#1863 Expert Testimony

Cory discusses his harrowing 1998 Type 1 diabetes diagnosis , overcoming clinical barriers to pumping and thyroid care , using GLP-1 therapy , and finding fulfillment as a community group expert.

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Key Takeaways

• Misdiagnosis & Triage Vulnerabilities: Acute onset symptoms of Type 1 diabetes can easily be misidentified by primary clinicians as minor environmental parasites, demonstrating why immediate emergency evaluation and symptom recognition (like ketones on the breath) are critical to preventing severe diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA).
• The Power of Clinical Self-Advocacy: Drowning under rigid baseline management parameters or clinical restrictions requires persistent patient self-advocacy. Finding progressive clinicians who will provide advanced tools without requiring a "perfect" early tracking history is key to long-term success.
• The Actionable Practicality of Pre-Bolusing: Effective diabetes care moves past basic carb counting to highlight active timing strategies. Implementing specific waiting windows between an insulin dose and meal consumption acts as a key element in smoothing out postprandial glucose spikes.
• Metabolic Stability via Modern GLP-1 Therapy: Utilizing advanced GLP-1 medications alongside standard Type 1 insulin therapy can lead to up to a 40–45% reduction in total daily insulin needs. This optimizes metabolic parameters and heavily dampens volatile high-low glycemic rollercoasters.
• Community Safety Nets and Peer Support: Moderated digital forums and specialized support networks serve as necessary psychological secondary spaces. They help families and advocates seamlessly process daily medical burdens, layout clinical boundaries, and share life-saving resources.

Resources Mentioned

• Juicebox Podcast Official Site: juiceboxpodcast.com
• US Med Diabetes Supply: usmed.com/juicebox (Or call 888-721-1514)
• Omnipod 5 Automated Insulin Delivery: omnipod.com/juicebox
• Wrong Way Recording Audio Services: wrongwayrecording.com

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Introduction and Behind-the-Scenes Insights

Scott Benner (0:0)

Here we are back together again, friends, for another episode of the Juice Box podcast.

Corey (0:14)

Hey. My name is Corey. I'm a type one diabetic. I was diagnosed at 19 about twenty seven years ago.

Scott Benner (0:23)

My grand rounds series was designed by listeners to tell doctors what they need, and it also helps you to understand what to ask for. There's a mental wellness series that addresses the emotional side of diabetes and practical ways to stay balanced. And when we talk about GLP medications, well, we'll break down what they are, how they may help you, and if they fit into your diabetes management plan. What do these three things have in common? They're all available at juiceboxpodcast.com up in the menu.

Scott Benner (0:50)

I know it can be hard to find these things in a podcast app, so we've collected them all for you at juice box podcast dot com. While you're listening, please remember that 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 or becoming bold with insulin.

Scott Benner (1:14)

This episode of the Juice Box podcast is sponsored by US Med, usmed.com/juicebox, or call (888) 721-1514. Get your supplies the same way we do from US Med.

Scott Benner (1:28)

Today's episode is also sponsored by Omnipod. Check out the Omnipod five now with my link, omnipod.com/juicebox. You may be eligible for a free starter kit, a free Omnipod five starter kit at my link. Go check it out. Omnipod.com/juicebox. Terms and conditions apply. Full terms and conditions can be found at omnipod.com/juicebox.

Corey (1:55)

Hey. My name is Corey. I'm a type one diabetic. I was diagnosed at 19 about twenty seven years ago.

Scott Benner (2:03)

Wow. And, Corey, just before we started to record, you said you were a little nervous, but tell me why you were nervous?

Corey (2:10)

Yeah. So not nervous to talk to you, Scott, but nervous in that I I just hope that my story will help even one person, you know, to do something a little better or to have a small positive change in their life. Yeah. That's what I'm hoping for here.

Scott Benner (2:25)

I want to start with that just so I could tell you the same thing I would tell anybody and have told people in the past when they say that is that in now over 1,800 recordings, I mean, I haven't deleted any of them. Like, I think people are always like, oh, my story isn't gonna be valuable. But, I mean, you find everybody's stories valuable. Right?

Corey (2:45)

Totally. Right.

Scott Benner (2:46)

Yeah. That's it. We don't edit out content. We don't take the thing you said at three minutes and move it to ten minutes and move stuff around. These are straight through recordings. You know, they get bleeped a little if somebody curses or something like that. But other than that, nothing gets taken out of them. And I think I've maybe only recorded three in twelve years that you guys haven't heard. And those weren't for reasons of you know, it's not like I recorded them, and I was like, oh god. That's horrible. I don't want anybody to hear it.

Scott Benner (3:15)

As a matter of fact, I'll tell you this. I won't give you the exact details, but the three that I've recorded that you haven't heard, one was just a technical issue where one of the voices didn't get recorded. One was where there was such a significant shift in the tone of the conversation. It was this upbeat conversation that was going on for I think we were forty five minutes into it. And just out of nowhere, the person I was talking to said something that was, like, a such a significant like, a violent thing that happened to them, and it just felt strange after that. And we were joking one second, and the next second, they said this thing, and I didn't feel like I pivoted quickly enough. Do you know what I mean? It would be like I don't know. If we were at a stand up concert together and the comedian's been talking for forty five minutes, and then you just turn to me and, like, tell me some atrocity that happened to you, and I'm laughing about the thing that happened five seconds before that.

Scott Benner (4:10)

We never found our footing again, and the two of us agreed when we were done just to delete it. And then I don't even remember what the third one was, But what I can tell you is that I've recorded a handful of conversations that I would tell you that when I'm done with them, they're not my cup of tea. Like, if I had to go back and listen to them, I wouldn't. And there was this one time I finished with this person. I would never say who it is, but I finished and I just really didn't like it. I did not have a good time talking to them. I did not enjoy the conversation. It felt boring to me. The whole thing turned me off about it. And it was the only time in and again, twelve years that I thought, I'm just gonna lose this one. Like, I'll send her an email and tell her something technical happened and I lost the file because I don't wanna put this out. And then I thought about it a little longer, and I said, Scott, you're not the only one listening to the podcast. Right? Like, other people have different sensibilities than you. I put it together just like I put out every other one, and it's incredibly popular. And I can't tell you which one it is, but Sure.

Corey (5:16)

No. I understand.

Scott Benner (5:17)

I didn't hate the person. I just I didn't like their voice. I didn't like the story. Like, the whole thing just maybe I was in a bit. I couldn't even begin to tell you. But people find it incredibly valuable. So, you know, I appreciate you being concerned, but I think we'll be okay.

Corey (5:32)

Yeah. Well, let's give it a shot and see what happens. Absolutely.

The 1998 Misdiagnosis and Emergency Triage

Scott Benner (5:35)

So you were diagnosed when you were 19 years old?

Corey (5:38)

Yeah. I was 19 back in October '98.

Scott Benner (5:41)

And how did you figure it out?

Corey (5:44)

Yeah. So it was probably about a six week onset from what I'll call normal to, you know, in the ER. And with that, it was a lot of the same stuff you've heard over and over. But for me, it was just mostly fatigue. And then about a week before the actual diagnosis, I'd gone to an air show with a friend and her family, and, her mother was a nurse, and we were all staying in, a small hotel room, anyway, out in West Texas. And she commented to me the next morning, do you know you got up four times, you know, in the night to use the restroom? And I said, no. I didn't realize that. And, anyway, she's like, yeah. You should probably have that looked into. And that was pretty much the end of that conversation. When I got back home, I ended up going to the doctor. I wasn't feeling well and gave him all of that and told him what what she had said, gave him my whole rundown. I'm really tired. I'm very thirsty. Obviously, urinating a lot. Everything that we now, you know, you know is classic symptoms. But told him all that. He said, well, you went out to West Texas. You probably got a some kind of a bug or a parasite or something in the water out there. So here's a pill for that, and then go home and drink as much Gatorade as you can to stay hydrated. Well, as you know, Gatorade is sugar water with some electrolytes. It has its place, but at that point I mean, I went to him probably around noon. By 10PM, I was in a whole another place. So my mom drove me down to the ER. I'm 19, lived at home still. We get into the ER, and this has actually been referenced on your podcast before. But in in that '98, and I live in the DFW area of Texas, there was, like, a heroin epidemic of young people, teenagers. And so when I walked in, barely walked into that there was a nurse there, a guy, and there was a cop. And, you know, what are you doing here? My mom's trying to tell him what's going on. I could barely talk. I was so dehydrated. Sitting there, the cop was very interested in me and why I was there. And the nurse was like, hey. We gotta take your temperature. And I'm like, I don't know if you can. And it kind of escalated, and I'm like, I don't think I can get the thermometer under my tongue. I'm so dehydrated. And he's like, well, if I can't put it under your tongue, I'm gonna shove it up your ass. That was pretty crazy. And right about that moment, a wonderful ER doctor walked through there and she stopped. I mean, right in her tracks. It was like, hey. What's going on here? And the guy's like, well, he just came in. And she's like, well, I can smell on his breath that he's diabetic. She literally grabbed me by the arm and said, come with me, put me in a bed. They got an insulin drip going, and that's about all I remember.

Scott Benner (8:52)

Yeah. Saved you from having a personal relationship with a thermometer too.

Corey (8:56)

Correct. No doubt.

Scott Benner (8:58)

Who said that to you about the—

Corey (9:00)

So he was like the triage nurse at the ER.

Scott Benner (9:03)

What's wrong with everybody, Corey? What do you think?

Corey (9:06)

I he was having a day, and so was I.

Scott Benner (9:09)

Your ass was almost having a day. And so He's like—

Corey (9:12)

I was like, wow. Okay. And ironically, I I never did get my temperature taken that day. But anyway so then the next morning, I was in the ER. Well, not in the ER. They had moved me to ICU. Mhmm. My dad showed up. At that point, we had not talked in a couple of years, just different stuff, but he was right there, which was awesome to find out, you know, what's going on with my son and everything. And so he's in there sitting with me and talking, and the doctor who I had gone to the previous day that told me I had a parasite, he was doing rounds in that hospital. He was like, what are you doing here? And I said, well, it wasn't a parasite. That was kinda fun. And, of course, he didn't apologize or anything. He just kinda, you know, was—

Scott Benner (9:55)

Mhmm.

Corey (9:56)

Played it cool. Next morning, off we went. So then go through the normal, what I'll call normal diabetes education. I was, a few weeks later, put into a room, you know, with a lot of nice folks, but mostly type twos. In fact, I think they all were. And the person was just kinda going over, you know, here's a what a banana is and how to count a carb and, you know, what is a protein, those kinds of things. So it was very basic education. Was given a sliding scale with, I guess, the clear and cloudy back then. So taking, you know, shots, syringes, and I had a tester, you know, a blood glucose tester, and that was pretty much it.

Living with Syringes, Pumps, and Clinical Friction

Scott Benner (10:38)

I'm sorry to ask you, but at 19, were you living at home with your mom?

Corey (10:42)

So I was living up with my mom. My parents are divorced.

Scott Benner (10:44)

Okay. And what does support look like when you're diagnosed at that age in that situation as far as family goes?

Corey (10:51)

Yeah. So it was, this is yours. Yeah. There was no—

Scott Benner (10:57)

Let me understand this for you.

Corey (10:58)

Let me understand or or whatever. It was pretty much like, what's the diet look like? Okay. Eat a healthy diet. Take, you know, the insulin per the sliding scale. And, of course, there was no CGM, anything like that. So you just test every couple hours. Of course, it was all on me at that point as a 19 year old.

Scott Benner (11:18)

Okay. And were you in college or going to college?

Corey (11:21)

Yeah. Going to school, working full time. So trying to keep a job, of course, and going to school in the evenings. And then—

Scott Benner (11:28)

Doing all this.

Corey (11:29)

Trying to live a life on top of that too.

Scott Benner (11:31)

You know, it's funny. I I ask people, like, how long does it take you to pull it altogether, ignoring the fact that maybe you don't feel like you have it altogether. Uh-huh. Yeah. How long did it take to feel like you had a, I don't know, a rhythm?

Corey (11:43)

So that's a good question. Probably, I had a follow-up appointment with the doctor, not the same one, by the way, that had diagnosed me before, a new doctor. And at that point, yeah, it was a good amount of time. And and honestly, I thought I had it together. Right? I was alive. I was doing the things. Even way back then, I don't remember what my a one c's would have been, but they weren't where I would want them to be now for sure. Probably the eights, the nine, somewhere in there.

Scott Benner (12:15)

Okay.

Corey (12:16)

Without having all that data in between the tests, it's just hard to know what was all going on. And then being 19 and all the things I worked different hours and and all, it was a lot of, you know, take the basal. Once I moved to I did finally move to Lantus and Humalog pens. Take the basal, whatever they tell you to take, and then, you know, inject insulin before you eat. I didn't go low a lot, and that's probably because my a one c was higher. So it must be working. So I don't know if I ever really felt like it was together, but I felt like I wasn't dying and I was still moving forward.

Scott Benner (12:51)

Are those expectations set up by you or by physicians? Or I mean, how long ago was this?

Corey (12:56)

That would have been 98 in the, you know, like, 2000, somewhere in there at that point.

Scott Benner (13:02)

The Internet exists. Like, you have the ability to go out into the world and try to find out more about your situation. So do you do that or you just kinda take the—

Corey (13:10)

No. No. I never did. Not at that point.

Scott Benner (13:13)

Nope. Can you put into words did you know the a one c where it was wasn't optimal, or did you feel like it was more than acceptable?

Corey (13:21)

I felt that it was acceptable. Acceptable. There was never—I don't wanna say more than acceptable, but there was never discussion from the doctor or any of the other medical type folks that things were going in a way that were suboptimal. Mhmm. It just was like, okay. You're doing the things. You're doing the things. Check your feet. You know?

Scott Benner (13:43)

Check your feet.

Corey (13:44)

Go to the eye doctor once a year and—Right. Yeah. You're doing all that in your twenties, so you must be fine. And that was the situation. So I, you know, always took insulin when I ate, but never—you know, it—it—it's certainly not like it is today for me.

Scott Benner (14:01)

No. Well, I know you modern day to be a thoughtful person. So I wanna know, like, what tipped you from that stasis to, you know, looking deeper.

Scott Benner (14:11)

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Scott Benner (15:14)

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Corey (16:37)

That's a great question. So in 2011, I moved to a pump. I was finally was able to, I say, talk a doctor into that. I—I got a better endo at a much better place. The one before was basically, like, if you don't test your blood eight times a day, you don't get a pump. And it was like, okay. You know?

Scott Benner (16:57)

Awesome. Thanks. Yeah.

Corey (16:58)

You know, thanks. So, you know, it was basically, like, we're not gonna give you the tools. And I know you've certainly talked about this before. We're not gonna give you the tools until you don't need them is how it felt. Mhmm. And so, you know, just wasn't set up for a whole lot of success with that doctor. There was would give me type two medications. So I don't even know if the doctor thought, you know, I was actually a type one or if I had type two or a little bit of both or whatever.

Scott Benner (17:25)

What other medications was this guy who wouldn't give you a lifeboat till you stop drowning?

Corey (17:29)

So he—there was a pill like Actos. He gave me that, which was kinda like a metformin type pill.

Scott Benner (17:35)

Uh-huh.

Corey (17:36)

He wanted me on that. He did give me all the way back then Victoza, which I know is like a GLP one.

Scott Benner (17:42)

Just a—

Corey (17:43)

much earlier version of one. That was helpful, actually. You know? But, again, not a lot of help as far as the the technology and any of that goes.

Scott Benner (17:52)

Tell me how the Victoza help before we move on.

Corey (17:55)

A bit more stable blood sugars, probably not as high highs Mhmm is what I would say about that.

Scott Benner (18:02)

Okay. Okay.

Corey (18:03)

Didn't lose a lot of weight or anything. It wasn't where GLPs are today, but it was minor—you know, a little bit helpful.

Scott Benner (18:08)

Saw some improvements. Yeah. I love the idea of, like, you're drowning, and I have a lifeboat. But when you stop drowning, I'll give it to you.

Corey (18:15)

That's how it felt at the time.

Scott Benner (18:18)

Corey, just in case, like, did you just say it took thirteen years to give you a pump?

Corey (18:22)

That's right.

Scott Benner (18:22)

Okay. So That's right. Again, I know you as an adult. Did you code differently back then? Was somebody look. I'm sorry. Is that what young people say?

Corey (18:30)

I don't know. I'm not a young people.

Scott Benner (18:32)

Are you a much different person today than you were back then?

Corey (18:35)

No. I would say I'm not. I would say I'm not.

Scott Benner (18:38)

Just a bad clinician you had?

Corey (18:40)

Yes. Yeah. Okay. That's right. And also, I—I try to be kind to people. But so to me, insulin was you get insulin, you get a tester. That was kind of, you know, the way it was. Pumps and all of that, that was fancy stuff, and and it was pretty new. Well, at least to me, was a new thought, it was just kinda—it was just out of reach at that point. Not due to finances or anything, just it wasn't available. And—and, again, hearing from that doctor and "you don't test enough," that sort of thing. And it felt like you have to be a perfect diabetic in order to, you know, to get the tools. So was referred by a friend of my wife's. She was more of an acquaintance, but she worked in an Endo's office, recommended I go change doctors, go there. That was a huge step forward for me. Okay. That would have been in about 2012. And a large teaching hospital, he's an ENDO there and, you know, more at the forefront of the things that are happening, what's going on. He was like, yeah. You need a pump. We need to get you on one as soon as we can. Got on a a Medtronic. I don't remember the version, but it was the one that looks like a beeper and they had different colors. But anyway, you know, it was a dumb pump, but it was still a pump. That was a lot better, just easier, you know, to be able to give myself insulin and have a square bolus for a pizza or those kinds of things. That was definitely helpful. At that point, my a one c was probably running around an eight before going and seeing him, and we were able to get it down to to the low sevens. That was good. That was definitely moving in the right direction. Well, I'll never forget seeing the paperwork after one of the visits, and it said I was a noncompliant diabetic.

Scott Benner (20:26)

Oh.

Corey (20:27)

And that was the first time I'd ever heard of that. And and I just felt like, what? You know, he didn't say you're doing anything wrong or you're not listening or you're not doing. Why am I being coded that way? And that was not a wake up call, but it was just something that got my brain thinking, like, what am I not doing? Mhmm. What is—you know, and this was, again, 2012. So this is still quite a while back. But—

An Unplanned Adoption and the Motivation to Heal

Scott Benner (20:54)

Is there any shame attached to that? Like, when—

Corey (20:59)

Yes. For sure. Right.

Scott Benner (21:00)

Did reading that make you think, oh, that's right. I don't do a good job. Or did it make you think, what does that mean? Like, I'm trying as hard as I can. I thought I was doing well. Like, where do you fall in that spectrum?

Corey (21:12)

So reading that, I would say I wasn't trying as very hard as I could at that point. Like, it was more, okay. I'm doing it, but I'm not doing everything that I need to be doing. I need to be, you know, checking my blood sugar more often or—or really thinking more about the foods that I'm eating. You know, how old was I at that point? 30, something like that.固定 Right? Like, I need to dial this in. I need to get better at this. So that all coincided with the adoption of our daughter, my wife and I, in 2013. That's another story for a different podcast, but we more or less had a baby fall in our lap. And, you know, you ask people all the time, like, why do you do these things for other people that you don't do for yourself? And every time I hear those episodes, I think of myself that way because my wife and I, we wanted this child. We wanted this baby. And I felt like if my blood sugars aren't good or if I'm not managing this well Mhmm will there be a hiccup in the adoption process? Will they say, you know, we'll find a different parent? Think something like that. And that—that really got me on the train to better at that point.

Scott Benner (22:29)

Okay. Hey. You said a baby fell into your laps. Why did a baby not fall out of a lap? Were you having trouble conceiving? Or—

Corey (22:36)

Well yeah. So well, we just, for whatever reason, never did have a natural child or a child on our own. Could be. We never really dug into it. It didn't happen. But through that, a woman basically told my wife at one point, very random, but a friend of mine is pregnant and not gonna be able to keep the child. Do you know of anybody who would be interested in adopting? Mhmm. And she came home and told me about that, and it was like, wow. You know, first of all, you know, generally, people aren't talking to people they don't know all that well about, like, you know, somebody who wants a baby. Like, that's just not typical, but that must mean that they're in a place where they they don't have any other option. Anyway, we both thought and prayed about that and both got a yes answer in our hearts and decided this is our life and and this is what we're going to do.

Scott Benner (23:31)

That's lovely.

Corey (23:32)

It is. And best decision. It was a wonderful and we now have a lovely 12 year old daughter who is—who is just amazing.

Scott Benner (23:41)

Excellent. That's wonderful.

Corey (23:42)

Yes. But with that, you know, it was like, okay. I've got this baby. I mean, she's 2 days old. She's in my arms, and I gotta be here for her.

Scott Benner (23:53)

But, Corey, before that, the thought process was if I'm not taking care of myself as well as I should be or could be, then maybe the adoption process will reflect that. We won't get the baby. Was that a concern of yours? Correct.

Corey (24:08)

That was a concern of mine. Yes. Okay. It was. Whether it was a valid concern or not, I don't know.

Scott Benner (24:13)

Yeah. Whatever. But it—it popped into your head that way.

Corey (24:16)

That's right.

Scott Benner (24:16)

Did you share that with your wife at the time?

Corey (24:20)

Yes. You did.

Scott Benner (24:21)

Did she say, Corey, you take great care of yourself. What are you talking about? Or did she say, yeah. I was wondering when you were gonna get around to that.

Corey (24:29)

Probably somewhere in the middle. In the middle. Like, let's make some changes, and let's let's do the things. You know, what do we need to do to, you know, to make this better? She was supportive.

Scott Benner (24:39)

But She was supportive. But—but so you—but you guys were married for how long at that point?

Corey (24:43)

What? Eight years, nine years?

Scott Benner (24:45)

Fair amount of time. Yep. Does she have any involvement or understanding of your diabetes at eight years in?

Corey (24:52)

She knows obviously knows I have it. She knows I have insulin that I take before I eat, but no. Not really.

Scott Benner (25:00)

Who's doing is that? Is it—is it her not being interested or you not being forthcoming, or is it like a quiet understanding?

Corey (25:08)

Probably quiet. It was never that I didn't want her to know or didn't want her to be a part of it. It was just like, hey. I got this. You know, it's just my thing. And Yeah. yeah. And I—I just—it's just an extra little thing I have to manage on the side of—of everything.

Scott Benner (25:24)

Just a little extra little thing. Is that the case today?

Corey (25:28)

Mostly. She probably has—I mean, I would say a little more involvement or at least a little more understanding. We've had more conversations around—I haven't even talked about kind of our home life and where we are today. But if we eat dinner and then I need to be active immediately after, that—that's not the best scenario because of all the insulin that might be on board Mhmm I'm gonna go low. So it's better to do the activity first and then do the eating, you know, so she has a bit more understanding around things like that than—than maybe before. She couldn't operate my pump or anything like that, but she knows when she hears the sounds, you know, oh, low blood sugar. Do you need some Skittles or whatever? So she's involved in that way, but—but not—I mean, she if I was an invalid, she wouldn't be able to just take over and—

Scott Benner (26:24)

Yeah.

Corey (26:25)

you know, manage my insulin or anything.

Scott Benner (26:27)

Okay. Is that a thing you want? Or, like, do you—do you wish that somebody knew more about—

Corey (26:33)

No. I don't think so. I—I no. I mean, it's fine that she knows what she knows, obviously, but I—I don't—I don't really think so. I—I'm—I'm good with it. And at this point, I take pride almost in, you know, how well I'm able to manage it and—and what I do. And—and so I try to have it not be a burden for myself and—and also for—for her or for anybody else.

Challenging the System: Thyroid Diagnostics and GLP-1 Breakthroughs

Scott Benner (26:57)

Is that a bit of a, like, a manly thing? Like, I won't put this on somebody else. I don't know if that's the right way to think of it. But, like, are you trying—are you trying to save people from having to be concerned about it? Do you think that they'd think differently about you if they understood it completely?

Corey (27:13)

No. And especially not her. I don't think she'd think differently about me at all. More of not being a burden. You know, I'd—I'd prefer just to handle it myself and—

Scott Benner (27:24)

No. I—

Corey (27:24)

understand.

Scott Benner (27:25)

I yeah. It's just interesting.

Corey (27:26)

To just kinda live. Yeah. No.

Scott Benner (27:28)

It's good. It's interesting to hear your pick through it, really. Do you have any other autoimmune issues?

Corey (27:32)

Great question. I thought you'd never ask. I do. I have a touch, if you will, of the Vitilago. It's not real apparent, but—but you can see it especially in the summer if I'm a little tan. Also thyroid, I don't know if it's Hashimoto's. We never—we haven't done any kind of antibody test for that, but definitely thyroid issues there.

Scott Benner (27:58)

Are they very impactful or—or is it manageable?

