#1710 Out of Shell - Part 1
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Janelle discusses marrying young, military life, and her son’s Type 1 diagnosis. She shares how she manages anxiety, homeschooling, and why she switched from Omnipod to Tandem Mobi.
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DISCLAIMER: This text is the output of AI based transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors and should not be treated as an authoritative record. Nothing that you read here constitutes advice medical or otherwise. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making changes to a healthcare plan.
Scott Benner (0:00) As the holidays approach, I wanna say welcome and thank all of my good friends for coming back to the Juice Box podcast over and over again.
Janelle (0:18) Hi. (0:19) I'm Janelle. (0:20) That's it. (0:21) I I don't got a lot about me. (0:23) Really, I really don't.
Janelle (0:24) That's the funny that's the funny thing. (0:25) This is out of my comfort zone.
Scott Benner (0:27) Hey. (0:28) Do you need support? (0:29) I have some stuff for you. (0:30) It's all free. (0:31) Juiceboxpodcast.com.
Scott Benner (0:32) Click on support in the menu. (0:34) Let's see what you get there. (0:35) A one c and blood glucose calculator. (0:37) People love that. (0:38) That's actually, I think, the most popular page on the website some months.
Scott Benner (0:41) A list of great endocrinologists from listeners, that's from all over the country. (0:46) There's a link to the private Facebook group, to the Circle community, and we have a a fantastic thing there, American Sign Language. (0:54) There's a great sign language interpreter who did the entire bold beginning series in ASL. (0:59) So if you know anybody who would benefit from that, please send them that way. (1:03) Just go to juiceboxpodcast.com and click on support.
Scott Benner (1:06) While you're there, check out the guides like the prebolising guide, fat and protein insulin calculator, oh gosh, thyroid, GLP, caregiver burnout. (1:16) You should go to the website. (1:17) Click around a little bit on those menus. (1:19) It really there's a lot more there than you think. (1:21) Nothing you hear on the Juice Box podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise.
Scott Benner (1:26) Always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan. (1:33) Today's podcast episode is sponsored by Medtronic Diabetes, who is making life with diabetes easier with the MiniMed seven eighty g system and their new sensor options, which include the Instinct sensor made by Abbott. (1:48) Would you like to unleash the full potential of the MiniMed seven eighty g system? (1:52) You can do that at my link, medtronicdiabetes.com/juicebox. (1:57) Today's episode is also sponsored by the Contour Next Gen blood glucose meter.
Scott Benner (2:02) This is the meter that my daughter has on her person right now. (2:06) It is incredibly accurate and waiting for you at contournext.com/juicebox.
Janelle (2:13) Hi. (2:13) I'm Janelle.
Scott Benner (2:14) That was it, Janelle? (2:15) That's what you're giving?
Janelle (2:16) That's it. (2:17) I I don't got a lot about me.
Scott Benner (2:20) Don't start off like that. (2:21) People would be like, oh, I don't wanna listen to this one. (2:23) No. (2:23) Jenelle doesn't even know how to talk about herself.
Janelle (2:24) I'd I really I really don't. (2:26) That's the funny that's the funny thing. (2:27) This is out of my comfort zone.
Scott Benner (2:28) I'm well, we'll we'll get you comfortable. (2:30) But I'm laughing because just as we were starting, I got a text from Rob who's, I'm sure, editing the show right now all all the way across the country. (2:38) And I must have said something that I couldn't think of the name of, and he's just randomly texting it to me now. (2:45) So try to imagine that a number of weeks ago, I was apparently having a conversation where I was trying to think of an anime cartoon that I was watching as a kid called Starblazers, but I couldn't think of it. (2:57) And he just text me randomly, Starblazers.
Scott Benner (2:59) No. (2:59) Wait. (2:59) He's typing again.
Janelle (3:01) He's like, hey. (3:02) Wait.
Scott Benner (3:02) How meta is this gonna be for him weeks from now when he edits this? (3:06) And he's like, oh, I remember that happening. (3:08) Alright. (3:08) Let's see what he's texting. (3:10) Can you imagine if it's something horrible?
Janelle (3:12) I mean, I wouldn't doubt
Scott Benner (3:14) it. (3:14) Would I he's a good guy, but would I you were trying to figure out this cartoon and then you did laugh out loud. (3:19) Yes. (3:19) Starblazers ruled. (3:21) Okay, Rob.
Scott Benner (3:21) I agree with you, man. (3:22) That cartoon was awesome. (3:23) Now I'm gonna close my text messages. (3:25) And alright. (3:28) So, Janelle, that's the entire podcast.
Scott Benner (3:30) This is Janelle, everybody. (3:32) Goodbye.
Janelle (3:32) Nice to meet you guys.
Scott Benner (3:33) How old are you?
Janelle (3:34) I'm 28.
Scott Benner (3:35) You have type one? (3:37) You got a kid with type one? (3:37) Or what's going on?
Janelle (3:38) I have a six year old son with type one diabetes.
Scott Benner (3:41) Oh, you're 28, and have a six year old.
Janelle (3:44) Yes.
Scott Benner (3:44) You're rocking through life the way we did it.
Janelle (3:47) Yeah.
Scott Benner (3:47) Were you, married when you had, said six year old?
Janelle (3:50) Yes. (3:51) I was.
Scott Benner (3:51) How old were you when you got married?
Janelle (3:52) I got married the day before I turned 20.
Scott Benner (3:55) Woah. (3:56) Yeah. (3:57) I love that you said before we started recording that you're not that interesting. (4:01) We're gonna find out much differently now. (4:04) Watch how I do this.
Scott Benner (4:05) Everyone gets to look into my mind's eye. (4:07) Do you live in the Midwest? (4:09) No. (4:10) Even more interesting. (4:13) Alright, Janelle.
Scott Benner (4:13) Ready?
Janelle (4:15) Yeah.
Scott Benner (4:15) Oh, I don't know where to start. (4:17) This is super exciting. (4:18) Are you married are you married still? (4:20) Yeah. (4:20) Interesting.
Scott Benner (4:21) And do you have any other children?
Janelle (4:23) Yes. (4:23) I also have a four year old daughter.
Scott Benner (4:25) Four year old daughter. (4:26) Did you marry your high school sweetheart?
Janelle (4:28) Yes.
Scott Benner (4:29) You did. (4:29) What how old were you when you started dating this boy?
Janelle (4:32) I was 17.
Scott Benner (4:35) Was he your
Janelle (4:35) And he was 18.
Scott Benner (4:36) Was he your first real boyfriend? (4:38) Or Yeah. (4:39) Was he your first boyfriend?
Janelle (4:40) I guess it kinda goes either way. (4:42) I would say probably yes.
Scott Benner (4:44) Okay. (4:44) What about him?
Janelle (4:46) No.
Scott Benner (4:47) Oh, what a little whore he was. (4:49) Okay. (4:49) Now so
Janelle (4:51) I make that joke all the time.
Scott Benner (4:52) Are you particularly religious? (4:56) No. (4:57) No? (4:57) No. (4:58) Were you pregnant when you got married?
Scott Benner (5:00) No. (5:01) Get the fuck out of here. (5:02) Really? (5:03) Yeah. (5:03) Interesting.
Scott Benner (5:04) Are you from a broken home?
Janelle (5:06) No. (5:06) My parents are still married.
Scott Benner (5:07) Oh, you're breaking all the paradigms. (5:09) I love this.
Janelle (5:11) I don't know if it helps. (5:12) He joined the military straight out of high school.
Scott Benner (5:14) Military. (5:15) I was getting to it, Janelle. (5:16) Give me a second.
Janelle (5:17) Sorry to cut you off there.
Speaker 3 (5:18) I'd have figured it out. (5:20) I hold on a second.
Scott Benner (5:22) Did anybody get hit as children? (5:24) You or him? (5:25) No. (5:25) No. (5:26) You're a pretty you you consider yourself having a pretty nice upbringing.
Scott Benner (5:30) Yeah. (5:30) You just met a boy, fell in love, got married right before you're 20 years old.
Janelle (5:34) Yeah.
Scott Benner (5:35) Your parents, his parents were thrilled or really upset?
Janelle (5:39) I think my parents were pretty okay with it other than the fact of, like, letting your only daughter get married before they turn 20. (5:46) But I think I mean, I don't think there was any, like, ill feelings necessarily kind of just like, do we really wanna let them go through with this this young? (5:53) Or
Scott Benner (5:53) No kidding. (5:54) Do you have a lot of siblings?
Janelle (5:56) No. (5:56) I'm an only child.
Scott Benner (5:57) Get the hell out. (5:58) Everything you're saying is wrong. (6:01) Oh, this is super interesting. (6:03) Like, you're breaking all the little, like, preconceived notions I have about everything.
Janelle (6:07) Awesome.
Scott Benner (6:08) Yeah. (6:08) That's really cool. (6:10) Okay. (6:10) Okay. (6:11) Okay.
Scott Benner (6:11) Okay. (6:11) Wow. (6:12) I thought for sure it's like was like 10 of you, and your parents were like, ah, we figured one of them would be a disaster.
Speaker 3 (6:16) No. (6:17) No.
Scott Benner (6:17) It wasn't even like that. (6:18) Wait. (6:18) So you didn't even get married and have a baby right away. (6:20) You, like, got married and, like, lived a little bit of a life for a couple years.
Janelle (6:24) A little bit. (6:24) It was, we got married in December 2016, and my husband deployed in February 2017. (6:32) He was gone for the remainder of our first year of marriage. (6:36) And then once he was about to come home from deployment, I actually picked up my life from New York, which is where we were both born and raised, and I moved to North Carolina to be where he was going to be stationed at when he got back from deployment.
Scott Benner (6:49) Like, Upstate New York?
Janelle (6:50) So Rochester.
Scott Benner (6:51) Yeah. (6:52) Yeah. (6:52) That's Upstate New Okay. (6:53) As they would have said in the old Vietnam movies, was he in the or what was he doing while he was gone?
Janelle (7:00) He was on a ship. (7:01) He did a bunch of IT stuff while he was in the Marine Corps. (7:05) So he was kind of, like, not on the back line, so to speak. (7:08) Like, he he saw some stuff.
Scott Benner (7:09) Okay.
Janelle (7:10) But it wasn't necessarily, like, you know, on the front lines by any means.
Scott Benner (7:13) Okay. (7:14) He's a marine on a ship doing IT. (7:17) Yes. (7:17) That's the most 2,025 thing anybody's ever said to me. (7:21) It's crazy.
Scott Benner (7:22) How was it being young and married and alone?
Janelle (7:25) I mean, it was kind of rough. (7:27) I still lived with my parents at the time, obviously, because I was so young. (7:31) It was just kind of hard trying to navigate that first year of marriage while being thousands and thousands of miles away from each other and barely getting to communicate at all.
Scott Benner (7:39) Yeah. (7:39) Did it it feel like you kinda weren't married?
Janelle (7:41) Sometimes, yeah. (7:42) I can see how I could could have felt like that.
Scott Benner (7:45) Did you ever look and see like a cute boy walking around and thinking like, why did I pick one that left right away?
Janelle (7:50) No. (7:51) I actually never had those feelings.
Scott Benner (7:52) Oh, good for him. (7:54) Yeah. (7:54) He'll like to hear that is what I'm saying is if he listens to this. (7:57) Oh my god. (7:58) You're like an old fashioned broad.
Scott Benner (7:59) Do you know what I mean by that, Janelle?
Janelle (8:01) Kind of. (8:02) Yeah.
Scott Benner (8:02) Yeah. (8:02) You have like a big unapologetic happy personality.
Janelle (8:06) Why, thank you.
Scott Benner (8:07) Yeah. (8:07) You would have fit in the fifties really well, but people would have thought you were mentally ill at that point.
Janelle (8:11) Oh, a 100%.
Scott Benner (8:12) Let's find out if you're mentally ill now.
Janelle (8:14) I don't know. (8:14) We'll have to ask my therapist.
Scott Benner (8:15) Oh, don't worry. (8:16) We'll be able to figure it out in the next twenty two minutes. (8:18) It's really not it's not that difficult. (8:22) So he goes off, you're there, blah blah blah. (8:25) He comes back, Then there's, like, the, oh, you're here, and then you made a baby thing.
Janelle (8:29) Yeah. (8:29) Pretty much. (8:30) A few months after he got back from deployment.
Scott Benner (8:32) Okay. (8:32) And how long until that baby got diabetes?
Janelle (8:35) He was diagnosed when he was three.
Scott Benner (8:38) Okay. (8:39) So twenty twenty twenty, maybe?
Janelle (8:43) '22.
Scott Benner (8:44) 2022. (8:44) I was just trying to do the math from when you said you got married and everything. (8:47) So June '22, your then three year old? (8:52) Yes. (8:53) He is diagnosed with type one.
Scott Benner (8:54) Does it oh my gosh. (8:55) Hold on a second. (8:56) I don't usually record this late in the day. (8:59) Oh my god. (8:59) The so this alright.
Scott Benner (9:02) So the sprinkler system's going off in the chameleon's cage right now, which drew my attention, and it's loud. (9:07) So we're pretty much gonna talk over for a second. (9:09) But I looked up. (9:10) He's walking all over the place. (9:11) He's excited because the water's coming down.
Scott Benner (9:13) But I looked up. (9:14) There is a silkworm riding on his back.
Speaker 3 (9:17) Oh, my gosh.
Scott Benner (9:18) I'm gonna need to get that off of him. (9:20) So I'm gonna get up in a second and get rid of that for
Janelle (9:22) him. (9:23) Okay.
Scott Benner (9:24) And then I really thought you're gonna eat that. (9:26) He had two today. (9:27) He doesn't usually eat the silkworms.
Janelle (9:29) Oh my gosh.
Scott Benner (9:30) But he knocked down a couple today. (9:31) And I thought, oh, let me put an extra one in there for him. (9:33) Maybe he'll go after it. (9:34) It turns out the thing just found him is riding on him like like it's a circus in there. (9:40) What a ridiculous image of it.
Scott Benner (9:42) You should just see him licking these water droplets off the branches.
Janelle (9:44) Oh my god.
Scott Benner (9:45) He's so excited the water's coming down. (9:47) So I don't wanna interrupt him while he's doing that. (9:49) So this is gonna stop in about thirty seconds. (9:51) I'm gonna get up and snatch up the silkworm, then I'm gonna come back and find out about your kid's diagnosis. (9:58) Rob is probably gonna put an ad right here, just so you know.
Janelle (10:01) Hey. (10:01) That's perfect then.
Scott Benner (10:02) Yeah. (10:02) Do you wanna introduce you? (10:03) Well, you wanna say something like, hey. (10:04) Click on the ads, help Scott out.
Janelle (10:07) Click on the ad to help Scott out.
Scott Benner (10:09) Thank you so much. (10:11) Contournext.com/juicebox. (10:15) That's the link you'll use to find out more about the Contour next gen blood glucose meter. (10:19) When you get there, there's a little bit at the top. (10:21) You can click right on blood glucose monitoring.
Scott Benner (10:23) I'll do it with you. (10:24) Go to meters. (10:25) Click on any of the meters. (10:26) I'll click on the next gen, and you're gonna get more information. (10:29) It's easy to use and highly accurate.
Scott Benner (10:31) SmartLight provides a simple understanding of your blood glucose levels. (10:35) And, of course, with second chance sampling technology, you can save money with fewer wasted test strips. (10:41) As if all that wasn't enough, the Contour Next Gen also has a compatible app for an easy way to share and see your blood glucose results. (10:51) Contournext.com/juicebox. (10:55) And if you scroll down at that link, you're gonna see things like a buy now button.
Scott Benner (10:59) You could register your meter after you purchase it. (11:01) Or what is this? (11:02) Download a coupon. (11:04) Oh, receive a free Kontoor Next Gen blood glucose meter? (11:09) Do tell.
Scott Benner (11:10) Kontoornext.com/juicebox. (11:14) Head over there now. (11:15) Get the same accurate and reliable meter that we use. (11:20) Unlike other systems that will wait until your blood sugar is a 180 before delivering corrections, the MiniMed seven eighty g system is the only system with meal detection technology that automatically detects rising sugar levels and delivers more insulin as needed to help keep your sugar levels in range, even if you're not a perfect carb counter. (11:41) Today's episode of the Juice Box podcast is sponsored by Medtronic Diabetes and their MiniMed seven eighty g system, which gives you real choices because the MiniMed seven eighty g system works with the Instinct sensor made by Avid, as well as the Simplera Sync and Guardian Force sensors, giving you options.
Scott Benner (12:01) The Instinct Sensor is the longest wear sensor yet, lasting fifteen days and designed exclusively for the MiniMed seven eighty g. (12:10) And don't forget, Medtronic Diabetes makes technology accessible for you with comprehensive insurance support, programs to help you with your out of pocket costs, or switching from other pump and CGM systems. (12:24) Learn more and get started today with my link, medtronic diabetes dot com slash juice box. (12:29) Okay. (12:30) So Rob's not actually here, so we have to keep going.
Scott Benner (12:32) But so I I wish you could see this. (12:34) It's so ridiculous. (12:35) It's this giant chameleon with this tiny little silkworm, like, standing on it.
Janelle (12:40) Oh, my gosh. (12:40) How long before you think he can get it off his back?
Scott Benner (12:42) He's not gonna be able to get rid of it. (12:45) That thing will live there forever. (12:46) He wants to. (12:46) He's not gonna
Janelle (12:47) Oh, my gosh.
Scott Benner (12:48) They're not quick. (12:49) Do you know what mean? (12:50) Like, he can't start, like, darting around or, like, spinning or anything like that.
Janelle (12:54) Oh, yeah. (12:54) That silkworm's like, it's the best day of my freaking life right now.
Scott Benner (12:57) I mean, it's pretty much on the travel channel right now. (12:59) It's seen Yeah. (13:01) It has seen every square inch of this this cage today. (13:04) It's been all over the place. (13:05) Alright.
Scott Benner (13:05) Hold on. (13:06) I'm gonna I'm gonna take off my oh, hold on. (13:08) I have to move my my conductor's wand. (13:11) I should explain that to you when I get back to you. (13:12) I'll be right back.
Scott Benner (13:13) Hold on. (13:13) Okay. (13:14) That was ridiculous. (13:17) Conductor's wand. (13:17) Steven made me a conductor's wand.
Scott Benner (13:19) I hold it while I'm recording sometimes.
Janelle (13:21) Okay.
Scott Benner (13:21) Yeah. (13:22) That's neither here nor there, and only Steven's gonna understand that. (13:24) But I really appreciate it, and it's, it's really wonderful. (13:28) Okay. (13:28) So in your family, any other autoimmune?
Scott Benner (13:31) Is there any reason to think that diabetes was coming? (13:34) Anything like that?
Janelle (13:35) Not like any specific, like, type one diagnoses. (13:39) My mother-in-law has some autoimmune stuff. (13:41) Other than that, not really. (13:44) It was we were kinda blindsided to some degree.
Scott Benner (13:46) What's her stuff, the mother-in-law?
Janelle (13:48) She has lupus, and then, I can't remember what the other one is off the top of my head.
Scott Benner (13:54) RA, hypothyroidism, Graves' disease, celiac. (13:59) No. (13:59) I'm not saying any of the words. (14:01) No. (14:01) Vitilago.
Scott Benner (14:03) No. (14:03) Oh, what's the, the one with the cold fingers? (14:07) Oh, damn.
Janelle (14:09) No. (14:09) I don't think so.
Scott Benner (14:10) Okay. (14:10) Alright. (14:10) Well, whatever. (14:11) Okay. (14:12) So your mother-in-law has some, autoimmune, but other than that, you don't have her any nothing that would make you think type one.
Scott Benner (14:17) Yeah. (14:18) What happens that makes you think something's up with the baby?
Janelle (14:21) We were actually up in New York visiting my husband's family, and we were on vacation there for almost, like, two weeks, I think. (14:27) And, obviously, you know how it is when you get around the grandparents and they're spoiling the kids and all the sugar, all that kind of stuff. (14:33) And that's when we really noticed a difference in him just constantly drinking water, couldn't drink enough water, peeing through multiple overnight pull ups during a two hour nap. (14:43) Once we got towards the end of the trip, I was really starting to, like, get concerned about it. (14:47) Yeah.
Janelle (14:47) And I went down the doctor Google black hole most like every other mom, and I saw that it could possibly be a sign of type one diabetes. (14:58) Mhmm. (14:58) And I was I remember having a conversation a few days before we left with my mother-in-law and her mentioning to me, like, oh, hey. (15:03) Like, don't worry about it. (15:04) Like, we have, like, bladder issues on our side of the family.
Janelle (15:07) And I was like, oh, okay. (15:07) Like, that would make a lot of sense. (15:11) So I kind of, like, forced myself to, like, think it was that so I didn't, like, cause a spiral. (15:17) But on our way on our drive back, it's a, like, twelve hour drive, and I decided to call our son's pediatrician's office just to get him in to be seen, just to be safe because I had this, like, nagging feeling in the back of my head that it wasn't bladder issues. (15:32) Yeah.
Janelle (15:33) And so we called and got him an appointment for the next day. (15:37) We literally got home that night at, like, nine or 10PM. (15:42) And by 07:30 in the next morning, I was bringing him to his pediatrician's office. (15:47) Mhmm. (15:47) On the way there, I had let him have, like, a couple animal crackers as a breakfast because I wasn't gonna have time to feed him a real breakfast before we left.
Janelle (15:55) Hindsight is twenty twenty. (15:56) I should have left him fasting for that, but I'm kind of glad I didn't. (15:59) We got to the office. (16:01) They checked his blood sugar, and he was one seventy, I believe, after just a couple of animal crackers. (16:08) And they were like, that's weird.
Janelle (16:10) Let's test his urine. (16:11) Came back with large ketones. (16:13) They tested his finger again, and his blood sugar had actually gone down to, like, one thirty. (16:17) His pediatrician was so confused. (16:20) He called the on call endocrinologist at our children's hospital, and she was equally as confused.
Janelle (16:28) He was like, I I think it's type one diabetes, but this is, like, the slowest onset case of type one diabetes I think I've ever seen. (16:36) So he's like, you need to go to the children's hospital right now. (16:40) Don't go home. (16:41) Don't pass go. (16:42) Don't collect $200.
Janelle (16:43) Just go. (16:44) I mean, we show up and we get to the emergency room, and they are trying to get, you know, blood work from him and everything, and they have to bribe him with a popsicle. (16:56) And by the time he had eaten that popsicle afterwards, they poked his finger another, like, twenty minutes later, and he was in the 2 hundreds. (17:01) And as soon as I saw that, I already knew.
