Scott Benner 8/26/20 Scott Benner 8/26/20

#372 After Dark: Divorce and Co-Parenting

ADULT TOPIC WARNING

A father of a type 1 discusses his divorce and co-parenting 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
Hello, everybody. Welcome to Episode 372 of the Juicebox Podcast and Episode 1234 episode seven of the afterdark series. So far we've done afterdark for drinking, weed smoking, trauma and addiction. Sex from the female perspective, depression and self harm sex from the male perspective. Today we're doing divorce from the perspective of the father of a child with Type One Diabetes. This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored today by the Omni pod tubeless insulin plump, plump, plump by the Omni pod tubeless insulin pump, go to my Omni pod.com Ford slash juicebox. Today to get a free no obligation demo of the Omni pod sent directly to your home. plump up your diabetes game. I don't even know what I'm talking about. The episode is also sponsored by the dexcom g six continuous glucose monitor dexcom.com Ford slash juice box will tell you everything you need to know about what is in my opinion, the world's most amazing diabetes tool for measuring your blood sugar. See what direction and speed your blood sugar is moving in, in real time with the dexcom g six continuous glucose monitor. You want to make good decisions about insulin, get a G six. If you've been thinking about these tools and have been procrastinating, what are you doing get to it. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, you have to go look, this stuff is amazing.

It took me quite some time to find someone willing to come on and talk about being divorced. And having a child with type one diabetes, and the CO parenting that goes with it. But today you're going to speak to a wise and brave man named Jeremy. And he's really going to share how his divorce went when his son's diagnosis cropped into the story and how they dealt with things and continue to deal with things to this day. Please remember, while you're listening that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise, please always consult a physician before making changes to your medical plan are becoming bold with insulin. You could become part of some amazing Type One Diabetes Research right there from the comfort of wherever your butt is at this moment from your phone or computer, go to T one d exchange.org. forward slash juicebox. Take yet you gotta be from the US for this. Take a short survey, I think it took me about seven minutes to take, you're going to be supporting research and supporting the podcast at the same time. T one d exchange.org. forward slash juicebox.

Jeremy 3:02
My name is Jeremy Ross Meyer, I'm a single dad of 11 year old type one diabetic named thaman. We've been diagnosed at this point about two and a half years. And we have had an A one C at this point of six or under for the last two years.

Scott Benner 3:22
Congratulations. That's excellent. So you, Jeremy were very kind. I've put this call out a number of times and never gotten a response. But of the private messages that I get a number of them are consistently about Do you have any episodes about co parenting about you know, divorce that, you know, I'm having a lot of trouble. It always feels like it's one or the other, you know, either we're not on the same page or one person's taking the care. You know what, what feels like more seriously to this person than the other person is. And no one ever really knows how to do it because of all of the other entanglements that are wrapped around it. And so you're, you're here to talk about your your time with this, which is really kind and I appreciate it for everybody. So unlike most episodes, I'm going to start with how old are you and when did you get married?

Jeremy 4:22
I'm 38 now, um, got married when I want to say I was 25 or 26.

Scott Benner 4:32
Okay, how long did you How long did you make it? I'm gonna try to make this fun if I can

Jeremy 4:39
find I think I have a good way of answering this and it's not exactly how you want me to answer but I'm going to answer in this way please. So um I have always growing up. I grew up in roller skating rinks whether that be in Lincoln, Nebraska or up here in Montana and There was a co worker that said, Hey, I have this friend, I think that you would really like to meet. And she brought, I was the Friday night, Saturday night DJ for 15 plus years at this roller rink at this point, okay. And she walked through the door, and I instantly knew that, yes, that's the one, it was one of those things. And at this point, she was 17. I was 21. So I was, you know, it was a little different, but it is what it is. And from that point, on to the point, we got married, it was about four years, okay, um, and I'm a product of a divorce myself. And it was one of those things where we wanted to make sure in every way shape or form that that we were going to work. And if the even meant that we moved in together and live together for about two years to make sure that sight was gonna work, we always knew that we were going to end up getting married. But we wanted to make it make sure it was going to work. And in the end, it didn't work. We so we dated for about four years. And we were together, just under six years. And we've been divorced for just about seven years now.

Scott Benner 6:28
Okay. So you do you're married, you were together for four years living together, and then we're married for two years. Now we were married for six, six, excuse me. So four to 10. In total? I got it. Yeah. All right. So you went from 21 to 31. During that time? Excuse me, you met when you were 21. So you got married when you were like 25? She was 21. Okay, I got it. Yep. All right. Sorry. Okay, so so that's a, that's a long time. How is there a moment? in those 10 years? Where you thought, this is not working the way I wanted it to? Or did it sneak up on you? Did you walk in the house one day, and she was like, your stuffs on the lawn? I'm leaving and you went? Wait, what's happening? Or did you feel it coming?

Jeremy 7:17
Can you talk? No, she it? Uh, I knew that it was coming. It was one of those things? Were they were all the warning signs. She blatantly told me Look, you know, this needs to happen. And I guess we need to go into a little bit of, of at least least what what caused the divorce a little bit to understand kind of what happened. And, and at the time, I would have told you Well, look, kind of like you said earlier that that that, you know that. You know, I married that night and I didn't it was me being you know, retrospectively looking back over all this, you know, it was me honestly. Not wanting to put the effort forth in the in the marriage to make it work. I said, Well, I got what I wanted, don't need to go out and go to the park. I don't need to go out and do this. I don't need to go out and do that. And you know, you want to go have a have a one shot at the lake. Okay, let's go to Lake and well, I'm hot. Let's drive back. You know, it was me not putting forth a lot of the effort that was required.

All around, I guess, being lazy.

And it was me.

I guess being socially awkward, me being having a bit of social anxiety and not liking to be around large groups of people. Those aren't excuses. It was just, you know, looking back on. I think that's a lot of what I was struggling with at the time that it always seemed like she would ask me to go do something I would tell her No, I would continue sitting in my chair. And she would leave. And it got to that point where she's, you know, she had vocalized her concerns multiple times for a couple of years, to be honest with you, right? And I kept on saying, you know, no, I'll change no oil change the oil change. And

Scott Benner 9:34
did you can I ask, did you share with her that you had, like this social awkwardness? Was she aware of that?

Jeremy 9:41
Not really, until afterwards. It wasn't until we were we were divorced. And we for you know a good number of years, probably three years or so. That that I we really sat down and talked about it. And it was kind of eye opening at that point because she she kind of understood me more at that point. And I understood her more.

Yeah, it was just a really awkward time. Do you?

Scott Benner 10:15
Do you have feelings? That you said, You're from a divorced family? Did you feel like you were like that was going to happen? At some point? Did you have an expectation that you couldn't stay married? I'm wondering or no,

Jeremy 10:28
I was always very, very much from the standpoint of, you know, marriage. Because I mean, I grew up in parochial school until at least sixth grade or so. And I was raised that you know, whenever you get married, you get married, and you're married. And that's it. Yeah. You know, once and done it, it isn't a failure option thing. But in a way, yes. Because like I said, You know, I took every precaution beforehand, unlike, you know, lots of people nowadays, or even 10 years ago, where, Hey, stop a cat,

Unknown Speaker 11:10
where

Scott Benner 11:10
you got to give that cat a better name. I know

Jeremy 11:15
where it was, ever. They just, you know, kids nowadays, they just move in with each other not trying to bet anything.

Scott Benner 11:24
Well, that's a good point. And during those four years that you live together, were you awkward then or is that something that you grew into?

Jeremy 11:31
It, it was something I grew into, and I've always been a bit socially awkward. And it's been one of those things where if even now trying to go to Walmart, by myself, for myself, it's not, it's not gonna happen, unless I have someone there. Like, even my son, violent someone there, I'm okay, I can go inside, I can shop all day long. It just got socially, Eric, I guess it got worse with the marriage because I started learning that I don't even have to go, I could just ask her to go.

Scott Benner 12:04
I say, you know, taking away this awkwardness for you by being the person who went out and did this thing, you didn't have to do that anymore. But then when she has wanted to do something personal with you, you are getting more and more comfortable. In at home.

Jeremy 12:18
Exactly. Okay. The

biggest thing, but with that, it also, I didn't realize at the time that that's what it was, it wasn't until you know, I I seeked out a doctor and I and I talked to a doctor over all this that I found out about all this, you know, I knew that there was something wrong and but I couldn't explain it. It wasn't until after the divorce that I truthfully understood what it was and why I was experiencing it and everything else. Because I've always been okay at work. Because Well, I be there a been in a position of power, if you will, at work where I'm in control. But you put me in a situation where I'm not in control. And that's where I break down.

Scott Benner 13:07
Okay. And you didn't even know it yourself. So you couldn't even tell her. It just felt like I don't want to go out or I'll do it.

Jeremy 13:17
Yeah, it was overwhelming anxiety. And at that time, once again, didn't know what anxiety really was, you know, I? It was it's different, I guess.

Scott Benner 13:29
And and so I guess when you don't know what it is, it feels like, like, Oh my god, she's bothering me all the time to do these things. She knows I don't want to do them. Like why so you can almost get angry in return. In this scenario where you have no real? No, no real right to be angry. But it just it kind of manifests itself I guess. In that

Jeremy 13:51
Yeah. And I wouldn't really call it anger. It was just it wasn't, like I said, an overwhelming sense of anxiety.

Scott Benner 14:00
Okay. So you didn't mind her asking you to go out you just once the Ask happen. You just were like, well, I can't do that.

Jeremy 14:06
Yeah. And then you know, and I knew there was a serious breakdown whenever she stopped asking, right? It was, Hey, I'm gonna go over to my parents. Or, hey, I'm gonna go do this. It wasn't, hey, let's go do this. Or let's go to the park or let's do this, or let's do that. It was I'm going,

Scott Benner 14:27
huh? So it's kind of it's fairly classic then. So you get married. There's a person there that does this stuff. We are together because I work or you work or we both work and we we intersect we have a meal. We'll bang our genitals into each other once in a while. keep the house clean, pay the bills. That's what we're doing over and over again. Like that's just what this is. And, and she wanted more than that. And you were really probably pretty thrilled with how it was I would imagine.

Jeremy 14:55
Yeah. And then I mean, don't get me wrong. We had tons of great years. tons. great memories match.

I mean, and I

I'll be honest with you, I mean, I, she's, she's been remarried now for three or four years. If she was to get divorced and want to get back together, I would take her back in a heartbeat. We've grown that much since then. I still love her as the mother of my child. But we actually get along better now than we did for most of our marriage.

Scott Benner 15:35
Well, I guess probably because you explained yourself to her. She understands now and yeah, and the and the stressors gone? Because, you know, do you think if Do you think if we wave the magic wand, and she was back in the house and said, hey, let's go out and have a picnic? you'd just be like, yeah, cool. Or would you say, Oh, no, that makes me anxious. But let's work through it. Like, where are you at?

Jeremy 15:56
It's giving me anxiety right now, just thinking. Gotcha. But at the same time, I don't know. It's like it would be worth it in the long run. And I'm not saying that that will ever happen. I understand. No, I understand. In my mind, we've, we've, we've grown enough to I think we could end up doing it. But that's you're trying to say that

Scott Benner 16:17
you guys have your relationship didn't stop growing. When the divorce has no,

Unknown Speaker 16:22
yeah, I'll be honest with you.

Jeremy 16:25
Whenever we even

so right after the divorce thing, not right after right before the divorce, and then the preceding years after the divorce things were not great.

And I think we need to talk about that.

Scott Benner 16:42
Yeah, Jeremy. That's why you're right. Yeah, that's why you're on because because you had a contentious divorce. And it's not any longer and so let's just put a little perspective on it. Your child with diabetes? How long? How old was? How old was your child when you were divorced when you got divorced?

Jeremy 17:03
Um, he was four or five appetite?

Scott Benner 17:07
Okay. Did he have type one then?

Jeremy 17:10
No, we didn't get it diagnosed until 2019. February 9 2019. Oh, no, not 918.

Scott Benner 17:19
roughly how long? Were you divorced when he was diagnosed?

Jeremy 17:24
Four years.

Scott Benner 17:25
Okay. There's a fair amount of time. And yeah, in those four years, what you were about to say is your relationship with your ex was how

Jeremy 17:34
it was. Okay. So it was interesting. I mean, right before the divorce and for, you know, since then it was it was very rocky. I mean, it was where everybody's taking notes on everybody else, just in case. And, you know, this is your time, this is my time, if it was me trying to manipulate a lot of the situations. It was me fighting to get this done or fighting to get that done. It was, you know, it was me versus her. But at the same time, we always, she always still called me whenever she was, you know, needed something, or should we still talk like we were friends, but there was still a hardcore line there. Yeah. And

as that progressed,

it got more and more to the point where we were talking more as friends. Even to the point where she would call me about her boyfriends. Hey, this guy is saying this. What does this mean? You know, and it was it was weird, but at the same time, I knew that she trusted me, right. And even to this day, I mean, like, whenever thaman went to his first camp last year, his diabetes camp. She called me at 3am in the morning on her porch, freaking out, you know, talking to me, and I'm like, you have a husband go talk to your husband about it seems like no, but you understand.

Scott Benner 19:17
So cat and I are sleeping. So

Unknown Speaker 19:19
yeah, exactly.

Scott Benner 19:21
No, no, I hear what you're saying. So So this, so I guess removed from being impacted by your social anxiety. She really did like everything else about you. It wasn't it was it was really that part right there. Did you must have really been a hermit huh? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I say it. Alright. Tell me about the diagnosis a little bit. How did that go? Cuz you're gonna have a different story than other people. This week, I've been helping a newly diagnosed family get through the first couple of days with type one. This is something I'm doing personally in my own time and It didn't take 48 hours for the person to say to me, is there another way to get this insulin in besides these needles? And I said, Yeah, I mean, you could get an insulin pump. They asked me which one I would choose. And the only thing that I could tell them was that the Omni pod tubeless insulin pump has been a mainstay of my daughter's life since she was four years old. And Arden is 16. Now, for 12 years, every day, my daughter has been wearing it on the pod tubeless insulin pump. And it's been a friend, honestly, in our our lives with Type One Diabetes. So not because you know, it's a click for the podcast, but I just said to her here, go to this link. And give it a try. it'll send one to your house, and you can slap it on and give it a whirl, my omnipod.com forward slash juice box? Well, the pods on its way, and they're very much looking forward to it. And I'll be able to report back to you what they do in the future. But I'm you know, them I don't, I don't care what any of you do. I'm just telling you that the Omni pod exists, I think it's terrific. And it's super simple for you to check out because you can get a free, no obligation demo, my Omni pod.com forward slash juice box. The Omni pod is tubeless. It's easy. It works. You can swim bave, recreate, do whatever you want, and keep it on. Super important not to have to disconnect to do those things. Because when you do that you're without your insulin. That's it. You don't need a big sell. For me. It's what I think is right. It's why on the positive sponsor, if I didn't like on the pod, if I didn't love it, if my daughter didn't have the most amazing experience with it, they would not be sponsors on this podcast. That's it. That's how you can take that to the bank, as they say. So support the podcast if you will use my link. And if you don't, as long as you guys are happy. That's what makes me happy. Another thing that makes me happy is being able to see the speed and direction of my daughter's blood sugar. You don't think I thought those other people about Dexcom? I certainly did. Why? Because right here on my iPhone or on their Android, she told me I have an Android phone. So don't worry, it works with that too. I can see my daughter's blood sugar right now. Well, I know what it is. It's 115. That quick, it's stable and steady. It is not rising or falling. It's actually been 115 for about the past 45 minutes, she came down from a little bit of a high from a lunch that had some fat and protein in it that it didn't do a great job of bolusing for but we were able to bring that number down and come in for this beautiful landing at 115. Because we can see Arden's blood sugar in real time because of the Dexcom g six, understand, went to a lunch had some food it hit or harder than it should have. And instead of sitting there all like I don't know what to do, you know, for three or four hours and looking at this big blood sugar, we were able to bring it down gracefully and safely. right back to where we want it.

I'm not even gonna bother telling you today. You know what I said? I'm gonna tell you anyway, right about the share and follow features. My daughter's sharing her Dexcom data and I'm seeing it on my phone, she could actually share it with up to 10 people of her choosing. If she was an adult and still wanted us to follow her blood sugars in college, we could do that. Or even if she was a you know, 1000 years old, the oldest person in the world with diabetes, we could still follow her blood sugar on our phones dexcom.com forward slash juicebox my Omni pod.com forward slash juice box links are in the show notes and at Juicebox podcast.com if you can't remember them, and please add your name to the T one D exchange T one d exchange.org forward slash juice box back to Jeremy hoppy dem one take no edits. I am so pleased with myself right now you have no idea I don't mean to break the fourth wall here and you're listening to the podcast I'm thinking like is Jeremy going to tell more about like is he is he's gonna get really into being divorced now and stuff like that. I don't think he cries. But one time he almost made me cry. not the point. The point is, I just did that ad in one take no edits. I only fumbled a word like one time. I am so happy with myself right now. I'm so sorry. Here we go. podcast Here comes. Tell me about the diagnosis a little bit.

Jeremy 24:26
At that time. claim. My ex wife lived in Helena about 80 miles away from where we live in Great Falls. We Great Falls. It's it's me thaman my son and her parents. And she lives in hell 80 miles away. And he stays up here in Great Falls to go to school. That's where all his friends are. That's where he started everything and then she sees On the weekend, or whenever she comes, she'll either come down to Great Falls and standard parents or thaman will go up to her. My, my. I don't want to call her my ex mother in law because she's so much more than that. To me, she's really is my secondary mother and her parents very much are still my family gotcha. She had noticed that he was urinating more than usual. I'd kind of noticed that, but he's growling, whatever. And then finally, the school teacher called and said, You know, I don't know what's going on. But Damon went to the bathroom 15 times today. And Kathy is sorry, is Damon's grandma had told me Hey, look, you know, he's been going to bathroom law, just pay attention. So the teacher actually allowed him to do it. And then that night, I was like, Okay, so this, yeah, he had gotten up four or five times. And then all of a sudden, he started wetting the bed. I'm like, What the hell is going on? You know, he's, he's nine years old, this shouldn't be happening. And then all of a sudden, it was he peed the bed four times that night. And I'm like, Kay, there's something going on here. So I had called Kathy, my ex mother in law. And she said, You know, this can be quite a different couple things. It's probably just urinary tract infection. But I had this one kid at school, where it was something else. I don't want to mention what it is just you make an appointment. So I made an appointment. And I had called, said, Hey, this is what's going on. Can I get an appointment sometime this week? And she's like, Well, yeah, so they scheduled it three or four days later. And within 30 minutes, our pediatrician called me back and she said, we're not waiting till Wednesday. I need you down here. Now. I'm like, Okay, is there something wrong? She goes, there could be Don't worry about it. Just get down here. Now. Let them know what the front desk who you are. Just get down here. Yeah. We got down there. It was just me and Damon at this point. And I did that the nurse was at the door with the door open waiting for us. They pretty much had this nailed down from the very beginning. And, I mean, the nurse grabbed ahold of Damon's arm, started walking fast. I'm like, Whoa, chill out. He just peeing a lot, man. And she's like, Well, good, because he's peeing all the time. He can pee in this cup. And she peed in the cup. And they put us in a room and I have 45 seconds later, the pediatrician was in there with the with the big old glucometer on one of those vampire pokers and got him bleeding stuck him. It was like 532. And I'm like, okay, that seems high. That seems like a good score.

Scott Benner 28:15
500 that's a hard number to get.

Jeremy 28:17
And I'll be honest with the I remember that point because her name's crystal. She's an amazing, amazing doctor. She just immediately broke down and started crying. I still remember that. Like it was yesterday. And I said, Is everything okay? And she's like, well, I'll be honest with you.

It looks like your wife's about to change.

Unknown Speaker 28:44
For

Jeremy 28:47
I need to get some blood to verify it, but she goes, you know, just be prepared if you need to call anybody to come down to the hospital with you and everything. You know, this could be type one diabetes, and it's a it's a fairly large change in your life and you're gonna need support. Like, okay, well, you know, my grandma had type type two, I got this this. And I remember seeing grandma every bit every night just taking a shot. I bet it'll be fine. Right? So, you know, we we got the blood test. And it was taken a while to come back. And she said, You know, I want you to go home. And, you know, I'll call you get your stuff together, though. You're probably gonna have to go into the ER. And so we went over to grandma and grandpa's, because grandma grandpa's was a lot closer to the hospital and where I currently live. And I sat there and I talked to Rick, my ex father in law once again, so much more than just to ex father in law. And I told him right before we left the doctor a call back and she goes yeah, you're gonna have to get down to the ER And I talked to my son now I'm probably not going to be able to do this by myself if this is something crazy. Just stay on standby. We got down to the ER, they they smelled his breath. They did all this other stuff. They took blood and they're like, oh, yep, this type one diabetes and I. And I kind of just sat there for a second. I didn't know what any of it meant. Of course, they're not explaining anything but he's not in DK at this point isn't like, we're, you know, rustling and bustling. And yeah, like, everything was going off. And I. And I just I remember picking up the phone and talking or calling his grandpa and I was like, Look, you need to get down here. I might need a second set of ears on this. I'm kind of deer in the headlight right now. And he came down and he was there for the next at least 18 to 20 hours with me?

Scott Benner 31:01
How do you handle that with your, your ex wife being so far away with you? Do you tell her in that moment? Or do you tell her at the end? Or when do you contact her?

Unknown Speaker 31:11
So, um,

Jeremy 31:13
the way we've always done medical stuff is it's 5050 decision. And which, you know, that's just a legal term to keep people happy in my opinion. And it's just something on a piece of paper, you know? And I and I called her and I said, Hey, you know, I kind of kept her abreast but I've always known you know, you don't give her the full shebang right away. Just let her kind of know the basics of Hey, I'll keep you informed if it's anything crazy. Oh, give me a call. And I remember calling her and I and I told her I said, Look, we're down at the ER. They're saying his blood sugar's high. At this point, they're they're saying something about type one diabetes? I don't know much about it. Don't worry, I'll keep you keep going. I go, I just need from you it. I mean, if Can I need to know that I have your permission to do whatever needs to be done. Hmm. And she's like, Well, isn't that serious? And I said, it's, it's starting to look that way. Yes. And she's like, well, is he gonna die? And I'm like, No, he's not gonna die. He they said, He's fine. He'll live he'll, you know, be fine. And everything, it just, I need your permission that, you know, if they say they need this, you know, an IV, if they need this, give that and she's like, No, just do whatever you need to do. She goes, you know, just let me know what's going on. And, but with everything else, just like nowadays, it's like he needs a flu shot. Yeah, yeah, get it, whatever. You know, we felt each other out to know kind of where liberties are. Because primarily, I'm the one taking them to the doctor's, I'm the one getting ready for school. I'm the one that's, you know, she lives 80 miles away. And so at this point, she just trust me to do whatever just, you know, tell her afterwards, and she's fine. But what type one it was, it was a little different. I mean, there was a lot of asking a lot of

explaining a lot of

Scott Benner 33:28
so give me a second here, because that's interesting, because you're the one who understands what's happening as best as possible, because you're there, but you still need to get someone's okay. But I'm assuming you don't have you can't walk her through it every step of the way to make sure she understands, because you don't have that kind of time on this end. And, and so does it does, in your opinion, does somebody have to just give over and say, Alright, look, you know more about this than I do. So I'm gonna defer to you, or is it about educating the other person? And how do you, I guess, what did you end up doing?

