#1517 Tight End Noah Gray

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Noah Gray, a professional football ball player in Kansas City, joins Scott to unpack how he balances the grind of football with day-to-day type 1 diabetes management. Hear how the tight end channels strict routines, technology, and faith to stay game-ready while motivating the next generation of athletes with T1D.

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

Usually you see today's guest on television catching passes from Patrick mahomes, but today he's on the Juicebox Podcast talking about his life with type one diabetes. Please don't forget that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before making any changes to your healthcare plan or becoming bold with insulin. When you place your first order for ag one next gen with my link. You'll also get a free bottle of Ag, d3, k2, a welcome kit and five of the upgraded travel packs. Use my link. Drink. AG, one.com/juicebox, 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/juicebox 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. If your loved one is newly diagnosed with type one diabetes and you're seeking a clear, practical perspective, check out the bold beginning series on the Juicebox Podcast. It's hosted by myself and Jenny Smith, an experienced diabetes educator with over 35 years of personal insight into type one. Our series cuts through the medical jargon and delivers straightforward answers to your most pressing questions. You'll gain insight from real patients and caregivers and find practical advice to help you confidently navigate life with type one. You can start your journey informed and empowered with the Juicebox Podcast, the bold beginning series and all of the collections in the Juicebox Podcast are available in your audio app and at Juicebox podcast.com in the menu. If you'd like to learn more about the Juicebox Podcast, hit follow or subscribe in the audio app you're listening in right now. Ladies and gentlemen, number 83 for the Kansas City Chiefs tight end, Noah Gray. I'm going to start with a big picture idea. I've been thinking about this all day. Do you know that the odds of you having type one diabetes, playing at least one game in the NFL and winning a Super Bowl are like one in a billion?

Noah Gray 2:39
I didn't know the exact number on that. But that's, that's a blessing, right there. I'm very

Scott Benner 2:43
fortunate. Isn't that something like So what made me think of it was, my son played college baseball for four years, and people would say, you know, oh, but you didn't keep playing. I one time I just did the math and the amount of kids that are born in a year who go to play Little League, who then end up playing in high school, who then play that number dwindles down to the fact that, like, I think, like, 9000 kids play college baseball every year. Yeah, and in my mind, like, you've won already then, but yeah, knowing there's still, like a peak there, like, there's a little farther to go, like, I'm wondering, like, how aware you are of how rarefied the situation is. Like, is it a thing you can even think about, or does it? Would it throw you off to think about it?

Noah Gray 3:26
No, I've never really thought about it. I think when it mostly sets in is like, if I go do a signing that's public, or when I'm at a football game and I see, like a type one sign, like, I'm here for number 83 like, I think it kind of makes me realize that, like, the type one community is extremely small, and I do have a very big platform. And like, the stage that I'm on, like, there's only, like, five, maybe a little over five, of us in the NFL that are playing with type one diabetes. I'm friends with Chad MUMA with the Jaguars. I've talked to Blake Ferguson over with the dolphins. And when I see those kids, and they show up and like, all they care about is giving me gummies in exchange, you know, they'll give me gummies. I'll sign like gloves, I'll sign the sign, yeah, or they just show up to the autograph signing, literally, because they just wanted to meet me, because I had type one. You know, people that didn't even really, you know, a lot of them do care about football, obviously, but some of them are just like athletes, or just young kids who are recently diagnosed, or really just trying to find, you know, what they're interested in. And they found out I had type one and I'm going to be at a certain spot, I think it really puts it in perspective to me, just kind of how big that impact that I could have on their lives are. And I think that's kind of really when like that kind of sets in, because really, I just try to keep it pushing like I'm in the NFL. I'm not going to let type one. And define who I am. Like, this is my job. This has been my dream since I was a kid. So I usually don't think about that. But like, if I'm on the sideline and look behind me and there's a kid with the went to Pittsburgh Steelers game, and he's got a type one sign. He's probably the only one in that stadium with a type one sign. You know, I think it really humbles me. It makes me really appreciate kind of moments like that. And you know, how big of an impact, you know, we can make being on that field to motivate other kids to be the best possible version of themselves and whatever it is that they want to do. So I think kind of those moments are really kind of when I realized that it's a lot bigger than myself, and there's a lot of other type one diabetes, like I said, a really small community, but they're, they're just trying to be the best version of themselves and really make it, you know, the goals that they have set forth in their life come true. I have

Scott Benner 5:50
a lot of questions here from people, and you'll see when we get to them, that they wrap a lot around that, like people are, I think they look to you and they think, wow, he did this like that. Gives them a ton of hope. I don't imagine it's pressure for you. It must feel nice to be able to be that person. For somebody else,

Noah Gray 6:05
yeah, I wouldn't say it's a lot of pressure, pressure I just give to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, when I look at all these other kids like I truly believe God has given them a plan in their life, whatever it is, you know, if it's the NFL, I hope it works out for them. If it's to be the best musician in the world, I pray that works out for them if it's to go on podcast one day and talk about their experience with type one and it's impacting other type one diabetes who are younger than them as they get older, you know, I pray that's what God called them to do. And for me, I don't look at as pressure. It's just kind of one of those things where I feel like, God blessed me with type one to make an impact in their lives, so that when they get older, they realize that, you know, they've lived with it this long, they've gone through this, you know, kind of these obstacles in their life. They've had success doing, you know, certain things, and they can make that same impact for the next generation. I think that's really the goal that I've had. And like I said, I truly believe it was a blessing that I got it. I think when I was in the hospital for it was like, four or five days that I was in it, it's like, man, like I can't eat as many carbs. I gotta watch what I'm eating. There's, you know, I gotta give myself injections all the time, and there's just a lot of doubt. And that was at the beginning of my freshman year of college. That's

Scott Benner 7:26
what I was going to say. You're literally just getting to Duke when that happens.

Noah Gray 7:30
Yeah. So I played my whole football season my freshman year, and when I got to Duke, we did all these, like tests and stuff like that for blood sugar and all these other it's like, you know, a big physical. They want to make sure we're healthy before we start the season. And apparently it was at like, 150 and when I was diagnosed in think it was January, they basically told me that we had this down from your tests over the summer, but we just thought you were one like, anxious and nervous that you just got to college, yeah? And then two you had just eaten lunch at when we did the test, you know? And my mom's like, yeah, that's also, like, it's also kind of a pre diabetes number. I can't believe they didn't do more, like, weren't more concerned about a 150 blood sugar for a kid who's in college, yeah? But it's all good. I played the whole season, and there's definitely times where it was really tough, and I like to pride myself on being a more in shape guy. I worked really hard, and I think as the year went on, I was struggling with just like staying in shape, like I get tired really easily in practice, I was getting tired as the day went on, and then the big symptoms didn't really kick in until when I came back for my second semester after our winter Christmas break where, you know, I lost the eyesight, I was losing weight. I had like, acne all over my body, which I've never had, like that much acne before. I mean, I know I'm 18 years old, but all these symptoms started kind of kicking in over like, a two to three week span, and then I was diagnosed in January after my freshman football season. And then looking back on I'm like, Man, there were so many signs. Can you

Scott Benner 9:09
put yourself back in that place? Do you remember what you felt like was happening? Because you're what? You're pretty far from home. Am I right? You're from mass? Yes, yeah. So you're pretty far from home and by yourself, and I would imagine, prior to that, pretty excited, like, I'm going to Duke to play football. Things are going well when your health starts to tumble at 18. Do you have the wherewithal to wonder about it, or do you just keep pushing?

Noah Gray 9:30
I just kept it pushing. I hadn't had anything really serious, like, health wise that had happened in my life, especially not like gradually, you know, like, I last grade my spleen the freshman year of high school, and that was probably the real big one that I had. But, like, nothing that was kind of like a gradual, like, lead up to something so, like, symptoms like that. It was very like form to me, you know, like when I was lifting, I would have a full body cramp, and then I couldn't lift as much weight. And I literally probably took, like. A week off and, like, count our weightlifting coaches, like, what's going on? Like, yeah, basically out of shape, and they made me go lift with one of the kickers at the time for one session, because I couldn't put more than, like, 135 pounds on my back to squat. I just couldn't do it right for me. I'm like, I just got to work hard. Like, it had nothing to do with like, Oh, my health is declining. You know? I mean, when I got really concerned, though, is my vision, because I've always had fine vision. It's never been a concern for me. I've never worn classes or contacts, and then all of a sudden, like I woke up and I couldn't see anything, and then I'm in class, and we got this massive projector screen, and you know that our professor is using and I'm literally taking photos with my phone, zooming in so I can take notes on my computer, right? You know, I catch footballs for a living. So it's like, why is my vision going and I think that was the last straw that I had to go back in there, because I would go in with a new symptom, they would just kind of give me, like, kind of basically a band aid to put over it, and they weren't really doing but it was, like, every few days I would go in with like a new symptom. Was like, Hey, I can't keep waiting on hey, I'm full body fat. Hey, I'm just drinking all the time. And then I was like, Dude, I'm losing my eyesight. So one of our trainers is like, hey, like, let's just go get you an eye exam. So it was always just kind of like, trying to find a solution for the next symptom I had. Yeah, so like, for me, it was just like, I just got to keep pushing on, keep pushing on. And then my our head athletic trainer who has type two diabetes, so obviously, when his blood it's it's different, but when their blood sugar is high, like symptoms are pretty similar. So he's been through that. He's like, Hey, he's just kind of overhearing me talk to the other athletic trainer. And he's like, Hey, like, let me check your blood sugar. Took out his blood sugar reader, prick my finger, and then I think on the reader, like, the highest you could go was like, 650 and literally, the thing just said, just high, yeah, yeah. So it was like, it was just crazy. Like, that's when, and I still when that happened. I'm like, I have no idea, like, what's going on. Still, even when I was in the hospital, it's like, I had no idea until they literally told me that it was probably type one, yeah.

Scott Benner 11:55
So then, do your parents come down to be with you at the hospital? Like, how do you manage that when you're in the hospital? Yeah,

Noah Gray 12:01
my mom came down. She found out about it. They both work, so it took him, like, a day or two to get down there. But like, I was in good hands. Like my head athletic trainer was phenomenal. He stayed with me a lot of the time. His name's house or over at Duke. Beth Miller, who's a nutritionist at Duke, she was a huge impact on the beginning stages of my diagnosis. So, you know, I was in great hands. And you know, I was probably in a place where I didn't really want to see a whole lot of people, including my family, unfortunately, yeah, but it was really nice because they moved down to North Carolina when I moved to Duke, and they probably lived, you know, an hour and 45 two hours away from me. Oh, no kidding, yeah. So they came over to the hospital, and it was nice to see my mom around then, kind of when I had everything figured out. Because in the beginning, you know, it's just like it's chaos, like we are on an insulin drip trying to get your blood sugar down slowly, you're trying to figure out eating, and you're finally feeling normal again after that whole situation. I think my blood sugar when I went in the hospital was 950 and the doctors kind of said, like, you know, because when you get that high, like, there's a chance that you could get DK, I didn't have that, fortunately. And then some people can just end up going into a coma, depending on the circumstance. And unfortunately, that didn't happen. But when my mom got there, everything kind of settled down. And, you know, I was in a little better head space.

