#1902 Chicago Eyes
Chicago Eyes
Thirty years with type one, and diligent about it — until an eye exam this year found early diabetic retinopathy. A reminder it can happen even when you're in range.
Jump to a moment
- Diabetic retinopathy can develop after decades even with good control. Svetlana held A1Cs in the high-5s to low-6s and saw her eye doctor three times a year, yet a routine angiogram this year still caught early peripheral retinopathy. It was expected after 30 years, caught early, and is manageable (anti-VEGF injections, laser) — not a verdict on her effort.
- As an adult with type 1, you have to advocate for your own eye screening. Pediatric care watches closely; adult care often stops mentioning it. A dilated exam — and periodically a fluorescein angiogram — can catch changes before you notice any vision problem. Svetlana had zero symptoms.
- Bringing a high A1C down fast can briefly unmask eye changes. Her doctor could literally “see” the drop from ~7.9 to 5.8 in her retina, and rapid improvement is a known reason some clinicians lower A1C gradually. Worth asking your team about before a big change.
- Tools shape the long game. Decades on regular/NPH insulin with a food-pyramid diet, little day-to-day adjusting, and average endos set a different trajectory than today’s CGM-and-algorithm era. Her CGM was the single most life-changing tool — and it took a great endocrinologist to finally push her toward modern technology.
- Afrezza (inhaled insulin) worked beautifully for her — “like a working pancreas” — but her eye doctor found unexplained crystal deposits in her eyes, so she stopped to protect her vision. The cause was never identified. A reminder to weigh a new therapy against your own biggest risks, and that not every reaction has an answer.
- Mental Wellness Series (Erica Forsyth) — Erica’s episode on her own eye laser treatments happened to be playing the day Svetlana was diagnosed (verify slug)
- Bold Beginnings Series — for the newly diagnosed, with Jenny Smith (verify slug)
- Prevent Blindness — Diabetes & Your Eyes — diabetic retinopathy screening and treatment info (verify URL)
- Glucose Goddess (Jessie Inchauspe) — the food-order/glucose book she and her husband use (verify URL)
- Juicebox Podcast Facebook Group — community around type 1 (verify URL)
- Juicebox Podcast — all series and free resources
Every word of the conversation
Meet Svetlana0:00
Welcome back, friends, to another episode of the Juice Box podcast. 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. 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. Bold Beginnings gives you the basics in a way that actually makes sense. 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. If you're looking for community around type one diabetes, check out the Juice Box podcast private Facebook group, Juice Box podcast, type one diabetes.
But everybody is welcome. Type one, type two, gestational, loved ones, it doesn't matter to me. If you're impacted by diabetes and you're looking for support, comfort, or community, check out Juice Box podcast, type one diabetes on Facebook. This episode of the Juice Box podcast is sponsored by the Kontoor Next Gen blood glucose meter. Learn more and get started today at kontoornext.com/juicebox.
Today's podcast episode is sponsored by MiniMed, the innovators behind the MiniMed Flex system, a small, sleek, and discreet insulin automated delivery system controlled from an app. Nothing comes close to freedom you can feel. To learn more, visit minimed.com/juicebox.
Hello. My name is Svetlana, and I am 39 years old. And I live in Chicago.
The Metallica Ticket Disaster2:12
And I've just informed Svetlana that she has chosen the worst day in the world to make the podcast with me. So I'm just gonna start off by complaining, and then we'll
move forward. Turn this around, Scott.
Oh, yeah. You're gonna turn this around. My I
hope so.
My brothers and I, who have never as adults gotten together by ourselves and done something, Saved and pulled money together, and we have tickets to see Metallica at The Sphere next year.
We got Amazing.
You would think. You fly out and see the see a concert on Thursday, I believe. And then Friday, you have the day off. On Saturday, you see another Metallica concert with completely different music, and you leave on Sunday. It was almost impossible to get those tickets, but I did it.
And then about, I don't know, a couple weeks ago, I got this email that looked like a phishing email that asked for a picture of my driver's license. And I deleted it. And then one came again as phishing emails do, and I do delete deleted it again. And the third one came. I was like, oh, what in the hell?
Like, I gonna have to, like, block this or unsubscribe? And then I looked really hard at it, I'm like, this might be real. So I emailed their company, Vibe, if anybody's interested in knowing. And I said I said, I'm sorry. Like, this looks fake.
You know? Like, is there a a an account that I've set up that I could log in through to make sure this is real or blah blah blah? But then I got a response back, and they were able to respond with my order number this time. And I was like, okay. This is real.
I'll I'll do the thing. Except my driver's license was was, like, being renewed. And it and I so I was like, oh, I'll just I'll just wait till it comes in. So it did come in a few days ago while, I was away at the ADA helping people with diabetes. That's okay.
And then, apparently, while I was at the ADA, I got an email that said I had, like, seven days or something. And then, you know, I don't know. Anyway, I'm up this morning. I think this is important because it shows that karma is not a real thing. I'm up I'm up this morning making children songs to help them learn about their diabetes at 6AM when I get an email that says, here's your money back.
Your order's been canceled.
Stop it.
Swear to god. So I responded to that email and said, hey. Hey. Hey. Hey.
Hey, Kai. Everybody you know, I don't know what I said. I was like, please don't do this. I dug out the email about the ID verification, sent the ID in because the driver's license downstairs in the counter right now. Also, if I'm in the middle of complaining, so that line of one more second, the state of New Jersey was supposed to use a new photo of me, but instead used a seven year old photo that I'm fat in.
So thanks, New Jersey, and thanks for all of this. It's okay.
No worst state.
So no. No. Mother and so anyway, I then I get a response back from Vibe, and it's Kurt. And I'm like, you know the word? Short.
Not pleasant. And I'm like so I respond back again. I'm like, hey. Like, I sent a note. I'm like, hi.
I don't want my tickets canceled. Like, what are we doing? And all they sent was, like, legalese back to me. I so I thought it was a like a like a an auto response. So I responded back in.
I'm like, can somebody please read this down? Then I can email back. I did read your email. And I'm like, oh my god. So Wow.
Oh my god. Jesus Christ. So then I called and left a message on their machine. So they're like, look. I'm a real person.
I'm trying to get together with my brothers for the first time, and, you had our money. Like, what? You had the money. Just keep it if I don't if I don't send you the ID. Like, what nevertheless, they say they're going to try to reticket them, but they can't promise anything.
And now I have to wait for that. And I also sent a fat picture of myself to somebody I don't know. This is what's that.
Is that is that the part that upsets you the most?
It's hard to it's hard to parse the whole thing. Okay? But and I just had to text my brothers and tell them. So, anyway think
I can do both of karma. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that doesn't even come close to what you just described to me. I mean, I would just say, let's believe in Carmel.
Let's hope that they will turn this around. You have a pretty compelling story.
Yeah. They don't know me. They they just they think I'm some guy who didn't respond to an email.
But they're reading your emails, though. So I think you should, like, you know, write a longer email about, like, everything you just said to me. Or you already did?
Oh, don't worry. It's it's I I I mean, I shortened it up a little bit, but, yeah, it's there. I I I I, like, low key begged a little. I threw in the part about my brothers because it is true. Do you know I'm 54?
I'll be 55 this summer.
By the time You still have your whole life, Tula.
No. That's lovely of you. By the time I by the time I go to that well, excuse me. By the time I would have went to that concert, I would have been just about 57 years old. And my brothers and I as adults have never gone away together once.
That should have been your email right there. Listen. If they don't get back to you with tickets, you let me know, and I will throw some special legalese back at them, and you guys will go.
You wait. Are you a lawyer?
I happen to be a lawyer.
Oh, well, let's find out about you. This is much more interesting. Okay. Give it to me. When did you get that diabetes?
I'm gonna try to let this go, but my chest is heavy right now, and I don't usually feel like it. I'm not a good No.
I feel for you. That's such a nice thing to do. Like, all your brothers get together like this, and then, like, bad people just, you know,
take it away
from you like that.
Yeah. I'm try I'm not trying to shame. I listen. Apparently, was the email. I didn't do the thing.
But, like, what's the rush?
Yeah. You've got Seriously, what's the rush? And in your defense, they look like phishing emails. They did
the first couple of them. Who asks you for a picture of your driver's license after you buy a ticket from them for a concert?
I would have deleted it. You can't be the only one that has this issue. So we could just, like, round up, like, a class action of all the other people just happened there. You think I've got ideas for you,
we could get Metallica to play in my backyard? What's going on?
I'm not a miracle worker, but, you know, let's say hi. Let's see what we could do.
I I'm not I'm not joking. Like, it was it really was by the way, this is not a cheap excursion.
Oh, I can imagine.
Okay? Like, we we literally had to scrape money together for this. And Yeah. It so it's I mean, what do they think? Like, the the like, I'm not gonna get them.
They've got they've got thousands of dollars of money. Like, they think I'm not gonna get around to it?
Yeah. Oh my Seems unnecessary.
You mean yeah. I'm sorry. What let me start over. I'll slap myself in the face. Hold on.
No. No. You're okay.
I don't I I gotta no. This happened just before you jumped on. It's not
My gosh. It's my Jewish luck. You know, it happens. That's what happens.
Oh, your last name. I can't believe you're Jewish.
Yeah. Yeah. I know. Surprise.
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Diagnosed at Eight in the '90s12:00
Okay. So I was diagnosed when I was eight. So I've had it for about for more than thirty years now.
Mhmm.
And it's so this isn't, like, the cool part of my story or anything like that. It's pretty, like like, standard what we've what we hear a lot. I was a kid. I was sick. I don't know.
I can't remember what I had, and my parents, like, wouldn't know what I had either. I tried asking them, you know, because I was trying to see if it was, with, like, the hand, foot, and mouth or, other common things that tend to bring on diabetes, but I I don't know what it was.
Are you telling me you've asked them recently, and they're like, we don't know.
No. I asked them, like, a while ago.
A while ago.
Yeah. I asked them a while ago, and they were like, what? I I don't know. Who are you? You're our child, whatever.
So, yeah, they they don't remember that kind of history. But I remember it was in April. I don't have the date, but I remember it was in April. I was very sick. Like, I was eight years old and maybe, like, thirty three pounds, like like, severely underweight.
And maybe after, like, a week of, like, letting me sleep on the couch, my mom was like, yeah. We should take you to the doctor. And they tested my blood sugar right away, and they were like, yep. You're going to the ER. So, like, not a super eventful story, like, pretty standard.
Yeah.
This was back in, what, like, 1993, 1994. Yeah. So, you know, spent a week in the hospital, learned how to give injections on an orange, all that you know, learned the old messed up food pyramid when, you know, they bring you, like, cereal, a muffin, an apple, and orange juice for breakfast at the hospital. So, like, had the whole, like, typical experience.
Mhmm. But this wasn't the cool part of your story. That's the part I like. What what the is there there is a cool part of your story?
No. But I guess, like, an interesting part of, like, my diabetes experience of, like, why I want it to be on
the I see.
Podcast. Like, what what I can maybe bring to others through my experience.
Your diagnosis was just pretty mundane and average.
Pretty boring. Yeah. Okay. Unrefundful.
Well, what happened next then? Let's go let's do it that way.
So no. So, I mean, typical teenager. So, I mean, back in the nineties, like, we didn't have I I remember, like, somebody was telling me about, like, the c what would be a CGM and what would be an insulin pot pump. But, like, they weren't you know, I didn't have, like, great endocrinologists. Like, they were okay endocrinologists.
I wouldn't call them sort of, like, diabetes type one experts. Mhmm. And so I I didn't use a CGM or a pump until, like, maybe the last six, seven years. So I was MDI and finger poking until then.
Okay.
Just because I didn't have anyone who, like, really pushed me to it. You know? They're just kinda like, you're you're doing fine. You're doing okay. You know, my I wouldn't say I was doing okay.
Like, my a a one c's were, like, seven or eight. So it's not, like, ideal, not compared to, like, what I have now. But I wasn't, like, being pushed by anyone to, like, not live under a rock until maybe seven or eight years ago when I went to my, like, GP, my my family doctor, and she was like, you know, you really should see this one endocrinologist so I know, like, she could, like, change your life. And I went to see her, and she was kinda like, you know, objectively on paper, you look like a smart person, but, like, you're kind of, like, stupid and not using the technology that's out there.
Decades on MDI, Then a Wake-Up14:53
Wait. So you just kinda came up, though, in a time where, like, pumps weren't very, very common then.
No. They weren't. I remember I don't remember seeing them on people. Like, really, honestly, growing up, I feel like I didn't know that many other diabetics. Mhmm.
I don't remember seeing pumps on people. Maybe I just wasn't looking, or maybe I was just, like, so in my own world about things. But I just, like I I didn't I still don't have, like, any diabetic friends. Like, your podcast is, my community. They just, you know, I think they're all my friends, but they don't know I'm alive.
But, like, I don't really have real in real life friends who are diabetic.
It's interesting, isn't it? There was a a frame of time around type one diabetes where just having an endo who said, you should try a pump made meant they were a great forward thinking endo.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because mine didn't. Mine would just be like, okay.
Let's, look at your numbers. Okay. We'll try to keep this down or, like, you know, get more exercise. K. See you in a and it's like, here's your prescriptions.
See you in a year. Bye. So, yeah, it's it's crazy now. I mean, I listened to, like, all the parents on your podcast. I'm like, oh my gosh.
They were like, they're so in it to win it. Like, I I just I don't know. I just didn't it that wasn't my experience, like, growing up in the nineties.
So even if I asked you if, like, your parents were trying to help you or anything like that, there was nothing to help with, really.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean so so my my family emigrated from the Former Soviet Union in the nineties, in the early nineties. And so, like, my parents, like I mean, they were just too busy to, like, be sort of all on board.
Like, it was kinda like, we'll we'll work to get you your medicine, and you you you figure it out. Best of luck.
This one needs more than the other ones.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Do you have brothers and sisters?
I do. I have an older sister.
Does she have any autoimmune stuff?
She doesn't. She's she's lucky. She not not any autoimmune that's, like, visible to us right now, but but we do have diabetes in the family. My my father's mother, so my paternal grandmother, was type one, but she had a, like, later onset in life. Like, I have I have small minor memories of her, like, boiling needles and giving herself insulin.
Wow.
So I I I remember that a little bit back when we still, like, lived in Ukraine, and she passed away very early. Like, she passed away maybe, like, in her early sixties.
Yeah.
And then my maternal grandmother had type two diabetes, but, like, I mean, that was completely, like, I think lifestyles choices
Right.
That brought that on. But, no, we don't really have any other autoimmune that that I'm aware of in my family.
How about you? Do you have other stuff?
I well, we could get to that because I need your professional diagnosis, Scott, here. I've been quite professional, but go ahead. Alright. It's the best I've heard. I'm I'm pretty sure I have a thyroid condition, but, like, not nobody wants to believe me.
I think you will believe me. I think you will agree with me.
Well, yeah, I believe all thyroid. That's what that's the saying, isn't it?
I know. I know. And, you know, so I I in preparation from this call, I pulled my medical records to see what my THS was. And I know you say, like, anything over two. You should get medicated.
Mhmm.
And I I know won't do it. She won't do it. She keeps telling me I'm within the normal range. And so last year, it was, like, 3.84. And this is how sick I am right now.
I'm like, I'm hoping it's gonna be over four. So she finally, like, believes me and, like, will treat me for it. But it's been, like, up and down. Like, there's some years it's, like, 1.74. There's some years it's 2.5.
There's then it goes back to, like, 1.9. So it's, like, not consistent.
Are you symptomatic?
I think so. I think I'm, like, tired all the time, but it could just be that I'm a bad sleeper. But I do think I I I know the list that you usually go to. Yeah. So no dry hair or nails.
That's a no. I do have tiredness. I am tired quite often.
Mhmm.
My biggest one is sort of as I've gotten into my thirties, like, I haven't changed anything about sort of my eating habits or my workout, but I am just like, I am gaining weight for, like, no reasons.
Yeah. Well and and so you tell the end of all this, and what's the answer to that? Like, let's say, okay. It's you know, they're gonna ignore your TSH. She doesn't think it's your thyroid.
What does she say?
She just says, you're fine. You're just work out more if you think you're putting on a few pounds.
What about the tiredness?
She's like, I you're you're an attorney. You might be stressed. You know? It's fine. Just get more sleep.
Oh, no. Oh, jeez. Where did where did they buy that degree at that they have?
No. She's actually amazing. I don't wanna I want How is
that possible? I this I'll say, of all the things that plummets me about making this podcast, if she's not helping you with something this simple, how is she amazing?
She's amazing in other ways. I will tell you that she's the first they're can I talk to I'll I'll I will make sure her
Tell me? Because it feels like you're saying to me, well, he doesn't hit me. Like like so yeah.
So what's going on? I know. This is not sounding well. I know. This doesn't look good.
Let let me try to turn this boat around. Mhmm. So this is the one thing where where we've kind of butted heads, and I haven't gotten my way on is is this, that she's like like, objectively, your test results don't don't indicate to me that, like, you need to be medicated for a thyroid condition. But she has been the first one to actually listen to me. And, okay, maybe this is the part where my story gets a little bit more interesting.
So when I met her that six or seven years ago when she basically called me stupid, and I was like, yeah, I think maybe, like, you're right. You have a point. One of the first things that we did was we went on dexcom. And I still stayed MDI, but I went out of dexcom.com. And that was, like, so life changing.
I agree with everything that you say about CGM. Like, if there's only one tool I could have, it would be the CGM because you could just see things real time. And so that was really cool. And I I didn't love a pump. I didn't love the idea of having something attached to me.
I for some mental reason, I was against it. I remember, like, years before then, a a different endocrinologist tried to, like, put, like, a CGM on me, and I, like, fainted. Like, I had this kind of weird reaction to anything being attached to me. Really? So she wasn't gonna push me to get a pump.
Dexcom, and a PowerPoint for Afrezza20:55
Okay.
And we stayed with the with the CGM. And then, of course, me being me, I'm like, okay. She told me I need to be smarter. So, like, I start, like, just, like, diving in about all kinds of research, and I and I was very intrigued by the inhalable insulin. Right?
Afrezza?
Mhmm.
I think I'm saying is that how you
said it?
Was it Afrezza? Afrezza. And so I was super interested. And then so my my whole thing about, like, using technology is, like, I wanna use technology, but only if it makes my life easier. Right?
If, like, that tub doesn't work well, I don't necessarily, like, want to use it or or if I have to take more steps in a day. Like, with a pump, like, you know, you're constantly putting like like, you have to bolus for it, and you're putting things in, and you're checking your phone. And so I was like, what if I can have a CGM but then use Afrezza as sort of my short acting insulin
and
take once a day long acting insulin. This is Tresiba.
This is the thing people do. Yeah. Yeah. Right.
And so she she's like, I don't have any patients on Afrezza, and so I put together a PowerPoint presentation. I'm like, I really think you should. I should be your patient. She's like, okay. Let's do it.
So she was, like, very open to, like you know, once I made a compelling case of, like, why I wanna do it, she sort of she she helped. And it was it wasn't easy with insurance. Like, you need all these prior preapprovals and all these things. But, like, she she did it for me, and we went on it. And she was, like, so supportive of it, and she was, like, as interested as I am.
And with Afrezza, you know how you have those doses? They come sort of like I don't I don't remember. It was, four
Four eight, Yeah. Yeah.
Yes. And it was too big. Like, if you just want a light snack, like, you couldn't take one of them. So I became one of those people where, like, I bought, like, a little kid scientist, like, kit, and I would, like, break up the doses. So, like, if you didn't know what I was doing, like, you would have think you would think I was doing, like, you know, illegal things.
There's, like, white powders, and I'm, like, breaking them into smaller doses and putting it back in and then inhaling them. And so but she was, like, she was really intrigued that I was doing it, she was like, show me how you do this. Oh, this is how you break the doses. So she's she was really, like, supportive Yeah. Of me finding, like, treatment that worked for me the way I wanted it to work.
And so that meant a lot to me because I'd I've never had sort of endocrinologist take such a keen, like, interest in how I'm managing my diabetes. And so she and she was open to, like, me not wanting a pump and let's try this. Unfortunately, it didn't work out. I had this weird reaction to Afrezza that nobody has been able to explain to me. Like, I've contacted, like, a lot of endocrinologists.
My doctor has contacted a lot of endocrinologists. Can I tell you what it is? Are you do you
Crystals in Her Eyes24:09
wanna know? It's not a cough, is it? It's
No. It's not a cough. It it showed up. My eye doctor was the one that found it. I was I go to the eye doctor, like, three times a year just because, you know, I've had diabetes for thirty years.
I'm OCD about not having diabetic changes. And, like, I don't know, maybe a year after being on this regime of Afrezza and a long lasting insulin, he he, like, looks at me. He's like, we've known each other for a while. Right? And I'm like, yeah.
And he was like, are you can I ask you a question? Are you, like, using drugs? And I was like, yeah. Insulin. Like, I'm a diabetic.
He's like, no. I'm, like, talking about illegal drugs, like intravenous drugs. And I was like, what? He's like, you know, I'm seeing these changes, these crystals in your eyes, and there's sometimes I see this when people are using intravenous drugs. And I was like, like, nonstarter.
Wait. He's he's like he's like, you're not using heroin, are you? That's what he was asking you?
I was like, I we were, like, staring at each other cause we were both, like, not under like, I thought we were speaking different languages
Sure. Sure. To
each other. I was like I was like, you think I'm using like, really, of all That things
bond is high, and you're like, what's this guy talking about here?
Yeah. I was like, of all the things I could do with my time and money, that is not what I would do. And so he's like, okay. Like, I I want you to stop using it because if that's the only thing that you're doing different, like, any new medication, then we need to figure out what this is because, like, these these findings shouldn't be showing up when I dilate your eyes. And so he called my endocrinologist immediately, and she called me immediately, like, all freaked out.
And she's like, don't use it. Like, go back on I think I was using NovoLog at the time. She's like, go back to that and stop using. And so we were never like, know, she called around her contacts. He called around his contacts, and we were and, I mean, I even asked the MannKind representatives.
They said they had never heard of it.
Yeah.
But we were never able to get to the bottom of it. And, like, maybe for, like, two years after that, I was like, can I try it? And they'd be like, no. Like, nonstarter. Like like, the you don't wanna mess with your vision.
But it was I mean, if I
could go have bought it,
it would, like
I'm not having any luck finding anything about that.
Me either, Scott. I I I've I asked my endocrinologist to reach out to So this group of endocrinologists out in San Diego who have done a lot of work on Afrezza, and nobody has ever seen this reaction. But because there was nothing else I was doing at the time, like, that was the only sort of difference, like, objective finding that was different from my last exam. Like, he couldn't rule it out. And he I mean, I'm not gonna risk my vision if it was what caused it.
Checked since then?
Yes. So so the crystals have sort of left over time. They're smaller and smaller deposits of them over time, but that's because I never used it again.
Well, you maybe.
Wait. What do you mean maybe? I didn't use it.
No. No. No. No. Maybe that's the reason there's less fewer crystals, I'm saying.
Like, maybe it's something else. Exactly. Yeah. Like, I mean
It could have been something else. Yeah. It could have been something else, and that's what I'm saying. But, like, I'm not comfortable to sort of, like No. Try using it again.
I I hear you. Yeah. Yeah. Worse. Yeah.
No one had an idea about what like, the eye doctor didn't say
No one.
What else it could be? Why why would
We went through, like, all I was like, here are the vitamins I'm taking. Like, here's this that I'm doing. He's like, no. Nothing other than maybe this is is what could have caused it. So I was heartbroken.
It was, like, the most normal I ever felt because, right, I was just taking in my love Tresiba once a day, and then I would be taking the Afrezza right after I eat. So,
like Yeah.
I would see what I actually ate and then dose for it right after because it worked so quick. It was just so amazing. I I felt like I had a working pancreas.
Did the doctor call this thing ALK retinopathy or embell embolic crystalline retinopathy? No. No. Okay.
No. It was just I think the language used was it were crystal deposits.
Crystal deposits.
Yeah. If you find out the answer and I'm able to go back on Afrezza, I would owe you my life.
I don't know that I wanna be in charge of your eyes. But Absolutely. But I'm just trying to figure out, like, what else like, did the Afrezza bring your a one c way down or your average blood sugars way down? Did it make any No. No.
No. It just makes me feel like
more to Yeah. I had a normal life. I felt just a nor like, you know, I wasn't constantly sort of, like, checking my phone to see how the insulin was or, like, how my blood sugar was doing because it it just worked so quickly. I didn't have as many lows too because the lows would rebound really quickly too.
Mhmm. Were you on any other medications back then?
No. I wasn't using anything else just except my placebo. I know. It's it's I mean, it's like the greatest tragedy of my life.
It's I've you were really enjoying it.
I was really enjoying it.
And there's no indication for what you said here. Like, I can't I mean, listen. No. I can't find using the Internet and half a brain while I'm listening to you talk. I can't find any indication around Afrezza.
No. Something like that.
Nope. Nobody's ever heard of it. None of the other endocrinologists in my doctor's network had ever had patients report anything like
that. It dangerous?
I well, that's what he couldn't tell. He's like, I don't know, but these deposits shouldn't be here. And so, like, if you wanna risk it, you can, but I wouldn't feel comfortable sort of you doing that. And the other thing he said to me is, like, not everyone's, like, OCD about going to the eye doctor and getting their eyes dilated and checked for things like you are. So this could be happening to other people, but, like, they're just not, you know, religiously getting their eyes, you know
Well, I can tell you this. I'm pretty sure someone from mankind's gonna hear this. So
Oh, well
They can reach out. If they have something they wanna say, I can put them in touch with you. Yeah.
Mean, for sure, I would love to hear from them. You know, they they did reach out, like, right afterwards, and, like, I didn't know if, like, I should be talking to them or anything. I mean, I will get I will I mean, I I think it's a great product. I wish it had worked for me. The customer service there was amazing.
Like, the specific rep that trained me on it was incredible. Like, I actually really miss him. You know? Like, we we became friends. Like, he would he would check-in on me all the time because there weren't that many patients on it.
I'm trying to think this was, like, back in 2020. They didn't have as many sort of patients using it the way I was using it. And so he they were amazing. I have only great things to say about them. And like I said, I'm heartbroken that, like, I can't use their product.
They just got their indication for younger people.
I know. I've been following I even remember in 2020 when I first started using it, sending you an email being like, you need to do a topic about Afrezza because it's the best thing ever.
I did a I a fair amount of them too. And Yeah. And I I mean, I found myself thinking last week if this younger indication for younger people if that if the indication for younger people doesn't have Afrezza blow up, like, I I wonder if it ever is going to. Because, again, everyone who I talk to who uses it really, really likes it.
I really, really loved it. But, you know, again, like, my biggest fear in life was, like, losing my vision, so I wasn't gonna mess with it. And if, like, I couldn't use it, then I couldn't use it. And then
Oh, just just just headphone. No. You're fine. It's such an interesting situation to get put into. Like, you don't know that that's what was happening, but it's also too big of a risk that
Exactly. Yeah. What Yeah. Exactly. With your vision.
And so that that's when, like so then I went back to, like, MDI, and then I was like, okay. Let's try because with MDI, you can't, like like, microdose. You know? My I can't, like, do one point two. I have to just, you know, guesstimate what one point two is.
So I did go on the Omnipod, and I do love the Omnipod. I have good I don't have any qualms about it or anything negative. I I I did think that their algorithm is not aggressive enough, so I run my I keep mine in manual mode.
Back to the Pod (Manual Mode)31:47
You see they just updated it?
I did. I did. I saw that in a
little they're enjoying the new lower target and some of
the Yeah.
Some of the changes they made to the algorithm. The new Yeah.
I think I'm gonna try. I think gonna try.
Yeah.
Yes. I think I'm gonna try. I mean, what what it was one time before, so a 100. I'm not I'm not I'm not convinced it's gonna be, like, aggressive enough for me because I'm I'm, like, one of those low riders. I like to be on, you know Yeah.
Yeah. To be on the lower side.
At least unlike your eyes, you could just turn it on and see how it goes.
Yeah.
You know?
Yeah.
Yeah. Just if you're just make sure the settings that you're using currently I mean, well, you're in manual. So if you're having good success, I mean, it would be as easy as flipping it over and letting it run and see what happens.
Yeah. Yeah. I think I am gonna try. I'm I'm gearing myself up to giving it a go.
I can tell you something because this won't come out in any amount of time where this won't be a problem. But I I was on a they made a a commercial to to, like, announce the 100 target.
Mhmm.
It's real and it's really cool if you if you find it. It's it's short. It's, like, thirty seconds long, but it's it's, like, a bunch of actual Omnipod users at a pool. And they're all they're all just sort of, like, looking at each other saying 100, like, to each other. And Oh, that's cool.
And it's it was a lot of fun. And then at the very, very I'm like an Easter egg at the very, very end of the of the the commercial.
You're in the commercial?
Yeah. But so after you get done seeing, like, young, attractive people, then I I come in to balance that all out at the end and make you make you realize the reality of the world. And then Oh, stop it. And then and then it ends.
That's so cool. That's so amazing.
Yeah. It was it was a good time. It was it's weird because it's, like, you know, like, real, like, filming set where you, like, you stand there for nine hours and work for fifteen minutes. But it was it was a good time. I got to see some people I hadn't seen in a while in person and everything.
Joy and I
That's amazing.
Yeah. Yeah. So that's out now. I think it's on their YouTube, but they haven't, like, they haven't used it yet in their social media where they're going to. I guess it's coming.
Okay. I'm gonna look this up when we get off the phone.
Yeah. Yeah. It's it's hilarious. Let me let me just say that the the makeup person comes up to me and says, I'm trying not to completely give it away, but I had to put zinc on my they had to put zinc on my nose. Like, the, you know, the white, like
Oh, that, like, the white powdery stuff?
The cream, like, for being at the beach, like, in the old days. Oh. Yeah. Yeah. So she comes up to me.
She goes, they want me to put, like, a a stripe of, like, zinc on your nose. Are you okay with that? By the way, I you gotta love California. Everyone's always asking if you're alright. Are you okay with that?
Is that okay? And I'm like, yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'm here. Right?
I I Yeah. I said I'd do this. Like, let's go.
No. I think they're legally required. My has, like, all like, an extra law for everything. We actually my husband and I just spent the last three years before we moved back to Chicago in LA. And, I mean, anywhere you go, like, if you if you're in a garage anywhere, there's, like, all these signs that remind you that carbon monoxide could be bad for you.
And you're like, yeah. I'm in the garage. I'm like
Figured that. Thanks. Yeah. So she's like, can I, you know, can I put it on your nose? And I'm like, yeah.
Yeah. Sure. She puts a line down the middle of my nose, and she goes, they want it to be, like, a comical amount. Is that okay? And I went I and I go, yeah.
I guess so. Go ahead. But then I couldn't see myself afterwards. You know? Oh.
And then I saw the commercial, and I was like, well, she was right. It was a comical amount.
I guess that's why she asked okay
four times. What she meant was, now that I'm looking back on it, is it okay if I make you look ridiculous?
Yeah. You're
going
still would have said yes Yeah. If you just said it that way.
You're going to be a clown. Are you up for that? I'm like, oh, okay. Now put this
And you're like, I'm born for this.
Yeah. Now put this hat on and blow this whistle, and let's go, clown. So anyway it and was a great it was really lovely to be invited, actually. Omnipod.com/juicebox. Use my link.
And learn more
Much love. Much love.
Learn more about the Omnipod pod. So you, after all of this rigmarole, didn't end up finding a pump?
No. I I know. It it was all mental. It was it must have been some kind of mental I mean, of course, I got the Omnipod because it wasn't tube. Mhmm.
I think I I wouldn't do well with a tube pump. I just don't like I have this thing about, like, you know, extra things being attached, but I've been you know, part of why I love your group on Facebook so much is you have all these people posting about new places to put your pod because I I run out of real estate. You know? So, like, my legs don't absorb well. I don't like it on my stomach because I I find it hurts more on your stomach.
I find, like, the skin there where, like, the sort of the the cannula is
Not your favorite place.
After three days. Yeah. Yeah. It gets, like, really sore. My hips, again, I don't absorb well.
I think it's because of, like, you know, thirty years of injecting there. There's probably, like, scar tissue, and it just, like, doesn't absorb well
there. I mean, listen. I You gotta trust that your hips don't lie. Yeah. Thank you.
That's right, Shakira. That's right.
That's all I have today because I've lost my goddamn Metallica tickets. That's why
I said No. It's god.
They're definitely
gonna try to be extra funny. I won't try to be extra funny to cheer you up.
I had to go I had to go she hear a dad joke. That's how low I am. Okay.
No. Those are that's good comedy. I mean, that's good humor. We don't we don't want, like, that slapstick humor. That's not funny.
Alright. I and the the dark stuff is really funny. So you can, like, you know I appreciate it. To use your dark humor.
Oh, baby. When you talk like that, we might as well keep going. I could do the whole song if you want. Did she not get in trouble for, like, tax fraud?
Did she?
I don't wanna speak
out of unfortunate. Her.
Hold on a second. Did Yeah. Jakira get found guilty. Oh.
Yeah. Don't wanna have to defend you against stuff.
Making No kidding. Don't I don't even have to pay you. I although I have all that extra Metallica money back, I guess we could
get Yeah. There you go.
I'm on Internet. It's really looking. Look at it looking. I mean, it's not that seriously. Yes and no, it says.
Depends on what case you depends on what case I mean.
For the 2000 lawyer answer. 12/2012,
2014 Spanish tax case, Shakira was not found guilty after a trial. She accepted a settlement plea deal on the first day of the trial in November 2023, accepted the charges, paid fines, and received a suspended three year sentence to avoid prison. For a separate 2011 Spanish tax case, she was acquitted in May 2026. Spain's high court ruled that she was extra sexy and didn't have to pay. How about that?
The tax authorities yeah. Authority had not proven she was a Spanish tax resident that year. Oh. I was like, sounds like Shakira moves around a lot trying to
Good technicality. Mhmm.
Yeah. I'm gonna have to remember that one. Yeah. I ever make enough money to try to defraud my taxes. I'm not up to the effort being worth the squeeze at this point.
Yeah. So anyway Fair. So but getting back to you, I really think that I really think that it's interesting to see somebody diagnosed around the time you were before this technology was available and then becomes available, but it's not plentiful or a thing that people are really doing. You're probably you have doctors who grew up without any of this. They're not thinking to even tell you about it.
Yeah. And then eventually someone, you know, knights you with, hey. Go talk to this lady. She's Yeah. Very forward thinking, and all she said was you should get a pump.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so and does that make a big difference in your life? Do do you see a night and day difference between your a one c's, your outcomes, how you feel?
Diagnosed Before the Tech39:26
Yes. Yeah. It does.
