Scott Benner 1/22/24 Scott Benner 1/22/24

#1112 Grand Rounds: Food and Nutrition

The fourth Grand Rounds discussion focuses on food and nutrition.

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Scott Benner 0:00
Hello friends, and welcome to episode 1112 of the Juicebox Podcast

Welcome back everyone to the Grand Rounds series with myself and Jenny Smith. You know sometimes I just think everybody knows Jenny So I forget to introduce her properly, but Jennifer Smith has lived with type one diabetes since she was a child. She has first hand knowledge of the day to day events that affect diabetes management. Jenny holds a bachelor's degree in Human Nutrition and biology from the University of Wisconsin. She's a registered and licensed dietitian, a certified diabetes educator and a certified trainer and most make some models of insulin pumps, and continuous glucose monitoring systems. She is also all over this podcast from the Pro Tip series to defining diabetes, to ask Scott and Jenny. Also call her a friend. And I think she's one of the smartest people I know about managing type one diabetes, you can hire Jenny at integrated diabetes.com. Please remember that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan are becoming bold with insulin. Don't forget to save 40% off of your entire order at cozy earth.com. All you have to do is use the offer code juice box at checkout that's juice box at checkout to save 40% at cosy earth.com This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by ag one drink ag one.com/juice box. When you use my link and place your first order, you're gonna get a welcome kit, a year supply of vitamin D and five free travel packs. This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by us med U S med.com/juice box or call 888721151. For us med is where my daughter gets her diabetes supplies from and you could to use the link or number to get your free benefit check and get started today with us met. Today we're going to talk about food to just briefly go over so far we've gone over hospitals diagnosis, insulin and safety today food should be a slightly shorter episode, although I expect you to go off on some sort of a tangent at some point. So maybe it'll take a little longer. The reason I thought that you'd have a lot to say about this is because obviously your background in nutrition. So we have a few pieces of feedback from the listeners about what they prefer, what they would have preferred to hear from doctors, we'll go through a little bit of that we'll talk about it from a couple different perspectives, and we'll we'll let people get back to their lives.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 2:50
I really liked the feedback from people, especially in this because I think I think it offers a lot of perspective of knowing now what people know, and what would have been really helpful. And I think food is a big place. I mean, it's one of the three things that helps manage diabetes.

Scott Benner 3:12
So I agree, I think for this episode for these episodes, specifically, having someone go through it not knowing what they should want or need. And then having them live long enough to think back and go, Oh, you know, what would have really helped back then. And sending in that information is great, right? This person says I wish I would have known in the initial phase with MDI that my toddler can have up to five grams of uncovered carbs for a snack. I came home from the hospital terrified to feed him anything, but meat and cheese. Wow. This is this is interesting, isn't it? Because a new diagnosis may assume some honeymooning and, but But telling somebody they don't need to Bolus for anything under over under five carbs is really giving it's really setting up the quiet expectation that we think you're going to get low. Or we're okay with you being higher one or the other. Right?

Jennifer Smith, CDE 4:07
Correct. That's it's a good assumption. Yes. But it also creates a lot more confusion. Right, right. Because I guarantee that nobody said that as long as it's under five grams of carb. You don't have to Bolus for it. They didn't go on to say, but if you add up multiple things that are under five grams, and you eat them all at once, then you need to Bolus because the complete total is well more than five grams. And I guarantee that wasn't clarified.

Scott Benner 4:35
Right? That's an assumption that doctor will make like, oh, that they'll understand that. I don't mean you know, if you have five grams at two o'clock and then five grams to 230 and etc. But there's no reason to think anybody would understand that. Correct? None. Yeah. And it sets up long term problems. Because now in their mind forever and ever anything under five carbs doesn't. It doesn't need insulin, and then they see a high blood sugar. I bet they don't even put two and two together at that point,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 5:00
and they wonder unless they're paying enough attention to and have a continuous monitor, that they've really tried to pay attention to some trends or things that are, you know, happening over and over again, in those early days or weeks. Absolutely.

Scott Benner 5:17
It's just a good example of if you can, outsmart yourself. So if you over I'm not saying every doctor does this, but we know what happens you over basil somebody because you don't believe that they're going to count their carbs correctly, or Bolus on time or whatever you whatever you're imagining isn't going to happen. And then you give them this piece on top of that, they now have to, I mean, two things that are gonna send them down the wrong path and create confusion for the rest of their lives. Right, and

Jennifer Smith, CDE 5:42
some clarification there too. I mean, a lot of this is, if you're just clear upfront with some simple pieces, about insulin, about food about the variables, and even just a couple of the variables, especially for little kids, the explanation of what we might tell you right now, because sensitivity for your three year old child is going to be high, that maybe they can get away with a couple of grams of carb to nibble in between, you know, toddlers, I mean, they grab something, or they want something. I mean, they don't just sit down to a big meal three times a day, right? So you know, it brings in the idea that, well, if they want one cracker, and it's two grams, they can have that and you don't have to worry about having to give insulin for it. But then again, the understanding that that's going to change. Right now, they might not need insulin, they might be going through honeymoon. But eventually that five grams is meat, it needs to be counted.

Scott Benner 6:44
The other thing here, I mean, no disrespect to the person who was kind enough to send in the question or the statement, but they now have a misgiving. They do like she now thinks like, listen to the words. I wish I would have been told that my toddler can have up to five grams of uncovered carbs. Yeah, not true. Like Like, yeah, it might be true in that situation. Maybe the kids honeymooning, but you need all the context of that. But now moving forward. This is how she speaks. He or she speaks about it when when she says it out loud. She's got a misgiving. I'm sorry. I'm just assuming moms are the ones listening to this podcast. Not that guy's dads are a lot of dads. I know. It's funny, like I'm a dad. And I just assumed no, there's no dads listening. But. But she's got this misgiving. And now when she goes out in the public, she's spreading it. Because she's telling us like, you need to let people know, your kid's gonna have five cards that are covering, like, okay, like, so here we are, we're spinning down a rabbit hole, and nobody's ever going to get back out of it.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 7:49
And someone that may have read it and knows better already, at this point from what they've seen and dealt with thus far. can absolutely say, well, that's not the case. And may chime back in and say, Well, you know, especially, you know, with your group, they're really great about

Scott Benner 8:06
going off each other. Oh, no, they're fantastic and helping each other. However, why did I set this up to tell you this one first, because here's the next one. It's a fantastic. Even three grams of a snack, like a small cheese puff package. We have to cover that. Even within days after diagnosis, we found out real quickly, there's no such thing as a free snack.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 8:30
There you go. Absolutely. So good. Yeah, absolutely. And it just, it justifies the, the idea that individualization of the information that you give, which is really hard at initial diagnosis, you can't get to know somebody in that tiny amount of time where you're trying to give them some, save yourself or save your child kind of information. Because that's really what it is at initial diagnosis, right? They're setting you up to get you going to get you out the door to get you home. And then to be able to connect with somebody that can give you the broader scope of let's call it the correct information. Yeah, hopefully, yeah.

Scott Benner 9:14
Hopefully, you'll find a next person who will go a little deeper with you. But again, a lot of this, a lot of these episodes to me are about what happens when you say these kinds of just offhanded things in the first days or weeks, and you leave people like, like the one person figured it out, and the other person didn't figure it out. And they're both listening to this podcast. So even that didn't help completely. No, this person says, I'd like my doctor to know that my son doesn't need to be on a low calorie diet to achieve a Grade A one say somebody was told to limit calories frequency.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 9:49
That's where you said, you know, you'll wait for me to go off on a tangent. This might be my tangent, honestly. Because, depending on what facility You get diagnosed at and I'm, I'm speaking more toward the kid and teenage kind of facility, right? Because nobody anymore really pays attention to nutrition needs of a growing child or a growing teen. And I said nobody, that's not 100% Correct. But less and less I see that parents have an understanding when I get to work with somebody finally. And my question comes up, well, what parameters? Were you given for portions? Right? Because just because you can eat food and cover it with insulin, doesn't mean you need three packages of something. Right? And so initially, that's something that should be set up sooner than later, is the concept of containment of portion. Yeah. And it's not, it's a lot of just centered around carbohydrate thinking, centered around how to count the carbohydrates, with no idea that somebody needs this much, or the 13 year old needs this much in the 18 year old who plays you know, field hockey five days a week needs this much. There is a major variance, but no, just cover your carbohydrates, whatever you're choosing to eat.

Scott Benner 11:19
I don't know that this would come to a shock to anybody. But Jenny and I talk privately. Fair, a fair amount. I think that what I saw in my life is the way I grew up. In the beginning, they tried, here's some chicken, here's some beans, like, have a salad boba. And the minute we push back as kids, they were like, Screw it. And then when money got tight, it all went to, like, processed prepackaged. And you can probably I don't know the dates, but I think in my childhood lifetime, you can look back to where processed foods became more and more prevalent, and ugly, and they were cheaper, and they were more convenient. And then my parents went to that before you knew it. Like you know, you weren't making something from scratch anymore. You were making it from a package or box. How amazing is this? Look, you just dumped this into water and add meat, Mike? Okay. Yeah. I want to say I've never liked Hamburger Helper, I will not eat it. But that is what um, but that is the thing that somebody was like, here, look dinner. It's got meat in it, like, you know. And so when that's all going on, and your body gets rewired to just like, I don't know, to crave those things. That that's tough then, because now these portion control problems are insane. And I only have perspective about it. 40 years later, because I'm taking a GLP one and my brain works differently now. Right? Right. Kelly and I were out last Saturday. It's Friday. Now last Saturday, we were out and we got this like we saw this chocolate cupcake. It was like chocolate cake with chocolate icing. And it was big. It was like four around and we were like we can split this. Sure. Three goddamn days later, we couldn't eat the damn thing. Like we were like taking a fork full out of it and being like, Oh, that was good. That's enough and putting it down. But if I'm not on this GLP we probably would have like, fought each other with the forks to get to the rest of the cupcake that we would have been gone in a couple of minutes. Correct. Then so you now you're giving this stuff to your kids. They're like, Let's go like and it's not them. It's their. It's their wiring. It's their, you know, it's the I hate to sound like a hippie, but it's the way it kind of restructures your gut to want these like carbs and all this stuff that goes with it. Absolutely Sugar,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 13:33
Sugar. There is there is something to be said about sugar addiction. It's a real thing. 100% It is. And so again, if I were to go off on a tangent, it's it's definitely about the fact of today's life is busy. It's even busier than when these processed packaged all convenience, you know, you brought up a hamburger helper. And the reason it was there was because well we've got these dehydrated, like peas mixed in with noodles that you just have to pop in and Oh, then your ground beef. All you have to do is mix it together and you've got a complete meal. Yeah, we've got everything that you need within 15 minutes.

Scott Benner 14:11
But that's not good for you. It's just not it's not good. And I think that more and more, we are eating food that is not it's not fueling us. It's not actually providing nutrition. And I'm not against saying that I think people are having other issues that are probably nutrition based that we're not even aware of at this point, correct? Yeah. Arden has been getting her diabetes supplies from us med for three years. You can as well, US med.com/juice box or call 888-721-1514 My thanks to us med for sponsoring this episode and for being longtime sponsors of the Juicebox Podcast. There are links in the show notes and links at juicebox podcast.com to us Med and all the sponsors.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 14:55
Absolutely. But I think it compounds it then when you know URL In diagnosis, you've not been given the information about what your body actually needs, even on a caloric level. And by no means do I ever really recommend anybody count calories. It's tedious. It's it's just not purposeful, but understanding portions are visible. Your child needs this many portions of this in a day. Your child needs this many portions of this, making sure to emphasize that these foods should be real food.

Scott Benner 15:29
Yeah, right. Yeah. So those are the words rattling in my head. While you're talking. I, you know, you do this long enough. And, you know, you know what you're gonna say next sometimes. And while you're speaking right there, I thought when she stops, I'm going to say real food. That's exactly what I was just thinking. So portions important, right? You can't just you don't want to be taking in 10s of 1000s of calories, when that's not what you need to get by, you are going to have an issue with your weight if you do that. But also, you're gonna end up using more insulin, that then very well may cause lows later that will cause you to need to eat again to like, bring it back up. But the problem we're trying to figure out here is what should doctors be saying to people? To a not? Because you don't want the people to hear? Oh, yeah, okay, I'll have four ounces of chicken and a salad and three beans. And I'll never drink soda again, like, because if the doctor leads with that, the people who don't want to hear that are gonna be like, Man, nevermind, not listen to that. The people who already eat that way are like, Yeah, cool. That's what we eat anyway, no big deal. Right? I really think that you should lead with real food, reasonable portions. I think that's enough to get people going. Right?

Jennifer Smith, CDE 16:41
Correct. Absolutely. And I think within that, to the understanding that I think a lot of I know that a lot of parents also feel like all of a sudden there are these restrictions that are going to be in their child's life. And so they try to make up for these restrictions very early on, by not restricting in one of the places that there should be restricted.

