#1487 Braving the New World
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Pam was diagnosed with T1D as an adult. Adventures in travel and retirement.
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Scott Benner 0:00
Hello friends and welcome back to another episode of The Juicebox Podcast.
Today I'm talking to Pam. She wrote a book about traveling with type one diabetes. She was diagnosed with type one later in life, she's retired now. Awesome conversation. Really enjoyed it. You're gonna love it too. That's why we called the podcast what we did today. It's the title of her book. That's just a hint, in case you want to go look for it. 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 health care plan or becoming bold with insulin. I know this is going to sound crazy, but blue circle health is a non profit that's offering a totally free virtual type one diabetes clinical care, education and support program for adults 18 and up. You heard me right, free. No strings attached, just free. Currently, if you live in Florida, Maine Vermont, New Hampshire, Ohio, Delaware, Missouri, Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa or Louisiana, you're eligible for blue circle health right now, but they are adding states quickly in 2025 so make sure to follow them at Blue circle health on social media and make yourself familiar with blue circle health.org. Blue circle health is free. It is without cost. There are no strings attached. I am not hiding anything from you. Blue circle health.org, you know why they had to buy an ad. No one believes it's free. 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. This episode is sponsored by the tandem Moby system, which is powered by tandems newest algorithm control iq plus technology. Tandem mobi 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
Pam 2:19
My name is Pam Saylor, I've been a type one diabetic for 12 years, and I was diagnosed when as an adult, when I was 52
Scott Benner 2:29
years old. Wow, you're 64
Pam 2:31
I am almost 64 next month. Yeah,
Scott Benner 2:35
I'm also almost 54 and I know exactly what you mean. You just asked me something before we started to record, and I said, Oh, let me, let me hit record first, and then then you can ask. So ask your question again. I
Pam 2:45
said, if I go down some verbal cul de sac, can you clip it out? You do edits, right? What is your concern? Because sometimes I'll go off on a tangent, and then I reel myself in and go, What was the question? Kind of like I did just now. I want to know if you have editing capabilities. All
Scott Benner 3:03
right, so there's an editor, but reasonably speaking, we don't cut content. Oh, we like cul de sacs. We cut, I don't know if you say something horrifying, we might take that out. I don't know. We probably leave that in. So okay, the editor really does is he kind of takes air out of the conversation a little bit. So if there's like, if there's a super long pause, you won't appear to pause that long. Okay, if you um or click your tongue or something like that, that'll come out. Okay. Other than that, though, we don't really edit things so, but I've been doing this a while. I don't think we're gonna get into that trouble. Yeah.
Pam 3:39
How long have you been doing this since your daughter was tiny, and now she's in college. So
Scott Benner 3:43
I started writing a blog when my daughter had been diagnosed for a year. So that was she was born in 2004 she got diabetes in 2006 I started writing the blog in January, 27 2007 Wow. Then in 2013 I wrote a book about being a stay at home dad. Right while I was out pushing the book, I met Katie Couric. I did her television show. While we were walking off stage, she stopped me to tell me that I was very good at talking to people,
Pam 4:20
and the podcast host was born,
Scott Benner 4:23
well, not for maybe two more years. I think I launched the podcast january 2015, and what happened was, is that blogging just kind of got passe. It was going by the wayside, like people just weren't reading long form blogs anymore, and I was helping people like I was genuinely helping people with diabetes. I knew I was, and they would tell me that I was, and I thought, am I really just gonna, like, let this all go? Is it just gonna disappear? People are gonna stop reading and then all the good that this is done, it's just over. And then, I swear to you, I thought, Okay. Katie Kirk said I was good at talking to people. I started what ended up being pretty much the first diabetes podcast that stuck. So there was, like, some blog talk radio shows before that, but I don't think a podcast. What
Pam 5:12
I found out I volunteer for my Hoa, and I'm the president, so I have to run meetings, and at first that really terrified me a lot. Standing in front of 30 people answering questions, and you never know what the questions are going to be, that was pretty terrifying. But after doing it two or three times, I realized it really was not that difficult, and you could pretty much answer any question or just say, I don't know, and I'll get back to you later. So I think the more you try new things, the easier it gets to do it. I
Scott Benner 5:47
agree. I also think that some people are suited for it and some people aren't. Yeah, that's probably
Pam 5:52
true. My husband is not a talker, so it would it would be harder for him. I'm a talker.
Scott Benner 5:57
I've had people on who aren't naturally chatty, and they do fine, but you have to lead them through it a little bit. I on purpose have people on the podcast that aren't media savvy or don't find themselves doing stuff like this all the time, because I think it leads to more honest conversations. Yeah, interesting, yeah. So the way you have to get on this podcast is such a slog that my assumption is when I turn the microphone on, on your recording time, if you're there, you really want to do this, right? You know that really is kind of how it gets set up. But anyway, Katie Kirk, lovely woman. She's the whole reason I thought to do this. I also loved podcasts back then. I listened religiously to Kevin Smith's podcast called smod cast, and I grew up listening to Howard Stern. So I'm very much like talk radio, and I like listening to people talk to each
Pam 6:51
other. I'm a recent convert to podcasts. We sometimes go on road trips, and if you're in the middle of nowhere, Kansas, sorry, I love Kansas, you have to have something recorded, downloaded, ready to go, or else you lose all signals. So we sometimes listen to hours of podcasts on the road.
Scott Benner 7:08
Yeah, I do the same, not my podcast, but I listen to other people's still. I really do enjoy listening to people interact. I also like once you get to know them, a little bit that feeling you know that ridiculous feeling you have that you know them. I think the
Pam 7:23
most important thing is the voice, because there are some people on a podcast and their voice will just grate, or it puts me to sleep. It's such a smooth, low, deep voice. It pretty soon I'm nodding off
Scott Benner 7:37
a little too old time radio or a little too local news is that what you don't yeah,
Pam 7:44
a good voice will get me hooked almost no matter what the content is.
Scott Benner 7:48
I'm most put off by the that ability to make a high pitched excited comment about the most banal thing, like, you know,
Pam 7:58
yeah, exclamations everywhere in the podcast. We're at the
Scott Benner 8:01
corner of fifth and eighth. Somebody's built a snowman. Oh, my God, Katie, look. Does everyone see? That's why everyone loves Philadelphia. There's snow. Like, just shut up. No one thinks that. You don't think that. Stop trying to make something out of nothing, you know, just talk like a person. But anyway, let's find out a little bit about your diagnosis. So what were your first inklings that something was happening? My
Pam 8:25
first inkling that I had type one diabetes was on a post it note, really, yes, it was my birthday. Coincidentally, I had just turned 52 my husband and I had been on a trip somewhere, and we got back in town, had a stack of mail, and I had a letter of envelope from my doctor, and I had been to see her in December for routine checkup. So I opened this letter from my doctor, and it was the lab results. Right on top was a big yellow post it note, and handwritten on that post it note, it said patient has type one diabetes. Call office for follow up. I wish I had saved that post it note. I didn't save it. I, of course, flipped out. I didn't know what. I had no inkling. I had no to my mind, no symptoms. My daughter was a nurse, so I called her and and went through the test results with her, and she told me later that she knew right away that I had type one diabetes based on the test results, but she didn't want to spin me out further when I couldn't call my doctor for till the next day. So she just was reassuring. So called the doctor, went through more testing, and sure enough, I was type one diabetes.
Scott Benner 9:40
That sucks. Do you use post it notes still, or have you stopped
Pam 9:44
still? Do I have? I have not been traumatized by post it notes. Look
Scott Benner 9:47
at you. Persevering. That's awesome. I mean, initial thoughts. Do you think, Oh, that makes sense. My uncle has it. Or that doesn't make any sense. I don't know anybody with diabetes. Well, my
Pam 9:57
maternal grandmother had diabetes. Eats. And when I was a kid, I saw her give herself shots with needles that to me, looked gigantic. No one ever explained that to me or what she was doing or why. But as an adult, I came to understand that she had type one diabetes, but no one else in my family did. On either side of my family, and I had gone 52 years with no health problems. Basically, I rarely even caught a cold, really. So in hindsight, the weeks leading up to my diagnosis, my vision was really, really, really blurry, but I just thought maybe it was time for new glasses, or I needed eye drops, or I had zero inkling that this was in my future. You
Scott Benner 10:42
know, it's funny, I didn't get sick a lot growing up, either. And with the exception of autoimmun issues, Arden doesn't get sick very often. And, like, you know, it's funny, there must be such a fine line in there between, like, you have a supercharged immune system and you have a way to supercharged immune system. Like, you know what I mean? Like, I hear people say that a lot like, I don't get sick very often, but I have diabetes and I have Hashimotos, and I like that kind of thing. Interesting. I don't know if I'm reading too far into it, but your relation that had it, was it type two or type one? This episode is sponsored by tandem Diabetes Care, and today I'm going to tell you about tandems, newest pump an algorithm, the tandem Moby 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, the 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/juice box. When you use my link, you're supporting the podcast, dexcom.com/juice box. Head over there. Now
Pam 13:20
it was type one. It was my maternal my mother's mother. It was type one because she gave herself shots. That's what I'm assuming. No one ever really explained it to me long
Scott Benner 13:30
ago. Yeah, when you look back at extended family now, like your father's side, your mother's side, is there any like celiac or arthritis or thyroid or any other autoimmune stuff?
Pam 13:41
No, I have a hypothyroidism, low thyroid. I've had it for about 30 years. Both my daughters are hypothyroid. As far as I know. No one else in my family has any autoimmune disease at all. No other low thyroid, no no problems in that area at all.
Scott Benner 13:59
Have you ever had the thyroids check to see if they're Hashimotos, which would indicate auto I
Pam 14:03
have not, and I don't really understand the difference. Well, one's
Scott Benner 14:07
autoimmune and one's not. So, oh, okay, yeah. So no,
Pam 14:11
I've never had testing for that. Interesting.
Scott Benner 14:13
Your daughters freak out when you got diabetes. They start doing the math, or they like, I'll be 52 one day. My
Pam 14:19
oldest daughter did freak out, in fact, when I sent her a text or email telling her probably kind of frantically like, Oh, this is so awful. This just happened. She didn't reply to me for weeks, and later, I we were talking about that time, and she said because she was so freaked out that I had type one diabetes, that she was afraid she would get it, and so she just couldn't, couldn't reply to my to my email. That's
Scott Benner 14:47
something, and you guys did eventually talk about it. Yeah, yeah, we eventually talked about it. Can I ask what you thought when you didn't get a reply? Was that common?
Pam 14:55
I think that was about par for the course in our relationship. But it's always been a little bit strained, and so, you know, I didn't know what was going on, but I thought, well, she'll get back to me when she gets back. You
Scott Benner 15:07
don't have to tell me about your whole life unless you want to. No no, no. But that's part i i was not terribly surprised, okay? Because, I mean, I think I would just be very upset, like, if I said, Hey, I've got a really important question about where to go on vacation, and they didn't get back to me. They didn't get back to me like motherfuckers. What is wrong with them? If you had a situation like that, then I understand.
Pam 15:30
I mean, I was in denial for quite a while. I was angry for a while. I was in denial for a while. I ate, well, I ate healthy. I didn't drink soda. I don't have a sweet tooth. I not overweight. I'm all the cliches about diabetes that you can think of thinking this, this can't be me, this can't be true, right? So eventually you get past that, when you realize it really is true, and so you just start to deal with
Scott Benner 15:56
it. And Pam, you don't smoke. I did, but I quit
Pam 15:59
15 years ago. I was gonna
Scott Benner 16:01
say in the 80s or 90s? Yeah, yeah. I mean, everybody smoked, yeah, when you were younger, right? Pretty much. My mother did. My father did, yeah. I mean, everybody smoked when I was a kid, and nowadays. I mean, the truth is, you smell a cigarette outside now you're like, what that's it strikes you as odd. You know, I know you realize how gross it is. I don't know about where you live, but I'm less shocked when I smell weed than when I smell a cigarette at this point. Oh, I know that's
Pam 16:27
really true. Yeah, when I'm in Colorado. So that's really true for me.
Scott Benner 16:33
You float around in Colorado, I imagine. Well, that's an interesting one. You're 64 it's legal, almost. Did you try it?
Pam 16:41
Yes, yes. We do, from time to time, do edibles rather than smoking it, because I don't like to smoke it. It's too harsh. Yeah.
Scott Benner 16:48
Do you use it for recreation or for a purpose? You know, it's
Pam 16:53
just three or four times a year we get out the edibles, put on a movie that we think is going to be good, and just relax. It's more relaxing thing. Nice.
Scott Benner 17:03
Oh, that's awesome. Good for you. Why did you want to come on the podcast? First
Pam 17:07
of all, you don't have a lot of adults on your show, and I wanted to be the adult in the room saying, for anyone like me who is shocked by this diagnosis, you've had your whole you've lived a chunk of your life, and now you think your life is going to have to change. And that was one of the things I was determined. When I got my diagnosis, I wanted to keep keep my life. I wanted to keep skiing. I wanted to keep active. I wanted to keep traveling. I love traveling, and so I don't think there's a whole ton of stuff out there to help type one diabetes or people with any chronic disease. How do you travel for three months? How do you travel for a long period of time? We all know on a short trip, you pack your little suitcase with a pile of supplies and you're good to go. But if you're going to travel for a month or two months or a year, like my husband and I did when we went to Europe, I wanted people to know that's doable. So I wrote a book about how to do it. I learned as we traveled, and I just want to encourage people to keep their life and not let type one diabetes be something that makes you sit on the couch in fear or
Scott Benner 18:12
worry. Well, that's awesome. Had you ever written a book before? Or is that your first? No, that was my first book that says, what's it called?
Pam 18:18
It's called braving the world, adventures in travel and retirement. Oh,
Scott Benner 18:24
it's awesome. What made you think I could write a book? Because I've had, listen, I wrote a book and it's hard. Yeah, I'm gonna just say it's not, it's not a lot of fun. That's the first thing. And it's not like you don't do it for the money. And, you know, I mean, if you're famous, maybe you would write a book for money, or, you know, if you're getting paid off by, you know, because you've been in government, but if you're just a person writing a book, you're not going to make a bunch of money. It's incredibly hard to market them. Yes, the publisher, generally speaking, does not help you with the marketing very much, which is a thing people wouldn't know. Like, I got myself on the Katie Herrick show, and it's time consuming in a way that's hard to put into words, and you really get lost in it. How long did it take you to write it?
Pam 19:04
Oh, it took over a year. And we traveled to Europe for a year from 2017 to 2018 and then we got back, and we all know COVID was in 2020 and I'd already started the book when COVID happened, and really it was great, because I had nowhere to go. There was nothing I could do. So I could work on the book, and I started to pull it together and polish it. I took writing classes, which helped me a lot to polish the book so COVID. If COVID hadn't happened, I might not have had the discipline to sit down in my chair day after day and and put together this story, which I start at the beginning when we land in Rome and we finish up in Venice. So COVID is maybe the reason I wrote the book.
Scott Benner 19:54
Yeah, so you're writing and you realize I have to take a class if I'm going to do this. Well, I. Right?
Pam 20:00
I thought it helped a lot. It helped me figure out the plot and things to leave out, and how to to what things how to build drama, how to build, you know, interests the writing classes. There's a local writing group school here in Colorado, and I went to several classes there as I was writing, and that helped me polish up the book a lot.
Scott Benner 20:23
Did you have an editor? Did you do it all on your own? I did,
Pam 20:26
yes. I had a great editor, and she took out all of the duplicates, and when I went off on a tangent, she would call me down or correct the language. She was wonderful. She was great. I'm gonna
Scott Benner 20:39
ask a question, at the risk of sounding like a thumb, did someone approach you to write Did you write it and then sell it? Did you self publish it? How did you get it into the world?
Pam 20:49
I wrote it and then I self published it and I self promoted it. So I've been on another podcast. I've had reviews from different Oh, indies, it. My book has won a couple of awards, which I can't think of off the top of my head. That's funny. Independent publish, publisher, review awards. So it was well received, and it's for sale on Amazon, so it's out there. I've sold I don't know how many books, but it was a labor of love. It's got a lot of information about traveling. It's awesome.
Scott Benner 21:21
I'm looking at it right now. It's really awesome. I'm on your website. All right. Here's the link where I can buy it. This will get me to Amazon. Will it? Click here? Yes.
Pam 21:30
And there are pictures on my website of our travels, and I talk about the different things about traveling. Little blog posts about how to ski with diabetes. That was a learning curve.
Scott Benner 21:39
Tell me about that, because you were a skier your whole life. Yeah, I was a skier.
Pam 21:44
Well, starting in my 30s, I learned to ski and loved it. You know, when you're doing any sort of exercise and you have type one, you're never sure what to do with your settings, like, should I go into activity mode? Should I lower my insulin? Should I increase it? And it was always, it was always pretty tricky and but I didn't want to quit skiing. I didn't want to sit at home. There was a time period where no one skied, that was during COVID. So when I went back to skiing after that, it was a re learning curve. But it really helps to have the sensor, Dexcom sensor, the insulin pump help a lot.
Scott Benner 22:22
What did you find once you were diagnosed, as far as direction from from medical people? Did you find it to be valuable, or did you find that what they said left you more confused than when you started at the
Pam 22:35
time, we lived in Kansas City, when I was first diagnosed, and my doctor's office, my Endo. Well, first I got rid of my general physician and switched to a new doctor, because I think type one diabetes deserves more than a post it note. But then when I started going to an endocrinologist, they had a team, and they had a diabetes educator who really helped get me going, get me started. Of course, I was doing MDI at the time, she helped a lot, and the only really bad tip she gave me was she told me, If you're when you're ready to eat, don't take a dose. Don't take a shot until the food is in front of you. Oh, and of course, now we know you have to Bolus about 15 minutes or so ahead of time, but at the time, that's what I was doing, is waiting to see the food, try and calculate the carbs, and then I would take my shot, push
Scott Benner 23:27
the plunger, start eating right away, Yep, yeah. And you get high and stay high for a while and not know what was happening. And all that went
Pam 23:34
along. What took me I would say, Well, I've been 12 years, and the first five or six years were very difficult, because I'm organized type a person. So for the first five or six years, I was trying to control diabetes. I was trying to figure it out. I had lists, I had charts, I had graphs. I was trying to figure out why piece of toast on Monday would not affect my blood sugar, and the same piece of toast on Tuesday, and I would go high, and it drove me crazy, so I I'd try and track it, and I would try and keep track of what I ate, when I ate it, and I would take these charts and graphs to my doctor's office, and eventually she just looked at me and said, Do you really think you can control this disease? And I'm like, yes, yes, I do, but she she convinced me that's really not possible. And so for the last five or six years, I still want to figure things out and keep track of things, but I go with the flow a lot more. If I go high, I just try and and deal with the high. If I can look back and figure out why that's good, but if I can't figure out why that's fine too, it doesn't matter. I still have to deal with the high or the low. So I think I've been a lot calmer, a lot happier the last five or six years. I. People on Facebook pages, and they're still in the phase of trying to figure out every little thing, and maybe that's useful for them, but I I find it much more relaxing to let some of that control
Scott Benner 25:11
go. Where does this attitude lead you? For your A, 1c,
Pam 25:16
I'm usually about 6.0 or 6.10 it's awesome.
Scott Benner 25:19
That's really great. You might enjoy the Pro Tip series from the podcast.
Pam 25:23
Oh, I've listened to some of those. Yeah, bump and nudge has been a real really, has helped me out a lot.
Scott Benner 25:28
Oh, awesome. That's great. I like your attitude too. Like, you know, it's funny, because I think people could hear you talking right before I asked your a 1c and they'd be like, Oh, here it comes. This lady's got an eight and a half a 1c you're saying like you were making yourself crazy over the little things I was, yeah, there's no need for that, that's for sure. But I don't agree completely with the doctor that you can't figure out most of it, but I do take your point about the like, you know the Monday toast thing, where you're just like, well, Mun, m o n, what does that mean? But Day, Day is day. The sun's up during the day, this Sun's high in the sky. I'm high because day isn't like, I know. It's like, you know, you start doing that, but it's
Pam 26:05
like trying to read tea leaves. Sometimes you just don't know. And the bottom line is, you still have to take a shot or take a chug of soda or eat a piece of toast to bring it back up so you just have it's better to know how to deal with it. I
Scott Benner 26:23
have to tell you that the reason that I've boiled the idea of diabetes down at its core to timing an amount is because I think it applies to all the situations. You know, if your blood sugar is too high or too low or not, where you want it, you at some point use the wrong amount of insulin, or timed it incorrectly, or maybe a combination of those two things. So now, when you're thinking about it, it can be as easy as well. My blood sugar is high, but I used enough of a Pre Bolus that doesn't make sense, and I didn't get high till 45 minutes after I ate. And, oh, I didn't know that fat could make your blood sugar stay high, like, you know, like, right then, then you learn those things and apply them along the way. And before you know it, I find most people are doing great, but you're also doing awesome.
Pam 27:06
What I do quite often is I'll guesstimate carbs, oh yeah, and take a shot, and then when I go hide later, I'll actually look up the carbs, or I'll look at the box, and I'll go, oh yeah. That wasn't 20 carbs. That was 40 carbs. My
Scott Benner 27:20
daughter's college. I sent her a note yesterday that said, Did you eat a bag of sugar? And she goes, she goes, No. And I responded. I went two bags. She goes, I think I miscalculated. I was like, yeah. I mean, it feels like it to me too, but she got it under control. To your point, I didn't freak out, you know, it wasn't, it was a it was a shitty blood sugar. It went up like over 280 I mean, it really shot up. She just missed the mark completely. And then she gave herself more insulin and got it down without getting low. And you know, the whole process took three hours. But you know, she's not running around beating herself up about it. And I think that's where you're at.
Pam 27:58
I have to remind myself, though, pretty often, not to be reactive, because when I see that arrow going up, it's hard not to jump on your phone and go, insulin, insulin, insulin, yeah. So I have to, like, look at my watch and go, 15 minutes, wait 15 minutes, maybe an hour. I mean, to force myself to wait, because my instinct is that arrow, that up arrow, needs immediate attention. I
Scott Benner 28:24
don't 100% think you're wrong with that. You should listen to the rest of that Pro Tip series, but I know your idea of, like, oh, it just jumped up for a second. Then you go hitting it with a bunch of insulin that was too much. Like, that's obviously not what you want to do either. But if you didn't use enough insulin and it's flying up, you mean, you do need more. And I take your point that's a lot to figure out and and to try to get through. Especially, I think I don't want to say it like this, because I don't think of you as an older person, but like, because it came later in your life, is it a thing? I'm trying to decide if you're like, look, I really just got to make it like, you know, 30 years, you know what I mean. Do you ever think that way about it.
