#1499 The 60 Ways You Can Die

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Stephanie, 35, diagnosed at 11 on her sister’s birthday amid turmoil, champions tech-led T1D management in pregnancy, defying outdated protocols.

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Scott Benner 0:00
Welcome back friends to another episode of The Juicebox Podcast.

Stephanie 0:13
Hi, my name is Stephanie. I am 35 and I have been a type one diabetic since I was 11 years old and diagnosed in the year 2000

Scott Benner 0:26
please don't forget that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan or becoming bold with insulin. I know this is going to sound crazy, but blue circle health is a non profit that's offering a totally free virtual type one diabetes clinical care, education and support program for adults 18 and up. You heard me right, free. No strings attached, just free. Currently, if you live in Florida, Maine Vermont, New Hampshire, Ohio, Delaware, Missouri, Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa or Louisiana, you're eligible for blue circle health right now, but they are adding states quickly in 2025 so make sure to follow them at Blue circle health on social media and make yourself familiar with blue circle health.org. Blue circle health is free. It is without cost. There are no strings attached. I am not hiding anything from you. Blue circle, health.org, you know why they had to buy an ad. No one believes it's free. This episode of the juice box podcast is sponsored by the Omnipod five. Learn more and get started today at omnipod.com/juice box. Check it out. This episode of the juice box podcast is sponsored by the Dexcom g7 the same CGM that my daughter wears. Check it out now at dexcom.com/juice,

Unknown Speaker 1:53
box. Hi.

Stephanie 1:55
My name is Stephanie. I am 35 and I have been a type one diabetic since I was 11 years old and diagnosed in the year 2000

Scott Benner 2:06
I was gonna say 24 years ago. Yeah, we're coming up on it. Yeah, you took me a while. Yeah. I had all that opportunity for simple math that makes people feel like, Oh, my God, he's really good at math. Because I would have been like, Oh, that was 24 years ago in the year 2000 it makes it really convenient. Yeah, right. I also, my son was born in 2000 so it's the best time to have a kid born like, because every whatever year it is, that's how old they are. And he was born at the beginning of the year. So there's, like, not even a lot to remember. You were 11. I was 11. Yeah, only child, brothers and sisters. I was a middle

Stephanie 2:39
child, and I was actually diagnosed, this is, like, always gonna kind of haunt me, right the day before my older sister's birthday. So we spent her birthday celebration in the hospital during my diagnosis, which I still feel bad about.

Speaker 1 2:53
Was she mad about it? How could she be? I mean, probably,

Stephanie 2:58
probably, but like, she would never say that to me, you've

Scott Benner 3:01
never asked her. I haven't I would ask. I would ask on her birthday, by the way, because then if, because, if it did bother her, then you would be able to ruin that birthday too, with him. Excellent. A memory really holding overhead. Did you feel it back then? Like, Oh gosh. Like, look what, look what's happened.

Stephanie 3:22
Definitely, you know, it was an interesting time for diagnosis, for sure, just kind of, like, starting puberty. And so, like, I was, like, super, kind of aware of, like, our family dynamics anyway, with, like, my older sister just went through puberty I was starting, so we had a lot of just like, you know, women in the house, we had a lot of hormones in the house, and then kind of to add to it, this, like, new diagnosis that really, like, changed our lifestyle and changed a lot of our family dynamic. For a long time, I was super aware of the diagnosis and how it impacted our family. Definitely

Scott Benner 3:56
tell me more about, I know this isn't why you're really here, but tell me more about how you think it impacted your family?

Stephanie 4:02
You know, the time I was diagnosed, it was an interesting time in our family anyway, because my parents were going through a divorce, and they were kind of starting that process right at the time that I was starting to get sick. It required a lot of communication between the two of them at a time where maybe, like, they didn't want to be communicating as much, or they were kind of trying to figure out what life looked like. They were also kind of dealing with this idea of having life changes and a sick kid at the time, and a sick kid who was turning into a teenager that they had to kind of deal with and figure out the new normal. So like, I think it impacted us a lot, and then it kind of forced us to continue being a family unit and to communicate on my health, like when I would stay with my mom versus when I would sit with my dad. Like it required so much communication about, like, insulin dosing and at the time, like, about my shots, about my car ratios, things like that. At the time, yeah,

Scott Benner 4:58
can I ask a question that's going. Of if it's none of my business, you'll just say it's none of my business, right? But I feel like contextually, it might help the conversation, so you can be vague if you want to be at all. Why were they getting divorced? They just hate each other. Somebody cheat on somebody. Like, what was the severity of what happened? Like, I'm trying to gage how much they didn't want to talk to each other. They didn't want to talk to each other. Oh, okay, I hear what he did, okay. Now I want to perfect and,

Stephanie 5:22
you know, my parents were, like, really, quite wonderful about it. Honestly, as kids, we didn't know anything was wrong till we knew everything was wrong. They never thought in front of us, we, you know, we really didn't have any idea what was going on. So for me, like, as we were kind of navigating it, and I was kind of, you know, definitely the source of what required them to communicate for a long time. That's kind of when I realized, like, oh, they don't want to talk to

Scott Benner 5:48
each other. Oh, and they did it anyway. They did. Oh, that's awesome. Did you feel badly for putting them back together again in that situation? Totally, really at 11, you felt that, Oh, absolutely. How does that manifest for you? Do you remember,

Stephanie 6:02
I wouldn't say at 11 necessarily, but like, certainly in those like, couple of first years about it just was a lot of, like, guilt surrounding it, or just feeling, like, if you know, during those first couple years, of like, starting to get independence with diabetes management, and I didn't always handle it in the most graceful of ways, like knowing that also required them to have to communicate on an action plan, like, kind of added, added to the what

Scott Benner 6:27
does that mean? You didn't always deal with it in the most graceful ways. I think,

Stephanie 6:31
if you're really asking how it manifested, I mean, I think it manifested in a lot of like diabetes rebellion when I was younger. Okay, you know this thing that I didn't want, that we spent a lot of time right at the beginning, kind of getting in good shape and getting everybody on board. And then I started having some independence with it, and really found it to be too much to handle. And so I would, you know, lie about blood sugars, or I would totally forget to test and and pretend like I did. I'd come back to my mom's and she would check my meter and see, like, oh gosh, like, you haven't been testing all weekend, that you've been with your dad. And then that would cause them to have to have a conversation about it. And I don't know what that was, but I would certainly feel bad about it, because I felt like, you know, my actions definitely impacted their relationship and made them have to kind of CO parent more closely. Did you not

Scott Benner 7:24
ever have the feeling of, like, if I can keep them talking about this, maybe they'll get back together? Oh, no. Okay, I feel like I want to interview your mom, but

Unknown Speaker 7:33
okay, she would love it.

Scott Benner 7:36
So I was just wondering if you ever were just like, Oh, if I don't test a couple times, then Mom has to call Dad, and then they talk. And maybe you didn't have, like, I used to dream about my parents getting back together. That didn't happen for

Stephanie 7:45
you. Not at all. No, no, no, it. It made sense, you know, then being separate made sense, and still, to this day, made sense.

Scott Benner 7:53
I want to be clear, it made sense that my parents were divorced too, but I still was. I still, like, kind of, like, childishly, like, I wanted my family together, you know? So anyway, yeah, okay, so more about the guilt. Let's really just dive right in. I have a whole focus this year I'm going to be doing with people so interesting. You brought this up so early in the year. What do you mean? You felt guilty, not just about them talking. You felt guilty about other stuff, right? About the diabetes and how you were managing it. The Dexcom g7 is sponsoring this episode of The Juicebox Podcast, and it features a lightning fast 30 minute warm up time that's right from the time you put on the Dexcom g7 till the time you're getting readings 30 minutes. That's pretty great. It also has a 12 hour grace period, so you can swap your sensor when it's convenient for you. All that on top of it being small, accurate, incredibly wearable and light, these things, in my opinion, make the Dexcom g7 a no brainer. The Dexcom g7 comes with way more than just this, up to 10 people can follow you. You can use it with type one, type two, or gestational diabetes. It's covered by all sorts of insurances. And this might be the best part. It might be the best part alerts and alarms that are customizable, so that you can be alerted at the levels that make sense to you. Dexcom.com/juice, box. Links in the show notes, links at Juicebox podcast.com, to Dexcom and all the sponsors. When you use my links, you're supporting the production of the podcast and helping to keep it free and plentiful. My daughter is 20 years old. I can't even believe it. She was diagnosed with type one diabetes when she was two, and she put her first insulin pump on when she was four. That insulin pump was an Omnipod, and it's been an Omnipod every day since then. That's 16 straight years of wearing Omnipod. It's been a friend to us, and I believe it could be a friend to you, omnipod.com/juicebox whether you get the Omnipod dash or the automation that's available with the Omnipod five, you are going to enjoy tube. Less insulin pumping. You're going to be able to jump into a shower or a pool or a bathtub without taking off your pump. That's right, you will not have to disconnect to bathe with an Omnipod. You also won't have to disconnect to play a sport or to do anything where a regular tube pump has to come off. Arden has been wearing an Omnipod for 16 years. She knows other people that wear different pumps, and she has never once asked the question, should I be trying a different pump? Never once omnipod.com/juicebox, get a pump that you'll be happy with forever?

Stephanie 10:37
Yeah. Oh, for sure. And that lasted, honestly, a long time I was and am definitely the like. I like having control. I like performing well. I like pleasing everyone. And I knew for a very long time that this was an area of my life that I was just kind of like skating by and holding on by a thread, and I felt a ton of guilt for that. My mom sacrificed a lot at the beginning to, like, truly understand diabetes and help me get healthy. And she later down the line, like I learned so much from her and so much from her advocacy at the beginning that I carried into, like, what I want to talk about today more. And so I felt guilty, right? Like I wasn't doing a good job. I wasn't performing. People were disappointed in me, and I felt that way through my teenage years, through college, honestly, with diabetes management, every time I'd go to the endocrinologist, it was a really negative experience. It was either like my mom found out that my management wasn't going as well as as she'd like it, or as it should be, or she'd find out that I wasn't testing, or the doctor would kind of give me a fear lecture, and it would, you know, scare both of us. So I think there was a lot of guilt at the beginning, and I felt like I was kind of so deep in a hole that this was just what diabetes was and what the management was I really didn't know anything else. With

Scott Benner 12:02
the hindsight, retrospect, do you really think your mom was disappointed in you somewhat?

