#1575 Severed Pancreas

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John, 40, shares his family’s deep autoimmune history and his 11-year-old daughter’s new T1D diagnosis, plus his personal experience with GLP-1 meds.

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Scott Benner 0:00
Hello friends, and welcome back to another episode of The Juicebox Podcast.

John 0:15
I am John. I'm from San Antonio, Texas, and I am the parent of a type 111 year old girl.

Scott Benner 0:27
If you or a loved one is newly diagnosed with type one diabetes and you're seeking a clear, practical perspective, check out the bold beginning series on the Juicebox Podcast. It's hosted by myself and Jenny Smith, an experienced diabetes educator with over 35 years of personal insight into type one, our series cuts through the medical jargon and delivers straightforward answers to your most pressing questions. You'll gain insight from real patients and caregivers and find practical advice to help you confidently navigate life with type one. You can start your journey informed and empowered with the Juicebox Podcast, the bold beginning series, and all of the collections in the Juicebox Podcast are available in your audio app and at Juicebox podcast.com in the menu. Please don't forget that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before making any changes to your healthcare plan or becoming bold with insulin,

this episode of The Juicebox Podcast is brought to you by my favorite diabetes organization, touched by type one. Please take a moment to learn more about them at touched by type one.org on Facebook and Instagram. Touched by type one.org check out their many programs, their annual conference awareness campaign, their D box program, dancing for diabetes. They have a dance program for local kids, a golf night and so much more. Touched by type one.org. You're looking to help or you want to see people helping people with type one. You want touched by type one.org. I'm having an on body vibe alert. This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by ever since 365 the only one year where CGM, that's one insertion and one CGM a year, one CGM one year, not every 10 or 14 days ever since cgm.com/juicebox a huge thanks to my longest sponsor, Omnipod. Check out the Omnipod five now with my link, omnipod.com/juicebox you may be eligible for a free starter kit, a free Omnipod five starter kit at my link, go check it out. Omnipod.com/juicebox Terms and Conditions apply. Full terms and conditions can be found at omnipod.com/juicebox

John 3:01
I am John. I'm from San Antonio, Texas, and I am the parent of a type 111, year old girl, 11 year old. Do you have any other kids? I do. I have a almost eight year old as well. Oh, wow,

Scott Benner 3:14
eight and 1111. Year old has type one and she right. Was diagnosed. How old

John 3:18
she was diagnosed last year. Shoot, I think we're about six months in. It was October, October 15 of last year. It's

Scott Benner 3:27
only been about six months. Yeah. Refresh, still, yeah, this is a good conversation. Then I'm going to enjoy this. You won't. It'll be a horrible, it'll be a horrible turning up of emotions that you're not really ready to deal with yet. But I'm going to be like, awesome. What a great podcast. Yeah, tell me a little bit about your extended family. Is there other type one, other autoimmune? Is there any autoimmune in your family?

John 3:52
I came prepared, because I hear you ask this a lot. Thank you. So no type one. We kind of did some digging. My wife and I, she had a grandmother with type one and her mother. So my mother in law has Viti Lago, which is autoimmune. My wife has PCOS. My wife has hypothyroidism, and then on my side, we got a bunch of celiac and also some PCOS. I have some sisters with PCOS, so no type one, but a bunch of autoimmune from what we found after,

Scott Benner 4:24
after this, I thought you said the ground there was a grandmother. I'm sorry, yes, yes,

John 4:28
my wife's, my wife's grandmother had type one, correct? Okay,

Scott Benner 4:32
so what do you think the inclination is? Because you're not certainly the only person to say there's no type one in my family, but my wife's grandmother has it, like, Woody is that far enough away that you're like, that's not really

John 4:43
us. I think so, yeah, I think we know we're thinking, you know, our siblings, our parents, so, yeah, I think that's what it is. Probably,

Scott Benner 4:50
yeah, that's a misnomer for people. Yeah, it's like, it's like, if I was breeding puppies, and I was like, well, this puppy is from that, you know, two puppies. Way they're not related, true? That's true if you think of it that way. Yeah. Actually, you're related, just like two generations of banging. That's pretty close, yeah. So wait a minute, your wife has hypothyroidism, PCOS, yes, she have any trouble getting pregnant.

John 5:14
It did take us a little while. We didn't have to, you know, do any fertility, but I remember it, it took us, I think, longer than we thought it would. Would

Scott Benner 5:25
you mind if I asked you a question that I should be asking her? Sure, okay, her lady problems. Did they change drastically after giving birth?

John 5:35
She's still, I mean, you know, she's still, I think she still has the PCOS. I mean, no,

Scott Benner 5:41
no, she still has it. But like, John, you said, I think, like, that's not the way. I don't know how long you've been married man, but, like, don't give up that you're not sure. What I mean is, like, you know, frequent heavy periods, like, she had whatever she had going on prior. I don't know what she had going on prior. Maybe you can tell me, like, did it change or morph after giving

John 5:59
birth? Oh, I see, I see, yeah, no, that's still that. All that stuff still remains. Okay? She struggles

Scott Benner 6:06
with it, yeah? When your gyno says, Don't worry, if you have a baby, this will all be better. There's a thing they love to tell women, which I think is, yeah, crazy, but not true in our in our scenario, yeah, true in your scenario. Go make a baby, everything will get better. What is that like? Is that advice from the Old West? You know what I mean?

John 6:24
I think so. I think that. I think we did hear that too. It was almost like, Oh, it'll reset your system or something to that effect, yeah, not, not the

Scott Benner 6:31
case. A lot of things that you haven't found to be true in any aspect of life whatsoever. So far, right? Yeah, no, I hear you. Okay, so she's got those issues. You have the first your first is, you know, got 11 years old. How? How old are you guys?

John 6:44
I'm 40, and my wife is 37 so we're not too far apart.

Scott Benner 6:48
Okay, all right. So what's the first sign of the type one?

John 6:52
It was her hair was falling out. So my wife, you know, the brushes the hair in the morning, before school, she's gonna get some ready, and she's like, Man, I'm, I'm getting a lot of your hair is coming out in the brush, you know, notice it in the shower. And then, you know, we just took a good look at her, and we noticed that she was, she had lost weight. She was looking really thin. She was always thirsty and hungry. Later, she told us, oh, you know, I was drinking, you know, like, I'd take a water bottle to school and I'd be done before class even starts. Now, of course, she didn't sure they went to still after, but yeah, things like that. You know, I had to wake up three times to go to the bathroom at night again, which we didn't know, but she was experiencing so, yeah, there were lots of signs that, looking back now, we know what it was, but we had, we had no idea.

Scott Benner 7:39
Did it spark your wife to think hypothyroid at first? Because there's some overlapping stuff there with the hair loss, the weight stuff like that. I

John 7:47
don't think so. You should be honest. I remember her coming to me being like, Hey, I think I'm going to take her to the doctor, because, you know this, this is, this is concerning, and I'll be honest. We were like, yeah, maybe it's some sort of vitamin deficiency, or maybe she needs, you know, some sort of supplements, like, that's literally what we thought it was. But it was all mother intuition, because she said, I gotta take her. She was Something's off. And so, you know, she she took her in, and it was kind of strange. They didn't poke her. They didn't do a finger poke at the doctor, which I feel like would have answered our question. Well, hindsight and all you know, right, right? But they sent her for labs, and then we got a call the next day from a not our doctor, another doctor in the practice, which I thought was strange, and she sounded very flustered on the phone. She left both of us with voicemail because we were working. She was like, I need someone to call me back. Like, as soon as possible. Like, call me back. Please call me back. And so I get that, and you know, you start freaking out, and call and she said, You need to go get her and take her to the hospital right now. And we were like, Okay. And that pretty much started our journey towards this, this whole

Scott Benner 8:59
ordeal, John, did she say, I think she has type one diabetes, or did she just say, get her to the hospital?

John 9:04
She did. She said her blood sugar was 800 and, yeah. And of course, we don't, you know. We don't know. We're like, oh, well, you know, how bad is that? And she's

Scott Benner 9:14
like, that's almost 1000 way to go, kid, yeah, you don't, you don't know. Yeah, you don't know what you're talking about, right? As you're driving to that to that hospital, what's your feeling like she's in imminent danger or just, just the thing we have to handle

John 9:27
right now? So the doctor was like, you know? She was like, You should take her now. She was like, if this is my child, I would take her now. She was like, you know, she's okay, right? She's not in, she's not gonna die right this moment. So she, I guess she tried to reassure us that, but it was still pretty, like, urgent, like, you need to do this. I remember even because I think it was like noon, and I remember even thinking, you know, after we got the phone, we were like, well, could we maybe we'll just take her in the morning? Or, you know, we kind of downplayed it a little bit. But. Then we were like, You know what? We should listen to the recommendation, and we should go ahead and take her in. So I

Scott Benner 10:06
need one more second on that. You actually got off the phone, and you're like, we could probably do this tomorrow.

John 10:11
Yeah. No, no lie. We thought about it, like, okay, because I think, and again, this is a blur. I think she even mentioned, you know, we have a good endocrinologist we work with. I'll set you up with her. And, you know, we were even thinking, like, well, maybe we can just go see the endocrinologist and, you know, go go to them directly, instead of having to deal with the hospital and the weight and the mess. And, yeah, we have our other daughter. What are we gonna do with her? You know? So she was

Scott Benner 10:37
clear, like, go to the emergency room right now. She was, she was man, John, I got to imagine every doctor listening right now is like, Well, yeah, this is why we talk to you people like that, because you don't listen. Yes, yes, good. That's why everyone's story is like, Oh, they were so, like, aggressive about going to the hospital. And they're probably like, yeah, because you have no idea how many people just don't listen to us when we say that. I guess it's an interesting problem. I love that, all right, so, but you did go to the hospital?

John 11:02
Yes, yeah, we went to the hospital. My wife went and picked her up. I actually work closer to the hospital. They told us to take her to so we actually met there. We were on the phone. They called me right when they were on the way, and we were all talking, you know, on the speaker phone. And my daughter was, like, confused. She was like, Okay. She's like, I, you know, I feel she got a little nervous. Yeah? She Yeah. I think she got a little nervous. We know nothing about diabetes. So I was like, I think I even told her, Hey, maybe, you know, this is something where you can take a medicine and you'll be fine.

Scott Benner 11:32
It's just out there, like with the pixie dust. He's like, You know what? I'll probably, they'll probably just rub something on your arm, and this will be over soon.

John 11:39
Don't worry. Yes, so I, you know, felt horrible hours after saying that. Did

Scott Benner 11:44
you go back to her and say, Hey, sorry. I'll keep my mouth shut till I know what I'm talking about next time. Shoot,

John 11:49
shoot. I don't even think I did, but hindsight now I'm remembering that I said that. But now, I mean, it's, it's, it was she probably a shock? Yeah, she

Scott Benner 11:56
probably doesn't remember, you know, yeah, going from like, in the car, like, I don't know what the big deal is to the actual happening, right? Like, do you see the shift in her quickly, or are you more focused on what's happening to you? Like, like, What is your perspective in the hospital? You worried about her, you're worried about your wife, you're worried about being strong. Can you tell me what your focus was? This episode is brought to you by Omnipod. Would you ever buy a car without test driving it first? That's a big risk to take on a pretty large investment. You wouldn't do that, right? So why would you do it when it comes to choosing an insulin pump, most pumps come with a four year lock in period through the DME channel, and you don't even get to try it first. But not Omnipod five. Omnipod five is available exclusively through the pharmacy, which means it doesn't come with a typical four year DME lock in period. Plus you can get started with a free 30 day trial to be sure it's the right choice for you or your family. My daughter has been wearing an Omnipod every day for 17 years. Are you ready to give Omnipod five a try? Request your free Starter Kit today at my link, omnipod.com/juicebox Terms and Conditions apply. Eligibility may vary. Full terms and conditions can be found at omnipod.com/juicebox find my link in the show notes of this podcast player, or at Juicebox podcast.com you Today's episode is sponsored by a long term CGM that's going to help you to stay on top of your glucose readings the ever since 365 I'm talking, of course, about the world's first and only CGM that lasts for one year, one year, one CGM. Are you tired of those other CGM, the ones that give you all those problems that you didn't expect, knocking them off, false alerts not lasting as long as they're supposed to. If you're tired of those constant frustrations, use my link ever since cgm.com/juicebox, to learn more about the ever since 365 some of you may be able to experience the ever since 365 for as low as $199 for a full year. At my link, you'll find those details, and can learn about eligibility ever since cgm.com/juicebox check it out.

John 14:16
For for me, it was, it was all on once we were there, and she was there in the bed, and we're waiting on, you know, they put you in the triage, and they get you back there, and we're waiting there, and they poke her there, and I think, I think it was too high, it wouldn't register on their meter. And they told us that. So they were like, so that means it's over 600 you know, because ours goes up to 600 like they told us, and at that point, it's just, you're starting to increasingly worry, you know, because of the attention and the and the hospital staff, and this is part of what I wanted to say, we'll get to it. But we got pretty good care, I think. And so they, they were, they were good, and they were good to her, and they, you know, it's a children's hospital, so they have their way of talking to the kids. And explaining things, and she needed an IV. And I don't like an IV, and I feel like that would be scary for me as a 40 year old and for a 10 year old to

Scott Benner 15:09
get it. John, have you never had an IV? I have. It's

John 15:13
only been a few times I had to get a dental, a tooth removed one time, and they put me out. And it was, I don't know, I just have anxiety about about it, but you got an IV for a dental procedure. Yeah, I had a bad cavity, and they and I had to go to an oral surgeon to pull it. Oh, okay. And, yeah, and he was like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna put you out, you know. So because I was, I was stressing. I was, yeah, the dentist is not my thing.

Scott Benner 15:38
It must piss people off when they hear me say how relaxed I'm at the dentist's office. Oh no, yeah, I just love it there. It's so calm. You're like, oh gosh, the IV seemed like a big step to you.

John 15:50
Yes, that's when I think I you knew, like, Okay, this is, this is serious, like, this is not. Just take this and you're

Scott Benner 15:55
fine. Wow. How far is your understanding of diabetes come in such a short time? Do you think

John 16:00
so? I mean, you know, they're in that moment or since to now? No to now? Oh, okay, I think we are. We have learned a ton. Listening to this podcast has helped tremendously. We use the vernacular tug of war, crush it and catch it like it's a part of of, kind of how we manage. So I think we've come a long way. I still, and we're still not an expert. Just the other day, we were talking about bolusing for fat and protein, and I told my wife, I was like, this is, like, we're getting to, like, the next level stuff. I was like, I think we're pretty good at the basics now. Now we need to, like, fine tune this, like, next level stuff. Yeah, that is, like, the expert level.

Scott Benner 16:46
Well, I hope it makes you feel better to know that I'm not an expert at it. I don't know that anybody is, you know, right? Arden's on a steroid right now, and it just feels like we've been fighting with it for a week now, you know, so and I know what to do when I'm doing it, but it's, you know, sometimes you're just like, it's not enough, or you're sending so much insulin through the site, the site gets flooded, and it just doesn't work as well. And you're like, well, I could be doing this or that, and then the reality of life is like, you know what I mean? Like, yeah, if I said to her, like, let's change your pump every you know, I don't know, 36 hours while you're on steroids, she'd be like, okay, Sparky. Or, you know, like, Let's inject instead. Or she'd be like, why don't we just let it be a little high? Yeah, the reality like, creeps in a little bit. And in six months, if you're feel confident enough with foundational ideas that you're thinking like, well, let's try to level up a little bit here in six months. Man, that's awesome. Really, you know, I think it's fantastic. Do you think your wife has the same level of comfort as you

John 17:51
do? Yeah, I think so. Yeah. We usually do our best to to manage together and make decisions together. She does do all the changes, the CGM, changes in the in the pod changes, you know, she has more nimble, nimble hands, and so she does that. But I've been there, you know, we kind of do it as a team, so it's good to kind of be all all together in the same boat. You stand in the back here, leading, yeah, pretty much push the buttons, you know. So I'll be there controlling the phone and, okay, okay, stick it on. Okay, let me push the Let me push the button. Okay, here we go, you know. So,

Scott Benner 18:26
John, yeah, are you really not nimble? Or is that something? She's told you,

John 18:29
I'm a bigger guy, you know, and my hands are pretty big, gotcha. And I don't know that little pot is a little, I feel like, like, ham. You're just like, yeah, like, I drop it, or I'd put a crooked or I squish the little tape. I don't know,

Scott Benner 18:43
you're giving me an image of Godzilla trying to put on somebody's Dexcom for them.

John 18:49
Like, yeah, exactly. You know,

Scott Benner 18:53
are your hands huge? I mean, not

John 18:56
huge, but, you know, so I don't know. I mean, I could do it if I had to, but that's kind of been our routine. You know, we've, kind of, we have a little routine in

Scott Benner 19:05
place. Now, listen, I want to tell you something. I have pretty big hands. It does make simple things difficult, like, I often drop things that are, like, small, but you've done it before, right? Like you've tried or, yes, okay,

John 19:21
well, I've done some of it. I don't think I have done it. I don't think I've done a pod change.

Scott Benner 19:26
Is it outside of your comfort zone, beyond the big hands thing?

John 19:30
No. I mean, I could do it. Like I said, I've seen it enough times that I could do it. It's just, I think now it's, I think the beginning, it was a nervous thing, but I think now it's just, we're in the routine so much that it's just kind of, kind of how we do it.

Scott Benner 19:42
And your kids only 11, but Arden's 20. She's almost 21 I have to tell you the amount of times I've seen that kid with her pants half down or like, something like, I mean, it's so it must be weird to people from the outside, like, you know, like her friends are here. She's like, I just have to change my pump real quick. And she just like, you know, drops. Pants and, like, pulls off something or whatever. Like, there's no, I don't know, there's a lot of comfort between us, but I also, like, you know, I was also a stay at home dad for a really long time, so it might, might feel a little differently. It's interesting to me that you're, are you nervous about it

John 20:14
at all? Maybe a little, yeah, like I said, I'm just nervous that maybe I would do it wrong and mess it up, and then we've wasted one, or we have to John,

Scott Benner 20:22
we have to get past that. You're gonna waste a lot of them. Don't you worry? Yeah, a lot of waste is gonna happen between now and after this. Did you say you work near your house? You're not in the house, right? When you work during the day, go,

John 20:34
I go into the office four days a week. So we get, we get one work at home day, which is the remnant of of COVID.