Scott Benner 13:19
Can I ask you, were you a prospect in college, like a draft prospect going in I'm trying to figure out what you felt like you might be losing at that moment when you get diagnosed.

Noah Gray 13:29
Yeah. So that kind of goes back to, like, when I said I had a really good support staff, like hap and Beth, pretty much, like, as soon as it happened, and they told me, the first thing they said is like, hey, we just got to manage it well. And if you can manage it well, you're still going to be able to play. And I think that give me a huge like, relief. Like, they were just like, hey, it's going to be nutrition, it's going to be exercise, it's going to be putting in the right doses of insulin, and is like, you'll still be able to play. Like, trust me, you know, we know people like this. I think Mark Andrews was very outspoken about it. So, like, he had brought up mark when I was in college, and so, like, there's a lot of confidence that I was able to receive, right? You know, some other people might not necessarily get that confidence. Where I work with a lot of younger type one diabetes, mostly adolescents, because a lot of time they're in the hospital and they don't have a hat or a Beth Miller, that's basically right off the bat, like, Hey, this is going to work for you. You just have, like, a doctor telling you you got type one. The family has no idea what that means. They've never had type one, or maybe they have, they may have seen it really negatively affecting a family member. And, like, there's just a whole lot going on. And I think I was very, very blessed to have half and Beth basically, like, right out the gate, he's like, Hey, you have this, but you're still going to be able to play, you know. And from then, you know, when they told me that, you know, I think the worry and the stress started to go down a lot faster. And then I think if I was really drawing on it, no one told me that right off the bat.

Scott Benner 14:56
Yeah, I know you don't know who I am, but this whole podcast has been around for a. Decade, and it's incredibly popular, because I talk to people about how to use insulin and just give them the reality of their situation so that they have the right tools and the right understanding so they can make good decisions for themselves. And that sounds like what you got on day one. That is incredibly lucky, because most people do not get that at all. Yeah,

Noah Gray 15:18
I was extremely blessed, and I recognize that, you know, so shout out to half and death. They helped me out so much in the beginning process. And, yeah, learning what they told me, that's one of the first things I try to tell all the, you know, adolescent kids that I work with, that they will be able to achieve the goals and the dreams that they have. But it starts with great management. And, you know, working with your healthcare provider, working with people who help you with your pump, insulin therapy, whatever your insulin therapy is. Working with your athletic coaches, your exercise your athletic trainers. It's all super, super important and super helpful to you know for the beginning of your journey.

Scott Benner 15:56
Yeah. How did you start off? Did they start you with a pen? They get you a pump right away. Do you have a CGM? Do you recall my diabetes pro tip? Series is about cutting through the clutter of diabetes management to give you the straightforward, practical insights that truly make a difference, this series is all about mastering the fundamentals, whether it's the basics of insulin dosing adjustments or everyday management strategies that will empower you to take control. I'm joined by Jenny Smith, who is a diabetes educator with over 35 years of personal experience, and we break down complex concepts into simple, actionable tips. The Diabetes Pro Tip series runs between Episode 1001 1025 in your podcast player, where you can listen to it at Juicebox podcast.com by going up into the menu

Noah Gray 16:42
pens. I was on pens for the longest time. I was so afraid of the pumps basically being attached to me tubing or just being too big, yeah. So I started with the pens, and it worked for me. And I also was doing finger pricks for probably a little longer than I needed to be. If I recommend anything to anybody, it's like the CGM out the bat. You know what? I mean, I didn't realize how much of a game changer that is. And also, like, there's so many ways to wear your CGM that isn't going to inhibit you from, you know, doing your day to day activities. I can understand being a little weary of, like the insulin pump therapy, just because there's a lot that goes into it, and the technology is just crazy with it, which is awesome. It's a great thing. You

Scott Benner 17:27
can see how, like, a pump might scare somebody, but the CGM is, like, a no brainer, right? No brainer, yeah. And

Noah Gray 17:32
I don't know why it took me so long to get on it, just because they're so small and, like, they're just really, yeah, it's just, and it's a great thing to have overnight, like, I would go overnight. Like, if I look at my pump now and I eat before I go to bed, it's like, I will see how it can rise into the two hundreds, and I'll kind of stay there for a little bit, and then it'll drop. It's like, before when I didn't have that data, it's like, I'd go to bed, it'd be 100 I'd wake up it'd be 90, and I'm like, Oh, my blood sugar is 100% in range. Yeah, all day long. You and

Scott Benner 18:01
I had the same experience, man, well, I used to put my daughter. So my daughter was diagnosed when she was two, and she was like 18 pounds, yeah. And I'd put her to bed at like 180 and she'd wake up at 90. And I thought, I'm so good at this, yeah. And then one day, we got a CGM, and it turns out she'd go to bed at 180 she'd go down to like 55 sit there for hours, and then I think her liver would kick in and pull her back up again. We never, I never would have known that. You know, yeah, I have a question here from a kid. He wants to know if it hurts to get hit on your CGM.

Noah Gray 18:28
It doesn't know. And that surprised me too, because, you know, I've had it ripped out in football when I was wearing it on my arm, which is a big reason why I moved it to the spot that it does but doesn't, doesn't hurt at all. And like, if it does come out, it's not like, it's gonna re stab you. It's a pretty flimsy little needle at the end. So, yeah, it's, it's money.

Scott Benner 18:47
Well, I have a couple more questions, but let me I'll jump to a fun one. There's a father in the group that wants to know when's the first time you got your bell rung and you knew it was, like, a different

Noah Gray 18:56
level, like in the NFL, or, like, just playing football my whole life. I don't know who hit you

Scott Benner 19:01
know the guy's name, like, that's, I guess what they're quite like, when it jumped up. You know who caught you?

Noah Gray 19:05
I don't know the name. I think, like, the first time I got my bell rung, though, was when I was really little. Oh, they're kidding, yeah, yeah. So, like, that's the first time I realized, like, hey, like, this isn't just, like, a leisure sport, like, I gotta head on a swivel all the time. And, you know, kids are out here and they're trying to play ball, and some kids like hitting more than others, yeah, I think that, for me, like there's some just really fast, explosive kids that they could catch you, yeah. And then in the NFL, I mean, there's been a handful of guys that have really, kind of, you know, got out a couple of linebackers, Jeff Okuda, who's a cornerback for Houston last year, he got me pretty good in a game. So there's definitely been a handful of times where, you know, I'll catch the ball and I'll think I'm, you know, hoping to run, and then next thing, you know, there's a dude just crashing down on me. So yeah, definitely always keeping your head on a swivel in the sport,

Scott Benner 19:56
it's crazy. I genuinely can't imagine. I mean, the difference between. And you're 40 pounds and four inches bigger than most guys, right? Like, is that that's about it, right?

Noah Gray 20:07
Yeah. I mean, yeah, compared to, like, safeties and dBs, probably, yeah, I got a pretty big size advantage. But, man, those guys are explosive and fast, and it's like some of those guys can hit harder than some of the linebackers just because of how explosive they

Scott Benner 20:21
are flying around. Yeah, that's yeah, that's crazy, yeah. So, okay, so you get yourself a pen, you eventually move to a pump. Do you remember what your first pump was?

Noah Gray 20:29
I think I used Omnipod, and then I switched over to tandem, and I was on the tandem T slim for a couple years before I just switch over to the tandem Moby pump.

Scott Benner 20:38
Oh, you're using the Moby now? Yes, sir, yeah. Did you update the software to the control iq plus?

Noah Gray 20:43
I did. I actually did a couple days ago. And I'm really excited to kind of learn about the new iq plus technology, not super well versed in it, but I know it has a little bit to do with, like, the Temp Basal rates, and I'm excited to kind of explore that. And you know, kind of have that be utilized in my pump therapy. But using, you know, an insulin pump changed the game for me. And like we said earlier, it's not a it's something that I definitely understand people being a little bit worried about, especially as an athlete, just because of, like, it getting grabbed and, you know, it coming off and someone damaging it. But fortunately, I feel like I've come up with a pretty good system. You know, I have it in the locker room with me. The biggest thing I'll say, in terms of, like, our therapy is being as consistent as possible, especially before games, when you're managing your diabetes and trying to stay away from those low blood sugars. And then my pump is kind of just there as, like a guide, something that kind of helped me through that, because I'm not wearing it as much. You know, once I'm in the game, I can't wear my pump, which, you know, may seem scary to some people, and I got some methods to kind of, you know, work that, but it's always close by, and I try to get my blood sugar at like 100 like 50 to like 180 range before a game, I'll eat the same foods. It's chicken, rice and vegetables. Ate that about three and a half hours before the game, and then I'll kind of eat some other snacks leading up to the game to kind of keep that energy going, and then still have my insulin pump on until right before the game. But it's it's consistency, and it stinks, and I always recommend it to kids, because it's like, look, the best way to keep you from going super low and super high is being as consistent as possible with what you're eating before your games, and it's like after the game's over, go crazy. Go have fun. Go have some cake, ice cream. Be a kid, you know what I mean. But like to really hone in and make sure you're getting your blood sugar exactly where it needs to be. Try to be as consistent as possible with what you're eating and what time you're eating. And it may not be chicken, rice and veggies, it could be whatever watermelon, anything like whatever it is that gets you to the range that makes you feel good, be as consistent as possible with that. And really throughout the week, like having an insulin pump with me, especially the Moby, it's the best. Like, I absolutely love that tandem Moby. They have these tubes that are really, really short, and I know some people are really worried about tubing on their pump, but like, for me, it's made a huge difference, because I never worried about the tube, or, like, insulin not coming out of it. I usually put, like, the cannula insertion area right near my waist band, so it's like, I clip it into my shorts, and then I put it's literally, like, I don't know, like, a four inch tube, and it's right there, right? So it's not super long. They get caught on on stuff, which is a great feature about tandem. And then if you're wearing like suits, or like you want it to be kind of more one in less of like a long string tube, they also have these, like adhesive patches that you can slip the Moby into. And the Moby is not very it's not big at all. It's like the smallest pump I've ever used, a lot smaller than the tea slime that I was on. And you can literally, like, attach the adhesive to your side, right next to the insertion site, and then the tube will just kind of lay flat on your skin, usually, and it feels like it's kind of like not there. And you can, like, tuck in your shirts, your dress shirts, whatever it is. Maybe, if you're playing sports and you want to have your pump on you while you're playing right it'll stay right there, and you don't have to clip it into your shorts. So that's like, one of my favorite things about it, when I got to go to an event and I can just literally yourself the adhesive on, yeah,

Scott Benner 24:15
so you can wear it on your body or clip it to your clothing. Yes. And they also

Noah Gray 24:19
come it's not just a four inch tubing too, like they have longer tubings. Like, it really just depends on where people are putting the cannulas on their body. And I just think it's very versatile in that regard. Like, you can do a lot of things depending on the situation. And you know where you put your cannula? You know, I think some people might put their cannula in the arms, like, for me, it's always in my stomach. Some people put in their legs or their butt cheek, like, whatever it is, and how long you need that tubing to be, I think it's perfect for it. I just feel like it's very consistent. It's a very consistent pump with just like a short tubing, and the pump itself being so small, like, you know, I can just replace the cannula, and I don't have to worry about replacing the entire. Higher pump if something goes wrong, which I absolutely love about the device.

