#1403 Kevin Costner
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Melissa initially planned to share a glucagon story, but she recently learned she may have cancer, so the conversation shifted to that.
Melissa is generally healthy but currently facing a cancer scare.
Her mother, a nurse, quickly recognized her diabetes symptoms and got her tested.
In high school, Melissa experienced seizures, treated with glucagon.
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Scott Benner 0:00
Melissa was set to share a wild glucagon story, but life had other plans. Diagnosed with type one diabetes in 1984 she survived three seizures that all happened on Friday the 13th, and now she's facing something even bigger.
Here we are back together again, friends for another episode of The Juicebox Podcast. 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 when you place your first order for AG, one, with my link, you'll get five free travel packs and a free year supply of vitamin D drink. Ag one.com/juice, box. Don't forget to save 40% off of your entire order at cozy earth.com. All you have to do is use the offer code juice box at checkout. That's Juicebox at checkout to save 40% at cozy earth.com. If you're newly diagnosed, check out the bold beginnings series. Find it at Juicebox podcast.com, up in the menu in the feature tab of the private Facebook group, or go into the audio app you're listening in right now and search for Juicebox Podcast. Bold beginnings. Juicebox is one word. Juicebox Podcast bold beginnings. This series is perfect for newly diagnosed people.
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/juice, box. Today's podcast is sponsored by the insulin pump that my daughter has been wearing since she was four years old, Omnipod. Omnipod.com/juice, box. You too can have the same insulin pump that my daughter has been wearing every day for 16 years.
Melissa 2:05
Hi. My name is Melissa. I was diagnosed in 1984 with type one diabetes, and excited to speak with you all on my experiences so far.
Scott Benner 2:16
Wow. 1984 Yes. Now when people here in 1984 they immediately think the book, right? Yeah, right. It's the it's the only thing that jumps into people's heads. But the book was written much earlier. Isn't that fascinating? Oh, much earlier. Yeah, yes. Now, how old were you in 1984 I was nine when you were diagnosed. Was it a shock to your family? Do you remember anything? Did they ever share any stories with you?
Melissa 2:42
It was a fairly big shock. Luckily, Mom was a nurse, so she recognized some of the signs and
Scott Benner 2:51
got me into be tested pretty quickly. Did you never go to a hospital? I did.
Melissa 2:57
I was tested through the primary care physician just with a quick urine test where mom worked, and then he immediately sent me to the pediatrician, who sent me to the hospital pretty
Scott Benner 3:09
quick, especially for the 80s. Now, here you are, 1984 type one diabetes. The people who are helping right? Doctors are like, Oh, things are so modern now. Oh, yeah, right. But you look back on that time and you think, oh my gosh, like, I don't usually ask this so soon, but how is your health now? Today,
Melissa 3:29
it's fairly good, no major complications, just like some proliferative retinopathy, non prolif, sorry, non proliferative. So it's been staying pretty stable. Other than that, going through a cancer scare right now, had a biopsy done yesterday. Oh,
Scott Benner 3:50
that's what you meant. So when we okay? So when we were, I don't know that, Melissa, we have to let people know that I didn't know that, because it sounds like I'm like, Oh, how about a book and everything? And they're like, oh, ladies, got cancer, and you're over here dicking around about a book. So you signed up for one completely different idea. But then, as we got on, you said, Look, I signed up to tell a glucagon story. But you know, I think you said the fan since then, and I'm willing to talk about anything, I didn't know what that meant. Usually. I figured that means you kicked a bum out of your house who was pretending to be your kid's father or something like that, but, but, oh my gosh, so Well, let me ask my questions, then I'll get back to this. Okay, okay, through your I mean, God, 94 2004 14 to 40 years diabetes, yep, in October, Wow, congratulations. Through those 40 years. Do you know what your a one Cs were like, is that how you track your health?
Melissa 4:42
Not really. I did track a one CS from the beginning, I don't know, probably eights or nines the first couple of years, then I got into that teenage rebellion stage and got up to thirteens at some point. But by the time I graduated high school. I was back down to high sevens. Okay, had my first seven zero as a freshman in college. Were
Scott Benner 5:08
you trying harder? Did care change? I didn't like the food. Was the food terrible? Food Not terrible? What was your first insulin? You weren't were you regular? NPH, I
Melissa 5:21
was regular. NPH, okay, and I was regular. NPH, up until I was on a
Scott Benner 5:25
pump, which was how much after your diagnosis I was put on a pump in 93 you were regular mph for nine years, yes. So even when faster acting insulins were available, you didn't change to them. Do you know why?
Melissa 5:42
I do not know. It was just never suggested
Scott Benner 5:45
that simple, Yep, yeah, and an eight or nine, A, 1c, for you, then wasn't terrible, right, correct, right? You're doing great. That kind of you got that stuff? Yeah, exactly. Here's Melissa. She's She's one of our star one of our star patients. She's so consistent in the eights and Bo and what was their goal back then? I wonder if I can find that out. ADA goal for a 1c in, let's say, 1987 see if our chat GPT knows that was still it was less than seven back then for most adults with diabetes, right? Okay, I
Melissa 6:28
think my doctors were just don't die.
Scott Benner 6:32
Well, lovely. Do you ever remember getting any actionable advice from them?
Melissa 6:38
No, I don't honestly think that my PD, I my pediatric indo, reminded me of a mad scientist when I went in to see him. So,
Scott Benner 6:46
oh, I had a English teacher like that. Tell me how
Melissa 6:50
he just had the hair that was white, hair that was all over the place, standing straight up, and I just never really connected with him. Interesting.
Scott Benner 7:00
Do you remember him trying? I remember
Melissa 7:03
as a 1011, year old, getting questions of, do you drink? Do you smoke? Are you sexually active?
Scott Benner 7:09
Oh, a playbook. Gotcha. Yeah. How about your parents? Were they involved?
Melissa 7:15
They were involved in that. They gave me the support I need it, but I was always the kid who I got it. Don't worry about it. So when it came to I want, I want to try something like, as far as ice cream sundae or something it was, you can try it, see how it goes. If you don't like your reply checkers, we'll know, do something different next time,
Scott Benner 7:39
what would you have really changed different, like, what did adjustments? What did adjustments? Oh, it wasn't like we would try insulin differently. It was we would try a different ice cream, or a different amount of ice cream, or something like that, right? Exactly I see. But they weren't like any they weren't mad scientists. They weren't like, trying to figure things out. No,
Melissa 7:59
Mom was a general nurse. I mean, she she did med surge for years, and then went into an Office, Office nursing. So she really just dealt with type twos at work. The type one kid was a little out of her wheelhouse.
Scott Benner 8:16
Interesting. Okay, so you keep these, you know, your a one. CS, the way you said you get to college, you don't like the food. It's great. Like, I don't like the food, by the way, where did where along this line? Did you need glucagon in high school? Okay, I think I can blend these two stories together. When I ask you about this, you had to use it a number of times. Is that correct?
Melissa 8:37
Yes, in high school, I used there were like between sophomore and senior year. There were four or five Friday the 13th, and of those, I went to school, one of them, that was the last one, and one of them was due I was out due to a car accident. Everything else was glucagon related.
