#1762 Lovely Rita

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Rita, a 41-year-old mother from Lisbon, Portugal, shares her journey of living with Type 1 diabetes for over 22 years and managing her six-year-old daughter’s diagnosis.

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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 (0:0) Here we are back together again, friends, for another episode of the Juice Box podcast.

Rita (0:14) Hi. (0:15) I'm Rita. (0:16) I've been a type one for twenty two years, and I have a type one daughter too.

Scott Benner (0:22) If this is your first time listening to the Juice Box podcast and you'd like to hear more, download Apple Podcasts or Spotify, really any audio app at all. (0:31) Look for the Juice Box podcast and follow or subscribe. (0:34) We put out new content every day that you'll enjoy. (0:38) Wanna learn more about your diabetes management? (0:40) Go to juiceboxpodcast.com up in the menu and look for bold beginnings, the diabetes pro tip series, and much more.

Scott Benner (0:47) This podcast is full of collections and series of information that will help you to live better with insulin. (0:55) If you're looking for community around type one diabetes, check out the Juice Box Podcast private Facebook group. (1:01) Juice Box Podcast, type one diabetes. (1:04) But everybody is welcome. (1:05) Type one, type two, gestational, loved ones, it doesn't matter to me.

Scott Benner (1:10) If you're impacted by diabetes and you're looking for support, comfort, or community, check out Juice Box podcast, type one diabetes on Facebook. (1:19) Nothing you hear on the Juice Box podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. (1:24) Always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan. (1:31) A huge thanks to my longest sponsor, Omnipod. (1:34) Check out the Omnipod five now with my link, omnipod.com/juicebox.

Scott Benner (1:40) You may be eligible for a free starter kit, a free Omnipod five starter kit at my link. (1:47) Go check it out. (1:48) Omnipod.com/juicebox. (1:51) Terms and conditions apply. (1:52) Full terms and conditions can be found at omnipod.com/juicebox.

Scott Benner (1:57) Today's episode is also sponsored by US Med. (2:01) Usmed.com/juicebox or call (888) 721-1514. (2:08) You can get your diabetes testing supplies the same way we do from US Med.

Rita (2:13) Hi. (2:14) I'm Rita. (2:15) I've been a type one for twenty two years, and I have a type one daughter too.

Scott Benner (2:20) Rita, how many children do you have in total? (2:23) One. (2:24) One child. (2:25) How old?

Rita (2:26) She's now six years old.

Scott Benner (2:28) Oh my gosh. (2:29) How old are you?

Rita (2:30) I am 41. (2:33) Yeah. (2:33) 41.

Scott Benner (2:34) So I'm sure. (2:35) Oh, is

Rita (2:35) it Yeah.

Scott Benner (2:36) Is it almost your birthday?

Rita (2:37) Be 42 kind of, well, soon ish, but, I'm I'm still 41. (2:42) Yes.

Scott Benner (2:42) It's very telling when a person reaches an age where they're like, you know, I think I'm almost in I don't remember a birthday, but it feels like it's coming close. (2:52) 40 oh, really? (2:54) Did you have a oh, I have a lot to ask you about. (2:57) Let's start slow. (2:58) How old were you when you were diagnosed?

Rita (3:00) I was 18 a few months before I was I turned 19, but I was still 18.

Scott Benner (3:05) And I hear your accent. (3:06) You're from Long Island, New York. (3:07) Is that correct?

Rita (3:08) No. (3:10) I'm from Portugal in Europe on the other side.

Scott Benner (3:13) Very nice. (3:13) Yeah.

Rita (3:14) I had an English a Canadian English teacher for many years, so maybe that's why.

Scott Benner (3:19) I was teasing you. (3:20) You know? (3:20) I I yeah. (3:21) I knew you. (3:21) I won't I

Rita (3:23) You know, I'm not native speaker. (3:24) Yes.

Scott Benner (3:25) Long Island's in my head because someone from a a pretty big hospital out there reached out the other day and asked me if I'd come out and give a talk. (3:32) And I thought, oh, I don't wanna drive over that bridge, but okay. (3:36) So I think I might nevertheless, you're 18 when you were diagnosed. (3:40) Are you from a big family or no?

Rita (3:44) No. (3:45) Like, I would say a small family. (3:47) I was also an only child.

Scott Benner (3:49) Mhmm.

Rita (3:49) Couple of a few cousins, but not a big family.

Scott Benner (3:53) Okay. (3:53) Okay. (3:54) Anybody else in the family have type one diabetes or other autoimmune issues?

Rita (3:59) No. (4:00) No type one and no no other, autoimmune.

Scott Benner (4:04) How about you?

Rita (4:04) Father had type two

Scott Benner (4:06) Mhmm.

Rita (4:06) But that he was diagnosed later, like, in his fifties, but no other so no no autoimmune and no type one at all.

Scott Benner (4:14) Wonder if I made this podcast twenty years from now and I said to somebody, you know, that same question when they got to their father. (4:20) Instead of saying my father had type two, they'll say, my father was on a GLP.

Rita (4:25) Yeah. (4:26) Yeah. (4:26) Interesting. (4:27) But then you'll you'll also get some probably type ones on GLPs too, and maybe the difference won't be, I don't know, so relevant anymore of type one or type two. (4:36) I don't know.

Scott Benner (4:37) Yeah. (4:37) Maybe. (4:38) Yeah. (4:38) Actually, that that reminds me, in case she ever hears this episode, Arden, I'm really proud of you. (4:43) I saw that you gave yourself your shot last night by yourself.

Scott Benner (4:46) That was really cool. (4:47) There was something in my garbage can this morning, and I was like, oh, look at Arden fighting through her her needle phobia. (4:53) Really cool. (4:54) Let's see, Rita. (4:56) How about you?

Scott Benner (4:56) Do you have any other autoimmune stuff?

Rita (4:59) No. (4:59) No. (5:00) Just the type one. (5:01) No. (5:02) Well, not yet at least, but, no.

Rita (5:04) I don't.

Scott Benner (5:05) Never say never. (5:06) That boy that you made a baby with, does he have any on his side of the family? (5:09) Any autoimmune at all?

Rita (5:11) No. (5:11) No. (5:11) Not that we know of, at least. (5:13) No autoimmune and, no type one specifically also.

Scott Benner (5:17) Rita, you have a a super a super ability to make babies with type one diabetes. (5:21) You made one baby. (5:21) You got diabetes.

Rita (5:22) Yeah. (5:22) Look at you. (5:23) I guess she got it from me. (5:24) Right? (5:25) So

Scott Benner (5:25) Oh, do you think of it that way?

Rita (5:27) No. (5:27) I don't. (5:28) No. (5:28) No. (5:28) No.

Rita (5:28) I don't. (5:29) But, yeah, I mean, she had a higher likelihood to to get it because one of the parents is type one, but I didn't consider it actually before like, when thinking about having a baby or so. (5:39) So that that was not part of the decision making process, let's say, whether the the kid would get type one or not. (5:45) I always, I guess, assume the likelihood was very, very low.

Scott Benner (5:49) Right.

Rita (5:50) And I just got, I guess, the, you know, the short straw.

Scott Benner (5:54) You drew the straw. (5:55) Yeah. (5:55) You, born and raised in Portugal?

Rita (5:58) Yes.

Scott Benner (5:58) Okay. (5:59) What was it like growing up with diabetes? (6:01) Was it different, like, being an adult a young adult with type one, there than you hear people on the podcast talking about it in other places?

Rita (6:09) So I was diagnosed, you know, like, twenty two years ago. (6:11) So that was things were so different from today. (6:14) I was at university.

Scott Benner (6:15) Mhmm.

Rita (6:16) I had started maybe four, five months before. (6:20) I was not admitted to the hospital, so I was I remember when I got the blood so I felt really tired. (6:27) And at some point, I understood that this is not normal. (6:31) Like, I couldn't go up a flight of stairs without, you know, feeling like I had run a marathon or something. (6:36) Mhmm.

Rita (6:37) So at first, it was kind of progressive. (6:39) You don't feel it coming. (6:41) But then, yeah, then it goes really quickly, the symptoms. (6:44) I lost, like well, a lot of weight. (6:46) I lost maybe five kilos in a week or something.

Scott Benner (6:49) Mhmm.

Rita (6:49) Oh, sorry. (6:49) Yeah. (6:50) You don't do kilograms. (6:51) I don't know how much that is in pounds, actually.

Scott Benner (6:53) Well, you're asking the wrong guy because I was asleep during that class, and we only did it here in America for, like, a year and a half then everybody gave up.

Rita (7:00) I don't think here we learn pounds. (7:02) It's 11 pounds. (7:03) I was just hoping that so I I lost kind of 11 pounds in about a week, a week and a half, and and that was right before diagnosis. (7:11) And so I I had, I guess, a very typical diagnosis in the sense of the symptoms I had. (7:17) So very thirsty, very tired.

Rita (7:19) I I was not very hungry like some people are. (7:23) And then my blood sugar fasting, it was in the three hundreds. (7:28) I obviously had ketones, but I was not in DKA, and I was not admitted to the hospital. (7:34) So I at the time so I I was studying in the capital of Portugal, and my hometown is, like, an hour away. (7:42) So I stayed, home for a week, clear out the ketones, and then I went back to university.

Scott Benner (7:48) Is Lisbon the capital?

Rita (7:50) Is Lisbon is the capital.

Scott Benner (7:51) I I didn't mean to interrupt you. (7:53) I just was so happy that I knew. (7:54) I wanted to say do.

Rita (7:56) You do. (7:56) Great. (7:57) And yeah. (7:59) So that was it. (8:00) And then I started on, well, NPH, I guess, at the time for a little bit.

Rita (8:05) I used so I was on two shots a day, you know, like, the exchange kind of thing or slide not even a sliding scale because I so I had to eat at certain determined times, more or less, you know, a certain amount of food. (8:18) Yeah.

Scott Benner (8:19) That's the way Jenny talks about it when she was a kid. (8:21) Right? (8:21) Yeah. (8:22) What what year was this?

Rita (8:24) So this was 2003.

Scott Benner (8:27) It's interesting.

Rita (8:28) 2003.

Scott Benner (8:28) You know why that's interesting is because I was just writing something last night, I had to look at a lot of dates. (8:35) And it's funny because I characterized the late eighties in America as a time where people were just realizing maybe there was a better way than Miles hour and regular. (8:45) But some twenty years later, that was still how they started you off?

Rita (8:50) Yeah. (8:50) But I think they wanted to so what I understood from the doctor at the time so the well, endo, but he was, like, from internal medicine

Scott Benner (8:58) Mhmm.

Rita (8:58) The his specialty. (9:00) Because here, you can have, like, both specialties treating type one. (9:04) So so he they wanted to start me off on insulin slowly so I wouldn't go down very quickly. (9:11) That's what I understood. (9:12) But I so then I was on two shots a day.

Rita (9:15) And then maybe a month after or something, it switched me to something called Mixtar. (9:21) So it was like a mix of slow acting and fast acting Mhmm. (9:26) That you would also take twice a day, I believe. (9:29) So morning and evening, then the honeymoon kicked in, and I was actually off insulin first only in the evening for, like, a month. (9:39) And then a month after, I was totally off insulin for another month or a month and a half.

Scott Benner (9:45) Do you recall that time? (9:46) Can I ask you, did you was that confusing, or was it expected?

Rita (9:50) I wasn't too happy about the honeymoon period. (9:54) I guess not not when I was off in well, maybe. (9:58) Because then I for me, for example, like, giving shots, it was very difficult. (10:02) I, like, I hated needles. (10:04) I still hate needles, but I I kind of learned then how to deal with that, I guess, but with the small needles, I guess, at least.

Rita (10:12) So for me to have to do it, like, you know, for a month and a half or two months and then having to stop completely, which had it's a good part, but then going back to it again. (10:23) So you don't create kind of that routine

Scott Benner (10:26) Mhmm.

Rita (10:26) In in care. (10:28) I didn't mind pricking my fingers, so that was okay because I didn't see the needle. (10:32) So for me, it was like seeing the needle. (10:34) But then on top of that, later when I resumed insulin, so those couple of months later, I would get lows, like, really low, and they would they would take time to to go to come back up, especially then when I started on Humalog, like, later way later. (10:54) And so that wasn't that wasn't good because then I was having, you know, like, sometimes two, three lows a day.

Rita (11:01) And, you know, if I'm sure you've heard this so many times. (11:04) Like, when you're when you're diagnosed, it's like and the doctors explain things to you. (11:08) It's like, oh, hypoglycemia is like this big monster. (11:12) You don't want to go low. (11:13) And then you go low the first time or first couple of times, and I I I told my doctor, I used to speak with him, like, every week, at least on the phone for the first few months.

Rita (11:22) And I said, well, I had a low. (11:24) Like, I felt this. (11:25) I had sugar. (11:25) And he said, yeah. (11:26) Okay.

Rita (11:26) That's normal. (11:27) I was like, really? (11:29) Like, you're really like, you tell people that, you know, it's like, Lowe's, these bad things, avoid them almost at all costs. (11:37) And then it happens, and they go, yeah. (11:39) Sure.

Rita (11:40) That's normal.

Scott Benner (11:41) Right.

Rita (11:41) That part wasn't so nice, so the very the variation. (11:44) What was nice is that I was like, I remember pricking my finger, say, for example, before lunch. (11:53) I could be, like, 01:60 or one eighty, and then I would eat, break it again two hours after, and I was 80. (12:00) So kind of that kind of stability, that easiness with the management

Scott Benner (12:06) Mhmm.

Rita (12:07) Meaning having good numbers, even off insulin, that part is good. (12:11) Yeah. (12:12) But then the resuming insulin parts, I was not very happy with that.

Scott Benner (12:17) Right.

Rita (12:17) And maybe looking back, I I guess I should have taken more advantage, let's say, of my honeymoon period.

Scott Benner (12:25) What do you think you should have done? (12:26) You gone on a major vacation?

Rita (12:28) No. (12:29) But, like, you know, allowing myself to eat things that I that I didn't. (12:34) So I remember a diagnosis. (12:37) Like, a nurse, she told me, yeah. (12:39) Okay.

Rita (12:40) You can eat sweets, like, when you want, but just be mindful that if you eat something sweet, because I was on these two shots a day, right, your glycemia may be higher for, like, a few days after that. (12:53) Okay. (12:53) And I thought, well, like, you know, a few days of higher glucose and just for something sweet, maybe the trade off is not enough for me. (13:05) You see? (13:05) So I guess during that time, I kinda stopped myself from, you know, being more flexible with eating some things, And maybe I didn't need to have done that, in hindsight.

Scott Benner (13:18) How was the transition of care to your next step? (13:22) Like, was the next step after the the mix? (13:25) Was it

Rita (13:26) Mhmm.

Scott Benner (13:26) You know, Humalog, that kind of thing? (13:29) Were you counting carbs then? (13:30) Was that an easy transition? (13:34) I have always disliked ordering diabetes supplies. (13:37) I'm guessing you have as well.

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Rita (15:42) So, yeah, so, actually, then after those, you know, two shots a day after being off of insulin, then, Lantus was being introduced here. (15:53) At the time, this doctor, he told me, look. (15:56) I have Lantus at the hospital. (15:59) So it was being introduced, but the the way they do things here is that they were still so the the pharmaceutical company and the government, they were still deciding on the price of insulin because we well, we don't pay for insulin here. (16:13) It's the the government that pays.

Rita (16:15) Mhmm. (16:16) And so they were trying to negotiate a price for the the pharmaceutical company to sell the insulin to the government. (16:23) And while they were doing this, and this still, I think, took many months, they were giving Lantus to doctors at some centers and hospitals. (16:33) This doctor, he told me, look. (16:35) I have here this new insulin.

Rita (16:37) I think it would be really good for you. (16:39) Do you wanna give it a try? (16:40) And I said yes. (16:41) And then I ended up being on Lantus only for one year, which is, I guess, also not the most typical case. (16:50) So transition to, let's say, a regular regimen of insulin, it it happened way later.

Rita (16:57) So maybe after a year, a year and a half. (17:00) And it wasn't all sudden. (17:02) So then I started on Humalog, but just for some meals and not others, you see. (17:07) And then once it started going up, my numbers, then I I gradually introduced Humalog for those until I was on the kind of the normal Yeah.

Scott Benner (17:17) Setting. (17:18) So hindsight, you had Lana probably. (17:20) Right?

Rita (17:21) Probably.

Scott Benner (17:22) Yeah. (17:22) Yeah. (17:22) I mean, it took it took a couple of years for you to need your your well, not a couple of years, but over a year, I guess.

Rita (17:28) Over a year. (17:29) Yeah. (17:29) For a full yes. (17:31) So I they did the the antibody labs, and I was, I guess, positive for if not all of them, for most of them.

Scott Benner (17:37) Right. (17:37) Right.

Rita (17:38) But you didn't hear about Flada when I was diagnosed.

Scott Benner (17:41) How long did you I mean, were you doing injections?

Rita (17:45) Yes.

Scott Benner (17:45) For how long did you do that?

Rita (17:48) For most for most of my, let's say, diabetic life, I've been on a pump now for maybe eight years or almost eight years. (17:57) But for all the rest, I I was on shots.

Scott Benner (18:00) What what kind of pumps are available for you?

Rita (18:02) So here we have Medtronic. (18:04) We have Tandem for last year, year and a half. (18:09) And my first pump was a combo, Aquachec combo

Scott Benner (18:13) Mhmm.

Rita (18:13) Which I think it was discontinued in The US way earlier than here.

Scott Benner (18:18) Oh.

Rita (18:18) But I was on a combo until a year ago. (18:21) And then a year ago, I was switched to tandem.

Scott Benner (18:25) Were they still making it all that time, or were they just making the supplies for it?

Rita (18:29) I don't know. (18:30) They were. (18:30) So I don't know. (18:32) I so I put the combo, or I was on the combo for almost seven years. (18:40) Yeah.

Rita (18:40) At that time so when I started, it was, like, just, you know, like, a normal pump here. (18:46) So you and at that time, you had EcoCheck, that EcoCheck pump, and Medtronic. (18:51) So Medtronic had always been here, I think. (18:53) And then Tandem only came maybe two years ago, but it's only now that it's being, like, really rolled out in higher Yeah.

Scott Benner (19:03) It takes them a while for to get the business on on its footing and and get stuff working.

Rita (19:08) Yeah. (19:08) And because of the way it it works here to get a pump also.

Scott Benner (19:12) How does it work?

Rita (19:14) It is through the government, let's say. (19:17) So you have to so the system actually changed a year ago, and now it's much easier. (19:22) So now a doctor can prescribe you a pump of your choosing. (19:28) Let's say that depends on the centers. (19:31) But then you need to wait for the training, and then you're put on a pump, let's say, to simplify.

Rita (19:37) But before that, it was kind of a centralized tender procedure. (19:41) Mhmm. (19:42) So every year, there would be a tender, then the different companies would apply. (19:47) But in practice, there were only two companies applying, so Medtronic and before Accu Chek. (19:53) And and then one of them would get the would win that tender, and then the tender would be for I don't know how many pumps, x pumps for the whole country.

Rita (20:05) And then they distribute it to the different centers. (20:08) Now the issue is you had way more people in on the waiting list to get pumps than pumps available. (20:14) Yeah. (20:15) So you've had you you have people actually that have been waiting for a pump for many, many years. (20:23) Things are now different for the last year and getting better.

Rita (20:28) So but but that that's it. (20:29) So you can, of course, buy a pump Mhmm. (20:33) Privately, but the costs are are huge. (20:37) So, basically, only a very, very reduced number of people are able to do that.

Scott Benner (20:41) Do you know what

Rita (20:42) the cash get it sorry?

Scott Benner (20:43) I'm sorry. (20:44) Do you know what the cash price would be for you if you had to buy it yourself?

Rita (20:47) Yes. (20:47) So the pump itself, I think they were about 3,000, €4,000, so maybe around 5,000 US dollars.

Scott Benner (20:56) Okay.

Rita (20:56) But then the issue is the, like, the the consumables. (21:01) Right? (21:01) The the cannulas, etcetera, the cartridges, etcetera. (21:06) And that would be maybe around €200 per month. (21:11) So if you multiply that for, you know, a year or two years or or three years, then it it's a lot of money, especially for, you know, the typical salaries here.

Scott Benner (21:21) Yeah. (21:21) I was gonna say, can you give people a little bit of perspective? (21:24) Like, that amount of money, 5,000 US dollars is Mhmm. (21:27) Is is it a I don't I'm sorry. (21:30) What percentage would it be of, like, an average salary there?

Rita (21:33) Oh, so I can tell you, like, me salary here in Portugal, it's not even $900. (21:41) So it's not even a thousand US dollars.

Scott Benner (21:44) A month or week?

Rita (21:45) A month. (21:46) A month.

Scott Benner (21:46) Sorry. (21:46) A month. (21:47) Okay. (21:47) So you're talking about five or six months worth of salary to buy an insulin pump.

Rita (21:51) Just to buy the pump. (21:53) And then for the for the cannulas, you know, the cartridges, etcetera, that would be, like, €200.

Scott Benner (22:01) I misspoke a second ago too. (22:03) But you said, like, €3,000, 500 5,000 American dollars. (22:06) But still, like, with three or four months of salary to buy the pump and, jeez Yeah. (22:12) A pretty big percentage of your monthly income to just keep the pump running.

Rita (22:16) Exactly. (22:17) So and that's why, you know, I I'm sure there are people that have bought pumps like that, but there it's they're very it's very low low number. (22:27) So, like, 90 probably 99%, I don't know the exact numbers, of people that are in the, well, in the national system for and and there, you don't pay anything. (22:38) So neither for the pump nor for the I don't know the word in English, actually. (22:43) The so the stuff that you have.

Scott Benner (22:45) Sets. (22:46) The

Rita (22:46) Yes. (22:47) Yeah. (22:47) Yeah. (22:48) But do you have, like, a name for all of those things?

Scott Benner (22:50) Pump supplies?

Rita (22:52) Yeah. (22:52) The pump supply. (22:53) Yeah. (22:53) Exactly. (22:53) So for all the pump supplies.

Rita (22:55) Yeah.

Scott Benner (22:55) So I did I I looked here just because I think it might be interesting to people. (22:59) Roche stopped making Rita's pump the combo in 2017 in America, And they made it for five more years overseas in other places. (23:09) It it's pretty interesting. (23:10) Also, I wanna point out to people that I've been trying out Google Gemini as an AI recently, and I hadn't been on ChatGPT in a while. (23:17) I opened up ChatGPT to ask it that question, and it was, like, effusively said good morning to me.

Scott Benner (23:23) I think it knows I'm cheating on it. (23:26) It was like, hi, Scott. (23:27) Welcome back. (23:28) And I was like, uh-oh. (23:29) What does it know?

Rita (23:31) It knows more than you think for sure.

Scott Benner (23:33) I mean, maybe. (23:34) I I is it gonna turn to me one day and go, I know you've been touching your keys with Gemini? (23:38) So then it made it made made me open it up in Gemini. (23:41) They are different. (23:42) Like, Chad GPT is good at inferring what you mean in conversationally, and Gemini is a little more specific, which I don't know one's better or the other.

Scott Benner (23:50) I'm just anyway, just bringing that up. (23:52) Okay.

Rita (23:52) I heard recently that Gemini three or some latest version is very good. (23:57) I haven't used it.

Scott Benner (23:58) I've I've coded. (24:00) I mean, vibe coded. (24:01) So, like, you know, not not really coded, but a couple of things that I'm I'm hoping to use on my website next year for searching. (24:07) I did it in, an hour and a half on Gemini. (24:09) I sat down with it to learn how to use it over the weekend and just kept talking to it about something.

Scott Benner (24:16) And I got it to the point where I had a, an instruction block. (24:21) And if you dropped in the instruction block and then just a link to a recipe, I had fine tuned the instruction block well enough that it would break the recipe down and then tell you how to bolus for it and consider fat and protein.

Rita (24:34) Oh, that's great.

Scott Benner (24:35) Just like that. (24:36) I don't know if I can make that available ever, but maybe I will one day. (24:39) I guess I just say it's for education purposes and let you guys look at it. (24:43) Because it really is just specific instructions to the model about how to handle the information. (24:51) And I didn't want you to have to drop in the even the recipe.

Scott Benner (24:54) I'm like, go to this web page. (24:55) Find the recipe. (24:56) See how it's cooked. (24:57) Like, keep in mind like, I gave it a whole bunch of anyway, it's really it it took me, like, four hours to figure it out. (25:04) It's pretty cool.

Rita (25:05) That's that is sounds pretty amazing.

Scott Benner (25:08) Listen. (25:08) If it doesn't kill us, it's gonna be awesome, Rita.

Rita (25:11) Exact

Scott Benner (25:11) exactly. (25:13) Which is exactly what I should have been thinking the day I got married.

Rita (25:17) Maybe it's gonna be awesome for a while, then it will kill us in the end. (25:20) But

Scott Benner (25:21) Like the marriage. (25:22) I get what you're saying. (25:23) Exactly. (25:23) Hey.

Rita (25:24) Let's see.

Scott Benner (25:25) We're just like, exactly. (25:25) I'm married. (25:26) I know what you're talking about. (25:27) So you live, what you would consider, like I mean, I guess it was tough, right, because you did have the needle phobia. (25:35) But did you get pens at some point?

Rita (25:38) Well, I I started with pens.

Scott Benner (25:40) You started right away with pens. (25:41) Okay. (25:41) Good.

Rita (25:42) Yes. (25:42) Only when I used Lantus from the hospital. (25:45) So there were no pens yet because it was not readily available at the pharmacy. (25:49) Then there were, like, then I used, syringes.

Scott Benner (25:52) Mhmm.

Rita (25:52) Yeah. (25:53) Pens are the standard here.

Scott Benner (25:55) Okay. (25:55) So pens, MDI for a long time. (25:57) You got a pump. (25:58) Did you enjoy a pump over the pens?

Rita (26:01) Oh, yes. (26:01) Yeah. (26:02) Yes. (26:02) Yes. (26:02) Tell me why.

Rita (26:03) I really wanted to get a pump.

Scott Benner (26:05) Tell me what it did for you.

Rita (26:07) Like, oh, like, being able to do more things. (26:10) So and before yeah. (26:12) I think what really changed things, and I guess many of your guests have said that it was the the sensors. (26:17) So I started on the sensor before the pump, and that that was a total game changer. (26:24) Yeah.

Rita (26:25) So there was with I started with Libre. (26:27) That was the sensor that was available here first.

Scott Benner (26:31) Mhmm.

Rita (26:32) And it was, yeah, amazing. (26:34) And then I actually had bad day about kind of dermatitis allergic reaction to to the the adhesive some months after I started, so I really had to stop using it. (26:47) And then a few months after, I I got a Dexcom. (26:51) Right. (26:51) And then I started using Dexcom after that.

Rita (26:54) But the sensor, that was, like, amazing. (26:57) And for the pump, it was just being able to get more more control, but in the sense of not better numbers because I I had good numbers than on with pens. (27:09) But being able to tweak things as you as you want to be more flexible in the in in what you do. (27:17) Yeah. (27:17) So that was, like, the the upside of the pump for me.