Scott Benner 25:04
Have you gotten low during a game? And if so, how did you know?

Noah Gray 25:07
I've never had like a severe load during the game? But very, very fortunate. I'm very fortunate in the fact that I can feel when it's starting to tank. I feel it very quickly, and I'll go get gummies sometimes, most of the time when I will feel it is if we're going into overtime. So I feel like I've got the system down for a good three and a half hour game. But when it goes longer, I always go to my athletic trainer, because I kind of feel that energy level start to go down. So I know my blood sugar is going down. I'm like, Hey, can I get a couple gummies please? Yeah, so I'll just take a couple of stingers gummies, or, like, well, she's gummies are great, as well as two, yeah, kinds of ways that I get my blood sugar back up. And I'll just rip one of those before overtime starts, and I'll kind of feel that energy, like that last person energy that I got because I haven't eaten in a while. Yeah, I haven't eaten a full meal, probably in and six seven hours, probably at that point, because my pre game meal is about three and a half hours before, okay, which another thing to being consistent with your pre game meals, like mine is three and a half hours before, just because that's how our schedule is. In the NFL, we get on the busses about three hours before the game. But that's another thing you play with, like, do I eat my full meal an hour before? Do I eat it two hours before? Hour and a half, 30 minutes before. Like, the crazy thing about diabetes is it's not one size fits all for everybody. Kids are going through puberty. Adults have already maxed out. Some adults are bigger than others. Some people aren't exercising as much as others. So like diabetes, just it reacts differently depending on the situation that you're in. So for the timing that you eat your meal before the game, it may be different than like between a 12 year old and an 18 year old. So it's really just kind of trial and error and trying to find that exact time and that meal that is going to work perfectly for you. And as you get older, and as puberty starts to level out and you're becoming an adult like that, time may change for you, but that's why I really just want to stress, like, really kind of working trial and error, of like, finding what works best for you, what time works best for you, for that meal, it's going to help you get your blood sugar in the area that you need it to be, to be as successful as possible to prevent those lows from happening, I found that I was going low more often before practicing stuff when I would eat at a different time and I would eat a different meal, because it's unpredictable, like you're having different carbs, you're doing different things, and that's why I try to keep it as consistent as possible before those it's perfect

Scott Benner 27:31
for you, because three and a half hours, like most of your active insulin should be gone once your activity starts. And that's what you want, is this little active insulin as possible while you're moving. I was gonna ask you, like in the off season, I mean, maybe your workout schedule stays pretty consistent, but do you see like, a need for more insulin in the off season than you do while you're playing? Or is it just pretty consistent? Yes,

Noah Gray 27:51
absolutely. And I work pretty hard even in the off season, but I do take three weeks off where, like, I'm not working even close to it. It's just a good week, three weeks of just kind of getting my mind off of football and also just doing less activity, like I'll still go on walks, I'll play pickleball, I'll play golf, still being active, but it's way less than when I am in season or I'm in my hard Off season training. So I do see myself having to take a lot more insulin, and my blood sugars being a little bit higher because, you know, I'm not exercising as much, and that's one thing I try to stress to a lot of people, like the value of exercise. You know, we can talk about insulin therapy, and we can talk about different foods, and we can talk about all this stuff, all we want, but the value of exercise is so important, and it doesn't even need to be, like, legit, like, NFL exercise and maybe doing something two hours a day, like it could be something as little as going for a mile, two mile, three mile walks, literally just the walk, yeah, after you eat, you know, lunch or dinner, whatever it is, just doing something. Because doing stuff really helps out, I think, helps manage your blood sugar so much better, and it doesn't have to be so much. No, if that's lifting weights and progressing and getting bigger stronger, that's great, you know. I mean, if it's going to the park and playing a little tennis with your friends, that's great too. But just doing something, I think, really helps with your management of your diabetes, and it's just something that, like, you can just naturally do, that doesn't involve all the technology, you know, like, it's literally like, Hey, I just ate dinner. I'm gonna go for a two mile walk with my family. And I think it helps out so much when managing your blood sugar, you're 100%

Scott Benner 29:28
right? Adrenaline hits people differently. Some people spike from it. Some people crash from it. Do you have an impact? I'm

Noah Gray 29:34
a spiker for sure. Okay, yeah. And it's crazy, because, like I said, it's not like, diabetes isn't one size fits all, you know what I mean. And like some games, like, I'm fine, you know? But like other games, I'll go in the locker room and I'm just like, 250 300 you know? And it's just like, man, like, where did this come from? I ate exactly how I did. But that's like, another factor that comes into it. It's like, all right, I still have my same regime. I've done the same things. I. Now my blood sugar is 300 because maybe the game is a little bit more stressful. Got a little more anxiety about it. You know, it definitely it changed. It depends on the game. Is

Scott Benner 30:09
there a number for which you see your foot speed slow, or your actions slow? Do you slow down at a higher blood sugar?

Noah Gray 30:16
I've honestly never really noticed it, like I've played games where I'm at like, 250 and I'm feeling fine, yeah, but I have talked to people that it makes them feel really lethargic. And usually, like, when I'm in my off season where I'm not doing a whole lot and my blood sugar is spiked like that, I feel super, super lethargic. So I think, like, the that's another thing. Why bring up the exercise? Like, the more you exercise, I feel, like, the more energy you kind of have. And it kind of helps when the blood sugar really starts spiking. That's one thing. Like, when I was diagnosed, and I was at 950 in the hospital, they were like, We don't know how you kind of just walked in here and you looked as good as you did, but we think it's because, like, I was in a college football program. I was lifting and running routes, like every day. I was doing something every day. Yeah. They were like, we think, like, because of how much you were exercising, that's kind of why you were able to walk in here and looking as good as you did. Did

Scott Benner 31:05
you not lose weight before your diagnosis? I

Noah Gray 31:08
did. I lost it. I lost probably, like 15, almost like 1015, pounds or something like that. Yeah, that, I imagine, was disturbing. Oh, very Yeah. I had no idea what was going on. Like, it was, like a symptom after another every few days. And you know, losing weight at a tight end position, trying to block guys at the college level is not easy to do. So like, when that started go and then my strength was going, I'm like, I can't lose weight and lose my strength like we gotta. Yeah, is there someone

Scott Benner 31:35
on the sideline watching your blood sugar for you during a game? No, no,

Noah Gray 31:40
I'm a little different. I know some other guys I've seen that they're constantly checking it. Like I said, I go by daily go based off field, and my high blood sugars aren't as much of an issue. And I've never seen it get above like 300 that's fine. Like I'm really mostly worried about the lows and because I'm eating the same thing every game, and I know it's going in my body. Yeah, there really should be no reason for it to get ever above 300 if my adrenaline kicks in and stuff. And I'll check it in the at halftime, because there are sometimes I'll kind of feel a little off, you know, a little bit lethargic in the head. So that's kind of one I will go into halftime and check it. But honestly, like most of the game, I'm just rolling. I'm just focused on the game, and that's why I try to stay as consistent as possible with, you know, when I'm eating and what time I do before, so I don't have to worry about it as much.

Scott Benner 32:27
Yeah, your pre planning is what's doing it for you? Yeah, 100%

Noah Gray 32:32
and that's not like for me, that works. And I tell everybody, but some other people, like you figured to have someone you know, having your Dexcom and looking at it and making sure, you know, because some other people might not feel the lows come on as quickly. Some other people feel super lethargic, or obviously, when they're high, right? So just having someone to, like, check it, or maybe it's just finger pricks when you're on the sideline, if you don't have access to your Dexcom because the connection is too far away from your phone, yeah, and your Bluetooth, like I said, it's not one size fits all. It's really huge trial and error, but once you find out what works for you just stick with it. Man, I know it's like, it stinks. It stinks to have to eat the same foods before a game. Like, it's not fun eating chicken rice every day and it didn't know it's not fun at all. Like, no and no kid wants to do that either. Like, kids want to eat what they want to eat. You know, some kids are obviously more picky than others. Like, it's just not fun, but it's just like, in order to stay out there and be as consistent as you possibly can, what you need to do? Yeah, you just, you need to do it,

Scott Benner 33:27
yeah. I imagine it would be less fun to raise your hand and go, Coach Reed. I can't play anymore. I'm dizzy. Yeah, yeah. I don't think you're looking for that, right? So which is another thing, like, it's

Noah Gray 33:36
kind of tragic when I talk to kids, because it's like, they asked, like, what do you do when it does go low? And I'm like, look, there should be no shame in it, right? Like, there's absolutely no shame in having to sit out and and talk to them. Be like, Hey, I need sugar. I need a juice box. I need Gatorade, whatever your way get your blood sugar up. There's no shame in that. But I'm like, Look, the reality is, and it may seem a little harsh, but it's just the reality. Like, when I was entering the NFL, every single team that I asked or talked to interviewed with, they all asked about my management, because they got to invest in me, right? Like, they got to know my management's good. Everyone that they talk to is like, Hey, how's his blood sugar? How's he doing practice? Is he missing a lot of practice time? Because at the end of the day, like, if I'm a guy and like, I can't stay on the field, you know, my value goes way down, you know, like, they can't depend on me. And it sounds harsh to say, and it stinks, that's the reality of it, but that's why I've taken so much pride in trying to keep it as consistent as possible. So I'm lowering the amount of chances that I'm like, Hey, like, I need to sit out and, like, there are situations where I'm asking for gummies and I need to take like, a couple seconds, like, that's all good, yeah, and that should always be good. You should feel no shame about that, but that's why I always just really try to encourage, like, a solution to it, like, let's try to be consistent. Let's do this so that you know nobody is going to use your diagnosis. To you being a diabetic against you, like, oh, we can't play him as much. Or, Hey, we gotta, like, you know, monitor him. We should probably start this kid over him, because he's, you know, in the middle of a drive. He might not be there. And it's, it's the harsh reality, but it's what we have to live with. It's what we have to do. And, you know, that's kind of, you know, where I've kind of stood on that and you'd