Scott Benner 8:59
Are you trying to tell me, Melissa, that you had seizures only on Friday the 13th in high school. Yes. How is that possible? I have no idea. That's insane. All right. Now, look, you're an adult. Now I'm going to ask you to look back, right? You weren't like leaning into the Friday the 13th
Melissa 9:17
thing? No, it never occurred to me beforehand. It was after high school all finished, and actually the neighbor sent over a stuffed animal that Friday, like the day after the Friday the 13th that the ambulance didn't come to the
Scott Benner 9:32
house. Wait, wait, wait, wait, oh, oh, because they were like, congratulations on not calling an ambulance on Friday the 13th, exactly. Oh, my God.
Melissa 9:43
We lived in a small town in the middle of nowhere, so the neighbors were very observant.
Scott Benner 9:49
That's hilarious. I feel like they had to go to the store to buy the doll, like there was a whole thing that happened. They were like, oh, so for years in a row, you'd have an like, a god that's on a seizure. Or what would happen? I. My daughter is 20 years old. I can't even believe it. She was diagnosed with type one diabetes when she was two, and she put her first insulin pump on when she was four. That insulin pump was an Omnipod, and it's been an Omnipod every day since then. That's 16 straight years of wearing Omnipod. It's been a friend to us, and I believe it could be a friend to you, omnipod.com/juicebox, whether you get the Omnipod dash or the automation that's available with the Omnipod five, you are going to enjoy tubeless insulin pumping. You're going to be able to jump into a shower or a pool or a bathtub without taking off your pump. That's right, you will not have to disconnect to bathe with an Omnipod. You also won't have to disconnect to play a sport or to do anything where a regular tube pump has to come off. Arden has been wearing an Omnipod for 16 years. She knows other people that wear different pumps, and she has never once asked the question, should I be trying a different pump? Never once. Omnipod.com/juice box. Get a pump that you'll be happy with forever. You can manage diabetes confidently with the powerfully simple Dexcom g7 dexcom.com/juice box. 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/juice, box. Head over there. Now,
Melissa 12:09
a seizure. The first one was, I was what 15 so sophomore year, and apparently I got up from bed, sat at the kitchen table for breakfast and went into a seizure,
Scott Benner 12:21
no different than any other day, as far as you know, as far as I know, no. All right, well, hold on a second. In the Christian tradition, both Friday and the number 13 have separate negative connotations. Friday is considered unlucky because it's believed that Jesus Christ was crucified on a Friday. That's pretty hard on Fridays, but okay, a day no now known as Good Friday. Additionally, the number 13 is Hold on a second senior Inquisition. Wait, what else do you know? Hold on, number 13 is seen as unlucky because there were 13 people present at the Last Supper.
Melissa 12:56
Oh, okay. Well, there's also like the Spanish Inquisition all the
Scott Benner 13:01
like beheadings and stuff from so you've looked into this too. I'm guessing, well, my husband is
Melissa 13:09
a fanatic around crazy stuff that
Scott Benner 13:13
you're gonna say flake when you started, when you were like, I'm like,
Melissa 13:16
give me a hard time about being Christian. That's
Scott Benner 13:20
fun. So the last supper with Judas, of course, the betrayer of Jesus, being the 13th member to sit at the table. Now, another historical event often associated with superstition is the arrest of the Knights temple on Friday, October 13, 13 107 that's what you were talking
Melissa 13:37
about. That's what I was talking about. Sorry, wrong, thing. King Philip
Scott Benner 13:41
the you know, I'm not very good with Roman numerals, but it's an I and a V, which either means four or six. I don't know of France ordered the arrest of the Knights Templar, leading to their torture and execution. This event further cemented the day's association with misfortune. I mean, it associates with me, people's desire to do something unfortunate on a day that people already think about like that, but you can't make yourself have a seizure walk into breakfast. No, there, yeah, okay, all right. Did you think about it like it was a superstitious kind of, like vibe thing after the second time or the third time? No, not
Melissa 14:18
really. Because, like I said, there was the Friday the 13th in there that I missed that was due to a car accident. It was like two days before. So it wasn't actually on Friday the 13th. It was December 11 or something. So so that that
Scott Benner 14:33
one broke you free. You're like, Huh? If there was something to this Friday the 13th thing, I would have had my accident on Friday. That's all I like the way you think seizure happens. Somebody pulls out. I mean, what are we talking about? Like that? Is it even mom
Melissa 14:48
ran to the fridge. Actually, she tilted the head, made sure I didn't hit my head too hard, make sure I didn't choke on the tongue, and had dad get the glucagon out of the fridge. And. And went through the craziness of those old glucagon kits to inject
Scott Benner 15:04
me. Yeah, they bring you out of it. No,
Melissa 15:06
I don't remember anything until I woke up at the hospital, okay,
Scott Benner 15:10
while you were alive. So, yeah, good enough. Then, do you stay in the hospital long? Do you recall I was out by that night. Like, how did they talk about it back then? Because, like, if that happened now, you'd be like, Oh, okay, I see what happened here. I Bolus here for this, and that happened, and then maybe I had some extra but did they talk to you about it like that? Oh,
Melissa 15:31
I guess you're along at your NPH is, is acting too, too much. So we they, I think they backed off my nighttime NPH, after that a little
Scott Benner 15:40
bit. Do you recall if that was unsettling to you not to have an answer
Melissa 15:44
at the time? Now, I was just like, make it stop. How old are you at that point? The first one was in 15
Scott Benner 15:53
and then you had one the next year. I probably had
Melissa 15:56
two that year, and then one the following year, and won my senior year,
Scott Benner 16:01
and they used glucagon for you every time. Yes, did you have a different outcome from the glucagon? Did you ever not have to go to the hospital? For example?
Melissa 16:10
No, I always ended up in the emergency room. I just
Scott Benner 16:14
did an interview with somebody who used G, VO, hypo, pen at work for a seizure, and I said my follow up question was about, like, you know, going for medical care. And she was, now, I went back to work. She's like, she just went back to her desk and kept working. I was like, wow. Well,
Melissa 16:29
you know, when you're in your teens, I guess your parents are a little more cautious.
Scott Benner 16:34
Yeah, the first time it happened to Arden, she's a baby. She was like, two, and we obviously went to the hospital afterwards, but even while we were sitting in the emergency room, I remember my wife and I talking and saying, I don't feel like we need to be here well, but you didn't know any better. You know, I
Melissa 16:49
didn't know any better. But the time post college that I had a seizure, my parents did call the used glucagon, called the 911, and I refused the hospital because I didn't like the outcome. So okay, I didn't like the way I felt after I was talking to my mom about it last night, and she said, yeah, you just refused because you knew what happened, and you told them you knew what happened, and you just didn't want
Scott Benner 17:16
to go. When you say you knew what happened, what do you mean by that?
Melissa 17:18
That last one, it was after college graduation I was I worked a second, third shift, double with the job I was at, and I obviously didn't have the insulin down correctly before I went to bed. Okay?
Scott Benner 17:34
And then what happened when you got to the hospital that you didn't enjoy?
Melissa 17:38
I don't know for sure, because I don't remember testing for ketones. But I'm thinking I because I didn't have they weren't giving me any insulin because my blood sugar was so low. Oh, they I think I may have tipped over to DKA at some point because they had the nausea, the vomiting, the super bad headache.