Scott Benner 17:08
I understand it, by the way, I'm not, I'm not, I would never come down. But I know you don't want there to be like these grand changes to your lifestyle, but I think it is worth mulling over privately, we were on a bad path, it just got shown to us earlier, because of the diagnosis, this path was going to lead you to a bad place eventually, but your body probably would have hammered through it for 10 or 15 years, then you might have got a couple of medications that got you a little farther. And then somebody would have been said, take our proton pump inhibitor, if you've got, you know, reflux and and maybe you would have got through it until finally one day in your 50s you would have been like I can't like it the medicines not helping. And I can't fight through this anymore. I've got pre maybe I'm working up on some type two diabetes, you know, or all the other things that come mobility and problems like that. You're just finding out earlier. So there's a way to think about that as a bonus. I know that's a weird thing. But you can say like, you know, I or my kid was diagnosed at least now I know, this food is like I think diabetes is just shining a light on the fact that you're eating things that aren't beneficial for you sometimes. And yes, you know what? I mean? Does that make sense? No,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 18:23
it does. Absolutely. I've said that and thought that many times myself. I mean, if I wasn't diagnosed when I was with type one, I'm sure my career path would have been different. And would I have wanted to focus as much on overall like human health? I don't know, I originally wanted to be a veterinarian. So I don't know where that leaves nutrition information, right. But I'm very, I'm very happy for many reasons that I had to learn as much as I did. And obviously, where that led and how I can help people and everything. But I think that many people who live with some type of health condition, that lifestyle impact, you can start to learn a lot more about yourself and what, what makes a difference. And I mean, fortunate or unfortunate diabetes, it sure shows you a lot about the impact of food. Yeah,

Scott Benner 19:23
and I mean, we've talked about this before, but it's worth bringing up you some luck for you, right? Your mom was a person who grew food she cooked she took it seriously when the doctor told her this was What's up, you didn't push back terribly. Like Like, there's a lot that went your way. But my point is, is that, okay, some people aren't going to have that that's not going to be their trajectory. It doesn't mean you shouldn't tell them. Correct. They still deserve to know, because maybe something will happen later in the future. And they'll just like, get smacked in the head and think, oh, that's what they meant. And, you know, maybe I could be doing that. Maybe not fair enough. Like we're not going to save it anybody and I understand all that. But as the doctor, I think it's incumbent upon you to tell them the truth, without scaring them or making it sound like you're stealing something from them. And that's not going to be easy to do. But again, from my perspective, listening to you listen to other people, if you just preach real food at a reasonable amount, I think that's most of it, really, you know, cook your food, you should be able to look at it and see what it is and actually go that's chicken. I know what that is. That's chicken, right? You know, you look at Hamburger Helper, and you go, that's noodles, and peas, and is it. Keep reading, there's more in there, like ever notice you don't flip the chicken over and it doesn't say chemicals. It's a chicken. And even now, like people are smart enough to know, like, look, organic might be better because or no antibiotics that have been used or grass fed for some reasons. Like these are all reasonable ways to avoid pesticides and chemicals and things that again, I feel like I'm just I feel like I sound like Joni Mitchell's like, like guru you hear or something, which is just a reference nobody's gonna get at this point. But like, these things are going to change the microbiome in your gut. And you're going to end up one day with a headache, or an achy joint, and you're going to think, Oh, my wrist is hurt. And somehow it's going to be that those billions of little things living in your stomach have gotten messed up by something, somebody sprayed on something. I partnered with ag one because I needed a daily foundational nutritional supplement that supported my whole body health. I continue to drink at one every day because it works for me. Ag one is my foundational nutritional supplement. It gives me comprehensive nutrition, and it supports my whole body health. Drink, ag one.com/juice box, when you use my link to place your first order, here's what you're gonna get a free welcome kit that includes a shaker scoop and canister, five free travel packs, a free year supply of vitamin D, and of course, your ag one. So if you want to take ownership of your health, it starts with ag one, try ag one and get a free one year supply of vitamin D and five free ag one travel packs with your first purchase. Go to drink ag one.com/juice box that's drink ag one.com/juice box, check it out.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 22:22
You know, as I'm thinking about this, and where's the Introduction to Food started, it started at diagnosis. And majority of people with type one or younger people diagnosed with type one in a hospital setting are admitted. Right? What's your introduction to food? And what is possible to eat now that you have this new diagnosis that you're learning? Well, food has an impact on this. And now I have to pay attention to something called blood sugar or blood glucose. And we have to do these finger sticks and what the number pops up. Like, what is that? I mean, all of these thoughts are circulating around and then what comes in three times a day? Is the food from the cafeteria. Yeah, I know hospital food I worked in hospital cafeteria was when I was in college. And it's it's not

Scott Benner 23:15
It's garbage. Yeah, no, it's terrible. And it's not good for you. And by the way, that diabetic menu is ridiculous. It just it just limits you from choosing from like one portion of men, it's, you could still get apple juice if you wanted to. You know, like we live in a world now where you could walk outside and ask anybody? Hey, do you think you should drink fruit juice? And most people would go no, I've heard that's not a good idea. Right? The hospital hasn't heard why they didn't get to them. And then you realize the hospital's a private company. It's not good. I mean, it's they're trying to make money too and etc.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 23:48
Correct? Absolutely. But you know, I've, I've, I've had parents who've come to me and said, Well, you know, as we talked about this, like the process components and how to make things a little bit, you know, better overall. And, you know, I've heard it a couple of times will my child likes pancakes, and this is always happening. Okay, there's some alternatives. These are some ideas to still keep that in the picture. But they ate pancakes in the hospital. That's what they serve them after they were diagnosed now.

Scott Benner 24:17
If you're a physician, maybe a good place to start is to go back to your the board of directors or however you report things. Okay, look, I don't know how you expect me to put these people on a good path. If this is the garbage we're sending into their room as we're diagnosing them. You know, how am I supposed to stand there and go real food reasonable portions while they're eating pretend food? So under a dome that makes everything moist? Has anyone been often in the hospital ever? Like, oh, I don't want I'm hungry, but you handled it. I don't want this now. I know when

Jennifer Smith, CDE 24:50
we they actually looked at us like we had foreheads when we arrived for our first child to be born.

Scott Benner 24:57
There's no way Jenny didn't bring food whether you He weighed

Jennifer Smith, CDE 25:01
like three bags of groceries. And they looked at it like they looked at us, like, so weird, like these people who are these people? Where did they come from? What are they? Are they going to work in the food service and make their own?

Scott Benner 25:15
Ladies got a hot plate? I I remember asking you one time, Jenny, what do you do on road trips? And you were like, I bring food and I was like, oh, okay, I'm like, you don't stop at a gas station ever and get a Milky Way bar? And she was like, No. I don't do that. So, listen, I am not the picture of health, right? Obviously, I've been on a lifelong, a bad path. Somebody put me on and my bodies crave things and move me in directions, etc. But I'm doing much better now with literally just because of a GLP one medication. There's no other reason I wanted to. And I, I searched it out and everything. But even now, I found myself Jenny and I spoke together recently at an event in Texas. And I was at the airport. And I was hungry. And I stood at that thing at that airport. And I thought there's no food here. That's what I kept thinking that I can't even get a drink. If it's not a bottle of water. Like there's nothing here for me to eat. I grabbed a banana and I left. I was like, That is the only real food I see sitting here. Yeah, that was it in a giant kiosk where people were just like, grabbing things and going in different directions and everything or, and so I eat reasonably clean now. Right? And not like it's not the way you think of it. Like I'm not like, I don't know, it's not like a bro science guy or something like that. I'm not like drinking amino acids and powders and stuff. Like I've just, I just I stick to things that I can recognize. The other night someone said, let's get Chinese food. I couldn't even eat that much of it. Because I'm on a medication that tells my stomach it's full. Right? Listen between me and you. It was maybe 45 minutes after I ate the Chinese food where I was like, Hey, I gotta Excuse me. I gotta go. Excuse me a second. Because my body was like, this ain't right. And that was it. I was and I don't even want to say second. I don't want to be dainty. Like, I just get rid of this right now. It fascinating, like, absolutely fascinating. So no nutrition. I was eating for sport when I had that Chinese food. Basically. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, yeah. But again, do not tell newly diagnosed, they can eat whatever they want and just Bolus for it. Nobody should eat whatever they want. Not in today's world of crappy food. And I made a note to this. I said it's the right message with the wrong wording. Because I do understand telling people, listen, you can eat whatever you want. You just have to cover it with insulin, not only do I understand that, I've made a podcast about it. Correct? Right. I want people to understand how to use insulin. But that's from a heavier perspective than you think. Doctors say it. I'm guessing because they want you to use your insulin, I'm guessing they know you're not going to eat well to begin with. That's probably their expectation. And they probably don't want you to feel limited. I'm guessing those are about the three reasons. The reason I say it is because I think if you know how to use insulin, for whatever you're eating, that means you'll know how to use it for other things as well. And hopefully one day, you'll figure out the rest of it. But in case you don't, I want you to be able to cover Hamburger Helper because I don't want you to have poor nutrition and poor diabetes management. Right. That's where I'm Yeah,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 28:30
no, that's that's a good, very good clarification. I think from the doctor perspective of a new diagnosis, it's one of the thing it's sort of a feel good statement to hate it. It's yeah, they don't, you know, they don't want so much to change, because they know so much is going to change the fact that you don't have to change what you eat. Just make sure you take this medicine along with what you choose to eat. That's the blanket statement is you can eat whatever you want. Well, that's 100% True, as you're saying, but your level is learn to use insulin. So in the case of choosing something like Chinese food, or whatever, that you can actually manage the blood sugar, which has the impact on overall health.

Scott Benner 29:14
Right to my expectation, just to be very clear, is that I don't think most people are going to eat well. That's I hope they do. I really do. I don't think they're going to and in that case, I don't want them to be again, like poorly fueled and poorly like managing their type one though, because they have now they have two different problems instead of one different problem. And now we're just spiraling out of life. By the way. I don't see any difference between this bit of conversation here about a physician saying oh, don't worry, you can eat whatever you want. I don't see any difference between that statement and oh, I've heard there's going to be a cure. I think those are both meant very passionately like and compassionately Excuse me. Yes. But again, you you run the risk of starting somebody on the wrong path, which is don't worry, eat whatever you want. Well, people do not understand nutrition to begin with. They're like, oh, let's go, you know. And the same thing when you tell somebody like, oh, you know, I heard there's a cure these algorithms work so great, now you barely have to do anything. What people hear is I don't really have to pay attention to my diabetes. And that's the unintended message. So find a way to talk to them about food, without scaring them about it, putting them on the right path, without giving them a hall pass to eat whatever they want. Like, you got to use better words. It's all communication, really. So yeah,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 30:34
I always think, you know, at diagnosis, this, again, is, especially for kids and teens. I think a dietitian should be part of that. Team education, and in many cases it is. But I think what's left out still is the idea of, not only should it possibly be better food than maybe you're already eating, but also just how much does your kid need? Because if they go home with that, even if they are eating, you know, Doritos, or whatever it is, at least they know that the bag isn't the portion.

Scott Benner 31:12
Right? That opened it, and we're gone. And that was it. Yeah, no, people don't listen, diabetes taught that to my daughter. She's like, there's 15 in here. I went No 15 to the serving, how many servings are in it? And she's like, Oh, yep, yeah, but she was young. But she got to figure it out that way. Again, another benefit of I can't believe I'm saying this is another benefit of her getting type one diabetes art is actually a fairly healthy like, fit person. So let's go over this last little bit of feedback. And then I'm going to say something banned. And and then I want to finish with you. This person says, please just find out how people eat before you start their meal plan. Our doctor had our son snacking five to six times a day, which was not just unsustainable, but we're not snackers to begin with. So this is not a thing we used to do. They were literally telling them like, eat more. And they're like, we don't do that. She also says he or she says that we're also not junk food people. And so like snacking, see what she's saying is you made a snack, we went and got bad food to snack with because he can't cook a meal six times a day, which is the way we usually eat. And she also said, please stop telling people protein is free food and doesn't need insulin. Yeah, because it's not. I'm gonna say this, even though there are probably some incredibly low carb people who think that I am pushing insulin on people because I say I think you should know how to use insulin. I am not. And I so I'm going to just ask Jenny here to dispel the the idea that you need carbohydrates to grow. Because fell it? Well, I think you need some carbohydrates, but from the right foods. And I think that some people hear that and think, oh, Doritos counts, you know what I mean? It's, it's another one of those mixed muddled messages. Correct?

Jennifer Smith, CDE 32:55
Absolutely. Carbohydrates contain, especially the type of carbohydrates that should be being eaten, the vegetables and the fruits that should be being eaten in terms of carbohydrate content, they contain an enormous amount of antioxidants. The colors of the rainbow, are a phenomenal piece of the fruits and vegetables. And if you're aiming for lower carb, then you're aiming for the lower glycemic ones, you're not being carb free, or just being aware again, of how much of it are you eating, and you're eating those foods, not from an energy necessity standpoint, because the body can convert in a low carb environment, it can convert to using fat. And that's what many low carbers are doing. But you have to also talk with somebody who can really guide you in the right way for that, because you can really do it wrong, right?

Scott Benner 33:48
And then not be getting a nutrition that way. Correct? Absolutely. So then when doctors say you need carbs to grow, their concern is that if you do keto wrong, you're not going to have the nutrition you need.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 34:01
That would be my expectation, or that they really are just thinking that because the because the human body works very quickly and easily off of carbohydrate, but it's a quick burn, it goes in it goes out it goes in it goes out. And so if you have a really, really high carb intake above and beyond what you really honestly need, you're going to be on a constant roller coaster of hunger. And your brain is going to work off of carb and it's going to want want want want, right? Whereas if you moderate that, again, understanding what are your nutrition needs, what are your caloric needs, then your body can actually do very well. But you have to have balance, you have to know how to do that balance the right way.