Yeah. Tell me. But at the same time, I guess the the extension of my question here is the time between when you knew pumps existed and when you actually got one, you were aware of them then but didn't want a thing on your body.
Yes.
Were you were you knowingly making a trade for variability in a one c, or did you not think of it that way?
You know, I you don't think of it that way, or at least I wasn't thinking of it that way. I was like, you know, I'm doing well enough. Like, you know, objectively, I I look healthy. And and, you know, back then, doctors told you, like, a seven or eight a one c was good. Like, that wasn't, you know, that wasn't bad.
So I was like, okay. Like, I'm doing what I need to be doing. You know? Like I said, most people didn't know I had diabetes. So everyone just, like, thought I was, like, fit, active, things like that.
Yeah.
So it never just, like, played and and I didn't have other diabetics around me. So, like, nobody was talking about it. So it just, like, die I mean, I knew I was diabetic, obviously, but, like, it wasn't, like, something I think about every day. I will say sort of now that I'm leaning into, like, sort of your community that you've built, which is amazing and, like, have all this tech, I am more interested on. Like, I'm reading all the time about it.
I'm looking at all of these studies. I'm thinking about all the like, how different the different products are and stuff. But it could also be just because, like, I'm older, maybe it interests me more. And then back then, I was just like, okay. Like, I'm in school.
I'm a student. And then, you know, I'm in law school. I'm starting my career. This wasn't top of mind for me. I'm also reminded of it all the time now because I'm I'm I'm very competitive with myself where, like, I look at my numbers constantly.
Mhmm. Like, you know, all the all the data, all the trends, I'm I give myself, like, a score every week. You know, when Dexcom sends you your weekly report, I'm like, oh, I got an a minus this week. You know? If I'm, like, 91%.
Enjoying doing that?
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, my husband thinks I'm crazy. But, like, for me, like, I'm not competing with other people. I'm just competing with myself now that I have this data.
Yeah.
Until you have it, you just don't think about it. But, like, when you get it and it's right in front of you, then I've taken, like, a much more interest in sort of, like, my diabetes over the last seven years.
Well, yeah, I mean, I can believe that you take more interest as you get older. But is the is it helping you? Like, is the paying attention more digging in, reading about things? Yeah. Can you tell me how that helps?
The Call She'd Been Dreading42:33
Yeah. I mean, I I it kinda leads me to, like, why I wanted to be on the show today. So maybe, like, I don't know, eight, nine years ago, like, on a regular I I always confuse, like, the two different doctors, the ophthalmologist, the optometrist, the app whatever. Just like the one that, you know, checks your reading glasses and your contacts.
The way I think of it is Steve and the other guy. Yeah.
Yes. Okay. So, I'll I'll call her doctor k then.
Okay.
Doctor k and then the other guy. So doctor k is the one that checks my glasses and my contacts. She takes a look, and she's when she dilates my eyes, and she's like, hey. Like, you've been diabetic for a really long time. It might be worthwhile for you to go to the other guy and just for him to do, like, a deeper retinal evaluation Sure.
Just to make sure you don't have things popping up. And so I started seeing this other guy. And this other guy is like, okay. Well, I could definitely tell that you're diabetic, but I'm not seeing any sort of peripheral retinopathy or anything. And your vision has affected your vision or anything.
So, you know, why don't you just come see me twice a year, and we'll just monitor things? And so that's what I was doing. I I went to him I I think I actually went to him, like, three times a year since since that time. And he would just do sort of more imaging of the retina to make sure every once in a while, he would run an angiogram. Do you know what that is for, like, your eyes?
For your eyes? Yeah. Don't think I do.
Angiogram for your eyes.
What do they do there? What do they do with that?
I mean, it's what it kinda what it's as awful as it sounds. It's basically they they they pump, like, yellow ink or a yellow dye into your vein, and then it's it's like, travels through your vessels, your blood vessels. And then at that same time, they're taking imaging of your eyes so they could tell with this yellow dye if there are more vessels forming, which is, like, sort of signs of a peripheral diabetic retinopathy. Mhmm. So every couple of years, he would take those, and they were fine.
And so at some point, he was like, maybe you don't need to see me as often. And I'm like, okay. Like, great. I love you. But, like, if you're telling me everything is good you know, my my a one c's are in the six.
Like, they go between, like, six like, 59And63. So, like,
you know,
I'm I'm doing my best in tore in terms of, like, control.
Of course.
Not a lot of, what, variability too. Like, I think, like, my variability is usually 20 to 25 or something.
Real quick. Were you doing the IV in the arm with the stuff three times a year?
No. No. No. That's every couple of years he would
take it. Okay.
Just because that's another that's just, like, a more thorough look to make sure no new vessels are forming.
Yeah.
So, like, on this last appointment, maybe at the beginning of this year, maybe January or February of this year, I go in to see him, and he's like, yeah. Your things look good. The imaging looks good. But, like, we haven't had an angiogram in maybe, like, four years. Let's just do one to be safe.
You know, I'm overthinking it, but let's just do one to be safe. And so I'm like, okay. Like, why not? Super fun times. So we do this angiogram, and something about, like, the tech in the office.
The angiogram has done is not sending the results to his office. And, like, I'm waiting and waiting. He's like, hey. Just go home, and I'll call you and, like, let you know when we get the results. And so I'm I come home maybe, like, four hours later, and, like, I have a bad feeling now because, you know, like, I I thought it was no big deal, but, like, the fact that he wanted to do it today seemed weird even though he told me everything looks fine, and he's just being overly cautious.
And then I might call our ID. I see the office calling, and I pick it up. And I'm expecting it to be one of his assistants being like, just called to give you the news. Everything's fine. See you in four months.
But I hear his voice.
Ugh.
And yeah. And it was like, I there's only, like, two times in my life I can clearly remember, like, just hearing something and getting physically sick. Like, you're gonna throw up. Mhmm. And this was this was one of the times.
Like, I couldn't talk to him. Like, as soon as he started talking and, like, said something along the lines, like, I'm so sorry we found something. Like, I had to put myself on mute because I was gonna throw up.
Yeah.
And then I took myself off of you, and I was like, I'm so sorry. Can I call you tomorrow? Like, I just I I I'm like, I wasn't sound to, like, listen to what he had to say because, like, it was like that call I've been trying to avoid and work so hard. Like, all these years not Yeah. To get.
And then when I finally did talk to him, he was like, hey. It's more likely than not to have prolo that's what it is. It's peripheral diabetic retinopathy. He's like, somebody who's and the reason why I check you so often is because I was expecting this. Like, when someone has it for thirty years, it's more likely than not that there will be changes, and it's manageable.
There's you can get injections. You can get laser treatments. But, like, up until that point, I had just never heard anyone talk about it. And so I felt like like, WTF. Like, why didn't I know this was, like, a thing?
And why am I the only one who has it? And funny enough, that day, I was listening to your podcast, and you had an episode on with oh my gosh. I'm blanking on her name right now. The woman in California, the therapist.
Erica.
Erica. Yes. I can't believe I forgot her name. She's so amazing. And she was telling about how she had laser treatments for her eyes.
Right.
And I was like, maybe it was confirmation bias. You know? Like, I just wasn't paying attention to it when people talked about it before, but now that it impacted me, I was like, oh my gosh. Now I'm seeing it everywhere. And just hearing her talk about that it would, like, happen to her too and that she had these treatments, I was like, oh, okay.
So, like, it wasn't me who just, like, effed up. You know?
Like, it happened. Would you rather hear that news or this sentence? Vibe has refunded your Metallica two show concert and hotel experience. February 2027 destination. Oh my god.
Which Okay. That is more that nauseous. Ever.
Which made you more nauseous. Okay? No. What no. I'm I'm joking, obviously.
No. No. I mean, it's a close call.
It's a close
call. I don't know. Both are threatening me. That would be the third time in my life.
My brothers and I have a playlist of songs we're excited about.
I know. It's okay. This is all this this will all help bolster that letter that I'm gonna write on your behalf.
Dear sir or madam, who am I concerned? Yeah. Yeah. No. No.
Listen. I if you write a letter, I'm definitely not getting my tickets. They're gonna be like, no.
No. No. No. No. You would get your tickets.
I'm a very good letter drafter.
How often do you do this to get things? Like, do do it at the grocery store when the bags aren't right? Or,
A Lawyer Who Reads the Room49:22
like No. No. I'm not ridiculous.
Of a letter you have drafted constantly that you're like, let me just lay this on you.
No. I'm just, like, very good explaining to people why sometimes what they've done is unreasonable, and they should reconsider.
What what kind of law do you practice?
So I don't even practice law anymore. I work in what we call alternative dispute resolution. Basically, we help people and companies not resolve their differences but not in court.
Court. Yeah.
Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. But I used to be an insurance litigator.
So Oh, wow. That sounds boring as hell. And, like, a lot of, like, a lot of reading is what it sounds like, actually.
There was reading, but I I was, like, a trial attorney, so I got to, like, be in front of juries and, like, you know, try to tell them how my client who is ridiculous isn't so ridiculous.
Oh, wow.
So it was kinda fun.
Oh, you're like the you can't handle the truth, people. I gotcha.
Maybe not as dramatic.
Not that dramatic. I mean Yeah. Is court not like Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise yelling at each other? I can't believe it.
My gosh. I wish. I wish. But most of the terror reasons are horrible. Like, actually, court is, like, very awful because a lot of attorneys are just, like, bad attorneys, and it's painful to watch them.
Oh, but they're bad at talking.
Yes. Yeah. They're boring and yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. I have to say, I was doing something the other day, and I thought, what a weird skill I have. But as I looked around the room, thought, not a lot of people have this one. They just, like, reach into your head and start going.
You know what I mean?
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's a gift. Mhmm.
Well It's a gift.
You have to tell a story. Not everyone can tell a story.
Yeah. I it's it's crazy. I used to really undervalue it. I used to mean, honestly, I think I probably just felt like if any if I was good at something, everyone must be good at it. You know what I mean?
But that's just bad really a gift, though.
Bad upbringing. That's all.
Yeah. No. I and you do have that gift of being able to talk to people and keep people's interests. And so, like, now I lead a sort of business development team, and I always tell my team, I'm like, don't be boring. Read the room.
Mhmm.
Yeah.
Pim it if nobody's reacting to you.
I came out of I came out of the bathroom. Was going into the bathroom in a public place, and there was a security guard, a female security guard, probably in her mid thirties. And she was doing her paperwork with between the men's and women's room. And I made eye contact and smiled at her and she smiled back and I said, do you know what always gives me hope about humanity? And she said, what?
I said, in public places, the men have to walk farther to get to the bathroom than the women do. And she, looked and she goes, you're right. I'm like, no. I know. In every situation, we make the men walk the extra distance to the the farther bathroom.
I like, was and it makes me happy. It makes me feel like we're still paying attention to small things that are important. Aw. We had a whole little conversation. She's like laughing, and we talked a little bit, and we walked away.
And I was with a person who kinda saw it from a distance and said, what did you what were you just talking about with her? And I told him, he's a younger guy, and he goes, why why did you say that to her? And I said, I like to test my ability to talk to people and make them feel comfortable really quickly. That's all. A little bit.
Yeah. I just like I think it's, like, good practice. Also, I find it really interesting. And who the hell am I gonna tell about that?
Yeah. And I like talking to random people. You always have something to learn from someone too. Right?
I swear. Yeah. Because she talked back, and she she told me some things about you know, she's like, I can't believe I never noticed that before. I'm like I said, look. It might not be every building, but it's most of them.
I think it's it's a chivalry thing, honestly.
I never thought about it this way, but that I'm I will take that. I will keep that with me, Scott.
Yeah. Small thing. Interesting. We won't help you with your reproductive health. No one's gonna look at no one's gonna look into PCOS or endometriosis.
That's not happening. We do have 19 different boner pills, though. And and that's technically for most of you, isn't it? It's probably how they argue about it in the meeting.
Probably.
Yeah. Yeah. We don't help women. And they're like, this is kinda for them. Like, not really.
Not after the first couple times. Right? So on the event, it's sort of,
you know But your bathroom is closer than the men's one. So
Yeah. I like mine better.
There you go.
So okay. So doctor tells you this bad news about your eyes. Yeah. And you finally you pull together and you call. Is there a what do you do then?
Injections, Lasers, and Acceptance53:22
And he's just kinda like, hey. We expected this. Like, we were watching for this, actually. So, like, it's perfect that we caught it at such an early moment. He's like, we are just seeing a couple of small new, like, vessels.
Mhmm. But, like, there's treatment for this. There's injections, you know, what sounds like an injection in your eye, like, fun times. And there's laser treatments, which I am going to go get one relatively shortly. But he said it's manageable.
Like, this is manageable, and, like, we are not gonna lose your vision. Like, your your your a one c is good. You're in control. The and and, of course, like, know, I fact check all of this. I Google, like and I chat GPT, like, for the next three days to be like, was it really more likely than not?
And it was. I mean, the all the data says, you know, after thirty years, it's expected. But, like, I just you know, I always thought, like, I worked so hard to keep my sugars in range and
Yeah.
You know, like
But, you know
things like that to avoid it, to to be that minority, but, like, I didn't do it.
But in the beginning disappointing. The beginning, though, your tools weren't good. Like, what I mean, you're on regular an NPH at one point. Right?
Right.
Yeah. I want So I what I would say is, you know, somebody who was diagnosed ten years ago, I bet you they don't they have a much better chance that this not happening to them. I think if you were diagnosed ten years ago, that twenty years from now, you wouldn't be going through this. I think it really think it's the regular and Miles per hour launch, if I'm if I had to guess. And I don't know what you could have done about that.
I I think that the people who end up getting through the regular Miles per hour days unscathed are probably ones who just were given a heavier dose of insulin. It's probably a you know, because what you weren't really adjusting. Right? You weren't
Yeah.
You weren't really policing for everything you ate, etcetera. So yes.
And the way you were eating back then was, like, I mean, like, the food paragraph. I mean, like
Yeah.
I mean, all those carbs. Like, now that I think after I got the CGM, I never ate a sweet potato again because I saw what it
After the first time it hit you, you're like, oh gosh. That Is what they do?
Go. I was like, not having one of those. And I really I really haven't had, like, a baked sweet potato ever since because, like, now I know what, like, the different foods do to me. So, I mean, listen. Like, I I get it.
Like, you know, I I think I did my best, but it's still it was still disappointing because, you know, I was doesn't I
I'm gonna cut you off. That doesn't help knowing that you did your best, but you weren't prepared with you know, you No. It didn't. I was feel like better? Yeah.
No. I think it made me feel even worse because I was like, well, clearly, it wasn't my best. Right? Like I
don't know about that, though.
Objective findings still show it's like, you know, that one you you start doing crazy things like, well, maybe I shouldn't have let my blood sugar sit high for two hours that one time, or maybe I shouldn't have been having, like, that ice cream and stuff like that. You start doing that, like, crazy thing that you do to yourself.
Yeah.
Like, what is it? Like, the denial phase, the regret phase, whatever the five phases were. Like I No. By the time I came in to see him, injection. He's like, are doing?
I'm like, well, I'm past the denial phase, and I'm into acceptance. So,
like, just I
tend to going through it because I I had about three rounds of injections, and now we just started with the laser. And, I mean, neither one of them are pleasant procedures, but, like, it is what it is. Like, this is the hand of the deck of cards you got handed. Right? Yeah.
I'm at least grateful that now there are these things that you could do to manage it. And he was telling me, he's like, know, we don't really have the injections weren't that good, and the laser didn't do this much until a couple years ago too. So, like, this is
That's lucky.
We have better tools now to manage it too. So, like, in that regard, I feel really lucky too.
Hey. Your voice got dimmer a second ago. Did your hair cover your microphone or anything like that? Hold on a second. I gotta answer this call.
This is gonna be hold on.
Sure. No problem.
Hey, Arden. Go ahead. You're on the podcast, though. Go ahead.
Okay. Well, you blocked me in. I can't leave for the interview.
You can't leave for the interview. Can't you just move my car?
I I have to go. I'm already running late. I need
Sweetie, can John move it or somebody else? Bye. I can't I'm I'm working. You can't leave the house late, say my car's in your way, and I gotta move it.
Scott, you sound just like me. Like, I remember, like, when my parents, like, weren't weren't working anymore, like, full time. And and I would, like, try to do a, like, a family vacation and, like, try to, like, organize the time. And I'd be like they'd be like, well, we're not available these times. And I'd be like, I'm the only one with the job.
Like, like, Like, why didn't you ask me when I'm available? Like, what do you mean you're not what do you do? Give me an itinerary.
I'm guessing what happened was is let me be clear. I went to the ADA thing. I came home. She took my spot in the garage that we have. And so I came home parked behind the garage, and nobody's left the house in a day or so.
And now she's running out the door to go to a job interview, and she opened the door and saw my car sitting there. I mean, move the car.
It's clearly your fault.
Yeah. Clearly your fault.
I don't know what you're confused about.
Yeah. Yeah. Like, I I gotta go. I'm like, well, go. And the idea how That's fine.
I move the other car so I can get out. Like, why?
Yeah. That's funny.
People. Also, she knows in the past if she calls while I'm on the podcast, she's gonna be on the podcast. She knows that. So that's okay.
That's fair. Yeah. But I disclosed it.
I still tolerate. So you've had a few treatments already that you've done the needles?
Yes. I've done the injections. I've done about three rounds of them.
Yeah. How long's how long have you been out that?
So from January of this year, we're talking June. So I I spaced them out about, like, a month or about six to eight weeks apart.
They have be this for, like, six months then.
Yeah. Yeah. But the prognosis is good. He's saying, like, he's sort of seeing you know, it it's sort of stopping any growth or anything like that. And so I'm I'm reacting well to treatment, which is, like, the best thing that could be could have hoped for.
Is this anything you noticed in your vision?
No. Not at all. That's the craziest part. Sorry. You're gonna hear the door open really quickly just because I'm gonna get in the car, but I don't think you'll No.
You're fine. Feedback.
You're fine. Tell people we'll tell people where you're going.
To the eye doctor to get my to get my treatments. I'm so diligent about it. But that's the crazy part that it he found this just by being overcautious. It's not because I complained of vision problems or anything like that.
Right. Are you there? No.
Oh, I'm sorry. You you you
just I wasn't sure if you got that off for a second. Sorry.
And, you know, one of the first things that I said to him too was I I I sort of, like, confronted him. I was kinda trying to tell him that I think he's wrong about me. Wrong. And because, like, I I said, I'm way younger than all the other people in your office waiting to get, like, these treatment. And he was kind of like, what?
But then I was like, like, I don't understand why, like, I'm the only one my age here. And that's where he was like, because maybe you're the like, you're you're abnormal in that you're so diligent about being so, like
Oh, they found it
sooner or about Or
you were younger when you were diagnosed and in that time frame too. You know what I mean? Because if you were ten years older when you were diagnosed, but but it was still the nineties, then you'd be you'd be 10 years old now. So so Yeah. Yeah.
So I don't know. So I think it's great you're doing. I think it's great you went and got checked. Everybody needs to do that, especially because, you know, when when you're a kid and you're going to endo, they look all the time. And then when you become an adult, nobody brings it up anymore.
Well, that's what I mean. Yeah. It's like and, you know, and it was just because he had some kind of gut feeling. He's like, let's just run this extra test because he didn't see anything different when he dilated my eyes. Maybe he just needed a a mile.
Maybe he needs a boat. So he's you know what I mean?
Yeah. He's like, he had to bill something. He looks like an easy one. Yeah. Hey.
Do you
believe there's more stools
in your eyes by any chance? Or you're not gonna Google that if I say it out loud, are you?
I know. Right? It's like I know. So stoked. It's too soon.
It's too soon. I'm still upset that I can't take Afrezza.
What are you doing today? Are you doing lasers? Or
So I'm doing a laser treatment. So one so there's a couple of different ways you could do it. You could do, like, both of your eyes because they found it in both of my eyes, sort of these early peripheral retinopathy. So what you could do is you could do both eyes at the same time, or you could do one eye at a time, because you have to be dilated. And, you know, the the way I am, I'm like, well, what if something goes wrong?
I don't want it to go wrong in both eyes, and then I can't see.
Mhmm.
So I sort of drag out the treatment for myself. I do the eyes separately because I'm too paranoid. If something were to go wrong, I wouldn't want it to go wrong in both of the eyes.
Okay. So it'll just take a little longer this way.
Yeah. It takes a little longer. Base I mean, it was really bizarre. I had my first laser treatment last time, and I didn't know what to expect. But it's basically like like they're just shining right light into your eye for, like, five minutes and telling you to look in certain directions.
And you're like, I can't see. So I don't know, like, what you're telling me to do.
Feel like I'm doing it.
Yeah. I'm like, am I doing it? I have no idea. And
Does it hurt?
Then yeah. No. They numb your eyes. So neither neither the laser nor the injection hurt except for, like, pressure. You know?
Like, you can feel the pressure of a needle going into your eye, but it's not it's uncomfortable, but I wouldn't say, like, you shriek from the pain. Mhmm. And the laser, you don't feel it either because your eye is numb. It's just, like, bright light into your eye to the point where, like, you don't see out of that eye because it's so bright. But it goes away.
Like, once they stop, it goes away in, like, a minute or two.
Yeah. I was gonna say there's no recovery after the laser or anything like that?
Well, it it that's what, like, was scaring me so much the first time I went to do it. Like, they stopped, and I was like, I still can't see. Like, you lied to me. And he said, just give it a minute. Like, it's kinda like when you look in a bright light and, like, your vision gets all messed up.
Like, just give it a and I asked him to stay with me in the room until I could see it.
But it was it's scary, though. I mean, that's
It was scary.
Yeah. There's certain things that are scary. Your vision's gotta be
Is one of
of list. Yeah. Of course.
For me, it's the top of the list. Absolutely. Thanks for understanding how I feel. Everyone is, like, kinda like, it's fine. It's manageable.
I'm like, you don't understand. It's my I I equate my vision to, like, my independence. Like, if if you don't have your vision, like, I would have to rely on other people for, like, almost everything. And, like, that to me is, like, a nonstarter. I can't do that.
I don't know. I mean, it doesn't seem like it's a hard thing to understand that losing your vision would be upsetting. Yeah. Yeah. You know what
I mean? Yeah. Whoever's saying
that is just trying to be positive in the wrong situation. You know?
No. And you've had so many folks on here who have been in that situation, and, like, I find their episodes so valuable, and it's so interesting to hear from them kind of, like, how they deal with it and what their journey has been.
Why It Happens Even in Range1:04:54
Yeah. Me
too. And so and I think where my story was, like, a little bit different is that, like, I just didn't even know that I should be on the lookout for something like this if I was, like, so well controlled. You know what I mean? Mhmm. Like, I was like, you know, if this happened, why didn't it happen during my teenage years when, you know, my a one c was probably higher?
Like, why is it happening now in these six of me on my eight months, it has never been better.
Well, because it takes it takes time to develop. And, also, I have heard stories too about people like Right. Your blood sugars are high for so long, and then when you get them back into range, you know, that everything sort of changes about the pressure in your eye too, and maybe that can expose some stuff as well. You should ask him about that.
Yeah. He did he did say that one time years ago where Yeah. Where I was a little bit higher. Like, my a one c was maybe, like, an eight, and then I got on the I got on the Dexcom, and, like, the next time my a one c was, like, 5.8 because, like, you know, now I was seeing my numbers real time.
K.
And he was like, just out of curiosity, did you did your a one c go down significantly? And I was like, yeah. He's like, yeah. I could see that, but, you know, I could see that in your eye immediately.
No. That's not uncommon. I've heard people say that doctors have brought their a one c's down very slowly on purpose because of stuff like that.
Yeah. So I mean, I didn't think, like, seven nine to, like, five nine was that big of a drop, but I guess it was. Like, it was significant enough for him to, like, ask me about it.
Yeah. Yeah. And he noticed just from looking in your eye too. Right?
Yeah. Yeah. Mhmm. Exactly.
I think you have a good doctor.
He is so good. And, like, I'm so grateful that, like, he's so overly cautious like that as much as, like, you know, now I I was, like, so angry for a while. I'm like, I can't believe I have this and stuff. But, like, he he's right. We found it at the earliest moments, and it's manageable.
And, like, again, this is what it is, and this is what we're gonna do.
Cool. You ever tried writing a strongly worded letter to diabetes, see if it would leave you alone?
Yeah. I write one in my head every day. It has a lot of bad words in it. I imagine that's true.
Hey. Real quickly, do you have any kids?
I don't have kids.
No? Mhmm. How involved is your husband with your diabetes? Does he know because you're you're pretty old school. I bet he doesn't know three things about it, but I'm but I wanna hear what you tell me.
A Husband, and the Glucose Goddess1:07:02
That's so funny and interesting that you say that. So my husband is, the best person on earth, and he has an interest in it. Because I I've dated other men that were just kinda like, for diabetes. What? But, like, he he's very supportive of, like, my very healthy eating habits.
Like, he eats the same way too, and he wants to know everything, like, about my sugars. Like, if he hears my alarms, he's like, do you need anything? But then he's also very into, like, food science with me too. Like Nice. We, you know, we you had this one woman, Jessie.
Can't pronounce her last name.
I can't pronounce her last name either. She
was Dutch. Right? She or Dutch. I think she was Dutch, but I'm
not sure. Yeah.
But we got her book, and we're, like, all into her book about kind of, like, you know, how different foods impact you and how, like, the time of day or what you eat it with and things like that. So we're both into that. And I actually for as a gift for, like, I don't know, our anniversary, I bought him, like, a Dexcom or a Freestyle Libre one time to wear for a week so he could see how different foods were impacting him. I I don't think he's, like, eaten a banana since because he was like, oh my gosh. But so he's very, very supportive.
He he does think I I'm, like, a little too competitive. There's, like, this event in California every year. I think it's it's called some type ugh. I can't remember the name of it. But it's run by a lot of the endocrinologists out in the UC San Diego group.
Okay.
And it's for adults. It's for adults with type one or types two to get together. There's a lot of programming. It's really great.
Nice.
But he says, like, we can't like, I'm not allowed to go to it anymore because I, like, become too competitive. Mhmm. Like, which I didn't realize I did. But, like, he like he just thinks I shouldn't be around other people and, like, trying to find out, like, what their a one c is. Because then if it's, like, lower than mine, then I'm like, okay.
I wanna be just as good. Like, how do I do it?
But, Lana, you became a trial attorney. You don't know you're competitive?
I thought I was competitive with myself, not with others. I was heartbroken to hear that, like, I, you know, give off that aura. I'm competitive with someone else.
My So he
he come to me with with that
anymore. Level of competitiveness is the only thing that keeps this podcast going. Oh, okay. Cool. Because people are always like, how do you make a podcast about diabetes for twelve years?
And I'm like, I don't wanna lose.
Like Yeah. I'm like I like that. Yeah. I like that.
I don't know what it's about, but it it feels healthy. Keeps it keeps me moving. By the way, I just wanna say that Jesse, whose last name in Yeah. Don't know
how sounds
I don't know. But yeah. But she def but but she is from France, and she's French.
She's from France.
That I got right. Okay. So I just want don't know You did. Yeah.
She was interested know why she's She talks
to type twos mainly. Mhmm. Got pretty famous actually for a while. But I I had her is great. Yeah.
I just had her on because she was talking about I like the one thing she was talking about about how to eat in a certain order to change your digestion.
It's toll and not even digestion, but, like, your numbers too. Like, so we we use a lot of her methods, and they work for us. I mean, for me, I don't know if my husband's because he's not wearing a CGM anymore. But she is right about, like, how certain foods impact you.
Yeah.
So I do I found her book very, very useful. I like I like it a lot. Sometimes we'll flip through it for things.
That's cool. Yeah. Listen. I once he's not even the CEO of Dexcom anymore. His name was Kevin, but he came on years and years ago, and he's like, I wore a, you know, a CGM.
I don't have diabetes. He's and he's listed off a handful of foods. He's like, I don't touch these foods anymore. Yeah. Yeah.
After seeing what they did to my blood sugar, I was like, no. Thanks. I don't need this, though.
So Yeah. And it's interesting hearing it from a nondiabetic too because, you know, there's certain I mean, like I said, I've never had a sweet potato since. I don't touch figs or sort of or dates. Oh my gosh. Dates.
I mean, that is just like you just call them diabetic killers. Yeah. I don't know what else to call Well,
they're like sugar soaked in sugar.
It's just sugar. Yeah. Sugar soaked in sugar, sprinkled with powdered sugar, and, you know, inhaled. But, yeah, there's there's a whole other group of things that I it's just not worth it to me. You know?
I thought that you can't eat it. It's just, like, not worth the trouble that it comes with.
You know, when I hear people talk about it that way, what I hear is, you know, I know I can eat it, and I could get through it. But sometimes, I mean, the juice isn't worth the squeeze, and I don't wanna be in
Exactly.
I just don't wanna be involved in this. So I'm like, this
is Exactly.
My line I'm drawing for myself. Don't think there's anything wrong with that Yeah. At all. Alright. Well, we have to let you go because you're probably you're in Chicago.
You're probably to find a place to park your car and walk and the whole thing. Right? Exactly. Exactly. Are you did you get to say everything you wanted to say?
I did. Thank you so much for having me on. And Yeah. Of course. No.
I I just hope that, like, other people know if this is hitting them, you know, in their thirties, they're not the only ones. Like, other people have these kind of findings too and just I know I know it definitely helped me to hear from Erica that day that she had gone through it too because I Yeah. Felt like I was the only person.
I always have that feeling. Always have that feeling. Like, just a person who you think has it together starts telling you about and you're like, oh, that all happens to me too. Then it I don't think to me, that should make you think, maybe I have it together too. Like, maybe I do, and I'm not giving myself, like, enough grace here.
You know what I mean?
Yeah. I'm not in that phase yet.
It's only thirty years. You'll get there. Don't worry. Yeah. That's funny.
Do you do you have can I ask you what advancements are you looking forward to? Like, when you think about, oh, I can't wait for them to do this. Is there something in mind, or do you not think about any of this that way? Oh,
Trials, a Cure, and Paying It Forward1:12:57
no. I do. I'm constantly trying to get myself on those trials and things. Like, I was really interested in the the you know, you had that woman on that did the, the islet cell transplants, but they weren't they weren't human. They were porcine.
Yeah. I don't
know if I'm saying that word correctly.
Right.
I was like, oh, I wanna I wanna do that. So I'm constantly trying to think. It's it is a it is a lot of work finding those studies, having those people reply to you, and then actually qualifying for them.
The qualifying is the hard part. Did
you
try the Eladon study? It's right there in Chicago.
So that's next on my list to investigate. Yeah. So I I do think like, you know, when I was little and the doctors have been like, oh, there'll be a cure one day. Like, after you heard that, like, a couple of times, they're like, okay. Just stop.
Yeah. I guess that's
not true. I think when people say that, I'm more hopeful that that really is the truth. Like, the amount of, like, advancement that's happened in the last five, ten years is incredible. So I I am very positive about the future. And, honestly, at the end of the day, I know this sounds crazy, but I think I personally feel like there are some benefits to having diabetes and that, like, it really made me a responsible, organized person that I don't know if I would have been that way if it wasn't for diabetes that that has shown those skills have shown up in other ways
Yeah. I know you I know what you mean. Had thoughts like
that before. Yeah. Like, I'm very productive in work because I know I have to be organized because, like, you know, I have to make 50 extra decisions today Yeah. And things like that.
Well, having said that, I could've just got you a book about making your bed. It probably would've done the same thing eventually. But I hear I do hear what you're I hear what you're saying. I hear people say all the time, look. I definitely don't want diabetes, but there's been a ton of positive things that have come from it.
And they'll list off of Yeah. A bunch of stuff like that. So if if doctor Wachowski called you and he was like, hey. You're in Chicago. Come on over.
We're gonna jam some islet cells in your liver and give you this infusion. You would do it, Can
you connect me?
Oh, I see. You're ready. I he I think he's right now looking for people who have an ish I forget what it is. Like, you had to be you kinda had to be pretty perfect the first time around.
And now you have to have some some other things. And see, that's the problem with my group, like or me in general. I'm not, like, sort of none of my organs are giving out. Gotcha. But I'm also, like,
not that a problem, but I hear what you're saying as far as getting No. But, you know study. Yeah. Mhmm.
It's a lot of studies. You have to be sort of one or the other. And, you know, I've had it for thirty five years almost. So it's like, I'm not gonna qualify, but I I I would I am more likely than the average person to sign up for a study.
You would do it.
I just I always feel like it's it's part of paying it forward too. Right?
Like I I take that too. And I I usually hear that come from longer lived type ones too. Like, I'm trying to help everybody else too and help myself. Like, so if if if that was the case and you had to every twenty one days get an infusion to keep
that do it.
You would do it. Okay.
No problem.
Interesting.
Even if I wasn't in Chicago, I would do it. Like, I I'm very interested in the science of it too. I I would love to be part of, like, the story of, you know, a one day possible cure. Because, I mean, you have to have people. Otherwise, we're not gonna
No. Yeah. Every time I interview somebody who's done one of these things, you end up thanking them for just for being being willing to try. I'll never forget the woman that was on one time who she had that Vertex paltz. Like, like
I I remember her.
And then they Yeah. And she
didn't even know if she had Yeah. The one or it was a placebo.
And then they were taking it back from her. And I thought, like, she knew going in they were gonna take that back from her. Like, that's a really selfless thing to do. Yeah. You know?
So anyway. Okay. Well, I'm gonna let you go. I hope your appointment goes quickly today. Take yourself out for a nice lunch afterwards and, you know, try to enjoy your afternoon.
Thank you so much.
And I really do appreciate this. Just in case anybody's wondering, before I say goodbye, Vibe has not emailed me back yet. So Oh, man. I still Okay. Okay.
We'll take this offline, Scott.
Alright.
We'll take this offline and get a letter drafted.
Hold on one second for me. Okay?
Okay.
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#1901 Informative, Not Performative
Informative, Not Performative
Diagnosed with type 1 on college move-in day, a genuine, upbeat 19-year-old talks freshman year, running, body image, and — across a long, unedited conversation — social media, AI, and staying real.
Jump to a moment
- New-onset type 1 can be missed for months. Bella had classic symptoms all summer — vision changes, weight loss, fatigue, muscle cramps, and extreme thirst she first blamed on a UTI and iron pills — before a routine physical caught it on college move-in day. Her A1C was 13.5 with blood sugar over 700.
- The honeymoon phase can flatter your numbers. Nearly a year in, Bella runs a 5.8 A1C on very little insulin and rarely drops on runs — signs her pancreas still helps. Scott raised LADA and cautioned that insulin needs usually climb, so don’t be blindsided when the honeymoon fades. Repeatable dining-hall portions and a big walking campus kept things steady.
- Type 1 carries a heavy mental-health load, especially for young women — body-image distress, a disordered-eating history, and anxiety. Bella’s blunt line: few illnesses come with their “own branded eating disorder.” What helps her is therapy, faith, movement, and naming it instead of hiding it.