Scott Benner 17:57
So you think that the the hospital gave you eka by restricting your insulin, correct, and that's why you don't want to go back. I got you Okay? Gosh, I don't want to, like, tease this out at all, like, what is your current health situation?
Melissa 18:13
I felt some lumps in my neck a few months ago, so they've actually been looking at my thyroid over the last few years because I have a couple of nodules, and my dad actually passed away from medullary thyroid cancer.
Scott Benner 18:32
So how long ago? 1617,
Melissa 18:35
years ago.
Scott Benner 18:35
Okay. How old was he? He was 64 and you are how old I'll be 49 okay, and you have Hashimotos. Like, diagnosed?
Melissa 18:44
No, no. They just, they felt something in my thyroid. So they did a ultrasound, they found some the nodules. Yeah, they found nodules, but they were too small to to
Scott Benner 18:55
biopsy. But then, so
Melissa 18:59
I've been going, like every one to two years for follow ups on that, and about a month before my primary care annual exam, I felt some lumps on the right side of my neck, up over around the jaw line. So I brought that up to her, just because those that's actually where they found how they diagnosed dad's thyroid cancer was the lymph nodes,
Scott Benner 19:28
so she did a basic
Melissa 19:31
ultrasound of the of the lumps in the neck, and that those came back un confirmed as to what They were. So they recommended the CT scan. So I don't recommend going for a CT scan on the day, after a holiday and before, before a weekend, because when the results come back odd, you start getting crazy messages and you can't do anything on them. Last Monday, we. Got the referral to go to the ENT, got the went to the ENT yesterday, had my neck biopsied for
Scott Benner 20:06
three lymph nodes. Okay,
Melissa 20:09
so no idea what they are. It may be cancer. It may not. It's still in the craziness, but obviously it's playing some havoc with the stress and blood
Scott Benner 20:18
sugar. Oh, holy hell, Melissa, this is last week. Yeah,
Melissa 20:23
oh, this has all been in the last couple weeks, and the biopsy was yesterday. Oh,
Scott Benner 20:28
my God. So right now you are waiting for the results of a biopsy. Yes, oh, I'm sorry. Oh, well, I didn't know
Melissa 20:37
there's nothing you can do. It's just a waiting game.
Scott Benner 20:39
And oh, Melissa, listen, I'm sorry. Like, you know, in the in the human way, like I didn't actually do anything wrong. Are you freaking out?
Melissa 20:47
I'm freaking out, and I'm seeing it in my blood sugars. Obviously, how much the day after the the CT scan was probably the worst, because my endo actually got results before I got them in my chart. And she's not even in the system where the the where the CT scan was done, and she called me that Friday saying, Oh yeah, you're going to have to go for a fine needle aspiration on the lymph node, and she's not in the system. So how did she get the results? She wasn't the doctor who ordered it. So then I had to wait until Saturday before I got something in my chart saying what the results were, and the first thing they sent was a note saying, contact your PCP as soon as possible, because we found abnormalities, and our radiologists are trained to look for things that aren't necessarily what you were expecting to for them to look for. And then about an hour and a half later, the CT results came into my chart, so I got to read all the craziness of what they were thinking.
Scott Benner 21:53
Oh my gosh. And what did they make? Any pronouncements they said
Melissa 21:58
that the lymph nodes were not a focal point. So if it is cancer, probably metastatic from something either skin or head and neck.
Scott Benner 22:09
Okay, my God, how much other if any cancer is in your family line.
Melissa 22:14
My maternal grandfather had lung cancer, but he smoked
Scott Benner 22:20
up until he was probably 60 years old. Did he smoke through the cancer? No, he was, he was 85 when he passed away. Oh, I see. Okay. Well, he's not a bad run for having lung cancer, that's right. So, oh, my God. So wait, do you have kids? I do not you have you got that? The boy that likes to make fun of you, right? Yes, okay, no kids on purpose. No kids on purpose. Okay, because you hate children. Tell people,
Melissa 22:49
I do not hate children. My husband hates children. Okay,
Scott Benner 22:53
I was expecting you to say no, to go to that completely upsetting for you. The no kids, yeah, that he hates Yeah.
Melissa 23:00
We I went into I went we came into the marriage knowing that there were no expectations for children.
Scott Benner 23:05
Okay, all right, fair enough. I also
Melissa 23:09
had the history of seizures, so I was kind of scared for the diabetes. I wasn't sure what was in the future.
Scott Benner 23:16
When's the last time you had a seizure from your blood sugar? Though, probably when I was working second and third shifts, but years ago, how many years? 20? Oh, okay, you have a more modern glucagon now I imagine I do have G, VO, thank you.
Melissa 23:32
And I am now on a pump. I've been on a pump since, oh, my top story, that pump story, I got Wait, hold
Scott Benner 23:39
on a second, Melissa, you just distracted yourself. That was fascinating. Just let's get to this part first. If there's any truth to this next statement, please just agree with a lot of jubilation. I'm the reason you have jivo. Kaipo pen, absolutely. Okay. Good. Thank you. I just want them
Melissa 24:01
to hear that now. Um, Dexcom, oh,
Scott Benner 24:03
really, please list all the other sponsors who should stay with me.
Melissa 24:09
Sorry, I'm not on Omnipod. I'm on tandem. That's
Scott Benner 24:13
all right. Well, maybe we could get tandem. Do I have anything to do with that? My Facebook,
Melissa 24:18
Medtronic, Medtronic forced my hand into tandem.
Scott Benner 24:22
Oh, Medtronic guys. Okay, well, Medtronic the sponsor, so I know, yeah,
Melissa 24:27
I did stay with Medtronic for 25
Scott Benner 24:31
plus years. That's a long time. Were you happy with it through that time? Yeah, I
Melissa 24:36
think the biggest reason I switched from Medtronic was my reaction to their sensor.
Scott Benner 24:42
What was the reaction? Oh, my God, don't stab me with that.
Melissa 24:46
No, it was. It was only a seven day sensor, and I was lucky to get five days out of it and and massive skin irritation pulling off of skin when you removed the sensor. Holy,
Scott Benner 24:57
hell, like in a horror movie. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, they're about to release their new sensor, which I
Melissa 25:03
know I my doctor wants me to switch over from tandem to Medtronic when, but I'm re I'm holding off until that newest sensor comes out.
Scott Benner 25:14
So that's super interesting. I know people are like, Scott, you're in the middle of asking her about cancer, but you know, usually I get away from the diabetes stuff to talk about other stuff. And this time you're like, let me talk about my possibilities for cancer. And I'm like, wait a minute. What about this pump
Melissa 25:29
situation? I started it because I said I have a pump story. Oh,
Scott Benner 25:32
yo. You distracted me and yourself. Why does your doctor want you just I mean, are you not having success with tandem? And what is that? G7 or g6 actually,
Melissa 25:41
I'm on my first g7 right now. Okay, I am having success my last a 1c, was a
Scott Benner 25:49
six, two. What the hell are we switching for?
Melissa 25:51
She thinks that I put too much energy into some corrections. So she likes the idea of the lower target rate on the Medtronic at 100 for me, so that I have less mental
Scott Benner 26:04
distraction. Do you feel distracted at times? You do. I mean, did you bring this up to her, or did she tell you this is how you felt?
Melissa 26:13
I had gone to a JDRF thing.