Scott Benner (27:22) I think maybe it's possible that people who were diagnosed in a more modern time and have, you know, always had a sensor Mhmm. (27:29) Might not have full context for what it would feel like to see the variability and they'll almost, you know you hear people talk all the time about, you know, the unknown nature of what's happening to them. (27:41) And, you know, when you're just testing a couple of times a day or, you know, even, you know, further back when you weren't even lucky enough to test, you know, at home that much, When when that's the situation, I think the feeling of out of control and unknowable must be overwhelming. (28:00) Right? (28:00) And then, you know, you're just you're fighting constantly.

Scott Benner (28:03) You know something's wrong, but you have no idea how to pinpoint what it is. (28:07) And even if you could pinpoint it, how would you know how to adjust it? (28:09) And now today, you see your CGM, and you see your blood sugar twenty four seven in real time, just about, you know, just about an actual real time. (28:18) And now you can make little little, you know, fine tunes and and tweaks the things. (28:23) I think I'm very sensitive to that today because yesterday, Dexcom announced they're not gonna make the g six anymore.

Scott Benner (28:31) Mhmm. (28:31) And they're know, it's being pulled. (28:33) And most people are like, you know, hey. (28:34) I use a g seven. (28:35) It's fine.

Scott Benner (28:36) Some people use a g seven and have trouble with it. (28:37) But while I'm watching these conversations happen online, I got upset. (28:42) And and I I I think I should try to be clear because listen. (28:46) You might hear this and say, well, yeah, Dexcom buys ads on Scott's podcast. (28:50) So listen to him now.

Scott Benner (28:51) Be positive about it. (28:52) But let me be first of all, they all buy ads on the podcast. (28:55) So, you know, trust me if I lost one or the other, I'd be okay. (28:59) But it's not why. (29:00) I and really, it's my perspective.

Scott Benner (29:02) And my and as I wrote about it last night, I'd like to share with you, Rita, like, the my perspective is this, that in the late eighties, my best friend gets diagnosed with type one diabetes. (29:13) He's got Miles per hour and regular, an old doctor who never changes how he manages his blood sugars. (29:21) I don't think even tries to start counting carbs until he's already in kidney failure. (29:28) You know? (29:28) And he lived his whole life getting up in the morning, you know, saying, I don't know.

Scott Benner (29:34) I guess I'm gonna be this active. (29:35) I'll draw up this much, shoot it in, do it again. (29:39) You know? (29:40) He'd be dizzy before dinner or after dinner. (29:44) His mood would be variable.

Scott Benner (29:46) You know, I spent my whole life thinking Mike was, you know, he's a wonderful person, but sometimes he'd get angry out of nowhere. (29:52) Like, you know what I mean? (29:53) No one really understood that. (29:55) Sometimes you didn't want him driving at night because he might swerve off the road a little bit. (29:59) We all looked at him like, oh, Mike's quirky.

Scott Benner (30:01) Like, Mike wasn't quirky. (30:02) Mike's blood sugar was all over the place, and no one knew anything about it. (30:05) Right? (30:06) Yeah. (30:06) You know, he's talking with his wife one night about what to have for dinner, and he stands up and says, I'll make it, and stands up, falls over, and his heart fails.

Scott Benner (30:14) And he's gone. (30:15) You know? (30:16) He'd be he's just Mike's just not here anymore. (30:18) And I'm watching people online talk about, you know, you're gonna move the g seven to fifteen days. (30:24) Mine doesn't even make it ten days.

Scott Benner (30:25) And all I could think was, boy, it would have been great to give Mike a sensor that didn't always last ten days. (30:31) It's all I could think. (30:32) You know? (30:32) Like and I know that doesn't address their issue, and I'm not saying that companies you know, every one of them shouldn't be striving to do their absolute best. (30:42) And I don't know.

Scott Benner (30:43) I just don't I mean, this is progress, and you don't want it to not happen. (30:48) So that's how I feel about it. (30:50) Now, also, I'd like to say I feel super lucky. (30:52) G seven works great for Arden. (30:55) She frequently wears it ten days plus the twelve hour grace period at the end with no issue.

Scott Benner (31:02) I think she had one failed the other day on, like, day seven. (31:08) And recently, she had that thing where, you know, you insert it and the wire comes popping. (31:12) I I I learned online they call it goosenecking, like the Yeah.

Rita (31:15) Yeah. (31:15) Mhmm.

Scott Benner (31:16) And you know what? (31:16) She put it on and she was like, ugh. (31:18) And she tore it off and she put another one on and boom. (31:21) And now she's okay again. (31:22) And all I'm telling you is you don't wanna go backwards.

Scott Benner (31:26) And you wanna have a tiny bit of perspective for how people used to live because these companies are they're private companies. (31:35) They have capital. (31:36) A Dex Com could wake up tomorrow and go, look. (31:38) We have a system in place. (31:39) We can make anything.

Scott Benner (31:40) We don't have to make these. (31:41) You know? (31:42) The shareholders could say, yeah. (31:43) Screw it. (31:44) That's enough.

Scott Benner (31:44) We got a lot of money. (31:45) Split it up, and let's get the hell out of here. (31:47) Like, I don't know. (31:47) There's a million things that could happen. (31:49) Just be grateful someone's out there doing it.

Rita (31:51) Yeah.

Scott Benner (31:51) If they've had problems, and they obviously have, and so has, you know, so is freestyle, you know, with the Libre, they'll work it out. (32:00) It's a company full of human beings. (32:01) They're trying to sell a sensor that measures your glucose. (32:04) They're gonna keep working on making it better. (32:06) They didn't see a problem and just go, oh, oh, well.

Scott Benner (32:09) But in the meantime, if you're looking for satiation on the issue, this is way, way better than how Rita grew up, how my friend grew up, how people in the past who've been on the podcast have grown up. (32:21) I mean, I know it's fun to get online and make funny videos about, like, oh, this is me panicking because the g six is gone and blah blah blah. (32:28) The g six is, like, the eighth iteration of a of a CGM. (32:32) There'll be more. (32:33) You know?

Rita (32:34) Yeah. (32:34) It's like people that are diagnosed, like, today, they just take a lot of things for granted that were not there, you know, like, ten, twenty years ago. (32:43) So Yeah. (32:44) Yeah. (32:44) Indeed, having perspective is is good.

Scott Benner (32:46) It's just import it's and so I'm telling this story because I wanna try to lend some perspective that I have to people who wouldn't have it. (32:53) Like, I'm not scolding you. (32:54) If you were diagnosed eight months ago and your CGMs aren't working correctly, I get where you're at, and I understand why you're mad. (33:01) But, you know, big picture. (33:04) Yeah.

Scott Benner (33:04) A person born now with type one diabetes has almost the exact same life expectancy as a person born without it.

Rita (33:12) Mhmm.

Scott Benner (33:13) And that was not the case ten years ago, twenty years ago, thirty years ago, forty years ago.

Rita (33:18) Yeah. (33:19) Exactly.

Scott Benner (33:19) And it's because of those damn sensors and these pumps, by the way.

Rita (33:22) Yeah. (33:24) I I I was going to say, I remember reading in the sugar surfing book from doctor Ponder that you've also had in the podcast that when he was, well, diagnosed and for many years after, there was no glucagon. (33:36) And I remember reading this. (33:37) Thought, wow. (33:38) There was no glucagon?

Rita (33:39) So there was a time that there was no glucagon available. (33:42) So if you had if you passed out, your only chance was, like, if you rub some sugar inside your cheek or, you know, you went to the hospital. (33:51) And, yeah, I I was also quite amazed to read that because it it gives you perspective. (33:57) You see? (33:57) So I was, yeah, diagnosed twenty years ago.

Rita (34:00) No sensors and no pumps at the time, at least here, but there was already glucagon. (34:05) So that was never an issue, right, for me. (34:09) And, as now, it's not an issue that for people that are diagnosed now that they have access to, sensors and pumps, at least in in many countries, which is probably not the case everywhere.

Scott Benner (34:21) Rita, liquid and inhaled insulin. (34:23) Multiple options for rescue glucagon. (34:26) GLP medications that are significantly reducing people's needs for insulin. (34:30) I know that some of you are like, that's only for type two. (34:33) Trust me if you think that.

Scott Benner (34:34) Go find some GLP medic, episodes. (34:36) It's it's gonna be happening. (34:38) What else? (34:39) I mean, algorithms that are making automated adjustments every few minutes, a vibrant DIY community that I mean, there's gotta be six different DIY opportunities for you to, like, download an algorithm. (34:51) You know, Dexcom is, I I know, nineteen, I think, years into making these things.

Scott Benner (34:57) Abbott's making the Libre. (34:59) Medtronic just, you know, introduced Mhmm. (35:02) Two new sensors or a new sensor, and they and they've got some interoperability with the Libre. (35:07) Senseonics is making that embeddable sensor, you know, the Eversense three six five that you might have heard about on the podcast. (35:15) You know, they're not the only company to try that.

Scott Benner (35:17) A number of companies tried to make that. (35:19) They couldn't figure it out. (35:20) Senseonics figured out how to embed the thing in your skin without your body rejecting it. (35:25) Like, that's somebody saying, we're gonna sink a bunch of money and man hours into trying to figure out a problem. (35:33) And a lot of them, it didn't work out for.

Scott Benner (35:36) A lot of pump companies have gone out of business over the years. (35:39) Like, I I just you do not wanna wake up one day and decide they you know, and and find out that these companies aren't interested in doing this anymore. (35:47) And I'm not saying don't complain about it because you don't want them to stop doing it. (35:51) I'm just saying that this is a really you have no idea if you're more newly diagnosed how wonderful all of this is and how what a positive impact it's having on your life. (36:00) So if the sensor fails, I mean, the way I handle it is I call it in and I say to myself, I'm glad this stuff exists.

Scott Benner (36:07) Now if I had some horrible experience, I I would maybe feel differently. (36:13) If I had if Arden had terrible allergies to the adhesive, I'd probably be like, well, this thing is no good for us. (36:18) Like and and it's hard to be grateful at that point. (36:21) I get it, but, I don't know. (36:23) Anyway

Rita (36:24) Yeah. (36:24) As you say, it's it's good to have some perspective, but people can complain. (36:29) They will always complain. (36:31) But, I mean, you can complain in a way that you're also acknowledging the, let's say, the greater good debt. (36:36) And these companies are are producing end of the life we have at least in kind of Western societies living with with type one today, which is very different probably from other world regions and from the past.

Scott Benner (36:49) Yeah. (36:49) Sure. (36:50) I think that what got me and I it's it's tough because I don't I'm not trying to it's it's buried in a comment somewhere. (36:56) I don't think anybody's gonna see it. (36:57) And it was the phrasing that the person used because the there was a there's a, you know, a post and people are like, you know, they're some of them are pearl clutching and some of them are trying to be funny and some of them are really worried.

Scott Benner (37:09) Oh my god. (37:09) G six is going away. (37:10) Mhmm. (37:11) And I just typed three little birds because I just you know, I was trying to reference the Bob Marley song And, because I think everything's gonna be alright. (37:20) And this person says, well, I hope the three little birds told you that this isn't true, that they plan to fix what's wrong with the g seven.

Scott Benner (37:27) And then it was this, before they shove it down our throats. (37:31) And I thought that's how you characterize this life saving device as it's being shoved down your throat? (37:38) Threw me off. (37:39) Like, it really did. (37:41) Like, I don't know.

Scott Benner (37:42) Maybe I grew up differently or maybe my experiences lend to a different perspective. (37:46) Thank you. (37:47) Every one of these companies who does this, thank you so much. (37:51) Again, you'll be like, oh, sure. (37:52) They buy an ad.

Scott Benner (37:53) I I could sell the ads to somebody. (37:54) This is a pretty popular podcast. (37:56) I could just sell the ads to somebody else. (37:57) I sell them to diabetes supply companies because I figured you guys might help you. (38:02) You know?

Scott Benner (38:02) You can get sheets. (38:03) You wanna get sheets? (38:04) Cozyearth.com. (38:05) Use the off grid juice box, save 40%. (38:08) There's other ads where I make I make ad income.

Scott Benner (38:11) And maybe they didn't mean it that way, and maybe they're just angry or scared, and it's all fine with me. (38:16) But that that was the the phraseology that came to this person's mind. (38:20) It both made me sad for them because they're obviously scared, and it made me sad in general because I thought, like, this stuff's I don't know. (38:29) Like, I don't see it as being I've had problems with diabetes technology before. (38:34) I've never thought you that somebody was shoving this garbage down my throat.

Scott Benner (38:39) You know?

Rita (38:39) And and people have choices. (38:41) Right? (38:42) So if you think, you know, one sensor is not good for you, you may go to another one if possible in your in your situation. (38:52) And so that's good to have a choice. (38:54) Right?

Rita (38:54) And for example, on Dexcom, I love dexcom, but for example, the I I did not know about the that that they would do they would discontinue the g six. (39:03) I use the g six Mhmm. (39:05) Because the g seven doesn't work for me.

Scott Benner (39:06) Yeah. (39:07) But

Rita (39:07) it works wonderfully for my daughter. (39:10) So my issue with the g seven is that it works well for the first roughly twenty four hours.

Scott Benner (39:16) Mhmm.

Rita (39:16) And then it just starts it just says low or lowish and does not respond to calibrations, and it just goes low, low, low.

Scott Benner (39:26) Okay.

Rita (39:26) And I have used, like, over, I don't know, 20 sensors, 20 g seven in different places on my body, and it's always like, out of those 20, maybe I got two that were reasonable. (39:39) So they did not make it to the end of the ten days, but maybe they lasted eight days with kind of reasonable with reasonable numbers.

Scott Benner (39:47) Mhmm.

Rita (39:47) But for all the others, it says low.

Scott Benner (39:49) So then you're a perfect person to ask about this then. (39:52) Then g six disappears. (39:54) What do you what do you what's your plan? (39:55) What are gonna do?

Rita (39:56) Yeah. (39:57) That's a good question. (39:58) I hope they I hope they do something with the g seven that it makes it work for me. (40:02) So I don't know why it doesn't work for me. (40:04) I haven't seen other people kind of talking about the same type of issue, but maybe there are.

Rita (40:12) And it would be nice to know there are others that this happens to. (40:16) But I, yeah, I I don't know. (40:17) I won't be happy, but I'll I'll live. (40:20) You know? (40:21) So I guess if if it would be for my daughter, I would be more upset to see

Scott Benner (40:25) if And I I don't think you shouldn't be. (40:27) And that's why, also, I'm not just saying don't worry about it. (40:30) Of course, about it. (40:31) My expectation here is is that if it is a thing that is impactable, it's going to be impacted. (40:37) The company's not just gonna look up and go, oh, well, we lost a chunk of people who can't use g seven.

Scott Benner (40:42) So I guess we'll stop innovating. (40:45) I guess we'll stop trying to figure it out. (40:47) Like, it's my expectation. (40:49) I have no idea about this, by the way. (40:50) I'm genuinely just making this up.

Scott Benner (40:52) But, like, I'm putting myself in their perspective, and I don't think that there's just a bunch of people in a room drinking a Diet Coke, watching television going like, oh, well. (41:02) You know, I I I imagine they're working on trying to figure out why it is that the g six works well for you when the g seven's not. (41:08) I listen. (41:09) I could be a million percent wrong. (41:10) We might go back to this one day and go, well, Scott, you were wrong about that.

Scott Benner (41:13) Wrote us off. (41:14) My expectation is is that we wake up sometime from now. (41:18) I find you, Rita, and you say to me, hey. (41:20) I don't know. (41:21) The g seven works now for me.

Scott Benner (41:23) And we'll Yeah. (41:23) You know what I mean?

Rita (41:24) That day comes soon. (41:25) Yeah.

Scott Benner (41:26) Yeah. (41:26) And I certainly do too because I also don't wanna make I I think I've been very clear about how important I think a CGM is for people. (41:32) But this is how progress happens. (41:34) Like, we're not a bunch isn't it funny, Rita, that AI comes out and it and people say, like, you know, I think we're gonna be able to use the AI to, like, fix problems more quickly. (41:44) People go, AI, scary.

Scott Benner (41:45) We don't want it. (41:46) And then you say, well, you know, there seems to be a problem between how this sensor work and that sensor works. (41:51) And somebody says, well, hurry up and fix it. (41:53) Like, which do you want exactly? (41:55) Like, do you wanna hurry up and fix it, or do you want no.

Scott Benner (41:58) No. (41:58) No. (41:58) Like, let's leave it on people, and we'll see. (42:00) Like Yeah. (42:01) You know what I mean?

Scott Benner (42:02) Like, I don't know how Dexcom's gonna work this out. (42:05) I am certainly not an engineer or a smart person. (42:08) But my expectation is is that they look at data, a lot of it. (42:13) They crunch that data, and that is how they figure out how to tune that algorithm so that it works better for you, how they figure out how to make those sensor wires so that they work better for more people. (42:23) It's how they figure out how to, you know, adjust adhesives so it sticks but doesn't make people break out.

Scott Benner (42:30) They're trying to find a balance in there. (42:32) And I don't imagine that they're sitting around not trying right now. (42:34) Like, that's my ex and I don't just I don't mean to single them out either.

Rita (42:38) Yeah. (42:38) Like, for the other companies too.

Scott Benner (42:40) Yeah. (42:40) Listen. (42:41) Tandem just rolled out, an update to their algorithm. (42:45) Right? (42:46) Gave people extended bolus in automation and some other things.

Scott Benner (42:50) Yeah. (42:50) Omnipod is in a trial right now trying to get the Omnipod five to, the next generation. (42:57) You know? (42:57) Libre is having some trouble. (42:59) You think they're all just gonna, like, throw their hands up and go away, or do you think they're all magic?

Scott Benner (43:03) They're just regular people at their jobs. (43:05) You know what I mean? (43:06) Like, they're trying to figure it out. (43:07) It takes time. (43:08) So sucks that it takes time.

Scott Benner (43:10) But

Rita (43:11) I mean, for me, that's it's kind of obvious. (43:13) They also they're a company. (43:15) Like, they well, Taxcom and the others, they're all companies, so they have to make decisions that are not going to please everybody. (43:21) But in the grand scheme of things, surely things would get better for most people that use those products even if that excludes some because for some reason, it doesn't work for them.

Scott Benner (43:34) Yes.

Rita (43:34) The g seven currently doesn't work for me. (43:37) It doesn't make Dexcom, like or some other company a bad company just because of that.

Scott Benner (43:43) You bring up the exact reason why I wouldn't wanna be in politics. (43:47) Like, because everyone singularly feels like the thing is working for them or failing them, and then you've gotta be a person who's looking at greater good, you know, the masses saying, listen. (43:58) I think we're covering as many of these people with this thing, whatever we're trying to help them with, as we possibly can. (44:05) What it must be like to be a listen. (44:07) Politicians are, you know listen.

Scott Benner (44:09) They could go about things differently. (44:11) I wonder what it would be like to be a politician to put something in action that you're trying to help, let's say, 10,000,000 people with. (44:18) And you get done at the end of the day and you say to yourself, oh my god, we figured it out. (44:23) We helped 8,000,000 of these people. (44:25) We're really not helping 1,000,000 on this side of the problem and 1,000,000 on that side of the problem, but we found a way to help 8,000,000 people and then spend the next day getting bitched at by the 2,000,000 that aren't helping.

Scott Benner (44:36) Like, you must be like, ugh. (44:37) Yeah. (44:38) Like, what am I gonna do? (44:39) Right? (44:40) And it's the same thing of and by the way, again, not that those 2,000,000 people in that example don't have a complaint, they obviously do.

Scott Benner (44:47) But but you gotta put yourself in other people's shoes sometimes. (44:50) And and you're an adult. (44:52) You're doing it. (44:52) You're saying, look. (44:53) The g seven doesn't work for me.

Scott Benner (44:54) This is gonna be problematic. (44:56) I'm gonna have to figure something else out. (44:58) This is scary. (45:00) And but I don't know. (45:03) In a I'm talking to you, Rita.

Scott Benner (45:04) I don't think you would ever say to me, well, now they're jamming this down my throat.

Rita (45:09) No. (45:09) No. (45:09) No. (45:10) Well but, I don't know why well, I didn't read, you know, that thread, or I don't know why they would say that. (45:17) I I don't know.

Rita (45:17) Do people feel that companies are pushing these these products onto, you know, type one patients because there is choice. (45:26) Like, maybe if you want to go with pump x and that only works with sensor y, then, okay, there's not much choice there. (45:33) But in the grand scheme of things, there are choices. (45:36) There are different products. (45:37) There's not one pump or one sensor only, right, that it either works for you or it doesn't.

Rita (45:42) And, of course, that, like, people are upset, myself included, if something I would like to work for me doesn't work for me for whatever reason, even worse if I don't understand the reason for that. (45:57) But it doesn't make that product bad just because of that. (46:02) Because at the same time, it's works wonderfully for other people, for a lot of other people. (46:08) Right? (46:08) I

Scott Benner (46:09) That's the part that strikes me as as odd is that that it feels like an assault on you, you know, if it doesn't I mean, it's still technology. (46:17) You know how many techno you know, how many, like, electrical or computerized things that I've sunk my own money into over the years and gotten at home and been like, this doesn't work. (46:26) Right? (46:26) Or it's not doing what I needed to do. (46:28) Or I know it's not around your health, but, like, this stuff is.

Scott Benner (46:32) Like, you're not just I I said this before. (46:34) Like, this is a mechanical device. (46:36) It's plastic and metal and whatever else the hell it is being sunk into a human body. (46:42) And then then they've gotta try to find that space where it helps as many people as possible. (46:47) This is an incredibly complex thing.

Scott Benner (46:50) And that it works this well in just twenty years of production, it's changed generations of outcomes. (46:57) Like, it's amazing.

Rita (46:58) Yeah.

Scott Benner (46:59) And I think that for your own, you know, mental health, like, try seeing it like that a little bit. (47:05) And then I understand there's macro micro, like, you know, I don't know what to tell you if you're a person who it doesn't help or it doesn't work for the adhesive makes you break out. (47:13) That's horrible. (47:14) I can't I can't tell you how much. (47:16) I mean, it just breaks my heart that it that it it broke my heart that this person felt this way.

Scott Benner (47:20) But Yeah. (47:21) You know, once you go out in the public and you start saying things, well, then it goes from, like you know, like, that person came on here and had that conversation with me, I'd be very interested in hearing their perspective on it just like I'm interested in hearing yours. (47:33) But when you're in the public square and now suddenly you're yelling, this sucks. (47:36) They're jamming it down our throats. (47:38) I'm like, I don't know.

Scott Benner (47:39) Like, I'm sorry it's not gonna work for you, but my goodness. (47:42) Like, this is certainly not a thing that's being foisted upon people. (47:45) Also, go get a pen and a meter and I mean Yeah. (47:50) You know, you're still way ahead of where Mike was. (47:55) You know what I mean?

Rita (47:55) Yeah.

Scott Benner (47:56) Yeah. (47:56) Even with a meter in your hand and a and and 50 test strips and a and a and a pump that doesn't have an algorithm on it, you're still gonna live a long, healthy life. (48:07) Like so Yeah. (48:08) I don't know. (48:08) It's tough.

Rita (48:09) Especially with the level of knowledge that you can have access to today, right, which is also very different from, I don't know, twenty or thirty years ago.

Scott Benner (48:18) Sure.

Rita (48:18) Like, with the Internet, with your with your podcast, you know, with so many things, so many resources out there that if you're willing to learn, you can do it with pens and a meter and with a pump. (48:30) Is it the same? (48:31) No. (48:31) Is it equally easy or difficult? (48:34) No.

Rita (48:35) But but it can be done Yeah. (48:37) If you have the the willingness to to do it and and to learn.

Scott Benner (48:41) I agree. (48:42) Let's move on. (48:42) I don't wanna belabor this. (48:43) I don't wanna sound I don't wanna sound callous because I'm not but at the same time, I mean, I don't know. (48:50) I know I grew up in a different generation, but people acting like things are being done to them all the time is a little baffling to me, especially in a world

Rita (48:58) they were having a bad day

Scott Benner (49:00) I hope so. (49:01) I hope it's and I hope it's gotten better. (49:02) I I really do mean that. (49:03) I I I don't want for that person to be upset or for them to have a problem. (49:07) I I just think that I don't know.

Scott Benner (49:10) Anyway, how do you find the Juice Box podcast made by a guy in New Jersey in Portugal? (49:15) Although, I did check when you got here, and it turns out that I do chart in Portugal. (49:20) So thank you to all of you out there. (49:22) But how do you find it?

Rita (49:23) So, actually, I found it because I so when I started using Libre all those years ago, after maybe about eight months, I started having this reactions to the adhesive.

Scott Benner (49:35) Mhmm.

Rita (49:35) And I started looking online for this because at the time, I was probably one of the first people in the diabetes center where I go to that got it because I was also kind of an early user. (49:48) So they didn't have experience with this. (49:50) I also when I had the first reaction, like, I had no idea what that was. (49:55) And so I started looking online, and I found an article in your blog about, I think, a child that had kind of severe reaction

Scott Benner (50:05) You found that post?

Rita (50:06) Confadhesive. (50:07) Yes. (50:08) I found that post. (50:09) And I think that is where I found your podcast because it was, you know, the blog page, and you were already doing the podcast. (50:19) And then I started listening, and I've kept listening kind of on and off, sometimes more frequently or less frequently.

Rita (50:27) But since then, yeah, it's one of the like, for me, it's the main diabetes resource that I use to you know, not just to learn about management, but also to learn the stories that people share, like, that kind of community. (50:43) It is for me, it was your your podcast and the book Sugar Surfing that I also found more or less at the same time I found your podcast.

Scott Benner (50:52) Doctor Ponder.

Rita (50:53) Yeah. (50:54) Yeah. (50:54) So I'm I'm a big fan of the podcast.

Scott Benner (50:56) Rita, thank you. (50:57) I should have Doctor Ponder back on, shouldn't I? (50:59) I should reach out to him, see if he wants to do it again. (51:01) I think he did it in the first season. (51:02) This is, like, ten years ago.

Rita (51:04) Yeah. (51:04) I remember I heard that episode. (51:06) Yeah. (51:08) That was a long time ago in David.

Scott Benner (51:09) Certainly was. (51:10) First of all, that's really that's wonderful that you found it. (51:13) But how long ago did you find it? (51:15) How many years into diabetes?

Rita (51:18) So maybe so I've been using a pump for eight years, so maybe it was two years before that. (51:24) So maybe

Scott Benner (51:25) About six years ago you found this.

Rita (51:27) No. (51:27) No. (51:28) Longer than that. (51:29) Maybe nine

Scott Benner (51:30) years. (51:31) Oh, wow.

Rita (51:32) That. (51:32) So maybe nine.

Scott Benner (51:33) Almost from the beginning.

Rita (51:34) Yeah. (51:34) But I I have the feeling that when I started listening to it, you were already at it for a while. (51:40) So but it could it could be that you were already doing it for a year or more.

Scott Benner (51:44) I think that adhesive episode was, in the first or second season.

