#1814 Par for the Course

Dr. Hannah Parr, a physician with Type 1 diabetes , joins Scott to discuss overcoming diagnosis shame , the power of mindset , and holistic, direct primary care.

Companies that Support Juicebox

Simplify Lifewith Omnipod

DexcomG7 15 Day Sensor

Save 20%Save 20% with offer code: JUICEBOX

US MEDGet your Diabetes Supplies

ContourEasy to Use and Highly Accurate

MiniMedMake everyday a better day

TandemControl-IQ+ with AutoBolus

CommunitySupport Touched By Type 1

EversenseOne Year One CGM

ABLEnowSave for Disability Expenses

Simplify Lifewith Omnipod

DexcomG7 15 Day Sensor

Save 20%Save 20% with offer code: JUICEBOX

US MEDGet your Diabetes Supplies

ContourEasy to Use and Highly Accurate

MiniMedMake everyday a better day

TandemControl-IQ+ with AutoBolus

CommunitySupport Touched By Type 1

EversenseOne Year One CGM

ABLEnowSave for Disability Expenses

Key Takeaways

• Mindset Over Management: Shifting the narrative from shame to confidence is crucial for living a fulfilling life with Type 1 Diabetes; community support (like diabetes camps) plays a massive role in this psychological transition.
• Holistic Healthcare: Treating the whole person—including sleep, nutrition, stress levels, and lifestyle—often yields better long-term health outcomes than merely adjusting medication in quick, twelve-minute clinic visits.
• The Power of Fundamentals: The foundational strategy of understanding insulin timing, grasping the impacts of different foods, and pre-bolusing meals remains one of the most effective tools for maintaining in-range blood sugars.
• Direct Primary Care Benefits: Alternative clinic models like Direct Primary Care (membership-based) can allow for longer, more personalized doctor visits, effectively breaking down the barriers and burnout commonly found in traditional insurance billing systems.
• Education Drives Action: Patients are significantly more likely to follow through with lifestyle changes or supplement routines (like Vitamin D) when they truly understand the "why" and the underlying science behind the medical recommendations.

Resources Mentioned

• Eversense 365: eversensecgm.com/juicebox
• Tandem Diabetes Care (Tandem Mobi): tandemdiabetes.com/juicebox
• US Med: usmed.com/juicebox or call (888) 721-1514
• Dr. Hannah Parr (Instagram & YouTube): @drhannahparr
• Texas Lions Camp (Diabetes Camp mentioned by Hannah)

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Introduction and Diagnosis

Hannah Parr (0:00)

Hi. I'm doctor Hannah Parr. And, more importantly, I am a patient with type one diabetes. I was diagnosed at 13. And now twenty years later, just had my my diversity, I am working as a clinician and a diabetes educator. And I like to focus on lifestyle medicine. So not just what our blood sugars are and how we're counting carbs, but how we can feel great in our body, what other things we can do to improve our health overall. And most importantly, I I think the the mindset piece is the part I'm most passionate about. So how we let die diabetes define who we are and how we feel about ourselves. And that's my favorite part to talk to people about with diabetes is is really the the mindset of of how we let it define us Cool. And what we can do about shifting it. Yeah. We're

Scott Benner (0:53)

gonna dig into all of that. But first, I wanna find out about you being 13 and getting diabetes. So do you have other family members with type one? Do you have family members or extended family members with other autoimmune issues? Do you have any other autoimmune issues?

Hannah Parr (1:08)

Yeah. So I am the first one in my family with type one diabetes. I do have quite a few autoimmune diseases on my mother's side. And so Crohn's disease, sarcoidosis, hypothyroidism. So we're not not new to autoimmune.

Scott Benner (1:24)

Well, you actually get so, you know, I know I probably say this every time, but sarcoidosis was the throwaway diagnosis on House MD, the television show.

Hannah Parr (1:35)

Like Oh, we love that show.

Scott Benner (1:36)

When they didn't know what to say, someone would go, it's probably sarcoidosis. And then I and then and then it never was, but then I had somebody on the podcast. I said that to them. They were like, I actually have it. I was like, wow. We finally found one. So there's a a history of autoimmune in your family.

Hannah Parr (1:51)

Yes.

Scott Benner (1:52)

Do you have anything beyond type one?

Hannah Parr (1:54)

No. No. There was a point in my life where I had subclinical hypothyroidism, and I needed thyroid medication for about a year, but that resolved, and I no longer need that. So it wasn't autoimmune in nature. Yeah.

Scott Benner (2:07)

Resolved meaning your levels went back to where you wanted to be or your symptoms went away?

Hannah Parr (2:12)

My levels went back up, and I no longer needed it.

Scott Benner (2:14)

Oh, and you don't have symptoms? No. Awesome.

Hannah Parr (2:17)

No. And I I kinda get my thyroid screened yearly with my annual diabetes labs, and things are doing good.

Scott Benner (2:22)

How often do you think that happens for people?

Hannah Parr (2:26)

Subclinical hypothyroidism we see in people now this isn't kind of full blown Hashimoto's where we've got high antibodies against our thyroid and we're at very, very low levels of thyroid. I was borderline low with symptoms. And so they decided to put me on medication. This was right before I started medical school, and I was just kind of they were worried about me going into med school and and kind of being borderline with the fatigue I was having. And I took the medication for about a year and then noticed I started having symptoms of too much thyroid. So we tested, and and I didn't need it anymore. And it's kind of been been the same since.

Scott Benner (3:01)

So it fought off your fatigue pretty well, but then you started getting hyper?

Hannah Parr (3:07)

Right. Because I was supplementing it. So I just didn't need it anymore. Wow. So I just kinda went back to baseline. And that's not unusual for for subclinical hypothyroidism. Okay. We see that not commonly in kind of full blown Hashimoto's where we've got the antibodies that are positive.

Scott Benner (3:21)

Got you. What do you recall about being diagnosed with type one?

Hannah Parr (3:24)

You know, I I think that I was pretty deer in the headlights. I was not diagnosed in a hospital setting. I was 13, and we had just moved. I I grew up overseas in Europe, and we had just moved to The US about six months before my diagnosis. And everything was new and everything felt scary. We were kind of in a smaller town in Scotland for most of my life, and then I started a very large junior high Texas. And so I'd never even seen that many kids my age. I was so worried about being the new kid. There was a lot going on. And then my mom noticed I was urinating frequently, and she took me to primary care to to see if I had a UTI. And they did a urinalysis, found the glucose and ketones, and kinda said, we need to get you to endocrinology emergently. So they made a kind of a last minute appointment before the endocrinology clinic in in town closed. Mhmm. And we drove over there in Houston traffic, and I remember my mom crying on the way. I just had no idea what was going on. You know, I I had no concept of understanding what diabetes was. Yeah. And that day, they made me do my injection, my very first injection on my own in the office before they let me leave. And they sent us home with, right, a little pamphlet and a CD back twenty years ago, and they accidentally had given us the Spanish one. So I I have this memory of my mom sitting in front of the TV trying to read the, you know, diabetes education with a, like, a Spanish English dictionary.

Scott Benner (4:50)

Really?

Hannah Parr (4:51)

And yeah. And it was just an accident, but that's all we had. And then I I went to school the next day, and we just kinda figured it out as we went. You know? It was really no downtime with my diagnosis.

Scott Benner (5:02)

You're a Scottish mom in Texas trying to figure out Spanish?

Hannah Parr (5:05)

Well, my mom was American. Yeah. We we were there for ten years before. So, you know, US Okay. Stuff felt new, but it was. It was just it just kinda felt wild, you know, and and surreal when I think back to it.

Scott Benner (5:16)

No kidding. Wow. And then do do you have brothers and sisters?

Hannah Parr (5:20)

I have one little sister.

Scott Benner (5:22)

Okay. Your parents married at that point?

Hannah Parr (5:25)

Mhmm.

Scott Benner (5:25)

Okay.

Hannah Parr (5:26)

Yeah.

Scott Benner (5:26)

Do they jump in and help? Is it them taking care of it completely? Is it do they try to give it to you? Do you split the duties? How does that all work? And twenty years ago so my daughter was diagnosed, I think, in I think '20 I do know this. 2006. So what were you? 2005, maybe?

Hannah Parr (5:44)

That was 2006.

Scott Benner (5:45)

You were 2006.

Hannah Parr (5:46)

Thousand six.

Scott Benner (5:47)

Okay. So she was August. So back then, we got, they gave us syringes and insulin and a meter. Did you get anything different than that?

Hannah Parr (5:57)

We we I got insulin pens.

Scott Benner (5:59)

Look at you.

Hannah Parr (5:59)

So I was started on pens Mhmm. And a meter, and then some carb counting flashcards, which I remember.

Scott Benner (6:06)

Carb counting five.

Hannah Parr (6:07)

Yeah. Trying to go through all the cards to figure out, you know, where the apple was.

Scott Benner (6:10)

Yeah. I realize now more contextually that Arden was two, and she weighed, like, eighteen. Well, she weighed seventeen pounds when she was diagnosed.

Hannah Parr (6:18)

And Oh, yeah.

Scott Benner (6:19)

So we got syringes so so that we could use little bits of insulin without the pens. And then no one do you know no one ever switched her to pens? It it never came up until she went right from just, syringes to insulin pump.

Hannah Parr (6:33)

And Interesting.

Scott Benner (6:34)

I didn't even know to ask for pens. But anyway, so you get pens and a meter, you're on your way. But your car and you're carb counting because it's it's right there. Like, obviously, in the in the time frame of diabetes, they're gonna teach you to carb count. Were you having success, or what did your life look like in the first couple years?

The Shame of Diabetes and Finding Community

Hannah Parr (6:51)

First couple years, I think I believe I had success maybe compared to the average child in my endocrinology practice. My a one c was low sevens, high sixes, kind of for most of my teenage years in high school after that. But I I had a lot of lows. I was the frequent kinda having lows. I I was active on the dance team. And my parents really did, over time, give most of my care over to me. I mean, when I was at school, right, there was no Dexcom follow, so it was all on me and and the school nurse. And I felt like that gave me confidence. So we didn't have trouble, you know, with sleepovers or going to, you know, different camps or friends or things like that. You know, I think that that piece worked out well. But where I really struggled, Scott, was the the the mindset. I was so ashamed of my diabetes in the beginning. I didn't understand what it meant for me. I think I had a big knowledge gap on what life with diabetes could actually look like. And as this kinda scared 13 year old that already felt like the new kid after diagnosis, I was just terrified to tell people in my life. I didn't want my friends to know because I was afraid that they would think less of me and and think I was even more different. You know? And and friends are so important at that age. And so I really I really struggled with the mindset piece. You know? I I had my diabetes for a long time until my parents pushed me to go to a camp for kids with diabetes, and then everything changed after that.

Scott Benner (8:21)

How old were you when you went to camp?

Hannah Parr (8:22)

I was right at 14. So it was about, six months to a year after diagnosis. And and the camp, Texas Lions camp, it really changed my life. It was kind of a week long, not a day camp, but an overnight camp. And I remember everybody cried at drop off, and then I didn't wanna leave. I was so happy, you know, crying at pickup. It was kind of that that full one eighty.

Scott Benner (8:45)

When you said you were I I think the word you used, right, you were ashamed of it?

Hannah Parr (8:49)

Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Benner (8:50)

That you were different, that you had a medical issue. Like, do you remember where the shame, like, showed itself?

Hannah Parr (8:56)

I think the shame was understanding. I I didn't understand if diabetes was my fault. I didn't understand if there was anything I did wrong to get it. I didn't understand if it would mean that I had to live a different life or I wouldn't live as long or as I couldn't do the things that my friends could do.

Scott Benner (9:14)

Mhmm.

Hannah Parr (9:15)

I I just felt so ashamed for being different.

Scott Benner (9:17)

Okay. And do you remember anybody treating you differently?

Hannah Parr (9:22)

No. I mean, I have the most supportive family. They were incredible, jumping in and learning and, you know, helping me with nights and figuring it out. And and I had great friends. You know? I I still don't feel that I get treated differently. I don't know if I can think of many instances in my whole twenty years that I have. I think it was just that, you know, fear of kinda self induced fear of of being different.

Scott Benner (9:43)

Okay. Alright. I appreciate that. It's interesting to look into the idea that at your age, you got all these worries. They were kind of unsubstantiated, and then meeting new people, branching out a little bit helped you get rid of them. So once you get back from diabetes camp, is it like a whole new you where you're like, hey, everybody. Look at this. Watch me watch me jam this pen into my leg. Or or, I mean, how far do you swing the other way?

Hannah Parr (10:05)

I remember so right before camp, having to give, the way that they kind of introduced the the diabetes to school was we met with the school nurse, and then I had to hand deliver a letter my mom wrote to each of my teachers in each of my kind of periods through school. And I just I did not wanna give these teachers this letter. I was terrified. I remember shaking, handing it over, just being so scared, you know, that that they would know this about me, and it would, you know, make them think less of me. I I wouldn't talk about it with anyone. And then after camp, my parents picked me up, and I have this vivid memory of, you know, saying goodbye to my friends, learning through camp how other kids were confident with their diabetes, how they didn't mind talking about it, how they could live. They seemed like they were having fun and living normal kid lives with it. My parents picked me up, and we were wearing the camp shirt that said diabetes on it. I mean, it was very obvious. And we went to a Cracker Barrel on the way home, and I walked into that Cracker Barrel wearing this diabetes shirt. And my mom just started crying. And I I was confused. Right? That'd be so in the moment when you're a kid but she said, you know, this is the first time you've ever been okay showing something about your diabetes in public. You know? And and it was that. And it was after that camp I was okay talking to my friends about it because I saw how the other kids at camp could explain it to their friends and talk about, you know, their insulin pump in a way that didn't seem so diminishing.

Scott Benner (11:37)

Yeah.

Hannah Parr (11:38)

And and it really just helped. And I I really think after that, it was a one eighty, and I still had so much to learn years later about confidence and what I was capable of, but it was it it took the shame out of it.

Scott Benner (11:49)

Right. When did you decide to try to go into medicine?

Sponsor: Eversense & Tandem

Scott Benner (11:54)

When you think of a CGM and all the good that it brings in your life, is the first thing you think about, I love that I have to change it all the time? I love the warm up period every time I have to change it. I love that when I bump into a door frame, sometimes it gets ripped off. I love that the adhesive kinda gets mushy sometimes when I sweat and falls off. No. These are not the things that you love about a CGM. Today's episode of the Juice Box podcast is sponsored by the Eversense three sixty five, the only CGM that you only have to put on once a year and the only CGM that won't give you any of those problems. The Eversense three sixty five is the only one year CGM designed to minimize device frustration. It has exceptional accuracy for one year with almost no false alarms from compression lows while you're sleeping. You can manage your diabetes instead of your CGM with the Eversense three sixty five. Learn more and get started today at eversensecgm.com/juicebox. One year, one CGM. This episode is sponsored by Tandem Diabetes Care. And today, I'm gonna tell you about Tandem's newest pumping algorithm. The Tandem Mobi system with Control IQ Plus technology features auto bolus, which can cover missed meal boluses and help prevent hyperglycemia. It has a dedicated sleep activity setting and is controlled from your personal iPhone. Tandem will help you to check your benefits today through my link, tandemdiabetes.com/juicebox. This is going to help you to get started with Tandem's smallest pump yet that's powered by its best algorithm ever. Control IQ Plus technology helps to keep blood sugars in range by predicting glucose levels thirty minutes ahead, and it adjusts insulin accordingly. You can wear the Tandem Mobi in a number of ways. Wear it on body with a patch like adhesive sleeve that is sold separately, clip it discreetly to your clothing, or slip it into your pocket. Head now to my link, tandemdiabetes.com/juicebox, to check out your benefits and get started today.

The Path to Integrative Medicine

Hannah Parr (13:58)

Oh, this is a great question. So I really didn't know what I wanted to do at the end of high school. Kinda like my family was set on going to college, and so I was trying to pick, you know, what I wanted to study. And that year, I had been going to my endocrinology just office and asking, how can I feel better with my diabetes? Like, my blood sugars are pretty good, you know, for where I am with with shots and and finger prick, but but how can I feel better? What types of foods are gonna help me be healthier? What type of exercise can I do where I'm not so low? You know, just kind of more health questions.

Scott Benner (14:27)

Mhmm.

Hannah Parr (14:28)

And I just couldn't get answers. It was kind of like the, you know, just exercise less if you're low, and you can eat whatever you want. You know, don't worry about other chronic diseases in the future. And and that was good. I mean, I get that they were trying to protect, you know, my childhood. But I I wanted to know. I was so curious. And so I decided to study nutritional sciences, and I went to Texas a and m for undergrad. Finally, I took a class where we learned about how to understand scientific literature that was published, like, on PubMed and through different journals. And it was like it opened this world for me of answers to the questions that I had that I couldn't find other places. Mhmm. And it was so empowering. I learned a lot about health and started implementing what I was learning, and I felt so much better. And then that's when I kinda got this this kick of, oh, I wanna help other people find answers to these questions. And I thought about becoming a registered dietitian. That's what most of the people in my major did. But I realized that there was some limitations there on kind of the what the MyPlay guidelines were at the time, what you could say, what you couldn't. And I really wanted to be able to help people kind of with a bigger picture of their health. And that's when I decided to go to DO school. I'm an osteopathic physician. And I like the DO philosophy at the time kind of reading about the difference between DO and MD. DOs are a little bit more holistic in looking at kind of the whole person.

Scott Benner (15:47)

Uh-huh.

Hannah Parr (15:48)

And so that was the that was the path I went on. So I decided my junior year of college and, took six months off and then got into a school in Mississippi, which is close to where my grandparents were in New Orleans. And that's that's kinda how it started.

Scott Benner (16:03)

Awesome. So you end up with I mean, you get your undergrad. Right? And then you move on to med school. Is that how it works after that? Mhmm. Yeah. And then when you're done there, do you do anything else? Or, like, do you specialize, or how does it work when you get out of medical school?

Hannah Parr (16:18)

Yeah. So, typically, the traditional path is you would do four years of medical school, and then you will go to residency in a different there are many different residencies for different types of medicine. So there is residency for pediatrics where you just learn about children or residencies for family medicine where you do more primary care, residencies for surgery, internal medicine where you're doing more hospital work. And I really was torn choosing my residency because there are you can choose pediatrics and then go into endocrinology, or you can choose adult medicine and then go into endocrinology. Mhmm. But there was no choice to do or for at least what I could see at that time, there was no choice to do kids and adults with diabetes, you know, and then move forward onto endocrinology. So I was really torn, and and I felt that if I kind of pigeonholed myself into endocrinology, I would miss that whole person approach that I'm so passionate about. So I chose to go to family medicine because that is the the type of residency program where you get to learn how to treat kids, women in pregnancy, and adults. And I did one year of my internship in family medicine and decided that primary care was not gonna be the right choice for me. There there's so much beauty in family medicine and primary care and how people are helped in that setting, but it is typically very quick appointments, you know, where you're kinda back to back all day with appointments, and there's not a lot of room for the lifestyle education piece. And so I left after my intern year of family medicine, and then I got my Texas medical license, finished my boards out, and I went on to do training in integrative functional medicine and which is more lifestyle oriented, prevention oriented. And then I did, my diabetes educator and board certified in advanced diabetes management, which is not a traditional American board certification for physicians, but it's the kind of diabetes educator curriculum for prescribers. And so that's where I am now.

Scott Benner (18:12)

What is it about you that you think let you see, well, this is how the process usually works. I don't wanna be involved in this. Like, is there something in your, like, personal ethos, or was it something that you functionally saw with how the machine worked? Like, what turned you off and and made you choose this other path?

Sponsor: US Med

Scott Benner (18:30)

I have always disliked ordering diabetes supplies. I'm guessing you have as well. It hasn't been a problem for us for the last few years though because we began using US Med. You can too. Usmed.com/juicebox or call (888) 721-1514 to get your free benefits check. US Med has served over one million people living with diabetes since 1996. They carry everything you need from CGMs to insulin pumps and diabetes testing supplies and more. I'm talking about all the good ones, all your favorites. Libre three, Dexcom g seven, and pumps like Omnipod five, Omnipod dash, Tandem, and most recently, the Islet pump from Beta Bionics. The stuff you're looking for, they have it at US Med. (888) 721-1514, or go to usmed.com/juicebox to get started now. Use my link to support the podcast. That's usmed.com/juicebox, or call (888) 721-1514.

Fixing the Medical System & Direct Primary Care

Hannah Parr (19:35)

Oh, I love this question. I would say both to answer directly, but it was that going my journey in medicine started from wanting to be a change, wanting to fill the gap of the questions that I had that I couldn't get answered as a kid

Scott Benner (19:47)

Mhmm.

Hannah Parr (19:48)

And and growing up and still, you know, had struggled to get answered when I'm in these appointments. And it and it was wanting to really focus on the health education piece for people. And I realized that and you know this, Scott. I mean, we go to our endocrinology appointment, and we see our diabetes educator after diagnosis. And then we go on to live the rest of our life with short follow-up appointments, right, to check-in on things.

Scott Benner (20:10)

Yeah.

Hannah Parr (20:10)

And there's so much more to learn. Right? There's so much more to learn that can impact the way that we feel about ourselves, the way that we take care of our body, how we can reduce our risk of chronic disease and complications in the future. There's so much, and that's what I absolutely love about your platform. And I was so I so needed to be the change in medicine to fill the gap. That was where my heart was going through this journey. And as I saw myself going into full primary care and seeing, you know, 30 patients a day for twelve minute appointments and doing all this billing, I could see that there wasn't gonna be room for the education that I wanted. And it really was I I was in my intern year of family residency, and and I had had a patient that had type two diabetes. And she came to me, and she had been seeing a different resident prior, and she we had an appointment and kinda filled her diabetes medications and scheduled a follow-up. She came back with a follow-up. Her a one c had gone up. And I asked her, you know, kinda what was going on, if she'd made any changes. And she was so motivated to try and help her type two diabetes that she she watched YouTube and found somebody talking about a grapefruit diet where you just eat grapefruits and grapefruit juice for two weeks. And that's what she had done trying to help herself. She was so motivated to try and do something to make her life better that I mean, that sounds incredibly hard to do, and it was just heartbreaking. I mean, kinda hurt herself in the process, and it was just the lack of, you know, being able to find information that was evidence based that could work for her, and I didn't provide that. You know? And I felt I really wanna put myself in a space where I can share information that is more likely to work for people that is safe, you know, that that we can have more education out there that's evidence based that that people are looking for. And so that's long long answer to your question, but that's kinda how it happened, and and and that's how I'm a little bit different than other physicians.

