#1919 Hurricane Levi
Hurricane Levi
Tendai's son was diagnosed at four in Zimbabwe. She pays cash for sensors, counts carbs on food with no labels, and found this show through a WhatsApp group of African parents.
Jump to a moment
- The signs were textbook — and easy to talk yourself out of. Levi, then four, went back to bedwetting, drank constantly, and lost weight until he was lethargic on the living-room floor. Tendai hesitated to take him in, worried a doctor would wave off “drinks water, pees a lot” as nothing. By the time they went, he was near DKA and admitted for close to two weeks. Her point for other parents: trust the pattern and go.
- Care in Zimbabwe means assembling the pieces yourself. Tendai covers insulin through her employer’s medical aid and CGMs through her husband’s; early on they paid cash — roughly $75–$90 for a single 14-day sensor. A senior nurse scolded her four-year-old that sweets were “why you’re here,” and, tellingly, the pediatrician’s best advice was to go find other parents, because he only knew the textbook.
- No food labels, so everything is observation. Most food is organic and unlabeled, so Tendai learns by watching — how much insulin pairs with a portion of sadza, the staple maize porridge, versus rice or pizza. She credits the podcast for finally making basal, bolus, timing, and insulin-on-board click after the hospital sent her home unsure of the difference between the two insulins.
- She found the show through a network of African parents. A mom in Harare pointed her to the podcast; their WhatsApp group, which includes parents in South Africa, now recommends it to every newcomer. Scott is visibly moved to learn the show’s Zimbabwe ranking is real people. Separately, a private school told her they “already have a child with type one” and didn’t want another — a heartbreak she pushed past.
- Practical moves, offered as things to raise with her doctor. Levi’s split NPH (Protaphane) basal is dated; Scott suggests asking about a modern once-daily basal like Tresiba, which could add stability and likely lower an A1c currently in the 8–9 range. He also suggests, carefully and with a doctor-first caveat, using an AI model as a sounding board to talk through dosing. None of this is medical advice.
- Bold Beginnings series — Scott and Jenny Smith for the newly diagnosed — basal, bolus, timing, and the fundamentals Tendai had to piece together.
- Diabetes Pro Tip series — Episodes 1000-1025 — the management foundation Tendai credits for making it all click.
- A1C / blood glucose estimator — The tool Scott pulls up on-air to convert Levi's target range and A1c.
Every word of the conversation
Cold open & sponsors0:06
Friends, we're all back together for another episode of the Juice Box podcast. If you or a loved one is newly diagnosed with type one diabetes and you're seeking a clear practical perspective, check out the bold beginnings series on the juice box podcast. It's hosted by myself and Jenny Smith, an experienced diabetes educator with over thirty five years personal insight into type one. Our series cuts through the medical jargon and delivers straightforward answers to your most pressing questions. Hey.
Nothing you hear on the juice box podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. Always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan. This episode of the podcast is sponsored by MiniMed and the Kontoor Nextgen blood glucose meter. MiniMed, of course, the innovators behind the MiniMed Flex system, a small, sleek, and discreet insulin automated delivery system controlled from an app. Nothing comes close to freedom you can feel.
To learn more, visit minimed.com/juicebox. There is one blood glucose meter in this house, the Kontoor Next Gen blood glucose meter. That meter is on my daughter's person right now and at all times. It is incredibly accurate and waiting for you at kontoornext.com/juicebox.
Meet Tendai and Levi, in Zimbabwe1:36
Hello, Scott. My name is Tendai, and I have a six year old son, Levi, who has type one diabetes. And we live in Zimbabwe.
Tendai, it's nice to meet you. Am I saying your name right?
Yes. Yes. Awesome.
Is Levi your only child, or do you have others?
Levi is my second child. My first daughter is 17, and Levi is six.
Oh, wow. Look at you. Mhmm. Yes. There other people with type one in your family or Levi's father's family?
Anything like that?
No. There's no history of type one in in mine and my husband's family.
Okay. And and how long ago was he diagnosed?
So he was diagnosed in December 2024, just before Christmas.
Oh my. So so it'll be two years this Christmas?
Correct. Yes.
I almost said how old was he when he was introduced to type one diabetes, which is ridiculous because I've asked I've said the word diagnosed thousands of times making this podcast. And I was like, I I I I stopped myself. You'll hear me fumbling through it. Was like, why was I gonna say that? Well, so he's what was he about for when he was diagnosed?
Yes. He was, he just turned four in August of that year.
The signs, and talking herself out of the doctor3:07
Okay. And leading up to the diagnosis, things you noticed, or did it it come up very quickly? Was it a slow onset?
Oh, yes. We we we noticed the the usual signs that everybody talks about. So Levi was had been fully potty trained by that age. Mhmm. But I did notice he he went back to bedwetting.
He was drinking tons of water, and and then he started to lose weight.
Mhmm.
As well as towards the towards the end, I did notice some some weight loss. Although, it wasn't until, my mother-in-law mentioned it to me because when you're living with somebody, it's hard to see weight loss. You you get used to that until you don't notice it anymore.
Sure.
But I did notice that he had lost quite a lot of weight. And then, also, by the time I decided to take him to the hospital, he was now, you know, just lethargic, and he would because he's an energetic child. Levi is quite quite a handful Mhmm. Bowls of energy. But at that time, he started to, you know, become weaker.
He would just lie down and fall asleep even in this middle of the living room on the floor. Uh-huh. So I did notice that something was wrong, but I I needed just to mention this because I feel like maybe some people may identify with such a thing that when I was seeing all these symptoms, it did occur to me to take him to see the doctor. But then I couldn't get myself to do it because it was very strange to me to go to the doctor and say, well, my son's not eating much. He's drinking lots of water, and he's going to the bathroom frequently.
Because in my mind, I thought that would come across as, you know, ridiculous. So the doctor would say, well, if he's drinking water, then obviously, he's going to pee more.
Mhmm.
You know? So that's what stopped me from going to the doctor earlier than I should have. At the time we went, I think he was he was close to DKA because we had to rush to the hospital, to the nearest hospital, And then they booked him in, and we were in there for, I think, just a little over a week, close to two weeks.
Mhmm. Two weeks? Mhmm. Really?
Yes. Yeah.
How long between when you when you talked yourself out of going to the doctor and when you actually went to the hospital? How much time was in between there?
I think that took probably a few days. Three to four days.
Okay.
Because I made the decision the night before when he looked just weak. And then I said, no. I've got to go to the doctor, and I went the very next morning.
Mhmm. Mhmm. Yeah. How far was the hospital?
It was, I think, a ten minute drive.
That's okay. Close close to your house or to where you live.
Okay. Yes.
Well well, that's crazy. So out of nowhere for you, it just he was fine one day. The next day, he seemed tired, peed a lot, drank a lot. And then sometime later, you thought he looks, like, weak, ill, close to death? Like, what was the thing that pushed you over the edge?
So he had been, you know, he'd been sleeping a lot more than usual. Like I said, he's very energetic because if he's not jumping all over the place, then something is wrong. So at that point, he was just, you know, sleeping most of the day and not active at all. Mhmm. Then when I was feeding him supper, usually, he would feed himself.
But that particular day, he wouldn't eat. He wouldn't even sit up at all.
Just lifeless. And that mhmm.
He was basically lifeless. I tried to I force fed him, and he threw up a couple of times. And then I thought, nah. Let me just let him sleep it off. I'll rush him to the doctor the following morning.
Mhmm.
And your daughter at that point is maybe 13?
Yes.
Yeah. So do you do you go as a family to the hospital, or do how do you? The Kontoor Next Gen blood glucose meter is sponsoring this episode of the juice box podcast, and it is entirely possible that it is less expensive in cash than you are paying right now for your meter through your insurance company. That's right. If you go to my link, contournext.com/juicebox, you're gonna find links to Walmart, Amazon, Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid, Kroger, Meijer.
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Nearly two weeks in the hospital9:44
No. At that time, I just because I woke up earlier than usual. So I say to everybody, it was it was actually we call them national holidays here in Zimbabwe. So it was unity day, and everybody was home. Schools were closed.
So I said, I'm gonna rushly by to the to the to see the doctor, and I'll be back real quick. I didn't think it was going to be anything. Mhmm. I thought maybe he was just gonna prescribe him something and would come back home straight after because he was still fairly mobile. He wasn't completely out, but he was, you know, just really weak, but he was conscious.
Mhmm.
So I thought maybe we're gonna get a small prescription and, you know, rush back home. Yeah. Then when I got to the doctor, he he started asking me all these questions, which I was just thinking, okay. You know, what what what do these questions have to do with anything? Then midway through the interview, then he says to me, look.
I'm not certain, but I think he may have he called it adolescent's diabetes Mhmm. At that time. And I thought, what what is that? I've never heard of such a thing. And he says, yeah.
Anyway, I need you to to get to the nearest hospital because this was the the doctor's surgery.
Sort of like a what would we call that? Like a like a urgent care or something like that? Or Yes. Yes. Right.
And then they and that doctor's telling you, I need you to get to the hospital. They transport you to the hospital, or you have to get yourself there?
He said to me, do you are you good to drive to the hospital? And I said, yeah. Of course. I think I can drive because I still wasn't grasping exactly what was going on. And he didn't give me that much of a sense of urgency, but he did say, you get to the can you drive to the hospital and get there quickly?
And I said, yes. Mhmm. There wasn't a lot of traffic, so I did. And he says, okay. Can you get there now?
And I'm going to follow I'm gonna close the the surgery, and I'm gonna follow you in my own car.
Did that scare you then?
It did.
Yeah.
That was the sign to me that says, okay. So this is this is bigger than I thought it was.
Yeah.
And so on the way, I called my husband and said, look. This is what the doctor is saying. So I'm rushing off to to the hospital, the biggest hospital in the area that we live in. And I also called my parents, and I called his parents as well. And everybody met us there within, I think, twenty minutes.
Yeah. The doctor wanting to escort you over made you think, oh gosh. This is really I mean, he's he's closing the place up and following my my car.
And Exactly.
Yeah. And then starting to think about, like and he asked me, am I okay to drive? I bet what wait. What? Like and then Mhmm.
Yeah. Wow. So there's this Yeah. There's this heavy thing over you that you can't quite conceptualize yet, but the the clues are starting to pull it together for you. And your whole family showed up.
Your parents came. Everybody was there.
My parents were actually making their way from another town, which is far away, but my my my husband's parents actually leave. I think it's a two minute walk from from the hospital. So they were there before the hospital had even finished checking him in.
That's nice. Yeah.
Yeah. So, yeah, the support system was there Right. Quick.
“This is why you’re here” — and a rare honest doctor13:22
But then how is the how is the medical system? Like, I mean, were were you there two weeks because that's how it is there or because it's not great or because he was so poorly like, was he not doing well? What what's the reason for the long stay?
Okay. So now with with with hindsight, I think I can put it this way to say being in a third world country, Zimbabwe. Right? I think our medical system is not is not that bad. Mhmm.
But it could be better. And now, there's certain things that they do really well, you know, in our country, like, with things like I don't know. Maybe they really did well with COVID. They do well with, you know, immunizations and others, you know, pandemics and HIV and whatnot. But with, in particular, type one diabetes, I think it's still something that is being discovered for the most part because I'll tell you one incident that happened while we were at the hospital.
I think this was maybe day three or four. So we were in the children's ward, right? And being in the children's ward, obviously, there are other children with different conditions. And being Christmas time, most of these kids were getting treats and all these snacks and, you know, nice things. Meanwhile, our our doctor has put Levi on a strict diet at that point.
So he was not having, most of his favorite foods. He wasn't having snacks. He wasn't, you know, having everything else that other kids in the same room were having.
Oh, okay.
So then there's a there's a senior nurse who was just doing her rounds. I think she was just going around looking at the patients. And then she sees me struggling with Levi. Like I said, Levi is, you know, is a handful. So he was really giving me a hard time.
He wants he wants sweets or whatever because he's seeing everybody around having those. And I'm saying, you can't you can't have those right now. And then so she comes in. I think she meant well. She wanted to help.
Then she says she's trying to talk to him. And she says to him, look. You can't have sweets. This is why you are here in the first place. Oh.
So
Awesome.
Can't have sweets. And she's a she's a senior Mhmm. In that hospital.
Who thinks that your four year old who's being diagnosed with type one diabetes is there because of his poor life choices?
Exactly.
Gotcha. So
that's that's the dynamic already. You I I'm sure you get the picture.
Sure.
And, also, our pediatrician, when when he was now when we were about to go home and he's great. We're really happy with everything that he's he taught us. But I have to give him credit for something that he said to me when we were now leaving to go home. He said to me, look. I know the textbook stuff about this condition.
And he said to me, I need you to to get in touch with other parents that have kids with this condition because they're going to tell you things that I can't tell you. I don't have a child with type one, and I don't live with the condition, you know, on a day to day basis. So there's certain things you're going to learn more out there than I can ever tell you.
Well, that's that's good honest inform that's good honest information at least. Yeah. But not Yeah. Not incredibly encouraging, I would matter imagine when you're in the hospital. And the people in the hospital are like, listen.
We don't know the first thing about this. So can you go make a friend who knows about it? And you're like, probably not.
Yeah. That's yeah. It it it gave me mixed feelings, but I've noticed that, yeah, she definitely this whole this world is it's it's a crazy world to be thrown into. Sure.
No matter where you are.
She couldn't possibly know. You don't know what you don't know
Right.
As far as this condition Hey.
You understand. You listen to the podcast. Right?
I do. Yeah. I do listen to it as often as I can.
Yeah. So then, you know, when I talk to people from Canada, I tease them, and I ask them if they ride a polar bear. So it would be unfair if I didn't ask you if there's, like, lions walking around where you live. You
know, I, no. Unfortunately,
they are
not this heavy. I wish they were. Do you? We We we do have in my country, we do have, you know what they call the big five in terms of wildlife.
Okay.
Biggest, game. So we do have a lot of that, apparently.
Can I guess? You have to yes. Sure. Hippos, elephants, rhinos. I'm not gonna get the other two.
Giraffe?
Lions.
And lions. Did I get them?
Yes. Yes.
Yes. I've been to the zoo. I know what's going on. Yeah. Yeah.
Oh, wow. That's and and, like like, roaming naturally, or are they in preserves? Or how how is that handled?
Yes. They are in game reserves.
Wow.
Just in selected areas around the country. So you're you're not going to see them roaming. But but there are certain you know what? What they call them we call them rural areas. There are certain rural areas where you're going to find that elephants do roam freely, and they you you could probably see an elephant just a few feet from your your yard in in other places in the country like, I think it's, I don't know, Binga, is it?
I'm not sure.
Do people keep
them? Geography is not good.
No. Your geography is don't worry. You're asking the wrong person. I'm trying to imagine what time zone you're in right now. What do people keep them ever on, like, farms or on their property, or is that not a thing that happens?
No. No? They they wouldn't. They are protected, obviously, by the government. So they would be they just roam freely.
You wanna hear the weirdest thing?
Specific areas. Yeah.
You wanna hear the weirdest thing about America ever? Do you do you know that Texas has the has more big cats in it than that are privately owned than anywhere else in the world? Oh, really? Isn't that weird? People in Texas
People keep them as pets.
Yeah. Tigers and lions in Texas. I mean, let's go. That's strange. Yeah.
I thought so too. Nevertheless, it's absolutely true. Well, okay. So you're you're at the hospital for, you know, a a bit of time. Are you actually able to cobble together a plan while you're there, or are you just in a panic trying to go out and meet a friend who has diabetes?
Two medical aids, and paying cash for CGMs20:45
So during our stay, our doctor gave us like like I said, he gave he puts my son on a on a diet. He recommended the diet that we should follow, and then he also gave us some reading material just to get to know what's going on and how this condition came you know just information about the condition. So we did have that support because, obviously, the meals were were provided by the by the hospital, and he would come in and see us three times a day, morning, afternoon, and evening, just to check check on everything, Also, to to keep keep tabs on the readings because we were not on we didn't have a continuous glucose monitor during our time in the hospital. We were we were just using the the glucometers to test your sugar levels. Yeah.
Are the are the tools provided by by the government, by the hospital, or do you have to acquire them privately? How does it work there?
Okay. So here, we have we have medical aid. I think you call it medical insurance, same thing. So my medical aid from where I work, I work for a bank, it doesn't cover. They don't provide CGMs, but my husband's workplace does.
So we've been fortunate enough to get those from using his medical aid.
Okay. Yeah. Here, you could only use one. So if usually, a family is covered under one person's employment, that that's great that you have two opt I guess that's not completely true. I've I've seen people do it both ways.
So you were able to put your son on your husband's aid, which got him the CGM?
Yes.
I see.
And then on my aid, that's where we get the insulin and
Oh, that's interesting. You can get some from yours and some that that's actually very reasonable. It's what is it expensive for you? I can I pick in a little bit? Like, what what's a good income where you live?
What's an average income?
I want to say if you're going to be comfortable, have everything taken care of, you could probably do well with maybe 1,200, 1,500 US dollars a month
Okay.
Take home. But then I say that with a bit of reservation because, obviously, it depends on your lifestyle. Some people can get by with 500.
Okay. But you have I mean, you're a family of
just depends Yeah. On on your choices.
Yeah. And you're a family of four, but living with his mom or your mom?
No. It's just the two of us and not two kids.
Oh oh, I oh, so okay. I I misunderstood at some point where the a parent was. So you're a family of four. You're both making an income?
Yes. Yes. We're both And making an income.
And does and is diabetes manageable for you? Is it impossible? Is it somewhere in the middle?
I think it's somewhere in the middle. I think we I think we're doing better now than we were last year and then than we were in the first year.
Okay.
It's helped to listen to the podcast every day because there's definitely things that I I have discovered that I I didn't know about. I like, for instance, I didn't understand the difference between the two injections that we have to give him. We he's he's on multiple daily injections.
Right.
So he's not on a pump. But when we first came out of the hospital, it was really confusing to me which which the differences between the injections because we give him two. He's got a short acting. That's NovoRapid. And then he's got the long acting, which is Protofen.
The two injections meant you know, they were they were the same to me at first.
Right.
So it was only when I listened to your podcast and when I talked to my sister-in-law, who's a nurse, and she explained as well to me, okay. So this is what this one does, and then this is what this one does. But then there's also things like the things that you explain on your podcast about, you know, policing and basal and timing and everything and how to balance those two. That was a bit of a mystery in the beginning. It was just a mess how I think we were handling it.
But I think it's gotten better now. There's still a lot of room for improvement because I'm yet to to master the calculating the carbs, I think.
Is that because our food's not labeled properly, or how how why does that cause you an issue?
Mhmm. Because our our food here in Zimbabwe, it's it's mostly organic. It's easier to find organic food than, the processed foods. So, being organic means there's no labels.
You
basically have to you say that you know or you don't know or you are guessing at least how many carbs or how much protein or fat is in a particular, meal that you've you've pre prepared. So I think that's where I'm I'm yet to to really try and zero in on that and master that.
Counting carbs on food with no labels26:37
And Yeah. Is it are you able to use the Internet to help you, or how do you are you is it trial and error?
I've tried the Internet. Yeah. The Internet has helped. This it has definitely helped, but also is most most of it has been trial and error just by observing. I can observe that our staple food here, we call it Sada.
I've observed what salsa does and what the quantities are and how much insulin work well with what quantity of salsa.
And that's all like a it's a that's like a porridge. Right? Like a cornmeal porridge?
Exactly. But it's thicker.
Thicker. Okay.
Mhmm.
And something yeah. I believe it or not, I actually, I'm doing a little bit of, like, research because I wanna be able to talk to you about it. And I just asked it it might surprise you. I asked Chad GPT for five common meals in Zimbabwe. Sazo Sazo was the first.
And then it lists and then it lists it with beef or chicken or goat. Uh-huh. Ready? Hold on. Murawu Andovi, leafy greens cooked with peanut butter.
Is that right?
Yes.
Yeah.
Exactly. Yeah.
Yeah. And so these are things that you just contextually you just have to guess. So do you know even like, did they give you settings for him, carb ratio, basal? Or do you have to figure the whole thing out, or did they at least get him set up by his weight to begin with?
No. That that part, I really had to go onto your your website to try and figure things out on the and then to also Google the rest of the stuff.
Are you using, like, my settings estimator and things like that?
I used that one time
Yeah.
When I was trying to because we had we had a disaster with pizza one time, and I just went and I said, no. No. No. By the way, they have something on there. So let me go and try and, you know, work it out.
And I went there, and I think it worked well. I may not have given it the amount of time that I
should have. To give it more time.
I think I need to give it more time
Yeah.
Because it doesn't look like it it's too difficult. I'm just yeah. Just got a full plate on my on right now, things to do with school and everything. But I I think I'm gonna crack it. If I give it more time, I'm sure we'll be on top of things pretty quickly.
I'm sure you will too. I have to just to take a turn here for a second. This conversation, you're filling my heart up so much today. Thank you so much.
No. Great.
No. I really to hear that this has been valuable to you in a place on the globe that I never even imagined anybody would hear this at is, it's it's very fulfilling to hear this conversation. Like, it's I I I really do appreciate you taking the time to do this. You know, when I try to quantify what I do, it it's difficult. Like, I don't always understand it.
And sometimes people might hear me on here saying, like, you know, the podcast is and it is. It's the it's the best downloaded diabetes podcast in the world, in The United States by leaps and bounds. But and but in, like, 45 other countries, it ranks. And we've we we are it ranks in Zimbabwe. And there's part of me that when I see that, just assume that's a bot or, like, you know, something, but it's it's you and, you know, maybe others too.
I mean, in fairness, it could just be you. But it No. No.
Let me tell you. I heard about you from another parent of a child with type one. You know, these people that I started to connect with following
No. Tendi, shit. You're gonna make me cry. Hold on a second.
So I'm I'm in a city called Vulawayo in Zimbabwe, and this lady is in Harare. That's the capital city. So she said to me, can you go and listen to the juice juice box podcast? And then in the WhatsApp group that we have with several parents, I'm not sure how many we have, but there's quite a number of us. Yeah.
This it includes parents from South Africa as well. And everybody does mention, you know, recommend, especially when we welcome a new parent into the group. One of the first things that parents say there are you need to go and check this podcast out, and it's got a lot of information. So, yeah, I don't think you have the slightest idea of your reach in terms of helping people to understand this condition and manage it better.
A WhatsApp group, and finding the podcast31:32
Well, thanks to you. I have a much better idea. And you did make me cry a little, but I just not a lot. So I I would tell my family my eyes are just watering, and they're like, you know, you're crying. And I'm like, I don't know.