Pam 29:00
I'm encouraged by the fact that there are a lot of type ones out there that have been fighting this disease for decades. To me, I don't think it's going to limit my lifespan, but I am really grateful I did not get this disease as a child. I just feel so sorry for children who have to grow up this way. I'm glad I didn't have to. Yeah, when I see a little two year old, you know, in a photo who has a pod on their back, that's just, that's just sad, yeah, that's
Scott Benner 29:31
tough. It really is. I was just wondering if you were like, I think of myself as in the last third of my life. Like, I think of like, you know what I mean? Like, I think of life like, birth to mid 20s, then mid 20s like to, like, you know, when your kids leave for college, and then, like, you know, the rest, you know, I'm like everybody else I, you know, I overestimate myself and everything else. And I think like, oh, people lived till they're 85 Like, sure. Then I saw my mom in her 70s and her 80s, and I was like, Oh, this is not what I was picturing. I started to say to my wife, my mom passed a year or so ago, and I told my wife, I was like, I am going to treat the next 15 years as if they are my last 15 years. Now I'm not planning on just like shutting off at the end, but like, I'm gonna pack all the things that I thought I was gonna stretch over 30 years into 15, just in case, like, you know, just in case my hip stops working, or I get cancer, or something like that. I'm just gonna be a little more proactive about it. Because, you know, if you're if you're like me, like you. I got married, I had kids, I spend my time trying to make sure they're okay. And you feel like, well, you'll get to a spot where everything will be settled, and then you'll just like, coast. But I mean, doesn't sort of work that way. And you don't realize that till it's a little late.
Pam 30:51
I look at it like, I want to travel more. I want to travel a lot. And probably I figure I have 10 years where I can do that fairly easily, yeah, and then after that, lugging those suitcases around is going to be harder. So I'm like you. I the next 10 years. I want to travel more. I don't want to skip a year. I want to keep going, because I know after that, mid 70s, yeah, it's going to get harder to travel. Now, I know a lot of I have 75 year old friends who are active and busy and but I also have some that are, yeah, sitting on their couch and have breathing problems. You never know what you're going to get when you hit 70 or 75
Scott Benner 31:34
we make the biggest mistake of measuring ourselves against the luckiest people. You know what I mean, like nobody, because we want to be them. Yeah, right. Nobody says, like, you know, it's always it's funny, I said local news twice in this one. But like, you know that, you know, once a year there's just 100 year old woman on the news celebrating her birthday. She's smoking cigarettes, eating pound cake with another hand. And you're like, That's it right there. Like, I'll just live to 100 and smoke cigarettes. She look at it, but she's the one it happened to. It's almost like being upset with Lebron James, like he just got lucky. You know what I mean? Like, it's you don't you don't get to sit around and aspire to that. It just, it's ridiculous.
Pam 32:10
Yeah, cigarette in one hand, a glass of wine in the other hand. How did she do that
Scott Benner 32:14
on the news and she's cursing, and people are like, it's your birthday. She's like, leave me alone. She didn't even kidding. She and you're like, oh god, she's gonna live for 10 more years. But we look at that and we think, and we think, Oh, that's we all live that long. It doesn't work that way. So that's
Pam 32:26
what we think is going to happen. Now, secretly, I think my husband anticipates I will die before him because I have a chronic disease, and so sometimes he's
Scott Benner 32:36
holding on. He's like, I'm gonna get one year by myself. He by the way, you'd be miserable. But go ahead,
Pam 32:41
I joke about that, and it's like, oh, so are you gonna remarry? And he'll be like, No, yeah, definitely
Scott Benner 32:46
not doing that. We do that here. Everyone thinks I'm dying before my wife all the time, that every time it comes up, I think they're just trying to pick at me, but they're like, you'll die before mom. And I'm like, Oh my God. Like, is this how we're talking about this? Men usually do. I know, but I was a stay at home dad. I'm almost a lady. I should get some breaks somewhere along the line. You know what I mean? You know, I have a neighbor who's a decade or so older than me. They said to me recently, I don't want this to be about politics, but they said they were like, politics aside. I was like, yeah, they go, we're very excited for how well those Tesla cars seem to be driving themselves. Yeah? And I thought, well, that's a weird thing for an older person to be paying attention to. And then she said, because we think that might be our only way where we'll be able to travel one day, is if the cars can drive themselves, really? And I thought, Oh, wow, how about that? And these are very mobile people up doing things all the time, but they're closer Ubers
Pam 33:37
a lot when we travel. Uber is all over Europe. It's everywhere, and trains and busses, of course, but yeah, we when we go overseas, we never rent a car, we never drive. We use public transportation or Uber. Yeah,
Scott Benner 33:53
it struck me, because it's a it's a thought I've had before, like I've said to my wife, I hope they really figure out that self driving thing, because it's possible that we'll get to an age where, like, we'll just think, like, oh, the kids are only, you know, 40 miles from here, or, you know, but, or a day, you know, a couple of hours. But we can't do that. Like, imagine if, yeah, imagine if you could just get in a car and be like, Hey, here's the address. Let's go now. By then, you'll be old. You'll push the wrong button, you'll end up in Poughkeepsie. You know, you're like, what happened? But it's funny, because when she said it to me, my response was, Oh, my God. I've never heard anybody say that before. I've had that exact same thought, like, I hope they figure out this self driving thing, so when I get older, I can get around this
Pam 34:36
should be a poll. Like, how many people have ever thought that in their life? I bet you. I
Scott Benner 34:40
mean, if they're not paying attention. First of all, I've seen it work, like in videos and stuff, astonishing. Well, you know, I would imagine another couple of years, the way AI seems to be able to, like, learn and double itself and everything. Like, maybe you'll actually get there where your cars will just be like, hey, where do you want to go? So it's very possible. Yeah, I'm excited. And also. It really does make you feel like, like, maybe I could extend my just that mobility, a
Pam 35:05
little mobility and activity, and keep going. Yeah, just the
Scott Benner 35:09
thing you don't think about when you're younger. Hey, I wanted to ask you, this is gonna seem like a left turn, but did you get any bad reviews? How did you handle them on your book? Like one where you read it, you were like, oh god. Why did they hate me so much. No,
Pam 35:21
I didn't. I get them all the time,
Scott Benner 35:23
that's what I was wondering.
Pam 35:26
Well, you I have 50 or 60 reviews on Amazon. I think they're all pretty good. There might be a stinker in there, but I don't remember reading them. Maybe I skipped over them. Yeah,
Scott Benner 35:35
you're smart. I read mine when I wrote my book. Yeah, there's someone genuinely hated me. And they didn't just hate me. They hated words for existing so that I had access to them. They were very, very upset. It was tough, because my first, like, eight or nine professional reviews, because my publisher sent it out for professional review, first came back really strong, and then reader reviews started coming back really strong. And then I think I must have caught like, a like, Oh, this is just, obviously I wrote a book, and I'm great at it, and I don't think that. I don't think it's some awesome book or anything like that. But then one of the reviews came back and it, I mean, it was just like, it's not really what it said, but what it felt like it said is, I hate him. I hate words for existing so that he could use them. I hate his family for knowing him, the person really didn't like me, and it took me back.
Pam 36:25
Yeah, there are trolls out there. I had some of my friends BETA readers. I had some of my friends read the book before it went out. Yeah, and my friend's mother said that this was a bad review, but she said, this is a trite book that I don't see the point of, or something like
Scott Benner 36:45
that. That's exactly what I'm thinking about. Want
Pam 36:48
to share that with me, because she thought I'd be hurt, and I just thought, well, you know, you don't have to like it. That's fine. Thank you for your input.
Scott Benner 36:55
Not War and Peace. I didn't say it was I know. I think
Pam 36:59
it has a lot of valuable information. People who travel will want to know, but there you
Scott Benner 37:04
go. What I've learned is, is that a book is content just like, you know, just the digital world. We think about it differently now, but it's nothing's ever for anybody. I mean, there are, I promise you, Pam, there are people listening to you and I right now who hate me, and they're doing something called hate listening, which is the thing I cannot wrap my head around at all. But they just listen to see how right they are to not like me. That's awesome. By the way, their downloads count just the same. It just is what it is. What I've learned is, this is me. This is how I think about this. Here it is, you like it, that's great. If it helps you. That's awesome if you don't like it, I'm sorry. I mean, I'm not really sorry, but like, you know, like a sorry, it couldn't be for you, but I don't know why you're still here. You know,
Pam 37:47
I was in a book club for 20 years, and every month, we'd meet once a month, and every time, half the people loved the book and half the people hated the book, and it was never the same people, and you would shift allegiances. And so I really understand that you're never going to get 100% of the people to like something you've done. I mean, if half of your book club hates Steinbeck and Hemingway, you're not going to get a rave review from everybody.
Scott Benner 38:14
Yeah, I interviewed a 24 year old girl yesterday, and I was stunned. I was like, you like this podcast. I was You must not understand any of my references. She goes, I don't understand most of them. She's young, yeah, yeah, right. She just doesn't Well, here, this will be funny. She mentioned how bad her doctor was, and I said, Any chance that doctor's name was Dr Bombay? See how you're laughing? Pam, because you've seen bewitched. And she was like, what now?
Pam 38:40
No, that's not his name. But when
Scott Benner 38:42
I pressed her, I was like, Why do you like this? And she's just like, I don't know. Just, I just, like, listening to you do this, I'm like, okay, great. So you can't, like, I would never target a 24 year old, recent grad and be like, you know, like, I think you're gonna love me, but she does. So who cares? Why? Yeah, I can't understand why. Like, I mean, if you're out asking people for their opinion, then you know they're going to give it to you, but I'm not asking you for your opinion. If you don't like it, just stop listening. There's so many things in the world I don't like. I've never once sought the personnel to tell them. But an odd thing, I
Pam 39:13
think maybe I've left one bad review in my life, and it was for a book that was really, really bad, and I hated reading it, and probably quit at page 30. Bad reviews take so much effort. Yes, I'm surprised people do it, but I think you write, there are a lot of haters out there. I can't
Scott Benner 39:30
wrap my head around it, like I don't understand listening to something I'm not enjoying. I don't have that kind of time first of all, but like something I'm not enjoying, there's one podcast I have to listen to for a professional reason, you know, I shouldn't say more, because 19 different people are gonna think I'm talking about them, and I'm not. I don't like one of the announcers, but the information so good. I just lived through it. And I've had people say that about me, by the way, which is, like, I hate that guy. I love what they talk about. So I'm like, hey, whatever. Right on. I'm doing my best over here. So let's talk a little bit about the process. Test like you decide to write the book, but are you writing it in hindsight from experiences you've already had, or do you go out have new experiences with the idea that you're writing a book before we
Pam 40:10
left? I kind of had the idea that I could write a book about this or that I might and so I kept a diary journal, and I took photos and I sent to keep in touch with family. I would send a group family email once a month. It kind of summarized what we had been doing. And those were really valuable when I went to write the book, because they were immediate sensations of what was happening that at the time. So when I came back, I had these notes and an idea, and I started writing. And as soon as you start writing, you start cutting. So it was like, add some, cut some, keep shaping it, I guess is the word, and taking classes along the way, which helped enormously, and send it out for people to read it and give comments, send it out to reviewers online to give comments and reviews. So it took at least a year, and like I say, COVID helped because there was not a lot else to do.
Scott Benner 41:14
Yeah, did you ever get feedback that you were just like, I know that's not right. I'm going to ignore it. Yes.
Pam 41:19
I mean, yeah, there were some things where I didn't want to include it in the book, because I thought it it wasn't part of the theme I wanted to develop. I was developing three themes. One was my husband and I had just retired. So what is it like to now be on top of each other? 24/7 traveling in a foreign country where neither one of you knows the language, if you don't have a good marriage, that could kill you right there in trouble. And then I wanted to talk about diabetes, how I could buy insulin in Italy and Croatia and London for around $50 and that's a month supply just walking into a pharmacy with a paper prescription, and it doesn't cost a fortune. I wanted to write about my experience with diabetes. And the other theme was just traveling in general, and how fun it was to travel and the things we got to see. Yeah, so if something was outside of my free themes, I didn't have to mention it. I could downplay it. I could shift it around. So, yeah, you have to shape it. That's
Scott Benner 42:23
awesome. So what was your finding like traveling? How did you manage the supplies needed for months and months of being away? We planned the
Pam 42:32
trip for about a year, and I started stockpiling supplies right away, and I did that by my doctor would write a prescription a little more than I needed each month, and I would go back every 30 days like clockwork and pick up the extra supplies. And I just kept doing that until I had probably a six month stockpile of insulin vials, pens, test strips, everything I needed, pods. So when we left the country for our year, I had my carry on. Suitcase was full of nothing but diabetes supplies, plus I had a beer cooler with ice in it where all my insulin was. So that got me out of the country. That got me going for about six months. When we got to Rome, the first place we went, I found out that I could go to the Vatican pharmacy with a paper prescription, and they would refill that prescription, and they took the prescription, scratched their heads, and came back with a box of pens. They don't have vials there, so I took the pens, I knew I could fill my pump with those, and that added to my stockpile. And our next stop was Croatia, and all I had to do there was take my paper prescription to the pharmacy, and they filled it again with pens. They didn't have vials, so I left with a stockpile. I added to my stockpile every chance I could, even though I hadn't run out of supplies yet. The only thing I couldn't get were my pods, because Omnipod doesn't mail the pods overseas. Okay, so I had them, mail the pods to my daughter in Colorado, she packaged them up, and by then, we're in Croatia, and she packaged them up, mailed them to me in Croatia, and the Croatian customs office would not deliver them to me. And I got a notice in Croatian, which I got help translating. And it basically said something about you cannot get medical devices in Croatia, they would not deliver it. They sent it back to Colorado. So I went back to MDI, because I was out of pods, flat out and MDI. Then we moved to London, and I had my daughter mail the shipment of pods again, this time disguised as books, and they made it through without problem. And so I went back to to the pods after a couple weeks of MDI,
Scott Benner 44:54
let me ask you a sneaky question. Did they know it was medical supplies? Because. She declared them as medical supplies, or did they
Pam 45:02
in Croatia, she called them medical supplies or devices, and somehow that set off alarm bells.
Scott Benner 45:08
Yeah, I would, I would have said, that's a brick in there. Just relax. I'm mailing bricks to people. Calm down. What do they say? It's easier to ask for, you know, the easier
Pam 45:17
to ask for forgiveness than permission, than
Scott Benner 45:19
permission. That's exactly right. Awesome. So Wow. So you just also, I'm going to assume it's the daughter who did respond immediately to your text about the diabetes, not the other
Pam 45:29
one. It's my daughter, yes, my daughter, the nurse who responded right away. You didn't put
Scott Benner 45:33
the other one in charge of sending it the diabetes supplies.
Pam 45:37
I did not so, but the problem with shifting, I didn't know at the time, when you go from MDI to a pod, it's really easy to overdose on insulin, because there's some residual, I guess, insulin in your system. So first day I've got my new pods, I pop one on my arm, oh yeah, we go out about our day, and get home later that night, and you know, I'm on the couch, my husband goes to the bedroom to read. He comes out an hour or so later, and I'm unconscious on the couch. He does a finger stick and I'm at like 20 or something. He gives me a shot of glucagon, which revives me enough that that we can go to a London emergency room. And waited seemed like forever. Got to see a doctor who didn't know what was going on. I didn't know what was going on. They sent us home, and I kept my insulin really low settings, and was afraid to go to sleep, but eventually went to sleep. And when I finally got back home and explained all this to my doctor, she said, Well, what you should have done, you have to set your pod settings for the first 24 to 48 hours of shifting back to a pod, you have to keep your numbers really low your settings. I didn't know that, and so I had this emergency room experience in London, which cost me nothing. I never got a bill for that. Awesome. And the next day, when we went, we went back to the hospital to refill the glucagon. They didn't charge me for that, because healthcare in Europe, for you know, a lot of people is really even tourists. It's not that expensive about that. Yeah.
Scott Benner 47:13
So basically, you were shooting your basal and then with active injected basal insulin, and you threw your pump on it, and it started running your basal profile to see a double basal. Double basal puts you out. What's your basal
Pam 47:26
rate? Well, I don't know what it was at the time. I don't know off the top of my head, what is it now? What is it now my basal rate? It
Scott Benner 47:32
shifts throughout the day. Are you an Omnipod five?
Pam 47:35
Oh, yeah, I'm an Omnipod five. Okay, and the Dexcom g6 Gotcha?
Scott Benner 47:39
Okay, yeah. I mean, that's great. What kind of injected basal were you using? Was it Nova log, I think at the time, not basal. Levere Lantis, oh. Levemere. Levere, how about that? And that's something we couldn't get levime to last to my daughter for 18 hours even. Well,
Pam 47:57
I was breaking it into two two doses. So I would do a morning and an evening dose. So I had done an evening dose next day, got up and put on a pod.
Scott Benner 48:06
So now that this has happened to you and you have hindsight, you look back and you go, Oh, that's so obvious. How did I miss that? Yeah, sucks. Well, at least your husband didn't do what I thought he was going to do, which is come out and see you unconscious and go, haha, I told you I was going to live longer. Yeah, actually helped you. It's
Pam 48:22
nice. He saved me. He
Scott Benner 48:24
didn't go. I told those suckers I wasn't going first. So weird that you talk about that when you get older, but you do, so get ready if you're getting older at some point, you start looking around. You go, you start joking about it, yeah. How's this gonna happen? Are we all going? We're not. I hope we all don't go at the same time. That'd be horrible. I you know, I don't want the kids to die before me, but I don't want to die, you know, you start doing all the it's terrible, yeah?
Pam 48:50
Anyway, although diabetes, I mean, this is kind of grim, so, yeah, but if you had some terminal disease, which our country doesn't really help you deal with very well. I think a large dose of insulin might be a solution to a long, slow, debilitating, grinding disease.
Scott Benner 49:12
That a thing you've thought about. I'm sorry, have you thought about that? Oh, I have, yeah, a lot of people do. They don't talk about it very often, but, but when you pick through with people and get deep enough with them, they will tell you that they've considered that idea if they should ever get into a bad situation, right? Yeah, sucks. I it all sucked. Listen. Pam, the whole thing is terrible. Like, you know what I mean? Like, I'm not, I'm not gonna sugar coat it. Like, my daughter's doing really well, but there's just no doubt in my mind that if she didn't have diabetes, that a burden that would be lifted off of her would be immense.
Pam 49:44
Well, I'm talking about a chronic cancer diagnosis or or no,
Scott Benner 49:48
oh, I know. I'm just saying that that's not a thing. Like the Alzheimer's or the average person walking down the street doesn't think like, Oh, I hope I don't get Alzheimer's one day. But it doesn't matter, because if I do in my refrigerator, you know, like, that's not a thing. Most. People get to think about, I think,
Pam 50:01
once you have a chronic disease, you think about your health more. And you think about, Yeah, how's this going to end? More? Well, you definitely
Scott Benner 50:09
think about your health more, that's for sure. Is it maybe just the first time in your life, it's actually like the conversations come up in your head, like, I wonder how this ends?
Pam 50:18
Oh, yeah, because I, I've never really had anything. I've never had illnesses. I haven't been sick very much, even now I have diabetes and low thyroid, you know, cholesterol, so I don't have a big stack of pills I have to take every day.
Scott Benner 50:36
Yeah. So still doesn't seem that huge, too, or does it? It doesn't. It doesn't. Now also, you're a 1c you're probably healthier than most of the people walking the planet. So I think that's the thing that you can't it's hard to be excited about. But like, once type one says to you, you have to pay attention to your to yourself, and you do it, you come to realize, like, well, I am now in charge of, you know, gaging a thing, making adjustments to something that other people just walk around, I know, unaware. That's not good for them, until it's too late. So I'll watch
Pam 51:08
some TV show where people are digging into these dishes of potatoes and rice, and I'm going, you can just eat that, can't you? You can just eat it and shove it in your mouth. But some of them can't. But what's happen in an hour? Yeah,
Scott Benner 51:21
but, Pam, some of them have type two diabetes or pre diabetes. They don't realize it. It's true. And they just, I mean, listen, you know, it's a thing you don't hear anymore. You remember people used to say, like, oh, after Thanksgiving dinner, everybody gets sleepy. It's the tryptophan and the turkey, I'm gonna guess. Hindsight, it's the high blood sugars everybody had. Like, I don't doubt that tryptophan is, whatever the hell tryptophan is, but you didn't have eight ounces of Turkey and you passed out for a week because of it, right? Probably so many people living with pre diabetes, you know, for type two, and then drive their blood sugar high after a big meal, and they don't realize how sleepy it makes them, etc, and so on. Like, there is value in getting type one in that it focuses you on your health like that,
Pam 52:04
and what you eat and how much you exercise. If, if you're paying attention, you have to pay more attention. I have a friend who's type two, who does not really do anything to take care of his diabetes and and he's type two, if I had the option of dieting and exercise to make the needles go away, I would be all over that. So to me, it's just mind blowing that you have a type of diabetes where you could take a pill and watch your diet and exercise and you choose not to do that could
Scott Benner 52:38
help. Yeah, I don't get it. Well, there are people who have done that, and it doesn't help but like, true, but he but you gotta try, yeah, yeah, right. If you're saying this person is just like, Ah, I guess this is how I go then, yeah. Listen, I don't think it's a willful I probably sound like a hippie now, but I don't think it's a willful thing where people are just like, I just don't feel like taking care of myself. I think there's a psychological thing going on that freezes them, and I don't it's, I'm sure it's different for a lot of people, but you know something about the way you grow up, or something that happened to you or didn't happen to you when you needed it to and now suddenly you have trouble motivating yourself or caring about yourself enough, or maybe your blood sugars are so high that you're cloudy and you Can't even, like, focus on, like, who knows, you know what I mean. Like, it just, it does suck. But for sure, if somebody told me, like, a, you know, going for a walk around the park would make my daughter's diabetes go away, I'd push her out the door. Yeah,
Pam 53:31
now I'm going to be trying to figure out what his motivation is to not take better care of himself. Yeah,
Scott Benner 53:37
it's interesting, and I guarantee it's not conscious. I spend a lot of my time on this podcast asking people why they do things, and I'm telling it no one knows. No one knows about why they do anything they think they do or they you know, it makes me mad or this or that, but that's not like, why does it make you mad?
Pam 53:55
My off the cuff diagnosis, now that you brought this up, I thought about it a bit, is that he's a person who's always been a take charge, person in charge of the family and the finances and whatnot, and he doesn't see himself as a sick person. And if he doesn't act on it, then he can continue to not see himself as a sick person. I've heard
Scott Benner 54:15
that story from people just, I'm going to pretend it's not happening, because I don't want to look like I'm sick. I've heard that one
Pam 54:20
my image of myself, can't I don't want to change my image of myself as a healthy person, so I'm not going to deal with
Scott Benner 54:27
it. I listen taking a massive amount of crap online and other places for like, I started taking a GLP medication, like, over a year and a half ago, and this morning, I got on the scale, and I am, you know, I lost another two pounds. I've lost 56 pounds in a year and a half. My life is completely different now. I am healthier, happier, I feel better, I sleep better, I breathe, I everything. I do everything better than I did a year and a half ago. And yet, I'll still run into people once in a while that would be like, Whoa. So you just cheated, huh? Yeah, cheated. I took the medicine and I stayed alive. Good for you. Well, how is that? Someone's reaction right there? It's fascinating to me. Like, not, hey, congratulations, or you look great, or this is awesome, or I'm glad to hear you feel better, or whatever. Or just don't say anything.
