in the evening on a Friday, and we talked about it in the afternoon. Hey, you're pumped tonight. Everybody's like yeah, maybe after your shower. Yeah, everybody's good. And then of course, we didn't do it. We just forgot. And there's Arden laying in bed sound asleep, and it's time to change your insulin pump. It has to happen now. So I went downstairs, I grabbed blood out of the closet. I filled it with insulin, I came upstairs, pushed a button. When I pushed that first button it shut down the pump shoes where I pushed the button again, it primed the pump that I was going to use. This all happens completely automatically. When that got done. I cleaned Arden's leg where she was going to put the Omni pod, stuck it to her. She's still sleeping, understand a pinched up on her skin a little bit, push the button,
Unknown Speaker 29:22
and
Scott Benner 29:24
that was it. It was insert. Then I peeled off the old one wiped everybody off, stuck back out of the room. And just like that pump change less than five minutes in the dark and the light from my cell phone. So not completely in the dark. Five minutes start to finish on a sleeping person. And there's no tubes. I mean, come on. Nothing to do nothing to think about very simple, very intuitive. probably less steps than any other insulin pump on the market to go from start to wearing My omnipod.com forward slash juicebox to get a free no obligation demo today, you 100% will not be sorry, you did that?
Molly Fichtner 30:11
Yeah, I mean, I think I think it's hard, especially since a lot of, you know, the kids that I've dealt with in the past few years, they've never been exposed to it. So and especially with the sport, like softball, you're looking so much at that, at the results, you know, you could get jammed, and you could hit like a little, you know, dinky hit over third base, and it would be a single, well, in the books, it's a single, but it was a really a great hit, no, we're on the flip side, you could square it up, you could be on time. And if you go straight to the shortstop on a line drive, or whatever the case is. And so I think with me, as a coach, I I try to celebrate as much as I can for you know, the process more than the actual result. So even if, you know, they do get a base hit, and let's say it wasn't their best swing, or they weren't on time, we're going to talk about it. And I'm going to say, you know what, you need to make this adjustment. I get that it was a single in the book, but that wasn't your best swing. Yes, no,
Scott Benner 31:14
I definitely I a couple weeks ago. So I don't know how much people understand about the process of being recruited to do something. But there are, you know, it's a long process. And at some point, you get notes from people like, Hey, we want to see you one more time where you're gonna be. So at the end of this summer, when my son was fairly exhausted, and told me, he felt like a showpony. At one point, he's like, he's, I can't go do the same thing for two days, one more time. And I said, well, we're gonna do it one more time. I say, because this coach, he thinks he wants you and he needs to see you one more time. So we're gonna go to the showcase. And it is hot, as you can imagine, outside. Right, it's just the worst day. And I watched him have this Abadi struck out and it was live pitching, and he struck out, and the ball that he swung and missed at the end of the bat, I thought to myself, that's maybe the best swing I've ever seen him take. Oh, yeah. Right. And so we there's a break in the day, and he goes to lunch. A lot of them were campers, they stayed but we were local. So he, we he and I just went to lunch together. Okay, we get in the car, and we're driving away and I said, Hey, when you get another bad today, I said don't do anything different. And he's like, I struck out it was I said, well hit the ball. But but but but do anything different. I said that ball that you swung and missed was the best swing you took make any goes today I went maybe in your life. And I told him why. And so, you know, he went back in the dugout and everything and afterwards and he came back at the end of the day, he told me I we guys were talking. And it's funny. You might have a son who doesn't say anything, if you're listening, when they're dugout together, they talk like adults think so they're talking about the pitching. They're talking about how hot it is. They're talking about the swing, they're talking, they talk about all this stuff. And so he said to this, this other kid, he said My dad told me to do exactly what I did when I struck out but to hit the ball this time, he laughed and said, that's really solid advice. Great, but it just it was, it's still amazing that. And so for people who would think Yeah, but he didn't hit the ball, he got an offer from the guy who asked him to come play, the guy who stood behind them and watched him strike out. That man is offering him a place to play baseball in college. Because the swing is there. It's right. He just didn't hit the ball. You know, and so maybe not to draw too hokey of a parallel. But if, if you you know, if you get lucky one night at a meal and you don't Pre-Bolus you don't spike up, it doesn't mean you don't need a Pre-Bolus. So, if you Pre-Bolus right, and it goes wrong, you still spawn the bat, the band had a good path, and it was what you meant to do. And do it again. And keep because you you you're gonna have more successes than failures that way and I've been waiting a really long time to tell to take what Molly told me about softball and apply it to this while Molly was here. So I don't know how I didn't reach out to you sooner for the podcast. You actually came after me? Yeah, because you had sort of I don't know did you have like a like, did you have a midlife crisis in your 20s do you