Scott Benner 20:39
Yeah. How about your wife? What does she do? So she

John 20:42
actually used to work in the school the kids go to, but recently they had some in the district, they had some reorganization. So now she works out of an office in a different school. So she does some administrative work in a back office at a school, at an elementary school here, so she's not too far either from where they where they are.

Scott Benner 21:00
And how is your daughter making out with her care? Like, is she pretty button friendly? Understands carb counting. Like, what level do you think she's at?

John 21:07
I think she's getting pretty good. She She carb counts pretty well. She estimates fairly well. The other day they at school, they gave them a like, a pop school for to celebrate something. And she was like, Yeah, I just did 30 carbs, and I just went with it. And, I mean, she didn't spike up. So we were like, okay, she didn't really check with us. So we have a group, a group text that sometimes we'll get a, you know, hey, I'm gonna have this or, Hey, what do you think this is? She went to a birthday party last weekend, and she sent us a picture of her plate that she was going to eat, and we kind of gave her some guidance. So that's kind of been our, our method when, when she's not with us, or fairway, she's done fairly well.

Scott Benner 21:48
Yeah, it's good. That's awesome. Do you think she was anywhere near right on the popsicle? Or do you think she just

John 21:53
got lucky? You know, we did some googling after, I think she was pretty close. It was a pretty big one, you know. And so I think, yeah, I think she probably did pretty good for her.

Scott Benner 22:01
That's awesome. What do you think her reactions been to this last six months? Have you had conversations with her? Have you witnessed something? Do you think it's changed her in ways that are are obvious.

John 22:13
We haven't talked too much about it, other than the, you know, the management and how we how we do things. She has shared with us. You know that it definitely has made some things more difficult. You know, she has to

Scott Benner 22:32
do more

John 22:34
thinking before doing things, whereas, you know, yeah, a normal kid, doesn't we? We We took her to the birthday party on a couple days ago, and we had our other daughter, and we went to Starbucks and got her a frappuccino. And we didn't have to think, here you go. And so in one sense, I was like, oh, man, you know, our other daughter has it, has it, has it pretty well, you know, if you think about it compared, because if we have, if we had our older one with us, you know, it'd be a whole ordeal. And, okay, how much and what, you know, Pre Bolus. And so I feel for her, because she's a kid. But all that considered, she does very well, and she's very responsible. Sometimes she takes advantage of, I think, her being a little low, she'll want a candy or something, which is, you know, again, she's a kid, yeah. I mean, she's a kid,

Scott Benner 23:23
so we sounds like nerds. Time to me, yeah, exactly. Listen, be careful of the guilt that comes with going off with your other kid without her. And it feeling because it felt normal, right? Yes, yeah. And that made you feel bad,

John 23:40
a little bit, a little bit. It made me feel like, oh, man, this sucks for Yeah, yeah.

Scott Benner 23:45
So I'll just my bit of advice here is not to let your non type one daughter realize that her living her life without diabetes makes you feel guilty. Okay, yeah, that's, that's fair, yeah, and you don't want her to feel guilty about it either, right, right, and you can't flaunt it in front of the other one. It's a, yeah, your life got more difficult, like six months ago. John, Oh, yeah. Did it feel like it was already difficult enough? Like this maybe wasn't necessary. If anyone was trying to level you up, this wasn't needed. I mean, we were doing well. I thought, you know, I mean, we're not wealthy or well off, but I think we're pretty, pretty solid middle class. I mean, we we have a house and cars, and the kids do extracurricular activities and we take vacations. I mean, yeah, it was definitely, was definitely a blow, I think, to our perfect life, I guess you built the life you were you meant to build, right, right, and it and you're 40, and things had gotten like a little you had a little vibe going, kids are getting older, like stuff was happening and now, so can I ask you, how that, like, how does that impact you, your wife and your relationship?

John 24:57
It's definitely hard. Yeah. Because I think we both struggle with trying to balance her health, with letting her be a kid. We have a trip coming up to Disney in June that we have had booked for more than a year. I'm a planner, so I booked things we had in advance, and we never questioned going. We were like, No, we're not going to change that. But, you know, just looking at that now, we're like, Oh shoot. Like, okay, we're going to have to take a boatload of supplies and we're going to have to really be careful and really plan, and it's just, it just changes, I think, and so it's difficult, because now when we kind of try to plan things, or when we try to, I guess, do our best to manage her, it's it just makes this much more stressful.

Scott Benner 25:55
Yeah, listen, I would offer this. I don't know if it's more difficult. I just think it sucks. Yeah, like, you're gonna do something, something's going in that bag. So whatever, you'll put in extra pumps and extra CGM and, you know, an extra glucagon and that kind of stuff. When Arden was little, I would pack basically, like, double. And then eventually I was, like, that was way too much. You know what I mean? Like, you get home and you unpack, like, okay, and then the next time you take a little less and then you get it down to like a, you know, a happy little medium Arden went away last weekend overnight, and she took more stuff than she needed. She took two CGM with her, she took two pumps with her. She took insulin, she took an extra glucagon, extra test strips, five juice boxes, like some gummy bears. Took Pop Tarts. She's, I'm like, What are Pop Tarts first? She goes overnight. They work really well. And I'm like, okay, okay. And, like, she's like, put a banana in here. And I'm like, Okay, I put a banana. She got this little bag. She takes it all the way with her. Her and her boyfriend go where they're going to this, like, it's like a school event, you know, like, there's like a dinner and all this stuff. And she came back the next day, and I opened the she put the bag on the counter, and I opened it up, and it's exactly the way it was when I signed a lot. She didn't use one thing in that bag. So, and I've learned to just be like, Okay, well, good. Then, you know, that's excellent. She was ready right now, like she had it there. If she needed it, it's all good, right? The first time we flew, I put some stuff. I still think this is a good idea. The bulk of what we take I put in a check bag, right? But I carry on enough stuff that I can't believe this is what I'm gonna say. But like, I carry on enough stuff that if the plane crashes, and we live through it, like on an island, for a couple of days, I'll have time to go find the fuselage and pull out the other bag. Oh my gosh, okay, yeah, is how I thought about it when I was when she was younger. Now, the way I think about it is we only travel to places where we can get to pharmacies, right, right, and then when we don't, and we don't travel that often, but we did recently leave the US, and we took extra stuff then, because, you know, and we and I put a little more of it, I balanced it a little more and carry on. So it's almost like I carried on enough stuff for the week, and I put the extra in the check bag so that if, like, the check bag got lost or something, we could make out for a while, like, but I mean, the the fact that I might have put eight seconds worth of thought into that is 20 years, not 20 years, but like, you know, she's almost 21 and she was diagnosed when she was two. So it's been a long time. The amount of effort I put into it, thinking about it the first time versus this time is very different, you know, like she was away that night that I just discussed over the weekend, my son, I went to a buddy's house, and I looked at my wife like she she was out that afternoon. She's lost a bunch of weight. She was out buying, like, bras and underwear and stuff like that. She doesn't fit into anymore. She needed new stuff. She's like, out shopping. I did some stuff at the house. She came home. I was like, the kids are not here. I was, like, quickly, put on some of those clothes you just bought, and let's go get dinner again. Let's not go to, like, some like, close like, let's go to a decent restaurant and sit down and eat. And, like, we sat out on, like, the sidewalk outside of a place, and we were eating and we talked about things. And, you know, I never thought about Arden one time, like, I never thought about it, I never thought about her, I never thought about the coal live. It's just like, we just had dinner, you know, and we hung out, and we went for a ride afterwards, and, like, you know, if we were younger, we might have liked, you know, but, I mean, we had that kind of time. Yeah. My point is, is that, like, the way you feel now is, like, not the way you're always gonna feel, but, good, yeah, just don't hold yourself here longer than you need to, I guess is my advice, right? But I mean, six months in man like this is all just, this is fresh, you know? Yeah, yep, you and your wife little more on her than you. The Diabetes, daughter's doing pretty well with it. Let's pivot for a second. Because in your notes here, it says that you went on a GLP medication, but you went off it. I'm interested in

John 30:06
why? Oh sure, yeah, yeah. And so part of this is going to sound like me complaining, because every time I see the Dangs at bound commercial, it makes me mad. So I've struggled with weight, you know, for, I mean, I want to say forever. I mean, you know, I look back at I mean, even in high school, I thought I was big, bigger. Yeah, I thought I was big, but I look at pictures now and I'm like, you know, I probably was normal. It probably was just in my head. But now, you know, I am overweight. And so I got on, I got onto bound in August. So almost a year ago, it was working great, and I was losing weight, and I was increasing every four weeks, increasing the dose, no symptoms, no side effects. It was, it was working. How it should? I remember New Year's Eve. So that had been so August to to December, right? So five months? Yeah, I remember be celebrating New Year's Eve. We were there shooting off fireworks in our in my parents backyard, and I remember thinking like, man, like I'm doing it, like, this is gonna be my year 2025. Is gonna be my year. Like I'm gonna finally continue to drop this weight and continue to get in better shape. And then, I guess, because that crossed my mind not a few days later, it was January 3, I woke up and I had pretty bad diarrhea, and I thought I ate something bad, I'll be fine, but it didn't go away for, like, a week, and then also some stomach pain and some discomfort and bloating and gas and just a whole number

Scott Benner 31:35
of issues. Was this wrapped around a, um, a dose change, no,

John 31:40
this was, I was on week three of, I think, 12.5 okay, so I was just about to go up to 15, actually, but I hadn't yet. And so called the doctor. He was like, Yeah. He was like, you know, it's sometimes common. He was like, you know, we may have to take it down to 10, but come in do some blood work. We'll just, we'll just make sure everything's okay. And then, you know. So I go in daily the blood and then the doctor called me a couple days later, and it was like, Hey, your lipase lip I don't know how you pronounce that lipid lippies. Lipase is 600 and it shouldn't be more than 100 or he gave me the range. I don't remember. Okay, he was like, so I would recommend that you stop taking it, and let's watch this. So I did, and I went back, and they did the blood again, and it was so high. Then I waited probably a month, and I did it again, and it had come down, but it was still elevated. And so he was like, I don't think you should take this. He was like, you know, you don't want to risk pancreatitis because you're symptomatic. He was like, if it was just the high level, but no symptoms, I would probably be okay. But he was like, with symptoms, plus the result the blood test, I don't think you should take this anymore.

Scott Benner 33:03
Did they check it prior to you starting the GLP, no, they did not. Awesome. Yeah. Did the diarrhea go away when you stopped it?

John 33:13
Yes. So that's gotten better. I still have, like, some intermittent kind of, I don't even want to call them issues. It's just, like, every now and then I'll have so I don't even know if it's in my head or if I feel it, because it's what, I'm eight or something, but, but yes, it's, it's the symptoms have have gone away. I actually just went in last week for another blood test to see where the lipase is at, so I guess we'll see where it's at now.

Scott Benner 33:35
But, but, yeah, you never had any pancreatitis symptoms, though, no and how much weight were you lose? Did you lose?

John 33:44
I'm fairly tall. I'm six two, and I started at right about 350 and I got down to about 310 Nice. Now I've put back on probably 20 of that since, but, but yeah, I mean, it was it was working. It was working, great.

Scott Benner 34:00
What was it doing for you? Was it the amount you were able to eat your hunger? What were you getting out of it?

John 34:06
Yeah, hunger was less. I was eating less. I noticed that I would feel full longer. So it was definitely situation. A great job there. Yeah.

Scott Benner 34:17
Okay, and are you disappointed enough that you'd try it again. Like, a big Where are you at with like, I mean, 40 pounds must have been a pretty big decrease for you must that must have been, like, noticeable.

John 34:30
Yeah, it was, it was amazing. My a 1c, was down. I was flirting with pre diabetes, and it had gone down. I also have a non alcoholic fatty liver, and so those numbers had gotten better. The liver enzyme tests they run, I go every six months, and those had gotten better. So it was like everything was getting better. So I would try it again. I mean that actually, when I get this blood test back, that was, if I hope it's then the number has gone down, and that was actually going to be my, my. Goal was to say, Well, hey, can we maybe, maybe try this again at a lower dose?

Scott Benner 35:04
Listen, I think it's important to note that I barely got through high school, and nothing I said on this podcast should be blah, blah, blah, blah. You had high lipase levels with no pancreatitis symptoms at all, and you lost 40 pounds, and your biggest problem was that you had diarrhea, yes. How does that compare to your biggest

John 35:25
problems? Now, I would prefer not to, not to get type two diabetes, and

Scott Benner 35:32
I'll tell you, like, I don't know how long I've been doing this now, you know what I mean, the GOP, maybe a couple of years. Even, John, I really appreciate you bringing this up, so I get to say this, thanks. Like there was a fair amount of time there where I didn't have a solid bowel movement while my body was expelling whatever horribleness I had been packing into it for 50 years. What I would do is I would just deal with it, and I kept taking my vitamins and my nutrients and doing my, you know, exercise and I was losing weight, like, I have to tell you, like, I don't think I cared what was happening if I was if I was losing weight. And I'm not saying that that's a thing you should do for certain. I would look closer at this, because it didn't take me a lot of looking to find out that high life pace numbers when you feel perfectly fine is common and it rarely means silent pancreatitis. There's plenty of good content you can go, like look into about acute pancreatitis guidelines with the enzyme levels. It's not, yeah, I mean your reasons why your lipase can climb when your pancreas is fine, glps, inhibitor, steroids, opioids, a bunch of different medications stimulate or slow renal clearance. Diabetic Ketoacidosis can give you enzyme leakage. There's a lot of different things. Gallstones could make it higher. Crohn's disease, infectious colitis, like chronic kidney disease, is a thing we don't want you to have, obviously, yeah, if it's not a renal problem, then also strenuous exercise, trauma, sepsis, like these things all make it higher. Let's ask it can rapid weight loss. I don't know. Like it sounds to me like you just, you know, you hit a spot where you maybe ate some stuff around New Year's Eve that made your stomach a little upset, and that got you to the doctor, because it went on for a week, and then he did your blood work, and now you're suddenly 20 pounds heavier. Yeah. Is that about what happened? Yeah, it's about what happened yourself right to 20 pounds is what you did. Yes, yes. I mean, John, listen, at your height and weight. I don't know. I mean, I can give it to you from my personal experience and from my personal perspective, it's obviously not medical like advice at all, but I know where I was and where I was wasn't going to end well. So I mean to say that, like something else bad's happening, but that that's going away. I don't know how to say this exactly, but like, you're giving yourself a better shot. Yeah, you know what I mean? Like, no type two diabetes, no, all the other stuff that comes with weight. Like your joints probably started feeling better, right? Like, did your back get less stiff? All that stuff started happening for you. Yes, yes, John, what are we talking about here? Just go to the bathroom and just go to the bathroom and be like, Oh, that was horrible. And then get out of there and be thinner. Oh,

John 38:29
I think I might, I think that's yeah. And

Scott Benner 38:32
maybe 10, like, go to 10 for a while, and just maybe ride 10 for a couple months, if you want to. But, I mean, the truth is, is, like, once you're I mean, I'm handling it fine. That's not me. I'm not showing off. I'm not like, unlike you, John. I mean, I've been on it for a couple of years now, and I took my shot, oh, day late this week, and I'm almost two pounds heavier than I was on the sixth day. Yeah, I'm not out there, like, knocking down a ton of food or anything like that. It just works the way it works. Man, yeah, if I stop taking it, would I gain 20 pounds back? I probably would. Like, I mean, I don't know another way around it, like, I eat, I do not eat a lot of food, and to put two pounds back on just because that medication was out of my system. For you know, it's crazy. I don't know what it's doing, but Right, it does something. Man, yeah. Anyway, I not a doctor, not advice, but I bet you, if you weighed 240 pounds, you'd be happier. I agree. Yeah, I agree. And healthier and and I imagine that this is a process. Like, maybe I'm wrong. Like, listen, you don't want to if you get diarrhea for nine years, I'm assuming you'll be like, Well, this was, this wasn't good, you know. But I don't know, did you eat something that, looking back now, was very fatty, or something like that, or something you hadn't been eating for a while prior to that? I don't think so. I mean, I couldn't put my finger on anything. I mean. Obviously the holidays, right? So you're, you're not eating your normal stuff, right? I mean, but I don't know it works on me really well. Like, even at the holidays, I was like, Oh, all right, I'll just have

John 40:09
a piece. Same. I lost weight over Thanksgiving week, Christmas week. Yes, it was, it was absolutely mind boggling, correct?

Scott Benner 40:17
Yeah, no, I know it's something. Well, listen, I mean, I was gonna say, maybe try we go V, but, I mean, there's that extra G, I P, in the in the Z bound that is definitely going to help you with weight loss. I don't know, man, like good luck. I'll say that, does your wife try it for does your wife have any need for it? Anybody else in your family using it?

John 40:37
She is actually on we go V, and she's been on it for a little while, and she has done very well. So her, she has lost a lot of weight. It was funny, your your story about your wife getting the clothes, she's been going through that too. She went through her closet, and she was like, three quarters of stuff doesn't fit me. It's too big. Yeah, yeah. So it's been great. She, she's done really well on it. Hasn't done she's not even at the highest dose. She's She's been at the I think that one is 1.7 I think for wegovi as the second, and she's been on that for months, and it's, it's worked really well, any help with their PCOS. I think if, if I asked her, I'm pretty sure she would say yes. She's still, she still gets pretty bad periods. Yeah. So I don't know if, if that piece has gotten any better, but, but I think overall, just because of the drop of the weight, I mean, I think she feels better overall, I

Scott Benner 41:28
would imagine, yeah, also the fat, like, you know, impacts your your hormone levels too. So, you know, just getting those more in check might be helpful. Man, yeah, I feel for you that something happened, because it's, I mean, listen, I I've talked to, I talked to plenty of people are like, I took it, it was magic. And I've talked to people who are like, I took it and I had to stop. But, I mean, I think it's interesting to talk through the why you had to stop. Like, I think I brought this up the other day, but I was talking to a friend who's like, you know, contacted me and said, like, I'm gonna stop doing this now. And I said, why? You know? He's like, Ah, it's not for me. And I was like, Oh, what's that mean? You know? And I realized after a while, like, I was having a conversation on the phone, and they were in the parking lot of a convenience store having lunch. And I was like, he so I don't feel well on this. I was like, really? So you're slowing your digestion down with a medication and still eating at a convenience store. I'm like, Yeah, that might not feel good. Like you're gonna have to do something here. And just went with, well, I'm just gonna go with, like, reduced calories. And I was like, why don't you try that? Like I couldn't wrap my head around like, I'm like, Yeah, but do that now, right? But so some people, it's not gonna be for some people, and by the way, they're gonna be some people who are gonna have actual medical complications with it, and they certainly shouldn't be using it. You know what? I mean, true, right? I just, I don't know if you're that person or not. And I mean, what was your confidence level with the doctor? Did they really feel like they knew what they were talking about?