Pam 55:14
They probably want to lose weight too, and they're they've been slogging through diets their whole life, and it does seem like you've taken a shortcut,
Scott Benner 55:21
yeah, but even when it's not about, wait for them that idea of, like, you did something that I don't have the option to do, or, you know, or they make a moral judgment about it. So they're like, like, even, like, you listen, you earlier said, like, I like, I'll take a gummy a couple times a year and chill out. They're gonna be plenty of people be like, you know, you could have gone for a walk or done some deep breathing exercises. You shouldn't be doing weed or like, but, you know, like, it's just doing weed. Look at
Pam 55:45
me. You're these are just more of the haters we talked about earlier, the people who are going to leave a bad review, the people who are going to make sure that you know that they don't like your book there. There are those people out there. And I've been on a GLP ozempic for about a year and a half have you, I've lost 15 pounds, good for you, and but now it's since it's not prescribed or recommended for type ones after the first of the year, my insurance company is going to look at that, and it's likely they won't renew it, because I'm not in the category of person who should get it for weight loss or weight loss. But it also helps with your numbers, of course, but it's not really prescribed for type ones. No.
Scott Benner 56:25
I know we have an awesome group of episodes about glps from this year, but what I was going to tell you is, is that if your weight is still over, where your insurance company will cover it, just switch to week over. Okay, you'll be getting those em pick and we go via the same exact thing.
Pam 56:39
That'll be my tip for the first of the year. We'll see what they do. Yeah, if
Scott Benner 56:43
they say no to it, just tell your doctor. Like, look, just write me. We go before weight loss. Then also, okay, tons of great episodes on the podcast about GLP. I wish I'd
Pam 56:51
lost more weight you. You said 56 pounds, that's amazing. I've only lost 15 and now I'm stuck. Did you have 56 to lose? No, probably another 10 pounds would be, would put me right in the range of where I want to be.
Scott Benner 57:04
What's your um, dose at two units a week, two milligrams, or you right? Yeah. Is that how it's met? I'm forgetting how the OCP pen is measured.
Pam 57:13
Yeah. I think that's a max dose. Yeah. So when
Scott Benner 57:17
you use it for weight loss, the doctor has the autonomy to continue to push your dose up until you're losing weight. I use zephbound, which is from a different company, but I'm on like, 12 and a half milligrams a week. Oh, okay, I'm telling you right now. Like, let's go. Yeah, I'm almost done. I was talking to a friend yesterday who was like, what's left? And I was like, there's these, used to be three handfuls of fat around my midsection. There's two now, like, there's, like, once they're gone, the rest of my body's actually transformed already. Like, it's, it's just right here,
Pam 57:49
I think you're right about how it changes your life. I feel more active. I go to more exercise classes. I mean, carrying around 10, even 10 or 15 pounds of extra weight. It's it's difficult, it's
Scott Benner 58:03
terrible. Like, my joints are better. My ankles, I used to have planar fasciitis. I don't have that anymore. My back doesn't hurt my my back used to hurt all the goddamn time. My back doesn't hurt anymore. I sleep better. Also, like other things that you should, you should, you might like this podcast, by the way, Pam, but there's other things, for instance, like I used to have to get iron infusions all the time because my body I could, I wouldn't absorb iron for my diet. But now that I'm on a GLP, I get all the iron I need for my diet now, and I haven't had to have an infusion in almost two years, I think
Pam 58:36
eventually most people will be on glps, because they have so many awesome side effects, awesome results. And I don't think they found any bad side effects. Yet, there's
Scott Benner 58:46
people like, have issues like, with everything and and one, there's a couple of reasons why they're, you know, scary about giving it to type ones, one for reasons that they don't completely I don't even know if they completely understand or not, but you are at a higher likelihood to have to go into DKA. Part of how it's going to get prescribed to type ones, if they get the prescribing set up, is going to be that you have to have a ketone meter and check your ketones like, that's going to be one of something I don't do very often at all. One of the things they're going to do the other thing is that it can significantly and change your insulin needs. Like, look at you like, you like, you just tried to switch from MDI to a pump, and you almost killed yourself. Yeah, imagine if you, like, Yak yourself up with GLP, and all of a sudden your insulin needs are down by half, and you don't know that, and you're not, you know, being directed well by a physician, or don't have support, or whatever. Like, those are the things I think they're bigger concerns about that's my expectation, right?
Pam 59:42
There needs to be a lot more education and maybe intervention if you're going to do glps and understand how they
Scott Benner 59:48
work. That education extends to the doctors who, generally speaking, aren't going to understand any of this so
Pam 59:54
well. I and I don't think there are as many diabetes educators anymore. It seems harder. To get help. I've heard
Scott Benner 1:00:02
that, by the way, that they're having trouble, that there's not as many endos, diabetes, educators, stuff like that. I think there's not enough
Pam 1:00:10
information off of Facebook from people who are more experienced than I am. And sometimes a little tip, which you have to think of, you can't just take anything you get off of Facebook at face value. You have to think about it and work through it, but there have been some really valuable tips there, where people who have been doing this for decades longer than I have know more about it than I do, and they help me clarify my thinking and what I need to do.
Scott Benner 1:00:35
Yeah, have you found my private Facebook group?
Pam 1:00:37
I have not. You should it's got 50 in the Juicebox Podcast Facebook group. There's a
Scott Benner 1:00:45
Juicebox Podcast type one diabetes. The private group is, I think, at this point, like 56,000 members. It does like 125 new posts every day. There are a lot of people in there.
Pam 1:00:56
You know what I have found that, and a lot of those are younger people. It seems to me just off the thinking back to when I was reading that. And there are a lot of daily posts, you really get buried in that pretty quickly. Pam, may
Scott Benner 1:01:09
I you you've said this twice now, so I'm going to dig into this before I before I let you go. Also, I don't know if you said this while we were recording or not, but it was when we first got together. But you were like, Is this really going to last an hour? I don't imagine I could fill an hour or over an hour now, in case you're wondering, yeah, so twice now, like, once you said, I haven't heard a lot of older people on the podcast and like, so let me tell you something that you probably aren't seeing. So are there more parents of kids than adults with people with diabetes on the podcast? Maybe, but I don't imagine it's more than about 6040, okay. And the Facebook group also might feel that way, but they're there. They just don't talk as much. So it's not as heavy one way as I think you think it is. There are a lot of adults there.
Pam 1:01:58
There are lurking adults on the podcast and Facebook group who are tuned into it, but they don't always speak up or show themselves.
Scott Benner 1:02:08
Yeah, they're not as inclined to be involved. Like, are you like you're 64 like, you didn't grow up with the internet, right? So I did not. Yeah, are you inclined to just jump online and start telling people how you feel? I will
Pam 1:02:20
jump online and ask questions or reply to some people who are asking for information. Yeah, I'll jump online.
Scott Benner 1:02:27
That's awesome. It's not a lot of people. That's not a gear. A lot of people have actually that ability to do they it's more now, obviously, because kids are growing up with it, they have, sure, fewer difficulties with it. But generally speaking, it's not a thing that people easily do. It's interesting. I've seen some really cool studies about how difficult it is for some people to actually just post something online.
Pam 1:02:49
No, I like the internet. There's a lot of information out there. It's, I don't know how we got along without it, but I most people say that nowadays, Yeah, no kidding, we had to actually go to books and encyclopedias to look up facts instead of just Googling damn facts.
Scott Benner 1:03:03
Let me tell you. I'm gonna give you something here, and then I will let you go, because you must have a life. You have to get back to. I do try episode 1212, and 1238, okay, dr, Tom Blevins on GLP medications, Part One, two. I think you'd find those really interesting. Okay, all right, just a really thoughtful guy on glps, and He will answer your questions for sure. Great. Thank you, Pam, thank you. Tell people the name of your book again, please.
Pam 1:03:31
The name of my book is braving the World Adventures in travel and retirement, and I have a website at Pam Saylor, s, a, y, l, O, r.com,
Scott Benner 1:03:41
go check it out. The book's blue. It's got a piece of blue luggage on the front of it, in case you're looking for it and you you can't find it. Pam, thank you for doing this with me. I really, really appreciate it.
Dexcom sponsored this episode of The Juicebox Podcast. Learn more about the Dexcom g7 at my link, dexcom.com/juicebox, earlier you heard me talking about blue circle health, the free virtual type one diabetes care, education and support program for adults. And I know it sounds too good to be true, but I swear it's free thanks to funding from a big T 1d philanthropy group, blue circle health doesn't bill your insurance or charge you a cent. In other words, it's free. They can help you with things like carb counting, insurance navigation, diabetes technology, insulin adjustments, peer support, Prescription Assistance and much more. So if you're tired of waiting nine months to get in with your endo or your educator, you can get an appointment with their team within one to two weeks. This program is showing what T 1d care can and should look like currently, if you live in Florida, Maine Vermont, New Hampshire, Ohio, Delaware, Missouri, Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa or Louisiana, if you live in one of those states, you. Go to blue circle health.org to sign up today. The link is in the show notes, and please help me to spread the word blue circle health had to buy an ad because people don't believe that it's free, but it is. They're trying to give you free care if you live in Florida, Maine, Vermont, Ohio, Delaware, Alabama and Missouri. It's ready to go right now. And like I said, they're adding states so quickly in 2025 that you want to follow them on social media at Blue circle health, and you can also keep checking bluecircle health.org to see when your free care is available to you. Today's episode of The Juicebox Podcast was sponsored by the new tandem Moby system and control iq plus technology. Learn more and get started today at tandem diabetes.com/juicebox, check it out. Okay. Well, here we are at the end of the episode. You're still with me. Thank you. I really do appreciate that. What else could you do for me? Uh, why don't you tell a friend about the show or leave a five star review? Maybe you could make sure you're following or subscribed in your podcast app, go to YouTube and follow me or Instagram. Tik, Tok. Oh gosh, here's one. Make sure you're following the podcast in the private Facebook group as well as the public Facebook page you don't want to miss. Please do not know about the private group. You have to join the private group as of this recording. It has 51,000 members in it. They're active talking about diabetes, whatever you need to know. There's a conversation happening in there right now, and I'm there all the time. Tag me. I'll say hi. The Diabetes variable series from the Juicebox Podcast goes over all the little things that affect your diabetes that you might not think about travel and exercise, to hydration and even trampolines. Juicebox podcast.com go up in the menu and click on diabetes variables. Hey, what's up, everybody? If you've noticed that the podcast sounds better and you're thinking like, how does that happen? What you're hearing is Rob at wrong way recording doing his magic to these files. So if you want him to do his magic to you, wrong way. Recording.com, you got a podcast? You want somebody to edit it? You want rob you?
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#1486 Look to the Western Skies
You can always listen to the Juicebox Podcast here but the cool kids use: Apple Podcasts/iOS - Spotify - Amazon Music - Google Play/Android - iHeart Radio - Radio Public, Amazon Alexa or wherever they get audio.
Grace recounts her raw diabetes journey, mending family bonds, pursuing education, and an unforgettable Wicked theater encounter.
+ Click for EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
DISCLAIMER: This text is the output of AI based transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors and should not be treated as an authoritative record. Nothing that you read here constitutes advice medical or otherwise. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making changes to a healthcare plan.
Scott Benner 0:00
Hello friends and welcome back to another episode of The Juicebox Podcast.
Grace is 24 years old. She's had type one diabetes for about a year and a half. Grace is a nurse. It's pretty cool. She wants to be a diabetes educator. We also talk about my experience in a movie theater seeing wicked and people who were rude. 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 health care plan or becoming bold with insulin. AG, one is offering my listeners a free $76 gift. When you sign up, you'll get a welcome kit, a bottle of d3, k2, and five free travel packs in your first box. So make sure you check out drink a G, one.com/juice. Box. To get this offer, 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. Are you an adult living with type one or the caregiver of someone who is and a US resident? If you are, I'd love it if you would go to T 1d, exchange.org/juice, box. And take the survey. When you complete that survey, your answers are used to move type one diabetes research of all kinds. So if you'd like to help with type one research, but don't have time to go to a doctor or an investigation and you want to do something right there from your sofa, this is the way t 1d exchange.org/juice box. It should not take you more than about 10 minutes. This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by the twist A I D system powered by tide pool that features the twist loop algorithm, which you can target to a glucose level as low as 87 Learn more at twist.com/juice, box. That's twist with two eyes.com/juice. Box, get precision insulin delivery with a target range that you choose at twist.com/juice, box, that's t, w, I, I S, t.com/juice. Box. Today's episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by the contour next gen blood glucose meter. This is the meter that my daughter has on her person right now. It is incredibly accurate and waiting for you at contour next.com/juice box. This episode of the juice box podcast is sponsored by us Med, us. Med.com/juice, box, or call, 888-721-1514, get your supplies the same way we do from us. Med, my
Grace 2:51
name is Grace. I'm 24 years old. I was diagnosed with type one diabetes at 23 so about a year and a half ago, I'm a nurse. I've already had multiple nursing jobs, and I experienced all my symptoms when I was in orientation of my first nursing job. And now I've moved to a different state. I live on my own, and all of that is because of diabetes. And now at this point in my career, I want to become a diabetes educator, also working towards that
Scott Benner 3:24
grace, we're going to ask you a bunch of questions. Now, sounds good. So you were diagnosed about a year and a half ago, and you were, like, in nursing school. You had just gotten out of school. Like, where were you in that phase? It was
Grace 3:37
interesting. So I had just graduated from nursing school, like six months ago. But when I think back about my symptoms and everything, it all started the month that I graduated from school, so it was like, graduated from college, immediately, something's not right. I'm sorry this is
Scott Benner 3:54
gonna feel like I'm jumping around a little bit. But how have you had multiple nursing jobs already? So
Grace 3:58
yeah, this is an interesting story. So that first job where I was diagnosed and experiencing all my symptoms and everything, I ended up getting laid off, and I had not even finished my orientation yet because I was just not mentally in a place to be able to go to a hospital and take care of other people. You're a nurse, you need to be basically perfect in order to care for other people, because there's lives at stake. And I was making little mistakes and stuff like that, which, yeah, I understand, but I was in the very beginning of everything. You were making
Scott Benner 4:32
mistakes because you were new or do you think you were making mistakes because you had undiagnosed type one diabetes?
Grace 4:38
I think it was because I had undiagnosed type one diabetes. My brain fog was insane. I needed water every five seconds. I was not able to think clearly and process what I needed to do for my job, and I they just couldn't give me the time that I needed to be able to, you know, get more experience and recover a little bit more. But, yeah, I. Ended up getting laid off.
Scott Benner 5:01
Do you understand their position looking back, I do,
Grace 5:04
but then I look at the job that I have now, and they're so supportive, and they were able to accommodate me in everywhere that every single way that I've needed grace. I'm
Scott Benner 5:15
gonna ask like, in fairness, the people now know you have diabetes back then, yes, they just thought you were probably day drinking. No,
Grace 5:21
I was diagnosed, given three weeks to recover, and then I came back to work.
Scott Benner 5:27
I see, I see, yeah, okay, I'm sorry. Like, I thought they didn't realize. I thought it was before you knew you had diabetes. So you're newly diagnosed, not doing well, got the brain fog, and they just pull you into a room one day and go, Hey, look, you're not cutting it. We're gonna let you off. Yeah. Oh, basically, your first job out of college, yeah. Did you think you were doing a good job? Or what was that time like for you?
Grace 5:50
I thought under the circumstances, I was doing fine. I thought that based on everything, if I just had a little bit more time to kind of get mentally better, then I would have been okay. I could have done that job.
Scott Benner 6:05
Were your blood sugars balancing at that point? Were they did you just not know what you were doing? Like, do you know what you're doing now, I
Grace 6:11
do know what I'm doing now, at that time, it was literally the first month or two of diagnosis, I had no idea what I was doing. Yeah.
Scott Benner 6:19
So what were you seeing? A lot of like, vacillating up and down and, yeah, getting low and eating and getting high. That was all happening.
Grace 6:26
That was all happening as a roller coaster all the time. Gotcha, yeah. All
Scott Benner 6:30
right. So how long did it take you, like, did you go home and say to yourself, like, I gotta figure out diabetes? Or just say, I gotta find another job? Well, once
Grace 6:38
that happened, I decided to take a good amount of time just to figure out diabetes. Yeah, I lived with my parents. I had the time to be able to sit and reflect and figure out what I wanted to do next. And I always knew from probably before college that I wanted to move to a different state and live on my own. I decided that, you know, after good, like, five months of figuring out diabetes, that I was in the space to be able to go out on my own, and I ended up finding another job. Now I'm a oncology nurse, wow, yeah, and I love it, and I live on my own, and yeah, so I used that time to figure out diabetes. And then towards the end, I got laid off in January, and it was around April where I was like, okay, you know, I need to figure out what's next. And then I did that. And then by June, I was working at at my new hospital
Scott Benner 7:36
where you are now. Can you tell me what was the like? Were you always like hot to move out of your parents house, or did that come after the diabetes?
Grace 7:44
So I love being home, and I love my family. I have a great family. I like being home, but I just knew that my personality, I wanted to move out, and that was just further. It was made a little bit more urgent by the diabetes diagnosis, because being at home kind of reminded me of everything that happened and the thought of going back to work and living at my parents house, I hated it so much, and I just wanted to be able to to go out on my own.
Scott Benner 8:13
Oh, that's interesting. I mean, listen, I'm not saying, like, you should have lived at home forever. I was just wondering, like, if it was I just want to move out, because it's my age and my age and my time, and I'm working and I want to do that. Or if you just felt like you were running from something, like, because you got diagnosed, or like, you know, I was just trying to figure out, like, yeah, yeah, where all that came from. But you're saying just time to fly, that's all,
Grace 8:33
yeah, exactly, yeah. It just kind of pushed me to, you know, do what I want, when other people
Scott Benner 8:40
Yeah, Grace. You know, if you're flying solo, you're flying free. I saw wicked this week. Oh yeah, me too. The amount of people that I've said to, if you're looking for me, look to the western sky in the last couple of days is, is it's upsetting and it's embarrassing a little bit. But I texted the people I say it going through my living room. Where are you going? I was like, if you if you can't find me, look to the western sky. What? What's happening anyway? Did you see it on you didn't see it on stage? You're too young, right? My
Grace 9:08
mom and my grandma and I saw it in like, our hometown theater a couple times when I was younger, and then I seen it in the movie twice. I saw it with my best friend, and then I saw it with my mom. Oh, awesome. It was so good.
Scott Benner 9:20
Oh yeah, I listen. I'm just gonna come out and tell you I love I liked it. I thought it was really good. I was like, Oh, I can't wait for the second half. Now also, I was pissed. Broke into two halves. But whatever, that's okay.
Grace 9:29
I know. No, I didn't realize how much backstory there is and how the Wizard of Oz is just like I saw this on, I think it was on Tik Tok, but it was like, The Wizard of Oz is the propaganda version of what you think happened, and then the wicked version is like the documentary. I was like, that's so cool, because there's a whole, I don't know there's a whole backstory behind it. Makes it more interesting. Grace.
Scott Benner 9:52
Let me fry your mind. What if it's backwards? What if the wicked the propaganda? And you know what I mean, who would know? Yeah, you don't know.
Grace 9:59
No, no, that's insane. I didn't think of it like that. That's
Scott Benner 10:03
why it's so much fun to talk about politics, because somebody's lying to you. But is it both of them? Oh, no. What do we do? You're
Grace 10:10
onto something, Scott, you're onto something. I understand the world. Grace,
Scott Benner 10:13
it's ridiculous. Do you want to tell me a little bit about your management? So you've been doing it for a year and a almost at an hour and a half, a year and a half, what did you start with? What do you have? Now, I'd like to know what technology you have or don't have. You've probably heard me talk about us Med and how simple it is to reorder with us med using their email system. But did you know that if you don't see the email and you're set up for this, you have to set it up. They don't just randomly call you, but I'm set up to be called if I don't respond to the email, because I don't trust myself 100% so one time I didn't respond to the email, and the phone rings the house. It's like, ring. You know how it works. And I picked it up. I was like, hello, and it was just the recording was like, US med doesn't actually sound like that, but you know what I'm saying. It said, Hey, you're I don't remember exactly what it says, but it's basically like, Hey, your order's ready. You want us to send it? Push this button if you want us to send it, or if you'd like to wait. I think it lets you put it off, like, a couple of weeks, or push this button for that. That's pretty much it. I push the button to send it, and a few days later, box right at my door. That's it. Us, med.com/juice, box. Or call 888-721-1514, get your free benefits checked now and get started with us. Med, Dexcom, Omnipod, tandem freestyle, they've got all your favorites, even that new eyelet pump. Check them out now at us. Med.com/juice, box, or by calling 8887211, 887211514, there are links in the show notes of your podcast player and links at Juicebox podcast.com to us Med and to all of the sponsors. The brand new twist insulin pump offers peace of mind with unmatched personalization and allows you to target a glucose level as low as 87 there are more reasons why you might be interested in checking out twist. But just in case, that one got you twist.com/juicebox, that's twist with two eyes.com/juice. Box, you can target glucose levels between 87 and 180 it's completely up to you. In addition to precision insulin delivery that's made possible by twist design. Twist also offers you the ability to edit your carb entries even after you've Bolus. This gives the twist loop algorithm the best information to make its decisions with, and the twist loop algorithm lives on the pump so you don't have to stay next to your phone for it to do its job. Twist is coming very soon. So if you'd like to learn more or get on the wait list, go to twist.com/juice. Box. That's twist with two eyes.com/juice. Box. Links in the show notes, links at Juicebox podcast.com. The contour, next gen blood glucose meter is sponsoring this episode of The Juicebox Podcast, and it's entirely possible that it is less expensive in cash than you're paying right now for your meter through your insurance company. That's right. If you go to my link, contour next.com/juice box, you're going to find links to Walmart, Amazon, Walgreens, CVS, Rite, aid, Kroger and Meyer, you could be paying more right now through your insurance for your test strips in meter than you would pay through my link for the contour next gen and contour next test strips in cash. What am I saying? My link may be cheaper out of your pocket than you're paying right now, even with your insurance, and I don't know what meter you have right now, I can't say that, but what I can say for sure is that the contour next gen meter is accurate. It is reliable, and it is the meter that we've been using for years. Contour next.com/juice box. And if you already have a contour meter and you're buying test strips doing so through the Juicebox Podcast link will help to support the show.
Grace 14:06
So in the very beginning, the doctors that managed me at first, they said, Oh, you're a nurse, you know. So you know how to give the vial and syringe shots to your patients, so you can do it to yourself. So I have no idea why they started me on that, because I know now that people in my situation, at least should start with a pen, but I had those vials and syringes for two months, I think, no kidding. And then, okay, yeah, I know. And then I went to my primary, I was like, Can I just get an insulin pen and make this a lot easier? And they were like, yeah, no problem. So I did that for another six months, I'd say, and I was very well controlled. I just went low kind of a lot. And I didn't figure that out until I listened to the podcast, and I was like, Oh, my, my basal is definitely way too high based on the amount of activity that I do and stuff like that. And then after that, that was a little bit better. And then I finally got and then. Slim pump in July, I'm on the Omnipod now. Some
Scott Benner 15:02
good for you. You had to figure out that there were pens and then go ask somebody for one. Yeah. Okay, yeah, I did. I was gonna say, how do you rate, like, give a Yelp review to your endocrinology team. Like, do you think that if you didn't come to them and ask for a pen, you'd still be doing just injections from a vial.
Grace 15:21
Well, it's interesting, because it was the hospital that I was working at at the time that I went to for when I first got diagnosed, and it was the doctors there that gave me the vials and the syringes, sure. And then it was, it was my primary. That was like, that, I knew there was pens, so then I just, I just had to ask them, and then they were like, yeah, no problem. But it was my endocrinology team. I didn't get into her until a couple months after, when I was on on the pens.