Scott Benner (22:01)

As a person who tried the baked potato diet once for two weeks, I appreciate that.

Hannah Parr (22:05)

Yeah. Well, thanks.

Scott Benner (22:08)

By the way, it did work. Although, I only ate baked potatoes without salt, pepper, or butter for two weeks. I think I lost, like, 15 pounds.

Hannah Parr (22:16)

Wow. Interesting. Yeah. Okay.

Scott Benner (22:18)

But to your point, the GLP worked a lot better.

Hannah Parr (22:20)

Yeah.

Scott Benner (22:21)

I understand what you're saying, and I wanna just take one more second to ask kind of a backward looking question for you. Whatever the hell the system is, you can call it whatever you want. Right? But why can't it do that? I think I ask every physician this question. Like, everyone seems to know what the problem is, and they either acquiesce to it or they go off into private practice and charge people cash and hope that their insurance covers it afterwards. No one stays and says, you know what? I could probably help these people while they're being covered by their insurance and do a better job of it. Like, what's stopping you? Is it just that the rules are written down somewhere? Like, if the test says this, then you do that. You see what I'm saying? It doesn't seem like it should be that big of a deal.

Hannah Parr (23:03)

This is such an important question. Yeah. So there are many, I think, variables that that play into why this is so challenging. And and it's from my impression and the physicians that I I know, it's not because doctors don't wanna help in this way. It it's definitely because there's a lack of education for physicians. I mean, we get very little health training. We kind of learn about how the body works, what the diseases are, and then what the medicines and surgery are to treat them, and we don't learn about what's optimal for exercise or what's an optimal nutrition plan or, you know, those types of things as much as we could. So there's a lack of education on the physician side. But if a physician goes on to learn that and wants to implement it, there can be big barriers in the hospital based clinic setting. So if we think most clinics are not owned by physicians anymore. Most clinics are owned by hospital systems, and hospital systems are more numbers based. And even though it's very intuitive, I think, to you and I that if we have someone with diabetes type one or type two and we give them more diabetes education, that they will have less ER visits, which will ultimately cost the system less. Right? I I think that's kinda pretty clear. But the it it has a lot to do, I think, with insurance reimbursement. We don't get the same reimbursement for the time that we spend doing education as we do seeing more patients faster.

Scott Benner (24:29)

Mhmm.

Hannah Parr (24:30)

And as the CEO or CFO of a hospital system, the numbers game is important for covering the overhead and profiting hospital system. And so I think what I saw is that as a physician working for a hospital system, it would have been very challenging for me to carve out time to do things like a support group or extra education. And we have the referrals to the diabetes educators. But outside of that, the you're working so much and the hours are so intense and the documentation is wild and I think growing with all the requirements. And and I think it's just hard to fill your own cup up as a physician and do extra on top of a full time clinic job. And so if a physician does go private practice, then they can they're the owner of the practice. They manage the overhead versus what they're allowed to spend their time doing, and and it it makes it a lot more tangible to be able to do that. But if you take insurance, then it's harder to cover your overhead with the insurance kickbacks that you get.

Scott Benner (25:33)

Okay. So where does that leave a person who finds themselves in an office with an uncommon problem being delivered a common answer, getting any real clarity, not getting better, whatever? Are they just left to think, well, I guess this is how it all works. I'll have to go figure this out on my own if I expect to figure it out at all?

Hannah Parr (25:50)

I think that's how a lot of people feel.

Scott Benner (25:53)

Yeah.

Hannah Parr (25:54)

I think that's how a lot of people feel. I know I felt that way, and I think that's why we see so many people turning to things like the juice box podcast, right, and YouTube and and different things because they want to learn. You know? It's just that that they're having trouble finding answers.

Scott Benner (26:10)

I think the podcast achieves a number of different things. Right? And I don't wanna sit around and philosophize about it, but if we just sat down and talked about just managing of diabetes. I honestly think the only thing I do is tell people to pre bolus, understand their food, understand how insulin works, and that's pop I don't think I say much, to be perfectly honest with you. Like, I don't know how it's possible to have built something this large. It's so well regarded, generally speaking, off of such a small amount of information that's that's available anywhere. Like, that should like and no one wants this isn't what they want. Like, Hannah, no one says, you know what I really want? I wanna get diabetes, then I wanna go to a doctor, then I wanna be left completely unhelped, and then have to go, you know, fart around in the world till I can figure out is even talking about this, then decide which one of them I can maybe trust, hopefully, then listen to them, then try to understand it, then put it into practice. Like, no one wants that. Like, the thing I'm giving people, it's not a thing they want. It's a thing they find themselves in need of. And then when you get there and actually crack open the walnut and see what's inside of it, all that's inside of it is timing and amount, pre bullish your meals, understand the impacts of your foods. And you know what? Your settings are gonna change due to variables. You should keep up with changing them. There there you go. Like, there's the big secret. Like, you know, you guys don't have to listen anymore. You you want an a one c in the sixes? Just do those things.

Hannah Parr (27:34)

Right. Right. I agree.

Scott Benner (27:35)

Yeah. But that's insane. That's fundamentally insane. Like, it's not like they got to me and they're like, alright. This guy heard all about this. You know what I mean? And they sit down and they listen. They got a pen and then they go, oh, yeah. Yeah. It's a very difficult thing. No wonder my doctor can't tell me about it. So, I mean, how would they tell me about this? I had to jump over three golden diamonds, go to the Amazon Forest, get a snake, milk it, drink the venom. When you get to the end of it and you go, wait, it's timing and amount and I just pre bolus your meals and don't watch a high blood sugar. Like, that's nuts, Anna. Okay. So, like, if there are days when I get up and I look at this thing and I think this shouldn't be like like, if anyone was doing their job, I wouldn't have a podcast. That I believe for sure.

Hannah Parr (28:17)

I see it.

Scott Benner (28:18)

Okay. That's about the management stuff. Go say something nice about the community park.

Hannah Parr (28:22)

Go I get what you're saying. Yeah. You feel like you're repeating the same things. And that message is strong, and it's important for everybody to hear. I mean, what you just said, I think, is so crucial. But I see your work as something that helps people in a in a bigger way. I mean, the voices that you bring onto this podcast and the amount of episodes that you publish to me are a constant reminder that you we're not alone in this, that there are other people figuring it out too. Sometimes I need to be remind myself to pre bolus twenty years in. I mean, you know, it's not like we don't need reminders or you get off track on something and, you know, you come back and your constant presence of different voices who, I think, remind people that they're not alone in this. And and I I think that there's a lot more to it than just the advice that you give. I think it's this sense of feeling not alone and feeling like it's possible, you know, to live this life because of the thousands of examples they've brought on.

Scott Benner (29:18)

You're very kind, and I and I completely agree with you. I was really trying to cleave it down to this one idea. Right? Like, I mean, at the very least, if my endocrinologist can't tell me that the timing of how the insulin works is really important to the outcomes I have with my blood sugar. That's nuts. Wow. What a low bar. So how do you handle like, I I'm assuming I don't know anything about you. I don't check into people. So by the way, everybody, Hannah could be out of her mind. You'll have to figure it out on your own. But you went into private practice too? Are you one of those nice ladies who takes my insurance? No. And you can turn in your bill later, and hopefully, your insurance will cover it for you, or how do you manage?

Hannah Parr (29:56)

So I am in a practice that is it is not an insurance based practice. It's called direct primary care. Mhmm. And it's a newer model of practice. It's membership based. And the majority of our patients are families of business owners that have very high deductible plans. And so they pay a certain amount a month to have access to the practice. They can see any of the clinicians unlimited, amount of times that month, and then they're not, you know, paying co pays. And and our monthly fee is less than a a co pay would be without a deductible that's been met. So I think it's a good a good fit for

Scott Benner (30:31)

some You're like a, a large language model. I buy tokens, and I use them. Is that about right? I I I right. I have, like I have credits, basically?

Hannah Parr (30:41)

No. It's just like a gym membership.

Scott Benner (30:43)

It's like a gym membership.

Hannah Parr (30:44)

Yeah. That's the that's how I describe it. It's like a gym membership.

Scott Benner (30:46)

So do some people overuse? Like, are some people sweating on the on the machines constantly, and some people don't show up, and that's how you're able to keep the thing going? I imagine, like, what if you get a, a hypochondriac? You're losing money on them. Right?

Hannah Parr (30:58)

Yeah. But you're also helping them. Yeah. I would say, yeah, it it evens out. I I get this question a lot when I tell people about the model, and they say, how could that work? I mean, would people abuse the system? And we really don't have that. I mean, I think I get to spend a lot more time with my patients. Our appointments could be up to an hour if we need it, and that's wonderful. And I think because of that, I get to answer all their questions during the appointments. You know? It's they don't leave with a list half answered, and so we get less questions, you know, between appointments, which I like. But but I also think that it does. It just evens out. So there are certainly people who who come in for more follow ups because they're worried about things and others who, you know, don't check-in as often, but they like the peace of mind that if they get the flu tomorrow, they can meet with us, you know, and not have to wait four days to be seen at a a different practice and pay more.

Scott Benner (31:43)

Yeah.

Hannah Parr (31:43)

Yeah. It just kinda evens out. The model works really well, and it's it's they're popping up all over the country. It's kind of a new wave of medicine.

Scott Benner (31:50)

No. For certain. So the business works for the business, and the business works for the people?

Hannah Parr (31:54)

Yes.

Scott Benner (31:54)

And you can pay your bills? Yes. Awesome. You're And

Hannah Parr (31:57)

I am incentivized to keep my patients healthier because the healthier they are, right, the less they come back to the practice, the more people I can help. No. That's better for me and it's better for them, and and that's the best.

Scott Benner (32:08)

Is this only gonna benefit people who have that kind of money, or do do some people see you have pay out of pocket and then turn that into their insurance and get some sort of coverage on the back end?

Hannah Parr (32:20)

So we do yes. So we can do a SuperBell where people can pay out of pocket. We also can they can use FSA and HSA. We have some people choose to do that. Most people don't, but our monthly fee is $90 a month. So it's prohibitive definitely for some, but but it's not, I think, at a place where it's out of reach.

Scott Benner (32:41)

Wait. So, like, a thousand dollars a year, that's my membership, but then is there billing on top of that?

Hannah Parr (32:47)

So billing for labs, we have cash based labs for our patients with high deductible plans, and those are discounted at the practice, and they're honestly incredibly cheap. It's amazing how sometimes the cash based labs are actually cheaper than what you'd pay with your insurance.

Scott Benner (33:01)

Yeah.

Hannah Parr (33:02)

But we do have patients that wanna use labs use their insurance for for our labs, so we'll code. And they can use their labs through their insurance so they get those covered. And then prescriptions are obviously through their insurance as well.

Managing Burnout & Creating Boundaries

Scott Benner (33:14)

For a number of years now, I've been taking my family to just a a cash doctor. You know? So it's very simple. You visit her, and you it's $250. You see her a couple of times a year to check-in, make sure everything's going well. But other than that, access through text messages, emails, portal system. She's very responsive. When you go into, like, check-in with her, it's an you sit there for an hour. You know, you're in a a soft chair with a a lamp and a desk next to you. There's a pad of paper if you wanna take notes. It's a completely different experience. My health has never been better. Yeah. I've never felt better supported when there is an actual emergent issue. It is not crazy for me to tell you that there was a time when we had a problem. We couldn't get a medication, and I sent her a text. And she said, oh, I have samples. You can come to my house and grab them. And, like, I know that's that's not what you not I'm sure that's not the the norm, but, you know, I said, oh, okay. She gave me an address and I went to her house. She handed it to me. She said, we'll get it all worked out. Use the sample for now. And I was like, okay. Thank you. And I left. And maybe two years later, something similar came up where I texted her and I was like, you know, there's a problem. And she was like, can come to my house. And I texted back and I said, I don't know where you live. And she said, you've been here before. And I said, oh, yes. But out of an abundance of respect, I deleted that because I didn't think I didn't think I should have your address. And she was like, oh, that's so nice. We've been doing this now for three, four years and it might sound expensive to people, but honestly, my you know, we maybe see her twice a year. And so, you know, for three, four people, it's, you know, it's $2,000 a year to see the doctor. It's and then we take those bills and give them to our insurance company who I think they cover us at, like, 80%. So That's great. Yeah. So I think we're paying, like, nothing, really, like, you know, and getting way better care. She retired.

Hannah Parr (35:12)

Oh, no.

Scott Benner (35:12)

We're all really sad right now. Her husband got some great job in France, and she's moving. I tried I tried my hardest, Anna, when she contacted us to say she was retiring. I said, you know, you've been married for such a long time. You must be sick of him. Why don't you just let him go? Stay here and be our doctor. She said, I think I'm just gonna go to France and bop her around. And I was like, okay. Fine. Whatever.

Hannah Parr (35:40)

Little life. That's scary.

Scott Benner (35:41)

Here's an older woman. She's, you know, getting towards her time, you know, to retire anyway. But the experience, I don't think I'm ever going to be able to to remake somewhere else. She was a unique person in that I don't believe that most of the money in her family came from her. I think it came from her husband. I don't think she needed to be, you know, grabbing at every dollar, and therefore, she was incredibly valuable. But I also don't know that it didn't burn her out. And I tell you that whole story to ask you, like, is there a system set up in here to keep you separated from having to give so much of yourself that you run out of stuff to give. Because I actually experienced that with what I do, and I had to set up boundaries for myself. And I was wondering if you have similar.

Hannah Parr (36:38)

Yes. Well, I love that story about about your doctor, and I think that's just amazing that that that's the kind of thing that I think that does change lives, and and there's so many physicians that want to be able to practice that way. But, yes, to the boundaries question. I and I've worked really hard on this. And there was a time when I was in each step of my medical training. I I would wonder, can I do this with diabetes and not sacrifice my health? You know? Like, going into the night shifts, I remember my kinda the end of my training, it was fourteen days in a row of sixteen hour night shifts, and I was alone. There there was no team. So it's just me and all the pagers. And it was just like, oh, can I do this with my diabetes? Like, this is it seems so hard. Just not knowing how my ratios would change with all that. And so I had to learn that. You know, I really had to say, how can I set up my life so that I can fill up my cup first and then pour to my patients in my career? And that's hard to do, in medicine because a lot of people think of these crazy hours that doctors work. And I don't. I'm not full time right now, and it's for that reason because I I like to take care of my health. And so I I like to have a a more balanced life, and I I'm it's giving me more time to do the online education, that I'm working on, which has been wonderful. But it is I I really had to learn, you know, how how many days can I see patients, and how many hours in a row can I see patients where at the end, I'm I'm losing a little bit of empathy or my focus on details are isn't as as guide? And for me, it really is is figuring out what are those things I need to do to keep my cup full and making sure I schedule those and then working on scheduling my clinic days and my other work around it. And and it took me a really long time to get there, and it's certainly not always possible. But that that's where I feel like I'm finally able to have a routine where I'm no longer worried that I'll burn out because I feel like my job fills my cup, doesn't empty it.

Scott Benner (38:32)

You know what I found is that it's a never ending line of questions and people. And the and they don't understand, like, when like, what I would notice for myself is when they would see that I was online, it would start and it if I kept going, it would never stop. It almost felt like a science fiction movie where you were you had kidnapped somebody and you were like a a demon. And you were gonna suck out some of their essence to keep you alive, but you got crazy and sucked it all out and they dried up and blew away. Like, I felt like if I if I keep if I keep facing the Internet, they'll absorb everything I have to give until I I can't anymore. Like, the because they don't see they don't see my side of it. They see that they just oh, they're just having a quick ten minute interaction with you. Mhmm. And I'm like, yeah, that's that ten minutes, then the next ten minutes, then the next one's twenty minutes, the next one's ten. And it never it kind of ends I almost couldn't equate it to in the Facebook group, which I I really adore my Facebook group, and and I think it's incredibly valuable. I'll never stop supporting it, but I had to figure out better ways to support it. Mhmm. Because if you get involved in a conversation, like, you as the reader might jump in and be like, I have a thought about this. And then, you know, and direct it at me, and then I'm like, well, then I'm responding to that. Well, you go away. You go live the rest of your life and come back six, eight hours later, maybe a day later to see if there's a response. People don't stop asking me and I get stuck there forever. And I'm just wondering, like, I guess what I was getting to, you already kind of alluded to, which is you build this this model that really helps people, but then it it's also opening you up to being pingable. And I don't know how long that can go. So then you what do you do? Do you move to a different model where you you're doing, like, on what was that next part you were talking about? Like, are you basically coaching people on specific ideas?

Creating Content and Building Community

Hannah Parr (40:27)

Well, I've been doing I have a YouTube channel where I do type one diabetes education mindset.

Scott Benner (40:33)

Mhmm.

Hannah Parr (40:34)

That's kind of what I've just been focusing on, you know, with with the reduced clinic hours.

Scott Benner (40:37)

I don't wanna speak for you. Maybe there's somebody, like, paying your way somewhere. But, like, you're trying to make a living too. Does that make a living?

Hannah Parr (40:44)

No. Not at all. No. Yeah. No. It's a passion project.

Scott Benner (40:47)

I was gonna say what's what's the yeah. And it's like, no. No. I don't have money. I guess I have to ask, are you married?

Hannah Parr (40:53)

Yes. I just got married on October.

Scott Benner (40:56)

Oh, look at you. Congratulations. Very nice.

Hannah Parr (40:59)

You. Yeah.

Scott Benner (41:00)

Very nice. This is a good boy where everyone's happy. Mom and dad are okay with us?

Hannah Parr (41:03)

Yeah. Yeah. We got lucky. Both sides were on board.

Scott Benner (41:06)

So Both sides were on board. Yeah. Trust me.

Hannah Parr (41:08)

You don't always get that. I've seen

Scott Benner (41:10)

it go the other way. Yeah. Yeah. So I've lived through it, by the way, in case you're wondering. Oh. So you're just you're cutting back a little bit. Are you thinking of having kids?

Hannah Parr (41:19)

Mhmm.

Scott Benner (41:20)

Oh, okay. Very nice. Does he have any autoimmune on his side? Let's hope no.

Hannah Parr (41:25)

No. Okay. Yeah.

Scott Benner (41:27)

Is that part of your thought process during dating by any chance?

Hannah Parr (41:30)

If the person I'm dating has autoimmune?

Scott Benner (41:33)

Yeah. Did you ever think, like, if I get somebody else to throw into this stew, we might end up with a kid with a carrot that has diabetes? Like, you know what I mean? Like, is it Yeah. Do you think about that?

Hannah Parr (41:43)

I've never you know, I think in my decision to want to have children, I this kind of the science brain had to look at this idea of, okay. What is the risk if I have a baby and they have autoimmune disease or they have type one diabetes? Will that crush me? I'm so grateful for my life with diabetes. I mean, I I'm so glad I'm alive, and diabetes isn't stopping that. You know, I feel like if I were to pass it on, that would be okay. It would still be a life worth living. You know? And and so I I guess I didn't think about that.

Scott Benner (42:12)

Super interesting. But that's a that's an interesting question to ask yourself. Like, if this were to happen, would this derail who I am or my life? And you thought no, so it's okay. We'll try.

Hannah Parr (42:22)

Yeah.

Scott Benner (42:23)

Yeah. Yeah. Listen. I've heard all kinds of different answers. My favorite one has always been, well, I have diabetes and I'm okay.

Hannah Parr (42:30)

Right.

Scott Benner (42:31)

That was the I'd mow maybe the most simplistic and my my kind of favorite answer from somebody who had type one.

Hannah Parr (42:37)

Okay. I love that.

Scott Benner (42:38)

Yeah. So let's pivot a little bit here. Like, I think YouTube seems impossible to get involved in and have success with. Is it working or what is your level of desire for it?

Hannah Parr (42:47)

Yeah. I don't know. I don't even know how you define working. I feel like I'm helping people, and that that's the point. Right? It is to put evidence based information out there, information that comes from my personal experience combined with, you know, working in practice. And and I get comments from people who say that it's done something that's helped them or they've learned something or had a different perspective on something. Yeah. And that's what makes me wanna keep doing it. I mean, slow slow growth. I'm posting about one video a week and and about maybe 2,000 subscribers right now, and it's monetized. So I get paid for the ads that come up, in the middle of the the videos now, but it it's not making much.

Scott Benner (43:25)

I was gonna say, tell the people you're making untold tens of dollars. Is that right?

Hannah Parr (43:29)

Yeah. Got a 100 a month, I think. That's where I am.

Scott Benner (43:32)

Almost 10 tens, Scott. Let me just tell you.

Hannah Parr (43:36)

So worth the time? Probably not. But I it makes me feel good. And I think if I can grow if I can grow it, it it could be a good

Scott Benner (43:45)

thing for more people. I have to tell you Yeah. When I talked to Jenny, do you from like, you've heard probably heard on the podcast.

Hannah Parr (43:51)

Integrative diabetes, Jenny? Yeah. Yeah. Of course.

Scott Benner (43:54)

When I talked to Jenny privately, because I always wonder, like, I don't like, she's not an employee. I don't pay her to be on the podcast. Like, I mean, you guys listen. Like, there's no ads for her on it, like, back to where she works or anything like that. She's just Jenny there. And I one day was like, why do you keep saying yes when I ask you to do this? You know? And she just told me one day, she's like, I just don't feel like I help enough people. Mhmm. That was it. Like, she's like, I work with people all day long. I mean, there's an argument to be made that Jenny's helping more people with diabetes than most people are. And yet, she said very similarly to, I guess, how I feel about it, like, it's such simple information. Really, what you just need is time to give it to people. And I just like that she's like, I like that your podcast reaches a lot of people at once, and I feel like I'm helping a lot of people. And I'm like Mhmm. Awesome. So we've been doing it together for such a long time now. But I guess that's kinda what you're looking for too because, I mean, if you're working part time, then you are making a living. You're keeping your hand in, you know, you're keeping your license going and all that stuff. You can decide what you're gonna do about building your family, but you're trying to reach more people too. So you're telling me you are not, like you don't have, like, visions of grandeur. You don't imagine that one day, there'll be, you know, a 100,000 people following your YouTube channel, and it'll be cranking down $50 a month and but that's not your goal. Your goal is find people, help them.