Scott Benner 26:18
I think it's called Breakthrough. Wait, what do they call it now? Break
Melissa 26:21
break through. T, 1d Yeah, or T, 1d break through. They might
Scott Benner 26:24
have wanted to workshop that another five minutes, but okay, yeah, I can't remember it. I said JDRF to somebody in a recording yesterday, and they were like, break through. T, 1d, and I was like, Don't look for me to understand that anytime soon. Okay, so you went to an event. I'm sorry.
Melissa 26:37
And I, I was just kind of going through the vendors, and talked to somebody from from Medtronic, and we were talking about the new sensor and how it was going to look a little similar to the g7 and what the results were in Europe, and also with the Medtronic, with the lower target target, she went and gave me the information, and then I was going to, like, a week later, I had an endo appointment, and she's like, What do you think? I'm like, actually, I was just going to talk to you about that. I have another couple six to nine months on tandem before my warranty is up, but I'm thinking about it. She's like, okay, like, I'd like to try the sensor when it comes out and gets FDA approval before I commit. And that, I think that's going to be the biggest sticking point is, how is, how I react to the sensor?
Scott Benner 27:35
Yeah, well, yeah, but you're gonna give it a try. Yeah. You have any idea? I'm trying to find out if they have approval yet for their new
Melissa 27:45
I think they're forecasting like November, December.
Scott Benner 27:50
Medtronic has received FDA approval for their latest continuous glucose monitor system, the mini med seven, ADG. We know that that was 2023, this is not what I wanted to know. I've been let down by our by our overlords. Should I say, No, Overlord, that's not what I'm asking you. Do you think it would I don't know. Let's try that real quick. No, Overlord, I want to know about the newest CGM.
Melissa 28:18
I know it has European approval, but hasn't been approved in the US yet. Oh,
Scott Benner 28:23
it found it. It doesn't mention that. I called it an overlord though. Metronics latest CGM system is the sim player sync trademark, which is designed to work with the MiniMed 780 G, which I do hear good things about from people. The simplara Sync trademark is a disposable all in one CGM that eliminates the need for finger sticks and over tapes, really offering a simpler and faster, two step insertion process that takes less than 10 seconds. Okay, it's received its CE mark approval in Europe and expected to be available in Europe, blah, blah, which it is, we know in the summer of 2024 however, it has not yet received FDA approval for the use, and I guess it's in the in the works right now. As far as, yes, yeah, this is concerned, okay, also, what you told me, so didn't really need that at all. But you like the Medtronic, you'd like to go back to it. I
Melissa 29:16
wouldn't have an especially if it targets 100 I would be ecstatic to go back.
Scott Benner 29:21
Is it that simple? I don't mean to cut you off, but like, Jenny, always when I asked Jenny, like, if you could change the world, Jenny, what would you change? She was always like, I never understand why someone doesn't make an insulin pump that has the best features from all of the insulin pumps. I
Melissa 29:35
don't like the touch screen on the tandem. I my fingers get clumsy. I'm getting older, I find it somewhat cumbersome, actually, sometimes, because you get out of the shower, and I don't mean to, I take it off pause after I get out of the shower, but I don't mean to initiate a Bolus, and next thing I know, I'm getting a Bolus incomplete. Alert. That's annoying. So Okay. And I also missed the old just fill up the syringe and throw it in the pump, as opposed to fill out the syringe, insert it into the cartridge, and then it's less cumbersome than me.
Scott Benner 30:11
Hey, listen, what's good for you is what's best, obviously, but I love that you're like, it's my big, dumb old fingers. And so I have to tell you I was running behind for this today with you, and I wanted to send you a text to let you know I was running behind. I hope you got that.
Melissa 30:29
I did about 30 seconds before you hopped on. I sent you a thumbs up. Okay,
Scott Benner 30:35
cool. Just for everyone to know, if you've ever received a text from me, it's from a Benner phone, and please, I don't ever look at it. I had to unlock the phone and and I only have like, a four number, like code on it, but I was, I didn't my glasses on because I'm old, and I'm like, I don't know if you've ever had this before, like, you type too many numbers, but you got a wrong one in there. So it's like, not only did you get the code wrong, but now there's an inserted number already, uh huh, and then I go back to the beginning and start over, and so, um, I get it wrong three times in a row or whatever, and the phone's like, I'm sorry. Like, you know, try again in one minute. I was like, what the and I felt, I felt exactly the way you described. Like, Oh my god, I'm so dumb and big and lumpy and old. I couldn't put numbers into the front of a phone. It's exactly how I felt. I just put it down. I styled my hair and said while I waited for the minute, I could feel myself getting irritated. But you know, if I'm messing with a pump every day and I'm having that experience, I'd switch to listen Medtronic again. I think, you know this stuff is all. It runs in a big cycle, right? So Medtronic, Medtronic comes out first with their algorithm. And fair enough, it was on that old CGM people don't seem to enjoy and the algorithm itself was like a first shot. And people are like, Ah, it's not great. And then, you know what happens next? Is it like, is it basal IQ? Maybe comes next. And then, you know, like, people are like, Oh, okay, it shuts off your basal. If you're gonna get low, that's nice. And, you know, then all of a sudden they have control IQ. And now there's Omnipod five, and then there's islet and, like, all this stuff starts piling up. Meanwhile, Medtronic has been working on a new CGM, and they obviously heard people say things like, Don't stab me with that, please. And like, you know, like, try to get that worked out. But I don't know that we ever take the time to and I break Medtronic balls all the time here. Like, even though they're a sponsor, I still will talk about this stuff. They know that it's, you know, I don't think it's a big secret to them, and it's not a big secret to anybody's used it. But they went back and said, Hey, let's fix this. Yeah, now they're going to be a little ahead again, because they're listening to what people don't like about other systems. And they probably said, it seems important to have a lower target. We should probably work on that.
Melissa 32:53
Well, you know, I can't, I can't bad math too much, because they did send me to California for a couple days. Well, that
Scott Benner 32:59
is not, that's not okay. That's that shouldn't be like that. Why didn't you say you don't speak well about people because they're paying you.
Melissa 33:09
But I got to, I got the toy there facility. They actually interviewed me, and I showed them what, what their sensor did to me.
Scott Benner 33:14
Oh, oh. They brought you out to be of like, to show you something that you didn't What did it do to you? They're like, right now, the people who pay me are like, don't ask her what it did. But I'm asking, what did it do?
Melissa 33:27
Just, just the the pulling off of the skin and the actually, like, quarter size bumps under the CGM site.
Scott Benner 33:33
They actually wanted to see it in person. No, it wasn't
Melissa 33:37
so much that they wanted to see that in person. They had some contest going with their first with their first algorithm pump, which I was on, I just kept entering all my blood sugars and putting in the information, and I'm thinking, I'll never win a win a prize. And I got the grand prize for for us, it was a all expenses trip to California for a few days and a fishing trip. And
Scott Benner 34:05
finally, this diabetes thing is paying off. I hear you Exactly, exactly. Well, okay, well, lovely, very nice Medtronic. I know no one's ever taken me fishing, but that's neither here nor there, by the way, if someone offers to take me fishing, like if they heard that just now, like we could take, please, don't I don't want to go. Leave me alone. They
Melissa 34:23
had a couple of different excursions. We picked the one that would fit my husband best, so he would go happily. This
Scott Benner 34:29
guy, he gets to pick the kids. And the excursion he does puts up with my butt. Wait, what's wrong with your butt? Nothing. He just puts up with me. Oh, you. I thought you. I thought you were gonna tell me, look, I have a very strange but, and he puts up with it. But that was not what you were saying. Gotcha.