Scott Benner 35:21
like this podcast, I'm pretty sure. Yeah, the way we talk about it here, you would like it. Do you ever have this feeling of, like, like you said, you know, a few guys, right? Like, text chain. Do you like, if you play each other? Do you look across the field and like, nod, like, or is it not a thing that comes up all the time because everybody's asking, like, you know, do you look over at Mark Andrews and think, like, guys got diabetes, like me, or are you just playing football

Noah Gray 35:44
in the middle of the game? We're just playing ball. But after the game, I've talked to Chad and I've talked to Blake, and those guys are phenomenal guys. I love those dudes, just the nicest salt of Earth type people, you know. So when it's over, I've Jersey swapped with Chad. Actually, it's one of my favorite jerseys. They're in their teal jerseys, and just look so good. I got it back at my house, and just great guys. And it's cool to talk with them. And I've actually kind of bounced ideas back and forth with Chad, literally going up the tunnel for a game that we play the Jaguars one year. And it's just cool to really connect with it's good to have a community, you know, I mean, like, I know for my mom, like, having, she's in this Facebook group of, like, diabetic moms, and it was just encouraging for her to, like, be able to be like, hey, my son's dealing with this. What's worked for y'all, you know? I mean, it's kind of the same thing for for us. Like, if there is something major, I know that those guys would have no problem reaching out to me, or me reaching out to them, or after a game, we're just kind of talking about life, and you know how all that stuff's going, but those guys are, you know, phenomenal, but definitely, like, when we're in in games like those, you know, Blake's, you know, worried about getting that snap money, and Chad's like, Hey, man, I gotta tackle this guy. I gotta make the right reads. You know what I mean. So definitely not thinking about it, you know, but sometimes, like, I'm on the prime return team, and I'll look at Blake, and they'll just be, God man, it's pretty cool. Like, I'm gonna try to knock this other diabetes. Yeah, it's, you know, it's all good. It's all fun. And those guys are phenomenal. I just love the fact that we're able to compete against each other. It's

Scott Benner 37:13
awesome. Let me hit a couple of these questions from people, if you don't mind, absolutely. So you went over a lot. You did such a good job. I was like, I could just let him go. He's really hitting everything.

Noah Gray 37:23
I get excited, man, it's my life. I was gonna say like, you

Scott Benner 37:27
were really like, like, you're jacked up about I listen fairness. I've interviewed a lot of people and a lot of professional athletes, and I've gotten the vibe from some of them. They're like, I don't know the guy takes care of it, and you're not like that. It's really refreshing to talk to you, actually. You know a lot about your diabetes and that. It's really cool. This questions more about, like, the mental side of it. It's from a young kid who wants to know how you handle, like, struggle days like, like the mental side

Noah Gray 37:52
of diabetes. Yeah. I mean, I'm a big man of faith, and I just, I'd really try to put all of my stressors and things my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I just think that, you know, there's, it's a lot bigger than I am, and it is. There's a lot of days where it can absolutely be tough, you know what I mean. And my Lord and Savior is a part of my support staff. My wife is a huge part of my support staff, family members, friends, and I just think, like, really leaning on those, you know, what your support staff is in life, you know? I mean, if it's Christ man prayer, you know? I mean, if it's your family man, just really being open and talking to him about it. I know, when I was first diagnosed, you know, my mom was just like, it's never happened to us. We don't have family history of it. So she was all jacked up, and she's checking, you know, I sent her my Dexcom. She's seeing my numbers. She's texting me up low, and it's just for me. It's a little overwhelming because, like, she's just always asking me questions. But we got to realize about your support staff, as they all love you. Jesus loves you. Your mom loves you. Your dad loves you, your coach loves you, your friends love you. Whoever's taking they like they love you and they want to see you succeed, and just never be afraid to go to your support staff for help and really just lean on them, because I truly like they're going to help you and they want to help you, and they want to see you reach your goals. And there's definitely days even to this, you know, day that it, you know, I could be struggling with multiple lows in the same day, and it's like, I'm just not feeling good all day long. And it's just like, leaning on those people, it helps you realize that everything's gonna be okay. You have diabetes for a reason. That's why I always, I thank God every day I was blessed with this disease. You know, it was tough at first, but it's like, now it switches from like, Man, this is tough. Boo me. Boo this. And now it's like, how is God using this in my life to impact other people? And that's why I love talking with, you know, adolescents about their management and trying to make them feel just a little bit more confident when they're walking around school, when they're walking around, you know, jazz band class, when they're going into football practice, like, you know, allowing them to feel even more confident. Because there's going to be more generations of type ones to come, and the fact that they can grow up feel confident about their management and the things that they've been doing right about it, and then they can pass that down to the next generation is just super, super, just an incredible thing that you can do for a lot of people. I gotta tell

Scott Benner 40:16
you, man, you almost made me cry. So listen, I started this podcast 11 years ago because I recognized that I had a system. It was keeping my daughter's a 1c super stable, keeping her spikes down, like, all this stuff. And then one day I said to my wife, I'm like, I have a thing. Like, I don't call it anything. It doesn't have a name. But like, I know if I do these things, this is the outcome. And so you launch the podcast just thinking, like, well, maybe it'll help somebody. And 11 years later, it's got 20 million downloads, and my Facebook group for this podcast has 64,000 active people in it who are honestly just your mom, like just people in there, just trying to help each other, you know, and I didn't imagine any of that when I started it, or how good it feels to see somebody do well because of something you were able to show them or share with them or something. It really fills you up. It really does. Yeah,

Noah Gray 41:04
absolutely. And it's really cool to hear that you've been doing it for 11 years. And like, your impact on people could vary, like me, it's on the football field, and talking with that like type ones yours is this podcast and the platform you have here so and it looks so different for a variety of people, but it shows and like it makes a huge impact. So whatever people are doing, man, just keep spreading that love for it. Keep spreading that awareness for it, because you never know who's watching who's listening, and it really makes a huge impact on so many people's lives that you never thought could have ever reached. I mean,

Scott Benner 41:40
to your point, like, I know you. And I talked at the beginning a little bit like I grew up in Philly, like, I'm an Eagles fan. I have been my whole life. Every time you walk across my TV screen, I think, oh, that man's got type one. Like, I stop and I look, and I go, I hope that guy catches a ball. You know what I mean? Like, it just there's, like, a connection for a half a second. Mark Andrews dropped that ball in the playoffs, and I don't know him, or care about the Ravens at all, and I was like, Oh, it felt like somebody I knew had a bad moment. I don't know if that makes sense or not, it does.

Noah Gray 42:06
And the type one community is such a tight knit community, because it's like, it's just so niche, like, it's really not a huge community. There's a lot of us, don't get me wrong, right? Relative to the pot, it's not No, a huge, you know, population community. So like, when you see other people with it, it's like, you know, like, I met my best friend. He was in my wedding party, like, a year and a half after I met him, and he was helping me move into my apartment my rookie year. And I literally was walking, walk out the door, and I saw a CGM on the back of his arm, and I was like, in my hand. I'm like, Man, really nice guy to help move in my apartment. Might see him because he lives around here, but that's it. I was like, Hey, man. Like, and I like to mess with people sometimes. I'm like, Oh, dude. Like, you got diabetes. And then, like, kind of like, yeah, yeah. Like, kind of make fun of them a little bit. I'm like, Ah, Nah, dude, I got it too. Like, here's my pump. And then, like, from then on, like, we just kicked it off. Like we were, we've been best friends, like, ever since, you know what I mean. So it's a really niche community and like everybody's looking out for one another, like we all want to see everybody succeed, like I've never met, like a jealous type one, or like, if someone's doing something and they're managing it really well, the other type one who may not be managing well is having more lows, who's struggling more mentally day in day out, like they're never jealous of the one managing it, like they're just, like they just like. They want to ask questions, they want to learn, they want to build that relationship with them so that they can manage it like. And I think that's just the beauty of it. It's just like everyone is trying to help each other, because we have the common goal of keeping our blood sugars in range and doing the best we possibly can to reach the goals that we have in our lives. And that's the one thing that's always stood out to me about this community, is just how much people care and they love each other. There's no jealousy, there's no envy. It's like it's all love. It's all man. How can we help each other be the best type ones and manage this dang disease the best that we possibly can? And I think that's just the beauty of Yeah, it's

Scott Benner 43:58
incredibly unique too, because you kind of don't see it around other disease states the way you do around type one. I think it has something to do with how hard it is, like, with what diabetes is. You know what I mean? Like, you can really look at another person and say, I know what your life is like, yeah. And you know how important it is for someone to I want to say, See you in that way, but to really genuinely understand you. Because I'll hear some people say sometimes, like, I don't want to, like, explain it to somebody, because they're not going to get it. You know what? I mean, I don't want to go through all that just to have them not understand, but to meet somebody who understands, what a big deal that is, like, I mean, absolutely, yeah, just, it's wonderful. It's a beautiful thing. Yeah, man, I really do. Let's see, did you play in other sports as a kid? Basketball,

Noah Gray 44:39
baseball? I stopped when I was in fifth grade because I wanted to play au basketball, which is

Scott Benner 44:44
in the spring. Okay, all right, so you liked baseball, but yeah, just

Noah Gray 44:47
like, I think basketball just had more fun. So yeah, that's kind of why I chose to play basketball or baseball. But then I played basketball in high school as well, and then it kind of morphed into, like, I'm kind of. A football player, and I probably should focus on this a little bit more. So, yeah, you were

Scott Benner 45:03
a little behind the MLB. Really switched to bigger guys. You could have been there at one point, like they all of a sudden, they were like, bigger is better. Yeah, how much of the focus that it takes to make it to where you are? I feel like I'm hearing you say that like you've transferred it over your to your type one. I'm wondering what you've learned from type one? Has anything from that come back and helped you professionally?