Scott Benner 34:45
I'm afraid that I don't know how to do it well, but I also wouldn't lie and I'd say there are days that I fairly low carb were all like I mean, I've said on here a million times like I'll I'll smoke a couple steaks and slice them up and pick at them for days, you know, or something or something like that. But I'll still Fruit during the day are you know, I've come to starting to eat like coconut milk, yogurts and things like that. And I also supplement pretty reasonably like I'm covering my supplemental needs if I don't think I'm getting them through food. Again, that's an expense. It's not a thing people know about. I think some people think vitamins are no bullsh. I think some people think they're everything. I don't think there either. You know what I mean, you still got to eat. You can't just take a vitamin. That would be the Jetsons, that'd be the opening to the Jetsons, which is another reference, no one will know. Yes. Jenny might be,

Speaker 1 35:32
oh my gosh, I love the Jetsons. They were they were great. I used to be

Scott Benner 35:36
jealous because they'd get that pill that would come out of the machine. And then they'd cut it in half with their knife and eat it and then go about their day. And I thought, Oh, I wish eating was like that. Right.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 35:46
You know, what I always find funny about the Jetsons is that they had down what we do. All over, especially in the past five years, we've really come into zoom, and all of these online, like webcasts, and all of these, that was the Jetsons were like, they were well ahead in terms of our cartoon.

Scott Benner 36:06
It is funny. I did a thing for World diabetes Day where I spoke to 100 people for two hours, like from sitting right here. Yeah, just everybody clicked on a thing. And we were all there together and had this nice conversation. That's awesome. Yeah, it's very cool. But

Unknown Speaker 36:19
But yes, supplements were typing. Yeah,

Scott Benner 36:21
yeah. So I mean, and that's, that's another part of this, that that I think people need to be aware of, especially with diabetes. There are supplements you you might need, like you know, your pancreas is part of your digestive process. Some of you might need like a digestive enzyme or something to help that along. I don't think it's something we're ready to talk about right now. But Jenny and I are looking into another supplement to try to like take to see how it goes. And by the way, I've ordered them. Oh, there's that piece of it. So just even just a good multivitamin, but even people go wrong there. They take their multivitamins as gummies or like, you know, it's just see Jenny's face, she would never take a gummy vitamin gummies are just like you brought her own food or birth.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 37:07
Know that gummy vitamins are I mean, unfortunately, even from what looks like it's a good company. And you can find online very easily multiple reports about gummy vitamins not being consistent in content of the micronutrients and macro and things that they're that they

Scott Benner 37:24
actually do people right. So in the gummy

Jennifer Smith, CDE 37:28
I mean, even even that, you know, if you're gonna if you're gonna take a multivitamin, also look at where, where those vitamin sources are coming from? Are they actually quality? Are they synthetic? Do they have some type of spray applied to the homeless, they're supposed to be absorbed, the better. You know, I

Scott Benner 37:47
think I was listening to something recently where someone said that one of the like, chewable vitamins has like something in it that at a certain parts per million would be deadly or something like that. And I was like, What the hell, they're more expensive, okay, but buying something cheaper, that's a waste of your time is a bigger waste of money. So I'll say that I stick to pure encapsulations or Thorne,

Unknown Speaker 38:08
those are those are great brands.

Scott Benner 38:10
Those are the two brands I stick to. So for things like vitamin D, zinc, I take an iron supplement from them, I mix it with a vitamin C from them, that kind of thing. multivitamin like that, that sort of stuff. So if you don't think you're getting it, I drink athletic greens, you can probably try to find a green drink that would you know, like help you with these things. But if your foods not giving it to you, I know nobody thinks of it this way. But if I found a random person around all day, I'm gonna guess that seven out of the 10 things they put in their mouth are not valuable to them. Nutritionally. I just think that I don't know how you could look at that stuff at that airport or in the grocery store and not come to the conclusion. Like there's a potato chip aisle. That is usually also the candy aisle. Literally nothing in there is helping your body stay alive, right, the soda aisle.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 39:04
If we're if we're talking about carbohydrates, to get rid of the majority of them live in the aisles of your grocery store. Yeah, they do. 100%

Scott Benner 39:15
and they're fun. I'm not gonna lie to you better than licking whatever that is off a Dorito. I don't know what it is. It's amazing. Jenny would know about it, but it's fantastic. And we all know it. Those are those things there. I mean, if you're going to eat those things, try to find a better way. I'm not saying like you should be sitting around growing carrots in your backyard. I know that's probably not reasonable for people. But I can tell you this, I can't eat potato chips. They make me nauseous because I don't really I don't, I don't consume oil. So like I only use either cold pressed olive oil, grass fed butter or coconut oil every once in a while. Those are the only three things that like I'll cook with or use. So if I have potato chips just out of a bag, I'll get nauseous from it. But if I were to make my own potato chips which is actually a thing I know how to do. I can, I'm okay. And not only that they hid Arden's blood sugar differently than a potato chip out of a bag. Yeah,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 40:07
you'll you'll notice and a lot of it, you know, in terms of oils, I think what you're probably noticing digestive Lee yourself. And what you probably noticed in Arden's response blood sugar wise, is that I mean, the seed oils are horrible. Yeah, you're talking about canola oil. If you're talking about any of the like sunflower seed oil in the safflower oil, and all of those that are, they are cheap. They're fillers. And they are what is used in the majority of process package, right? Let's call it snack food. And

Scott Benner 40:43
every restaurant is going to use it because it's cheaper. Yeah. So anytime you go to a restaurant, something's fried. It's basically machine lubricant, or whatever the hell that ends up being when you melted down. Listen, I think if you listen to the podcast long enough, you realize that I cut the oil thing out maybe three or four years ago. I've been making small adjustments to myself for years and actually making the podcast has helped me with that. Even watching my daughter's health and like, I think we should get rid of this or that like that kind of thing. But I was a person even as a child. If you took me out for pizza, I'd be sick to my stomach. And pee. And I know if you say that out loud, people would say, oh, that's celiac, right? Oh, that sounds like see, like, I do not have celiac. I don't have I don't have a gluten sensitivity. I've been tested. They've sucked things in both sides of me to look around. I don't have those things. Okay. But as a child, take me out to a pizza joint. You need to get me to a bathroom in about 90 minutes. I couldn't live like that. And I had a lot of moments in my life where I was like, Oh, I go to the bathroom. Like, like in an emergency situation. I have not gone to the restroom out of an emergent situation in years. years. I have never heard that Chinese food the other night notwithstanding. I have not. And even then I wasn't like, oh dear Lord, I need a bush. Like I was just like, oh, I don't feel good, you know. But yeah, that doesn't happen to me anymore. And so it's nothing wrong with my body. It was something wrong with what I was putting in it. Like my body was literally saying to me, this has to get out of here. Right? And doesn't work. Yeah, this doesn't work. And you we need it to go now. But

Jennifer Smith, CDE 42:21
you can make your own pizza at home. Can you? Oh yeah, I

Scott Benner 42:24
can eat forever. It doesn't matter. I make my own pizza, I use little double zero flour I haven't brought in from Italy or wherever they make that I don't know you overpay for it a little bit. You buy actual mozzarella cheese, not something that's wrapped in plastic, it looks like it was wrapped up nine years ago. And you open up an organic tomato paste and you're on your way. Like it's not. It's just not hard. And it doesn't even cost anything extra. Like I know people are like, Oh, it's more expensive. Yeah, I spent 10 extra dollars on the flour, and four extra dollars on the pound of cheese. And in return did not have diarrhea seems worth it to me. Like so like, you know, like, on and on didn't feel sick and nauseous and not good for days sometimes afterwards. And I know now, this it feels like it's devolving into like, seriously like something you'd hear online. And it's not it's just my experience. I've gone through it. And I've seen it. I think you're talking to Jenny who didn't go through it and doesn't experience this these things. So I just,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 43:20
I mean, I I think the other, you know, piece to think about too is when I think about kids. And I think about what goes into their body, they've got a lot of growing to do, right. And you can facilitate healthy growing, and healthy movement through all the periods and stages of their life that they're going to get to. And a lot of times, I think the easiness of a lot of the process stuff with the busy life that we have, and the fact that you're trying to just have them feel like a kid like normal, right? But they've already adapted to either getting injections, having a CGM put on their body having a pump put on their body. If you tell them they can't have Doritos anymore, they're going to adapt. Right? They may be angry for you know at you for an entire week. But you know what? You're the parent.

Scott Benner 44:13
Also just you get what you expect. Honestly, what I mean by that is Jenny has two little boys. They're like real classic little boys are big energy, like, you know, no need to look crazy. Like, right, they got the whole thing going on. Yeah, but I bet you they've never had a Dorito

Jennifer Smith, CDE 44:30
unless they had them at friend's house that I did not know about I have never in I can't say that. I've never had a Dorito I mean, obviously in my childhood teen years, I know that I've had Doritos, but And I'm sorry that I'm picking on Doritos. Like there's so many other like, I

Scott Benner 44:45
think what we're saying is that is like that every day when you pack your lunch is there a grab bag of chips in it? And for a lot of people there are and for you that's not a thing. Like I'm not saying you've never had a potato chip. I'm certainly not saying that. But I'm saying is your kids eat pretty clean. lifestyles and they're nice little well adjusted children. They're not like, like, I think it's possible people could like be like picturing. You know, like a homeschooled child that doesn't look like they've seen the sun. You know what I mean? Like, Oh,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 45:14
not at all. It's really funny. As this year, my fifth grader came home, and he's like, Mom, this is so funny. And I was like, Okay, what? I made homemade pizza on Saturday evening, it's our movie and pizza night. And then they have leftover pizza for Monday's lunch at school, right? Because there's usually several slices left. And I mean, their pizza is mostly like veggie toppings and I will make the crust and whatever. But there's a lot of greens on there pizza. I fifth graders, like my friends keep telling me that I eat green pizza. Like it looks like I've got alien pizza. And I was like, are you okay with that? He's like, Yeah, aliens are cool. I can do to go

Scott Benner 45:55
Yeah, well, that's a great, that's a great example of like, he's not being prepped, like, you said something earlier. I don't disagree with you, you want to be normal, you want to live your life like everyone else. But that in the end is a trade off. At some point, you're deciding to make a trade off. And so today, I've had a coconut milk yogurt, I've eaten two eggs. And I've had a bowl of chicken soup. This is what I've had to write. But I guarantee you when I go downstairs, I'm gonna have a couple of gummy bears, like saw them when I was coming up here. And I was like, I'm definitely having a couple of gummy bears later. Like, I'm not some person who's just like, you know, crazy lover side of it. I'm just saying there's, there's obvious things you can avoid that will really help you. And, you know, too many calories, too much processed oil. They are easy things to eliminate. Like it's a weird thing when you first go through your house. And like for us it was like, well, we make our own popcorn. What are we going to do? And it was always with canola oil. And so I said, Well, we're not gonna use canola oil anymore. We can make popcorn with olive oil tastes weird. And so like, my whole family was like, What are we like? There's just like a bone of contention. I spent six months buying different oils and making popcorn until one day I was like, I've got the answer. It's coconut oil. You can make popcorn. And it tastes good. Doesn't it? Like popcorn? Yes, I figured it out. Was fun. It was not fun. Did I throw away a lot of oil? I might have. Okay, but I figured it out. And I think you I think people could figure it out. Even I swear to you, this little girl came on. She has been on before her episodes called bugs in your belly. Oh came on first. Because she's talking about like, gut biome. She was like this, like 12 year old girl was like, Oh, my gut biome like, Oh my God, that's awesome. She's talking about all of it and everything I've had her back on since then. And she just turned me on to like organic grass fed butter. I think I spent $3 more on butter now than I used to. And I want to tell you, it's made a big difference. And I don't know another way to tell you like it's been it's made a difference in my life. So

Jennifer Smith, CDE 48:04
you don't eat. So you say you know, it's $3 more, but you're not eating stick after stick every day. The cost of it actually, it evens out to your favor. Even though the cost is higher, you're doing something better, health wise, and you're not eating so much of it that that $3 really makes that much of a difference.

Scott Benner 48:26
I could make the argument that I am saving in toilet paper what I'm spending in butter and I am not trying to be funny. So there you go, you're doing a good thing for yourself. And at the end. Listen if it's three extra dollars a week for butter, let's just say that okay, let's call it 10 Let's call it $150 A year for more butter 10 years from now when I'm not dying, all think that was worth it. And I think that's just sometimes the way you got to think about this stuff. Also, I know people can't afford everything and but there's still ways to do little things.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 49:01
Yeah, I say pick, pick your battles, right? Pick your things that if you look at where what are the 80% of foods that you eat over and over and over again? Where can you start to either decrease processed or decrease the brand this brand is better this brand has less ingredients where can you start to pick some things to introduce better you know everybody I mean things are expensive today and the price of eggs when I look at that man really, I honestly we've considered like getting chickens because

Scott Benner 49:41
they're expensive. It's weird to me you don't have chickens, but go ahead.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 49:44
We can have them and we've thought about it for a number of years that already but you know there is there is a trade off the quality of nutrients that go into something that has yes a higher price but again when You portion things out, you may actually be doing better in many, in many ways by spending a little bit more. Again, not on everything. Maybe you pick and choose. Yeah.

Scott Benner 50:10
So that's a great place to stop doctors, please put people on these paths. And I just wrote down that you and I should do a small series about how to remove processed foods from your life. Oh, I think that's a good idea. So hey, all right. I know you have to go. So I'll talk to you. Awesome. Thanks.

