Scott Benner 1/10/21 Scott Benner 1/10/21

#427 Red Dye

Oh my!

Laura's young son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

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DISCLAIMER: This text is the output of AI based transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors and should not be treated as an authoritative record. Nothing that you read here constitutes advice medical or otherwise. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making changes to a healthcare plan.

Scott Benner 0:14
Hello, friends, and welcome to Episode 427 of the Juicebox Podcast. On today's episode, Laura is with us. She's the mom of a small child, who was recently in the last couple of years diagnosed with Type One Diabetes. And the way they got to the diagnosis was really interesting. Please remember, while you're listening 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 for becoming bold with insulin. Just a quick reminder to check out the T one D exchange at T one day exchange.org forward slash juice box. If you're a US resident, you can add your data to the registry and help everyone living with Type One Diabetes.

This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by the Contour Next One blood glucose meter, you too can use Arden's blood glucose meter by going to Contour Next one.com forward slash juicebox. Everyone has a blood glucose meter. But you all don't have a meter like this. It's so easy to hold, use and has incredible accuracy. You owe it to yourself to check out Contour Next one.com forward slash juicebox. This show is sponsored today by the glucagon that my daughter carries g Vogue hypo Penn, Find out more at G Vogue glucagon.com forward slash juice box.

Laura 2:08
Hi, my name is Laura. I'm married and have two kids. I have a 15 year old stepdaughter who slipped with us pretty much all of her life. And then we have a five year old son named Joseph and he is our type one he was diagnosed when he was three, back in October of 2018. We're coming up on our second diversity. And we are we've been at home for the last several months, you know, with all of the things going on. So it's really given us a chance to hone in on settings and kind of just focus on the diabetes without worrying about the school and everything. So we're getting there really, really doing well.

Scott Benner 2:55
So better than getting there. All right, well, let's find out about so there's a couple of threads to your story that I want to pull on. Yeah. And first of all, is we met somewhere where was that? I

Laura 3:05
did. So I actually I live about two hours east of Dallas. And there was a jdrf I believe type one nation summit in the Dallas area. And I had a couple of friends that are in our local type one group that we realized we were all going and so we kind of met up there. And whenever I realized that you were going to be on the speaker list. I didn't care what else was going on. If there's another session that was just as good. I was like, No, there's no way I have to go to that one. But funny story with that is is I actually before COVID had. It's funny how they say elective surgery because it really wasn't. But I had to have a surgery around the same time as the conference and told my husband I said, I don't care if we need to push it back a week. You know, this is elective, they said it's not a major emergency. I said I really want to go to this conference. I said so let me go to the conference, and then I'll have that surgery afterwards. So yeah, I actually planned the surgery to coincide after the conference.

Scott Benner 4:16
You know, I was a late add to that one. And because of that, I got what I would consider like a side room. And, and I said to the person I was like, Look, well, I'll do that. I'm like that rooms not gonna hold all the people though, that are gonna show up and she's like, no, no other buddies already picked up their eyes again. Okay, we'll see. And that room was packed, people were flying out the doors and stand that along the walls and bringing

Unknown Speaker 4:41
out

Scott Benner 4:42
chairs for the aisles. And that was fun.

Laura 4:45
Went to the keynote, and you know, earlier with the lunch and it was funny cuz I was talking to my friend. And I said, wouldn't it been so much better if he had been the keynote and we could have filled this whole ballroom up instead of having to go into that little room.

Scott Benner 4:59
I thought The same thing, nobody listens to me though, so it doesn't matter. And those things are probably never going to happen again. So I think you came to the second to last one of those I'll probably ever do

Unknown Speaker 5:09
solo, I

Scott Benner 5:10
don't know. But I really did have a good time. It was weird for me, because I usually show up at those things and speaking number of times during the day, and because I was just sort of doing a favor at the end, you know, and showing up kind of at the last minute, I just, it wasn't, I didn't know what to do for like hours in the middle of the day, like, what do you do now? Right? Do you just like ice walking around talking to people, and I just didn't, I was I was a bit a little lost, but the group was great. And I got to see, they hand out questionnaires to the people in the room at the end to fill out like what you think of the speaker and that kind of stuff. And I got to see that. And it was really cool. Like, I know how much people enjoyed it. So it was it wasn't just my interpretation of how much they enjoyed it. Because in my own mind, you all loved it. Just say,

Unknown Speaker 6:00
Oh, yeah, it was great.

Scott Benner 6:02
So funny. So as a person who had heard the podcast prior, but then we're sitting in the live, how do I do in an hour of encapsulating the podcast and making it seem like something you'd want to check out? And did it seem reasonable? Or did it sound like,

Laura 6:19
Oh, for sure. It's one of those kind of things, you had both ends of the spectrum. You know, you had the ones that had been listening and wanted to be there, I guess more for confirmation for themselves to kind of keep up what they're doing. Maybe see if there was any new things. And then you have the ones that have never heard you before. And I think it was, it was awesome. You know, once I left and went to the next one, it was a panel session. And it definitely wasn't full by any means. I think we ended up leaving about halfway through it. I was like, Yeah, I've heard all this. But um, it was one of those things, like I said, the ones that have never heard you before. We're just asking such great questions that, you know, you've covered on the podcast, for sure. But it was it was great, because I think they get that sense of I'm not sure how to say but like a familiarity, like, you know, you're there in person, they can ask you this. And, you know, one question better off of another. It was, it's hard to compact all that information in such a short amount of time. But yeah, definitely. I think one of the biggest things I remember people noticing was the slide where you had all of the podcast episodes that you suggested to start with. And I think I think I saw like, half the room cell phones go up and take a picture of it. It was, it was cool, because I know a lot of people probably started listening after they left or, you know, on the way home or whatever

Scott Benner 7:45
I have to tell you when in that specific room, there was an endocrinologist in the first row. Oh, wow, I had met him the night before. It was really delightful, and was telling me how much he enjoyed the podcast and everything. But there was times where you know, I mean, listen, you're there. I'm not a medical person at all right? So I'm relaying my experiences, which are, for the most part, not consistent completely with what people are told in doctors offices, right? And so I'm talking about what we do and in conversations I've had with other people, and like, my eyes would just drift over to him once in a while, like, is he judging me? Or how's this going? But he was smiling again. I was like, all right, he's in we're good. Like, you know, let's, let's keep going. Not that it's not, you know, I mean, you start the thing by saying, Look, I'm not a doctor, this isn't medical advice. You know, right. You're gonna hear about my experience with my daughter. I don't even have diabetes, for God's sakes. You know, like, yeah, I mean, maybe you shouldn't even be here is like how I feel what I'm saying it but to see people rattling along and like you said, getting kind of jacked up and asking questions and and then the notes you get in the weeks afterwards are always very amazing. Like just like I never thought of this and you should see what it's doing for me anyway, it was it was really nice to meet and and to be there. I really hope that one day we're all allowed to gather in rooms again. And

Unknown Speaker 9:03
I really did here.

Scott Benner 9:04
I would do I would definitely do more of it. I enjoyed it. The traveling part is is not good. That that part I don't like very much.

Laura 9:13
Did you have like some experience at the airport? I'm trying to remember if it was that one or another one? That Oh, no,

Scott Benner 9:19
no, yeah, I left there. So what people don't know. None of this is is a glamorous thing like you hump yourself in you know, the day before you're going to talk and so you're pretty exhausted when you're talking to begin with and, you know, you get a car It used to be somebody put you in a taxi, like a gentleman, but now they're like, get yourself a car and find your way here and you're like, Oh, Jesus, all right, okay. I'm not exactly an Uber person. So like, you know, I get to the hotel and there's some problems checking in I get that all worked out and they give you a nice dinner and but you've got a headache from the, you know, from the travel. Like I'm sitting there like, Oh my god, you know, and, and then it was all I felt like I got like, paid back 1000 times by meeting everybody but then I got back to the airport, which is by the way you're done. And then they're like, Alright, well get yourself to the airport, I actually a person who came to see me talk and I got them to drive me. Nice. My wife's like, one day you're gonna get murdered. And I was, like I said, I think I'm better off with people who like the podcast and just a random Uber guy, right? There you go. So we get to the I get to the airport. And I am really gassed. Like, it's, it's a quick turnaround, like, I'm back in an airport 36 hours after it was in one. And I'm sitting there just trying to think, like, I'm gonna go into the restroom and change into something more comfortable to fly in. And I'm sitting and listening to music and trying to find my center a little bit. And this person comes up to me and just kind of waves in my face. And I take out my headphones. They're like, Hi, are you Scott? And I was like, is this weird happens, like, Am I getting a shot? Right in an airport? Like, what did I say on that podcast, you know, and it ended up being a person who was just a fan of the show. And I said, Oh, were you just at my talk? And she goes, No, I was like, wait, what, um, you're not from Dallas. We're happenstance Lee in an airport together. And you recognize me from a podcast about type one diabetes? Wow, I was like, I made it. But no, it was really nice. It really was like, it's not something you know, you don't you don't float a podcast in the world. And think One day, a random person in an airport is gonna know who you are. Right. Very weird. So Dallas, definitely a it was a great experience. And I liked it. I liked the people and, and everything. But like I said, I don't know when we'll ever do something like that again. Anyway, will you share with me what your elective surgery was?

Laura 11:43
So, um, I actually have a family history of colon cancer. And so my grandfather actually passed away from it. Back when I was, I believe a junior in college, so 15 years ago. So anyways, my dad ended up and my aunt ended up having to have colonoscopies, you know, pretty regularly just to you know, alleviate any, you know, problems. But it was never really passed down that I needed to do that, or my sister needed to do that, you know, at that point, and, you know, I'm 36. And so, colon problems really aren't, you know, common at my age, it's not that they don't happen, just not common, but ended up having. So long story short, and I had been having some digestive issues and things but kind of passed it off. And it seems to have gotten better, about a year prior. And coincidentally, it was kind of around the same time that Joseph was diagnosed. So things really didn't, for me, and they weren't in the forefront, because, you know, I was thinking about him and everything. And it really didn't feel like mine wasn't that big of an issue. Of course, as a parent, you, you know, you take better care of your kids than you yourself sometimes. But I'd gotten to the point where I went to see a gastroenterologist after seeing my primary care physician, she said, let's get this checked out. Let's roll out something make sure it's not something minor. And you could just, you know, take some meds and get better or whatever. So see the gastro and he says, Let's do colonoscopy and endoscopy. You've had some, you know, you have asthma. And then I had the some of the gastro problems that were showing up and he said, let's go ahead and just do this and rule out things and hopefully, maybe it's just something simple. So when in for that around Thanksgiving of this past year, they find a polyp that was too large to remove. And while I was in the colonoscopy, endoscopy ended up being fine, I had a hernia, but they were able to remedy that. And so he says, let's go ahead and schedule you for surgery. It's elective. So being in public education, I don't have a lot of time off. And because it was elective, the hospital wouldn't do it around the holidays, which would have been perfect because I would have already been off for it. And so I ended up having that in February after the podcast and not sorry after the conference. Yeah. So anyways, get the results back couple of days stay in the hospital, I had to it was a colon resection they ended up taking out I think four centimeters of my lower colon and it was kind of one of those. I wish that I would have probably taken care of this sooner but thankfully it was good timing doctor said they caught everything, but that it could have eventually turned into colon cancer had it been left 10 you know, 15 years so it's one of those kind of things that like I said, it was just good timing thankfully didn't let it you know, procrastinate any longer and got it done soon enough.

Scott Benner 14:53
But that's a serious story. I think I thought you're gonna say like I was getting like butt implants or something like that. No, no. And then when you said it was something serious, I thought, Why can you imagine that this story ends with her put this off to come to see me talk. And then she has happened. I'm like, Yeah, I

Unknown Speaker 15:09
wouldn't have told you if that was the case.

Scott Benner 15:12
If I gave you cancer, you would have kept that out of this. I appreciate that very much.

Laura 15:16
Well, thankfully, like I said, 10 to 15 years, it had a good lifespan it would have happened in but

Scott Benner 15:23
what's it like now for this? Like, when do you have to how often you have to check in on it.

Laura 15:28
So a good thing about it is, is, once they got it, it was the only one there. So there's not really a lot of follow up other than just every now and then I think he said, Every two years, I'll have to go back for a follow up colonoscopy. And then obviously, as they don't see things, they'll span that out maybe two, five years? Or

Scott Benner 15:48
do you have hair covering your microphone or something weird like that? You just got siblings, you just got much softer.

Laura 15:55
any better?

Scott Benner 15:55
I don't know. You have to say something?

Unknown Speaker 15:57
Can you hear me? No, it's

Scott Benner 15:59
far away. Is the mic near your mouth?

Laura 16:01
It's right near it.

Scott Benner 16:02
Here. How did that happen? All right. Now you were talking and you just got you got farther away on me. That's all. Alright. Okay. So there's follow up to do. But there's, there's no like you don't, I mean, they're not telling you you need to live like this is going to be a problem, you have to change. Not at all eating or

Laura 16:21
So prior to whenever I'd gone to see the gastroenterologist and I had kind of changed up my diet a little bit and take away some of the things that were less acidic, and make sure that I wasn't drinking, you know, like gallons of orange juice, and things like trying to think like broccoli, cauliflower, things that were gas producing. He said, you know, take those out and nuts, things like that. But he said, You know, you're a normal 36 year old and don't feel like this has to hinder you at all. So, whenever Joseph was born, I had a C section. So I was already familiar to an abdominal surgery to begin with. So at this point, I have a horizontal section from the C section and now I have a vertical incision from the colon resection. So I've got a little t that makes you also

Scott Benner 17:18
met may one day have a podcast episode called Laura farted too much. So Oh, my God, my

Unknown Speaker 17:24
husband would love that.

Scott Benner 17:28
Well, we'll see. Maybe you'll say something else that'll get you off of that one. But strong contender right now. So anyway, so you had like you said, you have a stepchild, who's the you're older, and then you're younger? Is the type one diagnosed at three. In your note to me, you're talking about pretty significant. I felt behavioral issues, especially for a three year old. Can you tell me what was going on? And did it just sort of start out of nowhere. I mean, was he like a pain in the butt when he was nine months old or like what happens?

Laura 18:02
So when he was born, like I said, being an education, I had to go back to work with, you know, limited time off. He was born at the beginning of January. And I went back last week of February. And it was about six weeks after he had been born. And we were lucky enough to have an amazing friend who was a stay at home mom, and she kept him for this app from the time he was six weeks old till he was about 18 months. And so we were able to thankfully kind of avoid all of you know, the daycare snot and all that fun stuff that first, you know, year and a half that he was able to be with her. And he started school when he was 18 months. And it was kind of one of those he was impulsive. Very much. He was aggravated A lot of times when things didn't go away his way more so than I would think a regular 18 month old would be he would push or hit or whatever. And we didn't really have that at home. And so it was kind of one of those like, Where's this coming from? And he's obviously never liked the word No, he he stubborn. He likes to get his way. And there's you know, a tape there's a 10 year age gap between him and his sister. And so, you know, it's not like they hang out and you know, they'll play with each other to a point but you know, a 15 year old and a five year old you're you're not gonna see them together. 24 seven,

Scott Benner 19:32
pretty limited intersection of ideas and thoughts.

Unknown Speaker 19:36
For for sure.

Scott Benner 19:37
Oh, by the way is your 15 year old is really has that much in common with your five year old than your 15 year old has a problem like Yeah.

Laura 19:46
But yeah, so he he would get in trouble at school and it would just kind of be hit or miss. A lot of times but I would kind of dread getting the note home. What had happened to him The day like, oh, God did he hit, he didn't buy, I will say that, thankfully, he did get bit, but he didn't bite himself. But he would push or he would shove or whatever. And we tried lots of different behavioral interventions where we would, you know, let him be off on his own, give him time to then certain things or whatever. So, um, he's at that school for a full year, almost two years, almost two years. And he had gotten it gotten to the point where the school is like, let's take a break. They weren't necessary.

Unknown Speaker 20:42
It's not, you get out

Laura 20:44
that weren't necessarily saying you're out, you're gone, as but they said, let's take a break, you know, come back in the fall, he was going to go during the summer, a couple of days for like a mother's day out kind of thing, just to keep them in for a little bit of, you know, kid interaction. So anyways, he's out, but I'm still working at that point. And I have to figure out whether or not I can get him into another school. And thankfully, it was only a couple of weeks, I'd visited a couple of other schools. But the problem is, is you go into it with this stigma that your kid's been a behavior problem. But you know, it's one of those kind of things that every school is different, they deal with things in different ways. But the new school he went to was great, brought him in, welcomed him. He had the only thing I didn't like about that was there's teachers changed a little bit more frequently, there's a little bit more turnover at that school. Yeah, they have

Scott Benner 21:39
more stress

Laura 21:41
a little bit. But they had a built in cafeteria, they provided food if we needed it, he ended up not liking the foods that they did. But once we had left the previous school, one of his teachers had suggested going to look into occupational therapy, to see if there might be some sensory issues. So we ended up going to our occupational therapist here in town. He did get diagnosed with sensory processing disorder, we went through several months worth of therapy, things started to get better. And then bam, he's diagnosed. And we're like, maybe this isn't sensory, maybe this is something that's related with the diabetes. Yeah. But my both my stepdaughter and my husband, and a couple of members of his family have ADHD. And so there's definitely some signs pointing to things that are, you know, related to ADHD that there's a good chance he has it or add, not sure, too young to diagnose at this point. And we definitely don't want to medicate him at five years old, you know, yeah. So. But yeah, so he's diagnosed, he was at the school. The new school that we moved to, for a total of say, he wouldn't may is diagnosed in October, and he went a little bit during the summer. So what, five, six months? So it was one of those things when he got diagnosed, when we were in the hospital, I was, you know, scared, talking with my husband, like, what if they don't take him back because of this, you know, that's obviously it's a it's a daycare. It's not a school. It's not public, there's no nurse, but when I called them and he got diagnosed over a weekend, so of course, we had a couple of days to freddo for it. But when Monday came around, I was able to call them from the hospital. They said, Oh, no, that's great. We actually have another type one here. She's a little bit older, and comes to the after school program. So we're familiar with the finger sticks and and insulin if we needed to give it so it was kind of one of those. Oh, okay, breathe a little bit kind of thing.

Scott Benner 23:59
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I have a couple of questions. I don't want to get far ahead without asking my questions. So first of all, I feel for you because I once had a dog kicked out of a kennel and that was horrifying. I was walking out like I'm so sorry. You know, and and I can't even imagine like what that must feel like for someone to say, Hey, you know, you need to get your head out of here because

Laura 27:17
well, that to their point, I will say they did offer in the fall. They said hey, you want to come back? Let's try this again. So at least they did offer I mean, it was Yeah,

Scott Benner 27:27
that's all cool. I just mean in that initial moment when you're when you're standing there like Hi, it's me, Laura. I'm here to pick up my kid. They're like, yeah, don't bring that kid back here. You're like, Whoa, okay. And like you said, You were like, you'd wait for it. Right? Like, and that's gotta be stressful too. It was Yeah, no kidding. And so Okay, so here we are. You've tried these things for, you know, different issues. You're wondering if it's ADHD, maybe it's sensory, maybe it's not, you get the diagnosis for the Type One Diabetes. I guess let's delve into that. And then we'll bring it back around again. So how do you how does the type one present?

Laura 28:06
At that point, he's three, he hadn't potty trained yet. And we hit started really, really working on that whenever he was home over the weekends and working at school because the school had a bathroom in the classroom. And so they would take them and you know, just peers around him would show and so we really, really were working on potty training. So it seemed like he was getting it. But he would be drinking excessively like down a drink and then want another one five seconds later, but then go to the potty. Right, you know, as soon as he finished the one. So my husband like, Oh, he's getting it. He's getting a Skittle for it. And he wants to go potty. Well, we get calls from the school. So this all starts kind of on a Sunday night, he wet the bed on Sunday night. And he ended up having to go to school the next day. And I'd put him in a pole up. But he was reading through the pull ups. And I want to say that week, because we ended up going to the hospital on a Friday on that Friday. So it was really only a week of symptoms. We ended up brought up maybe four or five sets of clothes over a two day period of time that he was at school because he went through them so badly and needed to be changed even with the extra set of clothes that you know you already have there. So it was one of those things that my husband was venting to a couple of people at work and saying, you know, this potty training is going good, but oh my gosh, he's wetting himself so much. And he had said something to one of his co workers. And she said, that sounds like type one diabetes, you need to get that checked out. So it's ironic and it's kind of a scary story that she said, I'm not sure who was related to her or she knew but they had somebody they knew that had a kid that got diagnosed, but the kid was a little younger. And it gotten so thirsty that the kid was drinking out of the dog's water bowl. Wow. And so she had told that to my husband, and he's like, you know what, let's just go get this checked out. So that all started on Sunday, I was able to get him an appointment on that Friday with our pediatrician, but she is half day only clinic on Fridays. And so when we went in, and I unfortunately wasn't able to contain him to be able to get a blood draw or finger stick, he was fighting us combative, and he's got skills. He does. Bad ninja skills. When it comes to us. He's

Scott Benner 30:37
got good footwork, he knows that a stick and movie catch you with the right cross out of nowhere.