Corey (28:00)

The thyroid? It is. And—so to kinda jump to that, to the thyroid. So I started listening to your podcast about three years ago. It was April '23. And at that point, I found the podcast really through other Facebook groups and through you're looking at Apple podcasts and just trying to find, you know, okay. Is there something I can be listening to that might help, you know, with my a one c and that kind of thing to get that dialed in? Anyway, found your podcast. And at that point in time, I can't remember the exact episodes, but there were a number of them on thyroid. And just hearing those stories and hearing the talk about the different, symptoms that people were having, it was like, hey. That sounds like me. Yeah. And so I was like, hey. I need to get that checked out. That was, you know, important. I was already doing better on the—with the diabetes, but I—but I—that was—that was like, okay. So I went in to the—the endo, talked to him about that. He did a thyroid check, a blood test. I don't remember the exact number. It might have come back at a seven or an eight. And he said for the TSH, he said, well, you're not a 10 or higher, so you're—you're fine. You don't need anything.

Scott Benner (29:20)

But, Corey, you must have had symptoms at a seven or—

Corey (29:22)

an eight. I did. I did. I totally did. I—I had tired, chronic fatigue, waking up feeling more tired than when I had gone to bed. Like, I knew if I had just stayed up all night, I would be better off this morning than if I had gone to bed.

Scott Benner (29:38)

Gone through this ruse of sleeping.

Corey (29:40)

Correct. It was just awful. Yeah. Cold feet, especially in the winter, just, you know, all of this. And I remember at that time, I know you don't, but I reached out to you. I sent you a—a message in Facebook or somewhere and was just like, hey. And you're like, you just gotta keep pushing. You gotta keep pushing. And so that's what I did. And went back six months later, gave the same story. He's like, well, you're at a four or five or six something. It was a little lighter, a little better, but it wasn't any better. You're fine. He wouldn't do it. So then kept pushing, kept being tired, all that, but—but kept pushing. And so every appointment, I'd bring it up. And then you had more discussions about, you know, about the thyroid. If you're two or—or more and you've got symptoms, you need—you know, you—you most likely need medication or it's definitely good to—to look into. And I'm like, this—he's—he's totally describing me. You were describing me at that point in these—in these conversations. And I'm like, I've gotta keep pushing. Know? He wouldn't budge while it's still at the same teaching hospital, a nurse practitioner or PA, whatever. She was in there. I went to her, and I was talking to her about it. And I'm like, look. Is it gonna hurt me to take the pill? You know? Is it gonna hurt? If I do it and I don't need it, is this gonna hurt me? She's like, no. I'm like, then why can't I just give it a shot? You know, a low dose levothyroxine, whatever. Can I not, you know, give it a shot? Fine. I think she—I just was being such a pain in the—in the butt that she was like, you know what? If I just give him this, he'll go away. So I started taking it. That was a year ago, just about a year ago. And I—I felt better. I—not perfect, certainly, but I—I felt like, okay. This is making a difference for me.

Scott Benner (31:40)

Okay.

Corey (31:41)

Still in the winter, you know, like this past winter, my feet just for some reason, they just would get cold, especially if I was barefoot in the house, whatever. I probably need a higher dose of this stuff. Went back to the doctor. This would have been in the—in the 2025, so just a few months ago, and was talking to him and telling him all of this again. And he's like, well, you know, there are studies recently that have come out that say if you're at a two or higher and you have symptoms, you—you probably should be on—on levothyroxine. And I was like Yeah.

Scott Benner (31:37)

I heard that on a podcast.

Corey (32:18)

I heard that on a podcast three years ago, dude. Where have you been? Like, come on. Shake my head, but, you know, like you—you say, you know, just smile and nod and okay. Great. So he upped the dose, and—and that has made a world of difference for me.

Scott Benner (32:34)

Great.

Corey (32:34)

So, yes, that—thank you for that.

Scott Benner (32:37)

Oh. Please.

Corey (32:38)

And—and really just the—the idea of keep pushing. Don't take the no for an answer. You know? Find—find the relief that you need. If you're having symptoms, get them—get them treated.

Scott Benner (32:50)

Yeah. I've been talking about this a fair amount lately because it's just been in my head for a while since someone said it to me. So brief overview, someone described me to me as being direct, and it was off putting to me. And that, I guess, the people listening probably sounds silly, but I thought, oh, I'm not direct. Like, I know direct people. I'm not direct like that. And I realized that might be a spectrum as well. What I'm—I guess what I've taken from it now over time is that if a person like you who—I mean, you're just a very polite kind person. Like, if you can borrow a little bit of my—I don't know. Whatever what you wanna call it, being an asshole and, like, apply it to your own life and it helps you.

Scott Benner (33:29)

I'm all for that. I'm wondering how much of my attitude is actually a value in the podcast when it's sprinkled out across the country and across the world. I mean, there's—podcast is, you know, is pretty popular in a lot of different countries. So, I mean, how many people have just been born, raised, bred to just kinda put their eyes to the floor a little bit, say thank you, walk away even when they don't get what they need? It sounds like that might have been helpful to you.

Corey (33:55)

It was—so—I mean, it was totally helpful to me at that point.

Scott Benner (33:59)

Okay. Cool.

Corey (34:00)

Yes.

Scott Benner (34:00)

Well, I'm glad that me being like this is valuable to somebody. So—but I don't—but just so everyone knows, I don't—I don't see it. I am a—I'm a pretty quiet person in my—in the world I live in. I'm not boisterous. I don't think. And then I—I have moments where I step out of myself and I look and I realize that can't possibly be true. May I tell you a story real quick, Corey?

Corey (34:22)

Absolutely. I—

Scott Benner (34:22)

was in the grocery store last night, and I—I've—I've had two experiences now, one—one after the other. One was the day before the grocery store. Why is someone calling me? Do they not know I'm making a rather popular podcast? Hold on a second.

Scott Benner (34:37)

I was at a home store buying, like, bolts. You know what I mean? And Mhmm I I'm in an aisle by myself. And down the other end of the aisle, this man turns the aisle, starts walking up. I look and I go, oh, I know that guy. I don't just know him. Like, I really know him. Like, he's my brother in law's wife's sister's husband. Like, I really, really know him. You know what I mean? He's walking up the aisle, looking at me, and I'm looking at him. And I'm already thinking about, like, saying, hey, and all this stuff. And he just comes up to me, looks me in the face, and walks right past me. I was like, what in the heck? I went—I'll just say his name. Was like, Kenny. And he goes—he turns and looks at me, and I'm like, Kenny, hey. And then he's staring at me, I go, it's Scott. And he goes, oh, hey. And it just turns out, long story short, I've lost so much weight. He didn't recognize me. And I was like, oh, we talked a little bit. That's not the point. I go to the grocery store the next day, and I'm heading to check out.

Scott Benner (35:34)

And I'm sort of going down the main aisle at the front of the store, and this person two aisles ahead of me comes out, turns out of that aisle into the main aisle, walking towards me. It's a person I've known for twenty five years. Our kids played baseball together. Like, this whole thing. He looked at me. I looked at him. I started to smile. I started to say his name out loud. I went—I was like, he doesn't know who I am. And we just walked past each other. Now where does that come in with the whole being forward thing? I get in the line. There's a woman having trouble using a coupon. She's buying a baby formula. She's having trouble using the coupon. She has never—kids with her, and there are three kids behind the register trying to figure out how to make this coupon work. They are having an actual conversation about this. And I just walk up. Everyone looks up at me because I'm appearing. It's later at night. There's not many people at the store. And I went, hey. I'm sorry to, bother you, but I just got passed by a person who I've known for twenty five years, and they didn't recognize me because I've lost so much weight. And then we all started high five. And that—that actually happened. And then while they were working on the coupon, the lady and I were talking about, like, you know, she just had twins, and I was asking her about the formula and talking about—well, you were talking about the cost of kids and everything. We're embroiled in, like, a real conversation that she's not—for those of you out there who are, like, introverted, you're like, oh, she was probably mortified. She wasn't. We were having a nice time. Now that I think back on that as I'm talking to you, like, I guess that's what people mean when they say I'm direct. But, like, I just see that as, like, friendly. But I guess that's not it maybe for everybody. Anyway, whatever. As long as—as long as your thyroid's straight now, Corey, I don't really care. This is what's important. But this was just a year ago with the thyroid thing?

Corey (37:17)

Yeah. I—I wanna say a year, year and a half.

Scott Benner (37:19)

But you've been listening to the show for three years?

The Evolution of Peer Advocacy and the Long-Term Mission

Corey (37:22)

For three, but it took that long to persuade him to—to write the prescription.

Scott Benner (37:27)

Yeah. And how long have you—oh, you know, we've never met. Forty minutes in. You're a group expert in the Facebook group too. How long have you been doing that?

Corey (37:35)

It's been two, two and a half years.

Scott Benner (37:37)

Okay. So six months into listening to the podcast, we easily identified you as being just a very kind, valuable person in the Facebook group and—and approached you about this. Can you tell me from your perspective, what's it like to be at home and get a message from just a group that you participate in? And they're like, hey. Would you like to be more involved? Like, what was that like to—to hear that?

Corey (37:58)

Oh, very fulfilling. I—mean, even that, just knowing that I—I can help people and that I had been already helping them without any—I've called a title, I guess, group expert. It's not really—I mean, you know, it's what it is.

Scott Benner (38:11)

But small—it's a small badge next to your name. Yeah. Yeah.

Corey (38:14)

Correct. Right. But, you know, I—I just wanted to be helpful to—to other folks. I learned so much in that short amount of time from just listening to episodes of the podcast and being in the group as well. I just wanted to lead people to the same success that I had been having, you know. And—and so then when I'm told, well, you're doing a good job of this. We wanna make this a bit more official. Awesome. It's working. That means this is hap—you know, that I'm making a difference. And that that's really been—been the goal of being, you know, a group expert. It's just really trying to not have all the answers, but at least point people in the right direction so that they can, you know, they can find the success they're looking for.

Scott Benner (38:57)

Right. What's the experience without giving away anybody's, you know, personal information? Like, there's, you know, pretty big—there can't be, like, 12 or 13 of you. There's a lot of you at this point.

Corey (39:06)

Yeah. We have a good number.

Scott Benner (39:07)

And so you guys all have, like, a, like, a private chat where you talk. I—I every time I bring this up, I set up very specifically. I'm not in it so that everybody feels comfortable talking and doesn't feel like they're talking—That's right. in front of the teacher or something like that, which it seems silly, but at the same time, I've—I've been assured it's important.

Scott Benner (39:25)

By the way, I don't mean it seems silly like it seems silly to feel like you could misspeak in front of me. Like, I don't—I don't feel like I have—Right.

Corey (39:32)

I agree.

Scott Benner (39:32)

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't feel like I have any level of—anyway, I don't think there's a pecking system. I think we're just a bunch of people all trying to do the same thing, which is help those now, like, 82,000 members in there, you know, to find some, you know, comfort or—or—or connection, maybe an answer to. If anything, what has being involved in that small group meant to you? Those other group experts and you together.

Corey (39:58)

That's a great question. And I know you—it wasn't planted either. It's an amazing support. Just like the—the 82,000 Facebook, you know, members is an amazing support. It—it's sad. It's a little more personalized. Right? It's the same group of us that—that have that conversation going. I mentioned a few minutes ago, you know, when I was first diagnosed, my dad, we hadn't talked in a, you know, in, you know, a year or two for whatever reason, and who knows now what that even was. I was a kid. But five years ago, my dad was diagnosed with cancer. You know, with that, his—his wife and I were helping him. He was 71, 72 at the time. She was ten years older, 81, 82, helping him with getting the treatment, to doctor appointments, all those kinds of things. And then, you know, there was a lot of waiting, you know, in a waiting room or while he's getting the treatment, etcetera. When I was able to join that group, the group expert group, two and a half, whatever years ago, it—it was actually right—right as a lot of that treatment was happening for him.

Scott Benner (41:12)

Mhmm.

Corey (41:13)

And so they were like a support group for me whether they know it or not. And, because I didn't really wanna, again, to be a burden on them, but just being able to talk about, hey. There's this post. They're putting a GoFundMe in the group. Are we allowing that? Are we not? You know, whatever. Just having those kind of conversations or—or just general banter about things was a—was a great support to me. You know, also kept my mind off of the other things that were going on, you know, my dad and—and his health situation. You know, it—it just turned out to be a support that I didn't even know I needed or—or didn't even, you know, need whenever—whenever you guys ask for that. But—but it became a huge, huge help to me during that time.

Scott Benner (42:06)

I watched through an intermediary, basically. Right.

Corey (42:09)

So Isabel first, does Isabel feel like a part of the group, one of the guys feeling, or does she feel like a school mom to you? Like, how does that work in there?

Corey (42:18)

So she's one of us. She is, but she—I—I know of course, she has her own whole entire life, but then she also has the other duties that she's got within this—within this realm. So she's not as active in that chat. However, if we—if we add her or whatnot, you know, she's pretty quick to respond. And so she is there and—and definitely catches up, you know, once a day or—or more with the different messages. And if somebody posts, hey. You had my a one c today or—or whatever, you know, she'll, you know, love that or give it a thumb up or whatever.

Scott Benner (42:54)

Yeah.

Corey (42:54)

And she's definitely a part of the—the conversation, probably less than some of us, but she's great.

Scott Benner (43:00)

Yeah. Yep. She keeps me apprised of—she's not copying and pasting or telling me exactly what's being said, but she'll say something like, I think Corey's having a—a hard time right now as an example because you brought it up or something like that. She might even say to me, like, you should reach out to somebody and see if they're okay. I've seen a lot of, like, great, like, ideas from them.

Scott Benner (43:18)

They're doing such a good job managing things in the group or whatnot. Like, it makes me—like, watching you guys through that lens, I guess this is where I was starting. Watching you through that lens really gives me—it makes me think about what, like, small support systems would look like. And, like, it makes me—like, I dream about, like, one day the—the infrastructure on Facebook or somewhere else being able to create small groups of 10 or 20 people who are—are connected like that in smaller, like, online support groups. Like, right, like, I don't know if I could sever a thing I can make happen, but I wonder about it a lot.

Scott Benner (44:00)

Like, how valuable would it be to put together just a handful of people in a chat that could be helpful to each other? And I don't know how to do that really, but it feels like it's a good idea. I just don't—

Corey (44:12)

It does.

Scott Benner (44:13)

Yeah.

Corey (44:14)

I just wonder—like, we were not looking for, you know, a quote, unquote support group.

Scott Benner (44:19)

It just happened for you that way.

Corey (44:21)

It just happened. You know, it's like, hey. We're just all kinda doing this thing together. We certainly have things in common with, you know, type one and whatnot. And then you just—you just kind of build a rapport and, you know, it just kinda happens. But, yeah, I don't know if you could do that.

Scott Benner (44:37)

Yeah. In the end, I don't think it's a thing I would do because there are more unknowns. Like, you know, we're having a nice conversation that's upbeat, but, like, yeah, sometimes people are jerks and, you know, you could randomly grab one of those people. You guys are a—I know this is probably a weird way to think of yourselves, but you're a highly curated group of people. Like, you all have, like, a lot of attributes that over time impress themselves on me and—and—or—or Isabelle or sometimes each other.

Scott Benner (45:05)

Like, sometimes you guys will speak up and say, like, hey. You should add this person. We think this person would be great in the group, like that kind of thing. It's not a random pairing of 20 people, which I—I can imagine could easily turn into, like, blood sport somehow. If I had time to do a research project, I think I would do it on you all helping each other and helping the group and what value this has been for you having personal connections like this and what value have you had from helping other people.

Scott Benner (45:35)

Like, I think there's an entire—I think there's an entire ecosystem within the group of you that is incredibly interesting, you know, which is why I try to interview you all at some point or another if you're interested. Nobody's been forced to, obviously. It's just interesting to hear your thoughts about—about why you do it and because it's time. I mean, it is a—it's time too. Like, I listen.

Scott Benner (45:54)

Fifteen minutes before you and I did this, I texted Isabelle, and I said, hey. I need a Omnipod five list pulled out of the algorithm list. I wanna separate them. She's a, like, an adult. You—you know what I mean? Like—like—

Corey (46:09)

Right.

Scott Benner (46:09)

She has things to do.

Scott Benner (46:10)

Yeah. You guys aren't being paid. And twenty minutes later, she's like, it's in the—it's in our shared folder. She just went and did it real quick. You guys are never gonna, like, you know, realize, like—like, I couldn't get this all done without everybody. Building a website now that's just for doctors. Like, so I was, a hospital reached out to me, a couple actually, and said we need a cleaner way of sharing the podcast with people. And so I've been working on that. But so much of how the website comes together is, you know, links that are collected on lists, lists of episodes with links and to them and, like, all this stuff that—trust me. You don't know me that well, Corey, but I would not have done on my own.

Scott Benner (46:55)

Sure.

Scott Benner (46:55)

The update to, like, the—the end of—the end of page, the juice box docs where, you know, I think we have, like, over 200 doctors now that listeners have sent in and said, like, look. This is a really good clinician. I wish other people knew about them. And it's so incredibly searchable, and, you know, part of that is just that AI has allowed me to code without understanding how to code. But part of it is that that information was all collected somewhere. And it's, again, not a thing I would do. It's in a—I know this probably sounds so basic to, you know, most people have jobs, but, like, spreadsheets are set up. My brain's way more artistic than that. Like, do you know what I mean? Like, I would not have said, like, oh, I have all this information come in. This is data. I should, you know, do something with it. You have an idea how many people say to me, like, do you have an email list? You know, like, I'll get involved with, a sponsor and they'll be like, know, you know, do you ever send out an email? Like, could we put an ad in an email and, you know, or something like that? And I'll go like, oh, yeah. I mean, I have a list. There's not many people on it. And then they're like, well, how many people are on—I'm like, like, 10,000.

Scott Benner (47:57)

And they laughed. They're like, you think you have a 10,000 person email list? It's not a big email list. And I was like, I don't know. Doesn't sound like a lot of people. And they're like, well, how often do you use it? I'm like, I don't really. So, you know, like, is that—should I? Is that a thing? And then I just go, I don't wanna bother people. I don't know. Like, my—it just all doesn't work that way for me in my head. Like, I just think make the stuff, put it out, cover everybody's concerns, and then word-of-mouth. Like, I really genuinely believe word-of-mouth is the only thing that works. I think you can email people. You're gonna reach them at the wrong time of day, on the wrong day, not when they're interested, not when they're able, you know, two days before their kids are on spring break, whatever. I think I see the podcast and the space the way you may have heard me talk about, like, parenting where, like, I've said before, like, I think one of the best things I've ever done for my kids has been at home when they got home from school. This idea that I'm gonna open the door and the thing that I know is, like, supportive for me is going to be there, and there won't be any, like, hoops between me and that. I kinda think of all this that way. When they come to you, that's when you need to be there with—with the information or the answer or just the—the stability and chasing them around with it.

Scott Benner (49:19)

You should know how to bolus for fat. Like, nobody wants to hear that. You know what I mean? But the day they realize they need the bolus for fat, they wanna know where to go to find out. And I think that's sort of what this is. It gets kind of like a—more of a long term idea than than a short term gains thing for me. So, anyway, well, there's a lot of talking about a podcast. What do you think? Do you think it's working? Do you—do you ever look up and go, you know what he should be doing, but it's not my place?

Scott Benner (49:45)

Do you have any—like, you guys would share stuff like that with me if you thought that way. Right?

Corey (49:48)

We would. Yeah. No. I—I think it's working. You know, you're coming at it with a lot of different topics from a lot of different angles. You know, the bolus four, that's great. Right? That's very tactical, very usable information. You've got the more mental health stuff, which is great, you know, for caregivers, for patients, whatever, for all of us. And then, you course, the pro tips, all of the—the different series that you have, and then even the—the things that are—that are kind of connected but not identical, like the thyroid stuff, the GLP. You know, I—I think you're covering the diabetes basis as well as things that if you have this, this other thing might be interesting to you, and—and I see that you're covering—covering those things all in doing it in an entertaining way as well. Like you said, it's not dry and—and boring.

Scott Benner (50:43)

Oh, jeez. I mean, I don't know if there could be anything worse than—

Corey (50:46)

So whenever that—I'll bring this up, the thyroid thing. Whenever I was hearing you talk about it, I—like, well, I wonder if there's any other podcasts on that specifically. Right? And I went and I listened one day to this, and it was terrible, Scott. It was so bad. It was so bad. It really was two—two people, and you could tell they were reading from a script. "Good afternoon, Corey." It was exactly like that. It really was. And it was like, I know they're—I know what they're trying to do. I know why they're trying to do it. I—you know, like, it's they're trying to add value to the conversation, but it was done in such a way that it was like, this—

Scott Benner (51:26)

Not how it works.

Corey (51:27)

This is not gonna work.

Scott Benner (51:28)

Yeah. Yeah. It's not—it's not how people work, on the other side of it. And I just—I count myself lucky that I grew up listening to talk radio because I still see it. I mean, I've seen it for years of people, like, pop up and like, I—I try to say all the time. I—I—I don't know how, like, how it comes off, but I'm all for other people sharing their ideas and, like, getting good stuff out into the world. But, like, if you don't make it accessible, and by accessible, I don't mean just talking down to people or staying basic. I mean, making it interesting. If you don't do that, like, it doesn't matter. Like, I just think that you could hide the history to life forty five minutes deep into an episode of a podcast. And if the audio is bad or it's uninteresting, people are gonna go like, yeah. I don't need to know the secret to life that badly. And so, like, with something like this where you're already—people are already not super motivated to go out and learn more about their insulin and stuff like that, it has to just grab you in a different way. There's no world where people are going to willfully give of their time to listen to two people talk about thyroid in a way that makes you wanna jump out of a window while they're talking or in those big dumb voices they use sometimes or, you know, and they talk like, you know, weather ladies from, you know, from South Carolina or whatever the heck. Like, it's just like—it's all very—they don't get it because you see it professionally all the time from organizations like Breakthrough and ADA or, you know, I just saw—I just saw this thing.

Scott Benner (52:54)

I won't say anybody's name, but I saw this thing the other day. This organization, I think, does really good work. And I looked at some of their social media, I was like, this is terrible. Like, no one's gonna listen to this, and it has two likes. And you know damn well they're the likes. They turn it out, and it looks expensive. And I'm like, you—you're wasting time and resources and money. Like, you can write it all down any way you want. This is not how people learn, and it's not how people wanna spend their free time. I think that I get frustrated sometimes watching these professional organizations pretty much break their own shoulder, patting each other on the back all the time about all the good stuff they're doing in the world. And I'm like, no one's seeing it. No one. Like, you're putting it out there and no one sees it. I saw somebody win, like, an educator award from the ADA today, and I thought, I bet you I don't ever win that. And I don't—by—by the way, let me be very clear. I don't need it. Don't want it. Not asking for it. Sure. They wouldn't think about someone like me in a million years for that, but I reach way more people than the person they decided to point to and say, oh, that person's really helping a lot of people. No. They're not. They're making stuff that would be really helpful to people if they could actually deliver it to them, which they don't seem to be able to do. Anyway, now you got me upset, Corey. I'm not upset. I'm like—I'm actually like, I feel really passionate about it because I don't imagine I know everything. And I bet you a lot of those people have great information. And I've had some of them on, and later, they'll be mad at me. "Oh, you didn't let me talk the way I wanted to." I'm like, yeah. The way you talk, no one cares about. You made it all the way to me. I seem to know how to capture people's attention. Why would you not follow my lead on this? Like, why would you default back to this boring list reading that you're doing? I don't know. No one's ever gonna figure it out. Got—you know? But—and by the way, good. It keeps my podcast popular. You know what I mean, Cor?

Corey (54:42)

I do. Yeah. Yeah. And I would say, you know, in a slight way, you're a victim of your own success. You have 1,800 plus episodes, which are all good. Being able to find—and you've talked about this before too. Right? Being able to find the content that people need at that moment, that's—it's sometimes it's difficult. Right? Just because there's so many episodes. You know? And—and I certainly don't wanna take the human element out. I think that's great, especially in the Facebook group, you know, having a real—whether it's a group expert or a non group expert, just another member of the group, being able to answer a question or provide a—a link to a—to a podcast episode. I think that's so valuable. People—that they feel less alone right in the situation, whatever it is. But if there was a way to, you know, take their question and throw it in AI, and maybe I could do that. I haven't tried, but, you know, and say what episode do you recommend. I'm not Nico. You know? She's amazing at that. She's be better than AI when it comes to podcast episode recommendations, but, you know, that would be—that would be pretty cool. But—but in any case, you know, just being in the group, being able to share, you know, the information and Yeah. And then seeing people—just the other day, you know, somebody's like, hey. You know, my a one c was 11. Now it's eight. And it's like, what progress? That's so awesome. Keep going. You know? And, like, just seeing that, you know what you're doing is valuable, and that's why we're all here with you and behind you, you know, doing what we do because we wanna see that success happen—

Scott Benner (56:18)

That's why I appreciate

Corey (56:19)

it.

Scott Benner (56:20)

with others. Yeah. Yeah. I hope it's—I—I mean, I know we don't all talk very often, but even just the other day, like, I mean, a more direct, like, financial relationship with the editor. And just the other day, I was like, I don't know the last time I talked to him. I'm working. I'm sure you all—I assume you're all busy too. You're not looking to be involved with me all the time, but I hope it's obvious to everybody how much your involvement—and it means to me. It's—it's incredibly touching to see people put this kind of effort into something that they're, you know, only doing in—in—a—in a voluntary way. So it's—it's just, yeah, it's really great. Also, I'm—I have stuff like that coming for the website where it's gonna be more like keyword searchable. It's gonna pull stuff up. But you know what? I think it's nice and I think it's valuable and I'm gonna do it. But I also think that if you don't know what to type into the search bar, it doesn't matter.