Hannah Parr (45:12)

Yeah. I think my goal is just to create a space where people can find the answers that they're looking for. Yeah. And I think my thing is really the mindset piece. You know, that that was hardest part for me with diabetes is that how do you not let it define you? How do you imagine your life with it and not hold yourself back? How do you know that you can do the things that you wanna do and bring diabetes with you? And and I think I spent a lot of time feeling broken. You know? Even after I kinda dropped to shame, I still felt broken for a long time. And that was something my doctor's office could never help me with. And so I'm starting a support group next month that's on Zoom that'll it'll just be a place to have those types of conversations with people. So, yeah, I I would love to help more people. And I think I I feel Jenny in in that is waking up every day thinking, am I helping as many people as I could help? You know, with the the knowledge and the education I've taken the time to get, is there more that I could be doing that would be helping more people? That I I don't know how to answer what enough is. And and I think that's probably something I need to work on is is feeling content with that. But I think it is. It's just it's touching lives for for people who are looking for the answers that they can't find other places. And and then the more I can grow that, the better. But but yeah.

Scott Benner (46:24)

Do you think of it more as, like, therapy, like, group therapy or, you know, getting a bunch of people together to have a similar I mean, the way I I kind of big picture think about it is is that if you understand in general terms and maybe a little more specifically how to manage insulin, that alleviates a lot of the other stuff. It doesn't get rid of all of it, but at least it lifts it lifts a lot of the weight. And that, in my mind, if I could lift that weight for people, then they'd maybe have more, you know, brain power, time, space to think about the other stuff and, you know, maybe more about the, you know, the mental impact of of having type one. But it sounds to me like I mean, you had such an impact of this in your own personal life that this is your am I right about this? Like, this is where you trip the most, so you're trying to you feel like you're trying to help people with it. Is it because you feel like you have an answer or because you feel like the answer is getting a bunch of people together and just, you know, saying this is a problem. We should all be paying attention to it.

Hannah Parr (47:26)

This is a great question. Yeah. I I think a little bit of both. I I think I remember when I was starting college, and I didn't know I still had no idea what my life could look like with diabetes. I didn't know if anybody would wanna marry me. I didn't know if I could have kids or if that was possible. I just had so so many knowledge gaps. And I remember just wishing that if I could see somebody, you know, five years ahead of me living their life with type one diabetes in a way that it worked, that would really help. You know, if I if I could just see how this could work in people's lives Mhmm. You know, what's available in in the camps that I went to and then now volunteer at really helped me with those examples of people, you know, a couple steps ahead of me that that had figured out that next chapter. But I went to a conference. It was called students with diabetes. It's not around anymore, but it was Nicole Johnson who was miss America in 1999. She has type one diabetes, and she ran the conference, but she would talk a lot about her life, and and she brought her daughter. And that was the first time that I realized that people with type one diabetes could have kids in my twenties. You know? I just didn't know. And I just felt like, wow. If I if I could just learning about how she lived her life really helped me figure out that I could live mine in more options than I thought before. And so it's that. You know? It's a little bit of wanting to pass on what I've learned, my trials and errors, and also knowing that when we bring people together and we feel like we're not the only one having the stress about diabetes, that it sent brings a sense of community that helps us grow. So I think it's both.

Scott Benner (48:56)

Can I dig into the I didn't know, like, that phrasing?

Hannah Parr (49:00)

Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Benner (49:00)

You didn't know people could have babies, but you knew, but you just never thought about it. Right? Like, it just seemed like an impossibility or a thing you hadn't dreamt of yet, and then you saw some because you didn't, maybe I'm wrong, but you didn't fundamentally not understand that a person with type one couldn't have a baby. You just thought, like, how would that possibly work? Am I following that correctly?

Hannah Parr (49:19)

No. I really didn't know if it was, like, if it would be something that would be healthy to do.

Scott Benner (49:25)

Oh, I see. Okay.

Hannah Parr (49:27)

Yeah. I didn't know I didn't know if it wasn't advised or if it wasn't possible. I really didn't know. Yeah. No one ever told me.

Scott Benner (49:32)

I think we're both saying the same thing just slightly differently. So okay. You didn't think that if I met a boy and we had sex, a baby wouldn't come out. That's not what you were saying.

Hannah Parr (49:39)

Right. Yeah. Right. Okay. Right. Yeah. I didn't think I couldn't get pregnant. I just didn't think it could work. Right?

Scott Benner (49:44)

Right.

Hannah Parr (49:44)

So there's yeah.

Scott Benner (49:45)

I understand. I'm I just wanna make sure I understood it. I was like, is she the doctor? I was like, I don't I don't.

Hannah Parr (49:51)

Well, this was early twenties. Right? This is like right after high school when you're trying to figure out what you wanna do for your life. And I just I just didn't have a lot of women in my life with type one diabetes, and I didn't know it was possible to have a family.

Scott Benner (50:03)

I know exactly what you're saying. I I don't mean to joke my way through it.

Hannah Parr (50:06)

Just yeah. Yeah. Right.

The Value of Supplementation and Education

Scott Benner (50:07)

Awesome. And what are you seeing? Like, with your effort, like, twofold. With your effort with, you know, working in, you know, private practice the way you are, are you seeing better outcomes for people? Let's start there at work. Like, do you are you seeing better outcomes for people? Are they happier? Are there real measurables that, you know, you can point to and say, look, this is really working for them, or are they still struggling and you're like, oh, this isn't helping either?

Hannah Parr (50:36)

Yeah. That's a good question. So there are always, I think, patients that you feel like you're doing your best to help and they're not getting the improvement that you would want. But I think in the model I'm in, the direct primary care model, I have a lot of patients with prediabetes that we reverse. A lot of people with type two diabetes that we can help lose weight and get off medications. Have a lot of patients who I teach about nutrition, and they find a food plan that works for them. And we have a monoglucose monitor. We do a nutrition log, and we can make tweaks. We find a lot more nutrient deficiencies because I look for them. You know, I feel like the amount of care that we can provide is a little bit more holistic because we have more time to talk to them about their lives. And with the type of training that I I got, I I really do. I ask all my patients about their nutrition, their sleep, their movement, their stress level, their relationships, their family history, what their current symptoms are. Yeah. We have a lot more time to talk about those things, and and so I think we find more answers in in patients who at least seek this type of care are often the ones that are motivated to change. And so I think it works for that way. It's not that I'm necessarily better, but I do think that that it is not uncommon for me to help patients move the health trajectory in a right direction, not just put them on more medications.

Scott Benner (51:58)

If there's a person who's interested in asking, then you find that if you're able to deliver the answer to them, these are the same people who are more willing to follow through and try to make it work.

Hannah Parr (52:07)

Mhmm.

Scott Benner (52:08)

Yeah.

Hannah Parr (52:08)

Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.

Scott Benner (52:10)

If in a regular practice, somebody came in and you were just like, hey. You don't have enough vitamin d. And they might be like, I don't care what you think, doctor person, and then not take their vitamin d. But if somebody came to you and said, hey. I am having a problem. I wanna understand in any way that you can maybe make sense to me. I'm motivated to be here. I wanna do something. Say, well, your vitamin d is low. Take some more vitamin d. That person might be like, god. Awesome. Give it to me. I'm glad I found out about this. How does that feel when it goes the other way? Like, how does it feel to have somebody come into your office only because they have to? Because they know if they don't come to see you, they don't get their insulin prescription, for example. And then you get there and highlight a bunch of things for them to do, and then three months later come back and recognize that none of those things happen. Is it difficult for you not to just feel like, oh, they don't care? Are you able to see all the other life things that might be possibly in the way?

Hannah Parr (53:02)

This is such a struggle, I think, in medicine for people. On this side, you know, is that there are two ways. I think it's it's hard when you you wanna help someone, and you go give them the tools that you think are going to help them and they come back and they didn't apply them. That's hard. And and it's easy, I think, especially if a physician or clinician is is going through burnout to just say, well, it's know, they weren't gonna do it anyway. It wasn't on me.

Scott Benner (53:27)

Noncompliant. Not my fault. Let's keep moving. Right.

Hannah Parr (53:30)

But but I can't do that because I feel like, I don't know. Maybe that's my personality.

Scott Benner (53:34)

Well, maybe it's because you have diabetes, and you know that there's more to it than it.

Hannah Parr (53:37)

There's so much more. Yeah. And so I think, okay. Well, it I think, what did I miss? You know? What am I not am I explaining it in a way where they're not understanding the importance of it? Am I missing that there's a big social emotional barrier in the way of doing this? You know, is it that I'm not you know, I I really I I think I'm hard on myself in that setting because I want to help people who come to me regardless of their motivation to change. You know? I mean, they're coming to the doctor's office in order to get what they need. And as much as I can say things in the right way, describe the importance, highlight, you know, how it's gonna be aligned with the things that are connected to their goals. You know, whatever it is, I I I think I'm constantly changing the way I present things or the way I ask questions to people because because that's the goal. You know? It's it's it's really hard to see people you can't. You feel like you didn't help. Right? It it doesn't feel good, Scott. It's it's hard and it's constantly helping me grow and become better at listening and better at explaining and learning, you know, what types of things are better to explain than others. And and it's been interesting. I've I've got some patients that are engineers, and I know they're data driven. These are the people that want the before and after lab. They want the study with the percentage risk. Right? Like, they're data driven. And there'll be other people who they they don't care about the numbers. They don't wanna know the prevalence of the thing or the risk. They just wanna know how they can feel better. Right? And they wanna talk about their emotions about it. And it's it's so interesting trying to learn personality types as you you are in medicine because

Scott Benner (55:12)

Yeah.

Hannah Parr (55:13)

The way you describe something matters so much.

Scott Benner (55:15)

Yeah. For sure. I'm gonna share something with you. Try very hard not to, imagine it in your mind, but I was in the shower this morning. Uh-oh. Okay. And I was using my water pick because my dentist told me so. Mhmm. And it occurred to me that if I had my old job working in a sheet metal shop that I had when I was 20, if I was still raising two little kids, if I was doing any other number of things in any other portions of my life, I would not have the time to stand in my shower water picking my gums. The only reason I'm able to do it is because I actually have the time to do it because of how my life is set up because I make a, I almost cursed, I make a podcast. And, like, so if I take five more minutes in the shower, the whole world's not gonna burn down or I'm not gonna miss a bus or be late to something and somebody's gonna fire me over, you know, like that kind of stuff. And then I started to think, how many people has this dentist told, use a water pick who went, wait, I can't afford a water pick. Or they bought the damn thing and now it sits on the counter because they don't have any time to do the thing. You know? And then they get back to him and he goes, oh, these people, they just don't care about their teeth. And I'm like, that's not the case at all. And I'm coupling that with this feeling, this idea, something I've been doing with my daughter recently is I've been waiting for when we have quiet moments and I hug her, but don't look her in the face and tell her quietly that I know she has to do more than most people. That's all. I don't follow it up with if you need something from me, let me know or I don't I just say, I just want you to know, I know you have to do more than most people. That's it. I've just I see you and that's all I give her when I do that. Because any mourn she gets uncomfortable, if you give her too much yeah. I think if she looks at me, I think she I think she feels like she's letting herself or me down. Do you know what I mean? Like, so it's just kind of a quiet voice that says, I see your life and there's a lot of decisions you're making and a lot of things that are happening to you that don't happen to other people and you're still you're still doing it. Like, it it's really quite something. And I just don't think that in a regular day to day, she has time to think that like, to give herself that positive feedback. And that if I give it in the wrong way, even though it feels right to me because I've tried it so many different ways, but this is the way I found. Like, just a hug from behind. I see you. I know what's happening. I'm on your side if you need something. That's it. Done. I'm seeing a real shift in our attitude over it too.

Hannah Parr (57:49)

So That's beautiful.

Scott Benner (57:50)

I don't know how many people you have to talk to you before you realize. Like, I'll I'll tell you right now. I'll say this over and over again. I don't think people are noncompliant. I think people are in just different situations where they don't have the time, the money, the expertise, the idea, whatever. All these different things that could help them to do this thing. Maybe they don't even realize how important it is. I've never met a person who doesn't wanna feel well.

Hannah Parr (58:17)

Right.

Scott Benner (58:17)

That's my point, I guess.

Hannah Parr (58:18)

Yeah.

Scott Benner (58:19)

Yeah. And then I used to be very angry at doctors for not just pushing through it till I interviewed 50 or a 100 of them. And I realized they're just people too. And they have Mhmm. Sometimes very limited education. The education, you know, look at all the stuff you're trying to jam into someone's head before you put them out into the world. It's still not enough. They might not have a health issue, so they don't even understand. They're just giving you a, b, and c. You come there. It's I can see how easy it would be to be a physician sit in a room and go, my god. You made all this effort to come here, and then you didn't do the thing. You're an idiot. And then why am I gonna put my time in you because I barely have any time and I have kids at home and a wife at home too, and I've gotta go home and live my own life. I don't have enough bandwidth for you not to not to pull your own weight in this situation. And I can see how I would feel that way as a doctor and maybe lose sight of the fact that they also have those issues at home as well. The whole thing's just very delicate. So Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think there's a fix. I just think that if we put enough options out there that maybe enough options will cover enough needs, like, in the way people need. You said something earlier about how everyone's different. You have to talk to them differently. Like, maybe if there are enough options and they're lucky enough to find the one that, fits them better, they'll have a better outcome.

Hannah Parr (59:36)

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I I love that. And I think you're right. It's priorities. I mean, that person that didn't take their vitamin d, you know, I don't know. Maybe they have a family member in the ICU, and that just wasn't the most urgent thing that month. Right?

Scott Benner (59:48)

Yeah.

Hannah Parr (59:48)

You just don't know. And and I think that's part of medicine is when we have more time with people and we can learn where they are and meet them where they are, that's you know, that that helps. You know? It's it's it's like your dentist. Maybe if back when you had your kids and they were young, you said, you know, just try water picking twice a week Yeah. You know, for thirty seconds. Awesome. Not even two minutes. Right?

Scott Benner (1:00:11)

Like I'm Maybe that's what you needed. I'm ex my kid has diabetes. I can't water pick my teeth, but thank you.

Hannah Parr (1:00:16)

Great.

Scott Benner (1:00:16)

No. I you know, you just said something. You used the vitamin d as an example. So let's, like, kinda focus on this at the end because I'm I am very focused on this in my in my own life and on the podcast too. Supplementation in many different ways. Like, I think if you say that out loud, people think you're talking about vitamins, you know, zinc, d, stuff like that. Yes. That. But other stuff too, like, I now see my GLP medication as supplementation. My body doesn't have enough of something to do something optimally, and so I put it in artificially and it makes up the gap. Right? So the GLP to me feels like a supplement. Mhmm. I look at, you know, simple things, vitamin d, not getting sick as often, like that kind of stuff. I supplement myself with vitamin d every day. I think the problem with supplementation is that it doesn't flip a switch. So when you say to a 25 year old, hey. Your vitamin d is low. Just take this, and a few months from now, you're gonna feel better. By the time they feel better, they don't even remember it was from the vitamin d, and then they probably stop taking it. That's a huge problem in medicine. It's a huge problem with humans is that, you know, this has been proven over and over again. I think that it was it really got a light shown on it twenty years ago around, like, depression medications. People would come in depressed. They'd give them a medication. They'd stop feeling depressed. The very first thing they would do when they stop feeling depressed, stop taking the depression medication. Because they were like, well, I'm not depressed anymore. I don't need depression medication. That's a very human thing. I just don't know how supplementing how you're gonna get it through to most people when the masses hear, oh, you took a GLP to lose weight, you're cheating. Like, when that's somebody's like, you know what mean? I don't know. Like, I I feel like maybe there's always just gonna be a segment of the population who's just not gonna buy in. But how do you get people to, I don't know, take their vitamins on a on a basic level, especially with autoimmune?

Hannah Parr (1:02:12)

Yeah. I think you I think people are motivated to do something when they truly understand the impact that it can make on their lives. And and like you said, that instant feedback is more helpful. Right? Like, if you take insulin, we see it work immediately. Like, okay. I know that works. You know? I don't have to wait three months for the vitamin d to make a change. Mhmm. But but I think that it I think there's a knowledge gap. And when people understand the why, they're often more likely to. I I I have a lot of people who don't understand why things. You know? And it's it's that's harder. I think it's human nature to not do something if you don't really believe that it's gonna do something positive. Yeah. But but if you're bought into the science behind it, you understand it enough to know that it could be something good in the future, We do things that don't have instant gratification even though it is, you know, not as likely. In society, it's still possible. And as humans, we do that. Right? We, like, go to school forever so we can finally get the job we want, or we push gratification off, and it's often just a knowledge gap. So so I think education is is the answer for that if people are are concerned or or or struggling there.

Podcast Reflections and Final Thoughts

Scott Benner (1:03:25)

Yeah. Well, I'll share this with you. I think that a portion of my job, shouldn't say it that way, but a part of what I do is I think I'm a cheerleader.

Hannah Parr (1:03:33)

Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Benner (1:03:34)

I think I'm a I'm the person that stands behind you and goes, you could definitely do this. Like, you should go out there and start swinging your hands. I think you're gonna win. And did you get beat up a little bit? That's okay. We'll do it again. Learn from your mistakes. Try out, you know, and we'll go back at it a little better prepared the next time. I think that somewhere between information, community, not feeling alone, understanding that failure might be part of success, those things really are like, theyre all paramount, oddly enough, mixed together, then delivered to you in the way that hopefully you can pick it up. But also, you said there's so many voices on the podcast that part of the reasoning behind having so many regular people on the podcast all the time is that no one out there listening is gonna hear themselves in a diabetes influencer. You know what I mean? No one's gonna hear themselves in the shiny mom that donates all of her time to the JDRF. I know they changed their name, but they shouldn't have because I'm not on

Hannah Parr (1:04:34)

the phone. I know. I keep saying JDRF too.

Scott Benner (1:04:37)

Those voices are good to hear sometimes, but not every day. Like, daily, it just needs to be people who have never once been asked to talk into a microphone and share and share their story. Like, that's my idea behind the way I do the the interview stuff in the podcast. Like, I just want people who have no story to tell, they think, when they start, and then let them begin to talk. You know, hopefully, they'll get out a little something that somebody listening will go, oh, okay. You know what? I, you know, that makes sense to me. I I've seen that before in my own life. What did they say fix it for him? You know, and maybe move people in the other direction. I mean, do you do stuff like this often? Do you get interviewed with any frequency?

Hannah Parr (1:05:16)

Off and on. Yeah. Yeah. I have. Yeah.

Scott Benner (1:05:19)

So you have a way that that kinda goes for you sometimes. Did it go that way today with me?

Hannah Parr (1:05:26)

As far as the question and answers and kind of the flow of things? Yeah. Yeah. I would say

Scott Benner (1:05:31)

It felt good? Definitely. Okay.

Hannah Parr (1:05:33)

Yeah. Good. Yeah. No. No. I'd say it it definitely I think it's that that question and answer, but I love that when we scheduled this, we didn't have any topics. And I walked in today just wanting to connect with you and maybe share something that could help somebody out there. And I love that we just let our conversation go where it took us. Yeah. To me, that's that's more authentic, and it I think it gets us further. You know, it's sharing things.

Scott Benner (1:05:57)

I listen. I'll tell people listening right now. I mean, we're, you know, we're we're at the end here. We're done. But I'll tell people right now that when you said, like, how the practice you you work in and what you do and when you said I have a YouTube channel, I want you to know and I don't mean this disrespectfully. I had no idea about any of that. I was like, oh, that's interesting. Part of my preparation is not understanding what it is I'm about to talk about because I just think it lends to me, I don't know, saying stuff that anybody would say in that situation. I try really hard for that not to happen. Like, a couple of times during this conversation, you said, oh, that's a good question. And I thought she's either very well born and knows how to make me feel good, or I actually asked her a good question.

Hannah Parr (1:06:37)

No. You definitely I think you asked me questions I really care about, you know, and things that we talked about are so important to me, and it wasn't, you know, just like, what are the rates of this, or what's the prevalence of that, or what do you do in this situation medically? You know, it's it's the real kinda truth behind my life, and and so I appreciate your your perspective there.

Scott Benner (1:06:55)

Oh, I'm glad. I appreciate that. I I, you know, the truth is is that if somebody thinks, oh, I'm gonna go on that podcast and I'll and it'll make my YouTube channel bigger. Like, stuff doesn't work that way.

Hannah Parr (1:07:06)

Right.

Scott Benner (1:07:06)

I can't do anything today that's gonna help you. You're gonna go make that thing. I'll tell you right now, here's how it's gonna work. You're gonna go make that thing, and if it helps people, they'll tell somebody else about

Hannah Parr (1:07:17)

it. Right.

Scott Benner (1:07:17)

You know, I got approached recently about going and, like, doing an interview somewhere, and a person was very nice, and I have absolutely no like, nothing against, like, the idea of doing it. But I was like, I don't really wanna do that. I don't see the point in it. And, you you know, like, what am I gonna go talk people into liking me and then they'll they're gonna come try what they'll grab the wrong episode once they'll be like, that guy's asshole. And I'll be like, oh, great. There we go. All that work to get somebody to listen once in the in the one episode they pop onto, they, you know, they didn't like a thing I said. Or, you know, you know, a person told me recently, it took him a while to get started with the podcast. The parent of a child with type one, imagine this if you can, Hannah.

Hannah Parr (1:07:55)

Okay.

Scott Benner (1:07:56)

First episode that comes on for her is a woman telling the story of the of the school nurse giving her daughter two hundred units of insulin by mistake.

Hannah Parr (1:08:04)

Oh, no.

Scott Benner (1:08:05)

Yeah. Can you imagine if that was your first episode of the podcast? Oh my god. Right? Somebody's like, well, you come and you'll tell your story. And I'm like, I don't I don't want to. Please leave me alone. I was

Hannah Parr (1:08:17)

like Right. It's like you've got the people, Skye. You found

Scott Benner (1:08:20)

them. I'm like, leave me alone, please. I just don't know, like, what the point is. And that person was like, well, you'll expose yourself to a different audience. And I was like, I don't care. But I didn't mean I don't care like that. I meant, like, if this what I really come to believe is that if this doesn't grow organically through helped people telling someone else, then the then the growth is sort of meaningless.

Hannah Parr (1:08:41)

Right.

Scott Benner (1:08:41)

Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, like, you know, I hope your thing does great, but because Thanks. Yeah. Because if it does, it'll mean you're helping people.

Hannah Parr (1:08:48)

Right.

Scott Benner (1:08:48)

You know? Yeah. And I want that. That's the thing I want.