If you're enjoying the grant, if you're enjoying the Grand Rounds series, please share it with someone else who you think might also enjoy it. As always, thanks to Jenny for coming on the show. And I'd like to thank ag one for sponsoring this episode of The Juicebox Podcast and remind you that with your first order, you're gonna get a free welcome kit. Five free travel packs in a year supply of vitamin D. That's at AG one.com/juice box. Arden has been getting her diabetes supplies from us med for three years. You can as well us med.com/juice box or call 888721151 for the episode you just heard was professionally edited by wrong way recording. Wrong way recording.com. If you're looking for community around type one diabetes, check out the Juicebox Podcast private Facebook group Juicebox 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 Juicebox Podcast type one diabetes on Facebook. If you're not already subscribed or following in your favorite audio app, please take the time now to do that. It really helps the show and get those automatic downloads set up so you never miss an episode. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of The Juicebox Podcast.

#1111 RJs Mom

Jessica is 32, an engineer in the military and the mother of a 7 year old boy named RJ.

+ Click for EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Scott Benner 0:00
Hello friends, welcome to episode 1111 of the Juicebox Podcast.

On today's episode I'll be speaking with Jessica and engineer in the military and a mother of a seven year old boy named RJ who has type one diabetes. He was diagnosed at five years old. We talked about a number of different things today, including Omnipod, five Dexcom, libre three, and some of the history of type one diabetes in Jessica's family. There's also some conversation about hypothyroidism. If you're looking for community around type one diabetes, check out the Juicebox Podcast private Facebook group Juicebox 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 Juicebox Podcast type one diabetes on Facebook. Please don't forget that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan or becoming bold with insulin.

This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by touched by type one touched by type one.org. And find them on Facebook and Instagram touched by type one is an organization dedicated to helping people living with type one diabetes. And they have so many different programs that are doing just that check them out at touched by type one.org. This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by us med U S med.com/juice box or call 888721151 for us med is where my daughter gets her diabetes supplies from and you could to use the link or number to get your free benefit check and get started today with us met.

Jessica 2:21
I am Jessica. I am a mother of a son with type one diabetes, his name is RJ and me and his dad, my husband we do as much as we can to keep him happy while also keeping him you know safe while he's at home and at school and managing his diabetes. And, you know, just trying to make sure he has the most normal life that a kid his age should have. It's a good plan.

Scott Benner 2:52
How old is RJ?

Jessica 2:53
He is seven? Seven?

Scott Benner 2:54
How old was he when he was diagnosed?

Jessica 2:56
He was five years old.

Scott Benner 2:58
Okay. Do you or your husband or anybody in your family have type one diabetes?

Jessica 3:05
Yes. On my side actually. I have a I believe it's a second cousin. He had type one diabetes. He did not know he had it. And he actually he was he's a professional NFL player. He did not know he had it. He actually passed away due to decay. So we found this out kind of after the fact after our son was diagnosed.

Scott Benner 3:32
How long ago was that?

Jessica 3:35
That the second cousin had it? Yeah, that passed away. That was many years ago, possibly. I want to say eight or nine years ago.

Scott Benner 3:47
And he died as an adult I imagine. Yes. As an adult. Yes. So So diagnosed, and then not. Not dying. Sorry. Yeah.

Jessica 4:02
Yes. He was not diagnosed. And he ended up passing away. Wow. Due to decay. Yes. That's

Scott Benner 4:11
crazy. Oh my gosh, yes. All right. Okay, let's see. But that's not something that you were thinking about when you were having kids.

Jessica 4:23
Not at all I knew and in this happened before my son was even born and so I didn't even kind of know at the time that he had even passed away because of that reason. I knew that my family had a history of type two diabetes and pre diabetes but not type one. So at that when my son was diagnosed, I didn't even kind of know the difference between the two.

Scott Benner 4:51
So okay, okay. So talk about our J's onset. What did you notice first, and how did you figure out that he had type one So

Jessica 5:00
his onset happened around COVID. We had just, I'm in the military, so we had just was called PCs, we had just had a change of duty station from California to Tucson, Arizona. And, you know, we're wrapped up in that that transition, you know, he's in daycare. At the time, he was a young, five year old, he wasn't old enough to start school yet, due to how they, the school we had moved to the district moved to how they do the age difference, or whatever. So, um, he was, obviously during COVID, you're looking out for symptoms of COVID, during that timeframe. So he, you know, he was tired and exhausted a lot leading up to the diagnosis to him being in DKA. And so we thought that it was because of the temperatures that we were dealing with in Tucson, we were we had just came from the Bay Area in California. So very cool weather, to the complete opposite of triple digit heat and things like that. So we kind of thought that he was just really having a tough time adjusting to the temperatures to the new weather, and things like that. But yeah, he was, you know, doing the classic wetting the bed at the time. And, again, like that was, I literally, he had worked her bed, and he came in our room, in the middle of the night. And I said to my husband, he might have diabetes. I was like, half asleep at the time. And, you know, if days go on, and you know, symptoms are still happening to where his preschool teacher calls us and says, Hey, RJ, he has not been eating today. He slept through recess, which is not like him whatsoever. And I knew that too. So it was really his day, his his preschool teacher had only been with him for a few months that really made, you know, just realize like something is really wrong.

Scott Benner 7:16
Just to go overnight, that night, when he came to you, what made you say he might have diabetes? Like what? What triggered that in your mind?

Jessica 7:23
I knew from I cannot remember where, and I might have just googled it too. But it was just a distant memory of a sea of hearing extreme thirst. And, you know, Bedwetting, and exhaustion, I knew that that was something and I just hit diabetes and you know, kind of rolled back over and with asleep, you know, that's, and I guess it Yeah,

Scott Benner 7:54
well, that's really something though they did it occur to you like that. Exactly. So when the when the teacher reaches out to you, does that kind of put it all back together for you? Again, you'd like to know, somebody else pointing it out and saying it?

Jessica 8:07
Not? Not at the time, because you like I said it was during COVID? And I'm like, if it's not COVID? What can it be? It's like everyone's main focus, right? The time was like, he's like, he's not coughing, none of the classic symptoms of COVID. So I took him I was able to quickly get him in to see his pediatrician. And I'm thinking, okay, like, they have to know something. And so when they were, you know, checking his vitals and they did the they checked his vitals and they were doing the, you know, the flashlight, the light in the eyes, you know, movement events, when there's one one of the airmen that you that he quickly leaves and goes to get hit the actual pediatrician. And so she does some, you know, checking and she's like, You guys need to go straight to the to urgent care to the emergency room. So I'm like, okay, and that's when I'm like, okay, something's got to be like really grown. Right? So, like I said, we're new to the area. I'm trying to figure out like friends, I had that point, I was having to carry him because he just was not. He was so leak, just was not able to walk, like very quickly or even like much at all.

Scott Benner 9:29
So you get that to you. I'm sorry, you get him to the hospital, and he's in DKA. I imagined I used to hate ordering my daughter's diabetes supplies, and never had a good experience. And it was frustrating, but it hasn't been that way for a while, actually for about three years now. Because that's how long we've been using us med us med.com/juice box or call 888-721-1514 With Us med is the number one distributor for FreeStyle Libre systems nationwide. They are the number one specialty distributor for Omni pod dash, the number one fastest growing tandem distributor nationwide, the number one rated distributor in Dexcom customer satisfaction surveys. They have served over 1 million people with diabetes since 1996. They always provide 90 days worth of supplies and fast and free shipping. US med carries everything from insulin pumps, and diabetes testing supplies to the latest CGM like the libre three and Dexcom g7. They accept Medicare nationwide and over 800 private insurers find out why us med has an A plus rating with the Better Business Bureau at us med.com/juice box or just call them at 888-721-1514 get started right now. And you'll be getting your supplies the same way we do. What do they do for him?

Jessica 11:01
So we at first we were at a an ER and er that wasn't even, like part of a hospital. Like I said, I just was like, giving to the quickest because this one, and so they did a fingerstick after I was telling them the symptoms. And I guess the one meter they had it wasn't even giving a number. It was like giving some error or high or something. And so that's when they started doing some blood work. And that's when the doctor came in and was like We suspect Yes, type one diabetes. And they were like we need to get him you know, to a pediatric hospital. I see you as soon as possible. Are

Scott Benner 11:45
you frightened at that point? Do you recollect this family member? Yeah, by the way?

Jessica 11:50
No, not even not even close? No, I Yes, I'm frightened. And I'm just thinking that this could be tied to the Type Two diabetes that's in our family. I see. So my grandmother had issues with, you know, diabetes, and I think an uncle did and stuff like that. So that's kind of still in the back of my mind.

Scott Benner 12:16
You and your husband are together at that moment. The three of you are at the hospital.

Jessica 12:21
Yes, yeah. Yep. Now, do

Scott Benner 12:23
they put him in an ambulance? Or how did they get them to the next place? Yes.

Jessica 12:27
Yes. They put him in an ambulance in my in got him to the ICU, which was about about 10 minutes away. Did you ride with him? And they waited? Yes, yes. rode with him. They kind of waited till they couldn't do much there. But they still were they want it to give him some fluids prior to, you know, him leaving, so that they can make the trip.

Scott Benner 12:52
That's amazing. Well, obviously, he's okay now, which is terrific. How long? How long was he in the hospital for?

Jessica 13:00
I think we're there for about three or four days,

Scott Benner 13:03
that seems to be about the number anymore. It's yeah, what I'm hearing from people. What do you leave with as far as management ideas go.

Jessica 13:12
So if a hospital that when about, maybe a day, after, you know, once they got the confirmed diagnosis and everything, that's when they had a pediatric like nurse endocrinologist and an educator that, you know, came in, you know, and broke everything down to us and gave us some training, helping us understand what's going on why it happened, or why it could have happened, or, you know, just understanding what diabetes type one diabetes was. So, it really sucked because still, this is still I guess it's still COVID and so only one person is really allowed with the patient and that has to be paired essentially. So of course, I'm the amid Mama Bear mode, still some tilt my husband go home, I will stay. And so pretty much I'm like completely sleep deprived, because I'm not I haven't slept, you know, machines and beeping is keeping us up and things like that. So I was trying to process it as much as I could. But I was I was really getting so frustrated because I could not process anything just because my brain was was not working at all so

Scott Benner 14:34
well. Yeah, I mean, it's the same thing right? It feels like it feels like you know if anybody's ever been in a car accident before you you again you're okay you get out and people start talking to you and you just you don't process anything at all. It feels very similar to that. Exactly. Yeah. So like like having like a like just a loud band go off next to you and then somebody starts asking you algebra you know, like I don't Wow. Oh my gosh. So when you leave? Is it injections? They give you a pen, they give you a needles? Are they talking about pumps? They

Jessica 15:10
told us eventually, you know, we would, you know, hopefully be able to get on a pump. But um, yeah, we were given, you know, the the meters, the insulin pins and things like that they were able to give that to us from the hospital because our insurance was not going to be able to kick in to start paying for it. And I guess they kind of anticipated that. So, yeah, the pins, the pin needles, things like that, you know, we're given him the Lantis and hemo. Og,

Scott Benner 15:45
how did he handle everything? I mean, he's young, but was it? Like, what was his reactions?

Jessica 15:51
He was confused. He was like, what's, what is going on? You know, like, What do you mean? I have to get, you know, all these of these finger pokes and, and the shots and things like that. And at that time, we weren't even prepared to answer that question. We couldn't even, you know, like, like, why is this happening? You know, like, so I mean, he handled it as well as any, you know, five year old at the time could so no, he handled it a lot better than what what I could have.

Scott Benner 16:27
Well, how long does it take you before you feel like you understand what you're doing? Even a little bit? Like, when's the first time you remember thinking like, oh, I might have this? Oh, wow. Maybe hasn't happened, which would be completely valid, by the way? Yeah.

Jessica 16:42
It's definitely not 100%. But it sucks, because I think I had to leave for work to go to a school that I was scheduled for, like, a few months later. So I mean, we were blessed to have even before this happened, my in laws were planning to they they lived in Alaska at the time, and so they were ready to leave, leave Alaska, and come down to the lower 48 to, you know, find somewhere else to move. So they actually came and lived with us. So while I was at the school, like they were helping my husband, you know, with everything. And so that's perfect. Yeah.

Scott Benner 17:28
Yeah, kind of easy transition to have more people raise

Jessica 17:32
more hands to help. Yes, exactly. But yeah, I feel like maybe a year or so I think once. I think what he was able to get on the pop, and on a CGM. I think some months after is when we were like, okay, you know, he's reacting this way to X, Y, and Z, or he's reacting this way to this food, and stuff like that. So it took a while, maybe about a month and like, it's like, you know, better that you learn something every day. Okay.