Melissa 34:47
He just puts up with me. Oh, my God,
Scott Benner 34:49
well please, by the way, I don't want you thinking about yourself that way. What are you doing that needs to be put up with
Melissa 34:56
like I said, I we, we've been married for a while, and. He was around when I did have some of my seizures on second and third shift. So he saved my my life a couple times. And, well, it's lovely, yeah, but
Scott Benner 35:09
you feel like you owe him. He stopped me alive. Hey, listen, if my wife's listening, it'd be nice if you acted like you owed me once in a while. You know what I mean? Just like, I'm not saying every day or anything like that, but maybe, like, once a year, my birthday or something to be, you know, take Melissa's attitude.
Melissa 35:24
We don't do birthdays. We don't do Christmas. We just, we give each other a hand up when we can. Oh, very
Scott Benner 35:29
nice. Okay, well, and I don't need it on a certain day. Kelly, if you're listening, just, you know, hear what Melissa's saying. See how nice it sounds. I'm just, I'm, well, I'm not teasing I probably would like that. I don't expect it is what I'm getting at. Oh, my God. All right, so wait a minute, so you might change back to I confused myself too. You might change back to Medtronic, but what's your insulin pump story? Okay, so
Melissa 35:54
way back in 93 when I was put on an insulin pump, it was like three days in the hospital to get me regulated.
Scott Benner 36:00
That's how they used to do it, right? They'd put you in the hospital to get your pump set up. No kidding, okay,
Melissa 36:05
and my roommate was also being put on an insulin pump,
Scott Benner 36:08
and you're still best friends. I, actually,
Melissa 36:11
I, I have no idea who she is.
Speaker 1 36:15
That was the pump story. Sorry, 17 year old.
Scott Benner 36:21
All right, I thought that was the pop story. Okay, go ahead. So
Melissa 36:24
yeah, you know, just the craziness of how things have changed, where now you maybe have, okay, you get a two hour training with a trainer, and that's it. This was three days off and on with a trainer in a hospital where you don't have your normal activity, so they have no idea what's going on. Which is better? I like the more current.
Scott Benner 36:45
Yeah, makes sense to me. First, the thing they do is they make you sedentary. Yeah, exactly, yeah. What if you're an active person, and now they're setting up your insulin for you sitting around, then you go back to being active again, and boom, drop through the floor low. Yeah.
Melissa 36:59
What do you expect for a 17 year old to be sitting around in bed?
Scott Benner 37:04
Is that not so obvious when they said to themselves, when the first person was like, You know what? There's a lot to train here. Well, bring him into the hospital for a couple days, because this is where the staff is. Because I'm assuming that's what happened. How come the next thought wasn't, uh, what if they're track stars and we're bringing them in and stopping them from running for three days. Do they not know how insulin works?
Melissa 37:24
I don't know if the stuff, if knowledge has changed so much in the past 25 years or what, but
Scott Benner 37:30
I don't know interesting. I mean, it's very interesting. If that your whole story, that they put you in the hospital,
Melissa 37:36
yeah, they, I've never heard anybody else say that they've been in the hospital for being put on a pump.
Scott Benner 37:41
All right, Melissa, listen, I don't love that story. I mean, I felt like something exciting was gonna happen, kind of boring, but nothing happened. Oh, geez, you didn't like you were 17. You didn't break out and steal drugs or anything in the hospital or find a boy your age, and nothing like this at all.
Melissa 37:57
Nah, I got to watch my first pay per view while I was in there.
Scott Benner 38:00
Damn year old. God, damn year old. I know
Melissa 38:05
there wasn't much going on on New Year's Eve.
Scott Benner 38:08
Jesus Christ, wait, they put you in there on New Year's Eve.
Melissa 38:11
A couple I got out on New Year's Day. What a
Scott Benner 38:15
bummer. No, yeah, jeez, that's that. That's the worst part of the story to me. Hey, what was the pay per view? What did you watch JFK with Kevin Costner, yep. Hmm. Why you were 17? Why did you pick that one?
Melissa 38:35
There was nothing else that looked like it was good and it was something my parents would approve of. Were
Scott Benner 38:40
they there for it? Oh, you had to, like, you had to call your parents at home and say, I'd like to pay for a movie on the television. Is it okay if I watch JFK? Yeah, no kidding,
Melissa 38:54
to visit, and I asked them, but yeah,
Scott Benner 38:57
my kid called me an asshole the other day. That's incredible. It was playful and loving and all. And I believe my other kids said to me the other day, well, that's when I'm talking to you idiots. You're like dialing the phone the ring and like the mother, Mama, hello. I was wondering, can I spend some of the family's gold coins on. JFK, do you want to watch? JFK, no, I just thought it would be something you would agree to about that. Well,
Melissa 39:29
nothing else really appealed to me. I don't even remember what else was on, but all right,
Scott Benner 39:34
are you a big Kevin Costner fan to this day? Depends
Melissa 39:37
on what it is, Skippy Field of Dreams, and I'll sit down and watch it. JFK, I'll sit down and watch it. But some of the other stuff, not necessarily. You didn't like Yellowstone. I've never watched yellow stone.
Scott Benner 39:47
What in the hell, Melissa? What have you been doing? It's too late now. He's off the show. I don't know how they're gonna get rid of him, but he's not
Melissa 39:54
there anymore. I can always stream from the beginning. Wait a minute,
Scott Benner 39:57
very quickly, and I'm sorry to do this to other people. What Kevin Costner, movies are no go. I mean, water world. I Yeah, that that was a man, the postman. No, right? Yeah, garbage. Let's say it's just, let's say garbage. What else like do you have, like, a did you go see her? I
Melissa 40:15
don't have a list. You name them. I can tell you Yay or Nay, but really, definitely, I will watch Field of Dreams, hands down and and JFK,
Scott Benner 40:24
are these movies that you've all you've seen, and now you know what you think of or you've you've dismissed some of them because you're like, No, no,
Melissa 40:33
dismiss some of them just based on on description. Okay,
Scott Benner 40:37
really. I like, yeah, okay, all right. I want to remind people that when I was a child, the cable company gave us a box that went on top of our television that we would change channels with. It was revolutionary at the time. It just had a dial on the front and you just clicked it, and it had these, like, never ending numbers, and you could click around. Now, my father paid the cable guy to go climb up the pole and take out the blocker that blocked all the pay channels. So he literally found a guy to climb a pole. And back then, there was, like, a physical thing in the line that stopped you from getting certain signals. So he paid a guy to climb the pole, take the block route. So we got, like, HBO and like all this stuff, we were very poor, so this was pretty fantastic for us. But if you took a credit card size thing, I'm not lying to you, and slid it through the top, between the face of the box and the top of the box, there was a gap, and you slid that credit card thing in there, you could get soft core porn. Remember, I was a child, you had to go to a certain number and then go halfway between that number and the other one and pause it there, and then slide the thing in, and then you would see blurry boobs moving around. They weren't clear pictures. I want you to be 100% clear. And we thought that was like the greatest thing that ever
Melissa 41:58
happened. Well, at least you had cable.