Molly Fichtner 34:26
know i think you know now that I'm I stopped playing a couple years ago and I still have because of the article that obviously you wrote and there was another one done by Graham pays for ESPN w online. I've had people reach out to me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and to this day I still do and I and I get emails from people who are recently diagnosed family so you know kids, parents would whoever and they reach out to me and they reach out to me for inspiration for hope, like, how did you get here? My kids struggling? How did you get through it? You know, we've seen what you've accomplished, we read your story, things like that, which it's crazy, because I always thought and I actually went to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes last night here at East Carolina. And I know I'm not an athlete anymore, but I just wanted to crash the party. And, and just go, and I was thinking to myself, you know, for years, when I was growing up playing softball, I thought that my goal in life was to become the best softball player that Molly FECKNER could to play for a national championship to go to the World Series to play professional to play for USA. And, honestly, what I didn't realize, and now that I can, because I can connect the dots looking back. But, you know, God provided all those opportunities for me, but it wasn't just for me to be the best softball player, it's, it's for me to show people that that are diabetic, or the families that have newly you know, diagnosed kid that the sky is still the limit for them, you know, they can get to that level. And I think, you know, just thinking about it all the past couple months is, I want to share my story more, because I just if people are still reaching out to me, not because of my softball ability anymore, but because of the fact that I played at such a high level with Type One Diabetes. And I can so give people inspiration through articles, like you said that were three or four years old, I want to be able to help people more in that aspect. And I want to be able to talk and to give them advice and and inspiration and speak to them and share my story, just so that they know that they can get there. And I especially with me growing up I remember when I was diagnosed, my dad would sit there on Google, and he tried to find type one diabetic professional athletes, you know, Jay Cutler, or, or, you know, famous actresses that are diabetic. And I remember, can't get so excited to tell me about those people. Molly, guess what, like, This guy has type one diabetes, and he plays professionally, you know, in the NFL. And I'm like, Oh, that's really cool. But it was, it was exciting for him to tell me those things. Because, you know, that was his way of saying you can get wherever you want. Don't let this hold you back. Well, now looking at my resume and look at, you know, as fortunate that I was to play at the level I did, and now I can be that person and the softball world for people. And that's what I really want to do. And obviously, that's kind of why I reached out to you in the first place.
Scott Benner 37:38
I was like, how do I do that? How do I like, I want to do that I want and I thought that's a great idea. You absolutely should do that. You, you know. And I do think that like you, you paint a picture of your dad telling you and he was probably more excited than you are, but but it's still, it still sticks to you. You don't I mean, like you still walk away and think all right, you know, guys doing it? I could do it probably, you know, and it just makes you feel like, it makes you feel like, I mean, I think what you're saying is basically what people hear me say on the podcast all the time, like, you know, I figured something out, I want to tell somebody else, you know, like, I don't want to just take this knowledge that I have and not not share it like you are 1,000,000% correct. And the people who are listening to this, whenever they end up listening to this. One of the things that I see most impactful about sharing, you know, my life being someone's, you know, caregiver with Type One Diabetes is every once in a while. And I think if people looked at the blog, and even listened to this, you'd realize that I'm talking about my experience, you don't really see much of Arden in it, you know, she's not looking to be the focus of a blog or, or whatever. But what we share a picture of her playing softball impact impacts so many parents who were scared that their kids would never do do that, like participate in the sport. And it just like we talked about the beginning. If you get it in your head, a half baked idea that Okay, my kid was diagnosed with Type One Diabetes, that means they're not going to be, you know, athletic anymore. If you have that thought, and then it gets propped up once by anybody who agrees with you, you now think that's true. And now you need someone else to come along and prove that that's not true to you. And it's such an exciting moment with that happens. I guarantee you there was a time when your dad believed you couldn't do it anymore. And and then he needed someone to prove it to him and now you're going to be able to prove it to somebody else. Exactly. really spectacular. It really is. I'm going to put Molly's contact information in the show notes so people can get ahold of her if they if you'd like to have her out to speak or something like that. And you're down to where you're coaching.