Jeremy 34:06
So, from that point, um, I finally told her, you know, we got our own room, go ahead and come up. He's perfectly fine. He's not gonna die. But there is a lot of information, we're not going to be allowed to leave the hospital until all the caretakers are up there, get educated and we pass the test. That's just how they do it up here. And she's like, okay, so she came down and there was this moment whenever she had called me whenever she was outside, because the pediatric floor up here is locked. You have to be let in. So crazy people can't come in and steal your kit. Or the kids can't wander off, right? And I remember meeting her at the door. And I remember she wanted to go into the room and I said no, we'll just come over here with with you For a second, and this is really where it all for us. This is where it all broke down. Okay, well not broke down in a bad way. I pulled her into the room right next door and I said, Look everything in the past, everything that we've been fighting about for the last two years, three years, whatever it was that point, all of the bolts that we've been doing all of the arguing all the fighting all the lying all the everything else. It ends now, okay, I go, what you're about to walk into is going to change your life, our life, our family's life, forever. I go, things are completely different now. So at this point, I need your word, that everything from the past, it's done, it's clean slate.

There can't be a divide anymore. Yeah.

And she, she kind of, I remember, I remember this, like it was yesterday, she just, she kind of looked at me. And she's like, Is it really going to change her life that much. And I said, every day, it's going to be something different. And if we don't work for a team, as a team, there's going to be more payment, payments, health is going to be at risk if we do not work as a team. Yeah. And I remember she just kind of it she, she let out this little. Like she, like, let out all the air in her lungs. And she's like, Okay, let's do this. And it was off to the races at that point.

Scott Benner 36:46
I have to stop for a second, I'm imagining that when you said that to her, she thought, Wow, this is so bad. You and I are gonna be nice to each other. You know, I'm

Jeremy 36:56
sure. And you have to kind of remember, at that point, you know, it was it was weird. We were still friends. But we were still whenever it came down to the same in level, we were very, very against each other. You know, this is my day, this is my day, you know, you get in between this time and this time? And can I ask you that this?

Scott Benner 37:19
Like, from your perspective? Why does that happen? Like, what what? What is it a fear that, that he's gonna like one of you better or that like, what feeds that in?

Jeremy 37:29
Okay. So and

I have an interesting way of looking at that, um, for one, and I'm not talking about like, my ex wife at this point, I'm just talking in general, I honestly think it's a power trip. I think that it's because I remember this, I remember getting in into this exact fight was cleaner. I said something to the point of our son or my son, and we're, she's like, No, he's not your son. He is my son. And I remember fighting with her about No, it no matter how many times you spend this, he is our son. We created him, whether you like it or not, we are going to be, you know, dealing with this until he's 18. Right. You know, and so I think a lot of it is is a power struggle, you know, you did me wrong, so I'm going to lock down and be you know, this is my kid. It is a lot of it. A lot of people do have something to worry about. There are those those relationships where, you know, either either one of them are abusive, and it would be stupid to let them you know, take full control. Yeah, or, you know, there are those situations, but for the most part, I think it's a bunch of peacocking. It's, you know, they're everybody, they're still in that stage of being pissed off about the divorce, they're still in that human stage, I guess, kid, whatever, whatever it is, and they get stuck in this thing. And they they're like, the kids are perfect ammo for my destruction of this other person

Scott Benner 39:18
is the one thing that I still know you care about. And that you'll be upset about if it goes the way you want it to go.

Jeremy 39:27
Now, I understand that not all cases are like that. I mean, there's some families it's like, I bet I read online. It's just like, I wouldn't get into I wouldn't give the kid to him either. Yeah, yeah.

Scott Benner 39:38
Yeah. your specific situation, your two very decent loving parents who either of them could, you know, either of you sounds like could have your child full time and it wouldn't be detrimental to your child, but either are situations where there are people defending against more than just bickering. It's absolutely absolutely right. Gotcha. Wow. Okay, so So you basically came from the perspective of Look, this is a health issue. And we can't, like nothing's more important than his health. So we're going to, we're going to put this all aside, did it work initially? Or were there bumps getting to that?

Jeremy 40:19
Oh, no, it was an immediate for us, it was immediate, there was a little bit of feeling out of, you know, that there had, there was a lot of trust, that had to be built in a short amount of time. Um, and for the first three months, when we were still, you know, doing the, the what the endo wanted, if you will, um, there was a little bit of a, of a power struggle, but it wasn't bad. I mean, it wasn't like we were arguing left, right and center.

Because at this point is primarily just

myself and his grandparents. claiming to have to go back to Helmand. She had been trained at the hospital, but it was still it was military boot camp, you know, there's no, here's your pens goodbye. Although I will admit, our hospital up here did amazing job, I mean, that I still met the pediatric nurse Jamie was amazing, I could bet that woman deserves a raise three fold over. But anyways, it wasn't until about three months in whenever I've always been that type of person that like I owned a lot of Honda Civics and I could still probably tell you what every single wire in that car does, okay? Know what the voltage is what it leads to, and everything else. And I kind of applied the same thing to diabetes. I instantly got online the night he was diagnosed, I remember sitting there until four in the morning, and we were putting a double room and given the corner room. And they knew there was a lot of families so that we needed a bigger room and whatnot. So I slept in the hospital with him. And every single night he was there. I remember sitting online, and I started researching. And then I found Facebook groups. And then I found out found other Facebook groups, and then I found parents of you know, parent type groups. I'm trying to be sensitive here to names of groups. And I buckled down and I started reading people's experiences and their knowledge. And then, of course, I went off the deep end and of course had to I wanted to know exactly what failed in my son. And you know, he and he and I trained my son that way the same way to us that kid would now for Sella beta cell, adult cell and a gamma cell is he can tell you what each one does. You know, and I, I deep dove and became obsessed with anything and everything, diabetes. And all of the crazy ways that his body works differently than our bodies and everything else. And I quickly learned that what grandma and grandpa knew and what mom do knew and what I knew there was a clear, you know, like, Okay, what the endo is telling us, yes, that will keep him alive. But I don't want to just keep him alive. I want to make sure that when he leaves 18 or whatever, and then I've told him I go Do you want to live with me until you're 30 I don't care. then ultimately, you know, whenever you turn 18 I want his Look, I want to be able to honestly tell him that if he goes out and keeps doing the things he's doing, he's gonna live a long and happy life.

Scott Benner 43:59
Yeah. And do you think he's getting how long he had type one now, I guess a couple years

Jeremy 44:06
is about two and a half years. Okay. And

Scott Benner 44:09
it's going really well for you that you really are. I mean, I watch you in the in the Facebook group and you're a resource for people you really have a handle on it, how are things going and how have you been able to communicate that back and forth with his mom and him and you you have a smooth system at this point.

Jeremy 44:30
It as smooth as it can be? It is very smooth. So I would want to say if you had to break it down, grandma and grandpa have him about 50% of the time. I have him about 40% of the time and cleaner has him about 10% of the time because she has weekends and whatnot here. So, um, you know, like, like I said the very beginning I'm a single dad, I and whenever I mean single, I mean single single. I don't Have someone else to watch my son whenever I go to work. So Grandma and Grandpa, haven't they I give them a couple nights a week because of all they do for for me. So it comes out to about 50 4010. And whenever I finally said, Okay, I'm taking control of all this. And, you know, I understand what's going on the way that I see diabetes in my head. I'm sure I could make an episode just about how visually it works in my head. Because it doesn't make sense to me, let alone anybody else, but it ends up working out. Okay. So, anyways, so the communication part at this point is kind of like your episode texting with diabetes, except it's instead of the school and instead of with your kid, it's literally with the kid, the mom and the grandparents. There's group chats, we use tide pool to enter in all of his carbs and his mealtimes and what he ate. So I can kind of look at things whenever he's over there and go, Okay, this rises from the food. It isn't just bazel or anything else, I can kind of look and see, okay, well, we'll had pasta tonight. That's kind of what this is. So we use tide pool where everybody can enter in information, and everybody can see everything that's being done. Real Time. Um, we use sugar mate to call us at night.

Scott Benner 46:43
If he gets low, or something like that happens, everybody gets that ring through phone call that sugar mate does.

Jeremy 46:48
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And and, you know, does it get annoying? Like, especially if he's at someone else's house? And he hear it? No, it doesn't. it the way we all see it, and we all discuss it and everything else is that it's back up? You know. And normally, we don't start getting a little antsy and start texting each other back and forth like crazy people. Unless he gets, you know, very low 60s or into the 50s. And typically at that point, it's at this point, it's just the text that Damon, have you Okay, dude?

Scott Benner 47:28
Yeah, someone's gonna do something about it. You just did it the anxiety of not knowing if they're maybe missing it? Yeah.

Jeremy 47:34
Because I'll be out for at first it was like anytime that that thing went off, and he was blown away at it was like, Oh, my God, what happened? Is it activity is food isn't this. And there is still a little bit of that on my side. Because, with, with me doing all the pump changes with me doing all of the generalized, this is the direction we're moving. It's one of those things I kind of need to know. And then it's turned into me just texting grandma and saying activity question mark. And she'll say, No. And I'm like, just sitting on his butt. And he's, she's like, yep. And so if I see that around two to two days in a row, typically I can go Okay, well, that's bazel just speed touched a sec, you know, just a little bit. Um, but that's kind of how we communicate at this point, at least me in the grandparents, we do have some phone calls that may last a little longer to try to figure out, you know, a little bit more, but for the most it's just very simple text. And then there's still times where things are just not right, like right now, right now. He's, he's just starting puberty. And although he's still like, 8590 95% range every day. There's the bazel still needs to be pushed down. You know, he's bazel just as like porn on you know, it's like your analogy with airplanes is your icon dump there, you know. And so anyways, we're going through that a little bit right now but like that, that's just we know that's what's going on. I'm, you know, add a little bit more, a little bit more, a little bit more every day. And the common thing you'll hear between me and the grandparents anyways, give me a couple days I'll fix it. Hmm. And they know at that point, you know, a, I know there's a problem b i have a plan to attack it and see just give me a couple days. With Mom, it's a little different. With mom, since she isn't around it quite as much. There's a lot more phone calls going on. And every time that you know, and she knows there's an open door and she calls sometimes it's she doesn't have to call call sometimes. She calls two or three times in a weekend. Yeah. And that's okay. Ultimately, I don't just tell her what to do and hang up the phone. It's typically I, I give her a quick, this is why it's happening. This is what to look for. And this is how we, this is what I would do.

Scott Benner 50:22
And that because yes, it works. And so

Jeremy 50:26
and why not typically, it's one of those things that you hear about that type of thing, once she gets it, we fix it, we move on. And that's really, you know, what we've had to do as a as a as a family. And you've probably seen me post it plenty of times in your group, you know, just fix it, and move on.

Scott Benner 50:47
Yeah. You know, there have been enough times where something's been fixed that then she says, Well, I figured this out now. And then that stops being a communication point, because she doesn't need it anymore. Like she's Oh, yeah, growing more slowly, because she's not around that as much but still figuring it out.

Jeremy 51:01
Yeah, yeah, exactly. And like I said, it is one of those things where I explain it to her once she gets it and we move on. There's there are some times that she'll text me and she goes, is this what we were talking about last week is the same thing happening here. And I, you know, ask a few questions. I'm like, Yeah, it is. So sometimes she wants backup just to acknowledge that, yes, this is what's going on. But for the most part, she's fairly independent at this point. There might be thing and she knows, then there are some times that if something's looking crazy, I will just call called Damon, I will take control, and I will tell him what he needs to do. He knows what's going on. If she needs to know at that point, then then he explains it to her. In a lot of bits, a lot of it's transitioning from me talking to the grandparents and me talking to cleaner to me talking to Feynman. And he, he may be 11 and everything, but there are some times I'll call him and say, Hey, dude, what do you think's going on right now? And he'll tell me? Well, it's obviously bazel. Dad, come on, you know. And so a lot of the communication now is between me and thaman. And everybody else just kind of follows that lead. Yeah. Now there is the point that yes, I do still have to tell Grandma and Grandpa, what what? You know, Damon and I are doing or?

Scott Benner 52:36
Yeah, they need to know, right? They can't they don't I don't want them to be surprised or not know, something's happened in him. Forget them. Yeah. Yeah. Back on it.

Jeremy 52:42
I mean, I can't tell them well, I'm increasing bazel. Because of this, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I mean, I can't sit there and go on for 30 minutes about it. Just, I need to let them know that I'm handling am adding a little more bazel. Here, I'm taken away a little bit here. Watch out at these times, hey, I've, you know, lowered the carb ratio down for breakfast or lunch. Just be kind of mindful of that timeframe.

And that's about it at this point, you know,

Scott Benner 53:09
yeah, well, it does become a situation where it is. So kind of 24 hours a day that you you don't there's not enough time to explain it, you'd need to different you'd have to pause your day to have an explanation day and diabetes doesn't work that way. So well.

Jeremy 53:22
Let's see. That's how that's how it was at the very beginning. I'll be honest with you there, I tried to explain everything to everybody. And the way I am, you know, like I was telling you earlier, I learned everything and everything. And I was trying to explain glycolysis to them at one point. And they're just looking at you know it and that's fine. They'll they'll get there on their own on that type of stuff. But I was trying to overload them with information to the point that it was like, why, why just shut up Jeremy. Just tell them you got it. Tell tell them hey, hormones,

Scott Benner 53:59
you know,

Jeremy 54:00
and and move on. And it we've evolved quite a bit because I although I'm like, socially awkward, I can tell when people are like looking at me going. Do your overexplaining way too much.

Scott Benner 54:16
Yeah. I listen, I it's not uncommon. I have you know, I find it sometimes it feels very important for me to people to understand all the facets of a scenario and it's not like they don't care and it doesn't matter. Yeah, it feels like it matters to me and you know it doesn't it you know, stuff like that causes problems sometimes because sometimes you're just talking and people are just like, what do you shut up? Like, just give up on them. Let's keep moving here, you know? Yep. So would you say that if I told you, Jeremy, I need you to put this into one sentence. The key or the key to your success right now. Is the anger part. You guys gave away? Yes, that was it. Right, like you just decided not to be angry with each other anymore.

Jeremy 55:04
Yeah, and

I know that's hard one sentence, but

it it's kind of like that saying, let go and let God.

I mean, I'm not I'm not religious or anything but you know, the whole concept of, you know, this is bigger than ourselves. And as parents, there's nothing more important than the child. And ultimately, you don't mean anything in this world without your kid. And if you don't get along, there's always going to be that risk of that kid not be in there.

Scott Benner 55:51
And what's the point of I think that probably when you hear people say they have these amazing divorces, I think those are people who both said, Wow, this was a mistake, we should not have gotten married. And everybody's everybody, you know, just suddenly backs up and goes, Oh, this is better like this. This that was a definite mistake. But I think a lot of divorce. Even. It's not always just on one side. But people are like, I don't really want to get divorced. I just don't see a way out of this. And it keeps repeating and repeating and repeating. You know, my life is going on, I'm not going to live forever. So I can't do this forever. We're not going towards anything. But I don't think that people get divorced thinking Yes, that's what I want. I think they think oh, that didn't work. But I wanted it to. Yeah, and it's a sadness that it doesn't work. And then, you know, there's that person still exist somewhere, and especially if you've been together for enough time? Oh, yeah. It's hard to think that there's a person that exists out into the world that you wish you were with, that you don't see. And, and I could take that away from divorce for a second say, you know, my brothers and I moved away from each other. And every day, I think, why do we not live closer to each other? You know, like, I wonder what my brother's doing right now. And, and the knowledge that I'll keep wondering that and keep wondering that and keep wondering that for years and decades. And then one day one of us is just gonna die. And yeah, like, that's, that's a really hard thing to think about. And I want to tell you something here, to hopefully make you feel good about sharing your experience. I'm, I'm a child of divorce, as well. And if you ask me what the most important thing in the world is, to me about my family, I don't want them to know what that feels like. Because I know, I know exactly what it feels like, I can see the looks on my little brother's faces. When it happened, I can hear my mom crying, I can see how angry My dad was, like, I, my goal in life is for my family to never understand what that is. And having that goal sometimes causes me to do do things that are actually detrimental to the goal. And I know that's really strange. But when you don't want something bad to happen, you know it. I explained it once that bad things don't just, you know, always happen because somebody puts them into into motion. Sometimes there's a bunch of different things that kind of intersect, and they're nobody's fault. You know, somebody dropped something or somebody and then it starts saying, oh, somebody says a curse word and that it's met with her, you know, but the next thing you know, you know how something like that starts in 10 minutes later, everybody's upset. And you think, wait, this is because the coaster fell on the floor? Like you don't mean like, how did we get to this? And when, when I see those things, cascading? It is right away, front and center, in my mind, stop this, like, stop this, that. And I really did just make up the idea of a coaster falling, but a coaster falling is not going to be why my kids know the pain that my brothers know, like unity, like like, and that's unreasonable. And I know that and I work at it, to not let it overwhelm me. But there are times where I feel like oh my God, this has to stop right now. We're all gonna end up in a bad place. And

Jeremy 59:09
it's a slow burn.

Scott Benner 59:11
Yeah. It's a slow burn terrible for anyone who doesn't know. You're lucky.

Jeremy 59:16
Yep. Yep.

Scott Benner 59:19
But for those of you who do know about it, and who write in all the time saying, Is there an episode about how to handle type one diabetes? With divorce? I think Jeremy just went over a bunch of things that are really valuable. support a third party even I think it's a big deal about your mother and father in law being involved. I heard group text messages everyone knowing when to be involved and when to be an onlooker. And the idea of you got to stop punishing each other, which is, you know, or yourself, by the way, which I think sometimes happens when you're when you have a person and you're you're just you're going at them all the time all the time all the time, there's got to be a part in the back of your head that thinks, and I genuinely don't want to make you upset because you've been so valuable here. But there's got to be a part of you that thinks like, how did I not figure this out soon enough to save my marriage? And that's, and so you're punishing yourself and punishing them? And vice versa? It's, it's really, yeah, ugly, you know,

Jeremy 1:00:21
and, you know,

I, I'll be 100% honest here with you. Um, I have honestly punished myself every single day. For the last seven years. It's gotten better over time. But there still isn't a day that goes by that I don't think I could have done something more. And ultimately, I think, in order for, at least, myself to move on, is I need to learn how to forgive myself. Because I've already forgiven her for all of her side of things, because there was things on her side to you. No, no, no, marriage is perfect. Understand. And that's the biggest thing really is. Everybody needs to learn how to forgive each other. Find the best way to move forward as a dysfunctional family unit, whatever that is, you know, a divorced family. And realize that it's just not about you. Because that's what caused all the fighting at the beginning and everything else of It's me, me, me, me, me. It's no longer us. So I have to focus on me. But yeah, there isn't a day that goes by that I still don't. In some way, just go you know, what? You're divorced dad. And what not, and I don't want to beat myself up. But you know that it is the constant, you know, failure point in my life, I guess. So all I can do at this point is to become a better dad. And I know this sounds weird, be a better ex husband. You know, um, and it's it's not me trying to get back with her. It's not you know, I had my dad, you know, who lives in Lincoln, Nebraska, who, you know, as far away from he told me, he goes, Jeremy, you're just being nice to her because because you want to get get her back. And I'm like, No, dad, that has nothing to do with it. I mean, it wasn't until he came up the next year for three weeks in the summer. And he saw how labor intensive type one was, and understood why. You know, I would go over to Kathy and Rick's for dinner, is he didn't understand like, like, we walked up to their house, and we just walked into their house. And he's like, Well, why aren't you knocking? I'm like, Dad, they're my family, just like you are, he thought. And

Scott Benner 1:02:55
he really thought that you were just gonna, like you were pretending to be the person that your wife was looking for when you were married, hoping that that would just break Exactly. Not understanding how important doing those things was to your son's health?

Jeremy 1:03:07
Well, yeah, because, you know, my mom and dad got divorced, too. And that was that was nasty, nasty, nasty divorce. And his idea of divorce was completely different than my idea of divorce and how I was handling my divorce versus how he handled his divorce. You know,

Scott Benner 1:03:30
yeah, no, see, he was just he was just seeing what happened to him and kind of projecting onto you. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Wow. Dude, that was, uh, I appreciate this. I really do. Like you were me at one point at the end,

Jeremy 1:03:42
dude, I come on every hour. Yeah.

Scott Benner 1:03:44
Well, first of all, that you said, I'm gonna be honest. And I thought, what you were being honest, man, you don't have to be any more honest than that. But that was the other part is like you didn't really need me, which is great. Sometimes I like that you can just you just came on and you can tell your story. And you knew you had it laid out. And I appreciate you being so verbal. And

Jeremy 1:04:02
well, and Scott, I'll be honest with you there there. There's so much left on the table. Like I said, I could talk for three hours. I know that's not a thing. But yeah. Well, they're there

Scott Benner 1:04:12
highlight a couple things for me, though. But I mean, what else do you think people need to know

Jeremy 1:04:17
99% of its communication. And it's not about you, it's about the kid. I mean, those that's really where it focuses around. And

at first, it's going to seem like herding cats.

You just have to figure out how each cat needs to be wrangled in, how how each cat likes to be stroked, and where not to touch certain cats.

Scott Benner 1:04:42
So when you're all in when you're on the same team, you know, family team, then there's a feeling from each person like when it's a connected family still like everybody's married all in the same house. There's a feeling of like, well, I don't agree with that, but I'll go along with it. But as soon as everybody kind of backs Way, everyone has their own style. And you're not going to get a meshing the same way. You're saying like, you have to understand there's this, this person's not going to react to that. So we don't do that with this person we do. Yes said, Ah, okay, because

Jeremy 1:05:14
grandma has it has one understanding of diabetes and the way that she cares for diabetes, grandpa has a different view. And mom has a different view. And I have to try to wrangle the whole group and try to get one cohesive line of treatment. And that's been the biggest challenge really, is to try to, you know, you read all these posts all the time of, well, he's that his dad's again, he's been above 300 for the last two hours. And, and I, I didn't want that. So I had to find out how to get

a lot of your

teachings, I guess if you want to call them those sounds

Scott Benner 1:05:59
alright. High minded when you say it like that. And

Jeremy 1:06:01
I know I have a blow that head up. I wanted

Scott Benner 1:06:04
to, I wanted to put on a burlap robe and shave my head bald when you said that, then go sit.