Stephanie 12:06
I think it kind of sometimes. I think it shattered her illusion of, like, Oh, she has it all together. Like, I know she has it I'm confident in her. And so I think we'd go in and she'd take it back, like, I'm not as confident anymore in that she doesn't have it all together. So I felt like I would sometimes disappoint her in that way, but I also feel like she'd kind of feel disappointed in herself too. Of like, how did I get so distant from this care? Like, how do I get back in? She won't let me back in.

Scott Benner 12:35
She never said to you, Stephanie, I'm disappointed not that I remember. Do you remember her being supportive. I

Stephanie 12:41
remember her being supportive. I remember her being Stern, like, kind of switching to stern mode a lot during my teenage years, of like, if you don't do this, this is going to happen. Yeah, I think she definitely was scared by what the doctors would say when we'd go to the endocrinologist and I'd have an ANC that it wasn't what she was expecting. And I think you know that fear, because she kind of had the gift of, you know, more time on this earth and being able to see how health impacts your life. And I felt invincible at the time.

Unknown Speaker 13:13
Do

Scott Benner 13:14
you ever notice her? I watched my mom try to pivot to like, this is what I think a male figure would do in this situation? Did she do that stuff? Like, do you know what I mean, like, suddenly get harsher or more firm than she was in the past? Or, like, like, that pressure of having to be both parents? Yeah? Yeah, I would say, yeah. I always felt bad about that, where I was, like, my mom is saying something right now that she doesn't even, like, this is not her inclination. She's doing her best the estimation of what she thought my dad would have said there. It was kind of interesting.

Stephanie 13:45
That's really interesting. I've never thought of it

Scott Benner 13:47
that way. Yeah, you know, I'm just, I'm very interested in this, because my daughter's 20 she's almost 21 now, right? And, you know, we have conversations about diabetes pretty constantly. And what I've come to realize is that a lot of the minutia that's happened over the years that puts us in the positions we're in, or causes us to make decisions that we make, they get forgotten. And the only thing that gets remembered is the part that's uncomfortable. If that makes sense or not, it totally does. And then, like, you know, like, it's like, oh, like you're always doing this, or this always happens, or whatever, like, and you're like, Well, no, that that's because of this. There's no remembrance of that part. Like, I didn't do that. This is a response to that, you know. And I don't mean like a thing a person did. I'm saying like a medical thing comes up, and then you're like, Okay, well, I guess we have to do this now and then later. It kind of gets transposed into something a little different than what it actually was. And they're young, so you don't, like, you're not holding them accountable for remembering every second, but like, I remember it like, you know, like somebody burned it into my brain. And then you can tell, like, even with Arden, who does, like, extraordinarily well taking care of herself, right, especially for her age and everything, like I've said here before, like, away at college by herself, Arden was keeping. A six and a half, a 1c, wow. Yeah. And then, you know, as soon as she comes home and, like, the bad food goes away, that six and a half becomes, like, 6.2 taken care of it by herself at 20, like, she's doing, like, it's awesome. And I tell her constantly how well she's doing, but I think she thinks I'm disappointed. I think it's maybe something you can't avoid. Like, I'm starting to wonder about all these people over the years that have come to me and said, like, my parents were always disappointed in me. Were they? I'm sure some of them were like, don't get me wrong. I'm sure some of the people's parents are like, garbage parents, like, right? Like, I don't I don't imagine that's not true. I can tell you, from my perspective, I've never been disappointed in Arden, and I don't believe I've ever said that. I have been so like, is there something about the nature of these conversations that we have to have about diabetes all the time that just leaves a child feeling like they're not doing well enough, no matter how well they're doing or how hard they're trying? I

Stephanie 15:52
think absolutely, and I think it's not even just in childhood, but it's the language that's used around this disease is, like, I even experienced it recently of getting told like, oh, you're a good diabetic. Like, are you good or are you bad? Did you do a good job, or did you not do a good job? I remember one of the things I had to tell my spouse when we first kind of started communicating about diabetes was to stop asking so much about why, or I'd be like, Oh, I don't spoil all my blood sugar's high. And you say, why? It doesn't matter why. Like, when you ask why, it makes me think I've done something wrong, and I have to rationalize, like, what happened and what I did? And I think there's a lot of that as a kid, a lot of like, explaining why, what happened, what did you do? And it comes across and it makes you feel like you didn't do it, right? It would

Scott Benner 16:45
be better if you just were raised by wolves, like seeds, yes, so you didn't have to have, like, all those human interactions. Then you could just be feral, and then it'd be fine. I think we're a couple 1000 years away from being as, uh, as thoughtful as we need to be to to navigate all of this, it's we were getting better but, but we're not good at it. Totally. Yeah, no, I appreciate you sharing that with me, because it's going to be on my it's always on my mind. Honestly, when Arden was younger, it was more in my mind about, like, I wonder what's happening right now that I don't realize is happening. And I have to, I have to tell you something like my youngest brother, Rob, who, of course, now is, you know, a man in his 40s. I thank him for that because, for that way of thinking. Because Rob was always in so much trouble as a child that there were two like stasises for Rob. He was either getting in trouble and you weren't aware of it, or he was in trouble and you knew about it, and he's not like that anymore. He's actually an upstanding citizen who helps put satellites into space, but back then, he's a dick. I hope he hears this, but he taught me that nothing that's happening is really what's happening. It's something else is always happening somewhere else, and you just haven't learned about it yet or heard about it, and it's going to impact soon enough, when I think about my relationships with my kids, and it's a little overwhelming, because I don't think people are wired to think like this yet. Like, I don't think we're smart enough for this yet, you know. But like, you're not just making a decision about like now, you're making a decision about now. And how does it affect tomorrow, but then how does it affect a year from now? And how does it affect the other people in the room? Yes, I said, oh gosh, let's stop here, because we have to change Arden's pod. Did I know that 10 years later my son would be like we were always doing things for Arden, even though my son and I traveled the country and every weekend playing baseball together, I was with him constantly. But the way he remembers it is, is that Arden got more attention, yeah. And then when you talk to Arden about it, the way she remembers it is, you pay too much attention to me, and you were always at baseball with Cole, and Cole never came to my softball games because he was busy playing baseball. And in you're like, Oh, God, everyone's perspective is so who are in the same house and yet their experience and their life is so different, yeah? And then, as the parent, you're just standing there going, like, I don't know what to do about any of this. I'm a moron, okay? Like, I don't understand what's happening half the time. I'm also a person who taught you know why I'm good at podcasting, because I explain my feelings in real time. That's not great in personal interaction. In case you're wondering, when people are looking for concise statements and I've got to talk for four minutes to figure out what I think I have that problem. So I stand around going, like, what's the right thing to do? In my head, I'm like, what's the right thing to do? What's the right thing to do? What's the right thing to what's what I need to do is talk it out loud. But the people around me, only one of them thinks the way I do. The other two think opposite. So when I start talking and they're like, What the fuck is this guy doing? And I'm like, thinking to myself, like, people love this on a podcast, I don't know why you're not enjoying it right now, and I'm trying to get through. It, and I will get through it, like, I'll get to the end, but then when I get to the end, like, here's a secret for all you people who are younger, or don't have babies yet, or something like that, I've just gotten to what makes the best sense to me in the moment. I don't know if I'm right, and then I've got to put that thing into action. And then if it blows up, it's my fault. And if it goes right, what I've learned is no one remembers. I did it. Being alive is terrible. This

Stephanie 20:24
is a great pep talk for somebody with a 16 month old.

Scott Benner 20:31
Yeah, listen, you are in a game. Ready? Everybody want to get bummed out? People who have children would be like, This guy is preaching. He knows exactly what he's talking about. But if you don't have kids yet, you're gonna be like, Hey, man, calm down. You're in a game. You can not win. You cannot win this game no matter what you do, it's gonna be remembered as you did the wrong thing by somebody in some situation. So good luck. Thank you, Scott. I wasn't even talking to you. I was talking to everybody. It's still incredibly fulfilling and rewarding, but I listen. I sent a text to a friend last night. I had a day yesterday where everyone in my family needed something, and it all connected with each other. No one was happy, and I did not know what to do. And when I try to help, people are like, don't fix it. And when I don't help, they stare at me, like, how come you haven't figured it out? Why haven't you done anything so you cannot win? And I sent this note. A friend of mine checked on me yesterday. Said, how you doing? I was like, I'm just, I'm having a day like, don't like, I just can't even talk to you right now. And they checked on me again later, which was lovely. And I said, I think at some point. And I didn't mean this defeatedly, because by then, everything had been okay, but I meant this just academically. I understand why? How many, how so many adults just give up eventually on this, and they just go, You know what? You're 18, you're 20. I got you through college. Go live your own life, because you're not listening to me. I have old ideas at this point, my brain's not working fast enough to keep up with all this anymore. Like, I have my own stuff. Like, I'm, you know, like, 53 like, I don't know how people think success works, but if you're not born wealthy, you know what I mean, like, I'm just getting comfortable and I'm almost done. You know what I mean? Like, I'm in that mad dash to make like, like, try to save money for a few years before I retire, I can't stop in the middle of the day to have a five hour conversation with 17 different people so that everybody feels good when it's over. And then, by the way, when it's over, everybody doesn't feel good, right? Yeah, but all they remember Stephanie is that I didn't get it right. So anyway, this kid, when was it born?

Stephanie 22:46
My son was born in September 2023, congratulations. Now. Oh, it's wonderful.