Rita (51:48) So I don't think I've heard that episode, actually. (51:50) I read the blog post. (51:51) I I wasn't aware that there was an episode on

Scott Benner (51:53) that, actually. (51:54) I I think if, hold on. (51:56) Severe adhesive, I think is how I remember the title being. (52:02) Talking Severe Adhesive Allergies with Henry's Mom, episode 14. (52:07) It was in May 2015, and then I made yeah.

Scott Benner (52:10) I made a blog post about it too. (52:12) So you the little boy and his face is all red, and he's got the horrible, like, almost, like, chemical burns around him and stuff like that. (52:19) Right? (52:19) And she figured out how to, like, block the the adhesive allergy

Rita (52:23) for Yeah. (52:24) And you listed the products there in the article and explained how they did it.

Scott Benner (52:28) And that helped you?

Rita (52:29) So for delivery, at some point, I stopped using it because I and then I knew I was going on a pump a few months after. (52:36) Mhmm. (52:36) And for some reason, I thought if I kept reacting to it, maybe I would react to the pump adhesive. (52:42) And then to the pump adhesive, actually, I had a reaction but much milder, and that was, let's say, easier to solve. (52:50) Mhmm.

Rita (52:50) And with so I've had problems with reactions to the sensor, even Dexcom, the g six. (53:00) But but I've in the meantime, I found ways to to address those. (53:05) Also, there are, like, some Facebook groups that you know, on on the rashes and the reactions. (53:10) So and there are many suggestions there. (53:13) And, eventually, I found something that works, let's say, most of the time for me.

Rita (53:16) So Good. (53:17) I can use a pump and a sensor relatively okay without any any further issues. (53:23) But that was hard. (53:25) So that when I reacted to the deliberate decision, at some point, I decided to stop using it because it was just, you know, too much. (53:33) Mhmm.

Rita (53:33) That that was hard. (53:34) That was hard. (53:35) Yeah. (53:35) Because at the time, there was no alternative for sensors. (53:38) So I went back to pricking my finger many times a day for some months, maybe half a year or something.

Rita (53:44) Yeah. (53:45) And then I I started with the Dexcom.

Scott Benner (53:48) It is really sad that this, you know, immune issue that people so many people have, you know, some of it you know, sometimes it cause you not to be able to make insulin, then you're suddenly you have to use an adhesive, and then you find out that your immune system doesn't like the adhesive and like it's but I'll tell you, it is some days you just feel like, my gosh, this won't stop, you know. (54:09) Whenever somebody's talking about something that, you know, got down inflammation or turned off an immune response for something, I get excited about. (54:17) Hopefully, that's way things can go in the future.

Rita (54:20) Yeah.

Scott Benner (54:20) So you find the podcast before your pregnancy?

Rita (54:24) Yes. (54:24) Way before.

Scott Benner (54:25) Yes. (54:25) What was your a one c before I I'm this will sound self serving. (54:28) I don't mean for it to be. (54:29) But, like, what was your a one c, your outcomes like before the podcast and after it?

Rita (54:33) So I was, well, almost always in relative good control. (54:38) So I was in the sixes

Scott Benner (54:40) Nice.

Rita (54:41) For many years. (54:42) The highest I've been, I think, was 7.7 once. (54:45) Mhmm. (54:46) And maybe for a year or something, I was in the low sevens. (54:50) But I don't remember, like, before and after the podcast.

Rita (54:54) So what I liked about the podcast is that and and also the book, Sugar Surfing.

Scott Benner (55:00) Yeah.

Rita (55:00) It was that some things that I was doing by trial and error that, you know, that you were also doing with your daughter and others were doing it. (55:10) And, well, in the end, we were not crazy about doing those things contrary to what, you know, sometimes doctors tell you, like, to do things. (55:19) So so in a sense, it was kind of validating for me to see, oh, you know, I'm doing this, and other people are also doing kind of similar things, and it works. (55:30) So, therefore, we're not crazy. (55:32) Mhmm.

Rita (55:33) You know, sometimes it it's your doctor says, oh, you know, do it this way or that way, and and then it doesn't work. (55:40) And sometimes it's hard to understand why it doesn't work, and then you go on trial and error until you find something that works for you. (55:47) And you get to the office, you say, oh, I did this and say, oh, okay. (55:50) Interesting. (55:50) If this works for you, okay.

Rita (55:52) But, like, no one else is doing this. (55:54) Yeah. (55:54) So so it was kind of validating in that sense.

Scott Benner (55:58) You're not the first person I've heard say that recently. (56:01) Somebody said it to me recently too, and it was impactful for me. (56:04) Like, just the knowledge that, like, hey. (56:06) Other people are doing this, and I'm not crazy. (56:10) I'm the thing I think I'm seeing, I'm seeing is really helpful.

Rita (56:14) Yeah.

Scott Benner (56:14) Yeah. (56:14) That's awesome.

Rita (56:15) So before I went on a punt, even with pencil, I think what really did change it for me was the CGM because you could see things and you could way easily Yeah. (56:27) Address them or at least easier than before. (56:31) So before I went on a pump, so those maybe last couple of years with pens, I was in the five, so mid to high fives, and I'm still in that range with the pump. (56:43) So when I switched to the pump, I basically kept more or less the same a one c's.

Scott Benner (56:49) Awesome.

Rita (56:49) So from, I don't know, five five to five nine or six.

Scott Benner (56:53) Oh, that's really lovely.

Rita (56:55) Yep. (56:55) So it's been like that.

Scott Benner (56:57) So you have your baby, and, you know, how old is she when she's diagnosed then?

Rita (57:02) She so I I took so she was, well, I guess diagnosis in the sense that, we know she's type one or she'll need insulin eventually

Scott Benner (57:11) Oh, I see.

Rita (57:11) As she was four. (57:12) But yeah. (57:13) So I I we screened her because I so I I think I had learned actually about screening tests probably from your podcast at the time. (57:23) So when she was born, there were no screening programs here, at least none that I knew of. (57:29) But then when she was four in the diabetes center I go to, they started, like, a screening for kids initially for children of people with type one or for siblings of type ones, and then they extended it to the general population.

Rita (57:48) Mhmm. (57:48) And so when I saw that, I thought, okay. (57:50) Like, I I always thought, well, if I have a kid, I will take her to screening. (57:55) But, of course, I thought she would test negative, and she did not. (57:59) So she she was four in a few months.

Rita (58:03) At the time, she tested positive for two antibodies, and then they ran glucose tolerance test, which she passed. (58:13) But they also tested her a one c, and she was at 5.8. (58:18) And so because she was, you know, already kind of outside the norm, I spoke to the doctor, and we agreed to put a sensor on her. (58:28) And then, you know, a few hours, I saw that things were not well. (58:32) Yeah.

Rita (58:32) A few hours, she put the sensor. (58:34) So so she was four, but she only started on insulin when she was almost five and a half. (58:43) Okay. (58:43) So that was more or less a year since we found out that she was in phase two already beef and before she started on insulin.

Scott Benner (58:51) I see. (58:52) It was it shocking to you? (58:54) Is it hard for you to adjust to the idea, or did you I mean, how did it hit you?

Rita (58:58) Was hard. (58:59) Yeah. (59:00) It was hard to hear that she had tested positive. (59:04) So at the time, of course, I did not know she was in phase two already. (59:08) So when they told me she had tested positive for those two antibodies, but I knew she would get it.

Rita (59:13) Right? (59:13) Because well, at least most likely, she would get it throughout her life. (59:17) And then, you know, I guess, that year so she she always then she started using a sensor, and she used the sensor, I guess, because I wanted to, for that whole year. (59:30) Because I thought that when she started I thought it would be quick, you know, for her to start on insulin.

Scott Benner (59:38) Yeah.

Rita (59:38) But it was not as quick as I expected.

Scott Benner (59:41) That's good, by the way. (59:43) The longer she the longer she has beta cell function, maybe the more, you know, she can kinda maintain. (59:49) It was put to me recently that, you know, Arden was diagnosed so young. (59:54) I didn't realize that, like, beta cells are still kinda multiplying as you're growing, which makes sense. (1:00:00) Right?

Scott Benner (1:00:01) It would have been nice if Arden could have made some a little longer, I guess. (1:00:04) And Yeah. (1:00:05) And so I'm, you know, I'm glad for her that it that it took as long as it did. (1:00:10) How was she I mean, that's pretty young. (1:00:12) Right?

Scott Benner (1:00:13) Like, so but how is she now, like, with having diabetes? (1:00:16) Is it, a connection for the two of you?

Rita (1:00:19) Yeah. (1:00:19) I think it's a yeah. (1:00:21) I think it is because so on the one hand, she's she she she would see me doing things when I knew she would, you know, eventually start on insulin, I was also more kind of vocal and showing her, oh, like me. (1:00:36) See, I'm changing my pump side, taking a shot, or I'm pricking my finger. (1:00:41) So that kind of awareness even before she knew that she would, you know, one day have to to take insulin.

Rita (1:00:48) But it yeah. (1:00:48) It is it is a connection and something that we can connect over.

Scott Benner (1:00:54) Is it easier to take care of yourself or of her for outcomes that you're looking for?

Rita (1:00:58) So I I would say that, so she started on a pump actually in September.

Scott Benner (1:01:03) Mhmm.

Rita (1:01:03) And I would say that, okay. (1:01:05) Since she started on insulin, I've been more focused on her care, but and myself on autopilot. (1:01:13) But even with myself on autopilot, things are going well for me. (1:01:17) So it didn't change, you know, my management Yeah. (1:01:21) Substantially.

Rita (1:01:22) Because, I guess, on the one hand, I kind of know what I'm doing. (1:01:26) Does not mean that I don't, you know, mess up sometimes with me or with her, but I'm I'm more kind of on autopilot. (1:01:36) Maybe I could I would be a little bit more on top of things if wasn't type one, and I didn't have to pay attention to that. (1:01:44) Yeah. (1:01:44) But I don't think things would be dramatically different.

Scott Benner (1:01:47) But her having diabetes has used up a little bit of your compute cycles, and you can't give as much to yourself as you had in the past.

Rita (1:01:53) Sure.

Scott Benner (1:01:54) Yeah. (1:01:54) Yeah. (1:01:54) That may make sense. (1:01:55) Yeah.

Rita (1:01:55) Yeah. (1:01:56) But I don't think overall to the detriment of my quality of care, like a little bit, but not substantially. (1:02:03) So that's what I

Scott Benner (1:02:04) because you're already there too. (1:02:05) You knew how to Yeah. (1:02:06) Yeah. (1:02:07) If the yeah. (1:02:07) If this would have been at a time when you were struggling still, then in that, it could have been a different thing for you.

Rita (1:02:13) Absolutely. (1:02:14) Yeah. (1:02:14) Absolutely. (1:02:15) Yeah.

Scott Benner (1:02:15) Wow. (1:02:16) How involved is your husband with the diabetes? (1:02:19) Is it one of those things where it's like, oh, you know how to do it. (1:02:22) It's yours, but or is he is he helpful?

Rita (1:02:25) No. (1:02:26) He I I think it it will he relies maybe more on me because of my, experience, but he's able to do it, like, more or less independently. (1:02:38) Maybe not the way I would do it, but he will get there, I guess.

Scott Benner (1:02:42) Yeah.

Rita (1:02:42) But but he relies more on me, of course, because of the experience I have.

Scott Benner (1:02:47) Do you think your daughter's diagnosis made him see you differently?

Rita (1:02:51) Myself? (1:02:52) No. (1:02:53) I don't think so.

Scott Benner (1:02:53) Did he have a very deep understanding of your diabetes already, or did her being diagnosed and him seeing it and having to think about it for her, do you think it do you think it made him look and go, oh, I didn't realize that Rita was going through some of this?

Rita (1:03:07) No. (1:03:07) I think he had

Scott Benner (1:03:08) a You know?

Rita (1:03:08) Relatively good idea. (1:03:10) Yeah. (1:03:11) So maybe not the intricacies of management, but, like, the big general ideas, I think he he was aware of it. (1:03:18) Okay. (1:03:18) So I I don't think there was, like, a big change on that.

Rita (1:03:22) But, of course, it's very different to know something and then to have to manage it on your own. (1:03:28) Right? (1:03:28) Or or or manage it for someone else.

Scott Benner (1:03:32) No kidding. (1:03:34) Yeah. (1:03:34) Right. (1:03:35) Knock you over some days. (1:03:37) It's interesting.

Scott Benner (1:03:38) You you have a note here that says the importance of health care professionals at diagnosis and letting go of the supposed official rules of management. (1:03:48) What was your experience with getting rules and and having to get rid of them?

Rita (1:03:52) Yeah. (1:03:52) I think what I meant by that is that, you know, you were told, all of these different things at diagnosis, which apparently are very similar to people, you know, across the world or in many countries. (1:04:04) That's what I hear from, you know, all of your guests. (1:04:06) But then as you well know, that's kind of the crash course. (1:04:10) Right?

Rita (1:04:10) And that's not maybe the best way how to manage things than in practice. (1:04:15) Right? (1:04:16) And I I think letting go in the sense of, okay. (1:04:19) What these people are telling me, they they mean well, but they don't really know what they're saying sometimes. (1:04:25) You know?

Rita (1:04:26) They're not probably providing the best advice because they are advising on management, but they're not managing it themselves. (1:04:34) And sometimes things are very different. (1:04:37) And I I think letting go in the sense of I can, like, learn by myself. (1:04:42) I can do things by trial and error and learn from that and learn what it how it works for me and how and that is important in the sense of not just, you know, following your doctor's orders because maybe that will get you to a point, but not to the best point where you can be.

Scott Benner (1:05:01) Yeah.

Rita (1:05:01) And I've been lucky with in general with the the the endos I've had, but most of what I know, like, most of the valuable things I know how to do, I didn't learn it with them. (1:05:17) I learned them by trial and error. (1:05:19) I learned them through your podcast. (1:05:21) I learned them through, I don't know, sugar surfing or other resources out there, not through, you know, the doctor's advice necessarily.

Scott Benner (1:05:30) Yeah.

Rita (1:05:31) They have their role, and it is important. (1:05:33) But it is important that people, in my view, take ownership, right

Scott Benner (1:05:39) Yep.

Rita (1:05:39) Of their own care if they are if they are at that point, let's say, in their lives because there are many things that can make this further. (1:05:47) But I could give you an example. (1:05:49) Like, the rule of 15. (1:05:50) Well, as many people have found out that that doesn't work as it should be, as it should many times. (1:05:59) Right?

Rita (1:05:59) So that ability to change gears and to see, okay. (1:06:02) This doesn't work for me, so let's try something else. (1:06:05) And what I hear sometimes in my end of appointments is that they will tell me, yeah. (1:06:10) You know, but you you change your settings in your pump. (1:06:12) You do this.

Rita (1:06:13) You do that. (1:06:14) But most people we have here, they don't do that, and that's something I cannot wrap my head around. (1:06:19) How can I not do that? (1:06:21) You see?

Scott Benner (1:06:22) Maybe the most important thing that you can do as a person living with diabetes is understand how insulin works and feel the autonomy necessary to change your settings.

Rita (1:06:31) Yeah. (1:06:31) Exactly.

Scott Benner (1:06:32) That's really going to help you live easier, better, longer, healthier. (1:06:37) It's a hallmark of of people who have success.

Rita (1:06:41) Yeah. (1:06:42) Totally agree. (1:06:42) But it seems that at least for some people, it's very, very hard to do that because, you know, the doctor or maybe they think the doctor knows best because they're the doctor. (1:06:52) Right? (1:06:52) But and and sometimes even people that have been with type one for a long time.

Rita (1:06:58) So that is also always a bit confusing to me.

Scott Benner (1:07:01) I've done my best to interview people so that you all can hear the different personalities that intersect with diabetes and all the different reasons why people might, you know, not take as much, I don't know, control or, you know, be as involved or whatever. (1:07:20) Some people like, some people lay back, some people think the doctor knows better than me, some people are people pleasers, you know, some people are like me and they're like, I don't that doesn't make sense to me. (1:07:30) I'm not doing that. (1:07:31) You you know, like, there's so many different so many different ways that people think. (1:07:35) I just hope that I've done a good job of, you know, shining a light on all of them or as many of them as possible so maybe you can hear yourself in those other people and then say, like, oh, I could see where that would be valuable for me to, you know, x y z do something or do something differently or whatever.

Scott Benner (1:07:49) Rita, I have to ask you. (1:07:52) Portugal, how's the weather? (1:07:53) Do I wanna move there? (1:07:54) I'm looking for a place to go when I retire. (1:07:56) Is this the place?

Rita (1:07:57) Well, apparently, a lot of people move here.

Scott Benner (1:07:59) Are they?

Rita (1:08:00) After they yeah. (1:08:01) Yeah. (1:08:01) And I think there's a big American community now, in Lisbon with digital nomads and etcetera. (1:08:07) So not just people that retire, and come here. (1:08:10) But, yeah, the weather is, weather is nice.

Rita (1:08:13) We are not, I would say, as a Mediterranean country as some other, neighboring countries because we're on the Atlantic, But, but the weather in general, it's it it is nice. (1:08:24) Yes.

Scott Benner (1:08:24) Yeah. (1:08:24) I mean, these every time you see a picture of there, it's just colorful houses and the ocean.

Rita (1:08:30) And Yeah. (1:08:31) But, you know, those are, like, the marketing.

Scott Benner (1:08:33) Those are the marketing pictures. (1:08:35) Right? (1:08:35) Like Yeah. (1:08:35) Yeah. (1:08:35) Exactly.

Scott Benner (1:08:36) Where am I gonna end up living? (1:08:37) I'm not gonna live in one of those giant houses by the you know, with I mean, there's like a castle on the ocean here. (1:08:42) What am I looking at? (1:08:43) I I I'm not gonna be able to rent a house in there.

Rita (1:08:45) Yeah. (1:08:45) Yeah. (1:08:46) Most places here are not castles on the ocean. (1:08:48) Indeed. (1:08:49) Yeah.

Rita (1:08:50) But it's nice to visit. (1:08:51) I mean, you can always come and visit. (1:08:53) Maybe do a juice box podcast or juice box event here. (1:08:57) I think, yeah, that people would appreciate that. (1:09:00) And then you can decide if you want to stay.

Scott Benner (1:09:02) Are there are there a lot of type ones there? (1:09:04) Do you have, like, friends in real life that have type one?

Rita (1:09:06) So from my diagnosis onwards, I didn't from for the longest time, I didn't know any other type ones because I was not diagnosed as kid. (1:09:14) So for kids, you know, you have, like, the summer camps or type one kids, etcetera. (1:09:20) So I was diagnosed as an adult. (1:09:23) And so I didn't let's say, did not have access to that. (1:09:25) And for the longest time, I didn't know anyone else.

Scott Benner (1:09:27) Yeah.

Rita (1:09:29) I know a few people that are type ones themselves, but I'm not in close contact with them. (1:09:37) The people that I'm closer to now are a couple of other parents of type one kids

Scott Benner (1:09:42) k.

Rita (1:09:43) Which they don't they themselves are not type one, but their their kids are.

Scott Benner (1:09:47) Okay. (1:09:48) Is that tough, or do you just do you use the online community for that part?

Rita (1:09:53) Yeah. (1:09:53) I think the online community and I think it was tough in the first years as from my diagnosis that I didn't know anyone else, and I was kind of doing it, you know, alone. (1:10:06) But at some point, then it stopped being important. (1:10:10) I would say I would just you know, it just became part of my life.

Scott Benner (1:10:13) Back to living.

Rita (1:10:14) And it didn't have that prominent, you know, role or prominent place in my day to day life. (1:10:23) Yeah. (1:10:24) But it is good to have, I would say, now a community online community that you can turn to if you need, but also people in real life, in this case, the parents of other type ones because they under they understand things in a a way that others can't. (1:10:43) Right? (1:10:44) Yeah.

Rita (1:10:44) So

Scott Benner (1:10:45) Alright. (1:10:45) Well, I'm gonna, I'm gonna keep looking at Libson. (1:10:49) So, also, do you know, you're you live in Lisbon. (1:10:54) The company that that, that I I used to get my podcast to you is called Libsyn.

Rita (1:11:01) Oh, okay. (1:11:02) I did not

Scott Benner (1:11:03) correct. (1:11:04) You would have no way of knowing that. (1:11:05) I just realized, like, I I I'm running a very real risk of mispronouncing Lisbon while I'm talking because of that. (1:11:12) But, yeah, it does look like a nice vacation spot, though. (1:11:16) Check it out.

Rita (1:11:16) It is. (1:11:16) Yes. (1:11:17) And not just the capital, but, the rest of the country is nice too. (1:11:20) So, yeah.

Scott Benner (1:11:21) People have cars? (1:11:23) Is it a car place, or is it a is

Rita (1:11:25) it a Lisbon is a car place.

Scott Benner (1:11:26) Yes. (1:11:27) Yes. (1:11:27) I don't wanna get rid of my car. (1:11:28) I like having a car. (1:11:29) I would have trouble moving.

Rita (1:11:31) We are definitely a car country and a car city. (1:11:34) Yes.

Scott Benner (1:11:34) Okay. (1:11:35) Okay. (1:11:35) Alright. (1:11:35) I can do it then. (1:11:37) But, I mean, it's gonna be warm.

Scott Benner (1:11:38) Right?

Rita (1:11:40) If you come in summer, yes.

Scott Benner (1:11:41) It's really

Rita (1:11:42) Spring, autumn, better. (1:11:44) Winters are not so cold. (1:11:46) So maybe I don't know. (1:11:48) Well, again, Celsius, so not in Fahrenheit. (1:11:51) Let me check.

Rita (1:11:51) Maybe I would say, I don't know, lowest in Lisbon at least where the weather is milder, 10 degrees would be the coldest, so that's 50 Fahrenheit.

Scott Benner (1:12:01) I can do that. (1:12:02) Okay.

Rita (1:12:02) In the in the capital. (1:12:03) Yeah. (1:12:04) Other places, it gets colder. (1:12:06) Yeah.

Scott Benner (1:12:06) I'll put it on the list. (1:12:07) I'll never leave here. (1:12:08) I'll just I'll just I'll talk and talk and talk about leaving and just die in this house, probably.

Rita (1:12:13) Just come to visit. (1:12:14) That would be nice.

Scott Benner (1:12:15) I would like to see the place. (1:12:16) It is really just lovely. (1:12:17) I can't thank you enough for doing this, Rita. (1:12:19) I wanna make sure that have we talked about everything that you wanted to get get to?

Rita (1:12:23) Yeah. (1:12:23) I'm just happy to, you know, contribute somehow to to your podcast. (1:12:28) I'm a fan, so it was a great pleasure to to talk to you.

Scott Benner (1:12:32) It was lovely to speak with you as well. (1:12:33) I can't thank you enough for your time. (1:12:35) It it it means the world to me that you were I mean, anybody comes on here and and shares their story like this. (1:12:40) So thank you so much. (1:12:42) I really do appreciate this.

Scott Benner (1:12:43) Can you hold on one second for me?

Rita (1:12:44) Sure. (1:12:45) Thanks, Scott.

Scott Benner (1:12:45) Yes. (1:12:46) Thank you. (1:12:54) A huge thanks to my longest sponsor, Omnipod. (1:12:58) Check out the Omnipod five now with my link, omnipod.com/juicebox. (1:13:03) You may be eligible for a free starter kit, a free Omnipod five starter kit at my link.

Scott Benner (1:13:11) Go check it out. (1:13:12) Omnipod.com/juicebox. (1:13:14) Terms and conditions apply. (1:13:16) Full terms and conditions can be found at omnipod.com/juicebox. (1:13:23) US Med sponsored this episode of the Juice Box podcast.

Scott Benner (1:13:27) Check them out at usmed.com/juicebox or by calling (888) 721-1514. (1:13:36) Get your free benefits checked and get started today with US Med. (1:13:42) Thank you so much for listening. (1:13:45) I'll be back very soon with another episode of the Juice Box podcast. (1:13:48) If you're not already subscribed or following the podcast in your favorite audio app, like Spotify or Apple Podcasts, please do that now.

Scott Benner (1:13:56) Seriously, just to hit follow or subscribe will really help the show. (1:14:00) If you go a little further in Apple Podcasts and set it up so that it downloads all new episodes, I'll be your best friend. (1:14:07) And if you leave a five star review, oh, I'll probably send you a Christmas card. (1:14:11) Would you like a Christmas card? (1:14:21) My grand rounds series was designed by listeners to tell doctors what they need, and it also helps you to understand what to ask for.

Scott Benner (1:14:29) There's a mental wellness series that addresses the emotional side of diabetes and practical ways to stay balanced. (1:14:35) And when we talk about GLP medications, well, we'll break down what they are, how they may help you, and if they fit into your diabetes management plan. (1:14:42) What do these three things have in common? (1:14:44) They're all available at juiceboxpodcast.com up in the menu. (1:14:48) I know it can be hard to find these things in a podcast app, so we've collected them all for you at juiceboxpodcast.com.

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#1761 Kindness Goes a Long Way

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.

Lauren, an assistant principal and mother to a six-year-old son with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D), shares her insights on navigating school management, advocating for a child's needs, and the importance of finding reliable information post-diagnosis.

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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 (0:0) Friends, we're all back together for the next episode of the Juice Box podcast. (0:03) Welcome.

Lauren (0:15) My name is Lauren, and I have a six year old son with type one, and I'm also an assistant principal of an elementary school.

Scott Benner (0:25) I am here to tell you about Juice Cruise 2026. (0:28) We will be departing from Miami on 06/21/2026 for a seven night trip going to The Caribbean. (0:36) That's right. (0:37) We're gonna leave Miami and then stop at Coco Cay in The Bahamas. (0:41) After that, it's on to Saint Kitts, Saint Thomas, and a beautiful cruise through the Virgin Islands.

Scott Benner (0:47) The first juice cruise was awesome. (0:49) The second one's gonna be bigger, better, and bolder. (0:53) This is your opportunity to relax while making lifelong friends who have type one diabetes. (0:58) Expand your community and your knowledge on juice cruise twenty twenty six. (1:03) Learn more right now at juiceboxpodcast.com/juicecruise.

Scott Benner (1:08) At that link, you'll also find photographs from the first cruise. (1:13) 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) The episode you're about to listen to was sponsored by Touched by Type one. (1:35) Go check them out right now on Facebook, Instagram, and, of course, at touchedbytype1.org.

Scott Benner (1:41) Check out that programs tab when you get to the website to see all the great things that they're doing for people living with type one diabetes. (1:48) Touched by type1.org. (1:51) Today's episode is also sponsored by the Tandem Mobi system, which is powered by Tandem's newest algorithm, Control IQ Plus Technology. (1:59) Tandem Mobi has a predictive algorithm that helps prevent highs and lows and is now available for ages two and up. (2:06) Learn more and get started today at tandemdiabetes.com/juicebox.

Scott Benner (2:12) The podcast is also sponsored today by the Eversense three sixty five. (2:17) The Eversense three sixty five has exceptional accuracy over one year and is the most accurate CGM in the low range that you can get. (2:25) Ever since cgm.com/juicebox.

Lauren (2:28) My name is Lauren, and I have a six year old son with type one. (2:33) And I'm also an assistant principal of an elementary school.

Scott Benner (2:36) Lauren, do you have any other children?

Lauren (2:39) I do. (2:39) Joel is my type one kiddo, and I have two other kids. (2:45) One older, he's 10.