Corey (57:08)

Right.

Scott Benner (57:09)

And so if you're—if you're so lost that you're having spikes ninety minutes after a meal that persist for three hours and eventually end in a low, and you don't already know that the reason behind that might be that you didn't pre bolus and or your basil's wrong and or you've had fat or protein in your meal that are—or other, you know, impacts from food. If you don't know that stuff, how are you supposed to search for it?

Corey (57:35)

Right.

Scott Benner (57:36)

Right? Is the search feature gonna have to be so robust that you can type in "why is my blood sugar high after a meal?" And it's gonna just say, hey. Try these episodes. And I think maybe that's gonna have to be it. Or—which is, part of the struggles. Like, I just put a struggles page together where you can kinda go see things that people say they classically struggle with with diabetes and they're already attached to an episode.

Corey (58:03)

Yeah. That's true.

Scott Benner (58:04)

Yeah. Yeah. And so, like, because you don't know what you don't know, so you don't know what to ask. And, you know, and that's why you need somebody to look at your question and say, oh, you should be focusing your attention over here. And it's even difficult in Facebook sometimes too because, you know, the—the other side of that is you ask a question, and three or four people might get to you before we do and give you the wrong answer or say, oh, you know, that definitely sounds like this. And I'm like, that's not that. It's this. Mhmm. And now that person's faced with two different answers. How are they supposed to know which one's which? And, hopefully, there's enough gravitas coming from the—the—the—from the podcast that they'll maybe look in the direction we're pointing before the direction a stranger pointed in. But I also appreciate the stranger's perspective because they might be thinking of something that I haven't thought of, which is completely not just possible, but probable. You know? It's—it's just an imperfect way to do things. Mhmm. See, I don't see a better way to do it. And if somebody knows a better way, they should say immediately. That's why AI is not gonna fix it for everybody because they don't—they won't know what to ask it.

Corey (59:11)

Yeah. You know? That's a good point.

Scott Benner (59:12)

So it's hard not to feel a little defeated by it because your earlier story is, you know, you're with a doctor who's not gonna help you. I mean, like, your first interaction with diabetes is in an ER where some guy is like, gonna just shove it up your ass if you don't put it in your mouth. That's right. Yeah. Awesome. And then thirteen years of somebody who says, test yourself eight times and maybe I'll let you have a pump. And then, you know, you don't end up really doing better for yourself until you start thinking like, oh, we're trying to have a baby and, you know, I need to be healthier. It's just the same damn thing for everybody. You you know? I don't think it's a thing you're gonna fix either. You're not—you're not gonna suddenly educate the entirety of the health care system or other people, you know, in your life that are gonna speak to you, you know, in a way that's gonna be valuable all the time. You either hope these people find a reason or a path or a mentor or something and can actually absorb it and make changes, or you're gonna assume that whatever—whatever initial path they got started on might be the journey they're set on now even though that's not the most valuable journey for them to have. Like, you know, if that person doesn't come into the room, smell your breath, I don't know which way. You know what I mean? It's like a choose your own adventure. Like, you don't know where you were headed till they walked by. Anyway, so we're just trying to do that. We're trying to intersect as many people as we can so that their choose their own adventure leads in a better direction for the lack of a better way of thinking about it.

Corey (1:00:33)

Yeah. Oh, god. I've had you on for over an hour already. Did you have anything you wanted to talk about that I didn't get to or bring up?

Corey (1:00:40)

Well so I just wanted to—to let you know kinda since—since I've listened to your podcast and where I'm at today, listened to the pro tips way back before they were all at 1,000 to 1,026. Right? So I had to go find them all, but I did and listened and what a difference. You know? Educators, doctors, you know, pre bolus, they would say that. Pre bolus. You know, bolus before you eat. Well, okay. So I would bolus and then I would eat. You know, no one ever said wait fifteen minutes, wait twenty minutes, wait ten, whatever the number. Right? Nobody—nobody ever said that to me. So that was huge. I mean, what a small thing and what a difference that makes. Listening through those pro tip, you know, making those changes, learn—you know, bump and nudge, all that stuff, you know, took my a one c. It was probably in the upper sixes when I started listening to your podcast, six—six point seven to seven, somewhere in there. That went down to, you know, 5.5.

Scott Benner (1:01:39)

Wow.

Corey (1:01:40)

And now I've been, in the last three years, anywhere between five point five and five point nine. Consistently. I haven't been over that in that amount of time. And—and so—and—and this again goes back to the group expert thing or just being involved at all and—and telling people about the podcast. It's like the information is right here. You just, you know, just go and tell someone about it, and that's what I'm trying to do because it—it made such a difference for me, you know, in my—in my journey and listening in to the—the—other conversations that you've had on GLPs and—and all of that. I—I think, you know, my doctor and—and you, it kinda coincided as far as when I started taking the GLP and you were taking the GLP. It's what—been about three years ago, I think. But Yeah. Anyway, I had been doing, like, Victoza and—and some of those—those others, the older kinda stuff and—and moved to Ozempic and now Mounjaro for the last—Ozempic about it was three years ago and then changed over to the Mounjaro and lost 40 pounds. Something like that. I was—I'm about six foot. I was, like, two thirty, and now I'm sitting about one ninety. Feel a lot better with that. My insulin use has gone down, and this is no different than what you've already talked about before, but probably 40 to 45%, less insulin. And that has made a difference too just because, you know, it just doesn't take as much insulin to—to move the dial, and then I don't end up going low later and get on that whole roller coaster. So that has been extremely helpful. Awesome. You know, going through the journey, not—not exactly with you, but—but kind of at the same time, it's been great for me, you know, to have those—those episodes with your journal and your diary, should say, your weight loss diary.

Scott Benner (1:03:41)

I just started recording that again this week.

Corey (1:03:43)

Good. I'm—I Yeah. I heard you recently speak on an episode about it, and I was like, wait. We haven't had one of those in a while.

Scott Benner (1:03:50)

I realized that journal, that diary was helping me too and I didn't—I don't think I knew it at—at the time. So I'm—I'm getting back to it.

Corey (1:03:56)

So, you know, it's just the last three years have been great, you know, and—and so then I talk to people about it. They ask about, you know, "you look a little skinny" or whatever. And it's like, well, here's why. And, you know, it—it gets other conversations going for other people and their health and, you know, to make changes, small things, whatever. So, know, I just wanna say thank you to you and to, of course, all the other people you've spoken with over the last three years or longer, making these episodes because they've definitely been a—an impact to me.

Scott Benner (1:04:27)

Oh, it's wonderful. I—I can only hope that, you know, that it continues on because I was just telling somebody the other day. I've been doing work with a company for a long time as the—they've been advertisers, but there's some shifts in the company. And so it's kind of a new group of people I'm working with within the company. And, you know, you kinda have to reintroduce yourself and, you know, you know, it's—it's—it's—it's a starting over process a little bit of explaining what you're doing to people, you know, for—you know, what you're doing for people. Correct. I ended up telling them all the time, like, look, you know, because one of them says, I—I don't think you're—I don't think you're valuing your—your downloads the right way. And I said, oh, no. I know what I'm doing. I was like, I could charge you more. I was like, I don't want to. And that I think threw off the group a little bit. And I said, I want, like, a little bit of your money forever, not all of it today. Like, I'm trying to keep this thing going. You know what I mean? Like, because you don't—until you get a note from somebody that talks about, like, my kid was diagnosed six months ago and, you know, this is what it was. It was terrible. And now look at it now and, you know, saying things similar to what you just said, like, it's a lot to do with the podcast and everything.

Scott Benner (1:05:40)

And then you have been doing it long enough to have six more months go by and get another note from a different person and then have two years go by and get another note. It's a pretty macro view I have. And I get to say to myself, like, this isn't done. And the making of the podcast is what keeps the information alive in the world. And so you can't just say, oh, I did it. We made a list. It's out there. They'll find it because, no, they won't. Not only are you continuing to, I think, add to the understanding that's baked into the podcast, which is added into my mind, which means I—I search out different guests or have different kinds of conversations that hopefully modernize things as we're going. Like, not only is that one of the reasons you wanted to go, but you want it to go so that when they, you know, they pop on and they've heard Juice Box might be helpful, they're not always gonna get directed to, like, the right episode. So you gotta get them in and get them interested and have them wonder about more and then hear a bumper that's like, hey. You know, if you start over, you might wanna try the bold beginnings episodes, like that kind of stuff. Like, it's all very important, and it doesn't work if it stops. So, you know, I said to them again, was like, I don't need all of it right now. Like I said, let's spread it out. And the one person on the call said, for how long? And I said, well, I'm 54. I think I could do it for ten more years. I said, hopefully, maybe ten years now, we won't need it anymore. You know? Like, let's—let's hope for that. I said, but I don't know how much longer I could go at this pace. But right now, I'm having no problem with it, and I don't wanna give away what I know it does for people. Somewhat ironically, I guess, although I since that Alanis Morissette song, I don't really know if I understand that word or not, but somewhat ironically Ironically. This person comes online the other day and I don't know. Some post I put up. I don't remember what it was. And they—they write this thing like, oh, I'm like, you know, I haven't been here in a while. This just popped up in front of me. Like, you know, I'm so glad you're still doing this and talked about how valuable it was for them. But then in the course of the conversation said, you know, I have to admit, I didn't think you'd be able to keep it going this long. And I understood what they meant. Like, it's a lot. You know? Like, it seems like a lot or, like, how long are you gonna talk about this, you know, over and over again? But I think we found a way for it not to be repetitive at the same time. But—but, nevertheless, like, I don't know how most people would feel about that being confronted with someone going, wow. You're still here? I didn't think that was gonna work out. I was just insulted by it. I was like, what? You think I can't do this? I was like, I could definitely do this. I think I can do it. Like, I think I can keep it going for another decade and bring information to people and hopefully be the one that reminds them that insulin doesn't start working as soon as you put it in and that your a one c really could go down a full point if you just prebolish your meals with consistency. That kind of simple stuff that needs to be repeated over and over and over again. I interviewed a woman this morning who's been on before. She's out in the world, like, trying to save Levemir. And, like, there's part of you that could hear that and be like, what is she doing? But, like, she's got real reasons, reasons and, like, she's out there changing things and, like—and making an impact on it. And I was—I was telling her that it's very cool to see that she stayed involved with it so long because I can—I've interviewed her before. I actually hear her getting better at talking about it. She's clear. She's more concise. She just clearly has more time in that space absorbing that—that like, the—the more granular parts of it. And it made me tell her after the recording was over, I'm happy that I do that too. Like, I—I've never grown this thing and went, okay. It's done that now. Let me go do something else, or let me, make it into something bigger or try to make more money with it or something like—like it does what it does right here, and I don't need to go anywhere else. Like, I'm happy with what this does. I'm good at it. I get more granular information all the time. I get better at it, and it helps the people. It helps. Like, there's no need to have, a grand—grandiose idea of, like, why could—you know, why don't I go get all of them or you know what I mean? Like, it just—this is—this is good. Like, getting people who are either wanting to start over or newly diagnosed and putting them on a better path and giving them a shot. Like, that's pretty much all I think of is what I do, but I'm very happy doing it, and I'm not looking to change it, I guess. Anyway.

Corey (1:10:00)

Good. We need you to do this.

Scott Benner (1:10:01)

Well, thank you. I appreciate it. Yep. I'm so happy for how well you're doing. I can't thank you enough for all the effort you put into the thing that I'm doing. You guys don't get enough, you know, enough glory for sure. I do really appreciate it. People are genuinely and generally very nice to you guys online. Every once in a while, you get somebody comes at you a little bit. But for the most part, it—it's a very interesting place, very unlike Facebook—Facebook experience, I find.

Corey (1:10:30)

It's really the only reason why I'm still there.

Scott Benner (1:10:32)

Yeah. No. Trust me.

Corey (1:10:33)

If—if—if this group wouldn't—wouldn't the thing, then—then I would have already deleted the app.

Scott Benner (1:10:38)

Yeah. I feel—I feel—I feel very similarly.

Corey (1:10:41)

So Mark—Mark Zuckerberg, really, owes you, I think, at this point.

Scott Benner (1:10:45)

Maybe he could just let people see my posts, but that'd be nice.

Corey (1:10:48)

Could—That would be helpful. Right? No kidding.

Scott Benner (1:10:51)

My gosh. If I—you know, people are like, he—he could have dinner with anybody. Somebody asked me that the other day, and I was like, oh, Tim Cook. And they were like, really? And I'm like, yeah. I'm like, I gotta explain to him how he's screwing up the podcast app. And so Right. I'm sure he doesn't know the first thing about it. But—but I'd love—I'd love to talk to somebody from Apple for five seconds and explain to them how what they do interferes with, like, my and other people's ability to reach communities that they've built. So, Corey, I can't thank you enough for doing this. I'm gonna—you've been going at this too long.

Corey (1:11:23)

Thank you.

Scott Benner (1:11:23)

I'll let you go. It's been a real pleasure. The opportunity to speak with you, and thanks for all that you've done for me and for all the 80,000 people in the group and all the people who listen every day. And a—and a shout out to the—all the group experts. You know who y'all are, and I appreciate each and every one of you.

Scott Benner (1:11:40)

Why is it the first Texas thing you've done?

Corey (1:11:42)

Well, I had—I was—I was put up to do that.

Scott Benner (1:11:46)

The y'all?

Corey (1:11:46)

Sylvia, she—yes. She said I had to say something Texan. And so—

Scott Benner (1:11:51)

You saved till the very end?

Corey (1:11:54)

I make her listen all the way through all the ads.

Scott Benner (1:11:56)

I was gonna say, Corey, good job. Way to tease it out. Perfect.

Corey (1:11:59)

There you go.

Scott Benner (1:12:00)

Alright, man. Hold on one second.

Scott Benner (1:12:08)

US Med sponsored this episode of the Juice Box podcast. Check them out at usmed.com/juicebox or by calling (888) 721-1514. Get your free benefits check, and get started today with US Med.

Scott Benner (1:12:26)

A huge thanks to my longest sponsor, Omnipod. Check out the Omnipod five now with my link, omnipod.com/juicebox. You may be eligible for a free starter kit, a free Omnipod five starter kit at my link. Go check it out. Omnipod.com/juicebox. Terms and conditions apply. Full terms and conditions can be found at omnipod.com/juicebox. Okay. Well, here we are at the end of the episode. You're still with me? Thank you. I really do appreciate that. What else could you do for me? Why don't you tell a friend about the show or leave a five star review? Maybe you could make sure you're following or subscribed in your podcast app, go to YouTube and follow me or Instagram, TikTok. Oh, gosh. Here's one. Make sure you're following the podcast in the private Facebook group as well as the public Facebook page. You don't wanna miss—please, do you not know about the private group? You have to join the private group. As of this recording, it has 74,000 members. They're active talking about diabetes. Whatever you need to know, there's a conversation happening in there right now. And I'm there all the time. Tag me. I'll say hi.

Scott Benner (1:13:47)

Check out my algorithm pumping series to help you make sense of automated insulin delivery systems like Omnipod five, Loop, Medtronic seven eighty g, Twist, Tandem Control IQ, and much more. Each episode will dive into the setup, features, and real world usage tips that can transform your daily type one diabetes management. We cut through the jargon, share personal experiences, and show you how these algorithms can simplify and streamline your care. If you're curious about automated insulin pumping, go find the algorithm pumping series in the Juice Box podcast. Easiest way, juiceboxpodcast.com, and go up into the menu. Click on series, It'll be right there. Have a podcast? Want it to sound fantastic? Wrongwayrecording.com.

READ FULL TRANSCRIPT

#1862 Type 3C in Texas

Tabby recounts surviving severe necrotizing pancreatitis and sepsis from misdiagnosed gallstones , leading to a partial pancreatectomy , Type 3c diabetes management , and an unexpected miracle pregnancy.

Proudly supported by

Key Takeaways

• Understanding Type 3c Diabetes Etiology: Unlike Type 1 (autoimmune) or Type 2 (insulin resistance), Type 3c diabetes arises from structural damage, injury, or partial/full surgical resection of the pancreas, frequently precipitated by severe medical crises like necrotizing pancreatitis[cite: 2176, 2388, 2486, 2526].
• Recognizing Atypical Postpartum Gallbladder Symptoms: Postpartum gallbladder complications can manifest as severe referred pain between the shoulder blades rather than standard abdominal distress, occasionally leading clinicians to misattribute the issue to residual epidural back pain[cite: 2228, 2236, 2244].
• The Critical Importance of Restested Imaging: Severe medical oversight can occur when clinical teams delay follow-up CT scans or assume a patient's physical decline is due to a psychological lack of motivation rather than recognizing underlying necrotizing organ failure and septic shock[cite: 2271, 2324, 2388, 2394, 2397].
• Mandatory Prescription Digestive Enzyme Therapy: Losing significant pancreatic tissue impairs both endocrine and exocrine functions; individuals who undergo major pancreatectomies must take prescribed digestive enzymes with all food to properly process nutrients and prevent chronic abdominal distress[cite: 2486, 2705, 2710, 2714, 2720].
• Post-Splenectomy Biomarker Tracking: Undergoing a simultaneous splenectomy can disrupt baseline nutritional profiles, necessitating diligent monitoring for standard deficiencies like severely low ferritin levels (e.g., a level of 11) to coordinate timely iron infusions or clinical supplementation[cite: 2487, 2768, 2769, 2770, 2771].

Resources Mentioned

• Juicebox Podcast Website: juiceboxpodcast.com
• Juicebox Podcast Search Directory (JBFAQ): juiceboxpodcast.com/jbfaq
• Eversense 365 CGM: eversensecgm.com/juicebox
• Tandem Diabetes Care (Tandem Mobi Pump): tandemdiabetes.com/juicebox
• Touched by Type One Advocacy Organization: touchedbytype1.org
• Wrong Way Recording Production Services: wrongwayrecording.com

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Introduction and Overview of Type 3c Diabetes

Scott Benner (0:00)

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

Tabby (0:13)

Hey. I'm Tabby, and I have type three c diabetes.

Scott Benner (0:18)

If you're new to type one diabetes, begin with the bold beginnings series from the podcast. Don't take my word for it. Listen to what reviewers have said. Bold beginnings is the best first step. I learned more in those episodes than anywhere else.

Scott Benner (0:32)

This is when everything finally clicked. People say it takes the stress out of the early days and replaces it with clarity. They tell me this should come with the diagnosis packet that I got at the hospital. And after they listen, they recommend it to everyone who's struggling. It's straightforward, practical, and easy to listen to.

Scott Benner (0:49)

Bold Beginnings gives you the basics in a way that actually makes sense. 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.

Scott Benner (1:10)

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. 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.

Scott Benner (1:47)

One year, one CGM. 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.

Scott Benner (2:13)

The podcast is also sponsored today by 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.

Tabby (2:49)

Hey. I'm Tabby, and I have type three c diabetes. I've had that I've been diagnosed since November 2025 after a rare medical event occurred in June 2023.

Scott Benner (3:04)

You had a rare medical event?

Tabby (3:06)

Yes.

Scott Benner (3:07)

Alright. We'll figure that out. Prior to this well, how old are you now?

Tabby (3:11)

I am 28.

Scott Benner (3:13)

Okay. Prior to this rare event, how had your health been throughout your life?

A Pregnancy Loss and Cryptic Gallbladder Symptoms

Tabby (3:18)

Perfecty normal.

Scott Benner (3:19)

Yeah. Nothing remarkable happened?

Tabby (3:23)

No. I was battling a little bit of infertility due to some PCOS, but otherwise, very healthy. No concerns. No doctors, really.

Scott Benner (3:35)

What, weapons did you use to battle infertility?

Tabby (3:39)

We used medicated cycles. So and then, ultimately, we got pregnant using IUI.

Scott Benner (3:48)

What's that?

Tabby (3:49)

Intrauterine insemination. Okay. So it's one step before IVF.

Scott Benner (3:54)

Do you ever think of trying GLPs?

Tabby (3:57)

I did, but it was not recommended by my medical team for some reason. And now I'm not able to because of my pancreas.

Scott Benner (4:07)

Oh, wow. Yeah. You but you know what I'm talking about. Right? That that that group of ladies online who all have PCOS and seem to get pregnant after using a GLP medication?

Tabby (4:16)

Yes. There there definitely have been a lot of success stories linked to those.

Scott Benner (4:22)

Yeah. Oh, you slowed down as if you this was something you were hoping for, but your medical team didn't like. Did it was it disappointing when that turned out that way?

Tabby (4:30)

A little bit, but it all worked out the way that it was supposed to.

Scott Benner (4:34)

Yeah. Cool. Got a baby out of it?

Tabby (4:36)

Yes. I did.

Scott Benner (4:37)

What's that kid's name?

Tabby (4:38)

His name is Forrest.

Scott Benner (4:40)

Oh, that's awesome. How old is he?

Tabby (4:42)

He is fifth 14.

Scott Benner (4:45)

14. Oh, wow. What a time. I like that time. People say they like them a little bigger so they can move around, but I think it's fun when they're like a little football with a personality in a face.

Tabby (4:54)

Yes. This is my perfect this is my favorite age.

Scott Benner (4:58)

Yeah. Well, they're all gonna be until they it's a boy. Right until whenever the hormones kick in. You'll stop you'll stop liking it as much around then, whatever that is. Don't worry. It wears off when they're, like, in their mid twenties. So what rare medical event happened? I guess we we can't stretch this out. Like, what happened to you?

Tabby (5:18)

So in 2023, I was pregnant with our first son after a successful medicated cycle and IUI through the fertility clinic. At twenty weeks, I went into labor. I did not know that I was in labor because I didn't know that you could go into labor at twenty weeks, but you can. I had that baby, and we lost him because he was, unfortunately, just a little smaller than what the hospital had the capabilities to to be able to to work with in the NICU.

Scott Benner (5:52)

Right.

Tabby (5:53)

After that, I had a very odd hormonal fluctuation through postpartum from that that caused my gallbladder to fill with gallstones. That does happen after pregnancy for some women, and a lot of times it gets caught pretty quick, and they can have a quick surgery to get their gallbladder removed, and then they're on their way. That is not what happened in my case. My gallbladder was giving me trouble for about a month. I had been to the ER three different times, and it was never identified that that I had any gallstones.

Scott Benner (6:35)

When you say the the gallbladder fills with stones, like, how long does that process take?

Tabby (6:40)

It can kind of depend on the individual, but in my case, they suspected that it happened in about two weeks. Delivery.

Scott Benner (6:47)

Oh my gosh. No kidding.

Tabby (6:50)

Yes.

Scott Benner (6:50)

What's that what's that feel like while it's happening? Are you aware that it's happening?

Tabby (6:54)

So I did not know what was happening. I was having extreme sharp pain in the center of my shoulder blades in my back, which is part of the reason that it wasn't identified because they look for abdominal pain. Mhmm. And so I would have these events randomly in the middle of the night where I would just be in excruciating pain so much so that we would end up having to go to the ER. Yeah. And and looking back on it, there was a component there of it was related the severe episodes of pain were related to what I was eating or what I was drinking. Mhmm. And so I would eat something that would flare it up, and then I'd have that pain. But I didn't know that that's what was happening because it was so random oh at the time.

Scott Benner (7:43)

Kind of a referred pain from maybe, like, a fat content of something or something like that.

Tabby (7:48)

Right.

Scott Benner (7:49)

Yeah. Okay.

Systemic Misdiagnosis and the Transfer Crisis

Tabby (7:50)

So I was going through with that. We were going in and out of ERs. Every time I would go in, they would kinda send me back to postpartum because I was still within that six week window, and they would check everything out. And, ultimately, it was decided that it was most likely some sort of residual back pain from receiving an epidural. I did not know what is normal after receiving an epidural because that was my first time ever delivering. And so I was like, okay. Well, this is just part of it. It'll go away soon, and we'll go from there.

Scott Benner (8:25)

Yeah.

Tabby (8:26)

And we just kind of were dealing with the pain episodes at home after that, and things were smooth sailing. About six weeks postpartum, I was working from home on my computer, and I got very sick very fast and had very excruciating pain everywhere, not just my back. My abdomen, my my entire body was just out of nowhere, something was not right. Mhmm. I ended up having to be ambulanced from my home to the nearest available trauma medical center. The one that I was taken to, they reviewed everything, and they determined that I had the gallstones and that my gallbladder had actually ruptured. And those stones essentially got stuck in all of the ducts in my body. Normally, that happens, they pass on their own in about twenty four hours, and you're kind of good to go after that, and then you start the healing process. One of the ducts that my gallstones were stuck in was my pancreatic duct.

Tabby (9:36)

That does cause pancreatitis. And so they diagnosed me with pancreatitis. They had the gallstone there. They basically were like, this gallstone's gonna pass in a couple days. The pancreatitis will heal in a couple days. It'll probably take four to six days in the hospital, but then you should be kinda back to normal on your way back home. You may have to be on a little bit of a lower scale diet for a little bit and build your way back up, but you should be good to go in a couple days.