Scott Benner (17:03) Yeah.
Janelle (17:04) But, you know, we waited a couple hours before they came back in and officially told us that he had type one. (17:09) Okay. (17:09) And it was just, like, wild, honestly, because it's like you you have the feeling in your gut, but you don't want it to be true.
Scott Benner (17:16) Sure. (17:17) No. (17:17) I I understand.
Janelle (17:18) And I it was it was like, it was just so wild.
Scott Benner (17:20) Also interesting, isn't it, that people say doctor Google like a pejorative, but it was, perfectly figured out what was wrong with him.
Janelle (17:27) Yeah. (17:27) Yeah. (17:27) Yeah.
Scott Benner (17:28) We would have to get past that as being an insult in the future. (17:31) Seems like Agreed.
Janelle (17:32) Agreed. (17:33) Sometimes it can be, but in this case, it was it was beneficial.
Scott Benner (17:36) Yeah. (17:36) No. (17:36) I think what can happen, obviously, is you could get type in the wrong thing or or lead Uh-huh. (17:41) Lead it astray or something and then end up way down the wrong path. (17:44) But yeah.
Scott Benner (17:44) Listen. (17:45) You figured it out. (17:45) That was awesome. (17:46) Yeah. (17:46) Also, the bladder.
Scott Benner (17:47) I'd spent twenty minutes right now talking to your mother-in-law. (17:50) Like, tell me what the bladder issues in your family are. (17:52) Like, that's a fascinating state. (17:54) But, like, I mean, that's that's not just a thing you say because somebody pees a lot one time. (17:58) You know what I mean?
Scott Benner (17:59) Like, I wonder what all that means. (18:00) That's really interesting. (18:01) Is your husband with you, at the hospital?
Janelle (18:04) Yes. (18:05) So he I was the one that brought Paxton, my son, to the, doctor's office because at that time, my daughter was, let me do the math, like, 18 old, I wanna say. (18:16) Mhmm. (18:17) So, you know, I wasn't gonna drag her into the doctor's office if I didn't need to. (18:21) So he was at home with her.
Janelle (18:23) And as soon as they sent us to the children's hospital, I called him and then let him know kind of what was going on, and he started packing us a bag. (18:31) Yeah. (18:31) He took my daughter to my parents' house so that way they could watch her, and then he met us at the hospital.
Scott Benner (18:37) Wow. (18:38) Did you go to college?
Janelle (18:40) I went to college for a semester and a half before I dropped out.
Scott Benner (18:42) Okay. (18:43) And why are you, mature? (18:47) You are. (18:48) Right? (18:48) You've been like this your whole life?
Janelle (18:50) I feel like I always have Yeah. (18:51) To some degree.
Scott Benner (18:52) Like oh, so my point is is that not that you have to go to college, but, like, sometimes you go to college and you spend a bunch of years having problems and figuring them out and getting through them and stuff like that. (19:00) You didn't have that. (19:01) Yeah. (19:01) You had you I mean, so you went right from high school to being married.
Janelle (19:04) Mhmm.
Scott Benner (19:04) Then he's gone for a year. (19:06) That's tough. (19:06) That's a thing to get through. (19:07) But you were still with your family. (19:09) Why are you so solid?
Scott Benner (19:10) What's going on right now? (19:12) What did your parents do to you? (19:15) Like, everyone wants to know, like, how their children can be this level headed. (19:19) How do we make that happen?
Janelle (19:21) I I honestly couldn't tell you. (19:22) I mean, like, I have I have amazing parents, and I'm very grateful for the environment that I got to grow up in. (19:29) But I also think, like, having to mature air quotes at a younger age by being married and kind of having to, you know, figure out how to be in a marriage when you are that young also kind of helped me, like, push along that process a little bit and then getting thrown a life altering diagnosis for my three year old when I was 24.
Scott Benner (19:50) Yeah. (19:51) That's what I'm That's really young.
Janelle (19:52) No option but to mature.
Scott Benner (19:54) Mhmm. (19:55) That's very, very young. (19:56) Kelly wasn't much older than that one, you know, when all this happened. (20:00) Yeah. (20:00) But we were still we we still, like, had, like, adult jobs for quite a while at that point.
Scott Benner (20:05) Like, you know, you're still we still had other opportunities. (20:08) Let let's pick through your family real quickly. (20:10) I mean, I'm really, like, fascinated by this. (20:12) Would you yes. (20:13) Simple yes or no questions.
Scott Benner (20:14) Usually, your parents are drunks? (20:16) No. (20:17) You've seen them high? (20:19) No. (20:20) They took you to church?
Scott Benner (20:22) No. (20:22) They have a mental illness that you're aware of? (20:26) No. (20:26) Is it that simple? (20:28) If you all
Janelle (20:28) just I guess so.
Scott Benner (20:29) Is it really, like, that easy?
Janelle (20:31) Is this the magic equation? (20:32) I don't know.
Scott Benner (20:33) Yeah. (20:33) They were interested in you?
Janelle (20:35) Yeah.
Scott Benner (20:36) Yeah. (20:36) You felt loved? (20:37) Yeah. (20:38) But not smothered? (20:39) No.
Scott Benner (20:40) They left you alone once in a while when they went out? (20:42) Yeah. (20:43) Yeah. (20:43) How about that? (20:44) See how easy it is, everybody?
Scott Benner (20:45) There you go. (20:46) Do whatever Janelle's parents did, and everything is gonna be fine. (20:50) Wow. (20:51) Good for them. (20:52) I'd like to introduce that.
Scott Benner (20:53) I'd like to I'd like to speak to your parents. (20:55) I it seems like it seems like they might know something.
Janelle (20:58) I guess so.
Scott Benner (20:58) So okay. (20:59) So this is happening. (21:01) I mean, obviously, you're really young, and it's it's a lot. (21:05) But Mhmm. (21:06) How do you adjust to it?
Scott Benner (21:07) Like, are you living near your parents or his parents at that point?
Janelle (21:11) At that point, yeah. (21:12) Like I said, all all of us are kind of originally from Rochester. (21:16) But once we got pregnant with Paxton, my parents were like, well, screw it. (21:20) We're gonna we're gonna move down, and we're gonna follow you. (21:23) And they had kind of always had that intention.
Janelle (21:25) Obviously, I'm their only kid, so it's not like they've got anything to leave behind so to speak.
Scott Benner (21:29) Talk to them to each other? (21:30) That's ridiculous. (21:31) Yeah. (21:32) Yeah. (21:32) Yeah.
Janelle (21:33) So I think they were they they had moved down here before we actually had Paxton, and they've been down here ever since. (21:39) And now they live five minutes down the road.
Scott Benner (21:41) Selfless they are. (21:42) Yeah. (21:43) And at the same time, they wanted to be near family. (21:45) Yeah. (21:46) I hope everyone's taking notes.
Scott Benner (21:47) Or you just take the transcript later, drop it to AI and say, hey, how come Janelle's parents are solid people? (21:54) How can I be too? (21:55) It'll probably just spit it right back at you. (21:58) Well, that's really cool. (21:59) Listen, it's the thing that stops us from like, we're too old, like, at this point.
Scott Benner (22:04) Like, our kids are just about done with us. (22:06) You know what I mean? (22:06) Mhmm. (22:07) And you start thinking about, like, what? (22:08) Am I gonna stay here forever?
Scott Benner (22:10) Like, am I sitting in New Jersey and pay these incredible taxes for no reason? (22:13) Yeah. (22:13) You know? (22:13) And you start thinking about places to go and everything, but it always stops you because you think, like, well, where are the kids gonna be?
Janelle (22:19) Exactly. (22:20) Yeah.
Scott Benner (22:20) Yeah. (22:20) I know the kids aren't thinking about that. (22:22) They're not like, oh, I don't wanna go somewhere where my parents can't be. (22:24) But they didn't know we Yeah. (22:25) That we're gonna stalk them for sure.
Scott Benner (22:28) So, but it's probably great. (22:30) Right? (22:30) Because you're you probably got to all learn the diabetes together, and
Janelle (22:34) Mhmm.
Scott Benner (22:34) They're probably good caregivers for him as well, I imagine.
Janelle (22:37) Yeah. (22:37) It's super convenient because my mom's also on our end. (22:39) Oh. (22:39) So
Scott Benner (22:40) Well, hell. (22:40) Let's get her a job. (22:41) Are they, what what's that word when you stop working on purpose? (22:46) Retired? (22:47) Jesus.
Janelle (22:48) No. (22:48) They're neither of my parents are retired.
Scott Benner (22:50) Oh my god. (22:51) I couldn't think of the word retired just now.
Janelle (22:54) It's three it's 03:00 on a Friday.
Scott Benner (22:56) When people stop working on purpose, I said. (23:00) What in the hell? (23:02) That's embarrassing. (23:04) Also, I'm so I'm pretty upset because the chameleon's staring at the leaves wondering why there's no more water. (23:09) I'm, like, trying to remember that when I get done here, I'm gonna have to give them a little more to drink.
Scott Benner (23:12) So your parent your mom's still working. (23:16) Your dad's not retired. (23:17) Oh, yeah. (23:17) Because you're young. (23:18) You're, like, 12.
Janelle (23:19) Yeah. (23:20) Basically.
Scott Benner (23:21) They're probably my age. (23:22) Right?
Janelle (23:23) My mom is 58, and then my dad is about to turn 63.
Scott Benner (23:27) Oh, yeah. (23:27) Your mom's a little too old for me. (23:28) But I get it. (23:29) Like, not that's not too she holding it together? (23:31) Would I be interested?
Janelle (23:33) I I mean, I'm not I'm not sure.
Scott Benner (23:37) I just wanted to hear if you were gonna comment on your mom's looks or not. (23:40) That was awesome. (23:42) I don't really care. (23:43) I just wanted to know what you were gonna do. (23:45) Oh
Janelle (23:46) my gosh.
Scott Benner (23:47) I wonder if people realize how much of this is just me trying to see what people will say and not necessarily me caring what they're gonna say.
Janelle (23:55) Really pushed the limits there.
Scott Benner (23:56) I just wanna find out. (23:58) Plus, you know about the recording that I did earlier today that nobody listening knows. (24:01) I'm already, like, off kilter because of my my days events. (24:05) Listen. (24:06) If any of you are hearing this and thinking, I wonder why Scott's a little wacky today, go find an episode that I'll be calling squishy pushy.
Speaker 3 (24:14) Go find squishy pushy and listen to that. (24:18) Oh
Scott Benner (24:19) my god. (24:19) And you'll know why I'm giddy right now. (24:22) Anyway okay. (24:23) So how would you say it hit you, like, emotionally?
Janelle (24:27) I would say pretty hard. (24:29) Not to, like, any fault of his own, but I think, like, the first year after diagnosis, it was pretty much just me taking on everything.
Scott Benner (24:38) Mhmm.
Janelle (24:39) And it was just easier that way. (24:41) In my mind, I was like, I'll I'll become the master at this. (24:44) I'll figure out the ins and outs or whatever. (24:47) And then, you know, I was the one doing all of the all of the shots at the beginning. (24:52) And then, you know, once we got on a pump a month and a half later, I was the one doing all the pump changes and
Scott Benner (24:57) Okay.
Janelle (24:57) All of the, you know, middle of the night lows, middle of the night highs, everything like that. (25:01) And, I think around a year after Paxton's diagnosis is when I kind of hit, like, my breaking point. (25:07) Just, like, emotionally, mentally, I was like, I can't do this by myself anymore. (25:10) And then that's kinda when my husband got into, you know, high gear and wanted to learn everything and anything to, you know, help and support and, you know, take some of that weight off of my back. (25:20) And that was that was really nice.
Janelle (25:22) But I think that first year is always, like, just so hard trying to, like, integrate this diagnosis into your life and figure out how it fits.
Scott Benner (25:29) Yeah. (25:29) Janelle, I'm gonna ask an honest question. (25:30) Give me an honest answer. (25:31) Okay?
Janelle (25:32) Mhmm.
Scott Benner (25:32) Did he not want to be involved in the beginning, or did you did you set it up so that it was gonna be you and he probably felt like I should step back while she's doing this?
Janelle (25:42) I think part of it was just the fact that I threw my whole being into, you know, figuring everything out and also to the fact of I think he was also spending that first year trying to process a lot of his emotions about diagnosis, and so therefore, unconsciously distancing himself from it.
Scott Benner (26:03) Okay.
Janelle (26:03) Not, you know, out of malice or, you know, on purpose or anything like that. (26:07) Mhmm. (26:08) I think it needed to happen that way to some degree, and I'm, you know, somewhat grateful it did, but definitely a lot different nowadays than it was back in that first year.
Scott Benner (26:16) I think it's a function of his age a little bit. (26:19) Like, do you think he'd have the same reaction if it if the diagnosis happened today?
Janelle (26:24) I don't know.
Scott Benner (26:25) Interesting. (26:26) Because I can't imagine you being married to a shithead. (26:29) Like No. (26:30) So right. (26:30) Right.
Scott Benner (26:30) Right. (26:31) Right. (26:31) So, like, it just doesn't seem like you would it this is just never would have happened. (26:35) Like, you're too level headed. (26:37) Like, you had too much of a good base.
Scott Benner (26:39) Yeah. (26:39) I don't see you being married to a Nodex. (26:41) So, like, then I'm wondering, like, you know, the military is one thing, but it also sounds like he's just making sure people's emails work or something like that. (26:49) Like, not like he's out there, you know, getting in position. (26:53) You know what I'm saying?
Janelle (26:53) Yeah. (26:54) Yeah. (26:54) Yeah.
Scott Benner (26:54) So, like, maybe this is the first, like, real, like, struggle that hits him too because right? (27:00) I mean, you're young. (27:01) You fall in love in high school. (27:02) You get married when you're young. (27:04) It's a it's a lovely story.
Scott Benner (27:05) He goes off to the military. (27:07) You wait for him. (27:08) You start a life. (27:09) You make a family. (27:09) Things are going pretty well right before that diagnosis.
Janelle (27:12) Yeah.
Scott Benner (27:12) Yeah. (27:13) Okay. (27:14) So that takes him a little bit to pull together. (27:17) You probably ran forward with adrenaline for the first year, then you ran
Janelle (27:21) out Yeah.
Scott Benner (27:21) You ran out of that. (27:22) And then did you come to him and say, hey. (27:26) Time to tag in, or did he see it happening and and get in on his own?
Janelle (27:30) I think it was a little bit of both.
Scott Benner (27:32) Yeah. (27:32) Yeah. (27:33) Okay. (27:34) And then so did what did you know by then? (27:36) Like and did you pass it off to him, or did you let him come in cold and figure it out?
Janelle (27:40) I wanna say it was a lot of, like, I I'm very much a control freak. (27:45) So I think a lot of it was, like, I had him watch me do some pump changes, watch me, you know what I mean, treat the lows, try to teach him how to like, how much to give when he's this low or you know? (27:57) Yeah. (27:57) All that kind of stuff and kind of, like, almost shadow me for a little bit. (28:00) And then Mhmm.
Janelle (28:01) He he's a very quick learner, so it didn't take him very long. (28:04) And, especially, like, when we when we started the pump, we started on Omnipod, but we were on Omnipod for two and a half years. (28:12) And I'm gonna say, like, Omnipod is a very user friendly pump. (28:16) There's three steps. (28:17) You pop it on, and you're good to go.
Janelle (28:20) Mhmm. (28:20) And now about a year ago, we switched Paxton to the tandem Moby.
Scott Benner (28:25) Okay.
Janelle (28:25) And it's it's a lot more steps. (28:27) It's a lot more to remember. (28:29) So, you know, we've kind of been starting to slowly integrate the Moby into my husband's kind of routine with site changes as well too.
Scott Benner (28:38) I like that you made him your intern. (28:41) You know, like, listen, buddy. (28:42) You walk around here. (28:43) If you do a good enough job, we'll start paying you.
Janelle (28:45) Yeah. (28:45) Maybe. (28:45) Interesting.
Scott Benner (28:47) And, like, I I think people would wanna know more about that. (28:49) So if Moby's more steps to use and less user friendly for you Mhmm. (28:54) Why'd you change?
Janelle (28:56) Better algorithm.
Scott Benner (28:57) So you like the the more aggressive nature of the tandem algorithm over the Omnipod algorithm?
Janelle (29:02) Yeah. (29:03) I do. (29:04) When we were back on Omnipod, we just kinda really struggled to get his blood sugar under control, and I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out how no matter what changes I made, it was just never good enough. (29:15) And we we had a lot of those first few years, whether it be because he honeymooned for eighteen months or just whatever. (29:22) His his blood sugar was wild for those first two and a half years that we were on Omnipod, and I don't know if it was because of Omnipod or if it was because of something else.
Janelle (29:31) But I just wanted more control, and I had heard great things about the Control IQ algorithm. (29:36) And I had a personal friend that had her son on the Moby, and I was like, well, screw it. (29:42) We're just gonna switch because it can't get any worse.
Scott Benner (29:44) Right.
Janelle (29:44) And it's been it's been amazing.
Scott Benner (29:46) And and you happen to you happen to know because we chatted before we started that the lady from squishy pushy, she really likes the Omnipod for reasons that
Janelle (29:55) She does. (29:56) Yeah. (29:56) Yeah. (29:56) And I mean, hey. (29:57) They each their own.
Janelle (29:57) It just didn't work for for my four year old.
Scott Benner (30:00) Her reasons are definitely not the same reasons your four year old is gonna
Janelle (30:04) Yeah. (30:04) Just slightly.
Scott Benner (30:05) Yeah. (30:07) Makes it reminds me as you're talking that Omnipod has they're doing a study right now. (30:12) It seems to me that the study is on another version of that algorithm.
Janelle (30:16) So Okay.
Scott Benner (30:16) Yeah. (30:16) It looks like they're gonna I don't know what their plan is, but my assumption is is that they're gonna, it's just it up a little bit. (30:23) So
Janelle (30:23) I mean, hey. (30:24) Yeah. (30:24) That would be nice.
Scott Benner (30:25) Interesting. (30:26) One way or the other, whether you want the convenience of Tubeless or the Tandem Moby, you should just use the links in the show notes of the podcast player to go check it out and find out more. (30:35) Because like Janelle said earlier, click on the links, help the podcast.
Janelle (30:38) Yeah. (30:39) Click on them.
Scott Benner (30:39) Yeah. (30:39) Excellent. (30:40) Thank you. (30:40) Look at you. (30:41) You're good at this.
Scott Benner (30:42) Okay. (30:43) Husband comes on board, understands. (30:45) Would you say now these three years later are things where you do you like them to be? (30:50) And did you think he was honeymooning for this first two years?
Janelle (30:54) I I truly think that Paxton spent a good eighteen months honeymooning, especially when, you know, back then we would talk to his endocrinologist, and she didn't really have an answer for anything other than the fact that he was still honeymooning. (31:06) And we could tell when it when it ended because it hit hard.
Scott Benner (31:09) I can hear the PR people at Omnipod listening to this right now, and they're like, oh, it's just always six more months. (31:15) It would have been okay.
Speaker 3 (31:17) The honeymoon. (31:18) Don't blame the pump. (31:19) That's
Scott Benner (31:20) I know. (31:20) I know.
Janelle (31:21) Well, to be fair, we still stayed on it a year after he ended his honeymoon, so I gave it a fair shot.
Scott Benner (31:25) Did you ever try to reset it? (31:28) Yeah. (31:28) Yeah.
Janelle (31:28) We had to reset it multiple times.
Scott Benner (31:30) Never helped you?
Janelle (31:31) No. (31:32) Okay.
Scott Benner (31:32) It's not where it didn't it just didn't work. (31:34) This is what we talk about all the time. (31:36) Like, it's just not the right fit for you.
Janelle (31:37) Yeah. (31:38) And it's like, I I truly think that there are plenty of people, and I know plenty of people that, like, benefit so much from the Omnipod, and it just didn't it just didn't work for Paxton, and I'm okay with that.
Scott Benner (31:48) Yeah. (31:48) No. (31:48) No. (31:48) It's listen. (31:49) I think it's good to you to be flexible and to try something else too.
Scott Benner (31:52) I think that's a great idea instead of sitting and beating your head against the same wall if that's what's happening, you know. (31:57) Yeah. (31:58) Awesome. (31:58) Okay. (31:59) So he's in school now?
Janelle (32:01) He's homeschooled.
Scott Benner (32:02) Oh, wait a minute. (32:03) You're gonna try to turn another reasonable person out into the world? (32:06) Is that what your goal is?
Janelle (32:07) Trying my best.
Scott Benner (32:09) So I was gonna ask you how you handle school, but apparently, handled the same way you handled the living room. (32:13) So Yeah. (32:13) Yeah. (32:14) Were you always gonna do that, or was that a function of the diabetes, do you think?
Janelle (32:18) It was it was a mix of both. (32:20) I kind of always liked the idea of homeschool back before I had kids, but didn't know if it would be, like, feasible.
Scott Benner (32:28) Mhmm.
Janelle (32:29) And then kind of once we got that diabetes diagnosis and learned a little bit more, like, specifically to the area that we live in to the fact that, like, public schools aren't required to have a nurse on staff every day. (32:41) So they have floating nurses who are only there one to two days a week.
Scott Benner (32:44) Okay.
Janelle (32:45) I wasn't comfortable with that. (32:47) So we kind of just made the decision for at least now to homeschool him until he is old enough to kind of do most of his management by himself and also be able to advocate for himself and stand up if, you know, someone tries to tell him something that isn't right.
Scott Benner (33:00) Sure.
Janelle (33:01) But yeah. (33:01) So we're we're riding with the homeschool right now, and he's he's liking it a lot.
Scott Benner (33:05) Nice. (33:05) Are you getting paid?
Janelle (33:06) I am not, unfortunately.
Scott Benner (33:08) Seems unfair. (33:11) It didn't occur to me until you you the way you mentioned it earlier. (33:14) But, like, when he's being diagnosed, do you have an 18 old at that point? (33:17) Yeah. (33:18) Jeez.
Scott Benner (33:19) That's a that's a lot. (33:20) Yeah. (33:22) Alright. (33:22) Do you think you'll have more kids?
Janelle (33:24) No. (33:24) We are completely done.
Scott Benner (33:25) You are completely done?
Janelle (33:27) We are completely done. (33:28) I have a type one diabetic, and I have a redheaded daughter. (33:30) I think we can just put the period there
Scott Benner (33:33) It's all good.
Janelle (33:33) And we are good.