Scott Benner 22:51
And you're here to announce that his name is Scott. Is that correct? Oh, no, it doesn't matter. What are you?

Stephanie 23:00
Have you found a Scott yet?

Scott Benner 23:01
I got an Arden for a baby. And I think people have stolen our pets names, which I guess is cool. But no, I'm not getting Scott's a terrible name, so I'm not getting a Scott. Like, I know that now, but during COVID, I thought it was gonna happen. I thought you guys would all be like, at home just listening to podcast 24/7 you'd get bored, knock each other up, and then they'd be like, Oh, that guy on that podcast. That's where I thought it was gonna happen, for sure. But I guess that's not happening. All right, so your first kid, yes, okay, you wrote to me about wanting to talk about advocating during pregnancy, specifically to use modern technology during labor and delivery. Stephanie, it sounds like you have a soapbox already, and you need to tell us something. What is

Stephanie 23:42
it? So I wrote to you initially, to thank you. First off, because I could never have gone through pregnancy without finding your podcast. And it's actually pretty funny, because when we kind of decided we were going to move forward, I went to the high risk goby and had my first consultation appointment. It didn't go great. The perspective was really different than my perspective, and I was just feeling pretty like, back in the stone ages, when I left, I came home, and I remember feeling like, I feel like I'm going back to my teenage years of like, kind of doctors telling me what's right and wrong, telling me what I can and can't do, and I had gotten to this stage of, like, really good management and feeling super confident, and I felt like there's no way I can go back to this. Like I can't go back to them telling me how many carbs I'm allowed for breakfast. I can't go back to calling my doctor and having them make adjustments. But like, I didn't have any context for that. I just, like, knew that's how I was feeling. And so I, for the longest time, never looked anything up online related to diabetes, because I was so afraid of, like, you'd google it and it would tell you, like, the 60 ways you're going to die today. And it was so intimidating for me to go online and start to look up diabetes, because I really just didn't want to be inundated with negativity. And I did some looking. I went on Instagram and started finding, like, some women who were going through pregnancy, or had just gone through pregnancy, and somebody had tagged your podcast in there. And I decided to go on and take a look at your podcast. And I listened to the episode with Jenny Smith that you recorded on pregnancy, and I remember I like, turned it off, and I was like, nope, nope. It's not going to work. I am, like, Midwestern, through and through. And I remember being like, nope. He's he's telling me what to do, like he is east coast. He's so brash. I can't listen to this. There's no way. And I went on a walk, and I was like, no, no, no, no. My defenses were all up, I think, from going to the doctor and having them tell me what to do, and I, like, went back home and I listened to it again, and I'm so glad I did, because I could just take a breath and listen to, like, the real information that was there. And really, from then on, I used this podcast multiple times a day to learn what the heck I was doing and learn how to have a healthy pregnancy. And for that, I'm just, like, so grateful, and that's why I reached out to you as number one, just to tell you, like, a successful pregnancy happened because of the information that you've put together, like, through the interviews and then through the Pro Tip series. Like, that's what, what got me going and what really gave me the confidence to do so much advocacy during pregnancy and understand, like, what was good medicine and what was really outdated practice, yeah, and figure out, like, how to use these tools and all this information that we have to have a healthy Pregnancy and a delivery kind of the way that I wanted it. Stephanie,

Scott Benner 26:43
I know you think this is a story about you having a healthy pregnancy, but I feel like it's a story about why people who don't like me are wrong. It's their fault, not mine. That's what I heard. In case you're wondering,

Stephanie 26:57
so glad that's what came out

Scott Benner 26:58
of this. Yeah, what I heard is, if you're listening right now and you don't like me, that's your problem. I'm fine. Take a walk. Listen again. I'm gonna tell people in my life this, this is awesome. Like, anytime somebody like disagrees me, I'm gonna be like Stephanie said, this is really you, not me, and you just have to walk away, relax and calm down a little bit, and then come down and then come down and listen to me again. I think I'm gonna make a lot more sense to you that Joking aside, the part that I find interesting, though, is the idea of how often you can get in your own way. Yeah, that's what I think I find interesting about it. And around diabetes, specifically, I completely understand there are people who I know love me, who have type one diabetes, but are bothered by me talking about it, I get that right, because they're like, you don't have it. You don't know. Or I'll make an assumption about something, and they'll be like, You're wrong, and I'll say to them, well, like, I mean, I disagree with you, but is it because you have it? I'm wrong, couldn't I just have a different perspective? Maybe I don't have your perspective. Maybe we're both wrong. Maybe we're both a little right, like, who cares? Like, I'm not saying like you have diabetes, like, go to hell. Like, whatever I say counts. Like, not obviously what I mean, but I do think that you can have, I don't know what you would even call them, but like, psychological sticking points that make it impossible to either listen to another person to begin with, or hear another person who doesn't have diabetes and go like, I can't listen to that person. Or even just that, my communication style is different than yours, and you could quickly put me in a bucket and go like, he probably threw a battery at Santa Claus at an Eagles game. Like, you know what you mean, like, that kind of thing. If that's not a story you've ever heard, you really should look it up. But nevertheless, I get that, like I get where you you'd have some sort of a sticking point, and something about me or whatever just puts you off, and you go, Oh no, forget this. But I'm telling you that the people who stick with this podcast, they are rolling around with low, six, mid, five, a, one, CS, and their lives are easier. Oh,

Stephanie 29:00
absolutely. And I wouldn't even say Scott, it was only you. It was listening to Jenny. And I think listening to somebody else kind of like, really validate when you're starting a type one pregnancy. There are so many guidelines around it, yeah. And I think hearing somebody else say, like, you really need to have your a 1c in this area. You really need to avoid spikes over 120 like hearing somebody else say it was like, I can't have other people, people telling me what I need to do. I need people helping me learn how to do it. Oh, okay. And I felt like the only tools I when I initially went for my consultation at high risk. OB, it was well before we decided, like, we were actually going to start trying. Because I remember growing up and kind of hearing this narrative of, like, it's going to be really difficult to have a type one pregnancy. You have to plan a year ahead. You cannot have unexpected pregnancy. Like, I remember, like, hearing this over and over, so I went into hydroscopy A year before we even like, we're going to start trying. Yang, I met with a nurse practitioner who kind of talked through and said, like, Okay, I think my ANC was in the mid sixes at that point. And so she's like, Okay, you're in a good starting point, but we need you below a six if you're going to get pregnant. And we need to make sure that your blood sugar is staying between, I think it was 665, and 140 only at 140 for one hour, if ever, and then comes right back down. And she kind of told me, like, the way you're going to do this is through this really controlled diet, so having, like, certain carbs and for breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack, yeah, and by talking to them several times a week, so they can make adjustments in my blood sugar or in my insulin settings,

Scott Benner 30:42
fun and super sexy, by the way, for

Stephanie 30:44
your body, it was like, Well, this is something I want to do. Hey, honey. I was

Scott Benner 30:48
thinking that a year from now, we should try to make a baby. Let's go to a doctor now and talk about it fun.

Stephanie 30:55
And it was like, I think the good that came out of it was like, I walked out of there being like, like, nothing makes you want to do something more than somebody telling you you can't do it. Like nothing makes life the fire more of like, All right, so she's telling me I can't do this on my own, and I know I can. I just need to figure out how to do it. I need to learn. Yeah, and so that's what I really spent the next year doing, was like, really, truly learning. And I felt like the reason I was in the mid sixes for my ANC at that point was that I had recently switched to a tandem pump, and I started control IQ. And I felt like control IQ was the only way I could ever get my book, my ANC down in the sixes. It was because of this algorithm, okay? And I remember during the appointment, she said, like, I can help women do better than the algorithm. And so I heard that, as women can do better than the algorithm, right? Like, I can learn how to do this, or

Scott Benner 31:46
as good as you thought you were doing, you're not really doing that well, right, right?

Stephanie 31:50
Absolutely. That's like, really, when I started tapping into the podcast and starting to hear voices of people that were really using modern approaches and technology and, like, individualized approaches, instead of feeling like I was on a conveyor belt and I'd be like the third call of the day with the exact same information delivered. And so I spent a lot of time listening to the podcast. I also found this incredible group on Instagram that was led by a dietitian who had type one women who are either trying to get pregnant or work be pregnant. And we met weekly on Zoom and talked about a lot of the things that were talked about in the Pro Tip series, but more in the lens of pregnancy. So we were able to talk about, just during the different trimesters, how hormones will change and how that impacts your insulin. We talked about exercise, we talked about mental health, we talked about diet, and then we talked a lot about kind of delivery. And one of the things that stood out to me really early on was this idea that, like most hospitals, have kind of these policies of not wearing your insulin pump and not using a CGM when you are giving birth when you're going through labor and when you're giving birth. And I remember that really sticking out to me quite early in the podcast, listening to people that, like, went into the ER and had these things taken off that happened to me as a child, like my insulin pump gotten got taken away, and my mom, like, freaked out when she came back in the room. She was filling out paperwork, and came back and she's like, where's her pump? And so that's like the protocol with labor and delivery. And it struck me as like, we are working for so long a year before pregnancy, and then the time of pregnancy to get blood sugars in this really immaculate, perfect range, and then during labor and delivery, the time that they say, like, really matters quite a lot for the outcome of the baby when they come out, and what their blood sugar is is like when we're handing it over to somebody else who doesn't didn't make sense to me. Yeah,

Scott Benner 33:50
so how do you fight back against that, like you start a conversation earlier, or how do you work it out? Yeah, it was

Stephanie 33:57
really difficult in my medical system. And I think one of the good things about being involved in the support group, and I would encourage anybody who's going through type one pregnancy like so in my medical system, the protocol was, as soon as you go in for labor and delivery, you go off of your pump, and then You kind of join whatever the hospital protocol is, depending on what your blood sugar is at the time of admission to the hospital, and then they kind of use this algorithm to be able to manage your insulin. And this is true whether you're a type one, type two, or if you have gestational diabetes. It's kind of the same algorithm that's used for everyone.