Laura 30:44
It also didn't help the fact that I was pretty squeamish about blood. It's funny now with all of the finger sticks. And we were doing injections for a while there and pod changes and everything. I've gotten a lot better. But when she went to go do the blood, I was like, Oh, I can't do this. And so she said, All right, let's figure out something else. Whenever your husband gets off work, we can figure something else out. So I called him after lunch, he got off a little early. And we went to an urgent clinic in town and he was able to kind of help out and they tested his sugar. And it was one of those surreal moments because they were like, I think this meter is broken, because it's saying it's over 700. So it was pretty high. And so they tested him to two times to be sure. And both times it was over 700 so much that their meter didn't say a number. It just said over 700. So, yeah, we're at that urgent clinic, and they call the pediatrician and say, you know, what do you want to do this, she says, get him to Dallas to the Children's Hospital. So they bring over a crew from Dallas Children's Hospital, and he gets ambulance to the airport, which he thought was really cool. He had never flown before. And we get in one of the Children's Hospital jets. And we go into Dallas and ambulance back from the airport to children's and my husband drives because it's not a big enough plane for all of us to go. And so my stepdaughter was away visiting her other grandparents at that point in the Dallas area. So once we got there, she was able to come up and see us as well. But we actually the funny thing is, is in the amount of time it took us like I said, we live about two hours east of Dallas, my husband was able to drive, go home, get all of the stuff we needed, and meet us there in about the same time. So it took us about two hours. It's not that long of a flight. But it took us about that long to get there. Funny, we could have just driven whatever, pull

Scott Benner 32:52
them in a wagon, maybe even made it in a reasonable amount of time. It sounds like I was wondering, when you said that I thought well, maybe they were really far from where they needed to go or how there was this situation. They were just like, Hey, we haven't used this plane all day.

Laura 33:07
Let's just get it out. But thankfully, my husband's insurance. He works for higher education, Junior College. And so you have state insurance, and it covers all of the ambulance and all of the plane rides. So

Unknown Speaker 33:18
my next question.

Laura 33:22
Yeah, I saw what white guy build. I was like, wow, $40,000 plane flight.

Unknown Speaker 33:27
That's awesome. Wow, no kidding. Geez. Yeah. Oh, my gosh,

Scott Benner 33:32
thank goodness. Like, can you imagine if your insurance was like, Wait, what? No, you couldn't drove there the same time? You'd have been like, Oh, yeah, I know, honestly. We're gonna put you on a payment plan. Like No thanks.

Laura 33:45
I don't pay this out until he's 18 or older,

Scott Benner 33:48
essentially $15 a year, just until this is all taken care of. Okay, so Wow, you get to the hospital. And I mean, his blood sugars, especially for a little person. I wonder how much different that is? Probably not. But it made me wonder like is a higher blood sugar like that in a smaller body more dire than in a larger one? Or I wonder what those are that? Yeah.

Laura 34:11
So the great thing about this urgent clinic is is they cater to pretty much every need that you could ever want. They have people to come around and say Do you want a massage? You want a bottle of water? They've got all this you know, food available?

Scott Benner 34:23
They did come in on a jet. You seem important.

Laura 34:26
Well, no, this isn't the urgent clinic. And so of course, while he's there prior to us going in, of course, he's like, I want a candy bar. I want a soda. And so I'm sure that probably didn't help the situation. So it might have been a little lower. Prior to him eating all that food. Gotcha. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 34:43
They drove his blood sugar up with the Good Eats.

Laura 34:46
Exactly. So they ended up I'm trying to think so the team that came from Dallas had, you know, this chart that they had based on his weight and the insulin that he needed and so they were able to give that to him prior To him go and hooked him up to an IV. IV was going while he was on the plane ride. It was it was interesting. But yeah, we get to Dallas come through the emergency entrance get into our room. They start him on diluted because of his size. At that point, I look back now. And I tell my husband all the time, like I wish I would have known I see the pictures and I'm like, Wow, he did lose weight. I don't even know how that's something you don't notice. You know, the circles under his eyes, things like that. I look back, you know, just kind of sad about it. But he ended up like I said he was on diluted. Once he was in the hospital for the first day, I want to say then they realized that he was going to need a little bit more. So they put him on the regular shrink. We started on novolog. And we were doing syringes because he was on quarter units at that point. And then once he got on the regular wearable to do the half units, and then they switched us over to pin on the human log. And we still did the syringe for the Lantus that he was doing. He did a morning dose of lantis. But it was hospital protocol whenever we were in that if they changed his dosage or the type that you had to stay for an extended period of time to get everything regulated. It's not the right word. But I think that's kind of what they're how they

Scott Benner 36:29
thought of it. So every time they made a change to this, they thought now you have to stay longer.

Laura 36:35
Not Not every change but change from the diluted to the full strength except that's reasonably Nova log to the human log on that.

Scott Benner 36:44
I don't understand what okay. So how long did you end up staying?

Laura 36:49
About four days? I think we were there. Three and a half. We went home on Tuesday. So we got there Friday, about midnight Saturday morning, and then left about lunchtime on Monday.

Scott Benner 37:02
You know, as I'm saying that Arden was in the hospital for like four or five days, too. Yeah. So and she was little she was too. And you know, her blood sugar was pretty pretty darn high when she got there. So I don't know how much of that is, is just good common sense, or how much of it is being careful because of how little they are and they can't talk and there's other things. By the way, before I forget this if the person whose kid drank out of the dog bowl, listen to this podcast, shoot me an email cuz Yeah, for sure. Totally get on the podcast, just in case you're wondering. I just really didn't want to forget this. Because that seems really, that really makes the point doesn't it? You know? Yep. Wow. So you guys get home. I'm interested in because you described your husband and your stepdaughter have ADHD a little bit. You don't like blood? So you guys were just I agree well trio to get involved in type one diabetes, right?

Laura 38:01
Oh, my husband was actually great about it. And my stepdaughter is fine about it. And he actually was a he worked in college as it's not a phlebotomist, but he worked at a plasma center. So he has no problem with blood at all. He could do it in asleep and probably find a vein. Even now, you know, 1520 years later, you're probably still do it and asleep. But yeah, he had no problems. And he was the one to initially do all of the doses because I just I wasn't there yet. But it didn't take long. I was stepping in and and saying, you know, this is my kid. I've got to do it for him. And you know, there's really no other option.

Scott Benner 38:43
Yeah, it turns out you didn't have as much of a phobia as you just didn't really like it. Yeah, you're able to like write that ship pretty well. Well, I would expect, obviously, no less. It's that stupid thing that you know, you hear people say all the time. Like I could never do that, like I sure you could. Yeah, yeah, absolutely good. Don't forget the hiker cut off his own arm. I'd like to make a list of people who think they can cut their arm off with a pen knife. That's a pretty short list, then all of a sudden you find your arm trapped in between two boulders and you say to yourself, ah, I guess I can't do this. I can't, because I don't want to die here. Well, that's that's pretty cool. You know, everybody kind of came together and got it together right away. What was the technology? Like? Did you guys transfer away from MDI pretty quickly? or What was your path like for that?

Laura 39:31
Um, I guess that's a relative term so quick for some people because, you know, some hospitals and NGOs require that you be diagnosed for at least six months or something. And we actually so he was diagnosed on October the 19th. And I actually just scrolled through some memories and saw that his first Dexcom he got a G six, and his first one that we answered it was on November 6, so relatively short for that to be doable. Finger sticks. Yeah. So that was that was great. And it's like I've heard you say before and many other people, we could have done MDI forever if it meant that we got to keep the G six. But once we actually got on the Omni pod, it's it's been great. But we started that his birthdays first week of January and we actually went to a waterpark for his birthday because who gets to go swimming in January. So he went to one indoor waterpark for his birthday. And he did the demo pod while we were there and just kind of kept it on see how it worked while we were in the water test. It was Yeah, good test. It worked out well. And my husband and I went in and did the sailing test with the endo. And at this point, we are still saying Dallas endo team. At that point, we're four months in, and we do the sailing test. He and I go up, he wears it for a couple of days. I wear for a couple of days and do all the settings and pretend you know to put stuff in. And then he starts it later that week. So October to January, we did an MDI and then he started Omnipod. In January,

Scott Benner 41:11
I called up pretty quickly and yeah, so his I'm assuming his blood sugars become more regulated, obviously. And what were his a once he's like through the first like, number of tests, how did it Yeah, so

Laura 41:25
when he was first diagnosed, he's at 10.5. And then we actually had our first endo checkup A month later, so not that much longer. So it really didn't decrease that much because we're still doing an MDI, we had only had the Dexcom for like a week maybe. So really not good data there. But it went down to a 10.3 the next month, but you know, progress, it's going down to a 9.4. Right? I'm trying to think right before he got the Omni pod, maybe like January, middle of January. Yeah. And then in between that appointment in his next appointment, I found the podcast and he was on the Omni pod. And we went from a 9.4 to a 7.8. So

Unknown Speaker 42:11
huge Johnson nicely,

Laura 42:13
huge, huge jump. And the great thing about it was is he wasn't having a lot of lows. At that point, we were able to catch him we were able to bump a nudge based on you know, things. The great thing about a toddler, as you know is their variance in food is pretty limited. So thankfully, he was eating a lot of the same foods. So I was able to get a good amount of data based off of that more good practice. I

Scott Benner 42:37
tell people all the time, like when, when you're really struggling, it kind of seems boring, but pick a weekend and make the same meal like two or three times in a row like you know, at the same breakfast, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, the same lunch, the same dinner. And it's a little boring, but at least you can do something, watch it happen make an adjustment, see what happens again, on a short time period. It's a way to make it fun with kids, I guess if you if you try. But it's so much easier than you know, doing macaroni and cheese today and the next day trying pizza and the third day doing a salad and like all your data is meaningless then yeah, like it's to make the next good decision.

Laura 43:16
So that's actually what I mean. I've done it pretty much ever since the beginning. But I do that now breakfast is our struggle, like most people's is. And so of course, he wants to have things that are really kid friendly, you know, muffins, cereal course. And you know, and so I'll just pick a week and say, Alright, this is what we're doing. We're gonna eat it every day for this week and try and get it better each time that we do it.

Scott Benner 43:41
That's Babel and it works right.

Unknown Speaker 43:43
And it works. Yeah.

Scott Benner 43:45
You just need you just need the repetition. Really? Yeah. So did little Mike Tyson's skills deplete as his blood sugar's came down, like

Unknown Speaker 43:56
what was fainted. So

Laura 43:57
in addition to getting the blood sugars more regulated, we were able to cut out a lot of artificial dyes, which has been tremendously helpful. Now, don't get me wrong, if he's got a school party and I go up and they want to have you know, Froot Loops or, you know, cookies or whatever, and they're totally all artificial. I'm not gonna deny him that by any means. But on the regular we do pretty natural stuff. Still hating eat things like a natural yogurt or a natural applesauce, things like that. But cutting out the dyes and getting the blood sugars regulated have definitely been helpful. Now, don't get me wrong. He's still a little Spitfire and sometimes rivals me and some of the things he says some, like, Where did you hear that? But a lot of times, it's like, oh, wait, there's a 15 year old sister. I know where he heard that.

Scott Benner 44:54
You know, he's gotta be pissed. I'm assuming you're raising him as a Cowboys fan and that would make any child unhappy.

Laura 45:00
So unfortunately, my husband would have to disagree with you on that. It's it's funny you're either are or you aren't. He's a Steelers fan. So we we root for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Scott Benner 45:12
No kidding all the way from Dallas? Well, then I don't know what the kids problem is. I know right hold together. I'm interested about the dyes. We try hard here. I try hard here to push what I just consider to be basic foods on my family. Like I want you to look at your meal and be able to say, oh, there's chicken and butter and salt. Like, like, I didn't know what's in it, you know, I may, you know, make your own bread. There's, you know, it's flour and butter and water and yeast and sugar and not much more else. You know, what's in it? It's got a little bit of sugar in it. Honestly. I'm a fan of that. And but I never considered dies before. Well, yeah. What is that about?

Laura 46:00
So that was so like, if you open a box of Froot Loops up and you look at the side, you've got red 40, you've got yellow one, all these dyes. Red 40 was the big one that I noticed. It was kind of interesting, I would do these little experiments. There was kool aid that we did one day at school, I let him have a Kool Aid zero. And then the next day, we had another one. And so it was two days straight of having this Kool Aid zero with red 40 in it and his behavior was just crazy. I I just knew that it was related to that. Because the next couple of days he didn't have it. He was fine. I didn't get any notes. Hmm.

Scott Benner 46:47
Well, I just saw I just googled read 40 side effects, is the three most widely used culprits yellow five, yellow six and red 40 contain compounds including benzene and four. Wow, what is that word? amino bifen all the research has linked. This was cancer research is also associated food dyes with problems in children including allergies, hyperactivity, learning impairment, irritability and aggressiveness. How about that?

Laura 47:15
Wow. All right, was one of those just writing's on the wall. So that was that it just stuck in us that we've got to do better for him. Because obviously, as a five year old, he's gonna pick whatever any other kids picking out. But with the ADHD and the sensory stuff, it just hypes it up even more.

Scott Benner 47:39
Yeah, yeah, it's just compounds it right, just one issue on top of another. And, wow, okay, well, I'm glad you told me about that. That's not something I ever considered before. I don't know that I eat a lot of red food. That doesn't get itself red. But I know a lot of people do. And

Laura 47:55
you'd be surprised and things. Yeah. Thankfully, you know, with, you know, being type one, he likes to drink, drinks, water with additives, and all of your ones. They're just, you know, powders you pour in those habit. So we couldn't do like crystal like, we can do anything. But they do make some dye free ones, which has been great. He likes those and some natural ones that have come out that are flavored with like, one of my favorite drinks that he drinks is a juice box. So it looks like anything else, like another kid would drink. But it's flavored with monkfruit. But I know a lot of people have allergies to things like that, but thankfully he doesn't. But it has it has one carb and and it tastes just like a regular juicebox. So that's been a great fun.

Scott Benner 48:38
I'm gonna check my wife's food cuz she can get aggressive sometimes.

Laura 48:41
Sometimes we have to check ourselves. So we actually started eating a little bit more healthy after he was diagnosed. Not so much so for the dyes, but for a lower carb because we had heard at that point, you know, this two years ago, but we had heard that, you know, lower carb is a little easier on type one. And you know, the health benefits for us were definitely an added bonus. But we started eating kind of a mixture between keto and weightwatchers. And we just kind of kept with it. He still really not eating a lot of the things that we eat, and I know, going into it I was one of those parents, my kids gonna eat everything that we eat, and I'm not going to make a separate meal for him. Well, when he's three years old, and you cook something, he's like, I'm not eating that. You've already given him insulin, like okay, well, he's gonna get something

Scott Benner 49:31
Plus he really he blacking your eye a little bit. So you're really he's probably the sweetest little kid.

Laura 49:39
He is it's so funny this morning because he's with my parents today cuz

Unknown Speaker 49:46
No, just kidding guys.

Laura 49:49
It's me and him for the summer and he of course likes to be underfoot near 24 seven because he's a mama's boy. But he whenever I left him, he was like, I love you. You blew me a kiss. It's like, Ah, you can't leave that.

Scott Benner 50:04
That's wonderful. Isn't it? Sounds like you've got it moving in the right direction for sir. Sure. It is interesting to to see how I mean, how aggressive to not, you know, in a short amount of time is really interesting. And you do wonder how many people wouldn't think too. I mean, obviously, you could look at the diabetes, but I don't know that all of that aggression in the beginning, you know, unless he was honeymooning going into diabetes for a long time. It doesn't seem doesn't seem reasonable, just to point it to that.

Laura 50:35
But I definitely think the dyes and the ADHD were a big big part of it. And it

Scott Benner 50:39
just the diabetes on top of it definitely didn't help the situation. Right, right. Yeah, you're just adding a different again, compounding a different problem on top of it for sure. I have to tell you like you don't listen, I don't know people. Some people probably think about it fine. But when Coronavirus started, I took like one good look in the mirror. And I thought to myself, Scott, you are the kind of person who will gain weight during something like this. Right? And so I was like, let's not do that, you know, and all I did was go to an intermittent fasting schedule. And just I just eat for eight hours a day and for 16 hours a day. I don't eat so I basically eat from like 11 to, you know, seven, or sometimes it's noon to eight but that's pretty much it right there. And I'm I'm 13 pounds lighter than I was when Coronavirus started. Nice and in. But thank you and in between those times that that 1107 I do not limit what I'm eating. Like yesterday, I had like a pulled pork sandwich and ice cream for lunch. And I don't gain weight. And I was like, Huh, and I had some heartburn that has completely disappeared. And don't get me wrong. Like I'm not like, I'm not eating a Twinkie on the half hour or anything like that, you know, like I'm not I have actually in full in full. Clear To be clear, I guess. I also and I've mentioned it once before I cut out refined oils.

Unknown Speaker 52:09
Oh, okay.

Scott Benner 52:11
I've never cut anything out of my my life before like that. But so anything that is any oil that is refined or pressed with heat, I won't use anymore. So like, even like no canola, no vegetable oil, like that kind of stuff. I'm just using what am I using olive oil like, you know, the lightest kind, and you know, and only cold pressed? Yeah, I'm not putting obviously that much effort into it. I don't even know what I'm doing when I'm talking about it. But I've just cut out like certain oils. And and. And that's it. So you know, when you cut that out, you're cutting out potato chips, I guess, stuff like that. But you know, I would say that's pretty much it. Like I'm not eating anything out of a bag, I'm not having certain oils, and I'm only eating for eight hours a day and 13 past, like three or four months now. So

Laura 53:03
my husband also does intermittent fasting a lot. And it same thing, like you were saying just so many benefits to it. And I remember a couple episodes ago, you were still wearing the Pro, and you were doing the fasting and you noticed how much things were better whenever you were in that fasting state. Well, foods weren't involved, especially if

Scott Benner 53:24
you're a person who at some point is going to become tied to, you know, there's long stretches of every 24 hour period where you're just you don't appear to be using very much of your own insulin, right, you know, and my blood sugar was it super stable for those 16 hours. And it still like once in a while something would happen. Like I had a bad dream, my blood sugar jumped way up. That was interesting, you know, to see. And there were some foods that obviously were harsher than others. But when I when I called on my insulin after not eating for 16 hours, it did the job, you know, 120 back down again, you know, you'd really have to eat to get the 130 or 135. Like I pressed it one time really hard. Arden made a cake. And it was just like, I mean, there's no way to know how many cups of sugar were in this confection you know, but it was a lot of sugar. And I was like, I just need two of them. I'm like, let me see what happens here. In the name of science. Well, it really was because no kidding. The second one I was pushing down. I was like, I don't really want this, you know? And like 135, something like that. That's it. All right. So, you know, but I don't know what would happen if I was having smaller snacks throughout the day. And I guess I'm gonna get to wear one more sensor at some point and I'll I maybe will take a day and break my fasting to see what happens if it just drives you up all day long. But I think that's going to be the case, I think you're gonna you're gonna end up laying in that 110 space for hours and hours at a time instead of being in that 85 space. Yeah, I mean, listen, I'm not into obviously, if you listen to this podcast, I'm not into telling people how to eat. And I really think that at its core, this podcast is about how to use insulin. And then from there, it's how to use it however you want to eat. Like, I just want people to understand how it works so that if they choose low carb, or they choose, you know, red dye number 40, they still know how to use their insulin. That's exactly important to me, you know. So it's cool that you guys found all this out. It's really I'm trying so hard to get somebody on to talk about intermittent fasting. But yeah, I've found anybody yet like, I really want like somebody who's a I don't know, a specialist that somebody could really talk about it because I don't know what I'm talking about. I only have it. I only have anecdotal, you know, information about what's happening to me.

Laura 55:44
I think Same here. Yeah.