Hannah Parr (1:08:51)

Well, you're doing great there. I was I was telling my husband last night. I was like, oh, the juice box podcast. I don't know anybody with type one diabetes that doesn't know about this podcast that heard it from somebody else with type one diabetes. I mean, that's that's it. I mean, that's it it's really amazing how well you spread yourself, yourself, but but it's it's amazing amazing that it's all through word-of-mouth. Well, I think a lot of people can see themselves in you. You know, you're a parent that cares deeply about their child with type one diabetes, and you're trying to figure it out. You know? And and then you're interviewing other people doing the same. And I I think that it's it's kind of a calming voice just to know that, hey. Somebody did it. I can do it too.

Scott Benner (1:09:27)

I appreciate that. Thank you. And I have a nice deep voice. Really, that's really all that matters. So, you have a nice speaking voice, Hannah, that must people must be, like, listening to you. Do you work

Hannah Parr (1:09:38)

Thank you.

Scott Benner (1:09:38)

Do you use a lot of lighting and all that stuff, or are you just, like, holding your phone up in front of your face, or what are you doing?

Hannah Parr (1:09:43)

I live in an apartment, pretty close to Downtown Austin, and they actually have a, like, a they call it a podcast room, but it's basically like a little kinda WeWork space. Yeah. And it's never and it's never used. So I just go in there with my phone and balance it in front of the window, and it's like a little bookshelf background. It's all pretty.

Scott Benner (1:10:04)

Nice.

Hannah Parr (1:10:04)

That works out pretty good.

Scott Benner (1:10:05)

That's awesome. Good for you. I'm I'm glad you're enjoying it. I I really hope it does what you hope for it to do. You can tell people where how do they find that, please?

Hannah Parr (1:10:14)

I am on I'm doctor Hannah Parr on Instagram and on YouTube, and that's probably the best place to get started.

Scott Benner (1:10:21)

P a r r? Mhmm. Hannah. Hannah classic spelling?

Hannah Parr (1:10:26)

Yes. H a n n a h. Yeah. Awesome. It sounds funny to say that because I just changed my name just this past month. So I feel like I'm I'm introducing myself newly with the the new last name.

Scott Benner (1:10:36)

Oh, yeah. You got married and you had to change did did you want to change your name or did the was it a sticking point?

Hannah Parr (1:10:42)

No. I really wanted to. I like that we had a unified family name growing up, and so that was important to me. Nice. But I kept my maiden name as my middle name now, so it's still a part of me.

Scott Benner (1:10:52)

Question you don't have to answer, but I'll Okay. I'll end on this because I find the people your age and like, younger people have real opinions on this. Do you combine your money? Did you get one bank account, are you keeping your money separate?

Hannah Parr (1:11:03)

Oh, you know, this is such a good question. When we started talking about this, we're like, what what do people do? We don't even know. We have trashy p t. We were lost. I mean, really, it was like, what's a what are ways to strategize this? So we combined our finances, but we are keeping our own, like, our personal savings that we have up until now in our four zero one k retirement stuff. We're gonna keep that all in our own name and then have a combined checking account where our paychecks go and we, like, live out of that.

Scott Benner (1:11:29)

Look at you. Very old fashioned. Very nice. Yeah. I like it.

Hannah Parr (1:11:34)

Yeah. It's it was interesting. It's kinda it's something I hadn't thought about a lot before it got time to figure it out.

Scott Benner (1:11:40)

I'm pretty old. I'm from the world where my money is her money and her money is her money. And that's how that works. And then they just let me eat. So I think it's fantastic.

Hannah Parr (1:11:48)

It's like the one pot strategy. That's what my dad's like right now. It's like we just have one pot and we figure it out from there and I like that.

Scott Benner (1:11:54)

We're either in this or we're not. It's kinda how I figured it. Well, good for you. I I I wish you a ton of success. Sounds like you're gonna build a family soon. I hope you have a lot of good luck with that too.

Hannah Parr (1:12:03)

Thanks.

Scott Benner (1:12:03)

Thanks for coming on and doing this with me.

Hannah Parr (1:12:05)

Yeah. Thank you so much for the opportunity. It was great to talk to you more, and, and I just I'm so impressed with what you're doing and just so glad that you're a voice for people.

Scott Benner (1:12:13)

Oh, you're very

Hannah Parr (1:12:14)

helped me and countless people, and it really I think you're very humble in in how you talk about how people wouldn't like you, but it really does change lives. And I know you know that, but it doesn't hurt to hear it again, I'm sure.

Scott Benner (1:12:25)

Thank you. I like I find if I mix my humility with my sarcasm, it's hard to understand what I'm saying. And then it's pretty much that's the only level of comfort I can find in all this. The truth is that, like, Hannah, seriously, I I won't I won't bore you any longer. But I I am not completely comfortable being the person who's helped all these people. It's hard to be comfortable with that. And it's hard and it's hard it's difficult to say out loud what you've done because then it just sounds it's garish. You know what I mean? Like, I mean, I could sit here and lay out for you what I think I've done for people and I think it's all I'd be accurate about it and it would sound like I was bragging. But I don't feel braggadocious about it at all. And so when somebody says something nice, just kinda go like, oh, thank you because you because either I'm gonna say, oh, no. You're being too kind or I'm gonna go, no. You're actually you're right, but you haven't said enough. Let me explain to you.

Hannah Parr (1:13:15)

Right.

Scott Benner (1:13:16)

I don't wanna be that person because I'm not. And the other person that just kinda feels uncomfortable, I'm trying hard not to feel uncomfortable. So I just use sarcasm and bad humor to try to skirt my way through it, which I think I'm doing pretty well so far. Thank you. I really do appreciate it. Hold on one second for me. I'll let you get back to your life.

Hannah Parr (1:13:35)

Okay.

READ FULL TRANSCRIPT

#1813 Family Ties - Part 2

Brother and sister Jason and Crystal confront generational type 1 diabetes, grief over their dad, and how community, technology, and honest conversations reshaped their care and family bonds.

Companies that Support Juicebox

Simplify Lifewith Omnipod

DexcomG7 15 Day Sensor

Save 20%Save 20% with offer code: JUICEBOX

US MEDGet your Diabetes Supplies

ContourEasy to Use and Highly Accurate

MiniMedMake everyday a better day

TandemControl-IQ+ with AutoBolus

CommunitySupport Touched By Type 1

EversenseOne Year One CGM

ABLEnowSave for Disability Expenses

Simplify Lifewith Omnipod

DexcomG7 15 Day Sensor

Save 20%Save 20% with offer code: JUICEBOX

US MEDGet your Diabetes Supplies

ContourEasy to Use and Highly Accurate

MiniMedMake everyday a better day

TandemControl-IQ+ with AutoBolus

CommunitySupport Touched By Type 1

EversenseOne Year One CGM

ABLEnowSave for Disability Expenses

Key Takeaways

• A child's Type 1 diabetes diagnosis often serves as a powerful catalyst for parents and grandparents, inspiring them to dramatically improve their own long-standing diabetes management habits.
• Connecting with the online diabetes community provides invaluable shared experiences that reduce feelings of isolation and offer practical, real-world support at any time of day.
• Generational shifts in diabetes technology—like moving to CGMs and automated insulin delivery (AID) systems—can open the door for older generations to finally feel comfortable adopting modern care methods.
• Traveling with insulin doesn't necessarily require extreme cooling measures, and navigating airport TSA with an insulin pump is a manageable, normal part of daily life.
• Creating an open, honest space to share fears and past regrets about a family history of diabetes fosters deeper familial connections, healing, and mutual understanding.

Resources Mentioned

• Juice Cruise 2026
• Contour Next Gen Blood Glucose Meter
• Medtronic Diabetes (MiniMed 780G System & Instinct Sensor)
• Juice Box Podcast (Bold Beginnings, Pro Tip Series, Defining Diabetes)
• Wrong Way Recording
• Juice Box Podcast Private Facebook Group

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Welcome & Episode Sponsors

Scott Benner (0:00)

Welcome back, friends, to another episode of the Juice Box podcast.

Crystal (0:13)

Hi. I'm Crystal Kermeads. I am a type one diabetic.

Jason (0:16)

I am Jason, and I have I have talked to you a couple of times before, Scott.

Scott Benner (0:21)

This is part two of a two part episode. Go look at the title. If you don't recognize it, you haven't heard part one yet. It's probably the episode right before this in your podcast player. How would you like to share a type one diabetes getaway like no other? Join me on Juice Cruise 2026. You may be asking, what is Juice Cruise? It's a week long cruise designed specifically for people and families living with type one diabetes. It's not just a vacation. It's a chance to relax, connect, and feel understood in a way that is hard to find elsewhere. We're gonna sail out of Miami, and the cruise includes stops in CocoCay, San Juan, Saint Kitts, and Nevis aboard the stunning Celebrity Beyond. This ship is chosen for its comfort, accessibility, and exceptional amenities. You're gonna enjoy a welcoming environment surrounded by others who get life with type one diabetes. I'm gonna host diabetes focused conversations and meetups on the days at sea. There's thoughtfully designed spaces, incredible dining, and modern amenities all throughout the celebrity beyond. Your kids can be supervised and there's teen programs so everyone gets time to recharge. Not just the the kids going on vacation, but maybe you get to kick back a little bit too. There's gonna be zero judgment, real connections, and a whole lot of sun and fun on Juice Cruise twenty twenty six. Please come with me. You're going to have a terrific time. You can learn more or set up your deposit at juiceboxpodcast.com/juicecruise. Get ahold of Suzanne at cruise planners. She will take care of everything. Link's in the show notes. Link's at juiceboxpodcast.com.

If you're looking for community around type one diabetes, check out the juice box podcast private Facebook group. Juice Box Podcast, type one diabetes. But everybody is welcome. Type one, type two, gestational, loved ones, it doesn't matter to me. If you're impacted by diabetes and you're looking for support, comfort, or community, check out Juice Box podcast, type one diabetes on Facebook. Nothing you hear on the Juice Box podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. Always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan.

Today's episode of the Juice Box podcast is sponsored by the Kontoor Next Gen blood glucose meter. This is the meter that my daughter has on her person right now. It is incredibly accurate and waiting for you at kontoornext.com/juicebox. Today's episode is also sponsored by Medtronic Diabetes, who is making life with diabetes easier with the MiniMed seven eighty g system and their new sensor options, which include the Instinct sensor made by Abbott. Would you like to unleash the full potential of the MiniMed seven eighty g system? You can do that at my link, medtronicdiabetes.com/juicebox.

The Catalyst: Diagnosing the Next Generation

Scott Benner (3:14)

Do you think you don't feel like that because you're a reasonably healthy human being, who understands that this isn't their fault? Or do you think it's you don't feel that way because you can blame your dad because if there is a lineage, it started with him and not you.

Jason (3:27)

No. I I think it's because I can look past the feelings part of it. I can look at the the technical side of it, the genetic side of it, and say, yeah. This is what we've been dealt. Nobody's fault. And the only way to deal with it is to, you know, take it by the range and just run with it and go with it and do what you have to do.

Scott Benner (3:48)

Yeah. I you know, I mean, you've probably been listening for a while. And, Chris, I don't know if you listen to me chitter chatter into this microphone or not ever, but I'm sure one reasonable high school level psychology class would have told me this. But I didn't realize that people have such a hard time doing things for themselves, but not a hard time doing them for other people.

Crystal (4:09)

Oh, definitely.

Scott Benner (4:10)

I didn't know that till I had all these conversations with people. I'm sure I was probably doing it myself and didn't know it. You know? But the amount of people who have type one diabetes who then take much better care of themselves because their children are diagnosed, And they have that same exact feeling that you guys said, which is the this was good enough for me, but it's not good enough for you. I don't know how many kids' diagnosis are saving their parents, but I think it's a lot more than you might think. Really, really interesting, honestly, how it all kinda works. But what's even more interesting is that Crystal sorta, it sounds like, had the same, like, feeling about your child, Jason, as you did. You both were in separate places worried about your kid all of a sudden. And is Crystal, is that Yeah.

Jason (4:58)

I think that that happened to all three of us or or plus my mom, all four of us.

Scott Benner (5:02)

So All at once.

Jason (5:03)

Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Benner (5:05)

I'm sorry. Arden is calling me? No. What is happening right now? What is does everyone not understand the situation here? Scotty's got a job.

Jason (5:14)

Not a job. You're just a podcaster. Come on.

Scott Benner (5:17)

Somebody's is blocking you? She's trying to go to school. Me? Is it me that's blocking or am I gonna have to tell you guys to hold on a second? Hold on a second. Because we all went out last night and that so nobody's car is in the normal place.

Jason (5:34)

Does she not know how to drive other people's cars?

Scott Benner (5:36)

I don't know what she knows. She does. No. She knows how to drive other people's cars. My kids are just there. They could be princesses sometimes. They're like, hey. Your car's in my way. Come get it. Instead of, like, move it out of your way. Well, we'll wait for her to respond.

If you stop and sit back, is that the story of your family or do you think that's just really the beginning of the story? Like, to me, this is the that's the preamble. Right? Like, now moving forward, like, we can throw all that away and understand that this is your history. There's part of me that wants to restart the conversation with today with, you know, Wesley's diagnosis and where you guys have gone since then. If you have a little more time, I'd like to keep talking if that's okay.

Jason (6:21)

I have plenty of time.

Scott Benner (6:22)

Awesome. Okay.

Crystal (6:23)

Me too. Alright. I don't work till tonight. So

Scott Benner (6:26)

Okay. She said, I got out. I had to do a 25 turn. Okay. Okay. Alright. So that's good. So we don't have worry about that anymore. Okay. So let's do that. Let's pretend for a second that we all just knew your story and didn't need to be filled in the way we just were. Spend the next twenty minutes or so trying to figure out the rest of it. Let's pretend that this all starts with Wesley's diagnosed Jason at what age?

Jason (6:53)

Two and a half.

Scott Benner (6:54)

Two and a half. You've had diabetes since you were

Jason (6:57)

18.

Scott Benner (6:58)

18. Your sister had it a couple of years before you. Your dad has it his whole life, basically. Your son's diagnosed. You guys realize that your situation is not such that you would like it to be his situation. What is adjusting that look like for all of you?

Jason (7:16)

For me, you know, I paid attention to what my diabetes was doing, but it made me pay attention more because I was having to constantly, with my wife, pay attention to what Wesley's numbers were doing and what you do with a a two and a half year old type one diabetic that no one in our family, except for my grandma, really had experience with. So it made me focus, and it made me take take the time to make it a priority.

Scott Benner (7:44)

Okay. More on the details, more on the finer points of it because the tolerances are so much smaller with a little kid.

Jason (7:55)

Absolutely.

Scott Benner (7:56)

Jason, do you I'm gonna ask you a question about me. Do you think that that might be why me talking about it is helpful to people? Because do I take it to a different place than some people do? Because I started with a little kid.

Jason (8:13)

Yeah. I think so. I think that that helped me. Like, when I first started listening to you, like, I I felt there are some similarities between, you know, like, what you were talking about and doing and what I wanted to do. Mhmm. Or, like, what I wanted to do and what I had been doing. Because I didn't I didn't find you till, you know, after Yeah. Well, after he was diagnosed. But I I kinda saw that, and it kind of made me think, yeah, there's there's more than just me out here trying to do this.

Scott Benner (8:45)

That community part helps you too.

Jason (8:48)

Oh, huge.

Scott Benner (8:48)

Yeah. The knowledge.

Jason (8:49)

I mean Yeah. You can probably tell by the sheer number of posts I've made in the Facebook group post group.

Scott Benner (8:56)

Yeah. No. No. I I can't actually. You're you're passionate about it in a way that I I really appreciate. As you were talking, thought I wonder if that's part of, like, the way I think about it is because I had to think about it for a person who weighed nineteen pounds that couldn't really tell me what was going on with tools that didn't that weren't really nearly as valuable or as insightful as they are now.

Jason (9:19)

When Wesley was diagnosed, like, I'm not sure, Like, Dexcom was really a huge thing at that time.

Scott Benner (9:25)

Mhmm.

Jason (9:25)

So it was still and it it really wasn't a thing for two and a half year olds. So I just remember vividly having to wake up two or three times every night and go in and check his finger and, you know, deal with it appropriately at that time. It was it was extremely difficult. Again, it's just something I absolutely had to do, and I had to do a much better job than what I've been doing for myself or a much better job than Crystal had done or a much better job than my dad ever did. It's just imperative that I succeed.

Scott Benner (9:57)

Mhmm. So then you you find that success with your son how, like, in how much time? How long did it take you to transform what you knew and then apply what you thought you needed to do and get him into a place that you were like, oh, good. This is good. Do you know how long that took?

Jason (10:13)

Zero.

Scott Benner (10:14)

You got to it fast?

Jason (10:16)

Yeah. Right away.

Scott Benner (10:17)

And then did you then say, I'm gonna apply it to me now, or were you doing

Jason (10:20)

it Yep.

Scott Benner (10:21)

At the same time?

Jason (10:21)

I was the I was the guinea pig for Wesley. So anything that I wanted to do to Wesley, I I did myself first.

Scott Benner (10:28)

Okay.

Jason (10:29)

So I got way better control of myself and then worked on him simultaneously with the same kind of methods.

Generational Shifts in Diabetes Care

Scott Benner (10:37)

This is basically, like, the plane just crashed and Jason's the only one that stood up and he's gonna get everybody out one at a time. So you get him out and get you out, then do you go to your sister next or your dad?

Jason (10:49)

Our dad just kinda watched from the sidelines and at that point in time, I think he actually started to talk about it and ask questions, and he seek advice from Crystal and myself.

Scott Benner (11:03)

Wow. At that point, how old is he about? Oh, you're gonna to

Jason (11:06)

answer that one, Crystal.

Crystal (11:07)

Oh my goodness. So Wesley's how old? He's 14. 14. So

Scott Benner (11:12)

Eleven years been ago.

Crystal (11:14)

60.

Scott Benner (11:15)

Oh, that's sad, isn't it? Fifty seven years with diabetes, and he's starting to ask questions. Yeah. Yep.

Crystal (11:22)

It took a long time for dad to openly talk about his diabetes. Yeah. Yeah. Even with Jason and I being diagnosed, I don't remember ever having, like, conversations about diabetes with that.

Scott Benner (11:35)

Yeah. I just think at a certain time with the way treatment was in certain, you know, historical, like, stopping points, there's there's probably wasn't a lot to talk about, really. Like, I take the shot. I eat. I don't die. I take it again. I'm not dead. It must have worked. Yep. His experience, he puts it I mean, doesn't put it on you, but it becomes your experience. It colors your life the way it does. Jason, for some reason, has a feeling of, like, maybe this isn't good enough. I should try harder, but that's not really a ton of I mean, you're Jason, you're just really using more insulin. You're just being more aggressive with your insulin. Right? And then Yeah. Your son comes, you pull the whole thing together like this. I know why you did it for him. I guess I'll wonder why your dad, like, jumped in two feet as well, like, with both feet. Like, I wonder if he didn't think, like, oh my god. What am I not doing for myself that I should be doing? Like, because you start talking about what you're doing for Wesley. He must it must sound foreign to him for five seconds, but he also knows he's not doing well. So he must have really trusted what you were doing is what I'm saying.

Jason (12:41)

Yeah. And that's I kinda it's it's weird to me to think that too, like, how you said that. Like, you know, growing up, like, your your dad knows everything. Right? Your dad is the man. He does it. He's he's tough. He can handle it. But then to kinda see him start to relate back to myself and Crystal about his struggle, like, he's coming out, like, hugs and saying, oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh.

Scott Benner (13:09)

It's Yeah.

Jason (13:10)

We're starting to hint to actually wanting to to talk about it. And for him, that's really opening up.

Scott Benner (13:15)

Mhmm.

Jason (13:16)

It was kinda it's just weird to look back on that and think that he's seeking advice from me. Yeah. You know, he's he's almost, like, treating me like, hey. You're the may you're the you're the guy that knows this.

Scott Benner (13:28)

Yes. Finally, one of us figured something out. Like, awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Jason (13:31)

Yeah. And then I think him seeing eventually, you know, when Wesley first got his Dexcom and his Omnipod, I think after he saw that, like, he's like, well, there that's that's pretty neat. Probably makes things a little bit easier. I don't have to go give myself shots in the bathroom and hide it from everybody. I can just do it from right here.

Scott Benner (13:54)

Yeah. Just opened his life up for him.

Crystal (13:57)

Yeah. And I think him seeing the Omnipod versus my Medtronic that I had back then

Scott Benner (14:02)

Mhmm.

Crystal (14:02)

And not having the tubing.

Scott Benner (14:04)

He was like, There's more than I know with that.

Crystal (14:06)

Lifestyle. He, you know, he was he was scared to death that it was just gonna fall out and that it would just not work because it was just gonna fall out all the time.

Finding Emotion and Connection Through Music

Scott Benner (14:15)

It's funny what people worry about all the time. You know? And I'll tell you this too. Like, Justin, I feel like you know me pretty well. Right? And I'm a very emotional person. I don't have any trouble telling people how I feel. And, you know, last night I don't know if this got said while we were recording or not, but last night, I basically, I went to a concert last night. It was my Christmas gift. My wife, myself, and both my kids went to see Yo Yo Ma perform last night. It's my fourth time seeing him. I have fairly strong beliefs that if you wanna understand actual calm and centered and connection to the world, like, you should go sit very quietly in a in an auditorium and listen to yoyo and I'll play this cello. And so I'm having a a wonderful time, and I am thrilled that my kids are there. My wife's come with me to every one of the concerts that I've been to. I don't I think she likes it. I don't think she gets out of it what I get out of it. And the truth is is I don't even know how to quantify what I get out of it. I really I've had trouble explaining it to people. But there are certain notes that he hits on that cello that just make me cry, and I don't even know why. And not like blubbering crying, just tears just running down my face. Like, it hits me somewhere right in the middle of my soul. And I'm thrilled to be there. I'm thrilled that the kids heard it. I don't think that it's their, you know, their jam. I don't know if they're gonna go home and download the complete works of Yo Yo Ma or anything like that, but I knew that them being there was important and that they would take something from it. And when we were getting up to leave, there were some time while people were passing by that we just were standing at our seats, And I wanted to grab everybody and hug them and tell them how much it meant for me the to me that they were all there with me. And I just said, like, I'm really glad you guys are all here tonight. That's all I said. Like, I had so many thoughts in my head that I wanted to share, but those other three people, they're not me. Arden's the closest to me. Like, I can be a little more open with her because she understands how I am, but my wife and my son are a little more, like, they're not as, like, connected that way. And so I seem a little, like, goofy to them when I'm like that, if that makes sense or not. Like, so anyway, so in that very should be easy to to share a moment, I censored myself. And and now I'm trying to put myself in your dad's position, and he's got this thing he's been living with his whole life. He doesn't know how to take care of himself very well. He sees it happen to his kids after he was already worried it was gonna happen to his grandchildren. Like, it must have been a real you guys must have created a real open space for him to to start talking to you about like that. I wonder if you know what a nice job you did for him that he was able to talk like like that.