Scott Benner 34:42
Why couldn't you just do it yourself against

Stephanie 34:44
hospital protocol was kind of what I was told at the beginning. Yeah. So I started a conversation probably about six months into my pregnancy with my care team, because I really wanted to show them at the beginning of my pregnancy that, like I. To do this, I wanted to show them, like what I knew about management and how I controlled my my diabetes, and get them kind of on my side for it, because I knew there's, like, a lot that I needed them for, and this was not a part. This was not something that I needed to help with, right? But I really wanted buy in at the beginning, so in about six months just really learning about how to manage blood sugars during pregnancy and doing a really, really good job. It went really well. And about six months in, at my appointment, I first asked if I could see their hospital protocol for when I was in labor and delivery for insulin, because I wanted to be able to have something to kind of use as evidence, as to like, why this might not work for me, or how, like my pump settings, right and my brain might beat this algorithm that they have. So they gave me their hospital protocol for insulin, and it was super eye opening. That was a very interesting document to get. Why, just being able to see that there's not a lot of differentiation between the type of diabetes, the type of patient, if I was in there as an 11 year old, versus if I was elderly, 300 pound male, we get the exact same protocol, right? And so it to me, I was looking at it as like this is fascinating to see which they need. They need an emergency situations, absolutely. But it was very interesting to see kind of that lack of any differentiation between the types of diabetes and the type of like experience you're going through in labor and delivery like it is such an active experience. When you're giving birth, it's exercise, like there is just a lot of adjustment that has to be made for that. And the documentation that I was given really didn't reflect that

Scott Benner 36:51
at all. Yeah. So when you see that, when you say, Okay, well, this is the protocol, and it just says diabetes on it, like it's not clearly pointed towards me, even towards type ones, you know, anything at all, and I've got to get this buy in from them, right? So I like what you're doing here, like you set up the long con, right? Like you're going to get them on your side, show them how good you are at diabetes, kind of point out some foibles in their plan. And then what do you do? Then you offer them a solution. Yeah, exactly.

Stephanie 37:20
So the next appointment that we went into, I kind of brought their protocol and went, had gone through it, and said, Okay, so if I went into the hospital, let's say at 70, which is perfect in terms of pregnancy, that's exactly where you want to be, their protocol would have me on no insulin. Hey, you got

Scott Benner 37:40
it all the way to 70. What? 70. We can fix that, right, right? And

Stephanie 37:45
so, like, we started there, right? Like, we want me to be in this range through all of labor, but like, if I'm not getting any insulin, then very quickly, I'm gonna leave this target zone. Doesn't it

Scott Benner 37:56
tell you, I'm sorry to cut you off, but doesn't it tell you that what their protocol is, don't get low. We don't care how high you get.

Stephanie 38:02
Exactly, right? It was not met very positively when I said that I wanted to do this, oh, the first kind of message I was given was like, we really want you to enjoy labor. We want you to enjoy delivery. We don't want you thinking about diabetes.

Scott Benner 38:16
What you say, I've had diabetes for 24 years. That ship has sailed. There's not

Stephanie 38:22
going to be a moment. I'm not thinking about this. It's actually at the end of such an intense experience, right of like, every moment is about blood sugar and being healthy for yourself and the baby.

Scott Benner 38:34
If only you would have known just to have a stranger tell you not to think about your diabetes anymore. Would have fixed all that. I mean, gosh, you could have done it years ago. That's awesome. Oh,

Stephanie 38:42
and a kicker was, there was something in the protocol that said, like, they would test me every four hours and make adjustments. And like, I find, I found that in there, and I asked them about it, they're like, oh, that's an error. That should say too.

Scott Benner 38:57
Oh, that's better. That's fine. We'll just know what my blood sugar is every two hours, it'll be

Stephanie 39:01
okay two hours. So, yeah, I think that that was a key though. Was like trying to respect their process first, like get their process down, and really be able to talk smartly about why it wouldn't work for me, okay, was a key part. Let's

Scott Benner 39:17
pivot for a second. What do you do for a living? How do you know how to manipulate people like this?

Stephanie 39:24
I work in communication. Oh,

Scott Benner 39:25
okay, yeah, sure, I figured that out. Okay, so, so tell people your communications degree is, it's almost a psych degree, right? Like, yeah, right. You're Yeah, you're learning how to talk to people so that you can get them to have the outcomes you want them to have, and they're happy and you're happy when it's over. Yeah, yeah, right. You're a professional. I'm also a

Stephanie 39:48
pleaser. I'm also a pleaser. So being in this situation of like, pushback was, like, it was incredibly new for me, and so I was trying to figure out, like, how do I advocate when I know in my head is what's. Right? And like, I still want, like, a collaborative experience, but like, I want to do it my way.

Scott Benner 40:04
I can tell you're a people pleaser, because you're you were gonna bring them information about why you were right about the thing you were saying, I would have just been like, no, no, no, no, why not? This is how we're gonna do it. The truth is, you get you get there both ways. Also you did more good because you probably taught them to do it a different way. Well,

Stephanie 40:22
that was kind of my hope going through too was, you know, through my whole pregnancy, the woman that was kind of following my blood sugars kept saying, like, I never have had a patient who's made their own adjustments. I've never had a patient be able to do this kind of control. And I just, I kept saying, back, I don't think a woman has felt empowered to do that in this system, it's not presented as an option. I can't imagine not making my own adjustments and reading my own body cues and what's going on. But like, if you tell them that something bad is going to happen, women aren't going to do it. This is such a vulnerable time of life, they're not going to take a risk.

Scott Benner 40:58
Yeah, and also, they know what they're doing when they do that. This was my big complaint about diabetes blogs back in the day, right? They'd be like, I'm gonna blog today about Pre Bolus, but first, here's a paragraph and a half about why it's dangerous, right? Awesome. So you know, if you give your insulin before you eat, and I don't know, an alien comes out of the sky, and then we all start running around crazy, and you forget to eat. Oh, my God, your insulin is happening. So what if the aliens come when you're Pre Bolus? Now, you don't want to die, do you? And then the next paragraph was like, here are the benefits of Pre Bolus. And you're like, No one's gonna

Stephanie 41:36
do it. Now, that describes pregnancy for me entirely. There was so much fear tactic used, really, when you got down to it and you asked so many questions about it, it was so old. Everything was so old. There was nothing they could cite for me when I would ask questions about like, all right, like, why do you not allow somebody to use their data from their CGM during labor and delivery to make insulin adjustments? Yeah,

Scott Benner 42:02
they have this thing I paid 80 bucks for that's better than testing every two hours. Like, should we, like, by the way,

Stephanie 42:07
and the hospital costs, like, about $300 every time they test you. So, like, the Dexcom and the further people are listening

Scott Benner 42:13
to don't have insurance, I think that is what it costs them. I'm just saying, like, you know, if you had insurance, you're like, look, I paid like, 80 bucks for this thing. It works great. Yeah, why don't we not throw it in the garbage? And if you don't want to, like, okay, maybe you don't want to lean on it because you're uncomfortable with it, or you haven't used it yet, or whatever. But, like, why take it off, right? Let's, let's try to use it in conjunction with what we're doing exactly.

Stephanie 42:33
And that's really what I was advocating for, is this idea of, like, how can we find some compromise? I went back in and kind of told them the plan, and during that appointment, I said, like, I would really like to manage my own blood sugar. I'd like to have my Dexcom on, and I'd like to wear my insulin pump during labor and delivery. My husband's going to be with me. He's really versed in all of this, and he too like be helping control my blood sugars. The woman that I was meeting with pretty consistently, was a fellow, and so she kind of reported up to the maternal fetal medicine doctors, and I could tell like she was younger, and she was definitely like understanding that the technology was a benefit, but her have words to me constantly where the providers may not all be comfortable with this and they might not sign off on it. So I took that information from that appointment home and put together a birth plan that was just all diabetes, and wrote went through, kind of using Jenny Smith purple, the purple type one diabetes book, I definitely recommend that I used that to help prepare, kind of my own birth plan to be able to bring into My next appointment. And it was like three pages long. And went through like, what is an insulin pump? Because it truly felt like I needed to explain what my insulin pump was doing. What kind of insulin was in it? What is a CGM? What do the arrows mean? Where is it connected on my body? How do I use it to make decisions? I went through and put information about how I make like key factors I consider when I'm making blood sugar decisions, what, obviously, all my current rates were, what my goal ranges were, put together this huge document, and I brought it back into the next appointment, and I think they could tell that I wasn't going to back down on this right? And she went through and took the document and asked if she could take it to their their next staff meeting, and talk with all of the doctors in their practice to see if anybody would be comfortable with this

Scott Benner 44:31
okay, to try to find the person to help you have the baby. Yeah, yeah, good for you. But that's a lot of work that a lot of people it was so much work couldn't do and and they still could have told you to go to hell when it was over. But

Stephanie 44:43
could they that? So that was my kind of question going through, is, could they could they say no, that this is like my body, my medical devices, like they can't take them off of me.

Scott Benner 44:54
No, they they could say that I'm uncomfortable with this, so I'm not doing it, but I'm gonna have the baby or what. It. You're like, look, this kid's coming out, so you're not gonna do it. Were you at the point in your head that you thought that if they don't agree to this, when they reach for my insulin pump, I will just tell them you are not taking that off of me. Oh, yeah, absolutely okay.

Stephanie 45:13
I've heard way too many stories about women who've ended up sneaking insulin in the hospital because they can't get enough to keep their blood sugars down. Stephanie,

Scott Benner 45:24
don't tell anybody that happens all the time. Yeah.

Stephanie 45:27
And so it's just Yes. That's exactly what I was gonna do.