Scott Benner (10:05)

Okay. So it kinda sucks, but you have a plan that seems doable.

Tabby (10:09)

Right.

Scott Benner (10:09)

Yeah. Okay.

Tabby (10:10)

That is not what happened.

Scott Benner (10:11)

I was gonna say. They were wrong about that. Hey. By the way, in in the in that time frame, how many people have been right about what they told you in the hospital?

Tabby (10:19)

None.

Scott Benner (10:20)

Okay. There you go. That's fine. Unfortunately.

Scott Benner (10:24)

No. It's fine. Everything's fine. Don't worry.

Tabby (10:26)

They were correct that I had pancreatitis.

Scott Benner (10:30)

Oh, there you go. Look.

Tabby (10:31)

They did get that right. So so, yeah, so the three to four days goes by, and I am substantially worse. Like, can hardly move, have developed pneumonia. Pain is so I can't even describe the pain that pancreatitis causes.

Scott Benner (10:52)

Mhmm.

Tabby (10:53)

We're going back and forth with the medical team quite a bit because I want them to do some more testing and and figure out why I'm getting worse and not getting better. I guess there were a few of my blood markers that were going trending back towards normal. So they were under the impression that it just needed more time and that we didn't really need to do anything. We just kinda needed to give it a minute to let the rest of them catch up. I had an instant with with that medical team where they believed and they voiced this opinion that I was not getting better because I didn't want to get better. They noted that I wasn't getting out of bed. I wasn't trying to walk up and down the halls to help with my respiratory. I wasn't doing all these things. So they ordered PT to come and take me and walk me up and down the halls multiple times a day. I ended up on oxygen through that because I couldn't I literally physically couldn't walk up and down the halls. And finally, we got to a point at about day eight of hospitalization where I'm still very bad off and very much struggling to breathe and in the severe amounts of pain where we went back and forth, and we were trying to get the doctor to to just run another scan and see if they see anything that might look different from when we first came in. We went back and forth with him for a total of five days. He was insistent that I was fine and that they were ready to discharge me, but I clearly wasn't ready to go home. So they wanted us to pick a long term care facility for me to go to until I could transition back home. My husband and I were very hesitant to do that. We we did look at them. We found one that worked with our insurance, and we we basically decided that we were gonna push and push and push to get another scan, but that, ultimately, if we had to go do this long term care thing that that we would. We are prepared to do that.

Scott Benner (12:51)

At this point, are you pretty aware that you're not being helped?

Tabby (12:55)

Yes.

Scott Benner (12:56)

You are. You start you they leave the room and you and your husband are looking at each other and going, these people don't know what the hell they're talking about. Right?

Tabby (13:02)

Yes.

Scott Benner (13:03)

Okay.

Tabby (13:03)

So so just for reference of, like, how down I was, I could not even physically check my phone for nine days.

Scott Benner (13:15)

Didn't have the energy to pick it up, look at it, the that's No. That's how beat you are. Beat up.

Tabby (13:20)

And I was out of it, and I just, like, couldn't

Scott Benner (13:22)

Yeah.

Tabby (13:23)

I just was not functioning, and I just did not have the energy to even mess with it, which for me is saying a lot because I'm always on my phone. Everybody knows that.

Scott Benner (13:32)

You're like, listen. I'm at the right age. They got me with that phone. Okay? I'm just gonna say, let's just admit to that right now. Yeah. I'd love to know more about those I I don't wanna stop your story, but I do wanna understand those conversations alone with your husband, your new baby. Right? And you're just

Tabby (13:49)

Well, so I didn't have baby at this point.

Scott Benner (13:51)

Oh, this was after the first. Excuse me. So the Yeah. So it's the two of you. Yeah. And you are clearly degrading, and they're going, hey. It's time to go home. What do you do there? How do you get to some sort of an answer, or do you not?

Scott Benner (14:07)

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Tabby (16:17)

My husband was a a very good advocate for me when I wasn't really able to be one for myself. He wasn't really taking that as a an answer.

Scott Benner (16:28)

Mhmm.

Tabby (16:29)

He kind of came to the conclusion that we'll essentially kind of back end our way into forcing them to get a scan.

Scott Benner (16:39)

Yeah. Because they're gonna see a pocket full of stones when they look. Right?

Tabby (16:43)

Well, so at this point, they'd already identified the stones and the pancreatitis. We just wanted them to see if there was something more going on because the pancreatitis should have already resolved itself.

Scott Benner (16:53)

I see. I'm sorry.

Tabby (16:54)

Yeah. So so my husband says, you know, we've got this long term care facility. We found the one that we're okay with using. It works with our insurance. Let's just sit him down one more time, explain our concerns, tell him we want another scan. If he wants to fight it, he said, we're just basically gonna tell him, we'll go to long term care today if you run another scan.

Scott Benner (17:16)

Okay. And You're like a squatter. You're like, listen. If you give me one more meal, I'll get out of here. I promise.

Tabby (17:22)

Yep. Yeah. Okay. So we did, and that is that is how we got our scan. And they took me back for that CT scan. I got back to my room, and my husband and I were talking. And I just told him, I said, you know, something is is really not right. And I said, I don't know what it is. I don't know what they're gonna come back with. I said, but this is something's not right. 20 later, there were about three doctors that walked in, none of which were the medical team that I had had. I never saw that doctor again.

Scott Benner (17:53)

Yeah.

Tabby (17:53)

And one of them stepped forward. Literally, all he said to us was, you're getting significantly worse for transferring you to a higher level of care, and then they walked out. They didn't give us a chance to ask what was going on. They didn't give us a chance to understand anything. They did gave no explanations. All they said was, you're getting significantly worse. We're transferring you to a higher level of care.

Scott Benner (18:17)

Within that hospital or into a different building?

Tabby (18:20)

To a different hospital system. Yeah. And my first thought was, I'm dying. Like, why else would they have said it like that and not given any context or told us what was going on and came in so quick and left so quick? So I was paranoid that I was dying.

Scott Benner (18:41)

Yeah. No. I mean, that or like unless you have enough wherewithal to go, these idiots figured out that they can't do this. So they're gonna move me somewhere else, which is hopefully what happened. And I like that they gave you the oopsie switcheroo with the doctors like the oh, yeah. Yeah. The guy who's been, you know, dragging you over the coals for days and days and days, like, we we're not gonna let you talk to him anymore. We'll go get somebody else now. Nice. Yeah.

Tabby (19:03)

Yeah. So they did that, and they went out, and it was hours before we got an update on anything. And even then, it was because a nurse finally spoke up and told me when she came in the room to give me medicine for pain. My husband had been going out to the nurse's desk to ask, speaking to the doctors. Nobody would give us any information on where they were transferring us, why they were transferring us. All we knew is that they were needing to send us to a bigger hospital, and they were trying to figure that out. I was very confused by that because I know that you typically in those emergent type situations, it doesn't take ten hours for them to finally get the approval to transfer you to a trauma center. Mhmm. And so I was very confused about that. We we kept asking. We kept begging. Nobody would tell us anything. We both were just, like, terrified at this point. And then we're also just sitting in the room basically speculating like, great. Well, now I'm getting significantly worse, and I'm just sitting in this room getting worse.

Scott Benner (20:07)

And they haven't shown any propensity to rush so far? No. Am I gonna sit here for five more days getting worse or five more minutes or, like, that feeling. Right?

Tabby (20:16)

Yeah. And they didn't, like, change any of my meds. They didn't, like so it wasn't like they acted like they were treating it until I got transferred. It was literally just like, okay. You're doing pretty bad. We're gonna move you. Okay. Bye. That was what we knew for the next ten hours.

Scott Benner (20:31)

Ten hours?

Tabby (20:32)

Yes. Jeez. A nurse came to give me my pain medicine, and I finally just kinda broke down and told her. I said, you know, I just I just need to know what is wrong with me. I was like, like, I don't I don't understand why they didn't tell me. I don't understand why we haven't moved yet. I don't understand. I've told you four times I wanna go to Medical City at this location because that's the hospital that I know. That's the hospital that I trust. That's where some of my my other medical team is already here. I don't understand why it's this hard. Mhmm. She was like, I know. And she was kinda hesitant. And the way she said it, I knew that she knew something. And so I called her on it. I said, you know something. And she was like, what do you mean? And I was like, you're not telling me something, and I want to know what it is. Right. And she finally said that they had been trying for hours to get me transferred to another hospital, but that two of the three major medical centers in the Dallas area had turned down the case because they were not willing to assume responsibility. And that if the third one also turned it down, then they were going to have to helicopter flight me to Houston.

Necrotizing Pancreatitis and Extensive Resection Surgery

Scott Benner (21:43)

Really? So nobody had the balls to help you at this point? So you you were at the place

Tabby (21:48)

The Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. One of the places didn't have the knowledge to help you. The rest of them didn't have the nerve to help you.

Tabby (21:53)

Yeah.

Scott Benner (21:54)

Oh my gosh. So now she's telling you that, and you're thinking, I'm done. Right?

Tabby (21:59)

Yeah.

Scott Benner (22:00)

Okay. Yeah. Pretty much. So, luckily, the third hospital did accept the case. They did pull me over there. I got moved at, like, ten, 11:00 at night. They moved me over, like, right during the time frame that I was supposed to get the pain medicine. So I was in excruciating pain. They they couldn't do anything at the new hospital as far as treatment goes until they had all the scans and the records and everything to see exactly what they were dealing with. And so it was probably another two to three hours at that first hospital before they could even give me any kind of medicine to help at all Jeez. because they wanted the trauma team and the surgical team

Scott Benner (22:39)

To see you the way you were, not all

Tabby (22:41)

to get exactly where it was. Yeah. And so they did. They came in. I wanna say it was, like, one or 02:00 in the morning, and the lead trauma surgeon on the case came in. And and she she had a bunch of residents and interns and all kinds of stuff with her, which they did throughout my hospital stay, end up kind of using it as a teaching case. I saw all kinds of medical students.

Scott Benner (23:06)

And Awesome. You're like, at least my death is gonna help somebody. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Jesus.

Tabby (23:13)

And so she she sat us down, and she very calmly, but very direct. And I I mean, I had told her, you know, I said I want to know exactly what is going on. I don't want you to sugarcoat it. I don't like, at this point, I just need to know exactly what is happening.

Scott Benner (23:31)

Sure. Sure.

Tabby (23:31)

So she did. She sat us down, and she told us that for the last thirteen days in that hospital, I actually had necrotizing pancreatitis, not pancreatitis. My pancreas was actively dying for thirteen days.

Scott Benner (23:49)

Oh, how are they able to figure that out so quickly when nobody else could?

Tabby (23:53)

They had the scans that they had finally taken that thirteenth day. Hey. At the end of this story, does it end with your name being on the side of the hospital now? What's going on exactly with that?

Tabby (24:02)

I wish.

Scott Benner (24:03)

Okay. Jeez. Alright. So now you have that. That by the way, necrotizing sounds scary.

Tabby (24:09)

So I was in active organ failure. Blood flow was cut off from my pancreas due to that gallstone still being stuck in there. They never confirmed that it passed, and it didn't. So it just had been shutting everything off in there. I was in severe sepsis. I had over a liter of abdominal fluid on my pancreatic area, and I basically was in septic shock at that point.

Scott Benner (24:36)

Oh my god.

Tabby (24:37)

Normally, what they would do in that case is they would take you into the OR, and they would drain that fluid off. And they would start some pretty strong antibiotics, do a small procedure endoscopically that would remove at least the major dead portions of the organ just to try and get it to a point to where the part that is still functioning can function fully.

Scott Benner (25:00)

Mhmm.

Tabby (25:01)

She basically told us all of that information, and then she said, you know, I would love to take you in right now and do that. And she said, but if I take you into the OR right now, you're not gonna make it out. Oh. It ended up taking them about three weeks to stabilize me enough to take me back for a procedure. They took me back for about fifteen minutes and drained off the fluid and did a little bit of pulling the dead pancreas and brought me back out. And then I healed for another one to two weeks, went back in for ten to fifteen minutes so they could pull a little bit more of the dead pancreas out. That repeated for quite a while. I ended up in the hospital a total of fifty eight days.

Scott Benner (25:42)

I wish you could see my face right now. I'm mortified, and this didn't happen to me.

Tabby (25:47)

Yeah.

Scott Benner (25:48)

Fifty eight days. Same and but I imagine you popped out on day 59. You're right back to your life. Right? No problems. You're really not suing anybody?

Tabby (26:00)

I probably should have, truthfully. I mean right? By the time proponent of it, but, like, this seems like

Tabby (26:07)

That was kind of my thing is I was very adamant that, like, well, they made a mistake. I don't wanna ruin the doctor's life. I don't wanna make a big deal out of it. And at that point, we were still kind of being told that things should go relatively back to normal. I mean, there were gonna be a few things that I was gonna struggle with long term, but it shouldn't have been anything major.

Scott Benner (26:29)

Oh, okay.

Tabby (26:30)

And so I I left it, and I convinced myself that it was gonna get better. It was gonna get better. And every time something horrible would happen, I would just tell myself, well, it's gonna get better. And then finally, by the time I realized that my life is completely different and completely altered and my health is to a detriment because of it. It was too late because you only have two years from the day that the medical event starts in the hospital in order to

Scott Benner (26:57)

I see. So it did occur to you at some point to look at look into that.

Tabby (27:02)

It did. It was just too late. Yes. Otherwise. Wow. Okay. I'm sorry. So they nursed you to enough health to do the surgery? Yeah. What all does that surgery entail?

Tabby (27:14)

So, basically, they just would go in and scrape out a small portion of the dead pancreas and any fluid collections that built up from the sepsis.

Scott Benner (27:26)

So some of the pancreas is still operating?

Tabby (27:29)

Yes.

Scott Benner (27:30)

Okay. Alright. Yep. That's all. We'll just do that. Just a little scrape, scrape it. But by the way, what caused all this though?

Tabby (27:36)

So that that gallstone that was stuck in the pancreatic duct, it never passed.

Scott Benner (27:40)

That's the one thing? Yep. Jeez. That's some bad luck. I'm not gonna lie to you. Honestly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. My goodness. Terrible. Okay. So procedure's over. They send you home. What's the recovery like?

Tabby (27:56)

Yeah. So it's day 59. I'm home. We're told kind of maintain my softer food and more so liquids, like smoothies and protein shakes and things like that for a couple weeks, and then I could build back up to to regular food. And and slowly but surely, it should should heal, and I should start feeling better, and I should be a lot stronger. And, I mean, I did go home on a lot of different medications to help with various things that were going on in my body just from the procedures and the sepsis and antibiotics and all of the things. So we got home, and things were actually really good for a little over a month. I didn't have any issues. We we actually ended up taking a trip to Chicago. My husband and I did just because we had flight miles. And between the the incident with with our first son and then immediately going into this and fighting for my life and then spending the two months in the hospital, it just kinda felt like we needed a break.

Scott Benner (28:57)

Yeah. I'm going on vacation for a while if I'm you.

Tabby (28:59)

We took a little just a little weekend trip because we were scared of my health and everything. We popped up Chicago, and everything was great.

Scott Benner (29:06)

You picked Chicago? Yeah. And then we came back. And within a couple weeks, I ended up back in the hospital with severe pancreas pain. And, essentially, I was having another flare of pancreatitis. And they were kinda like, well, that's not completely uncommon, but it's also not something that we anticipated. So I had, like, a week hospital stay. I was stuck there. I had to go back to liquid diet, kinda start that process back up again. Ended up getting to go home, was doing good for a little bit, and then that just kind of kept happening for a couple months.

Scott Benner (29:47)

Oh, like, you ended up in the hospital multiple times from that?

Tabby (29:50)

Yes. Okay. Yep. So at that point, they determined that I had chronic pancreatitis and or they suspected that I had chronic pancreatitis. And in October, they ended up going ahead and and finally removing my gallbladder. They didn't wanna perform that big of a surgery before because I was still kinda septic, and there was just concern with with going into that big of a procedure. Mhmm. So we finally got that done October 2023. Very shortly after that, I had another hospital stay due to just nausea, vomiting, pain, all the things. They finally looked at everything. They determined that it would be best if we if I went on pancreatic rest for a minimum of eight weeks. Did a surgical procedure to put in a g tube. I used a feeding tube with only the formula and the feeding tube. It ended up being many weeks total through the end of the year, essentially. And the hope was that since we gave my body that nine weeks to to really heal with no food being processed through the pancreas, through anything, it was just that g tube formula Mhmm that was, like, what my body needed to kinda kick start and and get going. Well, I got that g tube removed on my birthday of 2024. Things just did not get better. I kept having those hospital stays. Each stent was, like, a week at a time. It was a minimum of one a month, if not more. It was very back and forth. So we finally went to my medical team in March 2024. It was very March 2024

Scott Benner (31:32)

Mhmm.

Tabby (31:32)

and told them that it was time for us to figure out what my options were to kinda fix this problem. To stop work. Mentioned

Scott Benner (31:40)

The repetitiveness of what was happening.

Tabby (31:42)

Yes. Yeah. And they had mentioned, like, possible larger procedure to kinda help with things. They said there were a few different things that we could could do and try, and we had tried all the kinda little things. And so we knew that there were some big things that you could try, but we hadn't made it to that point yet. Mhmm. And so we did officially get to that point, my husband and I did, where we were like, okay. This is like, we wanna at least know what the bigger options are. So we got a referral to an incredible surgeon at Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas. We ended up getting to speak with kind of the head of transplants there. We sat in his office, and we did a consultation. He had already looked at all my medical records, so he was kinda familiar with what was going on. My GI surgeon had kinda briefed him on how things had gone the last ten months. We sit in his office for our surgical consultation. He goes over the options, talks about partial pancreas removal, full pancreas removal, what those would look like, where he thinks we're at, what he thinks he could do. We are sitting there with him, and and I asked him. I said, you know, what do you feel is your kind of recommendation on this? I know you're saying that that you think you could could do it this way or could do it that way, and these are the the repercussions of both. But but what would you, as a surgeon

Scott Benner (33:11)

Yeah.

Tabby (33:12)

and

Scott Benner (33:12)

Tell me what to do.

Tabby (33:14)

And he looked at us, and he said, you know, I can't make this decision for you. And he said, but what I will tell you is that I have a lot of people come and consult with me, some people from all over the world. And he said, I tell a lot of them I would not do surgery on you. You don't need this big of a life change based on what's going on. Mhmm. He said, I'm telling you, I would do this surgery next month.

Scott Benner (33:41)

Oh, good news. More good news. Jesus. And Yeah. That's sobering. Yeah. Yeah.

Tabby (33:49)

And he did. He did that surgery. I ended up I mean, technically, that that appointment was March, and then I got scheduled for May procedure. I went in, and I had to have a major abdominal abdominal surgery. I have a scar that goes from the middle of my breastbone down to below my belly button. And they had to take out about sixty percent of my pancreas. They took out my entire spleen, and then they ended up also having to take about fifteen percent of my stomach because it was all messed up in there with with dead and necrotic tissue.

Scott Benner (34:29)

Oh my gosh. No more McDonald's either. Right? You can't do with Reese anymore. Yeah. It's okay. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. And still you didn't sue anybody?

Tabby (34:38)

No. I gotta get you for a neighbor. You seem awesome. You're in Texas. Is that right?

Tabby (34:43)

Yes.

Scott Benner (34:43)

Whereabouts in Texas do I not wanna move? Can you put a finger on the map for me?

Tabby (34:48)

I could tell you from a medical standpoint, I would not move to Mesquite, Texas. Okay.

Scott Benner (34:54)

Thank you. That's what I was wondering. As a person who's been, like, nudging his wife about moving south, and one of the things she says to me is, like, we're make sure we're near a good hospital. I was like, yeah. Sure. Because I'm, like, trying to get a little more rural.

Tabby (35:07)

I've had great experiences with the ones closer to Downtown Dallas.

Scott Benner (35:11)

Okay. So if I was thinking Tennessee, like, stay closer to Nashville. Is that what you're saying to me? Think Something like that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. My goodness. Oh, my. My. My. My. Hey. She looks really sick. What do you think we should do? I don't know. Maybe it'll stop. Let's wait nine or ten days and just see if it goes away first. No. It's not going away. What do you wanna do? We'll give her to somebody else. They don't want her. Oh, no. We waited too long. They would've killed you if you didn't leave there, by the way.

Tabby (35:42)

Oh, yeah. Well, and fun fact, I actually whenever I did look at the possibility of talking to a lawyer, I actually found a case that also happened in Dallas where a man was in the exact same situation as me, and he did end up going to long term care instead of kind of pushing back.

Scott Benner (36:04)

Ended up being real long term?

Tabby (36:06)

Two weeks later, he died.

Scott Benner (36:07)

Yeah. And his family did sue.

Scott Benner (36:09)

I would imagine. My goodness gracious. I mean, listen. It's it's a tough job being a doctor, but, like, you know, Google it if you can't figure it out. Don't just tell me, I don't know. We'll wait another day. We'll see what happens. We'll wait. We'll wait. We'll wait. It's gonna be fine. Jeez. And then as you're clearly degrading, nobody's doing anything. I mean, really, it sounded like they were all just dumbfounded. You know? Yeah. Yeah. That's gotta be incredible for too because I truly was struggling so much physically

Tabby (37:41)

Yeah. And just, like, mentally being able to kinda stay in and out of it. Whenever he came and told me that I wasn't getting better because I didn't want to get better or because I wasn't walking up and down the halls and trying to

Scott Benner (36:54)

He told you you need to go for a walk.

Tabby (36:58)

I was like, I felt so defeated. And then he's getting

Scott Benner (37:01)

I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm laughing. I'm so sorry. What a fuck. Honestly.

Tabby (37:08)

And he scheduled that PT, and I'm, like, trying to walk up and down this hall. And I feel like a failure the whole time I'm doing it because I can barely make it three doors down. And looking back, I'm like, this guy, that's literally insane what happened.

Scott Benner (37:23)

Oh, no. No. No. No. No. No. You you TP his, his house, like, at Halloween, though. Right?

Tabby (37:28)

If I knew where it was.

Scott Benner (37:29)

I mean, you know, something something harmless, but I've you know, maybe an egg or two on a window. I don't know. My goodness. Okay. I'm so sorry. I lost track of your thing. They they took out all your business and then what happened?

Tabby (37:41)

Yeah. So he told us prior to that surgery that there was about a fifty percent chance that I would develop type three c diabetes in the next five years. So some people do, some people don't. It just really depends on how much of your pancreas is still functioning and how well it's working and and all of those different things that goes by percentage of pancreas left and other health factors and all the things. Okay. So, essentially, with my risk factors, there was about a fifty percent chance that I would develop type three c in the next five years.

Scott Benner (38:11)

I mean, the way things are going, I would have just assumed it was gonna happen if I was you. But yeah. Yeah. I would also think a tree is about to fall on me almost constantly. Well,

A Miracle Pregnancy and Managing Type 3c Day-to-Day

Tabby (38:24)

so then the the funny thing is after that surgery, I actually did feel so much better.

Scott Benner (38:28)

Yeah. I bet.

Tabby (38:29)

I really did. That summer, I went on two cruises with family, and it I was tired, and my stamina was very low just by nature of everything that had happened.

Scott Benner (38:39)

Yeah. Yeah. But I was truthfully, genuinely doing better and feeling better. Mhmm. Recovery time for that surgery was supposed to be eight to twelve weeks. Apparently, what we learned at about the eight to nine week mark in recovery is that when they did surgery to remove everything, they also apparently somehow magically sprinkled some fairy dust in there and cured my infertility.

Scott Benner (39:09)

Hey. Well, it's something good. Oh, you got pregnant before you should have.

Tabby (39:13)

Because I ended up pregnant. Yes. Ended up pregnant. I you know how it happens though. Right? It's just that Yes. yeah. You don't just end

Scott Benner (39:19)

up pregnant.

Tabby (39:19)

We are aware. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We know exactly when it happens. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I would I would imagine.

Tabby (39:27)

So yes. I'm nine weeks post major abdominal surgery, already have a completely wrecked abdomen that is nothing but scar tissue.

Scott Benner (39:36)

Yeah.

Tabby (39:36)

And I felt very off. And because I was on a lot of different medications from healing from the procedures and from the surgery and all of the different things. I just was kind of I don't even know why I took a pregnancy test, but I in my head, I was just like, you know what? Something doesn't feel right. And if I am pregnant, I don't need I don't wanna take all this medicine. Like,

Scott Benner (40:02)

Oh, so let me just check real quick. Yeah. But that's not gonna be it. It's probably what you're thinking. Right? Like, this won't be it.

Tabby (40:08)

And so it's just like we just we're kinda like, okay. I didn't think much of it. I'm working on my computer that day. Whatever. Everything's fine. And I go back to the bathroom to go to restroom again, and I saw it on the counter, and I was like, what?

Scott Benner (40:39)

I guess if you leave it sit here too long, it shows positive. Yeah. And so

Tabby (40:45)

and and they even say, like, when you've gone through infertility and you've you've been a little line crazy as we call it, you're, like, trained to look for those. And then everybody says, like, if it's been longer than this time, you can't trust it. It could be inaccurate, whatever. So that's what I told myself. I was like, well, this has been sitting here for three hours. Truly.