Unlike other systems that will wait until your blood sugar is a 180 before delivering corrections, the MiniMed seven eighty g system is the only system with meal detection technology that automatically detects rising sugar levels and delivers more insulin as needed to help keep your sugar levels in range even if you're not a perfect carb counter. Today's episode of the Juice Box podcast is sponsored by Medtronic Diabetes and their MiniMed seven eighty g system, which gives you real choices because the MiniMed seven eighty g system works with the Instinct sensor made by Avid, as well as the Simplera Sync and Guardian Force sensors, giving you options. The Instinct sensor is the longest wear sensor yet, lasting fifteen days and designed exclusively for the MiniMed seven eighty g. And don't forget, Medtronic diabetes makes technology accessible for you with comprehensive insurance support, programs to help you with your out of pocket costs, or switching from other pump and CGM systems. Learn more and get started today with my link, medtronicdiabetes.com/juicebox.

Contournext.com/juicebox. That's the link you'll use to find out more about the Kontoor Next Gen blood glucose meter. When you get there, there's a little bit at the top. You can click right on blood glucose monitoring. I'll do it with you. Go to meters. Click on any of the meters. I'll click on the Next Gen, and you're gonna get more information. It's easy to use and highly accurate. SmartLight provides a simple understanding of your blood glucose levels. And, of course, with second chance sampling technology, you can save money with fewer wasted test strips. As if all that wasn't enough, the Kontoor Nextgen also has a compatible app for an easy way to share and see your blood glucose results. Contournext.com/juicebox. And if you scroll down at that link, you're gonna see things like a buy now button. You could register your meter after you purchase it. Or what is this? Download a coupon. Oh, receive a free Kontoor Next Gen blood glucose meter. Do tell. Kontoornext.com/juicebox. Head over there now. Get the same accurate and reliable meter that we use.

The Value of Shared Experiences and Community

Jason (19:17)

And I feel like after that happened, I felt closer to my dad and, like, closer than I probably ever have

Scott Benner (19:24)

Mhmm.

Jason (19:25)

Because we had that that open lane of conversation then. I think it helped our relationship. You know, type one diabetes helped our relationship. Thank you. We're the worst disease ever.

Scott Benner (19:34)

Well, yeah. But in your situation, it's a catalyst or it could have been. Yeah. And it ended up being. This is true through all walks of life. Right? Like, whether it's me at the concert being more emotional and not having the nerve to be as emotional as I was or this, but when people create space I god. I sound like a therapist. But when people create space where you feel comfortable, it's a really big deal and and it could be done in all all different parts of people's lives and it just doesn't happen frequently enough. I think your story outlines why it's so important. I hope that's what people are hearing, honestly. Instead of me telling a, you know, a quick story about something that happened to me last night, this is a you guys laying your life out a little bit here and letting people hear about it. I I think it's really awesome. So so you guys all everyone levels up then. Right? Wesley gets us started at great level. Jason, you level yourself up. Crystal, you level up your care. Crystal, I gotta ask you, is there any points where you think, like, well, hell, if this would've happened sooner, I coulda had a baby?

Crystal (20:34)

I mean, possibly, but I had already come to the, you know, come to grips

Scott Benner (20:40)

You're healthy enough not to torture yourself about that.

Crystal (20:43)

Yeah. Exactly. Yep. Yeah.

Scott Benner (20:44)

Good for you. That's lovely. I'm I'm very happy for you because there's nothing wrong with the decision you made. You know what I mean?

Crystal (20:50)

Yeah.

Scott Benner (20:51)

Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that's awesome. Alright. Now what am I not asking you guys? Like, what don't I know about your lives that I should be asking you about? Like, what what are you sitting here because everybody always gets to the end and goes, it didn't go the way I thought it was going to. What should we be talking about that I don't know to ask you about or I haven't led you towards?

Jason (21:09)

You know, after that kind of all hit with Wesley, then it, you know, hit again couple years later with Cooper. And I think it still kinda had that same effect. It kinda opened the door up even more. It kinda got funny on Facebook because my dad would start, you know, commenting on things that I'd post about type one diabetes, and it it seemed like he was paying more and more attention to it.

Scott Benner (21:30)

Mhmm.

Jason (21:31)

And I think if all of this would've happened a lot sooner, I think his outcome in life probably would've been a lot better. You know, he didn't die from type one diabetes, but it definitely contributed to his death.

Scott Benner (21:43)

Right.

Jason (21:43)

I think he could've lived lived longer if this all would have happened sooner.

Scott Benner (21:48)

And, Jason, is that like, does that are are you not healthy enough not to know that's not your fault?

Jason (21:53)

Oh, I know it's not my fault. Like

Scott Benner (21:55)

Did it impact you?

Jason (21:57)

Yeah. It impacted me. You're gonna talk to somebody that helped me deal with impact here this afternoon probably.

Scott Benner (22:02)

Yeah. Oh, yeah. I oh, Erica later. When I record with Erica later.

Jason (22:07)

Yep.

Scott Benner (22:08)

Yeah. I I know we've gone over it before, but, like, to put it all in one place, like, you have some feeling, like, if this all would have just happened sooner, maybe my dad would be alive.

Jason (22:19)

And Yeah. I think he would have lived longer.

Scott Benner (22:21)

Yeah. And then how do you work through that on your end?

Jason (22:24)

I just have to keep, you know, remembering the I can't keep going back and saying what could have happened because I can't change that. Mhmm. The only thing, you know, you can really do is just keep keep trudging forward and learn to deal with your your past regrets and keep that under under control and in a good spot in my brain.

Scott Benner (22:44)

Crystal, did you know that Jason was going through this, or were you going through anything similar?

Crystal (22:49)

I didn't know to that depth. No. I completely sympathize with it because I had the same feelings. You know, if I had talked to Deb earlier about, you know, my experience with my Medtronic, would he have had better control later on in his his life that he could have prevented the stroke, could have prevented the heart attack, could have prevented that stuff.

Scott Benner (23:14)

How is it, Crystal, to hear Jason talk about it? How does it make you feel when you hear how are you being what he went through?

Crystal (23:20)

That I'm glad it wasn't just me. Because I don't think that Jason and I have ever talked anything about, like, this stuff before together.

Scott Benner (23:26)

Yeah.

Crystal (23:27)

At least this and this death depth. No.

Scott Benner (23:29)

It's interesting. So your first thought isn't like, oh, my my poor brother. Your your thought is like, oh, god. I felt that too. Like, is it almost comforting to know that somebody else felt it?

Crystal (23:40)

Yes.

Scott Benner (23:40)

Yeah. You don't you don't mean like, I'm glad someone else is suffering to you. You mean like, oh, gosh. Like, you you're actually finding a community within your brother's experience right now of two people.

Crystal (23:49)

Yes. Yes.

Scott Benner (23:51)

Jeez. Well, this is awesome. I have thought once during this conversation, there is no other place on the planet for two people with type one diabetes to have a conversation like this that's going to have the opportunity to be heard by so many other people who could benefit from it. But I'm, in the moment, just happy for you guys that you're able to have this conversation. I think the bigger takeaway I'm having from this is that I'm I'm trying trying to stop myself from saying to all the people who who are listening, see, just talk to each other. Like, I don't like there to be after school special, like, takeaways from the podcast. I'm hoping people get these things out of it on their own. But my god, like, if you're not listening and thinking, we should just all be talking to each other more frequently and being honest about how we feel. Like, look at all the good that would come from it. Yeah. If you're not taking that from this story, I I don't know what to I don't know what to say about that. You know? I just think it's really important. And I'm really grateful for you guys to to share this stuff with me. So thank you for I'm not even stopping you from talking right now. I just wanna thank you. Yeah. Yeah.

Jason (24:53)

I Like, I agree with you, Scott. Like, it's just like the Facebook page. Like, the more communication people have and the more stories people hear, you know, it it allows you to open up more and share share those those shared experiences or as new experiences with other people that are kinda walking in shoes that are very similar to yours, it helps. It makes you feel seen. It makes you feel heard, and people can sympathize with you and and guide you who you know, guide you in a in a good direction, hopefully.

Scott Benner (25:23)

And I don't even know that it matters if you understand how it's helping. Just trust that it is because I think I do see people get bound up sometimes by, oh, like, what's what good is this of me sharing how I feel or, you know, or boohoo, you're all sitting together complaining together or what, you know, whatever kind of sometimes alternative harsher reactions people can have to watching, like, a community help each other at first. You You know what I'm saying. Right, Jason? Like, sometimes people come in there and you realize, like, oh, they're very new to this and they're resistant to this idea of being open and letting that openness kinda wash back on them and help them. You've seen that happen before. Right?

Jason (26:03)

All the time there. Yeah.

Scott Benner (26:04)

Right. But also, we've been at it long enough. I know I have been. I I think you have been too. Like, long enough to know that a lot of people, if they hang in there, they get to it.

Jason (26:14)

You know? Right. Exactly.

Scott Benner (26:15)

Yeah. Which is because sometimes people come off really harshly at first. You're like, oh, they'll figure it out eventually. They're they're actually going through a really what I've come to think of is a very natural progression of I'm too broken. You can't help me. This is all bull and then they they kinda have to sit there and, you know, in it for a little bit before it makes more sense to them. And they can kind of, like, give themselves over to the idea that having these other people around them whether it's virtually or not is really valuable. It's what you know, it makes me upset sometimes when you hear people pontificate in, you know, YouTube videos or, you know, ever you know, people's connections have to be in person, and I agree with that. I think I think we should all have in person connections with people. I'm not saying we shouldn't. But in unique situations like this where you just don't have the opportunity to meet that many other people who have a similar experience, you almost have to go to the Internet for that. Like, there's just I mean, you can try as hard as you want to start a local group. You're just not gonna reach enough people to actually put a group together.

Jason (27:20)

Right.

Scott Benner (27:21)

And to actually get enough voices together that enough voices and enough perspectives together where the value works. I don't know if that makes sense or not. Like, I almost think of the community like a stew. Like, you can just put beef and carrots in it. If you want it, it won't be bad. Right? But it is better if there's also potatoes in there and if you cook it longer and slower. Like, there's just a lot of variables that make that community the value that it is. And those variables are the extensive number of people and perspectives and experiences that are all there that kinda create that stew at the same time.

Jason (27:57)

Yeah. And it's and it's like the Facebook group and the podcast are, like, they're always there. You know, I've mentioned this before, but, you know, I do a lot of work with breakthrough t one d. Mhmm. And, you know, they have all these events. Like, I I just filmed one event last night, but these events only happen maybe once a month. And they're not events that are focused around care or dealing with a current struggle. It's more about, you know, those are about raising funds and just introducing people to each other. They're not opening up deep conversations that happen on the podcast. They're not opening up conversations that happen in the Facebook group. And, you know, solutions aren't being like, now solutions aren't being made in these fundraising events.

Scott Benner (28:45)

Mhmm. The truth is is that you might not be able to go that night or the thing you need might not be mentioned and then you'll think it's valueless or whatever. Like, so there's something about the accessibility of the conversations, the accessibility of the group that allows for it to happen on your time. And therefore Exactly. In the moment you need it, it still exists, and it's right there, and it's ready to go. When I tell people about the value of the group, one of the metrics I give them is that even at its slowest point, which is three AM eastern time, even at its lowest point in twenty four hours, there's still 50 to a 100 people in there. And that means there's no time when you're not gonna reach somebody.

Jason (29:28)

Right.

Scott Benner (29:28)

Yeah. I think that is important. By the way, most hours of most days, there's at least a thousand active people in the group pretty much all the time.

Jason (29:37)

Yeah. And that's, like, that's a thousand people that are looking for something related to t one d. It's just there. It's just such such a great resource. Like, I I think what you've built, Scott, is has changed so many people's lives and perspectives, and it's it's really just kinda opened up a door for people to to walk through if they want to.

Crystal (30:03)

No. We know we didn't have that.

Scott Benner (30:06)

No. Yeah. Crystal, it's part of what I'm trying to get across when I'm, like, picking through your life is that it's not it's definitely not anybody's fault. Like, nobody it it it would be like blaming a caveman for not having a hand warmer. You know what I mean? Like, it's just not it just didn't exist then. Yeah. You guys were doing great. Like, I mean, honestly, if you look at your dad and you go back twenty years before that even or thirty years before that, like, imagine how jealous those people would have been at your father's care. You know what I mean? Like, they would yeah. They would have been like this guy is is just out there, like, living life. And so it's always gonna be like that. We just happen to have lived through a unique leap. The Internet is a unique leap. The technology is a unique leap, and and so we were lucky enough to be involved in it. I am quite sure that a hundred years from now, people are gonna look back at your care and Leslie's care and my daughter's care, and they're gonna be like, these people were lucky to be alive. That'll continue like that. It doesn't often happen in somebody's lifetime. I know I sound like an old person, but the day I got my first iPhone, I was excited because it would hold my contacts from my phone in it. Like, think of how ridiculous that is. I was like, oh, now my contacts are all in one place. That was the value of an iPhone on day one. And now that's the least of what you think about on your iPhone. As a matter of fact, when you need somebody's phone number, the contact list isn't even the place you go to get it usually. Then look at that leap in this what it was a I mean, when did it come out? It's not even twenty years yet. Right? Where the Internet goes from, like, you know, show me boobs and twenty five minutes later, half a picture is downloaded on your AOL to, hey, Siri. I think this happened or or high you know, or you're in an l l a large language model, like, no matter which one you you use, and you're asking complicated questions and getting back complicated answers that make sense, like, inside of twenty years. It's it's phenomenal. You you know, real it really is. And and then it's important to remember that, like, your poor dad was there before that. And, like, it just you know, I I don't know. I really appreciate you laying all this out. I hope it also makes you feel better about his his life because, I mean, it sounds to me like not only did he do well for himself with the tools he was given, but when the opportunity arose to do better for you guys, he jumped right in too. Like, it doesn't sound like he held himself back when he finally said, oh, this is an inflection point. Like, we all need to be paying attention. And he did

Jason (32:38)

I agree with that.

Scott Benner (32:38)

Yeah. And he did as an older man too, which is impressive too. Sorry. I cut you off, Crystal. Did I make you guys

Crystal (32:48)

cry? I just Me too.

Scott Benner (32:50)

Is anybody crying? No. I can't believe you guys haven't cried yet. You're really you're killing me. I'm trying to make a podcast here, Chris. You couldn't get a little weepy once or twice. What the hell is going on? How about you, Jason? You're an emotional guy. Where's it been? You know what I mean?

Jason (33:01)

I about got there.

Scott Benner (33:03)

I would have cried at Yo Yo Ma last night if I said exactly what I was thinking, by the way, like, to my kids. Like, I think that that experience is important. I I don't know if I sound like a high minded white lady right now, but I really mean it. Like, you should go online and find out when that man is coming to your part of the world and put on some nice clothes and treat yourself and go sit down. Don't say a goddamn word. Don't look at your phone. Stare forward. Watch him hold that bow and watch those noise. I don't even care if you even know the music. Just sit there and watch it. I think it really would change your life. If I would have started saying that to my kids and how much it meant for me to that they were all together, I would have like I probably would have cried. So anyway, my stoic

Jason (33:45)

Do regret do you regret not?

Scott Benner (33:47)

Yeah. All the time.

Jason (33:48)

That like?

Scott Benner (33:49)

All the time. All the time, I regret it. With my son, I do it by hugging him because if I talk to him too much about how I feel, I think it makes him uncomfortable a little bit. So I let him pick it up on his own. He still gets it. I don't get the catharsis of saying it. So I I get robbed a little bit, but he doesn't get robbed because I know he hears it because I listen to him. He knows like, he said to me he said to my wife last night when we got home, we're so tired. There's nothing like a people with autoimmune diseases trying to go out in the middle of the day. Like, everyone was so exhausted when we got home. Like, I think everybody's not this tired. But right now, but we're kinda, like, mulling around the kitchen, like, 11:00, we're home. He says, I keep wondering why does dad love this so much. I even think just him wondering that is enough. I did say to him, I said, I don't know how to explain it to you. And I told him the same thing I told you. Man hits a certain string in a certain way, and I just water flows out of my eyes. Like, I'm just he it strikes me in a in a certain in a way that I I don't really have words for. Exactly. I don't know. I said it it slows my pulse. It slows my heart rate. It makes me calm. Like, I I don't know what else to say. And and and there's something about watching and that guy's beyond an artist. I know this is probably, like, pretty obtuse for most people. Like, a single man playing the cello, probably not a thing a lot of people are accustomed to talking about. But he's clearly a renaissance person. Like, he's he this is clearly a gift that he's had since he was a child. Right? And you watch him he at some points, he's playing. He sat he's only sitting in a chair. Like, I I don't know if you guys ever seen him. Man walks out with a 400 year old cello. He's wearing a suit. He puts the in the floor, sits down on a what does not look like a particularly comfortable chair, and he disappears into it. Like, there are times when he's playing that I don't even know if he knows we're there. Eyes are closed. He's leaning back. He's the cello's on him. He's playing it. There's times that he makes it make a sound and you a smile comes over his face. Almost like he's pleased that he hit the note or something like that while playing a thirty minute piece. There's no music in front of him. And I've heard it recorded and played back a million times. He's playing it perfectly. Like, even that, like, captures me. Like like, how does he how does he do that? And then, you know, talks for thirty seconds then sits back down and plays another thirty minute piece straight through. So it's fascinating. I think that what I did last night was let my kids watch me watch it and that's enough, if that makes sense.

Jason (36:32)

Makes perfect sense. I think, Scott, you got a connection to music that I don't think every human has. Like, I think I have that same kind of connection to music that I enjoy and like where, you know, it sends that that tingle up your spine when you hear that particular part of the song. It's it's almost like an indescribable feeling.

Scott Benner (36:52)

Mhmm.

Jason (36:53)

It just bubbles up and and smacks you right in the brain, in the heart, and everything. So

Scott Benner (36:58)

Feels like the string pulls me forward then pushes me back into, like, a I don't even know how to yeah. There's these two very I I didn't get their names. I'm sorry. These elderly women were sitting next to me last night, and we were talking in the intermission. The one woman said I was talking about how it made me feel, and she had, like, some more ideas. She goes, are you a musician? I said, I have no skill whatsoever. Couldn't play music to save my life. She goes, what other music do you listen to? And I laughed and because she must have been 70. You know? And I said, while driving around this week in my car, I mostly listen to Metallica. And she went, what? And the woman with her went, Metallica. You know, it's that rock music. And she goes, oh, that's noise. And I say, it's not like, to me, it feels just like this. And she's like, I can't she couldn't understand that. But, like, to me, that the guitar and the percussion that goes with it and somehow the voice I think of as as an instrument not as a voice. I'm one of those people I don't know the words to songs. I know, until I heard other people say this, I didn't know other people felt this way. But to some people, voices and music don't sound like voices. Like, you're not worried about the words. They sound like music.

Jason (38:12)

Right.

Scott Benner (38:12)

I'm one of those people. I don't know what anybody's saying. I just to me, the voice sounds like another instrument in the in the collection. But if you told me I was gonna be on a desert island for the rest of my life, I would just want Yo Yo Ma playing the cello if I could only take one thing with me. It does all those things for me in a very simple way, and I like that you sit quietly for it. You don't dance. You don't even nod your head. You just you sit quietly and you experience it. I I don't know. I anyway, I got to show that to my kids, and I think they'll figure out in their own time why that's important to me. And, hopefully, it'll end up opening something up for them. I don't I don't know. Anyway, Crystal I'm it will. Crystal's like, the cello. Are you kidding me? Right, Crystal? Have you ever listened to the cello, Crystal?

Crystal (38:58)

No. I'm just listening because I think it's fascinating now. Music touches different people

Scott Benner (39:04)

Yeah.

Crystal (39:04)

In different ways.

Scott Benner (39:05)

Well, I will, I will send you the album you should listen to. Okay?

Jason (39:09)

And Crystal could probably attest to my ability to pick out music for certain situations, but I have an ability.

Crystal (39:16)

Yeah. He does.

Scott Benner (39:17)

Yeah. To, like,

Crystal (39:18)

lay does.

Scott Benner (39:18)

Like, lay the perfect thing over top of a moment.

Jason (39:22)

Yep.

Scott Benner (39:22)

Yeah. We don't have time now, but in the I think he did four pieces last night. And in the fourth one, he said, let's let this last piece celebrate life. And I think it's kinda like the last thing he said. And maybe five minutes into it, a woman had a a health issue right off to our left. And she was a little older and and not for nothing. She was okay when it was over. But, I mean, it got to the point where they had her laid on the floor. He never stopped playing. And when it was all over, my son said, my god. He's like, this is maybe the most cinematic moment I've ever been involved in in my entire life for real. He goes, I thought that lady was going to die while Yo Yo Ma was playing Bach behind her. And I thought, well, that'd be a great way to go out.

Jason (40:12)

It would be.

Scott Benner (40:13)

Yeah. Right? How how wonderful would that be? Like, not not the dying part, but if you're gonna go, not a music designer in a movie that picked the song over your death, like, it's it's Yo Yo Ma sitting there playing right behind you while you're passing on and she's fine. When we all left later, she was out front. They were still kinda tending to her. But I so badly wanted to run up to her and be like, oh my gosh. How great would it have been if you died while that was playing? That would have been such a good story for everybody, you know. Nevertheless, she's okay. I I I hope she continues to be. It was just very interesting. His response was it's like it felt like somebody engineered this moment because of what was going on, like, and everything. And and so Jason, you're good at that. When do you do this? For, like, birthdays? And so when do you put the playlist together? What are we talking about here?

Jason (41:01)

Well, I I did pick out two songs at my dad's funeral. I'm pretty sure the lyrics to those songs definitely made the vast majority of people there cry. They just fit really well with who he is Yeah. And who he was to everybody around him. And then I don't know. I just had a really a knack for picking out the right music for that situation.