Scott Benner 45:31
Take this off you No. And by the way, you should have said after that I thought you wanted me to enjoy this time

Stephanie 45:42
during our next appointment, she came back with a document that I actually pulled out for a conversation today that was handwritten. None of this is in my notes. I went and nothing is officially documented, but I have, like, a handwritten note from her that was pretty much what you had talked about before with the blogging is like all the things that could go wrong, and in all of those scenarios, they wanted me on an insulin drip and a glucose strip and not an insulin pump, and she sat down with me and my husband, and it kind of went through the scariest things that could happen when you deliver a baby.

Scott Benner 46:16
Oh, can't tell what did they try to scare you with? Let's hear it. They tried

Stephanie 46:19
to scare me with needing a C section, and what would happen if it's an emergency C section? What would happen if I was unconscious at the point where they needed to decide to do an emergency C section? What would happen if I had pre eclampsia and I had to have magnesium drip, and I would be so out of my mind that I couldn't make diabetic or decisions about diabetes and dosing? So they kind of went through this list of things that could happen, which is super valid. And I think looking back, how I wish the conversation was more of, how can we empower you to manage your diabetes, up until a point right? Like, if we kind of see, like, the red flag of, hey, this has been going well. When can, when can we step in instead of here's all the things that we're going to throw at you that can go wrong. A lot

Scott Benner 47:07
of people plan for failure, and I don't, I don't understand them thinking like I want to be ready when something goes wrong and know what to do. But why are we going to set ourselves up to fail from the beginning? Because it might happen. Listen, if you were giving birth, and I'm glad that this didn't happen, obviously, I'm glad that the baby came scooting out. Everything was fine, right? If there's an emergent situation, then start treating me like an emergent patient. But up until then, I'm doing a thing that I saw some lady doing a blow up pool in her living room. So like, like, let's like, act like that's gonna happen until it doesn't, and then when it doesn't, go ahead and we'll do the thing. Why are we going to do the thing first? When this I mean your pump, like, even about making insulin decisions, your pumps just giving you basal?

Stephanie 47:49
Well, that's why I tried to explain to them. It's in my birthday like, a pump is an insulin drip. Yeah,

Scott Benner 47:56
it's the thing you're asking me for. Because when I'm asleep, I'm not going to give myself a Bolus, so don't worry about it. And by the way, if I like, pass out, I'm not going to be worrying about a 180 blood sugar in the end. It's people who don't understand, right? It is, it

Stephanie 48:13
entirely is, and I think that it is fear based on their end and

Scott Benner 48:17
because they don't understand. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And this

Stephanie 48:21
isn't what the training is like, even in working with the new fellow that was working with us throughout like, This isn't her training. And that's really sad to me that, like her training in 2023 was not to use, understand and use an insulin pump. It's just It's wild to me. And in fact, one of the things that she came back with because I had offered we will put an iPad out in the room and have the Dexcom app display it on there, so anytime somebody walks in, they can see what direction my blood sugar is and what it is. And she actually recommended we don't do that, because people won't understand and somebody might come in and make a really quick decision based on what they see on there, and so she recommended we didn't include that information. Stephanie,

Scott Benner 49:05
do you ever stop and step back and take this experience that you've had and start applying it around the rest of the world and get really scared? Yeah, I do that. Sometimes. I'm like, oh, so the bus driver or the guy over there with a gun, or do any of us understand what we're doing? Is it all just like, working because nothing's going wrong? Like, do you know what I mean? Like, and then the minute it goes wrong, you go, like, oh, LA, did need 17 other million dollars for their fire department? Like, how did we not like, you don't even like, like, that kind of stuff. Is I get it? Like I understand, listen, I understand that people are cycling through society constantly, right? Like new people are always coming in. Older people get tired and busy, and they don't have time to re explain the world every five seconds, they don't have time to keep up with new advancements. The people who come in haven't been put through. The process yet. Like, so they don't really know. So everyone defaults to being, like, extra cautious, which, listen, I guess it's probably a great thing, right? Like, because extra cautious at least, might mean alive. But like, I don't understand why, when someone steps forward with something different, that our first response is always that's bad, it's wrong. I don't understand it. So no, and I don't just mean with diabetes, by the way. Like this runs the gamut of social issues, right? Like, anytime someone says something different, everyone goes, that's bad. No. Burn it. I think this is what I was talking about earlier. With the parenting we have not come along far enough yet. Like, our brains can't pivot quickly enough. Like, and if you need an example, just look back to when Facebook used to change what the Facebook page looked like like every six months. Yeah, and people would lose their why'd you move that button? How come it's a different color? It looked better like this. I'm getting off this goddamn thing like we can't pivot with that, you know what I mean, and now we're all sitting around talking about medical stuff, like, how come these people can't pivot? Those are the same people were freaked out by Facebook. I think

Stephanie 51:07
the sad thing that I found during it too, is like, the message we had heard a lot was, like, we I've never had a patient control their own management. I've never had a patient get this a 1c during pregnancy, but like, nobody asked me how, or like, what tools I was using or what I was doing differently. No, right? I got the outcome they they asked for with a ton of work, and I felt like I didn't know what to do with it, like I had all this information that I had to learn on my own, but they didn't want to hear what it was. Stephanie, I'm going to say

Scott Benner 51:38
something that's going to sound absolutely ridiculous that people don't like me and people who do like me are going to be like, That's right. What should those people have done if they wanted to understand diabetes? Should they have listened to a podcast about it? That's what I did. I understand that like I completely they don't have the Inkling. They don't even have the need. They're not trying to manage your diabetes. They didn't get it when they were 11. They didn't sit in a room and feel judged by their mother and a doctor like they don't live your life. They don't know they don't have any of this input. Like, their variables for this are completely different than yours. Also, when they say stuff like, I've never seen anybody with an ANC like this. You know what you should have said? How long have you been doing this? Because the answer might have been two years or six months. Or how about the answer is, I've been doing this for 20 years, and I've never seen anything like this that doesn't say as much about you as it does about the system, right? I'll give you an example. Once a company came to me one time, and they had been really heavily steeped in the influencer space to try to get the word out about their thing. I'm gonna be very vague about this. Okay, okay. And then they come to me and they say, like, you know, we've never worked with a podcast before. And I said, Well, you've come to the right one. And they came to me, and I did the thing that they asked me to do, and at the end of the first 30 days, they call me up and say, you've just gotten more people to click on this link than every influencer we've ever used historically combined in one month. I beat them all for the entire time they had been doing it, and they started treating me like I was special. And I put my hands up and I said, stop, stop. This is not an indication of me. It's an indication of them. I'm not great at this. Those numbers aren't even that great. The influencer model you were trying, it doesn't really work. It makes likes and clicks and views, but likes and clicks and views aren't someone saying I trust this enough to follow through. I was, like, the reason I worked and they didn't is because people actually trust me. Yeah, that's why they clicked on the link. And by the way, it's not like, a money thing. Like, so are you out there? Like, oh, Scott's selling, trust me, it's a good thing for everybody, right? But the judgment is, what I'm pointing out is that as soon as they saw me as different, they thought I was special. And I was like, I'm not special. You were just trying something that doesn't work. Yeah, that's all. And you had talked yourself into believing that it works. They're influencers. They put pictures up on Instagram, and 20,000 people like it. I had to say to somebody once in a sales meeting, in case you're wondering how comfortable this was, they're like, well, we've got this person right here on Instagram. They have type one diabetes. They drive a ton of traffic. We're going to go with them. And I said, and I looked and I said, I said, I listen, I don't know how to say this. And you know, in the 2000s he's without getting in trouble. I'm like, But this girl is in a bikini in every one of these pictures. And they're like, yeah. I'm like, You think she's a diabetes influencer, and they're like, well, she has diabetes. I'm like, late. I'm like, Look, she's a penis. Influencer, okay? Like, and she's doing a great job of it. Like, that girl's gorgeous. People with diabetes aren't looking at her and going, I wonder what she's doing with her insulin, right? They're looking at her and going, I can see her butt cheeks. Like, like, that's what's happening right now. Like. Like, listen, full disclosure, that's exactly what was happening. I don't mean it poorly, like, I'm not judging her, I'm again, judging the person that was judging the situation, who's like, we think that's a great diabetes influencer. And I was like, it's a girl in a bikini, right? She's doing something different than what you're doing, and they keep doing it, by the way, and not just one company. A lot of them lean into it honestly. Like, look at your social media around diabetes in the summertime, it's just companies saying, like, send us your pictures with your gear on, which is code for send us pictures in shorts and right, yeah, and bikinis and bathing suits and stuff like that. If you have a six pack and you're a guy, please also send us your picture with your shirt off. That's really what's happening right now. Now, do they drive big numbers? Do some of these pictures have literally, like, hundreds of 1000s of likes on them? They absolutely do. But those people are not doing the thing that they think that they're doing. Now, I'm off on a little bit of a tangent here, but back to the hospital thing. You're not special. You're just doing it the right way, right, right? They're accustomed to watching it being done incorrectly by people who didn't know what to do, and now they've decided that that's what's real. And how in the hell do they not look at you and realize, oh, Stephanie's what's real. We could all do this. Like, I haven't said yet in an hour. It's insane that when you make yourself pregnant, and you go to one of these doctors and they tell you, what's the a 1c they told you had to keep six. They wanted it under six. Okay, right? And you're like, that's not how this works. But the truth is, if you want to do you could keep your a 1c under six. Like, it wouldn't be fun all the time, and you would and it would be a lot of work. I'm not saying otherwise. Like, it really would be, but it is functionally possible. Like, so why do we act like it's not functionally possible? Like, why do we say, like, hey, it's important to be super healthy if you're pregnant, but if you're not pregnant, it's not as important well entirely.

Stephanie 56:56
And I still feel that way, like, after all that I learned with management and after pregnancy, like, I maintain my a 1c well below the threshold for pregnancy in a comfortable, like, livable way. No,

Scott Benner 57:10
you made my bed. That's awesome. Even my doctor is

Stephanie 57:12
like, well, you can loosen up now, like you're not pregnant. Awesome. I'm still alive.