Scott Benner 55:45
Yeah. So that's cool. All right. Listen, we're creeping up on an hour here. Did we want to feel like Did we miss it? Oh, I guess I do want to understand a little bit about you experienced that really big drop in a one. See, yeah, what were the changes that you made that led to that decrease?

Laura 56:04
Well, at that point, it was just instilling the things that we were listening to on the podcast, bumped down our high alerts, and we're able to kind of catch things be a little bit more proactive instead of reactive, but so I didn't get to say so he's actually been at three schools prior, and he's not even in kindergarten yet. But during the summer of last summer, 2019, I took him out, because I was at home. And I wanted to really focus on getting the blood sugar's under control. And we, I took a chance, because if I didn't keep him in, there's a chance that he would lose a spot and they don't usually fill up. But if they happen to for that fall session, so he lost his spot, and he ended up having to go to another school. But it was another kind of blessing in disguise. The second school, the way they manage was the office personnel were the ones that did the finger sticks, they did the insulin giving all that and the teachers were left out of it. And I would talk to them via their phones. And a lot of times it was I had to wait longer than I needed to or wanted to for something to happen. And so whenever he moved to the third school, the one most recently which they did theirs with the teacher, because they had a much smaller classroom, I think he only had like eight kids in his class. And so she was able to do things all herself trained her had the CD from our endo taught to her. And she was amazing. I look back now and wish that I could have had her as his teacher for all four years. It was cool. Yeah. And but yeah, so she dealt with it all. But we were able to hone things in over the summer. And so his lowest day when see prior to this 2019 20 school year was about 6.2. So it was it was pretty good. We were rocking and rolling. But then Coronavirus happens. And I had my surgery. And I honestly actually haven't been back to work because of all of this stuff since February. And it's now first of July. But when we got off during that time period, I had attempted looping back in August of 2019. And I don't know if you remember this or not because Arden would have been older and the smaller doses wouldn't really have mattered to her. But the algorithms, smaller doses hadn't been figured out with like it was missing ticks here and there.

Unknown Speaker 58:48
I remember and Yeah, I do.

Laura 58:49
Yeah. So it was one of those things where if I couldn't get this setting, and loot figured out before school, I wasn't going to feel safe sending him so we ended up we did it for about a month and things just weren't going like they needed to. So I said let's pick this up later whenever they get this figured out. And so the friend that I had talked about that went to the conference, we met up, they it started looping with her two type one kids, and I had actually mentioned it to her. And they were able to get theirs figured out pretty easily because her kids being a little bit older. And so February rolls along, I'm at home, he's been home and I'm like, you know what, this is the time I've got to step in and we've got to do this looping thing, because I need to be able to feel safe with him going to kindergarten, not that I wouldn't feel safe with him going. I just don't want to feel reliant on a school nurse or an aide to have to walk in somewhere. I want it to be where it's a little less thought of and a little bit more freedom for him. So we started looping in late February, and we Listen to all the episodes with looping that you done. And the one with Kenny Fox actually was the best one, I was actually able to talk to him. And it's crazy. I don't know if you know there's or not. But you actually answered one of my questions on an ascot and Jenny about hormones about growth hormones.

Unknown Speaker 1:00:19
I didn't realize that.

Laura 1:00:20
Yeah, so our biggest struggle was going to sleep and he would shoot up, like skyrocket up moments after his head hit the pillow. And it was all growth hormone. So setting his ISF significantly lower like it's double the ISF of his daytime, it made things so much smoother. I can't tell you how many nights of sleep I've actually gotten. It's, it's

Scott Benner 1:00:49
I, I hear that from a lot of people who sleep better with an algorithm helping them overnight is really, yeah, not it's not even to be surprised by this point. It's just, it happens. And it's fantastic. You know,

Laura 1:01:01
I just wished that it hadn't taken everything to happen for us to jump on board as wholeheartedly as we did when we did. I wish we could have done this sooner. But you know, it's one of those, like I said, his teacher was great and did amazing with him during the school year. And I think the transition over to kindergarten, you know, being in public schools. When I was in the classroom, I actually, we split off into two teams of the common areas that taught I taught a history class. So anyways, we had two teams, we had a special ed team. And then we had a 504 ESL team. And so I was always the 504 ESL team. And I actually had a couple of type ones that came through my classroom over the period, I was teaching, and I look back now and I think, you know, what was his blood sugar doing at this moment? Or did this affect It's so crazy, you think back and look, you know, and they're all you know, thriving adults at this point, and they're, you know, often out of school, but it's kind of a cool look back to see how things were without knowing because I had no involvement at that time,

Scott Benner 1:02:13
I can't tell you how much I think or how important I think it is to have some time to just reflect on what's going on. For sure. And it just, you know, I talked about it, I think a lot. But when things are going by so quickly, and life's happening so fast, you're just trying to stay like just trying to stay on the map, you know what I mean? Like, I just don't want to get too lost here, like, let me get the things done, I need to get done. And to make my money, I got to clean something, I got to feed people I have to shop like you know, you have to do all these things. When that slows down a little bit, you can step back, you can really start seeing things like food dye, and you know, where your how to make your boluses work better. And I guess the real trick is, is how to find that time, you know, when we're all not locked inside, right in voluntarily. And because that most of your life is not going to be like that with I should knock on wood, we are going to get out of here eventually, right? But, but you know, like, just it shines a light on the importance of reflection. And to be able to watch something, you know, kind of thoughtfully and say, Oh, I see what's happening here, you know, and then to watch it happen over and over again until it builds in your mind. Because sometimes you see things happen right in front of your face. And you don't notice them

Unknown Speaker 1:03:31
can't see the forest for the trees

Scott Benner 1:03:32
definitely can't, you know, happens, it happens a lot. So I tried to talk about people understanding, you know, macro and micro, like, think about things from further away, sometimes don't be so close up, you missed a lot, you know, there's a it's a silly thing. But you know, they say, right, you know, you hold your hand too close to your face, and you can't see anything else put your hand and so you back away, and all of a sudden everything else is there. And that's just the It's lucky for some people, obviously, some people don't have the same kind of, you know, options in their life. But this gave it to a great many more people. Obviously, there's still people working that, you know, didn't get to, you know, they they were found to be essential. And yeah, I didn't get to do this. But for so many people, I think they're having experiences like yours and like mine really like I don't know if I would have you know, I don't know if I would have tried the intermittent fasting I have a friend of mine told me about it a year ago. And I was like, yeah, and then, you know, I didn't know it. And then I then I got pinched and I thought oh, I have to do something. And that was the thing that was on top of my sort of mental list of if I'm going to worry about my health through food again, I think this is the thing I'm going to look at next is, I guess how I thought of it. So very cool. I mean, you guys have been on a little bit of a roller coaster for a couple of years, but it seems like you're you're in a good spot now. Do you agree? It's

Laura 1:04:53
one of those kind of things. When you look back, like you said perspective, I look at our agencies and times and range and you know, it's It's been coming down ever since diagnosis. And we're in a spot now where it's more stable. I think that's the biggest key. It's the stability. So that's the peace of mind.

Scott Benner 1:05:12
Yeah, yeah. No bouncing around and keeping the time and range. Right. And you know, all that other stuff. It's interesting to me, though, that what seemed like you said, I wish this would have happened more quickly for us. But really, what was it? It's a couple of years, right. Sure. Yeah. And, and I know, it's tough because sometimes you'll hear people on this podcast who find the podcast like in the hospital on day one, and they'll sound like, wow, they never really went through any of this stuff. But just remember, if it makes you feel better than two years into Arden's diagnosis, I was still pretty frequent, quiet crier in the shower, still, you know, and her and her ANC was still like in the eights and, you know, and I didn't know what I was doing. And that wasn't even unthinkable, then that was fairly common for people. Yeah, you know, so I like it. I like that where these timelines are getting shorter and shorter, and it somehow makes me happy that two years felt long to you. Not that not that it felt long. But that it, you know, is not really a very long time. Historically, I,

Laura 1:06:12
when I look back at it, whenever he's an adult and managing himself, I'm going to be like, Wow, those two years went by, like,

Scott Benner 1:06:19
in an instant? Oh, yeah. When he's fighting MMA, there you go, probably choking people out for money in the middle of the middle of the ring. Probably probably grow up to be an artist. You know,

Laura 1:06:32
at this point, he likes to do things with his hands. He's really into Legos. And, of course, what boy isn't right. And he plays outside. And actually, the thing that I'm still working on the most is activity with loop and trying to figure out the best overrides, or if I want to set it at a higher number, he started t ball this year. And we actually have a game tonight. And so going into it just kind of put in that plan into place of how can I get him set up to be in a place where it's good to start with so that the game doesn't affect? You know, so. So working on those, I think that's going to be something I'll be working on for a little bit, especially with new schedules with kindergarten and who knows what ends up looking like if if they're going to end up in the class all together? If they're gonna have to stay during lunch? Who knows? Yeah,

Scott Benner 1:07:22
I'm just you just made me think that the Minnesota Twins just drafted a kid in the first round. Who has type one diabetes. Awesome. I can't say his name is Garrett. I can't think of his last name right now.

Laura 1:07:36
Yeah. We always try to tell Joseph, cuz a lot of times he'll be listening. You know, while we're in the car, I have the podcast on and he'll say, Oh, they have diabetes, like me. Or we've seen a couple of people in the store. We've seen an omni pod on a couple people. I have a co worker that has type one. And it's, it's like a unicorn you see are like out in public, like, wow, somebody like me.

Scott Benner 1:08:04
So I'm gonna, I'm going to correct myself here. But I think it was the Brewers. Now, hold on. Now I'm gonna find out because I'm gonna hold you up. Well, you know, I want to say is Garrett Mitchell. If anybody knows, Garrett, I want to have him on the podcast.

Unknown Speaker 1:08:21
On the podcast.

Scott Benner 1:08:22
Yeah, get him get him to reach out to me, please. But yeah, I think he was like the 20th pick. 18th pick something like that. Let me look. I mean, he went high. Like, he's gonna, he's gonna play, he's gonna get paid, like the whole, you know. So it's exciting to me that your son's starting tee ball tonight. When I can, I can think back to my son's first practice for t ball. And the other day, he was trying out for a semi pro team. And oh my

Laura 1:08:51
gosh, that's so cool. I would love for him to keep it up. I played softball growing up my husband play baseball. So we're definitely a baseball family. We love it. And he has so much fun out there being with the other kids and just the awesomeness that there's no restrictions that he can be out there just like anybody else. Yeah,

Scott Benner 1:09:08
I believe that for sure. And I think you'll figure it out too. It's not going to be baseball is interesting in practice shouldn't affect in the same way a game does. And I think you would see higher blood sugar's in baseball versus lower. If I had to

Laura 1:09:21
guess with the adrenaline,

Scott Benner 1:09:23
noradrenaline that it is activity because baseball's you know,

Unknown Speaker 1:09:27
it's well, in short spurts.

Laura 1:09:30
If practice is any indication, I'm sure he probably won't move much at all. He's he kicks dirt, and

Unknown Speaker 1:09:36
hey, pay attention. There's,

Scott Benner 1:09:38
there's somebody batting, I watched the boy pick up a bug once in the outfield, and I thought, I don't think he's long for this. We'll see. That's really interesting. Well, I really appreciate you coming on and doing this and it was lovely to meet you in Dallas. Hopefully one day I'll get to go back there again. But I mean, let's let's be honest, we're not sure All right, well, the best everybody there. Thank you very much for doing this.

Laura 1:10:05
Thank you for having me. Of course.

Scott Benner 1:10:11
A huge thank you to one of today's sponsors. g Vogue glucagon, find out more about chivo Kibo pen at G Vogue glucagon.com Ford slash juicebox you spell that GVOKEGL Uc ag o n.com forward slash juicebox. And don't forget to check out that Contour Next One blood glucose meter you deserve an accurate blood glucose meter. It is simple to take care of. And if you're walking around with a busted up meter, or something that your doctor just handed you and you have no idea about its accuracy. Take a couple of seconds to do yourself a favor Contour Next one.com forward slash juicebox. And don't forget to check out the T one D exchange at T one d exchange.org. forward slash juicebox. The music beat me there but I'm not going to go back and re record this.

#425 Wine, Beans, Babies and Q

Dr. Q to the Rescue!

Jill was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes as an adult. She is delightful and this story is crazy.

+ Click for EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Scott Benner 0:00
Friends Hello, should I welcome you to Episode 425? Should I say this is the beginning of season seven? Or should I wish you a Happy 2021? Yeah, who cares? This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by Omni pod Dexcom and touched by type one. Find out more about the sponsors at Juicebox Podcast comm we're right there in the show notes of your podcast player. And of course, you can always type my omnipod.com forward slash juice box dexcom.com forward slash juice box or touched by type one.org in any browser that you have at your fingertips.

I've taken a couple of weeks off to celebrate the holiday with my family. And I'm back at it. You might not have noticed, because you know, I made sure that the podcast kept coming. But I am refreshed. I'm enthusiastic. I am happy to be out of 2020. And I have for you today an absolutely astounding story from a type one named Jill. You're going to love it. It's got intrigue and twists and turns. There's babies and odd diagnoses. There's even wine.

Jill 1:41
I never wear headphones. I feel like I'm yelling right now. Like, am I talking loud? Am I talking quiet?

Scott Benner 1:47
You're perfect. Just do what you're doing? Do you feel like you can hear your own voice? Or no,

Jill 1:53
I'm wearing like noise cancelling headphones. That's all we had. So it just feels like I don't know what my volume is. But if you say it's fine, then I'll just keep on going.

Scott Benner 2:02
We're terrific. Sounds great. Don't think about anything, we're gonna start right away. I'm super excited to talk to you tell people your name.

Please remember that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before making changes to your health care plan. or becoming bold with insulin. We're gonna do a little thing here in 2021, kind of a book club I'm going to tell you about at the end of the episode, but basically, if you go, I don't want to give it all away here. But we're gonna go over the pro tip episodes and then have live chats about them if you'd like to be involved. There. That was a simple way of saying it. Let's listen to this. And I'll tell you about that.

Jill 2:53
My name is Jill Woodruff.

Scott Benner 2:56
Good, perfect. And Jill has such a great story. Like it's fascinating. This is gonna be early, mid 2019. You and I mean, is that right? Yep. Okay, tell people what happened to you.

Jill 3:12
Um, so I was sick for a little while, but I didn't really know I was sick. And then in January,

Unknown Speaker 3:21
I

Jill 3:22
went to urgent care for a yeast infection. And I was like, why do I have a yeast infection? I haven't had that since I was, you know, very young. And I don't know why I would have that. You know, so I I went to urgent care. And they did a pee test. In the pee test. Of course, the urgent care doctor came back and was like, you have a lot of sugar in your pee. And I was like, Okay, I don't know what that means. You should

Scott Benner 3:45
have said of course I do. I'm baking bread and my vagina.

Jill 3:48
Right. I was like, Okay, well, great. Like I'm it's super uncomfortable. Can we just get this over with?

Unknown Speaker 3:54
Yeah, yeah. The fun conversation, Joe.

Jill 3:58
Yeah, he just wanted to run some tests. I'm like, okay, so he goes, and then he comes back and just was like, you know, dropped. It was just like, yeah, you're, you're diabetic. And that was just like, totally out of left field. Because I just went in for something. I thought was just like, another simp. You know, like a woman thing. Just simple. Give me the antibiotics. So we can be done with this. And ended up being like a whole whole thing. Yeah, no

Scott Benner 4:22
kidding. So then do you go right to your primary care doctor, or what do you do then?

Jill 4:27
So I'm really irresponsible. I'm gonna say it's because I'm a millennial, but maybe that's not it. So at the time, I had just turned 30 like two weeks prior. And I feel like I just didn't have like a primary care doctor. I always had Kaiser Permanente, whatever they were before, I can't remember the name, but I always had that kind of doctor. We just kind of go in if you had something, you would see whoever was available. So I didn't have anyone that I had established care with. So I just had an urgent care doctor, I didn't ever really have a real doctor air quotes, right?

Scott Benner 5:05
Because whoever came out from behind the curtain when you were there,

Jill 5:07
yeah. And I didn't really have any health issues before. So I just went in when I had the flu, or you know, for little things, but I didn't have a regular doctor. So this stranger kind of dropped the ball on me. And I was like, Oh, this is why grown up. Like having like an a primary care physician that they know in case something happens,

Scott Benner 5:28
the tiniest bit of like, I know this person while they're telling you things. Well, you know, last week, I had a pinched nerve in my shoulder. And I didn't go to my doctor, I went to a urgent care too, because all I really wanted was like a muscle relaxer, because I was like, my shoulder was spasming. And I was like, I just need this to stop. Yeah, I would have called my doctor, he would have been like, yeah, we can see you in like, maybe 10 days. And you know, it's like, right,

Jill 5:52
it's a whole thing.

Scott Benner 5:54
I can drive up the street, there's a man with a prescription pad and the whole thing's legal. So yep. Now, so, okay, well, you have what was your understanding of diabetes, leaving urgent care?

Jill 6:07
Oh, no, no understanding. So, um, I do want to be clear, like, I'm not blaming my doctors, because now I do kind of understand. You know, like, not everybody's a specialist in diabetes. When I went in, my understanding was, you're a professional, you went to college, you should be giving me obviously, all the information about what you've just told me. I left in total shock. I was like, Okay, I have no idea what to do. He told me to make an appointment with a primary care physician to follow up, and I'm like, okay, I don't have one of those. So I guess I'll just pick someone on this list at this facility. Here wrote me a prescription for Metformin. They had just, they had diagnosed me as type two because of my age. And wrote me a prescription for the Lancet and like the finger prick or whatever. And that's kind of it. I didn't have any information about what to do with any of it. I remember I went to Target to fill my prescription in a total days, because I was like, What is happening? Like, what am I even going to do with this? And I remember, the pharmacist was asking me like, which, I'm sorry, what's the fingerprick are called,

Scott Benner 7:27
like the lance.

Jill 7:29
The Lance is out, as I call it, a finger picker

Unknown Speaker 7:32
was very sophisticated.

Scott Benner 7:33
You know what it is, when you're reaching for it? I think you're fine.

Jill 7:37
You know, there's different brands. And I remember the pharmacist asked me like, which, which brand was it that the doctor needed you to get? And I was like, I just looked at her. I was like, I don't know, what did what does the prescription? I have no idea. I know as much. I know, way less than you. Right? I was just so frustrated. And I just came home and I was like, What do I even do with any of this? I don't know. I don't even know how to prick my finger like am I supposed to? I had no information at all. So that was really frustrating. I ended up YouTubing. How to do it. Wow. It was just so dramatic. Because also like, I don't like pain. I've never I'm not like a tough cookie about anything. You know, if I am hurting, I'm hurting. And so even just a simple thing, like pricking my finger was just a whole ordeal. I remember hours in the kitchen, pacing back and forth, and now like cracks me up, because it's like nothing, but I remember just like, holding my breath before I would, you know, stick my stick my little finger and get the blood out. And there was just this whole 30 year old woman and I remember just feeling so embarrassed that it was so hard.

Scott Benner 8:51
Oh my god, I so far. All I can think of is that everything I've thought to call this episode is too wordy. But Joe can't pick a prick was one of them. You know, Joe's cookie isn't tough, you know? Or, you know, and you didn't even tell us if he gave you medicine for the yeast infection, which I'm still wondering about I don't even know why. Just like what about the vagina? Is that thing okay to like, What's going on there? Did you Did he at least give you something for that?

Jill 9:20
So apparently, yes. Apparently that was like not a big problem. But apparently he said that. Because of all the sugar. Obviously like that can trigger a yeast infection. I told you like I'm, I was so confused that I even had it in the first place. Like I think I've had one maybe once in my youth. And that's it. I was like, What is happening? Why do I have this and it was an aggressive yeast infection. It was horrible.

Scott Benner 9:45
Joe had an aggressive yeast infection.

Jill 9:48
That'll get everybody to listen. But apparently that's a common thing that happens if you have undiagnosed diabetes, you know, you have a lot of people sugar in your blood. And that's it. I don't know, it's all connected with the yeast nonsense. So it was just not a

Unknown Speaker 10:06
not an ideal situation at all. So you're

Scott Benner 10:09
a person who, you know has been healthy thus far, you're you're probably getting into that like really like space where you're like, I'm 30, nothing's ever gonna go wrong with me, I'll never even need a doctor. And then suddenly, somebody is telling you, and I don't even want to say half of what you need to know. They're, they're basically just yelling words at you. So there's no direction long. Here's Metformin. Here's the thing to test your blood sugar with. You have diabetes. See you later.