Scott Benner (41:28)

Nice.

Jason (41:29)

Especially sad situations.

Scott Benner (41:31)

Yeah. I think about all the time what music do I want playing at my funeral.

Jason (41:36)

All the time. Yes.

Scott Benner (41:37)

Yeah. Just because you feel like that's the, I don't know, the best way you could possibly, like, transfer to people how you feel about yourself. I also realized that when I think I think about sometimes, like, gosh, if my wife dies before me, will I end up picking music that makes her funeral about me and how I feel about her and not about her? Do other people not think about stuff like this?

Jason (41:59)

I don't know. I think about it. Do you think about it, Crystal?

Crystal (42:03)

I have never thought about it, but, I mean

Scott Benner (42:05)

Now you are. Now you're like now I gotta like. Crystal, do you know do you live in a a two story or a one story house?

Crystal (42:15)

Single story.

Scott Benner (42:16)

Single story. Do you know how you would get out if there was a fire? Have you thought about it?

Crystal (42:19)

Yes. Because my husband is on the fire department.

Scott Benner (42:22)

So And you know had that. And if that path is blocked, he told you know a different way to get out.

Crystal (42:28)

Yep. We've got multiple.

Scott Benner (42:29)

I don't understand people who haven't thought about that. It freaks me out if you haven't thought about how to get out of your house in case there's a fire.

Jason (42:35)

Yeah. I have multiple ways out of my house, Scott, if there were to be a fire. I have multiple ways to get to my kids if there happens to be a fire. So Yeah. I have thought about it extensively.

Scott Benner (42:44)

Other some people don't. Some people are like, oh, that won't happen. Or I hadn't thought about it like that. I'm like, I please and I'm not neurotic. I just that seems like one of those things like, I would not wanna be woken up in the middle of the night faced with this dilemma and that be the first time that I considered it. So

Jason (43:00)

So when you went to your Yo Yo Ma concert, did you spot the exits when you walked into the auditorium?

Scott Benner (43:05)

I know. I'm not like that, but I know where they're at. I've also been there before, so I know my way around the building and everything like that. It wasn't my first time there.

Jason (43:13)

Yeah. I always I always spot the exits and pick the ones that not the the herd of people are gonna run towards.

Scott Benner (43:18)

You feel like the the way they won't go? Yeah. Yeah. There's little stuff like that. Like, I I don't know. Like, I've told this story before, like, but my I brought this up in front of my brother-in-law once. And I was like, you don't know how you'd get out of your house if the first path was blocked? And he's like, no. And I was like, oh. And I just threw me for a loop. I was like, oh. I said, I have a window out of a secondary bathroom that leads down to a half roof where you could jump pretty safely from. So that would be my next spot. From there, there's another one that would be a farther fall, but it would be this. Like, I think there's a bush I think you could grab. Like, there's like, all these I'm like, you didn't think of any of that, hon. He's like, no. It's just it's just a different mindset. Like, it's not that he's not a dumb guy or anything like that. He doesn't things don't occur to him that way. Anyway, this has gotten pretty far from you know what we didn't do? I'm so sorry. What's your father's name? Tell everybody.

Jason (44:05)

Gary.

Scott Benner (44:06)

Gary. Well, will be for him then. We'll we'll we'll leave this here for him. I think I think the things that he worried about ultimately, which are, know, your kids, Jason, sounds like they're in good hands and and doing really well. And so I guess in the end, he didn't need to worry. It would have been okay.

Jason (44:23)

It would have been. Yeah. Before we go, I have some requests.

Scott Benner (44:28)

Okay.

Travel Tips, TSA, and Final Thoughts

Jason (44:30)

First, I need to know if DexCom follow is down.

Scott Benner (44:35)

You just Jason

Jason (44:38)

There Oh. Seriously. Was There was a post about it. There's Someone just posted about it.

Scott Benner (44:44)

Did it happen today?

Jason (44:45)

No. It's not down. It's just down for that one person.

Scott Benner (44:48)

Yes. Yeah. I I Jason would like me to tell the whole world just because your dexcom's not connecting doesn't mean that the entirety of the system is not connecting.

Jason (44:57)

Yeah. And then I have I had another request from some people. They want you to say macchiato.

Scott Benner (45:04)

Macchiato? What is that? Yeah. Is that a drink?

Jason (45:08)

They also yeah. They also want you to say water.

Scott Benner (45:12)

Well, listen. I go through this a lot, and I'll tell you something that that's gonna be a problem for the next couple weeks after this. I know that you all say water. Is that right? No. No? Water?

Jason (45:27)

Yeah. There you go. Just get closer. You're Water? Little too hard there, but you're close.

Scott Benner (45:32)

Water? No. What what I don't really understand what it is you people hear.

Jason (45:37)

We're not hearing the word water out of your mouth.

Scott Benner (45:40)

What are you hearing?

Jason (45:41)

Woah. You're you're you're you put like an h in there.

Scott Benner (45:44)

Water? I'm saying water. Yeah. But when I try to say it right, it's water?

Jason (45:51)

Oh, that's better.

Scott Benner (45:52)

Water is better? Yeah. No. That's ridiculous. That is not right. I know for sure that's not right, Crystal. It sounds sounds I am when I say the word correctly, I am just doing the impression of what I think you guys want me to say. I don't know. It sounds very false to me what I'm saying. I know by the way, I'm also aware that this isn't the case. I'll tell you what I'm dealing with right now is that yesterday, the Trump Rx thing came out. And

Crystal (46:24)

Oh, yeah.

Scott Benner (46:25)

No trump r x dot gov, and no one is able to talk about it without it becoming a political conversation.

Crystal (46:33)

Yeah. Mhmm.

Scott Benner (46:34)

So it's this is gonna be for weeks in the group. I'm gonna be dealing with this. And then I Yeah. Well You know?

Jason (46:42)

By the time this podcast is out, hopefully

Scott Benner (46:44)

That'll be over. Yeah. Yeah. And we'll be on to something else. Like, is Dexcom follow down? What what are what are the other things that people say over and over again that you're just like,

Jason (46:55)

Insulin and storage temperature.

Crystal (46:57)

I was gonna say, how do I keep my insulin cold while I'm traveling?

Scott Benner (47:02)

You don't?

Jason (47:03)

You don't.

Crystal (47:04)

You just take it with you.

Jason (47:06)

It'll be fine. Yeah. And then airport security. Mhmm. And that one's Just walk

Crystal (47:11)

through like a normal person.

Scott Benner (47:13)

That one really is interesting, isn't it? Because there are times when I know it's the t it's TSA's fault that it goes poorly. And there are times I think people I don't know, like, what happens, but sometimes it feels like it's they wanna be upset. I can't tell exactly. A lot of it's just create Arnd I just flew to a into Boston the other day. She and I went and did I think I can say this here, but she and I went and did social media for Omnipod. Like, we filmed a bunch of stuff for them. On the way out, like, you know, leaving Newark, she's like, it wasn't bad. Like, was only a step behind me. She's like, they swabbed my hands, swabbed the pod, and it was kind of it. But on the way back, she walked through. Like, she looked light and airy. She had a big look on her face. I was like, what's up? She goes, like, they don't know I'm wearing an insulin pump. I went through the thing, and I don't know if it didn't show or not, but I just nobody stopped me. She's like, that's never happened before.

Jason (48:06)

Yeah. Well, they definitely saw it if she went through the full body scanner. But

Scott Benner (48:09)

I mean, you would think so, but she's never not been stopped. Yeah. So she's like she goes we we get our stuff together and we keep walking. She goes she looks around and she goes, how many other things do people bring through that they shouldn't have brought through? And I was like, oh, it's best not to ask yourself that question. Yeah.

Jason (48:28)

She just did her own security audit on TSA there and they fail.

Scott Benner (48:31)

She just learned that the world is held together with, duct tape and bailing wire and that we're all lucky it hasn't spun off its axis. Yeah. Yeah. And she I go watch it on her face. Like, she was first just thrilled that she didn't get stopped, and then immediately was like, are we safe? And I was like, probably not. You'll be fine. Keep going. Anyway, anything else that the the the people are asking you to do?

Jason (48:53)

They have a bunch of other words. Most of them are French, so I can't pronounce them.

Scott Benner (48:56)

Mhmm. I don't know why that lady thinks we can all speak French. But but we we definitely can't. Well, guys, I really do appreciate you doing this. I have seven minutes to reset myself and record with Erica.

Jason (49:09)

So, hello for me and remind her that she saved me from myself.

Scott Benner (49:14)

Absolutely. Well, and for people, the, the five four three two one method was really valuable for you. Right?

Jason (49:20)

That was invaluable to me. I I don't think I would be in the mental state I am right now without it.

Scott Benner (49:26)

So Awesome. Well, at juiceboxpodcast.com/lists, Find the mental health one. Look for 54321, and then you'll know what Jason knows. Crystal, thank you very much for doing this with me. I really appreciate it. Was lovely to get to you.

Crystal (49:38)

My pleasure. Thanks for including me. I appreciate it.

Scott Benner (49:40)

This was awesome. It really was. Okay. Hold on one second for me, guys. I'd like to thank the blood glucose meter that my daughter carries, the Kontoor Next Gen blood glucose meter. Learn more and get started today at contournext.com/juicebox. And don't forget, you may be paying more through your insurance right now for the meter you have than you would pay for the contour next gen in cash. There are links in the show notes of the audio app you're listening in right now and links at juiceboxpodcast.com to Kontoor and all of the sponsors. I'd like to remind you again about the MiniMed seven eighty g automated insulin delivery system, which of course anticipates, adjusts, and corrects every five minutes twenty four seven. It works around the clock so you can focus on what matters. The Juice Box community knows the importance of using technology to simplify managing diabetes. To learn more about how you can spend less time and effort managing your diabetes, visit my link, medtronicdiabetes.com/juicebox. If this is your first time listening to the Juice Box podcast and you'd like to hear more, download Apple Podcasts or Spotify, really any audio app at all. Look for the Juice Box podcast and follow or subscribe. We put out new content every day that you'll enjoy. Wanna learn more about your diabetes management? Go to juiceboxpodcast.com up in the menu and look for bold beginnings, the diabetes pro tip series, and much more. This podcast is full of collections and series of information that will help you to live better with insulin. 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 Juice Box podcast. If you've ever heard a diabetes term and thought, okay. But what does that actually mean? You need the defining diabetes series from the Juice Box podcast. Defining diabetes takes all those phrases and terms that you don't understand and makes them clear. Quick and easy episodes. Find out what bolus means, basal, insulin sensitivity, and all of the rest. There has to be over 60 episodes of Defining Diabetes. Check it out now in your audio player or go to juiceboxpodcast.com and go up into the menu. Have a podcast? Want it to sound fantastic? Wrong way recording.com.

READ FULL TRANSCRIPT

#1812 Family Ties - Part 1

Siblings Crystal and Jason share growing up with a dad who had type 1, their own diagnoses, fear of lows, years of mediocre control, and how a toddler’s diagnosis finally changed everything.

Companies that Support Juicebox

Simplify Lifewith Omnipod

DexcomG7 15 Day Sensor

Save 20%Save 20% with offer code: JUICEBOX

US MEDGet your Diabetes Supplies

ContourEasy to Use and Highly Accurate

MiniMedMake everyday a better day

TandemControl-IQ+ with AutoBolus

CommunitySupport Touched By Type 1

EversenseOne Year One CGM

Simplify Lifewith Omnipod

DexcomG7 15 Day Sensor

Save 20%Save 20% with offer code: JUICEBOX

US MEDGet your Diabetes Supplies

ContourEasy to Use and Highly Accurate

MiniMedMake everyday a better day

TandemControl-IQ+ with AutoBolus

CommunitySupport Touched By Type 1

EversenseOne Year One CGM

Key Takeaways

• Pre-diagnosis symptoms of Type 1 Diabetes, such as excessive thirst and severe low blood sugars (hypoglycemia), are common and can occur for months before a formal diagnosis is made.
• Generational approaches to diabetes management have shifted dramatically; early management often involved basic routine injections without tight control, whereas modern technology like CGMs and smart pumps offer significantly improved health outcomes and A1Cs.
• Witnessing a parent struggle with severe hypoglycemic episodes can profoundly impact a child's later approach to their own diabetes management, sometimes resulting in a fear of lows and intentionally running higher blood sugars.
• Social and emotional factors, including the fear of rejection or feeling "awkward" about injections, can delay or complicate dating, marriage, and family planning for young adults living with Type 1 Diabetes.
• A new family diagnosis—especially in a younger child—can serve as a powerful catalyst to break generational habits, encouraging older family members to adopt modern diabetes technology and talk more openly about the condition.

Resources Mentioned

• Juice Box Podcast (Bold Beginnings, Pro Tip Series)
• Touched by Type 1
• Tandem Mobi system with Control IQ Plus technology
• Eversense 365 CGM
• Dexcom G6 & Omnipod
• Juice Cruise 2026
• Wrong Way Recording

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Welcome & Introductions

Scott Benner (0:00)

Friends, we're all back together for the next episode of the Juice Box podcast. Welcome.

Crystal (0:12)

Hi. I'm Crystal Kremetz. I am a type one diabetic.

Jason (0:15)

I am Jason, and I have I have talked to you a couple of times before, Scott.

Scott Benner (0:21)

If this is your first time listening to the Juice Box podcast and you'd like to hear more, download Apple Podcasts or Spotify, really any audio app at all. Look for the Juice Box podcast and follow or subscribe. We put out new content every day that you'll enjoy. Wanna learn more about your diabetes management? Go to juiceboxpodcast.com up in the menu and look for bold beginnings, the diabetes pro tip series, and much more. This podcast is full of collections and series of information that will help you to live better with insulin. If you're looking for community around type one diabetes, check out the Juice Box Podcast private Facebook group. Juice Box Podcast, type one diabetes. But everybody is welcome. Type one, type two, gestational, loved ones, it doesn't matter to me. If you're impacted by diabetes and you're looking for support, comfort, or community, check out Juice Box podcast, type one diabetes on Facebook. Nothing you hear on the Juice box podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. Always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan.

Crystal (1:28)

This

Scott Benner (1:30)

episode of the juice box podcast is brought to you by my favorite diabetes organization, touched by Type one. Please take a moment to learn more about them at touchedbytype1.org on Facebook and Instagram. Touchedbytype1.org. Check out their many programs, their annual conference, awareness campaign, their d box program, dancing for diabetes. They have a dance program for local kids, a golf night, and so much more. Touchedbytype1.org. You're looking to help or you wanna see people helping people with typeone, you want touchedbytype1.org. Today's episode is also sponsored by the Tandem Mobi system with Control IQ plus technology. If you are looking for the only system with auto bolus, multiple wear options, and full control from your personal iPhone, you're looking for Tandem's newest pump and algorithm. Use my link to support the podcast, tandemdiabetes.com/juicebox. Check it out. The podcast is also sponsored today by Eversense three sixty five, the only one year wear CGM. That's one insertion and one CGM a year. One CGM, one year. Not every ten or fourteen days. Ever since cgm.com/juicebox.

Diagnosis Stories & Family History

Crystal (2:51)

Hi. I'm Crystal Kermeadz. I am a type one diabetic. Have been since 1994, I believe, is when it was.

Scott Benner (3:04)

I I'm interested that you don't know that. I like that.

Crystal (3:06)

Well, I was a freshman in high school, but I can't figure out mentally at this point what year that was.

Scott Benner (3:16)

Because you're old or because you have a do you have a deficit? What happened?

Crystal (3:20)

No. Because I'm old.

Scott Benner (3:21)

Okay. Alright. Well, how

Jason (3:22)

old are you?

Crystal (3:23)

The mental math just doesn't mental sometimes. It doesn't math right.

Scott Benner (3:26)

How old are you?

Crystal (3:27)

I am 44. So it's been 30 it'll be thirty one years this year.

Scott Benner (3:30)

You were diagnosed when you were 13?

Crystal (3:33)

I was yes.

Scott Benner (3:34)

See how quickly what? Well, 44.

Crystal (3:37)

No. Sorry. I was 14.

Scott Benner (3:38)

Okay. And why I just missed by a little you know, you can't hold me accountable for, like, missing the end of the year, beginning of the year

Crystal (3:43)

diagnosis thing. It's not my fault. I haven't had the birthday yet

Scott Benner (3:46)

this

Crystal (3:46)

year.

Scott Benner (3:47)

So I see. But but be impressed with my math.

Crystal (3:51)

It was pretty impressive.

Scott Benner (3:52)

Oh, I mean, gosh. I took the year. I took the the your age. Boom. Boom. Just like that. It was nothing. Now we're not alone today, Crystal. It's not just you and I and the people listening. We also have with you another person. Crystal, is this person your brother, your doctor, is it your garbage man? Who are we talking with right away?

Crystal (4:08)

It is my big brother.

Scott Benner (4:09)

Okay. And who are you?

Jason (4:11)

I I am Jason. And I have I have talked to you a couple of times before, Scott.

Scott Benner (4:16)

Yeah. Jason, you're gonna be one of the few people that have been on the show three times, I would imagine.

Jason (4:22)

That's, that's what my other little chat has told me already. So

Scott Benner (4:25)

Oh, your people have said this to you.

Jason (4:27)

The people have said this.

Scott Benner (4:28)

Well, would it surprise you to know that the only reason I'm certain about it is because those same people told me. So this morning, I got a note from somebody that said, like, oh, I'm so excited you're gonna talk to Jason today. And I looked at my calendar and I thought, no,

Jason (4:43)

I'm not.

Scott Benner (4:44)

I was like, I am I'm I'm actually recording three times today. I've recorded with Jenny already today. I said, then I have a lady named Crystal, and then later I've I've recorded with Erica. I said, Jason's not on my calendar. And the person said, Crystal's Jason's sister. You guys are talking together. And I went, well, now you ruined the surprise for me. So I was like, don't remember stuff like that. Anyway, Jason, do you know other episodes you've been on off top of your head?

Jason (5:10)

No. We would both would both have to ask the same person for those episode numbers.

Scott Benner (5:14)

Yeah. Do you remember what it was called?

Jason (5:15)

Keep Taking Showers.

Scott Benner (5:17)

Okay. Hold on. Keep Taking Showers episode twelve ninety two. And? Was that one?

Jason (5:24)

I do not remember the first one.

Scott Benner (5:26)

You don't remember the first one. Yeah. Well, I guess

Jason (5:28)

Or was that the first one? No. No. That was not the first one.

Scott Benner (5:30)

No. I don't think so. December seems like it was the last couple years. Yeah. I'll see if I can figure it out. But I appreciate you guys coming back. And this is a quite an interesting little mix. So, Jason, you have type one diabetes as well?

Jason (5:44)

I do.

Scott Benner (5:45)

Yeah. Well, tell people what you were just doing.

Jason (5:48)

I was getting on a call here with Scott and looked at my little ducks card reading here, and it said 68 double arrows down. So starting off well.

Scott Benner (5:58)

Is this after a, like, a meal bolus?

Jason (6:02)

This was after a handful of jelly beans that, I obviously miscalculated the number of carbs in those jelly beans.

Scott Benner (6:10)

Oh, little aggressive. Maybe didn't need to A

Jason (6:12)

little aggressive.

Scott Benner (6:13)

It's a oh, jelly beans sounds nice. It's neither here nor there, Crystal. We're not here to talk about snacks. Are we? I mean, maybe we are. I have no idea. How did this all start? Like, how did we end up together, the three of us? Whose idea was this?

Crystal (6:25)

I believe it was Jason's idea.

Scott Benner (6:27)

Why did you think it was important, Jason?

Jason (6:30)

I don't know. I brought it up in, you know, that other little chat I was talking about, and, several of the people said, you know, it should be it'd be a really good idea to have you guys on because of our unique experience with type one diabetes.

Scott Benner (6:42)

Yeah. And for people who don't know, Jason is a group expert in the Facebook group. So that chat he's talking about is place where you guys all can speak privately to each other. Right?

Jason (6:53)

Yeah. It kinda lets us get on top of things a little bit quicker if somebody has a question or an immediate concern in the group that needs an answer. So

Scott Benner (7:02)

Yeah. No. It's awesome. I I let me take the time now to thank you for doing that. I really do appreciate the effort that must go into it. To be honest, I don't really even understand the full scope of. So I stay out of that. I've I've mentioned this before. Like, I was invited by the person who set that chat up. He said, look. You know, it's your group. You can be in the chat. I said, I think it would be great if nobody had to worry about that they were saying something in front of me or, like, I want it to be, like, a place where you guys can just talk to each other. So I don't know what happens in there. Are there a lot of people shitting on me usually?

Jason (7:33)

Sometimes.

Scott Benner (7:34)

Yeah. Yeah. What do I do wrong, Jason? What are the what's the consensus? What do I do wrong?

Jason (7:39)

No. We we talk a lot about, your tone sometimes. We can tell when it's like the real Scott and the not real Scott talking.

Scott Benner (7:46)

Oh, on the board? Like, in the group?

Jason (7:49)

No. In in on a podcast.

Scott Benner (7:51)

On a podcast. There's times that it feels like me and then there's times that it feels like podcast me. Is that what you're saying?

Jason (7:57)

Yeah. Like, when you're being the honest you and maybe the podcast version of you.

Scott Benner (8:01)

Oh, that's interesting. I wish somebody would explain that to me. I would love that. Maybe I'd love to be that. Send me a list at the end of the month. Like, here's where we thought this was gonna be you and not somebody said the other day, hey. This is a really good episode. And I didn't have the nerve to ask back the question I had in my head, which was, do you mean that the guest was good or was I particularly good that day? And I I wonder how often I'm not as good at it as I could be or I don't do as good of a job or whatever. It's anyway, neither here nor there. Crystal's like, I have a real job. Stop talking about your podcast. This is stupid. No. No. You should be, Crystal. That's exactly what you should be thinking. So who was diagnosed first?

Crystal (8:44)

I was.

Scott Benner (8:45)

And how many years after Jason till it was you?

Jason (8:49)

Wasn't it two years, Crystal?

Crystal (8:52)

Or was it one? It was two. Yeah.

Scott Benner (8:54)

So, Crystal, tell me, do you remember anything about your diagnosis or the lead up to it?

Crystal (8:59)

I just remember I could not drink enough. I would take, like, a 32 ounce jug of water to bed at night, and I'd have to get up in the middle of the night and fill it up when I got up to pee because, you know, the process of drinking water and peeing and drinking water and peeing, that's all you do. But I also remember prior to that feeling, like, the low sensation when I was, like, at school, and I'd have to go to the nurse's office. And she'd give me a juice box, and I'd sit there for, you know, ten minutes, and then I go back to class.