Scott Benner (33:36) I think you said completely done because using the word completely before done is not necessary. (33:40) It did
Janelle (33:42) I just really wanna emphasize that.
Scott Benner (33:43) I just wanna emphasize that no. (33:45) I I won't be having any more kids.
Janelle (33:47) You couldn't pay me, actually.
Scott Benner (33:49) Is the girl, is she what they call a spitfire? (33:51) Is a
Janelle (33:52) Oh, a 100%. (33:53) It's a mix of the second child syndrome with being a redhead, and it's a deadly combination.
Scott Benner (33:58) Are you or your husband redheads?
Janelle (34:00) We have redhead in the family, but neither of us are actually redheaded.
Scott Benner (34:05) Oh, did that freak you out when it popped out?
Janelle (34:07) More so the fact that we chose her name halfway through the pregnancy and her name is Amber. (34:11) No. (34:12) And so it was kind of just like this happy coincidence, and I'm like, don't I don't think this could have happened any other way.
Speaker 3 (34:17) Wait. (34:17) Stop it. (34:18) You named
Scott Benner (34:18) your daughter Ember before you realized she was a redhead and you didn't have any real reason to think she was gonna be have red hair?
Janelle (34:24) Yeah.
Scott Benner (34:24) Oh, that's kinda cool. (34:26) Yeah. (34:26) It is cool. (34:27) What do you by the way, I don't know any redheads personally. (34:29) Like, what is it you're what what is it you're referring to?
Janelle (34:33) I mean, usually, redheads are pretty crazy Really? (34:35) To my understanding, at least. (34:36) I think that's the stereotype.
Scott Benner (34:37) Oh, wait a minute. (34:39) You know, I grew up with a kid named Jim. (34:41) Can I say Jim Woodson? (34:43) Why why not? (34:43) Jim Wood.
Scott Benner (34:44) He he had a bit of that redhead energy. (34:47) He did.
Janelle (34:48) Yeah. (34:48) I think redheads are just built different.
Scott Benner (34:51) Alright. (34:51) Hey, Jim. (34:51) If you're out there, what's up, man? (34:54) In your mid fifties right now wondering how you got mentioned on a diabetes podcast.
Janelle (34:59) Full circle event here.
Scott Benner (35:00) You live right down the street from the apartment I grew up in. (35:03) So you crossed the street from Eric. (35:05) That is really not important, I don't think, to to anyone listening. (35:08) Okay. (35:10) So what is mean, what's your goal coming on the podcast?
Scott Benner (35:14) Like, what what made you reach out?
Janelle (35:15) I think just forcing myself to get out of my comfort zone a little bit. (35:18) I think with having a kid with type one diabetes, it kind of, like, becomes your whole personality, and you kind of lose yourself in that. (35:24) And so I'm kind of trying to get back to finding myself a little bit and finding things that I enjoy, and I figured that pushing myself to come on a podcast would kind of be a good little first step.
Scott Benner (35:34) How do you lose yourself? (35:35) Describe it.
Janelle (35:38) I think you something happens in your brain where the only reason you're really living is to to keep your kid alive. (35:46) And, obviously, every parent has to keep their kid alive to some degree, but it's it's so much different when they are basically on you know, when they're on insulin, they're on life support to some degree. (35:59) Mhmm. (35:59) And it's like, I think when you look at it like that and I try not to too much because then it causes me to spiral. (36:05) But it looking at it like that, it kind of puts it into a better perspective of, like, you kind of don't think there's really time for anything else other than putting all of your attention and focus into keeping this child alive.
Scott Benner (36:18) Is any of this a function of this type a thing you were talking about?
Janelle (36:22) Probably. (36:22) Yeah.
Scott Benner (36:23) I mean, do you feel like if you didn't have that kind of personality that you might not feel this way about the rest of it?
Janelle (36:29) I think it's definitely a possibility. (36:31) Yeah.
Scott Benner (36:31) Okay. (36:32) I mean, I said we were gonna try to find your mental illness in twenty two minutes. (36:35) I don't know if we did or not, but it's pretty close.
Janelle (36:37) I I don't know.
Scott Benner (36:38) Does it impact any other parts of your life? (36:40) Do you have trouble, like, making time for other things?
Janelle (36:44) Yeah. (36:45) I think I struggle to make time, like, specifically for myself. (36:48) Like, it's hard for me to go and, like, do things by myself without just, like, staring at the follow-up the entire time I'm gone.
Scott Benner (36:56) Were you like that before the diabetes?
Janelle (36:58) To some extent, I don't think it was this bad, though.
Scott Benner (37:00) Okay. (37:00) Do you have, like, mom guilt Yes. (37:03) On top of everything?
Janelle (37:04) But I had mom guilt before the diabetes too. (37:05) So it just, like, got, you know, exacerbated with the diagnosis.
Scott Benner (37:09) What's mom guilt look like when you're, like, 24 years old and you have a baby?
Janelle (37:15) I guess I would say probably, like, to some degree thinking, like, how am I even old enough to, like, raise this being? (37:24) Like, I'm barely old enough to function myself. (37:27) And thinking, like, you know, I could probably be doing so much better if I was older, but you're not. (37:33) So you gotta figure it out.
Scott Benner (37:34) The little impostor syndrome on being a mom and then start feeling like, well, if I would have just done this differently, maybe I'd be a better mom. (37:42) Yeah. (37:42) Why did you think you weren't a good mom? (37:44) By the way, we're two steps away from realizing you have anxiety. (37:47) I'm just getting to it.
Scott Benner (37:48) That's all.
Janelle (37:48) You're not wrong.
Scott Benner (37:50) No. (37:50) I know. (37:54) Just didn't know if you knew. (37:56) That's all. (37:56) I'm sorry.
Scott Benner (37:57) Didn't wanna spring it on I just didn't wanna spring it on you.
Janelle (37:59) I had I had the I had the little Pandora's box over here, I'm like, is he gonna is he gonna find the key for it? (38:03) Or
Scott Benner (38:04) Probably. (38:04) I mean, if not, then I should probably pack it in. (38:06) Right? (38:07) So and I don't I can't quit making this podcast now.
Janelle (38:10) I feel like I put too much time into this.
Scott Benner (38:12) Well, no. (38:13) Not just that. (38:14) Today, I had this meeting with these people I'm doing a talk for coming up. (38:19) And it's by the way, no one you're never gonna know what don't even bother guessing what it is. (38:22) And and so I'm doing some public speaking for somebody, and at the end of the meeting, the person on the call, like, very sincerely says I said to him, well, I gotta go.
Scott Benner (38:31) I gotta go jump on a call. (38:32) I'm recording an episode. (38:33) I didn't, at that time, know that I was going to record, squishy pushy. (38:37) But at the time and she and she looked at me real sincerely, and she's like, go change the world. (38:42) And I was like, oh my gosh.
Scott Benner (38:43) Like, I will. (38:45) Thank you. (38:45) Yeah. (38:46) But this person knows the podcast and knows me, and that's their feeling about me. (38:49) And I thought, oh, I didn't like, it was so strange to it was nice, but it was strange to just have a a a stranger sit down in front of you and tell you what the thing they think you're doing.
Janelle (38:59) Yeah. (38:59) That's awesome, though.
Scott Benner (39:00) Yeah. (39:00) It was really cool. (39:00) But so I guess my point is is that you're if you're that young and you're feeling like, oh, I'm probably failing at this, but you're not. (39:10) Like, there's no there's no indicators that you're failing at it. (39:13) Yeah.
Scott Benner (39:13) Then you're worried about something that doesn't exist, and to some degree, that's anxiety. (39:17) So have you been anxious your whole life?
Janelle (39:19) Yeah. (39:20) I think so.
Scott Benner (39:20) Yeah? (39:21) Yeah. (39:21) Is it a type one person type a personality, or is it a anxiety, or is it a mix?
Janelle (39:26) It's definitely a mix.
Scott Benner (39:28) And who do you think after your mom or your dad?
Janelle (39:31) My mom.
Scott Benner (39:31) Gotcha. (39:33) And is your dad, like, all laid back while she's out of her mind? (39:36) Yep. (39:37) Did you marry a guy who's all laid back? (39:39) Yep.
Scott Benner (39:39) Is that why you characterized him as not getting involved right away because he didn't meet your level of involvement?
Janelle (39:45) Maybe to some degree. (39:46) Yeah.
Scott Benner (39:47) Yeah. (39:47) $40 is my co pay on this, by the way. (39:51) No one's ever sent me the 40. (39:52) I just wanna be clear. (39:53) I I keep waiting for someone to, like, find me and just put a co pay in my hand, but it's not today, I guess.
Janelle (39:58) Be the worst thing?
Scott Benner (39:59) I mean, I don't think I can make a real living $40 at a time, but it would be a nice, add on income. (40:07) I wouldn't I wouldn't say no to it. (40:09) Yeah. (40:10) Also, I'm not fishing for everyone to send me 40.
Janelle (40:14) He's gonna drop his Venmo here.
Scott Benner (40:15) Well, I just know there's 10, like, unstable people out there, so he's trying to get them to pay them. (40:21) I'm not. (40:22) You're just crazy. (40:22) So or you don't hear sarcasm. (40:24) I can't tell which it is.
Scott Benner (40:25) I don't have time for you people. (40:27) But, wow. (40:28) Okay. (40:28) So, like, so all this is going. (40:30) Is this a thing that you've learned about yourself and you're actively working on, or is it a thing that you've learned about yourself and you're just accepting?
Janelle (40:36) I think there's a degree of both that have to happen. (40:39) I think you have to accept that this is kind of the way you are before you can start to want to work on it and change it.
Scott Benner (40:45) Are you at that point? (40:46) Yeah. (40:47) Okay. (40:48) And this is part of that? (40:49) Like, coming on here and pushing through some comfort zones as part of your, like, working on yourself thing?
Scott Benner (40:54) Yeah. (40:55) Nice. (40:56) Yeah. (40:56) Oh, so I didn't tell you anything you didn't know? (41:00) No.
Scott Benner (41:00) But are you a little surprised that I figured it out just through this conversation?
Janelle (41:04) Not really.
Scott Benner (41:05) Oh, you listen to the podcast then. (41:07) Yeah. (41:07) Yeah. (41:07) Okay. (41:09) Well, for the other people, they're surprised.
Scott Benner (41:10) Some people think I'm a magician right now. (41:12) Okay? (41:14) Some people are just like, my god, he does this all the time. (41:17) So irritating.
Janelle (41:18) They're like, oh, another therapy session.
Scott Benner (41:20) God, that's not my fault. (41:21) I didn't get married out of high school. (41:24) You did. (41:26) Were you afraid you were gonna lose him? (41:29) Is it because he went does it because he went into the military?
Scott Benner (41:33) Why'd you get married?
Janelle (41:33) Honestly, I think
Scott Benner (41:35) You'll be divorced by the time we get done.
Janelle (41:40) I mean, maybe. (41:42) I don't know. (41:42) I think it was just a fact of that we knew we were gonna get married. (41:45) So then at that point, we were like, well, why wait?
Scott Benner (41:48) Okay.
Janelle (41:49) And just kinda went with that mindset.
Scott Benner (41:51) We got married for car insurance.
Janelle (41:53) Hey.
Scott Benner (41:53) So, I mean, your reason sounds as good as ours did.
Janelle (41:58) They're about equal. (41:58) Yeah.
Scott Benner (41:59) Should've got my wife got a good job, and we couldn't afford car insurance.
Speaker 3 (42:07) It does. (42:08) I mean, people
Scott Benner (42:09) have gotten married for worse reasons, haven't they?
Janelle (42:10) Oh, a 100%.
Scott Benner (42:12) Yeah. (42:12) We're still married, by the way. (42:13) I don't know if you all know that, but next year is Okay. (42:16) Our thirtieth Yeah. (42:19) That's crazy.
Scott Benner (42:20) Right? (42:20) You're not even 30 years old. (42:22) Yeah. (42:23) Yeah. (42:23) Can you imagine being married thirty years from now?
Janelle (42:26) Yeah. (42:26) I can imagine it. (42:27) I mean, I've watched my parents stay married for that long plus some.
Scott Benner (42:30) Are they doing it despite each other or they actually seem happy?
Janelle (42:34) No. (42:35) They're actually happy.
Scott Benner (42:36) They're just they're not just, you know, this long protracted battle to see which one can live longer. (42:41) No. (42:41) Yeah. (42:42) Yeah. (42:42) So when one of them dies and go, I beat you.
Janelle (42:45) No. (42:46) Oh my gosh.
Scott Benner (42:47) My wife's definitely gonna do that. (42:49) If I drive first, she's gonna be like, I knew I could outlast him. (42:51) I think she'll be sad till the afternoon at least, though. (42:57) Yeah. (42:58) Yeah.
Scott Benner (42:58) Yeah.
Janelle (42:58) I think you deserve that much at least.
Scott Benner (43:00) I mean, a solid day. (43:01) I would I I think it would be hours. (43:03) I I don't want her to bring a date to the funeral is what I'm saying.
Janelle (43:06) So maybe a couple days then.
Scott Benner (43:07) Yeah. (43:07) Yeah. (43:08) We talked about my cremation last night. (43:09) That was fun. (43:10) I tried to explain to them that I thought they should press my ashes into a diamond and somebody should wear it.
Scott Benner (43:16) No one seemed up for that.
Janelle (43:18) I mean, that that sounds sweet.
Scott Benner (43:21) They don't even want the to be like it. (43:23) I'm like, well, what do you like, who's gonna get my ashes? (43:25) They're like, oh, can we spread them somewhere? (43:26) And I was like, you don't want my ashes? (43:28) And they're like, not really.
Scott Benner (43:29) And I was like, oh, okay.
Janelle (43:31) No. (43:31) That's that's fine.
Scott Benner (43:32) I guess that's fine. (43:34) Just you just discard me somewhere after I'm gone. (43:38) Yeah. (43:38) You know what the diamond? (43:39) Doesn't that sound nice?
Scott Benner (43:41) No one thought that was nice. (43:43) It's really upsetting. (43:44) I mean, not that Yeah. (43:45) Yeah. (43:45) Yeah.
Scott Benner (43:46) Yeah. (43:46) You know what I mean? (43:46) Like, because my wife wants to be buried.
Janelle (43:48) Okay.
Scott Benner (43:49) But I don't want that. (43:50) You have a thought? (43:51) Okay. (43:51) What do wanna do with your carcass when when you're done?
Janelle (43:54) I honestly try not to put too much thought into it right now, but maybe I should.
Scott Benner (43:57) Well, I mean, like, seriously, like, either someone's gonna put you in a hole in the ground or they're gonna set you on fire. (44:03) Which which sounds better to you?
Janelle (44:07) Pick of the litter right there. (44:08) I don't know. (44:09) I guess I'd say cremated.
Scott Benner (44:10) I'm with you. (44:11) Yeah. (44:12) Yeah. (44:12) Right? (44:12) Because you're gonna end up in dust anyway.
Janelle (44:16) Yeah.
Scott Benner (44:16) I I don't wanna I don't wanna rot slowly.
Janelle (44:20) Yeah. (44:20) You could always get turned into a tree.
Scott Benner (44:23) Alright. (44:23) I mean, I do. (44:24) Oh oh, yeah. (44:25) They they do the thing and then they plant the tree with you in the bowl. (44:28) I don't know.
Scott Benner (44:29) You know you know, I'm okay with that, I guess. (44:32) I don't wanna pay for it. (44:33) Even dead, I'm cheap. (44:35) I'm like, I don't wanna put that kind of money out for that.
Janelle (44:37) I can't afford that.
Scott Benner (44:38) Yeah. (44:39) No. (44:39) We can't be that's actually what I thought. (44:40) I was like, that sounds pricey. (44:43) Do I care?
Scott Benner (44:44) I'm gonna be dead. (44:45) Sorry.
Janelle (44:45) A bit out of the budget. (44:46) Yeah.
Scott Benner (44:46) Yeah. (44:47) Like, why do I care? (44:48) I was like, right now, was like, oh, I don't know. (44:50) I mean, what's that cost? (44:51) Jesus.
Scott Benner (44:53) You should look into my thoughts. (44:55) I'm like, oh my god. (44:56) Yeah. (44:57) Yeah. (44:57) I think we I don't ask that question enough on the podcast.
Scott Benner (45:00) I do I've like, buried her. (45:02) Because, like, at some point, you know, I don't know how I don't exactly like, let me be clear. (45:08) Like, most things in the podcast, I don't really understand a lot of the details of it. (45:11) But, like, at some point, like, you're gonna be rotting.
Janelle (45:15) Yeah.
Scott Benner (45:16) The meat's gonna be gone, and the skin will just be hanging on like crepe paper. (45:20) Ugh. (45:21) And you're just gonna be under there. (45:23) And then one day, two hundred years from now, they're gonna need that land for something else and just push into a pile somewhere. (45:29) Like, I just think the the cremation's the way to go.
Janelle (45:31) I mean, yeah. (45:32) I think, honestly, instead of introduce yourself, that should be your opening question on the podcast is buried or cremated.
Scott Benner (45:37) Instead of what autoimmune issues are in your family? (45:42) Although, we should add the Viking funeral to it though.
Janelle (45:45) Yes. (45:46) Right? (45:46) That's a valid option.
Scott Benner (45:47) The on top of, like, firewood doused in gasoline pushed out the sea on fire? (45:52) Yeah. (45:53) Yeah. (45:53) Maybe I'd like that. (45:55) That'd be nice.
Scott Benner (45:55) Put some fireworks in the background.
Janelle (45:57) Yeah.
Scott Benner (45:58) Right? (45:58) And I don't need it videoed. (46:00) I I'm not one of those people. (46:01) I don't want everything on video. (46:05) I was saying the other day, like, I don't understand some of the things y'all take pictures of.
Scott Benner (46:10) Oh
Janelle (46:11) my god.
Scott Benner (46:11) I was like, here's a picture of me in the hospital. (46:13) I'm like, why? (46:17) I you look terrible, first of all. (46:19) Secondly, like, this is not a great moment in your life. (46:22) Like, what are you snapping?
Scott Benner (46:23) And I I even see having the pictures later as maybe being valued. (46:26) But in the moment, like, I don't get a person who's like, oh, let me get my camera out right now. (46:30) Yeah. (46:30) I don't remember to do that when I'm supposed to.
Janelle (46:33) Yeah. (46:34) I agree with that.
Scott Benner (46:35) I'm glad. (46:35) I like you. (46:37) If your parents died prematurely, I would adopt you. (46:40) So Perfect. (46:41) Yeah.
Scott Benner (46:41) Yeah. (46:41) Yeah. (46:42) I'm not gonna pay for anything. (46:43) As you heard with the with the tree thing, it's like, my god. (46:46) Yeah.
Scott Benner (46:46) I'd the worst dad. (46:47) You'd be like, can I get $50 to plant? (46:49) I'll be like, no. (46:50) Don't I can't do that.
Janelle (46:51) No. (46:51) Sorry. (46:51) Can't swing it.
Scott Benner (46:52) Go ask that boy that married you. (46:55) See see what he's got going on.
Janelle (46:57) Yeah.
Scott Benner (46:58) Alright. (46:58) So we gotta get back on track here. (47:00) Really, the squishy pushy really threw me off today. (47:02) You're never I really gonna can't even you know what? (47:06) Rob, I'm gonna say why squishy pushy push me off and then bleep the whole thing out so that nobody can hear it.
Scott Benner (47:12) Okay? (47:13) No. (47:13) There'll be too much bleeping. (47:15) No. (47:16) You're just gonna have to go listen to it.
Scott Benner (47:17) I'm sorry. (47:17) I was trying to make it fun for you guys who are listening to this one, but I can't. (47:20) Just let's just say that Brenda said something that stopped me in my tracks. (47:26) You'll know
Janelle (47:28) it when you hear
Scott Benner (47:28) it.
Speaker 3 (47:28) You will. (47:29) Yeah. (47:29) If you don't,
Scott Benner (47:29) you're not paying attention. (47:30) That's for sure. (47:32) My god. (47:32) Alright. (47:33) So how is this gonna help you break out of your norms?
Scott Benner (47:36) Like, what is it you're hoping to like, on this little journey of yours, where are trying to get to? (47:47) This episode was too good to cut anything out of, but too long to make just one episode. (47:52) So this is part one. (47:53) Make sure you go find part two right now. (47:55) It's gonna be the next episode in your feed.
Scott Benner (47:59) I'd like to remind you again about the MiniMed seven eighty g automated insulin delivery system, which, of course, anticipates, adjusts, and corrects every five minutes twenty four seven. (48:09) It works around the clock so you can focus on what matters. (48:13) The Juice Box community knows the importance of using technology to simplify managing diabetes. (48:19) To learn more about how you can spend less time and effort managing your diabetes, visit my link, medtronicdiabetes.com/juicebox. (48:30) Having an easy to use and accurate blood glucose meter is just one click away.
Scott Benner (48:36) Contournext.com/juicebox. (48:40) That's right. (48:40) Today's episode is sponsored by the Contour NextGen blood glucose meter. (48:49) If you've listened to any number of podcasts or maybe watched a YouTube video, you're very accustomed to listening to the creator of that content ask you and sometimes just outright beg you without any feeling of self respect for you to follow, subscribe, share an episode. (49:08) The reason that happens in podcasting specifically is because podcast players don't have a sophisticated recommendation engine like YouTube or TikTok does.
Scott Benner (49:18) They can't watch listener behavior and then give you content that you might like. (49:24) Word-of-mouth skips that line completely. (49:27) It's an instantly expanding reach engine and really the only thing I've ever found that helps to keep the Juice Box podcast growing. (49:35) So subscribe and follow because that the algorithm understands. (49:39) Set up automatic downloads, listen to the show, but share it with somebody else.
Scott Benner (49:44) Leave a five star review. (49:46) Make it a thoughtful review that the algorithm can understand. (49:50) I really appreciate the time it takes you to do those things, and I hate that I have to say this to you because I feel like an idiot. (49:56) But subscribe and follow. (49:57) Tell a friend.
Scott Benner (49:59) Please and thank you. (50:00) Hey. (50:00) I'm dropping in to tell you about a small change being made to the Juice Cruise 2026 schedule. (50:05) This adjustment was made by Celebrity Cruise Lines, not by me. (50:09) Anyway, we're still going out on the Celebrity Beyond cruise ship, which is awesome.
Scott Benner (50:13) Check out the walkthrough video at juice box podcast dot com slash juice cruise. (50:18) The ship is awesome. (50:19) Still a seven night cruise. (50:21) It still leaves out of Miami on June 21. (50:24) Actually, most of this is the same.