Scott Benner 42:01
That's your response. I love that. All right, ready? We're gonna go rapid fire. Kevin Costner, movies, you just go yes or no, I'm going all the way back to the beginning. Sizzle Beach, USA. Never heard of it. Chasing dreams, never heard he was a night shift. Never heard of it. Francis, never heard of it. Stacy's nights. Never heard of it. All right, let's do three in a row, table for five testament. Shadows run black, nah. Never heard of them. Fandango, American Flyer, Fandango is okay, okay. Silverado, okay. Untouchables, that one was pretty good. No way out, no bull dorm, that was good. Field of Dreams. Absolutely revenge. Never heard of it. Dances with Wolves. I like that one. Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves. Like that one. JFK, absolutely the bodyguard. And everyone's iffy. A perfect world to what was the bodyguard to what? Too mushy. Okay, a perfect world. Never heard of it. Wyatt, Earp, that was good. The war. Never heard of it. Water World, no tin cup. The postman message in a bottle. Say no to all three, right now, go ahead.
Melissa 43:18
No, no, no, no, for
Scott Benner 43:20
love of the game. Haven't seen it? 13 days. No 3000 miles to Graceland or dragonfly. 3000 miles to Graceland. You liked open range? Never heard of it. I am a big fan of open range. The Upside of Anger. Rumor has it, The Guardian, Mr. Brooks, swing votes, no to all of them. I agree. All right, now we're getting to the end. Now, the company Man, Man of Steel. Oh, the company man. I haven't heard of that one, me either. Man of Steel. He was Superman's dad, right? I do like Superman. I didn't like that one. Okay, all right. Jack Ryan shadow recruit. He's pretty good in Jack Ryan movies, three days to kill, Draft Day, black or white. Never heard of him? McFarland, USA criminal, no. All right, here's a movie I really enjoyed, Hidden Figures. That was good. Molly's game. They haven't heard of it. It's a good movie. All right, let's say, let him go. We don't know. All right, okay, I stopped there, and then horizon just came out. But apparently, from what I read, he and his wife and three other people went and saw it. But I wanted to see it, but I don't know what to tell you. All right. So, so, Kevin Costner, you're saying, yeah, so it didn't turn you into a Kevin Costner fan. No, but it didn't turn you off of Kevin Costner Exactly. The reason I went all through this is because when Arden was diagnosed, we had this portable DVD player, and she watched the same movie over and over again on the portable DVD player. Or in the hospital sky high. Do you know the film? I do not. It's a, like a Disney kind of superhero thing. Okay, I don't think it was a Disney movie, though, but it had that vibe. Kurt Russell, oh. Kelly Preston, the departed Kelly Preston was in it anyway. She watched it over and over and over again. She loves the movie. My wife hates it. My wife has this like visceral reaction to the movie, like it takes her back to the hospital, and she really doesn't like it.
Melissa 45:31
Well, you know, it wasn't a diagnosis thing. It was just something to kill time for something that I wanted anyway. So I guess there's no bad memories with it. I didn't watch it over and over and over again. It was a one time three hours. Well, yeah,
Scott Benner 45:45
you had to pay for it. If you wanted to start it over, you had to pay again. All right, just to fill out this part, what is your favorite movie? Oh, gosh, what's a great watch? Many movies really, do you watch television? I watch television, but it's if you and what I watch, what do you do with your free time? I'll read, reading. Oh, books. Yes, so much reading. I don't enjoy it. I'll tell you that I don't like the sitting around part. I don't know why I don't like reading. I'm just I'm such a bad reader. When I was doing when I was doing press for my book that I wrote, The PR guy pulled me aside, and he goes, Stop mentioning that you don't read. And I was like, okay, like, but I don't I'm like, isn't it more impressive that I don't read and I wrote a book. And he's like, I see how you're thinking, but that is not what people are going to hear. And I was like, Okay, fine. Nevertheless,
Speaker 2 46:39
I did audio books, right? Yeah, that makes
Scott Benner 46:43
more sense. Let somebody talk it to me into my ears. So tell me right now, like I feel like I'm almost distracting you today, like I feel like I'm part of like the good work that is you not having to pay attention to the fact that you're waiting for results on something. How long is it going to take to get the results? Like, when do you get everything they
Melissa 47:01
said, up
Scott Benner 47:02
to a week a week. Yeah, holy, you and your husband have spoken about this. Yeah. What's our level of concern? Is he like, doing crunches trying to get back into dating weight? Or like, is like, are you guys, like, it'll be okay? Or like, dating, wait, wait, what'd you say
Melissa 47:20
he's too lazy to try doing crunches to get back into late dating week? I got, I got some insurance premiums yesterday, and I looked at him and said, Oh, I guess I should definitely play pay these today, huh? Or before they're due. But is that working? I don't let it lapse, yeah.
Scott Benner 47:35
Is that where you're I mean, I guess I'm being serious. And I want to ask you, like, what's this, like, this spot right here. What does it feel like?
Melissa 47:43
I think the fact that they were jumping so much this week or last week, when the results came in, like I had, I saw I got the results from my chart. So Monday afternoon, I called an ENT to get a biopsy, and it was originally scheduled for August, so that was really because they pushed crazy. Yeah, so my doctor actually called the next on Tuesday. She called me on Tuesday and was trying to go over everything, and she's like, I'm gonna send an urgent referral for ENT and oncology. And if you don't need oncology, we can cancel, but I you definitely need the ENT. So I told her I had it in August, and she's like, I'm glad you got it within a month, but let's see if we can get something sooner. And yeah, it was a month sooner. Or so, so
Scott Benner 48:41
that that startles you a little bit, because whatever they saw, they were like, yeah, we can. We'll squeeze her in. Yeah, no, that makes sense. But
Melissa 48:48
the EMT yesterday said, Well, it's only three nodules, so it's not terrible. So I don't know. I guess I'm just kind of, did
Scott Benner 48:57
they give you any idea about what steps are like if it's not cancer, what is it? If it is cancer, what do you do? No, no, just hey, go home and
Melissa 49:06
they can't. They said, Yeah, they can't tell me prognosis or what treatment will be until they type it. The ENT yesterday mentioned lymphoma, which kind of scared me a little more than some of the skin cancer type stuff, yeah, but
Scott Benner 49:22
I don't know, we'll see, wow, this such just a, it's like an, what is the word I'm looking for? Like, it's, there's nothing to do, yeah? And so what are you doing? Are you keeping yourself busy, or are you actually, like thinking about it and making yourself upset?
Melissa 49:39
Fourth of July weekend, I was really getting myself upset, but since I you know, today is the first work day that I've had off since everything started, so I'm probably going to be a little more uptight, but I do have a meeting this afternoon, so that'll take my mind off. It a little bit. Yeah, so we'll see you've
Scott Benner 50:01
been talking to family. I heard you say you were speaking to your mom. Do you usually speak to your mom? Oh,
Melissa 50:05
yeah, I my mom knows everything that's going on. I let one of my brothers know because I kind of nervous around my nieces. I don't I've got a trip coming up to see them next month, and I don't want to say something wrong in front of them, so kind of
Scott Benner 50:22
talk it through with your brother first. Yeah, what was his reaction? He's
Melissa 50:27
concerned. He's like, let me know what I can do. We may be making it. We may be making the trip instead of you, but he's like, we'll we'll deal with the kids and what happens? Happens?