It doesn't feel like crying yet. Well, gosh. That that's that's really amazing. I really do appreciate you sharing that with me. So around cost, I just wanna make sure again, like, you feel comfortable with it, but is it a lot of out of pocket for you, or is this the medical aid cover it all?
Yeah. It's it's there is a lot of out of pocket because in the beginning, we we we did have to pay cash for the for the CGMs before I knew that I could get medical aid to pay for it. So in the first couple of months, we were paying cash for it.
Tell me. When you bought CGMs, how many zig is that to buy them?
Okay. So so interestingly, we actually don't use a lot of SIG in in this country, especially in the in the part of the country that I'm in. We mostly use the United States dollar.
Oh, you're using US dollars there? Oh, okay. Well, then I don't have to figure it out. Good. What what were you paying for CGMs?
It
It's it's $90 in some places. Seven between 75 and $90 depending on the pharmacy that you you you you've gone to.
For how many?
That is one.
Oh my gosh. For for seven days?
No. Fourteen fourteen days. Most of them last fourteen days.
They last fourteen days. Okay. So but so you're paying, like, $200 I mean, somewhere between a 150 and $200 a month for two CGMs.
Exactly.
Yeah. Gosh. Okay. So you're using what the leap you're using Libre there?
No. No? We we're using we use LYNX.
LYNX. I don't know it.
And it's a really good one.
Okay.
And then there's another one called Sinocay. That's the one we started off with, then we moved on to Lynx. I did get a Libre from from a relative from England.
I would Then
we tried it.
Shoot, Hendi. Yeah. I thought I heard a little bit of British in your accent, like, ten minutes ago. I should have said something. I would have seemed like a genius.
Damn it. But
I don't know. I don't think I don't know what it was, but my country was colonized by Britain. So maybe
That's it. That could be it.
But I've never been there. I've never been to
No kidding. Okay. No. So you had somebody send you a Libre, but you so you have two two CGMs there that you like that I've never even heard of before. So DexCom doesn't make it into into that part of Africa.
I wanted to try out the Dexcom. I even have one, which we also got from from the same relative. But then I think I need to somebody said I need to change my Google account
to Africa. Yeah.
Because there's no support services in ZIM. Same thing for Libre. So those those people in ZIM who use Libre have configured their settings to make to make it look like they are in South Africa.
Yeah. I was just gonna
can download the app.
Yeah. Yeah. I was just thinking. I I just heard I don't think it's out yet, but I did this interview with this lady. Her son was diagnosed in South America on a ski trip, and she had type she has type one, the mom.
So when she flew to meet him at the hospital because he was there not speaking the language, being diagnosed as, a teenager. Right? And, she flew there to help him. She put a bunch of her supplies together, brought them down, and then tried to slap a Dexcom on him, but it wouldn't work because her app was was coded as she lived in America, so it wouldn't let her start it. And that's gotta be the same problem.
I see. I wonder why they do that.
Yeah. It doesn't. It sucks. It really does.
Yeah. We're already paid for it. What do you care?
The desk phone.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know?
I don't I don't want to see them go to waste because we've got three of them right now that we can't use because of this problem.
Right. Not something
gonna hold on to them and then figure it out.
Yeah. So now he comes home. He's diagnosed. Does is he in school at that point? How do you manage all of this?
So he was in preschool at the time. Mhmm. And I I had to quickly message his teacher just before schools opened in January. That that was the second week of January. So I told her, and I said, so this is the this is what's going on with Levi, and I'm going to need help with a, b, c, d.
And they were very, very helpful. I have to say They was open to to learning about everything that was going on, and they reacted very quickly.
That's lovely.
So luckily, my employer was able to give me the time to work from home whilst we tried to to to
Figure it out.
Get to understand and figure the whole thing out. So I had, I think, about a month of working from home and being able to go to school and react as quickly. However, I wanted to mention that when when he was now coming into into primary school
“We already have a child with type one”37:05
Right.
So he started primary school this year. And I was looking for I decided to change him and put him in a smaller school than the one we originally wanted to take him to. So I had an interview with the the headmaster of the school. I think it was the deputy head or something. And I said, look.
Could we please have our son come here? It's a it's a very one of the most popular private schools in Laulauayo here. And I explained to him what the condition was and and everything. And to my absolute horror, he said to me, look. We already have a child with type one, and we're not we're not jumping up and down to get another one.
We're not we're not too keen on this. Why don't you keep that kid? My Yeah. God. That's gonna break your heart.
Yeah. Yeah. It's a strain on our teachers and all this and all that. So so we went back to the big school where we had we had already planned to take him since he was a baby. And to my surprise, they were, you know, more welcoming and more receptive.
Of course, there's they they had a healthy amount of fear
Mhmm.
And, you know, just hesitation about, okay. Can we do this?
So did they
really been helpful.
Yeah. The school he ends up at, did they have background in this, or were they just willing to learn?
No. I think I think there could be one or maybe one or two other kids, but they are older kids. So the teachers don't have to intervene as
much. Involved.
Yeah. They have to with with Levi who's six. Yeah. Six in August.
It would be interesting to hear from that that deputy headmaster, like, what what what makes it such a struggle? Like, maybe that child comes there with no I mean, to, like, listen to what you left the hospital with. You weren't sure the difference between basal and bolus insulin. Right? That maybe that kid's in that situation, and they're like, no.
You don't understand. This is a shit show. And and they don't they we can't do two. You know? And, yeah, that's it is very interesting.
It's a lot. It is a lot because I've asked the teacher his teacher right now, she has to help him with injections. I had to ask her because, of course, now I'm trying to get him to to inject himself. He can he can inject himself.
Oh, awesome.
If you mhmm. If you of course, you have to measure out the units for him. Mhmm. But she still has to help with that. She has to communicate with me when she sees the signs of a of a hypo.
Yeah.
And I have to call her when I get the the alerts to say, okay. He needs an injection now or things like that. But they've been really great with that.
That's awesome. Hey. Is there a cultural belief about lifespan or health with type one diabetes? Is, like, did you get the big speech in the hospital? Like, his life's gonna be different or shorter, or do they tell you anything?
No. No. They never told us any of that. But there is no shortage of, of advice that you get in myths from society about how it can be cured by, you know, by this plant or that diet and things like that.
Are you in the Facebook group by any chance in mind?
Yes. I've yes. I am.
There's a post in there the other day. Some lady said she was on a vacation, and I I I forget if it was an Uber driver. Somebody told her if the kid just sat in a cold, dark room, it would go.
Oh my gosh.
So do you get a lot of you get a lot of that around there? A lot a lot of a lot of grandmoms telling you how to handle it?
Yes. We do get a lot of that.
Yeah.
So I always try to explain that. Look. There's a difference. There's two two types. And so the other one is reversible.
The other one isn't.
Myths, and one test strip a day41:03
Yeah. I I just I asked because it's been a long time ago now. And by a long time ago, ten years ago, I did a talk in the Dominican Republic. I did a diabetes talk in the Dominican Republic. And while I was there, the the the, you know, the community there was sharing a story with me about a thirteen year old who had passed away from, like, advanced issues from type one diabetes, and and the child had only had it for five or six years.
But that's how that's it's sad, but that's how little the understanding of the management was in the air. It was almost like, well, you have it, but, you know, I think I if I'm if I'm not mistaken, they were allotted one test trip a day.
Oh, no.
Yeah. So so really difficult. But so you you I mean, you you described where you live as as third world, and I don't know what that means. Like, I I I find myself think sitting here thinking, like, you described an amount of money that you could live on for a month that some people here pay for their car payment. And and so I was I'm like, I I know I don't have context for for your situation.
You know? Mhmm. But I so I was wondering, do people hear type one and go, that's like, I was wondering if maybe you heard, you know, death sentence and thought, no. No. I'm gonna go figure this out on my own.
Or
I don't think I don't think my mind went there Mhmm. At first. I was I was taking it one day at a time, literally, because I also don't remember a lot of what was going on during those days. It was all a blur.
Sure.
But I was just taking it one day at a time. I never thought beyond the next couple of days. Mhmm. Yeah. Do you think that could have helped.
Yeah. You think that, I I mean, do you have context for if you didn't go out into the world to learn about this, what would following doctor's advice get you?
Yeah. We we would we would be struggling.
Okay. You mean
I think we would be.
What what do you think the struggle like, what do you think the struggle would look like?
Just to understand what is even going on.
Okay.
Because it's a lot with with diabetes. So we got basic information. Like I said, it was what he called textbook information.
Mhmm.
And that that had nothing to do with you understanding that rice does that that sugar levels react differently to rice than to salsa than to pasta than to pizza.
Right.
And there was nothing said about insulin on board. There was nothing said about, you know, even the ratios, the carb to insulin ratios, or things like physical activity at school. All of that
Nothing at all. To you know? So the basic information they gave you was his pancreas isn't making insulin anymore, and you're gonna need to inject this?
You inject five units of this one in the morning
Oh gosh.
And in the evening, and you inject five units of this one thirty minutes before every meal. And you test and you correct and
And that's got yeah. Are they testing his his a one c?
We we've gotten it. We've we've we've had that done twice since his diagnosis.
Yeah.
I figure we're getting the test once a year.
What what what was his last day once a year? Do you know?
It was eight, nine.
Eight or nine. Okay. And then on Nine. And on his does his CGM give you information about about, like, time and range or an average a one c?
Yeah. It does. It gives us time and range. It give it gives us, you know, the average glucose level over the last three hours, six hours, twelve, twenty four. Then, of course, you get the the reports once it's it's done Mhmm.
The the fourteen days.
Settings, winter sensitivity, and the numbers45:30
And what are your goals? What are you trying to accomplish? What are you trying to get to as far as as far as those outcomes go?
We're trying to be in range maybe I I I think 100% of the time would be very ambitious. I'm just trying to get to maybe be in range maybe 80% of the time.
Mhmm. What what what's the range you're you're trying to stay in?
So we're trying to stay between five and ten. Okay.
Five.
If that's if that's okay.
Hold on a second. I have to pull up my little my little a one c estimator available at juiceboxpodcast.com. And five and ten. So somewhere between 99 and a 180, you're shooting for. Mhmm.
Right around there. Yeah. Okay. Mhmm. 90 and $1.80.
Okay. Well, I mean, that's a very reasonable range. Are you having luck with that, or is he I mean, if his a one c is eight or nine, he's higher more than you want him to be. Right?
Yes. Definitely. There's lots of work to be done. Yeah.
And what would you say that is? Is that your understanding of the insulin? Is it the food? Is it the time you're able to spend with him? Like, what do you think I is
think it's the time that I'm able to spend with him because I'm only with him when I get back home from work. Mhmm. And then he's at school from from seven up to twelve, and then he's with the nanny from the until I get back home.
Is he experiencing many hypers? Any a lot of lows, or is he mostly higher?
It's a it's a combination of both, to be honest, because sometimes it it has to do with maybe he went to school and then they went for swimming. Mhmm. Or he went and did some type of sport, and then the the particular teacher or coach that was with him during that time didn't know to watch for the for the alerts, and then they didn't give him the the glucose tablets that he needed.
So he can get he can get low and stay low. And are you mostly are you not being as aggressive with insulin because you're worried about him getting very low when he's away from you? Or
Yeah. Sometimes I'm conservative because the the another thing is that I've noticed it's winter here right now.
Okay.
Just started the winter season, and I've noticed that he's more insulin sensitive for some reason.
Some people talk about that.
Yeah. To pull it back a little bit, and I'm still trying to figure figure out what the right dosage should be. Yeah. And I think I changed it yes just yesterday.
And what insulin is he using right now?
We're using NovoRapid and Protofen.
NovoRapid. Okay. And how how much does he weigh?
He's twenty twenty two kgs.
Okay. And and you're so you're shooting does that basal insulin go in once a day?
No. We gay we give him basal in the morning.
Yeah.
We give him for the morning, I I give him between between seven and nine units of, the basal. And then in the evening, I give him five.
So they have you're splitting it because that's the directions for the medication or because it's what you found worked better?
That's what the doctor told us to do.
The doctor told you know, can you spell the name of that that basal insulin for me?
It's p r o t o p h e n.
Got it. Yeah. So they say it it I wonder if that's Levemir. Hold on a second. I'm gonna try to find out.
Okay.
Is because if they're asking you to split it it's not Levemir. It's Miles per hour. Okay. So he's using Miles per hour and NovoRapid. Mhmm.
Do they not do you not have available something like hold on. List basal insulin's available.
I know people who use Tresiba.
Yeah. That's what I'm wondering about.
You know, I kept meaning to ask him about it because I I I haven't heard of other people who use Protofim for basal Yeah. As
I think the reason I didn't recognize the name is because it's so old. Most people don't use it around here anymore. If you have access to Tresiba, I would switch to that.
Okay.
The basal insulin conversation50:56
Yeah. That would be one injection every twenty four hours.
And Oh, really?
Yeah. And I would wonder if you wouldn't see a fairly reasonable reduction in his a one c too.
Okay.
Yeah.
Alright.
Yeah. I think that would be a a great idea for you, actually. I mean, ask the doctor and see what they say.
Yeah. I kept meaning to ask him, but the last appointment, I think it slipped my mind. I'll give him a call. Thanks for that.
No. Of course. Did hey. Treat that like that's an important thing to do because because I think it really could end up being meaningful for him.
Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
And save him a shot at the very least a day.
Yeah.
Yeah. Are are there pumps there? Are you thinking about pumps?
We've thought about pumps, but right now, we we had to shelve it because I for me, it was just having aside from the cost, of course, because I don't think our medical aids would cover pumps.
Okay.
Because they're already bulking at the CGM. So Really? Yes.
Okay.
It it was quite
A fight.
I had to do a lot of research to get them to cover that. I think they may have been hoping I didn't know that I was entitled
to it. Oh, I see. There's a lot of whistling and looking at the ceiling. Yes. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. So it
happens a lot around GA. If if you don't know your entitlements, you might miss out on things Mhmm. That you should be getting. So you really need to do your research, and so we got them to cover that. And I think pumps I don't even know if there would be support.
I don't know anyone who is on a pump, I think.
I see.
One or two other parents in Harare, but they may have had to go to South Africa to to to get set up and and all that. So I know very little about
that About about a pump.
And the costs.
Well, I would tell you that whether you can get a pump or not, if you can get your hands on Tresiba as the basal insulin, I think that would be a big deal for him. Okay. Yeah.
Alright.
For real. Because you are I mean, listen. You're educating yourself. You're paying attention. You're doing the best you can with the communication tools you have for during the day when he's not with you.
People are looking out for him for the most part. With that much effort, I think you should be seeing I think you could easily see an a one c in the sevens. And
Okay.
And if that's and if that's the case, I'm I'm asking myself what's holding you back, I think it might be the Miles per or or, you know, or not having a more modern basal insulin. And Tresiba is maybe like, I did a little bit of googling here. It looks like you can get, what you're using now. You can get Lantus, Basagar, some might might be Semigle, Glargivin, Levemir, Tresiba, but I think if you're asking me, I'd shoot for the Tresiba.
Okay.
I don't think you want I you know, Lantus would be great if you could get it. Levemir, you might have to split the way you are now doing one every 12 to get really good effect out of it. But, honestly, any of them, Lantus, Levemir, Tresiba, would be better than what you're doing, I think.
Okay.
Alright.
Just trying to write that down
so that I I would go Tresiba first. If you can't get Tresiba, ask for Lantus, l a n t u s. If you if you can't get Lantus, see if they have Levemir. Although, I'm hearing it's being discontinued in America, but I don't know if that means it's being discontinued in other places.
I see.
Yeah. So k. I I honestly, I think that'd be a big deal for him.
Oh, great. Yeah. We'll we'll definitely
Add some more stability to his background insulin, add more stability to his blood sugars. I would bet it would balance out his time and range and give you a a more of a fighting chance when you're making decisions.
Great.
Alright. Let yeah. Yeah. We're not done yet, but let me know if you're able would you send me a note and let me know if you're able to get ahold of that?
Yeah. Sure. Okay. I'll give you an update because
Thanks.
We actually scheduled to see him this Saturday. Oh, awesome. A conversation we're going to have.
Awesome. Tell him the guy from the Juice Box podcast said to give it to you. And if that carries any weight in Zimbabwe, I'm running for president. What do you think of that? So
It does. Trust me. It does.
That that's crazy. I can't wait to go downstairs and tell my wife about this after we're done. I tell my own kids stuff, and they don't listen to me. And you're telling me that people in there in Zimbabwe going, like, you gotta listen to this guy, Scott, on that podcast.
You should come and maybe have a few conferences because I'm sure you would be surprised with the turnout.
No kid. I I was surprised in in the Dominican. I spoke at a big I spoke at a big event there. It was really it shocked me. But it was so long ago, I I it's kinda out of my out of my it's been so long since I was there.
It's hard to remember. I actually the one thing I'll tell you is that I got there, and I had this whole talk set up to give. And I I looked around at my surroundings, the you know, where people lived, what the level of, income seemed to be, what and I thought, oh, my talk is completely wasted here. I had to I actually, was supposed to go to dinner that night. Instead, I went back to my hotel, and I I sat down and rewrote everything I was gonna say because they Oh.
They would have had no context for what I was gonna say. And, yeah, it was real you know, for similar reasons back then, availability to to technology and and, the way they even think about it. It was all just it was different than how so much different than how I thought about it that I thought, oh, what I'm gonna say isn't gonna be helpful. So I changed my I changed my talk up. But, listen, if anybody wants to fly me to to Africa to give a talk Lovely.
I'm in. Yeah. Like, I would are you kidding me? How many shots am I gonna have to get to go do that? They're gonna make me do a bunch of inoculations?
I don't think so, really. You may I don't know. You may get a malaria shots, I doubt, though.
I I can handle that. I would I get to go on a safari while I was there? I would like to do that.
Oh, yeah. There's you would I think you would love it. Yeah. If you love the outdoors and
Yeah. I do.
And animals and and nature. Yeah. There's really some some beautiful places to to visit.
I'm looking at my list of advertisers right here trying to think of which one would wanna send me to Africa. I'm pretty sure none of them are is the answer, but I'm putting the call out right now. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Well, okay.
So he's in school. There's some struggles. You're getting through them. You're getting good support from the school, which is awesome. How involved if this is cultural, I'm not sure what my question is, and I don't wanna cause you a problem.
But is your husband involved in his care too? Is it all on you? Are you guys splitting it? How do you do that?
Yes. He's he's involved in the care, a lot, more so on the financial side, only because I I think I've had I've really had a a tough time relinquishing control over this thing because I I obsessed over it in the beginning and getting all the information and and all that. So I felt I'm I'm only now starting to to release a little bit of of responsibilities even to my daughter. She's she's great.
Mhmm.
She also helps quite a lot. But, yeah, everybody's involved. My husband is a bit, you know, hesitant with the injections, but he's good with everything else. Okay. The alerts and just keeping an eye on on everything.
And, also, our parents are great.
Yeah.
Mother-in-law has been awesome. And my sister-in-law
Not scared to help and give insulin and stuff like that?
Exactly. Yeah. Yeah.
That's great. Hey. Do you have guilt? Do you feel guilty about it or anxiety from it? How would you describe why you're holding on so tight?
I think it's anxiety. Because when when I when I was researching about it, I at first, I did ask myself what I could have done wrong that led to to this condition. But when I when I realized what it was, I didn't have any guilt at all, but I am anxious, especially with, you know, the the these long term effects that come with with poor management.
I'm
really anxious about that. But, yeah, I think I'm I'm one person who likes to do everything myself.
I have
a tough time delegating.
Were you like that before the diabetes too?
Yeah. I've always been like that.
Yeah. Do you have are there any other autoimmune issues in your family? Do people have hypothyroidism or celiac or anything like that?
My brother has hypothyroidism. Yeah.
Mhmm. Have you ever been tested for it?
No. I've never.
Make sure they test make sure they test Levi once a year for it. Okay?
Okay.
Yeah. Alright. You wanna watch for that. Symptoms are, you know, unexplained weight loss or weight gain, hair loss for you could be brittle nails, weight gain. No matter how much you sleep, you can't feel rested, always always cold, heat intolerant, stuff like that.
Okay.
Yeah. Alright. So make sure you're you're paying attention for that because it's once you get one, it's not crazy to get another one. Didn't surprise me that your brother has hypothyroidism, for example. Mhmm.
So, you know, just keep keep an eye. Anybody anemic?
My mom.
Your mom is? Yeah. Mhmm. Again, not totally surprised. So One.
Yeah. Autoimmune issues
Both ties in.
Yeah. Autoimmune issues can kinda run-in families. You don't always all get the same one, though. Okay. Yeah.
And anxiety, while not an autoimmune issue, is a thing that I like, from my personal experience talking to so many people, I see a lot of anxiety in families who have type one.
I had anxiety myself, but that was I think that was linked to that was in the few months before I got diagnosed with with epilepsy myself, I used to have a lot of anxiety.
Did you?
But I think that was because of stress from work.
Mhmm. Yeah. Well
I didn't think that was connected.
What what's more stressful, work or that diabetes? Hard to tell some days? It's hard to tell. Good
question. I really couldn't make up my mind. But I think that's the the diabetes was stressful when I didn't know what what I was doing. But I know that it's something that I can I can perfect at some point? Yeah.
Not perfect, but get as close to perfection as possible. And the fact that I I have some sort of control over, you know, how things may go make makes it less stressful than work, I think.
You've said a few things while we've been talking that I I'm I I don't wanna ask because I think it sounds distasteful to ask, but it feels like you're mimicking some of my words back at me. So are you learning those ideas from the podcast?
I don't know because maybe it's possible because I do listen to to your podcast every morning when we're getting ready, you know, in the morning to go out. We we usually have your podcast playing, and, you know, that could be that could be it. Mhmm.
Well, that's just it's all good things about, like, you know, just having expectations for, you know, getting better at this over time and stuff like that. Like, it it's nice to think that you're you're finding value in it at all, honestly. Does your husband ask like, does he make fun of you for listening to a podcast from a guy in New Jersey? He does. Right?
You know what? He he has he has several times, something has been said on the podcast, and he's he's looked at me and said, can you replay that? Can you rewind? I didn't hear that.
Well, you know me. You're making my day. I have to tell you. Yeah.
I think it could be a joke and something that you would have said that
Oh. You know, The guy part of me. He likes that part. I gotcha. Okay.
Yeah. I gotcha. Well, that's like, hey. However however you get them listening, who cares exactly? Right?
Hey. How old are you? I didn't ask you in the beginning.