Scott Benner (9:36)

You were having low symptoms before your diagnosis that when explained to a school nurse, they thought, oh, this girl needs some sugar.

Crystal (9:44)

Yes.

Scott Benner (9:45)

Yeah. How long did that go

Crystal (9:46)

on for? I remember that going on for probably two or three months.

Scott Benner (9:51)

Oh, wow. Okay.

Crystal (9:52)

Yeah. Yeah. It was it was rough.

Scott Benner (9:55)

With hindsight equate it, how low did you do you think you are?

Crystal (9:59)

Oh, I was probably in the fifties, probably lower than that maybe.

Scott Benner (10:04)

Mhmm. So that it's not uncommon, by the way Yeah. Before diagnosis for people listening.

Jason (10:10)

Oh, you know, now that you mentioned that, Crystal, I experienced the exact same thing. Like, I remember that happening except I didn't go to the nurse because I'm a boy. Yeah. Right.

Scott Benner (10:24)

What'd you do? You just took advantage of running in circles and making yourself feel dizzier? You're like, oh, this is great.

Jason (10:29)

Normally, just just find something to eat or something to drink or whatever. But not knowing what I was doing, I just, you know, felt that urge that I needed to eat something. I didn't feel terribly low, but, you know, I felt that, like, that sensation that us type ones get when you get low is, like, I have to eat something.

Scott Benner (10:49)

Mhmm. Yeah. And you were happy.

Crystal (10:51)

Definitely. I didn't know what it was either, but that's when I went down to the nurse, and she's like, I think you just need some sugar. And so she give me sugar, and then I'd be fine.

Scott Benner (11:03)

Is that anything you took to back to your parents, or did the school tell your parents about it? Do you remember? No. No. If, Crystal's would you say 44? How old are you, Jason?

Jason (11:14)

I think I'm 47.

Scott Benner (11:15)

Okay. She was 47. So she was first, but you are older? Correct. Do you have any other brothers or sisters? No. No. Just the two of you guys. Okay.

Jason (11:26)

So You know, Scott, the if you remember, our dad is also type one.

Scott Benner (11:31)

Yep.

Jason (11:32)

You know, all this is going on, yet for me, I don't understand how things were caught sooner.

Scott Benner (11:39)

Oh, you think that it should've you think Crystal's situation should've been obvious to your parents?

Jason (11:46)

I think so. Yes. I don't know what Crystal thinks. But

Crystal (11:50)

Looking back at it, probably. But I think dad was in denial.

Scott Benner (11:56)

Oh, okay. And because

Crystal (11:58)

it was his fault.

Scott Benner (11:59)

I'm sorry. Your parents were together. Right? There's two people there? Four four

Crystal (12:02)

Yeah.

Scott Benner (12:02)

Yeah. Four in the house. So your mom have any autoimmune stuff, or is she just a a traveler in this?

Crystal (12:08)

She's just a normal everyday person.

Scott Benner (12:10)

Yeah. She just got brought along for the ride. How old tell me again how or, Crystal, how old was your father when he was diagnosed?

Crystal (12:17)

He was three.

Scott Benner (12:18)

Okay. So he's had it his whole life. Okay.

Crystal (12:20)

Yeah. He did.

Scott Benner (12:20)

So what do you mean you think he was in denial? Are you remembering interactions with him that, in hindsight, should have brought up some more questions?

Crystal (12:29)

When I got really, really sick and we decided to go to the doctor's office, he actually tested my blood sugar before we left, and it was well over 500. By the time we got to the hospital, it was well over a thousand.

Scott Benner (12:43)

Oh my gosh.

Crystal (12:44)

So yeah. But he blamed himself. So he, yeah, he was in complete denial that that it could happen to his kid because he was expecting it to skip a generation and be one of our kids.

Scott Benner (12:56)

He's like, I'm gonna be older when this happens, and I won't care.

Crystal (12:59)

But Exactly. Right?

Scott Benner (13:01)

Also, one of you have a wolf. What is going on there?

Crystal (13:04)

Sorry. That was my dog. The I think the FedEx guy's

Jason (13:07)

here.

Scott Benner (13:08)

What kind of dog is it?

Crystal (13:09)

Well, that one is a blue healer lab mix.

Scott Benner (13:13)

How many dogs do you have, Crystal?

Crystal (13:15)

I have two.

Scott Benner (13:16)

Okay. Two is fine. Yeah. More than two, I I send I send the government to check on you. I think there's something wrong. Yeah. Nope.

Crystal (13:22)

Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Benner (13:23)

Okay. So what is the what mix?

Crystal (13:26)

He's a blue healer and lab mix.

Scott Benner (13:28)

I don't know what a blue healer is.

Crystal (13:30)

Well, they're supposed to be non shedding dogs, but tell you what, that dog sheds more than any animal I've ever owned.

Scott Benner (13:36)

Crystal's like, listen. Whoever sold me that dog, I'd like to take this opportunity to say, you lied to me. Okay?

Crystal (13:42)

Right?

Scott Benner (13:43)

Right. Also, Blue Heeler sounds like a sad doctor to me.

Crystal (13:47)

They're more of like a southern Southern? Like herding type dog.

Scott Benner (13:52)

I gotta just look real quickly. I'm sorry. I know this is apropos of nothing. Blue Heeler dog, and it's a mix with oh, it looks like a wolf.

Crystal (14:00)

Yeah. Kind of sorry.

Scott Benner (14:01)

Australian cattle dog. Is that the

Crystal (14:03)

Yep.

Scott Benner (14:04)

Okay. And and what's the mix with?

Crystal (14:06)

With a Labrador.

Scott Benner (14:08)

Is this a mutt or is this a thing people do?

Crystal (14:11)

No. It was just it was a mutt. Mama was a little whore.

Scott Benner (14:17)

Broadcast title. Jesus Christ. It's a little early in the in the show, but mama's a little whore. I mean, definitely get people

Crystal (14:24)

Mama was a little whore because his brother my oldest daughter has his brother, and his brother is a German shepherd healer mix.

Scott Benner (14:34)

Can I tell you the problem, Jason, with using that as a title is that people are gonna feel ripped off when they find out it's about a dog? You know what I mean? They're gonna be

Crystal (14:40)

like Exactly.

Scott Benner (14:41)

I clicked on this for sure to find out that Crystal was the the whoring question, and then then it turns out to be your dog, and I feel let down.

Crystal (14:48)

Yeah. Right?

Scott Benner (14:49)

Never nevertheless. Okay. Okay. So anyway, the FedEx guy, do you know what you ordered? Is it Amazon?

Crystal (14:54)

Dog food.

Scott Benner (14:55)

Dog oh, maybe he knows.

Crystal (14:57)

It's my Chewy order that's supposed to be here three days ago.

Scott Benner (14:59)

Hey, Chewy. What the hell?

Crystal (15:01)

No. It's FedEx because Chewy got it to them on it was their Monday. It's been sitting in the warehouse in Cedar Rapids, Iowa since Monday.

Scott Benner (15:11)

I think that you can't trust anybody. That's what you're telling me.

Jason (15:14)

Right?

Scott Benner (15:14)

Yeah. The whole system is, I don't know if you know the word. Sorry. I wanna get back to it now. You're dizzy in the in the office. It goes on for way too long. I mean, you're in I'm guessing clearly in DK by the time that your dad's like, hey. I guess, I gotta go. Do you have conversations with him over a lifetime about I mean, I guess he felt is he ashamed? Is he guilty?

This episode of the Juice Box podcast is sponsored by the Eversense three sixty five. Get three hundred and sixty five days of comfortable wear without having to change a sensor. When you think of a continuous glucose monitor, you think of a CGM that lasts ten or fourteen days. But the Eversense three sixty five, it lives up to its name, lasting three hundred and sixty five days. That's one year without having to change your CGM. With the Eversense three sixty five, you can count on comfort and consistency three hundred and sixty five days a year because the Eversense silicone based adhesive is designed for your skin to be gentle and to allow you to take the transmitter on and off to enjoy your shower, a trip to the pool, or an activity where you don't want your CGM on your body. If you're looking for comfort, accuracy, and a one year wear, you are looking for Eversense three sixty five. Go to eversensecgm.com/juicebox to learn more.

This episode is sponsored by Tandem Diabetes Care. And today, I'm gonna tell you about Tandem's newest pumping algorithm. The Tandem Mobi system with Control IQ plus technology features auto bolus, which can cover missed meal boluses and help prevent hyperglycemia. It has a dedicated sleep activity setting and is controlled from your personal iPhone. Tandem will help you to check your benefits today through my link, tandemdiabetes.com/juicebox. This is going to help you to get started with Tandem's smallest pump yet that's powered by its best algorithm ever. Control IQ plus technology helps to keep blood sugars in range by predicting glucose levels thirty minutes ahead, and it adjusts insulin accordingly. You can wear the Tandem Mobi in a number of ways. Wear it on body with a patch like adhesive sleeve that is sold separately, clip it discreetly to your clothing, or slip it into your pocket. Head now to my link, tandemdiabetes.com/juicebox, to check out your benefits and get started today.

Generational Diabetes and Dad's Struggles

Crystal (17:47)

He he had a lot of guilt. That was the first time I ever saw my father cry was when I was in the ICU because he felt so bad that he gave it to me.

Scott Benner (17:57)

Did he ever tell you that? Did he ever use those words?

Crystal (18:00)

Not to me. He told mom, and mom told me about it later on.

Scott Benner (18:04)

Okay. Did you feel that? I mean, I know you saw him cry that day, but moving forward, did he was that a, like, a I don't know, a feeling that laid over the house for you, or was he able to push through it?

Crystal (18:16)

I think he pushed through it

Scott Benner (18:18)

Yeah.

Crystal (18:18)

For the most part. I do feel that he was a little more attentive after that. Oh. Dad was a workaholic, so he worked all the time. And if I wanted to spend time with dad, I went to work with him. So in the summertimes, I would go and work with him during the day when he was working for himself as electrician, and then he would go evenings to the local factory and work all evening. After I was diagnosed, you know, he was always kinda checking in on me. You know, you feeling okay? Do we need to stop for lunch?

Scott Benner (18:58)

Mhmm.

Crystal (18:59)

Or before, it was always me asking him, you know, do we need to go get some lunch? You're you're not acting quite right.

Scott Benner (19:07)

I see. Crystal, true or false, you could come to my house and reroute a couple of switches for me?

Crystal (19:13)

Oh, I definitely could. I'm helping my brother-in-law right now rewire his house.

Scott Benner (19:16)

No kidding. Oh, I wish we lived closer.

Crystal (19:19)

An old an old schoolhouse house, and they completely gutted it. And I'm working on rewiring that house right now.

Scott Benner (19:26)

And you learned that from being with your dad? Yes. Oh, that's cool. That's a nice thing to take through your life. Do you have kids?

Crystal (19:33)

I have two, two stepdaughters.

Scott Benner (19:36)

Okay. Do you teach them about electricity?

Crystal (19:38)

No. No. They don't get They have no desire to learn.

Scott Benner (19:40)

That's not how TikTok works at all. So Yeah. Yeah.

Crystal (19:45)

Just like Jason had no desire to learn from dad.

Scott Benner (19:47)

So Oh. Oh.

Crystal (19:48)

I learned it.

Scott Benner (19:49)

That's it. It's very cool.

Crystal (19:51)

Yeah.

Scott Benner (19:51)

That is a skill I wish I had. My dad knew everything about electricity, and I never once absorbed any of it, and I really wish I would have. So okay. In that time, you're diagnosed. Do you know what your management style was like?

Crystal (20:05)

Very poor. Very little bit of management. It was you tested your blood sugar four times a day. You took your regular insulin and your NPH in the morning. You took your regular NPH at night, and you didn't care about it. There was there was no checking.

Scott Benner (20:23)

Yeah. Poor compared to nowadays or poor compared to what was expected of you back then even? You were doing a good job with the system that was in place, or you weren't even sure. You were.

Crystal (20:32)

Yeah. Yeah. I thought, you know, we I was doing what the doctor told me to do. You know? You checked in the morning. You checked at lunch. You checked after school or before dinner, and then you checked at bedtime.

Scott Benner (20:41)

Gotcha. Okay. And your dad had been managing that way his whole life pretty much?

Crystal (20:46)

Yes.

Scott Benner (20:47)

Yes. But do you guys both remember him being low sometimes?

Crystal (20:52)

Yes. I actually experienced my first low with him when I was probably, I don't know, four or five. I remember it vividly in our old living room in the house before we moved to the living room to the back of the house. It was in the morning, and he just started to shake all over the place. And I remember being so upset because he knocked over the lamp, and that's what made me mad.

Jason (21:19)

Mhmm.

Crystal (21:20)

And so that was back in the day where, I don't know, mom and dad had it set up where you just push one number on the phone and it rang mom's work. So I called mom at work and was telling her about it, and she's like, I'm gonna call the ambulance, and they're gonna come, they're gonna help your dad. And mom got there before the ambulance did, and I just I vividly remember that experience.

Scott Benner (21:42)

And did

Crystal (21:43)

you And I never wanted to have that happen to me.

Scott Benner (21:45)

Yeah. No kidding. Did you try to I'm your little kid then, but did you try to help him, or did you just sort of stand there and watch it happen being pissed about the lamp?

Crystal (21:52)

I had no idea what it was.

Scott Benner (21:53)

Yeah.

Crystal (21:54)

At that point, I was not educated.

Scott Benner (21:56)

Did a kid explain to you after that? Were they like, oh, guess what? Sometimes this happens to daddy or like, was there not that much conversation around it? Mean, you're a little kid.

Crystal (22:04)

That I don't remember. I don't remember

Scott Benner (22:06)

Yeah.

Crystal (22:06)

Having a conversation about it.

Scott Benner (22:07)

Do you remember more of the visceral part of it? You remember watching it happen to him? That feeling you had about, oh, no. We knocked the the lamp lamps must have been so expensive where you live. Yeah. And where the and the lamp thing. And then that's something. Okay. I said that stuck with you. Remember as a family, like, ever talking about type one diabetes Yeah. But, like I don't either. Growing up. Never. This thing that impacted him so much, just what I mean, you guys have heard the episodes where there was a woman on last year. Right? Her mom tried to hide it, like, for, like, a decade. She thought her kids didn't know she had type one diabetes. They knew, but, like, the mom was trying to hide it. That's but yours wasn't being hidden. It just wasn't spoken about with him. Right. Hey. Okay. Crystal, when you're diagnosed, I I see how it it was for you. But, Jason, how was it for you when she was diagnosed?

Jason (23:02)

See, I was in high school, so I don't think I paid a whole lot of attention. I I regret that for sure after, you know, lived experiences and looking back on it.

Scott Benner (23:15)

Yeah.

Jason (23:15)

I don't remember a whole lot of it at all because I was busy living my high school life.

Scott Benner (23:22)

Right. Yeah. Isn't that something like I think that's common by the way. I wouldn't think of it as a judgment about you. I would think that most people would have that experience, but it is weird. Like, looking back on it as an older person, like, yeah, your sister's diagnosed with diabetes. You know, you know, I I guess, at least have some context for it with your father. And then you're just sort of like, well, okay. And then you just keep going. And and it doesn't become more of a focal point, I guess, is interesting.

Jason (23:52)

Yeah. And I think it also was just, you know, like, we were just talking about, like, it wasn't made out to be as big of a deal as it actually was in our family.

Scott Benner (24:01)

Mhmm. But why is that? This is a question for both of you. Was it not made out to be a big deal because your dad was trying to minimize it, or was it not made out to be a big deal because he didn't really know that it was?

Crystal (24:14)

I'm sure he knew it was a big deal. I just don't think that since he had it, since he was three, that it was a huge deal to him. You know, it's the only thing he ever knew.

Scott Benner (24:25)

But how are his health outcomes during that time?

Crystal (24:29)

Well

Scott Benner (24:30)

Do you know? Do you know what his a one c's were in hindsight?

Crystal (24:33)

Awful.

Scott Benner (24:34)

So that's the thing. This is by the way, this isn't me talking about your dad or you. This is me, like, wondering bigger, you know, around the conversations that I've been having for a decade. Like, I am fascinated that somebody could get type one diabetes, know the implications of it, it not be going well, and they act like, it's just what happens. Like, that part freaks me out. I I really don't know I mean, if you can take diabetes out of it, we could talk about any number of things that go on in the world. I'm constantly baffled by people's ability to just ignore things that are that are happening to them. I don't know how to, like, explain that. You know what I mean?

Crystal (25:10)

So when he was little, you know, they always went to the University of Iowa to have all of his diabetes care taken care of.

Scott Benner (25:18)

Mhmm.

Crystal (25:19)

But I think when he got older and kinda aged out of the pediatric system over there, he didn't see endocrinology until after I think it was till after Jason was diagnosed before he ever went back to an endocrinologist.

Scott Benner (25:32)

Yeah.

Crystal (25:32)

He was die he was managed by family medicine.

Scott Benner (25:34)

Yeah. Chris, I understand the functionality about the way it comes, but, like, like, if I walked up to you right now and stuck a little pen knife in your leg, and you were like, ow. And I said to you, like, yeah, we're just gonna leave that there forever. Just gonna fester a little and one day you'll die of an infection from this. But we're we all know this is a problem, but no one's gonna do anything about it. And you're gonna agree to just live with it like this. And you go, okay. Like, that part just throws me for a loop. Every time something comes up with my health, I focus on how to get rid of it or change it

Crystal (26:07)

Yeah.

Scott Benner (26:07)

Or something. Like, I don't always succeed at it, but I I and some things have taken longer than others. But sometimes the tools just didn't exist, but I still push towards things like I guess it's like a it must be a coping mechanism. It's a couple shots a day. The outcomes aren't great. I get dizzy sometimes. We had to call the ambulance once or twice, but you know what? I'm alive and there's no other answer. Then I get it. Then I get, like, well, I'm just I'm making the best of a bad situation. I mean, once the technology shifts or the insulin gets better and people are still like, whatever. Like, I I interviewed a guy yesterday. He was really great. His name was Roger. Roger was 60 years old. He is blind. Like, one hundred percent sees black blind. Diagnosed as a little kid, lost his sight in his early twenties on the podcast because he's looping and, like, you know, having all this great success and everything. And I was like, oh, when did you pull this all together? He's like, last year. I'm like, last year? Like, when you were 15 you he was diagnosed when he was three. It took fifty six years to, like, I mean and and I see he had different, you know, different speed bumps along the way, but, like, I don't know. I don't even know if I'm articulating myself well. Like, it freaks me out that your dad was in the situation he was in, having the outcomes he had, then you were diagnosed and you just started managing the same way he did. I mean, you guys are parents. Right, Jason? You have kids too. Right? Yep. Doesn't that sound wrong to you?

Jason (27:35)

It definitely like, it does.

Scott Benner (27:37)

Okay.

Jason (27:38)

And I think after I was diagnosed, like, that's kind of the mindset that kicked in in my head after maybe a year or so of having type one. It's like, you know, I have to I have to do something about this because I don't want to end up like my dad.

Scott Benner (27:56)

Do you think about Crystal then when you have that idea? Like, like, oh, no. Crystal's gonna go the same way? Are you too young to worry about her too?

Jason (28:05)

Still too young. Because when I was diagnosed, you know, I was a senior in high school. And that summer after high school, I went to a two year tech school, like, right away. So it was like I was out of the house pretty quickly.

Scott Benner (28:20)

Okay. After your diagnosis. And Yes. And, Crystal, were you how long did you well, I guess I should ask you now, Crystal. Like, what's your management like now?

Crystal (28:30)

I'm on the Mobi with Dexcom g six.

Scott Benner (28:35)

Nice. And what are your outcomes like? What what do you generally think your a one c is gonna be when they look?

Crystal (28:41)

My last one was 6.8.

Scott Benner (28:43)

Oh, that's awesome. 9. Oh, you you must be thrilled with that.

Crystal (28:47)

I am. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because the first probably ten years, was 11 or better.

Scott Benner (28:53)

So so then there you go. Like, so for the first ten years, you you have that horrible experience with your dad getting low. Right? You have that kind of aversion to it. Do you know he's not in a healthy way? Or do you not or is it so not spoken about that you don't know? And at what point do you realize for yourself that your a one c's aren't good?

Crystal (29:13)

It took me quite a while to figure out that, you know, the way that dad and I were doing it wasn't the best way.

Scott Benner (29:20)

Mhmm.

Crystal (29:21)

But there also wasn't a whole lot of research available because, you know, the Internet was just starting, and we didn't have podcasts. We didn't have forums online. We didn't have other diabetics to reach out to.

Scott Benner (29:36)

You're just piecing your way through it. You're trying to stay alive day to day. Your understanding of what's happening to you grows over time, and then eventually, there's enough tools and resources to coalesce all that stuff together and make a better decision?

Crystal (29:51)

Definitely. Yeah.

Scott Benner (29:52)

Alright. So when you guys do you both guys agree that when you look back, it's not a failing of your father's as much as it is just a symptom of the time?

Jason (30:01)

I think it's a symptom of the time, and I wouldn't say that our dad was always present in our lives every single day.

Scott Benner (30:09)

Mhmm. I think he was a lot more present

Jason (30:10)

in Crystal's life. A lot of times, I was out kinda doing my own thing, figuring life out, necessarily not without his guidance all the time.

Scott Benner (30:19)

Mhmm. Crystal, are you are you more like your dad than than your brother is?

Crystal (30:25)

Yes.

Scott Benner (30:26)

Okay. And Jason, are you more like your mom?

Jason (30:30)

Yeah. A 100%.

Scott Benner (30:31)

Gotcha. Okay. Oh, so interesting. So you have different mindsets. Crystal, when you figure it out, like, when you say to yourself, oh, no. We are not doing what we should be doing. Do you think of yourself or your dad, or do think of yourself as a team and you guys both need help?

Crystal (30:46)

Well, by the time I figured it out, I was an adult. So at that point, it was what do I need to do Mhmm. To better myself, and then we'll work on dad.

Scott Benner (30:57)

Okay. Did it work out that way?

Crystal (30:59)

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Jason and I got him talked into a Dexcom and a Omnipod eventually. It took a lot of years of us actually doing it ourselves for him to see that it was okay to use modern technology to manage his diabetes.