Scott Benner (50:26) We leave Miami June 21, head to Coco Cay in The Bahamas, but then we're going to San Juan, Puerto Rico instead of Saint Thomas. (50:34) After that, Bastirie, I think I'm saying that wrong, Saint Kitts And Nevis. (50:38) This place is gorgeous. (50:39) Google it. (50:40) Mean, you're probably gonna have to go to my link to get the correct spelling because my pronunciation is so bad.
Scott Benner (50:44) But once you get the Saint Kitts and you Google it, you're gonna look and see a photo that says to you, oh, I wanna go there. (50:51) Come meet other people living with type one diabetes from caregivers to children to adults. (50:57) Last year, we had a 100 people on our cruise, and it was fabulous. (51:03) You can see pictures to get at my link juiceboxpodcast.com/juicecruise. (51:07) Can see those pictures from last year there.
Scott Benner (51:10) The link also gives you an opportunity to register for the cruise or to contact Suzanne from Cruise Planners. (51:16) She takes care of all the logistics. (51:17) I'm just excited that I might see you there. (51:20) It's a beautiful event for families, for singles, a wonderful opportunity to meet people, swap stories, make friendships, and learn. (51:30) The Juice Box podcast is edited by Wrong Way Recording.
Scott Benner (51:34) Wrongwayrecording.com. (51:37) If you'd like your podcast to sound as good as mine, check out Rob at wrongwayrecording.com.
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#1709 Two Shovels, One Headache
You can always listen to the Juicebox Podcast here but the cool kids use: Apple Podcasts/iOS - Spotify - Amazon Music - Google Play/Android - iHeart Radio - Radio Public, Amazon Alexa or wherever they get audio.
Two siblings diagnosed a month apart. Their mom—also a child psychologist—talks early warning signs, day-to-day management, and how their family handles stress, burnout, and growing independence.
+ Click for EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
DISCLAIMER: This text is the output of AI based transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors and should not be treated as an authoritative record. Nothing that you read here constitutes advice medical or otherwise. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making changes to a healthcare plan.
Scott Benner (0:00) As the holidays approach, I wanna say welcome and thank all of my good friends for coming back to the Juice Box podcast over and over again.
Dena (0:13) I'm Dina. (0:14) I'm a mom to two relatively newly diagnosed kids with type one diabetes, and I'm a clinical child psychologist.
Scott Benner (0:22) If you're new to type one diabetes, begin with the bold beginning series from the podcast. (0:27) Don't take my word for it. (0:29) Listen to what reviewers have said. (0:31) Bold beginnings is the best first step. (0:33) I learned more in those episodes than anywhere else.
Scott Benner (0:36) This is when everything finally clicked. (0:38) People say it takes the stress out of the early days and replaces it with clarity. (0:42) They tell me this should come with the diagnosis packet that I got at the hospital. (0:46) And after they listen, they recommend it to everyone who's struggling. (0:50) It's straightforward, practical, and easy to listen to.
Scott Benner (0:53) Bold Beginnings gives you the basics in a way that actually makes sense. (0:58) If you're looking for community around type one diabetes, check out the Juice Box Podcast private Facebook group. (1:04) Juice Box Podcast, type one diabetes. (1:07) But everybody is welcome. (1:09) Type one, type two, gestational, loved ones, it doesn't matter to me.
Scott Benner (1:14) If you're impacted by diabetes and you're looking for support, comfort, or community, check out Juice Box podcast, type one diabetes on Facebook. (1:23) Nothing you hear on the Juice Box podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. (1:27) Always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan. (1:33) US Med is sponsoring this episode of the Juice Box podcast, and we've been getting our diabetes supplies from US Med for years. (1:41) You can as well.
Scott Benner (1:43) Usmed.com/juicebox or call (888) 721-1514. (1:50) Use the link or the number, get your free benefits check, and get started today with US Med. (1:56) Today's episode is also sponsored by the Eversense three sixty five, the one year wear CGM. (2:04) That's one insertion a year. (2:05) That's it.
Scott Benner (2:06) And here's a little bonus for you. (2:08) How about there's no limit on how many friends and family you can share your data with with the Eversense Now app? (2:14) No limits. (2:15) Eversense. (2:16) The podcast is also sponsored today by the Tandem Mobi system, which is powered by Tandem's newest algorithm, Control IQ Plus technology.
Scott Benner (2:25) Tandem Mobi has a predictive algorithm that helps prevent highs and lows and is now available for ages two and up. (2:32) Learn more and get started today at tandemdiabetes.com/juicebox.
Dena (2:38) I'm Dina. (2:39) I'm a mom to two relatively newly diagnosed kids with type one diabetes, and I'm a clinical child psychologist.
Scott Benner (2:47) You have two children in total?
Dena (2:49) I have two children in total. (2:51) Okay. (2:51) Correct.
Scott Benner (2:51) And oh, wait a second. (2:54) How old are they?
Dena (2:55) So Zeke is 13, and Ruby is 10. (2:59) Zeke was diagnosed August 2022, and Ruby was diagnosed a month later, September 2022.
Scott Benner (3:09) And when you named them, you were trying to get them their own Disney Channel TV show at the time or what? (3:13) Zeke and Ruby. (3:14) I mean, right? (3:16) That seemed like something your kids would watch in the afternoon?
Dena (3:19) Not anymore. (3:20) They're teenagers now, but maybe maybe once upon a time.
Scott Benner (3:24) When you're on those Disney Channel shows, you have to grow up, get some sort of a drug habit, go off for a little bit, try singing for a little, come back. (3:32) You're good not to put them in it. (3:33) I don't think it would've worked out.
Dena (3:35) Yeah. (3:36) Not our vibe at all.
Scott Benner (3:37) Zeke and Ruby. (3:38) Okay. (3:38) Wait. (3:38) So Zeke's diagnosed and then Ruby's diagnosed how long afterwards?
Dena (3:43) One month.
Scott Benner (3:44) It's not catchy, is it? (3:45) But I I didn't
Dena (3:46) They made me think it.
Scott Benner (3:48) Yeah. (3:48) Yeah. (3:48) Well, so I'm gonna guess. (3:50) Oh, do I wanna guess or do I wanna let you go? (3:54) Why don't I let you go?
Scott Benner (3:55) How did you notice how was Zeke presenting? (3:57) Like, what got you there?
Dena (3:59) Zeke was thick. (4:00) He's a super active, athletic, busy guy, and he'd sort of slowed down. (4:07) His mood hadn't really significantly changed, and it was also the end of summer. (4:12) We'd been traveling. (4:14) We he was, you know, just starting fourth grade, and he had a physical coming up.
Dena (4:20) So my physician, husband, and I were like, meh. (4:24) He's probably fine. (4:25) He was having some, like, leg cramps, which could have been explained by growing pains. (4:31) He was drinking a few Gatorade water bottles a night, but he was a super active kid. (4:38) He'd had a few nights of, like, excessive urination, but, again, like, none of it added up.
Dena (4:44) We didn't know what to look for at the time. (4:47) And, you know, thankfully, he wasn't so sick that he couldn't do the things he loved to do. (4:53) We just were starting to notice some differences.
Scott Benner (4:55) Okay.
Dena (4:56) He was, you know, at his physical, the pediatrician put some pieces together very quickly, and he was admitted with an a one c of 13.
Scott Benner (5:06) Oh. (5:06) Hey. (5:07) You told me what you do for a living, but your husband's a physician as well?
Dena (5:10) I'm a clinical psychologist. (5:12) A psychologist.
Scott Benner (5:12) I'm sorry.
Dena (5:12) But Yep. (5:13) And he is a physician.
Scott Benner (5:14) Your English is so good that I said as well when I shouldn't have, and you were like, you're wrong. (5:18) I'm not a doctor. (5:19) Was like, what?
Dena (5:20) No. (5:20) A doctor, Scott, but a different kind of doctor, to be clear.
Scott Benner (5:24) I have to say, I I said in the kitchen the other day, do you think I could get one of those fake doctor? (5:29) It's like somebody could invite me somewhere to speak and I could be a doctor. (5:32) And my wife was like, oh, god. (5:35) And I think she thought it's possible he could make that happen. (5:40) Then he'd try to get us to call him doctor, which I wouldn't, by the way.
Scott Benner (5:44) It all sounds like too much work for me. (5:46) But, honestly, if you said to me I had to do that, I'd be like, it doesn't seem worth it. (5:50) Tell me again, what is your husband? (5:52) I'm sorry, do.
Dena (5:53) He's a physician. (5:54) He's an interventional radiologist.
Scott Benner (5:56) Oh. (5:57) Oh, okay. (5:57) Alright. (5:58) So the the two of you and your seventeen years of combined schooling didn't see the type one diabetes. (6:05) That's not
Dena (6:06) comforting. (6:07) Nailed it. (6:08) Yeah. (6:08) That's that's exactly right. (6:10) Yes.
Scott Benner (6:10) Should make other people feel better, don't you think?
Dena (6:13) Oh, so much better. (6:14) Yeah. (6:15) You know, we get that a lot, and it's one of our least favorite things that people say is like, oh, there's no better parents than you to do this. (6:24) So And we think, really? (6:25) Like
Scott Benner (6:27) I could think of better people. (6:28) Those people are called not me because Not
Dena (6:30) me. (6:31) Yep.
Scott Benner (6:31) I'm not looking for this. (6:32) Okay. (6:32) So, I mean, with a 13 a one c, even though you don't think that there were a lot of outward signs, I mean, was he in DKA, or did it hit him really quickly? (6:41) How how do you think that happened?
Dena (6:43) You know, I mean, the truth is, like, most things with diabetes, we don't know. (6:48) He was not in DKA yet. (6:51) He was very sick.
Scott Benner (6:52) Mhmm.
Dena (6:54) And, you know, apparently, we caught it. (6:57) He was admitted. (6:58) He felt really shitty in the hospital. (7:00) You know, he was pretty sick and had a lot of signs that, you know, his blood sugar was high for a long time. (7:08) We you know, of course, in hindsight, I think all parents do this of relatively newly diagnosed kids.
Dena (7:12) It's like we, you know, have racked our brains and looked at like, we went away in June to the beach. (7:18) Was he already sick? (7:19) We can we could think of some episodes where we felt like it was likely a really high blood sugar that was making him behave that way. (7:27) But the truth is we don't know, and we'll never know.
Scott Benner (7:30) Yeah.
Dena (7:30) You know, there was there was no overt signs. (7:33) It was just this constellation of weird things that, of course, turned out to be explained by diabetes. (7:39) What Zeke subsequently was you know, his everything was out of whack when he was admitted. (7:46) He was subsequently diagnosed with the trifecta. (7:49) So he has Hashimoto's thyroiditis and celiac Uh-huh.
Dena (7:53) Which arguably is maybe tougher to live with as a 13 year old boy than diabetes.
Scott Benner (7:59) Was there any illness in the house in the months prior to his diagnosis?
Dena (8:05) No. (8:05) Nothing. (8:06) Not that we remember.
Scott Benner (8:07) Because, you know, I'm looking for a reason why the sister pops off immediately afterwards. (8:12) Like, did you both like, did they both have, like, you know, cocksackie or something like that? (8:16) A virus.
Dena (8:17) Nothing overt. (8:19) We, you know, we always wonder, like, did we all have COVID and not know it? (8:23) Mhmm. (8:23) But we didn't know if we did, and there's no clear viral link in our family Interesting. (8:29) That we know of.
Scott Benner (8:31) Let's go back through the family lives though. (8:33) Like, you, your husband, any autoimmune for either of you?
Dena (8:38) Oh, yeah. (8:38) Yeah. (8:39) We have the sort of, like, low grade constellation on both sides of the family.
Scott Benner (8:42) Okay.
Dena (8:44) So my husband's sister has celiac and has had, like, a long history of autoimmune stuff throughout her life. (8:53) She's pretty open about. (8:55) I have thyroid dysfunction, really, that was onset with my second pregnancy. (9:02) Mhmm. (9:02) Hypothyroid.
Dena (9:03) And I was diagnosed with vitiligo, interestingly.
Scott Benner (9:06) Okay. (9:07) I have
Dena (9:07) a pretty mild case. (9:08) It honestly, like, has never really affected me. (9:12) But, you know, of course, now we put together all the pieces that perhaps there was you know, there's a little theme. (9:18) But those are the those are the only known. (9:19) I do have sort of maternal family history of thyroid dysfunction, but, again, nothing that, like, raised eyebrows until now.
Scott Benner (9:27) I joked with somebody the other day. (9:28) I said if every grandmom who whose wrists hurt didn't have a baby, I wonder how much autoimmune there'd be in the world now. (9:35) Because by the time everybody tells their story, eventually, get to a grandmother and, like, my grandmother had RA. (9:40) Like, there's always, like, one of those or very, very commonly. (9:43) But your husband doesn't have anything directly for him?
Dena (9:46) No. (9:47) Not that we know of.
Scott Benner (9:48) Okay. (9:48) Okay. (9:49) How did they get the triple diagnosis right there? (9:53) Did he just run labs while he's in the hospital?
Dena (9:56) So he actually his titers or whatever they draw for celiac were normal added on admission. (10:03) Everything else was out of whack. (10:05) He was diagnosed a year later. (10:07) So just like on his annual blood draw, a year after diagnosis, he was diagnosed with celiac.
Scott Benner (10:12) Oh, okay. (10:13) So not right there. (10:13) Not right then and there.
Dena (10:15) Correct. (10:15) Yeah.
Scott Benner (10:16) Is there looking back, did he have celiac symptoms before the type one?
Dena (10:20) No. (10:21) No. (10:21) Definitely not.
Scott Benner (10:22) Okay. (10:22) And thyroid, the same, do you think?
Dena (10:24) I think. (10:25) You know, it's kinda weird. (10:26) It's this, like, curiosity that we don't check for this stuff in in young kids. (10:30) Sure. (10:31) But there's no reason to believe that he did.
Scott Benner (10:33) Okay. (10:33) You managed with what? (10:34) Synthroid?
Dena (10:35) Yep.
Scott Benner (10:36) And it works for you? (10:37) Like, your TSH is low enough, you don't have symptoms?
Dena (10:41) Yep. (10:41) Exactly. (10:42) Both of us. (10:42) Zeke's going through puberty big time, so everything is changing. (10:46) His dose is a little bit of a moving target, but I'm well managed right now.
Scott Benner (10:50) Yeah. (10:50) Is he growing well?
Dena (10:52) He's growing beautifully. (10:54) You know, it's like, I really hate to talk about silver linings because I just don't think that there's a lot of them here. (10:59) But because he they have so much medical management, we caught his celiac probably right away. (11:06) He was very mildly symptomatic. (11:10) And, like, he's been growing beautifully.
Dena (11:12) They're my kids are huge. (11:14) In fact, whenever we go to the I'm five two. (11:16) And whenever we go to the endocrinologist, she says to me, remind all your husband is? (11:21) Like, how did you make these tall kids? (11:23) So, yeah, I feel so, so grateful that he's growing incredibly well, and it never affected his growth or his health Right.
Dena (11:30) Honestly, that would you know, because we caught it early.
Scott Benner (11:33) Does Ruby have any extras over type one?
Dena (11:36) No extras so far. (11:37) She's just standard.
Scott Benner (11:39) She's standard. (11:39) So tell me one more time. (11:41) Zeke's has diabetes for how long? (11:44) And then you look at your daughter and think, oh my god. (11:46) It's happening again.
Dena (11:48) Yep. (11:48) So he was diagnosed. (11:51) And in the hospital, we have we have just, like, this awesome community of diabetes people in our world. (11:58) So our endocrinologist is actually also a mom at our school. (12:02) Mhmm.
Dena (12:03) And I coached lacrosse at the school. (12:06) So she came in to Zeke's hospital room and said, coach Dunn. (12:11) What's up? (12:12) And she has been our our endocrinologist ever since. (12:15) And she said, I think as they'd say to everyone, you know, you know that this can run-in families.
Dena (12:22) Siblings are higher risk. (12:23) And in that moment, it planted a seed of worry, but that's not that hard to do with me. (12:29) And, you know, my husband, like, rolled his eyes and patted me on the back, and, thankfully, Zeke was discharged, healthy, and good to go. (12:36) But, of course, that little seed of worry, I think, sort of bloomed in me, and so I'm, like, watching Ruby carefully. (12:42) And she perhaps is drinking a touch more water, but I am so exhausted and strung out and anxious about everything at that point Mhmm.
Dena (12:50) That I you know, I'm like, no way. (12:52) No way. (12:53) No way. (12:54) And about a few weeks later, Zeke was actually playing baseball at the time, and Ruby was at the game running around. (12:59) And she kept saying, mom, I have a wedgie in my leggings.
Dena (13:03) Like, my leggings are fitting funny. (13:05) And I was like, okay. (13:07) You know, these were leggings from the previous spring, and this was fall. (13:11) And I thought, why is my little seven year old pants falling down?
Scott Benner (13:16) Mhmm.
Dena (13:17) So I threw her up on the scale because I don't know. (13:19) I've known her past weight, and she had actually, like, lost a pound or two, which, again, like normal life, no one would think anything of in my opinion. (13:29) But, of course, that worry seed grew bigger. (13:31) And I said to my husband, like, something's not right. (13:34) Something's not right with Ruby.
Dena (13:35) And he said, I'm sure it's fine, Dina. (13:39) But if you're really worried, you'll take her to the pediatrician. (13:41) I, of course, wanted to poke her finger right there and do ketones and do the whole thing. (13:46) And he warned me, mostly because I think he was really worried about me spinning out. (13:50) And so I I
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Dena (16:23) You got it. (16:23) Yeah. (16:23) Yeah. (16:23) Exactly. (16:24) Like, uh-oh.
Scott Benner (16:25) He's like, there goes my whole life.
Dena (16:27) Right. (16:28) And and you remember, like, we're a month in. (16:31) Right? (16:31) So, like, even a Dexcom change, like, caused great stress in our house. (16:35) You know, just we were learning all the things.
Dena (16:37) And so I felt crazy anyway, and I did I did do exactly what my husband suggested. (16:44) We we went to the pediatrician. (16:45) Thank goodness it was our same pediatrician who kinda did the same thing, like patted me on the back. (16:50) Ruby remembers the story beautifully. (16:51) She says it was a Tuesday, and I remember you took me out of school.
Dena (16:55) We And told my teacher I was gonna be right back because I just was gonna need to pee in the cup at the pediatrician. (16:59) Mhmm. (17:00) And this is the moment everything changed, really, is, you know, she had glucose in her urine, and her blood sugar was 300.
Scott Benner (17:11) Wow. (17:12) Wow. (17:13) Wow. (17:13) Wow. (17:13) Wow.
Scott Benner (17:13) How about that?
Dena (17:14) The pediatrician looked at me, and all the blood rushed out of her face.
Scott Benner (17:19) Yeah. (17:20) And she said, oh my god, Deni. (17:22) You are giving your children type one diabetes. (17:24) Somehow, are you doing this? (17:26) And please get away from it.
Scott Benner (17:29) Can you guys back up a couple of steps, please? (17:31) She's
Dena (17:32) Literally. (17:32) She just like, she didn't know what to say.
Scott Benner (17:35) Right.
Dena (17:35) I I mean, she just did not know what to say. (17:37) And at this point, I have everyone's cell phones on speed dial. (17:41) Even the pediatrician. (17:42) Our wonderful pediatrician was, like, calling me to check-in on us after Zeke was diagnosed. (17:48) So she didn't know what to do, and we'd just been discharged.
Dena (17:51) Like like No. (17:52) I just said goodbye to all these people. (17:54) Like, last thing I wanna do
Scott Benner (17:55) is goodbye. (17:55) There's no doubt that when you walked in that office, she was thinking, uh-oh. (17:59) This one's cracked already. (18:01) Like, she, yeah, like, she definitely thought you were crazy when you brought her in. (18:05) Oh.
Scott Benner (18:05) Yeah.
Dena (18:05) A 100%. (18:06) Everyone did. (18:07) Mhmm. (18:07) Everyone did. (18:08) Yeah.
Dena (18:08) And it was the most validating and terrifying moment. (18:12) Yeah. (18:12) Right? (18:13) Of, like, I knew it. (18:14) My mom intuition was right.
Dena (18:16) I knew it, and I don't wanna have known it.
Scott Benner (18:18) Yeah. (18:19) Of Of all the things to be right about. (18:21) Yeah.
Dena (18:21) You know? (18:22) Yeah. (18:22) Yeah. (18:23) But I just knew. (18:24) I just had this weird sneaking suspicion.
Dena (18:26) And so, you know, then the cascade, we but we truly, like, called our endocrinologist on speakerphone in the pediatrician's office. (18:34) And, of course, she I think her little science brain and research brain starts going like, oh, did we catch it really early? (18:42) And we see on a different
Scott Benner (18:43) level. (18:44) Yeah.
Dena (18:44) Yeah. (18:44) Exactly. (18:45) Everyone was, honestly, because it was it was I mean, Ruby was almost sort of in that, like, pre space of could we do some mitigation. (18:54) And, you know, her a one c, I think, was, like, 6.2 at diagnosis. (18:58) So we definitely caught it extremely early, unusually so.
Scott Benner (19:03) The question has to be is, was she symptomatic the day that Zeke was diagnosed? (19:09) Like, could you have on that same day said check her too and they would have found something?
Dena (19:16) And, again, like, what we learned is that I mean, again, only, like, you only know once you know is she was really spiking randomly. (19:28) So it could have been that they could have just done a quick finger poke, and her blood sugar was normal, and we never thought about it. (19:33) So, I mean, we'll again, we'll never know.
Scott Benner (19:35) Gotcha.
Dena (19:35) But it it's very possible. (19:38) And she, you know, she was discharged on just, a bit of Lantus at the time and and then honestly progressed very quickly. (19:44) We had a whole, like, buffet table in our little in our kitchen of each kid had a poke plan and they would their little ratios were up on a whiteboard. (19:55) And I kinda went into pediatric psychologist mommy mode and got everybody comfy and situated at home, and that was our normal all of a sudden.
Scott Benner (20:03) You guys pivoted well, you think?
Dena (20:06) I mean, can anyone pivot well to this? (20:08) Sometimes I say that we've, like, learned a new language overnight. (20:12) But, yeah, we are you know, my kids are resilient. (20:15) I feel so grateful to be able to say that, but I think, you know, we pivoted as well as anyone has to pivot.