- Screen proactively. With thyroid disease in the family, watch TSH, iron/anemia, and vitamin D yearly, and advocate for treating Hashimoto’s symptoms even when labs read “in range.” Type 1 rarely travels alone.
- Informative beats performative. In an unusually long, unedited back half, Bella (a Gen-Z dietetics student) and Scott dig into how social media — and even AI — can genuinely help people with diabetes (turning bolus lessons into songs, helping a mom in Zimbabwe dial in settings live) rather than content made just to look good. Her coinage gives the episode its name.
- Bold Beginnings Series — for the newly diagnosed, with Jenny Smith (verify slug)
- Mental Wellness Series — anxiety, body image, and the emotional side of diabetes, with Erica Forsyth (verify slug)
- “Bolus For” Episodes — pick-a-food bolusing walkthroughs Bella listens to (find via the series menu)
- National Alliance for Eating Disorders — helpline and support for disordered eating (verify URL)
- Juicebox Podcast Facebook Group — community around type 1 (verify URL)
- Juicebox Podcast — all series and free resources
Every word of the conversation
Meet Bella0:00
Hello, friends. Welcome back to another episode of the Juice Box podcast. Today, I'm gonna do something that I don't think I've ever done before. I am taking a very long episode and playing it for you all the way through. I think it's really interesting.
I'm gonna bet you might too, and we're gonna find out together. Nothing you hear on the juice box podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. Always consult consult always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan or becoming bold with insulin. Go check out the private Facebook group, Juice Box Podcast type one diabetes. Follow me
on
Instagram at Juice Box Podcast. And please, if you are not subscribed or following in a podcast player like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Castbox, YouTube TV no. YouTube. What? YouTube, Amazon Music, Spotify.
I said Spotify. Audacity, do I think do I I don't mean Audacity. I mean, what's the other one? You know what I mean? With Amazon.
Amazon Music. No. With the books. Audible. That's the one.
Anyway, subscribe or follow. I think you'll enjoy it. And, I mean, if you don't enjoy it even, it would really help me out. So let's get going. Run some ads.
Start the show. Have a really great conversation with 19 year old Bella who has type one diabetes. This episode of the Juice Box podcast is sponsored by the Omnipod five. And at my link, omnipod.com/juicebox, you can get yourself a free, what'd I just say, a free Omnipod five starter kit. Free?
Get out of here. Go click on that link. Omnipod.com/juicebox. Check it out. Terms and conditions apply.
Eligibility may vary. Full terms and conditions can be found at omnipod.com/juicebox. Links in the show notes. Links at juiceboxpodcast.com. US Med is sponsoring this episode of the Juice Box podcast, and we've been getting our diabetes supplies from US Med for years.
You can as well. Usmed.com/juicebox or call (888) 721-1514. Use the link or the number, get your free benefits check, and get started today with US Med. Testing. Make sure we're being recorded.
I just did it for myself. Can you say testing?
Testing.
Awesome. You're good. So what happens now is I shut up, and then you introduce yourself the way you want to be known. I don't think you need your last name if you feel compelled to use it. You certainly can.
It does look like it was made up so that it could be like an awesome Instagram handle or something like that. So it's up to you if you wanna use it or not. I don't I don't think you need it though. Okay. Whenever you're ready, introduce yourself.
Hi. I'm Bella. I'm a 19 year old diabetic that is currently a college student.
College? Oh. What are you going to college for?
Dietetics.
Is that like a a what is that like a It's a major?
Or Nutrition.
Nutrition. Okay.
Yes. It's, it's like yeah. So I'm gonna go to be a dietitian.
Oh, very nice. Yeah. I just didn't understand the word. I didn't go to college. So I never looked at I never looked at the book that let said all the different things you could do.
Yeah. No. I mean, honestly, everyone that I've pretty much everyone that I've told about my major, like, they don't know what it is, which I feel like is really surprising. I feel like it's kinda, like, in the name.
Maybe it's just the well yeah. I maybe it's because we're making a podcast about diabetes that I got, like, waylaid by Dia. I was like, dietetics. What is that?
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Okay. Yeah. No. That makes sense.
Now but now that you said it, I was like, oh, yeah. Now I feel like
an idiot. And, no. It's okay. It's okay.
But listen. There's no excuse for me not getting it. The other 19 year olds in your life, that we can understand.
So Actually, it's mostly adults Oh. Who don't know it.
Yeah. They probably drink a lot, you think? Something like that?
No. No? No. Yeah. They just don't know.
They don't know. Well, how old were you when you were diagnosed?
I was actually diagnosed last August.
Oh, that's not even a year ago.
Yeah. No. It was actually, the day I moved into college.
No. It wasn't.
Yeah. Yeah.
You're serious. You're humping up, like, all that while you're watching your parents carry all that stuff up and down, and you're, like and I I was stunned at how little Arden helped carry things. I was like No.
I mean, I did help, but, yeah, I was my yeah. You're just
you're just watching everybody carries that and you don't feel well, or what's going on? Take me through the day a little bit.
Diagnosed on Move-In Day5:01
Okay. Yeah. So now that I know diabetes, I think the earliest I had felt my symptoms was Memorial Day that year.
Okay.
And then, like, throughout the summer, I basically had every single symptom of undiagnosed diabetes to a t. Like, vision loss, muscle cramps, weight loss, constant fatigue, like, everything.
Yeah.
And I just go to a yearly physical, which thank god I do. And it just happened to be on the same day I moved into college. So I went, I got my physical. And, honestly, like, not, like, TMI or anything, but I thought I had, like, a UTI because I was peeing so much. Right.
Right. So, like, I was just like, okay. Whatever. I'm just gonna tell them. So I told the the nurse my sometimes poor girl is probably like, uh-huh.
This is this is at school?
And then it was, like, 7PM, and I just met my roommate. Literally just met her. Me and my roommate, my dad, my mom were all in our room, and my mom stepped out because someone was calling her. And she had come back in, and she's like, okay, Bella. Like, you need to sit down.
And I was like, oh my god. Here we go.
I knew my hoo hoo was busted. Here we go. Yeah.
Like, I'm gonna like, I'm gonna get I'm gonna get talked to. Well, I honestly thought, like, it was gonna be like, okay. Like, don't take drinks from strangers.
Oh, you thought you were gonna get that one? Yeah. Make keep your keep your hand over your drink, like, that kind of stuff. Oh my god.
So I was like, oh my god. Like, alright. And she's like
I'll respect myself, mom. I'm sorry. Is that what that's what you thought was about? No strangers
in the room. Like, I understand. Oh. And, yeah, she sat me down. She's like, yeah.
You have type one diabetes.
And I
was like, what?
Wait. I thought you're gonna tell me not to get roofied. What's happening?
No. Right?
Jesus. Wow. Is there any other type one in your family? Do you have context for those words at all?
No. Oh. I had none. I I knew what diabetes was, like, vaguely. I knew actually, prior to being diagnosed, I knew not a soul was type one.
Wow. And so I don't think I really understood what it meant. Actually, I know I didn't understand what it meant. And I but I remember, like, knowing, like, it was bad. Yeah.
So then we had to leave. We left, and we went to the hospital the next morning.
Wow.
And I was in the hospital for only, like, twenty four hours.
This is the worst move in story ever. Although
Yeah.
Although Arden could tell you on if you want. So maybe I can I get her to tell that story one day? She got a roommate and You already love Omnipod five, the tubeless, waterproof, automated insulin delivery system. Now it's even stronger. A stronger algorithm starts here with Omnipod five's latest algorithm enhancements.
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And she walks into the room. The girl's lying on her bed, in a skirt with no underwear on with their knees up. And Arden just walks in the room, like, right into that view. And she's like, I just walked by and thought, okay. And I don't know what to say.
And, you know, you and so we talked. We were like, oh, it's just, you know, a mistake. You know, maybe she you you know, like, we we gave her all the, like, be nice to people things. It's gonna be okay. Eight months later, that kid was being moved out by a parent who had to fly halfway around the world to get her because she was such an abject disaster.
So, anyway, sometimes, sometimes it's you gotta give people the a little grace, and sometimes they're just showing you a little bit about who they are. So Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mhmm.
Woah. Yeah. Right? So did you go to a hospital near school, or did you go home to go to the hospital?
No. I went home. I went to my, home hospital.
Okay. Yeah. And they had you in and out in twenty four hours. Why did they feel so was your mom pressing you, like, you had to get to school?
I was pressing them.
Okay. Okay.
I was very upset that I think, honestly, at the time, that was what I was mostly upset about. Mhmm. I was like, oh my god. I literally was so excited. Like, I had all these plans, and now I'm in the hospital.
And but I am also very I would like to say I'm very responsible. And, like, I was very into it. I was like, okay. Like, show me how to get myself insulin. Like, show me, like, all this stuff.
Like, I wanna know so I can leave.
Hey. I would like to say I'm very responsible. Does that mean you're very responsible, or you would like to say it, but it's not true?
No. I actually do think that I am very responsible.
Okay. Yeah.
Yeah. So I think part of that yeah.
You just you just kicked in. You're like, I am not letting this screw up the beginning of my college career.
Right. And also, like, you know, like, every I mean, I feel like every kid who is planning to go to college has this, like, ideal, like, day set up, you know, or ideal, like, welcome week in their head. And, like, I was just very upset that that I was not getting that.
Give me the high level overview of what you thought that week was gonna be for you.
I thought I was gonna move in, and I was gonna meet my roommate. I had a friend from high school who lived a floor above me Mhmm. In my dorm, which is shocking because I went to a very small high school. So the coincidence coincidence of that is, like, crazy. And I thought we were all gonna, like, hang out, you know, like, maybe go to, like, go to a frat.
I don't know.
I was gonna meet a cute boy that I was gonna marry and stay married to for ten years. We'd have a huge house and some kids. I divorced him right before he got fat. And then, like, I'm like, no. No.
You're, like, you're working at a home kid.
All these people. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Like, I'm gonna go meet you know, and then I mean, and I ended up getting to experience that.
Like, my freshman year of college was great. Good. But it was just like yeah. And then I was in the hospital and by myself, and I was getting told I was being diagnosed with this chronic disease that I'm, like you know? And I'm gonna have to wear devices for the rest of my life and can, like, think about what I'm eating and stuff.
And I was like, what? What do you mean? We
A1C 13.5, and Powering Through13:30
so how did you will that into existence? If if, you know, you went, got your 24, came back, what, you know, what did they give you to start with? And how did you make I mean, how did you make the decision to fight through it? And what did you do to traverse that time?
Yeah. So they basically just gave me an insulin pens in a dream. I mean, I don't know. Like, I left the hospital. My sugar was still pretty high.
I would say it's probably it was probably from, like, 200 to 400. Mhmm. When I was when I was admitted, my a one c was 13 and a half, and my sugar was over 700. Yeah. So for it to come down that much was great.
And then I went to my endocrinologist's office, who, by the way, is literally amazing. I'm so grateful for him.
Nice.
They showed me the Dexcom, showed me how to put it in, use it, whatever. And then I literally went to the pharmacy and got all my stuff, and then I went back to college.
Wow.
But, yeah, I mean, I think at first and at the beginning, and I think still kind of now, I had a very not hard time, but I didn't really understand that it was gonna be, like, a lifelong disease. I don't I think it's very hard for someone to process that.
Yeah. It's not that you don't know intellectually, but, you mean, you it's not a thing that's kinda settled and baked into your brain at that point.
Right.
Okay.
So I think, like, part of me the reason I was able to handle it so well at the beginning was because I was like, oh my god. Like, you know, it's a couple weeks. It'll be fine. You know? But I gotta keep reminding myself, like, no.
That's not true. Like, this is something. Mhmm. But, also, I was so incredibly sick prior to diagnosis. Like, honestly, I I feel like I tell everyone this, but, like, I think if I had gone a month another month without being diagnosed, I think, like, I honestly could have died because I was so sick.
And you don't really know how sick you are until, like, you start to regulate your sugars yet.
You think you you think that this was happening for about four months before this?
Yeah.
Yeah. Okay. Well, I mean, with that a one c, obviously, it'd been going on for a while. And then Right. I mean, the blood sugar still only being 400 is maybe good news that your body was still fighting with it a little bit, but you're you're right.
You you know, it it was getting close. So you're telling me that just getting the insulin made you feel so much better that it might have made the rest of it a little easier.
Right. Yeah. I think so. And I also, I'm a Christian. I believe in God.
Mhmm.
And I think, like, the part of me that was, like, I genuinely could have died. And the fact that I wasn't, I was so incredibly grateful to be alive and to be feeling better. Not, like, directly after getting out of the hospital, but, like, as, like, time had gone on and I did start to feel so much better
Yeah.
I was very grateful. And I think, like, that that mindset of, like, gratitude really helped me.
Good. That's awesome. Yeah. Are you the youngest of a bunch of kids?
I'm the youngest. I have two older siblings. Yeah. Much, much older siblings. My brother is fourteen years older than me.
My sister is eighteen years older than I am.
Mhmm. And did you wanna know how I do that?
Oh. Oh, no.
You you you code as the youngest kid. Youngest daughter. Oh. Like, youngest girl. You just you you you you sound like you're 35 when you're talking.
I've already been confused while we're talking. Like, you have a way about you that makes you feel older, and and it it usually comes from a kid who's grown up with older parents who Yep. Who don't have younger siblings to look after and people who, and and don't have siblings to look after them, but clearly have siblings. You're you're not an only child.
Yes.
I can tell I can tell you're not an only child. I can tell that you're the youngest. I can tell that your parents are older than normal first year age. Right? What are your parents, like, 63?
Yeah. Something like that?
Both of them are, like, late fifties.
Okay. Yeah. And Yeah. Anyway, the whole you you code that, which is comforting to me, actually. I think you're you're a good version of a person.
So, I I like your I like your vibe. It comes off really well.
Thank you. Yeah. Wow. That's very nice.
Do you know that about yourself?
What? My vibe?
Yeah. Do you look at your other some of your other friends and go, like, I am clearly the most mature person in this group?
No. I actually am surrounded by really, really good people.
Oh, you've even you've even picked good people to surround yourself with.
Yes. I know.
What are you trying to have a successful life, fella? What's going on?
No. I
There's no way to get a neck tattoo. I'll tell you that much.
Don't worry. It wasn't in the plan.
Everyone with a neck tattoo right now is not in the long going. Yeah. No. He's right. So what, what do you think led you there?
Are you gonna tell me it's parenting, religion, just who you are?
Led me to finding good friends?
Yeah. And to being a solid 19 year old.
Oh,
Like, you didn't watch Love Island last night, did you?
No. I didn't.
Mhmm. Okay. Season premiere.
I think I oh, I know. I've been seeing it everywhere. I think part of it is I did grow up I went to a private school, like, my entire life.
Did they hate you? Is that what you're saying?
Private hit me or hate me?
Hit you. Did they hit you? Were you struck by the ruler?
No. No. No. No. No.
No.
No. But
I think, like, part of that was I was, like, surrounded by, like, minded people. Mhmm. But I do think that I was not no. I know that I was not surrounded by all mature people.
Of course. Yeah.
My gosh. My high school. I there's a ton of people there that I love. But
Out of their minds, you think?
Yeah. And I just think that people think differently, and that's fine. But I don't know. I think also I just have had such an anxious personality, like anxiety.
Oh, okay.
You know? And then I also okay. This is I was, like, 12 and 13 when COVID hit.
Mhmm.
And I think that has, like, a big thing to do with, like, how I'm I act now.
Were you anxious prior to COVID?
Oh, 100%. But, like, I think that, like, elevated it. Mhmm. And I also think that, like I don't know. When you that was, like, my you know, like, when I was gonna go through puberty or whatever, like
Yeah.
And I'm in isolation. Like, I don't know. I feel like that
Yeah. I don't think it was good. Is your mom is your mom uptight?
Both of them oh god. Both of my parents are educators. They're both principals.
Oh. So then yes?
So I would say, like, yes, but not really. Like, I don't know. My whole family is super fun. Like, we all know how to have fun and, like, let loose and stuff. Okay.
But, like, I think they both can be perceived as uptight.
But but I don't care about what you think, not about what how they're perceived.
Think that they are.
You don't think they are?
I I have a I'm very great relationship with my parents and my siblings. Honestly, my whole family. So, like, I kinda view my parents like, obviously, I respect them because they're, like, authority, but, like, I also treat them like my they're my friends too.
Okay.
Like, I feel like I have a really good friendship with my parents.
Okay. Well, that's awesome. Good. Mhmm. Look at that.
Did they mess up your older siblings? Are they a mess?
Like No. Actually, my honestly, both of my siblings are literally the best people ever.
My god. Like I've tried to shake you for fifteen minutes, and you just keep coming back. We're just gonna let you tell your story. Is there any I I just I'm I was looking for a chink in your armor here, but there's not one at all, Bella. You're rock solid.
You're a fantastic marriage candidate for somebody. Anybody's listening, Bella's gonna, she's gonna have a job in three years. Right? And Four. Four years.
She's gonna be earnest in the world trying to help people, and it sounds like she'll raise a good kid for you one day. This is awesome. Okay. No. These other brothers, your mom, your dad, anybody else in your family have other autoimmune issues?
I'm looking for celiac, Hashimoto's Yeah. That kind of thing.
My oh my gosh. Me and my sister talk about this all the time. She my sister has Hashimoto's and Graves. Mhmm. And then my mom has hyperthyroidism, but it was more because of pregnancies.
Like, she had a late pregnancy.
And then it it popped on after you?
Yeah. That's common. Yeah. That's like so I don't I really wouldn't I consider hers, like, autoimmune, but my sister definitely. She had issues before, and then she my sister has three kids, so I think it was heightened after her pregnancies.
So many kids. Yeah.
I know.
Are they all young?
Oh, I know.
Are they, like, in a group? Are they, like, eight Yeah.
10, 13? Oldest is seven, and the youngest is almost two.
Oh my god. What is she doing?
I don't
She'll be crazy in
another year. I know.
Yeah. Yeah. Crazy. Yeah. I listen.
I don't wanna argue with you about your mom, but oto's is autoimmune one way or the other. So it doesn't matter Oh, yeah. Yeah. What what kicked it into gear. But, that that there.
How about your dad? Does he have anything?
He's like he was pre type two.
Mhmm.
Prediabetic, but now he's not.
Okay.
But that's like I don't know. What's the is it vertigo?
Vitilago.
Vitilago.
Yeah. He has vitilago?
The dizziness.
Oh, wait. No. Vert you vertigo. Okay. Not autoimmune.
I thought you were I thought you were reaching for Vitilago and said vertigo, but he has vertigo. No. No. No. That's not nice.
Yeah. Yeah. What do you guys like? European, pasty white?
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Are. I gotcha. I know. Don't worry.
I can smell the whole thing right through the microphone. We're fine. Tell me a little bit about getting through that first year of college. How did you manage to keep your your head up and take care of your diabetes, or are you about to tell me that you just trudged on, went to parties, didn't take care of yourself? What what what was the first
Freshman Year, Still Honeymooning24:05
year like? I did. I really did take care of myself. Thank god, honestly. No.
I well, first of all, if my roommate's listening to this, I love you so much. She was literally the best ever. Like, she she signed up we knew each other, like, kind of prior to living together.
Mhmm.
And, you know, she signed up to live with me, not my diabetes. And she, like I think I had an amazing support system. I had it, like, with her, with my boyfriend, with my friends, obviously,
family.
So that really helped my faith. But prior to being diagnosed, I was a state qualifier. I was a high school, like, varsity athlete. I so I was very, like, I would say athletic, and, like, I lived a healthy lifestyle. Like, I've never I don't like fast food that much.
Like, I don't really like eating junk all the time. So I think that really helped because I didn't really have to change my lifestyle.
Yeah. Wasn't the food at
the to a really big
Wasn't the food at the school? Sorry. Wasn't don't be sorry. I talked over you. Wasn't this wasn't the food at the school really crappy?
Like, all hard on your blood sugar, or do you think maybe you've been honeymooning?
No. I think I was honeymooning. But the my the college that I go to wait. Am I allowed to disclose that?
I don't care. It's your life.
Oh, yeah. So I go to Michigan State.
Oh my god. Yeah. Yeah. That that's is that Spartans? Is that the one?
Yes. Yeah.
I know.
Yes. Uh-huh.
I've seen TV. Go ahead. Right.
They have a really, really good dining, like, meal plan.
Nice.
Like, fantastic. So, like, our the dining halls are really nice. Like, the one that I like, my, I guess, you can say, like, home, quote, unquote, dining hall had, like, a whole bar of just, like, you could get rice, chicken, and then, like, a whole salad bar. And then I don't know. I think it was really easy.
Actually, eating at the dining hall every day helped me so much because I ate pretty much the same portion of food, and they gave me the same portion of food. So, like, carb counting became so much easier because I was like, oh, yeah. Like, I'm gonna take 40 you know, I'm gonna bolus for 45 grams carbs
Gotcha.
Every time I go eat because that's usually what I eat.
Oh, okay. Yeah. Some people find that the food at schools can be kinda junky and maybe a lot of fat and sugar in it and stuff like that.
Yeah. But No. I mean, I think it obviously depends what you eat, but, like, did not find that issue, like, make yeah.
Yeah. That's good.
So that was really good. I don't know. I also oh, sorry.
No. So it was helpful that the the food was portioned for you. You were able to figure out how to bolus for it, and then it was repeatable, and you didn't have to worry about the portions. Also, you think maybe you were being helped a little bit by your pancreas.
Yeah. Okay. And I also think, like, MSU is a huge walking campus. Like, the trails and everything there are so nice. So, like, going there, I would eat and then I would go walk to class or, you know, like, stuff like that.
So that really helped me, like, regulate my sugars.
You were hustling all over the place walking a lot.
Yes. I was.
And that that kept and have you noticed since you've been home, have your blood sugars been more difficult?
Like, yes and no. I think when I first came home, they were oh my god. They were awful. Not awful. They were awful for me because I'm anxious, and I don't like when I'm out of range, which is not a good thing.
Like, I need to get used to that. But they were pretty bad. I mean, ranging higher than normal. And I think that was just from, like, the heat, the temperature change, the routine change of, like, my sleep
Mhmm.
Running, and the Honeymoon Math28:07
And then, like, food. But I'm training for oh gosh. I'm training for a half marathon right now.
Why are you doing that?
I'm running it August 9.
Oh my god. Why? Yeah. And won't it be hot?
I think so. Probably. Yeah. But, I was a runner in high school. Oh.
Like, I so it's nothing really new to me.
Did you miss it in college? Is that why you're doing this?
I running, I got a little bit I missed in college. I missed my team.
And wait. You jumped you dropped out there for a second. I'm sorry. You missed it a little bit in college, then what happened?
I missed my team in college.
Okay.
But I don't know. I don't think I missed, like, the actual, like, idea of, like, running. But last summer, I really wanted to run a half marathon. Like, I had planned I was gonna run one this summer. Mhmm.
And now that I have diabetes, like, I really wanna run one because I'm stubborn, and I wanna prove to myself that I can do it.
Oh, nice. Okay. It's a little personal challenge for you then.
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. What do you think is gonna be the key to I mean, you've been training. Right? So what's been the key to you stretching out your distance?
Like, I don't know. I've been using, like, energy gels.
Okay.
So, like
Are you falling while you're running and then pumping it back up with with explain explain to me how you're what you're doing. Like, so you're you're out there working. Yeah.
Honestly, my sugar doesn't really drop a lot.
You're like, I don't have that kind of energy, Scott.
When I run. No. Like, I mean, I don't know. Like, I know everything affects everyone differently, but, like, running really doesn't drop my sugar until, like, I get to, like, mile probably mile four or five.
Okay.
But I usually eat before. I'll have, like, a yogurt and granola. Mhmm. And I'll only bolus for, like I usually eat bolus I mean, for 12 grams carbs, and then but I I don't know. Like, I do, like, half of that, so my sugar gets, like, a little bit higher.
Yeah. How high do you let it go?
To, like, one it gets to, like, one eighty.
Oh, and then it and then it falls slowly while you're running?
Yeah. So it it falls like, it'll go up to, like, one eighty, probably, like, my first mile that I'm running, and then it goes down to, like, one fifty, one forty. Mhmm. And then if I keep going, it'll go down to, like, one ten and then, you know, continue to go down. But, like, if it gets down to one ten, it's usually, like, double arrow down or one arrow down.
Okay. And so I'll, like, take half an energy gel or, like, a full energy gel, and I'll just, like, continue on.
And that does it for you. That's awesome. I'm glad for you that it's that it's it's been that I mean, I don't wanna say easy, but that it's not as challenging as other people have, have sometimes talked to about it. Do you think that'll change? Like, are you on a very low amount of insulin?
Like, is there a world where you're still honeymooning right now?
I could be still honeymooning. I haven't changed the amount of insulin that I've needed since being diagnosed.
About okay. And you're are you still injecting, or did you get a pump?
No. I got a pump.
Which one did you get?
Tandemobi.
Okay. And so you're around the algorithm, and it's helping you too. Yeah. That's awesome.
Yeah. Yeah. Do you know
what your total can I ask you what your total daily insulin is? Do you know? My basal rate? No. I'm gonna test you being 19 now.
No. I mean, the entire amount of insulin you use on average every day.
Oh god. Mhmm. Mhmm. Probably
Now who's an adult? Now who's an adult, Bella? Trust me. No one ever knows what
I ask.
They could.
No. Let me do let me do the math. I usually do about one to two units per meal.
Mhmm.
So probably, at most, six units for per meal. And I'm not gonna lie. Ice cream, my total weakness. Love ice cream.
Who doesn't love ice cream?
Right? So let's add that. So probably eight. And then I think my basil is, like, maybe, like, five or six. Oh.
So
Listen. Unless you weigh eighty four pounds, I'm gonna say you're honey moving still. Would you tell me how much you weighed?
Yeah. I weigh, like, one sixteen.
Okay. Hold on a second. I'm I'm just looking at a little estimator here. So
No. Now I actually need to, like, look at because now I'm curious.
You're having fun. That's okay. Yeah. We're we're being weird and geeky about diabetes. I know.
Yeah. Yeah. I have, point six an hour, fourteen units
of diabetes. Point three five an hour.
Yeah. Okay. You you have your settings are beyond highly sensitive. So I'm gonna guess still still in a honeymoon situation. And it's been a year.
Okay. You might have has anyone ever said Almost
a year.
Yeah. Has anyone said Lada to you?
Said lauded?
LADA, l a d a. Like, you might have latent god. Oh. What do you mean? Diabetes of the adult onset blah blah blah blah blah.
Like, nobody's mentioned that?
I know I know what you're talking about. No. No one's ever told me that. No.
Okay. So I'm saying it seems like it seems to me like you might be I don't wanna say it like this, but you might have your your training wheels might be on still.
Oh, good. I hope so.
Do you ever get low for reasons you cannot understand or find yourself in situations where the Moby is, like, crazy trying to stop a low and you can't figure out why it happened?
No.
No. Maybe this is just your sensitivity. Are you incredibly clean eater besides the ice cream?
Honestly, yes.
Oh, maybe that's it then. Good for you. Yeah. Look at you. Yeah.
Eating like a chipmunk over there. I got you. A little granola, couple of nuts when you're hungry, stuff like that.
I eat, like, okay, like, Drizzlelicious. Like, I eat, like, the healthier, quote, unquote, snacks.
The hell is Drizzlelicious? What are you trying to make me feel old, Bella? It's working. No.
Listen. Drizzlelicious is literally the best thing ever invented, especially for diabetics. They're, like, rice cakes.
Cinnamon swirl lights.
Mini wait. Are you looking it up?
I'm looking yeah. Of course, I got it already.
Okay. Good.
Do you like the cookies and cream, the salted caramel, the birthday cake? What do you like?
My favorite is the s'mores.
Mhmm.
The birthday cake is pretty good, and then they get, like, seasonal flavors too. Oh my god. Okay. Literally, the oh my gosh. It is literally
Are they low carb? What are they?
Yes. Well, they're not, like it's, like, 24 grams for, like I don't know. I think it's, like I'm trying to enough.
The website's a lot of pictures. It it guys, it would do with a little drizzleicious.com. Maybe a little more information of a couple few pictures. Oh, here we go. I got it.
Hold on.
Okay.
Allergen free. K. Gluten free, non GMO, vegan, kosher. I mean, that's all nice, but how many carbs? Can maybe I'll click on one.
Let's do lemon cake bites. Guys, you gotta put your nutritional information on your website, make it easier for people. I am not seeing it here. Hold on a second. And in fairness to me, Bella, I am fighting off a voice in my head who is singing Fergalicious right now.
So
Oh my gosh. Okay. Wait. I looked it up.
It was
it says it's sixteen to twenty one grams Per which is actually true. Like, the little ones that I have, like, you know, like, the snack bags
Mhmm.
You get you can get, like, a pack from Costco. It's, like, 16 grams
I per hate going to Costco.
Same.
I like what happens when I leave, but I don't like being there. Recipes, man, they they are not making it easy for me to find the
Wait. I think I just found a picture. Okay. Let's see here. For the cinnamon swirl bites
Go ahead.
It's oh, shoot. Okay. Of course, it's blurry.
Yeah. I'm telling you that they're not they're not trying hard here. Like Trust me. I make these episodes called bolus four where we, like, pick a food and bolus four.
Oh, I know. I listened to those.
Oh, thank you. And Yeah. I said thank you before you told me if you like them or not, but thank you. And
No. I do.
They're really hard to like, some websites make it incredibly difficult to find their nutritional information. And Drizzlelish by the way, if you guys sell a bunch of Drizzlelicious today, I expect you to buy ads, and give me a But alright. I'm gonna look somewhere else.
Okay. I got it.
You got it?
21 pieces. So the big bag, it's five servings per container for about 21 pieces. It's 16 grams carbs, five grams of sugar, one gram protein, and then zero grams of fiber.
You just use Google. Yeah. Yeah. I did too just now. I should've done that.
Yes. That's less than a carb for a bite. Right. And you don't find it hard on you? It doesn't hit you hard or spike you or stuff like that?
No. Alright. Well, I mean, if the world was a different place and you could just use music wherever you want, I'd play the Fertilicious song right now. But, you're not allowed to do that, so we'll move on. Awesome.
What else have you found that's been valuable?
I throughout the year at college, I was weightlifting.
Okay.
That helped me a lot.
Did you have the bolus for weightlifting?
No. No? No. I didn't.
Okay.
I would eat, like, a banana or something before, so I would, like, bolus for that. And then I would go lift. So, like, I already had insulin in me. Mhmm. So, like, I would get up probably to, like, one eighty lifting, and then it would, like I you know, I'd walk back to my dorm, get ready and stuff, and then I would go eat.
And by the time I was going to get ready to go eat, I would be like my sugar was, like, on the verge of being low.
Mhmm.
So
Okay.
I had it I had it down to a science.
Were you lifting and doing some cardio at the same time?
No. Because I it was, like, a ten minute walk from my dorm.
The walk. It's that dorm. Wait. Look at you. You figured out.
Like, just spread your ass out and make you walk around. You're okay.
Right. Exactly. Yeah.
Yeah. Look at you. Well, thank you, Michigan State.
I know.
If you went to a small private college, you would need more
insulin. Gosh. Honestly, I don't even not yet. It really helped. Like, the amount of like, I was walking.
I think, like, my first, like, two months at college, you know, when it's still nice how you wanna walk everywhere. Mhmm. I think I was, like, averaging, like, over 10 k steps a day.
Wow. What's gonna happen though in the wintertime when Canada rolls over top of Michigan? Ugh. What do you do then? Does snot You
take the bus.
Does snot freeze to your face? Does that ever happen? Have you ever had snot freeze to your face?
No. I mean, I it does. But I refuse to, like, go outside when it's not cold. Like, I just take the bus. This year was awful.
The winter was terrible.
No. I know. Yeah. Yeah. I have to go to Louisiana a couple of days, to New Orleans, and somebody's like, I heard it's gonna be really hot.
And I was like, I won't know. I'm not going outside. Mhmm. If it's gonna be hot, you wanna find me outside. I will be inside with air conditioning.
Yeah. I don't know I don't know how you guys live up there. It's it's too cold for me. What are you from? Like, are you from Wisconsin, or are you from Michigan, or where are from?
I'm from Michigan. You
are? Okay. You went oh, in state prices?
Yeah. Your
parents must love you. That's awesome. Get that. Did they make you stay in state, or did you want to?
I originally really wanted to go to Florida for college.
Where it's warm?
Where it's warm. Mhmm. I hate winter. Of course. But the tuition is just actually insane.
And once I, like, got a grasp on money and, like
You were, like,
so much, hey. Like,
I have
to be, like yeah. I was, okay. Yeah. No. Michigan State
is seems fine. I look good I look good in that drab green. It'll be great. Don't worry about it. I mean, who picks that color?
You know?
My whole both of my siblings went there. My mom went there. So
Okay.
Yeah. It's, like, in my blood, I guess.
Yeah. Listen. It's 10,000 for your education in in Florida, and the other 60,000 is because it's warm.
So Exactly. Yeah. So Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. So, like, I'll freeze and pay $12. Thanks. This will be fine. Yep.
Yeah. Okay. Are you meeting boys? Is it your intention to meet boys?
The Boyfriend Who Reads Her Lows41:09
I have a boyfriend.
Did you have him before you We
dated in high school and then we took a break and then we started dating again in college.
Real quickly, you dated in high school then you told him to go away, and then you let him come back? No.
So he didn't go he does not go to college. He works in the trades. Mhmm. And he we dated, like, all of our senior year of high school. And then, like, in the springtime, we, I don't know.
Like, we both kinda just decided. Mainly him, but also me. Like, it was kinda Bella. I know. I, like, saw it coming.
Bella, you are such a nice bro. You let that boy get rid of you and come back and get you again? Why did you allow him to Okay. Do
Go. Let me explain.
I don't wanna hear it. Don't worry.
So yeah. We, like because whatever.
No. Not whatever. Whatever's where the story is, Bella. What happened?
Alright. So we I'm trying to think of, like, how to do it in a sense of where it's not, like, publicly airing Mhmm. Our business.
But he did something shitty.
No. No. No. Honestly. It
was you? Did you do something shitty?
Neither of us.
Well, then I don't need to know. It's personal. Don't worry about it.
Yeah. That's fine. We yeah. We just, like, broke up on good terms
Okay.
Which I think was why it was very easy to, like, start hanging out again
and holler. Miss him?
Like, honestly, I did not I thought that ship had sailed. Yeah. I did not think that, like, me and him would be getting back together at all.
Did he have a glow up? What happened? Was there a glow up?
No. No? I he was, like, my comfort person and, like, my best friend,
all of
and listen. I'm independent. I don't need a I believe you. Type that needs, like, a boyfriend or whatever. But it was hard for me to go through my diagnosis and my diabetes without him.