Noah Gray 45:26
Yeah, I mean, like managing it, you have to be very strict and detail oriented. You. It's just like you're regimen, and football is a regimen. Sports like, I wake up, I go eat breakfast, and I'm in meetings. I'm in meetings for two and a half, three hours long, and then a walk through, I truly believe it's helped me mature a lot. Like, before I was diagnosed, I would eat pizza. I was just doing whatever I wanted. This is before I had diabetes, and like, I didn't feel good. Like, just like I go out feel lethargic at practice, yeah, when I get diabetes, it's like, all right, like, I gotta eat this to keep my blood sugar in this range, in this range. So I'm actually naturally just eating healthier because I can't have, like, all these pizza carbs and all these bad carbs that I'm utilizing my body, like my meals are more well rounded. I started feeling like really good energy levels, and I'm starting to go out to practice and feel really good energy levels in practice and in class, and I'm able to sustain that energy throughout the day. So, like, it's helped me in terms of, like, my eating habits and feeling good, but also, like, I'm having to make sure I'm taking insulin, I'm checking my blood sugar, this, this, this, and I think it's helped me, you know, take that and then that preparation that I'm using for diabetes, and I put it into football, and when I was in college, it was even harder, because it's like, I had classes and I had football, I got to balance both. And I tell young kids all the time, and so you don't realize how much this disease is actually maturing. You like you are growing up, and you're basically like, having to do make grown up decisions, like, it's life or death. Diabetes is life or death. You take too much insulin, and you don't realize it. Next year, you're passed out, you know? I mean, you don't take enough insulin, your blood sugar, skyrocking, then you're in. DK, like, it is life or death, and these kids don't realize, like, how much this is actually maturing them, and how much more mature they are than a lot of their other classmates in third, fourth, fifth grade. I mean, it's absolutely incredible. And I think for me, I felt that same way, where I was very immature, eating whatever I wanted, doing whatever I wanted, I could just kind of go off what I was feeling that day to Okay, we have a regimen. We're going to stick to that regimen, and then this is also ending up translating into my day to day activities, which is football, school life.

Scott Benner 47:44
I think it's possible that you're lucky where you were, because, I mean, I've interviewed 1000s of people, and very frequently the story is I didn't really take great care of it until a thing happened, like, until I decided I wanted to have a baby, or I was getting married, or a lot of people do it for other people too. Like, it's harder to do things for yourself sometimes, but it occurs to me that you are in the middle of a thing you already had to do for yourself, like, and so you probably got fast forwarded to that, like, oh, I have to take care of this moment. Like, soon. Like, you know what I mean? Like, if you were just at home in community college messing around, thinking you might go work in a garage somewhere one day, like, you might have ignored it too, you know, yeah, a lot, a lot of good luck for you. Actually in there.

Noah Gray 48:24
No, it's, it's tremendous luck. And the fact that I was in football when it happened, like, I had to make sure my blood sugars were right, so that I wasn't missing football. And I didn't become a Christian until I got to the NFL. But, like, I truly believe God has a plan and a purpose in all our lives. And I just really hope that every type one you know, like, that's what they see. It's like God has a plan and a purpose for your life, no matter where you are in life, what you're doing. Like God loves you, and God wants to see you succeed. He wants to see you thrive, and he wants to see you make an impact on other people. And, you know, I just encourage people, man, realize you you have a platform, you can make an impact. And you know, God and your family members, everyone wants to see you succeed and be successful. And so never you know I and that's why I like, you know, don't let a single moment just like, realize, you know, be where your feet are. Realize that there's people, and God loves you, and they all want to see you succeed and thrive regardless of where you are. So just manage, manage it the best that you can from day one, and I promise you, it's going to change your life and so many other people's lives.

Scott Benner 49:34
Surround yourself with good people. Well, speaking of that, you've mentioned you got married. Is that fairly recent?

Noah Gray 49:39
I got married. It'll be three years this July. Congratulations. That's lovely. Thank you. How long you've been married for? Oh, man, since 96 congratulations. That's a blessing. That's awesome. Yeah, I'm

Scott Benner 49:51
almost up on 30 years now. What I was going to ask you is, how do you decide when you're dating or serious with somebody, how to start, I don't know, sharing your diabetes with them. And then how much do you want from your wife, or do you not want anything from her? As far as, like, day to day stuff and understanding goes,

Noah Gray 50:07
I think day one, yeah, that's the first thing. Like, not the first thing you tell everybody, like, there's a lot of things like I said, type one doesn't define us. You know what I mean. That's why I'm not thinking about it when I'm playing football, but with people who you are seriously considering and like, and really everyone, like, have that conversation, you know, I mean, like, I'm sure that the first time you meet, like, you're going to be eating some kind of food, and like, your insulin pack with your manual injections is going to come out, or your pump, or they're going to see your CGM, you know, sometimes I see people that go into the bathrooms, and it breaks my heart. You know, they feel like they have to do that, and that's just another, you know, reason to encourage people to just be a little bit more bold. Yeah, with it, but it's nothing that you should feel ashamed of. And you know, if people are afraid of it, or people that's just on them, it's their loss. You know what I mean, like, you can't help what other people think or view you know what? I mean, like, you just be where your feet are and, like, this is a part of who you are, you know? I mean, when you're going on dates and you're at that restaurant, like it's, it's going to come up, because this is your life, you know? I mean, like, I said, it's literally life or death for you when you're managing this disease. So never feel bad about having that conversation, because at the end of the day, if people want to exit your life because of it, then they probably don't deserve and that's just the reality. And like, I truly believe there's so many like, my wife is incredible, you know, since day one, she's always been, you know, super understanding. You know, we've had a lot of conversations, I think because, you know, they there's that worry that one of my children and we have a beautiful little girl. My name is Naomi, and I love her to absolute death. I mean, she is incredible and but, like, there's always been that worry. It's like, hey, could this genetically get passed down to one of my kids? You know what? I mean? That's just a conversation, a fruitful conversation, you know, that we've had, and Mary and I pray about it so much that, you know, it never happens, and stuff like that. But fortunately, I have it. If it were to get passed down to one of my kids, you know what I mean? Like, you'd know what to do. I know what to do. And there's a lot of families that don't have, like, it's like my family, we didn't have any family history of it. Neither my parents had it brand new. You know what I mean. And

Scott Benner 52:14
other autoimmune in your family, like celiac or hypothyroidism or anything like that.

Noah Gray 52:19
No, not that I know of. I know my my aunt, she has an issue with her glucose, like, she goes extreme hypoglycemic. She has that a lot, and that's the only thing that I really kind of heard my family keeps a lot of things hush hush for some reason, and they're not as open about it.

Scott Benner 52:35
I ask everybody that comes on, and most people are like, I don't know, we don't talk about anything. But like, I've interviewed a ton of people, and you'll find that autoimmune issues can run through families, but it's not always type one, type one. Sometimes it's Ra, or sometimes it's, you know, celiac or something like that. So, yeah,

Noah Gray 52:50
I've never heard of anything in my family, you know, with it, but yeah, it's, it's just really, like, at the doctors, like, oh, like, I think you got a virus and attack your pancreas, and it shut it down.

Scott Benner 53:02
You remember being sick before you were diagnosed?

Noah Gray 53:04
I don't it's been so long ago, but, like, yeah, it could have, you know, I definitely was, like, there's been times where I've had, I've been down and out pretty bad. And I know that they say, like, certain viruses can, like, attack your pancreas and then it'll just, over time, it'll kind of just shut

Scott Benner 53:19
it down. Right? My daughter had Coxsackie before her diagnosis. Really, the best I understand is the virus. Like, you know, your auto your immune system gets confused. At some point. You already have likely auto antibodies, and then eventually your beta cells get it. Instead of the Coxsackie, would you test your daughter, like, do trial net, or anything like that, to see if she has auto antibodies when she's old enough, or you're gonna just step back and let what happens happen? Honestly,

Noah Gray 53:43
I've never thought about it, and I know that there are certain studies to, like, see stuff like that. I wouldn't be opposed to it, though. Like, I think, like, the beauty of modern medicine is, I think it's really evolved to really help us manage it. Yeah, I mean, and before, you know, years ago, it's like, diabetes was a life sentence, and then it became like, Okay, now you can live a little bit longer. And then, like, now it's like, hey, like, if you really manage this extremely well, which I think can sometimes be a misconception about diabetes, is that, like, your life expectancy will, for sure, be shortened, yeah. But like, if you manage it really well, like, you can live a long, healthy, full life, if you're managing it super well. And that's the beauty of modern medicine, and that's the beauty of something like that, to where you could get an idea and understanding before, and maybe if they test positive for whatever it is that they're looking for in those tests, like you can learn up. And it may happen, it may not happen, but you have a foundation and an understanding. And maybe you can kind of look up to see like, hey, if this goes down like this, you know, and you can probably prevent like, hey, like, once the blood sugar gets here, she's probably pre diabetic. I mean, I don't know how it works, like, I'm just kind of speaking, like hypothetically in my head about work. They

Scott Benner 54:55
look for auto antibodies, if there's five of them, and if you have a certain number of them over, I think. If you have two or more, it's likely that you'll get type one, yeah, but it sounds like it wouldn't scare you to know if it was coming.

Noah Gray 55:06
Yeah, no. And it's like, I would feel good, because, like, I'm not gonna let my daughter get to 950 where I was at. It'd be like, Okay, I like, if it does happen and there, she's likely to get it, it's like, okay, like, for her physical, we're making sure we're doing the tests so that we catch it early, right? I mean, so that she doesn't go on. Is a DKA, I think you mentioned, yeah, like, when your blood sugar gets that high, like, we're gonna reduce the risk of, like, the complications that occur from when your blood sugar is super high. Like,

Scott Benner 55:33
that's interesting to see, because some people think of it one way, some people think of it another way. Like, I've had, I don't know you're younger, but like, Sam folds, been on a couple of times. I

Noah Gray 55:41
love Sam. I love Sam. I've done some stuff with his, with his wiffle ball thing, right? Yeah, he's a baseball player. So it was all virtual, because when I first started getting involved, like, that was when COVID happened. So okay, I was doing, like, the virtual, like, I'd get on and talk to all the campers, but Sam's the man. I love that dude. He told

Scott Benner 55:57
me two things I'll never forget. So back before all this technology, he said, if I was in the outfield with seeds, my blood sugar was good, and if I was chewing gum, I was low. I was like, oh, that's that's crazy. And that's how he managed it, like, you know. And the other thing he told me, when I asked him if he was scared to have kids, he said, No, why would I be like, it was so not a thing he could even understand. He's like, I have diabetes and I'm fine, like, my kids would be okay if that happened to me, if that happened to them. And I just, I love that. Like, I just thought it was such a, just a clear minded answer, you know,

Noah Gray 56:28
Oh, absolutely. And I talk about, like, because my wife doesn't have diabetes, when I'm talking about those conversations, like, really, I'm not, like, like, I said I have it. If my kid were to get it, like, I love that I have it. I can help them out with that process as they get older, right? You know what? I mean, they're like, obviously, for my wife, it's, it's a little stressful. It can be, yeah, but, you know, like, we're planning on, you know, having more kids. And, you know, I mean, like, it's not going to stop us, or, like, limit the amount of kids that we would try to, try to have, yeah, because it's like, Sam said, like, they're going to be fine. They're going to be okay. Like, they can live a full, happy life achieving the goals that they have set forth, you know, I mean, it's just, it's just going to take some management of it and doing well with it. Like