Scott Benner (20:21) Yeah. (20:22) No. (20:22) I mean, I recall I've I've I recall feeling like a zombie in the beginning. (20:26) We're just wandering around the house and everything felt I don't know. (20:31) Like, I've I've described it a ton of different ways, the best way I think is it feels like somebody, like, slapped me in the head with a shovel, and then my head was ringing.
Scott Benner (20:38) And they and they were like, keep living. (20:40) And while my head was ringing, I was like, what just happened? (20:42) Felt like that went on for a little while. (20:45) Yeah. (20:46) Yeah.
Scott Benner (20:46) Gosh. (20:46) That's I mean, that's gotta be overwhelming. (20:49) I mean, I know you're you're probably professionally as prepared for something like this as somebody could beat, but does that transfer to you? (20:57) Like, does, you know, does your background actually help you on yourself, or do you focus it on your kids and and it doesn't help you? (21:08) When you think of a CGM and all the good that it brings in your life, is the first thing you think about, I love that I have to change it all the time?
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Dena (22:09) Good question. (22:11) Hard question. (22:12) You know, I think the truth is is that I really do focus it on my kids. (22:17) I it doesn't really work on yourself. (22:19) Right?
Dena (22:20) Like, it doesn't really work on anyone I love, generally speaking. (22:23) Hopefully, if I separate my work
Scott Benner (22:25) He's like, no one listens to me.
Dena (22:26) Enough? (22:27) I'm like, if only. (22:29) No. (22:29) No. (22:30) You know, I think, honestly, it's only been after my head stopped ringing from my, like, double shovel whack Mhmm.
Dena (22:37) That I think I've started to turn more towards really, like, intentional self care. (22:43) But, pouring it into my kids was easy and and necessary. (22:47) Right?
Scott Benner (22:47) Yeah.
Dena (22:48) It is true. (22:48) You just sort of reach into all the spaces that you know how to take care of your kids and to help them adjust. (22:57) And one of the things I've learned too is sometimes I tease that, like, their blood sugars mimic their personality sometimes. (23:04) But although I have two kids with type one who were diagnosed really at the same exact time Yeah. (23:09) It presents differently, and it looks different in every body.
Dena (23:12) And it's it's it's been just, a really interesting adventure and learning about what each of them needs and and how to how to do right by them, both emotionally and psychosocially and medically.
Scott Benner (23:24) So you really are learning it's easy to say that both of your kids got type one, so there's a a new life to think about. (23:32) But there's actually two new lives, and you have to keep them separated. (23:37) There's steps to take when it's him. (23:39) There's steps to take when it's her, and they're not the same. (23:43) Is that right?
Dena (23:44) Oh, that could not be more right. (23:46) About that. (23:46) Yes.
Scott Benner (23:47) Yeah. (23:47) So just like parenting except, day to day and never ending. (23:52) Like Yeah. (23:53) Exactly. (23:53) Yeah.
Scott Benner (23:54) Because you have you know, like, there's sometimes, like, the thing you say to one isn't the thing you would say to the other one in the same situation. (24:00) But you even have time to figure that out as you're getting older. (24:02) Also, you watch, some parents don't figure it out. (24:05) Right? (24:05) Some parents have, like, this is my style.
Scott Benner (24:07) I apply it evenly over all of them. (24:09) And some of them do better with it than others, but they don't bend. (24:13) But you had to because it's medical. (24:15) So, like, you had to, like, figure one out then figure the other one out. (24:19) How long I mean, this is only three years ago.
Scott Benner (24:21) Right? (24:22) Mhmm. (24:23) Yeah. (24:23) Yep. (24:23) Are you there yet?
Scott Benner (24:25) Like, how would you describe where you're at currently?
Dena (24:28) I feel like every day is a new adventure. (24:31) I feel like there most days as much as anyone can be there three years in. (24:36) Mhmm. (24:37) And as much as anyone can be there parenting, really, like, two teenagers. (24:41) Right?
Dena (24:41) Both kids are going through puberty. (24:43) Both kids are exploring their independence and autonomy in life and in diabetes at the same time. (24:49) Right. (24:50) I think I don't you know, does anyone ever really figure it out to the best of the best? (24:55) Probably not, but we're trying really hard to get it right for each kid.
Dena (25:00) And I I love how you said that. (25:01) It feels true to my experience, which is you really have to parent the kid you have. (25:06) You also have to treat the diabetes your kid has. (25:08) Yeah. (25:09) Both at the same time.
Scott Benner (25:10) I have to tell you until you really said that to me. (25:12) It's not that I didn't, I guess, academically understand it, but it's not a thing that popped into my head that it would be it could be significantly different from one or the other. (25:19) Like, I would have believed you if you said, you know, you know, my daughter gets a period, so, like, there's there's that, like, hormonal shift every month. (25:27) But just the idea that it's completely the same and yet ultimately a little different and that it's on you to remember that. (25:35) I mean, I don't know how much your husband's involved in the management stuff, but it's up to you, you know, the two of you to figure that out.
Scott Benner (25:41) And then it also must be confusing for the kids to watch their situations be very similar but different at the same time.
Dena (25:50) Oh my gosh. (25:51) Yeah. (25:51) That is so so right. (25:53) Yeah. (25:53) My husband is intimately involved in everything just as I am.
Dena (25:57) And, actually, that adds another variable. (25:59) Right? (25:59) Like, dad does things one way and mom does things another way, and the kids know it just like they do in parenting. (26:04) You know how parents will say, like, oh, go. (26:06) I'm gonna go ask dad because mom said no.
Scott Benner (26:08) Yeah.
Dena (26:08) Same thing happens in diabetes. (26:10) Right? (26:10) So, you know, I put a pump on in a particular way. (26:13) Ruby likes to squeeze in a particular way. (26:16) All of their flavors of independence and interdependence show up in diabetes management.
Dena (26:21) So, yeah, it's it's all of those things at the same time. (26:25) And they do have, you know, as as you know, as everyone who's listening knows, like, they have their preferences in life, and they'll show up in diabetes too. (26:34) Right? (26:34) Whether it's, like, the sites that they prefer or don't. (26:37) Poor Zeke has super sensitive skin, so he has, like, a whole ritual of what we put on before the pump and how he likes it cut and the patches they prefer and, you know, all of the things.
Dena (26:48) Even how they run, like, Zeke tends to sort of I I really say often, like, his his blood sugar often mimics his personality. (26:56) He's like a high high guy and a low low guy. (26:58) He's really, like and that is how his blood sugar looks sometimes, but it's it doesn't faze him, whereas Ruby is much more steady and prefers it that way. (27:06) Last night, we had a pump malfunction, and Ruby said, like, mommy, I don't like, I can't remember when I was that high. (27:13) Maybe two times, she said.
Dena (27:14) You know? (27:15) But she it's just interesting how they they and they look out for each other, and they care for each other. (27:19) I think it's you know, again, like, you don't wanna have to share this with anybody, but they do have a shared experience. (27:24) And they you know, for better or worse, they're in it together.
Scott Benner (27:28) Have you seen that change their relationship at all?
Dena (27:31) Deeply. (27:32) Deeply. (27:33) Yeah.
Scott Benner (27:34) So they've kinda got each other's backs?
Dena (27:37) When Ruby was diagnosed, they both were still MDI, and she would only let two people at school give her injections, the school nurse who is genuinely, like, part of our family and her brother.
Scott Benner (27:51) Oh, oh, he'd come down and help her?
Dena (27:53) And he'd come down and give her a shot before lunch. (27:55) Yep.
Scott Benner (27:56) That must be sweet. (27:58) Right?
Dena (27:58) I mean, yeah. (27:59) Right? (27:59) Like, it's a it's it's just like what they did. (28:03) So, yes, would would I have ever dreamed that my, like, needle phobic 10 year old son would be capable of doing that? (28:08) No.
Dena (28:09) No way. (28:09) And he did. (28:11) You know? (28:11) And so, yeah, they they do they also have a totally normal sibling relationship, hopefully, where they bicker and, you know Yeah. (28:19) Have all the normal sibling things, and they look out for each other.
Dena (28:23) We've also found we have this awesome babysitter who really doesn't babysit anymore. (28:26) She comes and hangs out, but she has type one, and they hang out with her. (28:29) And they all go low together and they all eat candy together. (28:32) And so we try to find people to bring into our life who get it more profoundly even than my husband and I do.
Scott Benner (28:40) Do you know a lot of people with type one or just the babysitter?
Dena (28:43) You know, we know a few. (28:48) There are a few people in our community. (28:51) Not very many in our specific school, but we do know a few. (28:55) And I've found I don't know if this is your experience too, but we found, like, some people are really looking for people in community and other people are not.
Scott Benner (29:02) Mhmm.
Dena (29:02) You know? (29:03) So I I've found a few people who have been really open and shared their experience. (29:08) It's actually another family with siblings in our community. (29:10) And when we were first diagnosed, like, I met the mom for coffee, and she brought me a, like, a huge bag of all their favorite candies for Lowe's and, you know, just, like, in it together. (29:21) I feel like I found my community in kind of sneaky places.
Dena (29:24) So other, you know, parents who have kids recently diagnosed, our endocrinologists, and our educators, most of them have type one and have been, you know, people in our world so that the kids have Zeke actually asked me recently. (29:36) He's a big athlete. (29:37) He was on the lacrosse field, and some kid came up to him and said, hey. (29:40) You have type one too. (29:41) He came home and he said, what do I say when someone says that to me?
Dena (29:46) Like, what's the appropriate response? (29:48) Like, yep. (29:48) I get it. (29:49) So, you know, we we try.
Scott Benner (29:51) I was watching game three of the World Series the other night, And behind home plate to the right is a woman in, like I don't remember how she was dressed, but I remember she was jumping around a lot and cheering and going crazy. (30:04) And there was an Omnipod in her arm. (30:06) And it might be the only thing I could see while I was watching the game. (30:10) I just I just kept thinking like, oh, she has type one. (30:12) And, you know, and she's just bouncing up and down and, like, you know, I don't know what she was doing.
Scott Benner (30:16) She was screaming and yelling. (30:18) I don't know that in a million years, if Arden didn't have diabetes, if I didn't know all you guys, like, I I don't think I ever would have noticed that thing on her, ever.
Dena (30:26) No. (30:27) And then Yeah. (30:27) And now you notice it everywhere. (30:29) Right? (30:29) You have, like, little Dexcom radar.
Scott Benner (30:31) Yeah. (30:32) I know. (30:32) Right away, you're like, oh, there's a bump in somebody's, like, on the side of their pants or, like, you know, you can see CGMs on people and it is interesting how it shifts your focus. (30:42) Yeah. (30:42) How much are you involved in decision making for diabetes, for carb counting, for that kind of stuff, devices being put on, taken off, etcetera, and how much are they handling on their own?
Dena (30:55) Good question also. (30:56) Honestly, my kids are pretty amazing at working towards independence, and they're really motivated. (31:03) Motivated. (31:04) So I think that, like, I feel grateful for that. (31:07) I think that that's just intrinsic to their personality is their kids who are just, like, really motivated to mastery in a lot of things in the world, and diabetes isn't that different for them.
Dena (31:17) I think that my husband and I have spent a lot of time really intentionally talking about this question specifically of, like, how much should we do and how much should they do? (31:27) And I've learned a ton from you too, Scott. (31:29) Like, listening to your journey and and other people on the podcast, I feel like it's a real space where there's just not a right or best answer.
Scott Benner (31:36) Mhmm.
Dena (31:37) So I I feel like I'm always open to, like, what's the right thing to do? (31:40) But generally speaking, the kids are very independent considering their ages, and they are also very reliant on us for being a sounding board. (31:50) You know, we have all of these systems in place that it's, like, funny when you ask them, like, oh, what do we do? (31:55) And then I think, oh, wait. (31:56) We do a lot of things.
Dena (31:57) So when they go to school, we have a text chain between us and the nurses for each kid. (32:02) Zeke at school, Ruby at school. (32:04) And I text the number of carbs in their lunch every morning. (32:07) My husband and I make lunches for them every morning almost. (32:11) And the nurse thumbs up the text, and then the kids have little Zeke uses a rocket ship emoji to let us know he's dosing.
Dena (32:19) Mhmm. (32:19) Ruby just texts dosing, and sometimes it comes out dozing or doing or some funny little kid, you know, typo.
Scott Benner (32:26) Wait till it comes out. (32:27) I'm an adult, and I don't need your help with this.
Dena (32:32) You know, sometimes there are those, passive messages, but we kinda, like, have, you know, communication where they just report back. (32:39) When Ruby does hot lunch at school, she takes a picture of her tray and takes a guess at the carbs, and 99.9% of the time, she's absolutely accurate. (32:46) Mhmm. (32:47) You know? (32:47) So I think, like, we're building their independence.
Dena (32:50) That's our goal at least. (32:51) And then there are times when we we're we're originally from Colorado, so we go skiing a lot. (32:55) And we when we go skiing, they will say, like, you hold the phone. (33:00) You do it. (33:00) Like, I wanna go have fun.
Dena (33:02) And so as a family, we put on the giant red backpack, and we just, like, go cruise, and the kids know that they're sort of leaving their management to us. (33:09) They're always, of course you know? (33:10) And then they say, I feel low on the chairlift or whatever it is. (33:13) But we're you know? (33:14) So I think we we are hopefully sort of developmentally appropriately managing who's in charge and how how we do it.
Scott Benner (33:23) So are you thinking about that from a clinical standpoint or from a parenting standpoint? (33:28) Do you have a mix? (33:30) Because, I mean, I feel like I'm hearing you talk about the way I talk about it, but I don't have any, like, larger words to use. (33:36) So, you know, like, sir seriously, I I think about it like a slow handoff. (33:41) There's no rush to get to the answer.
Scott Benner (33:43) You don't send signals. (33:45) Like, at 12 years old, you need to know this. (33:46) And by the time you're 14, you need to know that. (33:48) It's just like, here are the things that I'm trying to impart to you. (33:52) Some of them take longer than others.
Scott Benner (33:54) The goal is that by the time I mean, I guess everybody thinks about it differently, but I think the goal is by the time you're in your mid twenties, you find yourself thinking like, I know more than these old people, and you're actually probably right. (34:06) And you're making good decisions, and you're okay. (34:08) And you still have the autonomy to turn and ask somebody for advice or help or whatever if you realize you're you're short somewhere. (34:16) I think about life that way. (34:17) I've applied that to type one.
Scott Benner (34:20) But I'm wondering if am I following a book that I don't realize I'm following? (34:24) Or is am I following some sort of whatever my common sense says? (34:28) Or, you know, does that make sense as far as an answer where there's no question mark at the end?
Dena (34:32) Yeah. (34:33) And, like, I wish there was a book. (34:35) Right? (34:35) I I tease in my professional life that I've coined a very few terms in my career, but one of them is your kid is not in a book. (34:43) Like, there's no book for that.
Dena (34:45) And I think that's the same answer here. (34:47) I can't ignore what I know professionally or more specifically just about child development, But that has, of course, helped me as a mom every step of the way, hopefully, for the better for my kids. (34:58) I don't know. (34:59) My husband may disagree, but, you know, I think I think we just do the best we can. (35:04) I think we also have to follow our kids' lead when they are sturdy leaders themselves.
Dena (35:10) I don't feel like I you know, it's funny that you say that you the language sounds different. (35:15) You know, I feel like this is just my my way of parenting, and I try to apply that, like you said, just diabetes too.
Scott Benner (35:22) Right. (35:22) I feel bad for you because I feel like there's things that could happen where you where you would be able to step back and go, oh, our likelihood for heroin use just went up five percent. (35:31) Like, know, like the aces like, you know that aces? (35:34) I love that aces list. (35:35) I really do.
Scott Benner (35:36) Yeah. (35:36) When Erica told me about that, I was like, that's real? (35:40) I was like, oh, thank you. (35:41) Please tell me more about this. (35:43) You know, because it every everything makes so much more sense when you look at it.
Scott Benner (35:46) It also, for me, helps me I'm gonna use a phrase that I don't think sounds natural coming out of my mouth. (35:53) But, like, it helps me to give people grace when I see them struggling with things. (35:57) And, you know, we're doing something that's ponderous, and you're just like, well, how's he gonna not have that happen to him? (36:03) He's got these four things off that list. (36:05) Like, this was definitely gonna happen.
Scott Benner (36:07) How hard is that when you're raising a kid to see something happen and think, uh-oh, we just got 3% closer to a problem? (36:14) And Oh my gosh.
Dena (36:15) I mean, I would be so screwed if I thought about parenting like that, Scott. (36:19) So thank god.
Scott Benner (36:19) No. (36:20) I imagine. (36:20) I'm just wondering if it happens or not.
Dena (36:22) That's all. (36:22) I mean, you know, every once in a while in my darkest moments, I'll, like, think about that. (36:26) But I I try not to in the sense that, like, I just try to be in the moment. (36:30) And every parent catastrophizes. (36:32) Right?
Dena (36:33) Like, when your kid says something, like, oh, no. (36:35) They're
Scott Benner (36:36) This is it.
Dena (36:36) Whatever is gonna happen.
Scott Benner (36:37) Terrible to them. (36:38) Is coming. (36:39) I can see it. (36:40) Yep. (36:40) Yep.
Scott Benner (36:40) No.
Dena (36:40) I'm just like, oh my god. (36:43) So, yeah, of course, I can cast your bread just like every other mommy and maybe even more as a psychologist mommy. (36:48) Mhmm. (36:48) You know? (36:49) Because, yeah, of course, you can't not think about those things.
Dena (36:52) But I also how about this? (36:53) To balance out your aces, I also think about resilience. (36:57) And I I really try because it helps me sleep at night. (37:01) It's like all the things that are terrible that happen when you have a young kid with type one diabetes and all the things that feel terrible as a parent being out of control or navigating, you know, all the things that you always talk about are also balanced out by their strength. (37:16) And truly, that is much more in line with how I like to think and the lens through which I see kids in general.
Dena (37:22) I think I am better at my job because of that too. (37:25) Right. (37:25) And, hopefully, I'm a better mommy because of it too because they are so stinking strong and resilient, and they have you know, they're amazing communicators even when they're not. (37:35) And they're, you know, blocking me or blacklisting me or that went till they turn figure out how to turn us off on dexcom follow one day. (37:43) But also even that, it's sort of like, alright.
Dena (37:45) Well, good luck. (37:46) Hope that serves you.
Scott Benner (37:47) Can I pick through your the way you think about resilience for a second? (37:51) Because I'm a little of two minds on it because for you, using you as an example. (37:56) Right? (37:56) You have two kids that sound like they're pretty bright. (37:59) I mean, they come from like, you know, their parents are both educated and, you know, in the in the medical field.
Scott Benner (38:05) So, I mean, it it to me shows a an understanding and ability to learn and retain things, etcetera. (38:12) Makes sense to me that your, you know, your apple might not have fallen too far from your tree. (38:16) Although, I've seen it I've seen the apple fall, roll down a hill, go over a waterfall, and you think, like, these two people couldn't possibly be more different. (38:23) But sounds like your kids aren't that much different. (38:26) My point is is if I was just talking about it from my perspective or, you know, you're talking about it from your perspective, the kids are resilient, they're strong, they're adjusting, this is awesome, this is how we've set it up, it's working.
Scott Benner (38:37) I also find myself as, a host of of, you know, of a conversation that I realize is being heard by more people than just you and I. (38:45) What about the people who don't have that? (38:48) I hate that society thinks that you either are strong or you're not. (38:53) Like, you know what I mean? (38:54) Like, it's like a decision you made.
Scott Benner (38:55) Like, why don't you just be more resilient or try harder or, you know, who's gonna carry the boats or whatever all those podcasters yell about all the time about how you're gonna be awesome in the world and everything. (39:06) Like, what happens when you're just not you know what I mean? (39:09) Like, like, for whatever reason, wiring, circumstances, trauma, whatever's happened to you before leaves you in a position where you're just not a resilient person. (39:19) Like, shit happens to you and you fold. (39:21) You go, oh my god.
Scott Benner (39:22) I'm gonna lay down now. (39:24) I don't believe that to be a conscious decision. (39:26) It reminds me very much of I'm gonna use this example for the rest of my life. (39:31) Hurricane Katrina, which at this point now is might have been twenty years ago. (39:35) I have no idea how long ago it was.
Scott Benner (39:37) Standing outside of my house talking to one of my neighbors, and he says, don't understand why they didn't leave. (39:43) And I said, can you imagine being so poor or or so something that with days notice, could not escape something that was coming to kill you? (39:53) Mhmm. (39:53) Why would you just act like, I can't believe that they didn't leave? (39:58) How come you can't think, oh my gosh.
Scott Benner (40:00) What's the situation they're in that didn't allow them to leave? (40:04) And I think about their resilience the same way. (40:07) Hope this is making sense. (40:08) Right? (40:08) Like Totally.
Scott Benner (40:09) Yeah. (40:09) Yeah. (40:09) Yeah. (40:10) Like, so there are plenty of people in the world who just, like, see you and you're twenty pounds overweight, and what they think is you don't you eat wrong and you don't exercise. (40:17) What if that's not true?
Scott Benner (40:19) Like, what if you are eating right and you do exercise and you have a genetic issue and you're twenty pounds overweight? (40:24) Or here's one. (40:26) What if you don't eat well and you don't exercise, but you also have three jobs and you're broke? (40:32) And I think, who cares? (40:34) Like, I say, who cares?
Scott Benner (40:35) I don't care how you got there. (40:37) I, in a perfect situation, don't wanna see a human being struggling for any reason whatsoever. (40:42) Why don't we look for ways to help them? (40:45) Taking this all back to resilience, I just don't know. (40:48) Like, there's part of me that loves when you tell me your kids are strong, and there's part of me that feels sad that they have to be.
Scott Benner (40:56) Does that make sense?
Dena (40:57) It's my every day.
Scott Benner (40:59) Okay.
Dena (40:59) Yes.
Scott Benner (40:59) Okay.
Dena (41:00) It makes so much sense. (41:01) And it's notice, you know, my knee jerk response was just to pivot away from the hard stuff because if we sit there for too long, it is. (41:13) Like, why do why do any of these kids I just listened to one of your episodes on the airplane over the weekend of, like, you know, why did this have to happen? (41:22) And we can spend lots and lots of time, and most of us who are parenting in this space have. (41:28) I think you bring up a really valid point too, which is just, like, acknowledging and honoring our privilege in so many different spaces to have resources and access and support systems, all of those things.