Scott Benner 15:49
So, so from the hospital to endocrinology took so it took so long that you kind of, like, took a detour and just asked your GP about it. Exactly I see, how did it take so long? Like, so you're saying you called an endocrinology office said, Hey, I've been diagnosed with type one diabetes, and they said, we will see you 77 Tuesdays from now. Is it like? How long? Like, what was the gap of time? I think
Grace 16:13
it ended up being like, two months ish, because one of the doctors that I worked with at that hospital, he was able to get me in to one in Boston just to be able to be seen. So I went there, but then that doctor was like, well, you need to go closer to home. You know, this is an hour and a half two hours away from you. That's not realistic. Then I ended up having to go to one half an hour from my house, okay, which is a lot better, but the waiting list was,
Scott Benner 16:38
I gotcha pretty long, and you find them to be valuable. Now that you're there, well,
Grace 16:42
now that I'm there, I don't know. I feel like I have a really good handle on everything between listening to your podcast, what I knew, you know, kind of baseline from school, which wasn't a lot, but and what I see, I'm exposed to other people who have it daily, and I can kind of like, just make adjustments based on what I do, right? I don't know. Sometimes I feel like I go and she just, you know, kind of goes over my numbers from the last week, when, you know that doesn't reflect everything, and then maybe suggest a thing or two here. But I'm like, Yeah, I kind of know, but I don't know. I don't know. It's nice. It's nice to go still. So
Scott Benner 17:20
you have, you have, you said, a little bit of a background from nursing school. But what do you really like? What do they really teach you in nursing school?
Grace 17:25
In nursing school, they cover basically, like the general, you know, okay, so if somebody has diabetes, that means they can't make insulin because their pancreas isn't functioning anymore. So then when they're in the hospital, you need to give them insulin, but this is like a sliding scale, stuff like that. It's just the basics. And I remember in nursing school thinking like, this is so complicated, and these poor suckers who cannot, who have to deal with this and think about this all the time like that, must suck. Now you're a poor sucker, guys. I know. I know I'm a sucker.
Scott Benner 18:03
Do you have any other auto immune personally,
Grace 18:06
no. Nobody in my family has had any auto immune disorders, except for my cousin, who's the same age as me, she has celiac, and she was diagnosed in sophomore year of college, so a couple of years before my diagnosis, but that's the only autoimmune
Scott Benner 18:22
disease that you know of, okay? That came out of nowhere for you, as far as you're concerned, came out of left field, yeah, what was that time like? Like, how did you notice? I mean, how did it come on? How quickly did you get to a hospital? How'd you figure it out? So
Grace 18:35
it took me longer than it should have to get to a hospital. I started feeling my symptoms in like, May or June. I was studying for my NCLEX. I noticed I was losing a little bit of weight, and I also was just very, very, very anxious all the time, yeah, more than usual. So then I I took, I took my test. I was like, okay, things will be better now. I put on my scrubs to go to work for the first time in August, they fit me perfectly. In May, they were absolutely hanging off with me. I remember telling my mom, I was like, I need new scrubs, like these. I've lost a lot of weight. She's like, No, you know, you've just been stressed out and anxious. You haven't been eating as much. It's fine, you know, it'll go back to normal. I started working so tired. I was so so so tired throughout the day, probably because I was getting up two or three times a night to go to the bathroom. And then during the day, when I was working, I couldn't go more than a couple minutes without having a drink of water. Yeah, I would bring my 40 ounce Stanley water bottle and a couple of extra, like, just regular pull and spring bottles, and I still I would run out of water by the end of the day. Oh,
Scott Benner 19:43
give me a second here. I have two thoughts. Yeah. First of all, this is gonna sound like a sidebar, but this is from my wicked experience. Oh, yeah, because you just said you had your Stanley water bottle, which is metal. Yes, this is like a PSA, a public service announcement to people who might not know. Let me just get a little farther from the microphone so I don't hurt anybody's ears. Do not bring your metal water bottles to the movie theater. You fucking idiots like, what in that? I mean, my God, I'm like this girl in front of me. Oh, if she can hear this, I hate you. Just please make sure. I don't know. She wouldn't know this was me, okay? But you know, the cup holder is plastic, right? She's got a metal cup with her. First of all, I understand. I don't want to pay $15 for a drink either, okay? But that's the world we live in. Don't drink while you're at the theater, or at least, like, sneak in something quiet. Here's what it sounded like, Grace. Listen closely.
Grace 20:36
Oh my god.
Scott Benner 20:38
This is her searching for the cup holder hole. Maybe look over and look where you're putting the cup and go slow like this. Watch, watch me put it down quietly. See it's down. You didn't even hear it happen. It wouldn't be that hard. She must have done that. I don't want to over exaggerate a million times during the movie. Okay, just, oh my god. I'm like, You think she'll find the hole soon? Nope, she's got it, excellent. Oh my Oh,
Grace 21:06
my God, that is so annoying. I'd be bad, too. Three
Scott Benner 21:10
of us. It costs $48 for three of us to go to goddamn movie. And what I heard was that, then Grace, I'm out myself here. Okay, then I swear to God, or whoever you're listening to, if you're listening whoever you think like swearing to would be the biggest thing. Okay, in the middle of the movie, she just turns the flashlight on, her phone on, and starts just like looking at the person next to her. And I don't know what they're looking for, this flashlight. I mean, you know now, Grace, yeah, these things. It's like a halogen bulb in your hand, right? Yeah, exactly. And it's not quick. She didn't turn on and go, Oh, there it is. That's what we're looking for. She just kept searching. She was spelunking. I think she was looking for gold. I don't know what was going on, but after Oh, Grace, now it didn't stop. And so I leaned forward, and I said, Can you please turn the light off? And she turns back to me and says something unpleasant, and it started with F and it ended with you. I don't know if you can guess what she said. Now we're in the dark. We're in the dark gray. I don't know who I'm talking to, okay, what I can tell you is I don't know who she is or the people she's with, because they came into the movie Seven minutes after it began, and then, oh, so they came in in the dark, and they're doing the head shuffle, because they can't just sit down, you know what I mean, like, and then, oh, here's the bag. These the Twizzlers. This is happening. I'm like, You have got to be fucking kidding me. But anyway, I don't know what she looks like. I can't gage her age. Is what I'm telling you, because they came in in the dark. So when she said to me, you, I said, now I'm an adult. Grace, you know, I'm in public. I'm an adult. You know how I handled it, right? I said, I said, you and then I but, I said, but I said, you turn off the light. Now. She shut the light off immediately. God bless okay. And then everyone in the theater. It was one of those theaters where everybody was a little chippy. You know what I mean? There's a little too much talking going on, a little too much. One guy, I wish I could properly explain to you how long it took him to open up his candy, but, but hold on a second. I gotta leave this. I'll be right back. Hold on. I'm back. So he's got to open up his candy, right? But he's trying to be quiet, so he's going slow. So it goes like this.
Grace 23:42
I Oh my God, just rip that. I would be like, Oh my
Scott Benner 23:47
God, just rip, just rip bag open. You're killing me. That's what I was thinking, right? This is just happening, like a band aid, like a band aid, just happening. It just, it won't stop. And very loud, very I'm not doing it justice right now. Okay, and it won't stop. And I start leaning forward, and I can Arden's hand comes over, and she puts her hand on my leg. And I was like, Okay, I must be acting like I'm gonna say something to the bag person. I wasn't gonna say anything to the bag person. I was just watching him. I was watching him as a grown adult. Not understand that a little bit of fast noise would have been better than a lot of really slow noise. So anyway, I know these people. I know COVID ruined movies and that we're trying to get it back, and that there's probably, like a half a generation of people who don't understand, but I don't know how much common sense it takes to realize that you're pissed about how much you spent to get here, so am I shut the fuck up.
Grace 24:44
I know you gotta make it a good experience for everybody involved. If there's that much money at stake, it just needs to go seamlessly based on the amount of money that you
Scott Benner 24:53
spend. Maybe I'm crazy, but making a bunch of noise, banging a metal cup around and shining a flashlight. Don't seem to be like difficult things not to do in a movie theater. No, no, no, no. Okay. Anyway, theater etiquette, well, so anyway, after you turn off the light, Everybody calm down. And I was like, Yeah, I fixed the theater. There
Grace 25:14
you go. Gotta scare them. That's the best way.
Scott Benner 25:18
Grace, I gotta tell you. I don't know where you grew up, but I'm older than you, obviously by a lot. What kept me from doing the wrong thing for a very long time in my young life was I was afraid someone was going to hit
Grace 25:30
me. There you go. Hey, I don't know that is, that is not how I grew up, but it works. I know it works.
Scott Benner 25:36
Grace is like I've seen it work on television. I've seen MMA. I know a lot of things Exactly.
Grace 25:41
Yep, I've seen it all.
Scott Benner 25:43
I don't think we should have to threaten people, but I do want to point out that she said, You first. And there's more I could say, but I don't think you should start yelling, f you in a in a dark theater, at a person gig. You don't know who I am, like, Do you know what I mean? Right?
Grace 25:58
That's very much jumping the gun. Usually you start off with a little, like, all right, no problem. Like, you just go from there, not an immediate you.
Scott Benner 26:09
What if I was like, I know, just heard the story. Now I hear it's possible. I don't sound rational to everybody, like, what if I was not a rational person? Or what if I was a violent person, like, I don't know. Like, you just don't start yelling, like, I don't know what's wrong with you guys out there. Now, okay, but like, you don't know who you're talking to. No.
Grace 26:26
That's why, whenever I drive I never have road rage, because I am so afraid that if I, like, look at somebody and flip them off and they're just gonna whip out a gun and shoot me. Grace, you're a smart person. That's exactly how it is. Yeah,
Scott Benner 26:38
did you see the, um, the court case that just ended between the YouTuber and the guy that shot him. I did not okay, so a young YouTuber who I don't know, I haven't seen one of his videos, okay, maybe he's out there trying to save the world. I couldn't possibly tell you, but he's running at this guy in public who doesn't know him, holding his phone up in his face and saying, crazy. And the guy kind of backs away from him. He tries to move away from the YouTuber. Keeps coming at him with his like, yuck, yuck. Look how fun this is style of being an asshole. And the guy pulls out what looks to me to be a 38 snub nose and shoots him, yeah, and I have to admit, and you can all judge me, if you want, I was like, Huh? I'm all right with that. And now he doesn't kill him, which was nice. I'm glad the guy's not dead for just being dumb and making a YouTube video. That's good. He gets shot. The thing goes to court, you know, because the guy shot him, and, you know, the jury found the guy with a gun not guilty of anything. Wow. And I'm going to tell you again, and you can all judge me one way, though, if you want. I thought good, and that was it. Yeah, I don't think you should be provoked.
Grace 27:41
He is provoked, and he tried at first to just back away. No, I get it. Like, I don't
Scott Benner 27:46
know, I think this is a generational thing. Is what I'm getting at here. I sound like an old person yelling to get off my lawn, but I'm just saying that, like, you can't just run up the people like you don't know who that guy is. You know what I mean, or what his problems are, or if he's got a gun in his pocket, very easy, by the way. It was just a gun in like, his like, sweatshirt pocket. I was like, who carries that gun in the sweatshirt pocket anyway? Not the point. All right, Grace. Let's get back to your diabetes. I'm sorry. Please be quiet in movies. For God's sakes. Just go in the fear.
Grace 28:14
There's movie etiquette,
Scott Benner 28:17
yeah, and look forward. And if you gotta sneeze, that's fine. I'm not an ogre. But if you're gonna sneeze 50 times, get up and leave the theater and go sneeze outside and then come back, yeah, it's not hard, yeah. And if
Grace 28:29
you want to talk to somebody, whisper, but actually whisper, people don't know how to whisper. I gotta
Scott Benner 28:33
tell you that. Can I do one more story from the theater? Yes. So it's me and Kelly and Arden in a movie, and in front of us, a woman and her Kids Next Door, the kids eight, nine years old. I don't know about that age. The boy is doing the like, bouncy thing with his chair, like, bounce, bounce, bounce. When they sit down, I go, okay, you know, he's little kid. He's excited. He's coming to the movie. It's fine. Bounce, bounce, bounce doesn't stop. The movie starts. Bouncing doesn't stop. Now I'm looking at the woman, and I'm like, you're like, you're gonna stop this, right? Like, because, I mean, he's next to her, going back and forth too. She's got to be out of her mind. You would think, yeah, movie starts. This does not stop. It is not stopping. Now, the kid is seated. His seat is kind of split between Kelly's and Arden's, so Kelly and Arden are basically sitting more in front of him. I'm to the left of him. I'm a good parent and a nice person, and I don't want my wife and my kids to deal with this through the whole movie. And I'm also like, Yes, I yelled, You with the other girl, but, like, it's a little kid. Like, you know what I mean? Like, what am I gonna do? Right? Yeah, right, exactly. So I scooch down. I scooch my butt forward in my seat, and I reach out and very slowly, with my right foot, I take control of his seat, and I stop him from bouncing. Now he's a little kid. He doesn't know what's happening to him, so I get him stopped, and I wait, and then I start taking my foot off of it, and I realize that if I take my pressure off of his seat, he starts to bounce. It's a kick. And I'm like, Oh my god. So I'm watching the entire movie strip my right leg stretched out with my foot on his seat. He doesn't know what's happening. I want to be clear his just like, once the seat won't bounce anymore, he just stops bouncing. And, like, a half an hour into it, Arden just leans over to me and she very quietly, she goes, Do you want me to take over for a while?
Grace 30:24
I know I was gonna say, that's a great leg workout for you. And
Scott Benner 30:26
I was like, Sure, to which it was, like, it was like, we were in a movie, like, in a capsule, like, like, switching apart out. But like, you know, you know when, uh, Indiana Jones had to take the the monkey skull, like, it was, like, that, right? And, like, so, yeah, so Arden slides her foot on and I'm like, you have to put a little bit of pressure, not too much. I'm whispering to her, if you push too much, he'll push forward. You don't want that. You just want to stop him from bouncing. And we traded back and forth a number of times during the theater to stop the kid from bouncing. And he never bounced once. So funny. The movie ended, so funny. We took our foot off his seat, and it just started again. He just started bouncing again.
Grace 31:01
It was awesome. Oh my god, anyway, and the mom was just clueless.
Scott Benner 31:05
Oh yeah, no, no. She never once parented that kid through anything that happened in that movie. Oh my god, Grace. If you were bouncing in your seat in the theater, do you think your mom would say something to you? My dad
Grace 31:18
definitely would. Yeah. What do you think he would say he would like, whisper to stop because I was being annoying. And annoying scare me. I'd be like, okay, yeah, exactly. Now, there's
Scott Benner 31:33
people right now. They're like, Oh, the kid probably had ADD he can't help it. Okay, God bless. Don't go to the movie. Exactly. Don't. Don't sit in front of me. But like, how do you not see, oh, god damn it. Do a more
Grace 31:44
energetic activity where you can do all that stuff. No, I understand. It's
Scott Benner 31:48
the day after Christmas. I'm already mad again.
Grace 31:53
So much for that.
Scott Benner 31:55
Okay, so I gotta find out how, like, a 23 year old finds a podcast about
Grace 32:00
diabetes, when I contacted you that was the most uncertain and like alone, that I felt I would say, and I was just reaching out for any kind of support, any other people who knew about what I was going through, right? I knew that there were other diabetes podcasts and, you know, out there, and I just found you on Spotify, and I sent some episodes to my mom. She listens to you too. Oh, hey mom, and yeah, that's pretty much it. I was just out really looking for support.
Scott Benner 32:33
Okay, so you're not necessarily looking for management ideas right away,
Grace 32:37
not right away. Okay, I look mostly to the stories, like interviews that you do, like this, I listen to those, and then I listen to a lot of the kind of mental health podcasts that you do. Like your resilience series with Erica. I loved that, and I sent fourth episode of the four parts to my mom, my dad and my best friend, just so they could understand a little bit like, why I felt so lonely. Because at that point too, that was right when I had moved out on my own, and it was like, okay, my job's new, all right, I go home, and I'm alone in my apartment, and my family's two hours away, and I just was so, you know, uncomfortable. So I've found a lot of solace in your listening to your podcast. Definitely,
Scott Benner 33:26
you just melted my heart. I forgot all about those shitty people the movie theater. I feel better now. Thank you. You've made my day. Glad I could do that. No, no, it's real. It's nice to know that. Like, you know, meet you sit here and you're like, I have an idea about this. And then you're like, can I harangue Erica into helping me? And I'm like, you know, do you want to do this with me? And she's like, Yeah. So we start doing it, and, you know, you put it all together, and it goes off to an editor, and it comes back, and it sits in a pile, and then it goes up. And I know it sounds strange, maybe, but I don't ever think about the part where it's gonna get to somebody. I don't know if that makes Yeah, yeah. That part doesn't occur to me, like, I just, I just put it out into the world, and then it to me, it's gone after that.
Grace 34:05
Oh, yeah, I can see that, since you do so much of it, yeah. And you seem very, very busy, like you, you know, very dedicated. So yeah, I can see where you would just keep going, and not really, but yeah, I'm glad I could remind you
Scott Benner 34:17
that. Yeah, thank you. No, it's really nice talk to me about what it felt like in the beginning being alone in your apartment. And if that made you think I should not have left my parents house.
Grace 34:28
No, I didn't think of it as that. I went into it knowing that it was going to be difficult, especially at first, that was probably the hardest time, because it was just like, Oh my God, when are things gonna get easier? When am I gonna feel more comfortable with everything at that point, still, I was like, six months in with diabetes, so that was still kind of new and new job, and, yeah, living on my own so and then listening to that resilience episode, it just. Clicked in my mind, like, why? I was like, Okay, I should definitely be a lot easier myself. Because, no wonder, no wonder I feel so alone. Because, you know, it's all these different things. And I was like, okay, you know, I just keep doing what I'm doing. I know I'm doing good things for myself. Just keep that up. And then I knew it would get better. So
Scott Benner 35:19
it tumbles on itself, like, once you feel alone, then what you feel bad for feeling alone?
Grace 35:26
Yes, yeah, I would like, I'd be like, Well, no, I'm not alone. I have a wonderful family, and, you know, I have a best friend who I call all the time, and you know, I have people here, and I have this new job, and I'm, I should be proud of myself, but I felt alone. Yeah, it was just like a whole I, yeah,
Scott Benner 35:45
I felt bad. I don't deserve to feel bad because I have good support. Now you feel bad for feeling bad and you're feeling bad for not appreciating the people in your life. That's what it feels like,
Grace 35:57
right? Yeah, I remember, especially in the beginning, my mom was like, she understood, but didn't understand that I was just so I was just angry and sad about everything, and that made me be kind of like a bitch to her. I didn't mean to and it was entirely because of how I felt. And she was like, oh, remember when you used to like me. I was like, Mom, I'm just sad, like, I'm just so sad, and I'm not me right now. Like, it's not, I know you're here, but it's not anything that you're doing. It's anything that you're doing. Like,
Scott Benner 36:30
all the different transitions in life are so difficult, because just as you get accustomed to one thing or one way or how a person is, then forces that have nothing to do with you impact their lives, they start to morph and change, which, you know, it's funny, because when you step back, you say, Oh, this is awesome. That's growing, yeah, you know, like, from a long view, you're like, oh, grace is having experiences and learning how to tough them out and get through them and like, all this stuff. But short term, you're like, Oh, why is grace? Mean, yeah, exactly, exactly, yeah. It sucks. Everything sucks about being alive, except for the alive part. You know, right? You know who seems to be having a great time? The bouncing kid. He doesn't give a about anything.
Grace 37:08
No, exactly. He's He's fine. How old is he? Eight
Scott Benner 37:11
or nine? He was like, eight or nine? Oh, yeah. He has no response. Yeah. He's good grace. I want to point something out that long time listeners of the podcast are going to recognize that when I was a young man and saw Jurassic Park for the first time, that we tormented a woman in the theater for shushing us, and that one of the ways we tormented her was by sitting in front of her and bouncing in our chair, which some people might see as karma. And I realize that now, but I want to point out the difference here is that I was being annoying on purpose. There you go. The kid didn't realize this and how you act. I know this seems like a fine line to walk, but I knew I was doing the wrong thing. Common Sense. People get what I'm saying here exactly this difficulty with your mom and you in a relationship. Does it exist as you're leaving? Or do you get it straight before you it does it because you're it's, you're at the apartment, and this is happening, right?
Grace 38:04
So this happened a couple months before I moved, okay, and my mom is like my best friend, so we, we figured it out, okay, but for that time period, I couldn't go to her about everything. I ended up going to my best friend. And my best friend's mom actually helped me a little bit with that kind of stuff. Oh,
Scott Benner 38:22
I can't wait for your mom to hear that. But why couldn't you go to your mom at that point? What? What did it feel like? The disconnect was I
Grace 38:29
just felt like it hurt her so much, that I was hurting so much, and that she couldn't do anything to help me. Gotcha. And I remember telling her I was like, I, you know, I went to Katie, my best friend, and her mom, and I was like, Are you upset that I went to them instead of you? She was like, no, just whatever, whatever helps you the most. Yeah, she wasn't upset about that. She understood. But yeah, it was just like, it hurt her so much that I was hurting so much, and I wanted to protect her from that at least a little bit. Well, however I could, it was
Scott Benner 39:00
lovely. Seriously, that's really kind of some deep thinking there. Yeah, especially your age. No offense, but that's awesome. Thank you. This turmoil right this time where you're you're going through this, I mean, I'm assuming, like, a grieving process that you're going through, oh, yes, did you have like, other struggles like that in your life prior to this, or is this a new way of you feeling that came on just from the diabetes, I
Grace 39:26
think mostly from just the diabetes, because I had always wondered. I was like, I'm perfectly healthy. I you know, most of the people in my family are healthy. I wonder what my thing is going to be that, like, changes my life forever. Yeah, end up being this because I was like,
Scott Benner 39:42
I think it might be the lottery for a while. Yeah? Like,
Grace 39:47
I'm a little too lucky. I don't know, I don't know what's gonna happen, but something's gonna happen that's gonna change me. And ended up being this that's very thoughtful. I've always been very mature. And do you. Thinking you have other brothers and sisters, I have an older brother. Yes, interesting.
Scott Benner 40:03
What do your parents do for a living? Can I ask just vaguely,
Grace 40:07
my dad's a business owner, and my mom works for him.
Scott Benner 40:12
And you're sitting around thinking something's gonna come for me. What's it gonna be? You were like, maybe I'll be a famous YouTuber. No, maybe I'll win a bunch of money at the church lot. No, it wasn't bingo, and so I get value. Is that how it feels? It feels like one thing's gonna happen to you that's not great, and this is the one.
Grace 40:31
No, that's, that's honestly how I felt. I I had a feeling that something big was gonna happen to me like this, but I just didn't know what it was.
Scott Benner 40:43
Do you have any other feelings now or about stock picks? Anything at all that you could share with me?