Scott Benner 57:16
Like my cells are still inside of me trying to keep going for as long as they can. Like, yeah. And I'm not saying if your a 1c is seven or eight or nine or 10 or 11 or 12. I'm not being like, hey, you suck. I'm not saying that. I'm saying that there's a level of success in here for all of you, and it stems on how to use insulin. Somebody might hear that who's like, ultra low carb, and be like, No, if you don't eat carbs, none of this matters. Like, yeah, right. That'd be a weight of the be a way to use insulin right like, eat low carb and use the right amount of insulin for that. There's probably somebody listening who's like, look, I would love to do that, but I got a real problem here. Like, you know, I eat it, it's a slice of cheesecake every day, and it needs to happen. Or I got psychological issues, like, everything's gonna fall part of me. There's a way to Bolus for the cheesecake. Like, I'm not telling you what to eat or how to do or how active or inactive to be, or anything like that. And I'm not saying that some of these decisions aren't more healthy than others of them, but there's an amount of insulin and a timing to be used that will work with almost everything. And I want people to understand that so they go out into the world and apply it to their own life and how they eat. Because I think Stephanie, between you and I don't think that anybody who jumps up and tells people how to eat is going to have any real success widespread. You know what I mean? Like, you might find, like, a niche of people who are like, yeah, right on. I'm going to do it this way or that way. But there's millions of people who have type one diabetes. We're not going to get them all to be keto. So, like, instead of beating that drum, my drum is, you know, timing an amount, like, learn how to use insulin, apply it to your life. I think you'll have better outcomes than the ones you're having

Stephanie 58:51
now, well, entirely. And I bring that back to even, like, my first appointments in high risk when they were telling me how to eat, instead of teaching me how to use insulin really effectively, and trying to think about, like, how are you going to live your life when you walk out of this office? And instead of me calling every week or twice a week to tell you how you should be doing it, think about how to make your individual life work with this pregnancy. So

Scott Benner 59:17
you just made such a point that I've always been, like, fascinated by, you know, I don't know what people call them at this point, but like, you know, kind of those bro podcasters who are just like, what you got to do is get up in the morning and then you go submerge yourself in minus 1900 degree water for three minutes. Now, if you don't, that can kill you. Then you get out of that, and you got your side tickets going, and then what I need to do is go on a 19 mile run. You understand, I'm saying 19 miles and and like, do this, then do that, then go to the beach, and then lift the boat up, and then walk out into the surf with it. Hold over your head for 25 minutes now, after you've done that, yeah, okay, cool. I'm glad that's your life, all right. But like, that's not everyone's life. And nobody can do those. Most people can't do those things. But moreover, when you tell people to do stuff. Like that. Psychologically, they go, No, Q, you and I have been talking for an hour now. You've been listening to the podcast for a while, I assume, right? The first time you heard me, you called me brash. How would you describe me now? How would I describe you? Now? Am I brash? No, I mean, in the best way. Ah, right. It was how you interacted with brash. Because I'm still a brash, yeah, I'm, yeah, of course, I am. I'm all the things you think I am. I'm from the East Coast, I'm brash. I have no filter. What that I can tell I know the things I'm saying can be interpreted differently, but I leave that to you to figure out, because you're a adult, figure it out, like, if you're taking me that way, how do I say this? I was once, I'm adopted. I was once listening to a radio show as a younger person, and the person started making fun of adopted people, and I started to get upset, and then I stopped, and I thought, I've been listening to this show for 10 years and laughing every day when he makes fun of these people and those people and those people and those people. And he got to me, and I was like, Hey, what the hell? And I stopped myself. I was like, That's ridiculous. If that's funny, this is funny. I adjusted my idea of what funny was in my personal life. I would tell you that I think if you want to say you have a good sense of humor, you have to be able to hear maybe the harshest joke and see what's funny about it. You don't have to find the topic funny or, you know, but, but you have to see where the humor is. You can know it's funny and not laugh, I guess. And so over and over and over again, people hear things and it puts them off, and then they decide, oh, I'm not going to do that. But that happens with food constantly, right? So you tell someone what to do, and they're going to do the opposite. And some people have it more strongly than others, and some people are, you know, more people pleasers, and they'll just do it and silently be angry forever. It'll ruin their life in a different way. Arden's the kind of if you tell Arden anything about her health, she will do the opposite. Yeah, that's just how she that's she can't. She knows it. She'll tell you, and she'll tell you, I don't know why. She's like, she's like, I don't even want to, but like, if you remind me to take something or to do something, I'll almost not do it on purpose and not but not consciously. I believe that then, when that's the world, if you're trying to help people, then it's not just as easy as jumping up on your bro podcast and telling them like you want to be thin close your mouth, yeah, even if that is actually the answer, that's not going to get anybody anywhere.

Stephanie 1:02:32
And that's exactly how I felt through the experience with like you telling me your answer isn't my answer right,

Scott Benner 1:02:40
even if it's right. And I know that doesn't make any sense, but people, you know what I mean, we're complex. We're basically ants that got thumbs and now we're thinking, and we're like, ah, a lot of this doesn't make sense. Still, it's what I mean by like, another 500,000 years, like, look, I don't know what the average I don't know, you know, however you measure intelligence, I don't like, you know, I don't know what the average one was, 300 500 1000 years ago, but I but, you know, it all seems to work a little better now imagine three, five 1000 years in the future, like, what if the average, I don't know, I don't know how valuable an IQ measurement is, but what if the you know, What if the average IQ jumps up 50 points, and all of a sudden people have a lot more emotional intelligence, and when someone says to you, Hey, don't eat a Twinkie. Eat that, you just go, Okay, well, if that's right, then I'll do that. But right now, that's just not how people work. So you're like, already freaked out. Want to get pregnant. You're putting a ton of effort into it, you get there and find out, like, oh God, like everything they're saying is opposite of what I'm doing, and what I'm doing is working. So if it's opposite of what I'm doing, that's working, it's really not going to work. And then I'm going to be pregnant, it's going to be too late. Now you're scared, you luckily step forward and advocate, where as most people would just step back and either say, I don't want to have this fight, or they would take the doctor's word as, and I'm not judging anybody, but you would take it as, like a prescription to off, because you'd be like, Oh, he says it's not important. Then it ain't important, that kind of thing. Like, now it's like a free nine months. You just have off because you were told by a physician that it wasn't to be worried about. Yeah, then you go forward from there, and if the baby comes out and cries, the doctor is going to think they did the right thing. They did it. Yeah, yeah, right. Oh, trust me, I know everybody's very complicated. Talk a little bit more about how I'm an asshole in what ways did you dislike it when you heard it at first? It's okay. I'll have my wife send you the list. You don't have to make your own. I'm sure the list has already been written. Oh, oh, Stephanie art and I were having this conversation the other night. I'm gonna ask you the question, right? She said, I don't remember how this started, but it was down to like she was watching this person. It might have been Theo Vaughn, you know? Theo? Of on, I don't, there's no way you know that. But that's he was apparently having a conversation with his mother about something, and he, out of nowhere, says, like, what if once a year where you were allowed to kill a person? And like, and so we went through this thought exercise together, and I stopped, and I said to Arden, you know what the question really is for people, if it was legal for once a year for everyone to kill one person? Stephanie, would you still be alive? Hmm, oh, that's a good question. It is, because now you have to think about all the people in your life that don't like you, and how much my list Yes, and how much don't they like you. And then we started talking. I said I might start asking everyone on the podcast that question. And I also said, Isn't it interesting? Because I bet you'd have fewer famous people, because there'd be, like, you know, if you were famous, like somebody out there would wish me dead, if that was the thing. You know what I mean? Like, there's too many people know who I am, and one of them doesn't like me and like and put in that position where most people wouldn't want to kill somebody, if, you know, you woke up on January 19 or 27th the fourth of whatever, whenever we make this thing and you wake up and you're just like, Okay, what's the day? I have to write down someone's name. I don't really want anybody to die. I'm gonna kill some random famous person who I don't like, right? And then we start talking about, like, how many votes would those people get? Yes, right? I'm

Unknown Speaker 1:06:24
alive. Okay, you're actually thinking about it.

Scott Benner 1:06:26
Nobody picked me. Nobody picked you. Okay, that's hilarious. Thank you. But yeah, like, think about that. Like, how many people would wake up tomorrow and then vote for, you know, I don't know a political person or and how would that feel if you got to know before it happened, like, oh, 18 million people voted for you to die today. Trust me, there's a lot around this question. I think it's yeah. Anyway, thanks. Theo Vaughn, have we not talked about anything that we should have talked about, anything that you wanted to cover, that we haven't covered, I guess, like, yeah, how it ended go, oh, yeah, you made a baby. Tell us about that. Yeah, we

Stephanie 1:07:00
had a baby. So we had babies. So all that to say with, like, the negotiations that went back and forth, we did end up kind of like the thing that I kept asking, they kept saying, like, the providers might not be comfortable with it on the Day of the Doctor delivering your baby might not be comfortable with this, like, we can sign off on it being like your plan, but it might not happen on the actual day. And so the thing that I kind of kept going back with was like, well, then what would happen, like, if I'm not gonna, if we're, if I'm managing my insulin, and we get in there and somebody's not comfortable with it, like, what would they do? And that was, like, really not something that ever could be answered for me. What they would actually do if that was my preference going in? And so that's kind of how we left it before delivering the baby, was like, this is the goal of the plan. I might get there and have a doctor tell me no, but then what if I say no? And that was just kind of where we left it. I ended up going in and getting induced, which is one of those things that's like protocol for diabetic women. And I decided, like, I was gonna be okay with that part, just because I was asking for so much leniency,

Scott Benner 1:08:06
you gave up induction to get your plan. Yeah, I

Stephanie 1:08:09
felt like I that that was one thing they felt really strongly about, is that you should be induced. And we kind of went back and forth on that, and I ultimately decided it wasn't the battle that I wanted to fight. It didn't feel as dire to me as being able to manage blood sugars during delivery. My wife

Scott Benner 1:08:27
gave up a name to get a circumcision. Oh, that's not

Unknown Speaker 1:08:33
what I was expecting. You to sit

Scott Benner 1:08:35
that's what she did. She wanted to call Cole Nicholas. I wanted to call Cole Cole. I don't know why I'm, oh God, by the way, all you listening, don't get a podcast, because you end up saying stuff like this, and as you're saying it, you're like, What am I doing? I'm circumcised. And back then there was, like, this whole kind of, like, people were really talking about not doing it. And I guess I kind of got, like, swept up in it. And I was like, I don't know, like, should we get them circumcised? Maybe not. My wife's like, yes, definitely. As a person who's been on the business end of a penis more than once, I think it should be it should be circumcised. And I was like, Well, I'm like, I don't know. That's not what people are saying. So we're like, we're going back and forth. And then we got into the horse trading section of making a baby, and she's like, you can call him Cole, if we can get him circumcised. And I was like, All right, deal.