Scott Benner 50:39
What about your mother? How old is she now? She let's see. Sorry, you have to do the mental math. You're fine. 77 and she lost her husband like 15 years ago to something that's scarily sounding like what's happening to you. So how did she respond?
Melissa 50:58
She's nervous. She's let me know if I need to make a fight up. That's her response to everything. Let me know if you need me to fly up.
Scott Benner 51:06
Can she fly 77
Melissa 51:09
she can is she? She chooses to fly as since dad passed, she's been a world traveler. She's been to on an African safari to Greece,
Scott Benner 51:19
all over. Oh, my. She's like, Oh, this guy's finally gone. I can go do some stuff.
Melissa 51:25
They did some trips together.
Scott Benner 51:27
Okay, good, yeah. So right now, it's a lot about, like, what can I do for you? Tell me what to do, yeah? I mean, it's a feeling of of helplessness for everybody, right? Yeah, you're the only one who has to lay on the other layer of like, you know the rest of it, although it's not true, I guess people who love you start to imagine the world you know, with and without you, and that's terrible, because you're thinking about the same thing. Great. How about your husband? Is he like being goofy? Is he doing like, Boy stuff and like, acting silly, like it's a big or is he very serious about it?
Melissa 52:05
He's kind of take it as it comes. Type guy. Since we've been married, both of our fathers have passed away. His mom's passed away, his sisters passed away, his brothers passed away, so we've dealt with loss. So he's just kind of, we'll see. We'll take it as it comes. I'm so sorry.
Scott Benner 52:22
First of all, I don't know if I've said this yet, but I'm sorry you're going through this. It's, you know, obviously horrible. And I hope you get a fantastic outcome. I hope they're like, Oh my God, you have bumps. Those are just bumps. Yeah, well, just, well, just, do you like them? Or you can keep them if you want them. But my real question about this is because you've a couple of times talked about living in a smaller place, right? Like, I don't know where you are geographically. I'm not really asking you to tell me, but are you in the best place to have cancer dealt with?
Melissa 52:52
I am near a very good hospital system, excellent. I'm
Scott Benner 52:57
glad. Like, I'm a bit of a snob. I live on the east coast, like, so I live around some of the, like, best cancer centers and, like, you know, like that exist. Like, so is it good for your area, or is it good it's nationally ranked? That's what I want to hear. Okay, great. And then we're gonna go in there and get a plan together and enact the plan and go correct so your life could, like be a whirlwind in a week. Yeah. What happens if treatment impacts your employment? Are you looking at how to take medical leave and stuff like that?
Melissa 53:35
I have spoken with our company nurse. Our company is amazing because, well, our site of the company is amazing because we have like, four or five type ones on site, and the company nurse is aware of everything that's going on, as far as that goes. And I spoke with her, and here's what we offer. We offer FMLA concurrent with a short term disability, and the short term disability goes up to six months, and then after that, you long term disability kicks in for another six months. So
Scott Benner 54:10
you could possibly have a year covered where you can get some side of an income. That's that's good to know. I mean, as soon you know the company nurse because of type one, you've probably had interactions with her. You literally have to walk into an office and say, Hey, Becky. I'm finding out right now, but it's possible I might have cancer.
Melissa 54:31
Yeah, yeah, just because I know personally, they've gone she's gone through
Scott Benner 54:36
it with other people, some other people, right? But I mean, for you, you're having to tell your brother and your mother and your husband and the nurse and like, I'm trying to figure out what it's like to walk into a room and have to say something kind of so, you know, heavy to
Melissa 54:55
somebody I started it with. Can I make an appointment to talk to you about. FMLA, it was an email. FMLA, they're looking at a possible cancer diagnosis. Everything's still in in testing stages. They know it's all in testing. They they know nothing. So she came in, she I walked into the appointment, and she was just there as a ear to listen.
More than anything. How about for you, though it was
nice just to get it off my chest, because there's some things you don't want to say to people. So I was a little less guarded, I
Scott Benner 55:31
guess, okay, that was kind of the thing I was wondering, like, is it cathartic just to say it out loud? It is it is okay, because it feels less insane every time you say it, yeah, okay to Don't bottle it up. Exactly, okay. That's what I was wondering. Because almost like, you know, do you remember being like, I don't know, like you're young, and something happens to you and you just, you feel weird, but you like, you ever have a friend who, like, breaks up and they're like, with somebody, and then they run around telling everybody their sad breakup story? I thought, story 1000 times, and then you realize they're just trying to, like, work through it, yeah, yeah. It almost felt like, and I feel like I'm doing that honestly. That's kind of what it felt like to me, and that's what I was wondering about. Like, are you basically, like, on a like, hey, Melissa, may or may not have Tor, but so that you can make yourself not right with it, but maybe you know, right. Wow, yep. Did you ever have anything as this series happened to you? Personally? To me? Personally? No, no, this is your first time. Well, oh,
Melissa 56:37
I guess there was the crazy head scare when I was having the migraines a year after my dad passed away, and they came back with an MRI. And while I was in the MRI, saw the technicians jump up and sent me to the neurosurgeon
Scott Benner 56:51
from that and what was that? It was just
Melissa 56:55
ended up being that my genes mutated so that the bone doesn't reform correctly in the base of my skull.
Scott Benner 57:04
Oh, okay, but it looked odd on the MRI. Yeah, I gotcha. Well, that was good news. You're like, oh, is it just, is it just my mutation? That's fantastic. Thank you. Yeah. Are you growing something like a, like a reverse horn, or anything like that. Or did they not say actually,
Melissa 57:24
it was a lack of growing bone.
Scott Benner 57:26
Oh, oh, like a gap. No kidding,
Melissa 57:29
yeah, it looks like my skull has osteoporosis. Basically, I have a lump
Scott Benner 57:33
on the back of my head, like on my skull that I've had my entire life. And now this is crazy, but now that I've lost weight, my head has gotten smaller, and it's now obvious where it wasn't before. And I was sitting with Arden the other day, and she just kind of like, she was like, scratching the back of my head, and she goes, what is on your head? And I was like, I was like, Oh, that's my skull. It's always been there. I said. I told her. I said, my brain got bigger and it needed to go somewhere. So it had to make, like, a little bubble for it to go for it to go into. But it's so crazy that, like, of all the weird things, like, I wonder how many people's skulls have weird little malformations, I guess is what I was wondering. But all right, okay, so what do I do for you? I mean, we're like, at the end of our thing, like, I'll ask you, like, did we talk about everything you want to talk about? I want to make sure I didn't skip anything for you. But like, is there something like, I know there's something great content. Scott, that's it. I just have to make a podcast. Oh, okay, I can do this.