Grace 40:49
No, no. Stock Picks. I'm not good with that stuff. If
Scott Benner 40:52
you have any big thoughts about that stuff, please do reach out. It seems like you might. We'll let you know. Yeah, that's really so did you have a conscious thought at some point you're like, Oh, my thing came it's diabetes, kind
Grace 41:02
of yeah, like I said I in school, I was like, Oh, these poor suckers, you know, that's gonna be tough. And then my my pediatric clinical, the one kid that I consistently took care of was a diabetic who's just pretty newly diagnosed. And then I go to work, and one of my patients that I helped take care of. One of the first ones was a type one diabetic with gastroparesis, and I was like, yeah, something, something's brewing. Something's brewing here.
Scott Benner 41:28
Have you listened long enough to hear me say that idea, like, everybody kind of gets something? Yeah, yeah. I do believe that. I believe that too. I don't think it's because, like, you know, Odin gives it to your whatever you believe. Like, I just think that. Like, I mean, I don't want to get too deep here, but, but why not grace? I'll go deep. I don't care. Would you I think we're just like, you know, organisms that, like, weirdly developed and the things that can think, and we're really delicate, and it's just hard to make a perfect one that stays perfect the whole time. That's all, yeah,
Grace 41:58
exactly, because, yeah, we obviously grow the most through our struggles. And if we were all, you know, good and you know, everything was great all the time, then would be a lot less interesting. Well,
Scott Benner 42:11
even physiologically, like, you know that cellular change is where growth, you know, you grow, and things morph and change. And like they, you know, they write and rewrites. What cancer is, right? Like, it's just a cell that rewrote the wrong way. And so, I mean, stuff goes wrong, and then there's outside influences, and, you know, from, I mean, everything, like, there's stuff you put in your body, there's stuff you breathe in, there's, you know, stuff you eat, there's all that stuff changes, things, little bits at a time, and stuff goes wrong. I'm not saying you did something that gave yourself diabetes, but, like,
Grace 42:44
No, you know, yeah, there's things you can control. Definitely, there's a lot of things that you can control, and then there's just some things that you can't Yeah, you have to just take what you get and keep
Scott Benner 42:53
going. And even the stuff you can control, there's an argument for how much you can control it exactly, you know. Like, yeah, you know, when you hear people say things like, you should eat better. I'm like, Well, sure, but what if I don't have access to that food? Yeah, exactly, you know, what if I grew up in a way where people just didn't ever feed that to me and now my palate like, oh, change it. Like, okay, great. You change your thing that's wrong with you. You don't even like, yeah.
Grace 43:15
It's not always that simple. And everybody has their own, their own situation, and you just have to, yeah, as an individual, you have to decide what's best for you
Scott Benner 43:24
exactly. So you have to have trouble dating in 2024 being this smart, right? You can't find a boy you like, am I? Right? So
Grace 43:32
interesting? I actually am in my first, like, serious relationship. We're only a few months in, but I have a good feeling, and you know, I'm good with my feelings. He
Scott Benner 43:43
hasn't said anything or done anything really weird yet. No, nothing worrisome. He hasn't ignored you to play a video game.
Grace 43:51
Nope. Before that, so much struggle, so much struggle.
Scott Benner 43:56
Yeah, no, I know even, how do you meet people like people? I'm gonna use a lot of words I shouldn't be using right now, but like, people, like, swipe up in your stories and, like, try to be like, it's like, right?
Grace 44:06
I know, I know. No, it's so awful. I'm so glad I didn't meet him that way, because, yeah, I was on dating apps for a little while, but then I was like, there's just no way. There's just no way that I'm gonna connect with somebody on the level that I want to through this stupid thing. So he ends up being one of my best friend's friends. So met him through there at a bar. So somebody
Scott Benner 44:27
set you up, yeah, and tell people the dating apps are sex apps, right? They're not really, for the most part. Yeah, right, if you're not just trying to, like, hook up, like that, hook up means sex now, right? Yes, Grace, it used to mean kissing. Did you know that
Grace 44:43
I heard that? I heard that? Or just, like, making out, right? Yeah, maybe,
Scott Benner 44:47
maybe touching things over clothing. Now it means, like, a whole, like, other thing, huh? How many boys did you have to go through, like, the dumb ones before you got through this
Grace 44:56
one? Uh, let's see. Hold on. Let. Like, do a real tally boyfriend. I had a I didn't have anyone in high school, and then in college, I had my first, like, just kind of casual boyfriend for a couple months my sophomore year. And then right before diabetes and everything, I met this guy on a hinge. He was stupid. I I don't know why I would. Just wanted somebody honestly, so just those two before him, yeah.
Scott Benner 45:28
What does that mean? You just wanted somebody to feel alone? Yeah, yep. How does this boy handle the diabetes stuff? He is
Grace 45:36
so supportive, and he doesn't pretend like he knows any more than he does. He just knows that when I go low, I need lemonade or juice, and then when I go high, he needs to get me water. But he's always like, what can I do? What can I do? What can I do? And I'll usually like, correct my low. And then I'll be like, you just want to get me lemonade. Fine. You can go. And then I just don't drink it. He just wants to get me it
Scott Benner 45:59
and let him get you something. Oh, wow, you really, yeah, it's possible you're in love grace, maybe. I mean, who knows if you're being if you're being that nice for no reason? You very much. I could say, who knows? Because I just want you to know that my wife would be like, I don't want lemonade stop.
Grace 46:20
Well, we're in the we're in the beginning stages too. So let's, let's take that into account. Yeah, I would never, I would not be mean to him at this point. You're being, like, a year,
Scott Benner 46:33
good something for him to look forward to, awesome. Right about the first time that happens, he's gonna be like, Oh, thank God, I can play Call of Duty again, I didn't realize that,
Grace 46:41
right? No, Minecraft. He's on Minecraft now. Oh,
Scott Benner 46:48
awesome. I hear things. Do you think that the way that it's set up now, like dating, the way you meet people, you think you'll like, hold on to a good guy quicker than you would like, do you mean? Like, like, yeah, right. Because it feels like it was so hard to find one. Like, right where you're gonna find the next one.
Grace 47:07
It's so interesting, because with him too, like, like, I said, it's just a feeling, and it's not, I'm usually pretty realistic and grounded, and I can be like, okay, you know, obviously this is still the very beginning. I don't want to get in too far, too quickly, sure, but with him like I just know I can see his character, and I know that he's good, and I know that nothing's gonna happen. Nothing could make him leave that easily. I don't know. I just know good.
Scott Benner 47:38
Look out for small things online betting. Be careful of that. That often turns into a problem. Good look for that one looking through you while you're talking. You know what I mean, like not really listening. Don't do that. Don't let him do that one. Don't let him pressure you into things you don't want to do. Right? Exactly, right. Yeah. Does he drive too fast? No, awesome, no. And
Grace 47:59
whenever he does, like, a hard stop. It's like, Oh, I'm sorry that was too
Scott Benner 48:02
fast, really. Oh, God, it is really, yeah, how does he look at little kids on our
Grace 48:07
first date? He pointed out a little kid to me and then made faces at him. So he's good
Scott Benner 48:13
grace. Okay, yeah, you have no chance. This will probably end with a marriage. I know. Yeah, I got it all right. Okay. Well, just make sure, like, you know, keep checking in with somebody else, not your mom, who thinks you should be with Prince Andrew or whatever. I don't know is that a good person? Exactly? It's possible that's not a good person. Hey, did you hear that? I heard the I don't follow this at all, but I think the red headed Prince guy and the girl from that USA TV show might be having problems, really? Do you know what I'm talking about when I said that?
Grace 48:44
Yeah, I think so. Can't think of her names. Yeah, I can either, but I know who you're talking
Scott Benner 48:48
about. I moved here and tried to start a podcast that didn't work. Yeah, that's
Grace 48:52
always a telltale sign the podcast goes south.
Scott Benner 48:58
People right now, who know? Who know about, like, the Royal stuff? Are like, I can't believe you can't think of this name. Hold on a second grace. Give me one second, because I'm going to type in red head Prince and see what I get. Oh yeah, there it is. That popped right up. Prince Harry, yes. Prince Harry, yep. And Megan, right? Yes. I don't know if I what I heard is right. Also, do you know why I can't tell if it's right or not. Have you seen like because the click bait social media stuff has gotten it has no soul. Now, like before, it used to start with some sliver of truth, but now they don't even, they don't even care about that anymore. Like they'll do it. No, they don't even try before. They try to craft some sort of lie around the truth to get you in but now, like, they do it with sports teams all the time. Like, it's like, here's the, you know, I don't know, the Red Sox, like fan page, and it's like, the Red Sox cut their most popular player. And then you get to the story, and it's not true. Yeah, they're just lazy. They're lazy. I actually think it's more than that grace. I think. What? Yes, I think that they're trying to get the people who will take the time to correct them and or yell at them or chastise them to jump in and make comments so that the algorithm keeps feeding people the story. Oh, I think they want you to call them out. Yeah,
Grace 50:16
no, I see that. I see where you're coming from. I agree
Scott Benner 50:18
this is a leaning into being a dick situation, and it's working for them because of how the algorithm works.
Grace 50:23
Yes, yeah, yeah, no. It's crazy. It's crazy. It's gotten out of hand.
Scott Benner 50:28
Should I go that way with the podcast? Should I just start saying things I know people will be upset by
Grace 50:31
There you go, so they'll yell at me. Let's add a little spice. Make it fun. I'll try now,
Scott Benner 50:37
Grace. I'm 100% positive that if you would have just taken cinnamon, you could have cured your type one diabetes there. Oh,
Grace 50:45
my God. Oh my god. No
Scott Benner 50:47
people, yeah, one and then I'll get super popular, right? Is that how that'll work? Yeah?
Grace 50:52
Okay, yeah, my God. So people will eat it right up. How do you deal with
Scott Benner 50:56
social media, especially now that you're still young, but you're a professional at the same time. Like, do you stay off of it? I'm still on
Grace 51:03
it, but I haven't really changed much about it with type one diabetes. I don't know. I just kind of keep to myself for the most part. You're not looking to, yeah, yeah, not really looking to. I know I've never had any desire to, because of this, become an influencer for type one diabetes. I never really had that.
Scott Benner 51:21
How about for nursing? That's huge, by the way. Oh yes,
Grace 51:26
yeah, that's why I want to go into diabetes education. Definitely. Yeah,
Scott Benner 51:31
I'd like to hear more about that. Like, that's a shift you're making, like because of your own diagnosis or because of something you're seeing. I
Grace 51:38
honestly was pretty disappointed with the amount of knowledge that healthcare workers have about diabetes for how prevalent it is in that setting. So I take every opportunity I can to teach my co workers whenever they have a patient with that, because I was talking to my charge nurse one day and we were trying to figure out the insulin drip protocol, yeah, and I ended up teaching her a couple things about it that she had absolutely no idea. And then I was like, Well, wait, I could do this to so many more people. I could reach so many more people if I was a diabetes educator. So I kind of put that together, and now I'm working on getting my 150 hours in before I can take my test to get certified, and then hopefully, in like, a year, I'll be able to do that. But, yeah, it's huge. It's huge to be able to have that takes
Scott Benner 52:28
150 hours to be eligible for the test.
Grace 52:31
Yes, of management education. Oh, so
Scott Benner 52:35
they should let me take the test. I don't want to be a diabetes educator, but I would like to take the test.
Grace 52:40
I know I'd like to take the test now, just to see how much I know just from having it. Well, that's,
Scott Benner 52:45
that's what I meant. Yeah, I don't want to be a diabetes educator. Or do I think I should be? I'm just saying, like, I wonder, I wonder how easy the test is. Is I guess what I was wondering? Because that would I know me too, you know what I mean? Because maybe that's why people run into so many people who are like, my diabetes educator doesn't seem to know what they're talking about. Like, is it? Yeah, oh, that's true. Is the barrier of entry not what it should be. And maybe that's on purpose, like, maybe we don't have enough, and you're trying to get people in there and hope they learn on the job. Or, I don't know, but I'd be interested if
Grace 53:14
I equate it to nursing school. So nursing school is basically set up so that we can pass the NCLEX. And then once you actually become a nurse, you learn pretty much everything on the job. Yeah. So I'm assuming that with this test to become a diabetes educator, you study for the test, and then once you get on the job, then that's how you kind of learn when you're exposed to more people and cases. And, yeah, I think that's kind of how it goes. I'm just confused. I don't know how people are diabetes educators without having a personal tie to it, being able to understand it on that level. But it's great. It's great.
Scott Benner 53:53
So you're telling me that when I need a job, Grace, I learn how to take the test so I can get the job. I don't necessarily learn the job so I can do the job. I learn how to pass the test
Grace 54:03
for health care. Yeah,
Scott Benner 54:06
okay, because then you pick a lane, and then you you dig down once you get there, right, and learn the family, all right. But then there's turnover in nursing, so, oh
Grace 54:19
yeah, so maybe that's a whole nother. Yeah, more, yeah, it's short staffing and, yeah, all that stuff sucks.
Scott Benner 54:27
It's just an imperfect system, really.
Grace 54:30
It really is. All right,
Scott Benner 54:32
is there anything we haven't talked to? I want to make sure I'm not missing anything off your list, because
Grace 54:36
I've been all over the place today. Uh, no, I think that's pretty much it. Yeah, that was great. Yeah, well,
Scott Benner 54:41
we're not done. I'm just making sure I didn't, like, I want to make sure I didn't I'm not kicking you off. I just wanted to make sure that, like, I didn't miss anything. We went over dating, we went over going through school. Like, oh, I guess I do have this question, yeah, what did you get from the podcast? So, like, if you start in a place where you're, you know. So having, you know, psychological struggles like, right? You're trying to get through this diagnosis, you get to a point where you can't really look your mom in the face, because you feel like you're letting her down because you're not doing well, and you know, you're off, by the way, it's crazy. You figured all this out. You're all figuring out all this stuff. But when you intersect the podcast, like, you first feel like you're not alone, I'm assuming. But then how does it grow from there, like, how does it turn into stability? And you know, you understanding diabetes and all the other things that you have now
Grace 55:30
from the podcast, from the time that I listened to it, like you said, I felt less alone. And then the information that you gave in the way that you presented, it was in a way that it had never been explained to me before, and it's in a way that is so much more useful in daily life that I can, like, pick from it and take what I need. So I was basically able to through your different episodes, like the Pro Tip series and the ones about mental health stuff like that, I was able to just kind of take those pieces and fill in what I still hadn't figured out, and that turned into just easier management and more compassion on myself for things, for when things did not go the way that I thought they would go. So yeah, I was able to just kind of pick different pieces that I needed from you, and then just kind of helped fill in the blanks.
Scott Benner 56:25
That's awesome. Oh, I'm so glad. Yeah. Can I be petty for a second? Would you mind? Yes, do you ever get Do you ever get petty? Oh, yeah, time to time, I'm not going to be able to find the review where the person I'm not going to find it, but there's a review of the podcast somewhere where a person says, like, you know, I'm done, by the way, if you make content online, eventually somebody's like, I'm done with this. Like, it happens all the time. Oh, yeah. But this person was done with me, because now Scott's pretending to be a mental health something. Now, first of all, I'm not pretending to be anything. I'm me. Okay, yeah. And here are the ways I think about these things. You do whatever you want with that, but the same content that made someone go, this guy's not a therapist. He's pretending he's a therapist. But I'm not pretending I'm a therapist. I'm talking to a therapist, and I'm telling you how I'm intersecting with what she's saying to me. But that's fine. That person, that same content, that they were like, oh, helped you, right? Yeah, that's so wonderful. Like, because, yeah, I was having this thought this morning. It's the end of the year grace, right? I've been doing this for a decade. I've been making this podcast for a decade. So every year, there's this giant whiteboard in the corner of my room with just stuff scribbled all over it, of like, you know, ideas that I have for the podcast and things that I think, you know, will make it interesting, things I think will make it helpful for people, things I think will keep it alive. Like, you know, like, all this stuff you have no idea, probably to somebody who doesn't do this, it probably sounds ridiculous, but trust me, if I put most of you in charge of an already popular podcast, you'd run it into the ground in three months. It's such a big I'm not saying I'm special. I'm saying there's like, there's a big picture, and then there's a big picture, and you kind of have to have your head wrapped around all of it at the same time and then make good decisions along the way and actually pick things that people go like, Oh, when he first said they were going to make, I don't understand episodes. I thought that was stupid, but they're not. He said there's going to be a four part series on resilience. What does he know about resilience, like that kind of thing? Yeah. So I'm looking at my board here, and I know what I want to do in 2025 I've been stuck, not stuck. This is kind of my time off this week, right? So I, you know, I'm just not intersecting with the podcast much for the last couple of days because of Christmas, and I just kind of like, put it aside for a little while just to relax. But now I'm back. Like, I got in the shower this morning and I was like, oh, it's the day after Christmas, and I'm already like, you know, thinking about, like, how do I make content in November next year that, you know? No, it's true. Yeah, just to hear you talk about it, and then I can kind of remember that, that that's one of the reviews that sticks with me this year, is that this person was like, ew, like, stop this. And you're like, oh, you know what really helped me, that resilience series. So, no,
Grace 59:18
it's it's so true. I completely see what you're saying. I could definitely not manage a podcast and be, you know, have the creativity to, you know, come up with content constantly and keep people interested. And, no, it's, it's admirable. I couldn't do it. I definitely couldn't. No,
Scott Benner 59:35
you're nice, but, like, it's not, trust me, it's What a dumb thing to be good at. It's also that, like, the way people want information shifts slowly. You don't see it happening because people tend to look more at the really super popular stuff and say, like, oh, this, this is what I should be doing, whereas I never think that way. Like, if something's already super popular at best, you're trying to co opt it right the. Way to stay popular is to come up with that thing before somebody else, not, not after everyone figures it out already. And and the internet's becoming YouTube, for example, is becoming videos about telling you how to be good at the thing that I'm good at. Have you noticed that? You know what? I mean? No, I've noticed that. Yeah, yeah. And so basically, some person got out ahead of something, became a, you know, I don't know, a figurehead on the thing, and then they got through the content. It's over. Now, there's no more to say, right? And so now they pivot to telling you about how you could be as successful as they are doing the thing they're doing, except that is not true. Yeah, they already did it. You can't do it now, like it's done, yeah? Because
Grace 1:00:51
it's short lived. You can't drag that out, you know, beyond just what it was, right? Just, you know, 100%
Scott Benner 1:00:58
like they've done it already, and the world moving on. You don't realize it. So whereas I think a lot of people make the mistake, if they are going to put something on the internet, they make the mistake of trying to see what's popular, to see if they can mimic it. In my head, I'm 24 months ahead of here, trying to figure out what's going to be popular, and then putting out content, and then waiting to see, like, Oh, what did people intersect with? Well, but they not. And then, you know, having to ignore the noise of the people who just want to be upset. Or, you know,
Grace 1:01:29
right? Yeah, because, yeah, you have to look in the long term picture, like you said, like the big picture, but then the bigger picture, you need to have some longevity in what you're talking about.
Scott Benner 1:01:40
And you gotta guess right once in a while, and get lucky sometimes, and, you know, right? All that other Yeah, just go with it. But anyway, that really the reason I brought all that up. You know, the people who don't like me are right now, like, Oh, good, an example of Scott being great. I'm saying that. I think you have to think about life that way. Yes, the diabetes is so easy to get super focused on about what's happening right now, and what is somebody telling me is the right thing to do, like, I don't think that matters as much as you figuring out what's right for you and figuring out your path to it that works, and even if somebody else says that's not right, if it's right for You, it's perfect. You know,
Grace 1:02:21
that's where a lot changed for me, because me before this I, I mean, I'm still a people pleaser to an extent, but I really just wanted to do things to make other people happy, and what other people saw me as and fit into that. But it truly was this diagnosis that helped me kind of be more aware of what I want and not let those other things kind of dictate what I did. So I agree, and then I was able to actually see like what I thought would be best for me in the long term. And was able to kind of block, you know, other people out, and I had never been able to do that before, until my diagnosis. That's
Scott Benner 1:03:05
awesome. That's really great. I'm happy for you. Yeah, yeah. Thank you, yeah. So you're an oncology nurse right now, but you're going to get your hours to try to take the test to be a diabetes educator. You're going to try to be a CD CES. Is that right? Yeah? CD CES, yeah. It's so long, I think it's a mistake having changed it, but that's between them and and, God, it's not up to me. Like, how do you see yourself working after that in a hospital setting, or in a in a clinic, in a private practice? What do you think is the best way to reach people?
Grace 1:03:35
I will probably be working in a clinic, I'd say, or private practice, yeah, something where, obviously, the hours are more consistent. I've noticed with just how I am the hospital 312 a week doesn't work for me the best. So I'm going to end up going to a doctor's office regular nine to five, and then hopefully I can reach the people who have been newly diagnosed for the most part, but doesn't
Scott Benner 1:04:02
work for you because of diabetes or just how you like to live, little
Grace 1:04:06
bit of both. It just sucks to work back to back days and like, I come home and I have to have dinner at like, nine o'clock, and then my blood sugar is high all night, and then I wake up and I feel all brain foggy and have a headache and stuff like that, and then have to go care for people. It's not ideal, but I'll do it. I'll definitely do it for the time being. Okay, doable. But
Scott Benner 1:04:28
yeah, are you using an algorithm or using Omnipod five, or are you just using dash Omnipod five? You are okay. Do you think? Do you like the algorithms?
Grace 1:04:37
I think so. I've adjusted them a little bit, okay, because I'm usually pretty insulin sensitive, but yeah, with the pens, I noticed that I could control it more and keep it lower. But I wish that algorithm had it so that my average was 90 instead of 110 I think that would help it a lot
Scott Benner 1:04:55
like a lower target, yeah, yeah. Does it make you think of switching pumps or. You like the tubeless nature of it so much. It's not that big of a deal for you. I
Grace 1:05:06
really like the tubeless because I knew that I wanted to, because I'm pretty active, so I liked the idea of that, and that probably won't cause me to change it. I'll just keep I'll just keep going, yeah, right now and then see what else comes up.
Scott Benner 1:05:20
I hope they, I mean, just, not just omnipot, but I hope everybody, like, tries to, you know, tweak their things so that they can have lower targets for people, if that's what they want. Right
Grace 1:05:31
now, me too, because I get that you don't want to make it so that everybody goes super low, because then, obviously, that's sure, more of an issue, but, but I don't know. I feel like the people who have it really under control and manage well, you know, should be have that choice at least, yeah,
Scott Benner 1:05:46
yeah, I agree. So hopefully they can make the adjustments that make that possible. Hopefully they certainly see it on, you know, the DIY systems, there's, you can make much lower targets, and Arden's on trio. And, I mean, I think her Target's 85 so, oh, that's great, yeah. I mean, she's not running around stopping lows constantly, so it must be doable. Get out there and do it. Talking to, oh yeah, get that. Let the people get out there and do it. I really appreciate this. Please say hi to your mom for me. I'm glad she listens. That's awesome. I will. I will. Do you guys ever talk about it? Do you ever like, Have you ever gotten a text from your mom that was like, did you hear the crazy story on the Juicebox Podcast today? Or does that happen in your life? No,
Grace 1:06:29
she usually she doesn't text me. She always just waits to tell me in person. Oh, you do it in person. I was like, yeah. It's always like, oh, you know, because I come home pretty often, I still get to see her, or she sleeps over my apartment, so I still see her. Wait,
Scott Benner 1:06:43
your mom comes to see you, and you guys have sleepovers. Yeah, that's awesome. My wife, my wife, would love to know that. Like, she's so like, Arden just got home, and she's like, Arden's home. And I'm like, I know she's like, super excited, yeah, and then, no, it's great. One night, she's like, she's like, she's like, I'm gonna stay in here with Arden for a while. And I was like, You're gonna sleep with Arden? She's like, maybe we'll have, like, a little sleep. I'm like, okay, yeah, she's super excited. I'm glad you and your mom get along so nicely. It's wonderful. That's sweet. Yeah, we do. I have to ask you, then I'm gonna, I'll finish with this. I think I know the answer to this question already. But are you planning on having kids? Yes, yeah, definitely. You want a lot of them, or a few of them, or what do you want? I've
Grace 1:07:21
always wanted at least two, so a boy and a girl, and then maybe a third, maybe another girl, so they could have they could be sisters, because I always wanted a sister and I never had a sister. You always
Scott Benner 1:07:32
wanted a sister. Okay, do you worry about the diabetes aspect of it? Now,
Grace 1:07:36
I do, but I also feel like, you know, I'll feel a little guilty at first if they do get it, but I'm not going into it thinking like that any because even if they do, I know I'll have kind of a head start on understanding how to deal with it. Yeah. So I yeah, I try not to look at it as like, Oh, they're doomed, and I'm doomed, you know, just kind of take it how it comes.