John 42:52
Well, I mean, I trusted them, and I saw PCP for probably about 1520, years, but I actually was, was trying to make an appointment with at work. I work for a pretty big company, and so we have, like, an in house clinic, and they offer weight loss consultation. So I was actually going to go see them and see if, you know, they would give me a different opinion. Yeah. So, yeah, that's that's been my my plan. I

Scott Benner 43:14
know this is nowhere near I'm Texas is a big state, but Dr Blevins, who's been on the podcast a couple of times, he's in

John 43:19
Austin, I have heard, I have heard his episodes, yeah, yeah, we're not, we're not too far. We're in San Antonio, so we're right hour from Austin.

Scott Benner 43:27
Yeah, I've only been there once. I flew in, I went right into Austin, I gave a talk, and I left again. Was the way I see the it's always how I see the country, by the way, it's like airport hotel. Hey everybody. And then boom, gone. So, yeah, I'm actually going to stay a couple of oh, I shouldn't say this. Never mind telling you all where I'm going to be. That's the first time I've ever had that thought. I was like, Yeah, I probably shouldn't say that. I don't know, man, I hope you, I hope you figure it out. Because, I mean, not poopy, but type two diabetes, not exactly a great trade off. So that's true. When you think of it like that. I mean, that's how I think about it. I think about, like, diarrhea, not fun, not trying to kill you, right, right? And, and it'll probably, you know, I'm sure it'll, it'll abate at some point, like, I don't know, like, I really wish I understood more because I went through it. Like, don't get me wrong, like I was, like, I was going through it. I don't know why it changed, other than to say that my body's changed significantly. Like, you know, I wish I had a more technical understanding of it, and maybe I should look into it. I would say that the very colloquial way I thought about it was, there's a lot of bad stuff in here, and I'm getting rid of it. I have no idea if she's right or not. So anyway, what made you wanna come on the podcast? That probably something I should ask you an

John 44:47
hour ago. No, I mean, I listen. I love podcasts. Podcasts are like my thing, like you in the car, you know, getting me. So I have a podcast on TVs and TV and shows and movies and and so then when diabetes have. And I was like, Oh, let me see if there's a podcast about diabetes. And sure enough, I found the podcast. And I always liked hearing this. I like hearing the stories people's different stories about how they manage and diagnosis. And so I thought, hey, and I think you had posted, you had some slots open. And so I said, Hey, maybe it's a good chance to get on

Scott Benner 45:19
John. I see here, rapid weight loss plans can indirectly nudge lipase up via gallbladder sludge ketosis or lipid storms. But if you stay symptom free and the value sits under three times. ULN, it's rarely a harbinger of silent pancreatitis, you can slow your weight, cut down, keep the to keep the gallbladder moving, and repeat the lab three times, ULN, and what was your number? It was at 603 times. UL and just means three times the top end of the normal range. Okay, so the top end of the normal range would be 60, so three times would be 180 yours was, say it again, 600 600 that was a lot. I'm not gonna lie. That sounds like a lot more and but you checked it again, but you were off the medication at that point. Yeah,

John 46:10
the last time I had it checked, which was in probably March, it was right around 80,

Scott Benner 46:15
okay, but you're also gaining weight, not losing weight, yes, no. Symptoms of pancreatitis, not that. Yeah, no. All right, John, listen, yeah, I think you know where I'm at.

John 46:31
Yeah, I can't hear you.

Scott Benner 46:34
I'd like to see you alive, and then we'll worry about the rest of this. Well, true, unless it's gonna, like, listen, also, pancreas is horrible, right? It's not like, exactly, you know, there's no risk in there, right? Anyway, I would do some Googling and some checking and really ask some of those questions for yourself and see if you get back answers that, you know what I mean, like, see if you get back answers that make sense to you. Yeah, it makes sense. So you love podcasts. That's it's good for me. I appreciate that. What kind of podcast Do you usually listen to before this? I

John 47:07
have a sports one. You know, local, local sports here in town. I'll do a I have a one about movies, one about TV shows. So, yeah, I have a pretty good rotation going. This is not a shameless plug, but my daughter and I, we actually started, uh, kind of making our own on, uh, we talk about Disney movies. We do, like, a nice, like, a re watch, yeah. So, so we, we have, like, we probably get, like, 20 listens per episode. Awesome. You know, yes, it's our little, our humble, uh, and it's, it's with the type one daughter. So I mean, it's kind of our bonding, our little bonding moments. Yeah, I love

Scott Benner 47:45
that you got little microphones. You sit down and watch together and you click talk. That's awesome. Yeah, it's fun time. No kidding, you don't want to listen to me and Arden watch TV. We just got done severance. Oh, I love severance. Now, if you like severance, you would not have enjoyed watching it with Arden tonight. Every episode, and I'm like, I don't know why I'm watching this. Like nothing happened again.

John 48:09
Yeah, it was the second season. Was a little slow. Holy Hell, John, yeah, it picks up at the end. Though, the last episode was pretty

Scott Benner 48:17
intense, that's what people told me. And then I watched it last night, and it got done like, when someone owes me 20 hours of my life, I actually said Dart. And I was like, Hey, listen, is it possible that Ben Stiller is fucking with me directly? Oh, wow, I did not enjoy it at all. I just want to be clear, don't you can judge me. It's fine. I just like, I've had people tell me, Oh, you didn't understand. I'm like, Nah, I understood it fine. Don't you worry? Yeah?

John 48:47
I mean, it tweets their own. It's not, you know, has different tastes. Yeah, please.

Scott Benner 48:51
You don't have to, like, the same things. But like, what I'm saying is, like, sitting here watching it with me, you would have not enjoyed that at all. Like, like, people are like, Oh, the acting is great. I'm like, Yeah, awesome. It's great acting. I thought people acted really well in it. The acting was good. I understood the story. I don't care. It's like, it got interesting for me for five seconds in the in the finale, yeah, and then they ruined that. Let me just May I walk you through it. John, real quick, yeah, yeah. He was sending videotape messages back and forth to himself. Like, at first, I was like, Oh, this is interesting. Like, you know, these two are gonna have to collaborate on getting, you know, his wife out of the thing, and he's gonna change floors and change people, so they have to both be on board. I was like, I got it. And then 10 minutes later, I'm like, are we still doing this? I got it already. Like, let's go, like, this is just maspidatory at this point. Like, get moving, right? So then the good feeling I had went away very quickly. And then the way it ends, if I could physically have attacked the actors, I would have, like, when it act it ended. I. Like that doesn't make any sense. That literally doesn't make let me tell you how it ended for me, two people realize that they can't live in a volcano, but they could live outside of a volcano, and then they got to the door where they could leave the volcano, and instead of leaving the volcano, they jumped into the volcano. Yes, yes, you go, that was it. There's no truth in this art, is what I thought, which is the thing I yell at my wife a lot while she's watching television.

John 50:29
Yeah, I did have that thought I was like, so they still kind of run around these hallways for the rest of their lives, for

Scott Benner 50:34
eight seconds before someone murders them. Yeah, it's not for the rest of their lives that if they had a chance of getting away then John, I would have been like, Okay, I wouldn't have done that, but I understand there's no they're gonna fall into the lava and die. Do you understand what I'm saying? I'm trying to be obtuse here. There's no happy ever after. It's not John, like, it's not gonna end well, if they would have laid down the hallway and had sex, that would have made more sense to me. Let's just bang until they come to kill us, right? Yeah. Or even if they would had a cupcake, I would have been like, right on one last cupcake together or something. It just and that thing with the marching band that you all were telling me online was awesome. It wasn't that was weird. I agree that was weird. Also, I don't know how many times you've tried to run into a door with a candy machine on the other side of it, but you can't do it for 45 minutes. It's exhausting. Okay? Goddamn sense. John, yeah, you. Ben Stiller, 20 hours, I kept watching it, waiting for something to happen. Nothing happened. Also, there's a lot of obtuse like entertainment that I enjoy, so I'm sure if somebody would hear something else that I liked and been like, yeah, I hated that thing too. So anyway, here's the worst part of it. I didn't hate it, I just didn't like it, yeah? And it felt like I wanted TVs like that. That's like, you're describing my life, friend, yeah, yeah. So you and your daughter, what's the last Disney movie you did? I'll try to calm down. I really hate it.

John 52:06
So we in honor of Star Wars Day. We did Star Wars episode for a new hope. Star Wars being a Disney movie, since they purchased from Lucas Films, yeah,

Scott Benner 52:18
I see, I see the loophole used there, that's awesome. And did she like Star Wars, or was she like, what is this garbage? No,

John 52:25
she does, yeah, she's a Star Wars fan. So as I mentioned, we, we've or we're going to Disney. We went to Disney a couple years ago, and they have that whole Star Wars, uh, Galaxy's edge, yeah, and yeah. So she, she loved it. So I think she's starting, she's, she's 11, right? So she's starting to get to, like, Okay, this is like, I'm too cool for this. But she's still like it. I think maybe it's for me. I don't know. She's still into it as of right now, so we'll see if that wanes as she gets older. Listen, have you heard Arden on the podcast? I've only heard maybe one or two Arden episodes. Every time we do it, she's like, Oh, I hate this.

Scott Benner 53:00
Let's get this over with. And I'm like, you're having a good time. She goes, am I? Like, that sounds like you are, but it is nice to do it together. Like, I agree, by the way, and everybody shouldn't do that. Like, we don't need you all out there with a podcast. Does she care that? I don't want to say nobody's listening to it, but does she care that only 20 people are listening

John 53:19
to it? I don't think so. I don't think Shiva knows. And to be honest with you, 15 of the 20 are probably our family members. So, yeah, you know, but I don't think she cares. I think

Scott Benner 53:29
that's nice though. Like, honestly, none of my family listens to this. Yeah, I actually said to my son the other day, I was like, you know, if I die one day and you listen to the podcast, you might know how I feel about this, but that's funny, but I know you don't, yeah, no, I think that's lovely that you found something to do with her. That's really cool. Yeah, does your other daughter feel left down?

John 53:49
Well, actually, so I should, so she's involved too. She so my older daughter and I, we kind of are like the host, co host. We go through it, and then my younger daughter, she comes in and she has one little segment, so she has her little piece. You let her scream and yell like I just did, yeah, yeah. She has her little piece because she didn't. She was feeling left out. So we had to build in something for her to feel part of the team.

Scott Benner 54:10
Well, you should do one with her and then let your other daughter be the step in one time. Maybe, yeah, maybe John, I'm gonna tell you what, where this leads six months from now, it's the two of them, not you, and the thing's a huge

John 54:20
success. Oh, I bet, yeah, they're gonna force me out somehow.

Scott Benner 54:23
They'll be like, you just do the editing and upload it, buddy. Oh, the worst part, yeah, the worst part, it is terrible, isn't are you actually sitting down and editing it?

John 54:32
We make the episode. They're like, 20 minutes long. So it takes me, you know, an hour. And I don't do it all in one sitting. I do a little bit here and there, but, yeah, I go through and I just take out a lot of the UHS and the ums. And sometimes we'll say something, and then we didn't say it right? So we'll say it again right after the other and so we'll take that

Scott Benner 54:49
out. So dubbing, I don't do that. I just people are like, yeah, no, listen, poor Rob's gotta, like, edit the show. He said to me the other day, he goes, No one listens to this podcast more than me. And. The way you said it. I was like, I don't know if he's complaining or not. I can't tell. Yeah, that's probably true, yeah. But he's like, every once in a while, I'd be like, Yo, you already like, these are getting long again. And I'm like, I'm like, Wait, what are you talking about? He goes, I just did one that was, like, an hour and 45 minutes. And I was like, Oh, wow, yeah, it's funny, because if it was up to me, they'd all be longer. I don't know if anybody wants that, even if there's an appetite for that, but I find that, like, at the hour and a half mark, like, people really chill out in a different way.

John 55:31
Yeah, I think from a listener too. I think that's the kind of the sweet spot. You know, when a podcast is like, hours long, it's just like, it's overkill. But I think that 60 to 90 minutes is, like, perfect. You get some of the banter, you get some of the like, kind of the like, the severance talk, right? You get that kind of stuff. And then you get

Scott Benner 55:48
the main core of the, yeah, yeah. So no, I agree. I really do, like, listen, I grew up on like, one talk radio, so, like, there's no doubt in my mind. Like, I used to get at 6am and like, the radio had, commercials so it wasn't straight through, but I'd put on a radio at my station, at my terrible job at 6am and if Howard Stern went off at 11 o'clock, I was like, Oh, why do you go off so early? You know what I mean? And I and obviously it's not five hours of listening. There's a ton. There was a ton of ads in between it, right? I like hearing people talking in the background. Yeah, I prefer that over I can't I can't believe I'm saying this. Like, I get in the car sometimes I'm like, I gotta listen to some music, and I'll listen for a little bit. And I'm like, I had to listen to somebody talk. I prefer feeling like that. I actually pay for premium YouTube so I can close my phone and the YouTube videos will keep playing. Oh, okay. So I can use them, like video, because I just like people talking in the background. So yeah, it sounds like you like it too.

John 56:48
That's me. The girls make fun of me. Would get in the car because it'll be on something, you know, a podcast or talk radio, and they're like, can we put music on? I'm like, oh, okay, and we change it, yeah,

Scott Benner 56:58
God forsaken. Pink pony club is stuck in my head for three weeks. Oh, yeah, Jesus. I woke up thinking it the other day, and I was like, what is happening? That woman found woman, she's a child, but that person, she found heroin in, like, audio form, because that man, that song sticks to you, yep. Oh, I haven't put one on purpose. I want to be clear that I have never once sat down and thought I'm going to listen to pink pony club right now. But I did get in the car by myself the other day, and I listened to doji by myself for like, 45 minutes, in case you're and right now, John's like, I don't know even know who you're talking about. Then later, Arden got in the car with me, and it was on, and she goes, you listen to the doji by yourself. And I went, maybe so, oh my gosh. So I'm sitting there last night. I get an Instagram like DM from Arden. It's just like a picture of doji at like, the Met Gala. I was like, is she trolling? She's trolling me. She is, yeah. When do your daughters get older and they can treat you poorly? You're gonna lie. I know. I know. Any more kids, are you guys good?

John 58:08
I think we're good. Yeah,

Scott Benner 58:12
it's fine. We're good right here. Yeah, we're good with it too. Any Can I ask a question that you don't have to answer, but any disappointment not having a boy?

John 58:21
No, I don't think so. So, I mean, I think my wife was content with the one. And so I think my pitch to her for the second was, hey, let's try to see if we can get a boy. And we didn't. And so that, yeah, it was, we were good.

Scott Benner 58:34
She blame you for that. Was she like, Good job, buddy.

John 58:38
No, no, she, yeah, we, you know, now looking back, I mean, you know, we can't imagine, you know, our life without either of them, but, but, yeah, that was probably why, you know, we were like, Hey, let's, let's see if we get one, you know, one of each. But, yeah, wasn't in the cards. No,

Scott Benner 58:51
I got one of each. It's not that special. Don't

John 58:53
worry. I actually think, I mean, it's kind of nice having the two girls. I mean, they like similar things. They play well, you know, they're, you know, I feel like it might be, say I had a sister growing up. We were two years apart. So, I mean, I, you know, we were fine, you know, even though, you know, we were into different stuff. But so I think it all works out, but, but I look at them and I think, yeah, hopefully, hopefully they're, they're kind of a grown together, and they'll have somebody for the rest of their life.

Scott Benner 59:19
Your girls are anything like mine, you should stop saving for college right now and just start saving for clothing. So

John 59:26
it's, yeah, we're getting there. Yeah. It's crazy. The 11 year old. So we gave her a choice of throwing, like, a get together for her friends for her birthday, or going shopping. Well, she picked the shopping, and my wife took her, and she was like, we're in trouble. She was like, she likes nice things. She won't let me my wife's like, I'm always like, hey, let's look at the sale rack. And she's like, nope. And it's, yeah, it's, it's crazy. You get

Scott Benner 59:49
back to that school lady and move that paper around a little more. We got stuff to buy. Okay, yeah, it's crazy. Jesus. Now trust me. Arden uh, got such a crazy eye for it. Two that just, I don't know the thing, she just went to the formal, like she needed a dress for it. That's fine, but that's not how it works. Like they ordered three dresses and then tried them all on, and then decided on one and then returned the other two. And I'm like, okay, they're like, we're returning them. But I'm like, I mean, yeah, I guess so. Like, do any of them never get like? It starts making me feel like, does it always get returned? I'm very nervous about this. The whole thing is, it's just nerve wracking. My wife said to me, she goes, she's always in charge of Christmas, and she goes, You're in charge of Christmas here. I think she thinks I don't help her enough. I think if she heard this and it wasn't in my voice, and I said, You're a bit of a control freak and you don't let me help you, that maybe that would resonate with her. But nevertheless, she's hit me this year with, you're in charge of the holidays. And I'm like, fine. And I said, I'll start with Easter. And she's like, fine. It's so like, three days before she comes home with, like, Easter candy and stuff. I was like, Hey. I was like, I thought I was in charge Easter. She goes, you're not doing it. I was like, No. I'm like, I did it already. I have a whole bag of stuff. And I showed her my bag, and she was I didn't know that. I was like, You didn't ask. I was like, Oh, this is what it feels like to be a lady. This is fun. And she's like, Well, you're in charge of Christmas. I was like, oh, yeah, sure, sure. I am. I was like, right. And she goes, Well, what do you to do for him for Christmas? Like, everybody's getting $500 and a nice kiss on the cheek. It's Christmas time. Go get yourself something nice. Leave me alone. And she's like, that's not what Christmas is. I said, Well, you put me in charge of Christmas, and Christmas is going to be money. Like I said, because they're 100 years old these kids, yeah? What am I buying them? Jenga, like, Stop, you know, I mean, she'll but she wasn't, like, what they want nowadays, money, yeah, please, what they want, yeah, money and access. I don't know. I can't get them access. So, ice is such an unfair question because you're so new to this. But like, what are your give me a couple of your long term diabetes related concerns, like, what are the things that are like gnawing at you a little bit that you're worried about?