Scott Benner (2:47) Mhmm.

Lauren (2:48) And then Joel's six, and then their little sister is four.

Scott Benner (2:52) Okay. (2:53) Joel's had type one for how long?

Lauren (2:54) Three years.

Scott Benner (2:55) Three years. (2:56) He was how old when he was diagnosed? (2:58) Three?

Lauren (2:58) He was three and a half. (2:59) Yep.

Scott Benner (2:59) Okay. (3:00) Is there any other autoimmune in your family?

Lauren (3:03) None. (3:04) So I've kind of tried to dig in a little bit as far as I can, and I can't fight any other autoimmune, any other type one, nothing of that nature at

Scott Benner (3:17) all. (3:17) You've been asking family members, and they're just like, no. (3:20) Don't Yeah. (3:21) Don't know anything.

Lauren (3:22) Don't know of anyone that has any kind of autoimmune issues.

Scott Benner (3:25) Okay. (3:25) What made you dig in with them?

Lauren (3:27) Well, I've been listening to the podcast Oh, okay. (3:29) Since about a week after he was diagnosed.

Scott Benner (3:33) And Just trying to figure out.

Lauren (3:35) I really just yeah. (3:37) Was trying to figure out if there was any history of anything.

Scott Benner (3:40) Okay. (3:41) Does it make you feel any sort of way that you weren't able to find anything?

Lauren (3:46) I think it's just kind of makes it still a mystery. (3:50) I don't really feel necessarily one way or another about it. (3:54) Okay. (3:54) But no answers.

Scott Benner (3:56) Yeah. (3:56) I would I'll tell you some people are are impacted greatly by not being able to figure it out. (4:01) Some people are like, I don't know. (4:02) I couldn't you know, I don't know. (4:03) And sort of they don't think about it again.

Scott Benner (4:05) Interesting to me.

Lauren (4:07) Yeah. (4:07) It doesn't really bother me, I guess.

Scott Benner (4:09) Yeah. (4:09) You found the podcast right after diagnosis?

Lauren (4:12) Yeah. (4:13) So when he was diagnosed, so I'm an assistant principal, and my husband has a master's in business and works for the Air Force in contracting.

Scott Benner (4:23) Mhmm.

Lauren (4:24) And so we left the hospital very much feeling like there's gotta be more to this than what they're telling us. (4:33) Like, we have to know yeah.

Scott Benner (4:34) Right away, you thought it.

Lauren (4:35) Yeah. (4:36) Right away. (4:37) I felt like by the time we went home from the hospital, we were only there for three days, that I really needed more. (4:46) Okay. (4:46) And so I immediately went to social media, started looking at Facebook groups and things like that.

Lauren (4:53) And I came across a post that had the pictures of, the pro tip series. (5:01) And so I actually started there, very shortly after diagnosis.

Scott Benner (5:05) How did you find the process? (5:07) Was it okay for you? (5:08) Should you have found the bowl beginning series first? (5:10) Like, what?

Lauren (5:11) A thousand percent. (5:12) So I vividly remember a few days after he was diagnosed and I had just found the podcast, I went to the gym to work out because I just needed a minute. (5:23) And my husband was still home too. (5:26) And I turned on probably the first episode in the pro tip series. (5:32) And there were words like bolus and MDI and probably other things that I can't remember.

Lauren (5:40) And I thought Uh-oh. (5:41) I think this is another language.

Scott Benner (5:43) Uh-oh. (5:43) I don't understand any of the words. (5:45) Isn't gonna go well.

Lauren (5:47) So I was like very overwhelmed by that, but still like listened to the whole episode I think. (5:52) And then went back and started somewhere else, just on, like, a random episode, I think.

Scott Benner (5:57) Yeah.

Lauren (5:57) But I really do think bold beginnings and defining diabetes are amazing series and hopefully where people will start.

Scott Benner (6:08) Oh, I appreciate that. (6:09) Yeah. (6:09) And so you found it just through searching?

Lauren (6:12) I found it through Or post. (6:13) Like a comment on somebody's Facebook post in, the moms of type one diabetics group or something.

Scott Benner (6:19) You know, I have to tell you that, how do I say this? (6:23) I don't really look at all my ads. (6:25) You know what I mean? (6:25) When I'm tagging things, because it would be overwhelming. (6:29) But recently, I just thought, like, why don't I click on one of these once in a while and see what people are saying?

Scott Benner (6:35) And I boy, in some posts where people are like, hey, my kid was just diagnosed. (6:41) I'll tell you, there's gotta be 10 or 15 people, like, in the course of a week that are just like, hey, you should really try this podcast. (6:48) I don't you guys out there are awesome the way you the way you spread it around. (6:51) Like, I that that's really just my point. (6:53) Like, I could never have gotten that information to you on my own.

Lauren (6:56) Sure. (6:56) Absolutely. (6:57) But honestly, like, it's the thing that made me feel sane after diagnosis of, like, slowly starting to understand what was going on in his body.

Scott Benner (7:08) Okay. (7:09) Awesome. (7:10) Tell me more about that. (7:12) What was happening that didn't make sense, and then how did you contextualize it?

Lauren (7:16) I think the hardest thing for me was things like 15 grams of carbs and wait fifteen minutes. (7:23) Of, like, he was on this roller coaster of blood sugar and just immediately, I got this sense when we left the hospital of, like, there's got to be more information. (7:39) There's gotta be more I can learn, and this binder that I got from the hospital is not it. (7:46) And so I really just started digging in anywhere I could. (7:50) Mhmm.

Lauren (7:51) I started listening to the podcast, started scrolling through Facebook groups, and just figuring out what I could. (7:59) But I knew one of the episodes I listened to, I think pretty immediately was talking about like fifteen fifteen. (8:08) And, oh, look, a skittle is one gram of carbs. (8:13) And, you know, being able to kinda play with that and my mind was blown. (8:18) Really?

Lauren (8:18) I was like, yes. (8:19) This is exactly the information that I wanted to find.

Scott Benner (8:23) So just that simple see, this is the point I try to make and I I don't know if I make it well enough all the time. (8:29) But I don't think that doctors at the diagnosis level, like, those first days understand how much what they say sticks exactly how they say it when it sticks. (8:42) Like right? (8:42) Like, you get low, you take 15 carbs, you wait fifteen minutes, and you test again. (8:47) Like, could it be 12 carbs?

Scott Benner (8:49) Like, could it be eight minutes? (8:51) Like, we I understand what they're doing. (8:53) I I really do. (8:54) Mhmm. (8:54) Like, it's for safety, and I think I completely understand.

Scott Benner (8:57) But they don't realize that you go home, and now that's a rule in your head.

Lauren (9:02) Exactly.

Scott Benner (9:02) Yep. (9:03) And you would never think to break that rule. (9:06) And then everything starts going upside down, and you're looking for fixes, and the fix is right in front of you. (9:11) But in your mind, it's a rule and there's no way you would change it.

Lauren (9:15) I think it felt after the hospital like this was an exact science that you have to follow. (9:22) And interestingly enough, this week, Joel's teacher from last year who cared for his diabetes in kindergarten, her 12 year old son was diagnosed with type one. (9:35) And I'm actually walking through helping her know more than what the hospital taught her.

Scott Benner (9:43) Okay.

Lauren (9:44) And I see in her head that she thinks that what the hospital told her is black and white, an exact science. (9:53) And it's interesting to see that from the other side.

Scott Benner (9:58) And you probably look like a crackpot to her at first.

Lauren (10:01) Probably.

Scott Benner (10:02) You're like on the level of red light therapy fixes your eyesight. (10:06) Like, you're she's she's probably like, uh-oh.

Lauren (10:09) Yeah. (10:09) And it's hard to not feel like I mean, I wanna have seventy two hours with her and tell her all the things that I know. (10:16) But also, she would just cry. (10:18) Like, you can't get all of that information all at once, and I look crazy.

Scott Benner (10:25) She thinks you're some wacky conspiracist. (10:27) This lady said 15 carbs fifteen minutes isn't real. (10:32) Gonna kill that kid.

Lauren (10:34) One of the things that her son asked me the other night was, like, talking about where to inject his insulin because he's still MDI Right. (10:43) Obviously, in, like, the first five days. (10:45) But I had randomly learned somewhere about where you can put your Dexcom and your infusions or whatever, where you can pinch an inch. (10:56) Okay. (10:57) And I was like, oh, I can like tell her that advice.

Lauren (11:01) Like, if you can pinch an inch on the back of your arm or on the side of your leg, like, that's a great place to inject. (11:08) And it was just something random that I picked up along the way.

Scott Benner (11:10) Yeah. (11:11) Pinch up. (11:11) Right? (11:12) Like, just Yeah. (11:13) This simple thing you hear people say.

Scott Benner (11:14) By the way, again, I don't know. (11:16) It gets ignored sometimes, but the defining diabetes series is, like, 60 episodes long, but they're maybe mostly, like, five, ten minutes. (11:24) And it's just basically the, I don't know, the dictionary for diabetes. (11:28) Because, you know, when somebody says pinch up to you, you don't know what the hell that means. (11:33) But Right.

Scott Benner (11:33) People who do it just say it offhandedly. (11:36) Like, oh, what do you you know, when you put that on, did you pinch up? (11:38) And you're like, I what? (11:39) Again, you can kind of infer from it, but not everybody does. (11:43) You know?

Scott Benner (11:43) And that and everything else, like, even just to hear you say, like, he said MDI and bolus, and I don't know what those words mean. (11:49) Right. (11:50) I just think that's so important. (11:51) It's another thing that gets ignored at diagnosis. (11:54) Like, people just start rattling off terminology to you.

Scott Benner (11:57) People do this, by the way. (11:58) It's not just in medicine. (12:00) It's in every walk of life. (12:01) People throw their buzzwords around like they you know, business people all the time or, you know, do it and I you hear doctors do it.

Lauren (12:10) Even I mean, how many acronyms are there in education that nobody knows what they mean?

Scott Benner (12:13) Oh, sure. (12:14) Yeah. (12:14) You know, you could we could pivot this conversation right now. (12:17) You could start telling me about, like, I don't know, how you support children with special needs in school, and you'll you're gonna start rattling off stuff I've never heard of before.

Lauren (12:26) Right.

Scott Benner (12:26) Yeah. (12:26) So the same thing happens here. (12:28) How long did it take you to find some sort of calm? (12:32) Like, before you didn't feel panicked anymore, you felt like you might have a a handle on things.

Lauren (12:38) That's a great question. (12:39) I think relatively quickly, I started to feel calmer because I started absorbing more and more information

Scott Benner (12:48) Mhmm.

Lauren (12:49) Which made me feel more equipped to handle it. (12:52) We fought really hard to get him on an insulin pump, And the hospital wanted to wait six months, and we absolutely knew that that is not what we wanted to do. (13:06) Okay. (13:06) At three, injections were not fun.

Scott Benner (13:10) Mhmm.

Lauren (13:11) They didn't really get more fun in the two months or easier, before we got a pump. (13:17) But I think once we got him on his insulin pump, it started to feel more manageable because I could do little corrections and smaller corrections

Scott Benner (13:29) Yep.

Lauren (13:30) Without having to stress and worry about his emotional state while I was doing it.

Scott Benner (13:35) I don't mean this the way it's gonna sound. (13:37) Okay? (13:38) For everybody listening. (13:39) But is that me too? (13:41) Like, did I tell you that?

Scott Benner (13:43) Or did you figure it out on your own? (13:45) I'm not saying everything you know is for me. (13:46) I'm trying to figure out how much were you able to just sit back and say, like, you know what I mean? (13:51) Like, what's the difference between having to live through it to figure it out and having somebody point you in the right direction, I guess, is my question. (13:59) Today's episode is sponsored by a long term CGM.

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Lauren (15:58) Right. (15:59) I think allowing myself to do corrections before the designated amount of time Mhmm. (16:07) Came from you. (16:08) Okay. (16:09) And that made me want to do that more often to correct and get his blood sugars more in range.

Lauren (16:17) Doing that on MDI felt so much harder and I felt so much more guilty for giving him more injections.

Scott Benner (16:24) Tell me about that. (16:25) So you figured out, this can't be right. (16:28) I must need more. (16:29) But you then you when you did it, you felt guilt?

Lauren (16:32) Well, I felt guilt because he was really emotional about it. (16:36) Oh. (16:36) Or he would fight me or whatever. (16:38) And so that just really weighed on me emotionally.

Scott Benner (16:41) Yeah.

Lauren (16:41) And once we got on a pump where he only had a poke every three days, I was like, oh, now I can do what I want.

Scott Benner (16:49) So the guilt I thought the guilt was was going against the doctor. (16:52) The guilt was the what what your child was experiencing having to give them injections.

Lauren (16:57) Right. (16:58) I have no guilt for going against the doctor.

Scott Benner (17:00) Okay.

Lauren (17:00) I never have.

Scott Benner (17:01) I guess we should talk about that for half a second more though. (17:04) Sure. (17:06) Tell people what it feels like. (17:08) Like, what does it feel like when you're administering an injection? (17:11) You know you have to do it.

Scott Benner (17:13) Your child doesn't understand why they're having their reactions. (17:16) Kinda break that down more granularly for me.

Lauren (17:19) Yeah. (17:19) I think let me go back for a second. (17:22) Please. (17:22) Joel also now is diagnosed with pretty severe ADHD, and his emotional regulation skills are, I would say, younger than his age. (17:35) And so that

Scott Benner (17:37) Mine too.

Lauren (17:37) Factors in. (17:38) Sorry. (17:39) Yeah. (17:40) That that factors in to how he responded. (17:46) You know?

Lauren (17:46) And it was really hard for him. (17:48) I mean, he would, like, scream and run circles around the house away from me and having to, like, force him to come sit back down. (17:58) And I don't feel like with MDI, we ever had to hold him down or anything crazy.

Scott Benner (18:04) Mhmm.

Lauren (18:05) We were able to kind of talk him through that. (18:07) But the emotional weight that goes with any kind of fight like that is a lot. (18:16) Like, he just had to get lab his yearly labs done at the hospital a couple weeks ago. (18:23) And it took me, his dad, and a nurse to hold him down so that the other nurse could draw the blood out of his arm. (18:32) And that emotionally is really hard.

Scott Benner (18:35) Yeah. (18:36) No. (18:37) I've I've been there. (18:38) And hard for you, hard for him.

Lauren (18:41) Yeah. (18:41) Right.

Scott Benner (18:42) Hard on your relationship with your husband because he wasn't there that day and you had to live with it. (18:46) Right?

Lauren (18:47) Sure. (18:47) Yeah.

Scott Benner (18:48) Yeah. (18:48) Yeah.

Lauren (18:48) Yeah. (18:48) I think it just adds weight, you know, to an already difficult journey.

Scott Benner (18:53) Does it cause you to look at the other kids and think like, oh, these are easier?

Lauren (18:58) A 100%.

Scott Benner (18:58) Yeah. (18:59) That's tough too. (18:59) Right?

Lauren (19:00) Yeah. (19:01) He's also six and needs braces. (19:03) So it's just hard all the way around.

Scott Benner (19:06) He's six and he needs braces? (19:08) Yeah. (19:09) But his baby teeth are gone. (19:10) Right?

Lauren (19:11) Most of them. (19:12) Yeah. (19:12) He is early at that, and so they wanna go ahead and put braces on him, which they tried to do yesterday and it didn't work.

Scott Benner (19:19) Wait. (19:20) I'm sorry to ask this, Lauren. (19:22) Which directions are these teeth going in that he needs braces when he's six?

Lauren (19:27) So, basically, it's preventative because his bottom teeth on the front are, like, completely offset. (19:35) They're not centered how they should be. (19:37) Okay. (19:37) And there's so much crowding in the teeth that need to come in that if we wait a long time to give him braces, they're gonna have to pull a bunch of teeth. (19:49) But preventatively, they might be able to essentially restructure his mouth.

Scott Benner (19:54) Lauren, I'm not a professional in this situation, but it feels like it's possible someone's stealing your money from you. (20:00) So

Lauren (20:02) I have been doing a lot of research on the back end.

Scott Benner (20:04) Okay. (20:05) Because my son had a ton of teeth pulled when he got his braces. (20:09) Yeah. (20:09) And it wasn't great, but, you know, it also just cost what it cost.

Lauren (20:12) Right. (20:13) Right.

Scott Benner (20:13) I don't understand this at all. (20:15) I have no background on this at all. (20:16) I wanna make sure everybody understands that I could be completely wrong, and I'm not actually even making a a pronouncement. (20:21) I just wanna tell you something that I've been telling my wife since I met her. (20:24) Everyone is trying to take our money.

Scott Benner (20:26) It's our job to keep it.

Lauren (20:29) Yeah. (20:29) Sure.

Scott Benner (20:30) That's all I say to her. (20:31) That's for everybody, not you, Lauren. (20:33) Everybody. (20:34) Everyone is trying to take your money from you. (20:36) Okay?

Lauren (20:37) Listen. (20:37) Once the appointment didn't work yesterday because he had a complete shutdown, I was like, oh, cool. (20:43) We can try this in, like, two years.

Scott Benner (20:45) Yeah. (20:45) It's enough. (20:46) We're good. (20:46) Thanks. (20:47) By the way, how much?

Scott Benner (20:48) What are talking about? (20:49) $15? (20:49) What what's the cost?

Lauren (20:50) I don't know. (20:52) To be honest with you, my husband took him and our insurance pays for part of it for the first set. (20:58) If he had to have a second set later, we would have to pay out of pocket, I think. (21:03) But

Scott Benner (21:04) I don't know. (21:05) Lauren, do you understand? (21:07) Not good. (21:07) Not good. (21:08) Yeah.

Scott Benner (21:08) Listen. (21:09) Your shoes, your socks, your pants, your house, everybody's trying to take your money. (21:13) Like, you have to decide who you're gonna give it to. (21:16) Alright? (21:16) That you can't everybody that asks for it can't have it.

Lauren (21:19) Right.

Scott Benner (21:19) Okay. (21:20) Your six year old needs braces. (21:21) If somebody would have said that to me, would have went, oh, you. (21:25) Yeah. (21:26) I was

Lauren (21:27) like, I'm sorry. (21:28) What did you just say?

Scott Benner (21:29) Nice try, prick. (21:31) You're not getting a boat out of me.

Lauren (21:35) Yeah. (21:36) Kind of my thoughts too.

Scott Benner (21:40) Get the out of here.

Lauren (21:43) Yeah. (21:43) So I think we're gonna, postpone because I think yesterday was a sign that it's just not worth

Scott Benner (21:49) it right now. (21:49) If that wasn't a sign, take this as a sign. (21:51) Don't do

Lauren (21:52) that. (21:52) Perfect.

Scott Benner (21:53) Yeah. (21:53) Jesus. (21:54) My god. (21:55) I like, I'm already insulted that I went to the grocery store the other day, grabbed seven things, the lady was like, $65. (22:01) And I was like, for what?

Scott Benner (22:03) I was like, I don't Right. (22:04) Exactly. (22:04) I don't understand what just happened. (22:06) Now now my six year old needs braces. (22:08) What's next?

Scott Benner (22:09) You you know, I haven't ranted and raved about this for a while, Lauren, so I'll only do it briefly. (22:15) Every one of you who took your little kids to preschool, you ruined it. (22:18) You understand? (22:18) It used to be okay if kids were dumb until they were five. (22:21) Right?

Scott Benner (22:21) Like, you would just you let them just bang around the house, and and then they took them to kindergarten. (22:26) And then some of them figured it out, and some of them took longer. (22:29) But eventually, everyone figures it out. (22:31) You don't know any nine year olds that can't count to 10. (22:33) Right?

Scott Benner (22:33) Like, was no but then one one shiny lady with a little too much money took her kid to preschool and taught that little to count when he was four. (22:42) And everybody went, oh, no. (22:44) My kid's behind. (22:45) And now preschool's a giant industry. (22:47) Your kid doesn't need to know his ABCs when he's three.

Scott Benner (22:50) And if he does, teach it to him yourself. (22:52) Now it's an industry I couldn't afford to send my kid to preschool. (22:55) It's the whole by the way, it's the whole reason you got me. (22:58) Like, here, because because we went to the the the kid. (23:01) We made the he's older now.

Scott Benner (23:03) But we made the baby, not on purpose. (23:05) And then, we were married, but not on purpose with making the baby. (23:09) And then we looked around at preschools, and it was so goddamn expensive even back then, twenty seven years ago when we were or twenty six years ago when we were looking, that it was literally cheaper for us for me to quit my job than to pay for preschool. (23:25) And if one of those people I say lady, it could have been a guy, but let's be honest, it was a lady. (23:31) If one of those competitive ladies didn't send their three or four year old out to learn their ABCs back when they were still pooping in their pants, then you wouldn't have to listen to this podcast right now.

Scott Benner (23:40) But now you're stuck with me because I didn't have a job, then I got to write a blog, and now I got to do this. (23:44) It's the whole See? (23:46) See?

Lauren (23:47) So maybe I should be thankful for that lady.

Scott Benner (23:48) Or if you don't like me, you should be pretty pissed. (23:52) So There you go. (23:54) Anyway, everyone's trying to get your money. (23:56) It's your job to say no. (23:57) Yeah.

Scott Benner (23:58) Yep. (23:58) I agree. (23:59) I say no to everything immediately. (24:01) If you offered me sex right now, I'd go, no. (24:03) And then I'd think backwards from it.

Scott Benner (24:04) Then I go, oh, that was nice to that lady. (24:05) Maybe we should do that. (24:06) Okay. (24:07) So everything starts at no. (24:09) Okay?

Scott Benner (24:09) Because I don't wanna get tricked at anything because sometimes stuff sounds too good to be true. (24:13) You know what I mean? (24:13) Oh, yeah. (24:14) May I say I saw something today? (24:17) It was a gift box to put a gift in at Christmas, but it it was billed as, an escape room gift box.

Scott Benner (24:23) Now for the life of me, I don't click on stuff like that, but I was like, what is this? (24:27) You know? (24:27) And I clicked on it, and it was $441. (24:32) And I thought, yeah. (24:34) See, Lauren?

Scott Benner (24:34) That's how I laugh when you told me about the braces for the six year old. (24:37) And so, like and I looked at that, and I thought, someone bought this or this wouldn't be here. (24:43) It's a goddamn box. (24:45) It's Yeah. (24:46) A $441 box, and someone bought it.

Scott Benner (24:50) I don't know. (24:50) Alright. (24:51) I'm done. (24:51) I learned. (24:52) Let's move on.

Scott Benner (24:53) So I wanna know a little bit about the intersection between your job and the diabetes thing because it must you you must have a different insight on school for diabetes. (25:03) I'd I'd really like to hear it.

Lauren (25:04) Yeah. (25:05) Absolutely. (25:06) So I think it started when he came to pre k. (25:10) Speaking of preschool.

Scott Benner (25:11) Mhmm. (25:12) See?

Lauren (25:14) We have a pre k four program at our school. (25:16) And so when he was four, he was able to come to my school. (25:19) He was staying with a babysitter before that. (25:22) And even though I was in the building with him, his classroom is right next door to my office, I was still kind of freaking out.

Scott Benner (25:32) Okay.

Lauren (25:33) And the education, I think that is so important to educate people who will have your child in their care all day is so much more than the nursing supervisor is going to give. (25:51) And so I started before school started, I said, hey. (25:55) Like, can all of his teachers can we have a meeting and talk about kind of what to expect? (26:02) And I, of course, in the way that I am made a PowerPoint presentation and really just tried to walk through a basic understanding of what diabetes is and how we'll care for it at school. (26:18) Mhmm.

Lauren (26:19) Kind of what I needed from those people. (26:25) And for me, because of the kind of community that our school is, it was very well received. (26:32) Like, our nurse was amazing. (26:35) And I just know that not everybody has that experience as a parent of a type one kid.

Scott Benner (26:41) Yeah.

Lauren (26:41) But I think my biggest takeaway in this conversation for other people to hear is keep advocating, keep educating, keep talking to the people in your child's school who are going to care for them all day because they have no idea.

Scott Benner (26:59) Two thoughts. (27:00) First of all, what do you mean the way that I am? (27:02) What does that mean?

Lauren (27:04) I am very organized, think, and try to be a really good communicator and even very like clear as a leader. (27:14) And so I feel like I took my assistant principal hat and just kind of tilted it a little bit k. (27:22) To now become like, a leader, educator of type one to those who needed it.

Scott Benner (27:28) Okay. (27:29) Now here's the harder question because you're involved in education to begin with. (27:33) Mhmm. (27:34) Why do I have to advocate to somebody who should understand this? (27:38) The your child's not the first one to type one to go through that building.

Scott Benner (27:41) Right? (27:42) You're right. (27:42) Sure. (27:43) Tell me the human part of it. (27:45) What is it you're overcoming?

Lauren (27:47) I think, honestly, it is the amount of information and the amount of plates that teachers have to keep spinning during the day. (27:59) And unless you educate them and tell them how important it is for this to also be one of the plates that they're spinning, then they won't. (28:12) So you have to convey in hopefully a very kind and understanding way Mhmm. (28:19) That this is life or death, that this is very, important. (28:24) And to get the nurse on your side, just all of that.

Lauren (28:29) I think everybody has a lot of things going on. (28:33) And the more that you can help them understand it, trying to find that line of not being too pushy. (28:41) Right?

Scott Benner (28:41) Yeah.

Lauren (28:42) We'll help your child have the best care while they're not with you.

Scott Benner (28:47) Try to imagine for a second that there's somebody listening who's had diabetes for forty five years, and they think you're being melodramatic because they didn't grow up with a CGM, and they didn't ever I never knew what my blood sugar was and, like, all of the other stuff that you might hear somebody say. (29:00) Right? (29:01) Like, explain to them how you feel when you say it's life or death. (29:07) How is it that you see this whole thing? (29:09) How is it that your experience has led you to say that out loud?

Scott Benner (29:13) Because that's not a that's not a lightly that's not a thing that anybody says lightly. (29:16) Right? (29:16) So Right. (29:17) Tell me about that.

Lauren (29:19) I don't mean to sound like cliche, but I think when you know better, you do better. (29:29) And being able to have a CGM and to see his blood sugars, being able to catch a 44 blood sugar drop when he's in the middle of PE class is something that we value, you know, now that we can actually see it. (29:47) And sure that comes with extra anxieties and extra layers of protection and making you a little crazy. (29:55) But in the long run, hopefully, it has better outcomes for his health thirty, forty, fifty years from now. (30:04) Yeah.

Scott Benner (30:04) Have you ever really thought to yourself, I can't send my kid here. (30:07) He could die and, like, and really meant it?

Lauren (30:11) I thought if I didn't work in his school building, it would be very, very difficult for me to send him to school.

Scott Benner (30:18) Because of your fear?

Lauren (30:20) Because of my fear and because I think I understand how school works from the inside that there has to

Scott Benner (30:30) be We're so close, Lawrence. (30:31) Say it. (30:32) Say say what you wanna say.

Lauren (30:33) He can't care for himself. (30:34) Right. (30:34) There has to be someone there who can do it for him and is paying attention. (30:39) And I have the luxury of the nurse and I meeting each other at his classroom door to handle a low.