Unknown Speaker 1:09:17
Shake on it. Yeah. I'm sure

Scott Benner 1:09:19
he's thrilled. I just said that, but whatever. Very cool. Yeah, he's fine. He's he's done, okay, okay, I'm sorry. So, like, so you. So that's the idea. Like, we'll wait and see what go

Stephanie 1:09:29
to the hospital. We get used overnight. I had a super, super fast labor. I went in and got the, like, first part of the induction, place, they like, place, the pill and say, like, I go to sleep, and when you wake up, we might have to do this, like, four times, and then move on to the next phase to try to get your body ready. And luckily for me, just placing that pill and like, going to sleep for a little while, while sleep, I laid horizontally, didn't sleep. That was enough to really get things moving. And when I kind of got. And started moving in the morning, my labor just started naturally, and that was great. When we got there, I was like, the first thing I'm going to do is give my birth plan to the nurse that's on on call. And they didn't when they checked me in, they really didn't ask any questions about diabetes. They must have seen my birth plan in my chart, but nobody asked about it, nobody asked about my pump, nobody asked about my sensor. So I just kept them on and kept my mouth shut. So I'm, like, all right, I'm just gonna, like, do this, like, first part of labor with my temp on with CGM, I'm not gonna bring it up until somebody brings it up to me. And so we were kind of just waiting for somebody to come in and ask us about it, and to, like, kind of start that conversation, to confront it. And the next shift of nurse came in and told me that she had read through my birth plan, and she said, you know, your diabetes better than I do, like we're gonna we're gonna let you do it right? It was such a relief, and it ended up being the nurse that we worked through, through all of labor and delivery. The doctor on call apparently was okay with the plan. I never saw him, so I never really knew. I never talked with him, but apparently, from behind the scenes, kind of like, oz, was okay with the plan. This thing that, like, we spent all, like, a year and a half really working on and negotiating on the day of, was almost like a non issue, a

Scott Benner 1:11:18
big nothing burger and non issue. Were you like, son of a bitch,

Stephanie 1:11:25
all this so many reasons, but I don't think we could have gotten there without it, right? Like, I think we needed all that. But, like, first off, like, my blood sugar was 80, steady through all of labor and delivery. Like, a sip of juice here, no issue. So, like, all those things I prepared for, like, okay, if I'm rising, if I'm falling, how fast am I? Like, we didn't have to use any of that. The thing that did go wrong, I will say, is we got to the point where I was, like, really close to starting pushing. About an hour before I started pushing, I heard a noise that I had never heard before from my sensor, and I looked at my phone and it said sensor failure.

Scott Benner 1:12:02
You were like, of course,

Stephanie 1:12:05
I never had a field ginger up until that point. And it was like, all I did for like, months and months was tell my doctors, like, this is like, technology. We need to be using it. We need to be using

Scott Benner 1:12:15
it. And then it, like, it makes that noise, it goes and you're like, wait, what? No, not now. He's like, what is that? I'm like, I literally have no idea, nothing. Don't worry about funny.

Stephanie 1:12:27
He like, he's like, What do we do? I'm like, We are the sensor. So he, like, would just grab my finger and test me every couple minutes, and probably every 10 minutes or so, he just test me. And he handed me a new Dexcom, and I, like, in between contractions, slapped it on my arm to the point where, like, I was so out of it, like pushing and getting ready to that I actually put it, like, in my elbow crease, like, you know, out of it, just like, put a new sensor on. Let's go. Let's go. Let's do this. Where

Scott Benner 1:12:53
did she put it? She put on her forehead. It's weird.

Stephanie 1:12:57
I was like, I have to live with this for 10 days. All that to say, though, like, we did all that work, so during labor and delivery, like diabetes, I didn't have to worry about it, and it really did go well. And even when we had a little issue with the sensor, like we could deal with it, like it didn't throw anything off. It was okay. I want

Scott Benner 1:13:16
people to know that there's an amount of effort that's going to go into diabetes, you can't avoid it, but you can control where the effort goes. And I think you did that first of all, like, I think you controlled where your effort went. And even though you hit a speed bump, you were able to, like, go through it. The way I talk about that more day to day, is that, you know, if you put that effort in, into understanding bolusing for your meals and getting your set, your settings, right, if that's where your effort is, then your effort might not be spent nearly as much on the back end with, right? Oh, my God, I got so high after a meal, and then I finally Bolus, and then it came down, and I got low, and I woke up at two in the morning and I was still low, or I was still high, or, like, all that, like, that's a ton of effort, right? Just take all that effort that you're putting in one way or the other, because now it's effort to stay alive. Take the effort to stay alive from Oh god, I'm about to die. I got to do something and shift it to pre planning and making decisions up front that don't lead to the rest of those problems. Yeah,

Stephanie 1:14:16
I think it was about being proactive, for sure, and like, the proactivity, just like, gave me the confidence to do it and to know I was making the right decision for myself. Ultimately, like, one of the reasons I wanted to come on was just to put a positive experience out there, because there, you know, it's a space like I haven't found, like, a good resource to go to for pregnancy, preparing for it, and kind of like labor and delivery is a type one. I hear stories every once in a while, but like, I when I was in that situation, I just like, soaked them up anywhere I could find them. And so I just wanted to add, like, one more positive birth story, but also just like the work that it took to get there, out into the universe, to say, like, it is possible. And. Just trusting your own instincts is so important. Like, even, like, right after he was delivered, they tested my blood sugar because they they were testing my blood sugar alongside my Dexcom, and then they came back in, like, an hour or two later with a gluco strip. And I was like, What are you doing? They're like, Oh, well, your blood sugar was in the 70s. You're

Scott Benner 1:15:23
like, Yeah, I've been trying to do that for 24 years. Thank you.

Stephanie 1:15:28
A couple hours ago was my protocol, like, I was supposed to have it there, and also that blood sugar, it was like, two hours old, and you're gonna hang a glucose strip

Scott Benner 1:15:36
now. Like,

Stephanie 1:15:38
right? Like, like, so much has happened since then, like, I mean, but there's just, there's so many things where it's like, trust your gut, test your Instagram, nothing to be difficult, but like, you are your own advocate. And the thing that I found is like, nobody really was looking out for me and the baby at the end of the day except me. Like we weren't looking out for a bottom line. We weren't worried about liability, like we were looking out for ourselves. And that's just something that I took away from. It was just how important that inner voice is. Yep,

Scott Benner 1:16:07
you're the decider, just like George Bucha had one time. You remember when he said that I am the decider? I was like, Oh my God. Now we yearn for that level of stupidity. It's a wonderful quote, like he's like, I'm the decider. I was like, All right, brother. It's like, you get out there, get out there and decide nothing like confidence. It's not my favorite quote of his, but my favorite one is the I don't even want to go into it. I've probably said it like six times on the podcast, but anyway, George Bucha has a couple of awesome quotes that I love. Oh,

Stephanie 1:16:35
absolutely. I think mine was like, Where dreams take wing.

Scott Benner 1:16:40
Oh, my God. He's awesome. He's such a he's such a quote machine. He's getting old now, so it's even hard to like, you know, look back and I just still remember it fondly. Oh God, not the point. Point is you're the decider. You took care of things, you prepared, you tried to get everybody around you to understand. Turns out, by the way, that the people in that room with you had more common sense about diabetes than the people who were setting it up. And you know, it's funny, because your experience getting your pregnancy set up like your your delivery setup, excuse me, is exactly mimicking of anybody who's ever taken their car to a place to be fixed, and there's an intake person, and you say to the intake person, how long do you think this is going to take? How much do you think it's going to cost? And they can't answer you, because if it costs more or takes longer than what they say, then they're in trouble, right? Yeah. Then one day, you bump into the mechanic, and you go, Hey, I'm bringing my car in next week. How long do you think this is going to take? And the mechanic will go, that's gonna take two days, because the mechanic does the work, right? Like they know. And so the person you're talking to in the beginning is giving you worst case scenario, because they don't want to over promise anything. And by the way, you could be one of those people who, like, starts having a baby and then codes that happens, you know, like, like, right? And that's also not a thing they want to say to you. They don't want to go, Stephanie, well, look, we'd love to do this, but, you know, some people die giving birth, like, you know, like, they're not, they're not going to say that to you, because it doesn't happen frequently, but they, they're still prepping for it one way or the other, you would hope, right? And then you get on the day in the room, and you, you know now you're you, and you're speaking and you're prepared, and you understand, and the nurse looks and can, because the nurse has been in that exact situation, the nurse can look at you and go, Stephanie knows more about this than I do. Let's just do what she wants to do, and that person is the decider. Like, the problem is that you're setting the whole thing up with the with not the person who's going to make the decisions at the end. Yeah, yeah, that's a limitation of the situation. To some degree,

Stephanie 1:18:46
it certainly is. And I think for you know, women that can find one and afford one, like having a doula would be such a good way to be able to, like, prevent you from having to be that voice. The entire time, I worked really hard to try to find a type one doula, because I really just wanted somebody who had the language and could help me negotiate if I needed it. I don't live in an area with a ton of diabetic resources, so like, I just couldn't find one. I tried for a while, but like, if you can, that would be such an amazing way to have somebody in the room who's an advocate for you and your diabetes and your diabetes plan. If you're feeling like uncomfortable with finishing it on your own, I would strongly recommend

Scott Benner 1:19:26
that. Yeah, well, if you ever do this again, you'll know, you know. And also, Stephanie, there's an old saying in Tennessee, I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee, that says, fool me once. Shame on you. Fool me. You can't get fooled again. That's the one I love. Yeah, so you won't, you won't get fooled again. You'll be okay. Probably. Do you think you'll make little more babies? We

Stephanie 1:19:51
haven't decided yet. Yeah, we're, we're enjoying the one right now.