Scott Benner 1:08:01
You also do have, like, a an expectation that something's gonna happen, right? Yeah, you have that feeling. So if it's that, then it's that. Is that how you feel about it?
Grace 1:08:10
Kind of, yeah, yeah. I just know too that I'll be able to handle it. I don't know. I have faith in myself, yeah. Have you
Scott Benner 1:08:18
always had that faith? Or is that new? That's new.
Grace 1:08:22
That has not been around here for a while, up until this past year. And
Scott Benner 1:08:27
diabetes brought you that faith in yourself, Oh yeah, and
Grace 1:08:31
compassion for myself. I used to think so black and white, like, oh, it has to be like this, or it's wrong, or it's completely, you know, just all messed up. Nope, nope. I have faith in myself. Now,
Scott Benner 1:08:44
that's part of growing up, too. You know that, though, right? Yeah, it's true, yeah, like, like, I mean, I don't know that diabetes didn't, like, speed it up for you, right? Yeah, right. Or bring it into focus for you, which I'm sure it did all that stuff, but yeah, you would have gotten to it eventually. Just probably would have taken longer, exactly, yeah, that's interesting. Wow, you're on like, such a journey. It's nice. I'm jealous. Thank you that you're young. I just want to say that
Grace 1:09:12
I'm getting up there though, 24 Oh yeah, in the mid 20s,
Scott Benner 1:09:16
it's almost over. Grace. All right. Hold on one second. For me, this was really great. I appreciate you doing this. Yeah, thank you
having an easy to use, an accurate blood glucose meter is just one click away. Contour next.com/juicebox That's right. Today's episode is sponsored by the contour next gen blood glucose meter. The conversation you just enjoyed was brought to you by us. Med, us. Med.com/juice, box, or call 888-721-1514, get started today and get your supplies from us. Med, you. The episode you just enjoyed was sponsored by the twist A I D system powered by tide pool. If you want a commercially available insulin pump with twist loop that offers unmatched personalization and precision or peace of mind, you want Twist, twist.com/juicebox, 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. If you or a loved one was just diagnosed with type one diabetes and you're looking for some fresh perspective, the bold beginning series from the Juicebox Podcast is a terrific place to start. That series is with myself and Jenny Smith. Jenny is a CD CES, a registered dietitian and a type one for over 35 years, and in the bowl beginning series, Jenny and I are going to answer the questions that most people have after a type one diabetes diagnosis. The series begins at episode 698, in your podcast player, or you can go to Juicebox podcast.com and click on bold beginnings in the menu. Hey, what's up? Everybody? If you've noticed that the podcast sounds better and you're thinking like, how does that happen? What you're hearing is Rob at wrong way recording doing his magic to these files. So if you want him to do his magic to you, wrong way recording.com. You got a podcast. You want somebody to edit it. You want rob you.
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#1485 Cookie Mom
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Tiffany recounts her misdiagnosis, a life-saving low blood sugar emergency rescue, and exploring GLP-1 treatment options with her endocrinologist.
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DISCLAIMER: This text is the output of AI based transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors and should not be treated as an authoritative record. Nothing that you read here constitutes advice medical or otherwise. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making changes to a healthcare plan.
Scott Benner 0:00
Welcome back, friends to another episode of The Juicebox Podcast.
Tiffany 0:15
Hi, my name is Tiffany. I have had some form of diabetes for the last 11 years, and recently found out within the last two years that I'm actually type one
Scott Benner 0:27
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Tiffany 2:49
Hi. My name is Tiffany. I will be 42 in three weeks. I have had some form of diabetes for the last 11 years, and recently found out, within the last two years that I'm actually type one last
Scott Benner 3:03
two years, two years. Yes, okay, let's go through that. But first I want to tease people out a little bit. Sure you have a great story, but you're on the podcast most specifically because you saved yourself with G, VO, hypo, pen recently. Is that right? I did. Okay, all right, we'll get back to that. Sorry. I just, you know, want to make sure people hang on, because it's going to be a good story. Let's see 42 now, just about your birthday. Happy birthday. Thank you. Maybe we share a very similar birthday on the 12th.
Tiffany 3:36
That's my daughter's birthday on the 21st Oh, congratulations.
Scott Benner 3:39
Arden's is the 22nd that's so cool. Yes, please don't send cards. Let's see you've had what does it mean you've had diabetes for 11 years? How were you diagnosed?
Tiffany 3:49
Oddly enough, I was diagnosed with pre diabetic. We were trying to have our first daughter, and we were having trouble conceiving. So the OB did a whole bunch of the fun little blood work that they do, came back as pre diabetic. Changed the way I was eating, cut out all of the extra fruit I was eating, and was able to get pregnant within like three weeks. So they immediately put me on insulin, sent me to a diabetic educator. But again, no one told me how to actually use the insulin, or that my insulin needs would vary greatly while I was pregnant. Hey,
Scott Benner 4:32
wait a minute. So did they see you as pre diabetes type two? Yes. Okay, and so somebody, Oh, that's interesting. So you got your blood sugar down a little bit, that got you pregnant, and then you don't have any direction, even through the pregnancy, about how to manage,
Tiffany 4:52
um, just a whole lot of threats from my OB that if I can't get my blood sugars under control, my baby is going to be in the NICU. Too overweight, I would cry leaving every OB appointment. And I'm not the type of person to cry regularly, so I would be so upset, probably because of the hormones as well, but I would be so upset leaving those appointments because they were threatening me about my blood sugars, and I was doing everything I could to keep them in the range that they wanted them in, but nobody that there was no education really offered on exactly how to do that.
Scott Benner 5:28
The OB sent you to an endo. No, no. Who gave you the insulin? They
Tiffany 5:33
did give me a referral for an endo, but the OB actually first sent me to nutritionist,
Scott Benner 5:38
okay, yeah, well, yeah, I'm in the very beginning. That's what got you going. But once you're on insulin, who's managing the insulin, who's prescribing
Tiffany 5:45
it, I would see an endo once every three months,
Scott Benner 5:49
okay? And that was just for the did you think that was just for the pregnancy, or did you know that was forever? I thought it was just for the pregnancy. Okay? There's always a lot of confusion here in these stories. Okay, so you believe yourself? Do you think then that you're type two, or do you think that you're experiencing gestational once you're pregnant? I'm thinking
Tiffany 6:11
I'm type two at that point. Okay, my insulin needs obviously dropped off to next to nothing right after. I had to be like, in the hospital. While we were still in the hospital, they were like, Okay, well, we're gonna give you like one unit of insulin. I'm like, wait a second, I just had like 80 units of insulin with breakfast yesterday. And then they put me so out of the hospital. They put me on Metformin, which was a roller coaster, because I had crazy gi effects with metformin. Yeah, I don't find out until a few years later that the one that they finally put me on that was that I could tolerate, was the osmotic, extended release version, which I find out later when I drive myself to the hospital with a high blood sugar because I stopped taking it cold turkey, which was a very bad thing, but I couldn't handle taking it because my my insurance changed and would no longer cover the osmotic release or extended release, so They just gave me the different version without telling me. My pharmacy changed the prescription without telling me.
Scott Benner 7:26
And you were like, once you started having the GI issues again, you're like, No, thank you. Yes, I see. And you are, well, let me, let me get a tiny bit more background. How many kids do you have? Sure, two, two. But that first one's about 10 years old, yep, okay. And then How old's the second? Two and a half? Oh, both girls, right? Yep. And okay, so you are using a ton of insulin during the pregnancy. You experience a drop in a need as soon as the pregnancy is over. Is that right? Yep, okay, and then they put you on Metformin, because now they're treating you interesting. Okay, so then they put you on Metformin. Is the Metformin keeping your a 1c down, or is it not really helping?
Tiffany 8:13
I'm kind of riding in the mid sixes. Okay,
Scott Benner 8:16
mid sixes for years. How many? Probably
Tiffany 8:20
about, well, they start experimenting with other things because the mid six is just that wasn't a good enough target, right? Um, so I'm like, Okay, I'm eating good, like decent. I'm not eating terribly. My portions are good. I'm not eating like cake every day. I'm exercising regularly, and I just can't lose weight. I'm doing every everything that I'm doing should suggest that I should be losing weight. I can't lose weight. So we start experimenting. Okay,
Scott Benner 8:50
before, before you tell me about the experiment, the weight. Did you have it before the pregnancy? Or did it come with the pregnancy? I
Tiffany 8:57
had it before the pregnancy. I started having issues with my weight around 2007 because that's when we actually found out I was diagnosed with Hashimotos. Oh,
Scott Benner 9:09
okay, okay. Oh, and so nobody, all right, well, we'll get to that. So, so you had Hashimotos 2007 is it well regulated? Is your TSH under two or no. Today's episode is sponsored by Medtronic diabetes, who is making life with diabetes easier with the mini med 780 G system. The mini med 780 G automated insulin delivery system anticipates, adjusts and corrects every five minutes. Real world results show people achieving up to 80% time and range with recommended settings, without increasing lows. But of course, Individual results may vary. The 780 G works around the clock, so you can focus on what matters. Have you heard about Medtronic extended infusion set? It's the first and only infusion set. Enabled for up to a seven day wear. This feature is repeatedly asked for, and Medtronic has delivered. 97% of people using the 780 G reported that they could manage their diabetes without major disruptions of sleep. They felt more free to eat what they wanted, and they felt less stress with fewer alarms and alerts you can't beat that. Learn more about how you can spend less time and effort managing your diabetes by visiting Medtronic diabetes.com/juicebox Today's episode is sponsored by Medtronic diabetes, who is making life with diabetes easier with the mini med 780 G system. The mini med 780 G automated insulin delivery system anticipates, adjusts and corrects every five minutes. Real world results show people achieving up to 80% time and range with recommended settings, without increasing lows. But of course, Individual results may vary. The 780 G works around the clock, so you can focus on what matters. Have you heard about Medtronic, extended infusion set? It's the first and only infusion set labeled for up to a seven day wear. This feature is repeatedly asked for, and Medtronic has delivered. 97% of people using the 780 G reported that they could manage their diabetes without major disruptions of sleep. They felt more free to eat what they wanted, and they felt less stress with fewer alarms and alerts. You can't beat that. Learn more about how you can spend less time and effort managing your diabetes by visiting Medtronic diabetes.com/juicebox.
Tiffany 11:35
Yes, currently at point 740, good for you, but that was a roller coaster as well. Getting that
Scott Benner 11:42
straight was hard too. Yes, yeah, there's a lot of things that doctors aren't sometimes very good at helping with, and thyroid can definitely be one of them. Nope,
Tiffany 11:52
as soon as they would get me within the acceptable range, I was basically accused as being fat and lazy. Oh,
Scott Benner 12:00
so as soon as the TSH dropped, they were like, see, you haven't lost weight. Magically. You haven't lost weight magically. So you're not doing anything. You're eating poorly, correct? Yeah, it's tough. Oh, I lost my train of thought. What were you gonna tell me? Experimenting,
Tiffany 12:12
experimenting with different type two drugs. Thank you. I think I've tried, like, Invokana, that was, like, one massive yeast infection, like, for a month straight.
Scott Benner 12:24
Wait, I'm sorry, are you using yeast infection as a euphemism, or you actually had a yeast infection.
Tiffany 12:29
Actually had one. See, I never had one previously in my life, like ever, until I went on in O'Connor. Because
Scott Benner 12:36
the reason I asked is because I've heard people say, like, dumpster fire show stuff like that. But I was like, is yeast infection a euphemism? I don't know.
Tiffany 12:44
Now shows basically my favorite one to use. Sorry,
Scott Benner 12:49
you have a month long yeast infection sounds like a party. Do you know why? What about invocana? May or may not have had to do with that. I
Tiffany 12:56
don't know. But when I would Google, I would find that that was a common side effect for diabetics on
Scott Benner 13:03
that drug, or just on that drug really, okay, yep,
Tiffany 13:09
we tried glomiparine, and I would drop really, really low. I would have lows.
Scott Benner 13:13
Okay. So how long did you try that? For? Probably about a month or two. So how long is this, this whole experimenting going on for? I want to
Tiffany 13:24
say straight through to about 2018, so, like, four or five years. Okay? I tried Victoza, could again, GI issues. I really tried to stick it out. And I just, I couldn't. I was like, running to the bathroom at work, I would get sick and nauseous. It was terrible. And I was like this, I just can't an honest to God show. You're saying an honest to god actual show.
Scott Benner 13:51
Hey, I want to tell you I have a little bit of information here before we move forward. Invokana could the mechanism of Invokana, while effective in controlling blood sugar also leads to increased the risk of yeast infection. And diabetics, for several reasons, increased glucose in the urine, moist environment. I don't want to read this, but I'm going to the presence of glucose in the urine can contribute to a warm and moist environment in the general area which is conducive to yeast growth. Sorry about for that. One diabetic vulnerability are people with diabetes are already at a higher risk for infections altered microbiome. The altered glucose levels can disrupt the balance of the normal microbiome in the general area, allowing yeast to proliferate. Well, live with that thought, everybody Wait. Does that mean there's little bugs in your now, let's not talk about that. Okay, sorry, um. Omar, yeah, all right, okay, sorry. You know it's so funny, like, I reached out to you. I'm like, you want to tell your story about glucagon. You're like, yes, but then you sent me this list. You're like, I'm a episode on my own. I was like, oh, okay, well, like
Tiffany 14:52
a recurring guest, seriously, because I actually did a full, like, write up, because I was just trying to, like, write down my whole history. And it was like five pages. As long. So you got a very shortened list of what truly is my show journey you're gonna be. You're
Scott Benner 15:05
gonna be like, somebody who just comes on every six months and like, Okay, where were we and this, alright. So then you go to, what was the next thing you
Tiffany 15:13
tried? I think we were just back on, back on Metformin at that point, because that was the so we, we did the experimenting, and then we had the Metformin, and then I had the episodes before, where I stopped taking the Metformin when they switched the dose. And I was actually at an amusement park one day and ended up in their like medical area, first aid area. I was testing my because I only had a meter at that point testing my blood sugar, and it was just reading high. So I think that meant, like, my blood sugar was over 500 the person in the first aid area just told me to drink a lot of water well. And I'm like, okay, so I did that, and it gradually came to a walking around in the amusement park. With the exercise eventually brought me down, I guess. But I'm actually questioning whether or not that may have been like DKA. Not sure.
Scott Benner 16:07
I mean, it's, you know, it depends on how long DKA can come on, very quickly. It could, actually can happen without enough insulin, even with a an in range blood sugar. So, right, which
Tiffany 16:18
I've learned from the podcast. Oh,
Scott Benner 16:20
sorry. I just, I just drop in these little things as we're talking. Do you think sometimes people are like, I've heard him say that before, and I was like, Yeah, but everybody hasn't heard me say it, so I'll slip that stuff in. Okay, so you're wandering around this park on just Metformin.
Tiffany 16:35
That's when I stopped taking there's like, a weak stretch of where I stopped taking
Scott Benner 16:40
it. You're like, I'm stopping this, and I'm riding a roller coaster. Roller coaster,
Tiffany 16:43
pretty much roller coaster. Indeed, me
Scott Benner 16:47
and my moist, gentle area are gonna go to the Six Flags. Jesus Christ. Do you feel crazy at this point? Like it's a number of years into it now, and this is just like, like, people really have to step back when they listen to this and recognize that the span of time and days in your life that go by with all this inconsistent information and unknown like outcomes that are happening all the time, like, does it just eventually get to you? Do you just think I'm just a sick person? I
Tiffany 17:14
never really felt that way. My husband was like, Okay, you suck. Like like you're always sick, and I'm like, You're just generalizing, I'm not always sick when you're in it you don't realize how long it truly is. But when we finally get to the end, and I look back like I'm feeling all the feels, because I am just pissed off at this point that people have literally twist my life for the last 10 years?
Scott Benner 17:43
Yeah, okay, it's a decade. It's into your husband's point. Like, it feels like you go to the store and there's like 50 boxes there, and you somehow grab the one that's missing apart, like there were so many girls like, how to get this one. But no, seriously, they, they. It's important to bring up, because I believe that while you're going through all this, sometimes the person going through it is the last one to really see it, and it does impact the people around you. And then, you know, finally, you have this reckoning where you understand fully what's happened to you. And I don't see I mean, you gotta have a really good attitude, not to feel like somebody stole something from you. You know, well,
Tiffany 18:24
you go through the range, like the stages of grief, almost for the years that you've lost rage, you know, you're sad, you're depressed, you're whatever, but then I am way too much of a take charge person. And obviously, you know my kids, they put everything into perspective and give you something to like. Well, I may have lost this time with you before, but we're going to make the best of everything now,
Scott Benner 18:49
I try to remember too, that all the things that I figure out about my health could likely help my kids one day, and then they won't have to waste that time. That makes me feel better about it. Sometimes, absolutely, yeah, yeah.
Tiffany 19:01
Or, and then any stories that we can share like this, part of the reason why I wanted to come on and share is that somebody listening somewhere, hopefully will think a little bit more about advocating for themselves to get what they need to get. Yeah, we're going
Scott Benner 19:15
to reduce moist genitals everywhere with this conversation today. Also, I think we're going to save some people's assets when you talk about your what happened with your glucagon. But okay, so anyway, we get through all this, this time and and you continue to live the way it goes. What gets you to the somebody saying, Hey, you have type one diabetes real quick.
Tiffany 19:37
I want to back up for a very quick story, because we we're not there yet. Oh, okay, we get to a point of where trulicity. So I start trulicity. That actually was very helpful. I was all. I also get to a point of where I'm like, Okay, I'm done with this. I felt like I had better control blood sugars while I was pregnant using a. Actual injectable insulin. So I basically bully my endo to give me insulin so I can just do it on my own. I do get much better control there, but I still end up having crazy lows again, still not fully understanding how insulin works. The big one for me, I think, was fat and protein and how that really affects insulin, because I would do all of my dosing up front and be like, What the hell just happened? Yeah, um, you'd crash. I would crash. I was like, Okay, so my husband sees the Dexcom Super Bowl commercial for the g6 really, with Joe Jonas. And he was like, You need to get one of those. And I said, Oh my gosh, that is exactly what I need, so that I can prove to my doctor that she has me on too much freaking insulin.
Scott Benner 20:50
Can I say something before you go on? Sure. When Dexcom put Joe, Jonas, no, Nick, Jonas, Nick, right. Nick, yeah, sorry, sorry, sorry. Everyone's like, you don't know it's Nick. I'm like, I don't really when they put Nick Jonas in that, in that Super Bowl commercial, I heard so many people bitching, right? Spending all that money. That's why these things are so expensive. You don't have to do that. Blah, blah, blah. And this also came very much from the, I don't want to just say the Instagram crowd, but like, there's that age range. You know what I mean? When you're like, 26 you think you understand everything. Sorry for 26 year olds like you, you have big ideas about things, and sometimes you don't recognize there's other things you still haven't learned about life. And you make these big pronouncements. I saw a lot of these big pronouncements from people of a certain age. This is a waste of money. Blah, blah, blah. Like, first of all, a million dollars is a lot of money for a commercial. I don't actually know what Dexcom spent on it, but let me just say this, like, in the grand scheme of things, it's not that much money. So, like, you know, like, if they gave back, if they took the million and split it up amongst all of you, you'd all get about 46 cents to just calm down. It wouldn't make everything you know, 50% cheaper, nevertheless, that goddamn commercial saved Tiffany, you know, and how many other people who are like, you know? Just because you know about it doesn't mean everybody knows about it. And so you got to get out there in the public and show people, and that was, you know, a bold thing to do. It's so funny because, like, we complain and complain that diabetes companies don't do enough. They don't do enough. They don't do enough. And then one company is like, you know what? Let's reach down deep in our pocket and buy a Super Bowl ad. And they do it, and then people complain about that. I just love watching people complain nevertheless.
Tiffany 22:31
Well, I feel it's the human condition, right? People are not like content with life unless they're bitching about something, apparently,
Scott Benner 22:37
also a little bit of your Philly accent came out a minute ago. I appreciated that. Oh, yeah. Are you from here originally, or just Pennsylvania in general,
Tiffany 22:48
Pennsylvania in general? But it's funny because my older daughter, when she was in daycare, they're like, Do you have family in New Jersey? Your daughter has this accent, which is a perfect blend of like, Pennsylvania Dutch and New Jersey.
Scott Benner 23:02
Yeah, no kidding. My grandmother was Pennsylvania Dutch and she she spoke out of order. And I've never, yeah, I've never. I The best way I can never explain it to people is that if there was a cow on the other side of a fence, and she was on this side of the fence, and she had to throw hay to the cow. She'd say, throw the cow over the fence some hay.
Tiffany 23:24
Yeah, I think it's the, well, it's just like the bastardized German, because that's basically what Pennsylvania Dutch is, yeah. And it's just the order of their, like, adjectives and verbs, yeah. Anyway,
Scott Benner 23:33
I just heard a little bit of like you almost sounded like an actress who was told they were going to be in a movie that was set in eastern Pennsylvania. It was fantastic, nice. I'm so sorry. Anyway, the Super Bowl commercial, let's assume it's the year that the Eagles killed the New England Patriots and embarrassed Tom Brady, and then move on. So you saw that commercial, and then what happened?
Tiffany 23:55
So I reach out to my doctor, who has to do this like huge justification for my insurance company, because I'm type two, but we get that taken care of. And I'm like, Yes, finally, things are coming together. I have my insulin. I can micromanage the hell out of my diabetes now, because I'm a data junkie too. So now I'm like, I'm going to have all of this data. It's going to be great. Two months later I get pregnant. Well,
Scott Benner 24:23
so you were really managing your a 1c and your body loves being pregnant when your blood sugar is not high, apparently. So
Tiffany 24:28
apparently, but that kind of it like, I'm like, yay. This is super happy. And we it was planned, and we loved it, and it was fabulous, but it was going to basically with me proving my doctor wrong? Oh,
Scott Benner 24:42
you're like, but I, I really, I need this insulin. I wonder, insulin like, I need
Tiffany 24:47
to prove her wrong. I need to prove her wrong. So now we're, you know, riding the pregnancy wave yet again, crazy, crazy amounts of insulin. I do okay. For the most part, I do. It's total. Different ball game wearing a Dexcom when you're pregnant, versus just testing your blood sugar. And I'm like, wow, you go low. Like, a lot, like, especially when your older daughter's favorite meal is Fettuccine Alfredo.