Jeremy 1:06:09
And I'll be honest with you.

Grandma was like, because I send her over episodes to listen to, like if something was going on, I would send her the fat and protein. You know, I don't do that every time. But you know, so she would understand that she's like, he has a lot of good points. But boys he cocky. He says he's so full of himself. But he has really good information. And I know you've heard that before. I've heard you say it before. Sure. And but that's the generation gap, because and that's the other big thing is we all know that. Type One is a family led disease. You know, the endo gives you your boot camp instructions to keep the kid live. Everything else is up to you. I mean, unless you have a really, really, really good endo. So grandma and grandpa are from the the generation where you went to the doctor, you listen to the doctor, and you didn't dare question the doctors authority, because they know and, you know, they're from that older generation. And where, you know, with me, in my generation, it's like, okay, the doctor said this, but how about a second, third and fourth and fifth opinion, and let's get as much information as we can. And let's move forward. You know, and so it's trying to find, or crowl, three different four different ways of thinking and getting one plan together to still have excellent glycemic control and be able to, you know, move forward.

Scott Benner 1:07:47
Yeah. No, I hear you. I'm Well, listen, man, congratulations. I think it I'll tell you, what really strikes me is that you were willing to say this and have it recorded, which means that the people you were speaking about, you very much believe we'll agree with what you said. And yeah, and that's a big deal, like, in my mind is that you didn't just set up some sort of, you know, it's not a paper tiger, right? Like, it's not like it works. But everybody's just teetering on the edge and about to explode. Like you, you guys actually are all comfortable with your piece of this. And, and it's okay that there's a person who has more of the knowledge about diabetes than the others and they're willing to, everyone's willing to work off of that. I think it's really wonderful. And, and by the way, I have a message to Grandma, I'm here in case she ever hears this. I'm trying grandma to get a bunch of information to people's heads. And I have to project a certain amount of confidence where I am confident, and I don't want to meander in the conversation. Because if I spend a lot of time being, but I am assuming she would take us polite and, and not forceful than the conversations get too long. And then nobody listens. And you lose the thread of the ideas. So there's a there's a method to this madness. I think if she sat with me, she'd feel like I wasn't like that. But you know, I'm sure No, I'm just kidding. I don't care what she says. I just listen, I'm from the east coast and you're in Montana. Yes, sir. I would assume she just like I probably talked too quickly and I just I come I probably come off terribly tired. I'm sorry. Tell her I'm sorry. But I'm glad everything's going happy the kids Okay,

Jeremy 1:09:33
that's all no I mean, she's she's she loves your podcast. It's just well that's

Scott Benner 1:09:36
still well tell her please tell I was you know, obviously being light hearted there. But then again, I don't know if it's obvious or not if she'll be like Carrie is doing it again. But I was just being light hearted but I appreciate that. It's helpful to you guys. I really do. And, and please, my best to everybody. And I really appreciate you doing this. Like I said there were not a lot of people willing to come on and talk about this stuff. So he did a really cool thing here today. I tried. Oh, you really did. Thank you so much and got my best your cat cat. But this isn't what is.

Jeremy 1:10:13
The cat is literally named kitty because that's what Damon wanted to name it.

Scott Benner 1:10:17
Well listen,

Jeremy 1:10:18
I'm like, dude, we can name it George man could

Unknown Speaker 1:10:21
name it. So

Jeremy 1:10:22
he tried to name at once. He was like, well, maybe we can do Bolus and bazel because there's two cats,

Scott Benner 1:10:29
okay.

Jeremy 1:10:30
And I'm like, I'm like, well, which one's Bolus and which one's Basal? That's about as far as that got. So it turned back into kitty one and kitty to

Scott Benner 1:10:38
say that, by the way, that's only something that would happen in a single Father's house. So that is a try.

Jeremy 1:10:43
Absolutely.

Scott Benner 1:10:45
There's not one woman listening to this right now that's thinking I would allow my cats to be called kitty one and kitty. Oh my gosh. All right, Jeremy, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Hey, I really appreciate Jeremy stepping up when a lot of other people couldn't actually got a couple of notes from people like I would love to do this but I can't. So Jeremy, your aces man, you're a great dad sounds like you're a great co parent. And there are a lot of people out there who are divorced a co parenting are probably pretty jealous of of what you guys have going on. Also a big thank you to Omni pod, check out the Omni pod tubeless insulin pump today at my Omni pod.com forward slash juice box get them to send you a free no obligation demo by typing in a tiny bit of information at that link, it might literally take you less than two minutes to get that demo coming to your house, my Omni pod.com forward slash juice box. Find out more of course about the Dexcom g six continuous glucose monitor@dexcom.com forward slash juice box and the T one D exchange beyond being beyond doing great work is completely HIPAA compliant. One bazillion percent safe for you to do I did it myself put my my information right in there as the parent of a child with type one. That's what they're looking for people with type one diabetes, or parents of people with type one who live in the US. And this is completely blinded, meaning your answers are not in any way connected with your information. You know what I mean? Like it's that doesn't say like Scott said this, it's just parent of type one answered this way that kind of you know, it's it's anonymous is what I probably should have said, anyway, you take this survey, which did not ask any deep probing questions, as far as I was concerned, took me about seven minutes, and I was done. They're gonna follow up once a year with a couple of other questions. If there are other opportunities to do things, I have the option to do them, but I don't have to. And the best part is, you can do this from your living room right there on your phone or on your PC. That simple. And if at some point in the future, decide you just don't want to be involved anymore, you can drop out, no big deal. T one d exchange.org. forward slash juicebox support Diabetes Research and support the podcast at the same time. All of these links, of course are available at Juicebox podcast.com. You can also find it Juicebox podcast.com. The best doctors that listeners to the podcast have suggested for you. That's at juicebox Doc's dot com. And all the diabetes pro tip episodes are available at diabetes pro tip.com case you want to share them with people or something like that. Otherwise, everything like I said, is it Juicebox Podcast. And of course you can listen to everything that I've ever done right here. Hundred percent for free, always for free. Thanks so much for listening, check out the other afterdark episodes or diabetes pro tip episodes or just the regular episodes of the podcast at your leisure. And of course, please subscribe in your podcast app, tell a friend about the show and leave a wonderful review on Apple podcasts or wherever you listen this five star reviews really help other people to check out the show. It actually happens. Trust me, it's not for ego if I didn't have any reviews. I still know how many people are listening. It doesn't matter to me. What matters is that the next person coming along says Oh look, people find this podcast valuable and then maybe they'll learn some things like you did, or it'll help them or they'll be entertained or not feel alone or whatever. But somehow they need to know this is the show I should try. So help me there if you can have a great week. I'll talk to you soon.

#371 Diabetes Pro Tip: Explaining Type 1

Explaining Type 1 Diabetes to friends, coaches, employers and more

Scott and Jenny Smith, CDE share insights on type 1 diabetes care

+ Click for EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Scott Benner 0:00
Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 371 of the Juicebox Podcast. Today's show is a diabetes pro tip episode, mostly sort of, you'll see what I mean in one second.

The pro tip series that exists inside of the Juicebox Podcast is mainly about management of type one diabetes. There's also some informative stuff like what can you do when you go to the emergency room to make your experience easier. And today, I'm going to be filling a need that's been presented to me by the listeners. So I don't know if this episode is for them to get ideas from, or for them to share, or maybe both. But in this episode of the Juicebox Podcast, I, along with Jenny Smith, Jenny, of course has had Type One Diabetes for 32 years. She's a certified diabetes educator and an all around amazing person. And me, Scott, who's you know, just the host of the podcast, and the parent of a child with Type One Diabetes. So this episode is for people who need to understand Type One Diabetes more, or for those of you with type one who struggle to talk to those people about what type one diabetes is. See, if you're like the school nurse, or a teacher, maybe my boss, friend, neighbor, somebody wants to have my kid over for a sleep over this episode is for you to try to understand better what type one diabetes is and what your role in it can be. And if you're a person living with type one or the parent of someone living with type one, and you're struggling for how to talk to people about it, this will be beneficial for you as well. This episode of the podcast does not have any ads. But I do want to let you know that the Juicebox Podcast is proudly sponsored by dexcom, makers of the G six continuous glucose monitor and Omni pod, the world's only to boost insulin pump. That greatest blood glucose meter in the world in my opinion, the Contour Next One blood glucose meter. We're also sponsored by g Volk, glucagon, Lily's chocolates touched by type one, and the T one D exchange. There are links to all of the sponsors in the show notes of your podcast player. And at Juicebox podcast.com. When you support the sponsors, you're supporting the show, but like I said, there's no ads in this episode because I don't know you're gonna give this what to your kids, you know, baseball coach, and what's he gonna do by an insulin pump. Having said that, dexcom.com forward slash juice box my omnipod.com forward slash juice box Contour Next one.com forward slash juice box touched by type one.org g Volk glucagon.com, forward slash juice box. And if you'd like to get involved in some amazing Type One Diabetes Research, T one d exchange.org. Ford slash juice box. Last thing before we start, please remember that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan. or becoming bold with insulin. And a huge welcome to those of you who don't usually listen to a type one diabetes podcast, those of you who care enough to try to learn a little more about type one so that you can be a better support system for the people you know, and love living with Type One Diabetes. This means a lot to them. I'm sure they're really, really excited that you that you took the time. So I hope we can make this informative and fun for you. I think we have let's get started. I want to jump right into this because this has been interesting since I brought this up to you the other day, I I sat down myself and I thought who in my time Have I spent have I had to describe diabetes to you know, when I started kind of making a list and then a lot of people a lot of people and and then I went online and I said you know into the private Facebook group for the podcast and I said Hey guys, Jenny and I are going to do this thing. Who do you wish you know, we could talk to and here's how the list came back. grandparents, teachers, parents, babysitters, somebody who might have my kid for a sleep over my child's friend's parents, a coach of a team spouses or significant others, co parents, roommates, extended family school nurse co workers bosses bus drivers and and what and family of adults with type one. So people who are diagnosed as adults who then are around other adults who never get Getting it. And then very much at the end of the list, someone said, Oh, I wish you could explain to chaperones and I started thinking,

everyone should have just answered with the same word, it should have said, people, because this is just, this is like everything else around diabetes like you like, oh, explain it specifically to a coach. So what I'm going to tell you is, I think we're going to have a conversation, that, whether you're one of the people I listed, or just a person who knows somebody with Type One Diabetes, when you're done, I'd like you to understand the basics of type one better, maybe a little bit of terminology. So things are happening, and maybe more so the mind of the person with type one, what's happening to them, and how you could be supportive of them. I think that's the goal here like not to speak to like, like there was there. In the beginning, I thought, oh, we'll do a couple of minutes talking to grandparents. And then a few minutes talk, and I'm like, No, no, it's all the same thing. Really. Right.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 5:59
Yeah, it is. And I it's really funny, you bring this topic up, because it's actually we do a monthly newsletter, and my my article last month was sharing your diabetes. Okay? And it was kind of along this same line, it was, how do you talk to other people about your diabetes and give them the baseline of what you need them to really know. Without, like a textbook, that's like 4000 pages long, overwhelming, it's overwhelming. And I some of the big points were one, set a time to discuss specifically diabetes, with these people, or this person, or this coach or whoever it is, I like your term, just people in general, right? Pick the person. You need them to know this, this and this, these are the important facts. Because it's a lot easier if you've set a time for it, than if you go to the coach at the end of practice. You're like, Hey, can you just take five minutes with me, I really want to talk to you about you know, Billy's like type one diabetes, and the coaches got, like, you know, soccer balls over there hungry and trying to get home. So to go

Scott Benner 7:15
home and get yelled at. There's a lot going on in my life right now.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 7:18
Right, right. So setting up a time and, again, the timeline of what are the important things you want these people to know? Like you said, the basics.

Scott Benner 7:27
Let me add this to that. The other things that people came back in their, in their responses very overwhelmingly was, I want this episode to be something I can text to somebody like a link and say, Please, can you listen to this and understand diabetes? Because many of the people who came into speak said, Look, I'm not very good at describing it. Like I can take care of myself. But when I start, there was an overwhelming feeling of when I start to explain it to somebody else, I either get frazzled or too detailed. You and Jenny do it. And I'm like, Alright, well, we'll do it. So Jenny's after you listen to this episode, and you decide you really want to help a person you love with Type One Diabetes, or someone who's in your class, or because there was one very specific woman who said, I'm a college professor, I wish I could explain it to my students. better, right. And so whoever you are, in this scenario, here's what I can promise you, Jenny, and I will not make this boring. And we will not make it overly, like taxing. It won't be so technical, you won't understand. And it should be a good runway up to you having that conversation that we just spoke about with this person in your life who has type one diabetes. So that's my overarching goal, Jenny, don't mess it up. Okay. Okay. I'm talking to myself. I don't want to mess it up. Do we start with? Well, we usually talk about diabetes in such a specific way. But why don't we start with just a really simple description of Type One Diabetes? You want to go?

Jennifer Smith, CDE 8:56
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, Type One Diabetes is the body's inability to create insulin, or to put it out into the body. And so without it, your blood sugar gets too high. So type one diabetes is a deficiency of insulin, it's specifically an autoimmune disorder, which means the person did nothing to cause type one diabetes. It's not because they sat in a hole hose for, you know, three years or whatever. So and I think that's a, that's an important one to put out there. And just the simple explanation, because there is a lot of misunderstanding around just the term diabetes. Sure. So

Scott Benner 9:37
yeah, and it is a lesson it's a genetic issue, right. It's an autoimmune disease. You know, you can use an example my daughter was two years old when she was diagnosed, she weighed 19 pounds and I you know, Federer, the same stuff, all of us feed our kids. And and her body just was like, you know, got confused one day, I mean, that's even that right for these people listening, I don't know exactly what triggered my daughter's type one onset, what I can tell you is that testing can prove that you have markers, that that make you more likely to get diabetes. I don't know if my daughter had them, obviously, because no one ever checked her. But she got sick. And, you know, it's always been my belief that her immune system got confused. And instead of killing her virus, Winton killed her pancreas for the lack of a better term. And I want people to understand, too, that the advent of insulin is still fairly new 1921 one, right. So, for context, if my daughter's pancreas would have crapped out in 1919, she would have died in a couple of weeks, right? That's correct. Okay. The insulin is the only thing keeping people with type one diabetes alive. Otherwise, the first time your blood sugar starts heading up, it will just keep going up and never stop. That's right, right. And you'll slip into a coma and die. Okay, I told you, this wasn't gonna be too technical. So so people are getting this insulin in, in a ton of different ways. And so I think that would be important, what are the different ways people get insulin,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 11:14
initially, and some people even long term after diagnosis continue to take injections. So the age old, you get a little like bottle or what we call a vial of insulin, they now come thankfully, and easily dispensing pens. And you dose it through the course of the day based on many factors. There's other ways such as an insulin pump, that you could take your insulin, kind of a fancy little page or size device that sort of drips it into the body through a tube, or if you're using a tubeless, one like Omni pod, then that would be another way to do it. So essentially, an injection or a pump, those are two ways to get in the body. Now there is one other way. I mean, if we wanted to be truthful about it, there's also an inhalable insulin called a frezza. So that's another way to use

Scott Benner 12:03
it, most people inject insulin correct. And so inject like Jenny said, with a pen, which really is just a very fancy syringe, you might see someone do it with a syringe, you might see someone wearing a device on their body, or carrying a device that's connected to their body with a tube, there's different ways. But in the end, you need to get that insulin under your skin, right. And this could happen for a number of reasons it could happen because you're eating, it could happen because your blood sugar just went up on its own, and you need to bring it back down. When it needs to happen, it needs to happen. And I want people to understand that asking a person with Type One Diabetes to go into the bathroom, and extensively hide while they're injecting is not the right thing to do. So if please, there's, throughout this, I'm going to tell you say things like, please don't ever say this, here's one of them, people around here might be uncomfortable with your diabetes, you can't do that to a person. Yeah, if they're uncomfortable, they can leave, I need to give myself this insulin. So my blood sugar doesn't go up really high. And don't get me wrong, like not getting the insulin is not going to you know, it's not going to kill you in the moment if your blood sugar is going higher, but here are a lot of things that could happen. They're thinking could become cloudy, right? Right, they could become agitated. So if you're a teacher, you don't want your kids blood sugar high, because they're gonna have trouble concentrating, thinking, they're not going to learn norming performing in all kinds of different ways. Same thing with sports, your blood sugar gets too high, you slow down your body has a difficult time, you know, I can see it my daughter's foot speed. If my daughter's blood sugar gets over a certain number high where it doesn't belong. I can literally see her slow down while she's running, she just can't go as fast.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 13:56
Right?

It would be the same thing too. I think in like a corporate world type of setting where someone may feel like it wouldn't be acceptable in order to use their insulin or to respond to their pump, telling them to take the insulin or whatnot. And the same thing if they're being asked to present or to discuss something that's very, very important. They may not have the ability to do that in if their blood sugar is not in the right place. Yeah.

Scott Benner 14:25
So you need to give people the freedom to do what they need to do. If you want them to be themselves, or be able to do the thing you're asking them to do or hope that they can do. They need to be able to take their insulin and feel comfortable about it. It's difficult to have. This is a lifelong disease like it's not going to it's not going to get cured anytime soon. It's not going to it's not going to go away. It's not going to one person said make sure people understand it doesn't just transform into type two diabetes, like it's a progression from one to two right? Right, so having type two diabetes, completely different thing, right. And so this person, it's hard, it's really difficult. Like, I really want people to listen and think that every time you have a body function that puts pushes up your blood sugar. And so for people whose pancreas is work fine, could be adrenaline, stress, pain, so many different things can make your blood sugar try to go up, when that happens to you out there with a working pancreas, your pancreas just stops it, you don't even see it happen. Like if you were monitoring your blood sugar in real time, and you got some adrenaline like it might blip for a second, but it would come right back. A person who doesn't have that their blood sugar is going to shoot up and keep going or get too high and stay there. And then they need to put that insulin in into their body, to bring it back down again. It's just it's 24 hours a day and to have somebody make it more difficult for you is, is kind of terrible.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 15:57
And I think in terms of even bringing up the technology that is available, such as an insulin pump in terms of delivery, I know that there's also the misconception even in our day and age right now. Oh, you've got a pump. It takes care of it all. Yeah. And that's a that's not true. 100% not true at all, there is so much that the person with diabetes has to interact with in order for that technology to do what it needs to do for them. So just because they're connected to these devices, can be helpful. But it's not doing anything without their interaction with it.

Scott Benner 16:36
Yeah. And it's, it's easy for people who don't understand to make an assumption, like, Oh, they got the machine, the machine fixes it. Right, right, or something like that. And I want to be really clear for everyone listening, like, I'm not coming down on you, there are plenty of disease states that I don't understand in any meaningful way. But what that does is it stops me from, you know, saying things about it that I don't understand. And like, there's a ton of different things. You might think, Oh, this is helpful. Like, if you find yourself with a parent of a child with type one, and they've just been diagnosed, and you think, Oh, this parents so smart, or look how well they're handling it. It's not right to say to them something to the effect of you know, well, God gave the child with Type One Diabetes to the right person, because you can really handle it. Right. Really think about that sentence. But you know, when you're in it, because it happens to a lot of people. No one's lucky that their kids got diabetes. Nope. No adult feels lucky. No one walks around going, thank God, I'm a head screwed on straight kind of person. And I'm the one who got type one cuz Jimmy up the street hot mess. And if he would have got it, it would have been way worse for him. It's bad for everybody. Okay, it's just that's a, so be careful how you speak to people. Right? I think I think about a person who's been on this podcast before who had a child who passed away and I asked like, what's the right thing for someone to say to you? And she's like, there is no right thing for someone to say to you. And and, you know, anything you do is just going to, it's not going to make anything better. Unless you offer like sincere, simple support. Hey, if there's anything you need, I don't know what to do. But if you tell me I'll do it for you that works with this as well. You know,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 18:18
I think it's I think it's along the same line as offering up information about your neighbors, Grandma, who is something Something happened because they had diabetes, I same thing. It's like, don't, don't offer up in terms of like a connecting point. You know, if sure if you've got a cousin who has type one or you know, an uncle who had type one, and you have a little bit of understanding that might even further your discussion in terms of what the person with type one talking to you could put back into the conversation. But unless you've really lived with it, or you have taken care of somebody with type one, please don't. Yes. Tell them about your neighbors, uncle's friends,

Scott Benner 19:04
Jenny's politely saying don't look at somebody go diabetes. Oh, where have I heard diabetes from my grandmother? Oh, you know what? Oh, my grandmother had diabetes. They cut her leg off. That's not a good thing to say to somebody don't do. Yeah, right. And just Yeah, don't don't do that. Okay, so keep keep those thoughts inside. Because that's not helpful. And it might have nothing to do with the person you're talking about your grandmother's situation, very well could be a ton different than this person situation. And that's important to understand, too, is that in this day and age right now, I know this sounds kind of strange. But this is the best time in the in the history of the world to be diagnosed with Type One Diabetes. So people have a much greater chance of staving off, what could be long term complications, and they have a much better chance of managing day to day in the moment in a way that won't impact their lives too badly. Now, I feel strange saying this because on one hand, what I'm telling you is that These people need some leniency, they need some understanding, they need a little space because they're making decisions about how their bodies, you know, working. And at the same time, I want to tell you if they can do anything, and so don't limit them. You know, and that's hard to do too, because you might not feel like you're eliminating them, you may feel like you're protecting them. And correct, they don't need that. And if they do need that, they'll they'll ask, they'll ask you for it.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 20:27
Yes. Right, exactly. Which is part of this, you know, the purpose of this is understanding, if they're having a conversation with you about what you need to know, the reason is, because a lot of times they want you to know what to do in case they need help, right? Some understanding about this is diabetes, this is what you know, might see me carrying such as the devices, this is I might make some noise, my products might be bet tie, or whatever, you know, but in case of this, this and this, these are the things that you could do to help me and this is how to help me right?