Scott Benner 18:10
Geez, it's like it nonstop. Like, that's interesting. That's different. I should probably remember that. Yeah. It's yeah, I just thought the the point you made earlier, Jessica, about people are telling you things at the hospital, but you can't process them. I don't know that we talked about that enough. That you're being given really important information. And you're not really filing it away in a way that you can access it

Jessica 18:36
not at all. Yeah, yeah. And, and I am like, I, I, I'm a numbers. I'm an engineer. Like, that's what I do for my job. And so it was really frustrating me, because I'm like, I know this is important. Yeah. And even if it's like, my job, like is no as important as getting even more frustrated, because I'm like, when I leave here, I feel like I'm not going to know what to do. Like, because I'm just not what you're saying is so important that I'm just not grasping it. So I was really frustrated with myself and things like that. So plus,

Scott Benner 19:16
if your mind works that way, then you want one plus two to equal three. And Exactly, yeah. And that's not happening either. So you're like, well, so there are rules. VDS is the complete opposite. There are rules, but the rules don't end the same way each time. That's hard. I've been taught this while under fire. So I'm not really remembering anything and then plus the longer you get away from diagnosis, the more you start to realize that even the things you were being told back then were very elementary to begin with. And you think you're you think you're missing out on like the Holy Girl, like they've told you the secret to everything and you forgot it. And exactly, yeah, the whole situation is Back password, I think somebody would say, yeah, yeah. And, and I do get that that's why they wanted like, bring you back and tell you more later, but just your something about good.

Jessica 20:15
And even the I think his claim I'm being no fault to them, but even his clinic that we ended up going with or to the hospital, even then we are coming back like I think maybe a few days later. And we're still sleep deprived. Because you know, you're doing the finger sticks in the middle of the night and you're cheating the lows, or you're even Bolus for the highs.

Scott Benner 20:44
And you're sad. And all the psychological stuff is magnified. You know, there's just there's so everybody feels guilty, like, I'm sure your husband's like, Oh, this is coming from my side of the family, you're thinking the same thing? You know? It's exactly it's a lot. The only real answer to all of this is time. That it's time and good information. That's it. It's the whole thing. Did you ever figure out or did you ever look, excuse me? Were there other autoimmune issues in either side of your family?

Jessica 21:17
My mom has an immune disease. And then for from me and her we are, it's not the typical art. It's just sickle cell trait for me and my mom and I'm, I get an email, she's anemic and things like that. That's really the only only thing I can you know, how

Scott Benner 21:39
do you think, Jessica, how do you handle your anemia with oral or do you get infusions. So

Jessica 21:45
it's not bad, it only gets bad during, and I can't even pinpoint it. But I can kind of understand just by based off of symptoms to where, and it's not bad. It only was bad when I was pregnant with my son. So and that's when I had to, you know, take the oral pills, but usually, you know, I can quickly, you know, alleviate symptoms and stuff by you know, eating more red meat and things like that. There's only been like a couple of times where I was taking the iron pills.

Scott Benner 22:19
Okay, that's great. I actually I get low. I get like any, like, low iron symptoms, and wow, my ferritin gets low, and it almost like shuts me off eventually. So Oh, wow. Yeah, that's crazy. Arden takes actually Arden my son, I think everybody in the house is taking some sort of an iron supplement, like a couple times. Just to try to stay ahead. Yeah,

Jessica 22:43
exactly.

Scott Benner 22:45
How about for your husband? Anything for him? His side of the family? No. Okay.

Jessica 22:49
Not that not that I can think of now.

Scott Benner 22:52
Were you planning on having more kids? And are you still

Jessica 22:56
it the time beforehand? We were considering it. But now we're not. And it's not fully because of diabetes. That that type limit my son has is, is I think that I've usually when the diagnose happened, diagnosis happened, you know, you, we definitely put that those types of talks on pause because they're like, oh, we need to figure this out first and figure out our new life. And then you know, time passes and time passes or, you know, then we're like, you know, I think I think we're fine. We've always wanted to adopt a child. So and that one that's close in age. So we took that as a sign like, hey, let's make sure we don't lose sight of, of that dream that we had.

Scott Benner 23:46
So that's a love. Yeah, hopefully lovely. I do. Yeah,

Jessica 23:49
yeah. And bonus points. If they're type one. I

Scott Benner 23:52
know what you're doing, right? Yeah, I'm adopted. Exactly. Yeah, Jessica, I'm adopted. So wow, somebody saved my life 51 years ago. So yeah, it's a really cool thing to do. That's awesome. I guess I want to ask you now like because the note you sent, like, at what point in your management style because you're using Omnipod? Five now? Is that right?

Jessica 24:14
Yes, we're using Omni pod five and the libre three. Okay.

Scott Benner 24:19
Oh, wait. You you can't use on the pod five with libre three. So well.

Jessica 24:24
Yeah. No, we're not using it with it. But we're Yeah, we're in manual mode with the five we were using Dexcom. But we had some several issues with it. So we had to go. Oh, I gotta go into manual mode for the five in the CGM is liberi.

Scott Benner 24:40
I see. So do you think you'll go back to Dexcom or wasn't working for you? Well,

Jessica 24:46
um, we This has actually been our second flip flops which I don't know. I don't know if we'll go back. Because when when the sensors were working for us, it was only part five was great. But you know, we were, you know, barely making it to like four to five days with the sensors. And it wasn't an issue with them falling off. It was just them constantly saying he was low. So it was it was shutting off his. His Yeah, exactly.

Scott Benner 25:18
I wonder if now this is looking forward. So just for people listening who might not understand Dexcom G six at the moment is the only CGM that works with on the pod five. You can put on the FOD five into manual mode and just run it like a regular on the pod dash you would. So that's what you're doing right now because you have the script from pod five. Right? I wonder if I do wonder if when Dexcom G seven pairs with on the pod five in the future, which I assume it will sooner than later. I wonder if that's not the time to try. Because if liberi is working for you, but the G six was and I wonder if the G seven would because of the different insertion angle and other things possible?

Jessica 26:00
Yeah, yeah, we would definitely, we would definitely try it right now. We're, we're paying out of pocket for the Libras. Because they're, you know, kind of very expensive right now. And so we're just waiting for hopefully, the g7 g7 being integrated. And then, you know, we'll just look at it again, be able to once that happens quickly switch this script over to that.

Scott Benner 26:27
So you have a unique perspective, though, Jessica, because you have like you've done it manually with shots. And then after a while you were doing injections. Did you get a CGM first?

Jessica 26:38
No, no, we're still I think we got them all around the same time. So we got Dexcom as well.

Scott Benner 26:43
So what's the difference between manually handling things with injections, an automated system like Omnipod, five, and a pump that doesn't have automation, like what of your experience has been the differences and maybe the pluses and minuses. So

Jessica 26:59
obviously, a new E five or six year old is not going to be okay with the constant shots. So that helped out a lot being on the pump, for my son, and then him going back to his preschool, it helped as well. Because the you know, the paraprofessional was able to just quickly, you know, look at the Dexcom numbers and then look at the pump and, you know, just quickly push some buttons and, and, you know, give them insulin. So it's so funny, she would come outside while they were on the park and, you know, check check to get in range and everything and his friends would stop playing and they all go over it over the ParaPRO they were like Artie, you gotta get your blood check. So they would and then, you know, they made sure he wasn't left alone, like then it that they all stopped playing so that he could make sure he was good to go. So and then I think now, obviously, like I said, the integration with the CGM was, was amazing, when we left the that integration and went back to the manual mode. I had to I listened to I think two of your podcasts about essentially figuring out what that Basal rate should be and how to make adjustments. So I did that all on my own, didn't work with his endocrinologist with on that, not because they weren't capable. It was just I knew I was gonna be able to do it much quicker. And like I said, I'm a numbers person, I love looking at data. And I was just able to just look at those graphs and understand based off of, you know, what you were saying and just some other information that I knew was I was able to make those adjustments. So

Scott Benner 29:09
you got like his Basal said is insulin to carb ratio is his sensitivity all together just through the podcast and understanding it on your own. Yeah.

Jessica 29:18
Yeah. So I kept I didn't really change too much with the sensitivity. But I think the and I think I might have changed the car, but it was mostly mostly that that Basal rate, and kind of understanding, oh, there's different times of day based off of what he's doing that it needs to be, you know, either increased or throttled back and then taking it day by day, like, Okay, this is how he reacted, you know, to this time of day because he's having lunch at this time. So, yeah, it's been interesting,

Scott Benner 29:56
ya know, it's it. Listen, the truth is, is that digging in like that It is the way you get that bigger, broader understanding. And in the future things are gonna happen. And you're, you're gonna see like, you'll just, you'll just shift with it. You'd be like, Oh, I see this. Like, you know, there's I think this morning, even Arden and I got up this morning. She's home from college right now. It's her break. Oh, yeah. So it's cool. She's here. And but like, it was time, like, we went to the doctor's, you know, she went to the doctor last week. And it's time for her, like blood draw, you know, so I needed I needed one too. So we went together, we got up this morning fasting, and we went to get a blood draw. And I looked at her blood sugar. I was like, hey, like, you're, you know, the algorithms not having a lot of luck moving you off this like 130? And I said, Yeah, and I was, like, I said, let's just do an override. So we, she's using a loop, we just pushed her loop up to like, 150%. So basically it it increases the power of the of the algorithm and hurt her basil and stuff like that. And we'll do that. Yeah, until it's not until it doesn't need it anymore. But without all the knowledge that gets in your head. What ends up happening is you go I don't know, like, hi all day. I don't know, you know, you just you're like, oh, like bum Fuzzles. You know, you're like, I don't know what? Yeah, but so I love that. Yeah. You dove into it to understand that on your own. It's really cool. Yes, kind of outcomes is he having right now? What are your goals? And what are you hitting?

Jessica 31:27
Can you say the first part it kind of cut out? Oh,

Scott Benner 31:29
I'm so sorry. I was wondering how his outcomes are like, what are your ranges that you shoot for? A one sees that all that stuff? Yeah.

Jessica 31:37
Yeah. So he was consistently in a good range around the 6.0 6.5, a, one, C. And then like I said, when we were having the issues with the Dexcom and stuff, it went up to about 7.4. And so, obviously, I took that to heart. Hope we're now we're changing something. So I suddenly we went back, and we went into manual and everything. And so we're, I think we have that down to like 7.0 right now. So yeah, and so yeah. He his range. So we, we don't have it as tight. Because he any type of kind of activity, physical activity. He reacts very quickly as far as like, a lot of times his blood sugar dropping. And he was also running track for a while. So that was awesome. Just seeing him, you know, overcoming diabetes and kind of still being able to do like a physical activity is so taxing. So yeah, we we keep trying to have him around. Can you hold on one second? Okay. Do your thing. Okay, sorry.

Scott Benner 33:04
No, don't be sorry. Jessica's at work doing this? A lot of information here. But you know, I, I always throw this one up at the beginning. That's so cool. She's in a meeting. I bet. It's our turn to talk.

Jessica 33:22
Can you hear me? Yeah.

Scott Benner 33:24
Was it your turn to talk in the meeting?

Jessica 33:27
was making sure that no one was trying to.

Scott Benner 33:32
I was like, well, like, how old are you?

Jessica 33:34
I am 32.

Scott Benner 33:37
I was like, younger people are like, I could probably make a podcast while I'm in a meeting that's fit that.

Jessica 33:43
I didn't like, gosh, terrible. And I thought it was gonna be one of those meetings that you know, don't have to really pay too much attention. Oh, wait. Oh, this. Make sure

Scott Benner 33:54
it's not that important. Boy, everybody hearing that should think oh, we have too many meetings.

Jessica 34:02
Exactly. Exactly. Oh, that's

Scott Benner 34:05
hilarious. Well, okay, so you're at a set about a seven. Now, your range is a little loose because his activity is making him drop. Was that as big of a problem on on the pod five? Or was it was it was it catching loads from activity and stuff like that for you? Oh, yes,

Jessica 34:23
yes. Yes, it was. It was doing really good. He was in a light when he would have breaks from school or in summer camp. He was doing really well. With catching those lows, especially at night. We would get some amazing sleep.

Scott Benner 34:40
Yeah, no kidding, right? Because we're not

Jessica 34:43
having you know, to wake up that treat lows and stuff like that. So even right now like that's the drawback right now of us being a manual is we're having those lows and stuff like that. So yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's getting better though.

Scott Benner 34:58
Do you have any via like, oh, did you reach out to Dexcom? About the sensors not lasting for you? Yeah,

Jessica 35:04
yes, we did. And, you know, it. We were one trainer, I believe had called. And it was pretty much all this stuff that, you know, we had been told or the regulation or the guidelines if they said it was things we were already doing. Yeah. My biggest, like, what I think might be is because he's very lean and has very little body fat on them. So that's just my only like, theory of as to why it just did not work for him. So

Scott Benner 35:38
did hydration. Did you ever really, like lean on making sure he was hydrated? Yes.

Jessica 35:43
Yeah. He was very hydrated. He was drinking lots of lots of water. Yeah.

Scott Benner 35:54
It really does suck that. I mean, it's just what it is. Right? It's technology, but like, maybe he puts on 10 more pounds or something. And I help. Yeah, no kidding. How much does he weigh at seven years old.

Jessica 36:05
He's he is on the lighter in he's about 50 to 53 pounds. And he's short too. So he literally eats and eats and hit. It completely leaves his body

Unknown Speaker 36:18
to have his thyroid checked.

Jessica 36:21
And yes, his thyroid numbers have. And because his doctor he also looked at that too. Yeah, that came back normal. So

Scott Benner 36:30
do you remember his TSH level by any chance?

Jessica 36:34
I can look that up real quick. His most recent one? Yeah. Would

Scott Benner 36:39
you just because they'll call in range, a pretty wide range. And if he's having symptoms of thyroid issues, the medication helps a lot. You Oh, I'm not saying this is happening. But it's so worth looking if you have a second Yeah, yeah. Okay.

Jessica 36:57
Yeah, let me look right now. Yes.