Jill 10:35
Yeah, and I mean, I also to give more context, no one in my family has diabetes. I know, nobody who has diabetes. So I my understanding of diabetes at that point was, this is something that you get when you are overweight. And that's it, and I'm not overweight, you know, I was I'm five, two, I was 140. Maybe when I went in, which is, you know, five, like average. It just didn't make sense, you know, a why I had it be what I was even supposed to do going forward. And every single doctor that I met after that, because I met many primary care physicians, quote, unquote, who were all like, Oh, wow. But you're not like overweight? You know? Oh, wow.

Unknown Speaker 11:25
How'd you get?

Jill 11:26
Like, why are you asking me that? You're my doctor, you know, was extremely frustrating.

Scott Benner 11:31
You live in the middle of a desert? Like, or where are you like, near civilization? Where do you know?

Jill 11:37
Yeah, I live 30 minutes from Seattle. In the city. I mean, I guess, maybe a little more country than city, but it's I live by a lot of stuff.

Scott Benner 11:48
The expectation that every doctor you bump into, should have no idea what diabetes is.

Jill 11:54
And I just feel like because they thought I was type two. Maybe they have like a very limited understanding of diabetes, like, Oh, it's this epidemic or not? Yeah, epidemic that we see across the country. It's a big deal. I'm sure everybody gets some kind of type two training. But it was just very general, you know, any information that I got? And everything that I had to learn how to do from finger pricking, to inserting my first freestyle Libra, everything I had to YouTube, everything. Nobody showed me how to.

Unknown Speaker 12:34
That's crazy.

Jill 12:35
Absolutely do anything at all. And so I still am a teeny tiny bit bitter about that.

Scott Benner 12:41
Don't worry, we can get it out here. Well, I, I really have to say like, enough people have said it to me over the years, that I'm not stunned when the doctor doesn't get it. But I still am a little like, I try to think about like, what if you went to urgent care and urgent care said, Hey, you have leukemia, and then you walked into a doctor's office said, Hey, Urgent Care says I have leukemia, and the doctor said, That's weird. You're not a blonde. Like, like, what? Like, is that your assessment pattern? Like? Is this what they taught you in school? Like? Yes. Oh, it's fascinating. It really is. Okay, so you had to go to n number of doctors to find one.

Jill 13:23
Yeah, because everyone was just kind of confused. And I don't really know. It kind of is a blur. It was like all a lot of information. I was told to go to a nutritionist right away. I saw two different doctors like mainly, and they kind of were, I think tag teaming with information. Like, I would see one and she was great. And she was super sweet. She reassured me we're gonna figure this out. But she also was like, I have no idea. Like, where to even start with you. I don't know why you're a type two diabetic. It doesn't make sense. You're taking the Metformin and nothing is happening. You know, I was finger sticking like every What do they tell you like three times a day or something? And every time I did it, it was like 300 300 300. And they were like, yeah, we don't know. But you know, don't worry, just keep like eating you need to eat well, and like go to your nutritionist. And I was just so frustrated. Because when I would go on the internet to Google anything, which you should never do when you're sick with anything. You know, everything on the internet says if your blood sugar is higher than 300, you go to the emergency room, like right away. That's that's a problem. And I didn't understand why every doctor would look at my numbers it would be like well, yeah, like just just go home. Like just see if it gets better. Like you just need to eat better. And I am a pretty healthy eater. Um, so I was also frustrated with that because I thought what else can I cut out of my diet? Okay, sugar. Fine. I guess I Don't eat bread anymore. Fine. I was cracking up. Britt like remembering this with my husband because I told him, you know, we're eating all these Christmas cookies just recently. And he was like you remember when you were afraid to eat anything with sugar because I literally would have like a panic attack. If I was brave enough to have like a teeny tiny piece of sugar at this time, the second it went into my body. I just I got so hot, I got super anxious. I just I was like, Oh my gosh, I cannot ever have sugar because I just felt so scared. I didn't understand why every time I would go to the doctor, they'd send me back with no information, just eat better. Yeah. You know, it was just nothing made sense. And I think that was that was like the biggest frustration.

Scott Benner 15:45
Why have a day where I can that I went through that I think I've grown up on here. So I'll I'll go through it quickly. But one day, I had to go to the dentist. And I showed up at the dentist's office and asked to use the bathroom before we started. Then halfway through the procedure. I was like, Can we stop for a second? I have to go to the bathroom. And then so I peed like three times in the in like 90 minutes at the dentist's office. So the dentist grabs me on the way out and says, Hey, I'm concerned, you might have type two diabetes. Now I'm like, it ended up being if you've been listening to the podcast that my iron was really low, and my body was all out of whack and everything but so. But for a day until I could get a doctor's appointment. I thought I might have type two diabetes because somebody said it to me. And I experienced exactly what you're talking about. I couldn't bring myself to eat food because everything felt super scary. Like I can't eat I just didn't eat anything. I just stood there for a day waiting to go to a doctor's appointment.

Jill 16:42
Yep, so that's it. I mean, it's just like this totally crippling food anxiety, of eating at all. I mean, I ate like a bear. That's what you know, my husband was like, remember, when you wouldn't eat any sugar? Like you were just eating like a bear? I would eat nuts and berries. And that's it. Because that's all the all these things on Pinterest. If you look up type two, you know, diets or whatever, say, Oh, you know, like, why would you have to eat berries, number one, like they have so much sugar, but I just ate nothing. I just ate little things here and there. My nutritionist was fine. But you know, another frustration was doctors and the nutritionist all made comments about my ethnicity. I'm Latina. And everybody was like, trying to figure out an answer. And everybody had to say, Oh, well, you know, some ethnicities are more prone to type two, it's probably in your cultural diet. And I heard that so many times, I was like, so irritated because what is my cultural diet? Number one, you'd have not asked me what I eat. Nobody asked me what I eat. Nobody asked me specifically like what my nationality, you know, that I identified with was so bright. I think what was happening was a lot of people were assuming I was Mexican. And I was eating like beans and like what you would get at the Mexican restaurants, you know, and I can only assume that just because of how many people said it in a row. And I was like, what are what are people thinking? But

Scott Benner 18:11
where? Where are you? Where's your family from?

Jill 18:14
My family's from Peru? Okay. All right. Um, and I don't know, I mean, I grew up here. So I don't know that my cultural diet, you know, was really an impact. Just

Scott Benner 18:24
imagine that the doctors in the other room going, Hey, Charo in there probably eats a lot of beans, don't you?

Jill 18:29
Right? Yeah, that's how I felt. I was just like, hmm, I'm not sure where these assumptions are coming from, but because they are professionals. I never said anything. I never brought anything up. I was just like, okay, I believe you when you say that. Certain ethnicities are probably prone to type two. That makes sense to me, whatever. But it wasn't until after that I had time to kind of mold stuff over that. I was like, Huh, well, there's no way they didn't ask me specifically, like what's in your diet?

Scott Benner 18:55
She probably just eats rice and avocados all day? I don't know. It's what I saw at the Mexican restaurant that one time? No, your story is just the first quarter of it here is fantastic. Because this is what I'm trying to tell people all the time. You can't just sit there and nod at your doctor and go Okay, okay. Okay. Okay, and just do whatever they say. Not that you shouldn't listen to them. I'm not saying that. But you have to make sure you have a good one before you start listening. Right. And that's just such a big part of diabetes. It's, it's not uncommon for people to be in the situation that you talked about, and you were just at a real disadvantage, because in all honesty, if your mom and dad didn't send you on your way already knowing who your doctor was, and you just didn't get sick. You were basically a 15 year old in that office that day. Yeah. Right, because it's the story. It reads just like what if I would have sent a 15 year old into a doctor's office to be told they had something that they didn't know about? And On top of that, your blood sugar is over 300 all the time. So you're probably whacked out of your skull, you know, it's probably you're probably like, did you notice a clearing of your mind when your blood sugar finally came down?

Jill 20:13
I think honestly, and I don't know enough about type one. I haven't listened to enough of the podcasts, especially with Jenny. Because I know she has a lot of, I don't know, just like different medical expertise, right? Every time I listen, I'm always like, wow, I need to write all this down. But I don't know enough about it to know how fast a person can become type one, I think that I was. My, my body was probably like, shutting down for a couple years before is what I'm thinking. Because I had a lot of things slowly kind of going wrong.

Unknown Speaker 20:53
Okay,

Jill 20:54
I peed a lot for a while. Like, it wasn't suddenly it was like, two or three years where I was like, Wow, my kidneys just suck. So I feel like I don't know how long my blood sugar was at 300 for for, you know, maybe years and like, I just got used to it. You know, I didn't notice that my mind was foggy. I didn't. I don't feel I mean, maybe now I would. But I didn't feel gross at 300 I felt gross when I was at 90. You know,

Scott Benner 21:22
you're high for a really long time, then.

Jill 21:24
Yeah. And that's what I think like, I don't even know like when, when it started, you know, I think it was a really long descent for me, like a couple years. And then suddenly it came on quickly, like at the end with that yeast infection. But we really think it was a long time coming.

Scott Benner 21:40
your entire life shifted in the last 18 months, two years in a number of different segments. But yeah, so you beat yourself. Yeah, you became an adult about your health. Right away. You were like, Okay, this is happening. And other things happen to which I can't wait to tell people about, but I like that you're stringing it out like this. I feel like you're a good storyteller. This is excellent. really seriously, like when you didn't say the other thing? I was like Jill's good at this. It's time isn't it? to take care of yourself to do the things you know you need? Absolutely, it is. Why don't you go right now to my Omni pod.com forward slash juice box and have Omni pod send you out a free, no obligation demo of the Omni pod to listen. So on top, it'll take you just a couple of brief moments to fill out what they need to know. And before you know it right there in your mailbox will be an omni pod. It's one it's non functioning right? So it's not dangerous. It's just so that you can wear it and feel it. See what it would be like take a shower, go for a walk. Live your life with an omni pod. To see what life with an omni pod may be like, it's incredibly easy to do. It's free. Again, there's no obligation, you might as well try my Omni pod.com forward slash juice box. There's links right there in the show notes of your podcast player. We're at Juicebox Podcast comm if you can't remember them, but I'll probably say them enough that it will stick in your head. And eventually you'll be sending me an email that sounds like this. Oh my god, Scott fine. I tried the Omni pod demo. And it was terrific. And I use it now I get a lot of those emails, yours can be next. So if you're looking to get away from multiple daily injections, or you don't want a pump with that tubing on it, try it on the pod. This is a perfect way to see what you think my omnipod.com forward slash juice box. There are two ways to have diabetes. One is where you can't see what your blood sugar's doing. And in the other way, you're wearing a Dexcom g six continuous glucose monitor. And you can see everything, speed, direction and number in real time, right on your cell phone, that's Android or iPhone, or there's a little receiver like say you're one of the three people that don't have a cell phone, you just get a little receiver, it's fine. No matter what you need to see your numbers on Dexcom will have you covered and covered in a way that you can imagine opening you up to being able to make decisions about insulin and food that takes away the stress and anxiety that using insulin can bring whether you have type one or type two diabetes, the Dexcom g six is for you, in my opinion, head over now dexcom.com forward slash juicebox start picking through. See if you would like to learn more. There's a forum down there if you would like to just tell them a little bit about yourself what kind of diabetes you have, what kind of insurance and the next thing you know, you're on your way. And if you have Medicaid, or you're a United States veteran using the VA for your insurance, I think you might be very happy. With what you find out, and you can start getting those Dexcom alerts when you want them. What do I mean by that? How would you like to know when your blood sugar dips below? 85? I don't know, how would you like to know when it dips below 70 whatever you prefer, that's where you set the alert. Want to know if your blood sugar is rising, so you can use more insulin? do that to my daughter's high alarm is set at 120 yours could be somewhere else, whatever works for you, is what's right dexcom.com forward slash juice box. My Omni pod comm forward slash juice box and don't forget to check out touched by type one touched by type one.org. Or on their Facebook and Instagram pages. Thank you so much for listening to the ads. When you support the advertisers. You're supporting the podcast keeping the podcast free and plentiful. There's a list of all the advertisers right there in the show notes of your podcast player or at Juicebox Podcast comm I am genuinely proud of the companies who sponsor this show. We got a good group.

When do you finally get a handle on all of this? Like when do you get at least a base understanding?

Jill 26:22
So this all happened in January, my month of January was 100% diabetes, of course, I was continuing. I'm a busy lady. I like to travel a lot. I like to do a lot of things with my friends on weekends. And so I wasn't going to stop even though I was dealing with all of this. I we went to Whistler and I had kind of a diabetic episode and that was kind of hard to deal with went to Leavenworth, which is a small German town here. That's kind of a tourist attraction. also had a tiny diabetic episode. I was like, Okay, I don't I'm not really getting this right. This isn't getting better. I can't eat things and enjoy drinking without it being kind of scary. Yeah, maybe I need to find a specialist. There was no way I was getting into an endocrinologist for like six months, there was a huge wait for this one. And I didn't really understand that you could shop for endocrinologist, I was given a referral to an endocrinologist. In January, one endocrinologist, that one was busy for six months apparently. And then that's it never dawned on me not ever having to deal with doctors. Before that I could just shop for people like I could just get on the internet myself and find someone and I just waited. I didn't know. And so it wasn't getting better. In February, I flew to Sonoma with my best friend for a wine weekend. And, of course, the day before we flew out, she and I both got really sick. We both had the flu. And we were like, well screw this like we are not wasting we can't get our money back. So we're just going to take a ton of day quail responsible 30 year olds. And we'll be fine. We're not wasting our weekend in Sonoma. I was so sick. We came back a day early, just because we were both sick. But I had the flu with diabetes, right? And so I kept checking my blood sugar. And I was like What is happening? It's like 400, should I go to the urgent care here in California, like I had no idea what to do. I came back home. I went to Urgent Care here every single day for a week. And the fifth day. I'm not kidding. I went every day. And every day they sent me home and they're like, just keep checking your blood sugar. And the fifth day I was like bawling. And I was like I can't keep coming here. I have a full time job. Like I can't What is wrong with me. And so this one doctor, obviously took pity on me and was like, Okay, I'm gonna figure this out for you. I don't know how we're gonna do it, but I'm gonna call you tomorrow. And so she calls me and says I have a friend who works at this other clinic who might have a contact for you. So it was like this all you know, convoluted, like call this person call this person call this person. But I ended up getting hooked up with an endocrinologist who could see me a little sooner, so I had a month way instead. So February goes by March goes by. I'm still trying to do my best to keep my blood sugar under control. And then in let's see, end of March again and to see this endocrinologist. She's amazing. She reminds me of my mom. She is like a no nonsense. Indian woman who just is direct. So direct. She took like, one look at me and was like you're not type two. Why did they tell you or type two? I was like, I don't know.

Unknown Speaker 29:46
I just want to go drink wine.

Jill 29:48
I don't know. Just fix it. Like, I have no idea. And so she's like, there's no way you're type two. They should have done a blood test on you and she did this blood test and yeah, she Like, yes, look, look at these numbers Jill, like, like, I'm a doctor, look at these numbers. This doesn't make any sense. You're type one, you've been mis diagnosed, you know, you should have never left that Urgent Care without this simple blood test that any doctor can do. And I was like, okay, that doesn't help me.

Scott Benner 30:16
It was like, Listen, I let's be clear for a second. I drank a quill with diabetes and got on a plane, so I could drink more wine than a person should. I'm not you shouldn't be leaving me in charge of these decisions. Jill, were you a huge party girl through your 20s just asking.

Jill 30:33
I'm not a party girl at all. I just am really into wine. And like, we're we can be very bougie about our wine.

Scott Benner 30:40
I just I thought it was fantastic that in the middle of what seemed like a life or death health crisis, you were like, we're still going.

Jill 30:47
I mean, the wine never stops. It's just you know. We're gonna figure it out around the wine.

Scott Benner 30:54
Doctor, while you're considering my diabetes, remember, there's going to be mirlo Okay, like that. Right here? No, but I mean, it's just I guess it really does go to how little you understood about what was happening. Oh, that's that's the kind of the fascinating part. So

Jill 31:09
yeah. So then at least there was the correct diagnosis. Right, then at least she was like, obviously, you're a type one. Your doctors are all idiots. It was basically.

Scott Benner 31:19
So not not to pick your psyche apart too much. But it's interesting that once you found a doctor that was more like a parent, it worked out for you quickly. Yeah.

Jill 31:27
1,000% 1,000%. And I do like attribute the cultural bit a lot because she just, I just don't want to screw up in front of my endo. Like she is the most cutthroat lady. She might not be where I go for like warm and fuzzy, you know, feelings, but she cares about my health in a way that a parent would, you know, yeah, she tells me absolutely. Like, you cannot do these things, XY and Z. And I think that's not for everyone. But that's for me. You know, it worked out really well. I appreciate that. She's honest. And, you know, just gives me the truth. And so, anyway, she diagnosed me type one. She gave me kind of a little plan, but she was like, you need to come back, like in two weeks, for sure. We're gonna get you set up with everything that you need. So I had a physical scheduled with my primary care physician. I go back to her. Between these two weeks. I told her Oh, yeah, I was diagnosed with type one. She was like, oh, okay, great. She obviously didn't know like, what anything about type one, she was just like, Oh, I'm so glad that you have answers. And in that appointment, I had asked like, so my husband and I are like, trying to have kids, we would like to start trying. I have all this medical stuff happening. Like, is it safe for us to start trying? Or should? Should I wait? And I remember, she's just like, Oh, yeah, you're gonna be fine. Like now that you have an endo and everything like, Yeah, go ahead, like, definitely try

Scott Benner 32:56
it. Can I tell you for a second? Also, you're on the pods on the side of insulin? Oh, yeah, sure is. How in that situation where the doctor who couldn't help you, like figure out you had type one diabetes? Did you like consider to ask her another question and take her serious?

Unknown Speaker 33:17
I don't know, okay.

Jill 33:22
I have no idea. I thought she was in charge of like, my general body and the other lady was in charge of just my diabetes. So I was like, okay, she's gonna know, in my physical, for sure. If like, I can have children. I just wasn't equating all these things as like, together. You know, I was just, diabetes was such a thing outside my body that I just wanted to get rid of. Does that make sense? I just was like, okay, someone's handling that over here. Like, I want to continue with my life and keep, keep doing my things and keep staying with my plans. You know, so

Scott Benner 33:53
you didn't think of you kind of thought about diabetes, like a bankruptcy. You're like, Yes, I spent way too much money and can't pay it back. But let's compartmentalize that. But over here. I'm going to send $700 a month to that bill. And I'm still going to pretend that I'm me. And there's nothing going on. Like you were trying to, to, to split the two apart you in the diabetes, right? You weren't letting it merge together. Okay, you're there now though, right.

Unknown Speaker 34:21
I'm,

Scott Benner 34:22
like, you know, you're a person living with diabetes and all that stuff. And you don't know Yeah, no, I don't want people like to be like, you know, Jesus, Porter. It's not learning anything. We're just telling the story. That's all

Jill 34:32
that's right. Along along learning.

Scott Benner 34:36
Okay. Wow, I am still I'm stunned that you asked that doctor if it was okay. It

Jill 34:43
was all kind of happening so fast too. And like I wasn't used to going to doctors, you know, in general. So I was like, okay, every week I'm seeing a nutritionist and then I'm seeing the regular doctor and then I'm seeing this endo and like, somebody's got to have answers. You know, I just wasn't something I wasn't skeptical of doctors, but I was just so desperate to trust somebody to give me good news. I was like, please somebody,

Scott Benner 35:06
I gotta do what I want you to I gotta be honest with you. This is the second story in 2020. I've heard that makes me not want to go to the Seattle area.

Unknown Speaker 35:13
Oh, no.

Scott Benner 35:17
So, okay. All right. So now you have type one diabetes, you have this lovely Indian doctor who's yelling at you the way you need to be all that. And then there's the other doctor who I'm not sure what she does still. And and are you? on? What part do you and I intersect?

Jill 35:36
When did I win that thing? Probably.

Scott Benner 35:39
August. July. Okay. But you, you and I spoke on the phone once.

Jill 35:45
Right, but it was for the prize. It was. Um, so I think you did that. You had a contest in July or August or something like that. And then when I won, I called you, or you called me? Why was that?

Scott Benner 35:59
Oh, part of it was you? Oh, part of the prize was talking to me, which I now hear when I say out loud. Sounds like I'm an assault, but I get what you're saying.

Unknown Speaker 36:09
But that was

Jill 36:11
your expertise. That's all right. It's a great.