Scott Benner 57:10
you said 100 years ago, this would have killed you, and 100 years later, you're on TV throwing men around with one of your hands. So, like, yeah, it's just, I mean, seriously, if I can pivot to a football question for a second. I'm taken back to like, Jason Kelsey did this thing. I don't remember what it was, but he was sitting around with a bunch of guys who were retired. They were playing cards. I don't know if it was on, like a special he did, or something like that, but it really struck me to watch guys who are not old men, like you know what? I mean? They're 40 years old, and they're so they're so far removed from the thing they've been doing their entire life, and it they seemed sad and like, I wonder how you like, in the middle of doing something so exciting, which is, like, the thing you've accomplished is, like, I said, like, it's literally, I looked, I actually did the math. It's like one in a billion for you specifically, like, it's only like one in 10,000 to play one game in the NFL, but to have diabetes win the Super Bowl like you're a one in a billion person. So I don't imagine that you're thinking about it while you're doing I'm sure you're enjoying it and working on it. My son only played college baseball, and at his last college baseball game, I cried, his mom cried. He sat in the middle of the middle of the field for 20 minutes and didn't move when it was over. Like it's such a crazy thing to accomplish knowing it's got such a short lifespan on and I'm wondering if you've ever thought about that. And I mean, maybe you haven't, but

Noah Gray 58:31
no, I have, and I think that there's definitely yeah, like I felt like it's every year I play, I'm on the closest side of retirement. I am to the beginning of when I played, yeah, and it's definitely going to be, it's going to be extremely tough for me, you know, but I've come to the realization that, you know, that's just how life goes, You know what I mean? And like, God's got, you know, so many different I think he's got a huge plan for what it's going to be like for me after and I just rest all of, like, the stress and anxiety that I have about, like, the huge like, I've been playing soccer football since I was six years old. This has been my entire life. I've only had like, one other job outside of playing football. I mean, that's just the reality, yeah, and there is, like, going to be this grieving process for when I am done. I know it's going to happen, right? But I also know that through, you know, faith in Christ, that after it's done, there's going to be another section of my life, you know, I mean, I'm still going to have to be Naomi's father. I'm still going to have to be Mary's husband. I'm going to do something else. Maybe it's coaching, maybe it's personal coaching, like, not at the college or NFL level, but just working with high school tight ends and receivers. Maybe it's being an investment banker. I had no idea, but I just know that God's going to continue moving in ways that I can't understand right now, right, that I probably won't understand at the time, but just kind of trusting in that and knowing that, like, you know we're going to we're going to be okay. And there's going to be another part of my life that, you know is going to be impactful. Yeah,

Scott Benner 1:00:04
that's awesome. I mean, Duke's not a gimme degree. What did you go for?

Noah Gray 1:00:07
I was a political science degree. Okay, yeah, you do

Scott Benner 1:00:12
think about, like, because, I mean, at this point, everybody just wants to, like, at one point it was like, oh, I'll just retire and be on ESPN. That's not a thing anymore. So, like, you know, like, now people are like, I'll make a podcast by the time you retire, that won't be retire, that won't be a thing anymore, you know, I'm struck by, like, some of the guys I've seen do it well, and some people who, very sadly, it overtakes them. And it's, I mean, it really is sad. Like, I'm not going to name anybody, but, like, I've seen people I'm like, Oh, my God, you were on top of the world at one point, you

Noah Gray 1:00:38
know, yeah. And I think, you know, for me, and I bring up my faith a lot, but it's like, it's just, I've truly believed, like it humbles me, like it's not about me, it's not about what I can do. It's not about, like, the high that I get from being in a stadium of 77,000 people. I do it because I believe, like God wanted me to be here to, you know, spread the gospel in Christ. But you know, also like helping people with type one, also helping younger athletes learn about football, like I do a football camp up in Massachusetts every year to help raise money for our local high school football program. And I go back up there, and it's just so much fun, like teaching them football fundamentals. But also, like, competing, like, I'll literally go and I'll play quarterback, and I'll literally drop routes that we run in the NFL and, like, talk to them about it. I'll put a defense out there. And it's like, there's just so much more than just, like, what I do for a living. And I don't think I realized that before I came to faith in Christ, like, I think I was just like, Oh, it's just football. It's just football. This is all I do. It's what I can get out of it. And now it's like, it's about other people, it's about community, it's about, you know, you know, what kind of an impact can we make that's Christ centered. And, you know, I know there's going to be a grieving process for me, like, I can say all this, and it sounds good on paper, and still, yeah, it'll, it'll still hit me, and that's just naturally, and there's nothing wrong with that at all. Right? You know what I mean. But like at the end of the day, I gotta realize, like, I'm a father, I am a husband. I help kids learn about football diabetes. You know, I'm gonna be helping my daughter figure out her her schoolwork. And there's just so much bigger than what I do. And it's not about me, and it's all about Christ and how he's moving in my life and and I think that will help me, when I reach that point in my career, to overcome kind of the sadness of this is the what I've done my whole life. I

Scott Benner 1:02:30
don't know how else you're supposed to, like, moderate that. Like, because it's got 70, like you said, 70,000 people screaming all at the same time has got to be a jolt,

Noah Gray 1:02:36
you know. Like, it's awesome, yeah, especially in the playoffs, yeah. Like, they're even louder than you thought that they could get. I'm

Scott Benner 1:02:42
gonna give you a lot of credit. Like, you play for a really enthusiastic fan base too. Like a sincerely enthusiastic, you know, some of those games you flip on and there's, you know, four people in the stands, and they're asleep, but like, you know, you guys are, everybody's stressed. For the part, they're screaming and yelling. They're following the game the whole way. You know, it's, it really is something.

Noah Gray 1:03:01
Shout out to Kansas City, man. I love you guys. I love Kansas City the best fans, and there's great fans all over the NFL. NFL fans are the absolute best. But seeing our Kansas City fans the way they travel to different games, it's, it's, it's an atmosphere, and I love them to

Scott Benner 1:03:16
death. Have you been on the other side of a Philly fan? Have you ever heard anything that made you laugh or cringe? Yeah, I played Philadelphia

Noah Gray 1:03:23
my rookie year, and it's a hostile environment. They got a great fan base over there. Shout out to Philly fans as well. It was bumping in that stadium. It was like a one o'clock game, I believe, when I played there. But they got so much passion and pride for their team and crazy, and that's why I say like all NFL fans. I mean, they love football, and it's all over the world. I played in Germany, and it was like a soccer fan environment that loved football. And like they were doing, like soccer stuff, and like the John Denver song country roads, like they literally got up saying that with their hearts out. And I'm like, This is the coolest thing ever. Like, just to see the different traditions that NFL fans, not just here in America, but like all over the world, had, was like an absolute blast. And like that wasn't a very big soccer stadium in Germany, but they got that place rocking, and it was one of the coolest experiences I've had playing league. I have two silly questions

Scott Benner 1:04:16
for you, and I'll let you go. I'm glad you said about the camp, because I had questions here from people. They wanted to know if you had a football camp. Had a football camp anywhere that you could be, is there a place they can find out about it, or is it a local, local thing, just for the school

Noah Gray 1:04:28
or so I do it to raise money for like, local high school programs in the area. Try to get like different coaches, like be involved so we can raise money for them. But obviously it's in Leominster, Massachusetts, so primarily the proceeds go to Le mister high school football. But anyone, and you know, we have kids from New Hampshire come Yeah, maybe Connecticut, maybe New York. It's a pretty local camp, so usually it's, you know, people within driving distance have it. But I've done that like three out of the past four years. We haven't come. With the details about it this year. One year it got rained out, unfortunately, and sometimes my schedule doesn't really align to get the camp going right, but in the next month, we're able to get it done this summer, though, you can just go onto my Instagram page, follow me, okay, and I'll post about it, and there will be information on on it as well as, you know, they wanted to make the trip up. But it's a fun it's a fun camp. We usually do like, two and a half hours for middle school group, two and a half hours for high school group, and we'll do like skills and drills for like, the first part of it, and then like, the last hour. We do like, seven on seven, or like one on ones, just like for a competitive side, like, I know sometimes it kind of gets real boring just doing drills for two and a half hours and, like, footwork and stuff like that. And then I also want to be involved, like, I want to be making passes to kids. You know, I played quarterback in high school before I transitioned to tight end. And it's that's, like, the most fun part about, like, I love coaching the kids and stuff like that, but like, actually playing with them. And like drawing up plays and throwing the ball all over the field, and like seeing the excitement of, like a safety that, like some kid that intercepts me, you know what I mean, and I make a bad pass, or, like they read me, you know? Well, it's just, it's so much fun, and you know, so next month, you'll have a little bit more information about it if we're able to get it going this year. Were you

Scott Benner 1:06:19
always this broader. Were you wide receiver at one point? Did you ever

Noah Gray 1:06:23
play? I was always a bigger Yeah, I was always a bigger kid. I'm 250 pounds now. When I was in high school, I was like 215 220 area, so I'm a lot bigger now than I was back then. But I played quarterback up until my senior year, and then I moved to tight end after that, so that's when I started to gain some weight and fill out. I

Scott Benner 1:06:43
remember growing up like watching Reggie White play and thinking, like, if everyone's here, he's somehow 10 steps ahead of him, right? Like, it almost felt like he was Michael Jordan, but now you guys are all like, so freaking, like, athletic, like, doing like, their centers pulling out, they're 15 yards downfield, throwing linebackers over, like, and then they run back and do it again. The football I used to watch those guys bent down, stood up, push, push, push, and they took a breath, you know, like, now the league is just full of, like, just murders. Like, you know what I mean? Like, everybody is just so athletic. Like, you ever think if I would have been born 40 years ago, I'd have been the Michael Jordan of football? Yeah,

Noah Gray 1:07:21
yeah. And there's a lot, like, a lot of comparing, yes, you know, between like guys now and like guys then like people probably compare Reggie White to like Chris Jones now at the end that we have, you know what I mean. But think the beauty of is, like, whatever generation you played in, like, there is a certain talent that you need to have and stuff like that. I'm fortunate enough to be playing in this generation, and I got a lot of respect for the guys that paved the way for me to be where I am today, who started the NFL, who really progressed the game as it went on. The NFL back, way back when does not look anything like it does now. And it's all because of the people who started and then the advancements that came on through it. So much respect to all those guys you know. And I play against the guy, Chris Jones, every day in practice, and it's like the biggest dude you know around and that guy moves like a defensive end. He's a deep tackle. You know what? I mean? He's like, almost unguardable. So it's cool to see, kind of the different nuances and advancements that guys have made with technique, strength, conditioning, speed, all that that kind of go into football, and it's really cool to see. And you know, we'll throw an old tape of, you know, older players when the videotape was, like, all grainy and it was hard to see. But yeah, we'll throw on like, hey, this play worked back. Then, let's try it. Yeah, today. And yeah, it works out. And that's kind of the beauty of the