Scott Benner 36:59
Okay, good. Yeah, please.

Jessica 37:01
So his TSH from October of last year was 3.850.

Scott Benner 37:11
Jessica, that's too high. He needs really needs the thyroid replacement. He does. Okay, that's it, I'm gonna send you a link. Okay, when we're done, okay, to an episode with an endocrinologist who is going to explain everything about thyroid to you, okay, and he is going to start taking that thyroid replacement. And you are going to see his blood sugar's be easier to manage. If he's experiencing any tiredness, you're going to see it go away. And I want to tell you that my daughter was the smallest person in her school. And then she was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. And she's five, seven now as a 19 year old well, so it is, absolutely can get in the way of growth and weight gain and all that stuff. So, okay, I'm going to tell you that my my doctor would medicate probably anything over about a 2.1 that came with symptoms. And really, most doctors are going to just say, oh, that's in range. But if you give us exactly what it says, yeah, so

Jessica 38:19
you have a good one question. So he had just another data point. So yeah, this recent one that was in May, and that one was 1.2700. That's

Scott Benner 38:33
interesting. So maybe it's swinging around a little bit right now.

Jessica 38:37
Okay, so this could be that could that be that there's still an issue? It could

Scott Benner 38:40
be the indication of things are coming that it got high and then it bounced low because right now he's that that the one point whatever is a great number. Yes. But even at that being how many months old now? The last one. The last one was in October was the October the three one or the one? The one that started October? When

Jessica 39:02
was it three?

Scott Benner 39:03
Yeah, I mean, I would draw that right away again, if he was over 2.1. I'd ask for medication. Another one. Okay. Yeah. Episode 413 is called thyroid disease explained it's with a doctor named Addy Benito. She's terrific. And there's an entire thyroid series explaining all of it you can find this series at juicebox podcast.com. You go up to the top and click on defining thyroid you'll see them all right there.

Jessica 39:32
Okay, yeah, yeah, that's good. Yeah, because that is something which made him kind of do a more in depth blood draw at his most recent appointment because you know, he is having the weight issues and things like that.

Scott Benner 39:48
The issue ends up becoming the doctors will most doctors will like ignore not ignore the number but the under for they're gonna be like, I don't know and then they're gonna wait for like real like they physical issues that pop up. And there's no need for that. Like if he's if this is what's happening this is listen, everybody in my family has a thyroid problem, okay? My daughter, my son and my wife, and their doctor, who is the doctor on that recording is going to, like manage them as low as they can get them without a beat without being hyper. And the I just got a blood draw this morning, because my thyroid came back like at 2.1 or 2.2. Last time, and she's checking it one more time. And I guarantee you if it's higher like that, she's gonna give it she's gonna give it to me too. So, yeah, plus, you don't want to miss out on these growing years. Exactly. If that's part of the issue, you know? Yes. 100%. Wow. Yeah, that could be the difference between some real money to play something in college and just nothing. Because by the way, I stalked you a little online. Your husband looks like a big guy.

Jessica 40:57
Yes, he played basketball in college, and I ran track. I

Scott Benner 41:02
was gonna say, we might get a little bit of college help here from this kid. He grows up. Nothing wrong with that. Nothing at all. Yeah, no, I wish you luck finding out more. And the only thing I can tell you is that if you go back and his TSH is in threes, and your doctor says that's not high enough for medication. I'd be looking for another opinion if that happened. Gotcha.

Jessica 41:23
Okay, okay. Yeah. Yeah, I will probably we'll see he was we just moved again. So we're trying to get his care set up now. So I'll talk to his endocrinologist and his PCM and kind of see what they say what? Yeah, one of them bites?

Scott Benner 41:40
Absolutely. I'll send them the episode if they don't believe you. I know. Yeah. Is your husband still in the military?

Jessica 41:47
No, he's not he. He got out after a few deployments. He was in for about six or seven years. So

Scott Benner 41:56
you were to write.

Jessica 41:58
I'm still in your

Scott Benner 42:00
your the wow. Oh, okay. Yeah. So yeah, that meeting wasn't about anything like about my safety, was it? Are you guys trying to find those people in that submarine? I'm just kidding.

Jessica 42:15
No, I will not ever on that. Topic. My true thoughts.

Scott Benner 42:22
If your true thoughts are like mine, it would be don't get into a toy submarine and try to go down to the bottom of the ocean. That was my fun.

Jessica 42:29
There's this thing called common sense. But I you know, I guess Massoud to come? I don't know.

Scott Benner 42:35
You want to see the Titanic. Watch the movie. James Cameron took pictures of

Jessica 42:39
it. Yeah, great. There's great video of that.

Scott Benner 42:42
I've heard people say like, well, who's at fault? I'm like, you're at fault for getting in the submarine. That's exactly, yeah. You gotta have a little bit of preservation in your in your heart. Yeah, I don't do I just saw a video the other day of this couple was terrible. By the way, they get up on a ledge on a building to take a picture. And though, the woman goes up first, and then she kind of gets settled, and they're on a fairly wide ledge, I mean, a couple feet wide, right. But they're clearly trying to get a photo of them being on the top of a big building. Well, he hops up, don't get me wrong, he doesn't he doesn't bump into her. He doesn't do anything. Her just natural reaction was to make space for him. And she shuffled her and fell right off the building. And I thought, like, for a picture, that three days from now, no one's going to remember. So you can get some likes on Instagram, she's, she's gone. You know? What and you by the way, you're a billionaire. Don't go into the water. If I was a billionaire, Jessica, I'd wrap myself in nine times a bubble wrap. And that's how I'd go outside. It'd be bulletproof bubble wrap. I'd be outside like the marshmallow man from Ghostbusters. Yes, please don't let anything happen to me. I get $2 billion.

Jessica 43:55
Exactly. I

Scott Benner 43:56
don't understand. Okay. I so I have. I know, you're, you're you're probably busy. And I'll wrap you up a little bit here. Okay. I want to ask if there's anything that we missed, or we didn't talk about that you wanted to know I

Jessica 44:09
don't think so. I just I just really love you know, that community that you've built and then there's some so many other ones like I mostly through Facebook, but you know, this, things like this, like it helps. But you know, just that group think is just really, you know, helps so many people just get through, you know, day by day because, you know, I'm just like I wonder if there's any other and I'm sure there is like forums like this for other you know, diseases but I don't know what I would you know, do without this this wealth of information.

Scott Benner 44:48
Very happy that it helped.

Jessica 44:49
I'm thankful Oh,

Scott Benner 44:50
I'm grateful that it's helping you and i i hope you never find out if there are other forums for other diseases. I never have to find that out. Yeah,

Jessica 44:59
yes, them So I can take

Scott Benner 45:02
at the end of my rope already. Yes, it makes you feel better. We were going to have three kids and after art and got diabetes, you're like, Okay, I think two is enough. So yeah, that's a lot. Yeah, no, really.

Jessica 45:16
And my son, he has such a big heart. And he was like mind that he's like skiing every few months. But then finally, one day, he's like, Well, we could adopt a kid that has diabetes and our help help them with it. Since I've, I've been doing mine and taking care of my diabetes. I was like, Yo, you're so sweet. Sweet his kid, if

Scott Benner 45:38
you're trying to make me cry, like you're real. All right. Yeah. Tell me that at the end. Yeah, that's really something. Okay. All right. Well, listen, you go back out and find out why those Chinese weather balloons were over Wisconsin, or whatever it is, you're supposed to be doing. It. I got Jessica, You crack me up. When we were gonna pause like we're gonna stop now. And I'm gonna say thank you very much, but just hold on one second for me that I'll let you go. Okay. All right. Thank you again.

I'd like to thank Jessica for coming on the show and sharing her story. And a huge thanks to touched by type one for sponsoring this episode of The Juicebox Podcast. Check them out on their website touched by type one.org or on Facebook and Instagram. A huge thanks to us med for sponsoring this episode of The Juicebox Podcast. Don't forget us med.com/juice box this is where we get our diabetes supplies from you can as well use the link or call 888-721-1514 Use the link or call the number get your free benefits check so that you can start getting your diabetes supplies the way we do from us med

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#1110 Big Brothers and Sisters

Today we welcome Trisha from Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Boston. Learn more - (781) 516-2090) or JBBBS.org

+ Click for EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Scott Benner 0:00
Hello friends, welcome to episode 1110 of the Juicebox Podcast.

On today's show I'll be speaking with Trisha from Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters. They have a great program that's trying to help children with type one diabetes, and she's here to tell you more about it, check them out@jbbbs.org Or if you're interested in donating your time 781-516-2090 Nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan. If you're not already subscribed or following in your favorite audio app, please take the time now to do that. It really helps the show. Don't forget to save 40% off of your entire order at cozy earth.com. All you have to do is use the offer code juice box at checkout. That's juice box at checkout to save 40% at cozy earth.com. If you're looking for community around type one diabetes, check out the Juicebox Podcast private Facebook group Juicebox Podcast type one diabetes, but everybody is welcome type one type two gestational loved ones, it doesn't matter to me. Today's episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by the contour next gen blood glucose meter. This is the meter that my daughter has on her person right now. It is incredibly accurate and waiting for you at contour next one.com/juice box. This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by ag one drink ag one.com/juice box. When you use my link and place your first order, you're gonna get a welcome kit, a year supply of vitamin D and five free travel packs. Hi

Tricia 2:05
there. My name is Tricia and I'm coming from Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Boston. We're a mentorship agency, and we've started a type one diabetes program. I'm the clinical director there. And it's just been incredible to see children with type one diabetes, getting a mentorship opportunity through an adult with also type one.

Scott Benner 2:25
For sure. You're the Clinical Director, what's your background? What's your education?

Tricia 2:30
So my background is I Am a Child Life Specialist. I'm certified, then I worked in a hospital for close to 20 years with children with chronic illnesses. And from there I went on to get an MBA and healthcare policy.

Scott Benner 2:43
Okay, Tricia, you're doing a thing right now that we, in my house call the gas station voice. You don't know what that means yet, but I'll explain it to you. Okay. Okay, you and I spoke for a few minutes before we started to record. And you have a little bit of a deeper voice which came through very nicely on the microphone. When my wife goes to the gas station. She is never as nice in her life as she is to the person who pumps her gas for her. And she goes up a couple of octaves to show people how kind she is. We don't know the psychology behind it. We just call it Kelly's gas station voice. Anyway, when I asked you to introduce yourself, you went into your gas station voice. Okay, by the way, this is all staying in. So don't be embarrassed. We're just talking. But you went from like this kind of like resonant voice to like, Hi, I'm Trisha. And I was like, Oh, that was interesting. And the mics not picking it up as well as when you just talk normally? Oh, no.

Tricia 3:36
Okay. All right. Be yourself back to my other voice. Be

Scott Benner 3:39
yourself. You don't have to be nice or anything. Don't worry. They just want to talk to you. Do you know you do that?

Tricia 3:46
No, no, I didn't. My

Scott Benner 3:49
wife says she doesn't know either. But she turns into Mary Poppins at a gas station. Oh, goodness, it's been it's

Tricia 3:54
been around here. We don't have anyone pumping our gas. So I've never been mentioned there. But all right.

Scott Benner 4:00
When I moved to New Jersey, I was like, I got out of my car the first time and the guy's like, hey, hey, hey, we pump the gas here. And I was like, I'm from Philly, I pump my own gas. Like, I don't know what you're talking about. And he goes into law. And I was like, It's my car. I'm gonna pump my own gas. And I still do it in Jersey, like I'll pull up and just get out and do it. But apparently they say it creates jobs. That's great. I'm for creating jobs. Anyway, you can just be like, just relax. Okay, relax. And, and I'm going to pick you through it. So you're from the Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters of Boston. Is that the name? Yeah. Okay, of Greater Boston, Greater Boston. And you guys, is this a newer programmers? It's something you've been doing for a while.

Tricia 4:39
So it's a brand new? Well, it's been around. We've been around for a year right now doing this program, per se. Our organization's been around for over 100 years. Wow. So we're getting it off the ground and we're having a lot of traction. It's just been really fun to see the growth

Scott Benner 4:54
of it. Very nice. And how long have you worked there?

Tricia 4:58
I've been there for a little bit. For over a year, okay,

Scott Benner 5:01
and tell me again, your your background, your something, education, I'm sorry.

Tricia 5:05
So my background is I'm a child life specialist, I worked in a inner city hospital with children with chronic illnesses for close to 20 years. And from there, I went on and got an MBA in healthcare policy. How do you get into that originally, you know, it's a long story. But it started when I was a child with a family friend whose daughter had a brain tumor. And I spent a lot of time in the hospital with her to see the child life, people coming in and out and working with her and thought, This is what I want to do. So I knew from a very young age where I wanted to go in life. And then now it's just morphed over the years into how I've taken that.

Scott Benner 5:45
Describe the job in hospital a little bit. What did you do there? Sure,

Tricia 5:49
travel specialists work with children that come in. So either they come in through emergency surgery, they're sick, whatever it may be, and we help children understand what's going on with them at the moment. So helping them not just the child, but the child comes with a family. So helping the child and family from the beginning to the end of their hospitalization, if they need tutoring in hospital, if they're having a hard time taking medication, if they don't understand their diagnosis, if they need help around procedural support, if family needs help around procedural support, kind of life, people are there to teach kids about what's going on at that very moment and break it down to them. So it's developmentally appropriate.