Scott Benner 21:03
Because they may at some point need that help. Right? And so you understanding like say you're a teacher, you understanding like signs of visible signs of hypoglycemia, okay, so low blood sugar, and I'm going to read your list which I'm not a big list reader on the podcast, but this person could feel shaky, be nervous or anxious. They could be sweating, have chills, feel clammy, irritable, impatient, confused, their heartbeat might pick up, they could feel lightheaded or dizzy, voraciously, hungry, nauseous, their skin sometimes can get pale, they'll look tired or could feel tired, they could end up feeling weak, their vision could get blurred or impaired. My daughter talks about her mouth gets tingly and numb if her blood sugar gets too low headaches, trouble coordinating themselves, clumsiness I'm this is coming right from the A's website, the American Diabetes Association associations website. in their sleep, they can have nightmares or crying their sleep. And if their blood sugar gets too low, they can and if it gets low enough, we'll have a seizure. And so they'd like to know if they're not making sense when they're talking so that they can take in some carbohydrates of some kind to bring their blood sugar back up. And so you being a person around them, like like a coach. And you have to figure out the line, right? Because these things while they can happen, may very well not happen. So think of the other side of it. You know? You've got a little girl on your soccer team and she's running around and every three seconds you're jogging next to her going, Becky, do you feel okay? All right, Becky, Are you dizzy? You don't feel clammy? Do you? Hey, Becky, Becky, Becky, Becky, you're ruining Becky's life when you do that, okay? Don't Don't do that. But at the same time, you could look over once in a while and visually, just, you know,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 23:00
evaluate the performance. If you're the coach, you know, how your kids usually perform or do things, you know, how they interact with their other teammates and whatnot. So yeah, it may not be

Scott Benner 23:12
at all, a strange thing to say, like, Look, we have a two hour practice. Everyone sits down, you know, halfway through and drinks water. I'd really like it. If Becky tested her blood sugar, then, you know, because I don't maybe you don't feel comfortable as the coach like you don't want to be on the hook for like seeing if this kids about the fall over or not right? I get that. So talk to the parents and say, Look, can we just coordinate a blood sugar check, you know, at some point, you know, for safety, and then make it normal. Don't call attention to it don't like it's happening. And everyone doesn't have to stare and people are going to stare in the beginning. But you got to just give the kid the the space to let it happen because everyone will get used to it. And I guess that's what I want to bring up with them. When my daughter was very little the first day of school. I'd go in and it's and I would give a talk like to the kids like five minutes on the literally the first day. Hi this is Arden. Arden has type one diabetes, her pancreas doesn't make insulin. Once in a while you're going to see Arden pull out this thing and give herself insulin with it her controller for her pump. Hey, you know what Arden is just like the rest of you. She doesn't need, you know, she doesn't need you to check on her constantly. But if she looks like she's busy, she's not making sense. It would be nice to tell your teacher, right? But it still didn't stop this one little girl from mothering her. And so she came home one day and she's like, this kid will not leave me alone. Like like and she goes it seems really sweet. But she won't stop I need this kid. Stop back off. Do you Yeah, like leave me alone. So that there's there's a balance in there somewhere where you can be supportive and understand Ending without being a burden to them or making them feel different. Or look that. And this is very important. Like it really goes

Jennifer Smith, CDE 25:10
across the board and what you're saying to not just the little kid component, but the teacher or the coach, like you said like bugging, bugging, bugging, are you okay? Do you feel okay, do you need some more juice? You know, that kind of thing? Or even goes cross crosses over into spouses, significant others? Yeah, you know, especially and I would expect that later in marriage, or later in partnership, you've had enough visualization to not be like bugging, bugging, but in newer relationships, I think an upfront important talk when you know that it's going a little bit further than just let's go out and get a drink or whatever, right? I mean, it's important to bring up this is how you could help me. Don't bother me, though. You know, don't, don't tell me not to have the potatoes with my dinner when we go out for dinner. Because Oh, my goodness, they have carbohydrate, in my usual how the potato

Scott Benner 26:01
makes your blood sugar go up? Thanks. That's what I want you thinking about right now? unless the person says, Look, I have trouble saying no to potatoes. So if you could like if they want it, that's different, right? It's could

Jennifer Smith, CDE 26:13
you remind me not to do exact Yes,

Scott Benner 26:15
when I see the french fries, if you could just go Hey, you told me last time, I shouldn't get french fries to bring it up. I don't think anything that we've said in the last couple of minutes about kids and coaches and teachers doesn't specifically apply to adults in adult situations, either. It's correct. It's all exactly the same. It's why I didn't want to break these up into like, okay, now, here's 10 minutes for your boss. If someone's working for you, and they have type one diabetes, they're going to have some needs. And the most important thing is to support them and not make them feel awkward or odd about it. And I'll tell you why. As a person who I'm hoping cares about other people who have type one, you know, you could create a, an eating disorder by telling someone, don't don't use your insulin here, because what you're saying to them is don't eat right now. And then they start associating the awkwardness of giving themselves the insulin with eating, and then they'll stop eating. And I know that sounds like oh, that won't happen, that happens a lot,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 27:12
or hide their eating right, or in an effort to not like show others. I mean, there there is, it's I mean, it's a whole nother broad topic in terms of diabetes, the eating disorders that are associated with diabetes. I mean, food is a huge part of diabetes management it is. And so it's not odd, that it can become an issue. But it certainly is something that in terms of being supportive for another person who has diabetes, you don't want to push the envelope that way.

Scott Benner 27:42
And I know that people listening right now don't know us. And they are like, it's 2020. Like, everybody seems super sensitive and social justice II and everything. We're not like that. Like, I'm not saying that at all. Like, I you can hear my terrible accent, I'm from the northeast, I'm good with like, Hey, get up, you'll be fine. I'm good with that I really am. But what I'm saying is, there's a real opportunity to mold a person in a positive way, or a negative way. And that goes for everybody I understand. But around this specifically, it does not take long to make someone feel different in a bad way. You know, and it'll stick with them, especially you teachers, who, you know, hear an alarm and are annoyed because you're trying to teach and it's alarming. Try to keep in mind that when that's happening, the student whose blood sugar is falling, who's now scared that they're going to pass out or die or something like that. They don't want this to be happening either. Correct. And you can't say let me just finish this lesson. Or they need to address because we've talked about high blood sugars, but low blood sugars are more immediate, immediate, yes. Right. You can't just ignore because a blood sugar that's falling could be falling quickly. And one of those issues could pop up out of nowhere. So if this kid's wearing a monitor that tells them like, Hey, your blood sugar is getting low, or they say I feel dizzy, I need to test or you know, like, you can't just say okay, well wait till after recess is over. Or as soon as I get done explaining this math problem, like they need to do it now. Which is another great reason to normalize it, let them take their meter out at their desk and check their blood sugar. It's not going to hurt anybody. And and they'll have an answer immediately about what to do next. But the five minutes you want them to wait could end up being much too much time for them. Yeah,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 29:34
yeah, absolutely. I mean, in terms of you know, even that also acknowledging what they're using to treat a low blood sugar is, is something that you also don't want to form any, like, wrong feelings about someone might use, you know, in terms of carbohydrate, it's just simple sugar that we really want to use to treat. So simple in terms of it could be juicy It could be Skittles, it could be something that we call glucose tablets. It could be honey in there multiple things. And everybody seems to have a preference for what is great for them and even flavor preferences. So just because the kid in your class is using like Skittles, and you're thinking, oh my goodness, Skittles, why are they so unhealthy? Right?

Scott Benner 30:23
Yeah, you don't understand what you're talking about, which is a good is a great example of keeping your mouth shut in that situation. Like, they're not eating Skittles. Because you're, here's what's gonna happen to you, you don't know what you're talking about, the kid takes Skittles, and you think in your head, this is why they have diabetes, look how they eat, no, they need sugar to go into their body so quickly, that it can literally fight off this extra insulin and stop from making them too low. So know what you don't know, I think is important. And if you want to know find out more, but don't say silly things to people that, you know, it's not there. It's not their preference to have diabetes, the kids not looking for Skittles, you know, like, an adult doesn't want to get up in the middle of a business meeting and bang a Gatorade back. They're not like, Oh, you know, what I want to do today in front of 30 people who I'm trying to get to take me seriously. And that's the other thing too, is that you have to understand that adults often are hiding their diabetes at work, because they don't want you to judge them and like and lose out on on professional opportunities. Correct?

Jennifer Smith, CDE 31:25
Yeah, promotion and those types of things. And I think that's also in terms of people with diabetes. As I mentioned, initially, you have to really know, who do you need to share your diabetes with who is really important as an adult, it might be your boss, it might be the co workers at the team members that you work with, as a child, it might be you know, your teachers, and hopefully your parents will help with that. Even some of your really good friends. I mean, I remember as a kid, when I was diagnosed, it was really helpful to have some of my really good friends know a lot, you know, in terms of like, their understanding language, teaching them things about why I was you know, doing a finger stick and all of that, but I think it comes down to defining who do you need to share with and what applies to this situation? You know, you're probably not going to teach your soccer coach about carbohydrate counting. I mean, that's, that's not purposeful. But you're gonna teach them things like hypo awareness and you know what to do in case who to call emergency contact to there are defined pieces, I think to teach everybody

Scott Benner 32:37
Yeah. And so it's also important to understand the diabetes is mostly an invisible disease meaning that the people around you unless you're having a struggle, aren't ever going to see it. As a matter of fact, I pulled this up here just to so that people can have a an idea. Former Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler has type one diabetes. Bret Michaels has it Nick Jonas has it and rice the author has it. Mary Tyler Moore, my close friend of mine coaches for the Philadelphia Phillies Sam fold he has he used to play for the Oakland A's he was in centerfield had type one diabetes. There are plenty of people. The Justice Sonia Sotomayor, right. Right has type one. So you

Jennifer Smith, CDE 33:22
can do was a baseball player?

Unknown Speaker 33:26
Atlanta.

Scott Benner 33:28
Oh, yeah. There's a guy Well, there's a guy pitching for the cubs. He's been on the show before Brandon Morrow he has it. I think the tight end of the Ravens has it. There's, there's nothing you can't do with Type One Diabetes. there's a there's a guy that I know really well, who's a four time Olympian who has it, right. So and, and the point is, is that you look at those people, and I don't tell you they have type one diabetes, and you're never going to know these people are doesn't mean it's easier for them. They don't have the easy diabetes, because you don't notice it. They work very, very hard at their health. I know it's hard to imagine, but I the best I can say is imagine that you had to think Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out, or you wouldn't breathe. Like that's what it feels like having type one. I'm going to eat something I need insulin, it has to be this much. Not that much. I don't want to get too high. I don't want to get too low. I can't have a bunch of insulin in me when I go for a run later because I might get low then it is like constant kind of tapping on the back of your head. You know, I call

Jennifer Smith, CDE 34:31
it diabetes inner monologue. Okay, let's see

Scott Benner 34:34
Jenny. Jenny's had type one for 31 years now. 3232 Okay, regulations. And, and she can tell you that you Jenny's really, really good at managing her diabetes, but that doesn't make it No, of course, but that doesn't make it not in her mind. And and so it's there,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 34:55
right and then everyday conscious effort.

Scott Benner 34:57
Yes. It's so if you're a nice That so that you'd hear that and so that if you are the spouse of a person who has type one, or your child has type one, but your spouse takes care of most of the management, you may not understand what's going into it on an emotional and physical and maybe sometimes lack of sleep level, it's really hard. It's incredibly hard to do well, it's also incredibly hard to do poorly. So if you're really great at managing or terrible at managing, that that comes with different struggles, people who are great at it understand, you know, the timing and how to take care of things in a way that maybe some people don't get to understand. But the people who are struggling, are aware every moment of the day that they're probably on their way to complications that are serious, because they can't figure it out, or because no one will help them. It's constantly in their head. Now, if you're co parenting, I can't tell you how many people come to me and say, can you please find a way to talk to people who are like a divorced spouse? Or, you know, a step parent or somebody who's not for the lack of a better term in the fight constantly? Right? They only see, oh, look, he's fine. Yeah, this isn't that hard, or his blood sugar just went up for seven hours, that was no big deal. It is a big deal. And and, either, you know, I, I don't normally get preachy, but either figure it out, and help or get out of the way. But don't let your ego stand in the way of someone managing their health, which happens a lot. It may not be happening to you person listening right now. But it happens a lot more than you might want to think. Right? You know? Anyway, I didn't mean to get like that. I just, I don't know if you saw the notes from like my X, you know, my kids blood sugar's terrific for a week and then they go to my exes for the weekend and his blood sugar's 300, all weekend long. so incredibly unhealthy. And, and I

Jennifer Smith, CDE 37:05
see the same thing with you know, as good as family caregivers could be like, you do the best that you can as parents, and then you have a weekend away, and you're like, Yay, we've got a weekend away. But even in terms of those parents that weekend away, is not free of diabetes thought, right? You know, their thought has gone into prepping whoever the caregiver is prepping their child for they may not know this. So you know, text me if something comes up, or you know, the grandparents or caregivers or godparents or whoever there are, that's taking care of them thinking, well, can't they just have a little of this? Or Can't we just give this to them, and we don't have to really worry about it, everything, everything is considered in diabetes. And as you said, you know, that couple of days that they're running now at 300, because you didn't follow the set of directions that you were given. That's making a difference in that person or that child's life. Yeah,

Scott Benner 38:04
no, and, and so that people can understand when your blood sugar is high, There's too much sugar in your blood and no way to release it, the insulin is what releases it, we're not going to get into super technical stuff. But when you hear later, you know, when you turn on the news, and some guy died of complications of type one diabetes, now, you know, what they really died from was a heart attack or a stroke, or an aneurysm or something that comes from too much for the lack of a better term sugar scrubbing away, you know, in the inside of your body, is it going to happen today, if a kid's blood sugar goes up to 300 watts, because you messed up the insulin? No. But if it keeps happening, it will happen very likely one day. And so you're making a decision today on Sunday to maybe save someone's life 30 years from now, but that's, that's worth understanding, you know, and just because it's going to be later doesn't make it not super important. And don't forget to you're helping them be clear minded, you know, thoughtful, being able to learn or perform like a lot goes wrong inside of the functioning of your body when your blood sugar's high. It just, it's just very important. And the people who love you and are hoping you'll understand are, they don't know how to explain it to you. So they asked us to make this. I will tell you, Jenny brought something up a minute ago that I wanted to kind of like add on to if there was a super simple way to make it, okay. Everyone with diabetes would be doing it already. And you wouldn't have to worry about it. There's no shortcut to it. So if you're having a pool party, I think you really need to try to understand how terrible it is to not invite one kid because you're scared or you don't understand or you just don't want the hassle. Like, just find some time talk to the parent come up with a simple plan that everybody can deal with because that kids sitting at home and they're thinking I'm not at this pool party right now. I'm not gonna sleep over right now, because I'm a problem. That's how it feels to them. Right? I'm broken, and nobody wants me around. And you can't you can't be a part of making people feel that way.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 40:11
No. And if you don't know, like you said, it's, it's ask, you know, a lot of the kids that I work with, that's one of the big things I bring up with parents, you know, it's, if there's going to be asleep over something they've been asked to, again, defining a time to sit down with those parents, or even the good, the good friend's parents, and make sure that they have a basic baseline kind of understanding. But I think it also takes from the standpoint of not not being the parent with a kid with type one or not being you know, the employer who has type one or any experience with it, it takes asking, really just I mean, don't be afraid to ask any question is a really good question. As long as it's not, I guess derogatory, or, you know, it doesn't come out as well, should you really be doing that? You know, I don't know very much about this. But should you be doing that

Scott Benner 41:03
I know, a lot of people have type one diabetes, don't ask them if they should be eating something that doesn't sit well with them, you know, they'll, they'll, they can eat anything they want if they know how to use the insulin to manage it. And and so in the end, it's just that idea of us being supportive. And like Jenny said, if you don't understand, try to find out and understand that when you go to find out, it's very possible that the person you're going to ask them mother of a kid who's had diabetes for six weeks, she might not understand yet, either, you know, and so her her instructions might seem like a lot, or Babli, like, or I've babbled a lot of people when my kid first had diabetes, I'm like, Listen, you don't understand, she can't get highs, you can't get low and you start rambling. And before you know it, you're like, Oh, great. I'm the crazy person in the room.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 41:51
You get the glazed over eyes. And they're just like,

Scott Benner 41:54
I always imagined, somewhere between like, I'm so glad this didn't happen to me, and why won't they shut up, but they won't shut up because they're scared, right? Because this stuff as much as it seems like, you can make it seem mathematical. Diabetes is not like I take a pill every morning. And I'm okay. It's very fluid, it changes pretty consistently, depending on a ton of factors. And the people who really understand it, or the people who are living with it, are just sort of struggling moment to moment, because they don't know what's going to happen next, it feels like you're running for your life in a disaster movie. And you know, you're like a bridge collapses underneath of you, and you pull yourself up on the bank. And then as soon as that's happening, a zombie bites your leg and a building falls on your wife, you know, like, you're just like, wait, when is this gonna slow down? You know? And at the same time, I know, I just said that. And it's true. This is gonna sound crazy. Don't treat people like they're running through a disaster movie, because they're trying to find some normalcy. And you could be a big help in that.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 42:59
And I think sometimes, within that understanding, let's say you're the teacher, or you're the boss, or you're the coach, and you've, you've been schooled, right, somebody sat down with you, and they've given you information. They're like, this is the plan of action. And then next year, they come to you, and they're like, Okay, do you understand everything? And you're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I got it, you gave me this whole, like, you know, hour long, entire, you know, information session, you're like, Okay, but this year, this is a little different, right? This is what we're experiencing now. So know that, like, with Type One Diabetes, also kind of, it's a little bit more fluid. There's, there's change that ends up happening, you know, last year, to juice boxes at the middle session of a soccer match, might no longer need to be there. This year, the reaction is a little bit different. So, you know, also continue to ask questions along the way to say, Well, does anybody anything changed for you? Or you know, is it is it still the same? Do we need to consider anything different? I think that's why in the beginning of the year for kids, especially, there's always a there's a point at which you need to go in and you need to reestablish that care plan for this year, what's going what needs to be different, what needs to change? Because Because life changing, right?

Scott Benner 44:13
And and seriously, because your grandmother or your aunt or your uncle has type two diabetes, you don't understand type one at all. There's nothing about that. That translates over to this in any meaningful caregiving kind of a way. I remember just recently we were having a conversation before a school year. And one of the teachers, you know, my daughter's information about her blood sugar is on her cell phone, right, which is really cool. And so the teachers like, well, we take the cell phones away at the beginning of the class, and I laughed, and I was like, that's fine Arden's not going to be giving you her cell phone, she needs it, you know, make life and death decisions. And she's very good with their cell phone. She's not going to abuse it and everything like that. She was well what do I tell the other kids? And I said, I swear I said this in a roomful of about 10 teachers that tells me them if they want to get a lifelong incurable disease, then they can keep their cell phone on them too. Otherwise, they should shut up and like, and you have to have the nerve to do that, like you should turn to 20 other kids and go, listen, her situation is different than yours. I don't even care if you but just stop, you know, like it's a it's a big deal. Imagine wanting to use someone's diabetes as an excuse to keep your cell phone or to be a malcontent for a second, and then you as an adult, don't just shut that down right away. Instead, you're like, Oh, well, you know, Kim does have a good point. It's not fair. Of course, it's not fair. It's also not fair that my daughter's carrying a juice box with her and like, something called glucagon in case she passes out to somebody can stick it in their leg. It's not fair either, you know. So just think I'll tell you a common sense, is, is a huge help with diabetes. It really is, and and especially about being around them. But let's look what I think everybody understands. Now, hopefully, why don't we drill down a little bit more about how in a situation whether you're a teacher or grandparent who's babysitting or something like that, or a, you know, a boss who's trying to, you know, keep somebody healthy? Like, let's give them more nuts and bolts of what goes on in the day of a person with type one diabetes, and how they may be able to be helpful in those situations. So, I mean, but before we do that, Jenny, I'm sorry. Can you explain to people what it feels like to be high and what it feels like to be low? for you personally, it's gonna be different for some people. But

Jennifer Smith, CDE 46:35
yeah, so lows. As I said just a bit ago, low symptoms for the person can change through the course of life with type one, too. So my lows now, I feel as though I have like these racing thoughts. I feel like things are going really like exponentially fast. But I feel like I'm moving through mud. Like, I feel like I just can't get there. Even though everything in my brain feels fast. I feel like I'm just moving at like a snail's pace. It feels horrible. I also, for a long time, it started in college, and I didn't have this symptom before, but kind of like you mentioned that like nom, with Arden, I have like this numb, tingly tongue kind of feeling for low blood sugars. And I've never thankfully knock on wood. I've never gotten to the point of needing glucagon, I've never had to use it in my 32 years of life. Nobody's had to give it to me. I have had to have assistance for treating a low. But um, you know, sometimes I've, I've, like started talking kind of weird, like, not really what the whole conversation was about or like mumbling and sort of rambling. And my husband said, like, your blood sugar's kinda low. And this was before CGM, like we were married early on. Yeah. You know, he knew some of the things to watch for. So I mean, those are my lows. Now, when I was younger, I definitely was shaky. I mean, it was very visibly, my blood sugar was low. And again, that was a time when there were no continuous monitors and pumps were not really beneficial. So but highs, highs, I get really, like tired, and really kind of, like more annoyed, I don't get annoyed, I don't get that like, irritated angriness with lows like many people can get, I get that more when I'm high. And I feel like I just can't put a lot of really good, like thoughts together consistently, I feel slow, so hard to put the

Scott Benner 48:52
effort in for anything. And it's not something that you can just fight through. It's not like that. It's not, it's not like I didn't get enough sleep last night, but I need to be at work. It's an absolutely physiological issue that is limiting you. So for people listening, it's sugar, glucose is the is the energy your brain runs off of. And having the right amount of it is perfect. Having too little of it, you know, is goes the way we've discussed and having too much of it does something to your body with a working pancreas just keeps you in a great range all the time. So you don't experience all these things. But a person who maybe could do something so simple as Hmm, let's see. Let's say you have a kid in your class who says I have to give myself my insulin right now because I'm eating in 10 minutes. And you say no, no, we're gonna finish this first. Don't do that. I don't want you giving yourself insulin in front of all these people. Well, you've now missed time, their insulin with the impact that the food's going to have on their body, which will very likely drive their blood sugar higher and cause what Jenny just described. Similarly, if they say I put my insulin in 10 minutes ago I know you want to talk for five more minutes, but I have to start eating now. You can't say no, because then their blood sugar could go the wrong way the the insulin will continue to pull the sugar out of their blood, it doesn't know how to stop like a, like a healthy body does,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 50:14
it's expecting there to be food there to work with.