Scott Benner 1:08:35
sport. So my last football question is, obviously, the season didn't and the way you guys wanted it to, right, how do you bounce back from that? Because it's a it occurs to me, it's a very strange the only reason I think I feel this way is because my my son played such a competitive sport for such a long time, like I don't look and like I didn't feel joyous, that you guys look sad, like I think of my kid in that situation, like to me, you're my son, like you've been working at this thing the whole way, and it didn't work out for you. But what do you say to each other to bounce back from it? Or is it just the business and you just, like, we'll just come back and do it again. Like, how does it feel to you internally? I guess, yeah,

Noah Gray 1:09:09
it's definitely tough, because there's a lot of turnover between teams. So, you know, we'll sign new free agents, we're gonna draft a whole new rookie class. Like, there's just a lot that goes on to it, but I think it's kind of just like, watch the film. We'll learn from the past. Like this obviously didn't work in the Super Bowl if you're back here next year, you know, we're just going to, you know, learn from that. We're not going to do that again. We're going to do something completely different. We're going to hit the ground running here and OTAs training camp all season long, we're just going to get better, you know, that's all, yeah, I mean, and shout out to Philadelphia. I mean, they came in with a great game plan. Those guys came in, juice, step, ready to go, and does a great football team. They beat us and, you know? And that was a great win for those guys. And this is something that you. You know, we gotta learn from move on and, you know, hit the ground running and practicing with the group of guys that we have coming in this year, the guys who felt that Super Bowl, but also the guys that are new to the organization, build a whole nother group of camaraderie, build that cohesiveness that we're going to need to move into this football season, and I'm absolutely thrilled to be doing it. I can't wait. I wish you that challenge. It's going to be a lot of fun. You know, I took three weeks off to kind of decent, decompress, yeah, get my mind off it. Do something different. And then once I started training up, we've been ramping up ever since, and we're just going to hopefully hit the ground running. And I try, I have full trust and faith and confidence, and the entire organization from the top down, it's world class. We got a truly amazing owner and Clark hunt his family, from our general manager, Brett feach Coach Reed, all everyone in the coaching staff and all the way down to the people that work in the kitchen and our equipment room and athletic training staff. It's just world class. And I can't say enough great things about that organization and the people that are there, the fan base that supports us every single week, this is truly a blessing. I love everybody over there, and it's just going to be so much fun really hitting the ground running this summer and really competing every single day with each other and then eventually with our opponents throughout the season.

Scott Benner 1:11:18
So the question that I've been asked to ask you the most you It's got nothing to do with football and nothing to do with diabetes. Can you guess what it is? I can't I kind of, can I guess you can do you know Taylor Swift,

Noah Gray 1:11:32
man? I never realized kind of how many questions we'd get asked about that. But yeah, I mean, I have, she's a truly, she's, she's a wonderful, wonderful woman. I mean, she's very nice, very kind, very down to earth. I love that my boy, Kels and her have a great thing going. And, yeah, truly, she's a phenomenal person, and really glad she's she's

Scott Benner 1:11:53
a part of the team. I had no reason to ask you, other than it was asked to me so many times. I have to tell you that I think one of the things that humanized professional sports players in the in recent years. It's the video of after you guys beat the Eagles, and it's Jason in his hotel room where she says, You didn't win. Uncle Travi won. And you get, you see him, like, swallow it and just go, like, Yeah, you won. It was great. And I was like, Oh my God, they're just people playing a game. You know what I mean? Like, I swear that that moment I was like, I don't know how anyone's watching this route and against anybody anymore. Like, just enjoy the spectacle of it. And like, go home. You know what I mean? Like, listen, I wasn't crazy before, but, like, it really did. It gave me a different perspective of it. Like, just seeing that little girl, like, be happy for her uncle. You know what I mean, it was really something. So it is, anyway, all right. Well, no, I can't. Thank you enough. Could you hold on one second after I hit stop? Yes. Okay, cool. Thanks so much, man, I really appreciate

Unknown Speaker 1:12:48
this. Yeah, absolutely.

Scott Benner 1:12:55
Hey, kids, listen up. You've made it to the end of the podcast. You must have enjoyed it. You know? What else you might enjoy? The private Facebook group for the Juicebox Podcast. I know you're thinking, Oh, Facebook, Scott, please, but no, beautiful group, wonderful people, a fantastic community Juicebox Podcast. Type one diabetes on Facebook. Of course, if you have type two, are you touched by diabetes in any way? You're absolutely welcome. It's a private group, so you'll have to answer a couple of questions before you come in, but make sure you're not a bot or an evildoer, then you're on your way. You'll be part of the family. 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 this is your first time listening to the Juicebox Podcast and you'd like to hear more, download Apple podcasts or Spotify, really, any audio app at all, look for the Juicebox Podcast and follow or subscribe. We put out new content every day that you'll enjoy. Want to learn more about your diabetes management, go to Juicebox podcast.com, up in the menu and look for bold Beginnings The Diabetes Pro Tip series and much more. This podcast is full of collections and series of information that will help you to live better with insulin. The episode you just heard was professionally edited by wrong way recording, wrongway recording.com, you.

Noah Gray is an Ambassador of Tandem Diabetes Care. In this presentation we may pass along suggestions, tips, or information about experiences or approaches to the management of diabetes. However, please note that individual symptoms, situations, circumstances and results may vary. Please consult your physician or qualified health care provider regarding your condition and appropriate medical treatment. The information provided is not intended to be used for medical diagnosis or treatment or as a substitute for professional medical advice.

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Sarah is mom to a 16-year-old with type 1, diagnosed at 12. While there's no family history of autoimmune issues, Sarah has faced her own health battle with thyroid cancer.

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

Sarah 0:14
My name is Sarah. I am the mom of a type one.

Scott Benner 0:19
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 AG, 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 my diabetes Pro Tip series is about cutting through the clutter of diabetes management to give you the straightforward, practical insights that truly make a difference, this series is all about mastering the fundamentals, whether it's the basics of insulin dosing adjustments or everyday management strategies that will empower you to take control. I'm joined by Jenny Smith, who is a diabetes educator with over 35 years of personal experience, and we break down complex concepts into simple, actionable tips. The Diabetes Pro Tip series runs between Episode 1001 1025 in your podcast player, where you can listen to it at Juicebox podcast.com by going up into the menu, the episode you're about to listen to was sponsored by touched by type one. Go check them out right now on Facebook, Instagram, and of course, at touched by type one.org, check out that Programs tab when you get to the website to see all the great things that they're doing for people living with type one diabetes, touched by type one.org this episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by Medtronic diabetes and their mini med 780 G system designed to help ease the burden of diabetes management, imagine fewer worries about mis boluses or miscalculated carbs thanks to meal detection technology and automatic correction doses, learn more and get started today at Medtronic diabetes.com/juice box. I'm having an on body vibe alert. This episode of the juice box podcast is sponsored by ever since 365 the only one year where CGM, that's one insertion and one CGM a year, one CGM one year, not every 10 or 14 days ever since cgm.com/juicebox you can talk to Jesus or breathe deep or do whatever you're going to do. And then you go ahead and introduce yourself. And then I will have a follow up question, which, this time I can't tell you what it is because I don't know yet. And then we'll chat for like an hour. Okay,

so you can go whenever you're ready. Okay, I'm so sorry. Don't be sorry. I was like, I was like, Oh, this is so

Sarah 3:20
this is time for my deep breath. I thought you were talking to Jesus.

Scott Benner 3:24
You're like, Jesus, I'm gonna make a podcast now. Please don't let me say anything embarrassing. I thought you were praying. And then I realized that she's just waiting for me to tell her to go again. So you go ahead and go. Okay, perfect.

Sarah 3:34
My name is Sarah. I am the mom of a type one. His name is Ian, and he is currently 16, diagnosed at 12 and a half.

Scott Benner 3:44
Sarah, let me just say this to the editor, please leave all that in. I think it's hilarious. So and the long gap of silence, Rob, leave the whole thing in. Okay, okay, to

Unknown Speaker 3:53
start, yeah, maybe

Scott Benner 3:55
people will take that time to pray. You don't know, I don't so tell me a little more. What your son you said, yes.

Sarah 4:02
So he's our middle child. It's always the middle child. I think that was diagnosed. So we have an older daughter who is currently 18, and then an accident 10 years later, that's six.

Scott Benner 4:17
You're comfortable saying that publicly? Ah, yeah. He knows. Everyone knows. Tell me the truth. After a wedding, how did it happen? No,

Sarah 4:25
I had one temporary lapse in judgment. I guess I have no idea you

Scott Benner 4:33
and your husband were feeling young. You had a good week. Nobody argued for six or seven days, apparently, yeah, went out for dinner Friday night, came over. You're like, you know what? I'm gonna throw this guy a bone now. You bone. Now. Is that what happened?

Unknown Speaker 4:44
Apparently, yeah, something like that.

Scott Benner 4:46
Forget him. He's been good all week. It was present time, and then, and then you got all into it, and you were like, I love you. We should like and that whole thing happened or No, not that thought out. Oh my God, not

Sarah 4:57
that thought out. The kids were like. You're pranking us. You said, No more kids. And I was like, kind of wish, but no,

Scott Benner 5:04
yes, sorry, pick a lesser school. Yeah, all right, well, that's fine. Okay, so you've got those kids that. How long goes this one diagnosed?

Sarah 5:14
So we're coming up on four years. Oh, wow, it's a good

Scott Benner 5:18
stretch of time. Yeah, and he was diagnosed when he was 12, yes, on his 12 and a half birthday. Oh, awesome. My dad left on my 13th birthday. That's exciting. Yeah, now I think I'd rather him leave than get diabetes, but being 100% sure, yeah, I think so Wow. How did you figure it all out?

Sarah 5:35
Classic, signs up, going to the bathroom all night, drinking tons of water. At that time, he was homeschooled, so spending day and night together, you know, you just noticed those changes. We had gone on a trip in April, you know, on the flight, he's in the bathroom like five times. Didn't really think much of it, that maybe he was just nervous traveling or whatever. And then, you know, symptoms progressed, and the signs were there. He was melting away slowly in front of our eyes, losing about 10 pounds. I'd say,

Scott Benner 6:03
Wow, did you have to use the internet to help you? Or did you know the signs?

Sarah 6:07
I knew them, but I don't know why I have a type one aunt, but I didn't grow up around her because she lives in Florida.

Scott Benner 6:14
Oh, so your aunt has type one? Yes. Oh, so you've probably heard enough over the years here and there that it clicked for you quickly,

Unknown Speaker 6:22
yes, yeah, I think so okay.

Scott Benner 6:24
And then you tell your husband, hey, I think the kids got type one. And their husband goes, nah, because that's what the guys usually do. But what happened? That's

Sarah 6:33
generally what they do. But with Ian, his appendix had ruptured the October before, and we kind of ignored it and let him lay on the bathroom floor and die for a few days before we took him in.

Scott Benner 6:45
So you're fine. Suck it up buttercup. It's going to be okay.