Molly Fichtner 39:55
Yeah, I'm coaching at East Carolina University. So I'm I'm in North Carolina and green They'll Greenville, North Carolina. And like I said, I mean, obviously, I would love Scott, I'd love that. If you put the information out for them. please reach out. I like I said, it makes my day to hear from people. And obviously, hopefully I can provide a little hope a little inspiration to some people that might need it. Yeah,
Scott Benner 40:20
yeah. So Molly considered writing a blog. And I think you said you didn't really feel like that might be for you, right?
Molly Fichtner 40:25
Oh, yeah. I, I had tutors in college for writing. So
Scott Benner 40:33
Molly here where you sit down? Do you not mean? Oh, I do. Probably not that, but I hear what you're saying. So my son's the same way. My son's I say T is really strong. But it's very strong math. And it's very, it's kind of slight, but slightly pretty average on the reading side. And he was on one of the tours, they said, there's a writing center here where there's always a teacher available. And you could see him think like, Oh, that's that's a good thing. Go ask somebody.
Unknown Speaker 41:00
But no, no, I
Scott Benner 41:00
just think that, you know, you and I have had occasion to talk over, you know, time and we've connected to here and there and emails and things. It's just Molly's just a really genuinely good person. And you know what? Help short people. Like it's not it's not fair, that you don't want help. Now, look, here's the thing, if you have Molly out to your event to speak, she's gonna have to stand next to the chair, but I'm just kidding. It's actually Molly could probably pick the podium up and throw it across the room. Oh, how have you I saw a picture of you recently. That's of you and you. Did you play with more weight than your than your living with?
Molly Fichtner 41:44
Did I play with more weight? Sorry,
Scott Benner 41:46
like, on your frame? Did you carry more weight on your frame when you were playing? And you are now
Molly Fichtner 41:49
or? Yeah. Or what is it? I mean, I I did I obviously was a little bit stronger, I stopped, I stopped lifting as heavy as I did when I was playing once I got done. My weight doesn't end doesn't really fluctuate too much. But I did lose probably about five pounds, which five times out of five to frame is you know, it's
Unknown Speaker 42:15
quite a bit was 17% of your body.
Molly Fichtner 42:18
Which kind of stinks because realistically, it's like me and if I gained a pound everybody in their mom is gonna know
Scott Benner 42:26
Nothing's going on with Molly. You know, like I just I eat a cookie Leave me alone.
Molly Fichtner 42:32
I have gotten a little smaller. But I wouldn't say it's like extremely like that drastic. So
Scott Benner 42:38
I asked because so your your habits haven't changed that much from when you were playing till now is that opportunity to to work out still just because you're around it still? Do you still? Oh,
Molly Fichtner 42:48
absolutely. Absolutely. So I think you know, for for us right now we have Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Fridays, we have 6am workouts for our girls and you know, we go every day the coaching staff we go and then as soon as the girls are done, and that's when I go and I get my workout in at 7am. And for a while. I mean, I'm not gonna lie as soon as I was done plan and my workout kind of changed into more, you know, not necessarily hitting the weights is hard but maybe more reps with less weight and you know, more treadmill stuff more walking, things like that. When I did that there was a little change in my my diabetes and I had to kind of figure out okay, now at what point do I need to you know, what, what is my How much does working out affect my blood sugar's now knowing I do something completely different than I've been accustomed to. And then and that's, you know, that's about it. So obviously, you know, I've tried to work out with them, you know, four times a week and and obviously, at practices I'm running around, you know, things like that I try to stay young.