Scott Benner (41:40) Dina, can I stop you for a second? (41:42) An irony about me I want everybody to understand. (41:45) When you said that, I I both feel that way and I get what they call douche chills from the from the phrase. (41:51) Like, I I when you're like, we honored our privilege, I'm like, oh god. (41:55) I don't wanna be a person who honors the privilege.
Scott Benner (41:58) I was like, I would just like to be a person. (42:00) Like, it's the wording that throws me out. (42:02) It's really interesting. (42:03) Like, I a 100% agree with you. (42:05) You have to be able to look up once in a while and see just you know what?
Scott Benner (42:09) You have skills, life, whatever. (42:13) However your stew got made, it's resilient in this situation or it works against this thing. (42:18) And I know that is privilege. (42:20) I just I'm like, I'm not from the part of the like, I don't know. (42:24) I hate it when somebody says that.
Dena (42:26) You pulled for it, Scott. (42:28) You pulled for it, and I had to say it because I felt like we gotta name it upfront. (42:32) Like, yeah. (42:33) There's a lot of reasons.
Scott Benner (42:34) You're a 100% right. (42:34) There's a
Dena (42:35) lot of reason people don't leave.
Scott Benner (42:37) When Erica uses, like, what I call therapy words
Dena (42:40) Mhmm.
Scott Benner (42:40) I think, oh, I agree with her. (42:42) And I somehow, like, there's part of me that doesn't wanna be attributed to agreeing with her, but I do and it's because of the wording. (42:48) The only reason I bring it up is because I think there might be a lot of people listening who have the same, like, reaction to it. (42:56) And at the same time, I think that they deserve the courtesy that comes with it. (43:01) So, you know I mean,
Dena (43:02) you taught me a new term, douche chills. (43:05) Now it's forever cemented in my brain.
Scott Benner (43:07) You don't know that word?
Dena (43:08) I don't know that. (43:09) I don't know that term, but now I do. (43:11) And yeah. (43:12) I mean, I feel like we have to just acknowledge it. (43:14) So I don't we don't have to use any terms that give you chills of any kind.
Dena (43:18) But I think it's worth saying, like, we have we we do. (43:22) We are grateful for the resources we have.
Scott Benner (43:24) Yeah.
Dena (43:24) And people can have all the aces in the world if you want you know? (43:29) Like, all of the points against them and still be resilient. (43:34) And so I guess Let
Scott Benner (43:36) me argue the other side. (43:37) When shit gets hard, I expect you to stand up. (43:40) I want you to. (43:41) I want that to be your answer whether it's easy for you or not because I think that's the only answer. (43:47) When a bully jumps on you and starts swinging, if you don't fight back, you're for sure gonna get your ass kicked.
Scott Benner (43:53) So you might get your ass kicked fighting back, but again, I say better going down swinging. (43:59) Right? (44:00) Like, you're not gonna have a chance the other way. (44:02) And there are gonna be people who are listening, like, well, listen. (44:04) I have, like, clinical depression.
Scott Benner (44:05) I can't do it. (44:06) I'm like, I'm no. (44:07) I'm not talking to you. (44:08) You know, I'm talking to everybody who just kinda folds up. (44:12) There's a moment in there, whether you realize it or not, where you you really could just decide, like, I'm gonna stand up and get hit in the face.
Scott Benner (44:18) I'm not gonna get kicked in the side. (44:20) And sometimes people don't do that. (44:23) And it's hard, and I understand. (44:24) Like, sometimes it's the way their minds work just don't lend to fighting. (44:28) Were talking about it last night.
Scott Benner (44:29) We what were we talking about last night? (44:31) The, Arden had a class. (44:32) They were talking oh, I don't know the name of the you're gonna know right away. (44:36) The guy put people in a room, had them push a buzzer. (44:39) They thought they were hurting people in the other room.
Scott Benner (44:41) What the hell was that called? (44:42) That study.
Dena (44:43) Oh, it's like a social psychology experiment, but I do not know the name of
Scott Benner (44:46) the researcher. (44:46) So yeah. (44:48) Like, we were talking about it last night, and we kinda went around the room. (44:52) What would you do if somebody put you on that button and you realized what was going on? (44:56) And Arden looked at like, she's like, dad wouldn't do it.
Scott Benner (45:00) Like, she's like, he just wouldn't. (45:02) He he'd say that's stupid. (45:03) I'm not doing that. (45:04) She's like, don't even know if dad would, like, go to the meeting. (45:06) And she's like, but if he was there and someone said it to him, he'd say, you.
Scott Benner (45:11) I'm not doing that. (45:12) And he'd stop. (45:13) Mhmm. (45:14) And then she kinda went to my wife and we were like, well, you're kind of a people pleaser, like, sometimes. (45:18) Like, maybe if you got into that situation and thought you were doing the right thing, you know, you might do it for a little while, but I think and we just went through our whole we started going, I don't know if other people did this.
Scott Benner (45:27) We went through our extended family, like, oh, I think uncle this would do it and, like, you know what I mean? (45:32) And, like Yeah. (45:32) And we found people in our lives that we think would gleefully have been like, do this. (45:37) They're pushing the button and some people who wouldn't and, you know, all different things. (45:41) So all that stuff about whoever it is you are, you know, when you're you need to be resilient because type one type one sucks.
Scott Benner (45:49) Like, I don't know what your first response is, but I know what your second one should be. (45:54) And I do think that having that second response puts you in a better position to maybe not be you know, find yourself on the ground getting kicked in the ribs. (46:03) So I don't know. (46:04) Yeah. (46:04) I went on for a while there.
Scott Benner (46:05) Anyway, please tell me one thing that no one would know that gives you chills, like, do chills, like, where you're just embarrassed. (46:12) I will tell you mine if you tell me yours.
Dena (46:14) Oh, alright. (46:15) And this is gonna take me a second.
Scott Benner (46:17) Yeah. (46:17) What happens when you're like, oh my god. (46:19) This is very embarrassing. (46:20) I wish this was not happening.
Dena (46:22) Like, what gives me the chills? (46:24) Is that what
Scott Benner (46:24) you're asking? (46:24) Not yeah. (46:25) But not good chills. (46:26) You understand where the phrase comes from. (46:27) Right?
Dena (46:28) Yeah. (46:28) Yeah. (46:28) Oh, yeah. (46:29) Yeah. (46:29) No.
Dena (46:29) But I'm I'm trying to, like, I'm
Scott Benner (46:32) trying give you an ear.
Dena (46:34) Okay. (46:35) Give me yours, and then I'll think about mine.
Scott Benner (46:36) Every time I hear the song Barracuda by heart and the music pauses and they yell Barracuda, I get douchebels. (46:46) I'm like, this is ridiculous. (46:50) And I'm not unaware that it's a good song. (46:52) It's the one part where it's and then the music stops and they yell barracuda. (46:56) I'm like, I feel like we could have done something different in that spot.
Scott Benner (46:59) But Mhmm. (47:00) Nothing that embarrasses you and, like, makes you upset for humanity?
Dena (47:05) It's like embarrassed for others. (47:07) Yeah. (47:07) I'm really Alright. (47:08) Gonna have to
Scott Benner (47:09) think about this. (47:09) We'll come back to it. (47:10) Don't worry about it.
Dena (47:11) Yeah. (47:11) No. (47:12) Now I'm like, I really wanna have a good answer, but I'm I'm
Scott Benner (47:15) I'm very judgmental about the harpsong Barracuda. (47:18) I just wanna say that. (47:19) And I had to sit through I had to sit through them live one time to see Black Crows. (47:25) And they they sang that damn song and almost ruined my evening. (47:31) Also, black girls were excellent live back before the brothers realized they hated each other.
Scott Benner (47:36) I just wanna say that too.
Dena (47:38) Okay.
Scott Benner (47:38) I'm sorry. (47:38) Okay. (47:39) When you tell me your kids are strong and they're resilient, what do you mean by that exactly?
Dena (47:45) I mean, I think that you you kind of nailed it when you said, I hope that there are kids who go down swinging and also figure out how to get back up.
Scott Benner (47:58) Mhmm.
Dena (48:00) You know?
Scott Benner (48:00) A little water off the duck's back too. (48:02) Right?
Dena (48:03) Yeah. (48:04) Yeah. (48:04) Yeah. (48:05) I do a little turtle with my hand and I say it just rolls off your back.
Scott Benner (48:08) Nice.
Dena (48:09) Yeah. (48:10) I don't I mean, I think I don't I agree with you. (48:13) I don't I don't think we know how we become resilient. (48:18) In fact, during COVID, I dug pretty deep too into, like, both research and also my own heart of, like, how are we gonna get through this? (48:26) Mhmm.
Dena (48:26) So, you know, I I don't it's sort of a entity that we don't fully understand. (48:32) So I hope to do it by, you know, like, showing them modeling and by also just, like, ugh, being there when they do fall down because of type one diabetes, they do so much.
Scott Benner (48:42) What did you come up with? (48:44) What did you come up with during COVID? (48:46) Because I'll tell came up with one.
Dena (48:48) Yeah. (48:48) I I go ahead.
Scott Benner (48:50) No. (48:50) I would just give me a half a second, then I wanna hear your thing. (48:53) I just went with, oh, we paused society. (48:57) Like, I I'm getting a break in the middle of my life is how it felt. (49:00) And I know that's because I didn't have to go to a job outside of the house or something like that.
Scott Benner (49:04) There's a lot oh my god. (49:05) There's a lot of privilege in that. (49:07) Sorry. (49:08) But it's it's the right thing to say there.
Dena (49:10) Gotcha. (49:11) Yeah. (49:11) Gotcha.
Scott Benner (49:14) I make a podcast, so I was pretty much like, oh, you know, I don't know how much different COVID was than my regular life because I don't get out of here enough to begin with. (49:22) Right? (49:23) But when everyone was in that same situation, like, you could kinda segment your brain the illness part, right, like, put that off to the side and say to yourself, well, like, I'm not old or particularly unhealthy. (49:34) I think I'm gonna be fine through this. (49:36) You know, I felt pretty comfortable about that.
Scott Benner (49:38) The truth is is we saved money for the first time in years because you don't realize all the things you're pissing money away on, like going to dinner or, like, little stuff like that that uses up more of your money than you think. (49:49) Right? (49:49) Yeah. (49:50) So, like, we're starting to save money. (49:51) And I'm like, oh my god.
Scott Benner (49:52) It's the Kelly. (49:53) I'm like, this COVID thing is gonna make us, like, solvent. (49:55) It's like, it's gonna be crazy. (49:57) And at the same time, like, life stopped. (50:00) Yeah.
Scott Benner (50:00) Like, people and I was like, oh, this is like a break from society. (50:04) It's like a break from the grind. (50:06) It went on too long. (50:07) Don't get me wrong. (50:08) But, like, in the beginning, I thought that.
Scott Benner (50:10) Now when it got long, then it got worrisome. (50:14) Because then you're like, oh my god. (50:16) Are they ever letting us get the hell out of here again? (50:18) You know, like, is this gonna go that way? (50:20) And but even to that, I said to myself, nah.
Scott Benner (50:23) It'll end eventually. (50:25) Yeah. (50:26) Like, just hang out and enjoy the break. (50:28) And my kids were around more. (50:30) Like, I found ways to look at it as, like I mean, it wasn't positive, but I tried to find the positive in it as much as I could.
Dena (50:36) Oh, look at you. (50:36) Sneaky, sneaky optimism. (50:39) I feel resilience there.
Scott Benner (50:40) Exactly. (50:41) No. (50:41) I mean, I Yeah. (50:42) I understand when people say that there's things about having type one diabetes they wouldn't give away. (50:47) I've had conversations with people who say like, you you give them the magic wand.
Scott Benner (50:51) You say, if I gave you a magic wand, would you make your diabetes go away? (50:54) Thinking everybody would say yes. (50:55) There are people who say no because they think it's made them what they are, where they identify with it at this point. (51:02) It's interesting. (51:03) But I'm sorry.
Scott Benner (51:03) During COVID, you
Dena (51:05) No. (51:06) I I I think all of this is very relevant and so interesting, and I think about it a lot for better or worse. (51:13) You know, I guess I'll answer two ways. (51:14) One, specific to diabetes, like, my husband and I often people say, like, oh, you know, you two are the best suited to do this for anyone, and we often roll our eyes. (51:25) And I often say, you know, you don't want to have to find out that you could do hard things Yeah.
Dena (51:31) Well Yeah. (51:32) Together. (51:32) Right? (51:32) Like, I don't wish that for any couple. (51:35) I don't want to have to put you to the test.
Dena (51:37) But, unfortunately, life happened, and, like, we were put to the test. (51:40) And I feel I feel happy and extremely grateful that I have a partner who, like, does hard shit with me really well.
Scott Benner (51:48) I don't know how to think about that part. (51:50) I still can't I'm getting older and I still don't know how to think about that part. (51:53) I'm adopted. (51:54) Right? (51:55) My adopted parents get divorced.
Scott Benner (51:57) I grew up really broke. (51:59) I think that all these things have a lot to do with how I get through life, and I'm happy about how I get through life. (52:04) But once in a while, like, you throw on, like, I don't know, an app and you're scrolling TikTok and you see someone whose life is so vapid and and devoid of any kind of friction whatsoever, and there is a part of you that's like, I maybe would I like to know what that feels like? (52:22) Like like, would I like to not have any context for the world? (52:26) Like, maybe that would be awesome for a day or a little while or something.
Scott Benner (52:30) But I think when I come down to it eventually, I think no. (52:34) I think I'd prefer to be me and have context than not, but I also don't know what it's like to live unencumbered like that. (52:42) Like, maybe it's awesome. (52:44) You know what I mean? (52:45) Mhmm.
Scott Benner (52:45) Yeah. (52:46) Anyway. (52:47) Yeah. (52:47) Well,
Dena (52:48) I'll I'll leave you with my last response to to
Scott Benner (52:51) Yeah. (52:51) Please.
Dena (52:51) Resilience that I that I did draw on honestly. (52:54) And, yeah, full disclosure. (52:56) Like, I read the research. (52:57) I was like, what are we gonna do? (52:58) Mhmm.
Dena (53:00) For kids, they I were I mostly work with kids, but I think it kind of relates to diabetes. (53:04) And, honestly, it relates to the podcast is what the research showed in kids is there was sort of this, like, secret sauce for some kids, especially during horrible catastrophes. (53:17) So, you know, hurricane Katrina, probably COVID, although it was happening live time when I was reading this stuff. (53:23) And there was one researcher named Ann Masten, and she came up with the term ordinary magic. (53:30) And, essentially, kids who experience horrible, horrible things, trauma, tragedy, if they had one adult who just sort of held them at the center of their world, she called it ordinary magic.
Dena (53:43) It sort of transcended tragedy, or it helped them plant the seeds of what you're asking. (53:48) What is resilience? (53:49) How do we define it? (53:50) Mhmm. (53:50) The truth is, like, I don't know.
Dena (53:51) I don't feel like I have a very good answer for you.
Scott Benner (53:53) Yeah.
Dena (53:53) But I do know that holding on to the idea that, like, if you make a difference in one little person's life and be that person, it does matter. (54:02) And I know it sounds, yeah, a little douche douche
Scott Benner (54:04) I know. (54:05) I didn't get I liked it. (54:06) Like so hold hold them. (54:08) Yeah. (54:08) I'll let you know what's douchey.
Scott Benner (54:09) And right now, it's barracuda. (54:11) Okay? (54:11) It's my god. (54:13) The the music just stops and they yell barracuda. (54:16) Psychologically, is it because the music gets quiet and I feel like it's turn like, maybe I feel exposed during that.
Scott Benner (54:23) I wonder. (54:23) That's not for now. (54:25) Hold a young person at the center of how did you put that?
Dena (54:29) Oh, I don't know. (54:31) I don't like to have to quote it again. (54:32) Just sort of like holding a young person at the center of of your world, making them feel the most important or just playing with them on the floor, getting into their little world, and helping them feel seen when all these terrible things are happening around them.
Scott Benner (54:47) Protected. (54:49) Yeah. (54:49) A sense of home. (54:51) There's a protector there. (54:52) Somebody's got your back.
Scott Benner (54:53) That whole feeling like you if an adult helps a child feel that way, what? (54:58) What happens for them?
Dena (54:59) They are more likely to turn out okay.
Scott Benner (55:03) Really? (55:04) Yeah. (55:05) Opposite aces list.
Dena (55:07) Exactly.
Scott Benner (55:08) Yeah.
Dena (55:09) That's correct.
Scott Benner (55:10) Is there that? (55:11) Oh.
Dena (55:11) Yeah. (55:11) There is that.
Scott Benner (55:13) How come I've never wondered that?
Dena (55:15) No. (55:15) It it is. (55:15) It's well, protective factors, I guess, is what we would say.
Scott Benner (55:18) Okay.
Dena (55:19) But they there's some cool new terminology for it too. (55:23) And I'm not it's not coming to my mind right now.
Scott Benner (55:25) I'll figure it out. (55:26) I have a computer. (55:27) I I can Yeah.
Dena (55:28) But, I mean, the protective factors. (55:29) But one of them is just this ordinary magic. (55:32) And I feel like, honestly, at the risk of sounding kind of cheesy, it's it's like why I'm here. (55:37) It's why I found your podcast. (55:39) It's because I think if you sort of touch one person who then helps one kid, you know, seen or better or that they can go down swinging, like you said, I I think we've done right.
Dena (55:50) You know, I'm I'm also a psychologist, so I I was trained to think that too, but I think it's how I always thought about the world.
Scott Benner (55:56) Tell me about what what about the podcast is attractive to you?
Dena (55:59) Just the feeling of, like, there's other people out there who get this. (56:03) Yeah. (56:04) There's other people out there who get me. (56:06) I just listened to one of your little cute episodes about, like, had a bowl of fruit meal. (56:10) Mhmm.
Dena (56:10) And I was like, ugh. (56:12) It just feels like, yeah. (56:13) You're speaking my language. (56:14) I don't have to explain myself. (56:16) So there's just a relief in having a community that understands our experience, especially as parents.
Scott Benner (56:22) Okay. (56:22) Is there something about how I do it or the way the conversations go that are particularly attractive to you? (56:29) Or are you in one of those situations where you don't actually like me a lot, but you like the content? (56:34) Or, like, does that make sense? (56:35) Because there are people who really don't like me that still listen to the podcast, which I find I think it's because I bring together the people they're interested in listening to.
Scott Benner (56:43) But, like, I mean, the is it your thing? (56:45) Like, would I be your thing if this was a podcast about something else? (56:49) Or you see what I'm asking?
Dena (56:51) I like you, Scott. (56:52) That's what you're asking.
Scott Benner (56:53) Oh, okay. (56:54) That's not what I was asking, but that's okay. (56:56) Good.
Dena (56:56) Keep going. (56:56) No. (56:57) I love the way this is going now. (56:58) Your style. (57:00) I like the conversations.
Dena (57:01) I wish I had more time. (57:02) Is genuinely how I feel. (57:04) Like, I I don't have time to listen to all the things I'd like to listen to.
Scott Benner (57:07) Sure.
Dena (57:07) And I also experience a little bit of burnout sometimes with, like, the con with just the content in general. (57:13) Like, sometimes I need my diabetes info, and I need to, like, get it, and I need to get out. (57:18) Mhmm. (57:18) You know? (57:18) Like, I I think that's part of my experience is I'm gonna, like, lean in.
Dena (57:22) I actually just was talking to a girlfriend on my way to meet with you, and she said, you never talk publicly that day. (57:27) You know, we're not the family that, like, does the walk and puts up all the Facebook things. (57:31) Like, we just started again, I just kinda follow my kids' lead on that. (57:35) And so I don't, like, wave my diabetes flag my diabetes mommy flag around a lot.
Scott Benner (57:40) Right.
Dena (57:40) And when I do, it takes a lot of energy. (57:42) It's hiring. (57:43) So I think I save my podcast, my my juice box moments for, like, my sort of private, like, I need to fill my cup. (57:50) I need to get my info. (57:51) My husband does not listen.
Dena (57:53) He listened to a few episodes because I've, like, hunted them his way. (57:56) Yeah. (57:56) He gets really oversaturated really fast. (57:59) And so I think, you know, I like sort of, like, the quick tips and tricks and things that I can stash away because I use them all the freaking time. (58:05) Like, all the time.
Scott Benner (58:06) Good. (58:07) Good.
Dena (58:07) And then I also have to, like, you know, consume with care too.
Scott Benner (58:12) In another episode that you haven't heard yet, but people listening may have just heard recently, I talked about being at a public event well, private event, excuse me, where I was speaking to about 650 people. (58:24) And I was telling I was responding to a question, telling an emotional story, and somehow, one of the people in the audience has sympathetic God, I forget what they call it now. (58:37) Anyway, he gets chest pains and passes out if he gets filled with too much empathy. (58:43) Syncope. (58:44) Or no, not syncope.
Scott Benner (58:45) There's a word they used. (58:46) I can't remember what it was. (58:47) Anyway, I'm telling a story and I made a guy pass out. (58:52) Just yeah. (58:52) So Oh.
Scott Benner (58:53) Yeah. (58:54) So it was, like, you know, he was okay. (58:56) Like, he kinda lost it for a second, came back. (58:58) They were able to help him. (59:00) It's a thing they know happens to he knows happens to him.
Scott Benner (59:02) He did you know, EMS came but he didn't leave the premises, like, the whole thing. (59:06) That's not the point of the story. (59:08) The that was just enough for context for you. (59:10) The story is this. (59:12) This happens while I'm speaking.
Scott Benner (59:14) Like, I see motion out ahead of me that's on I don't know how to put it. (59:18) If you've ever been up on stage, you know, like, the you don't actually look at anybody. (59:22) Usually, pick a couple of people and look them in the face if you're talking. (59:26) I happen to be in a situation where I was lit, so you really can't see anything but silhouettes. (59:31) And one of the silhouettes moved oddly.
Scott Benner (59:34) Uh-oh. (59:34) And I knew it. (59:35) Like, I like, your brain's like, that wasn't right. (59:38) Like, the motion wasn't right. (59:40) And I I turned my head in time to hear somebody said, we need help.
Dena (59:44) Great.
Scott Benner (59:44) And so it all kinda devolves from there the way you would expect. (59:48) You know, at first, people are calm, then you see what's going on. (59:51) Some people rush over to help, trying to get him out of the room to help him privately, but he can't make it. (59:57) That makes them dump the 650 people out of the room into the into the hall. (1:00:02) And so now we're out there mulling around.
Scott Benner (1:00:04) You know, EMS comes in with a gurney. (1:00:06) It's all kinda scary and everything. (1:00:08) People are, you know, are experiencing this altogether. (1:00:12) And ten minutes later, they take him away. (1:00:14) And like I said, he didn't even leave the premises.