Okay.
And I reached out to him not in, like, with the intentions of, like, you know, getting back together or whatever, but, like, I did reach out and I was like, hey. Just so you know, like, this happened to me and, like, I don't know what to do.
Dodged the bullet, buddy. You almost were dating a girl with diabetes, but you got out of it. And and you put no fear. I mean And Yeah. I'm being stupid.
But you you needed you needed somebody who you knew knew you, who you could find some comfort and and some support with, and you went to him.
Yes.
And he they That's very I know. Don't worry. I I'm I'm, like Listen. I'm making fun in between, but I follow what's happening.
No. No. No. Know. Okay.
Alright. No. But, like, he knew me before.
Yeah.
He knew me pre you know, like, pre diagnosis. So I think I found a lot of comfort in that. And then we hung out for, like, a little bit. Like, I went home the next weekend. Mhmm.
And we, like, had hung out as, you know, like, with friend like, as friends. And we both kinda realized, like, wait. It's, the same. Like, there it wasn't like we had gone, you know, six, oh my gosh, six or seven months Mhmm. Without, like, you know
I like that you're mature enough that when you're telling your silly teenager story, you you're embarrassed by it a little bit. That's fantastic. Yeah. You shouldn't be embarrassed. That's nice.
Listen. Here, I'll tell you something embarrassing. My social media is what you might call apoplectic. So I see all kinds of things that a person my age probably doesn't normally see because of how I use social media for the podcast. And Mhmm.
One of the things that I find really endearing besides soldiers coming home and surprising people, which I think makes me cry every freaking time I see it. I love when young people sit down, I put a camera on themselves, and and they're only friends, and one of them kisses the other one to see what'll happen. Do you know those videos?
Yes.
Yeah. I know I should know them because I'm not 19. But I do know them, and I find them incredibly interesting and and often very endearing. And sometimes and sometimes the person who gets kissed is is really, like, what is happening? But sometimes you see this, like, disarming of, like, oh god.
I didn't think this was ever gonna happen feeling. Mhmm. Do know what I mean? And I'm wondering if you guys didn't have a moment like that where you got back together and realized, oh, we are really good together.
Yeah. I mean, I, for sure I I guess I really haven't talked to him about, like, it in that sense.
You don't need to talk to people when you're having a relationship. Yeah. That's don't worry about that.
I mean, I, for sure, for sure, had that
feeling of, like
yeah. I was like, wait. He's, like, my person.
Oh. Thank you for not making fun of me about knowing about those videos.
No. I mean, listen. Social media is crazy.
I find them sweet.
They are sweet. Yeah. Yeah.
I don't know. Anyway, and sometimes they're sad because sometimes somebody's like, you can tell they're doing it and they're like, oh, like, she or he is gonna like, this is it. I know we're not just friends, and then it doesn't go that way, and they looked dejected. And that's Yeah. And I think how did that video get off your phone?
You know what I mean? Like, why not delete it?
Right. Like, why would you post that?
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That part, I don't understand either. But, anyway, okay.
So you guys are back together, and Yep. School is, would you say, about an hour and a half from home? Mhmm. Okay. So is he coming to see you a lot?
To his credit, yes. He he did come to, MSU quite a lot, yeah, on the weekends.
Yeah. You drive to where the pretty girls are, Bella. It's not a big surprise how boys work. Okay? I used to have to drive to Delaware every weekend to see mine, and I did it.
Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. That was from from another state. Although Delaware is not very big. You wouldn't know that. But no.
No. So he comes to see you guys are building a little bit of a relationship, and this is helping you get through things. Is he learning about the diabetes? Are you wanting to tell him about it, or is just being together enough for support?
Yeah. I mean, he's learning. He has learned that, like, by the way I react when I look at my sugars
Mhmm.
That I'm low. And so, like, I don't ever have to ask him to, like, get up and give me a juice box or give me a fruit snack. Like, he's already on it. Nice. Which is great.
And, I mean, he also knows. He's, like, learned, like, my mannerisms too, like, through being diabetic and, like, knows that, like, oh, okay. Like, we're gonna go get ice cream, or for example, like, I have to take my insulin and wait a little bit before we go in and actually get it. Yeah. But he his grandma has type one diabetes, which I
do not know. Maybe you got it from her. Maybe she gave it
to you. It's contagious.
You never know. You never know. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, so he has some background on it.
Yeah. He does. But I don't know. I get very confused with it because I talked to her, post diagnosis.
Mhmm.
And I was, like, asking her, you know, all the questions like, oh, do you take insulin? She doesn't take insulin when she eats.
How old is she? Is she, like, in her eighties?
Yeah.
Yeah. She probably doesn't eat very much. Those old people eat like birds.
So I was just like I'm like, oh my god. If I had to die, I would, like, die.
Do you see her eat? Does she hork it down, or is she having like, I my my buddy's grandmom lived the last ten years of her life on cigarettes and pound cake. No lie. And so, sometimes older people just don't eat very much. Maybe the basil she's Yeah.
They've got her on is doing the job.
Yeah. I don't think she does eat very much now that I think of it. I actually didn't even think of it that way.
Yeah. Or she's not eating
Yeah.
Do you know how long she's had it?
No. No. No. Okay.
Because then maybe she because listen. You're gonna have a long life with diabetes. It's gonna be interesting because it's gonna go through a lot of changes. You're gonna do this college thing, then you're gonna do the young adult thing, then you're gonna do the married thing, then you're I mean, I'm listening to your life. You're gonna have three kids.
Apparently, that's a prerequisite.
Oh gosh. Not three kids. Nope.
Well, your parents have three kids and your sister has three kids.
God. I can't.
Think that's too many. It's hard to think about it when you're 19, but when your hormones
That's true.
Your hormones are gonna hit you the right way one day, and you're gonna be like, I'm gonna make a thousand babies. And, like, it's just you get tired after the first one, but you'll tough it out for maybe two if you can. But but you're gonna have there's gonna be a part of your life with being pregnant with diabetes and then trying to raise those kids with diabetes, and then you're gonna start getting older. And then one day, you're gonna be 82, And it's gonna be it's a different game. I hear older people talking about their diabetes.
They're worried about, you know, going on Medicare or not being able to see the buttons on their stuff or not understanding the new technology. And sometimes you hear stories of people who are in assisted facilities, and they don't get as good a care as you're giving yourself right now with type one. And so Yeah. I think there is a thing that happens if you talk to a doctor, they'd probably tell you a little idea of diminishing returns. And when you have a person who's in the last handful of years of their life, you'd much rather them have a slightly higher blood sugar than get low, pass out, and die.
And so I think that management might turn into that as they get older sometimes. Yeah. You know? Which is Yeah.
That is
It's hard to think about for people with type one because it's not your goal. Like, your goal right now is what what's your a one c? Like, four and a half or something? Tell me.
Oh my god. Four
and half. No. I'm just kidding. But what is yours?
It is what was it last? 5.8?
Yeah. That was my point. That you're a person who's trying really hard. You're probably being motivated by crippling anxiety, but still you're you're getting it done. You're getting
it Crippling anxiety. Yes.
You're getting it done, and it would be hard for you at 19 to imagine a life where you didn't try that. But it could happen. You know? Long time in the future for you. Don't worry.
By the time, I'm guessing with GLP medications and other peptides, Oh, I just said peptides. People are gonna be like, but sorry. I'm not a I'm not a pro podcaster, but there's gonna be other you're gonna see people are gonna use other peptides, testosterone, things like this people use. You're gonna you're gonna stay healthier longer for longer. You'll probably live into your hundreds.
Oh, wow. Isn't that crazy to think about?
Mhmm.
Yeah. You probably you probably you probably easily live into your nineties with with modern technology.
I would love that. I know that was, like, one thing. I I feel like a lot there obviously is so much anxiety surrounding, like, an unknown surrounding, like, type one. But, like, a lot of them is, like, you know, like, how am I gonna, like, I don't I really don't wanna go through pregnancy with type one. Like, I really don't want to, but I really wanna have kids.
And then, like, I don't wanna give it to my kids. Or I don't know. Like, I don't wanna, you know, grow old, then I don't wanna get another autoimmune and, like, all of this stuff. And I feel like especially because I'm a baby diabetic, I guess you could say.
Yeah. Yeah.
And being diagnosed, like, at such a, I mean, like, a later like, such a weird time in my life.
Yeah. I mean, going into college is per listen.
Right?
I can tell you something. In twelve years, I've talked to probably a person who's been diagnosed at every age. Okay? And I'm I might mean up to, like, 99. And, there's no good time to be diagnosed with type one diabetes.
Oh, no. No.
So it's just gonna be what it's gonna be. Yeah. And you're gonna I mean, you're that five something a one c, you can keep that while you're pregnant. It won't be hard. I mean, if you know how to do it now, I'm sure you'll be able to do it then.
It's about, you know, matching insulin with food and being, you know, flexible with your settings and realizing when you need more, you need more, when you need less, you need less, and taking care of yourself. You know? It's, I'll tell you the hardest part from what I hear from women with type one is after the baby comes and your needs go back to normal, sometimes all that effort you put in during the pregnancy, you shift the effort over to handle it taking care of the baby, you don't take care of yourself as well. Yeah. That can happen.
That's I've heard that too. Yeah. Yeah.
But but the point is is that none of that has to happen to you. Like, you get to decide. I mean, look at you. You went to college on day listen. Let let me let me pump you up here, Bella, for a second.
Heading into college, I imagine you were 18 years old. You're there with your mom and your dad. You're about to meet your roommate. Tell him like, you're about to kick your parents out and tell your roommate, do you like vodka or gin? What do you prefer?
And, like, instead, you're at the hospital. Okay? And and then you come back, power through, you get through your first year. Your GPA is probably 39, I'm guessing. And, what is it?
Yeah.
Yeah. I got it exactly right.
38.
Yeah. Okay. Yeah. You're right. So you you kept your GPA up.
You are you embarrassed that I know you this much after fifty minutes? Is that what you're
I mean, oh, yeah. Like, this is yeah. Keep going, though. Yeah.
Gen you
know, stop.
Generalizing is is, is my forte. I mean, you do you think you're not gonna be able to do pregnancy? Please. You'll be fine with that. Let me tell you something that I, tell my kids all the time.
I said it the first time when my son got, graduated from college and he was heading out into the world for his first job. He's nervous. You know? And I said, I know you feel like you're trying to beat the whole world, but 90% of them aren't even trying. So just get out there.
Keep being yourself. You'll see it'll work. And I would give you the same advice. You you're you're well suited for this world. You'll be okay.
You know what I mean?
Thank you.
Yeah. It's obvious. It's don't let that boy drag you down, and you'll be fine. Don't let him get you pregnant. Do you understand?
Oh god. Oh my gosh.
Married and a place to live. Listen to me, everyone. Married and a place to live. Why married? Because then legally, he's gotta take care of it.
And why a place to live? Because I don't want your rent in your whole life. Okay? It's a lot of wasted money. I just my son's friend, $3 a month renting an apartment with his girlfriend.
You know you know what $3 times 12 is? You go to college. $36,000 a year. Dang. Rent gone.
Boom. Poof. Go away. Go on. Do that times 10.
$360,000 to rent an apartment for ten years. Mhmm. Buy the shittiest house you can, Bella. I don't care. Just own it and then sell it, make a little money, and get a better one.
The American dream is not dead. We've just given up on it, and the shit's really expensive. So you're gonna have to start with a really shitty house,
but that's not the point.
My god. It's gonna
Oh, I know. I It's gonna take longer. So grateful that my boyfriend's working right now because we talk about it all the time. Like, I don't I'm not gonna be afford be able to afford anything when I
gotta go. And it sounds like he's gonna know how to replace the toilet, so that's awesome.
He's handy. For sure.
Oh, don't say it like that. That'll make your mom uncomfortable.
Sorry.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Not like that.
Sure. Whatever. What am I not asking you about that I should? Why did you come on this podcast?
Body Image, and a Branded Eating Disorder56:42
I came on because I honestly thought my story was really unique. Like
I think it is.
I got diagnosed, and then I went straight to college. But, also, like, I feel, like, as a young woman or a teenage girl or a young girl, like, being diabetic, arguably arguably can be harder because of the social media standards for, like, body types.
Okay.
And I think, like, that was probably and is probably the hardest thing that I have gone through, like, being type one
Tell me.
Is that it's, like, drastically changed my body in, like, the best way possible. Like but it's just hard to see those changes to your body, if that makes sense.
Well, yeah, tell me what happened to you, though. What do you mean? How how did you change?
Right. Like, I well, okay. Before prediabetes, before I was even, you know, sick, I probably weighed, like, one zero nine still, which is, like, still very light, and I'm not saying that I'm, like, fat or anything. Mhmm. But, like, I was more I was more muscle, and I was more toned and stuff, partially because I was, like, a high school athlete.
But and then, you know, prediagnosis when I was sick, I was, like, sub one hundred pounds Yeah. Which is, like, not great.
Off of you, that's a lot of weight. Right? How tall are you?
Right. Five three.
Yeah. Okay. It's probably
Yes. Noticeable. Right. It was yeah. Not great.
And then, you know, you go to college. I gained all my weight back and more, obviously, as one dodge usually when they're diagnosed. And I don't know. I think it's just very hard because it's, like, to see and, like, look in the mirror and see someone that I like, or see a body that I don't really recognize.
Mhmm.
But, also, I feel eternally grateful for for keeping me alive and for allowing me to train for a half marathon and weight lift and still live my life even though I am chronically ill. But it is hard because it's like, you know, on none of my pants fit me anymore. Had to go buy new pants. Like Yeah. Stuff like that.
And I think, like, I don't know. As a girl, that's just, like, really hard.
Do you feel
like saying guys don't struggle with it. You know, too.
Listen. I I did something the other day. I don't normally do. I was I went out, and I was meeting a friend at a public event. And as I was walking from my car into the building, I had I was overwhelmed with this feeling that I should not have worn the shirt I was wearing, which is not really a thing I think about often.
It felt it was grabbing me oddly, and I was like, oh, I probably look fat in this. And, like, why did I do that? And and then I went to the bathroom to look. Like, I was so concerned. I thought, like, maybe I can, like, pull the shirt around a little bit and fix it.
And I went in the bathroom and looked and my first thought was, see, you're a mess. And then I looked harder and I thought, that's ridiculous. I look fine. Like, what is happening? You you like, so I stood there and talked to myself.
I took a picture of myself so I could look at it to, like, maybe, I I don't know, disconnect me from the mirror for a second to try to figure out, like, am I seeing what I think I'm seeing? I realized I looked fine. And then I shared it online on my Instagram, and it got a lot of, like, people who were like, I feel like that all the time. Like, thanks for talking about this. So I think guys can feel that way too.
I you know?
Oh, yeah. A 100%.
Admittedly, I'm older, and so I I probably have more estrogen now than I did before. But, like, that's fine. Like, I still feel my feelings. And it's but what I wanna know from you is is that, like, when your weight goes down and you feel weak and then it goes back up and you feel like, oh, I don't belong at this weight, and you say you don't recognize yourself, does that make something click inside of you? Is it difficult in a way that you can describe?
Like, I think I well, as someone who had previously struggled with, like, disordered eating
You had that think like prior to diabetes, you Yeah. Bulimia, or what's what's going on?
Like, I honestly, I think it's just really bad body dysphoria.
Okay.
And it was right around the time of COVID. So I was, like, a lot younger, but, like, still it always kinda just sat on, like, the back of my mind. Like, I've always been, like, extra particular about my body image.
Okay.
I don't know. And I think, like, just I know that I'm healthy, and I know that my I'm at a healthy weight. But, like, it's you know, obviously, it's just hard to, like, not compare yourself. And, like, yeah, when you walk by, like, windows or mirrors and stuff and, like, you're like, oh my gosh. Why do I, you know, look like this?
But I think with diabetes, it adds, like, a whole extra, I guess, like, feeling to it because it's, like, for diabetics, it's harder to lose fat.
Mhmm.
And, like, I could be doing everything that I was doing prediabetes, but still look the exact same and not get the same kind of results. Yes. You know?
Not many illnesses come with their own branded eating disorder either.
Right. You know? And especially because you're, like, constantly having to, you know, like, count your carbs and, like, that has put into perspective for me, like, how much I carbs I'm eating. Mhmm. And, oh my gosh, if I didn't like, I'm glad I have the self control that I do because if I didn't, I would be, like, obsessing over
Over how much am I eating? How much am I supposed to be eating? I'm doing the right thing. I'm doing the wrong thing. Like, all those weird feelings.
Yeah. I mean, nothing's gonna give you a stranger relationship with food than type one diabetes. That's for sure.
Right. And it's just like, you know, already previously having, like, a faltered relationship with food and then being diagnosed with something that you constantly have to think about food. Yeah. Like, you know?
Therapy, Faith, and Anxiety1:02:52
What do you do what do you what does a person your age do for their mental health? Like, how do you manage all that?
I did start going to therapy because once, you know, I was diagnosed and I went to college, I was like, wait. I'm actually, like, not okay, and I should be seeing somebody. Mhmm. So that has helped me a lot. My faith, obviously, has really helped me, like, with my mental health.
And then working out, like, really like, my escape since I've been younger has always been, like, running or lifting. Mhmm. So that is, like, really helpful.
You know what they say about running? You're either running away from something or towards something. Right?
I'm usually running away from, like, anxiety, but, yeah.
I hear you. It's hard, but you're doing all the right things for yourself. Your parents supportive of your parents are supportive of that? Of The therapy? Oh,
yeah. I my mom my mom I think this is, like, a couple months after I was diagnosed. I was, like, crying to her because, like, I saw all, like, the statistics of, like, diabetics. Like, you're, like, more times likely to get depression, anxiety, and eating disorder. You know?
And I was, like, crying to my mom, and she's like she looked at me, and she's like, Bella, I think you need therapy.
Bella, I gotta tell you. I'm too old for this, and I don't care. I'm gonna put somebody else in charge of it. Okay? I already raised your other brother and sister, and I'm done.
And so
And she was like she's like I was like, no. I don't. I'm fine. I'm fine. Like, I and then, you know, I was at college and I had, like, a breakdown, and I was like, oh, I'm actually not fine.
Like Did you do the did you do the college breakdown?
Oh, many times. Oh, it I mean, when my when my roommate, like, left and, like, left me alone, like, in our dorm, like, for a weekend or something and, like, my boyfriend wasn't there Oh. Oh, it was a bad time.
You were gonna die in that dorm room by yourself?
I literally thought I was gonna die. Like, I mean, I don't know. I just when I'm alone with my thoughts and I continuously, like you know, I I see a TikTok, and it just starts to spiral of me. And then I just start crying, and I'm, like, sad. And then I'm sad about something.
And then, honestly, since being diagnosed, I can be sad about, like, 10 other things, but it always comes back to being sad about being diabetic.
Yeah. Can I can I give you a piece of, of, wisdom that you probably won't be able to apply?
Oh, okay.
Worry is a waste of imagination.
Oh, don't worry.
You know that already? I know. Okay.
Yes.
You are only imagining things that you think may happen. You have absolutely no idea if they actually will happen. Like, save save save that energy for when something actually goes wrong.
Yeah. Like, the overthinking and everything. Yeah.
Any medicine for this?
No. I my anxiety, as much as it can debilitate
Sure.
Me. I think that's the right word.
Be debilitating?
I yeah. Be debilitating. Mhmm. I think that I've lived with it long enough to, like, know how to especially now that I've I'm going to therapy to, like, work through it. But I don't wanna be I don't want my hormones to be controlled by medication.
Okay. And I'm not to say that I'm judging anyone who does, but me personally, like
Oh, what you're looking for? But you love that Doce you you love that Doce song when it came out though, didn't you? The anxiety song?
The Doce song.
Well, you said you're on
Oh my gosh.
You love the the anxiety. You know that one. You know that song?
I know what you're talking about. Yeah. I actually never listened to it outside of TikTok, though.
May I say, I didn't think I'd find myself being an advocate for Doce, but she got ripped off with that. She became so famous on TikTok. You should go check out that album. It's pretty good. Do you guys listen to albums anymore?
Does that not even happen?
No. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I do.
You do? Yeah.
Go check out the Doce album. It's awesome. Anxiety, Nissan Altima. There's some good songs on there. I'm a fan.
Just I wanna
say. Okay. I will check it out.
You're like, why am I taking music advice from a guy in his fifties about yeah. I'm not doing that. You should, though. I'm right about this. Trust me.
No. I I I believe you.
I'll take
your word for it.
Jessica's stage show too. I've seen a couple of clips. I mean, I wouldn't go, but it's only because people would look at me and go, dude, the feds are here. That's what they would think if they
saw me.
Oh my god. Be like, narc. But I'd like, no. I just like dochi.
Yeah. I mean, everybody likes what they like.
Thank you. Thank you for affirming me. You have been in therapy. Like, Scottie I'm fine. You're like, your feelings are valid, Scott.
I'm like, thank you. Oh my god. I am worried about the anxiety piece. So I I'm gonna guess a little farther. You guys are What's your background?
Your family? English, Irish?
Just white. We're, like, everything.
Just we're just white. You don't know your background?
Well, I I mean, we're okay. So, like, I
Where'd the boat come from? French uh-huh. That's the dad. That's the dad. Right?
Yeah.
Yeah. Then the mom?
We're German, Dutch, English. I don't even know. Probably, like, everything else.
Screen Everything: Thyroid, Iron, Vitamin D1:08:43
Let me just guess. Also, your vitamin d is probably low. Please have that checked. I'd like I'd like to see on top of that. There's no way your vitamin d is okay.
I'd also
Actually, no. It's gotta be because I'm in the sun all the time.
That's Michigan sun. I don't know if it counts. Please have it checked at your next appointment. Tell them you'd like your vitamin b done. You want an iron.
Are you ever tired?
Okay. You know what?
Go ahead.
This is so funny. Don't be funny. I, last okay. So when I was running, I started taking iron supplements. Mhmm.
And right around the time I started taking my iron supplements was when I was getting, like, chronically thirsty.
Mhmm.
And I looked it up because I was like, oh my god. Why am I going through, like Mhmm. A gallon of water a day? And I guess iron supplements make you thirsty. So I stopped taking my iron supplements, but then I was still chronically thirsty.
That's because you're about to get diabetes. But what I'm saying is that I want you looking out for anemia, vitamin b twelve, and d and d when you're getting your your testing done. Also, don't forget to get your thyroid tested once a year. Okay? Okay.
Alright. And if you have if you have hypothyroid or Hashimoto's symptoms, you want to press the doctor to medicate them if your TSH is over, like, 2.1. And you're gonna tell them it's because my mom has it, my sister has it, and just because you say I'm in range doesn't mean I'm not going through these things. I'm just getting you ready because you are a coin flip for Hashimoto's, Bella. Okay?
So don't wanna Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And, and then you're gonna wanna be looking out for anemia too and those things. How are you may I ask a question?
I have no biz you know, I started this episode. We were talking about, like, you thought you had a UTI, and then I somehow told that story about my daughter's first roommate in college. So, Ed, you've been hanging, so I think you're okay here. But how are the periods? Are they are they too long, too heavy, or are they Oh.
Pretty good?
No. They're the same that they were before.
Good. Good. Good. Keep an eye out on that too. Okay.
Oh, yeah. No. I will. I went through a phase in, like, middle school that I was, like, shoot, pescatarian.
Just just fish, Bella?
Yes. So I actually did develop anemia when I was doing that because I was not eating I was not getting enough iron. But I have not had that issue since.
You're just eating goldfish?
Or you No. I just, like I was just I don't know. And then I would, you know, it would come around to me, like, that time of month, I was getting, like, sick, like, a fever I hear you. And, like, super fatigued because, you know
The lady stuff's not fair. I'll tell you that much. No. No. It's not.
A friend of my daughter's vegetarian eating Goldfish the crackers one day, and she popped them in her mouth. And I looked at her. I said, what are you? A pescatarian now? It was so funny.
I mean, at the moment, it was just very, very funny. Anyway, that's not either here or there. I, I'm glad you're paying attention to everything. And it sounds like you're doing well. The anxiety piece, you know, the longer you listen to the podcast, the longer you're gonna hear people who have type one in their life talk about I I hear about anxiety a lot, and I do personally personally think it has something to do with, like, inflammation, autoimmune stuff.
I know it's not I know anxiety is not autoimmune, but what I'm saying is it all seems to run hand in hand a lot with people. So, like, if I asked you ready? Ballpark guess. Mhmm. Anybody in your family mentally ill, bipolar, extended family, aunt, uncle, cousin, pesky?
I would say probably not.
Probably not. Okay. That's fine. Not always. Yeah.
I just I hear it a lot from people. So
Interesting.
Yeah. So, anyway, the anxiety piece, pay attention. That's all. You don't want it to get away from you. It could get crippling, and you don't want that.
Like, right now, it's like
Oh, yeah.
It's use it sounds like it's useful for you now.
Yeah. Honestly, like, I don't know. Me and my roommate talk about this a lot because we both, like, have anxiety. And, you know, like, I think without my anxiety, I would get nothing done. Mhmm.
Because it's, like, what keeps me motivated to, like, actually get up and, like, go do stuff.
I worry sometimes that your whole generation just calls everything anxiety.
Maybe.
Yeah. Maybe that's just you trying not to die. You know what I mean? Like, like, let's go Yeah. Let's move forward, get something done.
Mhmm. You're gonna work this summer? What do you do in the off time?
I am a nanny, and I'm also working as a waitress at a golf course.
Oh, like, are you one of those roving waitresses or in the restaurant?
No. I'm in the restaurant.
Those guys probably tip well. Right? They're all full of themselves?
Oh, yeah. A 100%.
Because either they play They're
very sweet to me though.
Well, of course. You're young and they're old. So, so you know what's happening. Right?
Oh, yeah.
Okay. Yeah. Alright. I don't have to explain life to you, do I, Belle?
No. No.
Okay. No. So they're either in their high off their great golf game they're gonna spend or they feel terrible about themselves because they played poorly, and the one thing they have left is over tipping to make themselves feel better. You're in a it's a golden situation.
It is. Honestly, I make great money working there.
Oh, a 100%. I would like to do that. If I was pretty enough, I'd be a wagers at a golf course. It's a perfect idea. And then the nannying.
Boy, you did say a lot of white things. And the nannying, like, for a like, a local family or somebody you know, how old are their kids?
I nanny for three wait. One, two. Yeah. Three families.
Oh, wow.
I'm more of, like I don't know. I the kids are they range from four to 12.
Okay. You like that?
Out of the three. Yes. I do. I really, really like it.
Hey. Are you just super are you super comfortable right now, or has your blood sugar gotten low?
No. I'm good.
You're good? You just get you're more you're just comfortable now that we're talking for a while. Yeah. Yeah. You slowed down.
Have I? You slowed down a little bit.
Oh, my my talking?
Yeah. Oh. Do you feel more like, you feel like we're friends now? Is that what's going on? I mean,
yeah, I guess.
Yeah. Yeah. Or do you know what I mean? Like, do you feel more comfortable than you did when we started?
I I feel more comfortable. I think when we first started, I was trying very hard to not say the raw not say the wrong things, but, like, to be respectful of people that I might be mentioning.
Yeah. Screw them.
You know?
They'll be fine.
No. No. No. No.
I'm just teasing, Bella. You were very respectful. Stop it. Alright. Listen.
I feel like we're done. Do you feel like we're done?
Yeah. I mean
You did it. Back to school next year. Keep studying. What's the what's the class you're worried about next year?
Oh, Wait. Biochemical wait. Biochemical? Wait. Biochemistry?
Yeah.
I guess if you don't know what it is, you are gonna be worried about it. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. So I'm just not gonna come.
That's the one you think is gonna give you trouble?
Yeah.
Where do you 100%. Where do you fly? What what comes easy?
Math, writing, and then, obviously, nutrition. Any kind of nutrition class.
Okay.
Yeah.
Very cool. Well, you what do you expect to do with this degree then? You need go find a bunch of people who don't take care of themselves, teach them how to take care of themselves? No.
I well, okay. I originally went into it because it was my degree before I was diagnosed. I went into it because I wanted to do sports nutrition.
Okay.
But now, you know, that I'm I have diabetes, I really would like to work as at it, like, an endocrinologist office. Mhmm. I think that'd be very interesting. Or or with, like, pediatrics. I don't know.
There's so many different things I can do and so many different things I can, like, specialize in.
Yeah. It's early. You're not gonna know
for a while. Oh, yeah.
Are you gonna need an advanced degree, or is the undergrad gonna be enough?
Yeah. For, dietetics, you have to get your master's.
Okay. Oh, so Mhmm. You're gonna be are you paying for this, or are your parents helping you?
I have, like, a savings.
Money that a grandmother put away for you or something?
Yeah. I think I think, well, I grew up my mom's, mom and dad oh, had a farm, produce only. And literally for the first, like, decade of my life, we would every single weekend, every Friday, Saturday, Sunday, we'd go to the farm. We would pick the produce, wash the produce. Saturday, we would we would sell it.
And then Sunday, we would go back and, like, put everything away.
Child labor,
you say? Yes. And all the money that we made at the farmer's market went towards my college fund.
Oh, that's lovely. Yeah. Oh, so they were packing money away for you.
They were. And, obviously, you know, I'm five. I'm like, college fund. What is that?
Like You woke up one day and you're like, hey. There's $30 in here. Is that what happened?
Right.
Yeah. Yeah. Good
for you. Much.
Yeah. Mhmm. Well, that's, that's it. I don't know if, how many people listening are actual adults, but there's an amount of money you can give to your children every year that doesn't impact your taxes or theirs. So that is probably what was happening.
Yes. Looks like your grandparents might have been what they call on the ball. Maybe they were anxious too.
It runs in the family.
A little bit of anxiety keeps you keeps you from getting killed by a bear. You know what I mean?
Yeah. Actually, no. Then now that I think about it though, like, me and my sister are both anxious people, and we're both the ones who probably struggle the most with the autoimmune.
Yeah. You know, I I imagine. Listen. If it really starts to impact your life poorly, there's stuff you can do to help it. And you shouldn't
Oh, yeah.
Let me say this. Don't struggle. Okay? Like, I'm not a person who yells, go take a pill. People are like, you're on a GLP.
But I I'm I'm sorry. But, I'm I don't think everything needs a pill. But I also don't think you have to struggle in a modern society. You know what I mean? So if Yeah.
If it's holding you back or stopping you from enjoying your life or doing things or making you crazy and some doctor says to you, hey. This might help. I mean, way better than drinking. You know what I mean? Because that's what most of you pasty white people do when you get anxious.
So
Alright. Listen. I am not pasty.
You said pasty.
I just wanna put that out there.
Did I say pasty or did you did? I forget.
You said pasty. My heritage is very white, but trust me, I can get a good tan.
You can get a good tan.
I'm not pasty.
A San Diego Tan, and Why Sponsors Matter1:19:31
I oh, I, oh, I can say this now. Oh, I went out to San Diego and made a a guest appearance in an Omnipod ad for their new 100 target for the algorithm, which when you get off of here, you're gonna see all over your social media today because they just dropped it today. And it was outdoors, and I caught an awesome tan, and I still have it. I'm super happy about it.
There we go.
Look at us. See, you all think that that's a story about me being in a commercial. It's a story about how happy I was with my tan. It's like argued with them. I in fairness to the people at Omnipod that have to deal with me, they called me up, invited me to to be an Easter egg in an ad.
I can say this now because by the time this comes out, it'll it'll be out in the world. But I am, like, the surprise last five frames in an ad. And and so that's not the point. The point is I said no immediately. I was like, I'm not flying to San Diego to record, like, for five seconds for your thing.
Like, I'd like I can you do it closer to my house, please? I don't wanna get on a plane. But I eventually because they are really let me say this. Sorry. I hope this doesn't bore you for a second, though.
No. If this podcast has helped you, and I think it sounds like it has. Right? Right. When I first started it, it was just a guy making a podcast that nobody listened to.
And I couldn't afford to do it, but Omnipod bought ads from me back when nobody was listening. Like, Omnipod bought an Omnipod bought Omnipod bought a weekly ad on this podcast in 2015 when it did as many downloads in a year as it now does in, like, two days. And so they were very supportive. Excuse me. I'm very grateful for it because it let me really build it up and get it going.
And so they've been long time good partners. And so I finally said, fine. Like, I'll take a red eye home. And, like, I didn't I couldn't miss too much work. Right?
So and it sounds weird to people, but I this is work. And so I drug my ass to Newark. I got on a plane. I flew, whatever, six hours out of California. I got in some car.
I drove for another hour while this 60 year old guy told me about his roommates. And, then they dropped me off at this little place. I was exhausted. I had dinner with people. I smiled.
I made nice. I went to sleep. Then and I got up in the morning. I spent eight hold on. Let me count.
Nine, ten, eleven, twelve. One, two, three, four. Nine hours standing on that set before it was my turn to film. Mhmm. I filmed for ten minutes.
They took me out of the wardrobe, stuck me in a car, drove me right back to the airport. And two hours later, I was on a plane, I flew home. I was exhausted. And the entire time out there, I was complaining to anybody who would listen. And then the whole way home, I just thought I did a terrible job.
I think I looked fat. This was stupid. I shouldn't have done this. They're gonna hate it. I'm gonna get cut out of it.
Like a child I was. Okay? Then three days later, the lovely person at Omnipod who handles me was like, oh, we saw the dailies. You look terrific. We're really excited about this.
And I was like, oh, okay. Thanks. And then that was it. I never thought about it again until just now when you reminded me about how tan I am from that. So
Well, at least I reminded like a positive. You know?
Why is your generation so positive? I don't understand. Don't don't you make fun of people behind their backs or anything, you people? You do. Right?
I'm not disclosing this on the Internet.
Okay. You have, you have a private chat with three of your closest girlfriends where you should talk other people. Right?
Actually, no.
You don't?
I do have a I do have a chat that I talk with my three closest girlfriends. Mhmm. But we do not the main purpose of it is to not crap talk people.
You're being positive in there.
We just like, we talk about, like well, they're my college friends. So one lives in Maryland, one lives in Illinois, and, like, we always, like, oh my gosh. I miss you guys. I just listened to this song and I thought of you.
You're not sending, like, like, screenshots of, like, some others to Instagram and going, oh my god. Do you remember Patty from high school? She's pregnant. Are you looking at this? You don't do any of that?
I do that with my high school, like, my
Your high school
best friend.
I see. Okay.
But, like, we don't do it in a way of, like
No. Of course not.
It's just more of, like, shock. Like, oh my gosh. There this person's up to this or Mhmm. Do you know how they're doing or, like, stuff like that?
Yeah. Yeah. No. I hear you. Okay.
Alright. Yeah. Yeah. You're a decent person. I, I cosign you.