Scott Benner 50:16
Yes, and when that foods not there, they can get awfully low and all the way up to like, I don't want to, like, you know, I don't want to make you feel like I'm trying to be dramatic, but you could kill them. And you know, anywhere from shaky to not making sense to angry to seizures to passing out to dying, like if you take too much of that sugar out of their blood. That's like taking electricity away from a light bulb, and you can't turn it back on again, by putting the sugar back in after it's off. So it's really important. And at the same time super important not to make people feel like pariah and and not to give them long term, serious psychological issues around this thing that they you know, I'm gonna say this, but I don't think it matters. They have nothing to do with getting it. But even if they did, why would you? Why would you want to make them feel that way? You know, and I think that's important. And I don't think any of the people listening to this want that. You just don't know what they're talking about. And then you make assumptions. You know, I don't know if a lot of the things that we think are is anecdotal, you know, we kind of went over like, oh, diabetes, that keys off. My grandmother had diabetes, I understand diabetes, I live with my grandmother for three years. No, that's different. That's probably type two diabetes. And your grandmother probably took a couple of medications and, you know, different thing. But the person who says that? I don't think they say that out of malice. I also don't think the person who tells you, you're so strong. Thank God, this happened to you. And not me. I don't even think I don't think that person means that with mouse. No, you know,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 51:51
they're in any conversation, we're always trying to find a connecting piece, you know, I mean, communication is that it's a given a take between two people or six people or whatever. But if you're in the, if you're the person that doesn't know, then ask more than talking. Yes. Right. It's, it's always, well, goodness, I, you know, I didn't know that you had type one diabetes, tell me what that's like. I mean, that's a very easy, simple, you know, and if the person really doesn't want or need to share with you, maybe they would just say, Well, you know, I manage it, and it's okay. But if they're, if you're sharing with them for a reason, then continue to really be more the ask the questions. But don't share too much. Unless you truly have some experience to share. I feel

Scott Benner 52:38
like before we go over nuts and bolts like management ideas that people will have to intersect with, I think what we should really be saying here is, in case you haven't been paying attention for the last 49 minutes, this is about communication. And most people are terrible communicators. And it's because they don't listen enough, and they interject their thoughts. And and it's a very human thing to feel like, you know, but you don't like I could sit here for the rest of my life and make a list of things I don't understand. You know, but I'll tell you what, put me in a situation where one of those things, I probably puff up a little bit start reaching into my common sense, or, you know, a little bit of my anecdotal information I have, and I start saying, No, no, I know what's up here. You know, it's, it's like talking about, I know, we're recording this during Corona. But like, it's, it's that thing, when people step up, they go, Oh, no, no, you know, what you have to do you have to do this. How do you know that? Right? Is it because you're a Harvard researcher? Or is it because you heard a guy say a thing, and now two people said it, you're like, Oh, that must be true. And that's just how our brains operate. And it's very valuable day to day. It's not very valuable when you're trying to talk to somebody about something important like this, that you don't understand. And they very well may be struggling with as well. Right now. So anyway, All right, I'll start you jump in. Okay, I'll do breakfast, you do lunch, and we'll go from there. My daughter gets up in the morning. And if we're lucky, her blood sugar's been stable overnight. But if she's been low overnight, we may have had to take away some insulin, or give her food, she could wake up a little higher. Because of that, it could throw off the timing of her eating, she might end up being late for school because of that. She may end up being a little rundown. You can wake up if you have a bunch of low blood sugars overnight, you wake up with, but people some people call a low blood sugar hangover. Yeah, right. And so that could be that. So you got to give these people a chance to get their lives moving. And then they've got to get to work. And what if I get myself insolence or on time and I have to get my car then and drive to work and now I'm scared I could get low while I'm driving like these poor people or you're just eating, you got a pancreas, it works. You get up you make some eggs, you throw them in your face, you run out the door, and it's all good. People with diabetes are already 45 decisions into life and it's 730 and they haven't been in the shower yet. So they so they get that together. My daughter, you know, heads off to school and, you know, half an hour, 45 minutes later, she needs to know what her blood sugar's doing. So she's gonna have to look. So you see, my daughter looked down at her phone in the first in first class, she's not ignoring you, she's making sure that her blood sugar doesn't get out of whack. And then she's got to start thinking about like, Oh, I'm getting low, and I have gym two hours from now. And, and lunch is going to be in three hours. And, you know, I have to give myself insulin during social studies so that it's working for, you know, all that stuff, right. And they have to count their carbohydrates and their food. So I'm going to ask Jenny to explain like, what what they're doing, they're around their meals.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 55:41
Yeah. So I mean, carbohydrates are, it's just a big word for sugar, right? I mean, all all carbohydrate foods, like starchy foods, fruit, even vegetables have some kind of carbohydrate or sugar in and when we take insulin, insulin is meant primarily to cover the impact of carbohydrates. So timing is really important around that in terms of like you said, she might need to take her insulin in social studies so that by the time she gets to lunch, the insulin is already there, the way that our insulin today works, it's meant to meet with food in the system. But our insulin has to actually do what we call peaking, kind of get in get working get circulating in order for food, carbohydrates was which digest really fast. Once they start, you know, getting into the stomach, that insulin has to meet it at the right time. And so when we count our carbohydrates, it's a certain amount that goes along with a certain amount of insulin, so that our blood sugar doesn't get too high after that might involve looking at a food label that might involve looking up information on your phone. So that maybe you're you know, visiting an app that's got a calorie or a carb counter in it, you may see somebody again on their phone or their device looking something up, and I guarantee with diabetes and fits around a mealtime, it's not that they're ignoring you or trying to be rude, it's likely that they're looking for information, or maybe that they're telling their pump to do something important. Coming into that meal time.

Scott Benner 57:13
And if you stand in their way of doing that, then most people to feel like they fit in Next time won't do it, then you'll make their insulin late and they're going and their blood sugar's gonna be higher. Not everybody is me, I don't care what people think I would just do whatever, you know, and I've raised my daughter that way. I'm like, Oh, don't worry about them just do what you need to do. But But you have to understand that many, many people can't overcome social pressure. And so you pressure them even on the way you don't understand, you may send them in another direction. So they count all these carbs that give themselves their insulin. Now they're not sure if it's going to work, their blood sugar might go up and might go down. Now they might have to have their meter out to check their you know, they might have to poke a hole in their finger, make some blood come out, check it with a test trip, some people might be wearing a glucose monitor that's feeding their, their blood sugar live to them on their cell phone, there's a lot of gear they have. It's not, you can't restrict their access to their gear is is a big thing. Because I've seen people say like, Oh, just leave your bag here. Like I need that bag. I can't just leave it here. And that might mean if you're a teacher, that at recess for this year, you're gonna be wearing some kids bag over your shoulder at recess, and just I know it sucks, but just do it. And that's it. For for, for I was good place.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 58:29
Oh, I was gonna say along with that, like in terms of like, Oh, you have to leave your bag here, whatnot, I've worked with quite a number of adults, especially who are government employees weren't allowed to run their phones aren't allowed to have certain devices like a phone or whatnot within their government building. And I think the important thing, I mean, if you are certainly, you know, within the realm of being an employer, for people with type one I policies need to change then that's the biggest thing that I can say, because while the device itself might have pieces that you don't want within the building, you're really restricting their ability to have a healthy life in terms of also what you're asking them to do performance wise on the job, things change. And that

Scott Benner 59:11
goes right to what I was gonna say with like school nurses, like, I know you've been a school nurse for 25 years and no kid has ever died from type one diabetes, except the way that you took care of it 15 years ago is not the way people take care of it anymore. It's much more fluid. It's It's It's better. It just it really is and and saying to somebody Oh, it's okay. Or I'd rather their blood sugar be high than low? No, you wouldn't rather their blood sugar behind them low you'd rather the blood sugar be normal normal than either of those things. Stop finding either ores in your head, I don't want to go down the wrong road away from away from diabetes, but everything's not black, white. It's not this or that. There's all kinds of other options and gray areas and just because your brain picks I'd rather be high than library Rather than behind the load that doesn't make you right. And that doesn't mean that's the only option. There are a ton of options. Kids having to leave class, to go to the nurse to do diabetes related things. That's bad. Okay, I know you think it's Oh, they need to be around me. So they do it right, you need to everybody needs to teach them how to handle it on their own, because lose losing five or 10 minutes of math when you're too, you know, in second grade is one thing, but losing 10 minutes of advanced trigonometry is another thing, you know, like, or

Jennifer Smith, CDE 1:00:31
may miss the whole concept.

Scott Benner 1:00:32
Yes, and it's gone. And and, and if you learned how to manage on your own in the moment, you can just kind of find a need meet the need, keep going instead of wait till the needs a problem, go to the nurse spend a half an hour getting out of the problem going back much better to be proactive than reactive. And the going to the nurse thing all the time is reactive, it's waiting for a problem. These things can can be done in classrooms. It technology's amazing. My daughter has been managing her blood sugar through text messages with me for a decade. Right and, and she does no lie. Since the last day of second grade, my daughter who was a junior in high school has not been to the nurse's office for anything diabetes related in all that time.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 1:01:20
Well, and even in terms of like safety, too, you know, I know that there are a number of schools and families that have worked with Well, they have to send my child to treat the low blood sugar to the nurse's station, it's down three levels and across the building and whatnot. And like, blood sugar is low, they need to treat it in class. Now, there's no reason that you're sending a kid whose blood sugar is dropping, you know, for a five minute walk through the halls in order to go suck some juice down in a nurse so they can watch and make sure they drink the whole box. That's ridiculous. Like

Scott Benner 1:01:50
they're like, well, we'll send a kid with him like, Oh, great. So there'll be another eight year old there, because I'm always putting eight year olds in charge of important things. You know, hey, listen, you just go with Jenny. And if she passes out, you know what to do your aid. Exactly. 20 year old wouldn't know what to do, we'd be like, oh, what happened? Jenny fell over, we left her there. And she died. Like, you know, like, they just don't put kids in charge of stuff. It's weird. Like I get if it's a little like, Oh, she just wants to have somebody to go down with and it's all nice. But the nurse's office is for emergencies. And here's the crazy thing. Having Type One Diabetes is not an emergency, it's just a, it's just an extra thing you do during the day. So stop treating them like they're sick, Trump's stop treating them like they're broken. They're, they're just they're not, you know, and so and so listen, they're gonna have to get on the bus, or you're gonna have to drive home from work. And you're still thinking about your blood sugar. And so if someone comes to you and says, Look, I need you to watch my kid tonight for a couple of hours, or you're the babysitter, or a grandparent, it's very doable, someone's gonna say to you look, eight o'clock, test their blood sugar, you know, text me the number, I'll help you do what you do. If you know if the numbers in this range, that's cool, give him this much insulin, let him eat this snack, you know, and here's what the snack is. Just follow the instructions, the person giving you the instructions is fairly confident that they're that they're right. And questioning them all the time is bizarre, you have any idea how many school nurses fight with parents, like I've been taking care of this kid for 10 years. And you want to tell me how to do it now because that's how we've always done it here. Very strange way to come at something. I get that you don't want to get into a long conversation with a family who maybe doesn't understand and maybe least common denominator, it might make it easy for people who don't know, but instead of doing that to them, like what if you said to them, Hey, I think there's a way we could do this that your kid could be healthier or you know, that kind of thing. And, and I want to say to I'd like to give Jenny a chance here to talk about what it would feel like if her spouse had those kind of like anecdotal thoughts and was leaning on her all the time. First of all, I'd be dead. She'd bury him somewhere. It's over. She wouldn't take it. But But like, what would it be like for another adult who you respect in all other things, to suddenly have thoughts about your health that that aren't warranted or founded?

Jennifer Smith, CDE 1:04:21
It would be it would, it would feel horrible. I mean, this fact that somebody that like you said you care so much about and that you have a lot of good rapport and almost every other thing that you talk about and live with and decide about together. I mean, it would make you feel kind of countered, honestly, in terms of what you've been doing and also like visually how you feel like they're now seeing you. Like is it all about this is this all they see now is a really gosh, they're they're really worried about this or they feel like they don't have any, there's no confidence there. And what I in what I'm able to do for myself, you know, I've been managing this for 30 some years. They feel like I can't do it anymore, that they're constantly asking like, are you okay? Or did you just check your blood sugar before bed tonight? Because, you know, I heard your ducks come later

Scott Benner 1:05:13
today, feeling like feeling like someone looks at you and sees diabetes, not you is is is kind of crushing, you know, and that's another great little tool you're looking for a tip don't lead with how's your blood sugar every time you see somebody, something else first, how's the day? Isn't it sunny out, blah, blah, blah. Like even if you're the school nurse like just walking in there. It's a drudgery for kids, right to do that.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 1:05:36
Like it's very rare for my husband to actually like, ask, even if he hears like my Dexcom making a noise or something. It's very rare for him to ask I he does have the follow app on his phone. And even with that, he never I think it was maybe a month ago that he texted me to ask, you know, I've gotten these like urgent, low alerts. He's like, you know, and I've gotten a couple of them like, are you okay? It's kind of all he asked, or, you know, and I was like, yep, it's the sensor. That's totally off. I was like, I just restarted it this morning. Yeah, I actually texted him a picture of like, my actual, like, finger stick. I'm like, I'm like, 92. Totally fine. He's like, okay, I just wanted to make sure that he's like, cuz I keep getting them. And I just want to make sure that everything was okay. But other than that, usually it's not, you know, it's not even something I do.

Scott Benner 1:06:31
But it wouldn't be pleasant if if he was constantly.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 1:06:34
No, in fact, usually my my late native work, in which he doesn't work, he usually makes dinner, and he'll actually usually text me and ask, you know, hey, I was gonna make this this evening, you know? This is how much carbs in it, because you know, is that I need to Pre-Bolus or he'll have measured something for me. And this is how much was in it? Or, you know, when do you think you're going to be done, because he knows that the Pre-Bolus component is really important. So those kinds of pieces are really helpful. They're not, like, annoying to give example. It's

Scott Benner 1:07:08
a good example of him. Like, look, what are we saying, Listen, talk, ask questions, be empathetic, do things that are actually helpful, not that you think are helpful, right? I learned that from being married, by the way, that the things that I think my wife wants aren't necessarily the things that she wants. And that you know, and that I would be much more helpful if I did the things that would actually be beneficial to her and not the things that I feel would be beneficial, right. So listen, talk, ask questions, let them talk, realize it's hard for them as well. And like Jenny said, at the beginning, set a time to sit down and talk about this. And if you don't understand, keep asking and understand that things could continue to kind of morph and grow and change and that what you know, today to be true, very well may not be true a year from now. Right? You know, you've no idea how things evolve and change hormones and kids are huge stress is, is can sometimes be hard on your on your diabetes, but I really do want to make sure that no one leaves this feeling like oh, well, people with type one diabetes, I shouldn't hire them. I shouldn't put them on my kids baseball team. It's not the case. With with good support and understanding. I mean, this Okay, you guys are listening. Because somebody sent you this episode, you don't know this podcast, you don't know me. I've met thousands of people with type one diabetes in my life. And overall, some of the kindest, smartest tuned in people that I've ever met in my life, like, imagine how tuned in you are when you have to understand the inner workings of your body constantly. You want these people on your side, like they're, they're great teammates, they're there. They're great coworkers, there's just a little bit that they need you to understand. And then you'll find a rhythm. That's the other thing is like, this isn't forever, you'll find a rhythm together, whether you're, you know, you know, the parent of a friend of a kid or something like that, or whoever you are, in this scenario, you do this more times, it won't be a thing anymore, you'll just you'll have it, you know, and it's worth doing because you're going to get to know some great people who otherwise may be marginalized. And I don't know, just think about it, like you've an opportunity to put in a little bit of effort to figure something out. And keep a kid from being the kid who's not invited to a birthday party, or a person who loses a job that they're completely qualified for, because they got low at work, and nobody knew how to help them that made all of you nervous, you know, right, that that sort of thing. I want to say to that, if you really want to dig in more, there are episodes of the podcast called defining diabetes. And they're very short and they they define very specific things. So like if we set a word here, like Bolus or Pre-Bolus, that you didn't understand, it will explain that to you very simply. And if you really want to dig down deep and understand what people Thinking about when they're managing their blood sugars. There's an entire series of episodes called diabetes pro tip. Right? So it's diabetes pro tip Pre-Bolus diabetes pro tip something, there's maybe 20 of them by now, if you really want to understand what people with type one diabetes are thinking about, those episodes will take you well inside. And same thing for people listening who are like, I can't make anybody understand Pre-Bolus sing like just you could send them one of those. So

Jennifer Smith, CDE 1:10:27
yeah, I was actually going to mention that too. So yay.

Scott Benner 1:10:30
Thank you very much. And this is the first episode that Jenny and I recorded with a new microphone. And I have held in my excitement about how good she sounds the entire time we were doing this. So for regular listeners to the podcast, you they're all right now going like Jenny sounds so much better. And for everybody else, they're like, Huh, I didn't know that was a big deal.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 1:10:49
I asked Scott, if it was actually gonna get rid of my Wisconsin accent. And he's like, Yeah, probably not. Not. No, it'd be so much clearer.

Scott Benner 1:10:55
You talked earlier about the night, your husband when you work late, your husband cooks. And there were four words that if I hadn't spoken to you so much, I don't know that I would have known what you were saying.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 1:11:05
Oh, really?

Scott Benner 1:11:06
No, that's right. I said water a couple of times in here. So everybody who's not from Philly is like, What is wrong with this guy, thinking I'm having a stroke, probably. Anyway, I really hope this was valuable. I know, it's not possible for us to cover everything. But the goal was for you to be the person who's in some way supporting someone with Type One Diabetes, or once to understand better. And I hope that by listening to this, you have a better understanding, I think you will.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 1:11:34
And also know that you are really important in terms of the person's like feelings about things and that that background support piece, you're a really important part of that as long as you understand things in the way that you need in order to provide that support. So

Scott Benner 1:11:52
I think that in the last thing, I think I want to say is that as my dog barks, that you don't want to separate yourself from a person's life because you're scared of their thing. Like that hurts like it might because I talked about co parenting earlier and spouses who aren't as involved, I believe, sometimes they just don't want to mess up. So they step back, but you end up alienating the person with diabetes and stranding the person who's trying to help them. And and I know, it's a lot to figure out, but you could like Trust me, I know, as you're listening, you don't know me. But I'm, there's nothing special about me and I understand diabetes really well. And everything I know about it. And Jenny knows about it, we put into those pro tip episodes. So if you're just a dad or a mom, or you know who's like, I don't want to get involved, because I'll mess it up. You know, you're doing other things that I think you don't mean to be doing in your relationships. And if you understood it better, I think you could do better, but hell yeah, I really would. Anyway, I could keep talking about this forever. So let's just stop. Jenny, thank you very much for doing this with me. Of course. This is usually the place where I thank the sponsors and the guests, but instead, thank you for listening. Thank you for wanting to know more about type one diabetes, for spending the time to try to learn. If you have more questions, you can look for episodes of the show called defining diabetes, or other diabetes pro tip episodes. Just look right there in your podcast player and check it out. If you're looking for a place to pick around even a little further, there's a blog at Juicebox podcast.com. Thanks so much to Omni pod Dexcom touched by type one, the Contour Next One blood glucose meter. Lily's chocolates, g vote glucagon T one D exchange. I think that's it. That's all the sponsors we have. It's a lot of sponsors. Thank you for being sponsors. Seriously. Get a free no obligation demo of the AMI pod to blend in so tubulin tubeless insulin pump at my omnipod.com forward slash juice box. Their demo is absolutely free and has zero obligation. Learn more about the Dexcom g six continuous glucose monitor@dexcom.com forward slash juice box. Get what I think is the best blood glucose meter on the planet at Contour Next one.com forward slash juice box. lend your voice to insanely incredible Diabetes Research. T one d exchange.org. forward slash juice box. You want to pre mixed pre filled glucagon. It even comes in a hypo pen. It's amazing Jeeva glucagon.com forward slash juice box no more mixing up your glucagon payable and Lily's chocolates. Make some great chocolate with far less sugar in it than you expect. Their ads will begin in the second half of 2020 and they will be accompanied by a savings coupon so you can try some lilies and save some money. That's coming soon. Check out my absolutely favorite diabetes organization at touched by type one.org. I know this episode didn't quite fit in with the other diabetes pro tip episodes, but I do think this is the place to put it. As I think about everyone learning about their type one, at some point part of it becomes talking to other people about type one diabetes. So this is where this belongs. Thanks so much for listening. I'll see you soon.

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Scott Benner 8/21/20 Scott Benner 8/21/20

#370 Wee In a Cup

That's Australian for Pee

Allison is the mother of a young type 1 and she's brought a few diabetes topics to talk about.

You can always listen to the Juicebox Podcast here but the cool kids use: Apple Podcasts/iOS - Pandora - Spotify - Amazon Alexa - Google Podcasts - iHeart Radio - Radio Public or their favorite podcast app.

Check out the Diabetes Pro Tip episodes and Juicebox Docs

+ Click for EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Scott Benner 0:02
Hello and welcome to Episode 370 of the Juicebox Podcast. Today's episode is with Tiff and TIFF is from Australia. Tiff has so much what I call good energy. It may actually be more than a person is allowed to have inside of them. But she has trouble holding it all in a lot of it comes out while she's while she's talking, which was just 100% delightful. This was one of those conversations where because of the timezone change, I think it was the middle of the night while TIFF was recording and I was early in the morning. It's I don't know how to describe it exactly. But she's terrific. And this episode is a massive amount of fun. Her accent if you aren't from Australia, it'll take a few minutes, but you'll settle into it and start hearing her really well. I mean, you got used to my accent. Please remember that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan. or becoming bold with insulin. I don't think there's much left to say except maybe perhaps Gird your loins. This is TIFF.

Tiffany 1:26
I wrote these things to you and I never actually remember what I wrote because I'm sure I just write about going on a trip to Europe in America, but I just talk about, I didn't know what I was that I was going to talk about.

Scott Benner 1:38
So Tiffany, I'm not gonna answer you until after you introduce yourself. Go ahead.

Tiffany 1:43
Okay.

No worries.

Scott Benner 1:48
This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by Omni pod makers of the tubeless insulin pump that my daughter has been wearing, since she was four years old. And by the dexcom g six continuous glucose monitor, find out more about the dexcom G six@dexcom.com forward slash juice box. And you can get a free no obligation demo of the Omni pod tubeless insulin pump sent right to your home by going to my Omni pod.com forward slash juice box. Would you like to help support Type One Diabetes Research and support the podcast at the same time? Well, the T one D exchange is looking for you if you're a United States citizen and have type one diabetes, or the parent of a child who is a United States citizen who has type one diabetes, go to T one d exchange.org. Ford slash juice box. I just did this the other day It took about seven minutes, I answered some fairly basic questions about Arden's type one diabetes. And now her information is being used to make advancements and improvements for people with type one. This is completely anonymous, 100% HIPAA compliant, and 1,000,000%. A great thing to do. T one d exchange.org. forward slash juicebox. Add your voice

Tiffany 3:13
on key on in Australia. I live in wangaratta. And I will I've got type one diabetes. But that's not all of me. I'm also a parent.