Scott Benner (41:01)

I love that you took it and didn't think it was a possibility so much so that you never went back to look at it again. Yeah. Yeah.

Tabby (41:07)

So I was like, there's no way. So then I was like, oh, well, I'll just take a digital test because that'll really tell me. Like, fifteen seconds later, it popped up and said pregnant. And I was like, oh, okay.

Scott Benner (41:19)

What is what was your internal reaction? Like because I think I would have gone with you have to be kidding me. What got you?

Tabby (41:26)

It was, I mean, that and I was genuinely terrified at that moment. Oh. Because I was like, this

Scott Benner (41:33)

You got robbed of being happy too when that happened. You know what I mean?

Tabby (41:36)

Exactly.

Scott Benner (41:37)

Yeah. Yeah.

Tabby (41:38)

Yeah. And it was just one of those things where, like, I just felt like in my head immediately, I was like, okay. I couldn't even fully sustain the first pregnancy. And now I've my body's been through all this, and I'm post this major surgery. And now I'm pregnant. Like, there's no way I'm gonna be able to to sustain this pregnancy.

Scott Benner (42:01)

Yeah. How does it feel when that scar stretches too? Itchy?

Tabby (42:04)

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Itchy. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, god. So now you tell me you didn't have to consider terminating the pregnancy. You've been trying your okay. Okay. Good. I don't want you having to go on through that.

Tabby (42:15)

My medical team, my OB is incredible. She was very good from the very start of it. She was my same OB with the first pregnancy, so she knew what had already happened. She knew what I was going through medically, and she was very quick to I mean, she was honest with me, she told me, like, this is not gonna be easy. It's gonna be a very hard pregnancy, and there's gonna be a lot of things that we're gonna we're gonna check from a high risk perspective, and we're putting you into basically the highest risk category. So I was treated almost as if I was someone who was pregnant with, like, twins or triplets. Yeah. There was so much going on. And so she actually because she was actually through a different hospital than all my pancreas had been through. Mhmm.

Tabby (43:02)

And so she actually got with my entire medical team at the hospital with my pancreas and had the GI teams there send all of my records and their notes and just general profile summary of health to the GI team at the hospital that she was at in case I ever had to be admitted so that there was a pain like, a GI team on standby that knew my case and was familiar with it that she could pull in to help. She coordinated everything from my pain management team to my GI to everyone. All the specialists, she made sure that every doctor I had at Baylor University Medical Center, she made sure that there was a doctor of the same specialty and level of confidence that understood my case at her facility in the event that I ended up having to be impatient throughout my pregnancy.

Scott Benner (43:50)

It makes a big difference to be with somebody who understands what to do, doesn't it?

Tabby (43:55)

Yes. Yeah. Oh, yeah. She was she was phenomenal. And so she did and she dealt with me the whole pregnancy. I mean, I was I was terrified the whole time. I kept calling the OB office. It's like, you know, I think something's wrong. I think this doesn't feel right. And she'd bring me in, and they do an ultrasound, and they check. And most of the time, it was just to know this is you just got scar tissue. It just feels a little different than last time. Like but, I mean, I did have a few instances throughout that pregnancy where where I had to be impatient, and the struggle was real.

Scott Benner (44:26)

How hard is it to trust people at their word after you've gone through all that, though?

Tabby (44:30)

Very.

Scott Benner (44:31)

Yeah. Right? Like, must you must second guess everything constantly.

Tabby (44:34)

I do.

Scott Benner (44:35)

Is it stick with you since then? I bet you the pediatrician's not getting an easy go.

Tabby (44:39)

No. Well, Well and and honestly and this is something I've been working on personally just from a healing perspective Yeah because truthfully speaking, I now no matter how hard I try not to, I now operate under a well, what if we're missing something small?

Scott Benner (44:57)

So I live most of my life thinking nobody knows what they're talking about. I I think that's a baseline survival skill, to be honest with you.

Tabby (45:03)

Because, I mean, to me, we we miss something that should have been as quick as a simple gallbladder procedure after pregnancy. And we missed those gallstones, and because of it, I almost died.

Scott Benner (45:17)

It's fascinating that it's not the thing that, like like, we did this. It didn't work. We should go back and check again to make sure we got the gallstones. Like, how do you how do you skip over that part? I don't even know a good way to say this. So, yeah, if you have a bucket leaking and it's got a hole in it and I say, hey. Patch the hole. And I patch the hole and it keeps leaking. I don't start looking for other reasons why the water's coming out of the bucket. I go, we must not have patched the hole correctly. It's fascinating that they didn't just go back and say, maybe just this didn't work out the first time the way it was supposed to. Let's double check. It seems like common sense beyond a medical thing, honestly.

Tabby (45:51)

We thought so. But but

Scott Benner (45:53)

My gosh.

Tabby (45:54)

So yeah. So go through all that. Got my pregnancy test. Everything is is moving. Yay. We're pregnant.

Tabby (46:01)

Things are moving pretty quick with the the high risk OB and the my regular OB, and we get going. And then as one would expect, I got diagnosed with gestational diabetes at about eleven weeks. Mhmm. I didn't even have to do a blood glucose or the the gross drink thing because

Scott Benner (46:19)

think they were like, no. It's okay. We know.

Tabby (46:20)

It was like, yeah. This is we already know.

Scott Benner (46:23)

Did you think it was just as gestational, or did you think, oh, no. I'm gonna have type one diabetes?

Tabby (46:28)

I knew that it was gestational, but I felt very strongly. They would they kept telling me that gestational goes away generally after you're pregnant. Mhmm. And it does for for the for a normal person. I knew when I got diagnosed that early with gestational that it was not going to be long before I got diagnosed type three c.

Scott Benner (46:49)

Yeah. You don't bother buying lottery tickets. Right?

Tabby (46:52)

Oh, no.

Scott Benner (46:53)

You don't. I'm like the the most unlucky person. Was gonna say. If I was you, I would just look left, right, left a couple of times and cross the street very carefully and and never waste it never waste a dollar on a scratcher. I don't think it's gonna go your way.

Tabby (47:06)

Oh, yeah. We joke about it all the time that if you do. If it can only happen to one person in the world, it's probably happening.

Scott Benner (47:14)

So listen, guys. If if if a if a asteroid ever hits the planet, be sure you know it landed wherever you are. Yeah. Honestly. Everyone died, but I got to go first, Scott. Don't worry. My gosh. Do you have any brothers or sisters?

Tabby (47:29)

I do. I have a lot of siblings. Any of them have any kind of, like, odd health issues?

Tabby (47:35)

Nope. Just me.

Scott Benner (47:36)

Just you you've a lot of siblings? You're like, my mom made a lot of babies. Is that what you're saying?

Tabby (47:41)

Well, no. I have I just call them all my siblings. Like, the family that I need for, I ended up moving with them moving in with them during college. And

Scott Benner (47:50)

A lot of people in your life. None of them are sick. That's what you're saying. That's what you're saying. You don't have any autoimmune issues. Right? Like, you weren't gonna touch diabetes or autoimmune without without this. Nope. Okay. Yeah.

Scott Benner (48:03)

My goodness. How do you learn about type one when you're dropped into it from this perspective?

Tabby (48:08)

Honestly, it was it was very difficult for me because type three c is not very well known. Yeah.

Tabby (48:15)

So it was all the research and the things that you see online and and all the the things that you can use to help with diabetes are all geared towards a type one or a type two. And so I would go to these appointments, and I had no idea of, like, okay. Am I more like type one? Am I more like type two? I didn't I didn't know. I didn't fully understand. And a lot of the, like, online even when you sign up to get, like, an Omnipod or this or that, like, the option is type one or type two. So it was it was very, very challenging to navigate. I have a good endocrine team, and and they were very, very helpful throughout it. And they did a great job. But even their office, I mean, they knew we knew that I was gonna have type three c and that it was gonna be diagnosed a year before it was officially diagnosed. And they still the appointment where I was diagnosed, they still put it in as type two. And then I had to have them update my records. And they did, but it was like they still it's just not something that that really many teams are

Scott Benner (49:20)

are used to.

Scott Benner (49:21)

And the naming structure ended up being complicated for you because, I mean, listen, you don't have a pancreas anymore. You're gonna get treated like a type one, and you're gonna need to manage like a type one. But because type one diabetes means what it means and type two means what it means, does it feel like you're co opting something? Because I've heard people say that before. Like, I didn't wanna call myself type one. I mean, I am, but I'm not. I don't wanna offend peep do you have all those thoughts?

Tabby (49:45)

I I do. Generally, if somebody asks me, I I say type three c, and then they they inevitably always ask what that is, and so I have to explain it. And that's fine. But it is weird. Yeah. Because it's and and the other thing is, like, I I do still have a little bit of my pancreas. So it's like there is still a little bit functioning in there. It just will never ever again be able to sustain how much insulin production it it needs to.

Scott Benner (50:12)

You actually need. Yeah.

Tabby (50:13)

So, yeah, it's it's

Scott Benner (50:15)

This is gonna sound completely ridiculous, but it's like the stolen valor thing. Right? You know, when we you ever hear people like they they kinda make up their military service and it's a very offensive thing to do? Like, you're like, you weren't really there. Like, it almost feels like you're like, whatever it is that a type one goes

Tabby (50:31)

through.

Tabby (50:31)

Yeah. That's exactly right.

Scott Benner (50:33)

Yeah. You can't take credit for it. Right? That they're all the wrong words, but do you know what I mean?

Tabby (50:37)

Yeah. Yes. I know exactly what you're saying.

Scott Benner (50:39)

Okay. I'm glad because because I wasn't doing a good job.

Tabby (50:43)

No. I got it. Yeah. It's yeah. It is weird. And it's odd too because it's like every person with diabetes has their own unique journey, and it's been very challenging for pretty much everybody that's had it. And so it's like, it's tricky because, again, I don't wanna step on any toes, and I don't want anyone to feel like I know what it's like to be a type one diabetic for my entire life because I don't.

Scott Benner (51:06)

But there's also no club of type three c's, really.

Tabby (51:10)

Right.

Scott Benner (51:10)

Yeah. She's a type of yourself.

Tabby (51:11)

On the same point of that is I may not have had the learning how to work a pump at eight years old and dealing with it at school and all those things, but I did have quite the journey to

Scott Benner (51:22)

Well, yeah, people are still I mean, people are still diagnosed at your age and other ages, but I would just think, like, if communally, you were adopted in, that's how I would see it. Like, I I can understand I mean, I can understand someone looking up

Tabby (51:36)

And that's mostly how it's been.

Scott Benner (51:37)

Yeah. Would imagine. Yeah. I would imagine it's mostly been a reasonable experience for you. But Yeah. Yeah. And every once in while, get somebody that's surly about it. Like, you don't have type one. Like, yeah. I don't know. We both need insulin or the same thing happens. So Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Interesting. Kabi. Damn. So tell me how it's going. Like, what'd you figure out? How are you been able to manage it? You know, have have you Yeah.

Tabby (51:59)

So, thankfully, my endocrine team was was very good, and we had a conversation kind of middle of last year, really right right when my son got out the NICU. We sat down, and I I basically told her, I said, you know, I'm pretty sure that this is gonna go south fast. And so I checked all my labs. We had everything on record. And and I told her, I said, you know, this is gonna sound bad, but I've hit my out of pocket max on medical for the last three years.

Scott Benner (52:28)

Mhmm.

Tabby (52:29)

And I've already hit my out of pocket max for this year. So I know it's harder to get qualifications for pumps and things like that based on my diagnosis. I said, but we know that that's what I need. So whatever data or labs or whatever we have to collect between now and the end of the year to get that official diagnosis, so I qualify for a pump at the end of the year?

Scott Benner (52:55)

Yeah. Let's get to it so it I don't have to pay more money at the next year. Right? You're you're like, everything's free right now. I need it now. Right.

Tabby (53:02)

Yeah. And so so they did. They they did. They we got everything we needed. My blood sugar had to get kinda bad, honestly, before we officially did it. And so we did. My a one c ended up at, like, 7.4, I think. And at that point, we had enough data on my Libres and things that had been monitoring, and I was doing the injections at home. And I was up to a relatively high amount of insulin for for someone who was doing injections. And so they submitted the claim November 27 with my insurance to get prior authorization for a pump and insulin and everything, and it was accepted. And I ended up getting a ninety day supply of insulin and Omnipods right before the end of the year.

Scott Benner (53:52)

Good. That's great.

Tabby (53:53)

So it was really good.

Scott Benner (53:55)

How are you doing? Like, how's your a one c and your time in range, or how are you adjusting to it? Like

Tabby (54:00)

So my a one c did drop down to 5.3

Scott Benner (54:03)

Oh.

Tabby (54:04)

at my appointment in was either January or early February. And so that would have been about two months on pump.

Scott Benner (54:12)

So what what do do you eat? Like, a dust and kale? How do you, what's your diet like?

Tabby (54:16)

I have been very cautious of what I'm eating, and don't get me wrong. I still eat some sugar sometimes. Like, I still like sweet treats, but anywhere that I can make a swap, I have made a swap.

Scott Benner (54:27)

Okay. But if I see you going for the digestive enzymes, something's going on. Right?

Tabby (54:31)

Well, I actually have to take digestive enzymes every time I eat. Yeah.

Scott Benner (54:35)

No matter what. What what about, like, you had dinner. It's all good. It's two hours later. You're cruising through the kitchen on the way back to the television. You grab four hard pretzels out of a bag. You need to put an enzyme in with it?

Tabby (54:47)

That, I wouldn't.

Scott Benner (54:48)

Okay. Okay. But otherwise, no gallbladder.

Tabby (54:53)

Yeah. So the way it works is I'm supposed to take one one to two with snacks and then two to three with meals. And so it just kinda depends. Like, if I'm getting a snack that's that's like pretzels or almonds or

Scott Benner (55:05)

Mhmm.

Tabby (55:06)

something relatively fairly normal, then I usually will not take any or only take one. But if I'm getting a snack that's like an ice cream Snickers bar or a piece of pizza or something like that, then I'll definitely do the higher dose of the digestive enzymes.

Scott Benner (55:23)

What happens if you don't take them?

Tabby (55:24)

My body really struggles to digest food in general.

Scott Benner (55:27)

You get, like, belly pain. And

Tabby (55:30)

Yeah. Very uncomfortable. Yeah. Abdominal pain, pancreatic pain.

Scott Benner (55:34)

When they explained that to you after the surgery, did they tell you it's all about the gallbladder, or did they also mention that the pancreas had something to do with it too?

Tabby (55:42)

It all started with the gallbladder, but but yeah. I mean, the pancreas didn't really help out.

Scott Benner Slide (55:48)

Didn't help anything as as things started to kinda go south. Because, you know, people would act, you know, with type one diabetes, I mean, the pancreas does more than just make insulin. And, you know, so you lose some other functionality, and digestion is part of it too. Right. So, yeah, when you lose everything, then you're stuck.

Scott Benner (56:05)

Is it a pain in the butt, or are you getting used to it, the taking the enzymes?

Tabby (56:10)

I'm kinda used to it now. I mean, I know what foods I definitely need them with and what foods I can kinda get away without taking them.

Scott Benner (56:17)

Mhmm.

Tabby (56:17)

I know when to take them before meals, because I usually take mine about thirty minutes before meals, and that seems to be a good timing for me on when to take it. I've kinda learned learned my body on the enzymes.

Scott Benner (56:29)

So some too myself. By the way, don't have any of your problems, but I take them once in a while too. I mean, I'm sure yours are prescribed and mine are over the counter. But

Tabby (56:38)

Yes. Mine are prescribed.

Scott Benner (56:39)

Yeah. Yeah. But I'm an old man who shows up at a diner with a pill in his pocket. You know what I mean? My wife's like, can you get something to put those in? I was like, my pocket works fine.

Tabby (56:49)

No. They make these little things on Amazon. They're actually, like, really small. It's like a little silver, very small.

Scott Benner (56:57)

No. I mean, I realize I'm a I realize I'm a dirtbag. I know it. I know know what's happening.

Tabby (57:02)

I was gonna say, because I have I have them hooked to my wristlet.

Scott Benner (57:06)

Oh, it's a good idea.

Tabby (57:08)

And each one holds three.

Scott Benner (57:09)

Yeah. That's a great idea. Because when you pull a loose pill out of your pocket, people look at you. I'm not gonna lie. They're like, that guy's getting high right now. I know for sure. But but no. I I I don't know. I find them helpful, to be perfectly honest. But anyway so okay. I'm sorry. How do you know who I am? Like, how did you end up on the podcast?

Tabby (57:27)

Yeah. So I actually saw a a post was recommended to me or something was in my pancreatectomy support group Facebook group.

Scott Benner (57:40)

Mhmm.

Tabby (57:41)

And they had shared your podcast of one that you just reshared recently of somebody who had type three c from years ago that had passed away. And so you had shared it and reshared it in in her honor.

Scott Benner (57:56)

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Tabby (57:57)

And so I listened to the whole podcast, and I thought it was incredible. And I just thought it was really cool that that she was willing to to share her story and her experience. And and I thought it was really cool that you were sharing

Scott Benner (58:11)

conversation to begin

Tabby (58:12)

unique Yeah. circumstance.

Scott Benner (58:15)

I've had a number of people with three c on over the years.

Tabby (58:17)

Yes. Yeah. I've listened to a lot of them now Yeah. now that I have found it. Yeah. I was talking to a friend about it, and you know your phone's always listening. So then on Facebook, later, it had come across my page that you had the thing where you were I was looking for

Scott Benner (58:33)

looking for you to come on.

Tabby (58:34)

Yeah. Where you had some openings.

Scott Benner (58:36)

Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that's awesome. I'm glad.

Tabby (58:38)

And then that communication started between you and I and

Scott Benner (58:41)

Yeah. Her mom reached out to me to tell me that she'd passed away and we were going back and forth talking a little bit and we we came up with, like, reposting the episode, you know, in in her honor. I'm glad I found you. Yeah. Me too. My gosh.

Tabby (58:56)

Yeah. Because I've already I mean, even just listening to your podcast, the little bit that I've been able to since that transpired, I I've learned a lot of different just even little tips and tricks that, like, I don't think I ever would have known if Yeah. I didn't listen.

Scott Benner (59:11)

That's awesome. I'm glad. I'm happy whenever it helps somebody. Is this the end of the bad stuff, or did more happen? Like, you're good now. Right? Like, Yeah. there's nothing else health wise happening? Or or or let me ask you, are you still run down? Like, how long has it been? Like, tell me, like, how much time has it been since you've were like, okay. I have type one or, you know, I have type three c now. I'm managing fully with insulin. How long has it been since then to now?

Tabby (59:37)

Fully managing with the diabetes and on the pump since December December.

Scott Benner (59:43)

2025?

Tabby (59:44)

2025. Yes.

Scott Benner (59:45)

Not that long then.

Tabby (59:47)

No. Okay. And things things are getting better. We are finding things that that work and that help, and, we just identified a few health things that I was having some deficiencies and things like that. So we got supplements on board, and I had to do an infusion. And but, honestly, I felt 10 times better after that, so that was good.

Scott Benner (1:00:07)

Iron infusion?

Tabby (1:00:08)

So I haven't done the iron infusion yet, but I most likely am gonna have to do one of those here very quick. Yeah. The one that they had me do was more so, like, almost every vitamin and mineral under the sun because that was depleted in my follicle.

Scott Benner (1:00:23)

Do you have low ferritin?

Tabby (1:00:25)

I do. Yeah. I do have very low. Yes. Which they said that can it can be common after splenectomy.

Scott Benner (1:00:32)

Okay. Do you know what your ferritin is?

Tabby (1:00:34)

It was 11.

Scott Benner (1:00:36)

Oh, no. You need the you need the juice. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I've done it a couple times in my life. It's awesome. Yeah. Why are you not getting it? What's happening?

Tabby (1:00:44)

Well, so they wanted to try supplementation first.

Scott Benner (1:00:48)

Mm-mm. That's bullshit. It's not gonna work. Just tell them you want the other thing. Yeah.

Tabby (1:01:51)

Yeah. Well, my doctor, thankfully, he's very good about kind of working not around my insurance, but with my insurance.

Scott Benner (1:00:59)

So your side. Yeah.

Tabby (1:01:01)

He has kinda learned what they're just gonna deny without him having to

Scott Benner (1:01:04)

Trying something else first.

Tabby (1:01:06)

Yes. And so so we tried we were trying this for three weeks, and then, literally, I'm supposed to go on a cruise in a couple weeks. And so he basically said before that to just call him, and we'll get blood work done. And that way, if it's still low, then we'll go ahead and abuse before.

Scott Benner (1:01:23)

I wish you would have found me sooner. I'd I do a cruise in June with a bunch of listeners.

Tabby (1:01:27)

No. So I saw that actually. It popped up on my Facebook too. Yeah. And I also was like, man, I wish I would have known that. But

Scott Benner (1:01:34)

That's him. Hopefully, we'll do it again next year. It's not a thing that makes money, so it's a a labor of love for a lot of people. Like, it's a lot of a lot of hard work that goes into making it happen. And then, hopefully, we can get it to go for a third year. So it is really awesome. It I'll I'll tell you. To get everybody together, all, you know, different, you know, races, religions, ages, type ones, parents of, and watch them just effortlessly blend together in a happy little group is very interesting. It's very cool.

Tabby (1:02:04)

Yeah. No. I would honestly, I thought it was so cool. I was looking at it to see, but I just can't make it happen before June.

Scott Benner (1:02:11)

It's a good ship too. It's, I don't know if you've ever done that one. It's a celebrity beyond. It's really good.

Tabby (1:02:16)

See, I haven't. Yeah. We haven't done a celebrity yet, but we love cruises in my house.

Scott Benner (1:02:20)

Well, I could tell your story. You're in a cruise every time you look up, you're on a cruise.

Tabby (1:02:24)

Yeah. That's true.

Scott Benner (1:02:25)

They go out of Galveston, so that's not bad at all. Right?

Tabby (1:02:28)

Yeah. No. It's that's where we usually go out of.

Scott Benner (1:02:30)

That where our first one went out of, Galveston. It was a good time. Is there anything I haven't asked you about or anything that I've forgotten or I don't wanna miss any of your story because sometimes I get chatty and I redirect the conversation.

Tabby (1:02:43)

No. You're good.

Scott Benner (1:02:44)

I did alright?

Tabby (1:02:45)

Yeah.

Scott Benner (1:02:46)

That's all I heard. I heard I did okay. Do you have you tried the management stuff? Have you tried, like, pro tips or small sips or any of those series that are about insulin?

Tabby (1:02:55)

I have not yet, but I want to.

Scott Benner (1:02:59)

Do it. Try the small sips first as an entree. They're literally, like, ten minutes long, each of them.

Tabby (1:03:05)

Okay. Yeah. And those are on your website. Right?

Scott Benner (1:03:09)

Yeah. You can get them there. You can go I mean, do you have an iPhone?

Tabby (1:03:11)

Yes.

Scott Benner (1:03:12)

Apple Podcasts? Just select subscribe to the podcast and type in juice box small sips. They'll all pop up.

Tabby (1:03:17)

Oh, okay. Perfect.

Scott Benner (1:03:18)

Yeah. But my website I'm actually my website's getting pretty damn good. It took me, like, a decade, but I'm really getting on top of it now. I'm just gonna tell you about this because I don't know who else to tell. So I added this web page. It's juiceboxpodcast.com, but then it's, I think it's jbfaq. Is that right? Yes. Okay. And so what I did was I took, this list I had, from listeners. It's a struggles list that originally was like 80 or 90 pages. People just sent in all the things they struggled with. And we kinda synthesized them down to, like, common themes, things that people struggle with over and over again. And we blended that. And by we, I mean, me and my friend Claude. We blended that with the top 350 most Googled questions about type one diabetes, and then blended that with returns from this this, Facebook post that really blew up well with advice for parents of a newly diagnosed kid. So I took the advice for the parents, and I synthesized them. I basically reversed engineered them into questions, combined them all together, and then I took all of the management episodes of the podcast and mapped all those questions to episodes that are valuable for if you have those questions.

Tabby (1:04:36)

Oh, that's yeah. That's great. I'll definitely check that out.

Scott Benner (1:04:40)

There's like a search bar at the top and you start typing and it just drives you towards content. So if you're I don't know. If you're having trouble, like, you know, I can't set Bazel. Right? Boom. It just sends you the episodes that help you with it. It's really cool.

Tabby (1:04:59)

Yeah. That is really cool. Yeah. And so I do think I listened to a few of the small steps because I definitely listened to some smaller

Scott Benner (1:05:07)

Like, episodes.

Tabby (1:05:08)

Shorter podcast Yeah. through the thing. And then I went on your website. I was looking at all the resources, and honestly, like, I was just so impressed Thank you. by everything on the website.

Scott Benner (1:05:20)

I appreciate it. That's me.

Tabby (1:05:21)

So many resources that I was like, okay. I have not don't know what to do to look at first.

Scott Benner (1:05:26)

Yeah. Yeah. That's me and AI, by the way. We work together.