I'll be 40 in July.
You'll be 40 in July. Oh, happy birthday. I'm I'm July too on the twelfth.
Oh, nice. Yeah. Nice.
Yeah. Do you find any of that zodiac stuff to be true about Cancers?
No. I've never
You're not emotional or, like like, have you ever read, like, the I I don't believe in a straw I wanna say I don't believe in astrology at all, but Arden read me something the other day, I was like, that all does really sound like me.
I've never I've never paid attention to any of that stuff, actually.
Me either.
Been in front of me.
Until yeah. The other day, she just like she's like, hey. Does this describe you? And she read a whole bunch of stuff, and I was like, oh, I think it does. Then we read some other ones.
I'm like, these all this I think these are just written so they describe everybody. But but They're generalized like that. Yeah. Are you getting sleep? Are you sleeping okay?
I think I sleep okay.
You're not worried about Right
now, I'm not sleeping much because I'm also studying. I'm doing further studies, so I I don't get to sleep because of that.
But the diabetes isn't keeping you from sleeping?
There've been days. There there've been days, especially in the beginning when we couldn't figure a lot of things out. But now I know I know what to do, especially with the CGM. The arrows tell me how to how to react or how to respond to an alert Yeah. Which usually keeps us good for the next few hours.
Especially if I'm with him, I'm able to to get ahead of of it so I can get some sleep.
Good. Good. You know, I have to tell you, like, I I I I I try I don't wanna be, like I don't wanna say something that sounds stupid, I guess. I'm trying to be careful here. But you have you have an AI model?
Do you have, like, chat GPT there or something you can use to break down the the food? Because that's gotta be like, it just occurred to me. Like, why don't we why don't we do this? Can you give a nutritional breakdown for salsa? I need fat, protein, and carbs.
Let's see what happens.
Okay.
I'll give a plain serving estimates, and salsa changes a lot depending on how much maze or meal is packed into the portion, it says. And now it's looking online for answers. So let's see what happens. And while it's doing that, I'm gonna ask a different model, the same question to see if we get a reasonably similar answer. Alright.
So I I did chat GPT first. It says that a 100 grams cooked salsa should be between twenty and forty five carbs, between two and five grams of protein, and it only has about a gram of fat in it. A medium serving, which they're calling 45 to 55 carbs. So four to six protein. Okay.
So the wide range has become a size that can be soft or thick. Water adds weight, but not calories. So a wetter size that has fewer carbs per 100 grams than a dense one. So that might be helpful to know too. If it's denser, it might have more carbs in it if it's wet or less.
And then I used I also used something called Claude. I don't know how many of these you guys have there, but, a rough nutritional breakdown for a typical one cup serving, which is about 240 to 250 grams of cooked salsa. Again, 40 to 45 carbs, four to five proteins, and fat, one to two grams. So does that is that about what you imagine, or is that helpful information?
I think this is helpful. I've never I don't think I've ever broken it down like this.
I have to tell you. I just it makes a ton of sense to me because do you guys eat boda? Am I saying it right? What? Or Capenta with Sada?
Capenta is not a favorite of mine.
No? Okay. Well, I don't know what I'm doing. I'm just going by I'm just giving you a list of what's been sent back to me. But what I think is, no kidding, if you have access to ChatGPT, it's as simple as give me a nutritional breakdown for the food and ask for fat, protein, and carbs.
Do know it's it's actually quite funny because I use chat GPT almost daily for my school. Yeah. I never thought to to ask for a breakdown for for food.
I would give it a I'd give it a shot. And and if you go if you wanna go back to my website, there's a a bolus estimator there. So you could if you you if you know his settings, his insulin to carb ratio, his sensitivity, you can plug that all into that little estimator and then put in the carbs, the fat, the protein, and it'll give you a suggestion about where to start with the bolus.
Yeah. Yeah. It's crazy. I never thought to to prompt charging p t about that. But I did go to to your the calculator thing on your website.
The only thing that that threw me off was how to how to get how to determine sensitivity.
His insulin sensitivity.
So The metrics. Yeah.
That number is
only know that he's more sensitive or he's less sensitive, but the numbers
don't move. So what you what you would do there is that's how much how much how many how far, like, what number does one unit of insulin move him? So when you put in the the the fast acting insulin, like, I guess the the question here would be if his blood sugar is oh, I have to bring up the I have to bring up till I can talk to you in in your I'm not good at talking in millimoles. Hold on a second. If let's say his blood sugar was let's say it was 10, and you wanted it to be so for people listening, it was a 180.
His blood sugar was 10, and you wanted it to be 80. How much insulin moves him from one eighty to 80? Do you know? Do have a guess?
So that's from 10 to Four.
Yeah. To 10 to, like, four and a half. So think about it like five. How how much insulin moves in five millimoles? Wow.
Because there's also the time factor to say how quickly does it get him there. Right?
Exact maybe time a day for his activity and stuff like that? Mhmm. Yeah. So
Okay. Maybe if I if I give you the if I give you the correction scale
Okay.
Does that does that give you
Maybe but first
a better picture.
At first, tell me what does he weigh? How many kilograms does he weigh?
Twenty two. Twenty two. So
he's about forty nine pounds, maybe forty eight pounds. And I so you're not using a a a modern basal insulin yet. So there's a little bit here that I don't know. But my the guess here from this is that a unit of insulin moves him about a hundred and forty six milligrams per deciliter, which should be let me find out how many millimoles that is. I know the people who know this are like they just know it because they do the math real quick.
So a hundred and forty six would be about eight millimoles. Okay. Yeah. So would a unit move him about that far, do you think? Oh, wait.
I have it here. I'm so sorry. Yeah. Yeah. Eight.
My my my estimator does that. I did I never clicked on it before. Oh, it works. Congratulations. So there's, like, there's a settings calculator here, that helps you guess by weight about what settings would be.
So Oh. So my point is is that if to to check, you could check to see does one unit of insulin move him about eight millimoles. If that's right, then you understand his insulin sensitivity to be one to eight.
Okay.
Okay? And and then and then you can you know, when you use the calculator, that's about the sensitivity you would put in. And his carb ratio is what do you think? Like, how many car like, the how many carbs does a unit of insulin cover for?
Let me see where I look. One second.
Take your time. Because this has a guess based on his weight, so I'm interested to see how close this is to your reality.
Okay. So I well, on average, maybe if if we give him if if he's having a meal with maybe thirty thirty calves
Mhmm.
That could go with roughly two two to three units.
Two to three units. And that's
the short acting Okay. Of the the normal rapid. Yeah.
And that's probably because you're not getting a lot of backing from the the background insulin. Oh. So it's possible it's hard to talk about right now because you're using that, but it's possible that if you can get him moved to Tresiba, what you're gonna find is that he's gonna use about six units of Tresiba a day. Oh. And then then you might find that a unit of insulin covers about 40 carbs for him with the basal insulin.
With the NPH, I honestly don't know how to talk about that. Like, I'm I'm not sure. But if you're finding if you're finding that it it takes two units to move him for 30 carbs, then at least that calculator could probably give you an idea of, like, well, about how much is here based on your settings. And then you could, you know, you can hold that up against what you've been finding. And my thought here is what if you what if you say, oh, well, I would put in, I don't know, three units for this meal, but this this estimator is telling me it's more like four and a half.
And maybe that's why his a one c is eight and not seven or not six. Do you see what I'm saying? But, again, I might hold that thought until you shake that Tresiba out of that doctor on Saturday. I think that's that's that's the that's the way to go. If you wanna point your anxiety at somebody, point it at the doctor and ask for Tresiba.
So Yeah. See what you can get.
Definitely going to ask for it.
Yeah. I mean, it would be a big deal. And and listen. Once you have that hopefully, you get it and it works well for you. Go tell your friend group too in case they're doing the same thing because you're managing with insulin that we don't really even use here anymore.
Okay.
You know? Yeah. And if you have the other stuff available, then then I say go for a more modern Bazel and so on.
Okay.
Yeah. Is there anything that we haven't talked about that you wanted to? I don't wanna skip anything that you wanna talk about.
No. I think, yeah, I think I got everything out that I wanted to.
Good. I wanna tell you and people listening, I'm not telling you to let an AI model manage your your insulin. But a person in your situation, I don't know why you wouldn't at least try to get a background from it and say, look. My son is this old. He weighs this much.
Using AI as a sounding board1:16:50
He takes this this insulin at this time of day, this much. He takes this he takes another shot of twelve hours later, that much. This is what he's using for meals. Remember that. And now here's what we're eating.
Can you help me bolus for this? And see if it can and see if it can give you some direction. Yeah. I don't Okay. I don't listen.
Again, everyone should talk to their doctor first. But
Of course. Yeah.
Thank you for saying that. Nothing you hear on the Juice Box podcast should be considered advice, medical, or otherwise, always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan. But I'm seeing some people online who are doing this, and it's helping them a lot. A lady put up some graphs the other day, and she's like, I didn't know what to do. I had trouble understanding the podcast.
I've been talking it through with a large language model and look at my kids' graphs. So, basically, just treating it like a sounding board for what and and giving it as much information as they could about what was going on, and it was helpful for her.
It's interesting because I just I don't know why I never thought of
it Yeah.
This whole time.
Yeah. Maybe maybe because it's a little silly, but it works. So for a lot of people, so maybe it's worth the shot.
Makes a lot of sense.
Sure.
Yeah.
Listen. I was in a store the other day. I had to buy lumber, just two by four, you know, to build something with. And I got there and realized I'm like, I don't wanna buy extra. I just wanna I wanna be able to make you know, I don't wanna have a bunch left over.
And so I I opened up my phone, opened up ChatGPT. I was talking to it in the store, and I was like, I'm building a frame in this area. Like, here, here, here. It's gonna have four sides, then four legs, and then four other sides. I'm gonna make a stay a stand out of it.
I don't wanna buy extra two by fours. Tell me exactly how many I need to get these pieces out of it. And it did the math in, like, a split second and told me. And I was like, right on. And then I bought four two by fours, and I left.
So And and I and I even said to her, I was like, hey. Are you accounting for all the cuts I have to make? Like, not just giving me, like, the number of inches I need, you know, or the amount of distant and it said, no. I already I already thought about all that. I was like, oh, awesome.
So, anyway, I don't wanna get replaced in Zimbabwe by chat GPT, but I do want I do want you guys to be healthy and happy. So I think any any tools you can find that are valuable, you should use
them. Yeah.
You know? That's also hey. What time is it there? You're about eight hours ahead of me?
Right now, it's 07:21 in the evening.
Okay. You're six hours ahead of me. Okay. I could I wasn't sure if you like, you said you weren't good at geography, and I couldn't figure out if you were East, West, or Central Africa. So
Neither can I? Trust me. I don't even know where Harare is from where I am. So
Do you not get to leave ever? Have you ever been to another country?
Yeah. I've been to I've been to South Africa. I've been to Botswana, and I've been to Mozambique.
Mhmm. Have you ever left the have you ever left the the continent?
Nope. No? Not yet.
Is there a place you'd like to see?
Yeah. Of course. I want to see, you know, I want to see New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, France.
Those places will flip you out. I listen. I watched my I watched somebody once come into New York City through the subway from the airport. So Okay. I got to walk up from underground into the middle of Manhattan with them for the first time.
Mhmm.
And they walked up out of that hole, and their head just kept going back and going back and And going the bill the she she was from she was from Wisconsin from the middle of
Oh, okay.
And she's like, oh my god. This is insane. I've never seen anything like this before. Until you see all those skyscrapers stacked on top of each other, it is it's only a thing you can it pictures don't do it justice when you're standing on the ground. Really So, it's really if you make it over here and you can get a look, it'll it gives you a different perspective.
That's for sure.
So you're telling me that, this person from Wisconsin, the difference between where where she's from and
Manhattan was starkly, shockingly different.
Still shocking.
Okay. Yeah. There's the 100 story buildings there, and they're just one after another. And you're this tiny little speck on the ground looking up at them. And Wow.
Cars are going in a thousand directions. All you can hear are cars, motors, tires, people talking, feet moving on a breezy day. There's this really interesting thing that happens in Manhattan that the that the wind only goes in one direction. So you could be walking down one road, be in a wind tunnel, then get to another, like, to an intersection, and it just stops. And but but it's just a very different place to be.
So, yeah, I've never been to Vegas, but I am going next year, for my for the first time to see it. I'm gonna go see a concert in the sphere. Oh, okay. That big like, have you ever have you seen that? The it's like this giant building that's literally in a sphere, and you I'm going there next next year to see Metallica, I guess.
Never heard of that. I I know there's a there's a Las Vegas Strip. I don't know.
Yeah. That's all I know. I think that's just casinos and hookers. I'm not really sure if that's anything else. You might wanna skip that.
You might wanna skip that. Unless you're I don't what know you're looking for. So maybe you maybe it's up your alley. I have no idea. But It's
just to see, the most common places that we hear that that America is famous for.
Yeah. But New York will it's different than any other place, but it is very it is very much, I guess, an American icon in New York City. Yeah. Philadelphia is pretty awesome, but it's nowhere near, New York. I hate to say that because I'm from Philly.
But
Ah, okay.
Yeah. Alright.
I have a friend who's who says she stays in Philadelphia somewhere. Mhmm. An old high school friend of mine.
No kidding. Yeah. No. I'm very I'm close to there now, actually. I don't wanna tell people exactly where I am, but I'm within an hour of Philadelphia.
Because I have had people send things to my home before, which I appreciate it. Thank you all. But it freaks me out, so don't do that. Okay? But but, nevertheless, I really do appreciate you doing this with me.
This has been a lovely conversation. I hope you found it valuable.
I did. Thank you very much.
Naming the episode1:23:37
Yeah. I appreciate it. What should we Beau, of course. What should we call this? There's no way that I I at one point, you said you said you said that we had a pizza disaster.
I thought, is Zimbabwe pizza disaster too good? Is that too much of a title?
You could call it hurricane Levi. Yeah. Because we spoke about, you know, how energetic he is, and sometimes that's what I call him.
What do you call him? Say it again.
Hurricane Levi.
Hurricane Levi? Okay. I know you've mentioned it, like, four times. That kid does you were like, he's a handful. He is a
handful. I I think I should have had him because my kids are far apart in age.
You're a little tired.
Had him in my twenties when he was younger.
Well, let but let's be honest, Azil. Is he more like you or your husband?
He's more like my husband. Definitely.
I see. So you got two little boys. You're you're wrangled over there. Yeah. Yeah.
Well well, thank you so much. If you hang on the line for just one more second, I'll I'll tell you a couple of things about how this will come out. But but you're all done, and I do I really do appreciate it. Hold on one second. You.
Of course. So it's a pleasure. Something new just arrived from MiniMed. It's the MiniMed Flex system. Think about everything people love about MiniMed technology, designed for great outcomes, helping keep you in range, and made to be easy to use.
Now in a pump that's the size of two stacked vials of insulin. MiniMed Flex is fully controlled from an app, designed to stay tucked away, empowered by the proven automation that helps over six hundred thousand people manage diabetes day and night. Order today. Minimed.com/juicebox. Having an easy to use and accurate blood glucose meter is just one click away.
Kontoornext.com/juicebox. That's right. Today's episode was sponsored by the Kontoor Nextgen blood glucose meter. It's the meter my daughter uses. She has it on it right now, and you're one click away from having it too.
And don't forget using JuiceBox podcast links helps support the show. Friends, my diabetes pro tip series is about cutting through the clutter of diabetes management to give you the straightforward practical insights that truly make a difference. This series is all about mastering the fundamentals, whether it's the basics of insulin, dosing adjustments, or everyday management strategies that will empower you to take control. I am joined by Jenny Smith, who is a diabetes educator with over thirty five years of personal experience, and we break down the complex concepts into simple actionable tips. The diabetes pro tip series runs between episode one thousand and one thousand twenty five in your podcast player, or you can listen to it at juiceboxpodcast.com by going up in the menu.
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#1917 Around the World
Around the World
Bella was diagnosed at four and spent two decades at an A1C near ten, with an endocrinologist whose method was yelling. She also bet Scott he couldn't guess what state she's from.
Jump to a moment
- Twenty-plus years at an A1C around nine or ten, and it was never a motivation problem. Bella was diagnosed at four, giving her own injections by six and doing her own carb math by eight. She bolused for every meal. What she did not have was direction — she describes an endocrinologist whose method was yelling, a lot of demands and very little instruction, and a household where the doctor was the professional and you did not question the professional.
- “Magical thinking” is her own term for how the numbers drifted. Working from a fixed carbs-per-meal plan and perpetually hungry, she would round a portion down in her head so an extra item would still fit the allowance — and she was never taught that she could simply take more insulin to cover more food. It is one of the most honest descriptions of how good-faith carb counting quietly comes apart that this show has had.
- The endocrinologist accused her of an eating disorder she did not have. Once she hit puberty he began attributing her build to anorexia. Bella is emphatic that she never had one, points out that her parents' builds explained hers, and adds that a persistently high A1C explains thinness too. She carries an obvious grudge about it, and describes years of being told she was doing it wrong without ever being told what to do instead.
- Three things moved the needle, and none of them were being yelled at. A CGM, a community post about a pre-meal timing heuristic — wait roughly a tenth of your glucose number in minutes before eating — and then learning that protein and fat are not free, and working with the Warsaw method for higher-fat meals. Her A1C is now 6.2. Her summary of it is that she just needed information and tools. Settings and dosing changes belong to your own care team.
- Better numbers came with a cost she is candid about. As her A1C fell she gained weight, which she found genuinely hard, and she is clear-eyed about why — higher blood sugars had been keeping her thinner. She also describes childhood verbal and emotional abuse, depression and anxiety she did not have language for until she read the definition in a college textbook, and PMDD she was diagnosed with much later. She names therapy, medication, her faith, and her own long work on herself — and explicitly warns against the idea that meeting the right person fixes any of it.
- Rule of 10 — The pre-meal timing page Scott announces on tape — divide your glucose by ten for a starting lead time in minutes.
- 30/60/90 Forecast — Companion page: where a glucose number and a trend arrow may be heading.
- Reading Your CGM Trace — The third page in the set — what the shape after a meal suggests about timing.
- Diabetes Pro Tip series — The fundamentals series with Jenny Smith that Bella found after the Facebook group.
- Mental Wellness series — Episodes with therapist Erika Forsyth on depression, anxiety, and the emotional side of a lifetime with type 1.
- MiniMed Flex — Sponsor of this episode — app-controlled automated insulin delivery.
- Juicebox Podcast Facebook group — Where Bella's nurse pointed her, and where she saw the post that changed her management.
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — Free, confidential, 24/7. Call or text 988 in the US. Outside the US, Find A Helpline lists services by country at findahelpline.com.
Every word of the conversation
Welcome & Sponsors0:07
Friends, we're all back together for another episode of the Juice Box podcast. Hey. Nothing you hear on the juice box podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. Always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan.
Hey. My name is Bella, and my god.
It's hard to introduce yourself, isn't it? This episode of the podcast is sponsored by MiniMed and the Kontoor NextGen blood glucose meter. MiniMed, of course, the innovators behind the MiniMed Flex system, a small, sleek, and discreet insulin automated delivery system controlled from an app. Nothing comes close to freedom you can feel. To learn more, visit minimed.com/juicebox.
There is one blood glucose meter in this house, the Kontoor Next Gen blood glucose meter. That meter is on my daughter's person right now and at all times. It is incredibly accurate and waiting for you at kontoornext.com/juicebox.
It really is.
Try this. Hey. My name is Bella, and I have type one diabetes.
Perfect.
Okay. How long have you had type one, Bella?
I have had it since I was four, and I'm 30 now. So I guess that makes it twenty six years.
Look at you doing the big math. That's excellent. Excellent. Excellent. Excellent.
A Challenge: Guess the State1:59
So you you've you've thrown a challenge down to me before we've began. You said, I wanna see through the through this conversation if you can figure out what state I'm from.
Yeah. Alright.
We'll we'll see what happens.
Yeah. Absolutely. You have this huge catalog of so many people that you've interviewed. And the last person that I've heard you interview, you were able to identify, yeah, the birth order that she was in. Oh, that no.
That that's right. They, What was her name? She's 19.
19 year old.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You can tell by anyway, I can tell. Alright.
Well, we'll we'll see what I I I feel a lot of pressure right now, but that's okay. I and it's good for me. Keeps the morning moving. Let's figure out why you came on the podcast and a little bit about your story. So I mean, I'm gonna guess you don't remember a ton about being four years old.
Is that right?
Yeah. Pretty much.
Well, that's that's fair. When's the first time in your life you remember having, like, conscious thoughts about I have diabetes and it's part of your story now?
Diagnosed at Four3:03
Yeah. I would definitely say it was when I was diagnosed, when I was in the hospital, actually.
You do remember that? Yeah.
I do.
Go ahead.
It was, you know, a little traumatic, as I would say for most people.
Kinda kinda thing that sticks with you, Pella, a little bit. Yeah. So you don't make sure I understand. You don't you don't remember a ton about being four years old, but you do remember about being diagnosed?
I do. Yeah. Go ahead, Tara. So I asked my parents, and they do bring it up from time to time. Because I went in four days before my dad's birthday, and then I came out on his birthday.
So happy birthday, dad. So my mom says that I was you know, had the typical signs of drinking a lot more. And so in the typical fashion of the day, she gave me juices Mhmm. Which was such a great idea, right, but she didn't know any better to satisfy my thirst. And I was four at the time, so, of course, I was potty trained.
And but I started wetting the bed, and she was like, what's going on? And she said I was cranky and which was not, like, my typical behavior Yeah. Not my typical typical mood. And she was like, something's going on. And, you know, I looked tired all the time.
So she took me in, and the story goes that she took me to the doctor. They tested my blood, and they looked her in the eyes and said, you need to go home, pack for a week, and take her to the hospital right away. So she's packing. She's crying. She's trying to get ahold of my dad.
She can't get ahold of him, And so she called my uncle. He says that he'll get ahold of him, and I guess he was, like, working out on the track. And
On the on the track, your your uncle's your father works out on the track or your uncle?
He my dad was just working out on the track. He was just running.
Oh, okay. He was out running.
Yeah. He was out running.
What time of year was this? You remember?
July.
July. Okay. Yes. I was hoping that it was a winter month so that I could I could narrow down the states you live in to warm weather states. I was trying to trick you.
Okay. Yeah. Very smart.
We'll see. How many brothers and sisters? Do you have any?
It was July 8.
July 8. Okay. Do you have brothers
and sisters? I have an older sister. She's nine years older. She's my half sister.