Scott Benner 3:23
Oh, very nice. How many kids?

Unknown Speaker 3:25
I've got two children.

Unknown Speaker 3:27
They're two and three. You're just getting started Good for you.

Scott Benner 3:31
I allowed their father to stay in the home. We're all together. You didn't tell us yet?

Unknown Speaker 3:37
Yeah, yeah, he's still there. Yeah.

Scott Benner 3:41
Well, he's on a short leash, let's just say that. I'm sure he'll do something incredibly wrong soon, you'll be very angry with him. But now.

Tiffany 3:50
daily, daily,

Scott Benner 3:51
daily, right. So tip, I'm going to I'm going to totally leave in what you said before you introduce yourself because because of our geography, and it is, you know, 10am where I'm at and midnight, where you are, it's been difficult, obviously, to get to get something set up. And more so than just the geography of us getting our timezone straight enough to make this recording. You and I have like going back and forth a number of times. And you know, like almost had it happen. It was supposed to be yesterday you It was so great. You sent me you sent me a message yesterday, you're like, is this happening in an hour or tomorrow? And I was like, well, it's supposed to happen in an hour. But if I'm being honest, I don't feel great. And if you want to do it tomorrow, we can do it tomorrow. So we're doing it today. So my point is, is we've gone back and forth a number of times. And then the first thing you said is I forget why I said I wanted to be on the podcast. And what I was going to tell you is that I forget why you're coming. Because it's gone back and forth. So many thoughts. So why don't we just pretend you're on because you have diabetes, and then we'll figure the rest of it out that sound okay. Yeah. So we'll dig down. You know, we'll start by by doing this. So, how old are you right now?

Tiffany 5:00
I'm, well actually it's my birthday. It was 15 minutes ago.

Scott Benner 5:06
petitions.

Unknown Speaker 5:08
I'm now 39 Happy birthday.

Tiffany 5:11
Yeah. Nearly 40 Oh my god. Thank you very much. Absolutely.

Scott Benner 5:16
That's exciting. It really is. So you're it's your birthday, you turned 39 years old. But how old? were you when you were diagnosed with type one?

Tiffany 5:24
I was 11. It was in. I think it was July. It was a diet. It was Earth Day in July. So I mean, if there's a day if it's I don't know if national thing or for the International thing. I've heard of it. Okay, yeah.

Scott Benner 5:40
So 2131 then we're gonna go 3230 330-435-3637 just 33. So 1828 28 years sounds like 28 years, right?

Tiffany 5:50
That's right. Yep. All right.

Scott Benner 5:52
And that that math works in Australia or in America or anywhere?

Tiffany 5:57
I think matters are pretty much the same a worldwide isn't it?

Scott Benner 6:01
I've heard it's pretty universal. Yeah. I mean, I haven't been everywhere at TIFF, but my understanding is that two plus two pretty much equals four everywhere. So 11 years old in Australia. You're outside, you're writing a wallaby. Your mom calls you what happens next?

Tiffany 6:21
Yeah, so, um, I was at school, I was probably that probably took about two weeks for it to develop. And we don't have Wallabies running around the Main Street. It's nothing like that. Although I did go to school in a very small town called queenscliff, which is on the coast of Victoria, down the bottom of Australia. And it was sorry, my cats running around. And, and I'd been drinking heaps and heaps of water. Like I hate water. Back when I was a kid. If you gave me what I'd be like, Hell, no, I want coke or cardio or orange juice. And so mom knew something was up because I was drinking water. And I hate water. And I was drinking an entire bottle of water for school that I was drinking an entire bottle of water before lunch at school. And I drink a whole whole bottle at lunchtime. And then I come as soon as I finish school, I'd go back to my Nana's house because my mom worked full time. Right. And on I would drink another entire bottle of water at my grandma's house. Yeah, and I guess I'd go to the toilet numerous times during the night.

Scott Benner 7:35
And it went on for about two weeks, weeks. And so I just want to before we move forward after the water drinking, I want to say that when your cat ran around just now if you would have just said Oh, I'm so sorry. My pet wallaby took my attention away. I really would have been delighted but that's okay. It's not. It's not up to you to make the comedy. So anyway, we so so okay, a ton of water drinking not normal for you. And that was enough to make your mom go. Something's wrong with her.

Tiffany 8:04
Yeah, but he had to wait till Friday because he wanted a long weekend and he didn't want to get time or have to have time off work. And he absolutely had to.

Scott Benner 8:11
Oh, okay.

Tiffany 8:13
He waited till Friday.

Scott Benner 8:15
to like, Look, there's something really wrong with her. But we cannot deal with it on a Wednesday. I just like you need to Did anyone pull you aside and grabbed me by the shoulders a good tip. Listen, honey, you need to not die until Friday when we can go to the doctor. And this wasn't because the doctor is on some Safari truck from your house. It's just that your parents fans just wanted to get to the weekend make it easier. I understand this.

Tiffany 8:39
Yeah. Cuz you know, you'd rather dealing with a problem on Friday and then have the weekend to deal with it as well. If in case it's a sickness, and then go to work on Monday and everything, everyone's all good.

Scott Benner 8:48
I like it. So So our plan is is to manage is to diagnose, treat, learn to manage and get back to life in about 72 hours. I like the I like the upside of this, but it's very, it's an energetic idea for you. They're like, we can get this done. So she you're off to the doctor, is it just as easy as like, hey, I've been drinking a lot of water and they say you have diabetes? Or how does that process go? Do you remember? Yeah.

Tiffany 9:14
So yeah, it was 1991. And I do quite distinctly remember because my mom would always be like, you're going to have to go to the toilet before we leave the house. So I went to the toilet. And we go to the doctors and I was pretty much we sat down didn't I don't even remember. I think I sat down. I just went straight into the doctor's room. And he said, Okay, I know you do away in a cup. And I said I just went to the toilet because my mom tells me I've got to and she says okay, well I've got this little machine here. She says, I've got to take some blood. Just put your finger out and I'm just like, okay, no worries. And that was my first blood test.

Scott Benner 9:49
Yeah. Well, and you've named the episode Wait a cup. So you're all set. I really, you guys do all the work. It's true. So he a little finger stick you You remember what you were? Do you remember the feeling in the room when it happened?

Tiffany 10:03
I was just sitting there going, what the hell? You know, maybe they got to do this so that they can see what's wrong with me, you know. And I can go back to I can go back to school because I was ready for school because it was birthday. And I had my beautiful picture that I'd drawn during the week that I wanted to take to school and display and show everyone I was dressed in green. Because it was, you know, this is gonna just be like, this will be over by 930 and I'll be at school, but can it all be good?

Scott Benner 10:32
Because in so in your life at this point, the only real like thing that's going on for you, it's just the, like, an incessant thirst. There's nothing else happening that's got you feel I don't feel well.

Tiffany 10:43
nigh and like, I mean, I've lost weight. But like, my dad tells me now that I had gone. Like I look like, I look very, very skinny and my little my face, he could feel the bones in my face. Um, which wasn't normal for me because I was chubby kid. I put

the weight back on straightaway after I got diagnosed anyway, but you know,

Scott Benner 11:04
listen, I just looked at myself in a reflection. I thought there are bones in your face. How would I even be able to tell that under my chin or my cheeks? No. So you were pretty gone. And it's funny. He he knew. It's funny, because I didn't know when I looked at Arden until until she put a couple of pounds back on. And then I looked at a picture from the week before and thought, Wow, how did I not recognize that? You know?

Tiffany 11:28
Yeah, yeah. Well, my mom, for the wife of her would never find anything like that, because my mom was too busy dealing with everything else.

Scott Benner 11:38
So she's just a busy. Do you have other siblings?

Tiffany 11:41
I've got one brother who's five years older than me.

Scott Benner 11:45
And he kept her busy.

Tiffany 11:48
Yeah, and he like key worked. So he was always he worked full time. My dad worked full time. My dad was an interstate truck driver. So I was basically, I'd go to work with my mom in the morning. And I'd go to school. And I'd say, Mom before I went to school, and then I'd see mom, when she picked me up after work, we'd go home had dinner, and I'd go to bed. So I saw my mom probably, I don't know, four or five, four hours a day.

Scott Benner 12:14
Your parents weren't looking for other stuff to do is what you're telling me?

Tiffany 12:17
No, I

Scott Benner 12:19
was busy enough. Right? So

Tiffany 12:21
yeah, that would kind of get in life.

Scott Benner 12:24
I understand. You start out 91 I'm assuming they gave you just was it needles or pens? or How did you start?

Tiffany 12:32
It was just um, just pin so No, it wasn't. It was in there. We had damn syringes. Okay, back then, and the big, lovely enqueuing vials. And to learn how to draw the intent out of the vial, so I could have my injections.

Scott Benner 12:50
So you're starting, you're starting at just at go, right? There's no, you have no knowledge about diabetes whatsoever. And so you're starting with just here's how you get out of the vial. Now you're gonna stick into your arm, you know, or your belly or wherever you're gonna put this did your parents become involved in, like the process of day to day management? Or was it pretty much on you right away?

Tiffany 13:12
Um, my mother. She was in shock. He didn't understand she did not like she couldn't deal with it. And so I went straight to hospital because as soon as the doctor took my reading, I think it was in the 30s. Like, in Australia, we use a different measurement as well.

So I was 32.5

millimeters per mega later or something. And he's desolated. So your measurement for lack, I think it might be about 500. I'd like

Scott Benner 13:45
to get my my graph up right now for this conversation. I have one that I like to use in this situation here. Let's see. But so you were you were plenty high enough. But but you really only saw the the thirst for a couple of weeks. Right?

Tiffany 14:03
Yeah, yeah, it happened pretty quickly. It wasn't something that

was going for months and months and months. Like some people.

Scott Benner 14:11
Yeah, yeah. Did you need insulin right away? Or was it were you in a honeymoon situation where it was kind of like, sometimes you needed it? Sometimes you didn't?

Tiffany 14:22
It was straightaway. I went from from going to into like, I couldn't not have insulin. Okay.

Scott Benner 14:30
Okay. Yeah. Okay. It's funny, because I talked to some people now who find it so early. You don't mean like so early? Yeah. They can't even use insulin properly for a while because even having any kind of basal insulin running ends up being too much. Central.

Unknown Speaker 14:45
Yeah.

Tiffany 14:49
I'm back in 1991. I don't think they even had the testing. I do remember at some point black I must have been in high school and my parents went and had their very first blood test to see Am I brah I should also mention my brother isn't my brother. He's actually adopted. So we are blood relatives, but we're not actually brother and sister. So I do refer to him a lot. And I grew up with him in the same house. calling my mom and dad mom and dad, but they just blood relative but but just blood. Not mom and dad, by parent teacher.

Scott Benner 15:27
All right, hold on. You got me on that one. I'm going to start over. So you have a mom and a dad in the house. Dad's a truck driver. Mom's there. Both of those people made you your dad. Yes. Okay. And then the your brother who was five years older than you? Was he a half brother from your father from your mother? nor my not at all? No. He's my mom's sister's fan. Mom's sister's son took him in by the dogs. Yes.

Tiffany 15:52
Yeah, essentially.

Scott Benner 15:56
Yeah. And he's still and he's a blood relatives still because he's your mom's sister son. Yeah. Okay. Thank God, we went through that, because your initial Expo explanation made me think that you had that that cat had had module and you were you're a rabbit at this point. And you didn't know what you were saying? Because you were like, he's my brother. But he's not my brother. But he's blood related. I was like, hold on a second. That doesn't make any sense. But I

Tiffany 16:21
found it to be interesting situation. But I I grew up knowing that he was my brother because he's my mom, mom, mom and dad, but he's also my cousin. So I like his brothers and sisters would visit us. But they the heath brothers and sisters. They're not mine. Because he's my cousin. But he's my brother because we grew up together. We got he was there before I was born. He was like the first. Yeah, he froze. Yeah, he's

Scott Benner 16:50
such a big smile on my face, because there's a part of me that wants to take those last 20 words and make them the title of the episode. But that won't happen. Don't worry, but I completely. Tiff. Oddly, I completely agree. I understand exactly what you're saying. And please keep in mind, it's late at night for TIFF. Okay, so. Okay, so you grew up having a brotherly sisterly feeling towards him because he was there. I have to ask, even though I almost I'm upset at myself for wanting to continue with us. But why did he live with you, but his other brothers and sisters remained back with his parents?

Tiffany 17:25
Um, well, he's mom was very young when Chad and so he had one son first. And he was I think 15 or so. And my grandfather made her give him up. And they've only just been reunited last year. So that was that he's net 45. And Mike, then she had my brother. And her partner at the time, was then killed tragically in a fire. I think I think that was the he's dead, hot. And I they've all got different dads. Anyway, something happened to him. And he wasn't led to keep him either, because my grandfather wouldn't let her and she wanted to have a life because she was she wasn't even 20. So she just went, you know,

Scott Benner 18:08
there's part of me that doesn't even want to talk about diabetes anymore. It's it's fascinating. Do you have any idea what kind of fire was in the home? Or was he a firefighter?

Tiffany 18:18
It was not within the home he had. He was fica. He was fica and he the fleet smoking? Tiffany?

Scott Benner 18:27
How many do you have? Like, do we even need to talk about the diabetes? Do you have like 1000 other great stories? Is this an Australian thing? I need to know the problem? Let's see you get caught on that like that. He got water all around you. It must make you a little crazy at some point. Like you know, because really, without a plane, you're stuck there. You can't try from Australia. Okay, how do you how did you find growing up with diabetes? Was it something that bothered you? Or were you pretty just kind of chill about it? What was your overall, you know, 11 to graduating from high school kind of experience. Okay, let's just take a quick break. Tiff has got like I said a ton of good energy and she has not yet begun to talk. So just need a second here. Right? Well, we'll collect ourselves and get ready to keep going. While we do that, let's talk about what I consider to be the gold standard of Type One Diabetes Care, dex calm, g six continuous glucose monitor and the Omni pod to boost insulin pump. Let's start with the Omni pod because it's easy. It's an insulin pump. It's tubeless it's small and compact, easy to hide below your clothing or you can wear out and let everybody see it if you want to. It's completely flexible. And flexibility is what you need when you're managing type one. You're going to have the flexibility to bave without Taking off your pump to swim to play sports with other people, if they ever let us do that, again, to go outside for a run to do everything that everyone does in life, except you get to do it without being connected to a bunch of tubing or having to take off your pump and watch your blood sugar shoot up because you don't have insulin. You just get to keep the Omni pod on. It's small, it's tubeless. It's easy. And they'll send you a free, no obligation demo. So you don't even have to take my word for it, you can try for yourself. My omnipod.com forward slash juice box, take you a couple of seconds to put in the information they need. And by they I mean on the pod and they'll send you off right in the mail and get you going with that free no obligation demo. It's well worth your time. Now the Dexcom g six continuous glucose monitor. This is another thing that I don't know how I don't know what I'd be doing without it. showing my daughter's blood sugar, speed and direction without a finger stick. That in itself is just stunning. Arden's sleeping right now it's early in the morning. Let me tell you something right now, her blood sugar is 101. As a matter of fact, I'm helping a young man named Joe right now and Joe's blood sugar's 111 and Arden's friend biani, her blood sugar 70, I can see all of that on my cell phone, right here holding it in my iPhone, if I had an Android, I could do the same thing. And you could as well, you could see the direction and speed of a loved one's blood sugar on your device. More importantly, you could share that information with up to 10 people say you're the one wearing it. And adult with Type One Diabetes, you just want. I don't know your partner to know that's doable as well. This thing is going to give you alerts and alarms that you get to decide on to let you know when your blood sugar's leaving the range that you've set ardens ranges from 70 to 120. She never gets too low or too high without us knowing that it's happening so that we can make good well considered decisions about insulin and carbohydrates to keep her from bouncing all over the place. So sure the Dexcom is great for safety and sure to wake you up in the middle of the night if you get low. But there's so much more than a little do. Find out more about those things@dexcom.com forward slash juice box. While you're there, go to my omnipod.com forward slash juice box. Get yourself a demo pod. And just why don't you just make it a trifecta T one d exchange.org. forward slash juice box. You can help improve knowledge of Type One Diabetes help accelerate the discovery and development of new treatments and generate evidence to support policy and insurance coverage changes that can and will help people living with Type One Diabetes. It's completely anonymous. totally safe. Hundred percent HIPAA compliant. T one d exchange.org. forward slash juicebox. All these links are in your show notes at Juicebox. podcast.com. Alright, Tiffany is about to take off like a rocket. So get ready. But how did you find growing up with diabetes?

Tiffany 23:16
Yeah, so yeah, my mom, he couldn't deal with it. She couldn't handle halfway through. I stayed in hospital until the Friday the next week. And my mom just couldn't deal with it. And I, I was in there the first day, so I'd been an emergency. And then I went up to the ward, and a nurse comes up like in emergency other kind of lab and emergency. But when I was in the ward, I distinctly remember a meal. And it must have been lunch and the nurse comes up. And she says, Well, I've got to give you insurance. And I said to her, really now because I don't like needles. And she says to me, Well, unfortunately, because you've got type one diabetes, you have to have needles before you have anything to eat, you're gonna have to a couple of times a day from now on. You know, it might be once it might be twice because back then there was only I don't even remember what was it called predefine. And something else? I don't know. I can't remember because it was just it wasn't that wasn't what I need to know, there was more important things to know the names of insurance, I just need to know, which was the cloudy one, which one was the clear one, cloudy with long acting, and clear was short acting. But then I didn't make them anyway, I had mixed atod which was a mixture of both of them. Anyway, that's fine.

Scott Benner 24:31
But that's the first time that's the first time someone said it to you like you they were there with your food and the nurse was like, hey, you're gonna get injections every time before you eat from now on and that you hadn't heard that prior to that moment?

Tiffany 24:43
No, no, because I'm they might be they must have given me an injection in emergency because otherwise I would have ended up I'm assuming like going back now and reading other people's stories. I should have ended up in ICU but I didn't. So obviously I wasn't in DK or I Was that they dealt with it differently back in 1991? I've got no idea.

Scott Benner 25:04
No, of course not. Yeah. I mean, who knows how why what happens happens, right?

Tiffany 25:08
Yeah, that I was on after after I left the hospital anyway, I was on mix the tide and I took two injections a day. But at this thinking conversation with the nurse and she's comes up. You've got to have an instrument before you can eight. And I'm like hell no. And she's like, well, I've got to do it too. Yeah. And I said, Okay, I said, you do your deal. I said, you can do this one. And then next one, I'm doing myself because you are not touching me ever again with a needle? And that was it.

Scott Benner 25:37
You wanted it in your control? Yes,

Tiffany 25:39
yes. And that was I took control of the needle. And because I knew if I did it, I could do it the way I liked. And no one else would hurt me with a needle.

Scott Benner 25:49
I think that's a that's a sound, that sound idea and, and psychologically makes a lot of sense to like, you know, if somebody is going to do this, it needs to be me. I'll figure out a way to do it. It'll be best for me. And that way, nobody else can screw up and make it hurt. No.

Tiffany 26:04
Um, but yeah. And yeah, if I was in hospital for a week, and my mom would come in every day, he mother taking care of that he must have taken time off work, because I do know that she came in during the day. And she come in, and he'd always burst that bawling. And then one time, the nurse comes up and says, okay, so you'd met your mom needs to learn how to give you injections. And I'm like, no way.

Scott Benner 26:26
Listen, that lady to a point where she's not crying before we give her the needle, right?

Tiffany 26:32
He probably wasn't crying by the end, but he was just, he just was traumatized by the whole event. And so my mom's just like, Okay, I've got to do this. And I'm like, he's not touching me with a needle. And they talked me into it. And I'm just like, You know why? Because I, I was terrified. I would if I had to have bloods taken, I would look away. I'd stare at the wall and I'd sing songs to myself, I'd make up stories in my head, because I don't like even now, when I go to pathology. I just, I can't watch I look at the wall. I take my phone, I play by my phone while I do it, because I just don't want to see someone else sticking a needle in me. Because you

Scott Benner 27:09
don't have that reaction. Even now, like as an adult when you're doing it, though.

Tiffany 27:13
You know it but I'm fine. Because it's me doing it. So I know exactly. And I've got to look at what I'm doing. But other people Oh, even on TV. I can't handle watching other people. One person give another person an injection, but I can watch someone give themselves an injection. That's fine. Okay, that's interesting.

Scott Benner 27:28
No, right. Really is interesting. All right. So like, do you are you still injecting now or how do you handle like getting your insulin today?

Tiffany 27:37
Oh, yeah, I was I was injecting up until, um, my I was pregnant with my second, my little boy. And so I got my pump. Or he, I must have been four or five months pregnant with him. So I've had I've been pumping for two and a half years, maybe nearly three.

Scott Benner 27:56
That's crazy. So you injected for over 25 years? Yeah, I did. Yeah. And how did you? What about glucose monitors? Do you guys I know you? Yeah. You have one? Do you have it?

Tiffany 28:07
We thought Yep, we've got all different ones. We've got the same ones. As you guys have. We actually got the lab right before you guys did. So that's pretty cool. I saw that. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 28:15
And you use what are you using?

Tiffany 28:18
I'm currently using I use a Medtronic pump. I've got the 640 or as you guys call it a 630. Okay. And I use the the meter that goes with it, which is a con context contour next link. Excellent.

Scott Benner 28:35
Okay. Yeah. And how do you like I mean, you're it's interesting because you did you did injection actually, you're really good person to talk about with us. So talk to about this because you injected for a really long time. Would you call your time injecting like successful for your health? You were pretty you were doing well.

Tiffany 28:53
Yeah. So before I fell pregnant with my first I was taking taking taking Lantus and Nova rapid. And on my, my, my hike bi one C was 5.9. No objections. Yeah, so I was pretty good. And I'd also just done a course called Daphne. I think you guys I'm sure you guys have it over there. It's dose judgment phenomena. That dose adjustment for normal eating. And, as in Australia is called audacity because we're in AWS, obviously. But it's the same thing. And it's a course that was developed in Germany, by doctors who saw the need to help diabetics to understand how to adjust their own each one rather than having to wait three months for every doctor's visit, to help their doctor to help them adjust the internet again. It's like how we came up with this practice and you used it really successfully. Can you describe it a little bit Yeah, so it's just, um, you know, knowing how to carb count correctly, it's a five day course. So you learn, like how to carb count correctly, you do seek day management. All the meals are provided while you do the course. And you just come into the air of the way you're doing the course every day. And they have snacks and meals. And I have regular food. I don't have like, you know, sugar free. It's like, you know, we have Tim Tams. And we've got, yes, Tim Tams. We've got, you know, jelly snakes, and anything you want to eat,

Scott Benner 30:34
biscuits, all different kinds of biscuits, but everything's got a carb count on it. So that we have to figure out how to do it without the assistance of the diabetes educator and the dietician who are running the course. Well, so people were so kind of frozen in the idea that I will live my life for these three months. And then any adjustments that have to be made to my insulin, or the way I'm managing things doesn't happen until I get back to the doctor again. And this and this was the idea of No, you could do this, you could make these adjustments on your own.