Whoever wants to date this girl, I think you're making a good decision. And are you you're gonna hold on to the boy for a while? You've been decided?
Yeah. I guess. He's kinda cool, I guess.
At least through the summer. Right? I mean, why? I mean Why is that now? Yeah.
I'm kidding. I I plan to. Yeah. I plan to hold on to
him for a while. Alright. I I Yeah. You you've this is really good. I, you've given me hope for humanity.
Oh, wow. Thank you. Seriously. That's just so sweet. Well That's a great compliment.
No. You're really upbeat. Listen. If you're not high right now or on mood altering drugs, you're a really nice person. So I'm I'm excited for what you might do in the world.
You're not high right now, No. Are you,
I'm not. Okay. Because that's, like, the best compliment ever that I've ever received. So thank you.
You're very welcome. If you're not if yeah. We should try and do a t shirt. If you're not high or on mood altering or other mood altering drugs, you're the nicest person I've ever met. That's yeah.
You really are. You're you're a sweet kid, and you're smart and thoughtful, and, you didn't trip up one time. I've talked to people your age before who sound like they have a head injury. So, like, you're you're really doing great. Great.
Get out in the world and kill it, Bella. Go for it. May I? One last thing.
Trust Yourself1:25:36
I will.
Trust yourself. Yeah. Trust yourself.
Okay.
Do that. Okay?
Don't Okay.
Don't second guess yourself. You are a smart, thoughtful person. Go with your gut.
Okay.
Alright? And when you're in the working world, believe in yourself, believe that you deserve more, work hard, do a good job, but when it's time to move up, don't find reasons why other people are more valuable than you. Highlight why you're valuable and push forward. Okay? Can give you other good dad girl dad information if you want, but you have a dad.
He'll probably tell you this stuff.
Yeah. No. That was great, though.
Oh, no worries.
Think it's more meaningful coming from someone that, you know, you Has
a podcast. I hear what saying. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Know. For sure. Someone that's been in, like, an Omnipod commercial. I feel
like you're Has a good tan. My dad's older. He's not tan at all. Why would I listen to him? Plus, you've seen your dad in your his underwear, and it's not impressive.
And so you don't take him as seriously. You know what I mean?
Yeah. No. Yeah. Mhmm. Yes.
No. But but seriously, I am I am married to a smart girl, and, I know what you can do. And I know what happens sometimes and boys can also there's this thing where boys can overvalue themselves and girls can undervalue themselves. So I think it's pretty well documented that a a a girl who is qualified may not step up in the same situation where an unqualified boy will still feel comfortable stepping up. And sometimes they fill they fill the space and then the and then there's the there's a vacuum and you can't get in.
So you have to you have to keep pushing forward. Okay? And and, seriously, don't doubt yourself. Please. Please.
Alright. I believe you're gonna listen to me, finally. No. My own kids don't listen to me, but I feel like you're going to.
No. I will.
If you have a very successful life and anything I've said is valuable, will you consider naming a baby after me one day?
Oh, I don't know. Skye?
Yeah. It's a shitty name. I know. Alright. It's alright.
It's too white for me. I'm sorry.
I don't know. It doesn't sound like it. Sounds like you're
As my name is Bella.
Bella? Like right. Is it not is it Isabella?
Yeah. It is.
It is. Right? Do you not like Isabella?
No. I love my name.
Okay.
I think it's just very white. Like, if you looked at me and then was, like, to guess my name, you would be like, yeah.
Yeah. No. I know. I said to some lady the other day oh oh, let me find this email. I I said it on the recording.
I said, I want you to know that you said more Caucasian things than I've ever heard in my life in one hour. Oh. And I think she was worried afterwards, but I got an email from her because I asked her to see if her kid wanted to come on. And Mhmm. She emails me and says, hi.
The blah blah this is blah blah blah, the very white lady that you interviewed from the other And I was like, yeah. I remember you.
Wait. So are you not? Like, what's your background?
I'm adopted, so I'm whatever I wanna be. Hold on a second. Hey, Scott. We spoke recently. Remember me, the anxious mom who only does white person sports.
Anyway, I think she played pickleball or something. I was like, what is happening?
Oh, yeah. I love pickleball. I'm not beating the stereotype.
You're not getting out of it with that statement. I I am adopted, Bella. I don't know what my background is. But I did do the 23 and me thing. And if you can believe that, I am mostly Italian.
You know what? Mhmm. That tracks.
Does it? Why? Tell me.
Well, just based on the picture that I've been looking at for the past hour and a half.
Do I look Italian?
I think you could. I listen. I live in an area with all Italians.
Are you staring at that picture the whole you're staring at my headshot? Don't do that. Put some plants
on the I'm not. I've been, like
Open a web open a website or something. I don't know. It's right there. Oh, look
at me. Don't know.
It's ridiculous. You know, it's funny when I was, my whole life, I I didn't know about this till this 23 and me thing. And mostly people thought I was Greek. And
Yeah. I can see that too.
Yeah. There was sort of that, and then that didn't end up being right. Most of my Jewish friends were very disappointed that I didn't have a background similar to theirs because they thought for sure with all the talking and opinions, I think that I was definitely gonna come from their part of the world, but I didn't. Mhmm. And then it turns out I'm just mostly Italian.
So if you saw my son, I think it tracks more. My son's got, like, a lot of dark hair, like, you know, grows like a nice thick beard, like that kind of stuff. I can't grow a beard to save my life.
No. I see I think for you, it's the nose. You have the Italian nose.
Really? And that's great. So I have no context for that because I didn't grow up in a world where I was on a team. Do know what I mean?
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Because as said, I'm adopted, so I don't I've always known I'm adopted, and I don't have a lot of that you know how people like like you even did say, you're like, well, I have a religious background that I lean on. Like, that's a thing your family cultivated probably over generations. Like Right.
And and people do that with their ethnic background too a lot. And I I just don't have any of that. So I kind of got to write myself from a blank page. Interesting. It's one of the things I like most about yeah.
It's one of the things I like most about being adopted, actually. Yeah. You kinda get
That is yeah.
You get to decide who you are instead of somebody telling you this is what we do or this is how we feel or this is why we do the thing. This because this is what we do. You know I mean? Can I just tell you what I decided in the last ten minutes?
What?
I need to interview more younger people. You guys are way better on podcasts than old people are. So, definitely, more young I people reach
hope I am entertaining.
You are are you kidding me? I had a great time. You can't tell that I'm still 19 in my heart while we're talking?
You know what? My parents my mom always tells me that. She's like, mentally, I feel like I'm 23 still. Like, pack it in.
Yeah. You say, mom, your ass says 60, so just shut up. Okay? No. I know.
It's hard. It it's, you'll see one day you'll get there, but I don't feel I I I agree with your mom. I don't feel any different than I ever have as a younger person. Yeah. Sitting here right now and talking to you, I feel upbeat.
I feel like we had a great conversation. I feel like you and I related to each other. And then I'm gonna walk out of here, look in a mirror, realize I'm old. And it's gonna be it'll strike me for a second because I'm gonna suddenly look different than I feel. So it's not easy.
So but you know what the alternative is? Dying. Dying is the alternative to getting old. So you gotta you gotta get old. Yeah.
You wanna get old. You know what I mean? Like, it's it's it's of the two choices, the better choice.
Yeah.
Yeah. Alright.
Oh, yeah. You're right.
Oh, of course, I
am.
I'm a podcaster. I I'm right about everything. It's how I got the job, Bella. Bella, that's how you get the job.
No. You just got to be confident. Don't to tell think that you're right about everything.
People the secret. Okay? Keep it to yourself. Alright? Or then they're all gonna be confident, then I'm not gonna have a podcast anymore.
Yeah. Everybody's gonna be starting their own podcast after this.
Yeah. I mean, honestly, you partly think you're gonna become a trainer and get, like, an Instagram. Right?
No. I think I'm gonna work for, I think I'm gonna work for, like, a professional sports team, and I am gonna be, like, super successful in,
like Are there even professional sports teams in Michigan? What do you guys have? The Detroit Lions don't really count, do they?
Who said I'm staying in Michigan?
Oh, oh, yeah. You're going to Florida. I don't know what you look like. Are you, like, a little, like, like, a little blonde girl?
Yeah. I am. Wait. Do I act like I'm a little blonde girl?
Or Well, you wanna be in sports stuff.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. No. No. I am.
Yeah. I mean, we're generalizing. Like, I've I've been I've done an awesome job of generalizing so far today. You have. It's kinda scary.
It's one of my fucking superpowers, Bella. I'm gonna tell you right now. Oh, I shouldn't have cursed this late in the episode. Sorry, Rob. Rob's the editor.
So do I can I you're not in my Facebook group? What kind of bullshit is this, Bella? Alright. Well, then how am I gonna figure out what you look like?
Sorry. I'm I'm young. Followed me Instagram.
Fuck you. Okay? I'm young. Listen. I agree with you, but and I would tell you, absolutely stay off Facebook.
There's nothing valuable there except my Facebook group for people who have diabetes. If you have diabetes, that Facebook group is awesome. And Okay. Probably the only reason that I actually have Facebook Because now I realize some of the old people I'm attached to are still posting stuff on Facebook, and they're, like, mad at me for not seeing it. I'm like, I'm not on Facebook.
And then they're like, you're on Facebook all the time. I'm like, not as me. I'm like, as the podcast. Like, I like, me personally, I don't I don't go on Facebook for anything. You know what I mean?
So you're saying I followed you on Instagram?
Yeah. Wait. I thought you did. Maybe you
asked me. I did because you messaged me.
You did.
And I'm old. Yeah. So I don't know how it works. So I assumed I had to follow you back to, like, respond to you. Okay.
Hold on a second. Are you
gonna tell me if I look like what you were thinking?
Yeah. I mean, much. That's you. Yeah. Yeah.
I gotcha. Okay. Are you the one See, you girls alright. Hold on. Are you the one in the trees walking through the trees at the orchard in Maine?
Jesus, you are. So are you the one on the right in your group of four friends in the orchard picture?
Yeah. I'm on the very right.
How tall is that girl?
Emily? Oh, the blonde? Yeah.
She's, six feet tall. Right?
No. I think she's wearing heels on that. Oh, thank you. Is tall, though.
Okay. Alright. Well, yeah. I mean, you look like what I'm expecting. It's good.
Don't worry about it. I mean, not that you give a shit what I think, but, like, it's you know?
No. Yeah.
I see you with your sensor on. Okay. Cool. Look at you.
Yeah.
You're gonna be fine. You're making that boy pay, right, for breaking up with you? Every once in a while, you just hit him when he's not looking?
Oh, no. No. No. I like I'll, like, subtly bring it up because people will be like, oh, how did you guys meet? I'm like, oh, yeah.
How did how did we meet? No? Like, you wanna tell them his the story?
Know. You're you just took him back so you could torture him. Right? Be honest.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so that he can grab me my juice boxes, obviously.
Hey, boy. Grab me that juice. I'm gonna wait three years then break your heart, just so you know. It's I've I've got it all written out.
I've gotten to a point where it's like, he'll bring me a juice box, and I'll be like, I don't want that flavor.
I'm sorry. I saw my daughter say something really nice about her boyfriend helping her when she's low, recently, and it I was I I was really touched by it. Like, it made me feel good he helps her with that.
Yeah. No. He he is great, and he is very understanding. Like, there have been times where it's happened when we're out, like, with a group of his his friends. Mhmm.
And, like, he has totally been, like, okay. We can leave. You know? Like, even if he's having a great time, he's like, okay. Just let me know if you wanna go.
Like, all this stuff. Like, putting me before Yeah. And, like, I think that's, like, really
Cool. Well, I hope you guys are together forever. You're very happy. You make a bunch of babies, and you're super happy. But if you are to break up with him, could you please say the following thing to him?
Payback's a bitch, and so are you. Get out of my car. That's what I would like you to say. Because seriously, he he needs to be taught a lesson for what he did to you in high school.
Oh, he was. Don't worry.
Oh, you already got his lesson?
He got his lesson of not talking to me for
Oh. Oh, yeah. See, you have confidence. You know that that was a that was a loss to him. Right?
Oh, and he told me it was.
Oh. Oh, he he did say he was wrong?
Yeah. Oh. Yeah. Yeah.
So he's lucky you got diabetes because that softened you up to come back and talk to him. It's one way to think about it. Right?
Yeah. Yeah. I guess so.
Yeah. Because otherwise, you were you said ship sailed. You weren't going back.
Yeah. I mean, I don't know though because I think, like, a part of me, like, did wanna just reach out, but, like, the diabetes was, like, a good good excuse to do that.
Okay.
But me and him had talked about it. I was like, you know, if I never reached out, do you think we would ever start talking again? And he was like, yeah. Totally. Like, I would have reached out.
I was like, no. We weren't enough because it wasn't gonna be on my terms.
Oh, yeah. If he reached out to you, would have been like, this asshole. Do you believe this?
Yeah.
Right? Yeah. Yeah.
Like, like, what's going on?
Yeah. Not Belle's not down with this. I'm too Right. Cute I'm too cute for this. I'm not being treated this way.
I know how you would think.
Yeah. Like, I yep. I
like this about I like this about you. This is good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
No. I think also I would have made a great girl. Like, I really feel like I would have handled it well.
It's so funny.
Seriously, I really feel like I would have handled it well. And and growing up an ugly guy really does teach you what you would do if you weren't. You were like, you know, if I had a little bit of power in this situation, I think I would do it like this. Yeah. Okay.
No. I agree. Okay. You're doing everything right. Go live your life.
You'll be fine. Just don't get hit by a car and everything will be okay. Alright?
Oh, god. That's not something you say to someone with anxiety.
That anxiety is probably what's stopping you from getting hit by a car, don't you think?
No. No. You're right.
I know I am.
You're so right.
Yeah. You're one of those, like, wait. Wait. Wait. And you look one more time.
I'm, like, the one like, I'm the friend that, like, grabs the back of other people's t shirts.
Yeah. No. Bella, I'm Bella, I've been married to you for thirty years. Don't worry. I know what's going on.
Okay? I got my own girl, so I know what's happening.
Yep. Uh-huh. Yep.
Yeah. She's still torturing me, by the way. She hasn't given up yet. One day, I said to her, what is going on? All I've done is devote my entire life to you and love you.
Why am I being treated this way? And I think the answer is she likes it. I mean, I don't know. I can't really tell. Anyway
She likes to likes to torture?
I think I think she's teaching me a lesson for something I did wrong to her thirty years ago. I don't know exactly. I can't tell what's happening. But she's pretty, so what am I gonna do? She's smart, I like her.
And at this point, I don't wanna move all this stuff out of this house. There's a lot of shit in here. So, you know, I mean, like, just this it seems like the right play. You know what I mean?
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Your mom and dad are doing the same thing. Don't worry.
Oh, I yep. I bet.
Alright. I could talk to you forever, which I'm not sure what that says about me or you. So let's just say goodbye, and tell you congratulations. You have a two part episode. We've talked so long.
Oh, wow. Yay.
Yeah. I don't know what we're gonna call it though. Oh. Oh, there's no nothing came up in this. It was like, wait.
Hold on.
Do you any
What is it? Oh, Drizzlelicious. Yeah. 100%. Great.
And I'm gonna make Drizzlelicious. And I swear to god, if they if there's any uptick from this podcast for Drizzlelicious, I would like to hear from somebody. I'd like to see at least a nice 12 ad buy from them. Okay? And I and really and if this works out, I'll cut you in.
Okay, Bella?
No. Listen. I need any diabetic. Chiselicious is genuinely one of the best snacks ever.
Your generation
is awesome. You can you can eat a high quantity without, like, having to take a ton of, like, you know, like, you're only bolusing for, like, 16 grams carbs for, like, pieces. Like, come on. Same with goldfish, actually.
Bella, your generation is awesome. You are so ready to get a brand deal. It's unreal. You're like No. Oh, yeah.
Where's the microphone? Drizzleicious is fantastic. I
I'll be up in their DMs, like, after this. I'll be like, hey. So I just made this podcast with please give us a brand deal because I love your food.
Listen. I'm I'm old, but I know I know how to do it. Watch this. The Dexcom g seven lasts ten days. Go to dexcom.com/juicebox to learn more.
I can do it all day. Okay? So, it's not that I don't believe in Dexcom. I actually do. But, I know how the world works.
You know what I mean?
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. You guys are all gonna have, like, patches sewn to your shirts. Oh. Like, you're gonna be, like, sports people when you're older. Or I guess social media is falling apart though.
Right? Oh, can I ask you one more thing?
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Since you clearly have nowhere to go. Can
Oh, yeah.
I I'm getting my haircut in a couple of hours, so I'm still good for a while.
Yeah. Me too.
Are you really?
Yeah. I actually like, what do I have? I think the next thing I have is at, like, 02:30.
Me too. Are you getting your haircut?
No. I'm not a chiropractor.
Chiropractor. Oh my god. You are the whitest person I've met in a while. You're going to the chiropractor.
Have scoliosis. Okay. I can't do anything.
I could just I have scoliosis. I could just walk on your back. That's what I do for my daughter.
No. Listen. It doesn't work. Trust.
Bella, are we best are we best girlfriends now? I feel like we might be.
Yeah. No. We are. This is ridiculous.
So I wanna get your feeling. Try try to shift for a second. Be serious for a second.
Okay.
How Her Generation Uses Social Media1:43:40
Wanna I wanna understand no. You've been great the whole time. I wanna understand your feeling about social media. Like, how do you use it? What apps are valuable to you?
What apps are I have to do them, but I don't like them.
Mhmm. Okay. Snapchat, honestly, is probably the only Snapchat? I don't know. Do you categorize Pinterest as social media?
I mean, for white ladies who knit. Sure.
Okay. Because, like, well, my generation, I feel like many girls that are my age use Pinterest as well.
For to put it like a vision board together. Right?
Yeah. Like, stuff like that. Or I use it a lot for, like, recipes.
Uh-huh. Do you
cook? I don't know. Like or like
Wait.
Do you Can I cook?
Do you cook or are you just hopeful one day that you'll make something so you're saving a bunch of recipes?
No. No. No. I cook.
Okay. Because Arden bakes. Yeah. She's always online, like, finding like, she doesn't come off this way, but Arden's the one who, like, shows up at a house party with, like, 19 trays of baked goods that she made for, like, two days. Aw.
Yeah. She loves the
That's so sweet.
Yeah. Yeah. She loves
the Yeah. No. I I like baking too. I like both.
And drunk people are very grateful for baked goods. Mhmm. Mhmm. You understand. So Yeah.
Okay. So Pinterest, you use. What else?
Okay. So Pinterest and Snapchat. I feel like Snapchat is good because, like, it's kind of, like, our version of Facebook Messenger. Because, like, you know, you meet someone, but you're not comfortable with giving them your number because that seems, like, too personal. So you give them Snapchat, and you can, like, still talk.
Mhmm.
So I think Snapchat's really good for, like, communication. But Instagram and TikTok, I have because everybody else has. And there's been times where I've gone like, I've deleted both of them for, like, a couple weeks or, like, a month and just done, like, a quote, unquote detox. Yeah. But I don't know.
I think it depends on how you use them, obviously, and how, like, healthy your relationship is with yourself.
Mhmm.
If you're able to, like, use them without constantly comparing, oh, I don't have this. I wish my life was like this. I wish I looked like her. I wish I did this. I wish I was, you know, x y and z.
Do you feel pressured to be attractive in your photos? Like, you wouldn't put up a bad picture of yourself. Right?
No. No. No.
Okay. Right. Right. And and you know how to if you and I were taking a photo together right now, you'd put your leg in a certain way, you'd turn your hip, you'd put your hand somewhere. It would all happen automatically.
Right?
Right. Yeah. Like, subconsciously.
Yeah. Yeah. You know how to turn your head and where to hold your eyes and, like, the whole thing. Yeah. I see that constantly with people your age.
It's it's I I'm fascinated by it. Like, how you just, like, boom, hit a pose. I don't know.
Like, effortless.
Yeah. Oh, it's not even being thought about. It's like, bang. Look at me. This is exactly the best way you're seeing the best part of my hip, my bust, my face, my chin.
This is exactly how I look right. And I don't know how to do that because I've seen myself look. Like, I I I listen. I I end up in pictures and videos for companies a lot and stuff like that. I've seen myself Yeah.
Going like, oh my god. I look amazing. I see the next picture, I'm like, what in the hell happened? And I'm like, it's the same person on the same day. And I'm like, this is horrifying.
No one should see this.
Right.
And and so but you're aware of it, but I don't know how to do it. You know how to do it. Mhmm. And and so the next thing I'll tell you is that as an older person and I have a daughter. I'm happy to say that it shocks me for her as much as you.
You guys are shockingly comfortable with not wearing much clothing. Like, to my generation of like, when I was 20 years old.
Mhmm.
And and I again, I hope this doesn't sound weird because we have a forty year age difference. But, like, your your generation's, ability to go out without a bra on fascinates me. Oh. Right. It's happening everywhere.
Like like and I and I'm I'm not saying you should by the way, if you're a feminist, I don't think you need a bra. Like, whatever. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that there's times where I'm like, oh my god. Like, what's like, no one there's no, I I think this is maybe a good thing, but I can't tell.
No one's self conscious anymore, it seems like to me, in, like, your age group. Is that am I wrong about that?
Yeah. Very wrong.
So they're self conscious. They're just doing the they're they're just mimicking the pictures on Instagram. Is that what they're doing?
I I think it's subconsciousness that is disguised as confidence.
Okay.
But I also think that there are the people that you are describing to me that are, like, going out with, like, bras on and stuff, like, are truly the people that don't care.
You just don't care.
You know, like, don't seem to care.
Right. They're just don't care.
I think, like, many people like, I mean, at least for me, like, yeah, I follow the trends I dress because this is how everybody else is dressing, whatever. But there are people who dress uniquely and, you know, like, don't necessarily follow, like, the clean girl trend or, like, oh, like, the outfits and aren't buying, like, doing consumerism, basically.
Okay.
And I think those are the people who seem to be the most confident in themselves because they're not
They don't care what the trend is.
They're not yeah. They're not, like, characterizing themselves by what's the newest thing in store.
Okay.
You know, it's like buy what they like. And I'm not saying that people who follow trends, you know, like, obviously, me, like, I don't buy things just because it's a trend. Like, I buy it because I'm like, oh, wait. This actually does seem like something I would use or something I like.
Right. But and I also I don't mean this in, like, a I I hope people don't take it that way. I'm really trying to be thoughtful about the the world, but I don't mean this in, a creepy old guy way. Like, I mean, even, like, bathing suits are incredibly small now for girls. Oh, yeah.
And they they you guys are all like, I've like, my daughter's friends are all, this age. Do know what I mean? And, like, a lot of times, they'll they'll say, like, you know, you used to follow me. I'm like, I can't I'm not following you. And I was like, I'm not opening up my Instagram to see you on a beach.
Like, you're
like Yeah.
Like, I know we knew each other when you were 10, but, like, it's it's weird and I don't wanna see it. And, like, and, like but you guys are not Right. You're not covered up at all. And I don't know that you should be or you shouldn't be. Like, I'm not making a judgment.
I'm trying to understand because based on how I grew up, like, girls would wear one piece bathing suits at my age. Mhmm. They were one piece. It looked like you were swimming in the Olympics. You know what I mean?
Everyone went to the beach that way. And, now it's like and then it and then it boils over to, like, people are at concerts, they're in clubs, they're out to dinner. They're I mean, the graduation photos this year looked like an Oni fan shoot, some of them. Like, I'm not even kidding. Like, they're they're girls wearing, like, low plunging, like, necklines and, like, drop backs and pumps.
And I'm like, is this your college graduation? It looks like a photoshoot. And Right. And and my kids out there doing a photoshoot probably. Disappeared one day.
I'm like, where are you going? She had her cap and gown. She's like, we're doing our pictures. And I was like, who's what are you talking about? She's like, I got a friend.
They're doing a photo shoot. I'm meeting my boyfriend. I'm like, oh, okay. Like, anyway, like but is that for social media?
I think it is. Yeah. Like, you yeah. I think it is for social media. And I think a lot of people wouldn't be dressing a specific way if they didn't know that they weren't getting their pictures done and that it would possibly end up for, like, everyone to see.
Mhmm. You do you take a picture and you tune it before you put it up?
Me?
Yeah. You change, the No. You don't do that. Okay.
I mean, I don't change I never change the way that I look in a picture. Mhmm. Like, I'll never, like, face tune or whatever. But, like, I'll add, like, a maybe, like, a filter or something.
Okay.
But that's more just to, like, make the colors in the photo look better.
Mhmm. Okay.
But not, like yeah.
And so TikTok is a thing you do because it seems to be people do it, but you've done a cleanse from it. My son stopped using it years ago, and he said it was made a big difference for him to to delete the app, actually. He was pretty happy about it.
Yeah. It helped I mean, when I get rid of it, it helps me, like, with my attention. Yeah. More, like, because it's, like, I don't wanna lay around and scroll. Like, I if I'm on my phone, like, I'll be on TikTok or Instagram.
So, like, when I'm not on them or I don't have them on my phone, like, I'm on my phone less because I'm, I get bored. Right. TikTok, I like I think TikTok's very entertaining, but I think it is very dangerous because it's very, very easy to get addicted to.
What's entertaining? The video or the comments?
Oh my gosh.
The comments. Right? You're there for
the comments. Probably the comments.
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Because you see a video and you're like, oh my gosh. What are other people saying?
Yeah. No. 100%.
Totally the comments.
It's the comments. It's some sort of weird socialization without actually being around people. What I'll tell you as a person who makes a podcast is that I am forced to be in a world where I also make social media for the podcast. I don't know that it's helpful or not helpful. There's part of me that thinks that if I shut down all my social media accounts, it wouldn't matter.
And there's part of me that thinks that, you know, if I catch five, ten new people a day, that's good for me. So that, you know, it doesn't have to be like, there is no more viral. Like, that doesn't you're not even old enough to really remember what viral used to mean. But I used to be able to
write yeah.
Oh, I used to write a blog post that could hit 50,000 people in a couple hours. And, like, that just doesn't happen anymore. Stuff doesn't work that way anymore. But when but when I look at reels, for example, an Instagram post, I don't TikTok, I actually think it's all noise. Like, I believe that if I sat you down right now and said, hey.
You were on TikTok yesterday. Right? That's great. Here's a piece of paper. Write down all the things you saw on TikTok yesterday.
I don't know that you'd I don't think you'd remember three of them.
Yeah. So There's always, like, things on there that are, like, do you remember what, like, was last like, your three scrolls up? And I was like
No. I have no idea. Yeah. Yeah. Right.
Like, there's I tell this story all the time, but I opened up TikTok one time. There's this girl, like, she's dancing, but she's got really curly bouncy hair. And I got, like, transfixed by her hair bouncing for a half a second. And and I must have looked at it, I'm not lying to you, for ten or twenty seconds. And then she just had really curly hair, and and it was like a bouncy song.
And I guess the song caught me for a second, but her hair was bouncing. I thought, oh my god. Her hair is really bouncy. And then I scrolled on. That goddamn app showed me a picture of that girl dancing every time I opened it for six months.
And and and it just it wouldn't and I was only there to put stuff up on my diabetes page. I still don't know how I ever saw. I promise you to I don't know how I ever saw it. But once I looked at it for twenty seconds, it was like, here she is, and here she is again and again and again. But here's my point about that.
I've seen that girl's hair bounce. I don't know how many times. I could not possibly tell you her name. I have no idea what her name is. So my point is is that if your insulin pump company or the CGM that you use or the cookies that you eat or my stupid podcast or anything else is putting all that content out into that ocean of noise.
What do they really expect? What do I really expect that anybody's getting out of it? Because I don't think they're getting anything out of it. If I can't remember bouncy girl's bouncy hair girl's name, then how are you remembering my podcast if you scroll past something very quickly?
I think I would beg to disagree.
You think Tell me why.
That there's I think that there's certain things, at least for me, that do peak my, like, interest. Mhmm. And I will stay and watch, and it'll be, like, informational things. Or, like, honestly, I have learned more about diabetes on social media than I have through doctors, nutritionists, endocrinologists, anything.
Oh, for sure. Yeah.
Like and I think that, like, certain brands putting stuff out there, it's all strategic. Right? Like, it's all by do you wanna do brand deals? Do you wanna do it through people that people actually do watch and, like, take their opinions from and stuff? Or do you wanna do it where you're targeting the specific audience and you know?
Because, like, I think that, like, I get ads for, like, Omnipod and Tandem and a bunch of, like, diabetic stuff, like, type one style.
Right.
And, like, that actually does peak my interest because it's like you know? I'm like, oh, wait. Yes. Like, I am gonna remember this.
But what about And
same with your
Even with mine podcast. But mine's my stuff's really long form, though. It still translates?
I think it still translates because it has to do with what I'm dealing with.
Okay.
Like, if that makes sense. Like, I think it's different for you because yours is, like, diabetes, and I feel like a lot of people who are diabetic, like, if they see something that has to do with diabetes, they're like, wait.
Mhmm.
Okay. Let me read on this. I would say most people, you know, who care about managing their diabetes.
Like, should I be trying to make thirty second content about stuff? Would that drag you back to a thirty minute podcast episode about how to bowl us for oatmeal, for example, or should I not be worried about that? Will you find it on your own if you want it?
I think the way that you're doing it is good.
I'm okay by way.
I think the what makes yours stand out is that it isn't like
All that.
Every other
because I see know? I see can I tell you a secret, Bella? I see other people doing that, and I think no one's looking at this. And then Mhmm. I could that's my vibe when I see it.
Like, I look at it I go, no one's looking at this. And then I scroll a little more to be sneak to to be nosy. And I look at the view count and I go, oh, no one's looking at this. And it's well produced in a lit room with backdrops. And I'm like, you did all that for 45 views?
Like, why not just open your window and scream out the window? Like, you might reach the same amount of people. Also, I have access to creator information. Here. I'll I'll give you an example here.
Hold on a second.
Okay. Here. I'll While you're doing that, I'm gonna open the door for my dogs to come in
our room. Yeah. Let them inside. Why not? Alright, guys.
Yes. I know we're there.
I am gonna share with you something that's probably something people don't talk about. So I have an Instagram reel here that I made. It has been shared 320 times, reshared 49 times. It has a thousand hearts and 24 comments. The view insights that I get to see say that it was, viewed 229,000 times.
Okay?
Wow.
That sounds pretty good. Right? Mhmm. Of that 229,000 views, it only reached 17,500 actual accounts. Hold on.
It got me 95 new follows, but the average watch time was eight seconds. Wow. And so and this is a really good piece of social media for me, not just for me, for anybody. Anybody out there listening, you can say what you want. You'd kill to have a reel that does this well.
Okay? And I'm talking about people in the diabetes space. You would kill for a reel to do this well. But what they're gonna tell you is, oh my god. My reel got 228,000 views.
What I'm gonna tell you is that's not really what happened. What I'm gonna tell you is that that means that when your reel gets 6,000 or 5,000 or 3,000, basically, no one saw it. And and it the amount of effort that goes into this stuff is it's it's it's insane. Like, the amount of effort I put and this is a really I'm sorry. It's got music on it.
I didn't realize. It says not all carbs are created equal. 10 grams of carbs doesn't always eat well, 10 grams of carbs. Here's why. It gives you a little breakdown.
Broccoli, mashed potatoes, white bread, basmati rice, lollipop, all with 10 carbs, but then it shows you one has a small rise. One has a delayed rise. One has a faster rise, a moderate rise, like this kind of thing. What changes the impact? Fat, protein, fiber.
It's a great listen. Obviously, it resonated with people. They shared it hundreds and hundreds of times. Right? And and Instagram decided to show it to more people.
That's how it got up into the hundreds of thousands of views. But I don't know like, it took a long time to do this. Like so my point is is, like, I I don't know if that's valuable or not. Like, I mean, should I
Like, is it worth it?
Yeah. Is it worth my time? I could've just made another episode. Like, a lot of people Yeah. To the podcast.
I could've just made another conversation and put it up. I would've reached a lot of people too. So it's it's it's and then I make something that I really like that I think, oh my god. This would be great for somebody, but then none of the platforms, the platforms don't don't support my idea. So Right.
This is gonna sound if this sounds I'm gonna run this past you because you're the exact right person to ask. Okay?
Okay.
I am old, but I grew up with computers. Yeah. So I know that's a weird thing for somebody who's 19 to hear, but, like, I bought my first computer when I was 12. It Okay. Worked so poorly that I returned it because it wasn't a valuable thing in the world yet.
A couple of years later, a company named Commodore made a computer. I bought that computer. That's where gaming started. But an actual PC that you could do something with, I had to go to a when I was nineteen twenty, I was, like, 20, 21 years old because Kelly was in college, and I had to go to a computer, like, fair to buy pieces to put a PC together. Okay?
Mhmm. My first computer cost, like, $3,500. It didn't do anything. The Internet was not really a thing yet. It was just email.
So I've had computers for a long time, and I've I've seen the promise of them. And the craziest thing has happened, they now work exactly the way I hoped they would when I was younger, and everybody thinks it's shitty now. And what do I mean by that?
The computers?
Technology. They go, oh, that's that's slop. Or that's, like, it what I can sit down on a prompt and type into a prompt, you know, a bit I mean, that thing I just read you, that's that's a small episode. I took a small sips episode from this app from this podcast. I fed it into into a large language model and I said, you know, there's a lot of good information here.
I wanna encapsulate it in one image. And it gave me a long prompt that I fed into another model that turned it into that picture. It's and then there are people who look at it and go, oh, you used AI. And I'm like, no. I used a computer to do an amazing thing.
Like, computers have been promising us they were gonna do for forty years, and now they finally do it, and now you're mad at it? And and now and so, anyway, this is my next thought. And this is either gonna sound hokey to you or it's not, and I'm I'm really looking for your honest feedback. You know the bolus four episodes I talked about earlier?
Informative, Not Performative2:03:04
Yes.
I took the I took the transcripts from a few bolus four episodes, turned them into song lyrics, and then had something turn it into a song that's catchy so that you'll remember how to bolus for something. But it's hokey now. But twenty years ago, it would have been amazing.
Right.
And so, like, now the technology finally caught up. Now don't get me wrong. I think it's still gonna work. I think there's a certain mom version of this that people are gonna like. I think kids might like it.
But an adult your age is not and I'm gonna play it for you so you can hear it. Alright?
Okay.
I'm gonna stick this right up to the microphone. I know it's like Yeah. But listen. A packet in the pantry with the maple little grin saying,
tear me at the top now let the warm day begin.
But the label's got a secret that the spoon may not show.
Sugar riding with the oats there.
Ready, set, go.
33 in the packet. 12 are
quick and sweet. That's a sleepy little breakfast with running shoes on its feet.
So don't let the steam make the whole plan fuzzy.