John 1:02:07
I mean, obviously complications with, you know, the different things that you read about, and we avoided DKA. Luckily, we must have just caught it soon enough, because she was so high that, you know, you hear the stories about getting into DKA at that stage, but, but, yeah, that makes me nervous is long term complications, you know, eyes and limbs and things like that. Knock on wood, she's fairly healthy, so, I mean, like, we don't have to deal with sick times very often, but that scares the crap out of me is when she's sick and we're having a hard time controlling the blood sugar. I think that freaks me out. Yeah, this big stuff. And then there's just days where you just have an off day, and it's just like last night. And we were, we were fighting the low, which, again, better than fighting a high, but, but, we were just shoveling candy and juice, and I think we just didn't calculate dinner, right? But, but, but, yeah. I mean, you know, it's just the the struggle. Yeah, I comment on the on the Facebook group, and I'll usually say, like, Hey, we're six months in. It does not get easier. But like, you learn tips, you learn ways to manage, yeah, that's one of my biggest takeaways. I am 100%

Scott Benner 1:03:14
confident in telling people that diabetes is just diabetes, but you will get better at it, and that makes it feel easier. So having more skills and more experience and not freaking out as much, even the stuff, like, you're very kind to list those things for me when I asked you to. But even the things you're worried about now aren't the things you'll be worried about later. Okay, it all morphs at some point. Like, you know, you're starting where everybody starts, you know, right? Big picture ideas, like, is her life going to be as long as it going to be as healthy? Is she going to have, like, some catastrophic thing happen to her? Like, these are very common, like, early on worries, right?

John 1:03:50
Yeah, I mean, and, you know, I again, I said earlier, I'm a planner, so, like, to me, I'm always trying to, like, plan ahead. And, you know, it's hard because I'm, I'm the type of person like, I think, like, Okay, we're gonna take her to college one day, and I'm going to have to, like, sit down with these roommates and, like, scare the hell out of them and be like, hey. Like, this is, these are some things you need to watch out for. And I imagine her just being like, Dad and rolling her eyes at me, you know, but I think about that stuff too, like bringing home a boyfriend, like, hey, come sit down, son. Let me tell you about type one diabetes. I don't know, and maybe it's just me trying to over prepare. Yeah,

Scott Benner 1:04:30
no, you're, um, you're doing the thing, John. You're worried. Worry is a waste of imagination. You're just imagining what's going to go wrong. Yeah, yeah. And most of that probably won't happen that way, right? You know what I mean, like college? I mean, in seven more years, I don't know, will college be a thing and, you know, or will the AI machine just put the thought in your head so you can go do it? I don't know how it's gonna work. You know, are you gonna have to scare roommates? Like to help like, your daughter will be in a different situation then she won't. You to do that, and she probably won't need you to do it. And you know what I mean, like the boyfriend thing, like Arden seeing a boy right now. Like, it's so funny how I talked to her versus how I thought I would talk to her, because instead of telling her, like, you have to make sure that he blah, blah, blah, I asked her, I'm like, I said, how much of your diabetes are you letting him know about, and that comes from me talking to young women on the podcast. Oh, true. Okay, instead of me telling her what she should be doing, I asked her what she's comfortable doing. Is a nice growth moment for me. John, yeah, and people who think I should have liked severance so, like, maybe you should put some of that growth into that. But no, you're wrong. That severance show is garbage. But nevertheless, I just said to her, I was like, what you know, what's your level of like? I said, I'm not going to mention anything to him. It's up to you, but what have you told him so far? What are you comfortable with him, knowing? What have you told him? And then she just shared with me what she's told him so far. So it's not the way I would have imagined it when she was 11. Sure. Okay, yeah, I just said the same exact thing. You said, like, oh, he needs to understand this. And does he know how to use glucagon? And does he, like, you just realize, like, that's not what they're really gonna do, you know,

John 1:06:11
right? Yeah. And that makes sense. I mean, you know, I mentioned a couple times we took her to her birthday party on Sunday and and we, we told her, we go. Just tell one person that you have this glucagon. They're not going to know what to do with it, but just tell them that it's in your bag. And that way, in case they know it's there, they can alert somebody if they have to, like, just, just tell somebody. And she said, Okay, I will. So we've tried to do little things like that, where we're not going in, and we're not saying, Well, look, here's this and here's how you do it. But we're just telling her, like, make somebody aware in situations early, to try to get her to learn, I

Scott Benner 1:06:46
guess. Yeah, that's best practice. Like, it's what I would tell you to do. I just don't know if it happens or not, right, right? And if it has to, because, like, you know my story with Arden, like, she took her bag with her, and we packed all that stuff in it, and it came back and was never opened, and nothing was out of it. But all it was is it smelled like a rotten banana. So, yeah, having said that, I don't know, like, if something would have gone wrong, I would have been like, Thank God it was all there. And we should have told somebody, and like, you know, the other side of it. So, and I did help her a little bit, like, I knew she was going to be super busy that night, so I actually paid a little closer attention to her blood sugar, in case it was, like, going one way or the other. And, you know, like, I could kind of get to her and send her a text. I did end up texting her once in the evening, and then at 5am she got a little low, and I texted her, and she's like, Oh, I fixed that 10 minutes ago, leave me alone. And I was like, Yeah, awesome, great. This has been a fun, fun conversation. Anyway, you'll be okay, yeah, can I tell you something that I hope you find comforting. I believe you have the whole thing licked already. You just don't even know it. Your interest and your desire to be involved is what you really need, and you have that. Not a lot of men come on. You know what? I mean, you're obviously interested in it. You're making a podcast with your daughters. Hey, you're a good guy. I'd go take care of yourself a little bit and keep being yourself, and I think you're going to be good. Yeah, I

John 1:08:16
appreciate that. Yeah. Like I said, it's been a journey, and we have, it's almost like you just learn new ways, you know? I mean, we now how we live, right? It's just a different way of learning. Yeah, new normal. It's

Scott Benner 1:08:27
normal now, and you'll not what you wanted and it's not what you planned for, but it'll be awesome, you know what? I mean, right? Like, just as awesome as the other thing was going to be, right? You know, at least now you, uh, now you're super focused. It's got your it's got your life's got your attention now you're like, whoo, yes, yes, not in the right way. John, I understand. Man, listen, it's been my experience that I wish it was easier. And there are things that my daughter lives with that I wish she didn't live with. But overall it has not, it hasn't changed the big ideas about being alive, if that makes sense,

John 1:09:02
yeah. And that's comforted me here, because that's, that's, that's all you want. I mean, you know, that's all you want for your kids. I feel like,

Scott Benner 1:09:07
yeah. I mean, a lot of things can go wrong. This is one of the things. You know, there's a lot of ways to think about it. You could have got hit by a car that day, or, you know, fallen into a volcano, go watch that stupid show and then, and when it's so frustrating, when it although, I have to say, the freeze frame at the end, I thought, Oh, that'd make a cool t shirt. Yeah, yeah. Other than that, yeah. I was really, really irritated by the whole thing. The entire thing just soup to nuts. Every minute I watched it, I was like, why am I watching this show? Why won't I just stop watching it? Because everybody was telling me it was good. I was like, All right, I'm missing something.

John 1:09:46
That's my wife with, with the White Lotus. I don't know if you've seen that one. Hold

Scott Benner 1:09:52
up a second. John, yeah, that show fcking sucks, too.

John 1:09:57
Every every time she was like, What is the point of this show? She's like. Why what I

Scott Benner 1:10:01
don't nothing is happening. It would end and I'd go, that was another hour where nothing happened. Oh, my God, so God forsaken. Slow and again, masturbatory, self indulgent, and just like nothing is there's no story and there's nothing happening. It's just, it's just painful waste of my time. Oh my god, that show. Mike White, I liked you on survivor that year, but the rest of this has just been horrible. I

John 1:10:37
think that's just a lot of TV. I think that's just a lot of TV nowadays. I guess because, I mean, a lot of shows are like that. I feel like,

Scott Benner 1:10:43
I mean, even there are bad shows that are better than that. Yeah, let me give you an example of a terrible television show. And I mean, really, really bad. And I love it. It's so bad. Hold on. No, I'm embarrassed, because I think this is going to argue against my argument, but I allow myself one TV show that is just ridiculous and terrible, right? My TV show for the last couple of years that falls in that category is something called the rookie with Nathan Fillion, okay, okay. I heard of it. Okay. It is not good. I want to be clear. Okay, there are times that you're watching it. I'm like, Did they let three nine year olds write this? There are times that people end their scenes and I go, like, I yell into the into the house. I go, like, this acting. It's terrible, but I like it. They're like, I don't know. Like, it's agreeable people on screen. This is not what I'm comparing severance to, I want to be clear. Okay, something's got to happen. We got to build to something like, it's not enough that something. Did you watch White Lotus?

John 1:11:50
We did. We watched, we just, we watched the whole we've watched all three seasons.

Scott Benner 1:11:54
Yeah, listen, so for anybody who hasn't heard watch season three, that's planning on it, I'd stop this right now, if I was you, okay, there's a difference between a story arc and watching a kid jerk off his brother during a threesome. Okay? Like one thing is, like, shocking. I didn't learn anything about these people. Do you understand? Like, there's no depth to them. The story did not explain anything. It did not bring me to another place on the planet. It didn't give me a new understanding of people. It just bored me into oblivion. And then all of a sudden, I saw that happen, and I went, I'm like, and people are like, Oh my God, it was so shocking. I'm like, Yeah, you mean a because it's ridiculous, and B, because that wouldn't happen, and C, because it comes out of nowhere, because there's no story arc whatsoever, right? Yeah, the father with the constant like, you know, I want to kill myself. I want to kill myself. I want to kill myself. And then, like a bad TV show, they leave the fruit in the mixer cup. And I'm like, Oh my God. I'm like, who wrote this? A nine year old, yeah, and the guy with the gun and the thing, and it was all fcking stupid. Did you enjoy, John? What did you think of light, Louis,

John 1:13:14
it was not the best television, I don't think that we've seen. So,

Scott Benner 1:13:18
yeah, it's not the best you, god damn right. It wasn't because nothing happened, nothing, even the thing with the like, let me ask you a question. I almost describe somebody by their I'm not good at describing people. But was the woman who son showed up on the island late? Was the guy with the money? Like, you know they mean, like, was he trying to, like, scare her. Was he going to kill her like you don't know, like you don't know any of it, right? And does it make any sense that he gave her all that money if he was going to kill people, why wouldn't he just throw in the water? Right? Right, right? There's no truth in that art. Do you see what I'm saying? Everyone should look at the phrase, there's no truth in this art. It doesn't have to be real. It just has to make sense. Make sense, right? Yeah. And there's no way at the end of severance you'd go back in,

John 1:14:09
yeah. Would you come back to severance? Yeah?

Scott Benner 1:14:11
Why would you go back? John? Explain to me why they would go back in. Go ahead. You like the show. Tell me right now,

John 1:14:16
thinking of it that way, there is no reason to go back in. I hear you.

Scott Benner 1:14:20
Thank you, John, yes. And everything doesn't have to make sense all the time. Listen, I know what. There's a moment in Pulp Fiction where Bruce Willis has a ball gag on, and none of it makes a lot of sense, but it was fun. And you know what? Severance isn't fun. It's not fun. They made sex un fun. They made time traveling un fun. They made everything un fun. Remember the sister's husband, the

John 1:14:45
author, I think he was just there. I don't even know why he was there. Exactly, John, he was there to be funny, I guess. Or I don't know why was

Scott Benner 1:14:53
that working for you? No, he wasn't that funny. Every second he was on screen made me murderous. Mm. Yeah, okay. It was relieved when he left. And then the sister was there, and she was torturous. They made Sandra Bernhardt, not funny, okay. Do you even know she was in it? You're not old. You're not old enough to know who she is, right? She's the nurse that drug around the wife to the different rooms. Oh, okay, okay, okay, right. That woman used to be a comedian. She's had sex with Madonna, okay, but what I think, or they were friends, I don't want to besperge them. I'm not sure. I don't remember the 80s as clearly as I should. But what I'm going to tell you is, is that, God, awful, just terrible, nothing. What were the goats for? Oh, the goats. That was, yeah, again, who knows? And the goat people, I don't even know what they were there, what they Yeah, yeah, right, John, you watched a lot of stuff you don't understand. Yes. And it's not because it's like, mystical, it's because it didn't make any sense, right? I know Ben Stiller lived through cancer and all, but I don't know how much rope I can give him here on this. You know what I mean? Like, I'm happy for him. And all by the way, did he divorce the girl from The Brady Bunch movie? And then they got back together?

John 1:16:05
I think so, yeah, I think they're back together. I think they're making, I think they're making another dodgeball movie. I thought, well,

Scott Benner 1:16:11
that, hey, good. That was a good movie. It was terrible, but it was fun, and it had a story arc. It wasn't a good story arc, but it was a story arc, and I could follow it, and it made sense. They threw wrenches at people. It was a good time. Yeah. What was that other movie you made that was great that nobody could ever make anymore. We're my god. Robert Downey is in black face. Oh, Tropic, Tropic Thunder. Fun movie, yeah, I don't think that one plays anymore, but fun movie. Yeah, he needs to get back to it. You know what? I mean, yeah, I'm very upset, John. Tell me something you do enjoy watching. That was a weekend gage your we

John 1:16:51
really liked

Scott Benner 1:16:52
the pit on HBO. The pit was awesome. Yeah? That was refreshing. Absolutely, a thrill ride of adrenaline. Yeah, yeah, it played out honestly, yeah, yeah, yeah. Little good, little bad, little high, little low, very human. All made sense. A fcking goat didn't wander through it for no reason. When people were shooting, they didn't go to where the people were shooting, they left where the people were shooting. That all makes sense, doesn't it, right? Yeah, he was on the other side of the door. He's been looking for this lady for years. He saved her. She was attractive. She wanted him to come. The other woman was saying, I'm a bad person. We have no life together. And he went, Yeah, I'll go with you for the nine more seconds that we'll get to be alive together. God damn it, John, it didn't make any good sense. Oh, my God. And you're all out there. I see you in the group telling me it's a good show. It's not, don't stop listening to the podcast just because I don't like severance, by the way, no, of course not. I'm talking to everybody. John, that's you. I got a thing. I got more than 20 people listening. I got to keep everything going. You know

John 1:18:02
what? I mean, yeah, you've got me already, so you can't lose me. Thank you, John.

Scott Benner 1:18:05
Appreciate it very much. Is it too late to pivot back to something serious? No, of course, of course. One thing I skipped over, I know your last name. How much of your weight is cultural? Do you think I

John 1:18:17
know? You know and I'm Hispanic, and Hispanic culture, I mean, we do tend to be heavier, but, I mean, my parents are both, I would say average. My dad actually is in pretty good shape. My grandparents were. We're all not like arbidly obese. So I don't know, not, not a lot. I don't think, I mean, who knows what's past them, but, but, you know,

Scott Benner 1:18:38
Let me stretch the question out then, like, is your situation lifestyle, or do you think it's wiring, or do you think it's both? Or what do you like you listen to me talk about like, how I ate before, but it wasn't terrible. It wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible. It certainly didn't warrant that much extra weight on me, the medication. What do you think? Where do you think you fit into that cat, into that puzzle.

John 1:19:01
I think it's both. I you know, now, I think everybody goes through this when they're young, like, you know, when I was 20. I mean, you know, yeah, of course. You know, pizza, Taco Bell, you know, take out. I mean, that was the norm. But back then, I mean, you could do whatever you want, and it wouldn't do anything to you. But maybe since we've had the kids, or since I've been married, we've been married for 15 years. I mean, we'll splurge and we'll have moments where we go out and, you know, have something that maybe we shouldn't or I would say, for the most part, we eat pretty healthy, and we try to do just stay as low as carb as possible. Obviously, not. We're not keto or low carb, but we try to, you know, do it as much as we can. So I think it's a little bit of both. I do like to eat like I like to snack. Now, we don't have the, you know, much snacks in the house, you know. So, I mean, the stuff I get is not, I wouldn't classify it as junk food, you know, I am a snacker. But no, I mean, other than that. I mean, I take, I was telling my wife the other day, we were in the car, and I was driving to her, and I was like, you know, I have eggs. For breakfast, I have a salad for lunch. For dinner, we make something, you know, sensible, a meat, you know, a protein, a vegetable and maybe a starch. I was like, we're not getting McDonald's every day. You know, it's, yeah, it's, that's part of what makes it frustrating

Scott Benner 1:20:14
as well. Well, I think that Jenny and I are recording a nutrition series right now. It's not out yet, but we're recording it. I mean, there is a lot of bad processed foods. There's a lot of sugar and stuff that you don't realize, like, that kind of stuff, but I hear what you're saying, like, of what's available to you. You're not running into the like, the fast food direction, like that kind of thing and it and you are trying, and nothing happens. And then you use that medication for six months and lost 40 pounds, right? That's a significant amount of your body weight. Yes, you know, like, so I think there's something else at play first, you know, listen, I don't again. I'm not a not a doctor. Barely got through high school, like, but like, I can tell you that I started on, we go V, and four days later, I'd lost 10 pounds. Does that make any sense to anybody? No, not at all. But it didn't make any sense to me. And I was like, this is weird. And I told the doctor, doctors like that shouldn't even be working yet. I'm like, I don't know what to tell you. I injected it and I woke up four days later, like, more than temp, like around 10 pounds. I don't remember. It's two years ago now. I lost a lot of freaking weight. It also doesn't make sense that if I missed the medication for, you know, a 24 hour gap that I put two pounds back on, unless it's doing something for me that my body should be doing, that it's not doing, right? You know what I mean, like, so, I don't know, man, like, listen, I think take that planning part of you and plan on how to get to the bathroom while you have diarrhea. Okay? Because, yeah, I think I might have to just do that, yeah, because 100 pounds from now, right? You're gonna be like, okay, like, Listen, if your pancreas explodes, then obviously, no, but 100 pounds from now, I think you're gonna look back and go, it was worth it, right? That's how I felt like we went away on a little break to take Arden from one school to another, and it was in the middle of me not feeling well, like while I was doing this, and there were adjustments. Like, we went out to a lunch one day, and I got done lunch, and I looked at Kelly, and I said, I know you guys are going to go walk around. I'm going immediately back to the hotel, because, like, something horrible is about to happen. And I felt fine, but I just knew it was coming. And so, like, I just planned around it for a while, and eventually it stopped. So I can give you some ideas about how to help it stop if it keeps going. But, you know, reach out to me if you if you get back in that position again. Absolutely, John, you were awesome. I appreciate you listening to me talk of badly about a TV show that you enjoyed. I'm sorry about that. The Rookie is garbage. I know that. I'm not saying otherwise, but there is something lovable about Nathan Fillion. And if you don't see it, I don't know what your problem is. Okay, it's Canadian. Just check it out. He's darling. Oh, John, listen, it's terrible. It's over acted. It's over baked. It's big for no reason. In places it doesn't make sense, you know, they wrap the whole thing up in six minutes. You know, it's like, there's a serial killer. 75 people are dying on a spaceship, and then, like, five minutes. So you're like, we fixed it. It's over because it's not good, as I'm watching it, it's not good. It ends. My wife hates it, but we watch it together. This is how she makes fun of me for the stuff I make fun of her for, and it ends, and she'll go, that wasn't a particularly good episode. And I went, No, and that's really saying something, because the best episodes, at best are the A team. You know what? I mean. You're too young for the 18 Hold on one second.