Okay. Okay. So a nine year
old sister. Estranged.
You don't talk to your sister?
I do not.
Do you talk to your dad?
Yes. I do. Actually, he's supposed to come and see me in a tomorrow.
Nice. I guess I gotta ask, do you speak to your mom still?
I do. Yeah.
You do.
So just I have a good relationship with mom.
The sister then.
Just the sister.
Okay. Okay. Alright. So your mom gets a hold of your dad out there working out trying to be thin or no? Does she head off to the hospital by herself with you?
So he gets the voice mail once, you know, once he's done working out, and, he meets her there at the hospital. And, that's that's kind of all I have of the story there.
Do you And then think, Bella, do you think that story is your memory, or do you think it's been told to you so many times that you remember it?
Oh, yeah. For sure that
Okay.
The latter.
Right. Right. So then when the the actual hospital stay, they told you to be ready for a week. Were you there for that long?
I definitely remember being there for multiple days, so I could see it definitely being a week. From what I remember, there was a nice nurse, and we were doing some arts and crafts. And I actually had one of those arts and crafts for a long time. I don't remember if I eventually turned away when I was older, like a like a angsty teen, like, I don't need this anymore. But
You wish you had it
now? Maybe.
Maybe. Well, okay. Yeah. Alright. So what about growing up with type one?
I mean, is it I mean, twenty six years ago is what year? It's 2000.
It was 2000. Yeah.
So my god. You were, okay, you were diagnosed at four years old the year that the year my son was born. That's interesting. So I'm putting myself back in that space and that situation. That's Mhmm.
Six years before Arden was diagnosed. When Arden was diagnosed, they only gave you so were you getting would you have, like, Humalog and Lantus? Or do you were were you still the back end of regular and Miles per hour? Do you remember?
I genuinely don't remember.
Okay. Alright. What's the first time you remember, like, how you managed? Like, when you look back, do you think, like, did you give yourself your own shots at some point? Were you
Giving Her Own Shots at Six8:21
on a pump? I was my parents and I were really proud. So I was six years old when I started giving myself my own shots. Nice. My own injections.
Yeah.
And how often how often did you do them?
For every meal, of course. And then, I had, morning and a nighttime long acting.
Okay. Alright. So you were using probably Humalog and Lantus or something like that?
Probably. Yeah.
Okay. And so are you doing the math at your meals at six or no? You're just your parents are handing you a needle and you're you're doing the the work?
I would say probably at eight, I was doing the math. I remember distinctly being very proud, at winning, like, around the world. I don't know if you know that game, like, school game, around the world in math class.
I thought that was a guessing game. So I guess I don't know what you're talking
about. What?
I thought that I thought that wasn't that like a party game? Like sorry. No.
Thinking of, like, seven minutes in heaven?
I don't know. Maybe. Is that what I'm thinking of? I can't believe you just pulled that out, like, it was a real thing. Is that when they shove you in a closet?
Yeah. Okay.
Alright. I don't know what I'm thinking of then. No.
Absolutely not. Obviously, it's
not what you were doing when you were eight years old. That's not what I was saying.
Not in the not in the math classroom. No.
Not in the math classroom. Okay. So you remember go ahead. You were very proud. Sorry.
So, basically, the teacher would hold up a flashcard, like a multiplication flashcard, and one person would stand up next to, like, the the front row desk. And so it was, like, one person against the other student. And whoever got the flashcard correctly would move on to the next student and then the next and the next. And, if you got, like, you know, through all of the students, then you won around the world.
And you won this because your math was so excellent. Your math
was so excellent due to diabetes.
There you go. And today, you're an accountant.
My mom is, actually.
Oh, no kidding.
Today, I am a special education teacher.
Oh, that's lovely. Look at you. Okay. Alright. So you had you had some nice moments growing up.
Do you know what your outcomes were like or even what goals were were set as? Like, what did healthy mean to you when you were younger?
An Endo Whose Method Was Yelling10:49
Yeah. Healthy meant just playing sports a lot. I really love just being outside and playing sports with my dad and my cousin. And, yeah, I just I just loved being outside. And then going I hated going to the endo, honestly, because he his form of doctoring was yelling.
Really? And yes. And then once I hit puberty, his form of doctoring well, that's that's such a great verb, was accusing me of being anorexic.
What were
Which
Okay. Were you? Were you?
No. No. No. I never actually had any form of ED, and which is so funny because you can tell I have a bone to pick with him.
So I can't you know, I'm I'm trying to get to it. Don't worry. Go ahead.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. My mom is a very petite woman, and my dad is very tall. So I'm just like, sir, the math is right in front of your eyes.
Like, I don't understand why you think me being a skinny tall girl, like, is an issue.
Oh, so that was it. It was your body style that made him think that? Yeah. And you're saying he could have easily looked at your parents and saw that you had a tiny mom and a really tall thin dad and thought that makes sense that she's built this way.
Yeah. I mean, my don't get me wrong. My dad was not thin. He's he's he's a big boy, he's also very tall, and my mom is very thin and tiny. And, also, as an endocrinologist, he also should have seen that my blood sugars were very out of control.
And, obviously, we all know that when you have a high a one c, you tend to be skinny.
So, also, you're, what do you mean out of control? Like, how where were your a one c's at?
I mean, about 10.
Pretty consistently? Like, stably 10, or did they bounce around?
I mean, nine, ten. It was it was pretty bad.
Okay. Why do you think that was?
Magical Thinking and a Sixty-Carb Rule13:16
I think lack of education. You know, the we didn't have the juice box podcast. So
You just think we just don't think you like I mean, but but seriously, like, you miscounting carbs? Are you even being told to count carbs? Are you not injecting for everything you eat? Are you, like, forgetting the basal?
I I was not pre bolusing long enough. I did I did bolus on, like, every single time. Mhmm. And I also, with reflection, believe there was a lot of magical thinking because I was so hungry all the time. Like, I was I had a, like, a high metabolism for sure.
So we have, like, a set like, you eat 60 carbs at every meal type of deal.
Okay.
And so if I wanted, like like, 20 more carbs, but I was at, like, 50, I was like, oh, well, like, that might have only been 45 and, like, so maybe I can have this biscuit that's 20, but, like, 15 carbs is not so far from 20. So it's okay.
You start lying to yourself about the the truth about the math of what you're eating.
Exactly.
And then so eating more, but then not giving insulin later for that.
Yeah.
Okay.
Because you're not because I wasn't really taught, you know, to give more in those situations so that I can cover the carbs. It was just like, oh, no. You only have 60 and, like, this is how much.
Okay. I gotcha. But then you go to the doctor and your a one c is higher. Does that not say to you, I must not be using enough insulin?
I think the culture that I grew up in, my parents and I, we were just taught, like, the doctor is the professional, and you listen to the professionals, and that's that. Like, you don't question. You don't you don't get creative.
What what culture? You did this
I see what you're doing.
You did this spelling, not me. Go ahead. What culture? I mean, I can see I can you know what I mean? Like, I I I can guess, but it's so if you can tell me, it'll it'll go quicker when I tell you probably live in California.
But go ahead.
So they grew up my mom I guess, like
You don't wanna say?
Screw up.
You don't have to say. No.
No. No. No. No. No.
I at first, I I didn't wanna say because then it would give you a hint as to if he grew up.
Listen. You can't you can't defend. I get to ask questions. Questions. Go ahead.
Yes. Yes. That's true. Okay. They both grew up very, very low income, like, you know, stamps and all that.
Mhmm. So I think that has, like, a huge impact on, you know, having great respect for those who have a much higher education than you. And then, also, they both grew up Catholic. And, again, like, that's, like, rule following and all of that.
Okay. So by culture, you mean, maybe looking up to people who have, you know, achieved more than they feel like they have and Mhmm. That they were Catholics, so there was a lot of you do what you're told.
Right.
Okay. Little do what you're told, little bit of that. I got you. So then but then if the doctor's yelling that you're I'm assuming that yelling was your a one c is 10. Right?
Mhmm.
Okay. Then why didn't we then not do what we were told and take care of it? Was it because you didn't get actual information about what to do next? You know what I mean? Like, sometimes they're like they're like, just fix it.
And then you're like, well, how? And then there's no answer to that.
Yeah. I mean, from what I remember, that's basically what it felt like.
Okay. So a lot of demands, not a lot of direction.
Mhmm.
Okay. So how does that strike you then when you're a kid? Like, you're being told you're doing the wrong thing. Meanwhile, you said your your bowl is synced for all your food. You feel you probably feel you probably feel like, hey, I'm putting a lot of effort into this.
I'm not I'm not getting outcomes. You're telling me I'm wrong, but you're not giving me any direction. So what does that, like, turn on yourself and makes you just feel like you're messing it up?
Yeah. It just felt very stressful.
Okay. Constantly. I would I would imagine. Yeah.
Yeah. I mean, like, I grew up as a kid that was very placating, just for the way that I grew up.
What do you mean by that? So
What Was Happening at Home18:28
both my parents were abused in different ways, and my dad especially let me know, and he probably should not have because it took a toll on, like, my mental health. And so and then he kind of, like, passed down some of that to me.
So your father so your father was abused. He he abused you and told you about what was done to
him. Right. Okay.
And
Which kind of, like, was an excuse.
For what he was doing. Mhmm. Okay. And how and I'm sorry. We got to that kind of, like, oddly.
So I started off by asking you if you're being told what to do and your family's a bunch of rule followers, how come the out the outcome isn't different? And I think we get to it's probably because there was no actual direction about what to do. Just you're not doing well, like, do better. And then what happens? Does your dad do the same thing?
He tells you do better?
Mhmm.
Okay. And again, you're a young kid and you don't have any context for what do better means. So the doctor doesn't tell you what to do. Your dad doesn't tell you what to do. Everyone's yelling, some people are hitting you?
No. No. It's it's just verbal and emotional abuse and it's just like trying to figure out how best I can please people.
So you're being badgered and that turns you into a people pleaser?
Mhmm.
Gotcha. Is that still a problem for you today?
Yes. But I have grown quite a bit this past decade once I figured out that that's what was going on when I was a kid.
Yeah. Did you go to therapy to figure it out?
Finding the Words for It20:32
I started going to therapy in high school when I realized I was depressed, but I didn't figure out that I had been experiencing, like, verbal and emotional abuse until college when I was when I took, like, a psychological class and was reading, like, the definition and symptoms in a book. And I was like, oh my gosh. Like, that's me.
Yeah. Oh, isn't that something? You you found out in a book what was happening to you?
Yeah. Well, that's
was that really
They call it
Good.
They call it Sorry. They they call it something when it's, like, co co something. It's it's not normal where, like, a parent relies on the kid.
Oh, codependency.
Codependency. Thank you. Mhmm. And that's basically what was happening. Like, the like, my dad was relying on me as, like, his therapist, and he and we shouldn't be doing that.
Yeah. No kidding. When you read in when you're in college and you read about like this thing that you're like, oh, that's my life. Is that relieving to you or is it is it just tell you, gosh, I probably have some things to figure out? Like, where do you go from there once you read that?
Yeah. I I'd say it's both. It was it was definitely like a relief. It was it was like, wow. This this makes a lot of sense as to why I am the way I am.
Meaning people pleasing? Yeah. Depressed too?
Depressed, people pleasing, anxious.
Describe the depression.
Well, it's it's difficult because the anxiety and depression, like, kind of work together. Like, the anxiety will push me out of the depression to, like, go and, like, work so hard, but then, like, to get good grades and, like, to overachieve and things like that. But then the depression is like, oh, like, all these people hate me and, like, I I suck at, like, everything even though, like, I've achieved so much. So it's
You're doing well.
It's really negative self talk.
Yeah. Yeah. You're doing well on the outside, but you're you're telling yourself well, you're not telling yourself, but yourself is telling you that it's a failure and people don't like you. And so all that Mhmm. All that is likely from how you were treated at home, you feel.
Yeah.
Yeah. And then you go to a therapist and but they go, like, magic wand. Right? And then it just goes away. Or do you talk for That's okay.
You talk for a number of years till you get through it?
No. No?
Did did are you married now or dating or anything?
I am. Yeah.
Did you meet a meet a guy that was helpful with you for this stuff?
Yeah. I mean, I I I don't wanna say that he I don't I don't want anyone to think that, like, you if you're in my situation, all you gotta do is, like, go out and find the right person. They're gonna fix you because that's not what happened. Like, I worked on myself for so long, and I found out as well that I have PMDD, which is premenstrual dysphoric disorder. So my depression actually gets worse around that time of the month.
So it is also, like, hormonal as well.
Yeah.
So I found, like, the right medication to help me through that. And
Very nice. What what what medication helps with that?
It's Lexapro.
Okay. Hey, Bella. I'm sorry. Is there a fan on behind you or something that's making a consistent noise?
No.
No? Okay. Lexapro, how long you've been using that?
Four years.
Okay. And describe what it's done for you.
It has helped me with mood swings and helped those negative voices, like, help me check those negative voices.
Any value for the anxiety? Any value for anything else that you're seeing a benefit anywhere besides that?
Yeah. I would say the anxiety has quieted as well. I no, baby. My cat wants to go on my lap right now, but I have my laptop open. Yeah.
I would say it's turned my PMDD into regular PMS symptoms.
I gotcha. So you went from bad to
yeah. Yeah.
That's not bad. It's a good that's a good reduction in Absolutely. Yeah. How about the way you deal with other people? Was that ever an issue or did was most of this internal for you?
Like, did you well, my question is is did you lash out at other people the way you probably should have fought back against your parents?
I would sometimes snap, and I don't know if that was oh, oh, hello. Can you hear my cat burn?
No. Don't listen. That people will find that delightful if they can hear your cat burn. Don't worry about that. I'm actually worried about I I think I should take a five second break and go feed this lizard because he's running around like crazy, making all kinds of noise.
And he's just
Oh, I can't hear it.
He oh, you can't? Good. He is just desperately looking for a bug. And I feel like if I just gave him one, he would relax a little bit. Oh.
Sorry.
You should do that.
Do you want me to do that? Alright. Hold on one second. I'm actually going to because I think it'll help me, to not have to worry about it. Give me one second while I pause.
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Alright. I'm back. We're being recorded again. What I just did can only be described as horrifying, but it's what they eat. So now it'll it'll take I said him.
It's her. I feel bad about misgendering the lizard.
How dare you?
But she's gonna start, like, walking around. She's flicking her tongue. She's figuring out, like, there's something in here that smells like food. She's doing it right now. Like, she slowed down completely and is, like, is now, like, kind of instead of running around, she's I wish you could see her.
She's like a snake with legs. Here she goes. She's climbing up the side of the wall. Up. She's by the cup.
There's there's there's more flicking flicking. They're in there. Go ahead. Go get them. She she she doesn't understand English.
I and I don't know any other languages. So, I mean, if she
That's a shame.
Yeah. If do do you speak any other languages? Okay. There we go. We're getting there.
I'm also learning Romanian.
Romanian?
Yeah. For what? My husband's Romanian. Oh, go and visit the old the old country.
Oh, very nice. Your husband's Romanian. You have a little Spanish. I got I okay. I mean, I I
I can I can converse in Spanish, actually?
You have a very clean, American accent
Thank you.
Which which trends West Coast. Am I right?
Okay.
Like, okay. I think I hit it early and you just you don't wanna say.
I will tell you that I have a lot of international friends.
Okay. You have a lot of international friends? What does that mean? You live near an airport? What's going on there with that?
Okay. So Maybe. So your story is it's interesting. When we started talking before we recorded, you were like, you know, I have something to share, and I don't think it's really an after dark. But so far, you've talked about a lot of I mean, I don't find it to be after dark's a weird thing for me because I don't particularly enjoy calling the episodes after dark.
It's just a way to let people know we're gonna be talking about stuff like this. Mhmm. But I don't see this as anything different than anybody else's, you know, day to day struggles or lives or whatever. Yeah. It's just stuff that happens.
So Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
So let's make sure we understand where we're at here so far. You are a young girl, back in our story. You're going through a lot. You get to college. You start figuring out what's going on.
You go to therapy. You move through those things. But through that time, is your a one c changing at all? Or are you in college at a nine or a 10?
I think I got it down to like an eight. I am like like moving all around a lot more, of course. Ow, gosh. She just headbutted me, my cat sugar.
The cat's coming for you.
Yeah. I mean, like, in a good way. She just wants attention. She's so sweet.
But I
can Don't you find it ironic also that her name is Sugar?
Well, you have diabetes.
Yeah. But I didn't name her. She chose me.
Oh, you you when you got the cat, it already had the name Sugar?
Yeah. I adopted her and she was like she literally reached her paw paw out to my mom and she my mom's like, oh my gosh, she wants us. And I looked at her and I was like, I
don't know if
I want a gray cat.
Well, here it is. So you get it how do you get it down to an eight? You think it's just activity, like walking around? Was a big campus you were walking around all
the time? Think it yeah. It was a big campus. I think I just was walking around, and I started to utilize the gym more. And I started boxing, so, like, I was lifting weights as well so I could get stronger.
Mhmm. And
so just activity alone, did you change how you ate at school versus home? I
was I was working, and I didn't wanna ask my parents for money. So I was eating, like, cans of peas and, like, salads and stuff, and I was not eating super healthy.
Why didn't you wanna eat why didn't you wanna excuse me. Why didn't you wanna ask your parents for help?
Because they just worked so hard, and I and I don't know. I just didn't wanna, like, take from them.
Okay. So they grew up broke, but as you were in by the time you were in college, were they still on the broke side?
Were middle class.
Middle class by then. Okay. So they could have afforded to help you eat.
Yeah. For sure.
No one ever said, hey. What are you eating? Do you need a do you eat 50? Nothing
like that. My dad would come up and buy me groceries, but I just hated to, like, use their money. So I would just kinda rely on the money that I got from working on campus. Okay. And I also just hated to, like, go to the store using the bus.
You're like, listen. I was hungry, but not hungry enough to get on the bus. Okay? That's all. I I the I've got a line.
So you're eating cans of peas?
These are good.
Yeah. I know. But that's happened more than once. You're like, for like, I'm hungry. I'm gonna crack open a can of peas now.
When the Injections Stopped Working33:59
Yeah. Also, Scott, this was the time that my legs were just and my stomach was were just, like, rejecting shots.
What do you mean?
Like, they were rejecting the the needles. I was trying to poke myself, like, up to five times and having such a tough time. Like, my skin was becoming tough.
Were you injecting in, like, the same areas over and over again?
I would go, like, all around the world.
So so you it's not that you were, like, injecting one, like, small area over and over and it got, like, scarred. No. You what do you mean? What would you do were you bit by a radioactive spider at any point in that time? Or, like, what do mean your your skin?
But that doesn't make any sense.
Yeah. I don't know. I just couldn't find, like, any space in my body that, you know, I
was supposed to go in?
Yeah. Where the needle would go in. It was getting crazy. And so finally, I was like, this is ridiculous. So I started looking into an insulin pump by then, and I wish I had done it sooner because it's changed my life as I'm sure thousands of people, can attest to.
So insulin pump takes your eight a one c to where?
The Pump, Then the CGM35:22
Now I'm at a 6.2.
And did you have a CGM in college?
No.
Do you have one now?
I do.
Okay. How long have you had a CGM?
Let's see. I got the CGM. Which one did I get first? Well, anyway, I got them about the same time.
In somewhere around college time.
So I got the insulin pump in 2017, I wanna say, or so.
Okay.
And then I got this actually, I got the CGM much later. I got it in, like, 2021.
Oh, so you've only had a CGM for about four or five years?
Yeah. Because I remember teaching and the and I had to, like, check my blood sugar and the kids all literally, everyone just stopped. You coulda heard a pin drop, and they all just looked at me. And I was like, I'm I'm fine, guys.
Just look at him and go, hey. Listen. My dad was abused. Do you want me to tell you about that? Alright?
Oh my gosh. That'll that'll that'll that'll shut you up, kids. But you hear the stories that I was told. You're getting off light watching you're getting off light watching me test my blood sugar.
They were so kind, though.
Oh, that's nice. So so you've had a CGM for five years or so. Are you automated now or you automatic? You are. What what system are you using?
So I'm on the Dexcom Mhmm. And Omnipod five.
Okay. And before Omnipod five, you were using Omnipod dash?
Right.
Okay. So you've only ever been Omnipod?
Only Omnipod. Yep.
Okay. And that took your a one c from the eights down further. And then were you getting low a lot with out of CGM, or how did you were you testing a bunch? How did you manage your your, you know, understanding what your blood sugar was?
No. I would say I was still kind of high, honestly.
Even with okay.
Yeah. Even with the Omnipod, I was still kind of high. I guess my set like, I I was scared to, like, dial in my settings too much.
Mhmm. How do you
Until I got my CGM.
So you got your CGM. And how long have you been married?
Our first anniversary was June 14.
Oh, you've only been married a year?
Mhmm.
Oh, congratulations.
Thank you so much.
One year's paper. What did you get? Was there a gift? Listen. I'm gonna be married thirty years in, two weeks.
I haven't gotten my wife anything. The only thing that's making me feel better is that I know for sure she didn't give me anything. So I'm good.
We we went out and we had a great time at Dave and Buster's, and which is what we like to do. We prefer experiences. But I also made him he likes those ranking videos. I don't know if you've seen those on YouTube.
What do you mean?
Like, you rank like, a lot of a lot of people, they'll rank, like, their favorite movies, and it'll be, like, a b c d e. Yeah. Or, like, there's an s tier. And so I did that, but, like, with our dates. And so I had pictures from, like, a lot of our dates this past year.
And so I just ranked, like, the dates based on, like, romance, food, funny moments, and things like that.
What a nice night date.
Then did, like, a like a overview of them and he loved it.
That's really cool. What did he get you?
I don't remember.
Oh my gosh. This is where guys go wrong. We're not good at gift giving. Women are much better, I think. I'm generalizing.
I believe women are much better at gift giving than men are. You know, big big picture.
So You know what? Yeah. He was also working nights, so I understand.
Yeah. Working nights in the hospital?
Yeah.
Okay. What kind of doctor is he?
A hospitalist.
And did your well, I guess I should ask you. You've been married for a year, but how long have you been together?
We started dating ow. She just bit my neck.
Sugar bit your neck?
Yeah. Is
she a vampire cat?
She's not Romanian.
I was trying to get to that, Bella. How come you didn't let me get to it?
She didn't I'm quicker.
She didn't whisper in your ear, I want to suck your blood. Nothing like that happened first?
No. No. She was she was being very sweet actually, which is, I guess, very vampirical.
What if your husband is a vampire and he's just setting you up?