Scott Benner 36:14
Honestly, what I just said out loud. I was like, Oh, that sounds douchey. But, but Okay, well, I'm flush now like you are hilarious. So I got it. So we're on the phone. And at that point, are you? Did you get knocked up yet? When is that Parco? Oh, yeah, I

Jill 36:34
got knocked up immediately, right away when my doctor said, Oh, yeah, go ahead and start trying. I was like, dope. We're doing this ran

Scott Benner 36:40
out the door legs first.

Jill 36:42
And then knocked up the next day. I'm not kidding. Like, right away. And by the time that I saw my endo, for the second time. I was already like, a teeny tiny bit late. And I was like, Oh, my also be pregnant. And the way she looked at me.

Scott Benner 36:59
Oh, my gosh, I thought I thought you're gonna say she punched you like,

Jill 37:04
she looked like she wanted to I'm not kidding. She was like, what I was like, well, like, I was told that it was fine. And like this was already in my plan. I'm a teacher. So I really like to stick to my plans. Like a disgusting amount. It just is one of my things. I have a strict itinerary. And this was part of my plans. I did not want to give it up. And so when she looked at me, I was like, Oh, crap. Maybe it wasn't a good idea. And she said, like, you better hope that you're not pregnant. Your diabetes is completely out of control. You were just diagnosed. Forget everything that you've gone through since January, you were just diagnosed two weeks ago, you know, like with a brand new illness, type two and type one are completely different. So you better hope that you're not and I was like, okay, not great. I totally was, of course, right away. So by the time you and I talked, I think I was probably like four months pregnant. Wow.

Scott Benner 38:09
And, and so my recollection of talking with you back then, excuse me, was Hold on a second.

Hello. That'll get cut out Hold on a second. We're all just get lazy and leave it in, it's hard to know

is that I remember going downstairs after we spoke, and I said to my wife, I just talked to the person who won the giveaway. And apparently she's like, was diagnosed with Type One Diabetes and got pregnant. Like, in the same like couple of weeks or something. Like I said, she basically found out she really had type one diabetes, and she was already pregnant. And I don't think things are going great. And my I remember my wife and I were like, Oh, that's I hope that goes okay. And then I kind of started keeping after you on Instagram a little bit. And like following along, and you're just you know, you're adorable. Like you're just like little and like you have a bright smile and a pretty face it gets You're adorable. And so like you always look okay, is what I'm saying. Like, I'm assuming in some of those pictures. You've just thrown up from wine and you're still look adorable. So I can't I can't tell how you're doing from your Instagram. Actually, I guess nobody can tell how anybody's doing from social media. But that's

Unknown Speaker 39:24
Yeah, right.

Scott Benner 39:26
Yeah, right. But then the baby came out. I was like, hey, right on because I assume you understand now that like there's a high likelihood that you would have ended up having a miscarriage if your blood sugar stayed the way they were.

Jill 39:37
Absolutely Yeah. If I hadn't found that endo. I mean, that really was the game changer. Of course, like I had no idea how, how serious it was. I knew it was serious to have diabetes, of course, but like not having any real context or having anybody at all in my life who has had any serious disease, you know, for a long period of time. I just didn't really get it like internally, right. So once I got this endo, and I got the correct diagnosis, and she just kept hammering into me like how serious it was that my blood sugar stay in control. It really all fell into place. I mean, I met her in a, you know, end of March beginning of April ish. And honestly, by June, I was like 100%, I don't want to say in control all the time, but I had a really good handle on like, how to manage the diabetes, because she and her team were phenomenal. I mean, I went to see them every week for probably like four or five weeks, and worked with these diabetes educators who are like Omnipod reps, and I got the Dexcom. And the Omnipod, immediately because I was pregnant. Like immediately, I mean, I think I waited for like three weeks, maybe where I still was finger sticking. And after that I had everything bells and whistles, ready to go. So I really have never experienced a life of diabetes. difficult, if that makes sense, right? Like the beginning part, obviously was difficult, but I didn't know what I was experiencing. So I don't count that. And when I hear all these other stories on the podcasts of people who like, just maybe don't have all the technology or choose not to have the technology or you know, just there's all these things that we get to make diabetes management easier. I didn't really have to deal with that. Because my endo was just like, you're having this, you're having this, put this on your body, I don't care how you feel about it. You need all these things. I've never had to really struggle in that same way, you know, to figure things out, she made it really, really easy to kind of manage my diabetes, and she was checking on me constantly. So the entire pregnancy. I mean, I probably went there every two or three weeks. Yeah. It was really tight control. And I really think that made all the difference.

Scott Benner 42:04
It sounds like she decided to take personal responsibility for your baby being okay. And you know,

Unknown Speaker 42:10
what a wonderful lady, right?

Scott Benner 42:12
You know, it occurred to me just now, while you were talking, I've recorded I mean, I might have recorded close to 500 of these at this point. And yours was the first 30 minute diagnosis story. No, no. But when you really think about it, it really was like, all of that that happened for those months and months and months. That's all part of you figuring out you have type one diabetes, and how many doctors did you have to run into? Like, that is not, that doesn't warm my heart? How many doctors you had to run into before one of them was like you have type one? Like, what? What's going on here?

Jill 42:47
Yeah, the biggest thing was just that I was older, you know, like the I that's the only thing people were looking at, like, Oh, she's 30. So Oh, well, don't forget possibly have type one. You know,

Scott Benner 42:58
don't forget also that your your people eat beans. So, you know, like, whatever. Right? Yeah. Like, seriously, I hear, you know, black patient advocates talk all the time about, you know, people look at my skin and make assumptions about how I take care of myself immediately. Yeah, and so you know, that this is another example of that really, like they see they see you, you know, as your background, and your heritage and your race and and they're just like, oh, obviously, she doesn't eat well, and this is why she has type two diabetes.

Jill 43:29
Yep. I mean, even though I like I said, I wasn't overweight at the time, you know, there's, I told my doctors, like I run every day and like, I work out, you know, I'm not, I'm not super, like slender all the time. That girl likes to eat. Right. But, I mean, I take care of myself. So it was Yeah, it's just I hope that people don't continue to have this problem, where they're told, like, Oh, it's something that you did to cause this, you know,

Scott Benner 43:54
I listen, I would, I would have no ability to look at you and think that you're an unhealthy person. So you know, it's just, you know, until we talk to you and find out about the wine and everything else. We could start thinking

Jill 44:07
that's my one serious vise.

Scott Benner 44:10
Hey, listen, can you tell people right now? How do you hold a bottle and a baby at the same time? What's the balancing act?

Jill 44:15
bottle and a baby? Oh, no problem. Just got to work out a little bit before and

Scott Benner 44:21
that way you can keep the balance. We should probably tell typhus now that you're you don't drink wine while you're caring for your baby at the same time, right. You know,

Jill 44:32
it's nap time.

Scott Benner 44:35
So, how long have you had type one diabetes?

Jill 44:39
So now it's been since April of 2019. So a

Unknown Speaker 44:48
little over a year.

Scott Benner 44:49
Can you tell me what your current a one C is? Are you willing to do that? Yeah, it's

Jill 44:52
I think it was 6.1. Wow, that's amazing. It was you know, in the fives and then of course, my endo was like, that's too low. You need Have a little bit more.

Unknown Speaker 45:01
Did you think it was too low?

Unknown Speaker 45:02
Huh?

Scott Benner 45:03
Were you having lows when it was in the fives?

Jill 45:06
Um, yeah, because I still, I'm still trying to manage like being active. So like, I do work out, I run, I walk. Now I walk a lot more with the baby. And I hike. And so I do tend to get a lot of lows during that, during any of those activities, no matter what I do to prepare. I'm still trying to get, you know, figure that out. So I think that definitely, like increases my chances of having, you know, a lower frequency. But, you know, I guess I just got to eat more.

Scott Benner 45:36
I like talking to you because you are, you're not the person that I imagined in my mind listening to the podcast, because you listen to it more for like the community stuff and hearing people's stories and not for the management stuff. And you know, in my default in my head, that the podcast is about using insulin, and so but I know there are people like you who don't listen to the, to the management stuff, as much as I tell people all the time in the private Facebook group who are very focused on management, usually, that I was like, you guys are a subs, like you're just one like sub set of the listeners. I was like, there are plenty of listeners who don't care about the stuff you care about. It's really interesting how how it gets split like that. But you should try the pro tip episodes, they might help you not get low when you're active.

Jill 46:24
Yeah, I have listened to a lot of them. It's just I was listening to the podcast, I think more frequently, like when I was pregnant, and I had time. And I was really still like trying to manage a lot of things I need to get back into it. But I did take a kind of a break from anything joyful and listening to my own things for a little while here. Because anytime the baby's asleep, I'm like, Okay, what can I get done?

Scott Benner 46:51
Well, what did you what kind of a baby ended up having to end up having a boy type or girl type?

Jill 46:56
I had a boy he is the cutest child in the world. I'm sure a little chunk. Yeah, everything. Everything turned out wonderfully. I mean, it really. I couldn't have asked for a better pregnant experience. And even being diabetic. Like That was my one. My one like difficulty, but I never got sick. You know, I was able to eat pretty much what I wanted to eat. There was there was really nothing difficult. So I feel like that was a in my mind. That was like the universe's trade off. Here you have diabetes, but you're gonna have a really easy pregnancy and delivery.

Scott Benner 47:35
Especially at five to because you're a smaller person. So how big was the baby when it was born?

Jill 47:41
He was like eight pounds and a half.

Scott Benner 47:44
That's a big baby.

Unknown Speaker 47:45
That's what I hear.

Scott Benner 47:48
Listen, it makes it a

Unknown Speaker 47:50
little to me.

Scott Benner 47:52
I know, right? It's, it's crazy how small they are. I am. I don't know, I just I saw a baby picture of my son the other day, you know how, like, I have a widget on my computer and it pops like a picture up like right now I just clicked on it. It's a picture of Arden when she's like a year old. And so they kind of pop up on my desktop once in a while. And then I get all like, sappy and I sit here for a couple months. And I'm like, Oh, look at how small he was. And now Arden's like in this photo just staring at me in this picture, which I can't share with anybody because Arden does not want to be portrayed as a baby on the internet. So, but she's adorable in this in this photo. So I know how you feel. But the busy so how you managing taking care of yourself with the busy? Have you found the split, like you turn into like a real adult out of nowhere. Like you're managing diabetes and a baby and you still work I imagine.

Jill 48:40
Yeah. I mean, I feel like with my health, I totally was a 15 year old, I still am a little bit like I have to that's something that you take for granted if you've always been healthy. So I definitely in that aspect had to, you know, grow up very quickly in that area. But I think everything else I'm, I'm a pretty organized person. Like I said, I'm a teacher. So like, I'm all about checklists, and lesson plans, itineraries and getting things done. So I think that kind of helped also with like diabetes and balancing everything. And luckily, the only I only had issues with diabetes, when he was really, really little like when I was still trying to breastfeed. That was a challenge with blood sugar. I hemorrhaged when I was giving birth. And so that was a problem because it impacted I don't know, it impacted like the iron in my blood or whatever. So that impacted my blood sugar. And then I had some insulin resistance that I had never dealt with that before. Really. a month three and month six postpartum that was annoying, but they really are like little things. It's not really even mentionable. It's like little things. They all went away. And now it's just fine. I mean, luckily, you know, knock on wood, right?

Scott Benner 50:00
Have a terrific attitude like you really do your you've a really kind of joyous personality and you know, a great attitude. So I'm sure that goes a long way to helping you. I hope you'll find out give it away for a week and see if everything doesn't seem all doom and gloomy. All right, but no, but that really is. I've just been waiting for so long to talk to you. Like I remember when I said like, come on the podcast, but let's push it way out into the future because I want you to have some distance from the story so you can tell it that made me anxious. I was like, I would like to record this one now. But I thought it'll go so much better if I push it off a little bit. And I did I make you like I made you push it off like a year. Basically. I was like, pick something way out in the future. And and we'll do it because it's December now and 2020. So it's been oh my gosh, yeah. It's been over a year since we talked on the phone even. Yeah, how old is your son now?

Jill 50:53
He just turned one just like a couple days ago.

Unknown Speaker 50:56
Congratulations. Thanks. It was exciting.

Scott Benner 50:59
Did you have a big party for him?

Jill 51:02
We had we did some drop bys. So I still did like a little brunch thing with all these like treats to go that people could come take and then people came you know, with their masks and just dropped off their gifts. I wanted my gift Scott came and dropped off their gift. And then had some treats to go.

Scott Benner 51:21
I didn't make this baby not to get free stuff.

Unknown Speaker 51:23
Well, hello, this first birthday.

Scott Benner 51:26
Oh, that's very cool. Oh, that's excellent. Good for you. I'm excited for you. And are you teaching virtually? or How do you do?

Unknown Speaker 51:32
I am?

Scott Benner 51:34
So do you, like just put the kid right on your lap and teach her? How do you I have

Jill 51:38
my mom downstairs who just watches him for, you know, a couple hours while I teach. I mean that that's a another thing I think that helps the diabetes go smoothly is that I'm home and I have a lot of control over what I can eat. And I'm sitting in front of the computer. I've been a kindergarten teacher for nine years. And then this year, I switched to first grade so that I could only work in the morning. Okay. And so I have a partner that teaches in the afternoon. And when I was teaching, like live in person with kindergarteners, I mean, I was always low, like, my blood sugar was so annoying to handle because there's 25 people that need you, they need you to tie their shoes, and they need you to help them use the bathroom. And yeah, you know, they can't do this. And this person hit me and this person, all these things, and my blood sugar would be you know, Beeping Beeping Beeping and I'm like, right, okay, I'm gonna get it one second and eat something Hold on. But I'm like running around. And I just, it was so much harder to to manage while I was working. You rarely sit as a kindergarten teacher. Really any teacher, right? You just are not sitting you're walking around helping the kids and talking and making copies and the list is endless. And so I think being home really has helped it be manageable because I'm just sitting in front of the computer interacting with my kids. And if I need to grab something to eat to correct a blood sugar, you know, low I'll just go get it you know, it's not a big deal versus being at school. I can't always do that I have to sometimes wait until lunch or I have to grab a juice really quick is not the best management.

Scott Benner 53:14
So this setup is eliminated a major variability in your blood sugar, which is activity and and not having time to look at yourself. So when you go back eventually you're going to have to find basil rates that are that are different. I would imagine going back to work it live will make your basil needs go down.

Unknown Speaker 53:34
Yeah, probably

Scott Benner 53:36
ardens went way down leaving school. So when Oh, really? Yeah. So I because like, I don't know why exactly. But my, I've been thinking about it more and more. And I think part of it was you get up in the morning, and it's right away, it's that race in the clock, you know, you're like I got to get up and get a shower and do this and get out the door on time or I'll be late. And that whole thing so you, you get feet on the floor, you know huge where your life is just coming at you. And then you're at school and you know you're interacting with people and all that stuff's going on. You know, I don't know if there's any anxiety or stress being in high school for her. But her basil went down from like 1.2 to point nine an hour. Like just coming home from not being at high school. So she she's gonna have like an opposite of you. But you're gonna go back and be an attract meet with little kids again, although your first grade now might be a little better. Maybe they won't hit each other quite as much.

Jill 54:33
This whole pandemic thing, it's just gonna be a kindergarten, kindergarten minds and in bigger bodies. I think

Scott Benner 54:43
the only the kids learned anything in kindergarten this year.

Jill 54:46
I mean, I'm sure they have learned stuff. But the stuff that I think is like why you go to kindergarten is socially you know how to learn how to line up and how to, you know what I mean? Like all those social skills, how to sit at the carpet for a long time, and all this stuff. You physically have to herd cats for basically, as a teacher, they might all be like, at grade level of hope. But I think it's gonna be just as much being on my feet.

Scott Benner 55:11
So funny you say that I recall the first couple of seasons of Cole playing baseball back when he was like, a co star when he was four. But when he really started being on, like, teams when he was six, I remember thinking back then, so much of this is just getting them to stand in a line. Yeah. And then. And then I remember as that kind of like youth baseball time ended, when he was 12. I remember thinking, wow, look, now they say something and they go run over and getting that line took like five years to teach them how to do. It's fascinating.

Unknown Speaker 55:51
And teaching

Scott Benner 55:54
really was what was what was going on. It's like this. There's this whole, just like, Where do you go? Where do you stand? It's funny, you said something earlier, too. That made me think about something I just said on the podcast recently, which is, when Cole was that age, he was a really good, he always has been, and is today a really great outfielder, but he was when he was younger, too. And he described it to me as that he didn't want to let his coach down. And I feel like that's how you feel with your doctors a little bit too. Like you're kind of like in a teacher student or a coach player. situation with her. Does that ring true for you?

Unknown Speaker 56:30
Yeah, for sure. I

Jill 56:31
mean, I, I feel like this is kind of how my mom raised me. But like, if people are spending their time on you, you know, you show them respect by like hearing about what they're talking about, or trying to do what they're obviously teaching you even if you don't like it. And that's kind of how I feel. I'm like, Well, she's trying so hard to teach me things that are useful, then the least I could do is actually try it and listen to her. And there have been some times where I'm like, she doesn't know what she's talking about. I get irritated with like little things. And then I try what she says And I'm like, Oh, look at that it worked. You know, so it just yeah, it is kind of like coaching.

Scott Benner 57:09
You found a good one. It sounds like should she be on my list on the juicebox Doc's list this year. Oh, good endo.

Jill 57:14
I mean, I think she's amazing, personally.

Scott Benner 57:18
Cool. That's excellent. She saved you. It sounds like honestly. Yep.

Jill 57:22
She's amazing. And I even had two years ago, I had a student in my class. He, you know, came in for open house and his parents were popping in and his dad stopped me and was like, hey, you're diabetic? And I was like, Yeah, like not. I was like, Well, how do you even know that? He's like, Oh, yeah, I see your Dexcom. And I was like, Oh, are you diabetic? And he's like, yeah, and he like, shows me his Dexcom, you know, and come to find out, he goes to the same. And oh, and it was just kind of a funny thing. Every time we would see each other, he'd be like, Oh, I have to go see Dr. Q. Today, I'm going to be in trouble. Because you know, X, Y, and Z. And I'm like, Oh, no, I totally feel your pain, you know, and it's just, even. Even just those little interactions, you know, knowing that, like, you have the same endocrinologist, she's like, one of the best in our area. That is just like such a big community piece, you know, too. So the fact that she can she has that presence to tie people together because of how she is.

Scott Benner 58:15
Excellent. That's really terrific. I yeah, I actually go to that link and send me the information when you get a chance. It's juicebox docs.com. Oh, yeah,

Jill 58:25
definitely. And they're the ones that told me about the podcast, actually.

Unknown Speaker 58:29
Really?

Scott Benner 58:31
Well, thank you, Dr. Q. I like Seattle a little better. Look at that. I'm such a cheap horse, you could just easily swim.

Unknown Speaker 58:43
It's not all terrible. I live outside of Seattle. So it's like, you know, all the

Scott Benner 58:48
while I'm just saying didn't those crazy people take a few blocks of Seattle this year? and demons? Oh, yeah. But I mean, just some hippie stuff. That's

Unknown Speaker 58:57
just good. All the good all the good old crew keeping things interesting.

Scott Benner 59:02
I'll tell you from a distance, it seemed pretty crazy. Just they're gone. Now. They're gone. they disperse back to their lives. That's right. Oh, my God. This, this episode is terrific. First of all, you're great. You you I don't even think you needed me. I think I could have gotten on and been like, hey, Jill, tell people what happened to you. And then I could push the mic away and gone and had a sandwich and come back and you wouldn't be talking still. So I appreciate that very much. I'm glad the baby's healthy. Your husband's okay. Everybody's good with everything. Excellent. So I want to say that you are a great example of a quick transition. And the people who have been struggling for a long time. I think they should see you as a real like, a story of like hopefulness because all you all you really did was bump into the right doctor. Find a little bit of information, listen to a podcast. Get a huge Video, and then you're here you are, you have a 6.1 a one C, and you're living your life again, I think that everyone sometimes can believe that it's just such a long process. But the long part of the process is what you described in the beginning. It's the part where you're so. So my point is the process doesn't have to be long, it has to be focused on the right things. And that becomes difficult when you don't know what the right things are. Right, right. Because had you met Dr. Q, on day one, at that urgent care, you wouldn't have this long story and your process to type one diabetes would have felt very quick and easy. So it's not about diabetes takes a long time to figure out. I think it's more about sometimes it takes a long time to find people that can help you with it.