Melissa 58:33
There are so many days I end up really and I'll be at work listening on my earbuds, and just enjoy the stories, or I'll be running a test, and I have tears forming in my eyes and I can't look at anybody based on the story, but the content is great. You you always have the great personality. Go with it. And I love the community. I'm glad
Scott Benner 58:57
you're in the private Facebook group. I am good. Good. Well, if you need any support, that might be a place to go. Yeah, I know it'd be a weird thing, though, to tell would it be a weird thing to tell a bunch of strangers I don't know like part of me thinks Yes, and part of me thinks no, but I guess that's a very personal decision. My
Melissa 59:17
Facebook postings on it have been very minimal. I told my workout group on Facebook, we're all type ones, and we work out together. But other than that, nobody else on Facebook knows you
Scott Benner 59:30
have a digital workout group. Yeah,
Melissa 59:33
that's cool. We do our own thing, but we kind of throw Hey, hints, tips, how to control the blood sugars with the
Scott Benner 59:41
workout. You know, one of the most rewarding things that happens to me that I never expected was, like, people will send me pictures of they're like, Hey, this is my friend. You know, we both have type one. We met because we listened to the podcast. It's so nice, like when people meet each other like that in real life, or even. You know, can form a group online, and, yeah, it's really wonderful. Yeah,
Melissa 1:00:04
no kidding. Well, I told him that we have like, four or five type ones on site at work, and I work in a lab, that there are currently two people on at one point, there was three, and the third person had type one, and we were both on the same pump. And
Scott Benner 1:00:19
that feels good, right to meet somebody in that situation. Yeah, you can bounce things off of if it ends up that you have cancer, do you think you'll look for community around that as well? I don't know, because
Melissa 1:00:33
to me, cancer, diabetes is something that I have control over. I can control how much insulin I give. I can control how I work out. I can control what I eat. I don't know if I have the control over the cancer. Yeah,
Scott Benner 1:00:46
no, I understand. I'm gonna ask one last question. Is that okay? Do you ever have any feelings of like, Why me like diabetes now this other stuff, like, do you ever think
Melissa 1:00:58
I was young, but and I did when my dad was passing away, but as of right now, no, okay,
Scott Benner 1:01:05
would you, oh, that was too morbid. I actually thought of a question I'm not asking you. Never mind. Okay, well, that's even weirder not to say it. Yeah, okay, sorry, sorry, all right, I'm sorry. Then I'm sorry to say I should just ask it. Is that? Is he there? No, he's not. Oh, okay. If you were to pass away at any point, do you look back and say, life well lived. Feel good about it. Do you have things you think, oh, I should have done that? Are those things popping into your head right now? There
Melissa 1:01:38
are things that I wonder if I would have been better suited at like as far as career wise goes, because college was pre med but I chose not to go to med school. I decided to do lab work instead of dealing with people, because
Scott Benner 1:01:55
when you say dealing with people, it makes it sound like you've made the right choice.
Melissa 1:02:01
Well, not in a bad sense. I enjoy people. I enjoy making, giving them a little bit of a ray. But I still, you know, I, I guess, in order to do that, to do stuff like that, I'll just, like when I go to the gas station and I'll hold the door for somebody. Doesn't matter who they are. They may be younger or older, I don't care. I'll just hold the door. Maybe it'll give them a smile.
Scott Benner 1:02:26
When you think about that question, you went right to like, who I am in my working life,
Melissa 1:02:32
that's all I really have. I mean, I've got my nieces, and unfortunately, I don't get to see them as much as I'd like.
Scott Benner 1:02:38
And like I said,
Melissa 1:02:41
I still wonder if I would have been better being a doctor, being a doctor, going into nursing, something like that. You think you could have accomplished it? Definitely nursing. I'm not sure about med school, right? Well, that was still I was in all in the ups and downs of learning the pump. And
Scott Benner 1:02:59
do you think that this is a thing where you'll, like, a month from now be like, Wow, I can't believe I had a cancer scare and I don't have cancer. I'm gonna go to nursing school or a year from now, like, I can't believe I had cancer and I I beat cancer. Like, I'm going to nursing Do you think you'll make a big change?
Melissa 1:03:15
Probably not, just because there's always the cost of nursing school,
Scott Benner 1:03:20
the financial aspects of it, yeah, I understand. Okay, well, I mean, it's fair to say, I hope you send me an email and tell me how you're doing and anything you want me to add into this recording. You have months and months to send me an email first. So if you have something that you want to add at least six, at least, what? At least six months? Oh, for me, I see what you're saying. Yeah, yeah. No, no, you have at least six months until, like, your thing will come out. So if the if you have any new information you want to send, send it to me. And literally, this will stop. People will hear ads, and then I'll, I'll read your information at the end of this. Okay, thank you. Can you hold for me for a second? Stay on the line, sure. Thank you.
The conversation you just heard was sponsored by Dexcom and the Dexcom g7 learn more and get started today at dexcom.com/juicebox, a huge thanks to Omnipod, not just my longest sponsor, but my first one, omnipod.com/juice box. If you love the podcast and you love two plus insulin pumps, this link is for you. Omnipod.com/juice box. Are you starting to see patterns but you can't quite make sense of them? You're like, Oh, if I Bolus here, this happens, but I don't know what to do. Should I put in a little less, a little more if you're starting to have those thoughts, if you're starting to think this isn't going the way the doctor said it would, I think I see something here, but I can't be sure. Once you're having those thoughts, you're ready for the diabetes Pro Tip series from the Juicebox Podcast. It begins at Episode One. 1000 you can also find it at Juicebox podcast.com up in the menu, and you can find a list in the private Facebook group. Just check right under the featured tab at the top, it'll show you lists of a ton of stuff, including the Pro Tip series, which runs from episode 1000 to 1025 so I've received two follow up emails since I've recorded with Melissa, the first one says, Scott, thank you for letting me share my C word scare story as I'm going through it. I realized after we ended the recording that when you asked about my current health, I immediately jumped into my current drama. Here are the answers to some of your normal autoimmune questions. As far as I know, there were no other autoimmune issues in my family. However, as I hear more and more about Lada, I wonder if my grandmother on dad's side had Lada instead of type two. She was diagnosed type two around the same time I was type one, and I remember her taking insulin soon after, and excuse me, soon after, I started on insulin. However, I hit the jackpot with the auto immune issues among along with type one diabetes, I have Raynauds, PCOS, unconfirmed celiac. I have the genetic markers, but I refuse to the gluten challenge endoscopy, because of how ill I will get if I eat gluten. The update on my biopsy says no cancer cells detected. She's very excited. Thank you again for a great podcast. Let me share my drama with you and the listeners. She then follows up again. I wanted to give you another update to this. Besides no cancer cells were detected, what I didn't comprehend at first was that there weren't any cancer cells detected because only about 500 cells were gathered, and a definitive result requires approximately 100,000 to one to 1 million cells. So I opted for a full lymph node removal of the affected lymph nodes, and in office procedure using lidocaine that came back without lymphoma detected, but it was noted that lymph nodes showed extensive necrotizing gram, oh, gosh, granuloma, itis a lotus granuloma. Bo, okay, inflammation with no detected microorganisms, without the microorganisms detected. The thought was to send me to a rheumatologist to test for additional autoimmune conditions. Testing for these came back inconclusive. So the next step is infectious disease specialist in January of 2025 which is when this is coming out. And so the craziness continues. Melissa says, but I am not as high strung as the day we spoke in July. I can't thank you enough for listening. Please make sure you're subscribed or following in your audio app. I'll be back tomorrow with another episode of The Juicebox Podcast. The episode you just heard was professionally edited by wrong way recording, wrong way recording.com, you.
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