Tiffany 31:05
Yeah, well, I was already kind of doing it. But I didn't do it. I was obviously I was doing it really successfully. Because before I did all that mean, my fault, my height, Bo and C was also 5.9. I did it probably six months before I fell pregnant. Um, and I so I'd been doing that I hadn't been very successful job because I would have like major hypose and stuff, but never anything where I went unconscious, except like many years before that. But I did kind of like look at things and go, that doesn't look like you know, two portions that looks like it could be like a bit more or a bit less. And so I'd have a bit more a bit within keulen. That's and you have to

Scott Benner 31:44
I think personally, I mean, obviously you listen to the podcast, I think you have to make your adjustments like that. By the way Phil fell pregnant is such a wonderful phrase. Because here you might say that you fell ill but like that the idea of fell is like, you know, you've been overwhelmed by something unpleasant. And to say like, fell pregnant. It's just it delights me to no end. I really am.

Tiffany 32:10
Okay, I became pregnant.

Scott Benner 32:13
I just please, I'm not I'm not correcting you. I'm telling you. You're making me happy. I just every time you say it, I'm like that's I also enjoy. What is that? Something like you guys talk about going to the hospital. But you don't say go to the hospital. You say?

Tiffany 32:29
No. Yeah.

Scott Benner 32:29
Yeah. Isn't that funny? You don't even know what you say. It's hilarious. Oh, anyway, fell pregnant. You've just made my whole day as I'm saying. So you're five nine. You're doing fantastic. You What made you take the course by the way, even though you were five nine? Did you just think I could do better at this or did something they made you do?

Tiffany 32:46
Um, because well, I before I did the Daphne course I had been I had the same the same endocrinologist. So the same endo for from the time I was diagnosed for 20 years. And then just before my 20 year anniversary, he says to me, oh, by the way, I'm going to move to Queensland. And you're going to be saying my ofada you've been because I sees our solder occasionally. And then he just popped in. He's gonna say this other guy called Adam. And I'm just like, wow. And so I had to make an appointment for a new guy. And back then as well I lived with, I'd have to drive 40 minutes to go see my doctor. And there were other doctors who were closer to me and I just thought you know what, stop him. I'm gonna find a new endo. But I never did. So I was just going to the GP I'd get new skin get prescriptions for more in killin the doctor might occasionally get me to do a high DPI one C and that would be and so I just got a walk in clinic and do it that way. So I didn't have an endo for about four years. And then I was in Melbourne by that point. And I moved to moved up the top end of that the top of Victoria to bend a little town called vanilla, which is the wind grad where I currently live. And I get there and I thought I need to find a doctor surgery and I found one and I go there and the donor GP says to me, Oh, you've got type one. He says okay, you can go see this guy called Robert. He's German, but he's really nice. And I'm like, okay, so I say Robert, and he's not actually a an endo. He's called a diabetes specialist because in Germany, every single doctor I don't know this is what I've heard. So I'm just I'm just is he sighs so it could be true could not I don't know. But apparently allegedly, every single doctor in Germany has to do an entire class two semester course unit or whatever on type one diabetes. So the Germans they've got something gone You know, they think and type one diabetes. We've got to do something about this obviously because I came up with a with some that me and you They decided, you know, we've got we've got to learn about type one diabetes. So they've got something going on there. And I go see him and he fantastic thing, and this is this guy's really good. And he says to me, you've got to do this course. And I'm like, do I have to do it? Because

Unknown Speaker 35:17
I feel like I'm doing all right.

Tiffany 35:20
It's fantastic. He says, but this call seriously how, like, you actually you actually know the carbs that you're eating? And I'm like, Yeah, kinda like the last time I saw a dietitian was probably like, I don't know, 10 years ago, but you know, whatever. And off I go to, to do this course. And that was like a turning point. I'm like, I have to understand how to look at a recipe. And like, I love biking. So now I get a recipe and I can figure out the carb count, I can divide it up and know exactly how many carbs in every single portion of like a slice or cupcakes or a cake. But just by weighing it now and I never used to do that uses go. I Yeah, that looks like you know, it could be 50 grams of carbs. But you know, whatever. Just, you know, just winging it.

Scott Benner 36:07
Have you actually with Daphne, have you actually improved on your five? Nine?

Tiffany 36:13
No, I haven't, say five nights really

Scott Benner 36:15
good. Like, I don't know how you're doing better than five nine. But But. But it gives you more comfort. Like you feel more kind of in control. You're not guessing you feel like that?

Tiffany 36:26
Yes, it gives me and then because I need the cause I was like, Huh, cuz I said I'm terrified of needles. So the pump freaked me out because I didn't want to have a needle inside me all the time. That's like, the only reason I was against getting a pump for so long. And get in on, you know, cruising along. And Mike Beyonce went up to bat was because I was pregnant, as I said, so it's 5.9. And then it went up. Because when you're pregnant, things happen. And things get harder to many Jen. I ended up at like, 6.2 by the time he was born.

Scott Benner 37:04
Well, it's not that's not a terrible I mean, that's not a terrible increase during a pregnancy for sure.

Unknown Speaker 37:09
Yeah, are they?

Scott Benner 37:11
So let me say something I cuz I'm gonna forget, because I am so just delighted, like listening to you. Like, I feel like this should just be your podcast, and I should just sit here. But I, but there's this one thing you brought up that I think bears like going over. So this happens to Arden a lot. You know, she used to obviously, she's had type one since she was two. And she'd go in and get her blood draws. And you know, she never flinched. And then one day, I don't know, she was like, eight, nine years old. And she was just up in the corner of the room, like, you know, like a cat trying to avoid water. And and, you know, trying to get away from the nurse who was like Arden, I don't understand what's going on. Like I've been drawing your blood for, you know, close to a decade like what what just happened, she just suddenly couldn't bring yourself to hold still for it. And she's gotten better over the years. But any time that comes up, even if it's at the dentist, you know, where I'm like look, Arden's going to be difficult to get numb, because she really does not like the needles, then the person will say, and this is I find this infuriating, and I try really hard to like educate them, like nicely away from it. They're like, but she has diabetes, she must be used to this. And I was like, why do you think getting stuck more makes a person who doesn't want to get stuck? Like just forget about that? You don't really forget about it because you do it more. Like if I said to you like there's I watch boxing some guys don't apparently mind if they get hit in the face, you hit me in the face once I'm very upset. And if you hit me in the face 50 times, I'm not going to be less upset by it. It's just a very strange idea to say to someone, but you should be used to this. And and so you have diabetes, you're not allowed to have a needle phobia, you're not allowed that, like that's just such an odd way of looking at it. And I think that does happen to a lot of people, they get that like, well, you're you have diabetes, so obviously you should just be okay with this. And you're not, you know, like it's just you're not, but it's it's really interesting about the pump idea that what you didn't like about a pump? was the idea that something would be inside of you constantly. How did you get over that?

Tiffany 39:21
I heard this thing called the eye port. Um, and I and also the Libra came out. So I I ordered a library online and it arrived and I put it on and it was like, I didn't like the sand that might because it goes could funk. The little sort of thing you got to use. And I didn't like that noise. So that was part of the problem with the pump as well because I knew you had to insert and using the little third thing is like good I don't have that noise. Anyway, I put the Libra on. I was like this is amazing. I like to sleep writing. So I'm looking I'm looking around like scanning myself constantly looking at my little meetup going. This is amazing. Oh lobby, why do not do this alien? I'm like, hang on, if I can do this, then that means maybe I can do a pump.

Scott Benner 40:07
And that's what that was your bridge to it then.

Tiffany 40:10
Yeah. And then I got this thing called an iPod because Medtronic do like free samples. Have you heard what an either an iPod on a human you

Scott Benner 40:18
know that you can inject without putting the needle in, right? Like it's this it's a port it's a port that you use, then you inject into the port instead of into your skin every time.

Tiffany 40:26
Yeah, so that was kind of like so I did the Brian in like, my date, my, my, What's the name? My diabetes guy, Rob. Rob, he says to me, sorry, I'm, I've just gone blank for a second. Then he says to me, I'm okay. Robert. He says, okay, Tiff. So, why don't you see how you go with this? And I'm like, okay, so he said, go visit my da next door. And so I go see her. He's also a type one diabetic. And she, she talks to me a little bit about it. And I'm just like, I'm terrified of the noise. And she's like, that's okay. She said, Oh, I'll show you how I'll do this one. And then you've got another one in the box. And you can do that later on if you want at home. So I put it he put in for me. And I didn't like the I 40 it was horrendous. It really irritated me. I just couldn't handle it. And then I figured out I don't like putting fights on my tummy. So that because that's where I put it. So I'm like, okay, that's that's a no go down. But anyway, and then I put the second one in. And I'm like, wasn't so bad. So I organized in Australia as well, you could have private health insurance to get pumps. So I organized by private health insurance. And my next visit. I said, Okay, yep, I'm ready to do this. And I said, oh, by the way, I'm also pregnant.

Unknown Speaker 41:45
I fell pregnant.

Tiffany 41:50
Completely didn't want to but anyway, they're only 17 months apart. I'm not planning anyway.

Scott Benner 41:58
I just won't let your children ever listen to this. I bet that's fine. What What happened? I we're gonna take a detour for a second. When did you go to a wedding and drink too much but what happened? Exactly like how did you stop defending your uterus from this falling into pregnancy?

Tiffany 42:19
I kid you forget you Don't you think it's like you? You know your tablet?

Scott Benner 42:27
It's that boy. Swear to God. I don't know what we're talking about. I'm having a great time.

Tiffany 42:32
And I'm, I'm very fertile, obviously. Because I yeah, I just I, before I had my first child, I had a miscarriage. And that didn't take very, very much effort. Either.

Unknown Speaker 42:44
Way to hold on the pregnancy or the miscarriage. What didn't take very much effort.

Tiffany 42:48
getting pregnant, getting pregnant in general.

Unknown Speaker 42:52
That's wonderful. You're wonderful. I'm so happy we're doing this.

Unknown Speaker 42:57
Hold on a second. I have to pull myself together. Give me

Scott Benner 43:01
Okay. All right. We're good. My favorite part so far is that Rob was German but it's okay. He's nice.

Tiffany 43:12
Oh, my JP was also Indian. He was amazing. And then he went and moved to bloody Melbourne did meet with family with him. So

Scott Benner 43:18
I love this guy tried to upgrade his life with no concern for you whatsoever.

Tiffany 43:23
It was like the best jPi ever had, because he he didn't try to try to take my diabetes away from him. You know, tell me that. You know, I'm silly because I'm doing this and that because what most of the JPEGs I ever saw did and yet anyway, he moved away.

Scott Benner 43:36
Yeah, but he gave you real freedom and and, and respect right. Not not freedom because he left you alone. But but like freedom and respect with your type one like he Yeah, yeah. I think that's it. That's really important. So yeah, so first curse him for leaving. Let's hope he felt he falls on something. Right?

Tiffany 43:57
Yeah. Anyway,

Scott Benner 43:58
anyway. Is your how involved or not involved? I want to get back you know what, hold on. Where do I want to go with this? I here's what here's what I'm gonna go with this. You're really interesting with like, I don't want it on my stomach. I don't like the way it clicks. I don't want to do that. Like that's real. That's sort of different stuff than you hear people talk about all the time. Do you have do you have that with other things? Like Are there other things in your life that like you don't like the way they feel or don't like they like when I go clothes shopping? If you watch me walk through a place with clothing. I'm touching everything constantly. Because if I don't like the way it feels, I wouldn't even care what it looked like.

Tiffany 44:40
Yeah, yeah. Yep, definitely. Yeah, that's me.

Scott Benner 44:42
Yeah. Have a little bit of that tactile thing going on. Because Because a port on your stomach's not okay, but you can put it somewhere else.

Unknown Speaker 44:49
Mm hmm. Yes. Okay. Interesting.

Scott Benner 44:52
You are very quirky. I like that. That's excellent. And but I think it's important to talk about because I don't think that for the people who that affects, I don't I think we talked about that quite enough, right? Like, yeah, that there's this great technology. But what if it just is in your head all the time where you can't take the clicking or the or the other stuff that comes with it, but you have been able to kind of overcome everything you found a way around most of your roadblocks, right?

Tiffany 45:18
Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Scott Benner 45:20
And so would you tell other people to press on? Would you tell them to follow their heart? Like, where when something bothers them just give up? Or what do you think? What do you think ended up being the, I don't know the right path for you?

Tiffany 45:35
Well, it's more of a matter of just, you know, looking around, and just seeing what your options are like. So it took me 25 years, and then the Libra to go, I can do this thing now. Like, before, then it was it terrified the hell out of me. Um, and then yeah, the Libra was the turning point. It's just a matter of just, you know, seeing what's happening, keeping up with what's what's going on with the diabetes industry, the map for the companies that manage what we have to do what we can do to ourselves, and how we can manage our diabetes better. And they just might come up with something and you go, that's it. That's what's gonna help me to, you know, get control of my diabetes. Like, I don't think I've actually experienced burnout. Like I look back and I'm like, is that when I was in high school, I kind of went in whatever. But I still took my insulin and never stopped because I remembered what it felt like to constantly be thirsty, and to just feel disgusting all the time, from when I was 11. And I was just like, I don't want to do that again. That's interesting. I want to feel disgusting. And I've always had glasses. And I'm like, I don't want my eyesight to suffer. Because I can't say enough as it is like, I can drive. But if my eyesight gets worse, then I can't drive. I don't want to not Dr. Right, you might not be able to see.

Scott Benner 46:51
Yeah, I think that what you what I just took out of what you just said was that when you knew what it was like to feel, well, you knew what it was like to feel sick. And you were just trying to avoid feeling sick again, where I think that there's a possibility that when we diagnose young kids now and tell people like oh, it's okay, if your blood sugar's like 220 or, you know, 300 spikes fine. You are teaching that person's body to be to feel normal at that range. And there and that's, you know, that can be dangerous in itself to give you a normal feeling at a 250 blood sugar. Yeah, you know, is is a recipe for like a long term disaster really. So

Tiffany 47:31
yeah, yeah. Because I remember as a teenager having like my, my endo, he was quite old. Well, I thought he was old. Because he was bald.

He probably wasn't that

Scott Benner 47:44
old when you're a child. I agree with that. Yeah, that's fine. That's absolutely fine.

Tiffany 47:49
And he he would we would have arguments when I was in high school about my about what I was doing and how I was managing and stuff. And I remember like storming out of his office like this is asked my mom to stop coming. Like I didn't even know I my mother kept coming. Because, you know, she had no say in what was going on, because she didn't want to be involved. But she would always come to doctor's appointments. Anyway, so we would have arguments as soon as she stopped coming, it was like, This is my, this is my job. Now my mom is not here. That means I can tell him often I can tell him that he's been silly. And he's telling me that, you know, what he wants me to do is impossible. And like, you know, my HPA once they would be like in the sevens and he'd be like, you can do better than this. And I'm like, Look, this is what I've got to work with. If I can't do it with this, then I can't do it. Okay, I'm doing the best I can. Right.

Scott Benner 48:37
And by the way, did you notice my mom is not any help whatsoever? And so you know, I'm so I'm interested, if you've ever had a conversation with your mom about this, do you have any idea why she was disconnected from it? Or why she couldn't kind of dive in? Or did she? Did she fall asleep smoking in the fire? And you don't know, right? More? I don't know.

Tiffany 48:58
I've never actually spoken to her about it. But I just, I don't want to because when she asked me like he's he's got type two now he was diagnosed few years ago. And he says to me, also has the diabetes going and I'm like, good. He says, if you had any hypose and I'm like, I'm I'm thinking in my head Well, yeah, I had one yesterday but I'm not going to tell you that because you're going to freak out and I decide to are not so good. You know, I'm just you know, cruising along because if I tell her I've had a hypo even if it's only like, you know, a 3.9 or you know, like it just I'm just like 33.1 we should probably be like on I 55 5055 or so yeah. Yeah, he'd be like, oh my god you like I you I kind of like, you know, this is this happens man.

Scott Benner 49:45
You know what I'm trying to figure out because when we look at your like tactile stuff, like I don't like the way it sounds. I don't like the way it looks right. Because imagine like you said, I can't watch someone else. give someone else a needle, even on television, which by the way TIFF is regular Because you're not, right, because you're not actually there. And it's not really happening. And it's all fake and everything. But but because it gives you that feeling. My question is, I wonder if your mom doesn't have something similar? And I wonder if right if watching it happened to you didn't put her into a tailspin the way it does when you're watching an old rerun of er on Netflix. And so that's what I'm trying to. That's what I wonder. And please, I don't want you to, you know, I'm sure your mother's an older person. Now, you don't need to have an argument with her. But I was really interested to know if maybe that wasn't it, right. Maybe she didn't have her own kind of like issues and that was something she couldn't overcome. It's interesting.

Tiffany 50:39
Yeah, it is. It is actually that I've never thought of that, that that that does actually make sense. why he's so like, Yeah, he did. He was so disinterested in the whole thing. And oh, my goodness, the blood test machine when I was first diagnosed, yeah.

Scott Benner 50:55
Yeah, because TIF because by your explanation, she wasn't disinterested, and she's still not disinterested now because she's worried for you. You haven't? Yeah. Have you TIF like, how's the diabetes? You haven't been low? Have you? I'm worried that you're okay. So yeah, I mean, I've heard Listen, I've interviewed people who have we've outright set it sometimes. And sometimes it's gone unsaid rifle. Ooh, your parents just didn't care. And like, where they were just like, huh? Well, that's for you to worry about. Not me. Like that. Kind of. Yeah. Your mom wasn't there. Like she tried to come to the appointments. Right? Yeah. And, and she still cares now. I mean, how old is she now?

Tiffany 51:31
Um,

Scott Benner 51:35
she's still asking. She's asking you. So I think this is a I think if we dig down that's what's going on here. Does your dad have any going on? Does he Yeah, my

Tiffany 51:45
dad's cool. He he says to me, How you going with everything outside? Oh, yeah. So like I can I can be more open with my diabetes and with my dad because he's pleased with like, you know, these things happen. Whereas my mom's always about the, the other stuff. Just like my mom or dad, you know, like if I yeah, mom's mom's like, you know, if I had a car accident, maybe like, Oh, my God, the car and my dad to be like you okay? The car? Yeah. Yeah. Like you have to be like, you know, if you got your insurance up to date. What's that? My my

Scott Benner 52:17
mom, my arms falling off. Yes, yes. But have we told Allstate?

Unknown Speaker 52:22
Exactly, exactly. That's wonderful.

Scott Benner 52:24
Well, I think that I was just speaking, you know, it's so funny. I was just speaking about a mother's love yesterday on a phone call within Australia. It wasn't for this podcast, Australia would just be a place on a map to me. But instead it's not because this podcast is incredibly popular in Australia. So so I'm on the phone with a an Australian who lives in America. And we're talking about something. And we were talking about, like kind of the anxiety she was feeling around her kids blood sugar. So I was like, see that's like that moms. That's a that's that thing that's so wonderful. And yet sometimes it won't shut off. Like a mother's love like, right, like, like, you know, like, it's wonderful. Because there and it's so present even throughout your life. As you get older, your mom still feels that way about you. But at the same time, there's always this line where they don't seem to be able to like stop sometimes. And I was telling her that we were we had gone this past weekend, a few states away to watch my son play baseball. And it was the end. He's in college, but it was the day before a holiday. So he said can I just come home for the night. And then I'll go back to school the next day. And we thought that was great. We hadn't been around. He hadn't slept in the house in months. And we're like, that'd be wonderful. So you know, the kid poor kid gets up at 6am gets on a bus takes a two hour bus ride plays two baseball games, think gets in our car and is taking a two hour ride home. And he falls asleep. And his head is tilted to the side. And my wife says in the backseat, you know and she goes his head. And I'm like Kelly, he's 19 he's a strong as an ox, like he's fine like you like they just leave him there. He's asleep and he looks fine. And he's fine. Well, 15 minutes later, I see your hand come up from the backseat. I'm like, What are you doing? I'm trying to drive. Just his head can't stay like this. I'm like, Kelly, he's fine. Leave him alone. Right? But she couldn't have she could not overcome the feeling that that kid was uncomfortable. Like, yeah, you know? And so she starts nudging his head up and he wakes up he's like, what's what's happening? And I looked at her I went I told you to leave him alone. And so but there's something about I'm not kidding. Like I think there's something connected from women probably straight from your you know, straight from the moment you have them inside you until apparently till the very very end of their life for a lot of moms. She couldn't see him be uncomfortable. And I was like, He's fine. She she could and she's a bright person. It's not like she was confused by it. She just couldn't overwhelm that. So I'm interested very much in what was so powerful in your mom's had that she couldn't overwhelm To come help you with your diabetes, and I bet you it was something pretty strong. So that's Yeah, yeah, I could be 100% wrong. I'm just the guy on a podcast so I might be 100% wrong, but it seems that way as we're talking about.

Tiffany 55:12
Yeah, now he's he's very he Yeah, he's loving and stuff and he does he does worry a lot. Since I've also like, you know, the only blood like being a child by blood that she's

Scott Benner 55:26
gonna hold on to you. Yeah, your dad still just a guy she met like you're Yeah, you're her family right now. I understand. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 55:32
exactly.

Scott Benner 55:36
Okay, so overall in, in Australia, what is it like? Like you have private insurance, which I'm still even through a number of episodes trying to understand a little bit. But but yet things don't cost a ton of money, though, right?

Tiffany 55:52
No, it's pretty good. We've got this game code ndss National Diabetes service game, and it's, it's funded by the government through taxes, and we pay quite a substantial amount less for supplies. And then if you've also got health care card, so if you're on a low income, or you or you're under certain age, you also get a discount an extra discount again on top. But that's nothing to do with private health. private health is only needed for pumps. But cgms full cost no matter what, except they've just changed government funding again for CGM. And now people who are women who are in preconception for six months, they can get CGM for free. women who are pregnant can get CGM for free. And when they're breastfeeding up until the baby is six months old from the due date for free j for it's free CGM and I can get anyone they want. Libra is still not on the cards though. I don't know why but everything else is subsidized. Now. Also if children are under 21 years old, they get free CGM. And anyone who is hyper went away This is only new, this whole this pregnancy one and the hyper one awareness. So if you're hyper aware, you have to have a healthcare card. But your hypo unawareness has to be very severe. And you have to had been hospitalized within the last 12 months. And you will also receive free funding CGM. Gotcha. So

Scott Benner 57:39
I think it sounds to me if I can have if I can have it six months, you call it preconception, which was fantastic. So six months before you're pregnant, right? Plus the nine months you're pregnant, six months, you're breastfeeding. If you just have a baby every 21 months, you can have CGM for free for the rest of your life.