That's a long setup. How
long have you been together now? What you were getting ready to say when the cat attacked you?
Yeah. June '23.
Okay. So twenty four, twenty five, twenty so you've been together about three years?
Mhmm.
And how long have you had a CGM for?
Since, like
About five years.
'21. Yeah. Five years.
And when did your a one c start coming down?
Oh my gosh. Oh, well, it really came down in '20 in, like, January '23
Okay.
Or or late twenty two.
So a little after you had a CGM?
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
And what did what changed?
The Post That Changed Everything41:15
Well, I got the CGM, and I was actually looking to move out of state. And one of my nurses that I've had since I was diagnosed, she suggested your Facebook group. And so then I started listening to your podcast, and I was convicted to start prevo listening. Actually, no. No.
No. Before that, I saw a post by someone. I don't remember, so I apologize to that person, but thank you. They told me about the 10% rule to prebolise 10% of your blood sugar, and I have followed that, like, bible since. That's working.
That's working. That person.
Mhmm. No kidding. So to explain it explain it to people.
Yeah. So if your blood sugar is, like, 100, then you're going to pre bolus by ten minutes. So you're gonna wait ten minutes, and then you're gonna start eating after you take your shot.
Well, I'm interested that you brought this up because I have added pages to my website about this. I haven't told anybody about it yet. So can I tell people about it now?
Please do.
Juiceboxpodcast.com/rule,rule,101zero. It's not like a rule rule, but it's it's what I it says right on the website. Rule is just what the community calls it. A juice box idea for thinking about pre meal timing divided b g by 10 starting lead time in minutes. So there's a little thing here.
You can, like, click in. Let's say your blood sugar is one fifty six, then your pre bolus should be sixteen minutes. If you're above your target, if you're in range and you can like it's so you can there's a little slider here. Right? And it will tell you, like, you can slide up and down your BG, you can type your BG in.
So 135 is an in range blood sugar. Fourteen minutes is an illustrated illustrated start window, and that's it. Now it explains kinda what the the rule. I know it's, like, not really a rule, but they it's a mental shortcut for pre bolus timing. And then when you're done with that page, if you want to continue on, at the bottom, you can go to the thirty, sixty, 90 forecast.
And once you get to that page, it'll tell you where possibly your blood sugar will be in thirty minutes. So it's an interesting way to, like, before the bolus, after the bolus. So again, you put in, like, a one fifty six blood sugar and then attribute an arrow to it. Very fast rate up, fast rate up, slow rise, all that stuff will call it a slow fall. So if you have a one fifty six blood sugar with a slow fall, a diagonal down arrow, in thirty minutes, your blood sugar might be about one twenty six.
It just kinda shows you what fall rates can it's just it's just so that you can kind of visualize those arrows direction and where you might be headed. Does that make sense?
That is so cool.
Thank you. And there's like a little slide here you can like change to mess with it. It's to kinda help yourself like visualize things better.
I love that. Did you make that with AI?
Of course, did. And it's it's my ideas that I turned it into hold on. Then there's the thing at the end that's called after. So it's like, it's before the rule of 10, during the thirty, sixty, 90, and then after reading your CGM trace. And then you can sort of do this.
It it gives you little things like you saw this. You saw a BG spike then came back down on its own. The timing clue about that is that the insulin eventually caught up, and brought glucose back in range, which suggests the dose was probably about right. But the spike tells you the insulin wasn't working yet. When the carbs arrived, the insulin didn't get enough of a head start before it had to compete with the meal.
So what you can explore is whether a longer pre bolus window fits a similar meal, blah blah blah. So, anyway, it gives you, like, you saw a BG spike, then it came back down on its own. You saw a BG went low within an hour of eating. BG went up gradually and kinda stayed there. BG shot up and stayed up.
BG went low two to three hours after eating. So there are three different web pages that all connect to each other and kinda help you before, during, and after your meal. I was I've been working on that for a while. I can't believe I haven't told anybody about that yet. You guys there's so much on that website I never tell you about.
I apologize. But it's called it's called rule of 10. It's in the menu at the top if you wanna go to it. Rule of ten, thirty, sixty, ninety forecast, and reading your CGM trace. So those are three new pages on the website.
And I can't believe it's a
thing. Amazing.
Thank you. You'll check it out. You'll love it. But but you but you saw somebody talking about that online, and you're like, oh, that's a a rule of thumb that I could probably make sense of.
Protein Isn't Free, and the Warsaw Method46:19
Yeah. Absolutely. So I started doing that, and things just started getting better and better. And then, you know, people were talking about your podcast. I was like, like a lot of people say, I'm not a podcast person.
But I started looking around, and then I started doing other things and learned about how protein actually isn't free carbs like I was told when I was a kid.
Mhmm.
And then recently heard about the Warsaw method, and I've been implementing that. And I really appreciate whoever made the website, the calculator. So I've been implementing that, and I'm telling everybody about it.
I The the one on
my only half.
The one on my the one on my site? The the the estimator on my site? Is that what you're talking about? Or you talking did you find a different one?
I, no. It's a different one. I I apologize.
Don't you have to apologize. You can I'm
It's sure the Omni calculator.
Okay. I'm sorry. I'm assuming they're all based on the same math. Yeah. Wait.
But if you want, you can check mine out too. When you're when you're on the site later, take a look at it.
I will.
Yeah. But the Warsaw method of understanding how to cover fat with insulin, huge help.
Oh, absolutely. Yeah. It's crazy. Especially with pizza, I'm like, oh my gosh. I'd literally every time I eat pizza, I'm like, oh my gosh.
I stay within range.
It's awesome. So what you're basically telling me is that you just needed some tools to figure out how to do this stuff. A little bit of information, a little bit of tools.
Yeah. Basically.
So yelling at you was never gonna get you to understand that fat can impact your blood sugar.
Crazy.
Fascinating. Who knew?
Right. Knew?
Knew? Certainly not me. I am really touched and thrilled that this podcast has been so helpful for you and the group and the community around it. And I would say to people who say I'm not a podcast person, I think you're just not a crappy podcast person. And I understand.
I've I've heard some bad podcasts in my life, but this isn't one of them. So, you know
Yeah. No. I greatly appreciate it. If you're you know, even if you set it, like, on while you're cleaning, you'll still glean, like, a lot of great information. And I really wish that I'd found it sooner.
I appreciate that. I'm glad and I appreciate you taking the time to tell people that too because
Oh, yeah. I tell everyone that. Like, anyone I meet who is either in the health care field or has diabetes, whether it's type one, type two, three c, whatever, you know, I tell literally everyone about your podcast, about the Facebook group. I tell them about the Warsaw method.
Look at you. You know, when you're out there spreading the good word as they say.
And the actual good word as well.
Finally, something actually, based in Catholicism is happening to you Catholic.
I'm not Catholic, actually. Oh,
you what they call a reformed Catholic? Or
No. Absolutely not.
No? You just ran from the whole thing when you saw your parents?
My parents are not Catholic, actually. They were raised Catholic, but if you don't mind
Oh, they they they they're reformed Catholics. Gave it up. They gave it up way before they had you.
So they stopped going, but I if I may Mhmm. I could not have gotten through my childhood situation without, like, the holy spirit guiding me. And, like, with the the abuse and the the diabetes and just everything, I really felt like the holy spirit was guiding me.
You you found another church, or you just found
I I continued to go to, like, protestant churches, and then eventually, a friend from high school invited me to his church. And that became my home church for twelve years until I got married, and we had to move for my husband's job. But I was very involved. I had helpless food pantry and went on a mission trip and helpless children's ministry. And, oh my gosh, I love my church so much, the way they're involved in the community.
That's beautiful.
Amazing. Like, they I'll just say the Lord saved my life.
Oh, that's wonderful. I'm that I'm thrilled for you. I'd I'd be happy to hear that anything saved your life. That's a fantastic thing. So you even though your parents didn't give you, I mean, they they seem probably disenchanted with their religious upbringing.
But even though they
They come to Christ. They did. They they were always they were always Christian, just not Catholic.
Gotcha. I gotcha. No. I I understand. Well, that's really fantastic.
And you're still practicing now?
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I'm very, very much involved. Very, very enchanted. Lovely.
Lovely. And
you have kids or no? I didn't ask.
Not yet. We're waiting for him to be done with residency.
Oh, and then we're gonna start I was gonna say bang them out, but that's what I meant. You're gonna start you're gonna you're gonna have a bunch of them or you're have one. What's your play?
Probably about four.
Four? That's one for each appendage. You'll have to hold two with your feet, two with your hands. It's gonna be something.
He also has two
Oh, no.
No. Two arms.
No. We we we can't help with that stuff. There's football on. Do you understand? No.
He can't he really can't wait to be a dad.
That's awesome. How old are you again? You're 30?
We're both 30. Yeah.
About 30. Well, you better I mean, I don't but, you know, it's it's time. You know what I mean?
Trust me. I know. It's hard to wait, but at the same time, like
You're waiting for money? Like, the for things to stabilize?
No. No. No. No. We're not waiting for money.
No? We're just we don't wanna be so stressed. You know?
I mean, I I know. I I've got two kids. I know exactly what you're talking about.
Yeah. You totally understand.
Yeah. I do.
Because, like, he he'll be working nights and then also, like, twelve, fourteen hour shifts, and it's just why when when we have the ability to wait, not everyone a lot of people don't have the ability to wait. But, like, when we have the ability to wait, why not take that advantage?
I mean, it's it's smart to do it when you think it's best. That's all. Yeah. That's that's awesome. So he's what?
He's in residency still?
Yeah. Yeah.
But not much longer.
He has two more years. So, like, next year is when we'll start.
Yeah. Yeah. That's right. We only he only needs about three day break after residency before the baby comes. So Exactly.
Yeah. Yeah. Plus, it would give him something to be excited about that last year.
Exactly. Unless
you get pregnant immediately and ruin it, which I do, which does happen sometimes. You know? Talk to so many guys and they're like, we're gonna have a baby. I'm gonna have sex all the time. And then they're back, like, five minutes later, like, well, she's pregnant.
I was like, I don't think you're supposed to do it the first time, but it happens the way it happens. You know what I mean? Take all the fun out of babies. But if you're gonna do four, he'll at least get three more tries after that.
That's right.
It's gonna be fantastic. And are you gonna continue working when you have kids, or are you thinking about staying home?
So, you know, I'll take care of them until they're school age. So I'll stay at home until they're school age and then go back to work Nice. As a special education teacher. So, yeah, I'll keep up with my, professional degree
Nice.
In that way.
And you are prepared for I mean, it sounds like to me like you're fine with your blood sugars, but, know, you if you're having hormonal fluctuations already, you're prepared for all that. You you know the you know the playbook. You're probably gonna need more insulin when you're pregnant kind of thing. It's gonna ramp up and then suddenly you give they say you pass the placenta and your needs almost immediately go back to where they were before you were pregnant. It's great.
Like Really? Yeah. You gotta listen to some of those pregnancy episodes. Get get get yourself ready.
After the A1C Came Down54:37
I actually have been on a weight loss journey. So I I did kinda wanna talk about this a little bit. So when I when my a one c went, like, crashing down to 6.2, which I was very, like, amazed by and, like, happy with, but I gained, like, 25 pounds immediately. And then over the past year, I gained another, like, 15 pounds. And that's been, like, really difficult mentally
Yeah.
Because I've always been finally started
you finally well, you're not for nothing. You're probably skinnier because your blood sugars were higher.
And Exactly.
And now you're taking the right amount of insulin. And what'd you learn that you were probably eating more calories than you needed?
I think a little bit, but yeah. I think probably a little bit more, but not like an excessive amount. Okay. I also think that this is probably the weight that my body prefers. And as we all know, like, the scale doesn't tell you how much muscle you have, and I know I do have, like, quite a bit of muscle.
Yeah. But at the same time, it's just difficult Mhmm. To, like, look in the mirror and not see, that that
Who you think you are?
I'm not, like, saying that I'm, like, a model, but I'm saying, like, my body was, like, that model size.
And now So what are you doing? Are you exercising, changing how you're eating, what you're eating?
I am. I'm counting my calories. I'm counting my fat and protein. I'm sorry. My fiber and protein, and I'm weightlifting.
And so I actually have increased my weights recently and noticed that I am going low a lot more often. So I'm currently in a state of, like, recalibrating, you know, my my settings and all of that. So I bring that up because I'm like, well, I will continue to weight lift when I am pregnant in order to, like, offset the
Kinda keep your needs
from there. Yeah.
Yeah. Oh, that that's fantastic. And, yeah, I mean, if you have you lost weight as your weight as you're working out too?
Not that I can see. No. Just more activity. Stable.
Okay. So you think your insulin needs have changed, but your weight hasn't changed?
Right.
Okay. Oh, it's interesting. Have you considered the GLPs or you you think you're gonna be able to handle it the way you're handling it?
The I don't qualify for the GLPs.
Because of you're not
because I'm not heavy enough.
Your weight your weight's not.
So I am five nine and I weigh one seventy four.
That should get you a GLP. No? No. Okay. Well, I I assume they're going to be prescribing them for type ones the next I mean, I don't know how soon, but it's gotta be sooner than later because there are studies going on right now for it.
So if it's something you're interested in, it it might be it it might be something that's prescribed just, you know, to help with type one diabetes in the in the near future, which I think would be awesome. Well, that's cool. I mean, it's it's good if you do, like, see what was going on, make changes, work towards stuff. I mean, that's Mhmm. That's really fantastic.
Twenty Questions58:09
So now is it time now for us to guess where you're from? Yeah. Alright. So I think I unfairly know your last name, which is right. That kinda gives me a hint about your ethnic background.
Does it?
That isn't that my married name that you know?
I how is that possibly your that's the Romanian last name?
Is it the one that starts with a v? Which one are you looking at?
Yeah. The v.
Yeah. That's my married name.
That's your married name. Oh, now I don't know what's going on. Okay. So so you have okay. So you have, like, a clean accent.
So I don't hear any I don't hear Midwest. I don't hear Southern. You're not from around here. You could maybe be no. You're not a New Yorker.
Alright. So you're not from New York. You're not from Texas. You're not from the Mid States. You're not from the Midwest.
I think you're from Arizona or California. You talked about moving. You talked about I don't know. I'm going why are you giggling? This is not funny.
Is so fun for me.
It's fun for you. Okay.
Yeah. It's like taking a BuzzFeed quiz, but like
Yeah. Well, a little bit more difficult with nobody no questions being asked. I gotta come up with the questions and the answers.
You can ask more questions.
Well, I don't wanna turn do you wanna turn it to 20 questions?
If you want.
Wait. Unless unless you wanna like, don't like, if I've if I've already guessed it correctly, you have to tell me.
Okay.
Okay. So have I?
No. No.
Alright. 20. Oh, alright. Ready? I guess I'll ask 20 yes or no questions.
We've never done this before. So you and I doing this together for the first time.
Are you I love it.
Are you on the are you on the left side of the country? Like, let's first like, knock the country right down the middle. Are you on the left side?
No.
No. Alright. Florida.
No.
No. You're on the right side of the country. I did one time here, Michigan for a second, but it wasn't it wasn't a lot. Plus the husband's probably got an accent. It's probably ruining your accent.
You are a little giggly. Could be Rhode Island. You're not from Virginia. Alright. Ready?
You're not from Virginia. Right?
Correct.
Why are you having so much fun? I I don't hear Pennsylvania. I'm just gonna use up my my this way. Right? No Pennsylvania?
No Pennsylvania.
No Pennsylvania, not Florida, not Virginia, not god. I'm just gonna say New York in case you're from Upstate.
No. No.
Not Michigan. Right side of the country going to Maryland?
No.
North Carolina?
Yeah.
I don't know. You didn't say anything that gets me to figure it out. I think you were holding stuff back that would have helped me figure it out. You did.
No. I was not.
You were not. You in the beginning, you didn't wanna answer a question. You're like, well, I don't wanna give you any answers. Alright. Well, you don't live in the state that you were born in right now.
Is that correct?
I I do live in the state I was born in.
So you moved out and moved back?
No.
I thought you moved at one point.
No. I said I was I wanted to move.
You wanted to move. Alright.
But there were some things that happened. Hurricane Ian happened.
Okay. So you couldn't move?
Correct.
You're not from New Orleans. I don't I mean, what am I missing here? You're not from Alabama. I mean, you said your parents were broke. I guess you could be from Kentucky or Alabama, but I would think you'd have an accent then.
You just have to tell me I give up.
Oh, Scott. Oh, Scott. You were so close.
I was so close. Oh, wait. I do hear
So many times.
There's so there's a little southern in there now. A tight oh, is South Carolina? No. What is that? Oh, and I hear it.
Where is that from? Just tell me.
Michigan1:03:17
I'm from Michigan.
I said Michigan.
You said not Michigan.
No. No. No. No. No.
I I said, oh, I talked myself out of it?
You talked yourself out of it so many times.
Damn it. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn.
Damn. Accent, broke parents. Mhmm. I was right there. Not the way
You're so close.
You're not you don't you don't have any Spanish background?
No? No. I mean, I've been to Mexico
That doesn't count.
Taught myself Spanish since I was a kid.
Well, you threw me off knowing Spanish. And I and that married last name, I don't He stole that from somebody. That's not that's not Count Dracula, whatever that is.
That's from me. No.
No. It's not. Stop it.
Yes. Is. Look it up.
Look it up. I don't have
Are you familiar?
I don't I don't have time to look it up. Okay? Today is Arden's birthday, and she is texting me Oh my god.
About Happy birthday. No.
Thank you. I'll let her know. She's texting me about, like, are we going? Are we going we're supposed to go pick out a cake for to take to dinner with us tonight. So Alright.
I can't believe I had because I got Michigan early on once I split the country in half, and then I gave up on it.
You did. You kept saying not Michigan.
So I know it. I I just wanna say I know everybody in Michigan is not broke. There are broke people everywhere. Just like I by the way, I was completely broke growing up when I was in Pennsylvania. I don't know.
I was just generalizing trying to find something. You know what I do. I can't believe it didn't work this time. That's fine. Will you win?
That's fine. Yeah. The thing that I didn't wanna tell you earlier was that my dad's side is Irish, and my mom's side is mainly English German. So I felt like that would have told you Michigan. Or at least if you know anything about Michigan, then that would have
I know.
Given you a hint.
I know m and m's. Car industry used to be there. I know these things. I know the I know every
Our industry is so here.
I know everybody thought the lions were gonna be good, but they still suck. What do you think of that? You care about comments. Alright. Listen.
Go make a bunch of babies with that doctor boy of yours and and
I will.
And go forth and prosper. I appreciate you doing this with me. Hold on one second. Okay?
Okay.
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This series is all about mastering the fundamentals, whether it's the basics of insulin, dosing adjustments, or everyday management strategies that will empower you to take control. I am joined by Jenny Smith, who is a diabetes educator with over thirty five years of personal experience, and we break down the complex concepts into simple actionable tips. The diabetes pro tip series runs between episode one thousand and one thousand twenty five in your podcast player, where you can listen to it at juiceboxpodcast.com by going up in the menu. If this is your first time listening to the juice box podcast and you'd like to hear more, download Apple Podcast or Spotify, really any audio app at all. Look for the juice box podcast and follow or subscribe.
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#1916 Chilly Reception
Chilly Reception
Christina has had type 1 for fifteen years. Her son William was diagnosed in DKA on a ski team trip to Chile, in a hospital where the care was entirely in Spanish — and the hardest part came after they got home.
Jump to a moment
- Adult-onset type 1 found her at 36, and the celiac link was news to her. Christina had been dragging for months with two children under three and put it down to exhaustion. A friend who is an ER doctor told her to get bloodwork; the result came back at 748 while Christina was driving her to the grocery store. She had already had celiac for a decade and gestational diabetes with her first pregnancy, and says no one had ever mentioned that celiac and type 1 travel together.
- A diagnosis abroad is a different event entirely. William was diagnosed in DKA at 10,000 feet in Chile, evacuated by ambulance to Santiago, and spent his first days in an ICU where the care was conducted in Spanish. Christina could not get a flight for two days. She got through it on Google Translate, a bilingual physician from a credit-card assistance service, friends conferenced in to interpret, and strangers who stepped in — and her own conclusion is blunt: arriving at that with no prior knowledge of type 1 would have been debilitating.
- “You made it look too easy.” Christina had spent fifteen years being private about her own diabetes and deliberately not burdening her kids with it. William’s response after his diagnosis was that she had made it look easy and never told him it was this hard, and for a while he was openly resentful that it had come from her. She started playing the podcast in the car on the way to ski races so the information would reach him from someone other than his mother.
- She names the mental health piece as the thing she would go back and change. By her account William was self-medicating within months, and what looked like unexplained overnight lows turned out to be the visible edge of it. She is direct that she was focused on the physical side and did not put support around the emotional side early enough — and she describes it as grieving the life he thought he was going to have. She is not offering this as advice, only as her own hindsight.
- Finding treatment that would accept a type 1 adolescent was its own ordeal. Program after program told her he was too high-risk to take. One asked whether insulin could be misused and had no protocol for storing it. She eventually found a place in Arizona, 2,200 miles from Brooklyn, that had cared for several people with type 1 and could tell her exactly how. That gap — between the care a family needs and the programs willing to provide it — is the most concrete thing this episode surfaces.
- Mental Wellness series — Episodes with therapist Erika Forsyth — the part of a diagnosis Christina says she wishes she had addressed sooner.
- Bold Beginnings series — The newly diagnosed series, for the first weeks she describes.
- Small Sips series — Short, curated takeaways — the series Scott plugs at the close.
- Juicebox FAQ — The searchable question bank on the site.
- SugarPixel — The bedside glucose display Christina sent to the ranch so staff could see his numbers from a distance.
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — Free, confidential, 24/7. Call or text 988 in the US. Outside the US, Find A Helpline lists services by country at findahelpline.com.
- SAMHSA National Helpline — Free, confidential, 24/7 treatment referral and information for substance use and mental health — 1-800-662-4357.
Every word of the conversation
Welcome & Sponsors0:08
Hello, friends, and welcome back to the Juice Box podcast.
So introduction, how how do you how do you should I I guess I haven't thought about that. So I should just introduce myself as a type one diabetic and a mother of a type one diabetic. Is that how it goes or where I'm from? Or
On today's episode of the podcast, there will be nothing that you should take as advice, medical or otherwise. So please, please consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan or becoming bold with insulin. I've got two OG sponsors for you today, Omnipod five and Dexcom. That's right. The episode that you're about to enjoy was brought to you today by Dexcom and the Dexcom g seven, the same CGM that my daughter wears.