Scott Benner 43:56
Is it fair to say that life with diabetes, playing softball and life with diabetes, not playing softball isn't that much different for you? It's my job as always, to make sure you understand how fantastic the dexcom continuous glucose monitors. Today, I'm choosing to tell you about the clarity app that comes with Dexcom. I'm opening Ardennes right now it's on my phone. I'm just going to tell it Hey, for the last seven days, Let's view the general report. And here's what this app will tell me. Oh, it's generating a code. And the code brings with it a ton of information. This is just the overview I'm looking at right now. But what I've learned is that over the past seven days Arden's average glucose is 116. I can also see her standard deviation, I can see how frequently she was in the range that we've set or out of the range that we set higher low. In addition to the overview, there's patterns, data, ways to compare statistics, everything you can go online and see it all blown up on your computer screen as well. It really is wonderful. Not only that, but when we go into artists, endocrinologist office, all I have to do is I pull up My phone and I opened the clarity app and I push a button that generates a code. I read the code to the doctor who types it into the computer like this. And just like that, she's looking at Arden's Dexcom graphs, and she has access to all of it. And I gave it to her. I don't have to give it to her, but I can. Are you kidding me? How easy so we spend a lot of time telling you that Dexcom lets you see your blood sugars. And it does, but it does a lot more than that. Right now I know Arden's blood sugar is 97 and stable. Sure, I can click on something really quickly. And let's see, over the last three hours, Arden's blood sugar has been between 70 and what it is right now at 97. I saw where it went up, I was able to give her a little bit of insulin to stop it. We're right back again. dexcom.com Ford slash juice box. If you haven't already, let me ask you one simple question. What are you waiting for? Is it fair to say that life with diabetes playing softball in life with diabetes, not playing softball, isn't that much different for you?
Unknown Speaker 46:01
Oh, absolutely, not. Really not.
Scott Benner 46:04
I think that's the takeaway for people who, who think that that kind of intense activity isn't possible it is. And if you're not, listen, I say stuff like this all the time. I know somebody's mad at me always. But if you're not having, if that's not working out for you, don't give up. It's not that it's just you just you're just not quite doing it correctly. But that doesn't mean that it can't be done. Better. You don't even that's just you have to. And just because you can't imagine how to accomplish that at the moment doesn't mean that you can't find the information that will help you do it at some point. You don't I mean, don't give up, it's there to be accomplished. It's not, it's not impossible. It's just, you know, it's just, you're not seeing everything quite yet that you need to see. And hopefully something Molly says or something, maybe I say on the podcast shot like that. Maybe those are the maybe that's where you find those little things that are just the slight adjustments that you need, you know, so I just like, I get upset to think that somebody might hit a wall once and just walk away from it, you know, give up so.
Molly Fichtner 47:08
Oh, yeah, we all do. Regardless if you have diabetes or not, there's always a wall that you Hey, you just have to go right through it and keep on truckin.
Scott Benner 47:17
100%. Right, it's got its, it really has, it really has nothing to do with diabetes. It has everything to do with just being alive. And diabetes is just your set of specific circumstances. Really? Yeah. So is there. So how old are you now? Can I ask?
Unknown Speaker 47:34
I am 25.
Scott Benner 47:36
That's like the midway point to being like,
Unknown Speaker 47:39
I know halfway to 50 Oh, God,
Scott Benner 47:42
halfway to 15th. Way to 75. You know? Is there somebody in your life right now? Are you?
Molly Fichtner 47:51
Yes, I actually I am dating someone I've been dating someone for about over two years. Um, no kids or anything like that? A little bit too young. Um, but yeah, that's it. Um, my sister Actually, she just got engaged to her fiance. Um, so they they got engaged about a month ago. And they're getting married in June, which is super exciting. And then one of my best friends that actually play with me in Alabama. She just got engaged, and she's getting married the same month. And so I'm, I'm the maid of honor for two weddings in June. So I'm like, oh, gosh,
Scott Benner 48:29
those girls make babies. And then you can just look at their pictures.
Molly Fichtner 48:32
I was gonna say I was like, man, well, my my relationships on pause for another 10 months with anything?
Unknown Speaker 48:39
Well, okay,
Scott Benner 48:40
so you put two years with somebody? Did you? You were at Dartmouth, though, at some point, like, did your relationship travel with you? Or did you
Molly Fichtner 48:47
know, so we've been doing this since so she actually, she's getting her master's degree right now at the University of South Carolina. And for Yep, so just for the past two years, we've been doing distance and you know, obviously, you really get to know somebody when you do distance. And now that I'm in North Carolina, we're driving distance away from each other, which makes it very, very convenient. So she'll graduate in December and then we'll kind of see what happens from there. But you know, hopefully she'll get a job close by If not, no big deal. You know, we'll figure it out.