Scott Benner 1:19:54
Did you look at how much college cost? Yeah, we're enjoying the one right now. Out, yeah, trust me, one's already too many, and I'm sure it's lovely and all, but like, one's fine. And if you have two, I'd say the same thing, guys, yeah, two is fine. Just slow down. They're very, very, very expensive. That's all. It's like. Also, I refer you back to the first 20 minutes of the conversation. It'll be it probably fine.

Unknown Speaker 1:20:22
I mean, great, yeah, I'm sure she won't

Scott Benner 1:20:24
be anything. Is it a boy? It's a boy, right? A boy? Yeah, yeah. I'm sure he won't be anything like you and hassle your mom like you did, and all that stuff, exactly. Yeah, probably won't happen at all. Yeah, awesome. I have, I have an interesting question. We already been going along, so I'm gonna go five more minutes, because you just had a baby, but you had a baby in 2024, right? 2023, 2020, 2023 right? Yep. So you live in this culture now where people live in their homes and work in their homes and can't afford homes, and where you have to be seeing people who have 1820, 23 year old, you know, children who are still at home trying to save money up to get out of their home, if it's like that now, and we don't change anything, then you're not bringing up a child in a world where I just got to get them to 18. They go to college, then they get a job and they move out, and I really don't see them much after that, right? Like you're living in a new world where your kid could go to college or not come home, or still be home and have to live there into their 20s in order to afford their own home. I don't think we realize how much that's going to change parenting and that structure, because you're accustomed to leaving home still like all right, my parents meant well, I started seeing them getting older as I got older, I could see them slowing down, or I could see them making some stupid mistakes, or they did stuff I didn't agree with. But then you leave, but when you get to hang around for an extra four or five years where you're like, more of a sentient, thinking person, I get worried about what happens when they leave? Like, are they just gonna leave and be like, Oh, thank God I got out of there. Those people are like, falling apart around me. Like, do you think anything about that at all? It's so early, but I'm wondering, no, entirely

Stephanie 1:22:05
I do. I mean, I guess less in the context of being a parent, and more, like the kind of age group I'm in, where, when I graduated, like I was one of the fortunate people that was able to get a job during the recession, and like, I didn't move back in with my parents, but so many people did, and it took a lot of my friends, quite a bit of time, to be able to get a job and to be able to afford a house and move out and yeah, those relationships with their parents. I don't envy having to parent a 20 year old living in your house. It's totally different, especially after they've had if they've gone off to college and had that independent experience,

Scott Benner 1:22:43
yeah, it's hard. Like, I'm telling you right now, I'm, like, my son's, you know, still here working things out, like, and he's got a job. He's working right now, you know, he's actually doing great this job, which is awesome. But if we threw him out in the world right now, he'd be renting for the rest of his life. Yeah, right. And so, like, we're, you know, trying to give him a little bit of a like, don't get me wrong, it would be nice if you could just write somebody a check and be like, here's money to buy a house with. But, you know, that's not my situation. So, like, you know, so he's here trying to, like, save up. He is actually saving up, which is awesome, but I still wonder about the rest of it, like, the interpersonal stuff and how it's going to change, like, going forward in this next generation. How are adult children going to see their parents when they lived with them a little too long? Do you know what I mean? I can't wait to find out I'm

Stephanie 1:23:31
going to try to do but I also think about from your perspective as a parent of an adult child, like it changes your relationship with your children, and it also like you're kind of in this situation now where you're sort of parenting an adult, and you're also potentially, like, caring for elder your elder parents as well. Like, it sandwiches you so much more.

Scott Benner 1:23:51
Also, you don't realize how much of parenting works because the person you're parenting listens to yeah and doesn't have their own thoughts, like the part about parenting, when you're building people up, you're teaching them what to think about, right? But once they know what to think about, and they've decided that everything they think isn't the thing you think, which, by the way, is what you want, it's not like a bad thing. But then once that happens, and then there's a moment where they need to be parented again, even in, like, small ways, and you're like, I think this. And they look at you like, yeah, you're an idiot. And you're like, Oh, oops. What happened? Like, when you were eight, you would just go, okay, and then do it right, yeah. And maybe I am an idiot. So then you turn it back on yourself, and you go like, Oh, God. Is that wrong? Like, because, like, I said earlier, all I did was, like, I thought about it the best I could, this is my answer. So now we're finding ourselves blending everyone's opinions together more, which is, I think, really good, but it's hard, like from my perspective,

Stephanie 1:24:52
well, with four like, grown independent thinkers, absolutely yes,

Scott Benner 1:24:56
they all have an opinion. Everybody's right about something. Everybody sees something a little different. You're trying to blend it all together, but at the same time, you have to give away your ego while it's happening, because you're like, Well, I thought this, but that does sound better. Maybe we should do it more like that, right? And then you kind of have to, like, swallow hard and go, Yeah, I think that's a good idea. Like, let's try that. So anyway, I can't wait to see what happens. It's gonna be interesting. Hopefully these new medications and stuff will keep me alive long enough I can figure out how it went. But anyway, you go make another baby and name it. Scott, okay, oh, I'll, I'll add it to the list. Nobody's name of their baby. Scott, that's ridiculous. What a terrible name. There's no, there's no, it's Scott. Listen to it. Scott, there's anything wrong with it short and it doesn't have a lot of I don't know. There's no judge at all. You know, I'm saying it

Stephanie 1:25:45
feels just familiar to me, like we know Scott. We all know Scott, but that's because it's me.

Scott Benner 1:25:48
I don't use my my name doesn't get really spoken much, like you guys know it, because it's me, but like in my real life, like people don't refer to me as Scott, like I get dad or Hey, or stuff like that. My wife might say something like asshole or something. I don't know exactly how she does it. People don't look at me often and go, Scott, but I'm a I use people's names all the time. Like, when I talk to people, I use their names. You do, yeah, but it's not common in the world. Really. Like, because I even do it with a waitress or a waiter.

Stephanie 1:26:19
I feel like when people do, my impression is always like, you're not you're in trouble, but like you're being told something really important, like Stephanie, you better pay attention. You know, Stephanie, like refocusing me.

Scott Benner 1:26:31
I just say thank you to people. The reason like dropping a car off is in my head that is like, I had to drop my car off to have work done on it. And the person was like, hey, I want the mechanic to look at it. I was like, Okay, so the mechanic, like, put his coat on and everything. He was coming over to come outside, and as he approached me, I reached out and I shook his hand. And I was like, Hey, I'm Scott. Thank you. And he said, I'm John. And I said, it's nice to meet you, John. And he said, you too. And but he looked at me like, this is weird. What are we in a 1920s movie? And I was like, I just Yeah, and I'm just like, saying hi to the guy, right? But my, my kids all the time are like, like, you freak the waiters out when you use their name. I'm like, it's on their shirt. Like, am I not just supposed to say thank you, Stephanie? Like, at the end, like, I hope you have a good day. Like, you know what? I mean? I don't know this is going way too long. Rob's gonna charge me extra to edit this. We have to be done now. All right, hold on a second.

Dexcom sponsored this episode of the juice box podcast. Learn more about the Dexcom g7 at my link, dexcom.com/juice box. Omnipod five sponsored this episode of The Juicebox Podcast. Learn more and get started today at omnipod.com/juice. Box. Links in the show notes. Links at Juicebox podcast.com, earlier you heard me talking about blue circle health, the free virtual type one diabetes care, education and support program for adults. And I know it sounds too good to be true, but I swear it's free thanks to funding from a big T 1d philanthropy group, blue circle health doesn't bill your insurance or charge you a cent. In other words, it's free. They can help you with things like carb counting, insurance navigation, diabetes technology, insulin adjustments, peer support, Prescription Assistance and much more. So if you're tired of waiting nine months to get in with your endo or your educator, you can get an appointment with their team within one to two weeks. This program is showing what T 1d care can and should look like currently, if you live in Florida, Maine Vermont, New Hampshire, Ohio, Delaware, Missouri, Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa or Louisiana. If you live in one of those states, go to blue circle health.org to sign up today. The link is in the show notes, and please help me to spread the word blue circle health had to buy an ad because people don't believe that it's free, but it is. They're trying to give you free care if you live in Florida, Maine, Vermont, Ohio, Delaware, Alabama and Missouri. It's ready to go right now. And like I said, they're adding states so quickly in 2025 that you want to follow them on social media at Blue circle health, and you can also keep checking blue circle health.org to see when your free care is available to you. Hey, thanks for listening all the way to the end. I really appreciate your loyalty and listenership. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of The Juicebox Podcast. The episode you just heard was professionally edited by wrong way recording, wrong way recording.com, you.

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#1498 TSA Device Swabbing

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This short five minutes episode will explain why your medical devices get swabbed at airport security.

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COMING SOON

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#1497 Weight Loss Diary: Seventeen

You can always listen to the Juicebox Podcast here but the cool kids use: Apple Podcasts/iOS - Spotify - Amazon Music - Google Play/Android - iHeart Radio -  Radio Public, Amazon Alexa or wherever they get audio.

Seventeenth installment of my GLP journey

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COMING SOON

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