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What did I just say? Free. Terms and conditions apply. Eligibility may vary. Full terms and conditions can be found at omnipod.com/juicebox.
You'll find those links in the show notes of the podcast player you're listening in right now and at juiceboxpodcast.com. It's so it sounds reasonable to me. One person, last week just went, hey. My name is Bill. And I went, hey, Bill.
And that was it. And then he's so I would say open your mouth, start talking, and then wherever you end up will be okay.
Got it.
You're ready? Well, I'm ready when you're ready. So go ahead. Next word to me here.
I'm ready.
Okay. Next thing we hear is you saying hi.
Meet Christina2:19
Hi. My name is Christina. I am a type one diabetic, and I am also the mother of a type one diabetic and a resident of New York City.
Okay. Do you have other children other than that other type one?
I do. I have an older son who is 18, and my type one is 16, almost 17.
Okay. How old were you when you were diagnosed?
I was 36.
How old are you now?
I am turning 51 tomorrow.
Oh, happy birthday.
Why, thank you.
That's lovely.
So yeah. So I got I got through having my two children before I was diagnosed, but I did have I did have gestational diabetes with my first child, Sebastian, who is my 18 year old, and I did not have it with my second child that was eighteen months behind him.
Okay. Oh, 18. Yeah. Yeah. Very nice.
You were diagnosed when you were 36. So what was that like? I I I I imagine that's an age where you kinda don't imagine that's gonna happen. Right?
“Just a Little High” — Diagnosed at 363:20
No. Yeah. I so it's it's sort of an interesting story. I knew something was wrong with me, but I thought I just was tired because I had two kids under the age of three. I just thought that I was really tired and what nothing was right and dragging and dragging.
I had bronchitis. I couldn't shake it. And I had a friend who was an ER doctor, a mom. And I kept on going, What do think's wrong with me? Because why would I go to the doctor?
I thought she could just diagnose me. She was like, I think you should go get some blood work. I think you should just go get some blood work. So I did, and funnily enough, I got my blood work back when I was in the car with her. I was driving her to the grocery store because she was on bed rest with her third child.
They're like, Oh, we got your blood work back. Your blood sugar is a little high, so we want you to go get some more blood work. She whispers to me, she goes, Ask them what the number is. And they said, oh, you're at you're at seven forty eight.
Just a little high.
Just a little high. And she goes, ask them to have it have your blood work sent to you and pull over. And so she had
to pull over. You driving me and my unborn child.
She goes exactly. She goes, I'm gonna drive you, and we're gonna go to the you we're gonna go to my ER right now. And she drove me to the ER, and she admitted me into the ICU.
Wow. Just a little high.
And was in
That's fine.
Yeah. Full full DK had been going on for a while.
We might wanna just get you a little more blood work to really nail this down. Yeah. So
so and I was like, I don't think I need to go to the hospital. She's like, you do, and you're gonna go. So so, you know, right where she was in the right place at the right time, and I was doing the right thing at the right time taking her to taking her to the grocery. I'm like, but what about your groceries? And she goes, it'll be fine.
You got good karma came right back at you for helping her.
And it it did. It did.
So how how long were you in the hospital?
I was only in the hospital for a couple days, because I had had gestational diabetes. I sorta knew the drill on, how to, like, manage my diet a little bit. I also I I have celiac, so I'd had celiac for ten years. So I kept on saying, well, I don't have any nobody in my life has diabetes. I don't understand why I have it.
And they said, well, said, well, I just have celiac. And they said, oh, well, there you go, which I never knew there was the connection.
Other, autoimmune in your family line or celiac?
Yes. Yeah. So since, my mom has celiac, my mom has fil a lago, and my sister has celiac, and she has colitis.
Are you guys Irish?
Yeah. Sorry.
Yeah. It's just easier if I generalize.
I didn't I didn't know. You know, I've had I've had celiac since, you know, for twenty five years. It's been a really long time. So I I just never I never knew the connection. No one ever told me.
What do you do for your celiac? Or, like, has that changed since you've had diabetes, or do you just kinda maintain the same process?
I sort of maintain the same thing. I will say it's like, you know, a lot of like, the sort of awareness around gluten is a good thing, so there's a lot more availability. But at the same time, you know, now you have to sort of be clear that it's an allergy, not a preference. But when I was first diagnosed, it would I'd be like, in a restaurant, does it have this? But I'm like, do you know what gluten is?
It's anything that you'd have to sort of explain, and now it's like you go into a restaurant and there's gluten free stuff on the menu. And so it is a lot easier. I eat sort of a I shop from the outside of the grocery store, so I eat a lot of fruit, vegetables, protein.
Yeah.
Not a ton of carbs, not eating a processed food.
Interesting. You have to declare that it's a allergy, not a preference. Is that what happened when when the whole world decided they were they had
to they had to yeah. They're like, well, Oprah Oprah and Gwyneth Paltrow thinks it's great to be gluten free. I'm like, yes, But they're not allergic, so that's a difference.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So you can't mess up. It's a different situation.
Correct. That's interesting interesting wording. Okay. So how do you begin to I mean, what are we looking at here? Thirty six, forty six, fifteen years ago, What what kind of gear did they give you on the way out the door, and how has your management changed over the years?
Celiac, MDI, and Coming Around to a Pump7:17
I started on MDI. I was very like, I don't want anything attached to my body. And they kept saying, oh, you get a pump. You get a pump. And was like, I don't want one.
So I was pretty resistant on that. And then I ended up meeting with a work friend who was celiac and type one, and she'd been type one since she was two. And she kind of introduced me to the world of a CGM because dexcom had sort of just kinda come out not that long ago. So I went on a I think it was a three. It was big.
And I had the little, like, adapter that I would it was pink that I would carry around. So I I started off with that, and that worked really well. And then I started traveling a ton for work. I was going back and forth between London and San Francisco and just dealing with the time change and the long acting insulin, it was it was really hard. So I went on the first tandem, and I've been on a tandem ever since.
No pump.
A tandem.
Unless I get a pump. How long did it take you to go from no pump to pump?
About two years. Okay.
Well, do you think that that journey was valuable for you, or do you think that if somebody would have strong armed you into a pump sooner, you would have been happier?
I think my honeymoon phase lasted a long time, so I wasn't I wasn't using a ton of insulin. I didn't eat a lot of carbs. I was very active. So I I I managed my a one c was really low. I managed it really well.
It was when I started traveling that everything kind of went upside down, and I just struggled. I'd go to London one week, and then I was in San Francisco the next week. And just the time change, my sugars were all over the place. So they were like, well, when you have a pump, you change the time, and it just sort of it adjusts a lot easier. So I embraced it.
You know, I still sometimes wonder if I could ever go back to MDI, but I've been on the pump now. It's so easy. I I don't know if I could ever go back.
Are you on like, you're using Control IQ?
I am using Control IQ, and I'm on the and I love the Moby. I've switched over to that about a year and a half ago, like, when it first came out. And that's been sort of game changer for me because it's just so small.
Describe to me what would have to like, what would have to be the the, the win for you to go back to MDI?
I think I just sometimes get I like everyone. I think I get tired of having something attached to me.
So that's still an issue for you. So you knew yourself pretty well when you said I don't wanna get a pump. I don't want something attached to me.
Yeah. I feel like I'm pretty active, and I think it just felt like, you know, it's the, you know, the moments I have where, like, it catches I it catches on the doorknob or it's I run out of power. It's just kinda thinking about it.
Mhmm.
I would love to not have that have that. But now it's sort of just a way of life. And, you know, every now and then, like, I went to a meeting the other day, I realized I left my pump on the charger. So that was a little bit of that was a little bit of a whoopsie, but, you know, it happens.
You left the house and the pump was at home?
Oh, yeah. Still on the charger until I was, like, looking at my numbers. I'm like, what's going on? Why am I going up enough?
How did you manage that? Did you go home? Did have somebody bring it to you?
I tried to get someone to bring it to me, but ultimately, I just went home.
I had I met somebody recently who had a a similar situation. They just didn't do anything about it. And they had had diabetes a really long time. And I was like, what do you mean? Well, I got to work and, you know, I ran out of insulin.
Was kind of a a similar situation in their pump. And I said, so you went right home and got more? I said, no. I just kept working. And then, you know, six hours later, her blood sugar was 400.
And they're like, I can't get this to come down. I'm like, really? Fast fasting.
I went home immediately. Yeah. Yeah. And a friend of mine was like, why don't you just go to the pharmacy? She you know, she she's a nurse.
She's like, I'll call you in. She's like, I'll call you in the script. I'm like, no. I'm just gonna run home on the subway. It's fine.
She she wanted you to, like, inject some insulin to get you through the day?
Yes. She was like, are you sure you wanna wait? I'm like, I'm fine. I'm fine.
I'll I'll write you a script. Is that it was the doctor this friend?
Yes.
Yeah. So listen. I know you think you've oversimplified this, but it's at my house. I just gotta go get it.
Yeah. And I had just taken out my backup pen because I've been traveling. I just took my backup pen out of my backpack that morning. It was just so usually I usually I do carry a backup backup supplies with
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Yeah. Okay.
Yeah. I'm in Brooklyn.
Thirteen Years Later, William13:24
So Gotcha. Alright. So how long after your diagnosis is your youngest diagnosed?
So he was two just turning two when I was diagnosed, and he was diagnosed at 15. 15.
Oh, okay.
So thirteen years. Yeah. So he had kinda grown up with me. You know, he didn't know anything else besides me, having diabetes.
And this so this is a more recent diagnosis for him?
So he was diagnosed in August 2024.
2024. Okay. Describe what that was like. Like, you're you're a person with type one diabetes. I wanna know, like, did you spend every day that your children were alive looking at them thinking they were going to get it one day, or did it kinda I
did think about I did think about it, and I was actually more worried about the celiac disease with you
because, like,
with Luvs, like I just like the restrictive of food I thought was harder. And they never showed any signs. And I you know, when they were younger, I think I was a little bit more paranoid and, like, definitely fully have tested their blood one or two times, both of them, when I thought something was up, and they were always fine. And then when they got older and sort of teenagers, I guess I sort of just let it go and didn't think about it that much, which I have thought about a lot because I feel like leading up to William's diagnosis, I should have seen the signs, but I just didn't see them.
Christina, let me stop you for a second because I know you're wearing AirPods. Is there any chance you have long hair that is sometimes covering your AirPods and sometimes not covering them?
Yes. It is. Let me pull my hair back. Thank you. So yeah.
So I think that that part that part was hard that I feel like I should've I should've known the signs. I didn't see the signs, and I continue to sort of think, like, I would have avoided a lot of headache.
Well, what kind of headache came?
So so William was diagnosed with I'm trying to find this hair tie, so hold on one second.
William
was diagnosed while he was traveling with his ski team in Chile. Oh. Yeah.
Christina, I didn't know we were talking to a proper fancy white lady. You're you're I got it.
Oh, yes. Yes. Yes. So he was, you know, Scott, I'm gonna put you on hold for one second. I'm gonna go with this hair tie because otherwise, this is gonna be
You're fine. We'll put an ad right here. Don't worry about
it. Okay.
Rob, you want me to look? I could just, like I don't even know if I know the ads anymore. I'm trying. Oh, well, I can do you as oh, sorry. I was trying to you know, I used to read back.
Christina, I used to read the ads into every episode. Like, I would I would freestyle the ads into every episode. So, like because I used to do the editing myself. So, like, I'd record the conversation with somebody, and then later I'd yank out that that recording, and I'd kinda splice it up. And then I'd get to the spot, and I'd I'd I'd freestyle like an ad.
I could be like, you know, let's say I'm gonna talk about US med, and I'd start doing that. And then one day one day, I was like, oh my god. This is gonna kill me. And and people with real jobs are like, oh, yeah. Sure.
That'll probably kill you saying US med ads. But I recorded a number of different versions, got them you know, like, the companies were like, these are good. And then we just rotate them, and I have an editor now, the editor drops them in. And so just now, like, when you walked away for a second, I was like, I can freestyle on that. And I was like, oh, no.
I can't. I was like, couldn't I I used to be able to do them in my sleep, and I just sat here thinking like, Omnipod? And then anyway.
No worries. I'm back, and my hair is out of the way.
Awesome. Thank you. Okay. So, back to William.
A Ski Trip to Chile17:11
Okay. So William so William was William, you know, he was it was between his freshman and sophomore year of high school. He had been at boarding school for the year before. So he's home for the summer. He was playing tennis, working as, like, you know, sporting tennis, you know, outside every day, really active.
He's total athlete. He's a very competitive ski racer. He skis on the New York State ski team, and he his team was going down to Chile to train for for two weeks, because it's winter and summertime. So he he was scheduled to go down with, you know, 15 other kids. It's a twelve hour flight.
There was three coaches that went with them, so I dropped him off at the airport. He went off on his way with, you know, three sets of seas, all sorts of stuff. He's there for the first day, and it's very, very high altitude. So they get there in Santiago. They drive, like, three hours from there up to Valley Nevado, which is at the base, I think, about 10,000 feet.
He has the first day. He's skiing. He's like, mom, it's amazing. The snow is awesome. I'm having such a great time.
The next day, he wakes up. He calls me and says, you know, I don't know. I feel a little sick. I feel like I got a cold. You know?
I was like, well, could be altitude. Drink lots of fluids. You know? Get out there. Go skiing.
He's like, okay. And it just for a couple days, it just progressed. Like, I really don't feel very good. Then he's like, I'm vomiting. I can't stop vomiting.
I'm not gonna ski today. I said, okay. We'll hang out in the room. I go, why don't you go get a Coke or something? Like, get yourself some caffeine and just some sugar in your body.
It'll it'll help give you a little energy. So he's doing that. He's trying to drink Gatorade. Then finally then I start texting with the coach, I was like, this isn't like him to be this sick, but there had been other kids that were sick. Other kids were struggling with altitude sickness.
Other kids were just not feeling great. So he he skied this was on a Saturday. He skied Saturday. He skied Sunday. Monday, he didn't ski.
Tuesday morning, he's like, I I'm gonna go out for a little bit, but I don't know how long I can do it. Then finally, on Wednesday, I said to the coach, I think he needs to go to the clinic and be checked out because he's just really not at his full energy.
Right.
The Clinic at 10,000 Feet19:26
The coach is like, okay. At lunchtime, I'll bring him to the clinic and see how he's doing. They bring him to the clinic. He's in his ski clothes, and they have a clinic at the top of the mountain because they were staying at 10,000 feet, then they would go up to, like, 24 like, 17 to 24,000 feet to actually ski. Mhmm.
And so they bring him to the clinic, and, you know, there's people on oxygen there because a lot of people struggle with the altitude sickness. And they do a chest X-ray of him, and they discover that he has an air pocket outside of his esophagus, which is apparently very dangerous. And they say he needs to be evacuated immediately. He needs to get down to sea level. So they put him in an ambulance.
There's two ambulances. There's the mountain ambulance and then the city ambulance. So he goes down these switchbacks to get down to the mountain and gets down in into Santiago, and where they take him to the hospital. And the coach is going with him. And so we kinda get a you know, we get a text message.
Hey. They want him to they're they're worried about this this air pocket. They want him to get down, but they think it will correct itself once he gets to C level, but he needs to go now. So we're like, okay. Seems a little scary.
We'll wait. We'll stand by and see what's going on. So then they get him down to the hospital. And in the meanwhile, I have texted my pediatrician who I have a good relationship with, I was like, Is this a big deal? Should I be starting to make plans to go there or should he just come home?
She said, Give me the ski coach's number. My daughter's home from college with her friend from Spain. Are you okay if I call and have her help me translate to speak to the doctor? I'm like, okay. Sure.
Yeah. Thank you.
I said, sure. Great.
Yeah. Awesome. Come clean my house. You're fantastic.
And I've known and I've known her forever. She's been the kid's pediatrician since since they were born, and she kind of went through my whole diagnosis with me. And so when I was diagnosed with type one, so she so she so then she gets through to them. She calls me back, and she said, the air pocket's not what we need to worry about, Christina. She goes, he's in DKA.
Oh, gosh. Did your heart sink?
My heart sank, and my husband was, like, out at the pharmacy for me because my pump had failed that morning. We're just like, everything was going wrong. I was like, I don't even know what to do with this information. And I said so I called the ski coach. I said, have they told him?
And he says, well, everything's in Spanish, but he kept on hearing the words diabetic diabetic. And so he is aware of what's going on because they came after the coach to say, you never told us he was diabetic. He goes, well, he's not. And they said, oh, yes, he is.
Jeez.
So that like, the whole world kinda stopped in that moment. And, originally, my husband was gonna go down and pick him up, and then we changed roles on that one. And so I got myself together, and this was now, like, five, 06:00 at night on a Wednesday. So there's only one flight that flies to Santiago a day at a JFK, and it leaves at 10:00. So I couldn't get on that flight.
So I had to go on the next day flight. So I had to wait two days to get there. And then you fly all night long, and you get there at, like, 06:00 in the morning. It's a twelve hour flight. So I scrambled around.
Getting There22:47
I got all the supplies I could think of. I brought dex coms, I brought pens, I brought vials, I brought everything because I didn't know what I was walking into. And I flew down there and I got down there two days later. He was still in the ICU. And we were there for a week and there was one endocrinologist for the entire hospital.
She had spent a little bit of time in The US, so she spoke a little bit of English. But otherwise, our care was entirely in Spanish, And I do not speak Spanish. So it was Google Translate to kinda understand. The the doctors would come in. I said, well, what know, you did an endoscopy.
What did you see? And they would just sort of smile at me.
And We don't speak English, you don't speak Spanish. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. So I was I would conference in friends that were I have, you know, I have friends from Spain, I conference them in and have them help me. I did, through my credit card, I did have sort of global rescue. And what they would do is they would they provided a physician that spoke both languages, he would get on the phone with me and he would read the reports and translate them to me.
My gosh.
Whole thing. So then I'm sort of inserting myself and kind of managing him because I can't understand what like, the nurses would come in and they would feed him. And I said, well, how many units are you giving him? And they would just sort of smile and I would be like over their shoulders. So it was really hard because it was total control.
It was not I did not have control. He was really freaked out. He was still very, very sick, because he still had this air pocket that all of a sudden became not as big of an issue.
But still an issue.
It's still an issue. And so the the trauma of being in a hospital where no one spoke English and going through all of this so far away from home
Yeah. No. I mean
that, you know
He's not in the hospital for two days, just him and the coach. Right?
Yeah. Yeah. Who didn't speak who didn't speak who didn't speak Spanish either. But it turns out his girlfriend is a pediatric ICU nurse, so she was helping him on the other end.
Wow. But but he has no he has no feeling for diabetes either. Well
None at all.
None at all. I I realized it in the moment when everything's going by the way, when you said everything was going wrong, I thought that's the name of every one of our biographies. Everyone listening, we could all like, if we needed a biography title, we could just go with everything is going wrong. So, but but does he, oh, what's happening? Hold on.
I hear a loud noise. Do you hear a loud noise?
No. I don't hear a
loud noise. Well, then I shouldn't have brought it up. Sorry. I I just think it like, those two days must have been crazy for your son. Like, really insane.
Like, because you're also, like, flying. It's not like he could call you or talk to you or anything like that. Right?
No. And I got on the flight to fly down there. There was no Wi Fi on the flight. It was a twelve hour flight. And I just was like, okay.
It make you insane? Like, be seriously, were you, like, out of your mind, or did you handle it well?
I was I was very, like, mission focused. I was like, just need to get there. That was sort of my you know, once I get there, I can address the issue. I I was, I guess, trusting. I said, okay.
He's in a hospital. I did the research on the hospital. It's you know, it very good health care there. It was not like it was not some, like, country like, it was a city hospital, modern. They just were short staffed, and there was not a lot of English.
And you're a level headed person, it sounds like. So you weren't busy. You're not anxious. Right?
No. Not particularly.
Yeah. I was gonna say, were you because you didn't you didn't spend any time worrying about things that were out of your control.
No. I I you know, we got once I once I was there, I was much better. I was definitely a little bit comatose getting there. But once I was there, I was feeling much better just being in the same room as him. You know, I had some confidence from, you know, it's amazing your network can get really big and really small very quickly.
And, you know, I had friends that were like, hey. Here's here's a friend of ours that lives in Santiago. They have had they have connections to hospital. Get on the phone with them and talk to them. You know?
So I did talk to a lot of people that reassured me he was getting really good care.
Mhmm.
And so I just had to put a little bit of trust in it.
Okay. Let's pivot here to his experience. So once he's feeling better, I mean, is the first conversation about, wow. I I'm sorry you have diabetes. Like, do you get to that?
Or how how does the that more interpersonal part play out?
He was very upset. He had a lot of why me? Why does this happen to me? Why not why not my brother? Why does this have to
happen me? Why couldn't it have been him? So
Pretty much. Pretty much. He was like, why does Seb never have anything wrong with him? He had had like, during COVID, he had a ruptured appendix, which was really and he got stuck in the hospital for two weeks with that. So he had a little bit of hospital trauma going into this.
Mhmm. And he just you know, this was supposed to be a trip of a lifetime, and it just went really wrong really quickly. And I don't think he really wrapped his head around what it means to be a type one. I think what has come out since then is he told me that I make it look too easy, and you never told me it was this hard.
Oh, yeah. It's your fault. Yeah.
Yeah. So
Welcome to being a parent there.
Yeah. I was like, I'm sorry. I just tried to never burden you with what was going on with me. And he just was he was really resentful for that. You know, Chile presented some other challenges because he was supposed to travel in and out with his ski team.
All his paperwork was attached to his his ski team. So when I went to go leave with him because I didn't have documentation from my husband saying I could travel with him
Mhmm.
They wouldn't leave let us leave the country.
Oh, okay.
So we got stuck there. Yeah. And they have an anti trafficking laws there that are very strict, which I think is good. But because I didn't have an original document notarized with an apostille on it from my husband, they wouldn't let us leave. So he had to get that processed up in New York, and then DHL did down to us.
So we got stuck waiting there for three days for the paperwork to arrive so we could actually get on an airplane again.
Sounds like a tourism scam to me. They're just trying to make more hotel money off of I don't know.
So we had some time. So, fortunately, while we were there, I was able to get in touch with an endocrinologist in New York at at NYU Hospital, she was fantastic and really helped us prepare. He got on the phone with a diabetes educator. We had a game plan in place. And so when we arrived back into to New York, we literally landed, went home, showered, and went to the endocrinologist.
So so that was that would gave us some time to plan.
Does he go right on a pump and a CGM and all that stuff?