Scott Benner (30:46) Okay. (30:46) Are you stopping yourself from saying I know these people and I don't trust some of them?

Lauren (30:52) I I if I didn't work there and have a relationship with them and know them on a deeper level, yeah. (31:01) For sure.

Scott Benner (31:02) So so you're like, okay. (31:05) Alright. (31:05) Fair enough.

Lauren (31:06) Because I understand how busy they are, how many fires they're putting out all day long, how crazy teachers jobs are to have twenty two four year olds following them around all day and being the only adult in the room.

Scott Benner (31:23) Oh, listen.

Lauren (31:24) I can't imagine being in their shoes and having to do this on top of it.

Scott Benner (31:28) Yeah. (31:28) You're you're talking to a guy that had the school bus driver glucagon trained. (31:31) So, like

Lauren (31:32) Exactly.

Scott Benner (31:33) Yeah. (31:33) I believe you. (31:35) I also don't trust people as far as I can throw them mostly.

Lauren (31:37) Right.

Scott Benner (31:37) It's no shade. (31:38) Like, you listening right now, you might be like, hey. (31:40) I'm a teacher and I you can trust me. (31:41) I'm like, yeah. (31:42) I probably can trust you.

Scott Benner (31:43) I just don't know which one you are. (31:45) And so I don't know. (31:47) Like, am I getting the school bus driver who's just, like, retired and looking for something to do during the day and loves kids? (31:53) Or am I looking for the one who's like, yeah. (31:55) I got a couple of convictions.

Scott Benner (31:56) This is the only job I could get. (31:57) Like, I don't know which one is which. (31:59) Like, am I getting the nice lady who loves kids and just wants everybody to be better, or am I getting the lady who's, you know, thinking of sending sexy photos to one of her students? (32:09) I don't know which one I'm getting. (32:11) And so, like, in that scenario, when a low blood sugar could come out of nowhere and you need a thoughtful person to understand the process and to put the save into place at the right time for the right reasons, I understand your fear.

Scott Benner (32:24) Like, I lived through it. (32:25) I'm not kidding. (32:26) Also, don't think every teacher's, you know, sexting their students. (32:29) I'm not saying that. (32:29) Obviously, that's probably not a thing that happens a lot.

Scott Benner (32:32) Although in Florida, it seems to happen more. (32:34) And at the same time and I know this is wrong to say, but if I was 15 and my teacher was like, hey. (32:39) I would have been like, oh, look at me. (32:40) I'm doing alright. (32:41) Trying to get at it is like, you'd it's just the same as going to the doctor.

Scott Benner (32:45) I just found myself three days ago saying that doctor Beach Gem was on the podcast. (32:49) By the don't know if you guys all know that episode sixteen ninety eight. (32:52) I got doctor Beach Gem to come on. (32:54) That was very cool. (32:54) You might know her from TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, etcetera.

Scott Benner (32:57) She was very cool. (32:57) She's a pediatric ER doctor. (33:00) And while I was making that point about doctors, like, you get a doctor, you don't know which one you're getting. (33:05) Did you get the one who really understands type one diabetes and how insulin works, or did I get the one who's like, I don't really need to know this as much. (33:13) I don't know who you are when I start with you.

Scott Benner (33:16) So you gotta get in there and lay lay a groundwork, what, that feels like any dummy could follow this. (33:23) Right?

Lauren (33:24) Yeah. (33:24) And that level of trust that you have to try to build with someone who's gonna be with your child eight hours a day is hard. (33:33) And I think the younger they are and the less that they can feel their lows and know what to do to care for themselves, the harder it is.

Scott Benner (33:42) Don't lie to me. (33:43) Have you ever gone into the office in the summertime and said, don't put him with that one, please?

Lauren (33:48) No. (33:48) Not But I haven't cared about middle school.

Scott Benner (33:52) Not yet. (33:53) I invite. (33:57) Not Susan. (33:58) I think she does meth. (34:00) Oh.

Scott Benner (34:00) Like, yes. (34:02) I mean, listen. (34:03) In the end, I I've had you know, I've I've gone to school. (34:06) My kids have gone to school. (34:07) You know, most of the teachers that I've experienced have been really lovely.

Scott Benner (34:11) Seriously, you know. (34:13) And, just like most of the doctors and nurses I've come across have been absolutely awesome. (34:17) It's just, you know, I don't know. (34:18) In that moment, you wanna know that the people around you are competent and ready. (34:23) And that's Yeah.

Scott Benner (34:24) And only gets a lot to ask.

Lauren (34:25) I will say in the two and a half years that he's been in school, I could not have asked for better support from anybody. (34:34) From the nurse, from his teachers, you know, following his blood sugar and texting me at 8PM being like, is he okay?

Scott Benner (34:44) And you're like, please stop please stop following him at 03:30. (34:46) I I agree.

Lauren (34:47) I know. (34:47) We we did set up parameters to turn off their notifications.

Scott Benner (34:51) You're so nice. (34:52) Get a boyfriend. (34:55) Leave me alone. (34:57) Find a hobby. (34:58) Get out of here.

Scott Benner (34:59) But but but I take your point. (35:01) You didn't think they were being nosy. (35:02) They really cared. (35:03) Right?

Lauren (35:03) Right.

Scott Benner (35:04) Yeah. (35:04) That's awesome. (35:05) That's cool. (35:06) Well, how do you think his experience is? (35:07) Because in the end, the the other thing is you don't want his experience to be any more intrusive in their regularity than it needs to be.

Scott Benner (35:14) Right. (35:15) Is that No.

Lauren (35:15) I think it's pretty good. (35:17) We go into his class once a year. (35:21) So his diversaries September 12. (35:24) So I try to usually go in because that's towards the beginning of the year and do a little lesson for his class. (35:31) And we paint Joel's Omnipods.

Lauren (35:35) And so I actually let all the kids decorate their own coloring sheet that's an Omnipod. (35:41) And we do a cool fun lesson with that. (35:43) But just trying to help them understand like at four, five, six years old, what's going on. (35:49) Why is he getting a juice box when nobody else is? (35:52) You know?

Lauren (35:52) And our kids have been so understanding and so welcoming. (35:58) And I think we try to interrupt the least amount possible into his class. (36:04) Yeah. (36:05) But, yeah, I think it's gone really well so far.

Scott Benner (36:07) Good. (36:07) That's awesome. (36:08) Yeah. (36:08) You call that PowerPoint why Joel has a phone and you don't?

Lauren (36:12) Yeah.

Scott Benner (36:14) I got yelled at when Arden got a phone. (36:17) Lot of moms on the phone to me. (36:20) What are you doing? (36:20) What are you doing? (36:22) And this is a long time ago.

Scott Benner (36:23) They were like, oh, way to set the bar. (36:25) I was like, look, I don't wanna do this. (36:27) Is it you know, but here we are. (36:29) Yeah. (36:30) Arden was, like, rolling around with an iPhone back when people didn't have them.

Scott Benner (36:34) Yeah. (36:34) Because we tried by the way, tried to get her a little foot. (36:36) It was just for emergencies. (36:38) I wanted her to be able to, like, to to talk about how, like, how scary it can be. (36:44) There was a twenty minute bus ride at the beginning of the day and the end of the day.

Scott Benner (36:49) And I wanted her to be able to let me know if her blood sugar was low because there was no share, like, back then. (36:56) Like, I couldn't see her blood sugar. (36:58) And so you basically, you know, she'd text me at the end of the day, like, hey. (37:04) I'm getting on the bus now. (37:05) This is my blood sugar.

Scott Benner (37:06) And then she'd get on the bus, and I didn't I I couldn't track it. (37:09) And so if something went south, we wanted her to be able to reach out. (37:13) And, you know, we took her to the I I remember this. (37:15) We went to the cell phone store. (37:16) I got I wasn't looking to spend money on this.

Scott Benner (37:18) I'm like, look. (37:19) Here's a flip phone. (37:19) You open it up. (37:20) You push these buttons, and she just couldn't do it. (37:23) Whoever designed that UI on an iPhone, I you could hand it to a six year old and they and she was like, oh, yeah.

Scott Benner (37:30) I can make this work. (37:31) And I was like, oh, great. (37:32) So now she's got that and every mom in town is pissed at me. (37:36) You know, I was like, whatever. (37:37) By the way, all your kids have phones now.

Scott Benner (37:38) It's not my fault.

Lauren (37:39) Well, and I think that's probably worse now because a lot of states are outlawing phones at school. (37:44) Yes. (37:45) Texas just did it. (37:46) Mhmm. (37:46) And so now they really are like that kid who gets to have their phone during the school day, you know?

Scott Benner (37:53) Pulls it out like you're like you're George Clooney in his prime. (37:56) Look at me. (37:57) Rest of you suckers don't have your phone.

Lauren (37:59) Because their friends can't have it.

Scott Benner (38:00) Yeah. (38:00) Where's your phone, sucker? (38:02) I got mine right here. (38:04) So yeah. (38:05) Look at that.

Scott Benner (38:05) Now, I'll say if if if nobody else will. (38:08) Maybe the greatest thing ever not to let kids have phones at school.

Lauren (38:12) Oh, I agree.

Scott Benner (38:13) If you'd like them to learn something. (38:14) I mean, For sure. (38:15) If you want them to figure out TikTok, then, I mean, perfect. (38:18) You know, if you want them to listen, be able to focus, I think maybe, don't send them with the crack in their pocket. (38:24) That might be an easier way for them to to be able to focus.

Scott Benner (38:28) But yeah. (38:28) But there are plenty of people who have medical devices on their phones now. (38:32) So you're saying that they said no to the kids, but if you have a medical device, would you get, like, a special, like, hall pass for that?

Lauren (38:39) Yeah. (38:39) You have to write it into their five zero four plan or whatever, just to cover yourself. (38:45) But yeah.

Scott Benner (38:45) Nice. (38:46) Well, look at us finally getting something. (38:48) Although dis Disney took away the pass, I think.

Lauren (38:51) I did hear that.

Scott Benner (38:52) Yeah. (38:52) Yeah. (38:52) Also, we can't talk about that. (38:53) It makes people very upset. (38:56) Never seen people argue online more than about that.

Scott Benner (38:59) Like, if you wanna argue with people online, go to a place where there's people with type one diabetes and say, hey. (39:05) I'm taking my kid to Disney. (39:06) Is there a way that I don't have to wait in these lines? (39:09) Whoo. (39:10) And then here it comes.

Scott Benner (39:11) We're not disabled. (39:12) I'm like, I don't why can't you just stand in the line? (39:16) Blah blah blah. (39:17) You're making it bad for all of us. (39:18) My kid gets low.

Scott Benner (39:20) Oh, my god. (39:21) They don't stop. (39:22) Ridiculous. (39:23) Listen to me. (39:24) No.

Scott Benner (39:25) Keep arguing. (39:25) I mean, it keeps the group going. (39:27) So if you wanna argue, argue, I guess. (39:28) What I'll argue.

Lauren (39:29) Give you a little entertainment.

Scott Benner (39:30) Yeah. (39:30) It gives me something to do. (39:31) I mean, as soon as it pops up, the like, I get a message from one of the one of the moderators. (39:36) They're like, hey, we tag this to pay attention to it because it's t minus showing counting when it comes up. (39:43) Mhmm.

Scott Benner (39:44) It's like, That's for all you adults out there. (39:46) Like, hold yourselves together. (39:47) Okay? (39:48) What else do I need to know about the the school? (39:51) Like, what have you learned going through this process that you didn't know before setting up a five zero four plan?

Lauren (39:58) I think the biggest thing that I would say is not just with type one, but with any exceptional need that a student has.

Scott Benner (40:09) Mhmm.

Lauren (40:10) You have to communicate. (40:12) The parents, I want them to feel comfortable to keep communicating, to go in and meet with the staff whenever you need to as much as you need to to help your child be successful during the school day. (40:29) It doesn't just have to be your once a year meeting. (40:32) You can call a meeting whenever you need to.

Scott Benner (40:34) Okay.

Lauren (40:35) And so really just trying to help them to know that they can have their needs met and still be successful at school. (40:46) And I think communicating your child's needs clearly is one of the biggest ways to do that.

Scott Benner (40:51) What do I do though if the teacher or an administrator or somebody isn't, I don't know, compliant with what's been set out in front of them? (40:59) You put something reasonable in front of them. (41:01) It's agreed upon. (41:02) They don't do it. (41:03) Now what I basically have is an employee who doesn't wanna be bothered with the extra work that they've given me.

Scott Benner (41:09) And if I push back, don't I make up an enemy? (41:13) An enemy who's in charge of grating my son or you know what I mean? (41:17) Like and Yeah. (41:18) Is there a way how do you navigate that?

Lauren (41:22) Honestly, I think it's all about your approach. (41:25) It's very much about your tone of voice and your body language and the way that you maybe ask for help instead of demanding it in the first place.

Scott Benner (41:37) Mhmm.

Lauren (41:37) I'm not saying that that's, you know, gonna fix everything. (41:41) There's obviously still people who don't wanna hear it and people who don't want to help. (41:46) But hopefully, that's the exception.

Scott Benner (41:49) Well, there's gonna be some people who think your kid, like, has type one diabetes because they ate poorly. (41:54) Right? (41:54) And that's your fault. (41:55) Now you want me to do something about it? (41:56) Blah blah blah blah.

Scott Benner (41:57) Right? (41:57) There's ignorance like that.

Lauren (41:59) Yeah. (42:00) And that's why I think, like, I started with the PowerPoint presentation. (42:05) Like, let me, in twenty minutes, tell you the most important things about what type one is

Scott Benner (42:12) Mhmm.

Lauren (42:13) And why it's important to care for his blood sugar through the day and kind of try to ride some of those misconceptions.

Scott Benner (42:20) Yeah. (42:21) That's a great idea. (42:21) I mean and and probably, again, necessary because you don't know who's gonna, you know, hold a bias in their head and never say it out loud.

Lauren (42:29) Yeah. (42:30) The other thing that we do is I make a one pager, and it has there's one for the staff that I give to all of his teachers and our principal and nurse and everyone that has like this most important information on it.

Scott Benner (42:46) Mhmm.

Lauren (42:47) And then I also kind tweak it and make one to go home with all the students in his class that have, like, the signs and symptoms of type one and try to educate them too. (42:58) Because I feel like probably as you do, the more people that we can spread the truth to, the more we write those misconceptions.

Scott Benner (43:07) No. (43:08) I think it's a good opportunity. (43:09) Right? (43:09) You've got got a captured audience there of about 30 people that you can maybe hopefully put a flyer in their hand. (43:15) Maybe their mom will look at it or their dad will look at it for a second and understand it a little better.

Scott Benner (43:19) Right. (43:19) Yeah. (43:20) No. (43:20) And and it might also help the kids not to tease and and be, you know, unkind and, you know, it's it's a lot I think there's a lot of good that goes into it. (43:29) It's probably not that much effort for you either.

Scott Benner (43:31) Right? (43:32) You get a lot out of it No. (43:33) For a little a good bang for your buck, I imagine.

Lauren (43:35) Yeah. (43:35) I've actually had a couple of really great conversations with parents of a preschooler or a first grader who said like, yeah, my son came home talking about his pancreas and mom, what's insulin? (43:51) And they were able to have like a really good conversation about it. (43:54) And I think the little like flyer thing, you know, helps the parent to understand it, to be able to talk to their kid about it. (44:01) That's awesome.

Scott Benner (44:02) Good for you. (44:03) Look at you out there doing nice things. (44:06) You said something a minute ago that made me feel like you have had to stand in an office and be yelled at by a parent. (44:12) Were like, it's Of

Lauren (44:13) course, I have. (44:13) I'm an assistant principal.

Scott Benner (44:14) Like it's about tone and body language, and I felt like what you were saying is, please don't scream at me and look like you're gonna hit me.

Lauren (44:21) Well, mostly, it's like, if you come in and you're hateful and ugly, we don't wanna do anything for you.

Scott Benner (44:27) Well, yeah. (44:27) There's We want you to leave. (44:28) That's the human part. (44:29) I I say listen. (44:30) I've been on this a long time.

Scott Benner (44:33) Like, catch more flies with honey, you know, that kind of thing. (44:36) Assume they don't know what you're talking about, that you sound crazy. (44:39) Don't come in demanding things right away because you do sound crazy. (44:43) Even when you start explaining diabetes, to somebody who doesn't understand it, you sound crazy. (44:49) So you have to go just like Lauren's saying, like, education, slow, calm.

Scott Benner (44:54) Once they get a little understanding, move them forward a little bit. (44:57) It's a bit of an effort, you know, and and you can say I shouldn't have to do that all you want, but, again, you're dealing with people. (45:04) And not everybody's got the same level of understanding, compassion, desire, number of things that go into this. (45:10) You know? (45:11) I've had moments where, you know, I've gotten pushed back, and and I know if I would've lost my mind there that it would've it just would've died on the vine.

Scott Benner (45:20) Like, so you just have to stop and go, hey. (45:21) I see why you think that, but, know, that's not gonna work and here's why. (45:26) I have also, you know, over the years pushed harder on some things. (45:30) I yelled at one school nurse in high school for contacting Arden's endocrinologist without anybody's permission.

Lauren (45:36) As you should.

Scott Benner (45:37) Yeah. (45:37) I was like, that is none of your business. (45:38) Like, never call my daughter's doctor again. (45:40) So I was trying to help, I was like, I couldn't possibly care less what you were trying to do. (45:44) Like, don't that's you talk to me.

Scott Benner (45:46) That that's that. (45:47) You know? (45:48) Also, the thing was, like, why they even considered doing it? (45:51) But and I've pushed in the past too. (45:53) Like, you know, I we set things up.

Scott Benner (45:55) Those things weren't met. (45:57) It turned into a dangerous situation, and then I pushed. (46:00) But I waited until I didn't just yell every time they didn't understand something. (46:05) Like, one time they messed up a big a big thing, and I said, okay. (46:08) Like, I've got the high ground now.

Scott Benner (46:10) This is an opportunity for me to move this whole thing forward. (46:14) They can't fight about it because they had been fighting before because they didn't wanna spend money. (46:18) And this is a long, long time ago. (46:20) Arden was in kindergarten. (46:22) And all we really were asking for was, like, maybe an aid to move her around the building a little bit.

Scott Benner (46:27) I know you guys are listening now and you're like, oh, she's got c g I garden not a CGM on in kindergarten. (46:32) Like, you know, there was we were going to, you know, finger stick a couple of times a day. (46:37) We were managing the whole thing that way. (46:39) And so, you know, we just wanted somebody to be there when she was on the playground, just kinda keeping an eye on her and stuff like that. (46:46) And this was not like a teaching position.

Scott Benner (46:48) It was you know, I mean, it's an aid. (46:50) It's the it's not that expensive, and they have budget for that stuff. (46:53) They didn't wanna give it to her. (46:54) And then they made a mistake one day and put her in perilous situation. (46:58) That's the wrong word.

Scott Benner (46:59) It was a dangerous situation. (47:01) And I used that situation to push back. (47:04) And then you could see the ignorance, like, because there I was in the office with the superintendent of this district. (47:09) And he's like, why can't she just do it herself? (47:12) And I was like, well, she's five.

Scott Benner (47:14) That's one of the reasons. (47:16) Do you even understand what you're talking about right now? (47:18) You want her to do it? (47:20) And I was like, she can't do all that, and she doesn't understand any of it. (47:24) And, you know, I don't know.

Scott Benner (47:26) Like, I just I took it I took advantage there. (47:28) And after that, you know, it it was pretty smooth sailing after that, to be perfectly honest.

Lauren (47:33) Yeah. (47:34) And I think you have to sometimes get to that point. (47:38) But the first five, ten minutes of your conversation, if you don't know these people that you're going into the school to talk to, are everything. (47:49) The way that you present yourself, the way that you talk about what your child needs is so important. (47:59) Because it doesn't matter who you are as an educator, you know, people can rub you the wrong way.

Lauren (48:07) And as a human, you just then really don't maybe wanna go the extra mile for them. (48:13) And so I think it's important to really come across very caring and empathetic and understanding also Mhmm. (48:22) How busy and crazy their lives are. (48:25) And then to clearly explain your needs in, you know, a kind and respectful way.

Scott Benner (48:31) I think you just said law a second ago. (48:33) Honestly, the way I think about it is you come at somebody the wrong way, they are not gonna be inclined to help you. (48:39) And that's it. (48:39) Like, you can take all of the the way it should be and we have it written down and there's a five zero four plan. (48:45) You just throw it all out the window because in the end, you just pissed off somebody who has a power over you.

Scott Benner (48:53) And if they're not incredibly forgiving people, they're gonna exert that power over you now, and it's gonna be at the expense of your kid and their diabetes. (49:02) Exactly. (49:02) So some people are is what you're telling me. (49:04) And I don't know which ones are which, so be nice. (49:06) Is that right?

Scott Benner (49:07) Right.

Lauren (49:07) Yeah. (49:08) Yeah. (49:08) Exactly. (49:08) So My motto in life.

Scott Benner (49:11) I mean, in the end, is is that not the rule about everything? (49:13) You you know what I mean? (49:14) Like, like, what are you doing? (49:16) You you have a problem at the cash register. (49:19) You have a problem at school.

Scott Benner (49:20) You have a problem anywhere. (49:22) You start with contrite. (49:24) I'm sorry. (49:24) Whether you are or not, by the way. (49:26) I got pulled over, a couple weeks ago.

Scott Benner (49:29) It's longer than that again. (49:31) I was on my way to the airport to go to touch by type one, and I got pulled over. (49:36) I don't know. (49:36) I was going too fast. (49:38) Guy pulls me over.

Scott Benner (49:39) I pull I got off the road. (49:41) He comes to the window. (49:42) I say, sir, how are you today? (49:44) He goes, good. (49:45) I said, was I speeding?

Scott Benner (49:47) And he said, yes. (49:48) Now I want you to know, Lauren. (49:49) I didn't know if I was speeding or not. (49:51) It just was like a safe assumption. (49:52) You you know?

Scott Benner (49:53) And I didn't wanna be like, Forever? (49:55) Why is this happening? (49:56) Like, you know what I mean? (49:57) Like, was like, what? (49:58) I said, was, you know, was I speeding?

Scott Benner (50:00) And he goes, yeah. (50:00) I said, I apologize. (50:01) I'm on my way to the airport. (50:03) Yeah. (50:03) I understand if you need to give me a ticket.

Scott Benner (50:05) I hope you don't. (50:07) I said, but if you do, I just I have a flight. (50:09) I have to make it this time. (50:11) I'm going to speak at, and I stopped and I said, it's gonna sound like I made this up to get out of this. (50:18) I said, but I'm going, to give a talk for a charity, and I really can't miss this plane.

Scott Benner (50:23) So whatever you wanna do, I said, you know, car's clean, title's all this is clean. (50:27) Here you go. (50:28) I am so I again, I'm very sorry. (50:30) Where was I speeding? (50:31) And he told me and I said, oh, I I I didn't realize.

Scott Benner (50:34) I I again, I'm sorry. (50:36) He comes back a couple seconds later and he goes, hey. (50:39) Everything's good. (50:39) You're you know, everything insurance, blah blah blah. (50:41) He goes, know, what's the talk for?

Scott Benner (50:44) And I told him, and he goes, well, get going. (50:46) I don't want you to miss the plane. (50:47) And I was like, no ticket? (50:48) He goes, no. (50:48) And I was like, oh, thank you.

Scott Benner (50:50) Like, great. (50:50) That easy. (50:51) Mhmm. (50:51) The guy had me. (50:52) You know what I mean?

Scott Benner (50:53) Like, he he had me, and I knew it. (50:55) Like, I don't start with, what are you doing? (50:57) Or I'm gonna be late. (50:58) Or, like, I just talked to him like a person, and he treated me like one in return. (51:03) Sort of the end

Lauren (51:04) of it. (51:04) But I wonder how many times they actually get treated like a person when somebody gets pulled over, you know?

Scott Benner (51:09) Well, yeah. (51:10) Like, if you if you get pulled over and you start with, I pay your bill, like, I pay your pay or whatever, like, I mean, yeah. (51:17) Well, you're about to pay me to write you a ticket then. (51:19) Because, like, that's when the human part clicks in. (51:21) Like, don't know why people don't understand this.

Scott Benner (51:23) Like, nobody wants to be treated that way. (51:25) And when people have power, they use it. (51:28) Right?

Lauren (51:29) Especially when you have a lot of emotions and stress and fear

Scott Benner (51:33) Yeah.

Lauren (51:33) Coming into, like, your kid's just been diagnosed with type one and you're trying to convey all of this, especially if you don't really understand it yet yourself. (51:42) It's harder to be calm and to be kind and to come in like that. (51:48) But it'll get you miles further down the road if you can do it.

Scott Benner (51:53) Yeah. (51:54) I just I couldn't possibly agree more. (51:56) I think the whole thing is human. (51:58) I don't wanna go down a a bizarre path with you, Lauren, but I think everything is power. (52:03) I think that if you're talking about it doesn't matter what you're talking about.

Scott Benner (52:07) It could be politics. (52:08) It could be talking to your kid's teacher about their, you know, their diabetes and everything in between. (52:13) I think everything is a power struggle. (52:15) I don't know that people do it on purpose, but don't think I've ever been in one situation that wasn't someone pissing on somebody else's foot. (52:23) Do you know what I mean?

Scott Benner (52:24) Like, it just and I don't know why people are like that. (52:26) I don't even care. (52:27) I just know that's the game. (52:29) So if I know if you know, I know the rules of the game, then I can get to the end. (52:32) And that's sort of how I feel about it.

Scott Benner (52:34) But I don't say it's right. (52:36) I just say it's it is what it is.

Lauren (52:39) When I first started as an assistant principal, my office was like a front office secretary kind of desk situation.

Scott Benner (52:48) Mhmm.

Lauren (52:49) So there was a counter like right in front of my face, and I stuck a sticker that only I could see that said kind words on it. (52:58) Because I inherently am kind of an aggressive personality.

Scott Benner (53:03) Mhmm.

Lauren (53:03) Kind of a loud, boisterous, can sometimes, you know, speak before I think person. (53:09) And I really put that there to remind myself to slow down, and to take a breath and to be kind because I knew that it would get me so much further.

Scott Benner (53:21) Yeah. (53:21) It just did. (53:22) It it it just is. (53:23) I've I've walked into school, you know, even like in high school, like sometimes, you know, pump failure or something goes wrong in the middle of the day or whatnot, you get a text and the text is like, hey. (53:34) Could you bring over, like, some insulin or whatever?

Scott Benner (53:37) Because I people are you should keep that at school, but, like, we just lived across the street. (53:40) So and I, you know, I work out of the house. (53:42) It's not a big deal. (53:43) Happens a handful of times. (53:45) And I go, oh, yeah.

Scott Benner (53:45) Yeah. (53:46) Sure. (53:46) So, you know, grab something, go over to the office. (53:49) Hi. (53:49) I'm here to meet my daughter in the, you know, the nurse's office.

Scott Benner (53:53) She's down there changing an insulin pump, and I have the insulin here in the pump or, you know, the pump we had at school didn't work or whatever. (54:00) Right away, there's rules. (54:01) You real I mean, and there's to the average adult who doesn't spend their time in a school, it's a lot of silliness. (54:08) Sign here. (54:09) Give me your, you know, driver's license.