Tiffany 57:57
Exactly. Yeah. But you've got you've got to be a woman that's gonna be thing like there are lots of men who are very upset about this. Now, the aim is that everyone gets sick in funding. But my issue like I could, up until they change, the legislature changed the legislation again, I was actually eligible to get free CGM, because I'm a low income earner. And I have had episodes I look but I haven't been hospitalized. I have episodes where I've been. I've been had a bad hypo. But that was last one was when I was pregnant with my first Hello was and she's three now. So I haven't been hospitalized. I've had an ambulance cold out. But I haven't been hospitalized because of a hypo. Which means I'm no longer eligible. What My issue is, I would like it if they could say instead of people getting free CGM, if everyone, anyone who wants can get a CGM at like half price or a quarter price, because that's how we do medications. Like it's not fair for one one Pacific group to get it for free. Why don't we all just get everyone just pays a little bit if everyone pays a little bit, then everyone the funding goes further. And everyone benefits rather than just these tiny little groups,

Scott Benner 59:12
right? Yeah, I listen that I look at college the way colleges paid for an American I think the same thing, like how can my son be in a class with a kid who's paying, you know, a few thousand dollars a year to go to the same school that other people are paying 10s of thousands of dollars? Like what if we all just kind of like found the middle ground, you know, exactly right. And that really would be valuable and especially for medical stuff. To say that you have to be sickly to get something that could be used preventatively Yeah, it just thinks you don't even you know,

Tiffany 59:45
yep, with with the this whole new hype, I want to win this thing and having to be hospitalized. This makes a lot of people there's quite a few people who have written on Facebook groups about the fact that this means that people are going to run Specifically low, get low, so they can pick you have to have a hospital visit before they're gonna run low. They're gonna get the ambulance come to their house, they're going to go to hospital. So they're gonna cause more strain in the healthcare system. And then free CGM because they want to say free CGM. That's it,

Scott Benner 1:00:16
and that stents gonna go wrong for somebody and somebody is gonna end up hurt. And exactly, yep, you're putting people in a very weird position.

Tiffany 1:00:23
And I also read a fantastic comment. It said, it's like bolting the doors to the table after the horse is left. And I'm like, that's, that's a really good analogy, because, like, wouldn't it be better off because like, my partner, he works away, half awake. And so I'm basically a single mom at home with two children by myself. Yeah. And it freaks me out like I've got, I can get a CGM occasionally when I can afford it, but most of the time, I'm just running off doing bgl. I don't have the CGM. Yeah. So it freaks me out that one day, my two and three year olds who have no idea how to use my phone, because I don't like them using it. And I don't want to teach them, you know, screentime stuff that they need to use my phone to play with games, you know, and they're gonna come, they're gonna wake up and come into my bedroom, and mommy's not gonna be white.

Scott Benner 1:01:14
And then they're not gonna know what to do and

Tiffany 1:01:16
fix me up, of course, and then because my partner at home, like, my parents live three hours away, they leave back in Melbourne, which is three hours from wangaratta. And they're not going to know, Nick not gonna know, because he's at work, like in an hour and a half away in New South Wales. Um, which is a sight above Victoria. And I'm going to be at home with these two children, and no one knows. And it freaks the hell out of me. So I'm hoping I've got a dog. I've got an appointment, say my, my D in a couple of weeks, and I'm thinking, oh, maybe, maybe just maybe they can like wrangle the paperwork so that I can just get it when I have to.

Unknown Speaker 1:01:53
Yeah, it's, I want to

Tiffany 1:01:54
do that thing. The other reason I do not want it, I would rather not have a CGM, because I don't like having the SAT to me. I think they're bulky. But you know, it's fantastic work. As I said, earlier, I was in hospital last week. And I, my friend who just had a baby, she's breastfeeding, I messaged her, and I said, I need your help, can you please help me and she came around to my place. And she gave me three of shgs because she got them for free. cuz she's breastfeeding shoes. And I'm like, I only wanted one. I didn't want three. And he's like to take him, okay. He says, Don't worry, he forgot them for six months, you can have a couple I doesn't bother me. Like, you are a lifesaver.

Scott Benner 1:02:32
And that's wonderful for to do. And at the same time, it does illustrate like this weird dance that that these rules push people into having, you know, she's breastfeeding. So she gets some so she gives some to you because you're scared. And you can't get them because you haven't had a hypo that put you in the hospital. But at some point she's going to run out. And then you know, it's just, I don't know, the idea of medical insurance. Everywhere I hear the conversation. It's just very fun. Yeah.

Tiffany 1:03:02
And anyway, but my da, she's really cool. She just had it. And we've got an election coming up soon. And she just spoke to the local federal Member of Parliament who's up for who's up for a nomination. And he said, This is what I want to do. And he just he told you what I just did about having everyone pay a smaller cost, a smaller cost amount. And then everyone can benefit rather than just having these tiny groups that don't necessarily like it's not, it's going to benefit them, but wouldn't be better if everyone had a little bit. Right.

Scott Benner 1:03:33
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and no, and I understand there are going to always be people who can't afford it at all, and that's fine. But there's, you know, listen, free is nice, but if you even could throw in 20 or $50 towards it, and that would keep somebody like you from having to pay like you know, 75% could get you down to 50%. Like there's got to be a way where everybody sort of shoulders the burden a little bit,

Tiffany 1:03:58
I think come back and get subscriptions. But I think a box of a one box of five in light sensors from Medtronic is $250. But I might be wrong. No, it's more. It's more because the libri senses off $95 Ah, Australian over here. And the actually know what, I'll look it up. I'll go to the Medtronic website. Give me a second. Look it up. Yeah, it's ridiculous. If everyone just pays a little bit we'd all be better off.

Scott Benner 1:04:35
Yeah, as much as you can. Right? Like, I mean, until it's not a burden and so that everybody's covered it's just at some point they're going to stop treating this technology like it's a nice to have and they're gonna realize that for the people who want it it's it's imperative.

Tiffany 1:04:51
Yeah, but my baby for $350 for one book. Oh

Unknown Speaker 1:04:56
my gosh.

Scott Benner 1:04:59
Yeah. It's ridiculous. I'm like, you know, just make it benefit, everyone gets benefit everyone rather than just going, Hey, you know, if you're under 18, if you're under 21, and then hang on, you know what, when you turn 21, you don't have Type One Diabetes anymore, because you don't need a gym. So you know, we're just going to take them away from you, goodbye, once you go to go to, you know, college, university, whatever. Until very recently in America, people like on Medicare would lose, you know, would lose it when they needed it most when they hit like 65 years old, like we really start needing this stuff like really badly, then they're like, Oh, you can't have it anymore. Because you switched insurances, you went from like your private to this, but they've gotten that finally figured out, but it's just such an interesting idea that, you know, certain ages need it more than others. Like, it just doesn't, it doesn't make any sense to be perfect NIH,

Tiffany 1:05:46
NIH, and like the people who are retired like this, you still got type one diabetes, when you retire, like it doesn't go away? How the hell am I gonna afford to pay $375 for one box of fences? Like even the subscriptions like the subscriptions are significantly discounted, but I still end up paying like $250 every four weeks coming out of your bank account

Scott Benner 1:06:07
out of money? Yeah, no, it's a lot of money, even in Australia, where all you really have to pay for is like snake venom, and, like repellent and stuff like that. And, you know, whatever it is, I mean, whatever it is, you keep your like, grass hut, like clean with like, so. I know. That's not what your life is like. But anyway, like, we are up on an hour, I am going to resist the urge to to go back and let's do exactly how you described your cousin brother. And used you kind of Oh, no, no, but you were fantastic. I really appreciate you doing this. And I know how hard it was for us to get this together and and do this, but I appreciate that you stayed steadfast. And we got to this point, I really am. Okay, I was really excited to have you on and i think i think i was right.

Tiffany 1:06:57
I can always do it again. Cuz like I've got more stories I've got when I went to America and Europe back in 2007. And my each one got stolen in New York.

Scott Benner 1:07:06
And wait. And then during the during the, during the theft. The person who stolen from you pulled out a knife and you said that's not a knife. This is a knife. You pulled out a larger knife. And then what happened after that?

Tiffany 1:07:20
Oh, no, I didn't even realize until like the next day because I was too buggered.

Unknown Speaker 1:07:26
Wait a minute, you were drunk when you

Tiffany 1:07:28
lost insulin. I know I was buggered. I was tired. I've been on a flight. However many hours

time zones and all that stuff. Yeah.

Scott Benner 1:07:42
Somebody just lifted it off of you. Alright, we're gonna find out this one thing. Hold on. So you're, you get to America. And of course, someone steals from you immediately. Yeah. And but

Tiffany 1:07:55
the funny thing was that I went to I went to America, I was doing a summer camp in what's it called Code Camp salaat. I'm, like, now forgotten what the name of what was called. Anyway, it's almost like the border of New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, somewhere around that area anyway, late to there. So like something or I can't, like stop what I think the cat like that was the area. And the camp I was that was called B'nai brith pillman camp, which is a Jewish camp. Anyway, so I had to go to America, I go to LA to do my training for a day. Then I get another point. And I go and I fly to get to New York. And then we live in New York. And it's like, midnight, and I get off the bus. And I remember picking up my little bag, my little, my little refrigerated bag that had my insulin in it out of the box. And I went inside to the to the reception area to book to get my room. And that's the last time I remember having my little bag. I can't remember what happened to it after that. So it's possible you lost it and you're telling me this. It's possible.

Scott Benner 1:09:02
It definitely started because

Tiffany 1:09:04
as soon as I realized I went down to the reception area, and I said, Did you see this bag and I described it and I get in like I had a picture of it. I gave him the picture. And they're like, No, we didn't see it. I was like, Oh my god, did

Scott Benner 1:09:19
you replace your How did you replace your insulin being here?

Tiffany 1:09:23
I rang up my insurance company. And they don't replace they replace the cost in Australian dollars, not American dollars. And of course, I bought them. They cost me $35 for a box, five boxes of five pins for 25 pins. But I had I must have got a couple of scripts because I had more than that. Yeah, so I had Yeah, was in 2006. Um, I was 27 back then, um, wow. 12 years those in America. Um, I had I must have had two scripts. So I had like $70 worth of insurance. And that's what I replaced. And my I had done medical leave padlets I had to take as well at the time, which I still do take for blood pressure, like stupid. I, anyway, they replaced the cost of that. And that was easy and obvious, like how the hell am I gonna pay for more insurance in America, and I, my insurance company, I was on the team on the phone with my insurance company trying to figure it out. They wouldn't help me. And so I ended up having to, like ration how much I would eat, and be very, like, that would have been like the worst control of my life. I was away for like five months. Well, um, and I had to, I had to buy syringes. That's the other thing Australia, we get syringes supplied for free, any kind of that we have to pay fingerprints. But apart from that, like, we don't we get, we get in. And pump supplies, you do have to pay for all your consumables for the pump, but we don't have to pay we don't have to pay for for needle tips. And we don't have to pay for syringes.

Scott Benner 1:11:04
Yeah, some stuffs covered and some stuff

Tiffany 1:11:06
to buy a box of syringes. And I was just like, this is gonna kill me. Luckily, like at the camp though, there was a doctor, because we had a, it was a big camp. So obviously, there's an infirmary and the doctor and stuff. And the doctor, I didn't have to pay and say, doctor because the doctor was there. So he gave me a prescription for insulin. And I take a day off work and go to the chemist and I bawled my eyes out like that whole day, it was horrible, just trying to figure out like how I was going to pay for this stuff. And figuring out I needed, I couldn't buy pens anymore, I cut to get disposable syringes, and I had to get vials of each one because it was cheaper than buying pens. Well, I think that that Oh,

Unknown Speaker 1:11:51
yeah, really

Scott Benner 1:11:52
highlights just the stress and the pressure that people with type one feel when they can't afford whatever it is they can't afford that they need for their health. It's a very omnipresent feeling. That just is it's overwhelming, you know, like this, the thing that keeps me alive, and now I suddenly can't afford it, and nobody's helping. And what do I do? And you know,

Tiffany 1:12:14
I like, luckily, like, because I had a really good job before I left and I quit my job because they said they would only hold my position for three months. And I'm like, but I'm gonna be gone for five months, I'm going to America and I'm going to Europe. I'm going to go to New Zealand before I come home, and they're like, Oh, nice, sorry. And I'm like, Well, if you're not going to hold the position for me, I said, Well, I don't want to work for you guys anymore. So I quit. And

Unknown Speaker 1:12:36
I'm like,

Tiffany 1:12:38
Yes, I had all this money like so I bought I got a credit card. And luckily, I got the credit card before I went to America, and you know, pay for my trip and everything. And I had money to fall back on for when I came home. That money ended up being used to buy insurance in America. And so I didn't really have much spending money. So I spent the whole trip like feeling so sorry for myself and having to go to TJ Maxx and like, you know, I want to actually like have something nice that I want to bring back souvenirs,

Scott Benner 1:13:06
right? Not just what you could get for the max for the minimum right, which is Yeah, I understand you're saying no. Oh my gosh. All right. This is it. I have to go you've exhausted me. Actually, I actually do have to go but I really appreciate this and let me just say goodbye. And I'm gonna starting the recording back up real quick because I'm gonna do Arden's lunch Bolus, Wallah Tiffany's on with me, so. Alright, so Arden a little while ago was like, I'm gonna go get a bagel with a friend of mine at school, so I think they split a bagel. I've never seen the bagel before. I did. I did my love

Unknown Speaker 1:13:47
bagel. I love

Scott Benner 1:13:48
bagel like bread, right? And so she's like, she's 179 right now. And I've got her coming back down. We've been bolusing trying to you know, we missed on the bagel bolus, the initial one. Yeah. And we've been bolusing trying to get it back down. So but now we're getting ready for lunch. So now she's got to go to lunch. So we're gonna reset attempt bazel increase of 95% for

Tiffany 1:14:14
we don't have bagels in Australia and nowhere near as good as the bagels I had in New York. And when I had a camp Oh my god, they were amazing with lox, and cream cheese.

Scott Benner 1:14:23
We Yeah, I don't I don't understand how anyone, once they've had a bagel or bread near New York City, goes anywhere else and doesn't hold on a second.

Tiffany 1:14:35
It was anything about New York City with the bagels. I don't like New York City. It's not my favorite place at all. I could think of I would rather go to Pennsylvania and go to Philadelphia. I like Philadelphia,

Scott Benner 1:14:45
Philly. Yeah, that's a good place. Let's see. I'm going to do a 12 unit bolus extended 50%. Now and the rest over an hour, I have a lot of insulin going. So I'm trying to figure out how I can try to figure out how Not to mess this up basically.

Tiffany 1:15:01
Sorry, I'm distracting you from Well, you're

Scott Benner 1:15:03
not I could do this in my sleep. But your pandologic No, no, it's wait. So let's go over everything. First of all, if you're not from the east coast, you've never been to the east coast, whatever. Someone's giving you a breakfast and calling a bagel is not a bagel, and I'm sorry for you. The pizza crust you get is not good. And anything really that's like bread or flour you're being lied to by the people who are giving it to. There's a pizza place in New York City that also has a location in Florida. And they truck water from New York to Florida just to make the dough.

Tiffany 1:15:38
Oh, wow, that's insane. How cool

Scott Benner 1:15:41
are truck full of water drives from New York to Florida. And that's how they make decent pizza in Florida. Wow. And the rest of you? I don't know what you're doing Pizza Hut or something.

Tiffany 1:15:53
If I go to Florida to go, then you could go to Disney World. I am not going to eat pizza there. I would rather eat it in New York.

Scott Benner 1:16:00
Yes. I mean, you might find someone who can figure out how to make it. But the odds are, it's just a pale reproduction of something and just yeah, nearly as good at a bagel once in Indian apalis. Yes, I was getting ready to get on a plane in Indianapolis and I was leaving my hotel and they're like here, we're going to work July. I said, Well, I'd like to eat light because I'm getting on a plane. And they gave me this bagel. And I started eating and I said Can I just get some fruit instead? And she's like, you don't like the bagel? And I said, oh you poor dear. This is not a bagel. I don't even know what this is. You know, I was like, but this is terrible. And please stop eating this. Get on the plane with me. I said you flew into where I'm going. got off the plane in the terminal. But a terminal like a like an airport bagel. It would be the best bagel you ever had to get back on the plane to fly back to Indianapolis. Anyway. Tip Thank you so much. We're all good. I got Ardennes Bolus, and we did a Temp Basal increase 95% for an hour we Bolus 12 units extended did 50% now and 50% over another hour. And I think this is gonna do it. So well. We'll say Good work. Thank you. I'm now going to go get on with the rest of my life and you're gonna go to bed because it is now 120 in the morning where you're at. Is that correct?

Tiffany 1:17:19
Yes, that is correct. Yep.

Scott Benner 1:17:20
Thank you very much for staying up so late to do this. I really

Tiffany 1:17:23
thank you. It wasn't good. It was good. having a chat. Thanks for comfort finally happened after all the stumbles we had,

Scott Benner 1:17:30
seriously might have taken a year to get you on here. So thanks again. I'm gonna say goodbye privately real quick. Hey, hold on till the very end. I have an update email here from Tiffany if you're interested, but it'll be after everything that's coming right now. Huge thanks to me for not doing any bad Australian accents during this episode. And to Dexcom on the pod and T one D exchange for sponsoring this episode. Please go to my Omni pod.com Ford slash juice box to get your free no obligation demo of the Omni pod tubeless insulin pump sent directly to you and learn more about the dexcom g six continuous glucose monitor. I genuinely think that it is at the core of every decision I make. And that you would really love to know more about the dexcom g six dexcom.com Ford slash juice box. You too can help with Type One Diabetes Research while supporting the podcast. You can do a great thing for people living with type one and support your favorite podcast. I'm assuming this is your favorite podcast. Let's just let me believe that it is okay. Anyway, T one d exchange.org. forward slash juicebox. You need to be a US citizen. answer a couple of quick questions make sure you're eligible. As soon as that happens, there's a seven minutes It took me to answer the questions they wanted. There was nothing insanely private. It was about like what insulin do you use? You know what what shape are you when when you were diagnosed stuff like that this information they use to do all kinds of great things in the world. As a matter of fact, some things that you don't realize happened in the world. Medicare covering CGM, that that came from this research, certain test trips being covered by insurance companies that came from here. So they're changing how insurance covers supplies. They're changing how you know, entities see technology. There's a lot going on here. It's a tiniest bit from you. And it has huge and wonderful ripples throughout the world with Type One Diabetes. I did it as a matter of fact, on the first day that my link became available 100 people did it. But that he Wendy exchange needs thousands. So if you can take the time, it really will just take a couple of minutes you can do it right from your cell phone or a computer. The interface is very clean and easy to use. It's nothing about it as a is cumbersome at all. If you can take that time. I think a lot of goodwill come from it. So that's pretty much it. I hope you give it a shot, T one d exchange.org. forward slash juicebox. Alright, just from editing this, I feel the same kind of rush I got when I was talking to tip. She was just amazing. I hope you had a good time today. I'll be back next week with more of the Juicebox Podcast. Thanks so much for listening, everybody. Thank you for telling other people about the show and supporting the sponsors and all the great stuff that you guys do. Seriously. Oh, don't forget to there's like 10 more days left, you can enter the giveaway, celebrating 2 million downloads of the Juicebox Podcast go to juice box. There's nothing to do by the way you just enter you don't have to do anything to enter Juicebox podcast.com. Up at the top it says 2 million. Click on it. There's some talky talk there for me a list of the swag from the giveaway Juicebox Podcast sweatshirt on the pod t shirts, Lily's chocolate gift pack 30 minute consultation with Jenny Smith CDE for free, tons of Dexcom swag tons of touch by type on swag. And it looks like there's just about those close to 2000 entries. So I mean, there's nothing to do he just click on the thing to enter. And that's it. Not keeping your name not keeping your email address. I don't get anything out of this. I'm just trying to give some stuff away and say Hey, thanks for downloading the show and sharing it with people. So if you want to take a shot at some of that, goodness, head over there now Juicebox podcast.com 2 million, little clicky clicky. At the top of the screen, there's a whole bunch of links up there actually. Diabetes pro tip link. The best endocrinologist link is the juice box docs. There's lists of the episodes. Oh, there's a link here to the free pie. Free par The free private Facebook group. Why did it take me three times to say private that was weird signs and symptoms of type one diabetes. Oh, the new BG conversion chart for those of you overseas, right. And I've got something exciting coming soon to go with that conversion chart, but it's not quite ready yet. Anyway, so pretty damn nice podcast. And I think the blog that associates itself to it is also pretty well done. If I do have to say so myself, which I'm gonna have to because there's no one else here. And no one else gives us. Except for me, because I put all this work into making it anyway. Goodbye. Hello. I almost forgot the email. Wait one second. She's home. Sorry.

Tiffany, Tiffany wrote, hey, Scott loving listening to all the stories from everyone you have on the show. I was just wondering if there was a scheduled date for my recording to go out. Tiffany, you're delightful. This by the way is back in March. It's August. Now Tiffany recorded this in January. And it took us a year so it's gonna take about two years for Tiffany to get on the podcast and total but anyway. Oh, there's been some updates to the CGM subsidy in Australia on first March 2020. It was updated to now include those who have access to those receiving assisted benefits from the government for low income pensioners. Low income and slash pensioners um

Unknown Speaker 1:23:17
Why am I being texted?

Scott Benner 1:23:21
People leave me alone. I'm trying to do something here. Oh, geez. Now I have to start over March 1. Updates now include those who have access to wait, what is Tiffany? What are you trying to Tiffany reading you is like talking to you. It's absolutely delightful. March 1 2020. It was updated to now include people who have access to those receiving assisted benefits. Alright, Tiffany, Elizabeth here. It seems like it seems like people who receive assisted benefits assistance benefits from the government in Australia for low income people or people on pensions. She says this means since I'm a stay at home parent, I can now access it too. Oh, she's excited happy dance. I just received her email to she just received an email today telling her the application was successful. And now she just has to wait for the CD to train her. She's going to be using Dexcom g five. Also g six has passed and should hopefully be available mid year in Australia. Okay. I hope you all got that. I'm now exhausted. Tiffany I love you. I I think I want to start a podcast. It's just me and you. We're not even gonna talk about anything. We're just gonna talk. I'm now really leaving for real. This is over. Goodbye.