Scott Benner 25:14
Yeah, it teaches you a lot being able to see your blood sugar like that in real time. I think, honestly, everybody would benefit from seeing their blood sugar a couple of times.
Tiffany 25:22
I think, like anybody who is diagnosed as diabetes should have a CGM, like, I just
Scott Benner 25:28
at no point did anyone say you have Hashimotos. That's an autoimmune issue. I wonder if you're type one. Not
Tiffany 25:34
a doctor, okay? And now I've seen, I've seen at least three different end those at the same practice. Now I
Scott Benner 25:40
just want to brag for a second if I talked to you, then I would have figured out you were type one in eight minutes. That's that in the beginning of the episode, I would have been like, wait, no, you probably have type one. Yeah. Okay, so
Tiffany 25:51
fast forward through the whole pregnancy again. Go off. Well, not that insulin needs reduce after my second daughter is born. She does almost try to kill me on the way out. So that was that was fun to grab onto something. What happened? Well, maybe because I was hemorrhaging. Oh,
Scott Benner 26:12
Mom, we should bring this kidney with
Tiffany 26:13
us. Yeah, like we need extra parts on the outside.
Scott Benner 26:18
I, by the way, don't know how the body works, if I just assume you can grab everything while you're in there, but go ahead. Who knows? I'm sure someone knows. I almost
Tiffany 26:25
pass out, you know, because they always try to give you the baby, like, right away, when, when they're first born, yeah? And yeah, it's all fun and great. And then you kind of have this superpower of where you don't feel pain. Yeah, not me. They put her on my chest, and I was like, yeah, no, not yet. No, no, I can't. I can't. Why felt myself flipping Okay, and this is valid, because it would later when we talk about Chivo, I was as close to feeling like I was gonna die when I was having her as I ever did. And I just heard a voice in my in my head, say, you can't give up. If you give up, you'll die,
Scott Benner 27:02
really, jeez, from the hemorrhaging so
Tiffany 27:05
well from the so my epidural didn't work. Oh, and I had, you know, the contractions for they they induced her, she wouldn't come out. They tried absolutely everything I was going through during COVID. So the only person there with me was my husband. So no, like, real, like, support. I mean, I love my husband, but like,
Scott Benner 27:27
Tiffany's like, he was done, yeah, right after he got me pregnant, I didn't really hear from him again. Didn't have a lot to do.
Tiffany 27:35
So I do love him dearly. They were to the point of where they were going to give me laughing gas, and then they're like, well, we can do this. But then I was like, I tell him. I was like, You need to get that doctor. Like, I'm ready. I'm ready to push. And he is like, no, no, you're not. She just said you're not ready. And I'm like, I'm telling you I'm ready because, like, unless you've physically had a child before, there's just your body just knows right when it's time. And she came back over, and I think I dilated from like seven to 10 inches in like five minutes. So that was real fun. But anyway, so. But that feeling, that feeling the voice in your head of like you cannot give up, you will die if you give up, was again, the first, the closest I ever felt like I to coming that I was gonna die. Second would have been the G, VO, guess. But anyway, after I have her, my blood sugars, believe it or not, are terrible. I was riding in like the 250 to 300 Oh, I don't know, for probably about three months. It pushed my a 1c to a 9.4 and there was no like, I would ask. I'd be like, what is happening? Like, why is this so high I also had crazy, terrible inflammation in my hands, to the point of where I was even having trouble picking my baby up. The answer for that was steroid injections. People are
Scott Benner 28:56
like, you seem like you're hard on doctors on I'm like, well, have someone come on and tell a story that doesn't make it sound like nobody's doing it. Nobody's doing anything. What I wonder is, I see this happen sometimes in complex medical situations, what yours is because, like, the timing around the pregnancy confuses people. You know, the the oral medication seems to help, which confuses people. I get all that, but sometimes I think it's because they know the whole story that they're confused. Like, if you just went to a new person on that day and said, You know, I was needed insulin. I got pregnant, the pregnancy ended, and I just need, like, my blood sugars are 250 constantly. By the way, I have Hashimotos. A new set of eyes would have went, Well, yeah, it sounds like you sounds like you have type one diabetes.
Tiffany 29:43
But okay, so now, now you'll find out how I got there. Okay, daughter number one decides that, like, hey, let's, let's, let's be a Girl Scout. So we sign up and I am again, super type A I become. The cookie mom, so that means I'm going to be in charge of all of the ordering of the Girl Scout cookies for our entire troupe. So through this, I run into another girl scout mom who essentially has the cookie cupboard at her house. So every week my troop says, Hey, this is how many more cookies we need. I go to the cookie cupboard to get the cookies for our troop. It's funny because just in normal, like 15 minute conversation picking up cookies each week, we get into a conversation about thyroid, and she tells me that her daughter was recently diagnosed as type one. So this conversation is happening in April of 2022 so her daughter was diagnosed in October, and she's like, Oh, I listened to this podcast while I walk. It's great. So she starts telling me about the podcast, and then the next week, she's walking by dropping off some cookies for me, and she says, Hey, I'm going to send you a link. There's this article about Lada, so the latent auto immune, diabetes and adults. And she's like, I think, I think that you may actually be type one. I read the article. And she's like, these are the two blood tests that you need to ask your daughter for or your doctor for? Yeah, so I send a message in the portal to my doctor, and at this point, I'm like, I need a new I know that I need a new doctor, but I like, I also need my prescriptions at this point. So I was just like, whatever. She can still send in my prescriptions, and I try to message through the portal, because their office just sucks. I mean, you can call they lose messages. It's a complete show. So I message to the portal and say, Hey, I'm wondering if I might not have Lata, can we run these two blood tests for my next appointment? And she says, Yeah, sure. So she sends them. We're on vacation in July. I look at the blood test, because I do my blood work right before we go on vacation, I'm looking at the results in the portal, and I immediately Google, right? Because I'm going to Google diagnosed myself to see, like, what the ranges were. And I'm like, Oh, holy, I have type one, yeah. And it was kind of like, it was almost like a relief, in a way, sure, um, little did I know what I was getting myself into, but I was like, at least I might have some sort of an answer. Now,
Scott Benner 32:29
you know, there's a there's a hint in your story, when the trulicity helps, that you might be type one as well, because you're seeing now, a lot of type ones on glps need significantly less insulin, and if you were at the beginning of a lot of diagnosis and GLP suddenly brought your needs down, that doesn't surprise me at all. I did you hear Jim's episode like last week?
Tiffany 32:51
I didn't hear his yet, but I did listen to the first Dr Blevins episode. Yeah,
Scott Benner 32:56
Jim is a 58 year old type one who most likely has either a really slow onset, or moody or something like that. But nevertheless, he was on insulin for six years. Like, heavy use of insulin for six years, he started using Manjaro, and he's, like, completely off of insulin right now. And like, that's insane. But that's when, when you said the trulicity was helpful. I thought, Oh, that makes sense to me. Okay, so you dr, Google yourself up. By the way, you've definitely called this episode, probably the cookie mom, or cookie mom. Cookie mom would have really helped if you would have said the cookies were moist. But I don't want to pin you down on the details, because then we would have had some double entendre going, which would have really been lovely, but nevertheless, but, but so you figure this out for yourself. Does the doctor bite or does she push back? So
Tiffany 33:44
she argued with me. I have my my doctor's appointment, interestingly enough, the same day I have an ablation done because your heart so no, my uterus. Oh,
Scott Benner 33:57
uterine. Okay, sorry that I think my father in law just had to have an ablation, which made me think harder. You got the lady parts lasered?
Tiffany 34:04
I did get the lady parts lasered after my cycles started up. After my my second daughter, I had a crazy, crazy periods with super crazy bleeding that I was like, I thought I was dying at one point. I was like, I'm like, there is no possible way this much blood should be coming out of me.
Scott Benner 34:28
So is there anybody who wants to be a girl after they hear stuff like this?
Tiffany 34:32
No, no, just turn away. So I'm like, still hopped up on some of the drugs that they give you for the ablation process. I have a video appointment with my endo at this point, and she gets through the entire appointment and she's like, okay. And I was like, Well, hold on a second. What about those, like, blood tests that we did? And she's like, stuttering, you know, at this point, you know, she just didn't even look at the the results and forgot that she added them to my. Blood work. And then she's like, she actually got an attitude with me. And she's like, Well, what do you want? Do you want to go on an insulin
Scott Benner 35:05
pump? I would like you to just like, be reasonably competent, if you don't mind, do your damn job. That's what I would like. Oh, how much of college did you drink your way through? Lady? My
Tiffany 35:21
gosh, we'll see you get degrees, right? Oh my god. There are people that suck in every profession, sure. So I get off the phone and I am, like, livid, and My poor husband is getting an earful because I'm just venting, like I don't even know what to do with the rage that is currently inside me. 20 minutes later, I get a phone call. The doctors calling me back, apologizing to me, Oh, finally, stuttering, like, stammer like, I just don't know. Yeah, I didn't, I didn't realize you had all of this blood work done at the same time. I'm like, Oh, really, because I can see it in the portal, and it's time stamps, they're all the same day. Like, seriously,
Scott Benner 36:00
I forgot to do my job, but I just did it. Now, when I hear up the phone and we gotta get you some insulin,
Tiffany 36:07
right? And I'm still on, I'm on injectable insulin
Scott Benner 36:11
at this point. So anyway,
Tiffany 36:15
she's like, Oh, well, do you do you want to go on a pump? She goes, Do you have any idea what pump you want? And of course, you know, because I diagnosed myself two weeks ago, I see all about Omnipod five that's coming out. And I'm like, Yeah, I want this one because my my toddler. I love her, but she is basically trying to kill me every other day. The last thing I need is tubes for her to yank one and pull. So I'm like, Yes, I would like a tubeless pump. And I was lucky enough to kind of beat the rush and got my starter kit, like, right as it hit mass market. Oh,
Scott Benner 36:55
wow, you hit that kind of sweet spot in there. That's interesting. Good. Yeah, well, I mean, the kid grabbed onto your fallopian tube. She was definitely gonna pull out tubing. So pull
Tiffany 37:02
up tubing. She was definitely gonna pull off I gotcha. So obviously I get with an educator who, like, is all excited about me. I was only like the second person she was gonna be training on Omnipod five. But the problem is, is that my settings that the doctor was going to put in there were based on crap to begin with. So the educator actually sat down with me to help me try to figure out a starting point for settings to put in that were way different than what the doctor was going to suggest. So but it's still a roller coaster, because, like, anytime you start that it's like, it's just a starting point, and then you have to basically correct like the hell out of it, so that it learns. Okay, we need, we need to be better. So basically, at that point, right? So I was at a 9.4 a, 1c, once I get the insulin pump, the Omnipod five and obsessively listen to the podcast, I'm like cooking dinner, like driving anywhere, like not listening to my family when they're talking to me, just like trying to ingest as much as I possibly can of the podcast. I By October, have my a 1c down to a 6.00 my gosh.
Scott Benner 38:14
Oh, I wish you wouldn't have gotten the ablation, because I think the next kid could have been named after me, but that's okay. I want you to be happy, I guess, Wow, good for you. Hey, that's wonderful. Must have felt like such an accomplishment, too, after all that time.
Tiffany 38:27
Well, it was. And then I'm like, I'm her star patient. But I go through some other hurdles, right? Because at this point, like, I am just starting an insulin pump, so and I have to switch the vials. I don't have enough of a supply. So when one starts to go sideways, I'm kind of screwed. So I ended up on more than one phone call with the office manager at my office or at my practice, yelling at them, basically saying I because nobody told me how to what do I do when I don't have a pump or in the event of an equipment failure? Because why would we have sick day protocol? Why would we teach people what to do if their pump doesn't work or if they run out of supplies? Why would we do any of that? It would like put them out of business? I guess I don't know, but
Scott Benner 39:18
we don't want to let you know how to take care of yourself, because then you wouldn't have to call here and then, oh, call here, and then we couldn't give you no help. Then you come in and give us $40 this is really the goal. We need the $40 and we need
Tiffany 39:29
the $40 Yes, yeah. So, oh, and I also yelled at a pharmacist too, because they were short staffed, and because it was during, like all the COVID injections and everything. And they're making the pharmacists, which I do get, they are making pharmacists do way more than what they had the capacity to do, sure, um, but somebody screwed up my insulin vial, like prescription, and they gave me a partial at one point, and when I went back in for more, they were like, no, no, we already, we already gave that to you. And I'm like, Well, no, no, you didn't. And I need insulin. And I think I well, I made the pharmacist cry when I was like, it's not like, this is in Viagra, and I'm trying to get a hard on. I need it to live. Needless to say, I walked out of the pharmacy with my insulin, and that pharmacy is no longer in business. I'd like to think that I had a little bit to do with that. Maybe I did, maybe I did a pharmacy
Scott Benner 40:26
went out of business. Yes, oh, when all their employees had to go get, like, long term therapy because of you, is that what they were like, we have to, we're admitting a lot of our staff for psychiatric care, so we can't keep going. Was it just bad? They just didn't do a good job? Do a good job? Well, no,
Tiffany 40:44
and they didn't, and then they were so rude. I mean, it was you would have to wait almost an hour in line just to pick up your prescription, and you couldn't call because they wouldn't pick up the damn phone. And, like, I guarantee you, they had this, like, security cam footage, like photo of me hanging up behind the counter that was just like, give this woman whatever she needs. You're probably
Scott Benner 41:04
serious. You're probably on a t shirt that they handed out at the Christmas party. Well, listen, you're frustrated, right? And then there's all that, I mean, the COVID anxiety on top of everything else. And you're just figuring this thing out. Also, I would listen, if we're going to be realistic, you spent almost a decade trying to get an answer for yourself, and now you have it, and you look up and the next person in line is giving you a problem. Yes, it feels like it's never going
Tiffany 41:30
to stop, and I'm done at this point, because I'm like, I am not going to mess with anybody getting in my way anymore.
Scott Benner 41:39
How long ago was this? So this
Tiffany 41:42
was probably the end of 2023
Scott Benner 41:48
okay, so pretty recently. Hey, listen before, before we move on, because we're going to jump ahead to your to your low blood sugar and something. But I just want to let you know that at the end of my notes here about when you asked about, when we were talking about the other drugs, it says, one of the tips it gives to avoid, to avoid a yeast infection, is to avoid tight fitting underwear and to opt for breathable fabrics, like cotton. So I understand the breathable fabrics part, but between you and me, I've never worn underwear as a lady. What is loose fitting underwear if
Tiffany 42:19
you're a woman? I guess I'm supposed to identify as a guy and wear boxers. I mean,
Scott Benner 42:23
because, like, I get guys wear boxers sometimes. And so when you say loose fitting to a guy, it means that it's, like, not hammocking your your business, right? Like, but when you got lady business, isn't it all sort of pretty, like, streamline, yeah.
Tiffany 42:37
Like, there really is only one kind. I mean, even the boy shorts for women are, they're
Scott Benner 42:43
still tugging the junk.
Yes, but, like, yeah, like, everywhere that women's underwear is touching you, everywhere that women's underwear has fabric is touching you, right? Yes. What the hell would loose fitting women's underwear be? I don't know. That's all I got here for you on that one. I just wanted to break up the story so that we could go to something else and let everybody and let everybody think for a minute. What does it mean? Loose fitting women's underwear? I don't understand at all, because it just sounds like, like baggy in the crotch, right? Yeah, well, that's what it would have to be,
Tiffany 43:15
all right, maybe, maybe I should Google that later. Maybe that's another Google.
Scott Benner 43:20
I have to tell you, I thought for a minute when you were coming on today, like I was like, maybe I'll ask chief oak if they want to sponsor this episode, because it's going to be how I realize. I'm not going to be answering. I'm not going to be asking them that at all. They won't be using this episode on their website. That's for certain.
Tiffany 43:37
I warned you. I do believe I warned you. That's fine. Don't worry about it. So super tight control right at this point, I'm basically just using my my doctor as a drug mule for the prescriptions. It's great. I'm using the podcast. I've listened to the Pro Tip series defining diabetes holy variables was like a goddamn life changer. Like, who knew that your insulin needs can increase, like, three times the actual amount that you need usually use, you know, during your period, like we
Scott Benner 44:06
just talked about adding to that series recently, to the variable series. So you're out there in Pennsylvania, middle of Pennsylvania, I'm your doctor. Through a podcast, me and Jenny, is that basically how you're managing this?
Tiffany 44:20
Yes, a Girl Scout, cookie. Mom diagnosed me, and you're my doctor.
Scott Benner 44:25
Yeah, there you go. Life's fair,
Tiffany 44:29
and, oh, you're a nice little disclaimer. Hey, don't try any of this stuff. I'm not actually a medical professional. I was like, Well, I'm obviously he knows what he's talking about, so we'll give it a try.
Scott Benner 44:39
Obviously, it happened. How could this go wrong? He seems very worried about what loose underwear means, but I'm gonna listen to him about this Pre Bolus IDs. God, that's ridiculous. I'm never gonna stop being bowled over that this podcast is popular because it. Didn't need to be. You
Tiffany 45:02
know what I mean? It shouldn't need right? It's this should all be stuff that is given. This should be basic information, yeah, given to patients when they're diagnosed. But it's not. And that's the problem. Like there are good doctors, but most of them suck. Maybe in another episode, we talk about how a rabbit in my backyard led me to a new end though, who I absolutely love and she, she loves me, and we're great. We have a wonderful relationship.
Scott Benner 45:28
Hey, rabbit in your backyard. That's not a euphemism, is it? No, okay, there was actually a rabbit in your story.
Tiffany 45:34
Okay? Yes, it's a rabbit. Dogs are involved. There's three er trips. Yeah, it's fun. I
Scott Benner 45:41
once heard a lady go, whoo. I got a rabbit in my backyard, and I didn't know if it meant the same thing.
Tiffany 45:47
That's like, wow. So anyway, I learn through the podcast basically everything I know variables, the timing and effective insulin, the fact that I should be walking around with a rescue pen wherever I go, because, you know, even if you are super well controlled, still can happen, yeah, um, leads me to my Gmail story that we've been chatting for an hour.
Scott Benner 46:15
So let me just say this up front. I want to be I want to all of this credit to fall right on me. You are. You are carrying je vo KIPO pen because of the Juicebox Podcast, 1,000% okay. What happened? So I get to work,
Tiffany 46:32
normal day at work, right? I sit down, I'm turning on my monitors, and, like, everything kind of looks a little bit dark in my office, which I'm like, Oh well, the sun's shining in so, you know how you get, like, that sun blindness, of where it kind of messes with your vision for a little bit. And I'm like, oh, we'll just, you know, chit chat on the phone here a little bit as I start my day, until the sun goes down enough for me to be able to see my monitors, because I was too lazy to get up and pull down the shades, having a little bit of trouble concentrating because I'm on the phone, talking to somebody, but at the same time working, which I, you know, I multitask, but I'm I'm having trouble doing even one of those things. And I'm like, What the heck is going on? And then I start to see the, like, the bigger spots floating around in my vision. And I'm like, Oh no, that can't be right. What's going on? Look down at my Dexcom at this point. I'm like, it's 104 double arrow down. The 104 is kind of irrelevant, because I would expect to be right around that amount. But I'm like, the double arrow down makes zero sense. I have only dosed for my coffee at this point, which I usually throw an extra five carbs because the coffee hits me, even if it's black. So I'm like, but I didn't. It's not like I ran up a flight of steps or, you know, did anything. I literally sat down in my chair at work few minutes later, drinking my coffee, going on about my day
Scott Benner 47:57
as you would have any other day, as I would have any
Tiffany 48:01
other day. Okay? And then I really start to just like, the vision is just going more and more. And I'm like, holy crap. I look back again, not even like, I don't know, 510, minutes later, now I'm at 64
Scott Benner 48:17
straight arrow down, and
Tiffany 48:19
I'm like, Uh oh. So I text my husband, and I'm like, because he follows me on Dexcom. And I was like, there's some crazy going on with my blood sugar. Just wanted to give you a heads up. I'm working on it. So this is just in a text, right? Yeah. So I'm still on, like, the phone with my friend at the point at this time, who knows I'm type one, and she's forever been my like, don't die, buddy, right? She knows she could tell by the color of my cheeks if my blood sugar is low. So I test my blood sugar. Because I was like, Is my is my Dexcom really that off? Like, I don't think it's off. I mean, the arrows, right, but the number seems off for the symptoms that I'm having, because I am also hypo one aware.
Scott Benner 48:57
Oh, okay, you don't feel lows at all. I don't feel lows, okay.
Tiffany 49:03
Spots usually are what I see, and by the time I see those spots, I'm in the 50s.
Scott Benner 49:09
Okay, the two arrows didn't scare you, or were you already kind of out of it, but
Tiffany 49:15
it all happened so quick because it was rapidly falling. So I pull out my Contour Next One, which I also
Scott Benner 49:24
got through the juice box contour, next com, slash juice box. Go ahead. So
Tiffany 49:28
then I test, and I'm 36
Scott Benner 49:31
Oh, and did you and are you out of it at that point, or are you cognizant enough to go I'm in trouble?
Tiffany 49:37
No, I knew I was in trouble, but it still didn't really register, because I'm stubborn, and I like to not it was in denial, basically. So I tell my friend, I was like, Okay, I need to call my husband quick. Like, I
Scott Benner 49:51
this is, this is bad. Do you know why? Why did you think to call somebody? Like, why not eat something? Because
Tiffany 49:57
I was too nauseous. So. Okay, there were like 9 million thoughts going through my head at the same time. Yeah? Because my brain was still fully functional, I just didn't have my faculties. Yeah, that's what I'm
Scott Benner 50:08
trying to I want to make sure you get that across to people, like, it's not like you were you're altered. You just kind of half don't realize it. So you're just, you're following whatever your common sense at that moment is telling you, is that
Tiffany 50:20
right? So the very first thing I do when I see I'm 36 is I pick up my omnipot controller and I'm like, Oh, I have four units on board. And I was super nauseous by that point, because I had dropped so quickly that I knew, like, juice is like, my go to I knew there was no way I was keeping that juice down. So at this point, I know that I have to use my G VO, which obviously I've never used before. And I'm like, I really hope this works.
Scott Benner 50:51
This guy on the podcast talk me into getting this and let's, let's see what happens.
Tiffany 50:55
Yep, now my life is literally in his hands. I
Scott Benner 50:59
only live if a boy named Scott who knew how to buy a microphone was right about something called glucagon, let's go,
Tiffany 51:07
dude. I'm not even kidding, because it kind of gets worse, because so I hang up with my friend to call my husband quick, which seemed like it took me 30 minutes to do, because I am focusing every ounce of my being like I've had an iPhone for years, right? And I'm like, and they're both in my favorites, and I'm like, Okay, hang up for us. I had two buttons to push, and it was all I could do to push those two buttons. And what finally kind of snaps me into action is my husband yells to somebody that he works with, like, Dude, you just gotta hold on a minute. My wife's on the phone. She's crying, which I like never do. She's having a diabetic emergency, and then, for whatever reason, that is what snaps me into like, Oh, this is really happening. So you
Scott Benner 51:57
contacted him without really even knowing, you push the buttons, and then you kind of like, come to to him, yelling, is that the idea?