Morning moves fast when the oats get fuzzy. Roll this before the boat. Now I'm not gonna make you listen to the whole thing, but think about that. I took a conversation that Jenny and I had about bolusing for oatmeal. It turned it into song lyrics and then sang it and put music behind it.
And if you got it in your ears for a couple of minutes, you might be like, oh, yeah. Ebola's okay. I I probably should do that blah blah blah. But nothing about the way the Internet works now will serve that to anybody.
Mhmm.
And and I don't know, like and while, we're all busy trying to figure out how to use social media. The way we use it right now, you characterized as not very valuable and a waste of your time. The way that I think it might be helpful to people, they find hokey now because everyone's so jaded about how things work. And so my point my point is is that I I don't know what any of it's for at this point. Like, it all seems useless to me.
Yeah. Do I seem like please now talk. Go ahead. Whatever you think.
No. That is very it's a very interesting take because, obviously, as someone who didn't grow up without technology, like, I wouldn't know. Right. But, like, from what you have said, yeah. No.
That makes sense. Like, social media would have been so much more informative if we made it less performative. Wait. That's a great one.
Oh my god. Two T shirts from this episode. Keep going.
Right?
Mhmm.
So, like, because, like, a lot of people, you know, they do brand deals with certain brands that, like, look the best or, you know, like, a lot of people are like, you know, if if this influencer does this brand deal with this brand that everybody else is doing it with, Like, they have to be cool. Right? Mhmm. Like, that kinda thing. You know?
And yeah. No. Because I think those songs would be great. I think those songs would be great for this ten year old or this, you know, younger kid who has, like needs help with that. I think that's perfect.
Right. So do I But,
like yeah. Like you said, like, it won't get it it probably wouldn't be
No. It's gonna be for a niche of people who really like it. I'm gonna end up I'll tell you what I'm gonna do. I'm genuinely probably going to build a jukebox on my website where people can go and click on them and listen if they want to. And people will, by the way.
My website gets crazy traffic. But, like, that's not the point. The point is is that it out in the world where it actually might reach a bunch of people and have an opportunity to help them, it won't do that. Because what I would need is to reach 228,000 people just for 17,000 of them to actually listen to it, just for a 100 of them to actually be motivated enough to follow along because that's how this all works.
I think that mindset makes sense because you do put a lot of effort into the things that you create for social media as many, know, people on social media do. But I wouldn't undermine those a 100 people that are taking valuable things from that.
Oh, I don't.
You know?
Oh, no. I've please don't take me wrong. Like, I I'm gonna say the hokeiest thing right now. If it reaches one person, I find it incredibly valuable. I also I I would also tell you that I spent the entirety of my Saturday and Sunday on that stuff.
Like, it's a it's a weekend of my life to do a thing that when I got done, I was like, this is really fantastic. Like, not only by the way, not only did it do that for those bolus four episodes, but I took some of the I'm not kidding you. I took some of the mental health episodes of the podcast Mhmm. Conversations with Erica and I about, like, shame and blah blah blah. And I I swear I'm not crazy.
It made some really good country songs about taking better care of yourself. I was like, this is ridiculous. And I think there's a a group of people who are gonna listen to a song that is literally about type one diabetes but still feels like a song, and they're gonna be like, oh my god. This is awesome. But there's also people who are gonna hear it and go, oh, that's AI.
That's not real. But but here's the thing. No one's gonna write you a song about your diabetes. That's not actually gonna happen. So if you want it, this is how it happens.
And I think the part that makes me disappointed is that if this technology existed thirty years ago, people would have been bowled over by it, and it would have been incredibly valuable. So by the time the technology can do the thing we needed to do, again, I'm gonna say, we become so jaded that we laugh at it. Because I don't care what you say, that's fucking amazing. Yeah. That song is amazing the way that that just happened.
And and for no money, for a $20, you know, a month thing for one thing and a $100 a year thing for another thing, it churned out that which I believe would be helpful to somebody. Now listen. Is it great music? It's not. I'm not trying to say it is.
Right? But, like, you know, you turn on a YouTube cartoon for a nine year old, it's better than that than what you hear there. And so and so, like but it's I don't know. It's just it's very disappointing to put. I don't know.
I don't really know how to explain to you. Like, you guys are getting the really the coolest stuff in the world and you're either using it wrong or disregarding it. And it's upsetting to
some of
who through it.
It's the latter because, like, we grew up with technology, and we don't understand what life is without it. Mhmm. And I think that's, like, a thing for diabetes too is, like, I always catch myself like, ugh, stupid Dexcom. Why is it not connecting? Mhmm.
Why is it telling me I'm 40 and low when I'm not? You know? And it's like, wait. I'm so lucky to even have this Dexcom. I'm so lucky to even have this pump and have this insulin and stuff that I can just, you know, pretty much be, like, I guess you could say, like, hands off.
You know?
Like, I'm
not So injecting myself. You know?
Yeah. But it's hard to remember that.
Pricking my finger.
Yeah. I'd also like to give you some grace back because it's also hard to remember that in the moment. But I you could still there's episodes of this podcast. You could listen to people who used to have to boil their needles to clean them or pee or pee on a test strip to see what their blood sugar was three hours ago, which wasn't helpful to them or using or by the way, I interviewed a woman yesterday yesterday from Zimbabwe whose son just got diagnosed two years ago, and they put him on NPH insulin. So, yeah, you're lucky.
You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. So you're you're lucky, but how do you you know, how do you know you're lucky when you're born in the middle of it? Like like, you're 19 at a time where we're catching rockets with giant metal scissors.
Is that even a is that I don't even know if that's a reference that gets to you. But, like No. Yeah. SpaceX is shooting rockets into the sky, bringing them back to the ground, and catching them with giant metal, like, scissors. I don't know another way to say it.
There's these two metal arms that come out while the rocket comes back down and lands back to where it started and is now reusable. That's insane. Your you you have to have a friend with a Tesla. Right? Have you been have you been in a self driving law has one.
Have you been in a self driving car yet?
No. Oh,
try it. It's amazing. Okay. Like like
I'm scared.
Oh oh, no. Don't be scared. It's amazing, I'm telling you. Okay? But when you grow up in a world where you can get a car in a parking lot and and literally hold down a button and go, here here's what you can do at this point now because I was just in one and saw it the other day.
So now they have AI built into them. You push a button. This little bot pops up. Call it whatever you want. Couldn't possibly care less.
And you say, hey. I think there's a Burger King a few miles from here. I've been to it before. I can't really remember. And it comes back and it goes, oh, yeah.
There's a Burger King at blah blah blah blah. And you go, cool. Can we go to that? I'd like to go to that. And it goes, sure.
And then it's in your nav. And then he pushed we didn't go to Burger King, but this is the point I'm making. Then he reached out, pushed a button on on on on an iPad in his car, basically. And then without touching the pedals or the steering wheel, it drove us there and parked the car at the at the place.
That was crazy.
That was it. Stoplights, left turns, right turns, everything you think that it doesn't do, it does. And and when you say it out loud, people go, I don't want my car to drive itself. Are you out of your mind? Like, this is the look what look what look what we have done.
And then and everybody acts like it's stupid. And listen. I know AI uses a bunch of electricity and it shouldn't and we gotta fix all that. And I'm not saying anything about all that. Yeah.
I I hear you. I'm with you. It's gonna put people out of work. I'm there. But I'm a I'm a single I'm a creator.
I make a thing completely by myself. I don't have a huge budget. I can sit down at a prompt, write something out, and get something back that looks like a goddamn photograph in thirty seconds. And and that wasn't true a year and a half ago.
That is true. AI is so new. It's crazy to think about.
Yeah. How fast it's moving or how you're gonna Mhmm. How about the lady yesterday from Zimbabwe? Again, lovely woman, by the way. Hope you check the episode out when it comes out.
Talking about let me find this for you. You you now have the longest two part episode ever, and we're getting to the point now where the editor is like, you gotta stop, Scott. But but, Rob, I'm having a good time. We're just gonna do it on this one. Okay, buddy?
I don't know the first thing about Zimbabwe. I just wanna be pretty clear about that. Okay? And she's talking about that they gave her kid Miles per hour and a fast acting insulin and nothing else. They didn't even tell her what to do with it.
Like, she had to figure the whole thing out by herself. That's how a lady from Zimbabwe finds the juice box podcast made in New Jersey. Okay? So she's talking about how some of the meals are difficult because nothing's packaged, so there's not a lot of, like, you know, not not a lot of carb counts to go off of and stuff like that. So while she's talking, I go to one of my I at this point, have Gemini, ChatGPT, and Claude.
I like Claude for one thing. I like ChatGPT for another. I'm starting to not like Gemini much, if I'm being honest. And I, I said all I said was list five common meals in Zimbabwe. It gave me five.
I picked number one while she was talking and said to it, can you give me a nutritional breakdown for sazda or sazza? I need fat, protein, and carbs. So, anyway, it's off to the side, and she and I are chatting. And, eventually, we get back to it. I say, hey.
Do you do you eat the tadza? She goes, oh, I love tadza. We eat it all the time. I'm like, oh, cool. By the way, thick maize meal porridge usually eaten with meat, vegetables, beans, gravy, or sour milk.
Who knew? Okay. And then she started talking about, oh, how difficult it is the bolus for. And I said, well, how many carbs do you think's in it? She's like, I don't really know.
And I said, oh, well, the Internet says that a 100 grams cooked with 20 to 45 carbs has two to five grams of fat or protein in it and less than a gram of fat. So a medium serving would be about this many carbs. Then she thought about how, how much insulin she was giving her son for. But her son also has an a one c in, the eights or the nine. So she's probably not using enough insulin, but she doesn't know yet.
She's still figuring it out. Right? So then I said, well, what's your son's insulin to carb ratio? She doesn't know that. So then I opened up my website and I went to a settings page that I made with AI, by the way, and helped her figure out what her kid's settings work should be.
Mhmm. And then as we're talking, she goes, I use ChatGPT for everything. Why did I not think to use it for this? And I was like, I don't know, but you can. And she's and and by the time we got done, she was like, lift it up.
She was like, oh my god. This is amazing. I guarantee because the lady's putting a ton of effort in. I guarantee that kid gets an a one c in the sixes next time she checks. Like, because she just wasn't she just didn't know enough about the food to impact it.
That was it.
I think that's, like, a huge thing, though. Like, with chronic illnesses is that there's so much, like people are so misinformed.
No. Of course.
And even people who have it. You know? Mhmm. Like, me, example, like, I left the hospital, and I did not know how to carb count at all. They gave me, like, a pamphlet.
I didn't know I didn't know about fat or protein or fiber.
I didn't
know about any of that. I learned that through your podcast.
Right. No. I know. Like It's it I put up a review the other day, which by way, no one will read, but that's fine. Where where where the reviewer says, like, I mean, honestly, we're talking for some really, I do feel like we're girlfriends now.
I just wanna say that. I'm gonna tell my daughter about this later, and she's gonna be like, you are so embarrassing. Invaluable. I don't care how corny it sounds. Juicebox podcast literally saved my sanity and my son's health.
Our medical team provided no additional information besides basic brochures about type one. I had to take the initiative to join a Facebook group and started listening to this podcast. I have never listened to any podcast before, but thankfully learned about Juice Box podcast pretty early on. I can't say enough good things about all the information I have learned here. The bowl beginning series was the perfect starting point, blah blah blah blah blah.
And then I'm gonna put out content to try to get reach people with that. And the first comment underneath of it's gonna be like, stop using AI. And I wanna wanna come to your house and murder you because the lady in Zimbabwe needs help. So shut up. That's I I wanna I'm not upset, Bella.
I'm there is a little fat 12 year old who bought a computer that didn't work who is looking at all this and wants to tell you all, you do not realize how lucky you are. This all works as well. And and he just he's so disappointed in you for saying things like, oh, the picture had six fingers. Yeah. That was a week ago.
They fixed that. Wait till you see what happens next. You you you know what I mean? Wait till you like, listen. I don't have the expertise or the know how, but I guarantee you that one day someone will mind my podcast and turn it into a diabetes doctor.
And there are people who hear that and go, my god. It's so scary. Up. The cars drive themselves. Give yourself up to it.
It works. Okay? Like like, it's it's by the time a couple more generations of this thing roll around, I'm gonna guess 2027 is my guess. You're literally gonna be able to go to a prompt, ask the prompt anything about your diabetes, and it's gonna give you the right answer.
Yeah.
Yeah. So, it's up to you. You can you can be a Luddite or be scared or cry about the electricity or whatever it is you're gonna do or you can live healthy. It's the same thing with not the same, but very similar GLP medications, I think, are a great example. I was talking to somebody the other day who clearly needs it, and in the end, they said, well, I don't know.
I I feels like cheating. And I I I stopped and I was like, hey. Arden's body doesn't make insulin. And Arden was right there. And I said she was right.
And I said, Arden takes insulin constantly, all day long. Her pump's giving it to her all the time. She goes, yeah. I said, is Arden cheating? And she goes, I see what you're asking me.
And I went, okay. Is she? Because her body doesn't do something, and so she's taking a liquid that was made by a pharmaceutical company. Is she cheating? Should she just die?
And the person goes, no. Of course not. I said, then why is it you need to be forty pounds overweight and have PCOS and all these other problems you're having? Why not just take a little liquid and have that all go away? And there's a long pause, and I was like, cheating what?
Cheating what? What are you cheating? And she couldn't she couldn't answer it. And I was like, right. I said, so I don't understand what you're saying to me right now.
What is it you feel like you're cheating? And she goes, I don't know. And I went, good. Good answer. Stop worrying about it.
I was I was and I feel the same way about this technology and this stuff like this. Like Yeah. You know, it's things are moving forward really fast. There's things out there that can help you. You should let them help you.
Some as crazy as it sounds, I've been doing this a long time, someone's going to go online six months from now and tell me they can't stop singing the oatmeal song. And their kids bowl is sing for oatmeal now. And there'll be a lot of people out there that'll shit on me for it, and I'm gonna sit here very quietly happy knowing that that kid went to school with a 110 blood sugar and didn't spike up before lunch. And I don't care what you think. Yeah.
You know what I mean? So when I the thing that helped you, when I started doing it, people yelled at me about that too. Don't tell people how you manage your daughter's diabetes. It's dangerous. How do you think of what I said, Bella?
Are you happy about it?
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it doesn't yeah.
Been pretty good for you, hasn't it? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, anyway, I don't know what I'm saying anymore.
We're just really talking for a long time. So I'm gonna stop now. Go ahead. Anything you wanna say,
finish up? To say. No. Anything the one thing that I do have to say, and this is just my 2¢. I'm not as a dietetic student, as someone who is learning about this and stuff, I think the only the one thing that weight loss medication can do
Mhmm.
Or doesn't do for a person, which I don't know much about them. Honestly, I I have not done my research.
GLPs, the Food System, and 'Cheating Who?'2:22:16
Well, that shouldn't stop you from talking about it. Go ahead.
But I think that a lot of people who are extremely, like, you know, like, really need it, they take it and then they don't learn the healthy habits to, like, actually help your body. You know? Like, they'll do it, but, like, don't change their lifestyle. Like, I think it is very dangerous in a way because it like, you're relying on the medication, which is like, I understand, obviously, because I'm a type one diabetic, but, like, there are other ways to like, I don't know. You know?
Like,
I what know. You're saying. Can I can I answer back?
Yeah. Yeah.
There's two options here. Either you're right and it would work or you're right and they're not gonna do it. Or they're right and they'll do it and it doesn't work.
Right.
What does it matter?
Yeah.
If if let's say let's say that you're right, and I believe you are, that that there is a food system in place that is feeding all of us a lot of food that is not very good for us, that our bodies are shifting in scary ways. There's way more autoimmune issues, way more weight gain, a lot more type two diabetes, a lot more fatty liver disease, a lot more heart attacks. All this stuff is happening.
Mhmm.
The answer is go for a walk, go for a run, and don't eat like that. 100% right. But for reasons that we don't even have to talk about right now, obviously, large part of the population suffers with something in their life that stops them from doing that, whether it's lack of willpower, lack of money, lack of time, lack of something. It's not getting done. Yeah.
Right? Would you not rather live in a world where everybody shot something into their ass once a year or once a day or once a week or once a however long, but they were healthy and didn't have to worry about that? Or do you wanna live in a world where you tell people, well, if you just did the right thing, this might work out for you? Which sounds better than I know. Don't trust me.
I'm full of good points. But but this is the, this is the that's my you haven't been alive long enough. Like, you're you're not wrong. Okay? But when some bro podcaster says to you, just do the work.
Just remember that they make $5,000,000 a year and they work out all day long.
Okay. That is one thing. That is a topic that I'm very, very passionate about.
Tell me about it.
These, like, influencers, these, like which is great. Good for them. If I was getting paid all this money to just their job is to work out.
Mhmm.
It is so unrealistic for people who are moms, who work nine to five, who all of this. And not to say that there aren't influencers out there who are
I'm sure there are.
All of this and still you know? But, like, when you compare yourself to an influencer whose only job is to train for this marathon and train for this high rocks and do all this, And you're like, dang. Like, why don't I look like that? Or why aren't I as motivated as them? Because that's their job.
Mhmm. They're not going to a nine and five like you were coming home to three kids or, you know, like, going to the hospital to see their mom. You know? Like
Expand that out. Imagine a 35 year old woman with two kids who heard you just say what you said. You know what she thought? Oh, sure. She's 19.
Her ass looks fantastic, and she doesn't have to do anything. She know she doesn't know what the fuck she's talking about. Like, like so, like, it's it's different perspectives. Right? And and you're and I agree with you a 100.
Like, I I don't think it's wrong to say that if people ate better and took supplements and exercised correctly and blah I'm saying that's not happening. So we can either stand around and talk about how it should be or we can do something about how it actually is. Maybe here. I'll expand it out longer. What if I said this a couple of years ago on the podcast.
I stand by it. I said, I think they might maybe should spray this GLP out of a plane onto all of us. Because imagine if a generation of young parents were thinner, in better shape, ate better, ate less, taught their children to eat that way, and then another generation of people learned to do that. Isn't it not possible that by the time that those people's kids had kids that all of this would be fixed? Because right now
That's the thing though. Would they wanna fix it because it's such a
Well, they probably would.
Popular industry.
Well, I I don't I I would
It's money making.
Right? If people didn't sell that food for two generations, then most of this money wouldn't get made through food anymore. So the way we got here, which is slow see, you know what? You don't know. Here.
I'll I'll give it to you in one simple idea. Okay. In 1976, when I was five years old, in my refrigerator was always a one gallon Tupperware container, and it was always full of juice or lemonade. And that juice or lemonade was made by these powder that my mom would put eight scoops of into the thing, mix up with a little bit of hot water till it dissolved, then filled it up with some cold water through some ice in it, that's what we drank. And we drank gallons and gallons and gallons of that every week of sugar water.
My mom had no idea it wasn't good for us.
Mhmm.
Because on the front of it, it said made with real fruit juice. Right. And when I was hungry, my mom would take two pieces of Wonder Bread, slop two tablespoons of butter on it, throw in six pieces of Velveeta cheese, melt it in a pan, and give it to me, and tell me, here, it's lunch. Mom, can I have something with it? Sure.
Here's some potato chips. My mom didn't think anything of that. She didn't think she was making me fat. She was. Mhmm.
She didn't think she was teaching my body to crave carbs and sugar. She was. Like like so she didn't know what was happening because she came out of a generation where all food was good food. And then their lives got faster, so then all food got easier and more processed. But they didn't think of it as ease they didn't think of it as processed.
They thought of it as easier. Oh, our lives are my life is quicker than my mom's was. I work. My mom didn't work. I don't have time to cook.
I'll use this hungry man meal to feed everybody tonight. Right? It's got Salisbury steak in it. You ever had Salisbury steak? You should have one one time.
It's not very good. And, it has whipped potatoes in it. Does it? If you ever see a frozen dinner, you should look hard at it. We used to get them once a week.
We also used to get macaroni and cheese and grilled cheese and all this crappy food, and we would wash it down with sugar water. And that's a whole generation of my mom who, if you look back at her pictures when she was younger, was thin and in shape until she got older and the seventies came and the processed food came, and then she gained weight and then she made us fat and then I had kids. And I was on my way to making them fat before I stopped myself and said, oh my god. I don't know the first thing about food. I've talked about it on the podcast before.
I eventually, as a young person, as a young father, would just follow fit people around the grocery store to see what they were buying because I didn't even know how to buy food that wasn't gonna make me fat. Mhmm. Right? And so
Do you think that the the main issue is the lack of education?
Yeah. Of course. But it's not that easy to educate. Educating people doesn't make them change. Time makes them change.
Right. Yeah. Right.
Time and and But, like You learn the same way you get parented by it's modeling. You do what you see happen. You think you have free will. You are just doing the thing that your parents did in front of you. That's all.
I'm gonna guess your parents are decent people, and that's why you're a decent person. And you're just modeling what you see with them. And so, like, you yeah. You model the way they eat. You model the way they are, the way they act, blah blah blah.
You will probably do it slightly different than them because the world around you will change. And you will model that and you will have kids and they will copy you. And that's how eating works too. And so you can't so I so listen. Here's a great example using you.
If I walked up to you right now, let's say I had a I I got a I got I got a card in the mail from, the the the leader of the universe. Turns out there's no god, Bella. Okay? And I can prove it and I can prove it. I come to you and I go, Bella, hey.
I need to educate you. You said you're religious, but there's no god. Why don't you just stop thinking what you think right now? You won't do that. Mhmm.
Okay? And it's the same with the eating or with technology or whatever else. We are not as autonomous as you think we are. We are running we are programmed to do something, and we are doing it. And so I think that a problem this big, like food insecurity, processed food, lack of money to buy good food, lack of knowledge about how to cook it, lack of time of how to cook it, lack of desire to cook it in a world where somebody will bring you boba tea in their car if you pick up an app on your phone.
Right? And I know and I know you laugh because you've had some poor man bring you boba tea at your house. Okay? And, like and so, like, I know when that's the world you live in, just telling somebody to go for a run isn't gonna fix it. So maybe we've made it so bad now that these medications, these peptides are the only thing that's gonna fix it.
And my point is is that if you spread it on everybody, not that you can force it on people, but if if if you were made it available to the general public at at cost, I think you would lower health care costs. I think you would lower companies' abilities to make profits off of processed food. And I think in a couple of generations, it would be a different place. And I think that's what's going to happen. It's gonna happen because of capitalism.
Right? Because because the pharma companies are gonna wanna make their money off of this. They're going to. Right. I heard a a guy the other day.
I don't know if he's an economist or not. And he said, you're all excited about AI. You should be excited about GLP ones. He's like, that's what's gonna change the economy in the world. And and then he said, I think that the government should make them free to households that make under $60,000 a year who need it, and that'll fix the health care system.
And when he said that, I thought, I said that shit three years ago on my podcast. I was like, damn it. I wonder if anybody heard it when I said it. And so, and I feel like I was ahead of the curve on that. I also think this is a pretty reasonable well thought out person.
I don't and it's not gonna happen for good reasons. You don't understand because you're young about how the world works. It's gonna happen for money, you know, because people No.
I
that part, you know. Yeah. Yeah. So it'll happen. You eventually will know fewer people who aren't on a GLP and medication than who are.
Mhmm.
And I think that'll happen in the next five years. And then we're gonna see. We're gonna see if your kid grows up with a better idea of food or not. I'm not telling you I'm it's alright. I'm not saying this is how it all should've worked out.
I'm just telling you I think this is how it's going. So you know what I mean? Like, I'm not making a value judgment about it. I'm just saying this is it. Very often, nothing goes the way it's supposed to.
It's true.
Something starts
And I earlier, I did not come across as or I did not mean to come across as like
You didn't. Don't worry.
The fact that yeah. Yeah.
You didn't.
Because I I do understand, like, the I think it is very unfair that the lower or the cheaper food is the food that is what is making you
It's what the
hospital bills.
Right. Right. It's it's listen. It's not because every everybody would love a steak from 1950. I don't think one exists anymore.
And you know what I mean? And and Mhmm. But Jesus. And people with type one diabetes are even more disadvantaged because you don't have that thing anymore that tells you you're not hungry to the same degree. By the way, you're Oh my gosh.
Yeah. Your pancreas does other stuff besides make insulin. So Yeah. And so, like, you know, so there you are, and then you get low, eat some crappy sugar because that's what you need to save yourself. Then your body's like, oh, sugar.
Then you have a sugar crash. You want more. Your blood sugar's going up and down. You're eating when you don't wanna eat. Like, that's that's also happening to people who don't have type one diabetes now.
Right? They're and that's why you see so many people wearing CGMs who don't have diabetes to track their blood sugar because their blood sugars are spiking. And when your blood sugar spikes, your insulin dumps, and then you're hungry again. And insulin help you know, is part of the reason. That that's why I, don't have type one diabetes, lose weight on a GOP medication because it's slowing down my digestion.
It's slowing down my need for insulin, and I lose weight. That's Right. It, really. I eat less. My digestion's slower.
I use less insulin. Because of that, my body is able to process itself better and lose weight. I also think I have some sort of an issue, with inflammation that's helping with too. But not the point. Point being, it's I it I think it's magic.
And I think we're just in the beginning of it, and some people get it who have used it. The people who haven't used it say, you're cheating. And five years from now, I think everybody will be on board. And I'll I'll be the one running around saying, I was fucking telling you that, and you weren't listening to me. You made fun me because I took That's right.
That's right. Three years ago, I started talking about GLPs on here. I got a lot of crap online for it. But I was like, I saw what I saw, and I was like, this is trust me. This is gonna be something, like, for real.
It's gonna help people in ways you don't even understand yet, and now it's happening. Fatty liver disease, heart attacks going down. They're starting to use it for people with, like, obsessive issues and, gambling addiction.
Like, binge eating?
Binge eating. All kinds of stuff. Yeah. And and, again, cheating who? Who you who do you care?
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
Alright. Bella, I wanna thank you because
You're welcome.
This is how I usually I've never made a podcast this long before, but this is how I would do it if editing wasn't expensive. I like having really long conversations like this. I think the really interesting stuff comes in the second hour. You know we've been talking for two and two and a half hours?
Yeah. I was actually looking at the time.
Like, that's crazy. Yeah. And it was easy because you're 19 and you're out of school right now, you don't have anywhere to be. So I Right. I which is also another reason I couldn't usually do it.
But if I had my way, the podcast would be long like this a lot more often. So what I'm gonna end up doing is when I'm gonna say goodbye to you and thank you. And I'm gonna leave a little voice note for the editor, and I'm gonna say to him, look, man. Sorry. I said the word a bunch of times.
I'm actually gonna run it through AI, find all the times I said it, give it to him so he doesn't have to listen through three hours to to edit it correctly. And I'm gonna tell him not to edit it for pacing. Let this conversation play just as it was recorded. Just go ahead and edit out those f bombs, throw in the ads, and we're all done. And I bet you this will be popular.
It's just not a thing. Yeah. That's what I'm gonna do. So Okay. Alright.
I I would love to make three hour podcasts.
Yeah. It was fun. I'm I'm a big chatter too.
So You're awesome.
You got the right person.
No. No. You're fantastic. I had such a good time. I I I and I also think if I can step back for a second, you just listen to a conversation between a guy who's about to be 55 and a girl who's 19.
And I think we related to each other just fine. Yeah. Right? Because we have something in common and it's I think I just think that there's an opportunity to talk to people all different, ages, you know, all different backgrounds, and some pretty interesting stuff can come out of it. You learn something, I learned something, I complained a little, you complained a little.
I think it's a good thing. So we'll see what happens. See if I'm right.
Yeah.
See what people say to me. Bella, you are fantastic. I'm gonna use your title. What did
you You're delicious?
No. Now I'm gonna use the other thing you used. Well, I'm gonna use that you you what did you say? What was your teacher?
Media would be social media would be more informative if it became less performative.
Informative, not performative. That's what this episode's called. And by the way, it's going out in one solid episode, two and a half hours long. Informative, not performative. 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 checked, and get started today with US Med. 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. Okay.
So if you've made it this far, I'm gonna think you enjoyed yourself. I'm gonna ask you a couple of questions. If you're in the private Facebook group, can you go make a post and answer them for me? If not, I understand. Unless you wanna send out an email.
Did you enjoy it being this long? Would you like to hear more content of this length, of a more free flowing conversational nature? Do you hate it? Like, you listen, but you hate it. I'd I'd wanna know that too.
Scott, never do that again. I hated it. Do you think we should have on more modern hip people, like the younger people, the generation of now, if you understand what I'm saying? And anything else you'd like to let me know about? Actually, it doesn't even have to be about this.
You could hop on to the private Facebook group, put up a post, say, hey. I would love to talk to you. Anyway, thank you so much for listening. I'll be back soon with another episode of the Juice Box podcast. I'd, maybe take a second here to thank you since we're here and, I mean, you clearly have nothing else to do.
Anyway, that's not a judgment. I just really appreciate listening to this. We just did some numbers. And by we, I mean me, recently about the podcast, and I was wondering if you'd be interested. The podcast has, at one time or another, been number one in 58 countries.
It's been, progress. It's been in production. I'm not editing that out in case you're wondering. It's been in production for twelve years. This is the twelfth season.
We've never taken a season off. There has been an episode every week since January 2015. You are listening, I think, to episode 19 let me take a look. Yeah. 1901.
That's pretty crazy. And the private community and the public community on Facebook has over 100,000 active participants. Podcast has been downloaded well over 21, almost 22,000,000 times. It has, let's see, been number six in The United States. That was its highest ranking in The United States.
Highest ever in Canada, four. United Kingdom, six. Ireland, two. France, five. Germany, seven.
Italy, four. Netherlands, four. Spain, six. Sweden, six. Australia, three.
New New Zealand, three. India, five. Japan, seven. Singapore, number one. Hong Kong, number two.
China, number 13. And it, of course, has charted in 58 other countries along the way. That's just going back into 2019. I actually can't track the data back past them. If you have had anything to do with the success of this podcast, I owe you a personal thank you.
I don't know how to find you, but if I if I could find you, I'd shake your hand. I'd probably give you a hug if you were okay with it, and I would say thank you. Twelve years, no time off. Here's a couple things you don't know about podcasts. Something fell in the room.
Don't even care. Most shows are a handful of episodes, and they go out into a feed, and the feed goes quiet. This one's been published without a break now for twelve years. 90% of podcasts never reach a fourth episode. One in 10 podcasts is even active right now.
This one has been, of course, every day for twelve years. That means for every 10 podcasts that have been created, only one of them persists and persists past its fourth episode. Having 1,900 episodes is roughly 60 times the output that an a show that is already in the top 1% for staying power in podcasting has. 60 times as prolific as other incredibly popular podcasts. You guys listen every day.
It means the world to me. Again, thank you so much. If you're if you listen this long and you're not subscribed, I mean, please hit the subscribe button. But, moreover, if you've been listening this long, please share the podcast with somebody else because we'd like to go for twelve more years if we could. And when I say we, I mean me and my assistant, Claude.
He and I are having a good time.
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#1899 Lightning Doesn't Strike Twice
Lightning Doesn't Strike Twice
Three of Daphne's four kids have type one diabetes — odds of one in 6.8 million. A Maine mom on back-to-back diagnoses, looping three kids, marriage, and refusing to shrink her family's life.
Jump to a moment
- Multiple kids with type one isn’t purely random. Northern-European ancestry often travels with other autoimmune conditions — celiac, thyroid disease — and Daphne’s family fit the pattern. If T1D runs in your family, ask your care team about antibody screening (like TrialNet) for siblings.
- All three of Daphne’s kids use an automated insulin delivery system (“looping”). She notes the ADA now supports patients using automated algorithms — when her Maine endo wouldn’t, the family moved care to Boston Children’s. If your practice won’t support your setup, it’s reasonable to ask why or to seek one that will.
- Medical parenting carries a real emotional load. Daphne is candid about postpartum depression that needed serious treatment and about burnout being part of the picture. If you’re struggling, tell your doctor — support exists, and asking for it is not a failure.
- The household’s one firm rule: never blame your partner for anything diabetes-related. With the divorce rate for families of chronically ill children often cited near two-in-three, Daphne treats protecting the marriage as its own kind of management.
- Joy is a practice, not a reward you earn later. A packed “grab bag” by the door, a spare pod in the car, a pre-bolus before the meal — small, boring systems are exactly what let this family sail the Caribbean instead of staying home. Build the routine, then go live.
- US Med — Episode sponsor — CGMs, pumps, and diabetes supplies delivered. usmed.com/juicebox or (888) 721-1514.
- Eversense 365 CGM — Episode sponsor — implantable CGM with a one-year sensor. eversensecgm.com/juicebox.
- TrialNet — Free type 1 antibody screening for relatives of people with T1D — the sibling-screening question Daphne raises.
- Loop / Automated Insulin Delivery — Background on the DIY/automated looping the family runs across all three kids.
- Baqsimi (nasal glucagon) — Nasal-spray glucagon for severe lows like the one Daphne describes at camp.
- Postpartum Support International — Helpline and support for postpartum depression and anxiety. Call or text the PSI HelpLine at 1-800-944-4773.
- Juicebox Private Facebook Group — Community for anyone impacted by diabetes — type 1, type 2, gestational, and loved ones.
- Defining Diabetes series — 60+ short episodes decoding diabetes terms — bolus, basal, insulin sensitivity, and the rest.
- Bold Beginnings series — The newly-diagnosed starter series — also available in ASL.
Every word of the conversation
Welcome Back0:00
Hello, friends, and welcome back to another episode of the Juice Box podcast. 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. I know it can be hard to find these things in a podcast app, so we've collected them all for you at juiceboxpodcast.com. 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. If you're looking for community around type one diabetes, check out the Juice Box podcast private Facebook group.
Juice Box podcast, type one diabetes. But everybody is welcome. Type one, type two, gestational, loved ones, it doesn't matter to me. If you're impacted by diabetes and you're looking for support, comfort, or community, check out Juice Box podcast, type one diabetes on Facebook. Today's podcast is sponsored by US Med, usmed.com/juicebox.
You can get your diabetes supplies from the same place that we do, and I'm talking about Dexcom, Libre, Omnipod, Tandem, and so much more. Usmed.com/juicebox or call (888) 721-1514. The show you're about to listen to is sponsored by the Eversense three sixty five. The Eversense three sixty five has exceptional accuracy over one year and is the most accurate CGM in the low range that you can get. Eversensecgm.com/juicebox.
Three of Four2:09
Okay. Hi. I'm Daphne. I'm a mother of four, and three of my kids have type one diabetes.
Goddamn, Daphne. Way to start strong. Jeez.
Yeah. That's a huck.
Oh, kidding. Three of four?
What's the
what's the age breakdown?
Yeah. We've got an 11 year old who does not have type one diabetes, so we can move on. So lucky
and then the other three.