Jason (31:16)

That's fair. That's really that's really recent. Like, it was I would say it was even after the first of my two type type one diabetic boys was diagnosed.

Scott Benner (31:26)

Yeah. You guys are, like, on a roll, by the way. You can you can make people with diabetes like it's nothing over there.

Jason (31:33)

Yeah. They didn't need any research candidates because I can I can make them?

Scott Benner (31:37)

This is like, watch this. Watch this. Boom. Diabetes. Yeah. Like magic.

Dating, Marriage, and A1C Goals

Crystal (31:42)

Anything to the fact that you don't have natural children? Are you trying to avoid making diabetes babies, or did it just not work out that way?

Crystal (31:49)

I was older when I got married, and my a one c was not great. And so my husband and I made the choice the decision together that since he already had two that we would just

Scott Benner (32:01)

We'll use these. Yeah. Gotcha. Ready? We'll dig a little further. Did you not date seriously as a younger person because of diabetes in any way?

Crystal (32:13)

I think so. Yeah. I was kind of awkward. I probably dated twice in high school.

Scott Benner (32:19)

Mhmm.

Crystal (32:19)

And they weren't great relationships. They were

Jason (32:22)

Not at all. Awkward.

Crystal (32:25)

What do you mean not at all?

Jason (32:27)

I didn't like either of them.

Scott Benner (32:28)

Yeah.

Crystal (32:29)

Oh, well, true.

Scott Benner (32:30)

Idiots. There's morons. What do you mean awkward? Are you, like, socially awkward or awkward because you have diabetes and you wanna tell people about it? What did you mean?

Crystal (32:39)

I think it was the diabetes mostly. I know, I didn't know how to approach it with other people

Scott Benner (32:44)

Mhmm.

Crystal (32:44)

Because I didn't know anybody else who was diabetic except for my dad.

Scott Benner (32:47)

Okay. And so if you're gonna get close to these other people, then you either have to make a decision to, like, obfuscate. Don't tell them about it as much as possible or give them access to your life that you don't know how to give to people.

Crystal (33:01)

Exactly. Exactly. I didn't know how to approach the topic of, you know, no. I can't go out for ice cream today because my blood sugar is too high.

Scott Benner (33:09)

Okay.

Crystal (33:10)

And I don't wanna take another shot. Because at that point, I was you know, the pens came out at that point when I was later on in high school, and I didn't wanna have to carry it around all the time. Right. It was inconvenient, and I was a teenage girl, and I didn't have I shouldn't have to do that. Yeah. It was

Scott Benner (33:26)

So I'll sit I'll just sit at home and sulk and be sad and alone versus do those other things.

Crystal (33:34)

Yes.

Scott Benner (33:34)

So you wanted to date? Sure. Yeah.

Crystal (33:36)

I mean, what teenage girl doesn't wanna date?

Scott Benner (33:39)

Okay. So, that all makes sense. But that goes on did you did you go to college or trade school or anything?

Crystal (33:45)

I did a couple years at the community college.

Scott Benner (33:48)

Were there boys there that you let know about your diabetes?

Crystal (33:53)

No. Because I was in the nursing program, so it was mostly all females

Scott Benner (33:56)

Okay.

Crystal (33:57)

In my classes.

Scott Benner (33:58)

So when do you, like I mean, Crystal, don't know how to ask this. Like, when are you, like, mama gotta get her cookies? Like, when does that happen exactly? Like, when are you, like, I'm just gonna dive into this for the sex part?

Crystal (34:13)

I was quite old.

Scott Benner (34:15)

Really? And this is

Crystal (34:16)

because 21 ish?

Scott Benner (34:17)

Because of the diabetes.

Crystal (34:19)

Just because I didn't know how to approach it, and I didn't know Yeah. How it would be accepted or not accepted.

Jason (34:26)

Right.

Crystal (34:26)

You know? Other people.

Jason (34:28)

Not in a serious enough relationship, you know, like Yeah.

Scott Benner (34:31)

To give over to give over that kind of access to your feelings and and how you feel to somebody. Yeah. Jason, I'm sorry we're talking about this about your sister in front of you. I'm sure you're not happy about that. Truly, I think it's genuinely insightful. And then how old were you when you got married?

Crystal (34:47)

I was 26 when we got married.

Scott Benner (34:50)

Okay. I mean, that's not that old. Yeah. But now you're saying you're 26, you're you finally find a boy you're gonna talk about this with and Yep. Let him in and everything and that's all great. And then but you get married, you start thinking like kids, but you're like, my a one c is, like, messed up. I can't do that. Did you think I can't even there's no way for me to make it better, so we shouldn't try?

Crystal (35:14)

Not so much that I couldn't make it better, but I was set in my ways and I wasn't

Scott Benner (35:22)

willing to Stubborn, you mean?

Crystal (35:24)

Yes. I was very stubborn.

Scott Benner (35:25)

Hey, Crystal, are you what they call are you what they call a pain in the

Crystal (35:30)

Yes. Okay. Yes. Apparently, yes.

Scott Benner (35:34)

I mean, I'm a pain in the ass. So I was just wondering if maybe you were too. Yes. What is stuck in my ways mean?

Crystal (35:40)

So I wasn't willing to change what my daily routine was.

Scott Benner (35:46)

Why? You know? Tell me why.

Crystal (35:48)

Because I was a pain in the ass.

Scott Benner (35:50)

That's not what I wanted from dig deeper. Why not?

Jason (35:54)

You think it was working from your perspective? It was working.

Crystal (35:58)

Well, I mean, was working. I wasn't I wasn't in the elevenths anymore. I was down in probably the mid to upper eights. But

Scott Benner (36:06)

So it was better.

Crystal (36:08)

It was better. Okay. But it wasn't

Scott Benner (36:12)

But what were the goals What was your doc yeah. What was so there is this is what we're getting to is that back then, somebody might tell you an eight a one c is good, but you have to get that magic six or five to have a baby. And having done all you did to go from 11 to eight, you're like, I can't get the five. Is that how it felt?

Crystal (36:34)

Looking back at it, yes. Yeah.

Scott Benner (36:36)

Alright.

Crystal (36:36)

I was like, there's no way I'm ever gonna be below six or even in the sixes. I never thought I would be in the sixes before.

Scott Benner (36:44)

Do you think of your story as a sad story?

Crystal (36:47)

A little bit.

Scott Benner (36:48)

I'm not the one bringing that out today. This is already a feeling you have.

Crystal (36:52)

Yeah. No. I no.

Scott Benner (36:53)

Okay.

Crystal (36:54)

I I regret not taking it more seriously when I first got married and having my own, but I don't regret the two that I have.

Scott Benner (37:05)

No. I wouldn't think you would. Yeah. No. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. In case they hear that, we should say that.

Crystal (37:09)

Yeah. No.

Scott Benner (37:10)

Mom mommy loves you. All that stuff. Right?

Crystal (37:12)

Yes. I do. Okay.

Scott Benner (37:14)

What is not taking it more seriously mean? And is that a thing you knew that you weren't doing then, or is that only a thing you know through hindsight?

Crystal (37:23)

I think it's hindsight. You know, I was functioning. I was, as far as I knew, I was managing my diabetes.

Scott Benner (37:30)

Right.

Crystal (37:30)

Okay. Because I was taking my insulin every day. I was counting my carbs. I was checking my sugars. You know? This was before CGM, so I was checking my sugars four or five times a

Jason (37:41)

day.

Scott Benner (37:41)

You were doing the things they asked you to do, you were having outcomes that people said, generally speaking, are are good? Yes.

Crystal (37:47)

Yeah. Exactly.

Scott Benner (37:48)

They just weren't good enough to good enough, quote, unquote, to have a baby back then the way people talked about it.

Crystal (37:53)

Yes.

Scott Benner (37:53)

Yes. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Jason, at that point, when she's 26 and married, you're a couple years older. You've now had diabetes for more than a handful of years. What is your management like back then?

Severe Lows and a Catalyst for Change

Jason (38:05)

So a little bit prior to Crystal getting married, we got married her and her husband got married a year before no. It's the same year.

Crystal (38:13)

It was the same year. Was, like, three weeks.

Jason (38:15)

Yeah. Three weeks. Yeah. Prior like, if you can if you step back probably, like, five years from that, I was living in San Diego at the time. I'd moved there, followed a girl. You know how that worked out, Scott. Didn't work out. My management at that point in time was I tested pretty frequently, and I swagged every single meal that I ate. I was pretty bold with insulin even back then. You know, I would take enough insulin to probably feel low, and then I knew it was time to eat or drink something again.

Scott Benner (38:52)

Okay. So you were riding on the lower side?

Jason (38:55)

Oh, definitely.

Scott Benner (38:56)

Okay. Why? Do you do you have hindsight into why that was your approach?

Jason (39:01)

I know exactly why that's my approach. So when I was diagnosed, I played a lot of roller hockey. What I noticed while playing hockey is that if my number was good, I played a lot better. So that was kind of instilled into my brain is I perform better when I'm at a reasonable number.

Scott Benner (39:19)

Okay. And so more you needed more insulin to make that happen.

Jason (39:24)

Right.

Scott Benner (39:24)

Isn't that silly that it's just that simple? Like, that you just had a hobby that you wanted to be able to do, and so you were more aggressive with it. And so where were your a one c's at that time then?

Jason (39:34)

Probably in the sixes. Yeah. I was also you know, I bounced between high fives and probably mid sixes for those ten years before Crystal got married.

Scott Benner (39:45)

Lot of lows with all

Jason (39:47)

those I would imagine so. Yes.

Scott Benner (39:48)

Yeah. Some of you probably didn't even know about, I would imagine.

Jason (39:51)

Yeah. We I've got some stories about being low too. So

Scott Benner (39:55)

I need a pivot point. So give me your best low story.

Jason (39:58)

My best low story? This is in San Diego. I was living by myself at this point in time. I was live in an apartment over by the Mormon temple in San Diego. It's a giant castle looking place.

Scott Benner (40:09)

Mhmm.

Jason (40:10)

Woke up in the morning. I don't exactly remember what I was doing, getting ready for somebody to come over and pick me up to go out to lunch. And, apparently, what I what I think had happened is I took some insulin in the morning, had a little breakfast, and that is the last thing I remember. And, thankfully, that day, you know, living by myself in San Diego, you made sure you locked your door every day. And for some reason, I had unlocked the door in the morning, and my friend came over around lunchtime, and she bangs on the door. I don't answer it. Bangs on the door some more, and I don't answer it. And then she she decided, well, maybe I should poke my head in or see if the door's unlocked. And, thankfully, it was unblocked. And she came in, and she said that, yeah, you were laying halfway underneath the coffee table. Your feet were up on the couch, and you're throwing up all over yourself, and you're kinda drooling at the mouth. After that, you know, she called the called 911, and they came and picked me up and took me to the hospital. And that was a, like, a fiasco. Like, I just recently found the medical records from that. And they when they picked me up, they tested my, you know, blood sugar, and it was not high. It was pretty normal looking.

Crystal (41:29)

Mhmm.

Jason (41:30)

And so they didn't really suspect that it was from a low. But, you know, looking back on it and the knowledge that I have now, I'm pretty sure what happened is, you know, I had that seizure, and the adrenaline kicked in and brought up my number enough to, like, you know, save my life.

Scott Benner (41:47)

Yeah. The your liver helped you.

Jason (41:50)

Yeah. Yeah. So I think that happened. And then, you know, after that whole incident, you know, they did, like, a CAT scan on me and all that stuff trying to figure out what was wrong with me, and it probably took my brain a good twelve, fourteen, fifteen hours to, like, partially reboot

Scott Benner (42:05)

Mhmm.

Jason (42:07)

And kinda wake up and figure out what's going on, and it just took a long time to recover from that. And it took me another probably solid week to remember any sort of details about what was happening around the time that I had the seizure.

Scott Benner (42:21)

Okay. Wow. Crystal, you knew this at what point do you know that happened to him? Is it, like, after it's

Crystal (42:28)

over? Us.

Scott Benner (42:30)

Oh, okay. So friend. Her friend called you guys. Did does somebody go out to him?

Crystal (42:34)

Mom did.

Scott Benner (42:35)

Okay.

Crystal (42:36)

Yeah. Mom did.

Scott Benner (42:37)

Gotcha. And you have diabetes at that time too. So are you thinking, like, oh, that's never happened to me before? Or I hope they never

Crystal (42:44)

thinking, holy crap. I don't ever want that to happen to me.

Scott Benner (42:49)

Do you think that that's partially why you let your blood sugars be higher?

Crystal (42:53)

Yes.

Scott Benner (42:54)

Okay.

Crystal (42:54)

A 100%. Yes.

Scott Benner (42:56)

So you're experiencing your dad get low, then hearing about Jason keeps you a little on the high side. And, Jason, your desire to be good at roller hockey keeps yours on the lower side.

Jason (43:07)

Exactly.

Scott Benner (43:08)

Isn't life strange? My gosh. And then where in this process like, I know when you guys go to your dad and say, hey. Why don't you try CGM? But before that, you guys must, like, pull things together even a little better. So, like, are you doing that together? Do you guys have some sort of, like, crazy cool diabetes bond, or do you not really talk about it very much?

Jason (43:29)

We didn't talk about it much every now and then, but I don't think we ever, like, discussed it as a a point of conversation. It would probably come up in conversation, but not something that we kinda sought out from each other.

Scott Benner (43:43)

Okay.

Crystal (43:44)

Well, with you being up at Eden Prairie and then out in San Diego, I didn't have my diabetic brother

Scott Benner (43:53)

Lot of contact. With me. Yeah. And,

Crystal (43:57)

you know, we didn't have cell phones back then. We didn't have FaceTime. We didn't have any of the good stuff Yeah. Back then. And, you know, I'm talking like I'm anciently old here.

Scott Benner (44:08)

Well, you're pretty old. Don't

Crystal (44:09)

I am pretty old.

Scott Benner (44:10)

Yeah. Yeah. Don't worry about it. Anybody who remembers no cell phones is pretty old Yeah. At this point.

Jason (44:17)

Yeah.

Scott Benner (44:18)

Well, okay. So you guys don't have the ability to be contacted. Is there ever for a either of you, and this might I mean, maybe I'm maybe you'll say no. But do you ever have that feeling like, know what it's like to have diabetes. Jason's off somewhere having a different experience. Crystal's off somewhere having a different experience. I wish we were closer about it or I wish did you ever worry about each other and not tell each other you were worried? Like, I'm looking for any of the what it felt like to be isolated from each other feelings.

Jason (44:50)

Don't think I I don't think I worried about it. I'd no. I didn't worry about it

Scott Benner (44:56)

Why not?

Jason (44:56)

When I was away. Why not?

Scott Benner (44:59)

Because you have Jason, you have a kid with diabetes.

Jason (45:02)

Yeah. I didn't I don't think I started worrying about it until, like, when my first kid was diagnosed. And that's I think I think having Wesley diagnosed kind of the catalyst within our family to actually start talking about it.

Scott Benner (45:17)

Ah, okay. That's what I wanna get to. So Wesley's diagnosed, and one of your thoughts not long after that is, holy shit. Is Crystal okay?

Jason (45:25)

Yeah. I definitely thought about that a lot more. Okay. And I know that we definitely talked about it significantly more than we had in the past after that.

Scott Benner (45:35)

Crystal, you know your brother's kinda like a like a touchy he's a feely guy. Right? Like he's got

Crystal (45:41)

He can be.

Scott Benner (45:41)

Yeah. He can be. Right? Okay. Are you like that too? Less so?

Crystal (45:48)

I mean, yeah. I suppose so.

Scott Benner (45:51)

Crystal, what the hell was that? Yeah. Do you do you you are you do you get worried about people? Do you get, like do you think do you sit around worried about Jason sometimes?

Crystal (46:08)

Depends. I mean, I worry more for the boys than I do Jay. Okay. Because

Scott Benner (46:14)

Because you know your brother's an idiot. You're worried you can't take care of him.

Crystal (46:18)

Yeah. No. That's

Scott Benner (46:20)

Like, I don't know how this the next holding this whole thing together. I knew him when let me tell you a story.

Crystal (46:25)

Yeah. Right.

Scott Benner (46:26)

I'm 54. I have two younger brothers. I still I worry about my brothers, like, you know, a fair amount. And so I was I'm just wondering, like, how that all works. So but let's go back to your son being diagnosed and how that kind of, like, moves your family into another direction. So what do you think the I'd like hear from both of you. Like, what was that process like? It sounds like it started with you, Jason, but then how does it transfer into Crystal and then become what it is now? And what is it now?

Jason (46:56)

I think when Wesley was diagnosed, it really kinda opened up everybody's eyes because, you know, he was only, like, two and a half years old. Mhmm. And we'd also been told the same thing growing up. You know, it always skips a generation skips a generation. And I think that really kinda opened up everybody's eyes as to, you know, this is a a real thing. And through watching not such good care happen, like, we can't let that happen to Wesley. Like, you we have to talk about it. We have to do something about it. I don't what what's your opinion, Crystal?

Crystal (47:37)

I felt that Wesley's diagnosis was a big turning point in the family, that it was okay to talk about it and that we needed to talk about it because what has always been done wasn't working for any of us.

Scott Benner (47:52)

At least not well enough for your desire for Wesley's outcomes.

Crystal (47:56)

Exactly. Yep.

Scott Benner (47:57)

Because it was working well enough for you guys. You guys were all okay with it because you were doing it for yourselves. Yep. But once it gets on to the child, then everyone how about your dad? Did your dad have that feeling too? Do you know?

Jason (48:10)

Definitely.

Scott Benner (48:11)

This is his worst nightmare come true. He didn't think you guys were getting it. He thought some unnamed boy or girl in the future was gonna end up with it, and then that happened too.

Jason (48:20)

Right. I think it really again, like, it it hit him hard when Crystal and I were diagnosed, but, know, he balled it up and shoved it in the back of his brain. I think when Wesley was diagnosed, it was the first time, like, I visibly saw him, like, feel that that kind of pain, you know, that that knowledge that, yes, Wesley has type one. And he's so young, like, he's young like my dad was. Yeah. And there's nothing that Wesley can do to take care of himself because, you know, two and a half, he can't do that.

Scott Benner (48:49)

So Right. Your dad's Yeah. Your dad I'm sorry. Your dad's gone now. Right? Yes. Pretty recently? Couple years?

Jason (48:56)

Two years as a crystal.

Crystal (48:58)

Two years. Yeah. '23. I don't know. '24.

Scott Benner (49:01)

Because I'm sitting here trying to put myself in his mind, like, is he sad because he knows what life's gonna be like, he thinks, because he had an experience. He thinks that this is gonna be the you know, this is gonna be your son's experience. Is he angry at himself, which is ridiculous, but still, I guess, he feel at fault. I wonder if it's just ends up being a mix of the whole thing or if there's, like, an overwhelming portion of this that that's got him. Did you guys ever get to talk

Jason (49:28)

to He was angry at himself for pausing all of this. You know? I think that he had that definite guilt and anger in the beginning, but I think I and my wife, Tina, do a really good job of taking care of our two t one d boys that I think that helped shift his mindset a little bit.

Scott Benner (49:47)

Mhmm. Jason, do you feel like that at all? Do you feel like I did this?

Jason (49:51)

No. I don't feel like that.

Scott Benner (49:52)

You don't feel like that? Okay.

Jason (49:53)

Not at all.

Scott Benner (49:54)

Because well, here's a question for you. Do you think you don't feel like that because you're a reasonably healthy human being, who understands that this isn't their fault? Or do you think it's you don't feel that way because you can blame your dad because if there is a lineage, it started with him and not you.

Closing and Episode Outro

Scott Benner (50:15)

This episode was too good to cut anything out of, but too long to make just one episode. So this is part one. Make sure you go find part two right now. It's gonna be the next episode in your feed. The conversation you just heard was sponsored by Touched by Type One. Check them out, please, at touchedbytype1.org on Instagram and Facebook. You're gonna love them. I love them. They're helping so many people at touchedbytype1.org. Head now to tandemdiabetes.com/juicebox and check out today's sponsor, Tandem Diabetes Care. I think you're gonna find exactly what you're looking for at that link, including a way to sign up and get started with the Tandem Mobi system. I'd like to thank the Eversense three sixty five for sponsoring this episode of the Juice Box podcast and remind you that if you want the only sensor that gets inserted once a year and not every fourteen days. You want the Eversense CGM. Eversensecgm.com/juicebox. One year, one CGM. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of the juice box podcast. If you're not already subscribed or following the podcast in your favorite audio app, like Spotify or Apple podcasts, please do that now. Seriously, just to hit follow or subscribe will really help the show. If you go a little further in Apple Podcasts and set it up so that it downloads all new episodes, I'll be your best friend. And if you leave a five star review, oh, I'll probably send you a Christmas card. Would you like a Christmas card? How would you like to share a type one diabetes getaway like no other? Join me on Juice Cruise 2026. You may be asking, what is Juice Cruise? It's a week long cruise designed specifically for people and families living with type one diabetes. It's not just a vacation. It's a chance to relax, connect, and feel understood in a way that is hard to find elsewhere. We're gonna sail out of Miami, and the cruise includes stops in CocoCay, San Juan, Saint Kitts, Nevis aboard the stunning Celebrity Beyond. This ship is chosen for its comfort, accessibility, and exceptional amenities. You're gonna enjoy a welcoming environment surrounded by others who get life with type one diabetes. I'm gonna host diabetes focused conversations and meetups on the days at sea. There's thoughtfully designed spaces, incredible dining, and modern amenities all throughout the celebrity beyond. Your kids can be supervised, there's teen programs so everyone gets time to recharge. Not just the the kids going on vacation, but maybe you get the kickback a little bit too. There's gonna be zero judgment, real connections, and a whole lot of sun and fun on Juice Cruise 2026. Please come with me. You're going to have a terrific time. You can learn more or set up your deposit at juiceboxpodcast.com/juicecruise. Get ahold of Suzanne at cruise planners. She will take care of everything. Link's in the show notes. Link's at juiceboxpodcast.com. I created the diabetes variable series because I know that in type one diabetes management, the little things aren't that little, and they really add up. In this series, we'll break down everyday factors like stress, sleep, exercise, and those other variables that impact your day more than you might think. Jenny Smith and I are gonna get straight to the point with practical advice that you can trust. So check out the diabetes variable series in your podcast player or at juiceboxpodcast.com. Have a podcast? Want it to sound fantastic? Wrongwayrecording.com.

READ FULL TRANSCRIPT