For me, the podcast episode that you just enjoyed was sponsored by ever since CGM. They make the ever since 365 that thing lasts a whole year. One insertion every year. Come on. You probably feel like I'm messing with you, but I'm not. Ever since cgm.com/juicebox

a huge thanks to my longest sponsor, Omnipod. Check out the Omnipod five now with my link, omnipod.com/juicebox you may be eligible for a free starter kit, a free Omnipod five starter kit at my link, go check it out. Omnipod.com/juicebox Terms and Conditions apply. Full terms and conditions can be found at omnipod.com/juicebox you Juicebox, touched by type one sponsored this episode of The Juicebox Podcast. Check them out at touched by type one.org on Instagram and Facebook. Give them a follow. Go check out what they're doing. They are helping people with type one diabetes in ways you just can't imagine. You. Great. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of The Juicebox Podcast. If you're not already subscribed or following the podcast in your favorite audio app, like Spotify or Apple podcasts, please do that now. Seriously, just to hit follow or subscribe will really help the show. 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, and if you leave a five star review, ooh, I'll probably send you a Christmas card. Would you like a Christmas card? The episode you just heard was professionally edited by wrong way, recording, wrong way, recording.com, you.

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#1574 Best of Juicebox: Small Sips Blanket of Insulin

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A longer-acting insulin strategy helps manage high-fat and high-protein meals more effectively.

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COMING SOON

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#1573 How You Do

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Nurse Marissa navigates pneumonia, double T1D diagnoses, and family resilience while advocating smarter, empathic care.

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Scott Benner 0:00
Hello friends, and welcome back to another episode of The Juicebox Podcast.

Marissa 0:15
I'm Marissa. I have two boys with type one diabetes. I'm also a nurse practitioner, and I still work as a registered nurse. If

Scott Benner 0:25
this is your first time listening to the Juicebox Podcast and you'd like to hear more, download Apple podcast or Spotify, really, any audio app at all, look for the Juicebox Podcast and follow or subscribe. We put out new content every day that you'll enjoy. Want to learn more about your diabetes management. Go to Juicebox podcast.com up in the menu and look for bold Beginnings The Diabetes Pro Tip series and much more. This podcast is full of collections and series of information that will help you to live better with insulin. Please don't forget that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before making any changes to your healthcare plan or becoming bold with insulin. This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by the Dexcom g7 the same CGM that my daughter wears. Check it out now at dexcom.com/juicebox, this episode is sponsored by the tandem Moby system, which is powered by tandems, newest algorithm control iq plus technology. Tandem Moby has a predictive algorithm that helps prevent highs and lows, and is now available for ages two and up. Learn more and get started today at tandem diabetes.com/juicebox

Marissa 1:47
I'm Marissa. I have two boys with type one diabetes. I'm also a nurse practitioner, and I still work as a registered nurse. You

Scott Benner 1:55
have two boys with type one How many kids do you have in total? I have

Marissa 1:59
three. How old are they? Like, where do they slot? So my oldest is now 17. He's the boy Eli Liam is 11. He's my middle boy, and then my daughter is nine.

Scott Benner 2:15
Okay, and how old were the boys when they were diagnosed? Well,

Marissa 2:19
Liam was diagnosed when he was four, so that was about seven years well, it was a little over seven years ago. He was four years old, and 13 months later, his older brother was diagnosed.

Scott Benner 2:29
Oh, no kidding, yeah. Oh, so different ages, but same time

Marissa 2:33
frame. Yeah, it was crazy. I couldn't even believe the second one

Scott Benner 2:36
you give the first one you believed. Okay,

Marissa 2:40
yeah, that's actually, I'm really grateful for that diagnosis. Tell me, to be honest, tell me about that. So I think that's what makes my story a little different. Because, I mean, even as a registered nurse, completely out of left field, so all the parents that feel bad that they didn't recognize their kid had type one diabetes. Like, don't feel bad. Like I had, you know, a long medical career, and I had no clue. Like, it was never, ever on my radar. Okay, but, um, so Liam was four. He had just started daycare slash preschool, and he'd gotten the flu, and the flu turned into pneumonia. You know how when kids have have fever, and then it goes away, they're like, up playing and stuff. So he did that for a few days. Well then he's kind of stopped, and he was just laying around. And so I started having, like, a really bad feeling. I noticed during the night he was kept kind of moaning in pain. And I was like, Okay, this is weird. He was sleeping on my right thankfully. I'm really glad that he was sleeping with me so I could kind of be aware of this. So I thought, Okay, I'm calling into work, right? So I called in, I got an appointment at the largest pediatricians office at eight in the morning, which is unusual, to get a sick appointment so early. So I know everything lined out perfectly, and I didn't really, I was just really nervous, but I didn't want to let on to my husband how nervous I was, so I didn't really let myself think of, you know, what's wrong? I thought, is it an appendix? Is it this or that? Didn't know. So when I got into the waiting room, I counted his respirations, and he was breathing like 60 times a minute. And I was like, this is this is weird, right? So even the doctor, she's like, um, you need to go straight to go straight to the Children's Hospital, which is right down the road. So I did, got him in there, and literally, from the door, the doctor looked at us, and she's like, Oh, he has pneumonia. I mean, she was like, dead on. She's like, all these kids have been getting pneumonia lately. Well, so my baby had pneumonia, pneumococcal pneumonia, which is not a good one. And he had been, you know, immunized everything. But anyway, he had pneumonia. We spent 17 days in the hospital. Holy, hell, really, yes, wow. Like, like, it was so scary, because he about the time I got him there, and, you know, they got him started on antibiotics and everything. They never did steroids, keep. That in mind, but they started him on antibiotics. He literally, the poor baby, could only lay there and breathe like, that's all he could do. He couldn't watch TV, couldn't play on the iPad, nothing. So to watch, like a really active four year old go to just lay in there, yeah? And all he really can do is breathe like, half dead, yeah, yeah. Like they had him on, you know, they increased the oxygen to where he was on, high flow oxygen in the in the nose, so it's a nasal cannula, high flow. And at one point, the reason his stomach was hurting, she said, was because kids, when they have pneumonia, the pain can radiate into their like abdomen. Also, he had a little bit of a decent fluid that they had to, you know, that he had developed because of the pneumonia. So at one point he did go to the ICU, which that was a little scary, because I'm an ICU nurse, not with kids, adults only, so frightening when your kid has to go to ICU and they, they actually took him down, they put in a PICC line, you know, the IV in the arm with the three ports, because they knew he was gonna have to have IV antibiotics for a long time, yeah, at least, like two weeks. And so they put that in, and then they drain the fluid from his lung. Oh my gosh. And so he was able to breathe a lot better. That was the only time I cried because he he he actually, he had a breathing tube, and I never seen my baby, you know, with on the breathing machine. Yeah, four years old too. It was so scary. So luckily, they were able to get the breathing tube out, and he was fine. As far as that goes. A little side note, because it's a little funny, he was so swollen, like he had so much fluid on him from just the IV fluids and not moving around and everything. Okay, he would probably kill me for saying this, but his testicles were huge.

Scott Benner 6:49
He's not gonna be thrilled you said that. No, no, but he was so pitiful, because he would tell people, my penis is huge, like he would be so pitiful, but he didn't call it testicles, and he was just telling all the nurses, was just telling all the nurses, my penis is huge. Saddest thing. How old is he? Now he's 11. He's got to see it as funny. Now I know, like, that's a really scary story about, I like, how you said, like, not the good pneumonia. You didn't I mean, and, yeah, not the good one. But no, I just love the little four year old boy. Like, hey, my penis is huge. And they were probably like, right on, buddy,

Marissa 7:25
like, cracking everybody up, but it was so pitiful at the same time

Scott Benner 7:29
I understand, yeah, no, that's crazy. Oh, I have a story here. It's not about me, so I can't tell it. If it was about me, I don't know if I would tell it.

Marissa 7:40
You could pretend it's about you. I guess I just want my youngest

Scott Benner 7:43
brother Rob to respect it. I'm not about to tell his story right here. That's all, bless it. Anyway, anyway. So the one thing I'm confused about is, while they're looking at him for the pneumonia, is he also in, like, on his way to diabetes, or, like, how does that overlap?

Marissa 7:59
Well, that's what's so weird, you know? Because, like I said, we're in the hospital forever. One of the nurses told me one morning, when he was getting better, he was doing a lot better on less oxygen. He was feeling so much better, not as much fluid on board. He was starting to, you know, eat all that stuff. Well, she says we've noticed his blood sugar's been going up on his lab work every day, his blood sugar is going up a little bit. And I was like, Oh, really. I said, Do you think he could have type one diabetes? And she said, maybe. She said, we're gonna check some antibodies. And I was like, Okay, what? Didn't tell my husband. Okay, I love my husband dearly. We've been together, like, 22 years or something, but I know I'm not gonna give him a potential thing to worry about. I'm gonna wait till it's a real thing, right? So I didn't tell him. So I went home to take a shower, because I was staying at the hospital, obviously, right? Yeah. So I went home to take a shower, get some stuff together in the afternoon, when they had drawn that the auto antibodies and everything, in the morning, his brother and sister in law were there with him. Thank goodness. I'm grateful for that. And so I'm I'm home, and I'm just getting everything ready to come back, and he calls me. He's sobbing, sobbing, like he can barely speak. I'm like, Oh, my God. Is my what happened? Is my baby dead? Like, did he? Did he have to? Did he stop breathing? You did he go into his heart? Stop? You know what's happening, right? And he's like, they say he's got type one diabetes. And I was like, Oh my God, oh, thank God, thank God. Like, I was just like, so grateful. Like, oh my God, thank God. That's, that's, that's what they that everything's okay. He's breathing, yeah, yeah, he's okay. I was like, Oh my God, you like, scared me to death.

Scott Benner 9:39
What other things do you not tell him about? Is there a list? Yeah, there's

Marissa 9:43
things you know. I don't I don't want him to worry about something. I'll just wait until he really has to worry. Or if he doesn't have to worry, then he doesn't have to even know, right? Tell

Scott Benner 9:52
me about why. I mean, listen, diabetes is enough reason to be upset. But like, Is there stuff in your husband's family that. Would make him more upset about this?

Marissa 10:01
No, I think for him, it came out of left field. He didn't know anything about type one diabetes or even type two. We don't have, you know, really, any diabetes in our family at all. He didn't get, like, a nice preamble, hi, Mr. So and So, listen. I want to talk to you about some test results. It was more like he said this doctor that was not even, we don't even think she was on our case, like we don't even know her. We know I know who he's talking about, but she wasn't one of our doctors that I knew of. She walked in and she's like, well, he has type one diabetes. Do

Scott Benner 10:35
you think that doctor, does he have any hindsight? Did that doctor think they were telling him that for the first time. Do you know? Or

Marissa 10:43
I have no idea, I don't know. Yeah, geez. Well, I have no idea, but it like literally scared him to death. But then he scared me to death, yeah,

Scott Benner 10:50
sure. The way his reaction made you really feel like something dire had happened, which it had, but, yeah, not the thing your brain went to,

Marissa 10:57
yeah. I was like, Oh my God. Like, I mean, I just went cold all over, you know, how you do, yeah, when is it? And I was like, Oh, my God, you'll tell me, is he okay? Is he okay? And he's like, yeah, he's okay. And he's just, you know, watching his iPad. By then, I was like, Oh,

Scott Benner 11:09
do you remember two weeks ago when he all he could do was breathe? This is

Marissa 11:14
big improvement, big improvement. So I talked, we had two neighbors, like, practically in our backyard, both type one live, kind of next door to each other. And I was like, oh, you know, this guy has type one, and this guy's that one. They're fine. They do well, they manage. He's like, Oh, okay, okay.

Scott Benner 11:30
Well, so you have two people local to you, to your home, and both your kids, if you have any concerns that there's something going on in the atmosphere, the ground, water or anything like that. Like, have you ever thought about that?

Marissa 11:43
I haven't really thought about that. One of our neighbors, he was in his 70s, diagnosed as a child, and he passed from something completely not related to diabetes. But he wasn't, I don't think from our town. And then the other guy, I don't think he was from our town either. I think he was so but, yeah, that's a good question, right? Like, four in the, like, walking distance, that's kind of,

Scott Benner 12:04
I just put up an episode recently with a girl who's like, you know, she's like, there were so many people sick in, like, the cul de sac I lived in, and later they found that there's a place nearby them where, like, it was kind of like a dump that had to be clean and, you know, so now she wonders about

Marissa 12:21
that, you know? I mean, it does make you wonder. Yeah, a lot of things make me wonder. Yeah, definitely

Scott Benner 12:28
not. I don't know if I'm gonna get answers to most of them, but, oh, so, okay, so you're now, he's been in the hospital for how long at this point, a couple of weeks. This episode is sponsored by tandem Diabetes Care, and today I'm going to tell you about tandems, newest pump and algorithm, the tandem mobi system with control iq plus technology features auto Bolus which can cover missed meal boluses and help prevent hyperglycemia. It has a dedicated sleep activity setting and is controlled from your personal iPhone. Tandem will help you to check your benefits today through my link, tandem diabetes.com/juicebox this is going to help you to get started with tandem, smallest pump yet that's powered by its best algorithm ever control IQ. Plus technology helps to keep blood sugars in range by predicting glucose levels 30 minutes ahead, and it adjusts insulin accordingly. You can wear the tandem Moby in a number of ways. Wear it on body with a patch like adhesive sleeve that is sold separately. Clip it discreetly to your clothing or slip it into your pocket head. Now to my link, tandem diabetes.com/juicebox, to check out your benefits and get started today, you can manage diabetes confidently with the powerfully simple Dexcom g7 dexcom.com/juicebox the Dexcom g7 is the CGM that my daughter is wearing. The g7 is a simple CGM system that delivers real time glucose numbers to your smartphone or smart watch. The g7 is made for all types of diabetes, type one and type two, but also people experiencing gestational diabetes. The Dexcom g7 can help you spend more time in range, which is proven to lower a 1c The more time you spend in range, the better and healthier you feel. And with the Dexcom clarity app. You can track your glucose trends, and the app will also provide you with a projected a 1c in as little as two weeks. If you're looking for clarity around your diabetes, you're looking for Dexcom. Dexcom.com/juicebox when you use my link, you're supporting the podcast, dexcom.com/juicebox head over there now.

Marissa 14:43
Yeah, it was towards the end of his day. Okay, so I think we ended up staying for maybe three or four more days. You know, had to do the at that hospital. They do, like, hours long. Training is a really good thing. And they. They said, even you know, anybody in in our state, I am in Central Arkansas, anybody in our state, they go to that hospital, to the Children's Hospital for education for at least overnight. Yeah. So, yeah, we had to learn all that. You know, as a nurse, I've done like 1000 bazillion finger sticks, been doing on your kids a little different. But I wanted to go ahead and do that and give him shots, you know. And so my husband did too. He didn't have any problems with that. So we immediately started the care. He pulled himself the other did he? He did. He did. Once he found out it was okay that that type one is, is manageable, and our kids gonna, you know, do great. He was, he was all

Speaker 1 15:39
good. He just didn't understand what it was. Even he didn't,

Marissa 15:43
and I didn't warn him. I didn't say maybe I should have, but, I mean, what are the odds that I'm going to be gone two hours and they're going to come in there and break this life changing news? I

Scott Benner 15:52
was just trying to get a shower here. Well, and by the way, I should have guessed out loud Arkansas, because I had a feeling, and you have so there's so many interesting turns of phrases like, oh, you know how you do that? One's, is it the bless your heart? Well, no, I love the you know how you do that? One's my best. I don't even think you understand that. That's something you say, Oh, I'm gonna have to pay attention. It's at the end of a, like, a declarative statement. You're like, I went and got coffee. You know how you do it's almost not like talking. It's it's almost like a noise at the end. I think it's awesome. Oh,

Marissa 16:26
thank you. I was worried. I'm worried about listening to this later and hearing my the accent that I don't hear in my own ears when I speak. You know, you think

Scott Benner 16:34
everybody's just picturing you chasing a wild boar around at a football game or something? Yeah, sure, definitely. I'm sure they don't I listen. When they listen to me, they probably think, what dumb mafia like, what do they even think? You know what

Marissa 16:47
I mean. No, you have a great voice. I've actually met you. You and I have met I'm one of the millions of people that you've met. Where, where did we meet? We met at the 2023 type one touched by type one conference in Orlando. Oh, no kidding. Awesome. Yeah, and I have to give a shout out, because I met my guy, bestie Peggy. Hello, Peggy. She also recorded with you recently about digestive enzymes, but I met her there. Yeah, she was from Minnesota, and I came from Arkansas, so

Scott Benner 17:14
that's lovely. And you guys just came, just to see the touch by type one event,

Marissa 17:18
yeah, and I literally, you know, I'm on the lookout, you know, my eyes are looking around for Dexcom, right? And I saw one on this little boy, which was her little boy. And I was like, she and I are osmet, and we're like, Oh, you got one too, you got one too, you know, so

Scott Benner 17:32
and, yeah, it's lovely. I it would have been nice if you said you came to see me, but, I mean, it's fine if you just, oh, wait, wait, you did come to see oh, you flew all the way from Arkansas.