Scott Benner (54:11) We hold the driver's license while you're in there. (54:13) I'm like, you know me. (54:14) I'm like, I've been like, okay. (54:16) And then if you push back a little bit, if you just go like, this is silly, you realize that the person on the other side is like, oh, no. (54:23) This is not silly.

Scott Benner (54:24) This is my domain. (54:25) This is a thing I control. (54:28) And I know it's at every level of people. (54:30) People like, no. (54:31) No.

Scott Benner (54:31) I got the rules on my side now, buddy. (54:33) You all do it. (54:34) You know what I mean? (54:35) Everyone does it. (54:36) Like, you know, everybody loves to be in power once in a while.

Scott Benner (54:39) And, you start pushing back, and then the next thing you know, nobody's helping your kid. (54:44) And and what did it get you? (54:46) Were you just happy to be right? (54:48) Like, you just want it to go the way you need it to go. (54:50) Who cares about the rest of it?

Scott Benner (54:51) I don't honestly care if I'm right or wrong or if they're right or wrong. (54:55) As long as the thing that needs to happen happens, I couldn't possibly care less. (54:59) So smile and wave, eat a big spoonful with a smile on your face if you have to. (55:04) Who could possibly care less? (55:06) That's how

Lauren (55:07) I Right. (55:07) But at the end of the day, you're getting what you want or what you need, and that's how you get there.

Scott Benner (55:12) Exactly. (55:13) You Yeah. (55:13) Yeah. (55:14) Yeah. (55:14) Again.

Scott Benner (55:14) Right? (55:15) What do you trap more flies with honey? (55:17) Is that the saying? (55:18) That saying's not out of nowhere. (55:19) They didn't make that up for no reason.

Scott Benner (55:21) It's because people have been forever. (55:24) And they and people like it is. (55:26) I don't even mean it. (55:27) You know what I'm saying though, Lauren. (55:29) Right?

Scott Benner (55:29) Yeah. (55:30) Of course. (55:30) I don't sound crazy to you.

Lauren (55:32) 100% agree.

Scott Benner (55:33) This is the world. (55:34) Like, play by the rules of the world. (55:36) Don't tell me how it should be. (55:37) Just I don't have time for that. (55:40) Yeah.

Scott Benner (55:40) I can't fix being kind and humanity and how people feel and, you know, that power feels nice and that, you know, you're you don't you don't have control at home, so you have it at work or whatever your thing is. (55:51) Like, I couldn't possibly care less. (55:53) I'm just trying to get out of here with the thing I need. (55:56) So

Lauren (55:56) Right. (55:56) Yeah.

Scott Benner (55:57) I don't care. (55:58) Wow. (55:59) Look at us. (55:59) Making a lot of sense here. (56:01) This is awesome.

Scott Benner (56:02) That, that little kid of yours. (56:04) Yeah. (56:04) What are your expectations for him managing himself? (56:08) Like, what's your timeline or are you just gonna go in with the flow? (56:12) How are you thinking about that?

Lauren (56:14) Yeah. (56:15) I am taking a lot of leads from him. (56:18) I think he reads the carbs on anything that has a label now and he really wants to tell me the carbs.

Scott Benner (56:25) Cool.

Lauren (56:26) And so that's really cute that he you know, he's taking ownership of that. (56:30) And I think that's one of the first things that he can take ownership of. (56:37) He chooses which pod he wants because they're all painted differently. (56:42) So like he goes and gets the basketball one or the Superman one or whatever. (56:48) And I think that will turn into, you know, more independence very slowly as we go down the road.

Lauren (56:56) My goal being that by the time he goes to middle school, he's fully independent of his care without the nurse needing to do things for him during the day.

Scott Benner (57:07) So Do you guys text during the day about diabetes stuff?

Lauren (57:11) Yeah. (57:11) So the I have two text groups, and I will say, I'm sorry if your school staff is not open to this. (57:21) I think they should be. (57:22) But I have a chat that's the teacher, the nurse, my husband, and myself.

Scott Benner (57:28) Mhmm.

Lauren (57:28) And then I have a separate chat that is only the nurse, my husband, and myself. (57:34) Because we still very much help the nurse decide how many grams of sugar. (57:41) Like, are we doing five Skittles? (57:43) Are we doing a juice box to correct his low? (57:46) Yeah.

Lauren (57:46) And things like that. (57:47) I'm gonna help make those decisions throughout the day. (57:50) And those text threads are lifesavers.

Scott Benner (57:53) Okay.

Lauren (57:54) And then we only include the teacher when we have to because we don't wanna interrupt her as much as possible.

Scott Benner (57:59) That's awesome. (58:00) And again, everybody texts at this point. (58:03) Like, it it couldn't possibly be more natural to do it that way, I would imagine.

Lauren (58:07) Yeah. (58:07) Yeah. (58:08) It's been very successful.

Scott Benner (58:09) Yeah. (58:09) I even, you know, now versus ten years ago. (58:12) Like, if you ask somebody to do that ten years ago, they'd like, I don't I don't wanna be looking everyone's got their phone. (58:17) It's glued to their face. (58:19) I like that's a that's really awesome.

Lauren (58:21) But my my friend, the kindergarten teacher whose son just got diagnosed, she went to the middle school that he attends and she was like, oh, yeah. (58:32) I have three other type ones. (58:34) They pretty much self manage. (58:36) They come in here if they need anything. (58:39) She was not open to following his blood sugar on anything.

Scott Benner (58:44) Mhmm.

Lauren (58:44) She said, you can email me if you wanna contact me. (58:50) But I about lost my mind. (58:52) I was like, can you just bring him back here? (58:55) We have sixth grade at our school. (58:57) And I was like, no.

Lauren (58:58) No. (58:58) No. (58:58) No. (58:58) No. (58:59) Bring bring him back here where we can help him and teach him for a year, and then he can go to middle school.

Scott Benner (59:05) You can email me is a loose translation of I don't care. (59:11) And that's crazy. (59:13) Well, no. (59:14) Because I ran into this too. (59:16) Like, well, you know, I started asking for things, like testing at certain times, stuff like that.

Scott Benner (59:20) And I got told there are other type ones in this building and there's other type ones that have been through this building and none of them had to do that. (59:26) And I was like, I know a couple of them and their blood sugars are in the two hundreds. (59:30) So was like, if that's how they wanna live, I, God bless. (59:33) Like, I don't care. (59:34) I said, but that's not that's not what we're here for.

Scott Benner (59:37) I think the argument that got me past that with them is I said, what is the point of me sending my daughter here every day for twelve years? (59:46) Keeping in mind that she was diagnosed when she was two? (59:49) Right? (59:49) Like, every day for twelve years, if at the end of those twelve years, she has complications and horrible health but a good education, What's she gonna do with that education when her health is failing? (1:00:03) Like, explain to me why I shouldn't just move to an island, sit on a beach, and enjoy our lives.

Scott Benner (1:00:09) You understand what you're here for. (1:00:10) Right? (1:00:10) Like, you're here to educate her so that she can go live a life. (1:00:15) And if in trade for that education, she gets terrible health, then what was the point of all this? (1:00:21) And somebody in the room was like, oh, okay.

Scott Benner (1:00:24) And was like, yeah. (1:00:25) Yeah. (1:00:25) Like, right. (1:00:26) Like, so you you get it. (1:00:27) Like, she doesn't just wander around here with a 200 blood sugar all day.

Scott Benner (1:00:31) She doesn't wander around here with a two fifty blood sugar all day. (1:00:34) Her blood sugar doesn't spike to 300, and we just go like, oh, cost of doing business. (1:00:38) Like, that's not what we do. (1:00:39) Her outcomes are what's important day to day, week to week, hour to hour. (1:00:44) Outcomes, outcomes, outcomes.

Scott Benner (1:00:47) Like, we want blood sugars to sit stable. (1:00:50) And we're gonna work towards that because otherwise, what is this all here for?

Lauren (1:00:56) Right.

Scott Benner (1:00:56) So I had a conversation. (1:00:57) This might sound disjointed, but I was listening to a conversation I had with somebody during an edit. (1:01:03) And he was talking about how he has type two diabetes, and he wanted to get his health in order to be around for his children. (1:01:11) But what I realized was that there was no extension of, the understanding that, like, my father had problems. (1:01:17) I have problems.

Scott Benner (1:01:18) I wanna be around for my kids. (1:01:20) But what I didn't hear was, also, I bet you my kids are gonna have these problems too. (1:01:24) It's hard to plan for that kind of thing. (1:01:27) Like, the human mind does not want to believe that that, you know, something's going wrong that we're gonna just see in the being. (1:01:36) That's not how we like, I don't know.

Scott Benner (1:01:37) Our brains just don't seem to work that way because my point is is that I thought during that conversation that guy was gonna say, and I should be looking into this medication for my kids because, obviously, it's happened to me. (1:01:48) It happened to my dad, it's probably gonna happen to them. (1:01:51) But his mind didn't go there. (1:01:52) And it just, I don't know, it gave me a pause for a second. (1:01:56) And I think this is this was the same thing.

Scott Benner (1:01:59) You're gonna let my kid walk around with, like, a blood sugar that's three times normal and tell me that at least she's not having a seizure, and so we're good? (1:02:11) And that's it. (1:02:12) I was like, What a lack of understanding about what being alive is about. (1:02:17) Like, you're, you know, you're impacting her now detrimentally and in the future detrimentally, but she's not passing out, so we're all good. (1:02:26) I was like, wow.

Lauren (1:02:26) When you look at her, she looks fine.

Scott Benner (1:02:29) Yeah. (1:02:29) She's not if her blood sugar is two sixty, which I made that point to them. (1:02:34) They're like, well, you know, the doctor said from, you know, this to this. (1:02:37) And I was like, hey. (1:02:38) You know, your blood sugar is 85 right now.

Scott Benner (1:02:40) I was like, so you want hers to be two fifty before we do something? (1:02:44) You know, two fifty is like it's like a 180 points higher than average. (1:02:49) Right? (1:02:50) And that's a lot. (1:02:51) Doesn't that sound like triple to you?

Scott Benner (1:02:53) And now these people have been told they understand what high blood sugar is, and they still don't nobody cares. (1:02:58) Like, I'm just I'm just telling you. (1:03:01) Like, you you know when your kids come to you at some point and they're like, people are looking at me, Like, you know, like, or they feel uncomfortable. (1:03:07) Like, the the time I was able to get through to my son, no one cares. (1:03:11) I was like, no one's looking.

Scott Benner (1:03:14) No one cares. (1:03:15) You're you're like, everyone's paying attention to themselves, and they're paying attention maybe to their families if they're lucky. (1:03:23) I was like, but nobody's looking at you. (1:03:26) By that same extension, no one is putting their resources, their compute cycles into making sure someone else's kid doesn't have a medical condition twenty years from now. (1:03:36) That's your job as the parent and nobody else's.

Scott Benner (1:03:40) And so if you can get somebody to comply and help, good for you. (1:03:43) But if not, don't expect them to do it for you.

Lauren (1:03:46) Absolutely.

Scott Benner (1:03:47) I'm a why am I in such a bad mood today, Lauren? (1:03:49) You're such a lovely person. (1:03:52) Pissed me off.

Lauren (1:03:53) But everything you're saying is true.

Scott Benner (1:03:54) I got them right. (1:03:55) I'm I'm a genius, but that's not the point. (1:03:57) I see the world. (1:03:58) I'm like an oracle. (1:04:03) I'm almost an idiot, Lauren.

Scott Benner (1:04:05) I just there's some things I'm just sure about. (1:04:08) And this is one of them. (1:04:10) Like, I love I have a lot of great friends, a lot of great people. (1:04:13) If we all crash landed on an island, every one of them would cut my throat. (1:04:18) So, like, I just you gotta you gotta expect people to be out for themselves, and I don't even mean I don't mean that in a bad way.

Scott Benner (1:04:25) I I'd like to be clear to all of you. (1:04:27) I know you think of me as a nice person that helps everybody, but if we all crash land on an island, I'm gonna kill you so my kids can eat too. (1:04:34) I would expect nothing else from you. (1:04:36) I just, you know Right. (1:04:37) That's all.

Scott Benner (1:04:37) Just anyway, that's the game. (1:04:39) Play the game that that you know, don't don't play the game you wanna be playing. (1:04:42) Play the game we're actually playing And be nice. (1:04:45) Yeah. (1:04:46) Because Lauren doesn't need you yelling at her while she's an assistant principal.

Scott Benner (1:04:49) She don't she don't get paid enough for your crazy ass to be in there yelling and screaming at her. (1:04:54) Right?

Lauren (1:04:55) Exactly.

Scott Benner (1:04:55) Tell me the best story. (1:04:57) No no details. (1:04:58) Just

Lauren (1:04:58) The best story?

Scott Benner (1:04:59) What's the best story from being a principal? (1:05:02) Oh,

Lauren (1:05:04) I so my school is on an air force base. (1:05:09) And I think the best story is we had a crazy parent who had, like, injured police officers and things in the past. (1:05:22) And he came in just yelling at the teacher and yelling at us and being able to, be the one to step out of the room and request a security forces officer to just show up was probably one of my favorite moments.

Scott Benner (1:05:42) You're like, oh, so you got him drugged Yeah. (1:05:44) Out of

Lauren (1:05:46) Basically. (1:05:46) Like, he was no longer our problem because you can't come in here and act like that.

Scott Benner (1:05:52) Alright. (1:05:52) I like you.

Lauren (1:05:53) And we're fortunate to have somebody pretty close who can show up in about, oh, I'd say a minute and

Scott Benner (1:05:58) a half. (1:05:59) I see you're upset. (1:06:01) This is the man with the m 16 who's gonna help you out. (1:06:04) Is that Right.

Lauren (1:06:05) Nice talking to you.

Scott Benner (1:06:06) Goodbye. (1:06:09) Also, I see where your kid gets it. (1:06:11) Tata. (1:06:12) She has yeah. (1:06:14) That's tough.

Scott Benner (1:06:15) It's also tough for the kids. (1:06:16) Like, nobody asks for a lunatic for a parent. (1:06:19) You know what I mean? (1:06:19) Right. (1:06:20) Like, you just you get what you get.

Scott Benner (1:06:22) Anyway, good luck to all of you. (1:06:24) It ain't it ain't fun. (1:06:26) But you can get listen. (1:06:27) I being very super serious, I got through it. (1:06:31) I'm, you know, a person who, you know, would you generally speaking think of as having trouble holding their tongue in situations of stupidity.

Scott Benner (1:06:38) I just held my tongue. (1:06:40) I smiled. (1:06:41) I came from a position of being contrite, and, I always let them have their their power. (1:06:50) Whether it was real or not, I think that's an important part of negotiation. (1:06:55) When people people want to feel powerful, so let them.

Scott Benner (1:06:59) You know what I mean? (1:06:59) And sometimes when you you just put your head down a little bit and say thank you, that's they just wanna feel like they're in control. (1:07:05) So let them who cares? (1:07:07) Listen. (1:07:08) Lauren, I don't know another way to say this.

Scott Benner (1:07:11) We're all married. (1:07:12) Just do that thing you do that stops everybody from fighting. (1:07:16) That's all learned. (1:07:17) Right? (1:07:17) You know what I'm saying?

Scott Benner (1:07:19) Yeah. (1:07:19) Yeah. (1:07:20) You just you just shut the fuck up. (1:07:23) And nod and go, oh, no. (1:07:26) You're right, sweetie.

Scott Benner (1:07:27) You're right. (1:07:27) Just like that. (1:07:28) And then you everything's fine. (1:07:29) And by fine, I mean, nobody's yelling. (1:07:32) Just do that.

Lauren (1:07:33) And maybe you'll get what you want.

Scott Benner (1:07:34) Yeah. (1:07:35) Pretend you're trying to get late at the end. (1:07:37) That'll motivate you. (1:07:38) That's all. (1:07:40) Send dads in with that prerequisite.

Scott Benner (1:07:42) You'll all the kids will get their insulin pumps taken care of exactly when you want them to. (1:07:45) They know how to handle that job. (1:07:47) What do you wanna do? (1:07:48) You wanna paint the wall purple? (1:07:49) Makes sense to me.

Scott Benner (1:07:50) I'll go get the paint.

Lauren (1:07:54) Yeah. (1:07:55) They'll understand that first.

Scott Benner (1:07:56) Yeah. (1:07:56) Yeah. (1:07:56) Just send send the boys in with those marching orders. (1:07:59) They know what to do. (1:08:00) And for the ladies, you know, if your husband's crazy, just do the thing you do that keeps him from being crazy.

Scott Benner (1:08:05) Do that. (1:08:05) Like, that I don't mean it that way. (1:08:07) I mean, like, the you know what I mean, Lauren.

Lauren (1:08:09) Right. (1:08:11) Or just, you know, have the meeting without him.

Scott Benner (1:08:14) Mhmm. (1:08:14) Be nice. (1:08:15) Just be be overly nice. (1:08:17) Be overly contrite. (1:08:18) Just, you know, I'm I I you're always asking never for permission.

Scott Benner (1:08:23) Don't ask for permission. (1:08:24) That's a bad idea. (1:08:25) Right. (1:08:25) Like, just, you know, say, this is what we need. (1:08:29) What's the best way to make this happen?

Scott Benner (1:08:32) You know, how can you help me to put this in an order that makes sense to the teacher? (1:08:37) Would you help me talk to the teacher about this? (1:08:40) Because I'm not sure that everyone understands. (1:08:42) You know, do you wanna set up an educational meeting where we can explain to people why it's important? (1:08:46) It's always in that that perspective from that, you know, that footing of can we, should we, just put them in power.

Scott Benner (1:08:56) And then and then I'm gonna give you my best negotiating tool. (1:09:00) This is a simple one. (1:09:02) After an ask has been made, the person who speaks first loses. (1:09:09) Okay? (1:09:10) There.

Scott Benner (1:09:11) Mhmm. (1:09:12) There's life one zero one for you. (1:09:14) After an ask has been made, the next person to speak loses. (1:09:19) So just shut up and sit there. (1:09:22) Is it possible for us to have a meeting where the teachers come in and we can educate them for fifteen minutes and then don't say another word?

Scott Benner (1:09:29) Because what are they gonna say? (1:09:30) No? (1:09:31) No. (1:09:31) I don't wanna educate the teachers. (1:09:33) As soon as you start talking, you're giving away ground.

Scott Benner (1:09:37) Right? (1:09:37) Also, this works when you're buying a car. (1:09:39) So alright. (1:09:40) I've I've helped you people enough today. (1:09:42) I gotta go.

Scott Benner (1:09:46) Alright. (1:09:46) Come back tomorrow. (1:09:47) We'll talk about something else. (1:09:48) Lauren, thank you very, very much. (1:09:50) I really do appreciate your time.

Scott Benner (1:09:52) It's very it was lovely of you to come on. (1:09:54) If you learn things over the years, if you ever feel like you could put together, like, a rock solid conversation around five zero four plans after you've been in this a little longer, I'm gonna be around for a while, so reach back out. (1:10:06) Okay?

Lauren (1:10:07) Okay. (1:10:08) Yeah.

Scott Benner (1:10:08) Awesome. (1:10:08) Awesome. (1:10:09) Thanks very much. (1:10:09) Hold on one second for me. (1:10:10) Okay?

Scott Benner (1:10:11) K. (1:10:18) Head now to tandemdiabetes.com/juicebox and check out today's sponsor, Tandem Diabetes Care. (1:10:25) 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. (1:10:33) This episode was sponsored by Touched by Type one. (1:10:37) I want you to go find them on Facebook, Instagram, and give them a follow, and then head to touchedbytype1.org where you're gonna learn all about their programs and resources for people with type one diabetes.

Scott Benner (1:10:48) Today's episode is also sponsored by Eversense CGM. (1:10:53) They make the Eversense three sixty five. (1:10:56) That thing lasts a whole year. (1:10:57) One insertion. (1:10:59) Every year?

Scott Benner (1:11:00) Come on. (1:11:01) You probably feel like I'm messing with you, but I'm not. (1:11:03) Eversensecgm.com/juicefox. (1:11:08) Okay. (1:11:09) Well, here we are at the end of the episode.

Scott Benner (1:11:10) You're still with me? (1:11:11) Thank you. (1:11:12) I really do appreciate that. (1:11:14) What else could you do for me? (1:11:16) Why don't you tell a friend about the show or leave a five star review?

Scott Benner (1:11:19) Maybe you could make sure you're following or subscribe in your podcast app, go to YouTube and follow me or Instagram, TikTok. (1:11:28) Oh, gosh. (1:11:29) Here's one. (1:11:30) Make sure you're following the podcast in the private Facebook group as well as the public Facebook page. (1:11:36) You don't wanna miss please, do you not know about the private group?

Scott Benner (1:11:40) You have to join the private group. (1:11:41) As of this recording, it has 74,000 members. (1:11:45) They're active talking about diabetes. (1:11:48) Whatever you need to know, there's a conversation happening in there right now. (1:11:51) And I'm there all the time.

Scott Benner (1:11:52) Tag me. (1:11:53) I'll say hi. (1:11:58) If you're new to type one diabetes, begin with the bold beginnings series from the podcast. (1:12:03) Don't take my word for it. (1:12:04) Listen to what reviewers have said.

Scott Benner (1:12:06) Bold beginnings is the best first step. (1:12:09) I learned more in those episodes than anywhere else. (1:12:12) This is when everything finally clicked. (1:12:14) People say it takes the stress out of the early days and replaces it with clarity. (1:12:18) They tell me this should come with the diagnosis packet that I got at the hospital.

Scott Benner (1:12:22) And after they listen, they recommend it to everyone who's struggling. (1:12:25) It's straightforward, practical, and easy to listen to. (1:12:29) Full Beginnings gives you the basics in a way that actually makes sense. (1:12:34) If you have a podcast and you need a fantastic editor, you want Rob from Wrong Way Recording. (1:12:40) Listen.

Scott Benner (1:12:40) Truth be told, I'm, like, 20% smarter when Rob edits me. (1:12:44) He takes out all the, like, gaps of time and when I go, and stuff like that. (1:12:49) And it just I don't know, man. (1:12:51) Like, I listen back and I'm like, why do I sound smarter? (1:12:53) And then I remember because I did one smart thing.

Scott Benner (1:12:56) I hired Rob at wrongwayrecording.com.

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#1760 Boston Croissant Party - Part 2

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.

In the conclusion of this two-part discussion, Anais, a scientist in the biotech industry and mother of a seven-year-old daughter with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D), shares further insights into the first year of management, the emotional weight of grief, and the transition of care as children grow older.

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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 (0:0) Welcome back, friends, to another episode of the Juice Box podcast.

Anais (0:13) My name is Anais, and I am the mom of a type one diabetic child. (0:18) I have two daughters, seven and four and a half, and so my diabetic daughter is the one that just turned seven today. (0:25) It's her it's her birthday.

Scott Benner (0:27) This is part two of a two part episode. (0:29) Go look at the title. (0:31) If you don't recognize it, you haven't heard part one yet. (0:33) It's probably the episode right before this in your podcast player. (0:39) If this is your first time listening to the Juice Box podcast and you'd like to hear more, download Apple Podcasts or Spotify, really any audio app at all.

Scott Benner (0:48) Look for the Juice Box podcast and follow or subscribe. (0:51) We put out new content every day that you'll enjoy. (0:55) Wanna learn more about your diabetes management? (0:57) Go to juiceboxpodcast.com up in the menu and look for bold beginnings, the diabetes pro tip series, and much more. (1:04) This podcast is full of collections and series of information that will help you to live better with insulin.

Scott Benner (1:12) While you're listening, please remember that nothing you hear on the Juice Box podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. (1:20) Always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan or becoming bold with insulin. (1:29) 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. (1:44) Would you like to unleash the full potential of the MiniMed seven eighty g system? (1:48) You can do that at my link, medtronicdiabetes.com/juicebox.

Scott Benner (1:53) The podcast is also sponsored today by the Kontoor Next Gen blood glucose meter. (1:59) Learn more and get started today at kontoornext.com/juicebox.

Anais (2:05) I mean, you have to be a little bit brave. (2:08) I mean, I don't know if I'm if I'm there yet. (2:09) I mean, I I guess I'm on the podcast. (2:11) But

Scott Benner (2:12) No. (2:12) You're getting there. (2:12) Yeah. (2:13) No. (2:13) No.

Scott Benner (2:13) That's that's pretty good stuff.

Anais (2:15) But I think there is you know, work is there is stuff that should stay private, obviously, but I think it's good that they they're trying to improve, mental health because that's super important for sure.

Scott Benner (2:26) Nice people. (2:27) A lot of people working hard in a new world where some of them are, like, working out of their house and never see each other and, you you know, and some of them are are getting dragged into a building and and there's no one there. (2:38) So they're basically working by themselves in an office. (2:40) You know? (2:41) It's a and and like and like we said earlier, they all also have bills and problems of their own and spouses and children and you know?

Scott Benner (2:50) Like, every day somebody asks me, how how are you? (2:52) And I'm like, I have two kids, and I'm married. (2:54) I don't know. (2:54) Like, I get it.

Anais (2:58) Depends. (2:59) Depends on the day. (3:00) Is it Monday? (3:00) Is it Tuesday? (3:01) Who knows?

Anais (3:02) No.

Scott Benner (3:02) Some days, everybody's happy, and some days, people I love are yelling at me. (3:06) I don't know what's happening. (3:07) I I I can't follow this. (3:08) Oh, also, you know, try being me sometime. (3:11) Like, I mean this, like, from an outside perspective, not as a, like I'm I'm not celebrating myself, but I am a person who a lot of people would come to about diabetes stuff whose daughter doesn't see him that way.

Scott Benner (3:23) Right? (3:24) Like, I'm to me, the I'm the guy in the house. (3:26) Like, you don't listen to me. (3:27) Like, you don't send like, listen. (3:28) Here's a great piece of advice for everybody.

Scott Benner (3:30) I've said this a million times. (3:31) Yeah. (3:32) You shouldn't coach your kid in baseball. (3:34) And if you do and he's pitching, you're definitely not the one that goes out to the mound to talk to him when he's struggling. (3:40) Right?

Scott Benner (3:40) Like, that's just trust me. (3:41) That's great advice. (3:43) And it's the same thing with this. (3:44) Like, I spent three hours on the phone with a friend of Arden's the other day, and she was we got to the end, and she's like, thank you so much. (3:51) She's like, I just learned more about myself than I've learned in ten years, like, because her friend has type one.

Scott Benner (3:56) And Uh-huh. (3:57) If I turned to Arden, I was like, hey. (3:58) There's, like, five key things I'd like to see. (4:00) Be like, get away from me.

Anais (4:02) Yeah. (4:03) I mean yeah. (4:04) But you you're you're her dad. (4:05) Right? (4:06) So it's yeah.

Anais (4:06) Totally.

Scott Benner (4:07) I can see how into her differently. (4:09) Like, do you know what I mean? (4:09) Like but, like, still, it's I mean, that's a thing that I deal with. (4:15) Like, you know, and I'm saying people people are dealing with all kinds of little things that, you know I mean, that's the thing that makes me upset. (4:23) Like, I'm I'm just to be honest with everybody.