Scott Benner (1:00:16) He was fine. (1:00:17) And they move everybody else back into the room. (1:00:20) And I go to the person running it, and I go, you know, if you get my mic back on, I can keep going. (1:00:26) And she looked at me like I was a sociopath. (1:00:31) And I thought, oh my god, what's happening?
Scott Benner (1:00:34) And she goes, no. (1:00:35) We're gonna give everybody the hour off. (1:00:37) You know, you can do your other talk later in the day, but we're cutting this one short. (1:00:40) And I and, you know, these people need time to process. (1:00:45) And I was like, no, they don't.
Scott Benner (1:00:46) Just tell them to sit the down and we'll keep going. (1:00:48) Like, it'll be fine. (1:00:49) Like, you know and I realized in that moment, I'm not a sociopath, at least not for that reason, if I am. (1:00:57) But I but what I am is somebody who's been through so much that this was not upsetting to me. (1:01:02) Mhmm.
Scott Benner (1:01:02) I was like, oh, we dealt with it. (1:01:04) He's okay. (1:01:05) Let's keep going. (1:01:07) Yeah. (1:01:07) And I really, for a half a second, looked out in the room and I thought, I wish I could talk to all these people right now.
Scott Benner (1:01:13) Like, I wanna know how many of them were like, yeah. (1:01:16) Let's get to lunch so I can process this.
Dena (1:01:19) Mhmm.
Scott Benner (1:01:20) And how many of them were like, yo. (1:01:22) Let's keep going. (1:01:23) You know, like like, okay, he's good. (1:01:25) Like, life moves on. (1:01:27) Let's go.
Scott Benner (1:01:28) And I guess I'm answering my own question from earlier because I like that about myself. (1:01:33) Like, I could have sat back down and just kept going. (1:01:36) Like, this was not nearly the this doesn't even, like, make my list of bad things that's happened to me. (1:01:42) You you know what I mean? (1:01:43) And Totally.
Scott Benner (1:01:45) Yeah. (1:01:45) Yeah. (1:01:45) Yeah. (1:01:45) So, anyway, I just wanted to tell you that. (1:01:48) But that's that's how I judged your husband, and then I went to this.
Scott Benner (1:01:50) I feel like your husband would have been like, a lot has happened here. (1:01:53) We should take a break and then have lunch. (1:01:55) Is he that person, or am I unfairly shining this light on him?
Dena (1:02:00) I think that it's more he he really needs to he's really good at compartmentalizing, and I suck at it. (1:02:07) Oh, And so so he, like, he wants to, like, open the diabetes box, close the diabetes box. (1:02:13) And then yeah. (1:02:13) Then he wants to, like, go have lunch.
Scott Benner (1:02:15) Is he protecting himself, you think?
Dena (1:02:17) I think, yeah. (1:02:18) Definitely. (1:02:19) Yeah. (1:02:19) Oh, yeah. (1:02:20) It's too much.
Dena (1:02:20) He's so he's just yeah. (1:02:22) He's a deeply feeling guy, and you talk about it all the time. (1:02:25) And also gets I don't know. (1:02:26) Takes over all the little corners if you let it.
Scott Benner (1:02:28) Yeah.
Dena (1:02:29) So I think it's also protective. (1:02:30) You know?
Scott Benner (1:02:31) Keep he's keeping it from being his entire life and maybe keeping himself from feeling that both of his kids were diagnosed with type one diabetes thirty days apart and all the autoimmunes on his side of the family. (1:02:43) Right? (1:02:43) I mean, you've thought about that before. (1:02:44) Right? (1:02:45) It's his fault, not yours.
Scott Benner (1:02:46) Of course. (1:02:46) I understand. (1:02:46) Well All I know is I have seen stuff and lived through it and pressed on to the point where what I just described you, which is me on stage with lights in my face with 650 people hanging on what I'm saying. (1:03:04) And then this happens in the middle of the thing. (1:03:06) And I just thought, like, alright.
Scott Benner (1:03:08) Well, let's keep going. (1:03:09) And I wondered after I realized that about myself, wondered how many people would judge me as callous. (1:03:15) Do you know what I mean? (1:03:16) But, like, in the end, that they couldn't keep going, I actually thought to myself, like, this is some white people right here. (1:03:21) Just sit back down.
Scott Benner (1:03:23) We're okay. (1:03:23) He's fine. (1:03:24) They just told you he's fine. (1:03:25) Keep going. (1:03:26) Like, be an adult.
Scott Benner (1:03:27) Like, process it and let's go. (1:03:28) But and by way, I wanna say this too in case they're listening. (1:03:31) I don't think they did anything wrong. (1:03:33) I understand what they did. (1:03:34) And from a professional standpoint, I probably would have made the same decision.
Scott Benner (1:03:38) Like, I just think that, like, talking about it and breaking it down like this, like, those were my internal thoughts. (1:03:44) My internal thoughts were like, I can keep going. (1:03:47) Anyway, not the problem.
Dena (1:03:49) There you go. (1:03:50) Yeah. (1:03:50) That's the definition though. (1:03:51) Right? (1:03:52) The definition is like and you're right.
Dena (1:03:53) Some people can't. (1:03:55) Right. (1:03:55) And I don't always believe it's because that they've of of their life experience. (1:04:00) I think sometimes it's like an inside factor that we don't even really understand very well. (1:04:05) Like, why are you a guy who can keep going?
Dena (1:04:07) There's also a guy who would jump off the stage and go try to rescue that person even though you have no business doing that. (1:04:11) Yeah. (1:04:12) Right? (1:04:12) Or that would be overly invested in that person's story and now have them on the podcast. (1:04:16) And, like, there's lots of different ways to respond to that type of adversity, and you're right.
Dena (1:04:21) Like, I I you just defined it for yourself. (1:04:23) Like, I'm the guy who can just keep going. (1:04:25) And it's not because you don't care or because but you were told, like, he's okay. (1:04:29) So we're gonna just okay. (1:04:30) We're gonna move on.
Scott Benner (1:04:30) I assessed it very quickly. (1:04:32) I turned to the woman next to me who I knew knew him and I said, does he have type one diabetes? (1:04:36) And she said, no. (1:04:37) And I said, well, then I ain't gonna be much help.
Dena (1:04:40) I have no business helping.
Scott Benner (1:04:41) I mean, if that guy's blood sugar is low, y'all should back up. (1:04:44) I know what to do. (1:04:45) Right? (1:04:45) Like but if that's not the case, then I'm not valuable here. (1:04:49) And Yep.
Scott Benner (1:04:50) There are enough people around him that could help him keep from hurting himself or whatever, which it didn't look like it was gonna happen anyway. (1:04:56) And Yep. (1:04:56) Somebody had already gone for e like like, somebody had called for EMS. (1:05:00) Like, I was like, I should get out of the way. (1:05:03) Like, I I I I at one point, I actually thought this was a private situation.
Scott Benner (1:05:07) I shouldn't even be looking at this. (1:05:09) And, you know, once somebody had him, I walked out of the room. (1:05:12) Like, I I started leaving the room as they were saying, we should all go I was like, yeah, no kidding. (1:05:16) We shouldn't be gawking while this is happening to him. (1:05:18) Yeah.
Scott Benner (1:05:19) You
Dena (1:05:19) know? (1:05:19) Right. (1:05:20) Also very adaptive to just walk away. (1:05:22) Right? (1:05:22) Let people whose job it is to take care of him take care of him.
Scott Benner (1:05:24) Five seconds later, I was out in the hall and some lady was like, oh my god, you were like, I'm so sorry. (1:05:29) Your thing got cut short. (1:05:30) And and she started it's funny how quickly it pivoted because this lovely woman got me outside and she's like, I'm so sorry. (1:05:37) I'm not gonna get to hear the rest of what you have to say. (1:05:40) She said, you're such an eloquent speaker.
Scott Benner (1:05:43) And I, right away, like, I smiled and said, thank you. (1:05:46) But ask people who know me privately. (1:05:49) I've now been talking about that for a week because I don't believe myself to be an eloquent speaker. (1:05:53) When she said it to me, I was like, oh, god. (1:05:57) Like, I I I can't even begin to tell you what I what, like, the the rabbit hole my head went down.
Scott Benner (1:06:03) Like, I was like, I'm not an eloquent speaker. (1:06:05) What does that say about her? (1:06:05) What does it say about me? (1:06:07) Like, what is it like, how is she taking me? (1:06:09) Like, well, how am I like, I why would she think that of me?
Scott Benner (1:06:12) Like, self doubt inside about that. (1:06:14) You should and Cool. (1:06:16) Please, he was still on the floor, and I was in I was already moving on to, like, thought thing. (1:06:23) So anyway, so you like the podcast because it's, like, sameness. (1:06:28) You can get some information from it.
Scott Benner (1:06:29) You can walk away from it when you need to, but it's there when you come back. (1:06:33) Am I am I about getting this right?
Dena (1:06:35) Yeah. (1:06:35) Okay.
Scott Benner (1:06:36) And I'm I I'm somehow entertaining to you even though you're on the West Coast. (1:06:41) The podcast is huge in California. (1:06:43) And yet, I don't, like, think I'm always interested that about that because I do have as much as I don't like to think of people as having, like, regional differences, I realize that that's actually true. (1:06:56) I just don't like thinking about people that way. (1:06:58) I prefer to think we're all kind of the same.
Scott Benner (1:07:01) But I get that like, I've heard people say that, like, I'm coarse or they call me East Coast or something like that. (1:07:08) Yeah. (1:07:09) You know? (1:07:10) And I don't know what that means.
Dena (1:07:12) Yeah. (1:07:12) Well, that's a whole subculture. (1:07:15) I'm I am from from Colorado. (1:07:17) I went to school on the East Coast and have stayed. (1:07:19) I'm actually here.
Dena (1:07:20) I'm here on your coast.
Scott Benner (1:07:21) Oh. (1:07:21) Oh, so you have both experiences?
Dena (1:07:24) Yeah. (1:07:24) But I totally oh, yeah. (1:07:25) I'll I'll when I went to college, people would say, well, like, where are you really from? (1:07:29) Like, is that, like like, you said you're from Denver, but, like, what's your address?
Scott Benner (1:07:34) Nobody's really from Denver. (1:07:36) That's a mountain, isn't Yeah.
Dena (1:07:38) Exactly. (1:07:38) Or or right. (1:07:39) And because if you're from Boston, like, you're really not from Boston. (1:07:41) Right? (1:07:42) You're from Newton or Needham or right?
Dena (1:07:43) Like, no one's really from Boston.
Scott Benner (1:07:45) Right.
Dena (1:07:46) So yeah. (1:07:47) I think there are some some geographic stereotypes for sure.
Scott Benner (1:07:52) Speaking of sneaky things, I I love the way you just slipped in to make sure we knew you went to a good school in in Massachusetts. (1:07:58) That was nice.
Dena (1:07:58) There's a lot of schools in Massachusetts. (1:08:01) Watch it.
Scott Benner (1:08:02) I sniffed this right out. (1:08:03) I know what you're doing. (1:08:04) Don't you worry.
Dena (1:08:06) Good job. (1:08:07) Scott, I am so sorry that I'm gonna have to hang up, but I have to get back to my office for some
Scott Benner (1:08:13) crazy stuff. (1:08:14) Freaking people and their jobs. (1:08:15) I'm so sorry.
Dena (1:08:16) Well, you know, I gotta I gotta get back. (1:08:19) Someone's gotta bring home the bacon.
Scott Benner (1:08:20) I'll say thank you very much for doing this. (1:08:22) I thought this is a really interesting conversation. (1:08:24) I appreciate it very much. (1:08:25) I hope you enjoyed it as well.
Dena (1:08:27) I really did, and I I am extremely grateful. (1:08:30) So thank you.
Scott Benner (1:08:31) Thank you
Dena (1:08:31) so much. (1:08:31) No.
Scott Benner (1:08:32) You're you're terrific. (1:08:33) I'm gonna hit pause. (1:08:33) Just give me two seconds, and I'll let you go. (1:08:35) Thank you. (1:08:42) Are you tired of getting a rash from your CGM adhesive?
Scott Benner (1:08:45) Give the Eversense three sixty five a try. (1:08:48) Eversensecgm.com/juicebox. (1:08:51) Beautiful silicone that they use. (1:08:53) It changes every day. (1:08:54) Keeps it fresh.
Scott Benner (1:08:55) Not only that, you only have to change the sensor once a year. (1:08:58) So, I mean, that's better. (1:09:01) Head now to tandemdiabetes.com/juicebox and check out today's sponsor, Tandem Diabetes Care. (1:09:08) I think you're gonna find exactly what you're looking for at that link, including a way to sign up and get started with the Tandem Mobi system. (1:09:16) Arden has been getting her diabetes supplies from US Med for three years.
Scott Benner (1:09:20) You can as well. (1:09:22) Usmed.com/juicebox or Paul, (888) 721-1514. (1:09:29) My thanks to US Med for sponsoring this episode and for being longtime sponsors of the Juice Box Podcast. (1:09:35) There are links in the show notes and links at juiceboxpodcast.com to US Med and all of the sponsors. (1:09:45) As the holidays approach, I wanna thank all of my good friends for coming back to the Juice Box Podcast over and over again.
Scott Benner (1:09:52) It means the world to me. (1:09:53) It's the greatest gift you could give me. (1:09:55) Thank you so very much. (1:09:57) Unless, of course, you wanna share the show with someone else, then that would be an awesome gift too or a five star review. (1:10:01) I don't know.
Scott Benner (1:10:02) You don't really owe me a gift, but, I mean, if you're looking for something to do. (1:10:05) You know, subscribe and follow, tell a friend, etcetera. (1:10:07) Thank you. (1:10:08) Merry Christmas. (1:10:09) Oh my, did I get lucky.
Scott Benner (1:10:11) The Celebrity Cruise Line reached out to me and said, how would you like to come on a cruise before your Juice Cruise so you can get a real good look at the Celebrity Beyond cruise ship and share some video with your listeners? (1:10:25) I said, thank you. (1:10:28) So that's where I might be right now. (1:10:30) If it's December, let me actually find a date for you. (1:10:33) Not a 100% sure.
Scott Benner (1:10:34) I think I'm going in December right before Christmas. (1:10:38) Like, you know, like, I don't know, like, the December. (1:10:41) I'm sorry. (1:10:42) I know this isn't much of a that. (1:10:43) But if you wanna see video from me on the cruise ship, my wife and I are gonna head out and really check it out to see what it's all about to grab some great video for you.
Scott Benner (1:10:52) Get it up on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook so you can see what you'd be getting if you came along on Juice Cruise 2026, which, of course, leaves from Miami on 06/21/2026. (1:11:04) We're gonna be going to Coco Cay in The Bahamas, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Saint Kitts And Nevis. (1:11:09) Do not miss it. (1:11:09) It's a great opportunity to meet other people living with type one diabetes to form friendships, to learn things, and just swap stories. (1:11:17) It's a relaxing vacation with a bunch of people who get what your life is like.
Scott Benner (1:11:22) And trust me, there's a lot of value in that. (1:11:24) Juiceboxpodcast.com/juicecruise. (1:11:28) Come check it out and go find my socials to see what that ship looks like. (1:11:32) There's also a video at my link that's, kind of a ship tour with the celebrity beyond. (1:11:37) And let me tell you something.
Scott Benner (1:11:38) If this ship is a tenth as nice as this video is, I am in for a great time, and so are you. (1:11:45) Juiceboxpodcast.com/juicecruise. (1:11:48) Come along. (1:11:50) Have a podcast? (1:11:51) Want it to sound fantastic?
Scott Benner (1:11:52) Wrongwayrecording.com.
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#1708 Bolus 4 - Sonic Tater Tots
You can always listen to the Juicebox Podcast here but the cool kids use: Apple Podcasts/iOS - Spotify - Amazon Music - Google Play/Android - iHeart Radio - Radio Public, Amazon Alexa or wherever they get audio.
Scott and Jenny tackle Sonic Tater Tots. Learn strategies for high-fat, processed carbs using the MEAL BOLT method to keep glucose in range.
+ Click for EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
DISCLAIMER: This text is the output of AI based transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors and should not be treated as an authoritative record. Nothing that you read here constitutes advice medical or otherwise. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making changes to a healthcare plan.
Scott Benner (0:00) Hello, friends, and welcome back to another episode of the Juice Box podcast. (0:14) In every episode of bolus four, Jenny Smith and I are gonna take a few minutes to talk through how to bolus for a single item of food. (0:22) Jenny and I are gonna follow a little bit of a road map called meal bolt. (0:26) Measure the meal. (0:28) Evaluate yourself.
Scott Benner (0:29) Add the base units. (0:30) Layer a correction. (0:32) Build the bolus shape. (0:33) Offset the timing. (0:34) Look at the CGM.
Scott Benner (0:36) Tweak for next time. (0:38) Having said that, these episodes are gonna be very conversational and not incredibly technical. (0:43) We want you to hear how we think about it, but we also would like you to know that this is kind of the pathway we're considering while we're talking about it. (0:51) So while you might not hear us say every letter of Miele Bolt in every episode, we will be thinking about it while we're talking. (0:58) If you wanna learn more, go to juiceboxpodcast.com/meal-bolt.
Scott Benner (1:04) But for now, we'll find out how to bowl us for today's subject. (1:10) While you're listening, please remember that nothing you hear on the Juice Box podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. (1:18) Always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan or becoming bold with insulin. (1:30) Jenny, I put up a post on the good old Internet, and I asked people what
Jenny Smith (1:37) did I say? (1:37) Let me see what I said.
Scott Benner (1:38) Joe, very simple. (1:39) What restaurant foods give you the most trouble when you're trying to bolus? (1:43) Let's make a list. (1:44) There's some vague stuff here, but there's also people are saying, like, absolutely, like, specific restaurants.
Jenny Smith (1:51) That's why was wondering if it was just items like french fries in general or if it was specific restaurants with specific items because
Scott Benner (2:00) Well, yeah. (2:01) I mean, there's one thing I've I've learned about putting something on the Internet is that they don't know what you're thinking. (2:05) So, you know, I thought somebody would you know, I always assume people will just know what I'm thinking. (2:11) But some people are just like Chinese food, pancakes, pizza, that kind of stuff. (2:15) And I'm
Jenny Smith (2:15) like, oh, yeah.
Scott Benner (2:16) We'll Sure.
Jenny Smith (2:16) We'll get to all that anyway.
Scott Benner (2:17) Then some people got more specific. (2:19) It's chow mein. (2:20) I I really struggle with honey garlic chicken, but we've got some Panera, McDonald's, Taco Bell specific Panda Express boba.
Jenny Smith (2:34) You know what? (2:35) I have to tell you right now. (2:36) I don't understand the whole boba tea thing.
Scott Benner (2:38) I don't either.
Jenny Smith (2:38) Get it. (2:39) Yeah. (2:39) I really don't. (2:40) We have a I mean, we've got multiple places here that have it. (2:43) Oh, and then they're just to, like, look.
Jenny Smith (2:44) I'm like, I don't understand the idea of drinking something that's got, like, jellyfied weird looking bubbles at the I don't get I really just don't get it.
Scott Benner (2:52) I really don't. (2:52) Fixation with it, and I don't understand either.
Jenny Smith (2:55) So Well, I'm not alone there.
Scott Benner (2:56) Tater tots from Sonic is very specific. (3:00) And Culver's. (3:01) What's Culver's?
Jenny Smith (3:03) Oh, Culver's? (3:04) You've never that's a yeah. (3:05) Culver's. (3:06) Culver's is custard, and then it's like a burger place, but
Scott Benner (3:12) Oh, it's a Wisconsin thing. (3:13) That's why you
Jenny Smith (3:13) know what Wisconsin thing.
Scott Benner (3:14) Burger chain, frozen custard, fried cheese curds. (3:18) Fried cheese curds.
Jenny Smith (3:20) You don't know what a cheese curd is? (3:21) No. (3:21) I learned You got a brother that lives here in Wisconsin.
Scott Benner (3:24) You just do you know how Wisconsin you just got when you said come on? (3:27) You're like, come on.
Jenny Smith (3:32) Oh, entirely.
Scott Benner (3:33) Yes. (3:33) I'm gonna keep making this podcast for twenty more years just so I can know you when you're, like, 60. (3:38) That's what I want now. (3:39) I can hear you.
Jenny Smith (3:39) I will probably talk my like, my father when I'm 60. (3:42) I don't know. (3:43) He has or he had, I should say, the ultimate very Wisconsin accent.
Scott Benner (3:48) Alright. (3:49) Okay. (3:49) Well, I'll get you to do an impression one day. (3:51) But first,
Jenny Smith (3:52) I mean, let's pick one
Scott Benner (3:53) of these things. (3:53) I wanna start with the tater tots. (3:56) What was that?
Jenny Smith (3:57) Oh, tater tots.
Scott Benner (3:58) From Sonic.
Jenny Smith (3:59) Oh, Sonic. (4:00) Okay.
Scott Benner (4:01) Okay. (4:01) Hold on a second. (4:03) Sonic tater tots nutrition, I'm gonna type. (4:09) I bet I bet I'm the first person in the history of the world to type those words together. (4:12) Okay.
Scott Benner (4:12) Let's see.
Jenny Smith (4:13) I've never been to a Sonic, by the way.
Scott Benner (4:15) I have not either. (4:18) Okay. (4:18) Now this is their website.
Jenny Smith (4:20) Okay.
Scott Benner (4:21) I'll accept their cookies. (4:23) 360 calories for the tots. (4:25) Okay. (4:27) Nutritional information. (4:29) Oh, there's small, medium, and large.
Scott Benner (4:31) I'm gonna go large because I mean, I don't know. (4:34) How many is in a small and a medium and
Jenny Smith (4:36) a large? (4:36) Let's see. (4:37) Does it say? (4:40) No. (4:40) It just tells you small, medium, or large.
Scott Benner (4:43) Which one do you wanna do?
Jenny Smith (4:45) Let's do a medium.
Scott Benner (4:46) A medium? (4:47) We've shoot we're shooting the middle. (4:49) Protein in this, three grams. (4:52) Carbohydrates, Jenny, any guesses? (4:54) It's hard.
Scott Benner (4:55) You don't know how many are in there, but wanna pick a
Jenny Smith (4:57) Yeah. (4:57) In a so a medium serving. (5:01) A medium serving, I'm gonna guess 45 or 50.