Tabby (1:05:29)

I love AI.

Scott Benner (1:05:30)

Yeah. No kidding. I've had these ideas about my website for years, and I never ever ever could figure out how to take care of it. And no kidding. I was starting to get there with Google Gemini. And then I don't know what happened, but Anthropic updated Claude about a month ago. And I was like, oh, we're ready for prime time. I know what to do. And I've been, like, head down working on my website for, like, a month and a half now, and it really looks awesome. So and it's Oh,

Tabby (1:06:01)

it does. It's funky. And I'm not I mean, I'm no expert, and obviously, this is not technically a product. But my my background is in product engineering and and innovation and product marketing. I'm very impressed by your website.

Scott Benner (1:06:16)

Thank you.

Tabby (1:06:16)

I think it's great. I think it's resourceful, and I think it's gonna help a lot of people.

Scott Benner (1:06:21)

I appreciate it. I was telling well, right now, my basement's being turned into a podcast studio. So there are people down there working, and they're people I've known my whole life. So they're not just they're not, like, just guys down there swinging hammers that I've never met before. They're people I've known in a really long time. And I was standing with them the other day, and they were they kind of you know, it's like a two worlds thing. I I think it's hard for people to believe you make a living making a podcast. You know what mean? Like, it flips people out. And, anyway and so we just kinda asked some questions going back and forth about a little bit. And I said, you know, it's gonna sound crazy to you. I was like, but this is as close as I think I'll ever feel to a job like yours because I start with ideas in my head and with tools, even though they're physical tools and physical materials. I take tools and digital materials and build something out of my imagination. And I was like, it really I think it's as close as I'm ever gonna come to, like, you know, putting up a wall or doing something like that that I'm seeing you guys do right now. I don't know if they believe me or not, but I really feel like that. Like, I've had these ideas for so long, and I just didn't have the right tools to put them together. But I had all the material, which is my data and my, you know, and my content. And I just I just needed to be able to, like, hammer together into something. This did it. So, hopefully, it won't blow the world up.

Tabby (1:07:39)

So great. And I actually I've been thinking about that a lot too because I've I've started sharing my story a little bit on on social media and just kind of and have a growing community, small community on TikTok just of of other moms that have had health challenges, other moms in general, and other people who have chronic illnesses. And and I've been sharing, like, my different experiences at the hospitals and sharing about my story a little bit. And really my hope is that that I can raise awareness for for some of these things and and help someone. And I think that's a lot of what I've gathered. A lot of the people who who run these types of podcasts want to. Yeah. And so I'm thankful that you're putting the time into it because I've I've learned a lot through it, and I think that that it has helped me. And it's given me an avenue to be able to to kinda share what happened to me. And

Scott Benner (1:08:36)

Thank you.

Tabby (1:08:36)

That's great.

Scott Benner (1:08:37)

I I appreciate it. I wish you luck doing the same. It's just it's a it's lovely to get out there and and share stuff and let people feel like they're not alone. It's really, actually incredibly important. Okay. Well, we've been at this enough. I can hear the editor right now. He's saying, stop right now. We've got a good length. Keep going too long and we're in trouble. Yeah. Seriously, I appreciate you spending the time sharing this with me. I wanted to tell you, there's no pressure here, but I am interested in you, like, two years from now. If you wanna try to come back on at some point, like, really in the future

Tabby (1:09:08)

Yeah.

Scott Benner (1:09:09)

I'm interested because right now, you're talking about diabetes coming out of the lens of having all this happen to you. The getting diabetes is almost, I'm not gonna say it's good news, but at least it's the end of all your pain and your suffering and all that stuff. I wonder if if you'll sound more like a regular old type one a few years from now where you're like, Scott, this is grinding on me. Like, you you know what I mean? Like, I'm wondering if you'll if you if that experience will happen or if this part will carry you further. It's it's in the back of my mind. But if you, you wake up a couple years now and you wanna be on a podcast, contact me back again.

Tabby (1:09:41)

Oh, for sure.

Scott Benner (1:09:42)

Cool.

Tabby (1:09:42)

I absolutely will.

Scott Benner (1:09:43)

Thank you. I really appreciate it. Congratulations on the baby too. Forest is a cool name.

Tabby (1:09:46)

Thank you.

Scott Benner (1:09:47)

Yeah. You're welcome.

Tabby (1:09:48)

And thank you for for the opportunity. And

Scott Benner (1:09:51)

Oh, it's a pleasure. You don't have to thank me, please. I need something to put my ads on. You don't have to thank me.

Tabby (1:09:59)

I feel that.

Scott Benner (1:10:00)

Alright. Hold on one second. Thanks.

Scott Benner (1:10:07)

This episode was sponsored by Touched by Type one. I want you to go find them on Facebook, Instagram, and give them a follow, and then head to touchedbytype1.org where you're gonna learn all about their programs and resources for people with type one diabetes. Are you tired of getting a rash from your CGM adhesive? Give the Eversense three sixty five a try. Eversensecgm.com/juicebox. Beautiful silicone that they use. It changes every day, keeps it fresh. Not only that, you only have to change the sensor once a year. So, I mean, that's better. Today's episode of the juice box podcast was sponsored by the new Tandem Mobi system and Control IQ plus technology. Learn more and get started today at tandemdiabetes.com/juicebox. Check it out. Okay. Well, here we are at the end of the episode. You're still with me? Thank you. I really do appreciate that. What else could you do for me? Why don't you tell a friend about the show or leave a five star review? Maybe you could make sure you're following or subscribe in your podcast app, go to YouTube and follow me, or Instagram, TikTok. Oh, gosh. Here's one. Make sure you're following the podcast in the private Facebook group as well as the public Facebook page. You don't wanna miss please, do you not know about the private group? You have to join the private group. As of this recording, it has 74,000 members. They're active talking about diabetes. Whatever you need to know, there's a conversation happening in there right now. And I'm there all the time. Tag me. I'll say hi. If you'd like to hear about diabetes management in easy to take in bits, check out the small sips. That's the series on the Juice Box podcast that listeners are talking about like it's a cheat code. These are perfect little bursts of clarity, one person said. I finally understood things I've heard a 100 times. Short, simple, and somehow exactly what I needed. People say small sips feels like someone pulling up a chair, sliding a cup across the table, and giving you one clean idea at a time. Nothing overwhelming, no fire hose of information, just steady helpful nudges that actually stick. People listen in their car, on walks, or rather actually bolus ing anytime that they need a quick shot of perspective. And the reviews, they all say the same thing. Small sips makes diabetes make sense. Search for the Juice Box podcast, small sips, wherever you get audio. If you have a podcast and you need a fantastic editor, you want Rob from Wrong Way Recording. Listen. Truth be told, I'm, like, 20% smarter when Rob edits me. He takes out all the, like, gaps of time and when I go and stuff like that. And it just I don't know, man. Like, I listen back and I'm like, why do I sound smarter? And then I remember because I did one smart thing. I hired Rob at wrong way recording dot com.

READ FULL TRANSCRIPT

#1861 Fight the Power

Gillian discusses teenage rebellion, living with necrobiosis lipoidica, and a legal battle against medical school bureaucracy over a false-positive alcohol test caused by high blood sugar fermentation.

Proudly supported by

Key Takeaways

• Urine Screen Alterations via Glucosuria: Elevated blood glucose levels can cause sugar to spill into the urine (glucosuria). If the urine specimen contains high amounts of glucose, ambient yeast or bacteria can ferment the sugar post-collection, generating ethanol within the sample cup and causing a false positive on alcohol drug screenings.
• Critical Device Proximity for AID Systems: Automated Insulin Delivery (AID) loops depend on persistent Bluetooth connectivity between the continuous glucose monitor (CGM), insulin pump, and smart controller. Severing this connection by confiscating or moving a device can immediately trigger system failures, place the pump into a limited backup mode, and prompt dangerous, rapid hyperglycemia.
• ADA Rights to Classroom/Testing Accommodations: Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), academic and institutional environments are legally obligated to provide reasonable accommodations for individuals with Type 1 diabetes. This includes immediate, non-penalized access to glucose monitoring technology, corrective fast-acting carbohydrates, and fluids during lecture and examination periods.
• Understanding Necrobiosis Lipoidica: Historically termed Necrobiosis Lipoidica Diabeticorum (NLD), this rare, chronic inflammatory skin condition primarily causes shiny, yellow-brown, or deep reddish plaques on the lower shins. The condition involves underlying microvascular changes and collagen degeneration, frequently making the skin thinned, thinned over the bone, and susceptible to severe ulceration.
• Combatting Burnout with Strategic Dosing: Navigating systemic institutional barriers can compound psychological diabetes burnout. Re-establishing basic management fundamentals—specifically practicing precise meal pre-bolusing and consistently evaluating baseline basal profiles—remains the most effective tactic for resetting glucose time-in-range metrics.

Resources Mentioned

• Juicebox Podcast Website Support: juiceboxpodcast.com
• Omnipod 5 Automated Insulin Delivery: omnipod.com/juicebox
• Dexcom Continuous Glucose Monitoring (Dexcom G7): dexcom.com/juicebox
• Professional Audio Production & Editing: wrongwayrecording.com

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Childhood Diagnosis and Teenage Rebellion

Scott Benner (0:00)

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

Gillian (0:15)

My name is Gillian. I am a type one diabetic of, I believe, it'll be twenty three years. In April, I was diagnosed at five.

Scott Benner (0:28)

Check out my algorithm pumping series to help you make sense of automated insulin delivery systems like Omnipod five, Loop, Medtronic seven eighty g, Twist, Tandem Control IQ, and much more. Each episode will dive into the setup, features, and real world usage tips that can transform your daily type one diabetes management. We cut through the jargon, share personal experiences, and show you how these algorithms can simplify and streamline your care. If you're curious about automated insulin pumping, go find the algorithm pumping series in the Juice Box podcast. Easiest way, juiceboxpodcast.com, and go up into the menu. Click on series, and it'll be right there.

Scott Benner (1:08)

While you're listening, please remember that 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 or becoming bold with insulin.

Scott Benner (1:29)

This episode of the Juice Box podcast is sponsored by Omnipod five. Omnipod five is a tube free automated insulin delivery system that's been shown to significantly improve a one c and time and range for people with type one diabetes when they've switched from daily injections.

Scott Benner (1:45)

Learn more and get started today at omnipod.com/juicebox. At my link, you can get a free starter kit right now. Terms and conditions apply. Eligibility may vary. Full terms and conditions can be found at omnipod.com/juicebox.

Scott Benner (2:00)

Today's episode is also sponsored by Dexcom, the Dexcom g seven, the same CGM that my daughter wears. You can learn more and get started today at my link, dexcom.com/juicebox.

Gillian (2:14)

My name is Gillian. I am a type one diabetic of I believe it'll be twenty three years in April. I was diagnosed at five. And my diabetic journey slash life has been very interesting in the last two years.

Scott Benner (2:32)

Can we find out a little bit about the beginning part before we get to those last two years?

Gillian (2:36)

Yeah. Absolutely. What do you—

Scott Benner (2:38)

I don't know, but you said diabetic journey. And the other day, Arden said to me, dad, this is my health journey. And I was like, is she being sarcastic, or does she mean that? So—

Gillian (2:48)

No. I I don't know. I think of it, you know, we all talk about you see the memes on Facebook and everything, and it's like, it's another job. It wasn't until this whole instance really became a thing that or I should say until, like, 2020 when I started working in the medical field, it really hit me that it wasn't a second job or anything. Like, this is my life. Okay. I was pretty bad teenager, rebellious against it. I went on the pump, I got just really lazy with the Medtronic.

Scott Benner (3:22)

How do you rebel well, first of all, you're diagnosed at five. Right?

Gillian (3:26)

Yep. Yep.

Scott Benner (3:27)

Your, parents are married?

Gillian (3:29)

Parents married. No other diabetic in the family. My grandma is a type two. Now she treats it more like a type one, but I don't—nothing to her. I just don't consider her like a full on type one.

Scott Benner (3:41)

What the way she's doing? How about brothers, sisters?

Gillian (3:44)

No sisters, no brothers, only child.

Scott Benner (3:47)

Oh.

Gillian (3:49)

Mhmm. What was—I was a in vitro, I believe, baby. So it took my parents a few—a few years to have me.

Scott Benner (3:57)

Ah, that was enough. Yeah. Get—get you out was, enough work.

Gillian (4:00)

I always joke because they were like, oh, you were—you were healthy. You were a good kid. We decided not to have any more. And I was like, you guys jinx this. You guys jinx this.

Scott Benner (4:10)

This one's good. What do we need another one for? Right.

Gillian (4:12)

Right. So—

Scott Benner (4:13)

Alright. Yeah. So growing up twenty three years ago so Arden's had diabetes since 2006. Was this just, like, 2003?

Gillian (4:24)

Yes. Yep. Okay. I had just turned five. So my birthday is in March, and then I was diagnosed 04/07/2003.

Scott Benner (4:32)

Okay. So your management in the beginning was what? Like, just injections and a—and you had a little meter. Right?

Gillian (4:38)

Yep. Yep. Yep. Carrying ice boxes—or not an ice box, but, you know, like a cooler around with us. And parents really always have—always been involved with it.

Scott Benner (4:49)

What kind of experience did they have managing it? Like, do you know what your a one c's were back then when you were little kid?

Gillian (4:55)

Oh, yeah. They were—I was very independent, actually, until, like, the whole reason I'm on this podcast with you. I never had to have, like, school accommodations or anything. One, school really was just like, if she knows how to manage it, we're cool. And my parents wanted to be as, quote, unquote, normal as possible. They didn't want me to have this, like, overwhelming, like, chip on my shoulder that I'm excessively different because my pancreas just doesn't wanna work.

Scott Benner (5:28)

Okay. So—so you're telling me what—you did shots when you were a little kid Yeah. on your own?

Gillian (5:33)

I did shots up until I was 11 years old. I was a very active horseback rider, and I was very tiny. And the Omnipod back then, I remember it being, like—looking at it, and I'm like, I don't want this giant, like, brick being on my body.

Scott Benner (5:50)

It used to be bigger. Yeah. Yeah.

Gillian (5:52)

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I was just like, well, what if I, like, hit it on a barn door or, you know, I had a horse that he liked to nibble. And I was like, well, what if he rips it off? And it just made me really scared, so I didn't want the tube pump either. But then I had a nurse practitioner that came in and just, like, literally beat the crap out of his pump site, and that was game changer for me because I was so afraid that it was gonna hurt if I fell off and it got ripped out. And then I at 11 years old, I switched to the Medtronic pump.

Scott Benner (6:24)

Because someone showed you, look, you can be rough with it. It's okay.

Gillian (6:27)

Yeah.

Scott Benner (6:28)

Yeah. So in that time between 11 and diagnosis, are you one of those little kids who's, like, giving yourself shots, or is your mom and dad—you're doing it yourself. Right?

Gillian (6:36)

I was at school full, I believe that—I mean, right around diagnosis, like, my memory wasn't isn't the most great about it. Yeah. But I believe that they would help me, like, they learn taught me how to count carbs. I was very hands on with my nutritionist at, you know, Nationwide Children's Hospital. I really—they would always ask me, how much do you think for this? You know, how much would you give for this? And it was pretty easy because my carb ratio was, like, one unit per 15 grams.

Scott Benner (7:08)

Yeah.

Gillian (7:09)

So it was just counting in 15.

Scott Benner (7:10)

Yeah. The math is pretty—pretty easy.

Gillian (7:12)

Yeah. So Yeah.

Scott Benner (7:13)

What are outcomes like? Do you know what your a one c's were? What—what are the first ones you're aware of?

Gillian (7:18)

I don't remember those as much. I know I was really well controlled.

Scott Benner (7:22)

Okay.

Gillian (7:23)

I had no issues.

Scott Benner (7:24)

Because the doctor would say, hey. You're doing great? Or—

Gillian (7:27)

Yes. Yes. Okay. And they would even show me the graphs. Like, the older I started to become, they would show me the graphs and be like, oh, what happened here? And I'd be like, oh, maybe I just forgot to, you know, give myself an extra half a unit because I wasn't sure. Right. You know? I had lunch at school this day. I wasn't sure, so I gave myself half a unit less so I wouldn't go as low or something like that.

Scott Benner (7:51)

So you're on the Medtronic pump at eleven. Did—do you have their CGM at that point too?

Gillian (7:55)

I don't think so. I think I was on Dexcom at first.

Scott Benner (7:59)

Okay. You liked having a CGM?

Gillian (8:03)

I loved it. I started feeling even more free. My—you know, I used to have, like, these really dark circles under my eyes, and I was always really pale. And I started, like, looking not as much of a zombie. And family and friends used to be like, oh, she looks so much healthier. You know?

Scott Benner (8:22)

Why do you think that is? Did you have more stability, you think?

Gillian (8:25)

I think it was more stability, and I think it was—I have always—even when I've had a pump issue over the past couple of years, and I go back to shots, not getting that insulin, like, not manual, the automated or the closed loop system—

Scott Benner (8:42)

Mhmm.

Gillian (8:42)

I just feel like trash. I feel like my bones—I have no fluid in my body, and everything is just sandpaper. And I don't know if it's because it's not, like, injections every second that I feel that way, but it just doesn't feel like I even take my Lantus when I take my Lantus.

Scott Benner (9:04)

You feel better on a pump than you—

Gillian (9:06)

did—Yes.

Scott Benner (9:07)

At MDI. Okay. Alright. So how do we get from this little girl who's like, I feel more free and this is better to—like, when do you become a teenager who's like, I'm gonna rebel and I choose diabetes to rebel against? When does that happen?

Gillian (9:21)

I think it happened around puberty at the age of 13. I started realizing that—I changed schools, and it wasn't the school thing, but, you know, boys, whatever. And I wasn't like—it was always my horse. Still is always my horse.

Scott Benner (9:39)

Were you gonna say I wasn't boy crazy?

Gillian (9:41)

I was not boy crazy. I just started becoming, you know, like, puberty. Okay. It's things of, like, oh, well, maybe this girl has a boyfriend because she doesn't have diabetes, or maybe they're getting to do these things because, you know, they're—these kids are going to go to sleepovers, but my parents don't necessarily trust their parents to wake me up at 2AM in the morning—Okay. to make sure that I'm not double arrows down Gilly and then at forty two.

Scott Benner (10:11)

Then you're very aware of your diabetes and the impact it's having on big and small things in your life.

Gillian (10:16)

Yes.

Scott Benner (10:17)

So you shove it away to make it go away?

Gillian (10:20)

Yes.

Scott Benner (10:20)

Okay.

Gillian (10:20)

I was like, I don't want any part of this anymore.

Scott Benner (10:24)

What does that look like functionally? Like, not taking care of it? Or how do you—Yeah. How do you move it aside?

Gillian (10:30)

I remember I wouldn't change my pump sites for ten or fourteen days at a time until they became so—not infected. Thankfully, I never had to go to hospital for an infection. But until they became so sore or my dad, like, was like, look. You are going to change this pump site or we're having a family intervention.

Scott Benner (10:51)

Do you look back now and see, were they scared of you?

Gillian (10:55)

They weren't scared of me. They were scared of what would happen to me.

Scott Benner (10:59)

But it—but why didn't they just come to you on day whatever? It was supposed to be changed and say, hey, today, Gillian, today's the day. We're gonna change your pump site today.

Gillian (11:07)

They did, and I completely ignored them. Or I would tell them I changed it, and I wouldn't. And so I was that little teenager that didn't rebel on anything else except for my diabetes because I was so mad that I was a diabetic and I was different from others that it—I was just gonna completely ruin my life about it.

Scott Benner (11:30)

And did you realize that was happening? So while you're making the decision not to change your sight or to bolus or whatever you were doing. Right? Yeah. Do you have a conscious thought? Like, I am trading health for being able to ignore this, or is it not the way it seems to you is at that age?

Gillian (11:47)

When I got older, yes. Right around the time I started driving and, you know, I grew up in Ohio. I lived in Ohio for most of my life. My family is still there. Mhmm. It wasn't apparent until I had to have my doctor sign off on my driver's license to say that I was healthy and safe enough to drive that I realized, oh, somebody can actually take more control than me. And I didn't like that.

Scott Benner (12:15)

Oh, Gillian, I mean this in a—in a lovely way, and I mean this as the father of a—of a 21, almost 22 year old, girl. Are you, what they call stubborn?

Gillian (12:24)

A little bit.

Scott Benner (12:25)

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Uh-huh.

Gillian (12:26)

I yeah.

Scott Benner (12:27)

I am too, by the way. I just wanna—I just wanna point out, but do you look for arguments sometimes?

Gillian (12:33)

Not all the time. I think a lot of my family would say yes. I have this—do have this tendency—

Scott Benner (12:41)

I disagree with them. Yeah. I just—

Gillian (12:43)

have this tensed—tendency to question a lot of things because I'm so over analytical about literally everything in my life that it sometimes comes off as questioning, and it comes off at—or to me, it's questioning. But to them, it's I wanna argue.

Scott Benner (13:05)

Are you anxious?

Gillian (13:07)

No. No? Not really. I just—

Scott Benner (13:09)

Do you have thyroid—do you have thyroid? Mm-mm. No?

Gillian (13:12)

Nope. I only have one other disease from this that's essentially the way doctors explained it to me hooked on to my diabetes. At 11 years old, I had mono. And I went from riding horses and dancing six to seven days a week to complete bedridden for three months.

Living with Necrobiosis Lipoidica

Scott Benner (13:32)

And then you got diabetes a little bit after that? Or no? No. Oh, you were older. I'm sorry.

Gillian (13:36)

Skin disease. I got this skin disease called necrobiosis lipoideica.

Scott Benner (13:41)

What the hell kind of a name is that?

Gillian (14:03)

Yeah. And it basically, you have to have an autoimmune disease. Back then, it was necrobiosis lipoidica diabeticorum, but they kind of dropped the diabeticorum because it doesn't just affect diabetics.

Scott Benner (14:00)

I've heard this one before. What is this? What is what—

Gillian (14:03)

It's basically a collagen disease. It's very common in females, especially diabetic females, or there's another common disease that it's more common in. But it affects skin cells and skin tissues within the collagen level down below the knees. And it kinda looks like I have burns. Some people, they're not as bright red. Some—for me, mine are very bright red. You can see my veins going through them. It sucks as a female because I swear they grow hair faster than anything else on my body.

Scott Benner (14:42)

Wait. The veins or the—or the—

Gillian (14:43)

The—the lesions.

Scott Benner (14:45)

Oh, the—oh. And are they—are they raised?

Scott Benner (14:50)

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Scott Benner (15:03)

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Scott Benner (15:58)

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Gillian (16:52)

Yes and no.

Scott Benner (16:53)

Okay.

Gillian (16:54)

When I was younger, they were really bad, and I had, like, no tissue. They were just up against the bone.

Scott Benner (16:59)

Oh my god.

Gillian (17:00)

Yeah. And if I would touch them, they would break open, and it would be horrific.

Scott Benner (17:04)

Holy hell. Is there a treatment for it or no?

Gillian (17:07)

They're starting to get more treatment. The most promising thing right now is having, like, steroid injections in them, which I refuse to do because it—I just don't wanna deal with the blood sugar issues.

Scott Benner (17:20)

Well, how long would the steroids help for if you got the injections?

Gillian (17:23)

Potent—they're—they're not sure, but, potentially, the rest of my life. But I would still have them. They just wouldn't be as red.

Scott Benner (17:32)

Do you know how—how long the injections would last for?

Gillian (17:36)

Not really. No. Say they save the rest of my life. Some people don't. I'm more afraid of the—not the blood sugar issues, but the blood sugar issues with having them, like, injected into and potentially them ulcerating. I don't want an ulcer. They're closed. I'm cool with having bull's eyes on my shins.

Scott Benner (17:57)

Gotcha. You have, like, the greatest collection of, like, tall socks in the world?

Gillian (18:01)

I do. I do. I love my compression socks. Love them.

Scott Benner (18:05)

Oh, compression socks help with it?

Gillian (18:07)

Mhmm. A little bit. I use a all natural, like, self tanner—

Scott Benner (18:11)

Mhmm.

Gillian (18:12)

that in the summertime to blend in some of it. And that, I honestly think, helps the most because there's a lot of essential oils and natural things in there that helps keep them, you know, moist and not so scaly looking either.

Scott Benner (18:29)

I didn't wanna have to look this up because I don't want the embarrassment of typing it in, but I—is it an autoimmune issue?

Gillian (18:36)

No. It only is present with people with, like, an autoimmune disease, but that was also, like, ten years ago. Now I'm, like, on a Facebook group, and there's some people that don't even have diabetes, and they're getting this.

Scott Benner (18:51)

What's it called again? And go slow, please.

Gillian (18:53)

Necrobiosis.

Scott Benner (18:55)

Necrobiosis.

Gillian (18:58)

Lipoidica. Hold on.

Gillian (19:02)

You're good. You're good. It's l i—

Scott Benner (19:04)

It—it changed it to lipstick. Lip—

Gillian (19:07)

Of course. Auto correct.

Scott Benner (19:09)

Yeah. Lip lip good. L i—

Gillian (19:11)

p i Mhmm. d i c a, I believe.