Back to Boarding School30:01
Yes. So the the next big question so we get him home from Chile. So that was, like, ten days. We finally get back, and he goes to boarding school. And it's middle of August, and he is scheduled to go back to boarding school in September.
And I'm like, I don't know. I got on the phone with the school, and one of the nurses, her son just graduated from the school that he was at and has been a type one since he was 12 old. And I was like, am I crazy to even consider this? She said, Nope, we've got this. We can really support him.
It's a super small school. It's a school for kids with ADHD and dyslexia.
Really
supportive and like, We can do this. We know school's important to him. We want to make this work. So they were all all in and talking to us while we were in Chile and kinda giving us the sort of votes of support there. So we got back.
They we he we gave him the choice with the endocrinologist, what kind of pump do you wanna go on? He said he didn't wanna be on my pump, so he chose the Omnipod because he didn't want a tube.
Why why did he not want why did he not wanna be on your pump? He's like,
I don't know. He didn't want a tube.
By the way He wanted tubeless. If I was one of those cheesy podcasts, I would do a voice over at the beginning of this one. It would go like this. Would be like, Christina had diabetes for fifteen years when her son suddenly was afflicted on a ski trip in, abroad. He he eventually blamed her for making diabetes look too easy.
It could be said that she received a chilly reception. And, and then I if only I was douchey, I would definitely do that. But, anyway, this is for Rob. Let's call this one chilly reception and then and move on. Go ahead.
Stop. Jesus. I love that he's like, not her pump. Not her.
So No. He was he I think he want you know, I think he was you know, he's 15, and was wanting to assert his own control.
Sure.
And he's like you know, when he was in Chile, I couldn't get the Dexcom to work, so I had to go buy a I I bought a Libra three because you can just go buy one. So I went and bought them. So he was on that while we were in Chile. You know, they don't send you when you leave the hospital, they don't send you with any insulin. Thank god I brought it.
They were, like, wrote me a prescription on a piece of paper. They're like, we'll go to the pharmacy. And I was like, I can't do this.
I don't speak English. Not from Chile. Could I just have a vial of insulin, please? Yeah. I was
like, where where's the long acting? You're not giving me any long acting? Oh, well, he finished the last pen. So just go to the pharmacy and picks him up. I'm like, can I move him to this long acting, which is mine?
They're like, oh, yeah. That's fine.
Well, it's nice to know that the standard of inconsistent care is worldwide.
Yeah. You know, Scott, the scary thing is is that I went into that situation with a lot of knowledge. So I knew how to manage. I knew I had supplies.
But
if you were brand new to this disease, it would have been absolutely terrifying and debilitating. You you didn't like, there was they were trying to explain carb counting in Spanish, and I was like, I got it. It's fine. But it was real it would have been really, really hard, And I don't know how someone would have gotten through it.
No. No. I I don't either. Did you did you did it occur to you just to pick up your shirt, show them your pump, and be like, we're we're good? Or
They they did. They did. I I kept on saying, I I am too. I kept on going, I am too, and I would show my show my stuff, and I had all my, like, suitcase. Like, I had a cooler full of stuff with me.
Yeah. And, like, I would definitely insert myself. And this endocrinologist who was super sweet, she gave me her own personal phone number. I would WhatsApp with her and she would help. She's like, I have three boys.
Do you need clothes? Do you need a place to stay? You know?
That's lovely.
Of the amazing there was so much community that came through for me in that. I didn't even have a hotel room when I showed up in in the airport, and I said, well, I'm just gonna stay in the hospital. End up speaking to this woman in line who's who's Irish and was working for the embassy and living in Santiago, and I go to go through customs, and she goes, they're not gonna let you through because you don't have a place to stay. She jumps in and she goes, she's staying with me. She's my friend.
Oh, yeah. See, that's lovely.
Just yeah. So the the the the you know, as hard as it was, there was a lot of, you know, good faith in people that came came through for us. But, yeah, it was it it would have been really scary. Like, even my husband who's knowledgeable, but he's not that knowledgeable on this stuff because I never really
But you hide it from everybody apparently, Christina. You're a you're a terrible, terrible person who doesn't wanna burden can we talk about that for a second? Do you really not wanna burden people, or are you private about your diabetes?
I'm I'm pretty private about it. I think I'm less private now that William and I are in it together. But leading up to it, I just was like, I'm kind of a put my head down and just get it done and and deal with it. And I don't I don't sort of make a big deal of it. I don't really share it with a lot of people.
A lot of people were like, you're a type one. I'm like, yeah. I go, well, you know, it's because, you know, he it's not uncommon for us to like, where did this come from? I was like, well, you know, I am a type one diabetic. They're like, what?
Like so a lot of people don't even know.
Prior to to his diet
I just
I'm sorry. Cut you off.
Just don't share it that much. I don't know.
I'm sorry. I cut you off, then I caused confusion. Prior to your diagnosis, like, what was your a one c? Over to his diagnosis, what was your a one c?
So my a one c always hovered around six, 6.1.
Okay. And has it anything about your care for yourself changed since he's been diagnosed?
Yeah. I I've got myself down to, a 5.4.
Why do
much more dialed in on it.
Is it because you're trying to be a good, like, I don't know, shepherd for this whole thing, or you just wanna be a good, you know I don't I don't know. Like, how does that happen, do you think?
So I think part of it happened because I would sort of just it was, like, kind of figuring it out. I think once I had to learn it once I had to be able to explain it, you know, to him, I had to just learn more. Right? Like, I don't eat a lot of high fatty meals. I don't you know, like, all of a sudden, didn't I knew what it was like to be, you know, a a 50 year old woman and diabetic.
I didn't know what it was like to be a 15 year old boy and be a diabetic. It's a total it's two totally different worlds Yeah. Just from the food consumption and the types of things. And we actually William and I, because of the ski racing, we did a lot of driving. So we'd actually listen to your podcast a lot because it was my way of, like, giving him some information that wasn't coming from me so he wasn't as resentful about it.
Yeah. Let him resent me.
Exactly.
Yeah.
And so and so I, like, learned some tricks. I was like, oh, okay. Let try me this. Let me try that. And that definitely helps some things.
Cool. That's awesome. I mean, you're obviously you know, an a one and c and the sixes is, you know, to be celebrated, obviously. But I've heard from other people that their kids get diagnosed, and then they really, like, pull themselves together in different ways. Like, it it's interesting how it it kinda shakes out.
Did he ever do you think he blames you for the diabetes, or is that something you guys have spoken about?
Oh, we've spoken extensively about it, and he definitely does blame me for it.
Oh, how nice. So did you explain to him that somebody gave it to you? You weren't asking for it either?
Yeah. You know, it's I think it's you know, we've we've been on this really long journey, and there I think he's come more to peace with it. And I kept on saying to him, just get through six months. If you can do six months, you're gonna be so much better. The first six months are the hardest.
His doctor would be like, get through the first six months, William. You can do this. I think for him, where he really struggled the most is that his body you know, he was such an athlete, then all of a sudden his body was so much more complex.
Mhmm.
And just had to think about things that never crossed his mind. But, you know, we gave him the option. Do you wanna go back to school? You know, you can take a break. You don't need to go away to school.
No. No. No. That's where I wanna go. That's where my that's where my friends are.
It's where I wanna be. So we sent him off to boarding school. I will say his endocrinologist is amazing, and their diabetes educator came up to the boarding school, which is in Connecticut, so like two and a half hours away. She gave a presentation to all of the administration and anyone that's sort of all the athletics. They recorded it about like how to manage a kid with type one diabetes out like, here's here's what you do.
Here's what our protocols are. And and really, they recorded it. They shared it with people. She made herself available to the entire nurses team so they could text her if she had any questions. So, like, I did feel like we were going into school.
He didn't really well set well set up. Mhmm. But he wasn't in my house. So, like, I didn't know what he was eating, and he would sometimes send me pictures and be like, well, what would you what would you count this for? What would you think this is?
You know, we we definitely struggled with him not bringing supplies, you know, like the usual Yeah. Usual stuff. But the school kinda did everything for him, so he didn't have to do as much. You know, they were the you know, the coaches brought the go bag with him everywhere he went. He had supplies, you know, stashed all over campus that he could go to if he needed it.
So school was actually not not that not that hard from a management perspective. And, you know, with technology, I could see what his numbers are. We definitely had to get creative. The one thing the school said they wouldn't do is they would not do the overnight monitoring. So that was on us.
Yeah. They didn't wanna be responsible No. I would imagine. Did the six month thing work out? Like
No. No. No.
What happened next? No.
What the Nights Were Telling Her39:30
So it was September. So we went into September. We're going okay. So we had to definitely figure out what you know, how to get him up at night. So he would sleep through a lot of alarms.
So we'd have the phone stuff. I put an Amazon Alexa in his dorm room, and so I could drop into his room and just talk to him in the middle of the night and kind of wake him up, which was which was really key. So I'd be like, William, you gotta get up. Your numbers are down. I'm gonna call I'm gonna call the the dean you know, the dorm parent, and they'll come into the room if not, but I'd like to avoid doing that.
We only had to do it twice. You know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
I'm awake. Okay. Can you okay. Can you do a finger like, we would just talk through it. And I was like, okay.
You can snooze a little bit. I'll I'll stay awake. I'll watch what your numbers are doing. So we we would just chat back and forth through the Amazon Alexa because he didn't have to pick the phone up. He would hear my voice.
How did I not know it did that?
It's great. It's an amazing thing, particularly if you're managing a kid far away.
Can I just put one in my wife's office so I can just, like, yap at her all day? That would she would Yeah. Yeah. She'd unplug that.
Yeah. Yeah. You try to say, like, drop in William's room and all of a sudden it starts happening and, you know, and then I'd be in and I could see into the room. I could see if he's up. Okay.
Stand up. You know, and it was good.
It a camera?
Has a camera.
Yep. You're lucky you didn't see a girl.
Yeah.
Yeah. Well,
yeah. He did he did not like it if he said it felt like a, you know, a monitor, a baby monitor, and, you know, there was a lot of conflict over it.
How did you argue that? Because it does seem like a baby monitor.
I said, William, you you gotta tell me that your numbers are okay, but his numbers weren't. He was tanking out at night a lot and having these incredible lows. And what we realized sort of four months in is that he was self medicating with alcohol and THC and really was not okay with his mental state. We gave all the doctors help, but we really didn't support the mental mental health side of it.
So he wanted to go to school maybe more to so that he could do things like that to get through the the psychological tragedy that he'd gone through more than anything else, maybe maybe less about his
I don't think that's why he wanted to go to school. I think once he got to school, someone was like, okay. And he was like, oh, this feels great. I don't have to think about anything. Yeah.
I'm really bummed at my life, and this makes me feel better.
So a lot I'm sorry. You said THC, a lot of weed?
Lot of weed Mhmm. That progressed into other things as well, but it was a lot of alcohol at first. Alcohol was sort of the first thing, and, you know, was we know, like, it's not great not great for your blood sugar. So he we were seeing the highs, then he would have these terrible lows. And he was just basically passed out, and that's why we couldn't get him up.
Remind me again. He was 15?
15.
Okay. Was he, do you think he was smoking weed prior to this and it was just accelerated? Do you think he was drinking prior to this? Do you think this is something he all took on in that situation?
What he told me is that he was definitely trying stuff around trying stuff, but not, you know, dissimilar to other kids. So he was trying it, and he said and once the diabetes started, he's like, I just really couldn't stop. He's like, I just wanted to be in that state all the time.
Okay. So he was depressed from the diagnosis, do you think?
Yeah. Very, very depressed.
How how do you deal with that then once you figure it out? And how'd you figure it out, first of all?
So, you know, he got caught at school. So they were like, we understand he's going through a hard time, so we sent in you know, he did, like, an after school program there that they recommended sort of, you know, therapy and working through sort of what the challenges were. He seemed to do well on that. So that was around Christmas time, and then he came home for Christmas break. He went back after in January, and things were going okay.
He was on the honor roll. He was doing really well at school. Things things seemed to be okay. He was ski racing every weekend, so I would while he was at school during the week, during the wintertime, he would come home every weekend because he was skiing with us. I would pick him up from school, we would travel all over New York State.
We got a fair amount of looks at him, but he was still he didn't want it was a lot of conflict between him and I when he said that all I wanted to do was talk about his diabetes and talk about what he was doing with it, which was which was hard. Can I ask
was that true? Did did is all you did were you talking about it too much, or or do you think that was just him trying to avoid talking about it by saying that to you?
I think it was probably a little bit of both. I think I was terrified, because I would see these lows at night, and I would see these terrible lows that would step for a long time and not being able to get him up at night. It was hard. He was resistant, and I just like, I couldn't it was sort of a loss of control, so I couldn't see what he was eating. I couldn't see what he was doing.
And I was kind of putting my faith in those that were around him to kind of help him figure this out. He went off to school. He'd been diagnosed for three weeks. He's a 15 year old. I was like, why were you so high?
And he was like, don't know. I ate a bag of Goldfish, then I had some candy. And I was like, okay. Did you did you treat for it? And he goes, no.
I kinda forgot. And it's like, we'd have a lot of those kind of conversations.
Is that how he ate prior to this, or do you think that was part of his, like, tumble?
I think he was had a big appetite, but he ate pretty well. He was a snacker, though, so he was a perpetual snacker, and I think that's what caught up on him. And I think what kids do in dorm rooms at night is, like, someone orders a pizza or they go and get ice cream. Like, there's a lot of late night eating, and that was what was happening.
Okay. Can you talk for a half more second about, like, when you you said it was hard for you, but can you contextualize that a little more for me?
No. I think for me, where the challenge was is that I couldn't see what he was doing. So I didn't see what went into his body. I didn't see how much, like, how much insulin he was taking or how where he was starting off because he wouldn't tell me when he was like, I didn't know when he was eating and stuff. So I would just sort of I was, like, an hour or two behind on everything
Mhmm.
And just would see the results and trying to get him you know, like, I would I would even go as far as to, like, oh, William, I looked at what's on the menu today. Here's what's for breakfast. Here's what's for lunch. Like, what do you think you're gonna have? Do you wanna talk about how you might manage these?
Because he didn't, you know, he didn't know how to count carbs. Mhmm. You They gave him the apps. We tried different things, but he just he was very embarrassed. He didn't want anyone to see that he was doing it, so he would tend to take his insulin after he's eaten.
The power of the pre bolus was something I kept on and said, If you're pre bolus, it's going be a lot easier for you if you have that half pie of pizza. And he just didn't want to do it. So for me, it was just the lack of control and the lack of insight to kinda see what he was doing. And once I got him home on the weekends his weekends were always very good because I'd be like, here's your meal. And he'd like, how much should I do this?
And so we there was a little bit more of education there.
Mhmm.
But I think he was just really hiding it.
Yeah. Would you mind or if you wouldn't mind, just tell me to go to hell. But, like, you said it started with weed, but did it where did that progress to?
Well, he you know, so he so we started with weed and alcohol. Alcohol was kind of his favorite thing. He so he went to this program in during the Christmas break and before Christmas break, and we thought, okay. It's like an IOP intensive outpatient. So you go a couple times a week after school and they do exercises and a little bit of therapy.
We're like, okay, that should work. No problem. And then he went back to school in January he got because by that point, he had to do sporadic drug tests at school. That was part of their thing because you got caught once, here's your second shot. And so he failed a drug test and they said, Well, we're going to run it again, but probably he just needs to come home for a couple of days.
Coming Home47:45
This school was incredibly sympathetic to his situation. They knew he was struggling and they were trying to work it out with him. By the time, you know, came around to end of February, he failed another drug test and the school basically said, we are terrified. We do not think we can support him anymore. He needs to come home.
He can come back next year if he gets some help, but he needs he he needs to be in a place that that we can that we can
We can't be responsible for this.
Yeah. Cannot be responsible for it. He needs to be in a place that that has better responsibility for this. So we said, okay. No.
Not ideal, but we'll bring him home. And we brought him home. And honestly, Scott, I didn't know what to do with him. I said, I don't know where to send you to school. I don't know where to send you for help.
None of this makes sense. And I sort of, you know, went into crisis mode and just kinda started calling around and talking to people. And then it became very clear that he probably needed a residential program to really figure out what was going on with his mental health because it was really crashing.
Mhmm.
I said, okay. Alright. So I got some names, and so I started calling them and saying, okay. You were highly recommended to me. I go through his profile and I said, and he is a type one diabetic.
Oh, no. Oh, no. No. No. No.
We cannot take that. Nope. Nope. So I could not find any program that would take them. That's that's too high risk for us.
We just can't manage it. And so that was really hard because I said, okay. He needs this help. You know, a lot of people, you know, there's, like, you know, outdoor stuff. There's in like, I knew he couldn't do any of the outdoor therapy sort of resets because just given where he was.
But I you know, but being newly diagnosed, no one would touch him. So I finally found a place that took our insurance and would take him in Connecticut. And the big caveat they said is we'll take him, but he needs to be off his pump on MDI for minimum of two weeks and stable, which his endocrinologist to this day, she's like, I don't understand. She's like, they should have just taken him right away. But so I said, okay.
We'll do that. So we took him off the pump. He went on to MDI. He was living at home with us for two plus weeks, and then we dropped him off into a program in on 03/13/2025, where he spent sixty three days at it was a residential treatment center. It was a lot of therapy, a lot of figuring out what was going on.
It good. It wasn't great. There was definitely a lot of shenanigans still going on inside the place, but it definitely stabilized and it revealed that there was a lot bigger problem. He had progressed to psychedelics. There was a lot more drug use in place, and it was constant.
He really had a problem, and he was severely depressed. I Again, the world comes together in different places. The clinical director there had wrote her thesis on type one diabetics and addiction. She knew all about it and she said, I am not surprised he is here. She said, Learning disabilities, medical trauma completely makes sense that this is where he showed up.
And ADHD is the other he has ADHD, and that's the other x factor that really drove it.
Okay. How do those things precipitate and and create more of a a belief in her that he would end up in this situation? Like, how does ADHD, apply to this, for example?
So, particularly, in adolescence and don't quote me on this sort of the the medical stuff, but ADHD is a predominant trait for, kids that struggle with substance abuse. It's almost a hundred percent.
Okay. And so ADHD lends to substance abuse? Yep. Do you think
because they tend to self medicate.
Do you think that this ends this way for him with or without the diabetes? Like, would something else have come up in his life, do you think? Or do you think it had a little bit to do with timing and age as well?
I think it could be. I've tried to not go there because I don't know. It doesn't really matter because he has the circumstances he has, whether diabetes is a part of it or not. I think maybe it triggered it earlier. Maybe it would have presented itself in college.
I don't know. I never will know. But the challenge is is that you're using and you're a type one diabetic. All of a sudden, the consequences are a lot higher because as we all know you know, as we know, like, the just the side effects are bigger.
Mhmm. So what do they do? They treat the ADHD to help it, like, not be as impactful? Is he on something for that now?
He's had ADHD since he was a little kid. He has severe dyslexia, so he's always been on he's been medicated for ADHD since he was in first grade. So that wasn't so much the difference, but it just happens to be a trait that a lot of them walk in with. You know, while he was at this RTC, they they really you know, they took a type one. They were great.
Again, the world comes together in a major way. One of the nurses there is a type one. She's on a tandem. She was like, I got this. I will make sure he's okay.
I was terrified dropping him off because I couldn't I what happened, I couldn't call him. He didn't he lost use of his phone. So they were managing his stuff a 100%, and they would monitor his blood sugar there. They would, we got them to accept his phone to run his Dexcom if we shut off everything else and locked it. You know, there was definitely some some agreements that we came to, but his numbers were actually okay while he was there, you know, because they he they had nurses around the clock, so they were really working towards you know, they're all about safety.
So at night, they would go and check his blood sugar every thirty minutes, and they keep a log every night.
Jeez. This this is a lot. Like, how long ago was this now? Like, and where is he at?
So this was at this was in March 2025. So he was there for sixty three days, and we thought he would be coming home after that. And it became very evident that he needed more, that really the mental health stuff hadn't hadn't been addressed enough. He was going to come back to Brooklyn and he'd probably be back using within two weeks is what they told us and said he needs longer term care. They had a place that they would recommend.
Finding a Program That Would Take Him54:15
They recommended, two different places, and I being the, you know, the control person as you're learning. So I was like, alright. Well, I'm going to visit them. I'm not I'm not I'm not just sending him there without this.
Yeah.
And so I got on an airplane, and I went and visited a program in Utah that was, a program they said, oh, we've had a type one before. I said, okay. Right. So we're about what the protocols are, and and then they asked me the question. They were like, well, can anyone you know, I was like, well, where do you store the insulin?
How do you how does he get stuff? And they said, well, can you abuse insulin? And I said, well, if you wanna kill yourself, you can. They're like, oh, so we should lock it up. And I was like, yeah, probably a good idea.
And they just really didn't have a good hold of it. Then I went to another program that was in Arizona about an hour and forty minutes south of Tucson. They said, We've had many type one diabetics. The most we've had at once is three. We understand what you need.
Here's how we do it. And it was like this huge relief that came over me because they actually really got it.
Is he there now?
So he went so he went there May 2025, and it's a it's a a horse ranch in Southern Arizona, all for for all boys. And it combines you there's some work, there's school, and there's a lot of therapy. And so he was there for ten months. And then in March, he graduated to their transitional living program. So he is now living in Tucson in sort of a group home where he goes to school and lives with other boys and is kind of figuring out how to be in the world without a lot of, you know, what they view you know, when you're on the ranch what they call the ranch.
You're on the ranch, and it's this amazing place, Align Adolescent Recovery, and they it's very closed container. So it's on 350 acres. There's nothing around you. Like, there's you can't get into anything. Yeah.
And once you kind of sort of graduate and sort of do the things that you need to do to graduate, you move to this transitional living, and it's more of an open container. All of a sudden, you're in Tucson, you can leave the house, you have your phone back, you can do things. And so we're seeing how that goes, which I think the biggest change for William is now he's really having to manage his diabetes on his own because there's no one there kinda hovering over him.
Yeah. And tell me again how old he is right now.
He is 16.
Who's who pays for all this?
So, we've been paying for it. Then because he because it is a school, we he's and he's been in specialized school since you know, for years and years. We, sue the Department of Education of New York City for reimbursement for his education, and we go through this whole process. And they are reimbursing us for his for his schooling because it's it's a therapeutic boarding school.
Gotcha.
That's outrageously expensive.
Well, no. I I I I'm I'm trying to imagine, but I don't I don't think I am probably imagining it exactly. It's it sounds like a $20,000 a month sort of situation, but I don't I don't know.