Scott Benner 6:34
So ironically, you're almost like a big sister in that situation. Like a, like the, you know, the person in the family who's level headed in the moment and can be helpful. You got it? Yeah. Oh, that's interesting. Okay, so you go back, you get an MBA, that's sounds heady. I

Tricia 6:51
went, I know, well, you know, because then the management shift changed a little bit. And I ended up managing the program in the hospital. And I had an incredible supervisor who was a mentor to me, okay. And she really pushed me to, to reach my fullest potential. And we talked about, like, higher ed, she knew I wanted a master's. And we talked about what the next steps were. And she really helped me to understand how an MBA would be helpful to me as I went forward in life, it's

Scott Benner 7:23
really something when you meet somebody, in a work scenario that's actually interested in helping you get better, or rise, you know, in the organization, because that doesn't always happen. You don't always find a mentor, sometimes you find people were just happy to, you know, keep their foot on your throat, so you can't move up and get past them. And that it's a real thing. And it holds people back. So it's wonderful. When you see somebody doing the kind of the right thing in that situation. Is there something that happened during that time at the hospital that got you focused on type one or? No, right? Like you just, um, how did you make it to the the other?

Tricia 8:02
How did I make it here now? Yeah. So no, I didn't. I mean, I worked with children with diabetes in the hospital, but never specifically, that was my full population. My real population that I focused on, there were children with sickle cell disease, and helping them transition from pediatric care to adult care, which was a big thing, because when you're a child with a chronic illness, the pediatric world is very different. The adult world is, so after I had taken the break from the hospital had done a few other things in my wheelhouse. I found this job and I thought, oh my goodness, how perfect is it to take children with a chronic illness, adults with a chronic illness, and find the best pieces of both of them and bring them together to help each other where they're at. And as much as we say, we call our volunteers, our big sisters or big brothers. As much as we say, our bigs are the mentors. They get so much from the kids, our littles, That's unreal. And so it becomes kind of this two way street,

Scott Benner 9:11
have that experience with what I do. And I try to explain it to people. And I'm sure they can, like picture it. But until you're doing it, you have no idea how like, choosing work that helps other people enriches you. And I usually say that this podcast helps me more than it helps the people listening. They just, they would have no way to know that you know, but it's true. It's changed my my whole world. So I take that point. Incredibly, so you so when you get there, they're not hiring you to like set up, like a type one program. You just sort of happen to come in around the time that the program starts.

Tricia 9:49
Nope. Yeah, I was actually hired to set up the type one program from the beginning. Yeah, okay.

Scott Benner 9:54
Okay. So you were and so they had this idea. We're going to do this thing. And they they go out to get you. So now I'm super interested about what that process is like, how do you on day one sit at a desk and start thinking about this? And you know, what were your goals in the beginning and what did you learn? Along the way. I partnered with ag one because I needed a daily foundational nutritional supplement that supported my whole body health. I continue to drink 81 every day because it works for me. Ag one is my foundational nutritional supplement. It gives me comprehensive nutrition, and it supports my whole body health. Drink, ag one.com/juice box, when you use my link to place your first order, here's what you're gonna get a free welcome kit that includes a shaker scoop and canister, five free travel packs, a free year supply of vitamin D, and of course, your ag one. So if you want to take ownership of your health, it starts with ag one, try ag one and get a free one year supply of vitamin D and five free ag one travel packs with your first purchase. Go to drink ag one.com/juice box, that's drink ag one.com/juice box, check it out. Contour next.com/juicebox. That's the link you'll use. To find out more about the contour next gen blood glucose meter, when you get there, there's a little bit at the top, you can click right on blood glucose monitoring, I'll do it with you go to meters, click on any of the meters, I'll click on the Next Gen and you're going to get more information. It's easy to use and highly accurate. smartlight provides a simple understanding of your blood glucose levels. And of course, with Second Chance sampling technology, you can save money with fewer wasted test strips. As if all that wasn't enough, the contour. Next Gen also has a compatible app for an easy way to share and see your blood glucose results. Contour next one.com/juicebox. And if you scroll down at that link, you're gonna see things like a Buy Now button, you could register your meter after you purchase it, or what is this download a coupon? Oh, receive a free Contour Next One blood glucose meter, do tell contour next one.com/juicebox head over there now get the same accurate and reliable meter that we use.

Tricia 12:19
So in the beginning, I sat down and thought where are we going to find these? That was my first thing like, how are we going to get our name out? How are we going to get parents to trust us and share with them what we can offer to their children and say to a parent of a child with a chronic illness. Now we want you to send your child out with this big for two to four hours, and not be in touch with them in realizing that we had to kind of change a little bit of the bill that we do to make sure the parents do stay in touch with their kids, because they're not going to comfortably just let their child go off. After they've been, you know, monitoring things left and right. So I sat there and thought where am I going to find them. So I started reaching out to schools, to different pediatricians office and different offices, the local diabetes centers around us and making relationships with the Social Work team with the Child Life team, with the physician with support staff, whoever it may be, because each person in that situation touches the child and family in a different way, and builds a whole different repertoire, or a whole different relationship than others do. And so the more people that knew about us, the more wet the more ways we would be able to get our name out. I worked a lot with JDRF I still do we work together to help you know reach families there to find special ways to get into different outreach opportunities and webinars to talk about the program and how we can best help others

Scott Benner 14:00
how many families with type one diabetes Did you ever talk to before you realize these people weren't gonna like cut ties with their kids for four hours?

Tricia 14:09
You know, it was it was very, you know, and I knew it in like my heart of hearts. I do and and rightfully so, I mean, you know, blood sugar's could drop, and Spike, kids don't feel good. It's scary. Things don't always respond as quickly. So it was really kind of sitting there and figuring out how are we going to change our parameters, which was amazingly easy because I work with the best people in the world. So to change our parameters that we can make it work for the child for the parent and for the big all together,

Scott Benner 14:43
right? And so you've only been at this for I mean, not not even two years. i My first question is definitely not even even two years. How many kids did you end up finding initially? So

Tricia 14:54
right now, we have 15 kids, that we're in the process of either are on our waiting list or that we're interviewing. And we've got two currently matched. And we have five more in the in the throes of being matched right now, which I know sounds like small numbers, but to start from nothing and to get to here, it's been incredible to meet these children and families and, and to hear their stories and to hear what their needs are. And, and then also to meet the volunteers. On the same token, we've got volunteers waiting. So it probably sounds to you right now. Like, why does she have kids waiting and volunteers waiting. But it's because when we make a match, we make it based off of so many things. So geography is number one, if they're not going to live close enough to each other, they're not going to be able to see each other. The second thing is personality characteristics, we like to really think about the child and the the volunteer to see how we can put them together, that works well, for them have to have the same likes. So there's so many different pieces of the puzzle that really go together to figure out what a match gonna be. And I am super strong on this, I will not budge, we don't make a match unless we feel it's going to be a good one. Because there's no point in getting a little hopes up and a big hopes up for it to fizzle.

Scott Benner 16:21
I'm going to ask a chicken and the egg question here. So what came first? Did you have adults with type one who were like, hey, match me up with a kid with type one? Or did you have kids with type one and you realize they need a different understanding than maybe some other people do?

Tricia 16:36
So First came the kids pretty much we had a couple adults, but First came the kids. Okay. And and it was really just getting to know them thinking about two down the road, what else can we provide for them that can help them throughout their, their life? And throughout going from a young child, the youngest child we enroll is seven, though going from a seven year old, up to a teenager and beyond? And how can we help support them along their journey? Are

Scott Benner 17:05
you seeing children whose care is not stellar at home, meeting up with adults who really understand diabetes and helping them along. So

Tricia 17:16
we see both truthfully, we see children who do have more struggles at home because of their family life. And those kids need big so much to help support them, and to help them understand how important it is to take care of themselves. And how they need to put themselves first and really pay attention to what those doctors and nurses are saying to them. So setting a good example, and modeling good behavior. We have other children that come from homes where like everything is in top notch shape. Like there's no questions. They know how to run their equipment. They know how to Bolus they know how to carb count, they know everything. But they don't have that social network and they feel that isolation of I'm the only one like me here now. That's wonderful. That's the hardest thing to hear. Right there.

Scott Benner 18:14
Have other chapters reached out to you about this yet? I mean, are you the only ones doing this? Or are there other? Yeah,

Tricia 18:20
the only ones? No, we're starting it off. And hopefully, we'll see like the benefits of it. Well, I know we will see the benefits of it. But, you know, hopefully others will adopt it after we get it going.

Scott Benner 18:32
I'm just listening to you. And I mean, I have a you know, a depth of knowledge about how people with diabetes, sometimes think and feel a need and what you're describing basically because this is a weekly thing, right? Like it happens on Saturday, they get together

Tricia 18:47
now, they meet twice a month. They talk more often usually

Scott Benner 18:52
okay, but it's twice it's basically you're you're given a kid, you say four hours, it's a four hour window. Okay, you're basically given a kid to four hour windows a month where they're going to diabetes camp almost.

Tricia 19:06
Yeah, right. Yes, exactly. Yeah. And

Scott Benner 19:09
and instead of waiting all year until summer and then getting together for a week or a weekend or something and being around other people who have diabetes, they have this opportunity to not like have to uproot their lives even not that camps uprooting but it is a little bit like you have to take a break, you have to usually drive somewhere far away. And just to be around another person who doesn't look at their pump and think what does that or does it understands or is bolusing with them for lunch at the same time? It's a I think it's a really special idea who had the initial idea, can we give them credit?

Tricia 19:41
We sure can. So it was one of our board members. And she went for stuff like our when I said to you earlier I work with the best people. We are an organization where an idea comes in and we really like take it and run. So the board member came To us, and said that she really thought this was something needed was diagnosed later in life with type one. And she thought, how incredible would it be to have someone to support me. So I will share with you like in one of our matches the little girls in third grade, and her big is in her 20s. And they went rock climbing together and off, they were going up the wall, and the littles alarm started going off. And so the big said to her, you know, let's take a break. Let's fix what's going on, and then we'll get back to it. And she looked at her and said, but I hate being the only one beeping all the time. And lo and behold, she said that the bigs alarm started beeping as well. So that was like, meant to be I guess, for that very moment. But they finally they have been matched for over eight months. And it took to that moment to get to the point where the first real full blown diabetes discussion happened. Because we don't want to push it down their throat. And like I said earlier, we want them to be comfortable.

Scott Benner 21:07
Yeah, it finally came up and just happened organically. And the kid was amazing. Yeah, it sounds like by the way, I have to ask you How long were you at the organization before you intrinsically knew to say BIG and LITTLE when you were talking about it? I'm assuming it took months?

Tricia 21:20
It took Yeah, no, because I switched back on tear. This is where I'm terrible. I switch back and forth. With the families. I've always been a little but then with other folks, I'm volunteering kids because I want them to understand what I'm talking about. Because as

Scott Benner 21:36
you're doing it, my brain like like rubs against it every time like what is she saying? I'm like biggest adult, I got it, don't worry, I got it big. It's

Tricia 21:42
the volunteer little it's our kid. That's

Scott Benner 21:45
a great example of you know, you don't rush right, you don't get together on day one and go, Hey, diabetes, allow me to, you know, just like you get together and then it comes up naturally because it was going to sounds like they both got active and their blood sugar's fell. And then they can have that conversation like that. And you can tell even through your retelling how much the kid wanted to say that probably like how important it was for them to maybe be able to unburden themselves to somebody who they were like, Oh, this is a person who will actually understand this.

Tricia 22:14
Yeah. And then the parent, the parent of the little, was so grateful that she opened up and said that, that she got to that point where she could say those words and make it it and just express herself, I guess, express herself in a way where someone else going through the same thing understands. Now these two are like the Bobbsey Twins, and they set their screen their background screen. So they have the same pictures when they're out. And they do this and they do that together. But it's more from this friendship. That obviously is the beginning of the relationship and how the relationship starts into a support system. For diabetes.

Scott Benner 22:59
It's really something, how much are you figuring out as you go? Like, I'm sure with 15 kids who perhaps hasn't happened yet. But eventually you're gonna identify a child with an eating disorder? Like, are you able to like do you have services in mind already, where to guide people to? What about when you meet somebody who can't afford, I don't know, insulin, or supplies, or what happens when you meet people who are just like, you know, a onesies are, are incredibly high, and they don't know what to do. And it's more than just the the big little like, setup can help with do you have? Sure, yeah. What are you doing for that?

Tricia 23:38
So we do work a lot with different wraparound services, and the local hospitals as well. We've really partnered with them, especially, I would say Children's Hospital has been incredible to partner with, because we can share information back and forth. So the first thing you know, on enrollment, they say release forum so that we can talk to people, which helps us dramatically. So if a situation comes up, that we can go back and discuss it, we have had the a one C thing where a onesies are out of control. And that's something the hospital works directly on with them. But a big can help to influence why it's so important to get that number down with other kids. They've seen just with the blood sugar's all over the place, and there's never just some kind of commonality and they can't pinpoint what's making it spike. And we know it's because the kids are bolusing or they're not taking care of themselves properly. So the big they're helping them to understand why it's so important. So if we know like when we do this interview with the little we do it with their parent or guardian and the child themselves, the parent or guardian we meet over zoom. It's a great conversation. We do it when the kids aren't around. So the parent guardian can say whatever they need to say and get it out. And then we go in and we meet with a child face to face.