Scott Benner (19:17)

Okay.

Gillian (19:18)

And then diabetic, and then on the end of that, o r u m. So diabeticorum.

Scott Benner (19:25)

More commonly called necrobiosis lipoidica is a rare inflammatory skin disorder. It usually shows up in shiny yellow, brown, reddish plaques. It is not clearly established as a classic autoimmune disease. The exact case is still uncertain. Current references describe it as involving inflammation, collagen, degeneration, and blood vessels of microvascular.

Dating, Transparency, and Medical Ambitions

Scott Benner (19:47)

Are you married, did you say earlier?

Gillian (19:49)

I am. Yep.

Scott Benner (19:50)

Is this hard for you? Like, because you talked about not let—you didn't kinda didn't want people to see as having diabetes when you're younger. Was this hard?

Gillian (19:58)

It was interesting. That's for sure. I was actually engaged before I've met my current husband, but that—it was definitely hard, like, opening up my insecurities to him.

Scott Benner (20:13)

Yeah. Yeah. I don't think you're supposed to call your husband your current husband. It makes it sound like—

Gillian (20:17)

I can't—no. Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Benner (20:18)

It makes it sound like there'll be another one at some point.

Gillian (20:20)

Well, well, I never—I never plan on being remarried or, you know.

Scott Benner (20:24)

How long have you been married?

Gillian (20:25)

About a year and a half.

Scott Benner (20:26)

A year and a half, and she's like, I'm not doing this again.

Gillian (20:29)

No. No. We are very difficult people and we challenge the crap out of each other. I am good. I am good on this.

Scott Benner (20:38)

I like how you start off by going other people say I'm difficult. And ten minutes later, you're like, I am a difficult person. I just wanted to say.

Gillian (20:44)

Yeah. Yeah. So okay. So tell me a little more about that though, like, opening yourself up. Like, how was that difficult? So—

Gillian (20:50)

he when I met him, it was very interesting. I was very, like, I was very over dating. I had been on dating apps, you know, peak COVID. How else are you gonna meet people? Mhmm. And I was just, like, kind of just really open. I was like, hey. I have these scars. We're starting to hit summer months. If you can't deal with this and you can't, you know, be there to help me, like, to help reassure that I'm much more than these scars, then I don't really want to partake in this. Like, I'm a diabetic. This is very much my life. If you can't handle it, let me know now. No harm done. We can other people.

Scott Benner (21:26)

How long does it take you to get to that point? Like, do you realize you like him and you don't wanna be let down if he's gonna let you down so you kind of preemptively have that conversation?

Gillian (21:34)

Kind of. Yeah. Okay. I always—like, I went on dates with people that it went really great, and then the next thing you know, I never get a respond back. And I never knew why. But with him, it was very different because we had talked on the phone for, like, four hours at a time up until, like, 2AM in the morning—Mhmm. like, two or three times before we met. And it was just very different. I felt very open with him, but at the same time, I was like, I kinda don't care if he doesn't like me because there is a person out there that is gonna like me for who I am.

Scott Benner (22:07)

The online dating thing, what does it—make you cynical after you people ghost you a few times?

Gillian (22:12)

A little bit. I just didn't understand, like, why would you be on a website if you're not gonna at least tell a person, hey. It was a great time. I just don't think you're the person for me. You know?

Scott Benner (22:23)

Yeah. It wouldn't seem difficult to me to just go, hey. Look. I appreciate going out with you last night, but I—I'm—I'm not feeling it. And, you know, I—I just wanted to let you know.

Gillian (22:31)

Yeah. Yeah. I just never really understood that, but I'm also a very blatantly honest person.

Scott Benner (22:38)

Are they a lot of them just trying to get laid?

Gillian (22:40)

Yeah. Like,

Scott Benner (22:41)

is it as easy as if you don't put out the first time then no one's gonna get back to you? Jesus.

Gillian (22:46)

Like, I was very open with my mom about this because I was, you know, living at home, and I was like, hey. I'm going on a date. This—this, you know, this is this person's phone number. This is what it looks like if—you know, that was the deal between her and me is she was very supportive about it, and she was like, hey. I need to know where you're going, who you're meeting, the picture of this person, and their phone number. So if you don't come back, cops are gonna be. You know?

Scott Benner (23:09)

We have somebody to—somewhere to point this at.

Gillian (23:11)

Yeah. Yeah. I know. And she was just, like, looking at me after a few times, and I'd come home and be like, oh, this was such an awesome date. Like, we talked about this and we talked about that, and then nothing. Yeah. And then she would be like, well, I think it's because you're kind of a good girl in the sense of you don't do that. And I was like, no. I have way more self respect for myself, and that's the problem.

Scott Benner (23:34)

Well, yeah. Because then if—if you did that anyway, if that's not—if that's not all you were looking for also, by the way, I just wanna be, like, you know, supportive of both genders. If you were just trying to get laid, like, whatever, that's fine. But, like, if that wasn't your situation and you—you kinda bent to that pressure, and then you're either going to be the girl I messaged to have sex with, or I had sex with you and I'm not gonna message you again. Like, that—those are—there's not a lot of wins in that for you if that's not your goal.

Gillian (24:03)

Yeah.

Scott Benner (24:03)

Right?

Gillian (24:04)

Yeah.

Scott Benner (24:04)

Okay.

Gillian (24:04)

Yeah. And I knew people from college that had met their significant other online. And I had just gotten out of such a bad relationship that I was like, I need to feel good about myself again and not get the attention from men that, like, you know, you do want to have or the opposite sex that you do wanna have. Mhmm. But I just need to feel good about myself, and I need to meet people, and I need to have people my age that I can go do things with. Even if—

Scott Benner (24:34)

Yeah. I—Eat a dinner.

Gillian (24:36)

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, even if it's like a date and we're like, oh, we really don't wanna date each other, but we're better off as friends, like, least I have somebody to go do things with.

Scott Benner (24:47)

What's it like to sit down at a—on a—it's basically a blind date and whip out your pump to give yourself insulin? Like, do you see—do some of them recoil? Are there—are there levels of, I don't know, responses that you see?

Gillian (25:00)

Yeah. A lot of times, it was just like, oh, I didn't know you were diabetic. And I was like, I keep it hidden very well. You know, I had a PDM still at the time and because I'm now on the Omnipod—

Scott Benner (25:11)

Yeah.

Gillian (25:12)

since college. And it was very easy, you know, winter months to keep it hidden. And if not, I just—I just kinda didn't care because I worked in the medical field. I was in podiatry at the time, and I worked with diabetics day in, day out. And it was something that was an identifier of me that you're gonna—if you're gonna be with me, you're gonna be with that too. And it's a very big aspect of my life, and you're just gonna have to get over it.

Scott Benner (25:41)

I—I don't see another way around it, honestly.

Gillian (25:43)

Yeah. Yeah. I'm like, I don't know how there's some people that keep it hidden from their spouse or their significant other for months at a time. If you go out to eat, you're gonna have to give yourself a insulin—

Scott Benner (25:55)

for the woman on here who grew up with a mom who had type one, and the mom tried to hide it for, like, over a decade?

Gillian (26:01)

I did not hear that about—

Scott Benner (26:02)

And the mom thought she was hiding it, but I think the—the woman I was interviewing, her sister—I guess her sister got pinched by her mom one day for lying, and the sister just turned it back on her. It was like, like, how are you telling me about this when you try to pretend you don't have diabetes? The mom was like, what? Diabetes?

Gillian (26:19)

That's wild to me.

Scott Benner (26:20)

That's those girls were like teenagers when that happened, like, teens. Wow. It's crazy.

Gillian (26:25)

That's wild.

Scott Benner (26:26)

Yeah. Anyway alright. So I feel like we have a good setup for who you are. Yeah. Now I wanna know why you wanted to come on the podcast. So what happened to you? Like, walk me up to what happened and take me through your experience.

Gillian (26:38)

So due to diabetes, due to just what my dad did for a living in the medical field, I decided at a very young age, I was going to go in the medical field, and I was going to be some form of a doctor. Okay. And then older I got, I was like, I wanna be a surgeon. I love this. Partially because I have a bougie mindset, and I grew up in horses, and I needed some to pay for those suckers.

Scott Benner (27:05)

I was gonna say, you have—you rode horses as a kid because you were an only child. If there was one more sister or brother, that wasn't happening.

Gillian (27:13)

My—my parents remind me. Were like, oh, you are always open to adopting another type one, like, another diabetic, but we told you that you'd have to—it's either the horses or a type one sibling. And I looked at them, and apparently, I was like, well, it's gonna be a horses. Screw the other type one. I'm not sharing this with anybody else. So—

Scott Benner (27:31)

you were—you're pointed at—at health care coming into college because you have diabetes, something about your dad's business, but I'm not sure And then—and, of course, you were looking to make a reasonable income.

Gillian (27:42)

Yes.

Scott Benner (27:43)

Okay.

Gillian (27:43)

Yes.

Scott Benner (27:44)

What happens next?

Gillian (27:45)

So I get through college, COVID hits. My senior year was a little lost, applied to med schools. Hey. Your grades aren't good enough. Then I found podiatry, and I fell absolutely in love with it. There was nothing—everything just set in stone. I shadowed an amazing doctor in Columbus, and he would take me to his surgeries. And one day, he made a joke at a conference that he invited me to. He was like, oh, we're always hiring. And I said, are you hiring for real? And he said, yep. And I said, can I send you my resume? And next thing I know, I didn't even have an interview. I just got hired as his medical assistant.

Scott Benner (28:30)

Mhmm.

Gillian (28:30)

And everything just fell into place. He invited me to one of the surgeries that—it was really funny. I got to schedule all of his surgeries, so I always made them at the time that, like, I could be there as a student.

Scott Benner (28:46)

Wonder how many people realized that was happening to them.

Gillian (28:48)

Well, he had a two hour lunch break to do surgeries at the hospital next door.

Scott Benner (28:52)

Yeah.

Gillian (28:53)

So I would just make sure that, like, I didn't have an appointment to go to that day over, you know, my lunch break or whatever. Yeah. And I would go to them, and he looked at me one day and he said, do you wanna do this surgery? And I was like, hell yes. I wanna do this surgery, but I was scared, absolutely—Uh-huh. and he said, walk me through it and then walk me through it backwards. And he said, alright, kid. You're—you're good. I'll make the cut, and then I'm right here. You, obviously, he didn't let me do everything by myself.

Scott Benner (29:29)

Mhmm.

Gillian (29:29)

But I ended up assisting and doing every surgery with him from there on out.

Scott Benner (29:35)

Wow.

Gillian (29:36)

And it was just like magic falling into place. Everything that I had ever been through just came down to these moments, and it was like those magical moments in Grey's Anatomy. And I know that's really stupid because the medical field is nothing like Grey's Anatomy. But in those intros where she's just talking about how surgery and life and, you know, the appreciation for it, it just all clicked.

Scott Benner (30:04)

And it felt good.

Gillian (30:04)

It felt—yeah.

Scott Benner (30:06)

What part of schooling are you in at that point?

Gillian (30:08)

I was postgraduate for my undergrad. So I received my diploma in the mail like all the COVID babies did.

Scott Benner (30:15)

Mhmm.

Gillian (30:16)

And I was just in the job field just trying to make money, figure out what I needed to do to get into medical school.

Scott Benner (30:25)

Okay. Hey. You being involved in these surgeries, was that legitimately okay, or was this guy—Yes. Yes. Was—

Gillian (30:32)

Because he was always there. He put me down as student, and I was essentially his staff member slash intern.

Scott Benner (30:41)

How about that? That's cool.

Gillian (30:43)

Yeah. And some of these—some of these patients, you know, we would do surgeries in the office and because of—oh my gosh. I'm blanking on the name. The loss of feeling in our feet. Neuropathy?

Gillian (30:55)

Yes. Thank you. Neuropathy. Some of these patients would have neuropathy so bad that they would just feel like, you don't have to numb me up, and she can do it. Yeah. She can do my ingrown. She can, you know, cut this tendon on the bottom of my toe to make my toes straight. I don't care. You know, doc, are you gonna be in the room? He goes, yeah. And so I would just get to do, you know, the procedure right then and there.

Scott Benner (31:18)

You were cutting out people's ingrown toenails?

Gillian (31:20)

Yeah.

Scott Benner (31:21)

Yeah. Can I tell you Arden had one one time, and I went with her? And for people who don't know, like, they just numb your toe up—Yep. and then stick basically like a scissor underneath your toenail all the way back and just chop off half of it almost and yank it out of the side. Right? And I saw it happen, and I I bet you if I brought up the order right now, she'd be like, oh, yeah. That was wonderful. Because I made a noise and recoiled, and—and she's like, oh, thanks a lot. Right. Right. Yeah. But it was horrifying.

Gillian (31:56)

Oh, yeah. I don't think—like, I try to take care of—I have one ingrown toenail that will repeatedly come back from just years of riding horses, and I refuse to go and get it taken out just because—

Scott Benner (32:11)

fine.

Gillian (32:12)

Yeah. Yeah. Don't want the—I don't want the needle in my foot. I had foot surgery, and that's honestly where the podiatry thing started.

Scott Benner (32:19)

Okay.

Gillian (32:19)

And I had a bone removed. And I remember I went into my follow-up, and I was like, hey. My stitches are really infected. And she's like, well, we're gonna have to numb you up. I'm like, can you do it without numbing me? I really have high pain tolerance. Do it without numbing me. Get this suture out of me. And then she ended up having to numb me, and it was horrible.

Scott Benner (32:43)

I had surgery on my big toe on my right foot. Like, I think a, like, a ligament or a tendon kinda came detached, and then they went in there and, like, did micro needling on the bone to get it to grow back again. Yep. It's been a couple years—it really worked. Yes. Yeah. Crazy. Yeah. Any—I'm sorry. Anyway, what—No. You're good. So doctor lets you do this stuff. You fall in love with it. What happens next?

The False Positive Urine Test and School Bureaucracy

Gillian (33:03)

So I get into my classes. I didn't need biochemistry, but I needed physics to go into podiatry school, get into that. And couple years later, you know, I didn't really do well in that physics class because we were still in COVID, and they just—the class wasn't set up well at all. And I didn't do well like I needed to to get into podiatry school. So I transfer out of the job because it just wasn't paying. I think it was making, like, $13.50 an hour, and I was driving in two hours a day to this job. Fast forward, meet my husband in the meantime, and I tell him, hey. I wanna do this. Like, I wanna do this. Go back to school, get all the other prerequisites that were too old at the time, like my gen chem and things like that.

Scott Benner (33:52)

Yeah.

Gillian (33:52)

And then I get in to school. I apply. Everything falls into place. You know? I apply, and then I get into—not my top school. I get waitlisted on that, but I get into a school right down the road essentially, like an hour and a half away. So within a half day drive home, and then I get a scholarship too. And my husband and me, we fell in love with the town. It was very small, little, like—Hey. You think maybe we can move there? I can go to school. This will be okay. Right?

Gillian (34:27)

Yeah. Cheap houses, safe houses, safe area—K. Be great. So we—not quit our jobs, but we find a house up here. We decide, hey. We're gonna take a month long vacation before the next four years of hell, and we're gonna spend a whole month together up here in the summer. Okay. And in the meantime, after we move out of—and at that point, we were also we owned a duplex together. So we lived in one side, and we rented out to the other—Sure. to decrease our cost of living and just have income. So we move out of there. We come up here. We get all settled down. We're having a great time up here in the summer. And I wake up one morning, and I get a phone call from the school. And they're like, hey. We received your drug test. There was a discrepancy on it. We need to talk to you about this. Now I took the drug test in May, and I knew that there was a disc—and a discrepancy on it. It was actually about alcohol, but I had to take Benadryl the night before due to an allergic reaction. I sought nothing of it. I sent it in. I was like, I'm not gonna get this retested because the school's already paid for this one. They're just gonna see it. Might as well send it in. And I was 26 at the time, 25, 26.

Scott Benner (35:54)

Okay.

Gillian (35:55)

I'm legal. What are you gonna—essentially, what are you gonna do about it? You know?

Scott Benner (36:00)

For clarity. Yeah. The test did not actually show you weren't drunk or drinking or something. No. It was about—

Gillian (36:07)

the—It just showed positive. That's it.

Scott Benner (36:10)

Okay.

Gillian (36:10)

And urine analysis tests can show up to, like, three days later on an alcohol test. And I think I took this, like, on a Tuesday morning or something. So there could have been a time that on Saturday night, you know, I go on a date with my husband, and we have a drink. Wasn't uncommon.

Scott Benner (36:31)

Okay.

Gillian (36:32)

And—but I'm not an alcoholic, and I never have been either because it's not worth my health. So I go into the school, and I'm like, I'm not even calling them back. Can I meet with you in person? I wanna discuss this. Going to the school, and they're like, well, we're gonna get your entire, like, life story. And I meet with the psychologist, and he's, like, asking me all these questions. Have you ever thought about killing yourself? Have you ever had to have therapy? All these questions. And I'm like, how the hell does this pertain to me having a positive alcohol test?

Scott Benner (37:04)

Right.

Gillian (37:05)

And I, you know, I tell him, I said, yes. I've been in therapy before. Two years ago, I was assaulted by a coworker at my job. I went to therapy. They said I was good, and I graduated out of therapy. I learned how to cope with it, and I moved on.

Scott Benner (37:22)

Okay.

Gillian (37:23)

And he goes, well, you're gonna have to call the physician's health program, PHP, because any student that we have at the school that has any sort of yes answer to these questions, you have to go for further evaluation through this mental health program. So I called these—these people, and I'm answering all these questions, and they're asking the same thing. And then they asked, have you ever been to therapy before? And I said, yes. Told them the exact same reason why. At the end of the phone call, they said, well, instead of you just coming in for, like, a four hour, like, intervention or discussion or therapy group, we're probably gonna suggest that you go to an outpatient rehab center because you've been to therapy for an assault before and you have a positive alcohol screening.

Scott Benner (38:12)

What? That—wait. What's going on? Wait. Are you—

Gillian (38:15)

And I go, what the hell? I don't—

Scott Benner (38:18)

You're planning to get into medical school. Right?

Gillian (38:20)

Right. Right. Right. I'm—I'm—I—we dropped our entire life, both his family and my family back in Ohio, dropped the jobs that we did love to come up here and focus on my dream, and you're telling me this two weeks before school started, mind you.

Scott Benner (38:37)

Because of Benadryl?

Gillian (38:38)

Because of—well, we'll get further down into this and how it applies to diabetes. At the time, I thought it was Benadryl because my dad, was a medical lab assistant tech in the medical field, and he used to do work on analyzers, run all these tests and everything. And he goes, did you take anything the night before? And I said, Benadryl. And he goes, you might wanna look up and see if that can affect a positive alcohol screening in your urine.

Scott Benner (39:03)

Okay.

Gillian (39:04)

And it can contribute to it much like other things like ibuprofen. High levels of ibuprofen or steroids or anything can throw any of these, like, drug analysis tests off.

Scott Benner (39:16)

Mhmm.

Gillian (39:17)

Didn't know that. Because I've had to take these tests a million times before to work in the medical field for a new job. So I get off the phone, and I call my mom. I am panicked. I am in tears. Just what the hell does a diabetic have any business? Like, the horror stories of not being able to give yourself insulin or anything in a rehab center or mental facility is just horrifying.

Scott Benner (39:40)

Gillian, I wanna be clear right now. Like—Yeah. They wanted you to go to a rehab center?

Gillian (40:45)

Yes. Eight, like, eight hours away for a weekend to monitor me to see if I was detoxing or withdrawing from any substance.

Scott Benner (39:56)

Is happening, are you saying, listen. I'm not an alcoholic. Yes. And this is completely unreasonable. You have no right to ask me about this. Yep. But did you consider doing it because you felt stuck because you moved?

Gillian (40:09)

I didn't consider doing the rehab. I knew that it was easier to not to comply up to a certain point and be honest because if I was honest, then there's less that they can, like, get me in—I could—there's less that I can get myself in trouble with because I don't have anything to hide. I'm not an alcoholic. I'm not a drug addict. I've never done drugs. You know? I'm an adult. I'm allowed to drink. It's—

Scott Benner (40:38)

I don't know. You guys—your—your whole generation's way too honest. Like, you—you asked me that question, that situation. Have you ever been to therapy? I'd go, no. Because none of your business.

Gillian (40:46)

I was just really afraid because we had to send in, like, medical records and stuff of everything. Find—

Scott Benner (40:53)

it somewhere?

Gillian (40:54)

And I thought that they could find it because the place I went to therapy with was also the same place my endocrinologist was with.

Scott Benner (41:01)

I love that they're doing this to you, but I've interviewed somebody in the last three years who worked in a doctor's office where they were selling massive amounts of narcotics out of the back of the office. Yeah. At the doctors, by the way. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Gillian (41:12)

So I—my mom is like—my mom and my husband and by the time—by the way, my husband and I were planning our wedding through this, married. They're both like, you need to call the ADA. So I call the ADA, and I get on the phone with them, and they put me through to the state's lawyer, essentially, that works with the ADA. Mhmm. And they're like, well, we'll call you back. And I'm like, no. I need to escalate this because school starts in two weeks, and they're not sure if I'm gonna be able to start. I need to know my rights. I need to know, you know, everything about this because I have never—I've never had to have accommodations for diabetes. Typically, it's just like, oh, yeah. No worries. Just, you know—

Scott Benner (41:56)

You're not used to work. You're not used to doing any of this at the—at the moment is what you're saying. Okay. Right.

Gillian (42:00)

None of this. Never had to have any issues. And so I call them, and they call back with me, and we get this ball rolling. And they suggest, hey. You should call the base—not the analytical center, but the center that your essentially p was sent out to to be analyzed for all this stuff. And I call them, and I speak with the medical review officer, and it comes to find out that when you're a type one diabetic and your glucose is over a 100 at the time of a urine analysis test, you can pop a false positive for alcohol because of the way things are fermented in your body. I did not know this. And I asked her, I said, can you—well, at first and I forget about this. They were like, nobody reached to you about your results. And I was like, no. I just got an email saying that they were done. I sent them in. And she's like, well, has anybody told you that your—your glucose was two ten at the time of test? Have you ever been tested for type one diabetes? And I just, like, break out laughing. I'm like, I've been a diabetic for twenty one years. And she goes, oh, okay. That's good. And she goes, your glucose was two ten at the time. So there's a very strong possibility that it's not actually alcohol, like, from a bottle, but it's alcohol from your body that caused this positive. You need to tell the school this. So I go through. I tell my lawyer, and I am meeting with these people emails. I have, like, over 200 emails between the psychologist and me about all of these things. And they're like, well, you still need to go to the PHP, like, outpatient program. And I'm like, no. I need to retest. I'm allowed to have a retest. It's federal law that you're supposed to accommodate for me, a reasonable accommodation. So I'm essentially demanding you to give me a blood alcohol test where you draw it from my vein. It's the same amount of testing time.

Scott Benner (44:00)

Was this first one, like, a breathalyzer?

Gillian (44:03)

It was—it was—I peed in a cup.

Scott Benner (44:05)

I went to a center, and I peed in the cups, gave it to them. They checked my temp, and that was it.

Gillian (44:10)

Okay.

Gillian (44:11)

I said, no. I wanna—I wanna retest. I want a blood alcohol test. And they're like, well, how about this? We're gonna do—they spoke with the psychologist from the school, and the now social worker that I was assigned to at PHP said, oh, well, we're requiring you to do a Peth test. So a Peth test is a test that is very commonly used in the court system for, like, child cases where one parent might be a drug user and the other one's trying to get parental rights for them, and they're trying to prove that they have used in, like, the past four weeks, six weeks.

Accommodation Denials and the Disrupted Pump Loop

Scott Benner (44:58)

And Who did you piss off at this school, by the way? Did somebody just hate So,

Gillian (45:03)

basically, what happened was I questioned it, and I wasn't just—I hate using this term because I know there's some people don't like it, but I wasn't a sheep, and I just wasn't following the rules.

Scott Benner (45:15)

Okay.

Gillian (45:15)

I wasn't complying to them.

Scott Benner (45:17)

Mhmm.

Gillian (45:18)

I was questioning, and I was fighting for my rights because I was like, it's diabetes. It's not like I have something that's gonna infect every person I ever touch. No. Like, get over yourself.

Scott Benner (45:28)

Let me pause you for a second here. Yeah. I have—just in case people are listening and like, she was probably loaded and making up a story. For a urine alcohol test, a high blood sugar can indirectly lead to a false positive result. What happens is not that the glucose looks like alcohol in the test, it's the glucose spilling into the urine can be fermented by yeast or bacteria after the sample is collected, producing ethanol in the urine specimen. This has been specifically described in diabetes, and glucosuria can set this up, especially when the urine has a lot of glucose. Yeast, bacteria, or contaminations make it more likely. Delay in getting the sample tested can allow even more fermentation and rise the urine ethanol result. This is why positive urine ethanol results by itself can be misleading. Confimatory markers like ETG and TTS—

Scott Benner (46:17)

ETS are often used to help sort out true drinking versus sample fermentation. How about that? Mhmm.

Gillian (46:24)

And I had no idea about any of this.

Scott Benner (46:26)

The more you know.