Not that bad, but it's
close. Yeah. Yeah. And is do you and you think that without that, he'd be addicted and just rudderless?
I think without that, he probably would end up dead.
Because it because so he's from zero to a 100 miles an hour in in no time at all?
He went very quickly. Okay. And that's what they've all said. It was it was a it was a real steep fall off of the cliff.
I see. Did he make it to cocaine, heroin, meth?
No. No.
No. No. It stuck with weed, alcohol, psychedelics.
Yeah. Yeah.
Okay. And when you sit and you even sit and talk to him about it, or or is he getting
We talk all the time. Yeah. So we you know, part of the amazing thing with this program is the family is very involved. So there's intensive family weekends. There's weekly family therapy.
He's in weekly therapy. Everyone's in therapy. But you have these really honest conversations and our relationship is really close. There's not the secrets. That's why I know he's really resentful about the diabetes.
He was angry and that I passed this on to him, even though I didn't mean to do it, but it came from me. Then it became a big basis of what our relationship was, was this sort of struggle of trying to keep him you know, my was trying to keep him alive, and he was like, it's not that big of a deal. And I he just couldn't really wrap his heads around the consequences if you don't manage it well.
Yeah. And you think even if you would have been completely hands off, this happens about the same way, though. Like, if you would have been like, whatever, your blood sugar's fine. Like, we'll it will let you, like, ease into it, and you'll get low and but, like, you still he ends up here because he's he's medicating himself almost immediately after this happens.
Yeah. Yeah. He was very you know, for him, it was, my body's not as strong. I have this deficiency. You know, I he it was, like, even when he was ski racing, it was, like, figuring out, like, it's really cold and, like, that would do funky things.
And then the adrenaline would kick in and then he would drop. Like, it was it was we had to figure it out.
Yeah. It's a lot.
And and not knowing the answers, you know, right away. Like, sometimes it was trial and error and, like, figuring out the Amazon, like Amazon Alexa, how do I use that to help you out? Like, how like, what are the sort of tricks that work? You know? When he went to the ranch, I got SugarPix pixels that I put in the ranch so they could see what his like, so he'd be out on the you know, working with the horses, and all a sudden, the alarms were going off, so they would scurry out to him.
Mhmm. They would keep you know, they would do the night monitoring. You know? I would, like, call I would text the night guy at the at the ranch and be like, I see his number's down. I I need you to go back in if he needs another juice.
And he was like, are you sure? I'm like, I'm a 100% sure. And they were great Yeah. And really open to it and all about keeping him safe and and just sort of surrounding him with a lot of love. Then there was another type one who came onto the ranch for a bit with him, and so he felt like he wasn't you know, it was nice for him to know somebody else.
Yeah. Hey. We should tell people that William's okay with you using his name and telling his story and all that stuff. I've realized we didn't say that before.
Yes. He is he is he is he is open to share his story. He is not ashamed. He is you you know, we are extremely proud of what he has done, and he is not you know, he doesn't shy away from it. He is really open about his struggles and where he's at, and will tell anyone about it.
You know, I think that is something we've learned through this is that this is really hard. And if you can do this and share share your story with others that others can learn from it. Like, I wish I knew that I needed it. When this all happened in Chile, I wish I put better mental health support around him. Would he have maybe ended up in the same place?
I don't know. But I think it was something I was so focused on the physical side of things that I didn't really think with the mental health thing, and it is hard. Sixteen's really hard.
Yeah. Hey.
It's not when you wanna be doing this.
Hindsight, and as honest as you can be, prior to his diabetes diagnosis, did you see any of this pathway for him, or did you think my son's athletic and he's a ski racer and he's, like, gonna go to college and everything's gonna be great? Like or did you could you smell any of this prior to that?
I don't think so. I think looking back, maybe a little bit here and there, you know, I think he's got some anxiety, you know, pretty high anxiety. You know, the ADHD, anxiety, learning disabilities are definitely a pathway to this to this challenge. It's not something that's not within our family. So I I think he could have ended up there.
I think this probably put us on a fast track, which in which in a way is actually good because he's under 18, so he's under our care, and we're able to get him the right care and hopefully, you know, builds really strong resilience and give him a lot of tools for the rest of his life.
I take your point. If he was 20 and in college when this happened, you it would have slipped away from you quickly. You would have had no control over what happened next either.
100%.
Yeah. Yeah.
But it's not over. It is like a journey that he is gonna be on for a long time, and he you he's not home yet. We're hoping he'll be home in the next couple of months, but, you know, we don't know. I think it's up to him. And and, you know, he I do think he has come to terms with his diabetes.
I think, you know, like everyone, he has moments where he's like, this sucks because it does. But he it's not what he leads with anymore. He doesn't have the resentment with it. He's managing it fairly. You know?
He and so now the program he's in right now, he has to do all of his own cooking. So he goes to the grocery store each week, and he has to make his own meals. And he's eating a lot of pasta, and we're definitely seeing a lot more highs than he used to see. But he's like, mom, it's easier. I was like, I get it.
Mom, I figured out how to boil pasta. Oh, good.
Yeah. I'm like, I'll throw a little protein in there. Just a little protein will go a long way.
Is there not a grill at the ranch somewhere? Could you make a steak? Yeah. He
he he does have a there is grill there. He has been grilling. He's like, oh, I got some steaks. I'm like, great.
Nice.
And, you know, what I've also learned is, like, I can tell how he's feeling about himself. So, like, when he was early days when he was at the ranch, he was eating without telling anyone. He wasn't dealing with his numbers. His A1C went to we were like 7.5, and now he's back down in the low sixes. We did introduce part of the challenges is that we introduced lots of different medications.
Steadier Ground1:04:13
So one of the medications, he gained a ton of weight on, and was really upset about that. But his endocrinologist, he's now on Wegovy, which has been a game changer for him.
Oh, yeah. It's probably helping with his insulin use and everything. Right?
Helping with the insulin use. It also helps with addiction. It's it's it's got a lot of good things, he lost all of the weight, so he's feeling pretty good about that. So his numbers are great.
Is anxiety any better?
He he takes medication for it. His anxiety is definitely much better. Good.
Wow.
But he you know, he's he's it's every, you know, every change you make has sort of ripple effects, and, you know, his numbers are good. But he was going know, there was one stage he was taking like, he was on, like, a hundred and ten units of insulin a day. I'm like, oh my gosh, William. That's a lot. And now I think he takes twenty.
So it's like he's a huge difference.
Wow. And he's making a lot of progress for sure.
Yeah. And he's back to working out and taking care of himself.
Yeah. Any addiction in your family line or your husband's?
Yes. In my husband's side. Uh-huh. And my and my and my side too. It's definitely it is not you know, it is in our family.
I mean, I heard you say Irish. So Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But and how about that anxiety, the ADHD?
Does that all can you, like, look at your family line and see it?
Oh, yeah. Yeah. It's, you know, his his the the ADHD is definitely prevalent in our family, and, and so is substance use. So it's it's it's all there. All the pieces are there.
I think we just unfortunately had a little bit of the perfect storm that brought it together.
Yeah. It it lit a wildfire for you, really. Like, out of like, you went from just a calm day till the wind picked up and a spark hit the ground and, woof, and just Yeah. Off and running. You guys do you feel like you're handling it well?
I think we're in a better shape now. I think I for I had a lot of anger about trying to find him treatment, and nobody would treat him because of he was a type one diabetic. Just the amount of no's I got, no, that's too risky for us. No, that's too risky for us. I said, what am I supposed to do?
Oh, we don't know. Fine. We'll do it on a case by case basis. Then I had he was early diagnosed, so he hadn't lived with it for a long time. So that was, like, another red flag in that part.
And, you know, scouring the Internet, trying to find places that would not only support a type one diabetes, but an adolescent. And the combination of the two was really, really hard.
Difficult. My gosh. Well, you get you
Twenty two hundred twenty two hundred miles away. He's in Arizona. I'm like, why you know, no one wants to send their kid to Arizona, but they were the place that opened their arms to me and were like, we get it. We understand, and we're gonna and it has been a really great experience. And the therapy and the experience he has had there has has been amazing.
Well, you found the right fit then. And and the way you got to it probably wasn't ideal, but maybe if somebody else would have said yes, he'd be at some, you know, place that wouldn't have been as valuable for him. So maybe it worked out well.
Yeah. Yeah. I guess.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Everything's going great, Scott. Thanks.
Is this tough on your marriage?
It has its moments. I think, you know, Chris and I are pretty my husband and I are pretty aligned on how to address this. I tend to do a lot of the legwork, but, you know, we've been in it together. I think, you know, we just sort you know, we just want him to be healthy. We want him to live a long life, and sending him away at first was really hard to swallow.
It is you know, he has been gone for a really long time.
Yeah.
And, you know, when he was on the ranch for ten months, there's no phone. We spoke to him once a week.
So you have this feeling like he's gonna come back a different person. You're gonna have missed it. Right?
Yep. And he's just growing up, and he has a different perspective on life. And, you know, meanwhile, his older brother is graduating high school and gonna go off to college, and he sort of missed this time together, but not, only talking to him once a day. So I have 15 with him and I would have to have almost a script and say, Okay, I'm not going to ask about the blood sugar. I'm not going to do this.
I'm going to just bite my tongue on it. Did fortunately, the medical person on-site at the ranch, him and I became very close friends. And so I would, you know, I would text him and be like, I don't know what's going on between 2AM and 6AM, but something's happening. We need to make an adjustment. So, you know, we would we would so we were sort of a team, and they were good at delivering some of the news that I wanted to to deliver, and they would deliver it through him.
So that was helpful.
Hey. Did, they tell you what not to ask him, or did you figure it out?
We would work together on it. You know, they were working with him, and they would say he's really he doesn't want to talk about the diabetes stuff. He really wants to make sure that it's not coming from you and that's the only thing you want to talk about. Now he's come a long way and he prefers it when I text him about something versus using it as our phone time. And he's you know, I'm sort of also I've learned to kind of just step back and say, you know, okay.
You you have to figure it out. You you wanna be healthy and you wanna, you know, you wanna live your life, so you you've gotta make choices. But, you know, eating pasta for lunch every day is not gonna solve things. But I've also learned to let let it go. Like, I can't, you know
What You Can and Can't Decide for Someone1:09:39
I think maybe the most difficult part of this conversation is that it's not like it's not like he, you know, he it's not like he wanted to be a a short order cook and you wanted him to be an attorney, and you think it's gonna change his life. It's it it's about health and and and maybe an immediate, like, you know, I don't know, health issue that could be that could be emergent. Right? And so you've got that pressure. But if he doesn't see it the way you see it, there's not a lot you can do about it.
Nope. Yeah. It it's really a it's a it's a valuable lesson for everybody listening whether they have I mean, your situation is obviously is is different. Right? It's bigger and and maybe more explosive.
But, like, in small moments, day to day stuff, I find this to be the most difficult part about the diabetes, which is that my desire for it isn't necessarily her desire for it, and that there's really nothing you can do about that. Like yeah.
And we each have to manage it our own way. And so what what I do is differently than him, and he's gonna do stuff differently than me. I want him what the only thing I am trying to get him to have is to have the information and knowledge to make choices.
Yeah. I mean, I think, like, for me, bigger picture, like, you whether the person you're supporting is, like, you know, I count my carbs, and I do everything right, and I exercise, and blah blah blah. And that's really their desire all the way to the spectrum of, I don't care if this kills me. I don't care. Like and everywhere in between, it's not your decision.
You can't you you there's nothing you can do about it. Like, you can't decide how another person feels or or deals with their life. And that's probably the most difficult part of parenting, I I think. You know, like, they're so much easier when they're younger because you could just make them do something. And they're like, okay.
Absolutely. Yeah. And then there's a moment And
he and he yeah. And he was definitely in a moment where he didn't care if he lived or died. You know? He was like, I didn't care. And he's very open about it.
He's like, I just hoped some mornings that I just wouldn't wake up, and that's awful to hear.
Yeah. No kidding. But I think that everyone who has type one or other, you know, chronic illnesses in general, I think they they all live in a spectrum of that feeling somewhere. Like, somewhere. Like, I don't you hear people say it, like, in different ways.
Like, I didn't wanna wear I didn't want something attached to me. Or, you know, I can't remember the pre bolus or, you know, my a one c is seven and a half, but it's okay with me. Like, there's that's the way you hear them talk about it. But, like, I don't I don't know that I'm doing a great job explaining this, and I wish I was doing a better job of it. But it it it lives in the idea of you don't know what influences another person has when they're making a decision, and it's possible that they're depressed and that they don't care if they live or die.
It's also possible that they're not depressed and they feel that way. Like so Yeah. You just don't get to you don't get to tell people how they feel about something. And when you care about them and it seems emergent like this because it is, I I I don't know how you're not drinking, like, I guess. It's it's my point.
Yeah. And it's it's it's been stressful for sure. But I think at the same time, I also you know, one of the reasons I wanted to come and chat with you, like, I do think mental health is super important for someone dealing with this, and there is a lot that goes into it. And I think there's a grievance that you you grieve the life that you thought you were gonna have.
Yeah.
And and that coming to terms with that, and I think that's where he was. He was grieving the life that he thought he was gonna have. He loves to play tennis, and he was like, I can't just go play tennis. Like, the first time he played tennis, he had low after low after low, and he was and he was not paying he was miserable. He's like, I well, I guess I'm never doing this again.
And I said, that's not the truth. I said, you're two weeks in. You gotta give it a minute. And he just was really impatient about it and and just felt like his whole thing was I don't wanna be different. I'm so tired of being different.
You know, he's dyslexic, he's like, I've always been different in school. Why do I have to be different like this? Why is this another difference?
What do you think the answer is medically? Do you think it's inflammation? Do you think it's, like, an autoimmune thing? Like, he obviously has a lot of different issues, but they all center around this core. Right?
I mean, do you think the did you see everything get a little better with the Ozempic? Or what do you
A little bit. You know, he's been on it while I'm not with him. So, I think it has gotten a little bit better for sure. I'm not I'm not a 100% sure. You know, he feels a lot healthier to me, like, way he talks, the way he thinks about himself since he's been on been on that and lost the weight.
But I don't know. Is it because he lost the weight? Is it because he's working out more? Is it because his numbers are better? Is it because he's just further along in his journey of recovery and therapy?
Maybe.
Is the answer yes, though? Like, all those things are helping?
Yes.
Yeah. Yeah. I don't I mean, listen again. What I understand about science fits into a thimble. But I again, my entire life, people have been talking about inflammation.
Inflammation's bad. It's bad for this. It's bad for that. We don't understand inflammation. We don't know how to get it down, like, you know, blah blah blah.
And then this medication comes out, and it produces people's inflammation. You're you know, you you pick up the the paper, which is not a thing anymore. I guess I should find a a new colloquialism for that. But you, you know, you look at Google News and you hear about, PCOS, anxiety, addiction, all kinds of things that, you know, that people are are feeling like a lessening of, and and they don't know why. Like, they're just still studying it and trying to figure it out.
But, I mean, it sounds like it it helped them, like, with a lot of different things. Huge. A lot. Yeah. Yeah.
So and it you know, you because you can make the, like, the I mean, I think a doctor would look and go, well, yeah, we lost weight maybe, and so maybe hormonal balance is better. Yeah. Okay. But what else? And, you know, the from a hundred and ten units a day down to twenty units a day of insulin.
Crazy. What an improvement. Nuts.
Yeah. Yeah. Totally nuts.
Yeah. And he
see you know, he seems healthy. He seems stronger, and his voice is brighter. And but it doesn't mean that it the other things he doesn't still struggle with at times.
No. I'm not saying it was like a magic wand. I'm just saying, like, they it just it to me, it feels like if he was under a weighted blanket that weighed 30 pounds, the weighted blanket might weigh 25 pounds now. And Yeah. Isn't that better?
Yeah. A 100%. He does have some weird side effects with the GLP one. He definitely gets some, like, nausea, which bumps him.
Yeah. No. Of course. Like well, listen. Nothing's perfect.
Nope. Yeah. Is there anything that we didn't talk about that we should have or anything that you think we missed? Keeping in mind that I have to be at my dentist office in fourteen minutes.
Okay. I don't think there's any I don't think there's anything else. I think the big thing is just, you know, the mental health and that there are these places out there that will support these kids and finding them is hard, but they do exist. And that's really my big thing is that if this branch in Tucson, which I never thought I would be at, didn't exist, I I don't know what I would have done because nobody else there was not another program that would have fit him in the same way.
I I will add to what you said by saying that even though all of you out there are probably not experiencing this level of calamity in your life, I think you are experiencing some level of it. And the mental health part of type one diabetes is, is not to be ignored even if it's minor. Therapy, you know, I don't know what I don't know what you'll do, but I I think ignoring it's a is a big mistake. So
Yeah. Yeah. And I wish I did a little bit more of it early on. Like, my hindsight is is I wish I put that in place earlier in the diagnosis. A lot of things there was a lot of things that went right, there was a lot of sort of angels along the way that helped him.
But I wish we had just gotten in front of that mental health stuff earlier. Not to say we wouldn't end up where we are. I just think it would have maybe shortened our journey a bit.
What about for you, though? Like, I mean, you're now involved in, like, therapy, like family therapy and stuff like that. Has it helped you? Is it unburdened you at all with your diabetes?
Luck of the Draw1:18:11
I you know, the strange thing is I've never, like listen. I maybe it's because I make the diabetes look really easy. I've never been super depressed about it. It just sort of is what it is, and it's just who I am, and it's how I manage my life, but I don't think about it that much.
Luck of the drawl. I I I so I've been thinking this about you the whole time we've been talking. It is luck of the drawl because you really do have that attitude. Like, you and that's a I think it's probably baked in. Like, you're just like a like, we'll take care of it.
I'll do the next thing that needs to be done. I'm not gonna get drugged backwards by this. Like, that's just dumb luck. You didn't no one taught you to be that way. It's just how you are.
Right? Yeah. Yeah.
And I just kinda care you know, maybe it's because I got diagnosed when I had two little kids, and I was trying to figure it like, it just I was like, I just gotta keep myself going and standing. I couldn't wallow in it.
I don't know. I bet you
days have I had days where I'm like, oh my gosh. This sucks? Yes. Of course. Yeah.
But Everything seems to go wrong, but no. You know, as a whole, it just it is what
it is.
It is who I am.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Hey. If I said to you, hey. We have to pick up and move across the country, it has to happen. You would just do it. Right?
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You have there's a vibe about you that is, like, you're just lucky to have it, I think. I I I have it, and I'm I feel incredibly lucky to not be burdened by things when stuff like this comes up.
Because you even handled the thing in Chile the way I would have. Like, you know, I I'm gonna get on the next plane. Can't get on that one. I'll get on the next one. I I'm not gonna worry about what's happening to them right now because it'll probably be okay.
And if it's not, there's really nothing I can do about it anyway. And then the if something bad goes happens, then the situational change, then I'll pivot, and I'll follow the new situation and do what I can do to support that. Like, that's how your brain works.
For most for the most part. There's definitely parts of me that, like, I, you know, I do have a little bit of, like, stuff. Like, my hackles will go up on something, and I'm like, I need to look into this because I feel like this isn't going down the right way, but usually, I'm right.
And you and you can bend it to your will. Right?
Yeah. Yeah. I try.
Yeah. You and I wouldn't be good always work. You and I wouldn't be good together. I just wanna say that. So Okay.
Good to know. Good to know. We'd out there just like like, we'll just fix it all. Like, So
I am a fixer and get it done person.
No. No. I I figured you out in the first ten minutes. I know. But it was easier to figure out because I think you and me might be the same person.
Awesome. I really appreciate you doing this. I'm gonna float this out there, and nothing has to come of it. You you shouldn't mention it, obviously, now. But if you ever if he's ever saying that he'd like to, like, share his story later, I'd be thrilled to talk to him about it.
And I would also be really interested to get a a maybe a check-in from you in, like, a year or so.
Yeah. I'll let him know. He's excited I'm doing this. So he's definitely like he's like, this is really cool, mom. I can't wait I can't wait to hear your how you tell the story.
So he's
proud of it.
Well, William, listen. If you're listening, man, I would I'd love you to come on here and tell your side of this. So, thank you very much. I am literally nine minutes away from having to be in a dentist chair, so I'm gonna go now. But thank you very much.
Okay. Bye.
Thanks so much to Dexcom for sponsoring this episode of the Juice Box podcast. Get your Dexcom g seven right now with my link, dexcom.com/juicebox. And, of course, that Omnipod five has the new 100 target. You want it, trust me. Omnipod.com/juicebox.
Get over there right now. Use the links in the show notes. Use the links at juiceboxpodcast.com. By any chance, have you tried the small sip series? It's curated takeaways from the juice box podcast voted on by listeners as the most helpful insights for managing their diabetes.
These bite sized pieces of wisdom cover essential topics like insulin timing, carb management, and balancing highs and lows, making it easier for you to incorporate real life strategies into your daily routine. Take a deep dive, take a sip, and discover what our community finds most valuable on the journey to better diabetes management. For more information on small sips, go to juiceboxpodcast.com, and then go oh, actually, we changed the website. Let me see. Go to juiceboxpodcast.com.
And from there, there's these two little lines on the right side top. That's the menu. Then click that. Then click series. Then there's pro there's small steps right there, pro tips at the top, bold beginnings, bolus four, asks that.
There's lot of them there. There's actually a little search there too. Could you just type small sips into the search? Oh, wow. That search works great.
Look at that. And then you could go right to, like, all results for small sips. Oh, and that takes you to the FAQ. You should check out the FAQ page too. I think that's juiceboxpodcast.com/jbfaq.
Seriously, that thing's amazing. Actually, the whole website is I mean, have you, like, seen it? You should you should go check out the website. The website rocks. It is a potpourri, a never ending cornucopia of support for you and your diabetes journey.
That's right. It really is. What else we got over here? Oh, I don't like the way that works. I'm gonna fix that.
Note to self. Change the change the masthead on the frequently asked questions page. Yeah. I don't like that. Fix that.
Oh, Claude. Oh, hell. I forgot to say thank you. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back again very, very soon.
What is that noise? Stop it. Stop. Can you hear that? It's my chameleon squeaking.
Are you squeaking? What are you rubbing the branch against the don't tell people I have reptiles. They'll think I'm weird. Thanks so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of the juice box podcast.
Look at me. Get all deep in there Been another episode of the juice box podcast. You can hear it. What was that? Oh, I'm getting alarms and alerts on my phone.
I was gonna get real deep and tell you about the juice box podcast.
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