Scott Benner 49:22
That's it. That's really see again,
Unknown Speaker 49:25
what you're seeing about
Scott Benner 49:25
Molly is I'm not joking around. That's something that's not easy to accomplish, like right to keep a team a long distance relationship for that much time. Yes. Is is pretty amazing. And you know, there's so there's something about you know, not take this for a second take don't don't don't shy away from this right, too, because I've seen it up close like I'm to play a youth sport is fun, like everybody comes out when they're five, six years old. Most people like I'm gonna try this. I'll play t ball. I'll try soccer, whatever. A lot of people Do it then they disappear. Right? Yeah, some people hang on. in baseball terms. The field gets bigger. The game gets faster. people drop out. Yes, some people hang on then they had the high school gets harder. Some people drop out. Some people hang on, then some people make it to college. Some people drop out some people hang on. Listen, Alabama, but there's no way there's no way around this.
Unknown Speaker 50:19
Yeah, playing softball
Scott Benner 50:20
album, this is one of the top programs in the country. Right? Yes. So and so that this is as high level as you can imagine. So everyone has to try to wonder how many, you know, how many? How many walls you had to run through how many how many times you had to say no to going out or doing something that you wanted to do? Because there was that this takes an amount of focus that is probably on paralleled for most people. You know what I mean? So I imagine when you were like, Hey, where do you live in another state? That's no big deal. We can still be together, it doesn't matter. And so do you have that? Like, Is there much that you can imagine that you don't think you can do?
Molly Fichtner 51:03
Ah, I don't I don't and I think I obviously diabetes helped me with that. But I also think the way I was raised and my mom was very much like, your you don't have a bad day, you're you're not having bad days, that's not an option. You know, you're gonna wake up every day, and you're gonna be grateful, and you know, you're going to be positive, you're going to be optimistic, and you're gonna be thankful, you know, for what God has given you. And, and things like that. So I think that obviously, through her and my dad growing up, and I'll tell you this much, too, is I had an amazing example growing up, I think, I've seen my mom in 25 years have two bad days. And one of them was when her mother, my grandmother passed away. And one of them was just something else that was going on in the family. Your dad
Scott Benner 51:51
got us, let's assume dad's fault.
Molly Fichtner 51:54
I know I can't I can't remember what it was. But I remember coming home from from school, I was, you know, in vitamin during when I was diagnosed, she had a bad day. But it was like, you know, two days that I've seen my mom have a bad day. And no matter what was going on in life, it was you know, she just that was her. And I think that obviously rubbed off on me, and especially with the diabetes, and of course, I have celiac as well. It's very, very easy to want to say, I can't do it. I'm type one diabetic. I can't do this. Because, you know, I feel Yankees disease. I can't do this, because I'm too short. Like that, you know, that's no, why not do it. I just I just don't understand. I feel like it's a great opportunity to prove, you know, and I hate saying prove people wrong. But it's just a matter of why not do something when you know, people say that I can't do it. And if I to me, and I truly feel this way, I just think that winners fail. And I think losers hide. You know, yeah, I just I don't think that I don't think that if you fail, you're a loser. I think that if you hide and you and you don't go head on with what you're afraid of, then I would say that that's more of a loser, then, you know, and winners fail because they go all out and you're gonna fail in life.
Scott Benner 53:13
That's the title of the episode, you just came up with it on your own winners. Losers hide, that's what this would be called. I love your mom's attitude, I think it's important to say is we're talking that you are speaking to me,
Unknown Speaker 53:25
I have
Scott Benner 53:27
zero, I'm not a religious person. Okay. And yet, everything you're saying to me, is how I feel about things. So however you get to that feeling to that thought to that idea, whatever your path is to it or whatever your your you know, the dogma is you attach to it, right? It doesn't matter. It's the it's the attitude that I can't be stopped. And once I'm stopped, that's, that's fine to like you. It's easy to hear. It might be easy for people to hear you say that and think, Oh, sure. Well, she's got enough talent and skill to catch it Alabama. Of course, she's making it. But that's not the point. The point is make it as far as you can make it. Like do the best you can do. And don't give up on whatever scale is yours. Like I don't know that that I hope that makes sense. But we all don't need to be you know, the CEO of the biggest company in the world to be a huge success. You are a huge success in what you're doing. If you've worked as hard as you can got as far as you could done as much as you could and you somehow at the end of it and this is really the key are happy with it. Like right it's just it's it's all the cliches that you hear when you're five like you know, I say this one here a lot you get what you expect a lot of times Yeah, so expect a lot. Right? You know, and and you have to you know, people tell you, you have to be happy where you are living the moment live in the net, whatever it ends up being. That is really that is really the truth. You know, you can go Be happy anywhere. It's hard to be happy some places than others, but it's still accomplished. There are there are people right now that are flat broke and have no hope. And they still are living happy lives. And you know,
Molly Fichtner 55:15
and I'll tell you one thing, real quick is heavier read the book chop wood carry water by Joshua Metcalf.