Jill 1:00:53
Yeah, I agree. And, you know, like all of the all of those little things that you mentioned, and like having Instagram and having the Facebook community and all of those things, like, they just add so much to the experience to make it easier. Because all I mean, I can't imagine being a type one diabetic, even 10 years ago, right? Where social media was like a thing, but not how it is now. I mean, there is so much information on how to do, how to manage your diabetes, and how to live your life and how to eat normally. Just at the tip of your fingers. You know, if I ever have something that pops up, I just get on my Instagram. And I'm like, okay, who has this? Let me make a post about it. Let me see if I can tag some people, right. It's just, you have so much more control. And I think finding, finding those little things just to make your life a little bit easier, even though it might feel frustrating at first. I mean, it just makes all the difference, you know, taking taking more control of your own health rather than waiting for doctors to figure stuff out.

Scott Benner 1:01:54
Yeah, well, because as you prove today, you could wait forever if you don't meet the right person. Yep, that's right. No, seriously, you would, you could be dead now if you didn't meet that woman.

Jill 1:02:04
serious. I think that all the time, Scott. I think that all the time. I have so many from January to April. I had a lot of really scary, scary incidents happen. And every time I took back the incident to a person in charge in my mind, I was just at home, you know, they're just like, yeah, that happens when you're diabetic. Now, you know, it just was so ridiculous.

Scott Benner 1:02:27
And now you know, no, it doesn't like that stuff doesn't actually have to happen. Yeah, I mean, at some point you you mixed air travel wine and DK together basically, you know,

Jill 1:02:39
oh, yeah, snowshoe I went snowshoeing all by myself. Which is intense. I had no control over my diabetes. I was like super shaky. I had a very intense low had no idea like that. That was a thing. Like, you know, I was just like, Oh, my blood sugar's low. I'm holding right now. Like, I had no idea what to do. I had nothing holding you know, laugh

Scott Benner 1:03:03
and wanting to say, What is wrong with you?

Unknown Speaker 1:03:07
I just had no information

Jill 1:03:09
I didn't know like, how to connect the dots. You know, I just was not getting anything. You know, all I knew was being high was scary. Yeah, you know, and that's it because for a type two that's the big Yeah, you're scared a big thing was being being high not being low and so it just is just a child. Pretty much

Scott Benner 1:03:30
this really is fascinating because aside of that time when you didn't understand about diabetes decided that time you're reasonably together person sound like it you don't mean like there's nothing about you that says snowshoeing with undiagnosed Type One Diabetes like it you don't seem like that person now. And and I assume you weren't that person outside of this bubble that existed which was a bubble of having diabetes and not knowing

Jill 1:04:00
and right If I had known you know, if I had truly understood all of the dangers I would have never done all the things that I was doing but I just didn't have the information that's it you know, it's just ridiculous.

Scott Benner 1:04:13
So you would tell people keep moving till you find a good doctor, first of all, right? And what other things have you learned that are valuable?

Jill 1:04:23
Oh, just get a community that was that was a game changer, right. Like, again in April when I met Dr. Q's team, one of the girls Monica, who is a diabetes educator and also an omni pod Rep. She is so kind and compassionate. I was like bawling. They were trying to get a Dexcom on me and I like didn't provide consent. They're just like, we need to put this on you. And I was like, I don't want that. I don't know what that is. And they're like, you need to have this on your body. Right? So they put this Dexcom on me. I feel like I'm a horse being branded like did not want anything on my body. didn't know what it was. And she's so sweet. She takes her hands in mind and she's like, everything's gonna be fine. You're gonna go home, you're gonna download the Juicebox Podcast. Okay, what is that called, like, repeat after me, you're also going to get yourself an Instagram, and you're going to get yourself people that also have diabetes. Okay.

Unknown Speaker 1:05:20
Wow.

Jill 1:05:21
I mean, that was the best advice that she could have given me because I was so emotional. And it had been four months of nonsense, right. And I did exactly what she told me. And those were two really simple things that I could control, you know, everything that the doctors are doing, I couldn't control, I just had to trust that they were giving me good advice. But you got to get yourself a community, that Instagram thing, you have to watch other people struggle and fail and get back up again. So that you can learn how to manage your failures, because that's, that's diabetes, you know, you're gonna screw it up sometimes. And you have to get to know your body. And there's no way to do it without watching other people do it.

Scott Benner 1:06:01
I had a guy reach out to me an adult, male, a week ago or so through Instagram. And it just seemed like he had been watching the account my account for so long. And he just finally had the nerve to say like, hello. And he's like, I don't know what to do, I need help. And I looked at his graph, and I was like, Hey, man, If I was you, I'd look at this, and this and this. And he's starting to, like, get control of it. And he should see how happy he is. Just it but but it was his, um, he got over the hump of like, not of not saying anything to anybody just imagining that his blood sugar had to stay in the two hundreds all the time. And I just had never been happier for a person who I've never seen before. Like, he doesn't put his face in his Academy where I don't know him. But I've never been happier for a person that I don't know, because he made this big. You know, he made a big grand gesture for himself. And for him, it was just reaching out to somebody and saying, I don't know what to do that and

Jill 1:07:04
I have found that so many people in this community, of course, your self included, are just so willing to help, you know, like, it's, it's, it's your health, if you're not willing to ask and say, Hey, I need help with this. I don't know, man, it's gonna be a lot harder, you know, and there's so many people out there with the knowledge who are happy to at least point you in the right direction. You know?

Scott Benner 1:07:25
Yeah, no, I've found that for sure. Well, I think we've learned that in this hour. You've talked about a lot of projects, but you only didn't avoid one of them. So the rest of us are pretty good at running from that's all I heard. Also, I have a image of you in a doctor's office, like a like in a horse bridle having a Dexcom put

Jill 1:07:47
on you for that was traumatic.

Scott Benner 1:07:51
I liked it. You were around people now that are just like, yeah, we'll worry about what Joe wants in a minute. He really well, because here's why. And I'll let you go in a minute. I know we're up on time. But it illustrates for me, like when people say about their kids, like, oh, he doesn't really want that. Or she I don't think she would like that. She said she doesn't want that. I'm like, yeah, no one wants that. No way. No one says to themselves, you know, it'd be cool. I'd like to wear an insulin pump. But then you guys run diabetes. You know what I mean? You go Okay, and then my, my thing to people has always been, what other life and death decisions do you let your eight year old make? Like, they're always like, well, it's their body. And I'm like, I get that. I was like, but try it anyway. Because, you know, in a week, they're not going to notice that I wore a G six last week. And the only problems I had with my G six was forgetting where that I had it on. When I was showering. Like that sounds I kept banging into with my hand and going, Oh, I'm wearing that I forgot. Like, and I've worn it on the pod demo. And the same thing happens. You know, a couple days later, you just you don't know what's there anymore.

Unknown Speaker 1:09:09
All right, you just get used to it.

Scott Benner 1:09:10
Yeah. And it's been and listen, people don't have to pump. They don't have to use the CGM. I'm not saying that. But if you're a parent sitting around thinking, Well, I do think this would be really beneficial. But you know, Billy doesn't want it and Billy six years old, maybe, you know, channel your introductory cue and just be like, shut up, Billy.

Jill 1:09:32
Yeah, sorry. Sometimes we have to do things that are hard. You know. That's just that's just how it is. Diabetes is not something to mess around with. You know, and if you have something that's going to make it that much easier, that you are going to kind of forget about I mean, you don't remember that you're wearing and unless you knock it on something and it comes off. Right yeah, I don't. I don't see what the what the weight is for. Those things are game changers because Am

Scott Benner 1:09:57
I Rachel in fairness, if we left this It's up to you, you wouldn't be wearing those things.

Jill 1:10:02
No. And I think I mean, I don't think I'm alone in that if you're an adult, who has lived your whole life without a device on your body, not looking not, you're not gonna want to wear a device. I mean, shocker. You know, like, it's not comfortable to have something stuck on you. At the beginning, people don't always like change, right? It's a that's a big life thing that you have to get used to. And especially as a woman, I think if you know, society pressures have so much to think about what we look like, it is a big mental step to think, Okay, I have to put this on my arm, or I have to put this on my leg or in a place where people could possibly see and ask questions. If you're not at that mental place to want to ask answer questions of people like what is that? It's a big thing to put on. I think if someone had just handed me the Dexcom, and said, Here you go wear it when you are you ready to wear it? I probably would have continued finger sticking for a while, because it's just a big step. And I'm so glad that I'm not still doing that. You know, there's some times that I run out of Dexcom supplies and I'm like, man, I have to go back to the old way. Like, this sucks.

Scott Benner 1:11:08
I remember interviewing Victor Garber. And he said, I have a I think it was a Dexcom around the pub one. I might have been in the party. So I have that it's in a drawer. I can't bring himself to do it. Now. He wears it. whichever one it was I forget which one it was. Now he now he wears it. And so you know, that's not the he's not the first person has told me I have the device. I put it in a drawer. Yeah, yeah. And so I get it. Like, you know, I listen, I remember taking Arden to the Children's Hospital for her first Dexcom insertion. And she said, going in there. I don't want this. And I was sure yeah, I was like, I know you don't. I said, I think it's going to help you. So let's try. And you know, and it's probably been the best decision we've ever made. Yeah, but and I'm not saying forced by the way. I'm not saying force your kids to do something kicking and screaming. But I'm saying there's a way to continue to the conversation. And you know, talk them into doing it at some point just you know, the trying it at the very least. Yep. Yeah. You Joe. Thank you. For for this thank you for basically creating like a two year relationship with me so I could get a cool podcast episode out of you. Because I just knew if we talked last year, this wouldn't have been how this couldn't have gone better, in my opinion. Just what I'm saying. Right. Thank you so much. I'm so happy. What did we name the baby?

Jill 1:12:32
zombie? His name's zavier. But we call him zombie.

Scott Benner 1:12:35
Not Scott. Okay, I got it. That's all you could have just said not Scott. I don't really care what your baby's name is. You understand?

Jill 1:12:43
My baby is adorable and any kind of attention he gets he's getting. I'm still a new mom. Okay. Oh, no,

Scott Benner 1:12:50
it's got to be the most exciting time. It doesn't end. By the way. If you're using my wife as an example, I still think my wife's ovaries twitch when my son his or daughter, like in trouble or sad or upset or anything. I don't think it goes away. Just so you know. You're gonna be tormented by that kid forever. Your mom is somewhere right now. tormented by the things that bother you. Just Oh,

Jill 1:13:12
she's downstairs? Yes. Our bed watching zombies.

Scott Benner 1:13:17
Is the Is he a handful?

Jill 1:13:20
He's becoming a handful right now because he just took his first couple steps. So yeah, he is becoming a little, a little nugget, that's for sure. But nothing I can't handle.

Scott Benner 1:13:33
You just made me think of the first time Arden ran across the room and almost made me cry. Isn't that sounds good? Ah, and she's 16. So just, you know, it's not gonna stop just so you know.

Unknown Speaker 1:13:42
I believe it.

Scott Benner 1:13:44
Thank you so much for doing this. I hope you have a Merry Christmas. I gotta tell you I really like this one. It's probably gonna go up pretty soon. A huge thanks to Joel for coming on the show and telling what I thought was an incredible story. Thanks also to Omni pod makers of the Omni pod tubeless insulin pump for being longtime sponsors, and another longtime sponsor Dexcom, makers of the Dexcom g six continuous glucose monitor. And never forget about touched by type one.org. Learn more about the sponsors and give them a look. My omnipod.com forward slash juicebox dex comm.com forward slash juicebox touched by telepon.org this was a good first show, isn't it? Right? We're starting off 2021 with a vibe that I liked. Let's keep it going.

Okay, so pretty soon, pretty soon, first couple weeks of January, on my Instagram and Facebook pages. I'll be putting up information and it'll basically say this we're gonna and basically here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna figure it out probably one or two episodes of the pro tip series at a time, you'll listen to it in your own time. And then there'll be a scheduled time with a zoom link that you can come and talk about it with a bunch of people. So, like a book club, we're gonna listen to something, then come together and talk about it. I thought that was a nice idea. I ran a pass and people, they seem to like it too. So we're gonna give it a shot. And if it works, we're going to go through the entire pro tip series. If you don't know what I'm talking about when I say pro tip series, there are episodes within the podcast called diabetes pro tip and then an extension of what that episode is about. It begins at Episode 210. with diabetes pro tip newly diagnosed are starting over. And you can see all of those in one place at diabetes pro tip.com. Or you can just scroll back in your podcast player and listen to them there. So if that sounds good to you keep an eye out for the social media. I'm on the Instagram, and Facebook. Let's see on Instagram at Juicebox Podcast on Facebook, the public group is at bold with insulin. The private group is Juicebox Podcast, type one diabetes, the information will be there very soon. I hope you're having a great start to your new year. I am genuinely jacked up about this next season. I can't wait to bring you all the things I have planned out. Oh, and I probably should say because so many people right now are trying to take advantage of others with their Instagram you know I'm a I'm a what was the one thing I saw that cracked me up I can't say are the personal note I am. Anyway, there's a lot of people charging money to get together and private Facebook groups and talk about things or have access to certain content. I do not do that this book club thing is completely free. So you'll never be asked to spend money to listen to this podcast. Keep that in mind. Anyway, I'll get you more details as soon as I have them. I'm looking forward to doing it. I think the first meeting should definitely be in January. And I can't wait for this next season of the podcast. Thank you so much for listening. Thanks for sharing. Thanks for leaving amazing reviews wherever you listen, subscribe in a podcast app and support the advertisers. If you do those things, you make the inside of my heart happy. I'll talk to you soon.

#424 Kibitz with Jenny

Scott and Jenny talk about stuff

End of year conversation

+ Click for EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Scott Benner 0:10
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the last episode of season six, the last episode of 2020. This is Episode 424. And did I don't know if it has a title, I just invited Jenny to come on and chit chat with me. And we just talked for a while. It was nice. 2020 actually began with an interview with Jenny. And I thought it would be nice if we ended with one as well. You know if you want to know how prolific 2020 has been for the podcast, that episode with Jenny, that went up on January 2 2020. That was Episode 293. And this is Episode 424. It's pretty crazy. This year is going to end with almost a million and a half downloads. That's just in 2020. So the podcast is taking off. And it's all because of you and how much you share and how much you listen. And I appreciate that. Give me just one second to shout out the sponsors. Although this episode is not sponsored, I fulfilled all of my sponsorships for 2020. But I still want to thank Dexcom Omni pod, the Contour Next One blood glucose meter, g Volk hypo pen and touched by type one. And I don't want to forget to mention the T one v exchange support from the sponsors is why the podcast is able to exist. It's why it's free. It's why it's plentiful. And I think it's why it's good. Sometimes I get emails from people, and they're like, can you please tell the host? And I laugh because I am the What do they call me the I do it all. This podcast is just me. editing, scheduling, recording technical stuff, making backups of the show. It's all a one man show. And it's supported by the ads and the advertisers. So thank you very much all of the great advertisers of the Juicebox Podcast. And a special thanks to all of you who have clicked on the links and check them out. dexcom.com forward slash juicebox learn more about that Dexcom g six continuous glucose monitor. Don't forget, if you're getting your insurance through the United States Veterans Administration, the VA, go check it out. You might be really happy with the coverage you find the Contour Next One blood glucose meter is my favorite blood glucose meter ever. It's the best one Arden's ever used. It's the most accurate, it's the easiest to use. And you can find out more about it at Contour Next one.com forward slash juice box. And of course my daughter has been using an omni pod tubeless insulin pump since she was four. She is in the other room right now 16 years old and still using Omni pod because it is absolutely terrific. On the pod we'll send you a free no obligation demo. And all you have to do is go to my Omni pod comm forward slash juice box to request it. Touched by type one is a fantastic organization doing great things for people living with Type One Diabetes. They're a sponsor of the show. And you can find out more about them at touched by type one.org. And of course, g vo hypo pet. It's the glucagon my daughter Karis. And you can learn more about it at chivo glucagon.com. forward slash juicebox. And if you'd like to take just a few minutes to add meaningful data to great work that's being done for people to type on diabetes, go to T one d exchange.org. forward slash juicebox. You can help support Type One Diabetes Research. It's super easy to do right there from your home. If nothing else, you don't have to go to a doctor. You can actually be part of something p one d exchange.org. forward slash juicebox links in the show notes, links at Juicebox podcast.com, etc, etc, etc. Thanks for listening. Thanks for supporting the show. Here's my conversation with Jenny.

I thought it might be nice if we just had a relaxed conversation. Not about anything specific.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 4:45
Not about anything fun.

Scott Benner 4:47
Yeah, well no, no, we don't have to do any like hardcore diabetes stuff today. So like I said, I'm recording. So like I said to you when we spoke about recording today the very first episode of the season. Season Six was with you. And I and we basically had like a almost individual a little bit. Right. And, and this is gonna be the last episode of 2021. So I thought it would be nice to do the same thing. See? Yeah, right.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 5:15
I agree.

Scott Benner 5:15
Well, I guess we just have to chill out and relax and do something good. Plus, you don't get to hear about, you know, the people who are asking about you all the time. You know? So? No, yeah. So I get the notes. And it's always like, thank you. And at the end, just like don't thank Jenny to it, or on the Facebook page, where, where people, you know, I saw someone yesterday, say, you know, I went to integrate a diabetes to work with Jenny. She wasn't available. So they put me somewhere else. And I said, I think I answered back. And that might be my fault that Jenny doesn't have any room on her calendar. I told somebody recently, how, when you're telling me about emails you get from the podcast, people are like, Oh, your people? And I was like, Yeah, they're just the people listen to the podcast, that there's much your people as they are my people.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 6:06
Right?

Scott Benner 6:08
I don't know. I just wondered 2021 that needed to be wrapped up somehow. So how was your year?

Jennifer Smith, CDE 6:17
My year was, I mean, all around. It was a fine year. I mean, it really was I, you know, nothing major. Thankfully, in our family, we didn't have any, you know, disruptions in any weirdness. But it is what it is. And we made it through and hopefully next year is better. Other ways. Like I really, I think this this year, like everybody sort of missed travel and that kind of stuff, you know, the conferences and things that I was supposed to speak at, and a couple of them. Usually I bring my husband and my guys along with me, and they kind of go and explore the city while I'm stuck inside a freezing cold conference center. So we didn't do that this year. But, you know, hopefully next year, that'll be back on the agenda. Maybe and

Scott Benner 7:09
so I missed my speed here. Yeah, I missed this stuff. I was supposed to speak out. I wish I could have. It would have been nice. My family never offers to come with me. That's one third just like goodbye. I think they're trying to get away from me. And, hey, we don't even have to run away. He's gonna leave this is perfect. But I do, I did miss like that conversation, meeting people. Right, who found the podcast and came out to say hello are watching the faces of people in the audience. As you say something, it clicks in their head, and you can see them think like, Oh, right, why did I never think of that, you know, at this, at this moment, I'm not 100% sure if you stood me up in front of people, if I'd remember any of the things that I used to say, I might have to go back and study up a little bit because it Yeah, I'm not I'm not certain.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 7:56
In fact, I think the travel I don't know if it was the last travel you had to but was literally like March 1, oh, no, I came home from Atlanta was when we were at the jdrf thing in Atlanta together. And that was the last literal travel that I did.

Scott Benner 8:11
Well, the first thing you and I ever did together was the last thing I've ever done. So right,

Unknown Speaker 8:15
yeah. That's weird. It

Scott Benner 8:18
was really strange. I just, I feel like I feel I felt like back then. There was this talk of like, people are getting this thing and they're calling it comme Coronavirus. And it seems like it's getting serious, like that was the vibe around it. But I'm just gonna go to Georgia, because it's probably nothing and, you know, then by the time I got home, it was just like getting your homes, alarms going off and

Jennifer Smith, CDE 8:44
close the doors

Scott Benner 8:46
through the street with pitchforks, and, you know, lanterns and I was like, Oh, wait a minute, I just made it back.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 8:52
Right. I can remember being at the Atlanta airport, you know, flying home actually is more like where I remember seeing a lot of people already like wearing masks in the airport. And, you know, my silly brain was just like, we know something is going on. Right? And I wasn't like being I mean, I always wash my hands. I was very cognizant of what I taught when I'm in a very public place like that, or even on airplanes. Yeah. And like wiping things down. But like the people with the masks on in the airport, I was sort of like, Hmm, maybe I should be a little more careful. Maybe not. And then of course, like two weeks later, everything got close. So

Scott Benner 9:33
yeah, suddenly you're running around going I need a mask.

Unknown Speaker 9:36
Where's Right, right.