Gillian (46:27)

Yeah. And—and when I told my dad, you know, he used to run all these blood and urine sample tests, he was like, that makes sense, but I never knew that either.

Scott Benner (46:37)

How about that? That's really—that's what a weird thing to run into. See, your blood sugar was high, and that's why all this happened.

Gillian (46:43)

Yeah. And I remember having an iced chai latte from Starbucks that morning because I was going to go walk dogs on my part time, and it would keep me, you know, more elevated throughout the dog walk so I didn't crash with a client's dog.

Scott Benner (46:58)

It's—it's interesting though, isn't it? Because, like, your brain right away goes to, I had Benadryl, and then and then then you get stuck going like, well, I—maybe we did go out to dinner a few days ago. Maybe I had a drink, and then you start sounding like you're lying when you're trying to figure out what's going on, and then they smell you lying, and then this all starts happening even though you were just generally confused.

Gillian (47:19)

Right. Yeah. Yeah. Right. They want me to have do this Peth test instead of this blood alcohol test. And I was like, whole—like, pump the brakes here. This is going back six weeks ago in my life. I didn't even know that I had been, like, truly, really accepted into this school because I still was getting all of, like, my shot records. I mean, I was getting everything put together.

Scott Benner (47:47)

Mhmm.

Gillian (47:47)

No. That's—that's not okay because that's not a—I'm asking for a reasonable accommodation. You were wanting even more out of—

Scott Benner (47:56)

And the only accommodation you're asking for is I have diabetes. We've now learned that a high blood sugar could have impacted the test. Just give me a blood test to check again. Yep. That—I mean, that's the accommodation you're looking for?

Gillian (48:08)

Yeah. That was it.

Scott Benner (48:09)

Did you have any feeling that the person you were talking to was what they call a—a little dummy?

Gillian (48:15)

Woah.

Scott Benner (48:15)

Were you caught in one of those situations where you're like, I cannot believe the person I'm talking to is this them? Yeah. No. You don't wanna say. Go ahead.

Gillian (48:25)

They—yeah. Yeah. That—that—that's the—that that's the most, PC way to say how I feel about this entire situation. But what the kicker was was the lawyer that they put me with was also a type one diabetic on the tandem.

Scott Benner (48:41)

Okay.

Gillian (48:42)

And she was like, this is ridiculous. And I'm like, no Like, I've never—thank you for pointing out the obvious, but how can we, like, proceed? So the school's lawyer gets involved with my lawyer, and now we're just starting to talk lawyer to lawyer. And my lawyer is essentially like, if they let this continue and they don't give you, you know, the accommodation or anything, then we're gonna truly pursue legal action. And there's essentially no way that the court's not gonna look at them and be like, you need to apply—you need to comply.

Scott Benner (49:19)

Yeah. You're messing this up.

Gillian (49:20)

And I was providing, you know, all the documents. I was documenting everything. And I was just fearful of, well, what are they gonna do to me on my first day of school? Because I'm supposed to go, and they're not even sure if I'm supposed to go.

Scott Benner (49:36)

Okay.

Gillian (49:37)

And that was my biggest question was, okay. Can we continue all this bullshit on the side? But can I show up on my first day? Because there's no reason that I can't.

Scott Benner (49:46)

Is there no reset button to hit? Like, can you just go everybody, hey. We've gotten way out over our skis now. I have type one diabetes. My blood sugar was high. Here you have the testing lab that says that could throw things off. Let's test me a different way. I'm telling you I'm not a drinker. Right. You know, do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?

Gillian (50:06)

Essentially. And—and even in my, like, interview, my, you know, my statement to enter the school, I've made it abundantly clear that the reason I wanna do podiatry was because as a diabetic, I feel like this is my true way to give back to my community and to take care of people that need taken care of without being an endocrinologist because I don't wanna be part of that world.

Scott Benner (50:33)

Gilly, in the side of that, who cares what your motivation is to become—I don't care if you just wanted to be rich and you don't care about people at all. Still, your right to get into the medical school if you—Right. You applied, you were obviously accepted, and it—it doesn't matter what your motivation is. Yes. This shouldn't be so hard. Right. Yeah.

Gillian (50:53)

So, essentially, they—during some point in this, I can't remember if it was, like, one or two months into school after this had all started, I get a call from—he's not at the school anymore, but I get a call from—I believe he was the assistant clinical dean or assistant—assistant somebody, really top dude in this school. And he's like, it is important that I meet with you, blah blah blah blah blah. And if you don't, there's gonna be serious repercussions. And I'm sitting at lunch, and I get this. And I've told one friend this entire time because I needed somebody at school to know why I was scared to walk into this place every second of the day. And I just start shaking, just absolutely full blown panic attack.

Scott Benner (51:48)

Okay.

Gillian (51:49)

I'm calling my mom. I'm calling my lawyer. I'm—I'm like, am I even allowed to talk to them? Is this even good to talk to them? And they're both like—my lawyer was like, go talk to them. See what they have to say. I went in, talked with this man, and I find out there is the interim dean of my program and the psychologist also in this room. And I'm the only female in this room. And this discussion continues, and he's like—it just starts talking about this whole situation. He's like, well, why do you feel like you need to have a blood test, but you won't have a test? And I'm like, because it's against essentially my cons—like, not a constitutional right, but my right. You're breaking a federal law here. You're not. You're wanting to take this further than it needs to be, and I'm just asking for a reasonable accommodation. And he's like, well, why do you feel like you need to talk to a lawyer? And I—in a very politically correct way, I looked at him and essentially said, because you're beating around the bush and you wanna play games. I can't get it through to you that I have this right and this is all I'm gonna stop at and I don't need to go anywhere else.

Scott Benner (53:04)

In the end, you don't care about the PATH test. It's not like it's some very invasive thing. You just were saying, like, this is not necessary, and I shouldn't have to give myself over to this.

Gillian (53:13)

Yep. And Okay. I actually boot camp, which was the first two weeks of school, it's basically like a test run for medical school. Nothing counts towards your grades.

Scott Benner (53:25)

Yeah. Just to make sure you're not gonna pop. Yeah. Right. Right. Right. Actually leave one day, and I actually go get the Peth test done to see where my results were. Because at the time of all this, I'm like, I'm done drinking because I'm not gonna give them any reason to potentially do a—

Scott Benner (53:41)

Follow-up or yeah. Yeah. Send you a therapy. By the way, how much when you—and not that this should probably matter, but, like—Yeah. When you drank socially, how much were you drinking?

Gillian (53:51)

Like, one or two a night.

Scott Benner (53:52)

Okay. Okay.

Gillian (53:53)

And it—and it's not like a night. It was Not every night even.

Gillian (53:57)

Yeah. It was—we would go out on a Saturday night, and I would have one or two at dinner.

Scott Benner (54:02)

You are my kind of difficult, Gillian. I wanna say that. I—I love that you said, no. I'm not getting the test. You can't make me get it, but I'll get it on my own.

Gillian (54:10)

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I was like, well, I need to see where this is gonna go.

Scott Benner (54:14)

I don't know if everybody can appreciate this or not, but that is the exact kind of difficult that I am right there. Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah.

Gillian (54:21)

I was like, if I'm gonna fight this, I'm gonna fight this to the end.

Scott Benner (54:25)

I'll do it. You can't do it.

Gillian (54:27)

Exactly. And so I get the test, and, of course, it comes back negative because it's not been a full six weeks since I haven't had anything.

Scott Benner (54:36)

Right.

Gillian (54:36)

We're in this meeting, and this dude literally looks at me and says, well, I can tell by the way that your body language is you're gonna be a problem during this whole entire thing. And I kinda wanna look at him like, dude, I'm already a problem, and this is just gonna be—I'm just gonna be a bigger problem for—no idea.

Gillian (54:59)

I'm willing to take this all the way that I need to take this in order to shut you up because this is so wrong on so many levels.

Scott Benner (55:08)

Yeah. I—there's this thing I shared with my wife when we were first together, and she still brings it up. So it must have—it must have really stuck to her. I told her. I was like, you should not with somebody who's willing to go farther than you. Yeah. It really is, like—and it's such a—I don't even know how to put this. Like, I feel like in—for me, personally, I'm a perfect American. I have a right to this. Yeah. We can argue about this to the end of our lives if you want to, but I'm not giving into this even though I don't care about it. And Right. there's something about being forced or told or compelled that I find abhorrent. I would not Mhmm. I would not let it happen either. I'm with you. If he told me I look like I was gonna problem, the first thought I would thought was, well, now I'm gonna be. And Yep. like, yeah, you and I are right together. Sure we would murder each other if we were married to each other. You're handling this Yeah. even though it's causing problems, and I bet you there were off ramps. I bet you there were off ramps for you.

Gillian (56:07)

Oh, for sure.

Scott Benner (56:08)

I would have done what you're doing too. So—

Gillian (56:10)

I considered, like, a million times. Alright. Fine. We're gonna go to this—we're gonna go to this stupid detox program, and I'm gonna just be like, what the hell? And just essentially do my thing and get out and pray to God that I don't die and go into DKA because they refuse to give me insulin or whatever. But in the process of all of this, they're also—they called me in for this meeting to talk about this and to also deny me of any of my accommodations that I requested because the school that I was going to at the time would not allow food or water in the classroom. I—I knew it at the time because I had the PDM. They weren't gonna allow me to have my phone or access to it easily to do my exams. Mhmm. So I was like, hey. I need to be able to check my glucose and give myself insulin if I need to or eat a snack, and I need to have food and water in the classroom because I can't control this without it. I mean, we're in the classroom up to nine hours a day, and we get a thirty minute lunch break. I need to have this. And he goes, well, your—your accommodations are denied. And I go, okay. Like, essentially, well, we're gonna discuss more about this with my lawyer in the backhand. Let me take a mental note of this conversation. Further down this process afterwards, I remember it was like this conversation took about an hour and a half, and they were just like, why won't you just comply? And I am like, I am complying. I'm complying because I'm a person that falls under the ADA, and you're breaking about three of their laws right now. I'm complying. You're not. And I went back to class, and my face is beet red, full of tears, and everybody's just like, what the hell just happened to Gil? Like, Gil doesn't show emotions like this.

Scott Benner (58:10)

Mhmm.

Gillian (58:11)

I talk with my lawyer. I finished the rest of the day, come home, talk to my lawyer, and she's just like—I don't even remember the next steps because I was so flustered. But, essentially, she discussed with the lawyer, and the lawyer finally got them to agree that I was going to take the blood test and that if it came back negative and this is just—this is not the PEP test, but just the blood test, that if it came back negative, I was going to be scot free essentially. This was not gonna be a problem and that my accommodations would be met. Well, you—

Scott Benner (58:50)

dropped and you just move forward.

Gillian (58:52)

Yeah. And I go, alright. I got this three hour window on Wednesday morning. Tell me a time to be at this place. And it got to the point that they wanted me to go to the school's hospital to get his blood test, and I didn't like that because I was like, what if they do something? Like, this isn't below these people to do something to my test or not give me my results or whatever. And my lawyer was like, well, if they're gonna go that far, I mean, this—this is a case that's just gonna be progressively worse because you can always go get another test afterwards to show that you weren't positive—

Scott Benner (59:26)

Yes.

Gillian (59:27)

At the same time.

Scott Benner (59:28)

How long ago was all this?

Gillian (59:30)

This was in twenty twenty four fall.

Scott Benner (59:34)

Is it all worked out now?

Gillian (59:35)

Yeah. I withdrew from that program because at the time, I was dealing with the lawsuit and in my first year of medical school full time, so my grades weren't the best, but their shenanigans kept going. They dropped everything after my blood alcohol test came back negative like I knew it was. Mhmm. And I had accommodations. I was allowed to leave my phone and PDM within six feet away from me in the classroom and have a juice or whatever I needed. And I just had to show them my screen when I was, you know, bullicing or checking my glucose or whatever. I just had to show them that. And I was fine with that. It was like, that is reasonable.

Scott Benner (1:00:17)

Yeah.

Gillian (1:00:18)

Yeah. I understand. But they also—like, they wanted me to send my PDM off for lab testing to make sure that I didn't have any recording devices in it. And I was just like, you are out of this world.

Scott Benner (1:00:31)

Like Listen, if I can build a recording device in my PDM—

Gillian (1:00:34)

I wouldn't be in med school. I'd be freaking rich.

Scott Benner (1:00:37)

I might be doing something else, you know. Also, don't I get credit for knowing how to do that? Like, cut me a break. So you think they were just picking back with you at that point?

Gillian (1:00:45)

They were—they were just—anything that I was trying to gain, it would be 15 steps backwards.

Scott Benner (1:00:52)

Okay.

Gillian (1:00:53)

And it was just absolutely exhausting. So I did end up withdrawing. But in the second semester after everything died down, my professor—we tested in another classroom because all of the campus was testing that day. And my phone was set in the window sill behind me, and I had my phone, like, go on do not disturb. So only my Omnipod and my Dexcom app would light up the screen at 07:55 on the dot for testing days. And it wasn't 07:55 yet, and my screen lit up or something. And my professor walks over, and she picks up my phone and she looks at it, and she sees that I keep getting a text message or something on there. And she carries my phone out of the classroom. And my Bluetooth disconnects, and my pump goes haywire, and it puts me on limited mode. And I start—like, my glucose just starts rising, and I can feel it. And I wasn't allowed to, like, recalibrate my pump or anything that day. And I failed the exam because my blood sugar, I think, at the end of the exam was, like, over 400.

Scott Benner (1:02:07)

Oh gosh.

Gillian (1:02:08)

And this was, like, a four hour time. And by—I only failed the exam by one point, which was one question, and they wouldn't let me retake it. Everything was on camera, so I had to reopen the case. And then my lawyer was like, is this really worth going to this school? And I was like, you know what? No. No. It's not.

A New Path in Bedside Nursing

Scott Benner (1:02:26)

Yeah. So what—what ends up happening? Do you, like—did you—do you just drop the whole thing and leave?

Gillian (1:02:32)

After they agreed to everything, you know, my—my—they got an actual dean at the time, and the dean was like, I wanna rectify this. Like, you have the empathy. You have—you know, you can go really far in this career. And he finally got my papers for accommodation. I applied for accommodations in May '24, and he finally got my—my accommodation letter on—in February 2025 to protect me. And I was finding out that students were getting extra bonus points on their exams to pass, but I wasn't. And it's just because they were asking or, you know, they had a parent that was in the field that was very high up in the field too. And I hate playing that field, but my—neither of my parents are doctors. And my dad's now a school bus driver, my mom works in a corporate field. I was not getting any sort of, like, "oh, your dad's a doctor" sympathy.

Scott Benner (1:03:34)

Yeah.

Gillian (1:03:35)

Like some of the kids did. And they were curving some kids, like, 10 or 15 points to meet their quota because the school was also not accredited at the time—Okay. and still isn't. So they had to have a certain number of students to pass to meet the accreditation.

Scott Benner (1:03:52)

Yeah. So they can get the accreditation.

Gillian (1:03:54)

They essentially was kind of forcing me out because they could keep the other students, and it was very apparent that if they weren't gonna give me a bonus, you know, an extra point because this professor carried my PDM without—Yeah. my eyesight me.

Scott Benner (1:04:11)

I see what you mean. Yeah.

Gillian (1:04:12)

You know, I don't really wanna be here.

Scott Benner (1:04:14)

And

Gillian (1:04:15)

I was just absolutely just miserable. I think it's funny because my a one c dropped, like, over 2% the entire time of all of this. I was like, that's really funny.

Scott Benner (1:04:25)

What did you end up doing? Like, did you go back to school or you—did you give up?

Gillian (1:04:29)

So I—I withdrew. I started working at a local hospital, and I found actually that I would love a career as a nurse because I'm at the bedside, and I'm physically helping people. And not all doctors, you know, just sit behind a computer and write prescriptions, you know, or orders all day, but most of them, unfortunately, do. I have decided to go back to nursing school. I start in August and work up to be a CRNA for a nurse anesthetist.

Scott Benner (1:05:04)

Good for you.

Gillian (1:05:04)

I love my job. I love—you know, I—I joke with my husband that I'm a professional butt wiper, but at the end of the day, I'm the one that is at the bedside holding family members' hands, helping them eat or whatever. I work in a trauma and neuro ICU.

Scott Benner (1:05:22)

Yeah.

Gillian (1:05:22)

And I absolutely love it because I'm physically there. I don't have insurance issues telling me I can't do this surgery on a, you know, an older lady that is gonna lose her foot in two days because she doesn't have the right insurance or whatever. And I just—all I have to worry about is that patient in the room or on the floor and get them the help that they need.

Scott Benner (1:05:45)

Well, I'm glad for you. I'm glad for you you found something that you—that you think you've enjoyed that is not fighting with you the entire time. Also, it's only my butt, but I—I—I wipe a butt at a professional level, I believe.

Gillian (1:05:56)

Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Benner (1:05:57)

Yeah. I think I'm good. Yeah. That's what I'm saying.

Gillian (1:05:59)

I mean, we all do it, whether it's our own or others, you know.

Scott Benner (1:06:02)

Can I ask you, did wiping other people's butts make you change how you wiped your own? Did you learn anything through the process where you're like, you know what I should be? I should be folding this paper instead of crumpling, or did you have any thoughts like that? Not yet. No professional takeaways?

Gillian (1:06:16)

Not—no. None yet. Mhmm. But, you know, it—it does suck because I spent my—a very long time chasing after this career.

Scott Benner (1:06:25)

Well, yeah.

Gillian (1:06:26)

But the way that this school was teaching us to act and teaching this—us to have this mindset that, you know, we're god. And I know not every school's like this. I tell my story almost to every person I can get a chance to, especially in the diabetic world because we do have our rights, and we need to—you know, it definitely has changed the way that I have looked at what school do I wanna go to. Are you gonna give me backlash for having accommodations, or are you gonna be cool with it? Because if you're gonna be cool with it, we have no problem. If you're gonna be an asshole about it, we're gonna have a problem because I've already been down this route, and I know exactly what to do.

Scott Benner (1:07:06)

Well, I'll say this. Even though you didn't win, like, quote, unquote win, sometimes you gotta fight the power. You know what I mean? Like, sometimes you just have to be obstinate and stick up for yourself. And I mean, really, this is advocating on a different level. We're telling people to advocate all the time for themselves with their diabetes. You know?

Gillian (1:07:24)

And I think that's all I ever wanted to do was advocate for people, especially for people who—I mean, it—even if for people who don't have the confidence just to stick up for themselves over how they look. You know?

Scott Benner (1:07:39)

Or whatever.

Gillian (1:07:40)

Yeah. Whatever it is. I've never been about bullying because with diabetes and being the only kid at school, I was bullied. But I had the mindset of if I can move a thousand pound horse, I'm not gonna let you tell me and be an asshole of me. It was—I—I think the point where I knew that I won was right after all of the blood testing issues happened. The lawyer actually—the school's lawyer actually came into one of our classes. It was, like, the fundamentals of podiatry, and it was all the not fun stuff, like the paperwork side of being a podiatrist. And he came in and had a class with us. And in front of my, like, 23 other classmates, he looked at me and he said, "I am so sorry for what my aunt and my uncle and my school has done to you" because he was the nephew of the school's dean and owner, essentially. And he goes, "I'm so sorry for what—that we have put you through and what we've done to you."

Scott Benner (1:08:43)

So this is a small institution that was trying to get on its feet. And—Yeah. Yeah.

Gillian (1:08:47)

Well—oh, it—it—it's actually the one of the largest for its scope of field. You know, you have your MD and your other types of medical school, and it was the largest. Their other program had, like, over 400 students of it, and they've been a school for years, I think. It's not like they needed this, but I don't know why they did this. I know that the dean that threatened me in my career, he actually lost his medical license because he was selling, cocaine and threatened to kill his girlfriend in front of cops and then was made the dean of the school.

Scott Benner (1:09:32)

Listen. I will tell you that these two things aren't related, but my daughter went to the, Savannah College of Art and Design for a couple of years, and the—the fury that I saw at that place was insane. So—Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Not every school's a school. Sometimes—sometimes it's just a business. And, you know?

Gillian (1:09:52)

And—and that's what it is is, you know, my dad made—my parents taught me two things. You're never gonna leave high school, and I really hate that my mom is so correct about that because the—that people do. And then my dad was like, everything is a business. Medicine's a business. School's a business. Everything. Like—and if you're attending a school, you're the client. But it's really funny because my husband graduated high school and then immediately went into the military and was deployed in everything. And he's like, "I will never go to school." And, you know, I was just like, "oh, well, maybe—maybe you'll find something that you, you know, would want, like, an associate's degree." And now—and now after I've been through all this, he's like, "that."

Scott Benner (1:10:34)

I am—

Gillian (1:10:35)

"never going to school because the amount of bull you had to deal with since in the three and a half, almost four years I've known you, that."

Scott Benner (1:10:46)

Well, I—I think what I've learned—I don't wanna sound cynical, but what I've learned is that everything on some level is money or power.

Gillian (1:10:52)

Oh, yeah.

Scott Benner (1:10:52)

And, like, you know, I've said this on here a million times, but, like, just for the—to kinda button this conversation up. Yeah. The same crap that I saw when my son was playing baseball in Little League when he was seven happened in his senior year of college playing baseball. Yeah. It's all just money and power. Mhmm. So, anyway, I really appreciate you telling me this story. I have to jump. But this was awesome. I appreciate you out there fighting for yourself and that you took the time to then tell other people about it to get in there.

Scott Benner (1:11:22)

I'm so happy you found something that you enjoyed.

Gillian (1:11:24)

Yeah. Well, thank you for letting me join and be a part of this.

Scott Benner (1:11:27)

No. It was awesome. Are you kidding? I appreciate you reaching out. How did you find me? How did you—

Gillian (1:11:32)

I listened to you when I worked at Amazon in 2020. We were allowed to listen to podcasts, And I—your podcast was a big role in me switching out of that rebellious teenager phase. Oh. Awesome. And then meeting my husband, definitely. Those two things were a big part of—Yeah. I found a community within your podcast. So I was like, oh, I'm not the only one that goes through this bull—

Scott Benner (1:11:55)

Oh, I'm glad to know that. I had no idea. That's—that's wonderful. Yeah. What's your a one c today? Can you tell me?

Gillian (1:12:01)

My a one c was 7.6. And when I entered medical school, it was, like, 8.9.

Scott Benner (1:12:08)

And are you still working on it? Like, is it a thing? What's—

Gillian (1:12:10)

I am. I've been in burnout the past couple of weeks, so I've not been—I actually don't have a sensor on because I just needed a break. But I really would like it to be, like, a six point five because I want kids.

Scott Benner (1:12:23)

Pre bolus every one of your meals in a month from—a month from now, it'll be six point five.

Gillian (1:12:27)

Yep. Yep. I need to get there.

Scott Benner (1:12:29)

Reevaluate your settings. Pre bolus your meals. That's Okay. That'll get you there.

Gillian (1:12:34)

Awesome.

Scott Benner (1:12:34)

Well, I'm so happy you did this with me. Thank you so much. You—can you hold on for one second after we hang up here? Excellent. Hold on one second.

Scott Benner (1:12:47)

This episode of the Juice Box podcast is sponsored by Omnipod five. Omnipod five is a tube free automated insulin delivery system that's been shown to significantly improve a one c and time and range for people with type one diabetes when they've switched from daily injections. Learn more and get started today at omnipod.com/juicebox. At my link, you can get a free starter kit right now. Terms and conditions apply. Eligibility may vary. Full terms and conditions can be found at omnipod.com/juicebox.

Scott Benner (1:13:20)

Dexcom sponsored this episode of the juice box podcast. Learn more about the Dexcom g seven at my link, dexcom.com/juicebox. Okay. Well, here we are at the end of the episode. You're still with me? Thank you. I really do appreciate that. What else could you do for me? Why don't you tell a friend about the show or leave a five star review? Maybe you could make sure you're following or subscribe in your podcast app, go to YouTube and follow me or Instagram, TikTok. Oh, gosh. Here's one. Make sure you're following the podcast in the private Facebook group as well as the public Facebook page. You don't wanna miss—please, do you not know about the private group? You have to join the private group. As of this recording, it has 74,000 members. They're active talking about diabetes. Whatever you need to know, there's a conversation happening in there right now. And I'm there all the time. Tag me. I'll say hi.

Scott Benner (1:14:27)

Have you tried the small sip series? They're curated takeaways from the Juice Box podcast, voted on by listeners as the most helpful insights for managing their diabetes. These bite sized pieces of wisdom cover essential topics like insulin timing, carb management, and balancing highs and lows, making it easier for you to incorporate real life strategies into your daily routine. Dive deep, take a sip, and discover what our community finds most valuable on the journey to better diabetes management. For more information on small sips, go to juiceboxpodcast.com. Click on the word series in the menu. If you have a podcast and you need a fantastic editor, you want Rob from Wrong Way Recording. Listen. Truth be told, I'm, like, 20% smarter when Rob edits me. He takes out all the, like, gaps of time and when I go—and stuff like that. And it just—I don't know, man. Like, I listen back and I'm like, why do I sound smarter? And then I remember—because I did one smart thing. I hired Rob at wrongwayrecording.com.

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