Scott Benner 55:23
I tried to read Mali, because not just if you have children, it's hard to read. But But
Molly Fichtner 55:29
okay, it is phenomenal. Actually, Joshua is a friend of mine. And he wrote this book. And it's basically, it's an easy read, it's you could literally read in an hour and a half. And it's basically about how to fall in love with the process of becoming great. So it kind of goes up this process over outcome. And it's a bunch of little stories in it. And I love it. I mean, it's, it's phenomenal. And I would absolutely recommend it for a lot of people that struggle with the idea of how do I even how do I like the process when I'm not getting the outcome? And it's very, very, very good book. And one thing that just reminded me, what you said is, you know, everybody's, everybody's different. And whatever makes certain people habits, it's all different. You know, granted, I played at the University of Alabama, you know, I had a great career. But I guarantee you, I'd be the same way if, you know, I had played somewhere else. And it's just, you know, comparison to me is the thief of all joy, right? So I'm not going to compare my ability to somebody else, I'm going to take Molly Faulkner's ability as far as I can, I'm going to be the best diabetic Molly Faulkner Can, can, I'm not, I'm not going to try to be somebody else that I think is better than me, like he talked about the CEO. Right? If I, if I'm working for the CEO, and I'm an employee of that person, I'm not going to try and compare myself to the CEO and wish that I was that person, I got to stay where I am, and trust the process. And then you know, whenever that day is, I might get that call. But till then I'm just going to be happy doing what I'm doing at the best of my ability, and then that book hits the nail on the head. So I would highly recommend it for anybody listening to this podcast, or, you know, obviously, for you to Scott, it's an it's an incredible book. It's chop wood, carry water by Joshua Metcalf.
Scott Benner 57:22
Thank you. Now I just, you know, I'm gonna, we're up on an hour, and I need to wrap up a recording to today. But, but I just wanted to say again, you know, just kind of set it. So like offhanded, like winners fail losers hide. And I think I hope people attach that idea to something that they've heard me say here before, which is, at some point, diabetes, you have to, you're going to have to get into the fight with diabetes at some point, right? You can try to ignore it if you want to, but all it's gonna happen is you're gonna have the fight later, with complications. So you're gonna have to fight the fight, fight it up front. And if you're scared, you're scared, it's fine. But, you know, I'd rather fight now and be scared than fight later and be maybe already defeated. You know, maybe it's too late. Don't Don't fight when it's too late fight now, and, and maybe you'll lose some of the battles. But you're in the game. Yeah. And I mean, if you if you duck your head down and try to ignore it, it will definitely wash you over at some point. Yeah.
Unknown Speaker 58:27
Thank you so much. It was awesome.
Unknown Speaker 58:30
I feel great talking to you. Now. I have a better day because of you.
Molly Fichtner 58:35
I'm gonna have one I was so excited about this morning, too. I like popped out of bed. And I was like, Yes. today.
Scott Benner 58:43
I appreciate that. I really do. Because it's hard to see how exciting it might be on my end.
Unknown Speaker 58:49
Oh, no,
Molly Fichtner 58:49
I love it. And you know, what's great, too, is, um, I actually I'm gonna meet with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, I'm going to meet with the development coordinator, probably like, the second week of October. So I'm really excited to hopefully I can get involved with some North Carolina stuff as well. You know,
Scott Benner 59:09
that's fantastic. And I just was approached to be in a in one of the New Jersey chapters, I think I'm gonna I think we're gonna do this podcast at like a type one nation event. Like, I don't have like, hundreds of people will do it live. So
Unknown Speaker 59:22
Oh, my gosh, that would be fantastic. So I live out that.
Scott Benner 59:26
That's what you're doing what you wanted to do. And I hope that I can somehow help because I wish everyone could have been on the phone when I was talking to Molly a few weeks ago. And she's like, I really just want to help people and tell my story. And I don't really know how to do that. So while we chatted for a while, I think that I think that Molly speaking to you is is the way to go. So again, there'll be links in the show notes. You can contact her if you'd like and this has been my life.