Yep. And then we've got an almost 10 year old with type one, an eight year old with type one, and a three and a half year old also with type one.
11, 10, 8, 3.
Yep.
Mormon?
Yeah. Just, there's some Irish Catholic DNA.
Oh, oh, I gotcha. Yeah.
Not practicing. Certainly lapsed.
It's in the blood. It's in the blood, you're saying.
Yeah. I'm I'm saying, you know, things get a little wild. Was And we had three kids in three years.
So Is the 10 year old what they call an Irish twin?
They are 18 apart. The first three were all born in three years. And so what's, like, pretty wild about our diabetes story is that we had a three year old, a 22 old, and a 10 old when the first kid was diagnosed. He was 22 old.
Oh my god.
“William Is Just Too Sweet”3:18
And, like, I literally had gone back to work bringing my baby with me that day, and I got home, and our nanny, who we adored, who'd been with us for a while, was like, look, he's been really thirsty. And she didn't say it, you know, she wasn't like, you need to you need to take him to the doctor, but she did kind of flag he's been really thirsty. He's been peeing a lot. I was like, oh my god. Yes.
He's been peeing through his diapers so much. This is so weird. And that night, I put this the symptoms in. This was 2018, but I remember it, like, it was a minute ago.
I put
symptoms into Google, and I was like, it wasn't like, oh, your kid has a cold or diabetes. It was like, oh, your kid has type one diabetes.
Yeah. But there was no ambivalence. It wasn't like, you know, it could possibly be this or this. It was yeah. Like Oh.
God. It was so clear. You know? It was just the Internet just told me my kid had type one. And I my husband and I were sleeping in separate rooms because I had a 10 old, and I, like, went and crawled into bed, and I was like, I think William has type one diabetes.
And he was like, I know. I think so too.
Oh, no. He you hadn't talked about it previous to that?
We had never even it had never even crossed our radar. No one in our families has type one. You know, we've got some hypothyroidism here and there, some asthma, whatever, but nothing like type one. We I had had one friend in college whose sister had it. That was the only thing.
And another, like, kind of peripheral friend who had type one since she was 17. But other than that, I had no idea what it was.
Anthony, I'm gonna be a bummer for a second because we're already having a good time. That made me cry. Oh. I it it put me right back.
Yeah. Put it
put me in a car at a traffic light, like, two miles from a hospital. Oh. Yes. Sorry. Yes.
No. Knocked me knocked me right over.
Instructions. Right? Like Yeah. We go to the doctor. We I emailed our pediatrician.
She got us in at noon the next day. This little boy, William, the first kid diagnosed as the sweetest human on the planet, and already was the sweetest human. And and he he had, like, you know, he'd been peeing so much. And then, of course, we get to the doctors. He's not peeing at all.
We put a pee bag on him because he's not potty trained. He finally pees. We're all laughing, like, oh, this is such this is so ridiculous. Like, you know, we have three kids. Why are we so anxious?
She walked out of the room with the pee. She came back in, and she looked at us, and she said, you know, William is just too sweet.
Aw.
And we all just burst into tears.
Yeah.
And that was the moment that the world just everything shifted.
No kidding.
And you know how that feels. Right?
It's when you think, I know how those ladies drive those kids into lakes. Yeah. Yeah. Kids were going for a ride. Put your seat belt on real tight.
Okay? 100%. I tried. It didn't work out. Yeah.
I'm gonna give up. You don't mind. Right?
Yeah. Sorry, guys. Okay.
How old were you at that point?
Oh my gosh. I was, like, 31. And my husband and I were both lawyers, and he was working a million hours a
week. Yeah.
And I was, like, staying afloat part time. Anyway, so so we went yeah. So so and then so what I mean about the car ride is then she was like, you put that baby in the car and you drive straight to the ER, and you don't stop and, know, like, you just get to the ER. I don't
care if you see I don't I don't care if you see, an In N Out burger on the way or something.
Right. Yes. Yeah. The police try and pull you over. Don't give a shit.
Yeah.
Get to the ER.
Drive drive. You'll let them know what happened when you
come in. Right.
And they all pull up behind you with the lights on, and they're tasing they're tasing your husband.
Yeah. Exactly.
At least you're two lawyers. You'd love to get tased.
Oh my
god. What
a joy that would be. Yeah. Yeah. We've had some lucrative moments where people have gotten tased. Actually, that's been good for our careers.
So, yeah.
Yeah. Maybe try talking another second.
Right.
It makes someone go face down on the pavement.
That's exactly right.
Although, I mean, let's be honest. Just between you, I, and everyone listening, taser videos are fantastic.
Fantastic. Could watch them for hours. That and the boats where people are trying to get out of really rough inlets. I don't know if you're a boater. That shit is wild, and it feels like my life.
And I'm just like
There's that great I don't know how if you're old enough for this part of the Internet or not, but there's this great video where these people in their thirties or forties are on a boat, and they're just going along. And it's it's bouncing along, and then the boat catches a bounce that, like, it just knocks everyone in the frame into a different direction. It's maybe my favorite thing I've ever seen on the Internet next to the lady stomping grapes and falling on the news report.
Yeah. That's a real I have seen that one. That's a really good one.
That one's my favorite because it's the noise she makes when she hits the ground. Goes, like like you like like like it just hit her in the ribs and, like, straight through to her asshole. You know what I mean? Like, she's Anyway, let's talk about three of your kids having diabetes. Now Yeah.
So this is all happening, and you think to yourself, you know what we should do? We should have another baby.
Well, so no.
Okay.
I did not think that. No. That's such a good question. So we have these three little kids, and we kind of, like, adjust to the type one. You know, we only have one type one diabetic, and things start to feel a little manageable.
So then then I get this pretty pretty big job. I got my dream job. I was a federal public defender. I got the job. I started in November 2019.
And, you know, at that point, like, we have sixty six hours of childcare. We're both working full time. Life is, like, pretty clear about what it's gonna be. Yeah. And then COVID came.
The world shuts down. Our nanny can't come. We're both trying to work from home. Our our nanny who had been with us for, like, three and a half years and was our lifeline at that point, who who had been with us from the minute that William was diagnosed says, look. My husband wants to move to Florida for a job.
Mean, I first of all, moving to pandemic. Sorry, Carrie. But moving to Florida during the pandemic was a wild choice. But anyway, they moved to Florida. We're devastated.
We loved her. And as she's telling us about these plans, my husband we just bought this old boat. We bought it for, like, $15 on Craigslist, and my husband was fixing her up, and he was like, you know what we should do? We should sail to The Caribbean. We should go to The Bahamas for the winter.
And I was like, you're fucking crazy, dude. I just got my dream job. Like, what are you even talking about? But the courts were really low. Like, there weren't a lot of arrests happening.
Everything was by Zoom. My husband had just wrapped up a big case, so he was able to take a sabbatical. So we so we made this plan, and we went on this boat trip for eight months with our three kids. Only one had type one at that point.
No kidding.
And we we lived on the boat for eight months, and it was, like, the most unbelievable magical thing you can imagine. And also, was totally bonkers because we had a five year old,
a four year old, and a two and a year old. Oh, no. No. It's just, like, argument to make the stage take your kids from you. But I hear what you're saying.
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. There are more moments like that as this unfolds. So we go. We have this great time.
We get back, and it's now June 2021. And we kind of slip back into life. I'm working. Ben's working. Everything is kind of status quo.
And then we were on a
trip with some friends in January 2022, and I was like, oh, I feel very I feel very pregnant. There is something very wrong here. And I was pregnant, and it was a total surprise, which is not which is, like, not a fair I mean, my
It wasn't a total surprise. Like, you know how happened.
Be honest, I had three and three years. Like, it wasn't a total surprise. It was an
Hey, Daphne. You just disappeared. Did you hit your mute button by mistake? Daphne, you are gone gone, but oh, she's she's gone. She disconnected herself.
Speaking of total surprises, let's put the ads here. I have always disliked ordering diabetes supplies. I'm guessing you have as well. It hasn't been a problem for us for the last few years though, because we began using US Med. You can too.
Usmed.com/juicebox or call (888) 721-1514 to get your free benefits check. US Med has served over one million people living with diabetes since 1996. They carry everything you need from CGMs to insulin pumps and diabetes testing supplies and more. I'm talking about all the good ones, all your favorites. Libre three, Dexcom g seven, and pumps like Omnipod five, Omnipod Dash, Tandem, and most recently, the Islet pump from Beta Bionics.
The stuff you're looking for, they have it at US Med. (888) 721-1514, or go to usmed.com/juicebox to get started now. Use my link to support the podcast. That's usmed.com/juicebox, or call (888) 721-1514. Why would you settle for changing your CGM every few weeks when you can have three hundred and sixty five days of reliable glucose data?
Today's episode is sponsored by the Eversense three sixty five. It is the only CGM with a tiny sensor that lasts a full year sitting comfortably under your skin with no more frequent sensor changes and essentially no compression lows for one year. You'll get your CGM data in real time on your phone, smartwatch, Android, or iOS, even an Apple Watch. Predictive high and low alerts let you know where your glucose is headed before it gets there, so there's no surprises, just confidence. And you can instantly share that data with your health care provider or your family.
You're going to get one year of reliable data without all those sensor changes. That's the Eversense three sixty five. Gentle on your skin, strong for your life, one sensor a year that gives you one less thing to worry about. Head now to eversincecgm.com/juicebox to get started. Alright.
That's what I'll do. The ads are gonna go right here. And then as soon as they're over, Daphne will be back. Okay? Alright.
Hey. I was getting ready to call the cops and send them to your
Oh my god.
Your location. You okay?
Man, I don't know what happened.
It's okay. Don't worry about it. It was hilarious. Actually, can I tell you it was perfect? Because it was right at the spot where we like to put the ads.
Just Thank god.
And you said and you said, well, it wasn't really a surprise. I'm gonna cut it right there and then put the ads in. Fantastic. Feels like you're producing, to be perfectly honest with you.
Oh, excellent.
So so you were not surprised because you're a the two of you were a baby making machine.
So Yeah. Right. Right. So we weren't surprised. But but Ben had long said, like, I I don't think we should have a fourth kid because what if someone else develops diabetes?
And everyone every doctor was like, that is are you still there?
I'm listening. That is good. Yeah. No. I By the way, I love your attitude.
You and I would get along great.
Yeah.
Yeah. You're like you were just like, that fucking phone shut off again? That what what a tone in your voice, and and you didn't even say a full word. I was like, oh, she and I would really get along. I love the complaint.
Oh. I can't even tell you.
Yeah. I know. I know. I kind of wanna talk about that at some point about, like, the complaints, like, just get you know, like, you just you gotta, at some point, turn the complaints off about the diabetes because holy you could just I could complain all day about it.
But so did you guys about it. Did you guys have a conversation about terminating the pregnancy?
No. No. No. Okay. Nope.
It was never and and not for, like, any reasons other than other than I had wanted a fourth baby. You know?
Mhmm.
And and Ben was kinda just like, okay, this is what we're gonna do. We're gonna have another one. We love having a lot of kids. It's fabulous. The kids are amazing, and we're just gonna do this.
And it did take me, like, six days to work up the courage to tell him, because I knew he was gonna be a little distressed. Yeah. And, like, my best friend's husbands knew before Ben did, and they would all, like, see him at pickup and, like, be avoiding making eye contact, you know, because he knew that I hadn't, like, gotten it together to tell him. So but his biggest hesitation was always when we would have the conversation about a fourth kid, but what if someone else gets diabetes? How do we give everyone what they need?
How do we pay for all of it? You know? Yeah. And more importantly, how do we give them the emotional time, energy, and love that is required?
Right. Are you about to tell me that your second gets diagnosed while you're pregnant?
I'm about to tell you that.
Oh, okay. I'm ready. Go ahead. 30 I'm ready.
Lightning Strikes Twice15:52
Six weeks pregnant, and we're on a boat trip. We're sailing just like a two week long trip, and the kid our our third child, Teddy, starts peeing the bed. Mhmm. And, you know, red flag, but okay, he's only four, like, whatever. We'll give it a little time.
And he had been having some behavioral issues, and we were sort of like, oh, and then we got home from that trip. It's August. I'm I'm either 35 or 36 pregnant, and, like, I have my baby shower on a Monday, and on a Wednesday, we put him to bed and he pees seven times in an hour. Nope. And I, you know and so I pricked his finger.
Yeah. And he was at 03:56.
Jesus. Where were you on this boat at this point?
No. At this point, we're home.
Okay.
Okay. And we just got on, like, a two week trip, and we get home. And my mother-in-law was here, and and we were sort of just having a visit with her. And I I pricked his finger at, like, 08:00 at night after he'd gone to sleep, and I let out, like, the most, you know, just like a keening wail of pain, like an animal. Right?
Like, a thirty six week pregnant, huge wail just, like, losing her shit.
And
I ran downstairs, and my husband knew before the words even came out of my mouth. And so that was that was number two.
Jeez.
And and and we had what was kind of wild about that diagnosis, and something I think is important for people who have multiple kids and one of them is type one, is that the doctors had said to us, like, five times over the past six months as we had gone in for some behavioral challenges to talk to the pediatrician, look, lightning doesn't strike twice. You know? There's no type one in your family. This is random. This is not what this is.
And and lightning does strike twice, it turns out.
Yeah. Okay.
And so so that time was, like, even more emotionally
Does this feel more targeted?
It felt like a fucking gut punch every minute of the day Yeah. For the first forty eight hours.
Like somebody was doing it to you now.
Yes. Right. But there and, and I do say this, that someone, a disgruntled client from my past in jail, must have a voodoo doll. You know? And just is like, oh, I think this year we'll just throw something else in there.
Yeah. Let's let's throw a pin in her eye in her eyeball this time. Ugh. So, anyway, Tati was diagnosed. I was thirty six weeks pregnant, and and Harry was born a month later.
Postpartum, and Finding Real Help18:24
Jeez. I did do you have postpartum by any chance with any of the kids?
I I so with Harry, I, developed it, like, three months in. And so he's the last baby. I'd never had it before. And I got so sick that I, I took a leave of absence from my job, and we ended up we couldn't find any help for postpartum depression. We live in Maine.
There was there was nothing here beyond, you know, here's a prescription for an SSRI, and we'll call and check on you in a couple days. And I was so sick that my friends had organized, like, they were sitting with me for an hour or every day. There was like a babysitting schedule for me
For you.
With my friends and my family. I was living at my parents with the baby. Ben was holding it down with the other three and his mom, and everyone was just trying to keep me between the navigational buoys until I could get some real help. And we found that help in Rhode Island, at Women and Infants, which is a a hospital down there where they have a partial hospitalization program for women with postpartum depression.
Oh, that's nice.
So I moved down there for a month, staying in various Marriott hotels, with the baby, and my dad would come down, or my parents, or my my best friend. And and then I did this, like, magical, truly magical drug where you get an infusion for sixty hours at a hospital. It's called Zulresso. And it lifted it lifted the curtain, and all of a sudden the world had color again, and I was I was myself. So was a wild experience.
A one time treatment drug?
It's a one time treatment drug. And then I was on, you know, I mean, I was on SSRIs and whatever for about a year after that. But I yeah. It was a it was a wild thing to have postpartum depression just with your fourth baby. Mhmm.
But I think a lot of it was was that now we had two kids with type one.
Yeah.
And it was so overwhelming. I was so lost in it, trying to figure out how I was gonna get everyone what they needed. And I was still trying to work, and and, you know, then I had to really call that. We had to we had to call that.
Hey. Zul ZULRESSO? Like
z ZULRESSO. Yeah. Z u l r e s s o.
Discontinued. They don't make it anymore. No
way.
IV medication for postpartum depression given as continuous sixty hour infusion is monitored. Metabolism. Important update. It's no longer commercially available in The US as of 01/01/2025. The FDA withdrew its approval effective April 14, at the company's request because the product was no longer marketed.
Oh, a newer related option is Zurzeevia, a generic Govit, an oral fourteen day treatment for postpartum depression. Wow. It's not ideal.
Well, that's probably more accessible to a lot of people. I mean, I think the only reason I could do it was that I had federal health insurance at that point.
Okay.
Because I think it it I think it was, like, a $70,000 treatment.
Oh my gosh. Mhmm. Jeez.
But I had really good health insurance, and I had saved up enough PTO that I was able to kind of still be on on the insurance.
Mhmm.
And I was hoping to go back to work. I loved what I did. It was it was truly my dream job, but it just wasn't in the cards at that point. So so that's so we're at January 2023, then it's April 2023. I'm not working.
I'm home. I'm feeling much better. And our our sweet dog who had we'd gotten during the pandemic and had gone on the trip with us and was just the cutest thing ever, was hit by a truck while our kids were outside waiting for the school bus.
Kathy, what in the hell?
So so that's the point where I really developed this theory about a voodoo doll.
God. Some guy's making toilet wine and putting a hex on me. Yeah. Yeah.
Serving forty five years. Yep. And he's like, well, my lawyer is a real shitty lawyer. And My god. Oh, it's terrible.
Hey. The dog I mean, when the dog goes, are you just like
Oh my god.
Okay. And by the way, dog didn't just die. Was hit by a car, and it was hit by a car in front of the kids
In front of the kids.
On their way
to school. Yes.
Did you still put him on the bus?
No. And no. One of them had already biked to school, and I was like, well, we'll tell Johnny when when Johnny gets home. And Ben was like, no, you fucking idiot. We'll pick the kid up.
I gotta tell you, when there's six of you and a dog, I I don't even know how you make one decent decision about anything, to be perfectly honest.
Yeah. Well, some would say we don't.
Are some of those people you and your husband?
Yeah. Yeah. No. We you know, we're fairly confident. Our parents are super skeptical of much of what we do.
The Third Time23:10
Mhmm. So anyway, so the dog dies, and then it's but like life life marches on. We've got the two diabetics. They're both in public school, and so we've got really good school nurses who are taking care of them. And and life kind of continued to, like, improve.
Like, it it felt manageable again. You you move through the the stages of grief, and you're back at, okay. Yeah. This is what life is. And then in January 2024, it was January 6, and our baby had been sick for a while.
He was 15 old. And I pricked his finger, and it was at one eighty three. And
Yeah. You don't I mean, after the second time, you don't have to mess around with waiting for him to wet through something. You're just like, oh, I see. I've seen this movie before.
Didn't like the ending then. Yeah. I like it now. Yeah.
Do you even have this I'm so interested. Is the reaction very different the third time? Like, you just throw your hands up?
Very different the third time.
Yeah.
Yep. Yeah. The third time, it was like, well, of course, you do. Of course, you have type one. And it was also like, you know, we we decided to go to the ER because our endocrinologist is sort of like, why don't you just come in even if it's just to like so that you can get a break from all the other kids for a second while you get your feet under you.
Just come in for the night to the children's hospital. And we got there, and of course, they couldn't find a vein, and there was a in the bed next to us, there was a total teenage breakdown happening with cops and Yeah. All sorts of stuff. And I'm, like, about to go over there to start representing her, you know. Like, that is, like, no.
No.
Like, this kid needs a lawyer. Hold on a second. Yeah. Yeah.
Exactly. I was like, this is the civil rights violation. Ben is like, no. You sit you sit your ass down. And and, and so we ended up not even spending the night.
We we threw a Dexcom on him, and we brought him home, and they're all looping.
Mhmm.
So we set up an iPhone, and we got him right on it. None of them honeymooned.
Right this right into it?
Right into it.
Yeah. They said I there's something somebody said to me recently I'd never considered or or heard. Like, the younger it happens, like, the fewer I guess, I don't even know how to put this guy. I don't wanna get it wrong, but I guess it's something to do with the amount of time you have to make beta cells to begin with. Or I don't even know how to put it exactly, but maybe I'm wrong.
So maybe somebody should Google it.
Well, but that kinda makes sense. Right? That, like like, if you don't have a lot of beta cells stored up, then they peter out more quickly or something.
I'm gonna have to dig into that a little bit because it just made so much sense to me when someone said it, but Yeah. I don't I don't know if I ever made sure that it was accurate or not. But I mean, neither here nor there. I mean, that's
just yeah. They have type one, and and they didn't honeymoon. And So And so yeah.
Translucent People & Family History26:02
I heard you I heard you say there's no type one in your family, but I'm gonna guess Irish, like, probably celiac and hypothyroidism.
That's exactly right.
Yeah. I mean, that's you the the very the translucent people, they don't do well with this stuff.
No. Yeah. Yeah. No. They don't.
No. They don't. And I blame my husband for that.
Well, why not? So Depression, anxiety?
Yep. Yeah. Yep. Okay. All around.
You got a couple of alcoholics?
We we we sure do.
Yeah. Yeah. Know what's going on. Hey. Any bipolar people in the extended family?
Really good question. A couple have been diagnosed.
Yeah. I'm good at this. Yeah. By the way, I've been doing this a while.
Yeah. Yeah. I know.
Yeah. No.
No. I've listened to your, clairvoyance before.
Thank you. Yeah. I mean, if an Irish person meets another Irish person, may I make a suggestion? Go meet a person with more melanin and try making a baby with them. That might help a little.
Okay? I mean and if one of you has got an autoimmune issue and the other one, like, even has allergies, that's a good reason to break up if you're gonna have kids. Yeah.
Yeah. You know what? We met when I was 23 and Ben was 25. So it was like, we didn't even know
Of course not.
What was up and what was down. Right?
Oh, I'm I'm I'm still not sure. I understand what's happening. But Yeah. Yeah. I I I I just know for sure that if you start putting those cocktails together, you end up with a with a zoomy little drink.
If you if you start putting those cocktails together, you end up with four kids under under seven. Yeah. You know? That's what you end up with.
I'll tell you what. That oldest kid must walk around like a cat in a room full of rocking chairs.
Oh my god. Yep. Yep.
There's a saying I've never used before in my entire life, but but I I am considering moving south, so I I'm trying to get ready. But but but no kidding. Like, that I mean, I I wanna ask, is your oldest did they come to you and said, hey. Is this gonna happen to me? Or
Yeah. We've talked about it. We've, we've pricked Johnny's finger a couple of times.
Mhmm.
We've all decided so far not to do trial net, or not yeah. That's what it's called. Right? Yeah. Yeah.
We've all decided so far not to do it. If if Johnny goes to, like, sleep boy camp or college, you know, and is out of my eyesight, then I will for sure do it.
Like, if that kid tries to leave here Yeah. We're gonna test his antibodies.
That's exactly right.
Wait. You know what's it I mean, though, how old is he now?
11.
I mean, I don't know. Like, I'm not saying it's more or less likely, but, I mean, for the way your family does it, it feels
Yeah. Like, the like, he's out of the the danger zone.
Yeah. I don't know. I mean, Jesus. Hey. You're not gonna have more kids.
Right?
I'm not. Okay. No. Alright. No.
I'm not. Nope. Nope. And as Ben says, if we did, it would be a diabetic boy. You know?
There's a seventy five percent chance.
That's what we do.
My gosh. We just went down. I just took the kids down to Boston Children's to start doing some genetic sequencing.
Okay. For
Well, that was sort of prompted by the two middle kids have these really large birth several really large birthmarks that are indicative of this other genetic disease called NF one. And and I don't know a lot about it. It has something to do with, like, something in your brain. There's there's a misfire where your brain doesn't tell your body not to produce benign tumors. And so if you have a certain number of these, this type of birthmark, you just get screened for it.
So that's kind of what got us in the door. But then really the genetic doctor was like, I don't think they have that, but what I think they do have is type one diabetes, and I'd really like to know why.
Oh, okay.
She's doing just a bunch of different of different tests to kind of see if there's if she can find a gene that's responsible. It's so wild to me how much doctors don't know about type one diabetes.
Not me. Not anymore. And I don't and don't blame the doctors either. I just think you know, what I what I really think is that we're only, I mean, slightly over a hundred years removed from, you know Yeah. Cowboys and and, you know Yep.
Doc Holliday being a real person. You you know what I mean? Like, I I just think I think things jump forward and we act like we know what we're doing. You know, we're like, oh, we made, we made the steam engine. Like, we're amazing.
And and and, you know, and we have a computer. We must know everything and blah blah blah. I don't boy, I think this is the infancy of humanity. And, you know, what we know fits in a thimble still. So Yeah.
You know, and not that, you know, I'm very happy about the way modern medicine is. I'm glad that I can get sick and go to a doctor or break my arm, go to somebody and they fix it. Like, trust me, I've I'd be a I'd be a shell of myself without without modern medicine. I'm I'm not even kidding. Like, if I sat here and started listing all the things I've had done over the years, like, I'd be lucky to be alive or even walking.
Yeah. You know? So it's great. You get to keep refacing the house. Like, every time the wind blows, you're like, oh, I can put up a new shutter.
I can put the roof back on, like, kind You of
know? Our kids are alive. Right? I mean, like Yeah. That's that's part of the mind fuck of type one diabetes as a parent Mhmm.
Is that, you know, you you shake yourself sometimes, and you're like, holy shit. There's so much to be grateful for because they have access to this stuff that's keeping them alive.
Oh, a 100 a hundred and some years ago, your story is you had four kids and three of them are dead. Yeah. Yeah. In in in short order. Like like
That's right.
Don't know. You you and and no IV get me off the get me out of the spiral drug.
Right.
Yeah. No. Right. Hey. There's that, there's a movie coming out on Netflix called The Last House maybe.
And Arden said, hey. Did you see this trailer for The Last House on Netflix? And I was like, no. She showed me the trailer. It's I don't know.
It's something about, like, I think there's some sort of an alien invasion, but everyone's locked in their house. They can't get out of their house. And everyone talks about, like, how you make food and blah blah blah. And my and, you know, we're all kinda standing around and Arden's boyfriend's there, and they're talking about everything. And Arden's like, well, that's not my problem.
Like, the food's not my problem. Like, how much insulin do I have is my problem. Yeah. And I was like, great. And then you and then she said she's like, but we do have, like she this actually happened at my house last night.
She goes, we do have all that GLP. And I and I said, I could I could cocktail you up with GLP and stretch that insulin out for a long time if I needed to. And I said I it was getting serious, and I said, I just want you to know that I that's how much I love you. I would get
I'll give up.
I would get fat again. Yes. But in the back of my head, I thought we won't have any food. I probably won't get that fat.
So yeah. It's not actually that big a sacrifice.
Yeah. Because it's not perfect. That's how I knew I loved her. I was like, oh, I guess I would give you my GOP. Okay.
Yeah. I hope she gave that appreciation it deserves.
Oh, I don't know that she can because she hasn't she's never she's lived
through She hasn't done it.
Yeah. Yeah. She hasn't lived through my life, but it was a it was a heavy lift for me.
Yeah. I went to go visit my my grandmother this week who's dying, and one of my aunts was there. My grandmother's blind, and she said, oh, Daphne's my most beautiful my most beautiful grandchild. You know, because I'm the first grandchild. And my aunt was like, I'm not quite sure why she said this, Judy, I love you.
But she said, well, dad told me
that she recently lost 50 pounds. I didn't know if she had 50 pounds to lose, but she did. And I was like, well, know, I had four babies. Like, I had some weight to lose. And my grandmother says, what?
You got fat? You know? She's literally she's lying there. She cannot hear. She cannot see.
And she's like, what? You've got fat? You know?
Have you ever heard the story of my, the end of my by the way, you are just a bundle of joy. You talk about death and blindness like it's joyful. Yeah. My, my wife's grandmother is in the hospital. She's in her last couple of days.
We go to visit her. She can barely see. I get through the doorway in the hospital, and she looks right up at me, and she goes, you got fat. First words. First words.
I was like, hi.
Did you get that GLP prescription the next day?
Oh, they didn't make it back then. But, if they made it when I was 10, I would have bought it now that I know what's going on. Yeah. Also, you see this, retrutatide that the Lily's gonna pump out next? Oh.
They're saying that not only do you not do you lose so you're still hungry apparently, but lose weight and don't lose muscle and something else. And I'm like, what magic is coming? You know what I mean?
That is a that is a miracle. Yeah. An actual miracle.
I I first of I think I'm gonna live forever now that GLPs have been invented. But but at the same time, like, I I can't wait to see what comes next. You'll see me. I'll pivot. I won't like, I'm a 100% I'm gonna I'm I'm not gonna stop till one of these makes me taller.
That's what I'm doing.
Well, I hope that there will be a juice box episode about that when you find that that, that hype.
Why This Show Isn’t on Video35:20
Well, I'm not I'm not giving up. Also, you gave me a lot of you said something so small to me before we started recording that you didn't know, but for me, it was just incredibly hopeful. Then we said we were gonna start talking about it, but then you went right into the hellscape that is your life. So it was it was hard to it was hard to pivot away, but let's take a break for half a second. You thanked me for the podcast not being on video.
Yeah. Yeah. Because all the podcasts are on video now, you know? And I just like, not only is that so wildly unfair to the people who are talking, but also I'm not interested in watching you speak while I'm cleaning. I just wanna hear it.
You know? I just wanna hear your voice, your dulcet tones podcast, you know, pod save America or whatever I've got going that day.
100%. I don't understand it all. And and and so if you're around it enough you know, I tried to say something to I was I was interviewing this girl the other day, and she's like, you know what I'm and she notices something about the world. Right? And I realized that she's 27.
This is the first time she's noticed it. Humanity has noticed this thing a thousand times already, like, generationally. Right? Right. It's her first time, and God bless her.
That's Yeah. But the same thing goes with podcasting. I've been doing this a long ass time. Okay? And about once every eighteen months, someone jumps up and goes, the new world of podcasting is video.
You gotta put your podcast on video. If you don't, you're gonna be left behind. Blah blah blah blah. And every lunatic runs out there and makes a a podcast, and no one watches them.
And Yeah.
And, like, and you're getting confused by the seven that people actually pay attention to. You're not gonna get hundreds of thousands of downloads on your podcast. Your YouTube you're even, like, around diabetes. Like, listen. If you're gonna make a YouTube video about diabetes and you're not leaning hard into technology and promising the future or yelling about a cure, no one's watching your damn video while you talk to somebody about their diabetes.
Okay? Right. Like, it just doesn't work that way.
Right.
Audio works great.
Right.
Yeah. It it's fantastic. And I appreciate it because I have I have persevered through that pressure probably six times, and it Yeah. And it was hard a couple of times to ignore because I really felt like, oh, if I don't do this, I'm making a, like, a a, you know, a deadly mistake for the show, but not the case.
I mean, I I think that as an audience member, it just it it also is like, you know, I I, for the ADHD brain, being able to just listen and not get distracted by what the person's wearing or what makeup shade they have on is really very helpful. Yeah. So I think it's a more effective form of communication.
I think it's more personal. It builds I mean, there's an intimacy to it. Yeah. You know, you don't you don't know what I look like. It doesn't matter.
I I'll tell you this. I don't really talk about this much, but I'm so glad not to know what the people look like who I'm interviewing because I'm not certain that I wouldn't jump to conclusions about them.
Yeah.
You know what I mean? And then just getting to talk to them, it it allows them to be, like, who they are without all the facade stuff. Yes. I think that's really.
Think so too. I I find that even so so I made this so I'm on Instagram, as many of us are, and I made this video about how our 11 year old stuck some toothpicks in a carpeted stairs this winter right after holiday season watching Home Alone 1,000,000 times, made kind of like a Home Alone style trap. And it wasn't it wasn't supposed to be for the nine year old, but the nine year old ran down the steps, got a toothpick stuck in his foot, pulled it out, and and says, okay. I got it out. It's out.
But he's in so much pain. He's not walking. Anyway, it's a whole saga that takes four months for an MRI to finally happen, and there's a two centimeter piece of toothpick stuck into the kid's cuboid bone in his foot.
Really? Ugh. Was it mint flavored? I hope not mint flavored.
Yeah. No. We would have found it sooner. Yeah. It would have smelled better.
No. Nope. It was just a regular old toothpick, but he couldn't walk, and we had been going to see a podiatrist. And she had done one surgery, thought she got the toothpick at whatever. Like, she thought maybe some fragments remained, she had pulled those out.
She was like, he's fine, and then he still wasn't walking, and it's April, Oh
my god.
There's it's a whole saga, but I made this video about it on Instagram, and it has gotten like and I thought, okay, I have 600 or 700 people who follow me. It's all friends and family. They're gonna see that. I'm gonna explain why William's been on crutches for six months, you know, whatever. Mhmm.
And then one it has, like, 1,800,000 views. So that's insane.
Yeah.
And the comments are wild. Oh, You
know, your
child's a psychopath, you're a terrible parent, all this stuff. And so I've been thinking a lot about, like, anonymity and intimacy in the age of podcasts Mhmm. Social media. And I've also been kind of like, I have some new followers, and so I've been kind of like, okay, I'll I'll I'll do some more Instagramming. And I find, and this relates back, I find that I'll just like be speaking to myself on the phone saying these like deeply intimate things, like about how isolating medical parenting is that I would never say if I were speaking to a room of 700 people.
Isn't that crazy? Yeah.
It's such a it's it changes the whole game to to be just to not be looking at the people that you're speaking to.
Yeah. No. I mean, it's it's it's helpful for you to and by the way, there's some level of craziness that allows people to do that. I've I I don't know if this is still true, but I I heard in the past when I was I was just writing a blog. It was a long time ago.
They said that I was I was trying to talk about why blogs don't get a lot of interaction, and I was told that it's, like, I guess, proven back then that only a very small percentage of society has whatever it takes in them to actually comment on something. Yeah. And it's a very small percentage of people who can bring themselves to do it even.
Yes.
You know?
Interact in any way.
Yeah. And so the people who are willing to to, like, initiate that, I think that number is even smaller. Probably doesn't seem like that, but when held up against the totality of, you know, of humanity, it not not many people Like, I have that feeling a lot when I'm making this. Like, I'm talking and there's part of me that's like, why am I saying this? Like like like, why don't I just go get a regular job?
Like, you you you know, and and but then I don't know. Like, first of all, a, I see how it helps people, and that's Yeah. Really invigorating. And then b, it makes me feel better to Yeah. To get get it off my chest sometimes.
You know what
I mean?
Or to be honest about it.
I do know what you mean. It has felt really liberating to say those things.
Yeah. Yeah. A 100%.
I do I I said this in my email to you, but, like, I do, like, the the second words out of my mouth when I get put in touch with a family who's newly diagnosed or, and then you'll and then you'll look up the juice box podcast.
Aw. Thank you.
And and it it does. It just helps so many people. And I sort of hope that we're gonna go. So we so we're leaving at the end of August, we hope, to go sailing again. And and part of part of it is to just sort of show our kids, and hopefully to show whatever small corner of the world, you know, knows our family or watches us on Instagram, that that you can do these things
Yeah.
When you're living with a life threatening chronic illness, and that you can pack enough insulin to live on your boat. And yeah, and that's sort of what the your podcast has done in so many ways for so many people. Is that you you can do this. You are going to get through this.