Scott Benner (5:06) Okay. (5:06) 43. (5:07) You're a savant. (5:09) Total dietary fiber, four. (5:10) I'm gonna ask you in a second why you thought that for medium.
Scott Benner (5:13) Fat, 19 grams. (5:15) Saturated fat, 3.5. (5:18) They're very, very proud to tell you there's no cholesterol or trans fatty acid in it. (5:22) Oh. (5:22) Sodium, oh, eight hundred and ninety milligrams.
Scott Benner (5:26) Calories from fat, a 170. (5:28) Calcium, 19. (5:30) Vitamin a, seven. (5:31) Iron, one point four. (5:32) Vitamin c, one point four.
Jenny Smith (5:35) Okay. (5:36) Well,
Scott Benner (5:36) I don't know how to bowl this to this already because they are definitely deep fried. (5:40) Right? (5:40) So there's gonna
Jenny Smith (5:41) be Oh, a 100% deep fried.
Scott Benner (5:42) Yeah. (5:42) There there's no way there there's a baked option of this, I don't imagine.
Jenny Smith (5:45) They weren't terribly high in fat. (5:47) Right? (5:48) Well, in the medium portion. (5:49) Maybe in the small portion, it wouldn't be terribly high. (5:52) But the Small?
Scott Benner (5:53) I'll give it to you. (5:53) Is it
Jenny Smith (5:53) 20 grams?
Scott Benner (5:54) Small fat, 13. (5:56) Medium fat, 19. (5:57) Large fat, 31.
Jenny Smith (5:59) Oh.
Scott Benner (6:00) Yeah. (6:00) I wanna read this little thing from their website. (6:03) It says crispy tots fried to a golden brown and lightly seasoned with salt. (6:08) Does eight hundred and ninety milligrams of sodium sound like lightly seasoned with salty? (6:13) That's a lot, isn't it?
Jenny Smith (6:15) Nineteen hundred milligram?
Scott Benner (6:16) This is a lot. (6:17) Eight hundred and ninety milligrams.
Jenny Smith (6:19) Oh, eight hundred. (6:19) That's still almost half of what you should have in an entire day.
Scott Benner (6:23) That's what I'm saying. (6:24) But but they
Jenny Smith (6:24) That's
Scott Benner (6:25) The marketing people said lighteny lightly seasoned.
Jenny Smith (6:27) Lightly seasoned. (6:28) Yes. (6:29) Mhmm. (6:29) Just got a sprinkle on it. (6:30) You're gonna love it.
Scott Benner (6:32) Anyway, these things are probably awesome. (6:34) I just wanna say that. (6:36) They probably they probably taste like heaven. (6:39) I don't know. (6:39) Where do we start here?
Scott Benner (6:40) Let's let's say that we roll up on a Sonic, and we're not gonna get into a full meal. (6:44) We're just gonna have our tots and get on our way, and our blood sugar is nice and stable at a 120. (6:50) Let's say that. (6:51) So a 120, we're gonna wanna measure the meal. (6:56) Mhmm.
Scott Benner (6:56) I got 43 carbs. (6:58) I think you've gotta really consider the fat here, and this is gonna be the first time I think we talk about it. (7:04) So, you know, like, this to this level, evaluate yourself. (7:07) We have a little bit of a a higher blood sugar, one twenty. (7:10) I'd love to see that come down to 80, so there'll be a bolus in there for that.
Scott Benner (7:14) And, we'll do some calculations here. (7:16) So you know what I mean? (7:17) We're gonna do the old one unit covers 10 for carbs, and one unit moves us. (7:22) How have we been doing this? (7:23) One unit moves us why don't we say 50 for this one?
Jenny Smith (7:26) 50 for this one? (7:27) Sure.
Scott Benner (7:27) Let's say one unit moves Make
Jenny Smith (7:28) it nice and easy.
Scott Benner (7:29) Yeah. (7:29) Let's make it easy for us. (7:30) So about a unit for the for the one twenty in my mind. (7:35) And then your ratio is gonna tell you, what, like, 4.3 for for the carbs, which is a 5.3. (7:42) But the the pre bolus here would have to be this is interesting.
Scott Benner (7:47) Right? (7:47) Because this place is it's not at your house. (7:50) You're gonna have to drive to it. (7:52) Mhmm. (7:52) And truth be told, you're either gonna bolus while you're driving or you're gonna bolus and sit in the parking lot before you order.
Scott Benner (7:59) There's no way around it. (8:00) Right?
Jenny Smith (8:01) I mean, unless you are going inside to actually sit down, but I'll right. (8:05) I mean, most many people are doing a drive through type of thing for a fast meal restaurant.
Scott Benner (8:11) Grabbing the tots, I would think I it's an in and out situation for me. (8:14) Right. (8:15) And, Jenny, like, honestly speaking, like, how many people do you think are saying to themselves, hey. (8:20) I'm twenty minutes out from the Sonic. (8:22) I'm definitely getting tater tots.
Scott Benner (8:24) I'm gonna bolus now.
Jenny Smith (8:25) Like Not many.
Scott Benner (8:25) I don't have type one. (8:26) Like, would you make a big bolus while you were driving?
Jenny Smith (8:29) Depends where my blood sugar was and how is it how is it starting. (8:32) You know, if I'm I always have something with me.
Scott Benner (8:35) Mhmm.
Jenny Smith (8:36) And would I bolus for all of it? (8:38) No. (8:38) I would likely almost a 100% certain that I would bolus for something of it. (8:44) And then once I actually had it in hand, see what's happening with my blood sugar. (8:48) Again, this is where that evaluate your blood sugar and kind of the trend happening and go ahead and bolus for the rest of it at that point.
Jenny Smith (8:55) Or maybe see where it's going even once I get in line to make the order now that I'm there. (9:00) I'm gonna have it in hand in the next five minutes. (9:03) Yeah. (9:03) What happened with that five or ten gram bolus that I gave on the way here just to start tipping me in the direction of insulin working
Scott Benner (9:13) Mhmm.
Jenny Smith (9:14) Before I take that first bite.
Scott Benner (9:15) I think your safety is the most important thing, obviously. (9:18) Mhmm. (9:18) And I would tell you that in nineteen years of having type one diabetes, we have one time bolus in the car, and it had and it didn't work out.
Jenny Smith (9:26) Sure.
Scott Benner (9:27) And it was I I know I've told this story on the podcast before, but it was, it was it's harrowing for a minute, you know? (9:33) But mostly speaking, I I think this is a pretty honest thing to say. (9:38) If I'm thinking about it, then we bolus in the car on the way.
Jenny Smith (9:41) Correct.
Scott Benner (9:42) If I don't bring it up to Arden, she's not She's not
Jenny Smith (9:45) going to.
Scott Benner (9:45) No. (9:45) She's not gonna remember that. (9:46) But, you know, for for the sake of talking about how to successfully bolus for these sonic tater tots, I think of accurate bolus with a, you know, a significant pre bolus is gonna be the only way to get ahead of these. (9:58) Right?
Jenny Smith (9:58) Right. (9:59) Yeah. (9:59) Because, again, they're fatty, but they aren't excessive in this portion.
Scott Benner (10:04) Mhmm.
Jenny Smith (10:04) You're gonna get hit by the carb part of this sooner than the potential for what will likely be still a lingering effect maybe after you eat it because these are processed potatoes.
Scott Benner (10:17) Yeah.
Jenny Smith (10:17) Right?
Scott Benner (10:18) It's
Jenny Smith (10:18) not They are broken down. (10:19) They're smashed up. (10:20) They're precooked before they get fried. (10:22) So their glycemic impact is absolutely going to be a heavier, quicker hit.
Scott Benner (10:28) Okay.
Jenny Smith (10:28) I think what confuses people often is that they know that this is a fried food. (10:33) So they may expect it to have a slower impact on their blood sugar when really that slow impact is coming, but it's not the immediate of what they're going to see happen to their blood sugar.
Scott Benner (10:45) Okay. (10:46) So I'm using a, a fat and protein bolus calculator
Jenny Smith (10:50) Yeah.
Scott Benner (10:51) That is on my website. (10:53) Uh-huh. (10:54) It's not medical advice and use it at your own risk. (10:57) I just wanna say that.
Jenny Smith (10:57) I have one on my phone as well.
Scott Benner (10:59) There you go. (11:00) It asks me for grams of fat, grams of protein, grams for insulin to carb ratio.
Jenny Smith (11:07) Mhmm.
Scott Benner (11:08) Grams for one unit. (11:10) So I tell it 10. (11:12) And it tells me the the carbohydrate equivalent of the fat is 18 grams. (11:20) Mhmm. (11:20) That seem about right to you?
Scott Benner (11:21) Yeah. (11:22) 19 so 19 grams of fat. (11:24) So it's saying that if you're one to 10, an extra dose would be 1.8 Yeah.
Jenny Smith (11:31) Mhmm. (11:31) And it should usually I don't know if your app is the same as mine, but it'll give for those who want dosing idea or timing of dosing it. (11:38) You should give how long to
Scott Benner (11:40) It's recommended it
Jenny Smith (11:41) that bolus over.
Scott Benner (11:42) An extended bolus of four hours.
Jenny Smith (11:43) Okay.
Scott Benner (11:44) Right. (11:44) So I think that's significant for people to hear because, you know, we said at our one to 10 ratio, these tater tots are four point eight units of of insulin. (11:54) Right? (11:54) Or four point three, whatever it was. (11:56) Four point three.
Scott Benner (11:57) Two more units is, like, 40% more. (12:01) Like, it's a lot more insulin. (12:03) That Yes. (12:03) I think that, not understanding that piece, is the spot where you get into the, like, I don't know what happened. (12:08) I just had tater tots.
Scott Benner (12:09) They seem, like, benign. (12:11) Like, right? (12:11) There's probably a handful of them. (12:13) Hour or two hours later, my blood sugar's super high. (12:16) My kid's blood sugar's super high.
Scott Benner (12:17) It won't come down. (12:19) You know, I don't understand. (12:20) All my settings usually work, etcetera, so on. (12:22) Especially with these, you know, with the automated systems, they're gonna believe you that you put in the right amount of insulin and take away your basal. (12:30) And so you're gonna float up, stay up, and then how would you if you didn't understand the impacts of the fat, I believe it would be difficult to assume a 40 or 50% need over top of the original bolus.
Scott Benner (12:44) Like, that would seem, I think, significant to people who don't understand the rest
Jenny Smith (12:48) of it. (12:49) Right. (12:49) Don't you? (12:49) And where I think bringing in another piece to this consideration, a sonic meal or any fast food, many times they come in in a setting where you will also likely be sedentary after eating. (13:04) Mhmm.
Jenny Smith (13:04) Such as you're on a road trip and you're stopping quick to grab a bite along the way. (13:08) Right? (13:09) And you're getting back in the car, and now you're gonna sit for another hour or two hours. (13:13) You know, a lot of the kids that I work with are on travel athletic teams. (13:17) They're going somewhere.
Jenny Smith (13:18) They eat on the way. (13:19) They may play a sport. (13:20) They're hungry after. (13:21) They stop. (13:21) It's another hour to get home.
Jenny Smith (13:23) They're sitting in the car. (13:24) So that can have an impact. (13:26) And in terms of bringing up the fat, like we're discussing, absolutely, you may control the initial rise
Scott Benner (13:34) Mhmm.
Jenny Smith (13:34) Pretty well with the bolus just for carbs. (13:37) But later on, you may never really see that curve back down. (13:41) You may also see a little bit more of a nudge up in your blood sugar than you'd expect.
Scott Benner (13:46) I'd ask people to keep this in mind too, and I'm gonna say a couple of things very quickly. (13:50) If you didn't if you just got the tots, then I can go ahead and bowl this for, you know, about the way we talked But if you added a crispy tenders five piece to it, you'd be adding 27 carbs and 20 more grams of fat. (14:04) If you added the crispy chicken sandwich to it, you'd be adding 52 carbs and yeah. (14:12) Well, listen. (14:13) You'd be adding 52 carbs, 10 sugar, 24 fat.
Scott Benner (14:18) And by the way, another 1,500 in sodium. (14:21) Yeah. (14:21) And that's the chicken sandwich, which you're gonna definitely think like chicken. (14:25) Awesome. (14:25) Chicken's good for you.
Jenny Smith (14:26) Must be better. (14:27) Right?
Scott Benner (14:27) Let's just go to the burgers for a second. (14:29) I'm just gonna go plain sonic cheeseburger, 48 carbs, eight sugars, 35 fat. (14:37) Right? (14:38) If you get the double sonic smasher, it has pickles on it. (14:42) Jenny, it has pickles on it.
Scott Benner (14:43) I was
Jenny Smith (14:43) like, oh, you remember I like pickles?
Scott Benner (14:44) Yeah. (14:44) A lot of healthy for you in that. (14:46) Don't worry. (14:46) Pro,
Jenny Smith (14:47) carbs just ask for a side of the pickle?
Scott Benner (14:48) Just some pickles, please. (14:51) Carbs, 30. (14:52) Sugar's, eight. (14:53) Fat, 37. (14:54) 1,500 sodium.
Scott Benner (14:56) Like so there's a lot here that
Jenny Smith (14:59) There is.
Scott Benner (14:59) When you start mixing it together, especially, I think the chicken. (15:04) Because I think in people's minds, the chicken is, like, free. (15:07) It's chicken. (15:09) Chicken. (15:09) They don't think about the breading or the fat or etcetera.
Scott Benner (15:11) But just I mean, keep in mind, if you take five piece tenders, 27 carbs, and then add it to the medium tots, that's forty, fifty, sixty, seventy carbs. (15:25) It's twenty, forty, you know, 39 fat. (15:30) That's a a significant bolus. (15:32) Like and once that meal gets ahead of you, it's gonna stay ahead of you.
Jenny Smith (15:36) And this is entirely I think it's a the best example of why teaching about only carbohydrates is false information. (15:47) It is. (15:48) You're taught to just cover the carbohydrates that you're eating here. (15:52) I looked at the label. (15:54) This is what it told me.
Jenny Smith (15:55) My ratio is this. (15:56) I figured it out. (15:58) Why is this happening? (15:59) And unless somebody really steps in and says, hey. (16:02) This meal contained 50 grams of fat.
Jenny Smith (16:06) This is the reason this is happening and then proceeds to also teach you Mhmm. (16:11) How to navigate that, you're forever going to be frustrated by only counting carbohydrates.
Scott Benner (16:17) Yeah. (16:17) By the way, they also offer a variety of dipping sauces as does every I'm not picking on Sonic, but, like, there's a signature sauce, a ranch, a honey mustard, a buffalo, a barbecue. (16:26) You know, those things, I I find people don't think about that at all. (16:30) Like ketchup.
Jenny Smith (16:31) Oh, no.
Scott Benner (16:31) I think ketchup's one that, you know, people are like, oh, I have a burger and ketchup. (16:36) And, you know, there's a tablespoon or two tablespoons of ketchup later, and you're probably looking at
Jenny Smith (16:40) Or a quarter cup of it if you're I mean, honestly, come on.
Scott Benner (16:43) Seriously? (16:44) Right? (16:44) You think?
Jenny Smith (16:44) You oh, most people eat a lot of ketchup at a time. (16:48) I I mean, I think ketchup the fries or whatever they're eating with it are just a loading place to get the ketchup in for some people. (16:57) And ketchup is full of sugar.
Scott Benner (16:59) The fries are the delivery system for the ketchup?
Jenny Smith (17:01) Yes. (17:01) Thank you. (17:01) Yes.
Scott Benner (17:02) Yeah. (17:02) Yeah. (17:02) I've made fun of, somebody in my life one time. (17:04) I'm like, I think that baked potato is just a way for you to eat butter. (17:07) Uh-huh.
Scott Benner (17:09) Okay. (17:09) I think is that good for this one, do you think?
Jenny Smith (17:11) I think it is. (17:12) I think it highlights a lot of the things that need to be considered. (17:16) You know, we started with the tater tots, obviously, which I don't I don't even I think I was in, like, middle school last time I had a
Scott Benner (17:21) tater Listen. (17:22) I I think it's one of those things. (17:24) Like, I I I think it tugs at your young heartstrings. (17:27) Like, mean, tater tots at I mean, did you not have pizza in tater tot day at school?
Jenny Smith (17:31) Oh, a 100%. (17:32) Yeah. (17:32) Rectangle pizza. (17:34) It was the one day that when my mom looked at the calendar after I was diagnosed, it was the one day that we'd look at it. (17:41) She'd be like, okay.
Jenny Smith (17:41) I won't pack your I won't pack your lunch today. (17:43) You can have the pizza.
Scott Benner (17:44) Right? (17:45) The pizza, which by the way, makes an Elio's pizza look like gourmet. (17:49) And you were still excited about it. (17:50) Right?
Jenny Smith (17:51) A 100. (17:52) It was great.
Scott Benner (17:52) What piece of cardboard with, like, half ketchup on it and a handful of tater tots? (17:56) And you were like, my life is all and then people are like,
Jenny Smith (17:58) what? (17:59) Exciting.
Scott Benner (17:59) It was oh my god. (18:00) It's the best part of your life.
Jenny Smith (18:01) You know, I think was this the best part for you too? (18:03) Like, the rectangle pizza slices? (18:06) We had those plastic plastic school trays. (18:09) Yeah. (18:10) That we went through the line.
Jenny Smith (18:11) And I it was always exciting to me visually that the pizza slice fit perfectly in the rectangle that had that was on the plastic tray. (18:19) Like, that was very exciting to me that it fit perfect in that little rectangle. (18:23) Now people are gonna think
Scott Benner (18:24) that Yeah. (18:25) Jen, Don't tell people stuff like that. (18:26) Hey. (18:28) Let me tell you something here. (18:29) The original cold brew iced coffee at Sonic, there are four sizes, small, medium, large, and something called r two r t 44.
Scott Benner (18:39) What could r t 44 stand for? (18:42) Not the point. (18:43) The r t 44 size has 82 carbs in it, 58.
Jenny Smith (18:48) Is it 44 ounces?
Scott Benner (18:50) Is it?
Jenny Smith (18:51) I don't know. (18:51) I'm just asking. (18:52) Maybe there, so I'm curious if
Scott Benner (18:54) that's the size. (18:55) I'm looking.
Jenny Smith (18:56) Kinda like the slushies at seven Eleven that are, like, gigantic.
Scott Benner (19:01) I don't know. (19:02) It has 82 carbs, 58 Oh my god. (19:05) 58 grams of sugar. (19:07) Yeah. (19:07) There's 460 of salt in that.
Scott Benner (19:12) That's crazy. (19:13) Is that not crazy? (19:14) How many calories are you supposed to have a day? (19:15) Like, 2,000?
Jenny Smith (19:17) It depends on your activity level, your age, you know, all that kind of stuff. (19:21) But in general, I mean, this is, again, a big reason that drinking your calories in general shouldn't be done. (19:27) All of the drinks from any of the national brands, they're not a way to take in calories because they're not ones that register with your brain.
Scott Benner (19:36) The small has 28 carbs, 20 sugars in it. (19:39) High fat. (19:39) There's fat in coffee?
Jenny Smith (19:42) Well, probably because if it's a mixed it's No. (19:45) Probably got half and half.
Scott Benner (19:46) Yeah. (19:47) I don't know. (19:47) I don't drink coffee. (19:48) Anyway, I just want you to know that because it's it's listed as the the the breakfast coffee. (19:54) So I don't know.
Scott Benner (19:55) In my mind, it makes it sound like it's, you know, healthy. (19:58) It's for breakfast.
Jenny Smith (19:59) Healthy. (19:59) Right. (19:59) It's your breakfast coffee. (20:00) Maybe it's got some good protein or something in it.
Scott Benner (20:03) I don't know. (20:04) I'll see you.
Jenny Smith (20:05) Thanks.
Scott Benner (20:13) In each episode of the bolus four series, Jenny, Smith, and I are gonna pick one food and talk through the bolusing for that food. (20:22) We hope you find it valuable. (20:24) Generally speaking, we're gonna follow a bit of a formula, the meal bolt formula, m e a l b o l t. (20:32) You can learn more about it at juice box podcast dot com forward slash meal dash bolt. (20:38) But here's what it is.
Scott Benner (20:39) Step one, m, measure the meal, e, evaluate yourself. (20:47) A, add the base units. (20:49) L, layer a correction. (20:53) B, build the bolus shape. (20:55) O, offset the timing, l, look at the CGM, and t, tweak for next time.
Scott Benner (21:02) In a nutshell, we measure our meal, total carbohydrates, protein, fat, consider the glycemic index and the glycemic load, And then we evaluate yourself. (21:13) What's your current blood sugar? (21:14) How much insulin's on board? (21:15) And what kind of activity are you gonna be involved in or not involved in? (21:19) Do have any stress, hormones, illness?
Scott Benner (21:22) What's going on with you? (21:24) Then a, we add the base units. (21:26) Your carbs divided by insulin to carb ratio, just a simple bolus. (21:31) L, layer of correction. (21:32) Right?
Scott Benner (21:33) Do you have to add or subtract insulin based on your current blood sugar? (21:37) Build the bolus shape. (21:39) Are we gonna give it all upfront, a 100% for a fast digesting meal, or is there gonna be like a combo or a square wave bolus? (21:46) Does it have to be extended? (21:48) Offset the timing.
Scott Benner (21:49) This is about pre bolusing. (21:51) Does it take a couple of minutes this meal or maybe twenty minutes? (21:55) Are we gonna have to again consider combo square wave boluses and meals? (22:00) Figure out the timing of that meal. (22:02) And then l, look at the CGM.
Scott Benner (22:05) An hour later, was there a fast spike? (22:07) Three hours later, was there a delayed rise? (22:09) Five hours later, is there any lingering effect from fat and protein? (22:13) Tweak. (22:15) Tweak for next time, t.
Scott Benner (22:17) What did you eat? (22:18) How much insulin and when? (22:20) What did your blood sugar curve look like? (22:23) What would you do next time? (22:25) This is what we're gonna talk about in every episode of bolus four.
Scott Benner (22:30) Measure the meal, evaluate yourself, add the base units, layer a correction, build the bolus shape, offset the timing, look at the CGM, tweak for next time. (22:39) But it's not gonna be that confusing, and we're not gonna ask you to remember all of that stuff. (22:44) But that's the pathway that Jenny and I are gonna use to speak about each bolus. (22:53) The Juice Box podcast is edited by Wrong Way Recording. (22:57) Wrongwayrecording.com.
Scott Benner (23:00) If you'd like your podcast to sound as good as mine, check out Rob at Wrong Way Recording dot com.
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