Scott Benner (4:25) I wish that my daughter cared to sit down and listen to the pro tip series. (4:31) You know? (4:31) Because not

Anais (4:32) that She hasn't.

Scott Benner (4:33) Not that she

Anais (4:33) She hasn't done that.

Scott Benner (4:34) No. (4:34) She knows most of it from my, like, incessant talking about it with her. (4:38) But, like, at the same time, like, I didn't wanna be the one to say it to her. (4:42) It's a weird mix to be. (4:44) You don't trust me.

Scott Benner (4:44) You won't know till you're there.

Anais (4:46) Oh, yeah.

Scott Benner (4:47) But you'll be there at some point. (4:49) She you know? (4:50) So good luck, by the way. (4:51) Ain't it great?

Anais (4:52) Yeah. (4:52) Thank you. (4:53) Yeah. (4:53) I am you know, it's it's funny because, I mean, obviously, my daughter is seven, so we do most of the management. (4:58) And she's she gets involved, and she's much better now with changing her device and all that good stuff.

Anais (5:04) I can see how as she evolve and become a teenager, there will be, you know, moments that are tough, and she's gonna take over the management. (5:13) I'm gonna have to let go. (5:14) I'm a type A person as well, so it's gonna be really hard for me

Scott Benner (5:18) Yeah.

Anais (5:18) To let her do her thing. (5:19) But I think at the end of the day, it's probably what she needs to do. (5:23) But, yeah, I can see all that super challenging. (5:24) We we're not there yet. (5:25) I feel like I have a few more years to

Scott Benner (5:27) You have plenty of time. (5:28) But just I'm just I'm here to tell you, it's just not gonna go the way you think.

Anais (5:32) Oh, yeah. (5:32) I'm sure.

Scott Benner (5:33) And I've never been more certain of this. (5:36) People want what they don't have. (5:38) Like, you know, I'm talking to her friend, and her friend's like, nobody ever helped me when I was growing up. (5:42) This is awesome to have somebody here helping me. (5:43) And I'm sure what my daughter thinks is, oh my god.

Scott Benner (5:46) You've been helping me so much. (5:47) Leave me alone. (5:48) Like, right like, like, everybody wants the opposite of what they get handed. (5:52) And so I think that you're not wrong, and it's a it's a lifelong thing of the passing of the information in such a way that in real time, they're healthy and safe and learning. (6:07) But at some point, it's gonna just sound like, oh, I can't believe that these people this is all they talk about, which by the way, and this will be hard for you to believe because you listen to my podcast about this, but I don't talk about this stuff much at all in my personal life.

Scott Benner (6:23) But the people around me think I talk about it all the time. (6:27) Yeah. (6:27) And it's because they don't wanna hear it from me. (6:30) It's a it's not about this. (6:31) It's not about the podcast.

Scott Benner (6:32) It's not about diabetes. (6:33) It's it's anything. (6:34) Like, you all right now are thinking about something. (6:37) Everyone listening is like, my god. (6:38) My mom always talks about knitting or my dad's always talking about the jets or, like, you know, like, that kind of thing.

Scott Benner (6:44) It's not true. (6:44) That's not what people are always talking about. (6:47) It's just the thing that you hear, I guess. (6:50) I'm not fully able to explain this whole thing yet. (6:53) I think a fair amount of the podcast over the next couple years is gonna be me, like, continuing to figure all this out.

Scott Benner (7:00) But I've been letting go for years, and I've been, you know, staying out of it for years. (7:07) And still, if you talk to her about it, she thinks I'm she thinks that's all I'm talking about. (7:12) It's really interesting.

Anais (7:13) That's so funny. (7:14) Yeah. (7:14) We'll see. (7:15) We'll see how it goes. (7:17) Yeah.

Anais (7:17) It's gonna be an interesting time.

Scott Benner (7:18) Well, also, good point. (7:20) Everyone's different. (7:20) Your kid might just be like, I don't know. (7:22) They helped me a lot. (7:23) It was awesome.

Scott Benner (7:23) And then that'd be it. (7:25) You know? (7:25) Like, who knows how people take it? (7:27) Don't don't panic yet. (7:28) There's plenty of time before I just realized

Anais (7:31) plenty of episode can listen to where you talk about that. (7:33) So that's good. (7:34) I'll have some resources.

Scott Benner (7:35) Maybe you can catch up for there. (7:38) So at her age, though, like so is she making decisions? (7:42) Does she count carbs? (7:43) Like, where are you at with that part?

Anais (7:46) She's not well, she understand the concept of carbs, and and I think the concept of giving insulin, pre bowl is saying she's very good about that. (7:53) I think she helps more with, like, device changes because at first, it was super hard for her to do an Omnipod change. (8:00) We had to, like, we watch pretty much all of the Simone Biles routine on YouTube every time we were changing a pod, so she will be distracted. (8:09) And it was just so hard, but now she's like, she take the the the Omnipod off. (8:15) She helps with the the adhesive and all that stuff.

Anais (8:17) So she's much better with with that, but she's not she's not doing the management. (8:22) Sometime if I say, hey. (8:24) Can you put in nine carbs in the the controller? (8:27) Like, she knows how to do it, she will do it properly, But she is not really kind of managing her disease. (8:34) She's she's pretty smart about it.

Anais (8:35) Like, if she goes play at the outside, she would be like, hey. (8:38) What's my number? (8:39) And I'm like, well, you're fine. (8:41) You can just go play. (8:42) Or I'm like, well, you need a schedule to to kind of get you up before you go running like crazy.

Anais (8:46) So she's aware, and I think she generally pretty vocal if she feels low or if she doesn't feel right. (8:54) Like, she will tell us. (8:55) Yeah. (8:56) She's not really involved in a lot of the carbs counting and all that good stuff.

Scott Benner (8:59) Yeah. (8:59) I wouldn't I would imagine. (9:00) It happens slowly. (9:01) It's also you know, you're still figuring it out. (9:03) It's hard to teach somebody something you're not sure of.

Anais (9:06) Exactly. (9:07) Yeah. (9:07) For sure. (9:08) No. (9:08) I was just saying, I think we're getting better because we didn't totally scrub pizza the other day.

Anais (9:12) So I felt like that was her, you know

Scott Benner (9:15) Big win?

Anais (9:15) Her montage to climb. (9:17) And I think we we stayed under one eighty, though. (9:20) Like, that was the maximum she went to after pizza, and I was like, I think we did pretty well this time. (9:26) Hopefully, we do that again.

Scott Benner (9:27) Do you have that moment, like, quietly over the table where you pick up the CGM screen and you show it to your husband and nod at each other like, oh my god. (9:34) We did it. (9:35) Like

Anais (9:35) Yeah. (9:36) Yeah. (9:36) We we yeah. (9:37) It's and we have, like we strategize. (9:39) Like, we we still talk about about about diabetes a lot at at mealtime, and it's like, well, what did we do yesterday?

Anais (9:45) Like, what do you think we should do? (9:46) Is it fifty percent now? (9:47) Like, so yeah. (9:50) Yeah. (9:50) Eventually, it will become easier, hopefully, in this work, but, we're still pretty involved in

Scott Benner (9:56) I mean, I'm personally, me, I'm at the spot where I don't really need to talk about it to make it work. (10:02) And that's that's awesome. (10:03) But it's funny because, you know, because Arden went off to college and she, you know, took over for herself. (10:08) She didn't obviously start at scratch, like, like, from scratch, but she started, you know, behind where where I was. (10:14) And it gets been interesting watching her figure it out.

Scott Benner (10:17) Like, I and she's doing I wanna say, especially if she hears this, she's doing an awesome job. (10:23) Like, she's keeping her a one c in the sixes.

Anais (10:25) Oh, that's awesome.

Scott Benner (10:26) Yeah. (10:26) Like, you know, she's going to college at the same time. (10:29) She, you know, she has a boyfriend. (10:31) She goes out. (10:31) Like, she does a accomplishes she a lot of things.

Scott Benner (10:34) And with an a one c in the sixth, I think that's just astounding. (10:38) Like, I I I mean, it's such a I don't know. (10:41) Such a thing to be celebrated, really. (10:43) You know? (10:44) Especially after interviewing so many people who are like, oh my god.

Scott Benner (10:47) In college, I don't even know what my blood sugar was, or I only gave myself basal insulin for four years in college. (10:52) Like, I hear that stuff all the time from

Anais (10:53) Oh, wow. (10:54) Yeah. (10:54) Yeah. (10:55) I don't know. (10:55) That's crazy.

Anais (10:56) That's amazing that she's doing so well. (10:58) Yeah.

Scott Benner (10:59) It's just hard that when you I don't think she feels it that way. (11:03) And I do believe she it's because to some degree, she knows it's not as good as it has been or that it could be, and yet she's taking a having a lot of pride taking it on for herself too. (11:15) So Yeah. (11:15) It's a real interesting journey.

Anais (11:18) Yes. (11:18) I I was gonna say, like, it's hard because we have a very tight control and, you know, her a was I mean, her a one c, I think our last one was five, and she she's she's doing great. (11:27) But I know that the amount of effort we're putting in, it probably is too much. (11:33) Right? (11:34) So, eventually, I think it's like, where do you wanna be Yeah.

Anais (11:37) And live your life and not worry about it all the time? (11:42) And so I think this is something that I haven't figured out quite yet. (11:46) It's like, you know, we No.

Scott Benner (11:48) You have a lot of time. (11:49) Don't worry. (11:50) Yeah.

Anais (11:50) But it's like, we are constantly working at it. (11:53) So

Scott Benner (11:54) I'll tell you right now. (11:55) From my perspective, there's two things that thwart adults. (12:00) Right? (12:01) And I understand completely why it would. (12:04) It's about attention and it not making you mental.

Scott Benner (12:07) Right? (12:07) And about you trying to live the rest of your life. (12:09) But the two things where people struggle the most as adults, and I've seen it talking to them, and I'm watching it with Arden. (12:16) Pre bolus thing long enough before a meal and readdressing a high blood sugar before it gets over, like, one eighty. (12:23) Yeah.

Scott Benner (12:24) Those are the two things that because they're trying to live their lives, I think that they're trying to be sane. (12:30) You know what I mean? (12:31) That they're they're not focused on all the time. (12:33) Those two things. (12:34) Like, if Arden came to me right now and said, fine.

Scott Benner (12:36) I'll listen. (12:37) What am I doing wrong? (12:38) And I would say, first of you're doing anything wrong, but just focus on these two things a little more. (12:43) I think that would change things for her dramatically.

Anais (12:45) Yeah. (12:46) Yeah. (12:46) So Maybe I should take that advice as well.

Scott Benner (12:49) Yeah. (12:49) As minimally as you can. (12:51) Like, once she knows what she's doing, like, you just want I actually think that the the reason, like, the pro tip series works is because it really is distilled down into just these ideas, and they are the core they are the core ideas that will keep you in a six. (13:07) Right? (13:07) And Yeah.

Scott Benner (13:09) Once you have a lot of them set up, you don't really have to think about them as much anymore. (13:13) And then from there, I saw I really think it's that. (13:16) I think it's don't let a blood sugar go over one eighty and pre bolus. (13:19) And those two things will keep you the rest of the way in it. (13:22) Now maybe a technology will take care of that in the coming years.

Scott Benner (13:25) I have no idea. (13:29) The Kontoor next gen blood glucose meter is sponsoring this episode of the Juice Box podcast. (13:35) And it's entirely possible that it is less expensive in cash than you're paying right now for your meter through your insurance company. (13:43) That's right. (13:44) If you go to my link, contournext.com/juicebox, you're gonna find links to Walmart, Amazon, Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid, Kroger, and Meijer.

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Anais (15:51) Yeah. (15:51) Well, the the the bump and nudge one too, I thought, was super helpful because, like, it's like, okay. (15:56) Like, what do I do if I see this hour going up? (15:58) Like, do I wait a little bit? (16:00) Like, you know, being aware of, like, is she gonna go outside and running?

Anais (16:04) Like, that that type of things that maybe in the future technology would take care of. (16:08) But right now, I I saw that thinking about where the arrow is going, what the trend is. (16:14) I I saw that was helpful also to keep in mind Mhmm. (16:16) To stay within a certain range.

Scott Benner (16:19) I think in my mind, the bump and nudge is an expansion of it's not stacking if you need it. (16:25) Like yeah.

Anais (16:26) That's true.

Scott Benner (16:26) Right? (16:27) Like, once you get the idea of, like, oh god, I'm only supposed to bolus once every three hours. (16:31) Once you get that out of your head, and then you realize that it's I I don't know how to put this exactly. (16:40) I think that initially, bolusing for food is taught to you as a thing that only happens once every three hours. (16:47) Right?

Scott Benner (16:47) So the segments are farther apart. (16:50) And then when somebody tells you, well, no. (16:52) Like, if you eat now and then eat again an hour from now, you're gonna wanna bolus for both of those things. (16:57) You go, okay. (16:57) The segments come closer together.

Scott Benner (17:00) But it's not until you, like, go in on them in a micro fashion and start looking at them as not, like, things that happen every three hours, not things that happen every hour, but things that are happening every minute. (17:11) Like, once you see it like that, it's almost like shrinking down and going inside of it for a second. (17:16) Like, once you can see it from that perspective, then you realize, like, it's about timing and amount, but that always changes. (17:23) Now you don't have to watch it down to the millisecond, but if you watch it a little closer than that, you know Yeah. (17:30) Then all of a sudden, you're you're ahead of the the blood sugar.

Anais (17:34) Yeah. (17:34) Right? (17:35) And I and I think the pump really allows you to do those microdose and, you know, bolus for the food even though it's been less than three hours. (17:42) So it gives you a lot more flexibility. (17:44) I think that

Scott Benner (17:45) Yeah.

Anais (17:45) If you have to inject yourself all the time, I think that makes it challenging for sure.

Scott Benner (17:50) Yeah. (17:50) I've met people who do it, but, I mean, I don't know. (17:53) It's a it's a it's a to me, it's I don't know how you go after a a seven year old and be like, look. (17:58) We're gonna we're gonna give you a 1.5 now, and then once you start eating, we'll give you two more. (18:04) And then if this goes up 45 like, I mean, that's, you know

Anais (18:07) Yeah. (18:07) You I I think that would be super hard Sure. (18:09) For her, for sure.

Scott Benner (18:11) You know, for some people, no. (18:12) And for the ones it is hard for, I understand why they're not doing it. (18:15) So once and and, again, I'll I'm happy to say this over and over again. (18:19) It isn't really I understood it all, but I really understood it once I had Nightscout on my phone for Loop. (18:28) Like, because once I watched Loop work in the moment and I was able to say to myself, oh, that's what I've been doing.

Scott Benner (18:35) I've been doing like, because, know, when Arden was in school, I'd be temp Basil off ten minutes. (18:40) Like, you know, I'd send her a text or let's do, temp Basil increase 150% for an hour. (18:47) Like, I was acting like an algorithm like that, and I was really good at it. (18:51) Like, you know and, you know, bolus again here. (18:53) Do another unit.

Scott Benner (18:54) Do a half. (18:55) Like, blah blah blah. (18:56) And it wasn't constant. (18:57) Like, don't get me I I don't want anybody to think I was texting her every five minutes in school. (19:00) But, like, you know, a few times throughout the day, like, in this drill down idea, like, we went from three hours, and I was kinda down to, like, more like every hour.

Scott Benner (19:08) And then most hours, you didn't need to do anything, but then you saw something move, and you could kinda get ahead of it a little bit because it started to move. (19:15) And then I saw the algorithm doing it constantly. (19:19) I saw that loop doing it over and over and over again. (19:22) And I was like, oh, that's how this works so well. (19:25) And that is what I was doing.

Scott Benner (19:26) It's just more micro now. (19:27) Like, it's it's it's finer. (19:30) Yeah. (19:30) Once you understand it, then you can kinda back back out again and then control it in bigger segments, if that makes sense or not. (19:37) But

Anais (19:38) Yeah. (19:38) Yeah. (19:38) Yeah. (19:39) And I guess the pump takes a little bit of that work away from Yeah. (19:42) You, and then you have to figure out.

Scott Benner (19:43) Right. (19:43) And that's where we are right now in the in the zeitgeist with all this, which is the people of now I I watched it happen online the other day. (19:50) I did not have the energy to jump into it, where people are like, the thing doesn't work. (19:54) It's not doing what it's supposed to do, and I'm like, you are not doing the things it needs you to do. (19:59) And and, like like right?

Scott Benner (20:00) So, like, you're acting like I put it on. (20:03) I turned it on. (20:05) Why is my blood sugar not 95 all day long?

Anais (20:08) Yeah. (20:08) That doesn't work that way.

Scott Benner (20:10) And I'm like, well, you didn't pre bolus. (20:12) I know that. (20:12) I can see that. (20:13) Right? (20:13) You didn't do this.

Scott Benner (20:14) You watched this thing go up for an hour and a half. (20:16) You didn't do anything about it. (20:17) Well, they're sitting there thinking, well, it's been going up. (20:19) Why won't the thing stop it? (20:20) And I'm just because the settings and the situation don't match up.

Scott Benner (20:25) It believes through settings that it's doing the right thing and that this shouldn't be happening. (20:30) And so, you know, when people don't understand how it works and they want it to just be magical, that becomes a different problem again. (20:40) Yeah. (20:40) I think a lot of people are gonna need to learn that lesson in this time period with these devices. (20:45) So

Anais (20:46) Yeah. (20:46) I mean, maybe one day, but not now. (20:48) That's for sure. (20:49) Yeah. (20:49) That's for sure.

Anais (20:50) You still have to put on some work, into

Scott Benner (20:51) that. (20:52) Exactly.

Anais (20:52) But yeah. (20:53) Yeah. (20:54) So I guess I don't know. (20:55) I mean, I know we're over time. (20:56) So I'm just

Scott Benner (20:57) You're fine. (20:57) Listen. (20:58) I mean, you you can keep talking. (20:59) I can keep talk. (21:00) I just make a podcast, so I'm good.

Anais (21:02) Oh, right. (21:04) No. (21:04) But I you said something about school management, and I think that's something also that the first year, you know, we rely on a school nurse. (21:11) And and she's a wonderful person, but I think she has a a very different way of managing that we do, and she also has there is four type one kids at the school and so and one nurse. (21:23) And so she has to make sure that they're all stay alive all day.

Anais (21:26) Right? (21:26) And they all do recess, they all do pee. (21:28) And and so, you know, at first, like, she was running. (21:33) I mean, I'm sure she run the other kids pretty high, but, like, she was running my daughter pretty high. (21:37) And so there is a lot of back and forth that goes in, hey.

Anais (21:41) Texting the nurse and being like, hey. (21:42) She's going up. (21:43) Like, it's been a while. (21:44) It would be nice if you could just do a little bullish here because we're not comfortable with her being, like, at two hundred. (21:50) You know?

Anais (21:50) And and so there has been a lot of adjustment. (21:54) And I think most of the time, she she does a good job. (21:56) And, honestly, I would lose my mind if I had four team type one kids to manage. (22:01) But it's true that she it's it's sometimes frustrating when someone has a very different approach and, like, the pre bolus is a little short and the correction are a little bit aggressive when, you know, there is a low because she wants to make sure the kids are safe. (22:16) And so so that has been a challenge.

Anais (22:18) And I think when my daughter is able to manage on her own a little bit more, I think you had mentioned in in several episode that you were just texting with Arden, and she was doing a lot of the management that way. (22:31) So I'm really looking forward that stage because I think we'll be it will be a little bit easier.

Scott Benner (22:37) Yeah. (22:37) You're you're thinking you're gonna loop her into this as soon as possible and and take the nurse out of the the moment to moment?

Anais (22:46) I think she's not ready for that, but I think when she is, it will it probably be a little bit more straightforward to manage with with my daughter. (22:53) I mean, I don't know, like, when she will be ready to do that, but I think it I know that some kids in fifth grade are already kind of taking care of, you know, bullicing and all that stuff, texting with their parents. (23:06) So I feel like that's probably the the age where we'll try to transition to her managing a little bit more. (23:12) Yeah. (23:13) But, yeah, I think it's challenging.

Anais (23:14) Like, the day to day and the schedule at school is really not very well suited for a kid with a kid with type type one for sure.

Scott Benner (23:23) Mhmm. (23:23) No. (23:23) No. (23:23) I think in you'll find out. (23:25) I don't know if there's a certain age.

Scott Benner (23:27) You'll I think you'll see where it works for her. (23:30) You know what I mean? (23:30) Like, you'll see where she's ready for it. (23:32) But I agree that, you make a great point. (23:35) The nurse is doing an awesome job.

Scott Benner (23:37) Right? (23:37) And and it's a tough one at that. (23:39) But at the same time, taking out the gaps and, you know, the time it takes to accomplish something. (23:45) You know, hey, can you please bolus because this is happening when you knew twenty minutes ago you wanted to use insulin. (23:51) Yeah.

Scott Benner (23:52) If it would be just as easy as like, hey, sweetie. (23:54) Like, let's just do a half a unit right here. (23:57) And and she could pick up a phone, push two buttons, and be done with it again. (24:02) Then Yeah. (24:02) You save that forty five minutes that that, you know, that you never go up to 200.

Scott Benner (24:07) You never end up having to do more later getting low because of that. (24:10) Like, I it's a great texting is, as far as I'm concerned, diabetes parenting, texting is maybe one of the most important tools for management.

Anais (24:20) Yeah. (24:20) Yeah. (24:21) Oh, yeah. (24:21) I can see that. (24:22) I so so I think, eventually, that's where we'll go.

Anais (24:26) But, yeah, it's just difficult when there's a lot of different people managing your kid's diabetes. (24:31) Everybody's different. (24:32) Everybody has a slightly different level of comfort with lows and highs, and I'm, like, an anti high person. (24:39) I would if I could have her always under one forty, I'll be, like, so happy, but that's not realistic. (24:45) And I'm more comfortable.

Anais (24:47) Like, I don't like when she goes lows, and she almost never goes low because we always try to avoid when we see a down arrow, which is microdose skittles. (24:54) But if she goes low, like, I know they have a lot of different tools that I can reach for before it gets too low. (25:01) Mhmm. (25:02) So I know, like, this this arrow is going down very quickly. (25:04) She's been running.

Anais (25:05) Like, this is a gel situation, but maybe this situation is like a gummy. (25:10) And so I feel like you have a lot of different doses that you can reach for and and vehicle to get sugar into her that, I'm more comfortable with that than when it's high. (25:21) It takes forever to get her down. (25:23) Yeah. (25:23) So that drives me crazy.

Scott Benner (25:25) Yeah. (25:26) No. (25:26) And and to be perfectly honest, but this is a thing I find myself saying all the time, but diabetes takes the effort it takes. (25:32) You're putting in a lot of effort whether you're doing it and keeping the blood sugar from spiking or letting it spike and then bringing it back down again. (25:40) I think it's less effort to keep it from spiking than it is to fight with it after it has spiked.

Scott Benner (25:46) Right? (25:46) So Yeah. (25:47) Yeah. (25:47) I always think, like, people are just putting their effort sometimes in the wrong place on the clock. (25:52) You you know?

Anais (25:53) Oh, for sure.

Scott Benner (25:54) Yeah.

Anais (25:54) For sure. (25:55) I mean, when you're high, it's yeah. (25:57) It it's a journey to get down. (25:59) Yeah.

Scott Benner (25:59) Do you wanna spend two minutes with it here at 9AM, or do you wanna spend two hours with it at 11AM? (26:05) Yeah. (26:06) That's the way I think about it. (26:07) And I just I think being proactive listen. (26:10) Being proactive in life in general is is valuable.

Scott Benner (26:13) But, like, you know, doing it in diabetes, I think it just saves you a lot of a lot of time and a lot of mental focus that you could be

Anais (26:20) put put

Scott Benner (26:20) on something else. (26:21) You know?

Anais (26:21) For sure. (26:22) Also, a lesson that we learned in the first year.

Scott Benner (26:24) Good. (26:25) Good. (26:25) Good. (26:25) Good. (26:25) I'm glad.

Scott Benner (26:26) Listen. (26:26) Earlier, did I mishear you, or did you say that your daughter watches Simone Biles videos while you're changing her stuff?

Anais (26:32) She does.

Scott Benner (26:33) That would be She's Okay. (26:35) I wasn't sure if, like, for because of, like because your accent's not, like, not I mean, you speak very clearly. (26:40) Like but I it it went by so quickly. (26:43) I'm like, did she say Simone Biles?

Anais (26:45) Yes. (26:46) I did. (26:46) She she does gymnastic, and she's a huge fan of Simone Biles. (26:50) And she was I mean, she was so scared of the pump, like the Omnipod, you know, when it gets in, like the cannula gets in. (26:57) Mhmm.

Anais (26:58) And she was crying so much, and I was like, okay. (27:00) Like, let's watch a YouTube video. (27:01) And for some reason, I was like, oh, you love gymnastics. (27:05) So I I put on gymnastic on YouTube and, you know, Simone Biles' routine comes in. (27:10) And she's, like, mesmerized, obviously, because Simone Biles is awesome.

Anais (27:15) And so we've spent probably, like, the first three months on the pump watching in, like, reruns and of Simone Biles' routine, during pump change. (27:26) So she's seen, like, the floor routine at the Olympic, like, probably a million time. (27:30) Right. (27:30) But it's it's pretty cool.

Scott Benner (27:32) So Let me give you a little something that you can do. (27:35) So Charlotte Drury, who is an Olympic trampoline ist is trampoline ist the word? (27:41) She's been on the podcast, but she has type one diabetes.

Anais (27:43) Oh, okay.

Scott Benner (27:44) So if you ever wanna watch her bounce for that, and as a bonus, her girlfriend is Laurie Hernandez.

Anais (27:51) Oh, no way. (27:52) Yeah. (27:52) That's awesome. (27:53) Okay. (27:53) Yes.

Anais (27:54) We definitely need to check that out. (27:55) That that'll she's gonna be super excited about this.

Scott Benner (27:58) I thought that might help a little bit. (27:59) Yeah. (27:59) Yeah.

Anais (27:59) So Thank you.

Scott Benner (28:00) Yeah. (28:00) Charlotte's awesome. (28:02) Charlotte's been on the podcast. (28:03) I don't know if Laurie jumped on at the end or not or if it was a conversation we had privately, but she was delightful too. (28:08) But yeah.

Scott Benner (28:08) Yeah. (28:09) So if you want, you know, Charlotte has type one. (28:12) So you can, show her her some of her trampoline routines.

Anais (28:15) Oh, yes. (28:15) That would be great because she sometimes she's a little bit embarrassed, like, at gymnastic because she has her devices hanging out, and people are usually pretty nice. (28:23) You just say, I'm tired to to answer questions. (28:26) Everybody always asks me the same question. (28:27) Why do I have a device?

Anais (28:29) And I have to explain to them they have diabetes, and I'm like, I'm sorry. (28:31) I think it's gonna be for the rest of of your life, honey. (28:34) But so it's nice to see other people that have devices as well.

Scott Benner (28:37) Well yeah. (28:38) And let me say this, and this is something you're obviously, her mom, you'll do what you want, but she doesn't have to explain it to them if she doesn't want to.