Marissa 17:40
We drove, actually, we drive a lot of places. My husband likes to drive.

Scott Benner 17:44
Tell the people how lovely it was to meet me. I'm just

Marissa 17:49
it was lovely. It was lovely. And I sat in there when you did the kids thing. And I had both my middle son, and then my daughter, she was in there too, even though she's not diabetic, but she was in there. I'll

Scott Benner 18:00
tell you like, I hope it went well for you in 2023 but the one I did last year was awesome. Yeah, the kids just, it was a great group. I was actually just talking to somebody yesterday about going back. I'm definitely going back this year

Marissa 18:11
2025 Yeah, I'd like to go back again. I drug my, um, my teenager, you know, because he, he was, I guess, 15 at the time, which, I mean, if you know anything about teenage boys. He's quote, unquote, listening to you, but he's also got his feet propped up and his head back and his arms crossed. You know, teenagers sweet. You know that's what

Scott Benner 18:29
they are. My son's in his mid 20s, and sometimes I can bleed an entire sentence to him, and he looks at me and goes, what? And I'm like, Okay, right, right. My wife would say I do the same thing, but nevertheless, so Okay, so you get that diagnosis that you go through the training, but I wonder how you found the training to be, because, I mean, you're an RN, right? You've worked with seriously ill people before, like, right? Did you feel like it was a complete, like, complete, had you not known anything about diabetes, would you have walked out of there thinking, I can do this? Or, like, what do you think of that initial setup they have? I

Marissa 19:04
think they do have a really good education. And there's dietitians, and, you know, the other educators there that do have type one, and that's really cool. And then the nurse that took care of my son on in the diabetic floor, he she was type one. So I think with all of that, that helps kind of put your mind at ease. Oh, this, you know, here's this, this, this nurse. She's going to work 12 hours, she's got type one. Well, okay, she's doing great, right?

Scott Benner 19:33
Makes you feel better that she can do a whole shift like that. Yeah, yeah. It really does awesome. So when you left, did your well? I mean, I guess I should ask, not just assume, like, did being an RN help you, or did it hurt?

Marissa 19:48
I think it helped a lot, because, you know, I wasn't scared of shots or needles or sticking his finger. I wasn't scared of, you know, making decisions. What I was scared of was not knowing his blood sugar. Every second, because we didn't leave with the Dexcom. I remember calling the nurse in one night because he was really, really sweaty, and I was like, Do you think he's low? You know, I was wondering how I was going to manage that at home. Yeah, it's

Scott Benner 20:12
an interesting moment, isn't it, when the first time that you realize, like, the implications of the whole thing, the highs and the lows, and then somebody checks with a meter, and then it's over. And if your next thought isn't, well, what is it now and then? And five minutes later, like, Well, I wonder what it is now like, is it up or down? Is it moving? Is it steady? Like, that's, it's, listen, I did it for a long time without a CGM, and I think it might, it might have added years to taken years off my life, you know. So I

Marissa 20:39
believe you I really do, you know. And they told us, when you go home, you know, wake up at 2am right? And check, check blood sugar at 2am so I'm checking right before bed, and then I'm waking up at 2am to check. And I was exhausted. I mean, obviously, right, yeah, because then I have to turn around and get ready and go to work.

Scott Benner 20:58
Listen, I was a stay at home, dad Benard, and was diagnosed. And even as she's older, like my job, you know, is out of my house. And I don't think I spend nearly enough time telling all you what an amazing assistance that is to me, not to have to actually get into a car and drive somewhere to prescribe time. It helps a lot with all this, actually. So, you know, the opposite is, you know, you can't be when you hear people say, like, I'm doing the best I can, or, you know, like, how come you didn't get that blood sugar down for three hours? Like, I literally had to be asleep or I wouldn't have been able to wake up in the morning, go to work, do the thing, pay for the stuff. Like, right? Yeah. It's, it's just all encompass, yeah. So how long were you managing a four year old with type one before your next kid gets diabetes

Marissa 21:44
13 months Wow. So, so about 13 months later, I came home from work and my kid had been at school. He was in the fifth grade. He said, Mom, my teacher's getting mad at me every day. And I was like, why? And he said, well, because I get to school and I have to go to the bathroom every morning. And I was like, oh, oh, that's not good. I should probably check his blood sugar. Now, that's that's not possible, right? So I put it off a few days, and I got home from God bless him. I'm so glad he was persistent, because a few days later I got home from work. Unfortunately, it was the day before my husband's birthday. But anyways, got home from work and he's, he says, Mom, I had to pee three times when I was playing my video game while ago, he said, and my throat is just feels that really weird, dry. And we had actually gone on a trip about a month before that, and we were in the car, we couldn't stop at the bathroom soon enough, like he had to use a bottle to pee. I mean, so, I mean, duh. Should have figured that out, right? But I didn't. So I said, Okay, well, let's check your blood sugar, and it read in the four hundreds. And I was like, That can't be right. Let's do another hand. That's

Scott Benner 22:53
right. I'm gonna put us all in the garage and start the car. How old is he right then? And there he was, 1111, okay, so you're like, obviously, you're gonna get blood out of a different finger. It's gonna go better. So you did that and

Marissa 23:06
what happened? Same, same result. No kidding, this glucometer is not working. So my husband stuck his finger, and he was like, 89 and I was like, oh, no, it works. It works. So I knew then, you know, pack a bag, go to the hospital. But I did, I did try to get away like, he's like, Well, should I eat? And I was like, Well, we're about to eat, so I guess, go ahead and eat. Like, you know, don't be hungry. Yeah, go ahead. And so I even text my neighbor, whose husband, you know, has type one. And I was like, Oh, this is what happened. Do you think, do you think I could just give him some insulin? I was like, you think I could just give him insulin? It's like, nine o'clock at night by now, you know? She's like, Oh, no, you better go in. And so, of course, I did, you know. And then when we got there, he said, Hey, Mom, do you think I might have type one, two? And I said, Yeah, I really think you do. And he was like, okay, that kid never shed a tear. He is my, he's my anxious kid. Like, from day one, he's been super anxious, scared of the wind, you know, things like that. He's really, you know, accomplished a lot with he's overcome a lot in that year's time he was giving he was actually giving shots. He's like, do you think I can give him his shot? Yeah, sure. So he was giving shots. He was with supervision, obviously, but checking his blood shirt. He was doing all that to his little brother, and I think that helped prepare him, honestly. Oh,

Scott Benner 24:40
okay, yeah. So it all felt doable, yeah, because he had seen it done, and he had actually been a part of it at some points. Oh, that's awesome. And to this day, like, how many years later is this now?

Marissa 24:51
Let's see, Liam was seven years Eli was six years ago. So now I will tell you, though there's a difference between being a guy. Diagnosed at four and 11, because the 11 year old, when you're diagnosed at 11, obviously, you know you've just you've had all this soda and candy, and you've never had to worry about anything affecting your blood sugar. Right now you do the four year old, he does not remember. He's 11. Now he doesn't remember. He thinks he knows everything about diabetes. He does not remember not needing it.

Scott Benner 25:21
He just eats the way he eats, and it's not a big deal to him. He didn't have to give anything up in his

Marissa 25:26
mind, right? Yeah, he Yeah. And he was even when he was four and five. He was even he wanted to stick his own finger. He wanted to do his own shot, you know, his own glucose shot. And then at some point we had to leave him with my in laws, and he actually gave his first injection before we were on the pump.

Scott Benner 25:46
I remember Arden doing her like her first pod by herself, because she was with my sister in law. And I think she just got, she looked around and was like, All right, I think I'd be better off doing this myself. Not that they, you know, not that they weren't just, they were new at it, and like, it was, you know, and she was like, All right, I'm gonna, I'm just gonna, I'll get it. And so when we were so nervous because it was remote, we weren't there. We were on the phone trying to talk them through it and everything. And, my gosh, so

Marissa 26:15
I know it's fun. They get so used to it and they see you do it, yeah, I feel confident. Just no because Liam's just recently done his own pump too, and it's that's a little bit life. I still help sometimes, but sometimes he's getting ready for bed and he's like, I'll just do it myself. It's life changing.

Scott Benner 26:31
I've seen this, this thing, even with Arden now, like, for literally the most part, like, literally 99 and a half percent. Like, you know, she doesn't, she's not looking for help with this stuff, and but there's a time, like, if she's sick or she's exhausted or something, you can see her just be, like, here, just, just do it, please, you know, like, once in a while, like, you know, she just hand you the pod back. Like, here, you stick it on. But it's very at this point, just incredibly infrequent. But

Marissa 26:57
it's so helpful that that you can just hand over here be my pancreas, dad. I mean, that's such a big deal that she's lucky to have you to have figured out all this stuff that you've figured out. Yeah,

Scott Benner 27:10
no. I mean, I'm assuming one day she'll know that too. That'd be awesome.

Marissa 27:14
Let's hope, right. I'm

Scott Benner 27:15
sure when she's in her mid 30s, she'll probably like, cruise past me in a room and just like, lean in real quick and go, Hey, thanks, and then just keep going. So, yeah, no, I think she's incredibly grateful for everything that she's got going on. But it's it doesn't stop it from being, you know, what I've learned being me is that it's not magical, like everyone out there probably thinks like, oh, it's probably great for her, because, you know, like, the guy that taught me the stuff and helps me, like, you know, he's there. So it's, she still just has diabetes, you know, like, it's still annoying and upsetting and all the other things that it is. It doesn't stop being that for her, just because, you know, we know how to handle things. Or, like, I was telling you before we got on, like, she's sick right now. She's on an antibiotic and and a steroid, and the steroids messing with her. But you know, like, even as the doctors giving her, like we were in an urgent care, and if this person is listening like, we really appreciate it, there's an urgent care near us, and there's a doctor there, she has type one. So, like, we knew what was wrong with Arden. We just knew, you know, we knew what she needed. So we went through the urgent care and she got looked at, gave her the steroids and the antibiotics. And as she's given the steroids, she's like, now, you know, like, you're gonna have to make adjustments with insulin and and she said, what she was, what she said, and I'm sure, to some degree, she thought I didn't need to be told, yeah, but still, like, with what she said, even if she had gone deeper into it, if I didn't know what I was doing, I would not have been prepared for what's happening right now? Like, oh, it's a big deal, yeah. Like, I'm, you know, I think I'm running Arden's basal at like, 2.1 units an hour right now, or something like that. Oh, goodness. Which is insane. Because, right, I think her basal is like point 850 my gosh. And, you know, like, last night she we were cruising, but she took those steroids again, like, the last dose, and the blood sugar started going up. And, like, I had to, like, you know, I mean, she's on DIY algorithm. And, like, you know, so she's using trio. I had to make, like, temporary adjustments to basal. I had to make a huge Bolus. I had to, like, I did a ton of stuff to, like, hold a blood sugar at, like, 225, and bring it back down again. It was, Oh, my word difficult. Like, three, four times the amount of insulin. I don't think, if you don't know that, like, where are you going to get the nerve to instead of bolusing a unit for something, bolusing four units for it, like, you know what I mean? Like, you're not going to be able to do that. So

Marissa 29:37
it's very difficult. Yeah. And even though we had good training at the hospital, there was a lot that was never covered until I discovered the podcast,

Scott Benner 29:46
yeah, well, I mean, you know, especially with the steroids, like, I don't know how to prepare for somebody for like, four times the amount, if that's the situation, like, you know, anyway, yeah, tell me a little more about that, though, because, you know, you are an RN, right? Like, you are working with, like, critically ill people, like, for a lot of your career, too. So you must have seen your fair amount of people in DKA,

Marissa 30:07
oh my gosh. There's some of the sickest patients, I think, that I've ever

Scott Benner 30:11
had. Well, how does that impact you when you realize your kid could be in it?

Marissa 30:16
Oh, it's like, terror, you know, like, Oh my gosh. What am I gonna do to I've gotta really prevent this, and I've tried to share this with, you know, nurses I work with now, it's very easy to go into DK. It doesn't take a lot to go into DKA, because, you know, when you know nurses are, for the most part, jaded, right? We've seen we've seen this, we've seen that, you know, we've frequent flyers. You know, you just kind of assume, as a nurse, I think you kind of assume people don't take care of themselves. I mean, honestly. And so when you have DKA patients, you're like, Oh, they're just not taking care of themselves. But what you don't realize is, maybe they had a pump malfunction, maybe they couldn't afford insulin, maybe they this the that, you know, there's who knows. And I really became way more empathetic. It's a lot to take care of somebody with DKA too. Like, it's a very involved, you know, you have to know their you have, you're trying to get their anion gap back in range, and their PH, and then their electrolytes, and then you change different fluids and stuff. It's like a big deal. And then, of course, you stick their finger every single hour because, you know, hospitals won't allow you to use a CGM, which is absolutely ridiculous, but I did become way more empathetic, yeah, towards people and I, I know you, you and I, everybody with who has diabetes, or a kid with diabetes, you've had to try your best to prevent it.

Scott Benner 31:36
Have you had like, a moment where you've looked now, since then, since your understanding of it is deep, and have you looked at somebody in DK and thought like, I wonder what's like? You have the time as a nurse to wonder what happened to them in not just the fault back to, oh, they just must not take care of themselves,

Marissa 31:52
yeah. Like, if the patient is well enough, awake alert, or they have family, I've been like, hey, you need to listen to this podcast, like, or at least joined the Facebook group. I said, you know, it's not your fault. This is really hard, you know, things like that. I'm a nurse practitioner as well, and so I work with patients with this special, well, it's supposed to be a rare cancer, but we're like the cancer center for multiple myeloma, okay? And these patients are on a lot of stereo, at least a weekly steroid. I mean, imagine I have several diabetic patients, and I have one that's young. She was, she was diagnosed with type one in like, her 30s. I think every week when I see her, I'm like, okay, so what did you do? You know, with your insulin to offset your steroid, you know, so I have to shout out to her, because she is or she knows about you. But anyway, she is bold. She's giving. She's on the Omnipod five, Dexcom, g6 but she's also giving herself like Lantus. Oh, wow, for the steroid. Yeah.

Scott Benner 33:02
Well, I had that thought a couple times in the last couple days. Like, I was like, Oh, I wonder, like, would injecting a we don't even, I listen, I'm going to say something I don't think I'm supposed to say, like, we don't even, I don't have an injectable basal in the house. Like, I know you're supposed to keep it as a backup, but we just, we never have, there's no zombies, and there's a, you know, there's a Walgreens down the end of the street, right, right? Yeah. I mean, it's, I thought, God, just a layer of basal that's not going through the cannula. That's really where my concern is, is like, because, you know, the site is going to get flooded, and it's going to get, you know, it's going to get over saturated, it's probably not going to work as well. And, you know, like, you just all that's in your head. But if you don't know to think about that, then all that's not in your head. You just, you know, your person online that I'm seeing going like, Hey, I'm on a steroid. Their blood sugar is 450 and they're like, I can't, I can't seem to give myself enough insulin. And you know, you're already sick, and having a high blood sugar is not going to make that better, you know, right, right?

Marissa 33:55
It's just going to make it worse. And there's a term for that, where you're on the pump and then you still do the basal. I can't remember the term. I think they actually had to untethered. Yeah, untethered. That's it. And I actually had to do that with my oldest son when he went through puberty, like, say he was in 1415, oh my gosh, like, his Omnipod wouldn't last two days. Oh, no, you know, yeah, so much insulin, yeah. And so I went ahead and did that, because, you know, my insurance is not going to just give me unlimited amounts of Omnipod five. So I did that for a while. And we have a really good endocrinologist. She knows I'm a nurse practitioner. I'll just leave, change things here and there. And she was, like, she wasn't pleased with it, but it did help a lot, like I was, and I was just trying to guesstimate, okay, I'm gonna just do, you know, bring your settings down, because it was before automation, bring your settings down this amount, and then bring, you know, and it we didn't have any lows. It helped,

Scott Benner 34:55
but it worked, and you didn't have any lows, and it held, what was she mad about? Well, she went.

Marissa 35:00
Mad, but she was just like, you know, since that's kind of not, I don't, I don't know, it's not empathetic, you know,

Speaker 1 35:06
just she don't like you thinking too much,

Marissa 35:09
well, yeah, she's like, well, I don't want to get she's probably thinking, I don't want to get in trouble, right? You know, for you doing this craziness. But she, she was just like, oh, we'll just write that, you know, for the insurance that you can get the pod every two days. And so we did that for a while, and then, and then my insurance was like, oh, sorry, we're not going to cover that anymore.

Scott Benner 35:27
Yeah, no, thanks. Has it gotten better? As he's gotten older,

Marissa 35:31
it's gotten a lot better. It's gotten a lot better. And then the automation has, you know, once we went on the Omnipod five with the automation that's helped a lot.

Scott Benner 35:41
Yeah, it's the algorithms are awesome. Is there any concern about your daughter?

Marissa 35:49
I mean, I'm on the lookout. I keep saying, I'll, I might do her antibodies. But you know, as we know, you can have antibody or you cannot have antibodies and then have antibodies. So I'm like, I haven't really talked myself into doing that yet, but I do check her blood sugar occasionally when she's either sick or moody or something like that. Jeez.

Speaker 1 36:11
How often are you doing it?

Marissa 36:12
Well, I hadn't done it in a while, but

Scott Benner 36:16
if you're shooting for moody with a with a kid, right? Does she have any other autoimmune stuff, like or did the boys or you or anybody else?

Marissa 36:24
My husband's mom has rheumatoid arthritis and she has multiple sclerosis. My sister has hypothyroid. My brother in law has it's my husband's brother. He has some different autoimmune things. I don't know if anything actually has a name yet. I know there's a thyroid issue. And then, you know, the urticaria, urticaria, whatever you want to call it, he breaks out, is that constant? Yeah, he's had that for a long time. And my sister also had that for a while as

Scott Benner 36:55
well. So on your husband's side and on your side,

Marissa 36:59
yes. And then ironically, or maybe not ironically, I have a second cousin on each side of, like, my mom's side and my dad's side, and they were diagnosed as children, oh, while I was an adult, okay, and these little children were diagnosed. But that seems kind of far, doesn't

Scott Benner 37:16
it not to me. That sounds like a lot to me, also that brought the brother in law with urticaria, tell him to make sure his TSH is under two and see if it doesn't stop. Okay, okay, by the way, talking about turns of phrases you said about, I don't know if it's his sister or something, you said she, she has some hypothyroid. I don't know what some hypothyroid that's gotta

Marissa 37:37
be. Well, she's had hypothyroid, I guess back and forth in range. Maybe that's what I mean. But yeah, it's just a little bit, just a touch.