Scott Benner 9:38
And that was a great event. They did a really nice job with that one. Kim ran that I think,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 9:43
yeah, it was a really they did a wonderful, wonderful job. In fact, I met several people actually who came there specifically for your presentation, which was awesome. had literally drove in from like other states to be able to come in Then called to do some work with

Unknown Speaker 10:03
me nice.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 10:04
So it was kind of nice because I'd actually gotten to meet them in person at that conference, and now I've gotten to know them. And they're lovely people. And

Scott Benner 10:14
it's so nice. I just interviewed the husband of one of the adults living with Type One Diabetes, that they'll be met there. And I think it just went up a little while ago. Awesome. Yeah, it just it was a great, it was really interesting, too, I thought. So let me say something nice about you. Oh, so aside of your knowledge of diabetes, and how you think about it, which I think jives very closely with how I think about it. You're really good at being on the podcast, you probably don't even realize that, but you're very comfortable to talk to you wait, and jump in at the right times. I don't think we ever talk over each other while we're talking. Nothing's planned, which makes it even more kind of crazy that it works. But when we got to Georgia, we did like, I think you did a room while I was doing a room. And then you came into my room. And then we did one together. Yep. didn't practice it. I didn't tell you what we were gonna talk about. I just grabbed the microphone, I started talking. And when it felt comfortable, I threw it to you. And when it felt comfortable, you threw it back to me. And I really thought it worked amazingly. Well. You were like the best partner for talking about diabetes was so thank you very much.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 11:25
Oh, thank you. Yeah. And I think actually, we have literally only talked in person, like five minutes prior to me coming in on kind of the second half of your whole presentation and talk and everything. So yeah, you had come in before I was doing sort of a breakout in another room about I can't remember what the topic was. But yeah, it was kind of fun. Because then I just got to chat with you on

Scott Benner 11:50
stage with everybody. We basically just met there. And then it gets crazy. Again, you can't find each other. Like I was like, well, I'll have lunch with Jenny. And then when it happened, I couldn't find you. Yeah, you know, and that was I think we said goodbye, maybe. And then we were back recording again a couple weeks later. But no, it's just you have no idea because there are people I have on throughout the years. And I think this person's very knowledgeable about this. And there's more to say about it. But it was just too hard to talk to them. Not that they did anything wrong. It just there was there's no there was no comfortable back and forth. It didn't work right. And I ended up not doing it again with them. So I'm just think I'm lucky. And everyone listening is lucky. Because you're just very good at this. And have you ever done anything like this prior to being on this podcast? No,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 12:37
not ever I need my other are much more professional, like, prepare it ahead of time put the PowerPoint thing together. You know, I think the the closest to this would be I've done some webinars for some type one adult groups kind of more on like the West Coast that I've done sort of in an evening kind of program for them. But again, it's more of a pick a topic, put some information together and then have some some discussion with the people who were joining in to learn. But it's never been this. I know I never think of like I always think that this is like a little bit of a break from my work day. Whenever I get to like talk and do this with you. It's very enjoyable. I totally I love it.

Scott Benner 13:23
I completely agree. Oh, no, no, I 100% agree. I always leave. I always come in the room smiling and leave the room smiling. And then I say your name a couple of times during the day. And my wife's like, Did you have a good time with anything? I was like we did. And then I start talking about it. And I realize she's making fun of me and then I stop. So

Unknown Speaker 13:39
that's funny. Yeah,

Scott Benner 13:40
it just is a really, it's a stroke of luck. Because, I mean, honestly, the podcast does really well. But it does better because of you. Like there's just no doubt about it. Like I could get on the microphone and talk through those ideas. But it just wouldn't have the same feeling. And I think it wouldn't be as engaging. I think it might taste like medicine a little bit when people are listening. There's something about our conversation that makes it, you know, easy for people to pick up. And because of that, and I'm sure you do too. But I'm up to about 10 to a dozen notes a day about people's lives getting better. And that's just a really big deal. I mean, I used to write about this stuff on my blog, and I would get them I'd get a letter like once a month, you know, a couple times a month, hey, this is really helping me. But the podcast just it's at a different frequency. And I really think it's got a lot to do with the fact that I found you so I'm glad that you think of it as a break. That's really nice. Like you're talking about diabetes all day.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 14:47
I do I think of it it's it's kind of like whenever I see it on my calendar for the weekend, like oh yeah, I get to talk to Scott this week. It's it's always fun to have a conversation even as in depth in some of The topics as we get, I think, the nice thing is that there's a, I know, there's a, there's a comfort level from both sides from your side and my side in terms of the discussion point. And again, like, I usually don't know what you're going to bring up for the day, which is even, I think nicer to keep it more conversational. But it's, we have a very easy like back end flow of information. And I, the big thing is, I never really feel like I'm like educating you. Which I guess is the reason that I like the conversations, because even though you ask some questions for me to elaborate on, right. And I know that it's helping so many other people when they're listening. It's also nice to have your sort of background and whatnot along with it.

Scott Benner 15:53
Well, I see. That's right. I feel like you just referred to me like as almost appear. And that's way too kind. But I very much appreciate it, I have to say that some of the nicest things around this diabetes stuff that's been said to me over the years is by you. When you once told me, if you once said if you had a degree, you could do this, like you could do my job. I was really touched by that. And very similarly, when you said that my tug of war description for Pre-Bolus Singh was like the best way you would ever heard it explained,

Unknown Speaker 16:31
is Oh,

Scott Benner 16:32
no, no, that really makes me that makes me uncomfortable, even now that you just said it again. But it. But that meant a lot to me. Because I don't know, I just I don't know why it's surprising to me, other than to say that if you could get into a time machine and go back 30 years, and find 19 year old Scott, and you could really get to know him. And then I pulled you aside and said that kid, one day will be the person that people listen to about this, this this, you'd go No, No, that can't be right. I just met the guy and I don't think I think you've got the wrong person. There's no way it just, it is to this day. shocks me that I'm the person who runs this podcast. It doesn't Yeah, I don't. It's weird that it's me. And I don't I recognize that. What I'm what I'm good at. And, like, I'm not shocked on that level. Like, it's not false modesty. It's not like, it's not like, Oh, I don't really know that stuff. You shouldn't say that. It's not that I don't feel like an imposter. It's just if you could have seen the trajectory of my life. It just didn't. It wasn't I don't know how it ended up being me other than Arden got diabetes, you know. So, yeah, it's very,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 17:49
I think, I think life experiences

Unknown Speaker 17:53
shift people often.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 17:56
And I, whether people choose to keep moving along with that shift or not, sort of is the difference. I think, you know, I mean, when I, when I was diagnosed with diabetes, I wanted to be a veterinarian. I had wanted to be a veterinarian, since I was like, a very small child. My grandpa had a farm I loved like all the animals, I always ask big questions. We had cats when I was growing up, I always wanted to go to the veterinarian office whenever we did ask lots of questions. And then when I was diagnosed, you know, I had really good educators, thankfully. And in high school, then just sort of like shifted, I realized I was really good at science. And I really also started my mom is an amazing cook. She just, she's awesome. And I kind of realized that because food was such a big part of diabetes management, that maybe I should kind of switch gears and sort of go the route of in a different didn't want to be a nurse. I don't do some of nursing things very well. They bleed all over me. But like the whole, like mucus angle can do that thing. So I was like, Oh, I like do I like nutrition anyway, so let's be a dietitian. And then I knew that I didn't want to do that. Like I don't want to teach people about low cholesterol diets. That's just not for me. Right. But diabetes was the thing. So again, I I kind of think, you know, I don't know, who knows, maybe if something else had happened in your life with kids, maybe you would have had a very different angle. But this was the course that you were supposed to have. And you've done an amazing thing for so many people starting this you have,

Scott Benner 19:39
I just feel like I thank you. I just feel like I saw its value. And so I leaned into it. But I mean, there's a part of me, I won't lie to you. There was a part of me at one point that thought, This is what I'm going to do. Like I'm going to write about and talk about diabetes in my free time. Like I don't even have diabetes. Have you been watching my blood sugar's online? I definitely go. I

Jennifer Smith, CDE 20:03
haven't. Actually I should I definitely

Scott Benner 20:05
about it. I definitely don't have diabetes. So good. Yeah, yeah, you actually, isn't it funny the irony of what I'm doing? I haven't even taken the time to like, celebrate that I don't have it. There's a couple times I'm like, Oh, this isn't not very exciting for the people watching. Instead of just thinking, this is great that I can walk past that candy dish pull, like, three candies out that total like 30 carbs, it's just pure sugar. And Ethan, and my blood sugar doesn't move. And I haven't had I haven't even had time to be like, yeah, that's exciting. But to what I was saying, there was a moment where I was like, This is what I'm gonna do, because my trajectory was, I wanted to be a screenwriter, like I wanted to write movies. That's how I, that's what I thought about when I was growing up. And then I was in a poor family, I didn't get to go to college, I had to go right to work. And I just had terrible jobs. I mean, like, I worked in sheetmetal, shops and paint rooms, and just terrible things. And the entire time I was there, I would just feel like, I'm not supposed to be here. Like, this isn't my I didn't, I didn't I love the guys that I worked with. And that whole part of it was terrific. But I just kept thinking, like, I have these things in my head, I should, okay, and but I'd get home, I'd be so tired, it wouldn't matter. And I was still broke, and just kept going over and over again, like that. And one day, I just thought, I've got to get out of this, like I can't, you know, I can't keep doing this forever. And a friend of mine was collecting debts. And she's like, you can talk, you can, you could do this job easily. So then the next thing I knew, I went from like, a sheet metal shop to sitting in a cubicle with a screen in front of me and somebody whose information would pop up, you'd have 10 seconds to familiarize yourself with this data on the screen. And trust me, it didn't look like computers. Look. Now it was you know, wasn't easy. And then you'd hear a voice and they'd be like, hello. And they were there. Hi, Jenny. My name is Scott. I'm calling from I forgot what it was something bank. You're 28 days late, on your on your payment, you're in jeopardy of going to 60 days late. We really need you to make a payment right now. I was Dunning people. And wow, I didn't know that I was so good at it. I quit the job. Because it made me feel bad how good I was at it. Like it was a job you didn't want to be good at. Right. You know, and, and so I used that experience to move to a credit union doing the same thing. And then the minute I could get out of it, I became their graphic designer, which I had no background in whatsoever. It was it was a little tiny credit union. And the job came up. And I went to the Human Resources person. I said, I can do that. Like I've seen the things that you guys produce here. I can make them all. And they just what would it hurt them? Like I wasn't making very much money. So they took a flyer and I did well at it. And did it for a number of years until Kelly got pregnant was cold. And then I quit my job and I had been a stay at home dad for I quit my job at the end of 1999. Wow, yeah, I haven't had a real job since then. And but I never, I would write things I would try to write things and never had enough time, I was always exhausted. And then Arden got diagnosed. And I was I didn't know what to do. So I wrote a blog about diabetes. You know, I just didn't, I didn't want her to struggle at some point. And I really felt like she was going to and I wasn't understanding it. And I don't have the kind of brain this is gonna sound strange. Maybe I can't I couldn't figure it out. Like I couldn't step back and look at it and figure it out. I had to like live through it, and then go back and write about it. And then like little lights would get turned on as I was going. That's why some people are, you know, I see some people online, they're like, I'm not getting this quickly enough be very upset with themselves then, like your kids had diabetes for six months. Like it two years, I was still crying in the shower, you know, like it's only six months in, and your kids a one c seven, and I can see it coming down consistently like you're, you know, three months from now you have this? Right, you know, it took me a lot longer to figure it out. And it really wasn't until I wrote something on the blog, one day when it really just hit me I was like, there's a system here. I didn't even realize it at first. And, and I didn't even know what it was. I just knew it was there. So I picked through everything that I wrote and it was like that and that plus that and that equals a good outcome. And you know, and then I picked those pieces and I refined them down

Jennifer Smith, CDE 25:00
It's kind of like data analysis, really. But you just did it in a different way.

Scott Benner 25:03
Yeah, trust me, because I can't analyze data. And so and so I kept distilling them down. But I, I understood them already. I didn't need I was distilling them down so I could write about them. Right, because I have a real belief about communication. And I don't think that people like to be talked at. And I don't think people like things that sound like medicine, especially when they're already, you know, upset. And so I just kept going. And I just kept telling myself, like, if you can make these ideas, t shirt, slogans, and people will be able to remember them. And that was it. And, and then I guess it's just lucky that I wrote that book. Because I got to write a book called Life is short laundry is eternal. And it was about being a stay at home dad. That got me. I can remember the exact day that I decided to make a website for myself, like Scott Benner calm, which is don't go look at it. It's, I haven't looked at it in like 10 years. But because I made that around the book. Katie Kirk's producer found me looking for Father's around Father's Day. Wow. Right. And so the next thing I knew, I was on a soundstage in in New York, doing this interview with Katie Couric. And when it was over, she grabbed me and she was like, you're so good at this. And I was like, What is it? I'm good at, like, cuz I didn't even know. I didn't know what she was talking about. She's like, you're just so entertaining. And you speak so freely. This was wonderful, as like, thank you. And then I left. And like two weeks later, a different producer called me and she said, I'm Katie Kirk's producer. And I was like, No, you're not. I already spoke to Katie Kurtz producer. She's a different person. She does know that her web producer, I'm her television producer. And I was like, okay, and she goes on, we have a slot. In a couple of days. We're having some single dads or some stay at home dads, come on. And we'd like you to come. I was like, yeah, I'll do that. You know. So the next thing Oh, awesome. It was so cool. But I got there. And she looked at me and smiled. Like she knew me, like, recognize me, which was nice. And I sat down. And Jenny, it if one of these things is not like the other ever existed, it was me. Right? Like, I was like, much older than these other guys. These guys were all like very kind of like metrosexual guys from like New York and stuff like that, right? Who are just like, you know, taking care of their kids. And, and I'm just answering the questions that come along. And then this one guy starts talking about this whole experience is making my wife and I closer, and he's just it was so pie in the sky and like happy and I just, it wasn't my turn to talk. But I leaned down, I looked down the line. I was like, Hey, I interrupted him. And I was like, how long have you been married? And he goes, Oh, we've been married like a year. And I laughed. And then I could see on the monitor, the cameras swung over to me. And I was like, You don't have any idea what you're talking about. You're not even married yet. Like I said, Come back 15 years from now and tell me that story. And then I'll tell you, you're doing a great job. And then I said something old

Jennifer Smith, CDE 28:15
are your kids at this point?

Scott Benner 28:17
It was eight years ago. So Cole was like,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 28:20
Oh, so it was a long it was Yeah, they were old enough, like well, old enough that you had been married and had life with kids. And I

Scott Benner 28:28
had already been yelled out a couple of 1000 times I knew what like what it was like to be married. And so and, and I don't remember what I said next. But whatever I said next made 500 people who were in the studio audience laugh at the same time. And I have to tell you that that is a feeling that is difficult to duplicate. Because now you feel like you feel like a puppet master. Like I wonder if I can make them do this. And what if I could try and write you know what I mean? And then, and then Katie pulled me aside again afterwards and said, Wow, that was terrific. She's like, you were this whole thing. And I said, Thank you. And she's like you, this was going nowhere, and you absolutely saved it. And it was just such a nice moment. And then she's awesome. And that made me think about making a podcast. So that's it. I never would have leapt from the diabetes blog to a diabetes podcast. It didn't occur to me to do that. So sure it was her so if you're all happy with your agency's thank Katie Clark.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 29:33
Well, I think you know, the big thing too is like I and maybe this is just sort of like reading into but like the feeling you got when the people laughed, and you knew it was an honest laugh. Like it wasn't a generated like, audience please laugh kind of signed up above like, they thought it was hilarious.

Scott Benner 29:52
Yeah.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 29:53
And you kind of took that even if it was on like a subconscious level and said, you know, if I can make people laugh Why can't I take what I know? And like, give that to more people to just be able to feel like they can do better to, like, I don't want to be the only one doing a good job at this. And I mean, that's kind of myself too. Every time somebody sends me a message that, you know, I got my agency down, and now my doctor has given me a go ahead to get pregnant. Or, you know, my child's endo team is astounded at what we're doing together. And they're amazed at his agency being here. And they're usually happy if it's just at seven and a half, you know, I mean, then the notes and things that's my like, audience happy laughing to me, like, I just, that's why I like doing what I do.

Scott Benner 30:48
So I appreciate that. And I feel the exact same way. When the first person told me that their doctor told me to listen to the podcast. I was like, Ooh, I'm doing I'm onto something. You know what I mean? Yeah. And that same kind of interaction where the audience laughed? Is, I tried to, I don't know how to say I don't. I don't. Is it funny? I'm not trying to insult anybody, because I'm definitely not I don't have those feelings. But I know how your blood sugar can be stable and steady. Right? And it's, I see it as my job to get it across to people. Anyway, I can. And I know that the picture you paint for one person that makes them go, Okay, this is it isn't the one that works for someone else. Right. Right. And so while I think most people make podcasts thinking, well, I am tangentially related to this subject. And I'll have conversations with people about it. It'll be interesting. And those people are always wrong, or not always wrong. But podcasts are interesting. There are a lot of podcasts, I believe that at the moment, there are 1.5 million of them. Of those 1.5 million. I forget what it is, maybe only a half a million, put up an episode a month, have only 50% of them get like 140 downloads per episode. So the truth is, it's easy to have a podcast like it used to be easy to have a blog, the large majority of them are either aren't being produced regularly or no one's really listening to them to begin with. Sure, like for perspective, while you and I are recording this, I should have a couple of 100 new downloads. By the time I put this down again, this podcast gets a lot of downloads. So there's this very finite amount of podcasts that anybody's actually listening to. And I realized that not everybody hears the tug of war story and then goes, Oh, Pre-Bolus thing, I got it. And you also have to realize that not everybody's hearing every episode. So right, my job's not just to do it once. It's to do it over and over and over again, in a way that hopefully doesn't take the people who found the show five years ago, and and bore them. Like I want them to stay for the community aspect. And because in truth if they stay, then the podcast gets more downloads of the podcast gets more downloads, then it's easier to sell ads. And if it's easier to sell ads, and I get to keep making the podcast, right like this thing kind of like all ties itself together. But I am working the strings of the puppets a little bit like I do say things to trick the people listening to into understanding diabetes. It's it doesn't it's not that's not the intention, but it is a positive trick. Yes, it's a very positive.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 33:41
It's, it's a positive reasoning trick. There's not like anything, you know, malicious.

Scott Benner 33:48
Right. Now what I've basically done is I've taken my superpower, and I've turned it to good. Like, really, unless you ever seen the boys on Amazon, some of these guys get superpowers and they just do terrible things with it. Not me. I've decided to do something good with it. So yeah, it makes me think of the last day of ninth grade. I have very few memories of school. But I'm going down the hallway. And my guidance counselor comes out of his office and grabs me and it's such an impactful moment that I I remember his name and I remember no one's name, and I'm sure he's got to be long passed, but his name was Mr. Wiley. He pulled me into a like a little nook, which today I think would be assault. And he goes, What are you gonna do in high school? And I was like, What? What do you want to be when you grow up? And I'm like, I, my brain. I'm like, Well, now we're talking about this, oh my god, we're out of here in three hours. I'm never coming back to this building. I said, I don't really know. And he said, You should be an attorney. That's what I think. And I said why? And he goes, you're just very good at talking to people. You should be an attorney. And I remember feeling very filled with like, I came from a divorced family. Nobody ever told me nice things about myself. You know, there was no time for that. And I think Felt good that he thought I could be an attorney. And then I said, I couldn't do that. And he said, Why? I said, Well, then I'd be an attorney. And he laughed, because I think he thought I was making like casting aspersions at the law profession. But what I really meant was that I'd be an attorney every day for the rest of my life. Like, and I don't want to do that. I don't want to do anything every day for the rest of my life. I feel like there's a lot of things I could do. And he laughed, I laughed, we were like, hey, and then I, you know, I walked out. I remember it because it was a positive impact because somebody, an adult, said something to me as a child that was positive. But then I did exactly the opposite of his. Like, I didn't lean into my education at all, like I looked at high school as something I had to get through. Right, which was a huge mistake. But I just negotiated my way through that. Just every I got to high school. They put us in this auditorium, and said there was a technical school that was a few miles away, where you can learn to weld or, you know, do all this stuff. And there was a field trip, you could go look around. And I was like, that sounds like for losers. That's how I write. And then they said, and the way the schedule runs is two weeks a month, you go to tech school full time and two weeks a month, you go to high school full time, and I thought, so I only have to go to high school for a year and a half. If I go to tech school, put me on that bus. So I went over, went through every room. No small engine repair, making the food for the cafeteria, there was hairdressing school. I don't want to do any of

Jennifer Smith, CDE 36:36
that way to come in handy. This past separate. See my

Scott Benner 36:39
hair right now, by the way if I could cut my own hair. So I made the decision to go to baking school. Because that had the most pretty girls. Listen, if I have to come to avoid a year and a half of high school, I'm gonna come I'm doing this. My parents were like, whatever. Like they just nobody cared. And, and I just picked the room with the most pretty girls. And now I can bake like you wouldn't believe.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 37:11
I'm glad you learned something out of it besides just looking at pretty girl. Yes,

Scott Benner 37:15
yes. Where you can make a cinnamon button six at a time. I can make 600 of them at a time. So I'm, that's the kind of baking I learned to bill. But I really I got out of that. I got a job in a bakery. You had to start at 130 in the morning. I did it for a week and I quit. I was like I'm not doing this. Yeah. I

Jennifer Smith, CDE 37:37
was so happy during my my dietetic internship, the food service aspect of it. I mean, I knew that I was never going into food service. I'd never wanted to do that. But we had to do that type of a rotation. And I too had to be in the bakery of the hospital system food service area. I think it was like 230 in the morning. And I was like,

Scott Benner 38:01
I couldn't do

Jennifer Smith, CDE 38:02
glad this four weeks is done. Bye. Bye. I will not be

Scott Benner 38:08
I texted my brother last night around six o'clock to wish him a happy birthday. And he was just waking up and getting ready to go to work because he works a shift and like shift work.