Tiffany 52:03
Well, no, no, he's, he's, I'm still conscious at this point, yeah. But
Scott Benner 52:08
I mean, like, I know you're conscious, but like, your focus, your understanding, does it, is it fading in and out? Or do you not even remember? Yes, it is. Yeah,
Tiffany 52:16
because, and I didn't even realize to me it wasn't at the time. But like my friend told me, after the fact, she goes, you were, I was asking you if you had juice, and you were never even answering me, because I don't ever remember hearing her, because I am, while I never pass out, I am, like, essentially in and out of consciousness. Yeah, I managed to call her back. But while I was on the phone with my husband, she had called somebody that I work with who is physically in the building, because we're working a hybrid work schedule, so that building is very like, sparsely populated on any given day. So luckily, she has somebody come to my office and she's like, What do you need now? Jivo, I mean, it has picture instructions on the actual package, right? I have told people how to use this thing, no fewer than 100 times. Because, like, anytime we're out or doing something active, like, I will actually show people, like, if it's a different, you know, group of people be like, hey, you know, if I drop over, like, here's this thing super easy to do, like, an EpiPen. Like, just, like, follow the instructions. But for the love of God, just don't take my pants
Scott Benner 53:21
off. And if you want to yell clear for fun, you can, but it's not necessary. Well,
Tiffany 53:25
because the package has like the little dude, like he's naked, you do not need to strip all of my clothes off.
Scott Benner 53:32
Just find a little skin. Please. Doesn't need to be all of it. I have to stop you and apologize. When your friend said I was asking you to drink juice and you weren't responding. I started to cry, because made me think of when this happened to Arden, and I was on the phone with her, and I there was this moment when she stopped responding, and I knew what was happening, and it's the, maybe the worst feeling I've ever had in my life. So it just rushed over me, sorry
Tiffany 53:58
from from a parent's perspective, because that is one thing, like, out of anybody, like, I am so glad that this was me and not my kids, because I do not know that I would be able to handle my kids right having a diagnosis, because it's just, it's a different world. It
Scott Benner 54:13
sounds like you'd be okay. You've been through enough stuff, but I'm sorry, go ahead. Probably
Tiffany 54:19
it's okay. So then, so, so I have a friend on the phone. I have a friend in my office. I am able to tear the package open and pull the pen out, but then I look at the friend who's physically with me, and I say, now what? Because I was, I was stopping. I was I, I had to be, like, literal single digit minutes away from passing out. Yeah. So we do the injection. It burns a little, not terrible. But then then we're sitting there, because now I'm like, so other friend on the phone is googling the out of this, which is like, how long is this gonna take to work? What do we need? What do we need? To do, and at this point, like, because I also need to replace my pod at some point. But I'm just like, No, no, I have to leave the pod on because, like, I don't know how high I might shoot up after I take this. Like, all unknowns, right? But I would say within 15 minutes, I think I was up from now, and my Dexcom never alarmed, never alerted. I didn't get the the fall rate alarm, because it just, I think it just happened so quickly that it didn't even, like, give the alerts. So I think maybe within like, 15 minutes, I might have been around, like, 70, okay? And then I was like, once I hit 70, I was like, Okay, we're we're turning around. This is good, right? But then, like, after the fact, I'm on the phone with my friend, and she's like, how do we do this? Like, better next time, what do we do? What do I need to react faster? You need to do this. So we were just doing this whole, like, debrief of what just happened. Because I will also say, until I listened to the podcast, I look back, like, over the years of using insulin, and I actually realized how many times I was very close to a seizure and or dying, you just didn't know about it, and I just didn't even know. And this time, it wasn't quite as bad as when I was in the hospital with my daughter, but this was a very close second to if somebody would not like if I wouldn't have had G, VO, and people there with me to help me with that, I pass out. Nobody even comes looking for me for at least 30 minutes, and I die. Yeah, on the floor in my office. Nobody wants to die at work, that's for sure. So the biggest message in like all of this, that I would have for people is it does not matter how much you think you have your together, how good your a 1c is, how good your control is. It can happen to anybody.
Scott Benner 57:00
No, it just, and it doesn't have to be a lot of insulin. It doesn't have you could just, you can just have these random confluence of events, and the next thing you know, you're in a situation that you have to act in. And, you know, it's funny, because I would bet that if this happened to you again, exactly this way spots in your eyes too nauseous to eat, you'd go right to the gluco next time I imagine, Yep, yeah, yeah,
Tiffany 57:28
because that was my I was kind of not seeing what was happening. But yeah, from the second I get those spots, like, because that's the scary part of being, you know, hypo and aware, not knowing or feeling those lows, is the second that you have one that you do notice you need to act immediately. You're farther
Scott Benner 57:47
gone than you think you are at that point. Yes,
Tiffany 57:49
yeah. And depending on how quickly, like, I've had that happen in the past, but I've been able to, you know, juice or, you know, fast fasting carbs my way out of it. It's
Scott Benner 57:58
interesting too to watch you go to, like, the steps, like, like, I'll call my husband so he doesn't worry which you look back on now, and you're like, that wasn't important to do. And, you know, just, I think it was
Tiffany 58:10
because it's like, him having the reaction that he did is what kind of snaps me, yeah? Like, back awake.
Scott Benner 58:15
Oh yeah. That definitely got you lucky, having, yeah, yeah. Boy, isn't it crazy? Like, you can like Monday morning quarterback this stuff to death, if you want, but it's just, it's going to be different for everybody. The situations are going to be different. You know, if you would have decided on that coffee 20 minutes before you got into work, you could have been in the parking lot, in your car while this was happening,
Tiffany 58:36
or driving, yeah, on the road, right on my way to work, yeah. So over a large body of water,
Scott Benner 58:41
Lake Erie, not quite No, not that big. Wait, Erie, Pennsylvania is not where Lake Erie is, is it? Yeah, it would make sense, though. Erie,
Tiffany 58:51
Erie is like borders, Lake Erie and that, but that's in the north, no, western part of the state. That's
Scott Benner 58:59
neither here nor there. Okay, so then I have a question the next day. Well, first of all, do you go back to work or do you go home
Tiffany 59:07
now I stay there and finish my day, because if I'm gonna take off work, I want it to be for something fun. That's
Scott Benner 59:14
how you know you got a good employee, right there. You're like, yeah, I almost died, but things are good. Now, let's get back to it. Jeez. I hope my boss listens to this podcast. Well, yeah, no kidding, it's worth a raise, I think, or at least a shout out at an event or something. The rest of you were hiding in the bathroom. I know you're hiding in there. This lady just almost had a seizure and she's still working. Next Day is the next day of work day. Uh,
Tiffany 59:41
next day is a work day. Did you bullish for your coffee? I do Bolus for my coffee. And why? Tell people why you did? Because my sugar is going to go high if I don't. Okay, good. But do
Scott Benner 59:51
you have any idea what happened that day for that, that low blood sugar incident? Do you have any idea? Like, in hindsight, I
Tiffany 59:57
think it's a combination. Um. It was iced coffee and not hot coffee, which I tend to sip, like, slower, or like the hot coffee, you know, you got to drink it before it gets cold, so you you tend to drink it faster. And my pump was on the last day, like, like, already expired. So I'm in the eight hour bonus window at this point. And they're from swimming and everything over the weekend, I think there was some condensation in the window, and just kind of like pod placement of where my cannula may or may not have bounced out a few times. I think there was a little bit of extra insulin in the window, and when I Bolus for my coffee, it leaked in.
Scott Benner 1:00:38
That seems less likely, but I like the other thing about the drinking pace, because you may definitely the pace, yeah, because you have it worked out. I put the insulin in. I drink the coffee like this. The coffee hits me hard. It battles with the insulin. I stay nice and stable, and then you put the insulin in. Basically didn't consume the coffee the same way. The insulin got ahead of you. Because I do think it's possible that 1042 down, that goes to the 64 one down, but it's not reading fast enough, like maybe that is a little bit of the coffee trying to help but being overwhelmed by the Bolus, if that makes sense, Yep, yeah. Otherwise, man, that's scary. Wow. And then, then, how do I end up knowing about this? So
Tiffany 1:01:23
I immediately want to go out to the Facebook page, because that's like, these are my people, right? Anytime I'm panicked or I have something that, like, I don't know, like, I don't know how to do something in this in this area, or if I have a question, it's like, you go to the group, you search other posts, or you just do a post and say, Hey, has anybody had experience with this? Because doctors at this point can doctor you. To a point, the people who live with this disease in and out every day are going to be a better resource than anybody. So I'm like, dude, like, this is crazy, but I feel this need to post this story for people, because I believe that anyone who's using insulin should have a G, VO or or another equivalent to rescue them in a situation like this. So I just want to share, get the word out. You seen my post and then said, Hey, do you want to share your story? And I'm like, Sure, let's do it. Cool.
Scott Benner 1:02:23
Yeah. Well, I really appreciate you sharing in there, because over and over again, I'm stunned by how few people understand about the reality of a very low blood sugar that they don't understand about glucagon. They don't know that they should be carrying it with them, that they should be telling people around them how to use it, like all of that stuff is just super important. I know people don't want to be bummed out. They don't want to worry about things, but this is just being ready in case. And so worst thing that happens is you never use the information
Tiffany 1:02:54
right? And it's better to have the tool that you need and not need it than to need it and not have it, because the alternative is not bright and sunny.
Scott Benner 1:03:04
I think the happiest moment of any time you know, quarterly, probably around here, is when you throw away an unused Jibo type event, when you go
Tiffany 1:03:16
about to do because luckily that one didn't expire, but it's set to very soon. Yeah,
Scott Benner 1:03:23
when I look at them, well, all right, this is expired. Now we have a new one that came in. I and you take that old one and you throw it away, and you think, like, Wow, great. Glad to have had it. Even happier I didn't use it, glad I didn't need it, yeah, yeah, yeah. Best thing you'll throw in the trash ever. I do. Also sometimes mess with them and test on on things, so I can, like, see how it works and stuff. But
Tiffany 1:03:44
well, we were definitely, we were gearing up to it. We were even talking about it. It's like, I would have one that my friend, my don't die, buddy, was going to be able to she's like, I just want to, I want to play with a stabby pen when it expires.
Scott Benner 1:03:56
Let me see it. Yeah. Well, it's a great idea. You inject it into a banana or something like that. So you can see how it works, and it'll it takes away a lot of the fear for somebody who, I mean, even you right, like, yeah, it comes in this package. You never opened the package before. It's in the package. So you open it up and you're like, oh, is this what? This is? Okay. Here we go. How
Tiffany 1:04:16
do I do it? Okay? And knowing that it's not going to, like, shoot me through the roof right after too, like, because that was a fear too. But, I mean, obviously the low was more of a concern than the high at the time. Yeah,
Scott Benner 1:04:27
it's actually interesting. I wonder how low you were going to get, because, I mean, it's a real indication that you were probably going to have a significant problem if the glucagon never made you higher than 70 after that. Well,
Tiffany 1:04:39
I did go higher after that. So I think, I think I capped out around 150
Scott Benner 1:04:42
that's still very reasonable. I think, you know, wow, yeah, did you at any point yell, please don't pull my pants off. I'm wearing loose underwear. I don't
Tiffany 1:04:53
I No, because we still don't know what loose underwear is. No
Scott Benner 1:04:57
lady in the history of the world wearing loose underwear on purpose. I just want to say that now this is my opinion. I'm not a woman, but I'm jumping to this conclusion very quickly. I would assume, if your underwear was loose, as a lady, you'd think to yourself, I need to replace my underwear.
Tiffany 1:05:11
Well, I would imagine, yeah, like, holy cow, I lost some weight.
Scott Benner 1:05:15
What happened? My god, I'm swimming in these things. Or, Oh, my
Tiffany 1:05:19
God, I've had the same underwear for 17 years. It's time for a new pair. Is
Scott Benner 1:05:24
there anything better, Tiffany, than throwing out old underwear? It's one of my favorite things. I don't know it's one of my favorite things. Yeah, I love it.
Tiffany 1:05:31
I do enjoy throwing out holy socks. Do you
Scott Benner 1:05:35
Yeah? Underwear? Like, every once in a while I have such a poor person's attitude because I grew up like, so broke, like, my wife will be like, what? What's going on? Why are you so happy? I said I bought three new packs of underwear, and I act like I've like, like, I'm Rockefeller, yeah, I mean, like, I'm like, I've bought three new packs of underwear, and I'm gonna throw away the equivalent amount of old underwear today. I'm living like, Wow, you
Tiffany 1:05:58
are. And it wasn't even a birthday present. No Christmas present,
Scott Benner 1:06:01
no, no, no. Just treat myself. Just treating myself. I swear to God, I don't know what's wrong with me. I never feel more accomplished than when I
Tiffany 1:06:09
do that. You're like, I saved a life. Today, I'm gonna go buy some new underwear and get myself
Scott Benner 1:06:13
a new one. My God, so, um, yeah, go ahead and say that out loud for people one time. Go ahead. Did I save your life?
Tiffany 1:06:19
You that You saved my life, absolutely
Scott Benner 1:06:22
with a podcast, a podcast ridiculous, saved my life, yeah, how about that? I'll be damn well. And you came on here and told the story very well. I appreciate it. You're very good at this. Actually. You ever been on a podcast before? Never? No, you did a good job. Awesome. Yeah. And tell me something now, if I had you back on one day, we could talk for another hour about something completely different. No problem. Well, absolutely, your note was, like, fantastic. Like, every once in a while I get an email and it basically starts Four score and seven years ago.
Tiffany 1:06:58
No, well, I can't I give you highlights. I can't give you all of the it's like a preview, right?
Scott Benner 1:07:04
Yeah, yeah, no, no, yeah, that's really wonderful. So I was
Tiffany 1:07:07
at my endo yesterday, and we actually are discussing trying to get me approved for either man Giro or zbound, so I may have more to discuss. Okay,
Scott Benner 1:07:20
excellent. So based on how did your doctor ask for it? Well, I asked for it, okay, because
Tiffany 1:07:29
I still have weight to lose because I start the insulin pump, and I'm probably going through a pod every other day for the massive amounts of insulin I'm using. I do lose weight over time. We actually tried, I tried ozembic. Got terribly, terribly sick on ozempic as another means to, like, try to lose this extra weight that insulin has so wonderfully helped me gain. We tried phentermine pills and that, I think, I lost close to 40 pounds since,
Scott Benner 1:08:03
since October. That's half of fentan, right?
Tiffany 1:08:08
Really, sure, is that right? Meeting. Isn't that a young Yeah, is it like a dietary supplement? It's an
Scott Benner 1:08:13
appetite suppressant. But how does it work? But it's not
Tiffany 1:08:16
that part of it. I don't believe, because I because when she it's, it's usually prescribed with an appetite suppressant. But I didn't need the appetite suppressant problem because, if anything, I have like, an anti food problem. Because of having to go through years of feeding insulin, the last thing I want to do is eat like I'm I do not have the like the food voice.
Scott Benner 1:08:41
Oh, interesting people have, but this is a short term use thing is that correct? You're not going to use it for long, okay, correct, okay, because I'm just reading, I allowed my chat GPT overlord to talk to me, says, tells me about the mechanism of action, similar to an amphetamine, actually stimulates the release of neurotransmitters like neuroepferin in the brain and which reduce hunger and help control appetite. But you don't have that problem usage, short term use indicated for a few weeks as part of a comprehensive weight loss plan that includes diet, exercise, behavior modifications, long term effectiveness and safety have not been established. Okay? Yeah,
Tiffany 1:09:19
definitely not long term. So I'm looking to get off of that at this point, right? So that's when I so my husband, who I diagnosed with the help of the podcast as type two diabetes. No kidding, currently on benjaro, so I ask about and knowing about your weight loss journey using zbound, I had inquired with her, like, hey, like, what do we think might happen if I try that? Because my history with GLP ones is usually gastro is just totally outweighs the benefits, because I get terribly sick, but we're going to give it a try if. You can get it approved.
Scott Benner 1:10:01
Oh, good for you. I hope you have, I hope you see a significant reduction in the insulin you need, and that it helps you with how much more weight do you feel like you need to lose?
Tiffany 1:10:09
I'd be probably happy with, I mean, according to a BMI scale, I probably need to lose another 60. I'd be happy with, like another like 30.
Scott Benner 1:10:20
I look at myself now, and I'm like, I'm gonna go with when I look right, like I stopped worrying about the number, almost completely right.
Tiffany 1:10:28
I need to because, and I'm very like, I'm proportionate. I carry my weight very well. People would not think that I weigh what I weigh, yeah, so it's less of that and more of just being healthy, because once I finally got the right diagnosis, once I got my a 1c down,
Speaker 1 1:10:44
I feel 10 years younger, like I feel so
Tiffany 1:10:48
different. So I went from, like, changing a pod every other day to I wear almost every single pod unless it like it's unless I'm sick or something like that. Like through to, like, the death beep right out to the end you it has right out. So my totally, my total daily insulin, went from over 100 to right around somewhere between 40 and 45
Scott Benner 1:11:10
oh, that's so interesting, I have to tell you. Going from 200 units in a day and a half to three days is a big deal already, you know. And then if you see another decrease with the GLP. That's even it's gonna be even more exciting for you. Really cool, and it should help you. It should help you. I mean, listen, I can't say enough good things about the GLP medication experience I'm having, you know, and not, I don't have diabetes, but my health is significantly better. The way I feel, to say is significantly better would be an understatement. I look better. Looking better is almost the least of my concerns, because I used to be burdened with that thing that you talk about, which is, I carry the weight. Well, it's hard for people to tell and that tricks you into believing that you're healthy, because nobody notices.
Tiffany 1:11:58
Well, and I don't give a damn what other people think, either. So that can be dangerous too. Exactly,
Scott Benner 1:12:01
yeah. And then the other side of it is, is that, you know, I've had my, both of my kids come to me at this point, Arden more recently, and she's like, Hey, I was looking at old pictures of us, and I you were fat, I didn't know. And I was like, this is an uplifting conversation. Thank you. But it was, it was interesting to hear from her that, like, you know, you slowly gain weight. Nobody notices, especially the people around you. And then you say things like, Oh, I know I'm way more than I should, but it's probably just 20 pounds. I probably just need to lose 20 pounds. And then you lose 20 for me, at least. And I was like, Oh, my God, well, more than 20, you know. And then I was down like, 30 pounds. I was like, Well, I guess more than 30. And then you start realizing exactly how far you've slid, and you don't, you didn't even know it. So anyway, it's a been a lesson. I actually consciously had the thought this morning that it might take me two years from when I started the GLP to when I actually feel like I'm in a in an optimal health situation, but that I got to let the process pay it out, play out, and just keep doing the things that I know to do, right and I can't care how long it takes. So
Tiffany 1:13:09
I mean, the thing that keeps kind of reverberating in my head is, is when you say, trust that you know what will happen. Will happen. Yeah,
Scott Benner 1:13:18
yeah, it that it's funny, I use that around diabetes, but it's pretty, you know, important in a lot of aspects of your life. Just trust that what you know is going to happen is going to happen, and just kind of just let it play out, ends up being a big deal. And around the weight loss thing for me, especially because, you know, you have it in your I, uh, an acquaintance that went on it, and I was getting the texts a weekend. I'm still hungry. I thought this stuff worked. I haven't lost any weight. You know what I mean? Like, bottom like, hey, been doing it for like, two weeks, you know? Like, chill out, yeah. And then finally, a couple months into it, like, Hey, I've lost 10 pounds. And I was like, good for you, but then, but you gotta, it's all the way you couch it in your head then, because what you could say is, well, just 10 pounds, you know what I mean? Like, everything's kind of interpreted in the way you decide to ingest it, if that makes sense, oh,
Tiffany 1:14:10
it's totally, it's totally, I always said, like, life is what you make it like. You're gonna either view it like, glass half empty, glass half full, right? It's what you like, you have to be your own advocate. You have to take in charge of your own life and make choices. And if you don't like the results that you're getting, then you need to look somewhere else. Yeah, sometimes you
Scott Benner 1:14:33
just got to put your head down and keep going. Too true, because you're not there yet. And you know, just a little impatient, which is
Tiffany 1:14:41
well, may or may not be impatient. But
Scott Benner 1:14:46
listen, that lady you made a cry at the pharmacy, she definitely thinks you're
Tiffany 1:14:50
impatient. I'm sure she does. But disclaimer, I was in line for over an hour and had to call my husband to go pick up my kids because I was going to miss picking up my kids at daycare. Mm. Because I was in line so long. Listen,
Scott Benner 1:15:01
I'm okay with you yelling at her. It's fine. Sounds like you made out okay in the end, walked out of there all trying to fill with your insulin. You're
Speaker 2 1:15:08
like, I did. It got shut down. They're no longer in business. She's still
Scott Benner 1:15:12
telling that story to anybody who will listen. Probably she's like, she really scared
Tiffany 1:15:15
me. Oh, good. That means she learned her lesson. Listen,
Scott Benner 1:15:19
do your job. Everybody. That's, that's my message. Like
Tiffany 1:15:22
that, easy, just do your
Scott Benner 1:15:25
job. Tiffany had a goddamn life threatening emergency at work, and then was working again. Were your parents in the war? Where did you come up with this work ethic? By the way?
Tiffany 1:15:35
You know, middle class, paycheck to paycheck, people who you just had to honestly, you know, work hard for what you have. Yeah, it's
Scott Benner 1:15:42
used to watch my father go to work when he was sick, and I one day asked him, don't you have sick time? And he goes, Yeah, I don't want to use it when I'm not
Tiffany 1:15:51
feeling good, right? Like it's summer, like, I want to use this to go swimming, like, go to the beach.
Scott Benner 1:15:56
I didn't know that that meant, dude, I'm broke. I can't just take off from work. I got to save this for a good day.
Tiffany 1:16:01
Well, there is that too. Plus, I have, you know, the little like spawn of Satan that gets sick and then require me to take off time as well.
Scott Benner 1:16:10
So I thought this went very well. I appreciate you doing it very much. You hold on a second. I'd like to talk to you when I shall Sure. But thank you so much. You were terrific.
Unknown Speaker 1:16:19
Thank you.
Scott Benner 1:16:26
Thanks for tuning in today, and thanks to Medtronic diabetes for sponsoring this episode. We've been talking about Medtronic mini med 780 G system today, an automated insulin delivery system that helps make diabetes management easier day and night, whether it's their meal detection technology for the Medtronic extended infusion set, it all comes together to simplify life with diabetes. Go find out more at my link, Medtronic diabetes.com/juicebox, 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 this episode was sponsored by touched by type one. I want you to go find them on Facebook, Instagram, and give them a follow, and then head to touched by type one.org where you're going to learn all about their programs and resources for people with type one diabetes. 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. If you're looking for community around type one diabetes, check out the Juicebox Podcast, private, Facebook group. Juice box podcast, type one diabetes, but everybody is welcome. Type one, type two, gestational loved ones. It doesn't matter to me, if you're impacted by diabetes and you're looking for support, comfort or community. Check out Juicebox Podcast, type one diabetes on Facebook, the episode you just heard was professionally edited by wrong way recording, wrongway recording.com, you.
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