Molly Fichtner 59:50
Thank you, Scott. I appreciate it. I know.
Scott Benner 59:56
Thank you, Molly, for coming on the podcast and sharing your story. If you'd like to contact Molly, there is a link to email her in the show notes or at Juicebox Podcast comm also in those same places, you will find links to beyond the pod demo, which as we know is free and has no I can't think of a word.
Unknown Speaker 1:00:16
Oh my god,
Scott Benner 1:00:17
I say it every okay. goes down. It's a free, no obligation. There's no obligation. I really that just happened. Also, there's a link to the Dexcom you know, situation where you can I'm out of words. Now that makes sense.
Unknown Speaker 1:00:33
Listen, so
Scott Benner 1:00:36
if you want to find out more about Dexcom or Omnipod there are links in your show notes and Juicebox podcast.com. I genuinely hope you take a look. And now I'm gonna do my best to let you know how is the me hands doing? As I said earlier, I spoke to Izzy's mom Haley today, and she gave me a little bit of a rundown. So if you did not listen to Episode 149, which is just a couple of minutes long, it was me reaching out to you to let you know that a 17 year old girl living in Cincinnati named Izzy me hen had a rather herb rific car accident. And she was in the hospital. Her mother reached out into the diabetes community and just asked for people to send notes of encouragement because they were really helping her daughter, she was getting a couple through the, through the community, you know, through her personal community. And every time She'd wake up, they'd read her summon, and she was really buoyed by this. So I put the call out in Episode 149. And I am really proud and happy and thankful to say that hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of you have so far sent Izzy a message. You guys really are the best. There's a link in the show notes for 149. You click on it, you go to the Cincinnati Children's Hospital website. And you just put in a bit of information you put in you know his his name. And then you send her a message it goes to the hospital, the hospital generates the note and they show up in her in her room every day around noon. So far, she woke up one morning and a bunch of pain to 97 notes from you. The next day she came out of hand surgery to 100 or more notes from you guys. And then more and more still coming please don't stop. So take a look at that, if you will. You can hear the the initial story, which is very simple. Maybe I should just go over it again. Is he was at school she had a high blood sugar and she treated it. It fell the way she expected it to. She gave herself I think she drank some juice I think to level it off. And she thought she was good. She had a good blood sugar. She thought it was going to stick and she got in a car to drive home. It was about a 10 minute drive home. Somehow during that ride, her blood sugar began to fall again. And she became incoherent. She actually drove 20 minutes past her home into a part of town that she doesn't go to and doesn't know. reports are that her car was traveling as much as 100 miles an hour. Her mom told me yesterday that people said she was going down the street just clipping mailboxes before she hit a boulder. She was thrown from the car. Her on the pod was ripped from her. She lost her Apple Watch. She lost her PDM and she was injured rather significantly. multiple fractures in her neck and her spine, broken hand broken wrist, broken teeth. She lost her spleen she lost one of her kidneys and she has a significant amount of cosmetic damage to her body. That day her family was told not to expect her to live through the night. Now this is almost two weeks ago now. Each day is he is getting better. It is a very slow, very painful process. The bills are starting to show up at the hospital. Her mom is of course distraught, as is the rest of her family. But she has had a surgery now have some plates put in her hand or wrist. That is preliminary. She still needs to get her teeth fixed. She's very upset that they won't let her manage her blood sugar the way she wants to in the hospital. She is in a significant amount of pain. But each day she gets better and better. And your notes are a huge part of how she's staying upbeat as much so as she can possibly be. So the update from from Aziz mom medically is that it is a very slow process with a lot to accomplish and they are just now setting up a plan for how to proceed is he's in a back brace. And I think a body brace she's gonna have to be in that brace for quite some time but she does get up uses the bathroom is moving around talking. You know her mom and I spent a significant amount of time talking yesterday and Haley said to me all that happened as fast as she was going being ejected from the car. All the damage is done to her body. just you know, miraculously she has no spinal injury and no deficits no no brain injuries whatsoever. So while this is going to be an incredibly slow and long process for Isabel, you can make the argument that she got really lucky she probably should have died that day. So anyway, I'm going to do my best to keep you updated. Please, you do your best to keep sending me messages and have a great day. Reach out to Molly if you if you want to have her come speak at your event. She really is terrific. And I will see you next week with another episode of the Juicebox Podcast.
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