Anais (28:45) Yeah. (28:45) That's true.

Scott Benner (28:46) Yeah. (28:46) So, I mean, she needs to it's it's tough to learn at seven years old, but forced is the wrong word. (28:52) But I don't think she should feel forced by other people to make them comfortable if it makes her uncomfortable. (28:57) You know? (28:58) Yeah.

Scott Benner (28:58) So Yeah. (28:59) Charlotte is on episode six eighty two of the podcast by

Anais (29:02) the way. (29:02) 82. (29:03) Okay. (29:03) I'll check that out.

Scott Benner (29:04) Yeah. (29:04) Yeah. (29:04) So Thank you. (29:05) Okay. (29:05) Absolutely.

Scott Benner (29:06) What else you got? (29:07) I feel like I I talked a lot in the beginning, and I might have kept you off of things you wanted to say. (29:11) I for example, in your note, you said life in general, grief and lack of awareness. (29:18) What what what did you mean by grief?

Anais (29:20) Oh, grief. (29:20) I think for me, grief was like I was saying as the beginning, you know, like, maybe being pretty stoic through the the diagnosis, but then being very angry afterwards. (29:31) And I think it's sometimes regretting a little bit how easy it was before diabetes. (29:36) Like, we could just go out. (29:37) We didn't have to think about, do I have low snacks?

Anais (29:40) Do I have, you know, my my insulin? (29:43) Do I have everything? (29:44) And I think haven't stopped doing the stuff that we love doing. (29:47) So we went camping. (29:48) We've traveled, all that good stuff.

Anais (29:50) But it just takes a little bit of extra efforts, and there is moments where I'm like, you know, everything's fine, and you're like, oh, well, this really sucks. (29:57) And I think that never necessarily leaves you. (30:00) So that's the grief part. (30:01) And the second piece is, like, the long term consequences of diabetes. (30:06) I know that, you know, she's gonna live all her life with it, and sometimes it seems very daunting.

Anais (30:12) You know, it's it's great to see that there's a lot of people that have it and that great are great role models. (30:18) They've done so many things with our life. (30:20) So that that's very encouraging, but you always have those moments where you're like, oh, well, this really sucks, and it's not gonna go away. (30:27) I think that's something that I realized through the past year that you have to kind of process through.

Scott Benner (30:34) Yeah. (30:35) You know, I found myself telling somebody the other day that I just I I do wonder sometimes, like, what was Arden's life gonna be like without all this? (30:43) And what was what was ours gonna be like and without all this happening? (30:47) And, I mean, obviously, we'll never know, but I do and I do think about it sometimes. (30:52) Like, you know, like, there's days where I'm like, I don't wanna be doing this.

Scott Benner (30:56) Yeah. (30:57) You know, she and I are, you know, in the middle of something where she's like, oh, he's you know, I don't want my dad involved in this, which is something I've been ready for my whole life. (31:06) Like, I didn't not know it was coming. (31:07) You you know what I mean? (31:08) And I and then there I go.

Scott Benner (31:09) I go, that's cool. (31:10) I don't need to be involved. (31:11) And it still it's not a smooth transition still. (31:14) Yeah. (31:15) There's a thing.

Scott Benner (31:16) Like, this is shaping our relationship. (31:17) Like, I wanna be completely clear. (31:20) It's gonna be okay. (31:21) Like, we're gonna make our way through it. (31:22) This is a thing, like, you have to go through because this is the situation, but would have been cool if this wasn't the situation.

Anais (31:30) Yeah. (31:30) Exactly. (31:31) And I think that's yeah. (31:33) I I you know, I think you can always wonder, like, what it would have been like. (31:38) So I think, generally speaking, that's what I meant.

Anais (31:42) And and I think grief is very different from different people, but for me, it was more like kind of a little bit of regrets, like, how our life could be. (31:49) But at the same time, I think we have gained a lot of things through the experience. (31:52) I think I'm a better person. (31:54) We we are have a stronger marriage, and we've met so many incredible people. (32:00) So the silver linings is, you know, exist.

Anais (32:03) It's just sometimes, you know, the grift strikes. (32:07) You're like, oh, this sucks.

Scott Benner (32:09) Well well, the the rest of that thought for me is that I have to yeah. (32:13) I can't sit here and tell you I I see other people and it seems like everybody wants what they don't have or the opposite of what they get, and then I can't do the same thing. (32:22) So when I'm having that feeling, I try to go to what you just said. (32:26) Like, there's also a lot of it that's come out of it that's been positive. (32:30) And, you know, and so I you try to pay attention to that.

Scott Benner (32:33) Would you trade it? (32:34) Of course, you would trade it. (32:35) Like, you know, anything positive that comes out of type one diabetes, I'd be happy to give away right now if it meant it didn't exist. (32:42) Mhmm. (32:42) You know?

Scott Benner (32:43) But since that's not the reality of it, I'm I'm trying not to lose sight of the things that have come from it that have been good. (32:50) So

Anais (32:50) Yeah. (32:51) Totally.

Scott Benner (32:51) And continue to be.

Anais (32:53) Yep. (32:54) Go ahead.

Scott Benner (32:54) No. (32:54) It and these things continue to happen.

Anais (32:57) Yeah. (32:57) Right? (32:57) Yeah. (32:58) So Yeah. (32:59) For sure.

Scott Benner (32:59) Yeah. (32:59) And they they it's not just because I have this podcast or I get to go talk to people and, you know, tell them, like, do a better job and maybe that'll actually help somebody, stuff like that. (33:08) I mean, just, like, personally. (33:10) You know? (33:10) Like, I really talking to Arden's friend last week on the phone, like, I felt really awesome when I was done.

Scott Benner (33:16) I was like, wow. (33:17) Like, there's one person I like, I'm used to talking to a lot of people, but I don't really get a lot of opportunities when I'm not being recorded to talk to somebody and say, like, you know, tell me where your, you know, where are your problems? (33:29) Let me see if I can help you get through them and then have them at the end go, wow. (33:33) Thank you. (33:33) That was awesome.

Scott Benner (33:34) Like, I'm I'm gonna be better off now because of this. (33:36) I was like, you know, that's a good thing it's come.

Anais (33:38) Yeah. (33:38) It feels good. (33:39) Yeah. (33:39) It feels good.

Scott Benner (33:39) It really does.

Anais (33:41) And then you said lack of awareness. (33:43) I think that one is, I mean, we all are converted to this. (33:47) I think people have that have had diabetes for years and and newly diagnosed people. (33:51) But I think there is a general lack of awareness in this in the world about diabetes, what that means, what that means for parents, what that means for someone that has diabetes. (34:00) Like, you know, like you were saying at the very beginning of the episode, the the example you gave about the insurance company, like, we all have lives.

Anais (34:08) We all, like, are sleep deprived because maybe the CGM went off at, like, 3AM, and people just don't get it unless they have lived through it. (34:16) And so and you always constantly have to educate about, like, diabetes and know she didn't eat too much sugar when she was a baby. (34:24) You know? (34:25) It's just it's it's, like, silly stuff like that that keeps coming up, and you're like, come on, people. (34:30) It's not that hard, but I guess it is maybe hard to understand when you're not living in it.

Anais (34:35) And Right. (34:36) But you're you're

Scott Benner (34:37) a bright person. (34:38) You know that everybody doesn't know everything about everything. (34:40) Right? (34:40) But so what's

Anais (34:41) And even me. (34:42) Like, the injection example that you gave, I think, yeah, being converted to this makes me more aware. (34:47) But it's just very frustrating sometimes to have to educate, and and you're like, come on. (34:52) Just go on the Internet and Google it. (34:54) You know?

Anais (34:54) Like, ask GPT. (34:55) I don't know.

Scott Benner (34:56) Do you really want them to understand, or you just want them to not ask you about it?

Anais (35:02) That's a good question.

Scott Benner (35:03) Mhmm.

Anais (35:04) I think in some situation, not ask about it is probably the the more the more appropriate move for some people. (35:12) I think people just don't realize that they are a bit intrusive, but I think I want them to ask about it. (35:19) Because if they are educated, hopefully, they have a little bit more understanding what's going on for other people and other encounters. (35:24) And so it's I'm I'm I'm of both ways. (35:28) I think in some situation, I would rather not have to deal with it.

Anais (35:31) But in at the end of the day, I think the more predictive approach is to try to educate. (35:36) So here we are.

Scott Benner (35:38) I don't ask because I'm judging. (35:40) I ask because I really like, people have this question over and over again, and I keep thinking, like, what fixes it for you? (35:47) Because we're the you're not going to like, this is an appropriate thing. (35:51) It's November 19. (35:52) We're in, like, smack dab in the middle of diabetes awareness month, which I I think they changed the name of or something.

Scott Benner (35:57) But, anyway and I've watched it in this space forever. (36:00) I don't even get involved in it. (36:02) Like, I don't do extra different stuff for I'm I'm doing diabetes awareness every day of my life. (36:07) Like so, like, I I don't need to do a special because it's November. (36:10) But at the same time, I step back and watch everyone else do it.

Scott Benner (36:13) And I'm like, this is just a din of noise now. (36:15) And there's so much of it. (36:16) I care about it, and it's starting to bother me. (36:19) You really think a person from the outside is seeing one or two posts about this and going, oh, I really should learn more about type one diabetes. (36:26) I'm like, because they're not.

Scott Benner (36:27) Do you see what I'm saying?

Anais (36:28) Yeah. (36:29) I totally I agree. (36:30) I and I think I I do think that big initiatives are great, but it's probably more one on one that you educate more effectively. (36:38) Yes. (36:39) I think what's frustrating is not so much complete strangers.

Anais (36:43) It's the people that are in a closer circle that, you know, may I I say we're very lucky because most of our friends and family have been amazing, and they've, tried to read and learn about it. (36:56) But there is, from time to time, someone that you're like, okay. (36:59) It's been a year. (37:00) Like, we've you've seen it. (37:01) Like, just go read about it.

Anais (37:03) I don't want you to spend extra energy explaining to you. (37:06) Like, if you care about us, just go educate yourself. (37:09) And I think that's maybe I'm not being very empathetic to the other person here, but, I'm also tired. (37:15) God, I wake up at 3AM. (37:17) I don't want to have to explain this.

Scott Benner (37:19) You don't have the ceiling for empathy anymore.

Anais (37:22) I'm good.

Scott Benner (37:22) Yeah. (37:23) Yeah.

Anais (37:23) I've used it up all up.

Scott Benner (37:25) Either shut up or learn about it on your own. (37:27) But, like, you don't don't come asking me for help because Yeah. (37:31) I don't have an extra half a second in my brain. (37:34) Yeah.

Anais (37:34) Yeah. (37:34) I think the the best thing that a friend like, several friends actually have done is being like, hey. (37:42) I went on on this website, and I I read about this. (37:45) And can you tell me a little bit more about, like, CGM or about this? (37:49) Like, how is it for Lira?

Anais (37:51) And I just felt so seen and so supported by those friends that they just, on their own, were like, hey. (37:59) Like, this is something really big. (38:01) We want to help. (38:02) We want to learn about it. (38:03) And and I hope people have those friends in their lives because we've been super lucky to have many of them, and we love you.

Anais (38:12) They probably would never listen to this podcast. (38:14) But

Scott Benner (38:14) Well, they might. (38:15) Also, how do we all get your friends? (38:17) That's what I was wondering. (38:18) Like, how am I where are you meeting people at? (38:20) This is awesome.

Anais (38:21) Yeah. (38:21) Yeah. (38:22) We've we've been, yeah, we've been really lucky.

Scott Benner (38:24) So It really is giving to spend some time like that. (38:27) You know? (38:27) But it also, by the way, is indicative of the fact that their life allows them that kind of time.

Anais (38:32) Yep. (38:32) True. (38:33) True.

Scott Benner (38:34) And not everybody even has the the bandwidth for it, really. (38:37) I think I've been I've somehow been searching for the word bandwidth, like, for the last half an hour, it hasn't come out of my mouth, you know, in a lot of different parts of the conversation. (38:47) You know, we have much less of it and some people get more. (38:50) And, by the way, I've seen people be mad at those people, like, for having extra bandwidth. (38:54) Like, you know, like, I and I've had that thought sometimes.

Scott Benner (38:57) Like, not not in an anger way, but you know when people get really angry about something that you now think of as trivial that you might have a year and a half ago been angry about? (39:08) Like, I think that diabetes ups your perspective, like, fifty years. (39:14) Yes. (39:15) You're suddenly walking around with the perspective of, like, a 90 year old woman who's just like, you know, everything's on fire, and she's like, it'll be fine. (39:21) Don't worry.

Anais (39:22) Yeah. (39:22) Yeah. (39:22) Totally. (39:23) Oh, I see. (39:23) Yeah.

Anais (39:24) That's

Scott Benner (39:24) Yeah. (39:25) Yeah.

Anais (39:25) You know Tory.

Scott Benner (39:26) And that's one of the things I'm happy to have, like, from it. (39:29) It is one but I've also seen people be pissed that they don't that they don't have that kind of time and other people do. (39:36) Like, right, I've I've heard it talked about two ways. (39:39) Like, I would you know, if you're listening, I would hope that when you see somebody else who's complaining about something that you now know is trivial, that you would just say, like, oh, lucky them that they're not burdened by the things that that I am. (39:51) Mhmm.

Scott Benner (39:52) You know, that they can that they can spend a whole day being mad about this. (39:55) Like, good for them. (39:56) Their their lives must be free and easy, and I'm happy for

Anais (39:59) them.

Scott Benner (39:59) You know?

Anais (40:00) Yeah. (40:01) I yeah. (40:02) You know, I think it we don't know what's going on in other people's lives. (40:05) So even if they seem to have time to complain about something trivial, maybe something else is going on. (40:10) I I it's it's sometimes I'm trying to approach it that way, and I'm like, whatever works for you.

Anais (40:15) If you're happy, you have the bandwidth, not the bandwidth. (40:18) But, yeah, you know, we're all humans, so sometimes we get frustrated.

Scott Benner (40:22) Yeah. (40:22) Cut everybody a break. (40:23) I I think just, you know, be on your way and everything. (40:26) But, yeah, that's a a great advice. (40:28) Also, we have I have an episode in the pro tip series that explains type one to people on the outside.

Scott Benner (40:34) So if you ever just, like, wanna throw it out and be like, look. (40:36) If you really care that much, here's forty five minutes. (40:38) This will explain to you what my life's like. (40:41) Yeah. (40:42) You know?

Scott Benner (40:42) But, again, that's a weird thing to do too.

Anais (40:45) That's yeah. (40:46) That's

Scott Benner (40:46) Not a thing I would do. (40:47) Isn't it funny? (40:48) It's a thing I created because people ask for it, but I would I wouldn't do it. (40:52) Like, I would

Anais (40:53) I I don't know who this will be received. (40:55) You know what?

Scott Benner (40:55) That that's

Anais (40:56) an interesting experiment. (40:57) Like, maybe with some very good friend, I'd be like, hey. (41:01) But they already have done their homework, so I don't think they necessarily need it. (41:05) So I don't know.

Scott Benner (41:06) There's plenty of stuff I do on the podcast. (41:08) It's for other people that I think I'm like, I wouldn't do this, but, like alright.

Anais (41:12) Love it.

Scott Benner (41:12) Yeah. (41:13) I mean, perfectly honest with you, I you said something earlier. (41:16) It made me feel good, like, you're enjoying the bolus four episodes. (41:21) That those are a thing that I did that I was like, I don't really feel like we need to do this. (41:26) But and then I realized that for some people, it would be really helpful.

Scott Benner (41:30) And I thought, well, then I make it for them, not for it's not for me. (41:32) It's for them.

Anais (41:33) I love it. (41:34) I because it gives you strategies, and maybe it it won't work exactly the same for

Scott Benner (41:40) Sure.

Anais (41:41) My kid or myself. (41:43) But it gives you, like, a way of thinking about it, and you're like, okay. (41:46) I'm gonna try this, and then we'll see what happen. (41:49) And then we can kind of tweak it. (41:51) And the bread was super helpful.

Anais (41:53) I don't know if you've done pasta, but if you if you have a pasta episode, I'll I will save it and listen to it 50 times because we are we're really having problems with pasta. (42:02) But

Scott Benner (42:03) We're still working on the list of things. (42:05) Sadly, Jenny has a life and a job. (42:06) I can't just, like, snatch her up whenever I want to. (42:08) Although, I stole her I stole her for the for the Thanksgiving one. (42:12) Like, you'll actually I think I left it in the beginning where I'm just like, Jenny wasn't supposed to record.

Scott Benner (42:15) Hey. (42:16) I made her come do this.

Anais (42:17) We all need it. (42:19) Okay? (42:19) Thanksgiving is a big deal. (42:20) I think Halloween is the most hellish holiday that was invented for diabetic, but but we made it through for the second time.

Scott Benner (42:31) So Good. (42:32) Good. (42:32) Good. (42:32) Yeah. (42:32) It should well, yeah, you had to do it the first time, like, fresh like, fresh.

Scott Benner (42:36) Oh, yeah. (42:36) Right? (42:36) Oh,

Anais (42:37) boy. (42:37) That was rough. (42:38) Yep.

Scott Benner (42:38) Yeah. (42:39) I remember Arden, diagnosed in August, and then we went to our first JDRF walk in October. (42:45) And as you're approaching the walk and getting going, it's it's outside of Philadelphia, there's a giant table of soft pretzels. (42:53) Oh my god. (42:53) I was like, is this a joke?

Anais (42:56) Like, hey. (42:57) Good luck. (42:58) Enjoy your walk. (43:00) I was like,

Scott Benner (43:01) is what? (43:03) This is mean. (43:04) Why did someone do this? (43:05) Yeah. (43:05) Wow.

Anais (43:06) Yeah. (43:06) Well, this is for the the the, the supporters. (43:09) It's not for the diabetic.

Scott Benner (43:10) Well, I don't know. (43:11) I in my in my wildest dreams in that moment, I was like, what? (43:14) Because she saw it. (43:15) She's like pretzel, and I was like, yeah. (43:17) Awesome.

Scott Benner (43:18) Then Yeah. (43:19) Yeah. (43:19) You know, now she's on and it's cold, and she's got a jacket on. (43:22) And now I'm, like, in the weeds with a needle giving her an injection in the back of her arms so she can have her pretzel. (43:27) Oh,

Anais (43:27) my gosh. (43:28) And I

Scott Benner (43:28) totally get the pretzel wrong and her blood sugar gets high, but we don't have a CGM, so I don't know that. (43:33) And, like, you know, then you'll Oh. (43:34) You look at her a half an hour later, she looks like a zombie, and you're like, what's happening? (43:37) You test your blood sugar. (43:38) It's super high.

Scott Benner (43:39) And you're like, oh my god. (43:40) Like God. (43:41) That was literally, like, maybe

Anais (43:43) That was a pretzel.

Scott Benner (43:44) It was, like, six weeks after she was diagnosed.

Anais (43:47) Ah, this is so hard. (43:47) Yeah. (43:48) We did Halloween what? (43:49) It was well, we get out got out the hospital, and it was Halloween the next day. (43:53) Yeah.

Anais (43:53) And she wanted to go trick or treating, and so we did it. (43:56) And I don't even remember. (43:59) Honestly, I was in such a daze for the first few weeks that I remember a mom saying to her kid, and she was just, like, walking by. (44:07) And she's like, oh, don't eat too much sugar. (44:09) You're gonna get diabetes.

Anais (44:10) And I'm sure I said it at some point in my life like an idiot. (44:14) Mhmm. (44:14) But it hit differently when your kid just got out of the hospital with a t one d diagnosis. (44:19) I was like, oh, this one hurts.

Scott Benner (44:22) The cops got called because there's a French lady beating somebody up in a bush. (44:26) Yes.

Anais (44:27) No. (44:28) Yeah. (44:28) No. (44:28) See, I was just like, I I I know I just pretended I did I ignored it. (44:33) But, yeah, that was that was bad.

Scott Benner (44:35) Did you look inward during that? (44:36) Did you think, oh, I probably said that in the past?

Anais (44:38) I did. (44:39) Yeah. (44:39) I was like, oh gosh. (44:40) That that's terrible. (44:41) I prob you know, I probably said that, but I probably say a million stupid things that, in retrospect, probably were hurtful.

Anais (44:48) And and sometimes when you reflect and you're like, oh, what an idiot. (44:52) I should have never said that or done that. (44:54) Yeah. (44:55) But it's too late, and so you can just try to learn from it. (44:59) I don't

Scott Benner (44:59) wanna freeze everybody, but imagine all the other things you don't understand that you're saying all day long.

Anais (45:04) Oh, gosh. (45:04) Yeah. (45:05) I'm sure. (45:05) Yeah. (45:05) Sure.

Anais (45:06) But that one that one was like yeah.

Scott Benner (45:08) I have this odd thought exercise that I I do sometimes where I wonder do you ever just you do something and you realize, like, oh, I was misunderstood in this situation or that's not what I meant. (45:20) And it's just in your it's in your house. (45:22) It's with your husband or your kids. (45:23) You're like, oh, they're misunderstanding me. (45:25) Do you ever wonder, like, if they're being misunderstood too?

Anais (45:28) Oh, yeah.

Scott Benner (45:29) Yeah. (45:29) And then you look back and you go, are any of us communicating how we actually feel to each other or hearing it? (45:35) Like like, I don't know. (45:35) Are we all just five steps off of center of really understanding what's happening around us?

Anais (45:41) Right? (45:41) Maybe.

Scott Benner (45:42) Oh, I think about that all the time.

Anais (45:43) Yeah. (45:44) I I you know, I think some people are very good at communicating their thoughts and their needs. (45:49) And we're trying to teach that to our kids because, you know, at four, we have a lot of big emotion that we try to to rationalize somehow. (45:58) But, yeah, it's tough. (46:01) I'm I'm sure we some sometimes miss on what the other person is trying to say for sure.

Scott Benner (46:06) All I know is is that there's a way I know I am, and then there's a way I know I'm perceived. (46:11) And then Yeah. (46:13) I think, well, then when I'm perceiving my son or my daughter or my wife, they they don't feel exactly the way I'm perceiving them either. (46:22) And it's it's just I don't know. (46:24) Like, when you really stop and think about it, it'll make your brain explode.

Scott Benner (46:27) Yeah. (46:27) I don't

Anais (46:27) I don't know if I want to do this. (46:29) It's too early in the morning. (46:30) I just don't want to I just don't want to do And

Scott Benner (46:33) it and it just it really it flips me out. (46:35) I'm like, oh gosh. (46:36) Like, I don't know if what I think is happening is really happening sometimes.

Anais (46:40) Yeah. (46:40) You're in the matrix.

Scott Benner (46:41) And what if everyone's having that experience at the same time, but we're together? (46:46) I don't know. (46:46) Like, I don't even know how to do the calculus on it, but I know it makes me it fries my brain a little bit. (46:51) I would probably need to smoke weed and then talk about it because I don't know that, like because you kinda get to an end point in the thought where you're like, you know? (46:59) Anyway

Anais (47:00) Maybe that will help. (47:01) Maybe that will help. (47:01) I don't know.

Scott Benner (47:02) Yeah. (47:02) Good luck. (47:03) Well, good luck to everybody. (47:04) Like, go go have your own deep thought. (47:06) I have to I thank you very much for doing this.

Scott Benner (47:09) I know I kept you longer than normal, but I really thought that sharing my brother's story in the beginning there, even though it took up some time, I really did think it was it fit here. (47:20) So I appreciate you sitting through that while I was talking about

Anais (47:24) Well, thanks for sharing, and, also, I really hope he's doing better.

Scott Benner (47:27) Thank you. (47:28) We should find out together. (47:29) I'm gonna text him. (47:29) I have two texts to send this morning. (47:31) One, and I I have to send one to Rob, the guy that edits the podcast, because he had a little bit of a meltdown last night in text, but I was asleep.

Anais (47:40) He's gonna have so much fun trying to figure out my accent.

Scott Benner (47:44) But but he oh, god. (47:47) What happened here? (47:48) Do you ever do you ever, like you know, somebody starts texting and then they text again and again and again? (47:52) You're like, uh-oh. (47:52) They're in trouble?

Anais (47:53) Yeah. (47:54) Or you're like, I'm not gonna I'm not or sometime I'm like, ignore until I feel ready to deal with, like, 10 texts.

Scott Benner (47:59) Well, Rob, just Rob, just so you know, I I was asleep last night when you texted this stuff. (48:04) So I'm sorry, but I'll get back to you right now and my other texts to my brother. (48:09) Actually, I'm gonna do it right now. (48:10) I'm gonna say I'm gonna say here's what I'm gonna say. (48:14) I'm gonna say Anise and I

Anais (48:17) Want to know if you're doing better.

Scott Benner (48:18) Wondering if you're feeling better. (48:20) Hopefully, he doesn't see that and think it says anal. (48:23) Alright. (48:23) Here we go. (48:26) Hold on a second.

Scott Benner (48:27) You were great. (48:28) Thank you so much.

Anais (48:29) Thank you so much.

Scott Benner (48:36) 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 20 four seven. (48:46) It works around the clock so you can focus on what matters. (48:51) The juice box community knows the importance of using technology to simplify managing diabetes. (48:56) To learn more about how you can spend less time and effort managing your diabetes, visit my link, medtronicdiabetes.com/juicebox. (49:07) I'd like to thank the blood glucose meter that my daughter carries, the Kontoor Next Gen blood glucose meter.

Scott Benner (49:14) Learn more and get started today at kontoornext.com/juicebox. (49:20) And don't forget, you may be paying more through your insurance right now for the meter you have than you would pay for the contour next gen in cash. (49:30) There are links in the show notes of the audio app you're listening in right now and links @juiceboxpodcast.com to Contour and all of the sponsors. (49:41) Thank you so much for listening. (49:43) I'll be back very soon with another episode of the juice box podcast.

Scott Benner (49:46) If you're not already subscribed or following the podcast in your favorite audio app, like Spotify or Apple Podcasts, please do that now. (49:54) Seriously, just to hit follow or subscribe will really help the show. (49:59) If you go a little further in Apple Podcasts and set it up so that it downloads all new episodes, I'll be your best friend. (50:05) And if you leave a five star review, oh, I'll probably send you a Christmas card. (50:10) Would you like a Christmas card?

Scott Benner (50:17) If you've ever heard a diabetes term and thought, okay. (50:20) But what does that actually mean? (50:22) You need the defining diabetes series from the Juice Box podcast. (50:26) Defining diabetes takes all those phrases and terms that you don't understand and makes them clear. (50:31) Quick and easy episodes.

Scott Benner (50:33) Find out what bolus means, basal, insulin sensitivity, and all of the rest. (50:38) There has to be over 60 episodes of Defining Diabetes. (50:40) Check it out now in your audio player or go to juiceboxpodcast.com and go up into the menu. (50:47) If you're looking for community around type one diabetes, check out the juice box podcast private Facebook group, juice box podcast, type one diabetes. (50:56) But everybody is welcome.

Scott Benner (50:57) Type one, type two, gestational, loved ones, it doesn't matter to me. (51:02) 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. (51:11) Have a podcast? (51:13) Want it to sound fantastic? (51:14) Wrongwayrecording.com.

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