I hope so.
And that you're gonna find joy again.
Yeah. Right?
I mean, that
It just is that's what's gonna happen. It's it you I don't know. I I always gets I that's there's a stupid, like, country song from the seventies about, not promising somebody a rose garden. And, like and I think it the the the lyrics like, I beg your pardon, I never promised you a
rose garden. Oh, yes. Yes.
Yeah. Yeah. And and I just I think about life like that all the time. I don't maybe I just think about it like that because I heard that song. I have no idea.
Yeah. Because it certainly wasn't through good parenting. But but I but my both my parents are gone now. It's okay if I say that. Right?
But but,
I mean, your your expectations are what ruin your experience.
Yeah.
That's all. Like, go on the boat. If it goes great, awesome. If it goes less than great, just decide that that's great and keep Yeah. You you know what I mean?
Like, none of my stories involve how great everything went.
Right. Right. Well, and at this point, I've I've gotta be honest. Three of my four kids have type one diabetes. So, like, I my expectations are pretty much in the toilet.
Yeah. Like, if if a wave knocked you into the water and then a giant shark from this Comedy Central movie showed up, you'd go, oh, this is what I thought was gonna happen.
Yeah. Oh, your name is Roger. I've been waiting for you. I've been expecting it.
Yeah. I can't believe it took this long.
Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah.
I, you know, as we as we gear up for this, people are sort of like, what are you thinking? Nah. And I'm like, what the fuck? I'm gonna stay here, you know, and and watch my sugar pixel all day and text with the nurse 750 times. I could just be in The Caribbean Yeah.
Without a sugar pixel.
Let's go do something.
Go doing something. Yeah.
I'm with you.
Brimming With Spontaneous Joy45:06
Yeah. I think it's important. And I think that that so when our when our first child was diagnosed with type one, you know, it's it's 2018. Life is crazy. I remember so vividly saying to my mother-in-law, you know, we're never gonna be spontaneously joyful again.
We're never just gonna pick up and be able to go. We're never gonna have the life that we imagined. And it certainly is not the life that we imagined, but it is absolutely chock it is brimming. It is over it is overflowing with spontaneous joy.
Jenny said to me the other day, I don't know if we were being recorded or not, if we were just talking. She's like, I think every type one should just have a bag. It should just sit by the door, and it's so that you can just leave.
Yes.
You you know? Just Yes. Grab like, okay. You're gonna have to grab insulin probably. But Yeah.
Grab the bag and go. Come back, drop the bag there. And then it allows you to be, like, mobile like that. I listen. I watched Arden go out the other night.
She went to a friend's house. They went from the friend's house to a club. They went from a club back to our house. Like, you know, they were they were all over the place. She did she have a little, like, lunchbox with her full of stuff in the back of her friend's cart?
She did. But I watched her. I wish I could I don't know how many people, like, know what my daughter looks like, but, like, she's really pretty.
She's really beautiful.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And and dropped her at her friend's house. Right?
So she said, can you take me and my boyfriend and my friends? We're gonna leave from there. And I was like, yeah. Sure. And she's like, she'll bring us home.
I was like, okay. Sure. So I drop her off, and, you know, the parents are there. And so I get out of the car. You know what I mean?
You'd like, because it feels weird to, like, pull into someone's driveway and just be like, I don't know you. Goodbye. So, like, you get out to say hello, and I'm saying hi and introducing myself and everything. And Arden comes around the side of the car. She looks like a model.
Oh.
And she is holding a green lunchbox. This ridiculous thing. And she don't think the first thing about it.
Yeah.
Yeah. And she she said, I I put it in the back of the car. And, you know, and by the way, interesting story. You know, the amount of time she carries that stupid thing with her to this and that or it's in a car somewhere, you know, whatever. You put, like, insulins on ice somewhere in a car in the summertime.
For all the time she's done that, I don't think it's really been a problem ever. You more often than not bring the bag home, set it down, you never touched it.
Yeah.
But we were having dinner last night, she goes, oh, you know what happened to me last night? It hasn't happened in such a long time. I was like, you know what? She goes, I was climbing in Kat's car, and I knocked my pot off.
Yeah.
And I went, no kidding. What'd you do? She goes, I just put another one on in the car.
Right.
That was it. Right. Yeah. I mean, you can choose to see that as it getting in your way, or you can just not choose to see it Like, that
the routine way that she experiences it. Right? Like, let's zoom out. Oh, the life saving medical device that keeps you ticking fell off. And so you put another one on.
That's kind of momentous. But for all of us and for her, for the people who are living with this thing, it is just, oh, yeah. Then I put another pot on in the car.
No. No.
I mean, that's that's that's huge and routine all at the same time.
And for us and for the other people looking, I do think perspective would help you. I mean, really. Yeah. I mean, is it 1920 when they introduced it, like, they found insulin? So, you know, like, my 21, almost 22 year old daughter had that experience.
It was a moment where she had to like, she was like, oh, that thing came off. That sucked. And then filled up another one, put it on, pushed the button, back on her way again, as a as a computer inside of a computer is taking care of it for her. And she's only 120 some a hundred and some years removed from she would have been dead when she was two?
Yeah.
Like, how is this not a celebration?
Yeah. You know? It is amazing.
Yeah.
It is I mean, my kids hop on their bikes every morning and bike to school by themselves. You know? Yeah. They walk home from school. They ski.
They're gonna go live they've lived on a sailboat. They're gonna do it again. You know, like, life is so full for all of these kids. And and that is a celebration and should be a celebration every day.
Where where do you, dock in Saint you know, in The Caribbean when you go?
We'll go you know, we'll cross over probably to, Turks and Caicos. Mhmm. And then we'll kinda buzz all over. We're gonna go to Puerto Rico. My mom grew up in Puerto Rico, so we'll spend a little time there.
Nice.
We'll kinda hop around.
Can I suggest for an incredibly chill hang? Yes. Please. Saint John.
Great. My goodness.
There is a little bay called Maho Bay. If I was you, I'd find out how to anchor off of that and swim swim. It's just really
Do It All, Just in Case50:00
small. Yeah. When my husband Ben was, like, 19, he had to he did a year of college, and then he was asked to take a little break. And he did, and he fixed up a 26 foot sailboat. He named her Ruby, and he sailed her by himself.
A friend was supposed to go with him to sail to the Caribbean. It was like a ten day sail. The friend got so seasick that Ben had to turn around and drop him off. And Ben sailed down and and lived on Saint Thomas Mhmm. In this, like, decrepit old sailboat that he had fixed up.
And so that has always been there for him, that that was such a, like, truly monumental thing in his life. And we were doing couples counseling this fall, as one does, when one has three kids with type one diabetes. And and I was like, look, I'm I'm feeling ambivalent about this trip, you know, like like, we're talking about it. How's it gonna work? I don't know if I wanna do this again.
And he said, here's why I wanna do it. Because I did it when I was 19, and it changed my whole life. And our kids are gonna survive. They're gonna be fine.
Mhmm. But they do have a
chronic illness that sometimes kills people, And I want them to go out and do it all just in case. You know, I want those kids to just do everything and anything that they can. And this is gonna show them that they can do everything and anything that they wanna do.
It's thoughtful. I'll tell you, Daphne. It's thoughtful because after having close to 2,000 conversations with people, what I can tell you is that not everybody makes it, and you don't know who you are.
Right.
You have no idea which story is gonna be yours, and the best you can do is hope to try to, I mean, point it in a direction. Right? Yeah. But there's just the makeup of people, you don't you don't know what it is. Like, I don't believe that there are people in the world who are, I don't know, struggling and then somebody not struggling.
The difference is that the person not struggling is trying and the person who is struggling isn't trying. I don't think it's I don't think it's that simple. I think it comes down to a lot of things. I mean, we can list them all, but I mean, from education to intellect to opportunity and and support and and probably literally, like, a 100 other things that you could list. And and life is is so variable that you really don't know, like, which one you're you go talk to a 90 year old person who's got four kids in their forties and say, did you always know this is how they were gonna end up?
And they're gonna go, no. I had no idea. Like, I thought I did, but none of them were exactly the way I thought they were gonna be. And then they they meet outside forces in the world that that change their direction again, and you can't get in the way of that. Like, you can't you know what I mean?
Like, I can send Arden out into the world perfect. And if she meets some guy who's crappy to her, could ruin her life.
Yeah.
You know? Like, that's not a thing I planned I could plan for as a as a as a as a parent. People might make the argument, like, well, you could have made it so she didn't choose him or but I don't think you're in control of stuff like that.
No. Yeah. No. And and that is one of the the the it's not a silver lining. I hate, like, when people are like, well, the silver lining is, or, oh, well, at least the kids have each other to go through it.
Like, fuck off with that. Their pancreas like, organs don't work. You know? As a parent, something that has been a gift of is the perspective on I can't control so many things.
Mhmm.
Yeah. But what I can control is giving my kids my love and my attention and my time, and I can, you know, make it work to go do these things with them. Yeah. And that's what I can control. I can't control whether or not their pancreases work.
They're totally fucked. Yeah. But what I can control is that they're gonna live really cool lives right now.
I'm with you.
And I hope I give them the foundation to go off and and and do that for themselves.
Yeah. They should hopefully feel comfortable, believe that things are possible, and then go apply who they are to that possibility and see what happens. They Yeah. Yeah. But no.
I I listen. I there will be times that you look up and think, oh, they all have it. They're actually helping each other. Maybe.
Right. Or Right.
Like, it's a nice thing to say. Like like, if that all goes well, then you'll have three kids who are real supportive of each other with their diabetes. I also talk to a lot of people. I'm like, hey. Your brother has diabetes too.
Do ever talk to about it? No. I've never talked to him about it. Yeah. We don't talk about that at all.
Right. Yeah. Right. Actually, my my my sister has it, but she doesn't take very good care of herself. I'm like, why don't you help her with it?
Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. So you don't know how it's gonna go. No.
Stop it.
No. You have no idea. You have no idea. And and, like and that's what makes it a like, that's a universal parenting thing is you have no idea Yeah. What's gonna happen next.
So I'm with your husband even though I'm sorry. I don't mean to take sides. But yeah. I'd get I Yeah. When you say you're ambivalent, is it a little bit about been there, done that?
Like, we've done this already and it's a lot of effort. Can we do something No.
No. It was like, we have a good thing going. Our kids like their school. We've got a good community. We've got good school nurses.
They again, they walk to school. They bike to school. They have these really wonderful lives, and and it's a heavy lift to go off and do this. And it means, you know, it it it's a financial lift. It's an emotional lift.
Mhmm. And I so so I was just kinda like, how are we gonna make this all work? And why are we gonna make it all work when when life is like when life is finally feeling a little bit manageable again? I Why do we do this every fucking time?
I gotta tell you. I got I I gotta leave for Miami in two days to go on the cruise with about Oh, that's amazing. A 100 listeners. Yes. Once I get on the cruise, I'm gonna be like, this is great.
But every day this week, I'm like, why did I say yes to this? Yes. That's all I can think. I'm like, I I gotta get on a plane, and I gotta pack this damn bag, and then I gotta prep the show ahead of time so that I can go and like Yeah. I don't wanna I don't wanna I don't wanna do this.
I don't wanna do this. And I swear to God, I'm gonna step on the ship, see the first person. They're gonna smile, and I'm be like, this is such a good idea. Yeah.
I'm going to move on to that boat, and I am going to think, okay. This is what we were supposed to do. Mhmm. But you better believe that every day until then, I'm gonna complain to my husband about how much fucking time he's spending working on that boat. You know?
This is your fault. If it goes wrong, I'm definitely blaming you. But I'll tell you, if you can't handle that, don't marry a lady. I'll tell you that right Yep.
Yep. So here is and what I one of the things I wrote down that I wanted to talk about was like and I this has been mentioned on your your podcast before, but like, our number one rule, like, the only rule for us is you do not blame the other person about anything to do with diabetes.
Yeah. It's good
for you. You know, that but, like, that doesn't extend to the rest of life.
No. No. Of course not. Blame it. I don't Everything else
is Yeah. Up for Absolutely.
My wife asks me why I do things sometimes, and I'm like, I've been doing it that way for twenty five years. You've never noticed before. Like, why does it matter today?
Because we've run out of other things.
Oh, she's and she's like, I would do it like this. I was like, feel free.
Yeah. Yep.
I'm not We I'm not married to
this. Like
this. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
No. No. I mean, I don't how long you've been married?
Fourteen years.
Oh, god. I got you beat by twice.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it feels like it's it feels like it's been so long and simultaneously, it's such a fucking drop in the bucket.
But we do we have been together for fourteen years and I do he is still my absolute everything. Like, he is the person for me. And I think that that's been a really beautiful part of this experience Mhmm. Is that it drives so many people apart. Yeah.
Sure. It it's so hard. It's so hard.
The Divorce Statistic57:56
The the stat that I was told when we were diagnosed, when Orden was diagnosed, one in two marriages end in divorce, but two in three marriages end in divorce when they have a chronically ill child.
Yeah. That's Did your endocrin did your endocrinology office tell you that? Yeah. Because I think ours told us that. And I was like, why are you saying that?
Yeah. I did. I was not thrilled when it was brought up. I was like, hey. My kids had diabetes for three weeks.
Like, can you hold this good news for a couple of months maybe?
Fuck the fuck, bro.
Yeah. Having said that, I've said this before, we were in the first carb counting class in the hospital. And my wife and I walked out of it. We were dizzy. And she said, is Arden gonna be able to have babies?
And I said, do you think we're gonna get divorced?
Oh, god.
Yeah. That that's what I said. Well, that's what we that's what we said to each other walking from the carb counting in class back to our daughter's hospital room. Oh, man. It's upbeat.
I'll tell you.
Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot about this that's upbeat.
Can I share this with you, Maybe this is a great place to say this? I I have not said this out loud to my wife yet, so maybe I'm feeling this way, and I'm wrong. But we'll be in August, we'll be married for thirty years.
Wow.
And, we got married early, so I'm still pretty young. I mean, young compared to young compared to 90 year olds, not compared to actual young people. And, I am starting to have a feeling well, I shouldn't put this on paper. I should probably leave me in three minutes after I say this. But I'm starting to I'm starting to feel like this is the beginning of the part where we, like, just have got so much time together that everything feels really comfortable.
Yeah. You you know, like, when old when you see old people together and they just, like, they're happy, like that. Yeah. Like Yeah. I feel like this is the infancy of that part.
Yeah. That's so beautiful.
I hope so. But she might be downstairs being like, you know, I gotta get rid of this guy.
She's she's actually writing out her list of demands Yeah. Right now.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She's like, oh, you know what I'm gonna tell the lawyer? He can keep this, but I'm taking this.
Yeah. The house.
Yeah. Yeah.
The Oakland fridge. Yeah. For his GLP one pen.
He's he can keep his GLP in his pants. I think that's fair. Yeah. And I'm up here going, like, it feels like the beginning of forever.
Yeah. Yeah. That's how marriage is. At least sometimes you gotta be on the same page, but you can trade off other times.
We're just really synced up now. Like, it feels like we finally really know each other. I know I know that's a weird thing to say, but, like No.
I no. It isn't. Because how long does it take you to know yourself? You know?
Yeah. I mean, I just got to that recently. Right.
Yeah. Like, I'm just learning, and I'm almost 40. So I I I it does it takes a long time. And I do think that that having chronically ill children or a child does speed up the process, and that's why so many people get divorced, because it just takes you down to brass tacks. Right?
Yeah. Like, you are life I mean, we had a situation we were at at camps designed for, like, some respite for type one diabetics. It's a great camp, but they serve really high carb food, and it was really challenging. We don't eat low carb, but we eat lower co carb than that. Our kids' numbers were all over the place.
One of them, for the first time ever, he he crashed so hard. He was at 24, and he was passed out, and we were know, you we had to do backseemee, and and it was one of those moments that you have very rarely, but that you do sometimes have where where you just wonder if they're gonna make it. Mhmm. And and Ben and I looked at each other afterwards, and and we just had we had handled it together
Yeah.
As a team.
Yeah.
And that ages your marriage, like, four years in five minutes. Because either you're gonna handle it together as a team, and you're gonna walk out of it like, I love you so much.
Right.
Thank you for being my partner.
Yeah.
Or you're gonna hate each other.
Oh, no.
Yeah. Yeah. I think that's part of, you know, it's like a crucible.
I feel like again, I don't wanna speak for Kelly, but I feel like we're at the part now where, you know, we'll hold hands and walk into a volcano one day.
Yeah.
Yeah. Like, so but I I'm excited about this part. Extra, I I I'm happy to say this. You said you lost 50 pounds. You didn't say how.
But I I I think the GLP is really is gonna make the last part of my life a lot better.
Yeah. Yeah.
GLP, and Getting Back to Herself1:02:22
So
So I so I went on tirzepatide, and what it's done for me is it's also really helped with my just like my mental clarity. Like, and I just read a a article that people are saying this, that it helps with ADHD. It's better than any SSRI I've ever tried. It has just made it possible for me to focus on the things I wanna focus on, you know? Mhmm.
Walking every day for an hour, doing that stuff, get you know, it's been life changing in so many ways.
Yeah. I had a a a somebody close to me, started on it recently. They're just on a low dose. And I just said this in an episode the other day, but I'm gonna say it one more time because I think it was really interesting. She's got a a nervous stomach and is on a medication for that.
Right? And and she said I said, what are some of the benefits you saw this week? And she said, I haven't taken one panic shit. And I was like I was like, no kidding. She was like, haven't run to the bathroom once this week.
Wow. Was like, good for you. You should have saw how happy she was.
Yeah. Yeah.
You know? Like so Yeah. Know? Oh, that's amazing. Yeah.
Just small things. I again, I don't know what I'm talking about. I barely got through high school. But if it's not lowering people's inflammation and impacting things in all kinds of, like, interesting ways, I I I'm I'm crazy, you know.
So Yeah.
So we'll see.
No. It it is an amazing thing. And yeah. And it enables you to to, like, get through that initial really hard part where a lot of people get stuck.
Yeah. No. No.
You know? And and I think also as medical parents, sometimes you're just look like, I would get to the end of the day, and I would have just you know, it's it's it's a madhouse here. Mhmm. Like like, you can imagine. Right?
I have three little kids, 10 and under with type one diabetes, who are running around and jumping and mad and sad, happy and sad. The alarms are going off all day. I'm triaging almost every day Mhmm. With something huge. And I would get to the end of the day, and I wouldn't have really eaten, but but I then I would be by myself.
And how I was, like, giving myself love was by, like, eating a bunch of cupcakes. Mhmm. You know? Yeah. Eating bread and cheese for an hour.
Right? Like, that was the only space I had for giving myself some something nourishing Yeah. Emotionally and physically. And and this kinda and and I was really attached to that in a lot of ways. Mhmm.
And so this the experience my experience with Strengths Upside is it just kinda like it cut down that that noise and that need, and it gave me space to get back to myself.
Yeah. Also, it's probably so sad. You're probably eating cupcakes, filling the dishwasher, and then
passing out. Right? Like And like watching,
like, get oh, fuck. I'm gonna be
up all night because, you know I mean, like, because someone's high or someone's low or
you
know? And you're just kinda like yes.
Anyway That would've killed you eventually. Don't worry.
Yeah. Yep. Yep. Well, I here I am, still staying.
Well, the good news is you sound too tired to make more kids. So Well,
we did take care of that surgically.
Oh, I was gonna say. Yeah. Yeah.
Probably smart. There. Yeah. Yeah. They are great, but but it would be it would be another diabetic boy.
The world does need more, but I'm not gonna
be You you you're not gonna you're not responsible for
for filling them up. Other way. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Also, I gotta think a boy who would jump on a sailboat and sail to The Caribbean seems really sexy. Right?
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. My husband is He's tricking something.
He's tricking you. And he's
probably smart. Man I know.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Brilliant. He's a he's a an excellent lawyer. He can fix anything. He's fabulous.
And, you know, I mean, we started looping, speaking of diabetes, in 2018 with a two year old. And our endocrinology practice the the head of the endo practice called my husband and said, we're not gonna support you in that. You're gonna kill your kid.
Oh, in Maine.
In Maine
too. Right? Yes. I gotcha. Yeah.
Yeah.
So so then we called Boston Children's, and and they were like, of course, we'll take you.
You know, it's in the ADA it's in the ADA guidelines now that they should they should support people using do it yourself algorithms.
I didn't know that.
Yeah. They just put that in the the guidelines. People have been fighting to get that in for a while. It's really
cool. Wow. Yep. It is really cool. I mean, the the world of diabetes advocacy is really cool, and I I haven't had any, like, time to dip my toe in.
Though I do hope that that somehow on this trip I can kind of wrap in, like, some advocacy. But I it is amazing what people accomplish, and it's so true because because Loop has Loop made it so that we could get some sleep, some nights.
Yeah.
Right? If we had just been on the Medtronic or whatever, the Omnipod, you know, initial offering, we wouldn't have slept ever.
Right. No. It would have it would have eliminated shots, and it would have given you control of, like, temp baseling and stuff like that. But I don't know. Like, listen.
You would have to be pretty special to act as an algorithm for three different kids. You know? Like, setting temp yes.
I I don't I I
don't think I could do that either. That's that sounds mind numbing, especially because you're still also being their parent and their Yeah. Yeah. And all the things aside of diabetes.
And you're trying to run a household, you know? Yeah. You're you're doing all that. And and because we're in Maine, you know, it's a it's a pretty small there aren't a lot of people here. There aren't a lot of people who have.
I think we're the only people in the state who have more than two kids in a family with type one. So you don't have a real I I I have a great group of moms who they each have one type one. We've got a great text thread. But but that's what's a little lonely about it sometimes is that even I I found myself we were at that diabetes camp, we had that huge crash out, and we were sitting in the parent support, like, room, and I was like, oh, I'm actually jealous of everyone here because they only have one kid.
Yeah. How crazy is I was how crazy is that parents with a child with type one diabetes don't really understand your situation.
Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because you just can't.
So let alone, like, your average bear. You know?
No. No kidding. Oh, it it just hit me the way you said it like that. Like, even like, in the niche of a niche of a niche, you're still a niche. Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah. I I mean, like, what are the chances? You know? What are I they're really low. They can't be good.
20,000,000 or something. Be good.
One in 6.8 Million1:08:45
Can they? Is there a way for us to figure that out? Because they I
think there's a there's a way we
can figure it. Can't be good chances. Hold on a second. What, let's see if we can do this. What's the statistical chance of having a child with type one diabetes?
How does it change if you have four kids? This is what I wanna know.
I wanna know this too.
Yeah. Let I'll ask our overlords and see what happens. By the way, this this thing's gonna ruin, like, legal assistance. Yeah.
Yeah. Claude has eliminated all lawyer needs. Yeah.
That's crazy. How are they gonna learn? Oh, isn't that how you learn by doing the lower stuff?
Yes. Yeah. No. I think it's a disaster for the legal profession. Yeah.
I think I if I were in law school I mean, if I were, like, in my first year of law school right now, I think I would pivot real fast.
Well, I mean or somebody's gonna have to nerve have the nerve to run a to run a shop where they don't use it and so that people can continue to learn. Or or Yeah. Or have the nerve to pay people to do redundant work so they can learn. No known t one d family history per child risk one in three hundred, which is point three three percent. Chance at least one of four, one point three percent, one in seventy five.
Hold on. While I'm reading this, I'll tell it. Now tell me the chances of three of four children. I'll read through the rest of these while it's doing the math on that. Also, I'm using chat GPT for this.
Yeah. I was
wondering with the clot or chat
I I don't listen. My clot is is personal between me and him. I don't I don't let other people into my Claude. Okay? And that that's that.
That's for me. Okay? Y'all can't have that. That is exactly how I feel. First
degree That's my friend.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. No kidding. Do you see Claude made my website over? Yeah.
First degree relative with type one, one in twenty, five percent. You don't even have any of this, but if you had a first degree relative, it would it goes to one in twenty from one in three hundred, basically, per child. It that would give you a eighteen point five percent chance of all, of one in four having it. A father has type one, puts you at one in seventeen. Mother has type one child born before she was 25, one in twenty five.
Mother has type one child before born after she was 25, one in a hundred. That's interesting.
Yeah. That's fascinating.
Both parents have type one, ten to twenty five percent. Now here's here's where we care about. Right? Assuming you mean exactly three out of four children using the general population estimate of one in three hundred per child with no known family history, the math is my god. The math is crazy.
Your you have a one in six point eight million chance for a family of four children to have three kids with type one diabetes.
Yeah. It's Aren't I lucky?
It's point zero zero zero zero one four eight percent. That's that's just Yeah. Yeah. Sorry.
The Toothpick Saga1:12:01
Yeah. What about if what about the chance of then one of those children having a toothpick stuck in their foot?
Okay. Hold on a second. You're making a good Yeah. What are the chances of one of those four children of getting a toothpick stuck in the bone in their foot in a home alone style attack. I don't think it's gonna have an answer for that, but since we're here, I wanna look.
Yeah.
I can tell you there's a hundred percent chance of it happening.
It's gonna happen at my house again next week. By the way, do you punish the kid who put the toothpicks in?
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, the the the toothpicks weren't geared towards towards any it was it was like a this is what you know, I don't even really know what was going on in her head. It was not geared towards anyone in particular, but that child did lose, all privileges, was not allowed to go to birthday parties, and and did all of the chores of the other child, and had to stick by that child's side day and night for four months. So Wow.
There were certain I mean, because because, like, you have to learn that, you know, impact is different than intention, and the impact here was so wild. My child had the the kid who had the tickling his butt had two surgeries, a six day hospital stay. You know? It was like, it has been a nightmare.
Yeah. I think for all of you who are still not sure about AI, I I wish you could see the thoughtful answer it gave about my stupid question.
Wait. What it say? What did
it say? There is no real statistical table for a child gets a toothpick stuck in the bone of their foot during a home alone style attack. Medicine tracks things like plantar puncture wounds, retained foreign bodies, infection, and osteomyelitis.
Yes. Yeah. He had that. Okay. He had osteomyelitis.
Not not, and this is in quotes, Kevin McAllister assault by toothpick events, which by the way, I didn't mention Kevin McAllister in my question. But the math structure would be this, chances at least one of four children has an event. It shows you the math where you would use to figure that out. For rare events, that's basically four times p. So if the chance for one child were made up, so made up per child risk, one in ten thousand, chances of at least one in four children, one in twenty five hundred.
A real world anchor plantar puncture wounds themselves are not insanely rare. One emergency medicine survey found that forty four percent of survey patients reported at least one previous plantar puncture, excuse me, plantar puncture wound, though that includes normal stuff like nails, glass, thorns, splinters, etcetera. In that study, ten infections occurred among a hundred and fifty six wounds. It gives, you know, links where you can go read more about that. Foot puncture wounds infections are often cited around, around up to ten percent, and the bone infection infection or the osteomycitis, is a known but much rare complication.
You can go to a a PubMed article to learn more about that. But a toothpick penetrating deeply enough to lodge in a bone in is way, way narrower than stepped on something sharp. So the honest answer is statistically unknowable, but almost certainly far less likely than one of four kids getting type one diabetes and likely closer to a freak accident territory than normal household risk, unless, of course, one of the children lives with Kevin McAllister. Then all bets are off, it says. So you
can Thank you.
You can make fun of AI if you want to. Think that's awesome. Yeah.
That is awesome. Yeah. Thanks. That is awesome. We this this experience with the toothpick would like, was so wild that then there was this dark turn where they finally found the toothpick lodged in the foot.
You can't see wood on x-ray and ultrasound, but those were the only imaging that they did. Mhmm. So finally, he still can't walk. It's April. They do this the MRI.
They find a piece of wood. The the doctor goes in to get the piece of wood, and next to the piece of wood, there's very clearly on the MRI a spot of osteomyelitis, which is a bone infection. And the poor doctor biopsies the wrong part of the bone. So she doesn't get a sample of the bone infection. So then we don't know what bacteria caused the bone infection.
So then we're in the hospital on IV antibiotics for my poor, know, nine year old trying to figure out what antibiotics we should even be giving the kid because they biopsied the wrong part of this teeny tiny bone in this teeny
tiny type one diabetic foot. She's probably in there. She's like, I don't see this damn toothpick. I'm like Oh
my god. Yeah.
She's got a life too. I think about that all the time. You started talking about doctors and what they don't know. I think about it a different way. I think she's in there.
She's looking in that kid's foot, and in the back of her head, her her dog just got hit by a car, and her husband wants to go for a thing. Like, she got a whole life too. Totally. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Then and she's trying she's digging around in there, and she got it's the week before her period. She feels bloated.
Oh my god.
Yeah. Yeah. She's like, oh god. Like, I just I don't know how anything's getting done. That's that's all.
You know, we we have we do, like, a concierge doc through our insurance now, and and she came into our lives and has become, like, a dear friend. And and that has been, like, so helpful in giving grace to doctors because she has her whole life going on that I now have a little peek into. You know? Yeah. And then at the same time, she has my texts.
Okay. Now we're at 2.1 ketones, and he's still throwing up. I've given him the Zofran. What do you think? Should I head to the ER?
You know? And then her kid's screaming in the background because he also has so I I agree. They're only human.
It's just a it's a it's a tough situation. It it it genuinely is. I, you know, I go back and forth on it, and I don't I certainly want people to work. I think I could tell you that I think that people are inherently better when they have tasks and things they're proud of and things to get up to do and all that stuff. But some of this stuff is gonna be better when, you know, when a computer Yeah.
When a
computer is
making yeah. When the robots take over. Yeah. Yeah. Because Yeah.
Because, again, I I don't know how many times I can say it. You can't hold all that information in your head and and this thing can.
No. And that Right.
That's that's the difference.
So Right. Well, and that's and and I've I've actually relistened to your your interview with doctor Beach Gem, the other day.
Yeah.
I don't know. Was that December or something? And I was thinking about what you guys were talking about and how, you know, you were saying you come out of med school and you you can only ever have, like, pieces of something, and yet we walk into the ER expecting them to know everything about everything.
That's insane. Yeah. It's But it would be like if I said to you, you need to understand all the code and law
that Right.
Yeah. It off the top of your head. And not not just off the top of your head, but by the way, I want I wanna be able to send a crying child who's bleeding from his leg into a room while the mother's standing over his shoulder. And I'm gonna yell at you about different passages of law, and you need to, like, get them right the first time, and it has to apply to the thing I asked you. Can't you can't
be Yeah.
That's insane. I mean, it's it's great, and I'm happy people do it. But if you don't think that that can be judged up a little bit, you're not paying attention to how all this works. Yeah. So Yeah.
You know what I Go ahead. Go ahead. I'm sorry.
I I mean, I just think that AI should just exclusively be for medical purposes. That's I think we should just regulate it so that it's just because it has so many fascinating, fabulous medical applications. What's not so fabulous about it is, you know, people, only communicating with their husbands via text that Claude wrote for them.
I Well, that stuff is freaking me out. Like like, I'm I'm like, I don't think anybody's even talking to each other Like Yeah. Your your AI is talking to their AI. Like Right. We we don't do we need you?
Or, you know, like like, what and and that's a a disturbing consideration. I also if it's gonna pick bombing targets, I'd like a person to look over it. Stuff like stuff like that.
Yeah. Yeah. Fair.
But but if it's just if it's just parsing through a ton of static information and say and delivering back what is, like, appropriate, then let's put all the money into figuring out how to do that well. Like, Right. That I think is a great idea. I just don't know that I just don't know that top down that's how we think about health. No.
Like, like, it's easy to say you know, it used to be all the time people would talk about, like, I gotta let you go. This has been forever. But, like, people talk all the time about, like, you know, we don't do preventative enough.
Yeah.
Humans don't do preventative. Like, it's Right. It's it's not a failing of the health care system. It's how people think. Like, people think like your husband.
Like, it's gonna be okay. Let's go.
Like
like, go go go go. No one thinks I should probably eat well today so that I don't get colon cancer forty years from now. Yeah. No one's thinking like that.
Yeah. No. Yeah. No. Because we're just humans.
We're all just humans.
Yeah. Nothing wrong with it. But, like, you know, like, it's just I I'm stunned by how many people I interview where I'm like, did you not like like, what because I'm a parent of a child with type one. When when her blood sugar goes up, I think about twenty five years from now.
Right.
But if if but I always try to put myself in the if it was me, I don't think I would think that way. And Yeah. And yet and yet when you interview somebody and you say, like, hey. When you had an a one c of 11 for four years, were you ever thinking, like, I'm doing damage to myself? And they they often go, no.
Not really. And it's not and I don't think it's because they don't care or they weren't trying like, I don't think it's any of that real. I just think it's how people's brains are wired. Like, let's go. I can do it.
I think that's where that phrase, I don't let diabetes stops me, comes from. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
There are some people who mean, don't let diabetes stop me, so I take the bag with me. I'm ready in case something goes wrong. I pre bolus my meals, and that that's me not letting diabetes stop me. I think there are other people who say, well, I just ignore it cause I don't let diabetes stop me.
Yeah.
And, you know, again, all very human stuff. So alright. Yeah. I think it's fair to say that if my wife and your husband go, we should probably get together. I mean, this Yeah.
Yeah. We obviously, we get along very well.
Lot in common.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I I mean, the rest of it, I'm not I'm not paying for kids. I just wanna I just want you to know that upfront, especially yours.
Mine are really expensive.
Yours sound extra expensive.
Yeah. Yeah. The cost per child is high here. So I wouldn't blame you. But he'll have life insurance.
You might wanna go more north and try to find even, a cheaper place to live if you possibly. But you seriously do you ever think of moving somewhere that
We we think about it a lot. Yeah. Yeah.
I mean Yeah.
I think especially as they get older, if we don't have a functional health care system in this in this country before it's you know, before they kind of age out of of our insurance and whatever else, we'll need to bring them somewhere where they can survive.
Where do you think of that as being?
Canada seems very appealing if they'll take us.
Where?
Canada.
Okay.
Ireland, you know, we we've got some we've got some Irish roots.
You got a stake there? Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. So we've got some we've we keep trying to get our our we have one parent in particular who could get citizenship, and we're really leaning on that hard. My sister's in Spain, and once she gets her citizenship, because she married a Spaniard, I think we could kind of do a chain migration thing at some point down the line to get us over there.
Do you really think this could happen?
I do. Yeah. Or we can water world it and just
Just live on the live on the boat.
Live on Grace Hill Valley Pull
out of boat. Pull into the port.
That's right. Yeah. Yep. Just go buy that insulin over the counter and, eat low carb, and we'll be fine.
It's okay. Everything will be fine. Everything will be fine. Everything's fine. Thank you.
It's fine. Yeah. Yeah.
Oh my god. Alright. You're awesome. I really appreciate you doing this. Thank you.
Much. That was really fun.
Awesome. I'm glad you have a good time. Hold on one second. Okay?
Yes. Yeah.
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