Scott Benner 37:45
She has a touch of cancer. Like, that's what it sounded like to me. Yeah, a Smith touch, the mother in law. Ms, how old was she when she was diagnosed?

Marissa 37:53
Oh, my goodness. Let's see. I want to say she was either late 40s, early 50s. Her sister, actually, our twin sister was diagnosed with MS before I ever met my husband, and then he told me, I guess when I first met him, that his mom was having some vision problems. And I was like, Oh, she needs to be checked for Ms. And she eventually was, and she's doing really well. As far as that's concerning, they've come a long way with multiple sclerosis drugs, awesome. Well,

Scott Benner 38:21
that's good, but yeah, I mean the thyroid stuff, I hear a lot of thyroid what you just said. So, like, I I'd keep an eye on that too, especially for your daughter, maybe, oh yes, I know, a little more common for women than men, but not, not a lot, but a little more. But especially with, you know, families with a lot of autoimmune stuff going on, which I would characterize you as having a lot of autoimmune after that list? Yeah,

Marissa 38:43
I guess so you like, like, I said, type one was never on our radar even, and I didn't even know it was autoimmune at that point to and I'm a nurse, and that's another thing I want to talk about. Like, how little education you get as a nurse about type one diabetes. Talk about your wasted education. Go ahead. So you know, in in my I got my bachelor's degree, got my RN. I mean, there was so, so little information.

Scott Benner 39:09
Were you about to curse? Marissa, no, there's a pause that I'm I'm like, she's not gonna curse, is she? I thought you were gonna say there was so little F in education. I was like, That doesn't seem like a thing she would do, but go ahead.

Marissa 39:21
I mean, that's true, just so little in nursing school. And while I'm on the subject, because this is a little bit ironic, I think when I was nursing, schools are evil, right? Any nurse can take like, I don't know that many nurses who was like, Oh, I love my program. It was great. No, it's hard. Okay, if people knew how hard it was to become a nurse, there'd be even fewer nurses. Let me tell you that. So

Scott Benner 39:47
is it the things you learn, or is it hazing? What is it

Marissa 39:50
they're mean, I don't know. So I went I started college at 18, right? Got in the nursing program at 20, and graduated at 22 so. So I'm young. First of all, you start out with a big class, and a lot of them drop out or whatever, because you have to have above a 75 like, if you have below, I think it's a 75 maybe an 80. Anyway, you don't pass,

Scott Benner 40:14
yeah, well, that's good, but go ahead, that

Marissa 40:17
is good. But then the clinicals, you know, that's where you go into the hospital, and at that point, because that was 100 years ago, we had to wear all white and a stupid little bib apron thing over you with the name of the school on it. Anyway, everything white so stupid pantyhose. Anyway, whatever. Holy

Scott Benner 40:39
hell are you, Marissa? What are you 90? What's going on? I'm

Marissa 40:43
just 91 it's fine. But yeah. So anyway, they're so mean, like, you can get three, what they they call critical use. I don't even know what U stands for, but it's a critical use. You can get three of them. If you get if you get three, you're out of the program. Okay? You'll never guess why I got one? I don't know. Tell me, please. I'm excited. Forgotten my watch. You forgot your watch. I forgot to wear my watch clinical.

Scott Benner 41:09
Had you forgot your watch two more times, you wouldn't have been able to be a nurse. Yeah? Awesome. This seems like a, like an X rated movie that you they've got you dressed up, very weird with the with the pantyhose, and they're and they're throwing a lot of rules at you. I'll tell you what I get confused by. Take it out of this for a second. I don't understand the human beings need to haze people. Nope. Like, I don't like, it was hard for me, so it's gonna suck for you. I don't get, I really don't get that. Like, it would take one generation of people to go, you know what? Somebody made this unnecessarily hard on me. I'm going to make this a reasonable experience for you, and things would get better, right? Yeah, I don't know why we're so hell bent on persecuting people, but

Marissa 41:54
nursing schools are like that. Instead of being like that, teach us more stuff, tell us some more real world stuff. So that was my first critical you Okay, so then here's my second one, and I almost got kicked out of the program, and it does have to do with diabetes, which is really funny, because now I have two diabetes, and I actually study diabetes, you know, by listening to the podcast and all that other stuff, right? So when I was in report, which is when the night nurse is telling the day nurse about the patient, what to do, blah, blah, yeah, so I was writing on 630 in the morning. Okay, we're not even firing on all still cylinders here, quite awake, right? So I wrote down that this patient needed blood sugars, Q, D, that means every day, right? What I should have written down was Q ID, that means four times a day. So at lunchtime, this patient had taken a bite of mashed potatoes before I realized he needed a blood sugar check, right,

Scott Benner 42:54
and that, and that almost got you another another hit. Yeah,

Marissa 42:58
yeah. I had to spend my whole spring break of my senior year writing papers about diabetes. Yeah, I'm not, I kid you not. Just so, and that was in March, right? And I was graduating in May, so I couldn't mess it up.

Scott Benner 43:12
Oh my gosh, hey, my wife puts q id and QD on stuff all the time because she that's how she writes for work. And every time I'm like, I don't I'm like, Kelly, I don't remember what this means. Give it. It's like a shorthand to her, because, yes, her technical writing, yeah. It means

Marissa 43:26
you can get kicked out of nursing school. That's what it means. Yeah. So ironically, you know, I have now type two or two type one diabetes kids, right? But honestly, I don't remember much at all from undergrad about diabetes, except that I wrote about type two diabetes. That's what my papers were on type two diabetes, right? Yeah. So then I go, I decided I would go to nurse practitioner school, like 14 years after I'd been out of school, I literally have maybe one page, maybe half a page, on type one diabetes. I'm not kidding you, just that you need insulin, basically, that you have to have insulin to survive. There's so little, no,

Scott Benner 44:03
I know. I mean, listen, it can't be that people are that inept. Like, I just think it's not taught at all. It's not, I mean, you can't wrap your head around why? Like, it doesn't make sense. But other than, I guess, they're just trying to give you a high level overview of a bazillion things, right? And then they assume there'll be people who will, who will choose endocrinology as a as a drill down then, then they'll learn about it. But I don't know. That doesn't seem to happen anyway.

Marissa 44:28
I know it's crazy. My friend went to a different nurse practitioner program, and she showed me hers, and she literally had half a page too. Yeah. I was like, This is crazy. But yeah, my

Scott Benner 44:39
brother was, you know, being treated for type two diabetes, and it wasn't going well. And I, you know, I let it go on for I let it go on. Listen, they're my younger brothers, and my parents got divorced when I was really young. So I love my brothers, and they're my brothers, but I also feel responsible for them on some level. You know what I mean? I let it go on for a while. I'm. Happy to say it that way. And then I stepped up, and I was like, listen, we're doing this and this and this and, like, and now he's doing awesome. He just called me yesterday. He's like, I've lost 56 pounds. And like, yeah, he's doing great. Like, and I, you know, he's not running around with high blood sugars all the time and like, stuff like that. Like, it's just, like, it wasn't that hard, I guess is what I'm saying. Like, to help him, you

Marissa 45:19
know, yeah, and you had to be his advocate, because, like the physicians whose job now, don't get me wrong, because they are super overworked, right? They see, what, how many patients in a day? They see a patient every what, 1020, minutes or something. But still, you could at least say, look at this resource, or listen to this podcast, you wouldn't believe how many times I've thought I need to be a paid sponsor here for Juicebox Podcast, because I tell so many people, yeah, about it,

Scott Benner 45:49
I actually considered one time running some sort of a contest for people. Like, I don't know how to do it, like, for how many because you should see the you know, like, this morning I woke up and I let in 76 new people into the private Facebook group this morning. Group this morning. That happened, I'll take credit for 30. Okay? That happens like every day, right? There's also an amount of people who the out. You know, the Facebook algorithm, like, you answer a couple questions and it does some digging, and if it's comfortable, like, auto lets you in. So there's probably 100 new people in the last 12 hours, but I see some of their answers, and it's usually just like, hey, listen, somebody was asking a question on another Facebook group, and someone said this was the place to come. Or my doctor told me, my doctor told me, is one of the most common ways.

Marissa 46:29
Oh, that's great, because our doctor didn't tell us. Well, yeah, but

Scott Benner 46:33
it's really like, I mean, that's heady for me. I'm like, your doctor, you know, wait going back to my brother for a second, like, I get that the doctor could be busy or overwhelmed or whatnot, but, like, they were never going to help him, right? And then, like, I'd say, Listen, this is what we want to ask for this. And he'd say, Well, the doctor said, I'm like, you don't care anymore. What the doctor said, I'm like, This is what we're doing. Find a way to this. And that's not a thing. My brother's, like, accustomed to like, I'm accustomed to it because I had to do it for Arden, right? And you know, other people in my family have thyroid issues and, like, people are, you know, been sick over a year. I've, I've a lot of practice of being like, no, no, we're doing this. But my brother doesn't. And either do a lot of other people who, you know, they'll just go, Well, yeah, but then the doctor said, so I stopped. Like, I hear that all the time from people like personal life and on the podcast. So you have to be there to go. No, say it again. Ask a different way make it you know, yeah,

Marissa 47:28
you have to just advocate for yourself, you know. Since, since I get to, you know, see patients as a nurse practitioner, like I said, my patients have cancer, but they have other stuff as well. And so when I do have type ones, I feel like we really can connect, and they can trust me. And so that's why I'm like, okay, you've got to listen to this podcast or explain pre bolusing the way you did, because nobody told me pre bolusing until I discovered the podcast,

Scott Benner 47:58
even though you've been through school and help. Yeah, they don't talk about any of that in school. Yeah. I mean, listen, I I say all the time, like, I get way too much credit for just telling people to worry about how the timing of insulin works. Like it's not a thing, that it shouldn't be a big deal. Do you know what I mean? Like it should be a thing. Like people say, Oh no, I already knew that. But that's not the case for most of the people who end up with us. You know what I want to say, though, like, asking somebody to advocate for themselves is one thing. Like, if they can actually, like, muster up the steam to do it is great, but they don't know what they're having. They don't have the if they had the answer, they wouldn't need the doctor first of all. So, like, so now here you are in a situation with a person who you're counting on to help you, who may or may not have the answers, but you definitely don't have the answer. So how the hell are you supposed to advocate for something you don't

Marissa 48:45
know exists? I know, I don't know the answer. That's, it's, it's sad, you know, um, and some people are just like broken down by, you know, they're so used to not feeling good, or what, or, Oh, I guess this is just how life is now. And they don't even, can't even express, yeah.

Scott Benner 49:01
I mean, look at your son. I mean, I know he's only four, but like, imagine if he had to advocate for himself when he was in the hospital with no, my gosh, right. How you gonna do that? You can't. You're, you're, I just said this to somebody the other day. I said, my biggest concern now is that I'm gonna, like, have a problem, like, a medical problem, one day in front of a bunch of nudniks, and then I'm just gonna look up and go, like, Oh, great. None of these people are gonna be able to help me. You. Able to help me. I don't want my death to be because I passed out in the wrong place. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, you don't know who's around you and but you're going to get to a point at some point where you're going to say, I don't have it in me. Like, I don't have the ability to help myself. At this point, I'm counting on other people, and maybe with the diabetes, even my brother type two. Like, sure, you're not passed out in the street, but you are in a dire situation. You don't know the answer to the question, and you're hoping the people around you do know and and the the worst part is that when they answer you, you don't even know if they're right. Yeah, that's true. You could end up being with bad information forever and ever, and thinking like. I'm doing what I'm told, this is going to be okay. Yeah, it's very upsetting. Yeah, it is. Yeah, I'm doing my best here. You know what? I mean, like, but I'm not reaching. I'm not reaching enough people,

Marissa 50:09
I know, but you are reaching a lot. Like, you know, I Googled, or I got, I got on the Facebook and looked for, um, support groups for parents after a while, because I was like, I'm kind of struggling here, you know, and I have, you know, I know medical stuff, but I'm struggling. And so that's how I found your group. And then when I joined and I started looking through, I was like, Oh my gosh, just looking at people's questions and answers like this really makes sense. And then when somebody mentioned that there was a podcast, I was like, why? I've never listened to a podcast before let me check this

Scott Benner 50:41
out. I'm a fancy lady now. I got an app on my phone,

Marissa 50:46
and it's a free app handle this.

Scott Benner 50:51
How is so many things going my way today?

Marissa 50:53
Right? It just was life changing. You know, I do think you're like God's gift to the diabetic community, and so I try to share, you know, with other people, and, you know, let them know that there are resources. And yeah,

Scott Benner 51:07
there's this thing that I can't tell you because it sounds, it sounds so douchey, but what? Oh, God, am I going to say this? Oh, I won't say who it was, who it is, because I don't want them to be embarrassed. But I mean, in fairness to me, I get a lot of praise. But, I mean, it is praise, like, like, you just gave me. It was very kind, right? But it happens with a lot of frequency, because I reached so many people. And sometimes someone I know will send me like a little candle as a text. And it's like a It's kind of like a joke about, like, you know, the religious candles in the aisle at the grocery store that, yeah, and this person's always like, your face is going to be on one of these candles one day, and, and we laugh like it's not a thing. I actually think I just wanted that person doesn't think that either we're we're trying to make light because it's so, I know people won't, like, maybe understand this, but it's heavy to have that many people thanking you all the time.

Marissa 52:03
I bet it is, yeah, I bet it is, especially when you're humble, not

Scott Benner 52:07
burdensome, heavy. But like, there are certain people listening who will not believe this. And I think for you, you've maybe have confused my sarcasm with my not my sarcasm at points. But that's fine. I don't need that. It's lovely. And I like, you know, I hear from people, and I make sure to answer everybody, and I think it's great, but I also think they're doing the work. Yeah, I just said the thing out loud. They took it and ran with it. I don't think I deserve credit for it, and it's not a thing I need or I want. Oh, I know what you mean. I don't know if I'm in a unique situation, and people can understand it or not, but like, it's lovely, and I appreciate it, and I I'm not asking anybody to stop, but I'm also not over here, like, you know, like a heroin addict going, like, I need three people to thank me in the next hour, I'm gonna, like, have a breakdown. Like, if no one ever said thank you again, I'd be, like, it's long as they're helped. I don't care, because you

Marissa 52:57
feel like you're providing the information, but they're doing the work. And I get that, you know, because, you know, when I have, like, my my chemo patients that finish their chemo cycle and they're like, Oh, thank you so much. Well, I really didn't do anything, but I'm cheerleading here for you and telling you what to expect. Yeah, whatnot. I don't, you know, I'm, I know what you mean, but just like having, bonding out all that stuff, like, I don't know if it would have taken a long, long time to for me to trial and error. Everything that I just learned from the podcast

Scott Benner 53:26
took me a long, you know, it really did. Like, I don't say it much, but like, when I talk about it, I'll say, like, look, you know, you guys have the podcast. I literally struggled through every step of it and just kept like, I, you know, I said it earlier, right? Like, I was on business, stay at home dad, so I had time, like, and so I could stop and look back all the time and just kind of macro, look at everything and see how things affected. Like, I wasn't running to work, or, like, you know, I mean, like I had time to make diabetes my job, basically, yeah, yeah.

Marissa 53:56
Which is a blessing, you know, that that you did have, that, Oh for sure, benefited all of us. That's

Scott Benner 54:02
nice of you to say, like, but like, it took forever, is my point? Like, Oh, I bet she was two when she was diagnosed. It's not like when she was three. I was, like, the guy from the podcast, like, you know what I mean? Like, it was she was six seven, but I started, like, pulling my thoughts together and like, you know, it took me a while. Like, I felt like I was killing my kid too. Just like the rest of you feel

Marissa 54:21
right, like even, even today, you know, Liam was a little high, and I was like, do half a unit. And he's like, okay, so he did half a unit, and now he's like, 103, double arrows down. So I'm like, Oh no, eat some gummy you eat a few fruit snacks to even out. Yeah, you know, it's just, I don't know, you know, I still struggle sometimes with these kids, and especially they're not physically connected to me at all times, right?

Scott Benner 54:50
Yeah, it's harder. It's hard the amount of times before any kind of systems were in place, Arn was just wearing a regular Omnipod that I would texture, and I'd be like, Temp Basal increase 20% for 30 minutes. Minutes, and then, like, 510, minutes later, I'm like, oh, cancel that. I shouldn't have done that. Like I had to do that so many times before I knew what to do, when to do it. I feel like I haven't said this in a long time, but I really do think that eventually you go through so many experiences that if you're paying attention to them and taking lessons out of them, eventually you can see them coming, and then you know what to do, right? Like, you're not guessing, but I guess, though I almost cursed, but you're very southern, so I'm not going to. I think the irony of you southern people is, I think privately, you're cursing all the time, but like,

Marissa 55:36
oh yeah, frustration you know more, the more frustrated, the more the more bad words,

Scott Benner 55:41
you know, like I I had to make those mistakes a lot and then learn from them before I could see them coming and get ahead of like, I'm telling you. I did that for a really long time, and then I started even being able to write about it on a blog helped me to find a way to be articulate about it. But short, because I don't believe people read. Yeah, how do you be quick but thoughtful and say something in a way that not just some people will understand, but like that, you can be reasonably sure that most people listening or reading are gonna You don't wanna be confusing, right? Like so they learn to do that while I'm blogging, and it's hard in writing, but I got better at it, and then it made me really good at talking about it. So yeah, that's I get it. Yeah, that's nice.