Unknown Speaker 38:17
I'm like, Oh my god, how

Scott Benner 38:18
does he do that? You know? But yeah, I just, there was nothing. And I just jumped my my uncle gave me a job. But did that for a while I did everything else that I told you about it. There's a bunch of others. I've worked in a 711 for like a year. Like, that was it like I just I wanted, I didn't know what I wanted to do. I cut lawns for people. And it's Kelly really, who deserves a lot of credit for seeing who I was through what my life made me look like I was Yeah, I don't know if that makes sense or not. But I didn't like if you looked at what I did and how I did it. I appeared one way but she actually listened to me and you know, kind of heard my thoughts and I just got randomly lucky. I really, I really belong, like in a trailer somewhere. Oh, no, I do. You know, please

Unknown Speaker 39:06
really don't left

Scott Benner 39:08
my own devices. I'm somewhere with a with like a bog. like Shrek basically is what I'm saying. I think that's about all I would have accomplished on my own. Kelly was the one who I think saw like my potential. And not that she was trying to coax it out of me. But she didn't judge me for the other stuff. You know, like that I was working in the 711 which there's nothing wrong with it was a perfectly fine job and, and I did it I worked hard at it. But you know, it's not a career, obviously. And it just was a way to pass time and make some money to pay bills. And one day I just realized I'm like all you're doing is living to pay this bill to live to pay the bill like this. You don't have to do something. But a lot of just lucky. Like I said like how do I talk to a human resources person into letting the credit card collector do the it's so If any, if all this tells you one thing, it's that my, it's talking is what I'm really good at. So I talked my way.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 40:08
And I think you've, you've sort of finessed your talking, though, to a point of really being able to teach. And that's there's a difference. Because, I mean, there are a lot of professionals who have gone to college and spent 1000s of dollars to do what they do, and still do not talk. Well. They just and that's I feel bad saying it, but it's the truth. I mean, and dust is. Dust is I think a lot of the reason, and I certainly wouldn't down any of the diabetes professionals that are out there. But when you're in a, in a when you're managing a condition, like diabetes, talking sometimes needs to go beyond, like, the basic hit points on a list to address. And you have to get to a very personal level of talk in order to meet the need. And everyone's needs are everyone's needs are different.

Scott Benner 41:15
Right? So well. Yeah, that's that's basically what answered the question to me when people like when I talk to somebody privately, that doesn't have diabetes, like they're like, wait, so someone listens to your podcast to learn about diabetes, instead of talking to their doctor. And I was like, Yeah, I was like, the doctors are, generally speaking not great at explaining it to them. And you know, it's hard for like a lay person who doesn't have type one to even understand how that would be. Because most people's experience with doctors, is one of the problems with going to a doctor, is that your support you people think you go in there and you sit quietly, and they tell you something, and then you leave with the answer, right? And it just doesn't work that way, especially with type one. But still even talking. Like if I'm not lying to you, if I tell you that 30 seconds before you popped up, I was thinking maybe we should talk about like some, like, do some defining diabetes stuff. And then when I saw you, I was like, No, let's just talk like, do like an end of year wrap up. So nothing that I've said, while we were talking Have I ever considered before I said it, and I speak pretty quickly. So that I make sense. While I'm talking. That's where I think, again, I think everyone's good at something. But I'm proud of myself, like I can't believe I'm this good at speaking in a coherent way that leads to something I'm not just filling time.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 42:39
Yeah, you should be proud of what you've put out there. I mean, it's, it's, it's been beneficial enough in specially in terms of what you've seen in the listeners that you have and the growth and who it's reaching that more and more and more people keep, like, Hey, you should listen to the juicebox. Hey, you should listen to the juice box. And that outreach is beyond. I mean, I don't know how many other places I know, online, too, that I could send people to listen to, or do a little bit more reading or whatnot. And but many of them, I don't I mean, there are lots of them. Yeah, and I don't direct people to very many other sites, I just don't, because when, when you want somebody to really learn and to continue to learn, especially in the past five years, with all the changes that have come with diabetes management, you have to continue to evolve and move along with that in your discussion. And you also have to be willing to say, Hey, you know, a couple of years ago, I remember we talked about such and such, and with today's technology, we don't need to do that anymore, or we don't need to do it as much, or it's changed now. So you need to continue to sort of move people into learning that things aren't just gonna stay where they are.

Scott Benner 44:07
Well, those. So I think where most people get stuck, and this is where the listeners deserve. A lot of the credit is there, those people get so stuck trying to drive traffic that they take what's what they hear people talking about online, and they turn it into content. And I don't think of it that way. I don't look to the people who need the answers, for the ideas about what to say. And I think those other blogs and probably some of the look, I don't know, I've never listened to another type one podcast, but I can tell you that I can see some metrics online. And as far as Type One Diabetes podcasts go, there's this one, and then the rest don't come anywhere near this one in terms of listenership right and, and I don't mean them, I think it's terrific. Like I really think it's terrific that people do what they do and if they're helping people, I think that's terrific, but If they they'd see more growth, if they were giving people something that made a listener, like get off and think I have to tell somebody about this. Right, right. You know, I, I listened to podcasts, and some of them, I enjoy, but I would never tell anyone else to listen to. And there are some that every time I'm with somebody, I'm like, have you heard this conversation on this thing? Like, it's, it drives you to want to talk to somebody. I just think that, while he, you know, Jenny and I talked maybe a week ago, we set a schedule. So like, she's on the schedule throughout 2021. And I told her what I wanted to do in 2021. And then I was like, hey, in 2022, I also think we should start moving in this direction a little bit. And, and that's what she's talking about, like, I know where diabetes is going. And I need to understand it so that when it's happening to you listening in real time, I'm already, you know, I can I can articulate it in a way that will help you do it. Right. I just see it that way. Like I've never worried about the clicks, I always think about anything that I've ever produced and put online. If it's good people will listen to it, if it's great people will tell people about it. But you can't force people to tell people about things that we're sharing, like, please share, please click please. Like, just if it's good, it's good if it's not stop wasting people's time. And I think the diabetes space where it fails over and over again, is that it just does the same kind of banal over and over again, like, Hey, here's a recipe for a fourth of July. Right, Great, thanks. I don't my kids chart jumps up my graph goes 463 5082. Right, I don't your low carb, you know, hotdog bun recipe is not gonna save my life, I have bigger problems. And, and all of those other places, no matter how friendly, they try to make them, Look, our businesses, and they are not going to go out on a limb and tell you how to Pre-Bolus they just won't. It's the it and it's despicable that it's despicable that some doctors won't even do it. Because they don't want you to get low and come back and say, Look what you did to me. I would rather you drop dead 15 years before you're supposed to and have nobody to sue. And and, you know, I gave them I gave them competent care is what they would think when it was over. And not everyone's like that. But if there wasn't a lot of people like that, then this podcast would have no need and nobody be listening to it. So

Jennifer Smith, CDE 47:33
well. And I think that's, that's kind of you can't really sugarcoat things, right? Because people eventually see that. And you have to give it like it is this is the information. This is how to do it, if you choose to go forward and use it. Great. And if you don't, well, then at least you heard it somewhere, right? I mean, it's kind of like the eons ago. I mean, my nephew, who is now 21, he was diagnosed when he was seven. And at that point, when he was diagnosed, his doctors kept telling his parents, it's okay, if his blood sugar is, you know, 250 he's little. And that's okay, for right now. We're just worried about him being too low. And whenever my husband and I, we didn't have kids at that point, but whenever we'd go and visit them, I'd be like, it is not okay for his blood sugar to be 250. I mean, that was like eons ago, right? Like 15, or whatever years ago. Not quite but and so bringing this up now is really important, because there are a lot of little kids and teens being diagnosed. And for them to know from the beginning that despite their services being much more conservative, and that quote, unquote, like, let's make sure that you're safe. And by no means am I saying Don't be safe. But that down the road, like you said 15 years from now. They're little blood vessels and things are not going to be safe because you were more comfortable with a blood sugar of 200.

Scott Benner 49:17
Yeah, so the the evil person that lives inside of me that, you know, that I got rid of a long time ago who could have become an attorney and become really rich doing it. That person doesn't get the worst thing that I can imagine Jenny is wasted time. Like I have a real trouble with that. I do not like to waste time. I don't like to have conversations that that aren't valuable. I don't like to have friends that I just I hate wasting time right? It feels like the ultimate sin. And if I was the type of person who could put out a podcast about nothing and draw you into it when You could be out there using that time, legitimately learning how to make yourself healthier. I couldn't live with myself and do something like that i and i think that there are too many people who have talked themselves into believing there's no real help for these people with diabetes. So I'll just serve them this bland content. And I'll get them excited every year about a cure coming. And then I'll string them along with some recipes for something. And then once in a while, I'll let somebody tell a story about how scary it was to have diabetes. And that'll keep them locked in with fear. I mean, I want you people to listen, which is why I do the interviews with other people. I think good stuff comes out of the interviews. But I think also that too many of you listening don't know another person with Type One Diabetes. So you get to listen to people who have type one, I try to make it entertaining, so that it's not just like, the same thing over and over,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 50:58
where they could essentially be watching like a presentation on a PowerPoint. Yeah, you don't want that there's no personality.

Scott Benner 51:07
I talked to April Blackwell a couple days ago, and I put it right up. And I think we talked about diabetes for eight seconds. And then she, she flies the International Space Station. So like, this is what we need to be talking about, you know, and she has type one diabetes. Same thing with when Alyssa Wallerstein was on. She said, world class cello player, like I asked her about how she Pre-Bolus is, you know what I mean? Like, like, no, like, like, let's have great conversations. Those conversations to me are really interesting and help you meet people who have type one diabetes who do interesting things. Because if I just came on every time and I was like, Alright, feet on the floor, this is what it is, you know, you'd be out of here, and it wouldn't help you then. And I have to part of my job is to trick you into doing better with your diabetes. Like it really is. Like I said something online the other day, somebody asked a question. And I was like, Jenny said that I can't remember where. And there's this part of me that's like, wait a minute, are you not listening to every episode? I'm doing this very specifically for you. But I understand everyone can't listen to every minute. Or that maybe I don't do a good job sometimes or whatever, or you know, but the idea is that I honestly believe if you went back, I don't know, I haven't heard episode one since I recorded it. I don't know what's in it. But what I can tell you is if you went back, found a way to listen to 420 episodes of this podcast, when you got to the end, you'd be incredibly good at taking care of your diabetes. And you may have heard, you may have heard 50 hours of conversation that later you could write off and say it had nothing to do with it. But I don't know how to point you to the exact episodes you need to hear like I don't know which episode, Jenny said when you fall asleep. your digestion slows down. Like I don't know which one that is. And you know, Jenny, there are, does this happen to you? I'll get a note from somebody. And they're like, Oh, my God, what you said worked. And I'm like, Who are you? And

Jennifer Smith, CDE 53:11
what was it that I said that works? Let me apply

Scott Benner 53:15
it exactly. Like tell me that. And then I have to like I dig backwards. And I'm like, Oh, this is a person, they have a kid and I read it. And then I realized that we had enough meaningful back and forth. I get that she thinks I know who she is. Except I've had them back and forth like that with 100 more people since then. And I don't know who you are anymore. Like, I it's the worst thing to like somebody go I'm so sorry to ask this. Who are you?

Jennifer Smith, CDE 53:37
What was your name again?

Scott Benner 53:38
Don't don't I don't have time to go look, and but that's good. Like, that's good. Because the more people who learn how to handle themselves, well, the more they'll tell somebody else which will lead to other people having healthy results. And I'm telling you, like it's a it's a long shot for me. But I want for this podcast to fundamentally change how doctors talk to people with type one diabetes. Like I want to my whatever my last day is like I want I want one of my last thoughts to be no one's gonna cry in the shower. And I helped, you know, right, right. That's what I'm shooting for. Well, I

Jennifer Smith, CDE 54:16
think what helps to is kind of what you were elaborating on with discussion, just mentioning those two other women, where you might have spent like a minute talking to them in the whole discussion about their diabetes. But that's a that is a piece that's missing in, in diabetes. Education, it's not really the right word for it, because what you're bringing in is a piece of real life. The fact that you could be this person, you could do this, you could do that. And our whole conversation for 45 minutes, was not about a BD. It was about what an awesome cello player you are in. Where you've been and what you've seen and what you've been able to do. Yes, you have diabetes, but you still live. And those are grabbing points for a lot of people, I think, and a big reason. Many people would continue and do continue to listen. I mean, that's a grabbing point for me, in terms of listening. I mean, I don't really go to the episodes that are about education. Other ones are, they're awesome. And I listened to, because they're their people. And one of my favorite things that I ever did in my life with diabetes, is I attended a diabetes training camp for adults with type one who wanted to be better athletes. And while the whole week was all about diabetes management, the in between with all of the other people I was at camp with was life. And that's kind of what your podcasts spring, it's, it's life. And it's also Oh, I want to learn a little bit more of this. Let me click on this one, versus I just want to learn about the cello player.

Scott Benner 56:06
I think it's incredibly important. And I didn't realize so I'm a boy. So when something happens when something happens in front of me, I just think like, we'll blow it up kill it. Or don't worry, it's not a problem. Like you don't mean like I I genuinely, I genuinely don't think women understand how men think any more than men understand how women think, right? But there's nothing you could say to me that I don't think I could do. Like, I'm sitting here right now. I'm almost 50 years old, I'm completely out of shape. And if you brought a 25 year old guy in here and said, Can you kick his ass? I'd be like, god damn right. I can. And by the way, I can't. Okay, like, but but but it makes, I don't ever have that thought. And so when Arden got diabetes, I was just like, well, I'll just do it. Like, I'll figure it out. And I'll do it. So to hear that somebody might not think that they could be an athlete, because they have type one that doesn't like, that doesn't resonate with me at all, I would never think of that. Even when people are saying, like, I'll get notes. Sometimes they're like, you know, how do I keep my kids? Excuse me blood sugar from falling during, like an activity? And I was like, well, you get your settings. So right, that there's no active insulin while you're running around, and it won't fall. But that's not really an answer to that question, is it? You know, so? And the answer to that question is so much bigger, and why it works in audio, and doesn't work as well in writing. And also doesn't work as well in audio, if you're not good at talking about it. Right? Right. It's just, there's, there's a lot there that has to coalesce to make it. I can tell you don't have active insulin while you're being active. And that but people don't, it's just diabetes moves too quickly. Right, just one meal rolls into the next meal rolls into the next day. It's like, it's almost like, they don't recognize that three times a day, they're doing something that's going to screw up six hours from now. Right? That's the biggest caught get caught in this wheel of of doing something, getting fooled into thinking it's okay for a couple of hours, and then having it go wrong. And the insulin that they worked with happened so far in the past, they don't recognize that's what's going on. So they never see the real problem. They're always just they're swinging at ghosts all the time. Right.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 58:20
I think that's a lot of the reason, though, that our conversations together that are about specific, like diabetes, like topics, right? are more, they're conversational in nature. And that helps people to think further than, like you said, a written kind of paragraph about something is just that there's nobody to converse about with it. It is you read it. And you kind of try to apply it. It's sort of like going to a doctor who takes the clinical cotton dry. Well, you should adjust it this way. Because this is what's happening. Yeah. But there's no like back and forth, which is kind of what we have, which is fun.

Scott Benner 59:03
Well, I recorded with Kenny the other day to add another loop episode. And I

Jennifer Smith, CDE 59:07
haven't listened to it yet. He gives I came into my email, and I was all excited.

Scott Benner 59:11
It gives this great explanation about putting in a Bolus, but changing the time to the future. And then when it adds, but then when the loop says okay, we're gonna put in three units now saying no. And so that right, and so it gives us great explanation. But in my mind, I'm like, I don't know if that's clear to people listening. And so I said, So you're telling me that basically, what I'm doing is giving Luke some pocket money, some walking around money that he can spend wherever it wants? And he goes, yes, and then Okay, great. And we kept moving. Five, five notes I've received so far in the last two days. That changed my whole understanding of something. And I didn't know I was gonna say that. I just, it's just how it occurred to me in the moment, you know, so if the weird way that my brain works Somehow was helping people. That's cool. But I can't even take that much credit for it like it just like, basically what happened was I understood what he said, but I could not re articulate it in a technical way. If you asked me to say what he just said, in my own words, I would have been lost this, you know,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 1:00:18
that it like a guy walking down the street who has no knowledge about you're like, this is like this instead. Yeah, it's not just the medical term. So

Scott Benner 1:00:27
what you're saying is this, and that's my whole approach to diabetes. I'm, at this point, I'm sure you feel the same way. But anyone could walk into this room right now. And I could, I could set them right in a couple of hours. It wouldn't be that hard. But

Jennifer Smith, CDE 1:00:45
and give them tools to move forward with as well,

Scott Benner 1:00:48
that would take another day. Yeah,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 1:00:50
a bit. But the right now you could say, this is definitely a big part of the problem. Let's do this. And then we'll work on the rest as we see that this

Scott Benner 1:01:00
work. And so we're gonna keep doing that, we're gonna, you're gonna keep coming back. Jenny's gonna record all through 2021 and 2022, we're going to talk about all kinds of stuff, I would imagine there's going to be more conversations about algorithm pumping, because that is kind of the future. And I want to get people into that way, it'll

Jennifer Smith, CDE 1:01:19
be interesting to have a conversation when some knee pads, yeah, system comes,

Scott Benner 1:01:26
it will be. And so that'll be good. And then we're gonna get people in to talk about, we're going to talk about control IQ, we're going to talk about on the pod five, I'll talk about that Medtronic one when it comes out if we need to. And I'm just kidding, I would be happy to do that. But the podcast is gonna keep moving forward, I have no plans on slowing down. And I want to thank everybody listening 2020 downloads, and I know some people are like, I stream it does that count however you listen counts. But from 2017 to 2020. We have doubled our monthly downloads every year. So 2018 was doubled, over 1719 was doubled, over 1820 was doubled over 19. And if 2021 doubles over this, it's gonna be easier for me to get other guests because it's gonna stick us into a stratosphere where people are actually gonna be like, Yes, I'll come on, because they know that we'll do something for them. So we're kind of making the podcast into a commodity, which then will allow us to, to do a little better. Right now, I still have to fight to get some people on the show a little bit, you know. So it's interesting how the how much the downloads mean, behind the scenes.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 1:02:37
So maybe you'll have to ask only once versus three times.

Scott Benner 1:02:40
Yeah, we'll have to, I'm gonna have to work so hard to get them. So Jenny, I hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. And I want to cut this off now because I want to tell you something privately that these people can't hear. Sorry, guys. That's it for 2020 131 episodes, one pandemic, and a lot of a one sees going down and getting stable. Thanks so much for listening to the Juicebox Podcast. I'll be back in just a few days with the beginning of season seven. I have a great story about someone who is diagnosed with Type One Diabetes as an adult, just as they were finding out they were pregnant. One of my favorite stories in the last couple of years. And I finally got to record with the person that it happened to. I'd like to wish everyone a happy and healthy New Year. I'd like to give you a lot of credit for making it through that last year. And I think we can all agree that if 2021 can just be a little less than a disaster. That would be amazing.