Scott Benner 25:07
A lot of things being accomplished here. Yeah,

Tricia 25:09
there's it's like, it's really comprehensive program very comprehensive and, and when we meet with a kid have to face are a little I'm going to switch my words here we go. When we meet with our littles, we asked them a lot of questions, and especially around their care for diabetes, finding out exactly where their comfort level is. And I mean, I'm sure this is not a surprise to you. But so many kids report back on bullying. One girl told me her class called her the weird robot. And they didn't want to sit next to her because of her robot device. I mean, it's just working through these kind of boundaries. And these breakthroughs, the

Scott Benner 25:53
most criminal thing there is that kids burn is terrible. The weird robot, like what kind of a dig is that? It's just not well thought out. It's it's low level, where's

Tricia 26:01
the teacher in that situation, too. If it's

Scott Benner 26:05
subpar bullying at best, I don't like it. But it

Tricia 26:08
is bullying. It's 100%. But it's not even. It's bullying.

Scott Benner 26:12
I have a question that I want to I exist in my mind, and I want to get through it like so. I have to admit, when you reached out to me, I thought Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters. I didn't know that. There were I just thought there was Big Brothers Big Sisters. But you're not like if if I have a kid in the greater Boston area, and they're not Jewish, you help them as well. Right? Like it's not thank you

Tricia 26:35
for asking that. I did not say that. At first, we serve everybody. So we serve even though we are Jewish, Big Brothers, Big Sisters. We are an affiliate of the Big Brother, Big Sister, Association of America. We serve everyone regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, identity, orientation, etc. If you are in need of a service, you come to us and we will start working with you. Similar

Scott Benner 27:02
to like when you hear Catholic Charities, for example. Right? That's an organization helps everybody it's not just it's the way it's run. i Okay, how long has it been in existence? So

Tricia 27:12
Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters has been around for? I think we're up to 104 years right now. Okay, well, long standing prominent agency. Yeah.

Scott Benner 27:26
Well, so what made you want to come on the podcast to get the word out, wanted

Tricia 27:29
to spread the word about what we're doing. And for people to reach out if they have questions, or if they have ideas, I wanted to just share the service that's out there for people in the greater Boston area. And I will say we serve over 90 cities and towns so from like, out Western Mass a little bit all the way up through the north shore in South Shore. So we go everywhere, everywhere.

Scott Benner 27:55
It's freezing cold in the wintertime. I know where you're talking about. Yeah,

Tricia 27:59
it's a little chilly today here, but we don't have snow yet. So we'll keep it that way.

Scott Benner 28:05
Let's kind of take a second here. Can I give the phone number from the website? You sure can. Yes. 781-516-2090. Or it's j, b, b? b s.org. Is that correct?

Tricia 28:20
Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And right from our website? No,

Scott Benner 28:24
no, no, no, J, three B's and s.org. And right from your website, what you can

Tricia 28:29
find the type one diabetes program, there's information to enroll, there's a direct link that they'll get to me. And then we'll be able to set them up and get them going.

Scott Benner 28:39
And there's no cost. Is that correct? For the this is a totally free service.

Tricia 28:43
Yep. There's no cost to the child or family

Scott Benner 28:47
at all. And the adults are donating their time. They're

Tricia 28:50
donating their time. And truthfully, they're also donating their money and paying for any outings. For children.

Scott Benner 28:58
I gotcha. So we I take I go rock climbing and there's a charge to get into the something. It's It's on me as the person who's setting up the excursion. Do the big Yeah, gotcha. All right. Well, that all makes sense. Yeah. Because geez, if you were paying for it, I'm like, Where would I go? Maybe get a nice meal. Get a steak. We'll start slow in the morning. Get an amen.

Tricia 29:18
We'll keep going all day. But yeah, no, no. Sorry. Sorry. Diverse. No,

Scott Benner 29:23
I didn't. I didn't imagine any differently. Actually, I just I just wanted to make sure people understood that they'd be donating. So you're looking to hear from children who are looking to be paired up and you're looking for adults who'd like to donate their time as well.

Tricia 29:36
You got I'm looking for a ball. Okay. Well,

Scott Benner 29:39
I I'm gonna just say this. I feel personally responsible now to make sure people reach out to you. So if you're listening and you fit into one of these buckets, like, give it a try if you're interested, you know, I mean, what could it hurt to reach out and talk to Trisha a little bit and, and get some more information? Right.

Tricia 29:53
Right. I mean, this is it's really like, truthfully, people will do People involved in our program will tell you that this is a gift and, and we are only here to help serve people and to make things better for kids so that they're more comfortable in their own skin, and that they feel good about living with a chronic illness. The one thing I said when I first applied to work at Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters, was that I never want a child to feel like their illness owns them. I want the child to own their illness. That's wonderful. And I feel by giving them a mentor. It's something that can really help to teach them how to take role, and how to feel good about what's going on in their situations, and feel as though they can live with type one a successful life which we know is possible. And to make it through all the different ages and stages with someone by your side.

Scott Benner 30:51
Can I ask you, how has your understanding of type one changed over the last year,

Tricia 30:57
I have learned so much, I can't even believe so I knew what type one was, I knew that it wasn't anything like type, oh, you know, all of those things. But one just learning from hearing from children, the misconceptions that they go through, that's been eye opening, but then to learning about bolusing learning about closed loop systems, learning about all these different systems that kids have kids that are on multiple daily injections first versus on a loop system, it's been really interesting to me to see the paradigm shift and the learning curve for myself going through this. And I feel like they can actually have a conversation with a parent of a child with type one. And not be clueless and understand. I mean, do I understand what it's like to wake up in the middle of the night? Because your child's blood sugar's crashing? No, I do not have that in my back pocket. But I do know what it's like to be a parent, I have two teenage girls. I know what it's like to work with children with chronic illnesses. And I know what it's like to hear a parent going through a traumatic episode and being there to support them through that time.

Scott Benner 32:10
Have you had an experience yet where you thought, Oh, I wish I could take this knowledge back with me. 15 years ago when I was working in hospitals?

Tricia 32:19
Yes, I wish we could have done a support group then for kids like this. I wish I could have set something up. That would have reached children when they're in the hospital differently for type one. And given them more tools to go back to school with

Scott Benner 32:35
Yeah, yeah. So if somebody's listening to this, whose kid is already maybe part of the Big Brothers Big Sisters program in another place, you know, outside of Boston? Yeah. You're comfortable with them, asking their chapter to reach to you and you'd be happy to explain to them how you got this setup? What's working? What didn't like give them a roadmap?

Tricia 32:58
100% Of course, right? Like we all have to work together. There's there's no I in team will go for the cliche. And we need to you know, everyone's here. If your child is involved in a Big Brother, Big Sister program. They're in it because you knew they have a need for something. Yeah. So why not just expand that lead?

Scott Benner 33:18
That's fantastic. It really is. It's very kind that you'd spend the time to explain to somebody else and get it rolling in other places, too, if they were interested. I think we've covered everything really well. I want to make sure you feel that way. And then I have one last question for you. So first of all, is there anything we haven't said that we should have that I missed? No,

Tricia 33:36
no, we've got it all. Great. I we've hit all my little bullet points here.

Scott Benner 33:40
So here's my last question. How come you're not like let's go park the car on the yacht? How come you don't sound like that? Do you? Not from from New York. He's gonna say

Tricia 33:52
no, no, but my youngest daughter Sure. Does. She parks? She does. She has no RS whatsoever. No, no. I'm from New York.

Scott Benner 34:04
Did you go to the area for school and just stay?

Tricia 34:06
I did. I did. I came here because I knew I wanted to be a child life specialist. I came here to go to Wheelock College. During that time, I wrote a grant with a physician that I worked with to get a program started in surgery and trauma. And then from there, I met my husband who's here and that's how I ended up saying she it's

Scott Benner 34:27
always a boy. I every time I interview somebody I'm like, how did you end up in Alaska and then the story starts and a boy and then by the way, that Alaska story, which I'm not going to bother you with is in a past episode. The boy disappeared. She stayed in Alaska, and I was like,

Tricia 34:42
Oh my goodness. My guys still around.

Scott Benner 34:48
Oh my god. Okay. Well, I find AJ please, I hear some stories. I genuinely appreciate you taking the time. I really appreciate you guys reaching out actually. There are I will I'll tell you something that's backroom that you would know, a lot of people reach out to me to get their thing out in the world. And most some, there are times where I'm like, um, you know, it's business related or something. I'm like, I'm not here to like, you know, shill for your business. And I don't do stuff like that. But boy, when I got your, your initial note, I think I misunderstood it at first. And then you guys were persistent, which I appreciate it. Because then when I really dug into it, I was like, this is something I'd like to really get behind. So I appreciate the effort that you put into getting on the podcast. And by the way, this is not an this is not an invitation for other people who I've said no to, to come back. And

Tricia 35:37
I have to say, Tonya, my ally, who first additionally reached out to you, she is just above and beyond. And she's our Director of Recruitment and engagement. And she's the one that helps me find our bigs. And without her like we work hand in hand together. Yeah. Without her, I wouldn't be able to do this. So I

Scott Benner 35:57
have one last question. Sorry. I know I said, I had one last question that I have been asked. You can have, like 10. Last question. How's that? What about a scenario like me, like, I'm not offering to come to Boston, but I'm just using me as an example. I do not have type one diabetes. But some people might argue that I might make a fantastic mentor for somebody with type one diabetes, like So could a parent of a child with type one who's maybe kids have kind of flown the coop or I guess, gone to college? Like, could they be a big for a young person with type one? Like, are there worlds where you match type ones with non type ones that still have a lot of information about diabetes? You ever thought about that one? How can

Tricia 36:34
I tell you? I don't know. I honestly I'm going to be honest. I don't know. We haven't explored that avenue yet. Well, that's

Scott Benner 36:40
there's my little bit for you. Like maybe that would be alright. Yeah. Take that back to the table. Yeah, get some like, you know, empty nests, mom with a ton of energy. For at least one of those kids, they got all that energy. They don't know what to do with. Trust me, they know a ton about diabetes, and they might not have anything to do with it anymore. Anyway, I don't know. Maybe it wouldn't work out. Or maybe it doesn't fulfill the exact calling of the idea. I mean, as I think about it, maybe it doesn't, but I don't know, I just want to throw it out there.

Tricia 37:06
The reason why I was like I don't want I never a straight off no person. But the one thing I can think of is like there is so much comfort in a child wearing a blood glucose monitor, seeing an adult wearing it as well. There's this kind of bond that happens immediately. I see it

Scott Benner 37:28
very well may not be a good fit for the overall idea. It just occurred to me and I wanted to ask, so thank

Tricia 37:34
you as support for the parents, the other parents that have younger kids to talk to a parent who's gone through all of

Scott Benner 37:42
the show, you're gonna make more work for yourself a big one big program, a parent, a parents of kids with type one program.

Tricia 37:49
It who knows you never know. I mean, look at I just said to you, I never say no right away.

Scott Benner 37:55
Well, listen, that's, that's also not a bad. I mean, look, there might be other places already set up to cover those things. But what I'm thinking is if you have 15 kids who are in your program, let's just pretend it was 16. Now you have eight parents and eight parents who you could maybe put together that might not be difficult, and it might be valuable and needed and desired by those people. I listen, I have my Facebook group adds 150 new people every four days. Wow, those are people who do not have community and generally speaking are looking for community and support. So I think even that's a good idea. You could get into all kinds of side hustles here. I know they're not called side hustles but you're doing it for an organization. We

Tricia 38:40
could get all we could get all different kinds of programs. Yeah, but you could do your from Jersey now you can do your side hustle mob program.

Scott Benner 38:54
I have side hustles I'm all over the place trying to stay stay above water. But okay. Well, Trisha, this was really nice to you to do. Give me all the information again. What's the website? And one more time?

Tricia 39:05
Sure. So our website is www.jbbs.org. And you know what you gave a telephone number you gave our direct line phone number? I don't know is that I'm a terrible person. I don't know where to get my phone number off the top of my head.

Scott Benner 39:27
I don't think you're a terrible person. 781-516-2090

Tricia 39:32
There you go. All right. That's why we work together see teamwork already.

Scott Benner 39:36
She's like, I know my phone number. There are other ones.

Tricia 39:41
Well, right. That's I know my cell but anyways,

Scott Benner 39:45
asked me my kids cell phone numbers. I have no idea. No, I

Tricia 39:49
know. You're gonna say to me, excuse me. I have to put their name and with that contact and I was like,

Scott Benner 39:53
I have absolutely no idea. All right. I really do appreciate you doing this. Can you hold on one second for me?

Tricia 39:58
Absolutely. Absolutely. A

Scott Benner 40:07
terrific was that make sure to check them out if you're interested in helping. I'd like to thank ag one for sponsoring this episode of The Juicebox Podcast and remind you that with your first order, you're gonna get a free welcome kit. Five free travel packs in a year supply of vitamin D. That's at AG one.com/juice box. A huge thanks to the contour next gen blood glucose meter for sponsoring this episode of The Juicebox Podcast. Learn more and get started today at contour next one.com/juicebox And here's a little bonus for you for listening all the way till the end. In the Pro Tip series that runs between Episode 1001 1025 I think there are ads from contour with a link to a free meter. You have to be a US resident and it's only while supplies last but there are supplies left at this moment. So head over there. Listen to the diabetes Pro Tip series that begins at episode 1000. Get that link and get yourself a free contour next gen meter while supplies last US residents only the episode you just heard was professionally edited by wrong way recording. Wrong way recording.com