Marissa 56:29
Yeah. Just, do you ever stop looking at the numbers? Like I feel like I look at them. I'm always on guard with the numbers. No, I never look ever. Yeah. So maybe one day I won't look yeah,

Scott Benner 56:42
it'll come you know what I mean? Like, you know, there's a I want to make sure I say this the right way. Like, so there's a moment when you're going to realize that a 160 blood sugar is not the end of the world. Oh, yeah, definitely. And that a 200 for an hour is going to happen sometimes, but I don't want people to think like, oh, okay, well, then I just won't worry about that. That's not the case, right? I manage all of them, like, or Arden manages all of them. Nobody is like, you can't stare at a high blood sugar. It is the quickest way to an eight, a, 1c, that you can find, right? And that is the quickest way to apathy that turns into a, nine, a, 1c, that turns into like, you know, you saying, Oh, my shoulder is frozen. Like, like, like, you know what I mean? Like, it's the quick path to that. So I'm not saying ignore it, or that I would ignore it, or that she would ignore it. What I'm saying is, is that when it happens, you manage it, you don't freak out about it. And that takes, that takes a while before you can see that number. And just go, okay, and then do the thing. I don't know. Like, I've never been in a military operation, but, like, I would say that, you know, in the beginning of diabetes, I was the guys running off the boat on Saving Private Ryan, and just like, it's screaming and just shooting into the air. And now I'm more like, you know, like a Navy SEAL. The way I handle it is, we're going to do the things that we're supposed to do. I'm pretty sure we won't die. And if we die, that's not going to change that we're going to do the things that we're supposed to do, yeah? And hopefully it's all going to work out. I think I've said it before, like, I try to think of things the way astronauts do, right? Just okay, everything's trying to kill you, okay, but what's going to kill you right now, that's the thing we do. That's a good way to look at it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But that takes a while to get to that. So you have to have the experiences, figure it out, know how to take care of it. Then you've got to be able to keep in your heart that the higher blood sugars aren't okay, but they're not a panic or a failure, and we just have to keep taking the steps and doing the things. Yeah, that's where I'm at now. I'm Zen about it

Marissa 58:49
now, but there's plenty than I used to be. It's

Scott Benner 58:53
coming. Is my point? Like, you'll get to it, because there's plenty of times in the past where Mercy was like, you know, like, a beep, beep, what happened? What I do, what I mess up? How'd this go wrong? Like, you know what I mean? Like, so upset. You're upset for an hour. The kid knows you're upset. Like, it's, you know, I think it's all part of it,

Marissa 59:12
right? I try not to take it personally, and I try not to just text about diabetes, though, that to my kids, although I'm kind of probably bad about mostly texting about diabetes to them. But, you know, try to do this. Try to do this. But, you know, the 11 year old, he thinks he, you know, he doesn't take into consideration, like, really, what his blood sugar is at lunch. He just kind of, I'm getting three units, you know. And so sometimes it's like, Oh, hold on there, yeah,

Scott Benner 59:38
there's an art like I said, Arden is pretty sick right now, and I walked into her bedroom last night, like the end of the night, and I went in there because her settings needed to be massaged, right like for the cylinder. And I also know that she's she's got trouble remembering to take her thyroid medication. Oh, and so I was walking in there to make an adjustment to the insulin, or to talk to her about the adjustment for the insulin, and I knew in the back of my head that I should remind her about the thyroid medication, but I looked at her and I just thought, I'm not going to mention the thyroid medication tonight. Yeah? Like, she just like, she's beat up. Like, right? Like, she doesn't need me coming in that room, going, diabetes, hypothyroidism. Like, you know what I mean, like, so I went in there. I said, How are you feeling? And then she's like, oh, you know, she told me how she was feeling and everything. And I said, Okay. I said, Listen, I don't think these settings are gonna work. Like, let's take a look at them together and see if we can figure out where to, you know, move them to. And I thought everything inside of me wanted to be like, in here, take this pill, right, right? I just didn't say it. I kept it focused on her, because as she gets older, I'm becoming more aware of the human side of it. Yes, because she can be more expressive about it than she could be when she was little. And she just, she doesn't want to be sick, like, you know what I mean, like, and she doesn't want to have diabetes on top of being sick, and she doesn't want to have thyroid problem on top of diabetes on top of being sick. And like me walking in there and going diabetes, thyroid insulin just makes her feel like she doesn't

Marissa 1:01:14
exist. Oh, yeah, I can, I can say that. Yeah.

Scott Benner 1:01:17
So there's, again, a balance between doing well for them, physically and and psychologically. That's

Marissa 1:01:25
true. Yeah, that's true. And my oldest, he does get burned out more than my middle because he, I think if he remembers not having to worry about stuff, and he gets burned out a little bit more. So we've had our times where he was like, go to a friend's house, but he didn't chuck a sugar the whole line, things like that. We've been through that when he was MDI, but no, for sure, things are better now.

Scott Benner 1:01:46
That's good. Listen, it's not going to stop happening. Like, that's what I've learned from talking to people. Like, in the beginning, you wanted to say, like, oh, it's because they're nine, it's because they're 15, it's because they have diabetes, yeah. And like, I've now talked to somebody at every age 10 different times, and it's not changing. Like a 35 year old, a 45 year old, a 60 year old sometimes is like, I don't want to do this. And it's not a conscious give up. I know it's part of the churn of the whole thing. You know what I mean? Like, burn out, yeah, the way the water comes in and goes out and goes in the tide, like, just, sometimes just it, just it eats stuff up as it comes through, and I don't think there's anything you can do about it. Sometimes

Marissa 1:02:26
just, they just get burned out, you know. So I'm happy to take over whenever, and, you know, just kind of, you know, Bolus from the next room, or what, you know, whatever it is I need to do so they can just worry about being kids.

Scott Benner 1:02:38
I think that's awesome. I think that everybody diabetes or not, does better when there's a person with them that can just for a sec, just shoulder the load for a second for them, whatever it

Marissa 1:02:48
is. So, yeah, don't you say and I hope all the kids have that. I know it's difficult for a lot of parents, yeah.

Scott Benner 1:02:54
Well, listen, the biggest difficulty I see from people is that they're like, well, that's their disease. They should take care of it. Or where they're 13, what are they going to learn? They're 19, what are they going to learn? Like, I, you know, I would ask you, if you feel like that, like, go into a quiet room somewhere and be real honest with yourself and tell me, have you learned yet? You know what I mean? Like, there's not a thing you count on other people for. I think it's just frustration and and Everyone's tired. Oh, you know. So eventually you just go like, Oh, this is theirs, not

Marissa 1:03:22
mine, but it's kind of a family thing. I think it is. Yeah, I know you know what. I mean, it's just like, the whole family. We're all part of it. We're all diabetic,

Scott Benner 1:03:31
yeah, yeah, no. I mean, it's just my son the other day, like, he's a really sweet, nice, smart kid, right? And I was cleaning up after Arden's puppy. And he goes, where's Arden? I said, she's really sick. And he goes, Oh, she's been sick a lot lately. I said, Yeah, that's why I'm helping her. But he's still too young to know, like, what? Like, he still thinks, like, Well, you got to push through. Oh, yeah, yeah, you know what I mean. I'm like, All right, man, well, like, she's pushing through. Like, you know she's not. Can jump out a window. You know what I mean? Like, she's, she's just, she's just laying down getting a nap and, like, and I'm gonna do this for her and and by the way, you know this morning when I came down to make myself breakfast, and you were working, and you were in between meetings, and you texted me and said, Hey, do I smell you cooking? I didn't say, push through, right? I said, Yeah, I'll make you a wrap too. You know what I mean

Marissa 1:04:23
Exactly? Well, I have to know about this puppy too, by the way. Oh Christ,

Scott Benner 1:04:27
listen, I made a mistake. I just want to say, Marissa, what kind of puppy he's a French Bulldog. Oh, those are so cute. And he's got Doberman colors. He's like, he's like, that brown, but he has a little bit of lighter brown in him and like he's so here's what happened. I don't know if I've been clear about this on the podcast yet, but we'll do it here. Marissa, why not? Right? So Arden's at SCAD the Savannah College of Art and Design for a couple of years learning how to make clothing. Yes, and I will not malign. Them, but it was a bad fit for Arden. That's polite. Okay, here's my own opinion, right? I don't think they do a good job of teaching anybody there seems a little bit like a mill, and maybe they're just happy to have your money. Oh, okay, I will use as a word for word. Example, Arden was in a pivotal class that she needed for her major. She needed an understanding of this thing to move on. She was told by her instructor directly, not through another person. And I know this is a quote, because it was texted to me. I can't believe this. This was just said to me, and I'm quoting. I've never done this professionally. I've never taught this before. Oh, if you have a question, don't ask me. Oh, my. And then they were given a YouTube link. Oh, gosh, I won't tell you how much I paid for that YouTube link, but that YouTube link was not enough for Arden to get a masterful grasp of what she needed to learn. And then she came to us and said, I now do not understand this thing, and if I am to go on to next year, I'm going to fail miserably for not having this understanding. It was about that time that she started taking a like, a step back and talking to more people, and they started realizing things like classes were not always available, and it started feeling like they weren't available on purpose so that you'd have to stay longer stuff like, Oh, I've run that past some people who know the school, and those people said that that's not a crazy thing for me to be wondering if that's happening. So anyway, all that put together, Arden said, I am going to leave here and pivot and go somewhere else, and I think I'm going to get a psychology degree. Awesome, right? So in the pressure of making that switch, she felt a lot of pressure just to keep going, because she knew she was going to be behind. So she, like, came home, told Scott she wasn't coming back, applied to a few schools, got accepted, and chose the best school that she was accepted to that for her major and everything. And then she was at Pitt University of Pittsburgh. Awesome, awesome. And she did great. I just want everybody to know like she was there for one semester, fantastic. Perfect grades, but she was literally by herself in a concrete box, and she did not know one person there, and everybody she was in school with was suddenly younger than her because of this thing. And she just one day, like, she was, like, I just, I just want to come home. Like, like, I want to just go somewhere close to home. So Arden is in school now close to our house. She's commuting. She's doing awesome. She's getting a she's getting a great degree, very positive. It's all going very well.

Marissa 1:07:50
That's awesome. I know you're glad to have her close too. Listen,

Scott Benner 1:07:54
of course, I want my kids around for as long as I possibly could, where it's not hurting them at the same time, all of that happening on top of itself. The thing you'll never know about SCAD was it was like a job, but it was like a job where you worked 1820 hours a day, and that's terrible. So she was there at 1819, just going that hard, then boom, pivot. Get her out of there. We had just gotten her her own place in Savannah, like, and we had to, like, like, get out of it for her to go to pit. And then she went all the way from Savannah to pit. Then she was completely by herself. And it just was anyway, I think, while she was at Pitt and she was by herself, she started sending everybody pictures of puppies. Oh, our dog had passed away. Our oldest dog had passed away that summer. Basal, no Indeed, indeed passed away this summer. Oh, so sorry. Thank you. But basal is 11. We didn't realize, because Indy was so freaking old, it made basal look like a puppy. But all of a sudden, all of a sudden, you're like, God, basal is a lot older than you think he is. Anyway. Like, look at this one, Dad, look at that when mom takes group chats with puppy pictures all the time, and I'm like, no one's getting a puppy. We're not getting a puppy. Leave me alone. No puppy, no puppy, no puppy, no puppy. And my wife's like, you know, I really think she could use something, and she's having a tough time. And so, like, that was in my head a little bit, but I was still hard lined. I was like, I know a puppy's a mistake. Like, we're not getting a puppy. Like, we'll get her anything else. Well, one day, she sent a picture of this puppy, and I was like, God, damn, this Puppy's Cute, right? So like, I think I got, like, weak, and then the picture got me, honestly, it just felt like she needed something positive to happen. And we love, like, you know, we love our dogs. So like, Yeah, we had a long, like, a lot of long discussions. They were uncomfortable at some points even about, like, you know, this is your dog, like, that kind of thing. But the last bit was, when you move out, this dog goes with you, if that's a year from now or five years from now, I don't care. But that's not my dog. It's your dog. So anyway, yeah. He's really adorable. Like, if you're listening to this, like, go find my Instagram and look around, because there's a really cute dog on that Instagram.

Marissa 1:10:08
I'll do that because I love puppies. Like, I think puppy is always the right answer. Puppy is always the right answer, always the right answer. You

Scott Benner 1:10:15
trying to name your episode? Oh, I don't know.

Marissa 1:10:19
I do love puppies. I was going to

Scott Benner 1:10:21
use that thing that you said at the end of that sentence, which, by the way, you you successfully stopped saying after you said, Oh,

Marissa 1:10:26
thank you. Thank you. I guess I was like, subconsciously, you know, aware you probably shut it

Scott Benner 1:10:31
off. Yeah, don't do any more southern stuff. So is there anything we haven't talked about that we should have?

Marissa 1:10:37
I think we're good. You know, I had broke down a few notes and stuff. So I think, I think I'm good. We made it through. We got, we got what you wanted. Yes, I really appreciate you talking with me. Oh no,

Scott Benner 1:10:49
it's been great. The puppy picture was put up on February 7.

Marissa 1:10:53
What's his name? Friday? That's cute. Why is that? Is there a special reason? No,

Scott Benner 1:10:59
just, Arden was just going through names and trying to figure it out. And it was during the the Eagles run the Super Bowl. So my son was pushing very hard to call him say, Quan, I'll tell you that much. He started calling the puppy say, Quan, okay. She's like, that's not his name. And he goes, it should be no, I don't know. She just went over a bunch of different names, and she's like, I think I'm gonna call him Friday. I was like, Okay, so he's Friday.

Marissa 1:11:22
Oh, awesome. Well, congrats. It's like having a baby. Oh yeah, you

Scott Benner 1:11:26
just learned to go up and down the stairs, which is at a dimension we've, we've had in this house two dogs before Friday, and they, they don't do stairs, like I, I've dogs that have never been upstairs in my house like, because they they will not go up the stairs. They will only go down a few stairs. They're just like, they've never been stare dogs, man, this day, this dog, I'm upstairs one day, and I'm like, what's hitting me in the back of my leg? And he's like, there. I'm like, Oh no. And then I was like, I was like, gonna go back down? He stared. He stares at the staircase, and he's like, I'm not going back down. So we thought, okay, maybe that'll keep him from going up. Wouldn't stop him from going up. The other day, he just, I watched him just run down a flight of stairs, and I was like, Oh, I

Marissa 1:12:09
know, right. You're like, now he can make a mess in two floors. Exactly

Scott Benner 1:12:13
what I was thinking. I was like, Oh no, we were keeping the puppy explosion in one place anyway. This was really nice, thanking me. But this was really nice of you to do like, you know, you tell your story of your boys and and your family and everything, and share with other people and and get me talking, and I think I said some pretty valuable stuff there around the 45 minute work, yeah, and I and you did as well. So I'm thanking you. It's very nice.

Marissa 1:12:35
Oh, I hope so. I just, you know, I want people to know that, you know, diabetes is not the worst whatever. I think everybody knows diabetes is not the worst thing, but I just think it was like I was so grateful that my kid had diabetes instead of whatever else My mind was was thinking up, yeah, and it was such a great accidental way to learn. In fact, after he kind of got well and he was in the honeymoon phase, he didn't even require insulin for like, a year. No, no, yeah. And so then he came out of the honeymoon phase and blah, blah, blah. But my his, I think his agency was like 6.9 when he was diagnosed.

Scott Benner 1:13:11
Okay, you know the irony here is your husband's freak out gave you perspective that you probably wouldn't have gotten otherwise.

Marissa 1:13:18
Yeah, you're probably right, yeah, even though thank him, yeah.

Scott Benner 1:13:22
Well, listen, there's no you don't have to do that. That's okay. You don't want to start making him feel like he's valued or smart, because then he's going to get all full of himself. Okay. Keep him right where you have less true. How long did it take you to put him where he is right now, keep,

Marissa 1:13:36
oh, gosh, I think I'm still working on it.

Scott Benner 1:13:40
That's the difference between the South and the North? Because my wife put me in my spot pretty early on. I was like, oh, okay, is this where I belong? Oh, maybe that is the difference. Well, I'm moving to Arkansas, then, yeah, you should visit. It's really pretty here. Oh, no kidding. All right. Well, I'll put it on my list of to do's, is there a time of year I do not want to come? I mean,

Marissa 1:13:57
if you don't like hot weather, you probably don't want to be here, like August, maybe even September.

Scott Benner 1:14:03
Okay, all right, yeah, Arkansas, not in August or September.

Marissa 1:14:07
Yeah, like, right now it's 70 degrees, skies blue, some clouds, breezy. It's just beautiful today, but it's April. So and

Scott Benner 1:14:16
do we call ourselves Razorbacks? Or is that?

Marissa 1:14:18
Oh my gosh, yes. Razorbacks, Arkansas. Razorbacks, the Go hogs. That's what you say. Yeah, that's what I say. Well, that's what Arkansans say when I get there, Arkansas. Oh, I never thought of that. There are Kansans. Oh, you're an arkansan. Yeah, it's an Arkan we are Arkansans. I like you saying that. Okay, all right. Well, like Kansans, but Arkansans, oh, wait, so

Scott Benner 1:14:39
if I'm from Kansas, I'm a Kansan, I guess, Oh, you don't know. I

Marissa 1:14:44
don't really know, but we are our Kansans, so I'm not sure. That's a really good question. Well,

Speaker 1 1:14:48
I don't know. It doesn't matter. We'll be okay. All right, hold on one second. All right. Thanks. You.

Scott Benner 1:15:00
Dexcom sponsored this episode of The Juicebox Podcast. Learn more about the Dexcom g7 at my link. Dexcom.com/juicebox the podcast you just enjoyed was sponsored by tandem diabetes care. Learn more about tandems, newest automated insulin delivery system, tandem Moby, with control iq plus technology at tandem diabetes.com/juicebox there are links in the show notes and links at Juicebox podcast.com. Hey, thanks for listening all the way to the end. I really appreciate your loyalty and listenership. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of The Juicebox Podcast. Hey kids, listen up. You've made it to the end of the podcast. You must have enjoyed it. You know what else you might enjoy? The private Facebook group for the Juicebox Podcast. I know you're thinking, uh, Facebook, Scott, please. But no. Beautiful group, wonderful people, a fantastic community, Juicebox Podcast, type one diabetes on Facebook. Of course, if you have type two, are you touched by diabetes in any way? You're absolutely welcome. It's a private group, so you'll have to answer a couple of questions before you come in, but make sure you're not a bot or an evildoer. Then you're on your way. You'll be part of the family. The episode you just heard was professionally edited by wrong way recording, wrong wayrecording.com.

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