Sarah 6:49
That's right. We took him in. Well, we didn't even take him in. We had blown to Chicago for a conference. My husband and I and my mom took him to urgent care, and we're sitting at the airport waiting to board, and she's like, Well, they did an ultrasound and didn't see anything concerning. I think you're good to go ahead and fly. So we landed in Chicago, and I get a phone call. He's having surgery in the morning, if you want to come back. I was like, Really,

Scott Benner 7:14
so why do you guys fly around so much? You fly around like you're the Obamas. What's going on?

Sarah 7:18
No, I don't know. Traveling is fun.

Scott Benner 7:21
It's awesome. I keep thinking, I should go somewhere. You should, you know, I'm going to, is what I'm like, Listen, I'm promising myself right now I am going to just like, I'm going to go somewhere, even if it's just like a three day. I used to do these things when I was younger, like, I don't know why I stopped. So, okay, so he's have All right, let's go back to the Appendix for a second. Did you fly

Sarah 7:42
home? I didn't. I run it well, I said I'm not going to make it before the surgery. No matter what I do do, I really need to come. Ian's like, No, I don't need you there. Well, my mom texts me all that night, like, Mom, guilt, you know, you should really be here for him. Meanwhile, I am not the doctor, hospital parent. That is my husband's job. I don't do appointments. So I was like, anyway, I ended up renting a car that next morning and drove the eight hours, Sarah,

Scott Benner 8:08
you gave up on being Mother of the year early. That's nice.

Sarah 8:11
I did. I did. So they just placed a drain that day, that hospitals day, because he was too full of infection, because, like I said, we had let him lay there and die a few days. Yeah. So surgery was scheduled for six weeks after that, so went back in December for outpatient surgery, supposedly, but his appendix had ruptured and adhered all over, so they had to, like, scrape different things to get it all out. So that ended up being another hospital stay and another drain. So

Scott Benner 8:38
moral, the story is, when you sniff out the type one, nobody's waiting to go to the hospital. Everybody's like, no, no, we go right now,

Sarah 8:46
yes, except for the doctor. I called Monday morning, and they're like, well, we don't have anything until tomorrow. I was like, okay,

Scott Benner 8:52
great, listen, we've already tried to kill this kid once. We think we'll go to jail if it happens again. We so we'd like to Yeah, yeah. No, seriously, you easily could have been one of those news stories. Or, like, just months ago, Sarah and her husband didn't get him medical care when he needed it. Okay, what's that whole thing? Like, the idea that he has type one that things are going to change, like, where do both your minds go? This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by the Eversense 365 get 365 days of comfortable wear without having to change a sensor. When you think of a continuous glucose monitor, you think of a CGM that lasts 10 or 14 days. But the Eversense 365 it lives up to its name lasting 365 days. That's one year without having to change your CGM. With the ever since 365 you can count on comfort and consistency. 365 days a year, because the ever since silicon based adhesive is designed for your skin to be Gen. Mental and to allow you to take the transmitter on and off to enjoy your shower, a trip to the pool or an activity where you don't want your CGM on your body, if you're looking for comfort, accuracy, and a one year wear you are looking for ever since 365 go to Eversense cgm.com/juicebox To learn more, 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

Sarah 11:29
you know, I have a type one aunt, but like I said, I didn't grow up around her, and so I really had no idea what we were stepping into. Again, this is during COVID. Normally, one parent's only allowed, but they're like, you can both come it's important for you to be here, you know, the whole ICU stay to level them out, and then education, and just jumped in from there. Looking

Scott Benner 11:52
backwards, how would you describe what you went through? You didn't know what it was, what was happening, but in the rear view mirror, how would you describe it to someone else, overwhelming,

Sarah 12:01
drinking from a fire hose and then coming home and settling into that, you know, like your new life. Well, we had a camping trip scheduled for the weekend after diagnosis, and he was like, I still want to go. We're going, right? Because we were going fishing, and we went. It was a little overwhelming, packing everything, you know, because you don't know what you need in the beginning. So you're like, I guess I'm just taking everything. So move the whole house into the camper, and off we go.

Scott Benner 12:30
You know, I don't think people talk enough about the hollow feeling your house has when you get home after the diagnosis. I mean, if you've ever gone through like a death, like or a divorce or something like catastrophic you get home and there's a, I know it's not really the house, it's you, but there's like a stillness and a quiet that makes it feel like the house is hollow. And yeah, you went through that.

Sarah 12:57
Yeah, you're like, mourning what used to be. You know, you used to live this carefree. I can go anywhere, do anything, anytime, you know, like I said, Ian was home schooled, and so we were constantly, you know, going here, going there, and, you know, and then the beginning, you kind of feel like you need to hunker down and just figure it out. And, you know, change a lot of things. But in the end, I knew he was never going to eat a fruit or a vegetable, and we were just going to figure out carbs. So

Scott Benner 13:21
that was your early on understanding of it, like we'll just avoid certain foods, or,

Sarah 13:26
yeah, you know, we like, why I went to the store and did all the you know, you're like, walking through what is under 15 carbs that I can buy, that this kid will eat? And the answer is nothing, you know. So it's like you're standing there in the grocery store the first time, like, feeling so defeated with your Gatorade zero and the cart and your juice boxes for just in case, and how much meat and cheese can we possibly consume? I think a lot of people go through that.

Scott Benner 13:48
I was gonna say, everyone listening is like, Oh, I went on that grocery shop. I did that. It's

Sarah 13:53
insanity. Whenever you look back at it now, you're just like, What was I thinking? You know, you buy the quest chips that are never gonna get eaten the you know,

Scott Benner 14:02
people like, what are these? I'd rather die. Thank you. He's like, cardboard. I'm gonna pass. I just wanna say, and no shade for people who like it. But that is how I feel about magic spoon

Sarah 14:12
cereal. I never tried that because of all the, you know, negative feedback. We tried

Scott Benner 14:17
it one time, and I was like, you know, I'd rather just not, that's fine. We'll just never do this again. It's okay. Yeah. Anyway, it's overwhelming. It takes time to figure out. You have a certain expectation about what it is. How long does it take you to settle in, and when do you get the understanding of all of it that you possess currently? Like, how long does it take you to get to that point? I guess

Sarah 14:39
I would say, pretty quickly I dived in and was like, We got to figure this out. Nail this down. A one see you at diagnosis was 11.5 our three month checkup, it was 6.6 and we haven't seen a number in the sixes since then. So I think it was pretty quickly that I was like, You know what, what it is? But. Best case scenario for him, moving forward, fought insurance for a pump starting, you know, pretty close to day one, ended up getting that at three months instead of the six month wait. They told me it would be and, you know, just kind of all the things started listening to the podcast pretty quickly. I'm not sure how I found it, but once I did, you know, I started with the pro tips and the bold beginnings and just went through, like, devouring everything and trying to get him that good foundation to start out.

Scott Benner 15:25
Okay, do you insinuate that you have an A one? He hasn't anyone seen the fives now,

Sarah 15:28
yes, it's been in the five since January after diagnosis. I

Scott Benner 15:34
think so. And he doesn't have a specific eating style, all the carbs, and that's it. It's whatever you think he shouldn't have. That's the stuff. Yeah. The

Sarah 15:42
doctor was like, What's 104 carbs that you have every day at like, 330 and I was like, oh, that's an entire pizza. She's like, all right, you're very consistent. I'm like, yes, yes, he is. So

Scott Benner 15:54
you remember being young like that, it's awesome. I

Sarah 15:56
know a bag of pizza rolls, you know, just living the dream, oh

Scott Benner 16:01
my gosh. So he comes home from school ravenous, or ends his school day ravenous, yeah, yeah, I would say just that kind of time of day. Well, this is nice, like, I just feel like this is a story about how the podcast helped you take care of your kid. Is that what this is, it

Sarah 16:15
did. It was amazing, which I think was, like, vitally important, because, let's see, it was probably December after his diagnosis, I had surgery to remove thyroid cancer. So you did that was kind of another bombshell. Yeah, is

Scott Benner 16:28
there other autoimmune in the house? No, no, no. Just lucky you got thyroid cancer. Yeah, let's call it that. Okay. Well, tell me, let's go down that road for a second. So how does that rear its head? How do you become aware that that's what's going on and what's the treatment like?

Sarah 16:44
After I had our surprise, I was at my six week post baby checkup, and the nurse, as I'm walking out, was like, Have you ever had your thyroid checked because your neck looks large? And I was like, no, just

Scott Benner 16:56
say your neck looks large, lady. Leave me alone.

Sarah 16:59
Like, what are you talking about? You're insane. So anyway, I thought it was time to see a primary care physician and have that checked out. So they were following that with ultrasound for the last I guess it was four years before it was became an issue. I had nodules in both sides that hadn't shown any growth. And then in 2021 one side decided to double in size went down that road.

Scott Benner 17:22
Is the removal the end of it, or is there chemo or anything like that that goes with it.

Sarah 17:26
So I have nodules in both sides. I opted to only remove the side that had grown because the surgeon said, why would you take out both? If only one is an issue? And I was like, because I don't want to pay someone to slit my throat for a second time. And he didn't quite comprehend that, but between him and my husband, my husband was like, Well, if you broke your right arm, why would you cut your left one off?

Scott Benner 17:48
Boys about stuff like this, that's probably your biggest problem. Yeah.

Sarah 17:53
So anyway, I opted for one side. If I would have had both, they would have done the radiation. But since I left half in, we decided not to kill it off.

Scott Benner 18:01
So how do you proceed then? Like, what do you do? Like, is it just constant checking?

Sarah 18:06
Yes. So lab work in the beginning was every three months, then six months. Now we're at a year. I think I'm three years post op now. So technically, I think I'm declared cancer free at this point because my thyroid globulin levels have not increased, so that's something that we'll just continue to monitor. And if you know that left side that remains decides to go haywire, it should show up in some labs.

Scott Benner 18:28
Is it keeping up? Or do you need Synthroid? I'm actually

Sarah 18:31
on level because optimal TSH for someone post cancer is between point four and one, and my TSH was up to two, so they're trying to, you know, lower that number to keep the remaining a little bit suppressed. Okay,

Scott Benner 18:46
that all makes sense. Gosh, okay, you know I was going to tell you a little story. Do you mind? No, go ahead. Yesterday. Every one of my stories begins with yesterday, because I think I'm just so steeped in this that something is always happening. But yesterday, I had a person online tell me that they did not appreciate the way in which I delivered my like message, I guess like so to be specific, and this is not if this person is listening, you're not the only one that said this, but there's a handful of people, very excitable, that don't like using AI to make artwork for the website. Now, I have tried for years to hire somebody to draw things or create things in Illustrator or something like that. Their pricing was always prohibitive. I could never keep up with it, like I just I couldn't do it, you know what I mean? And so I went to this model because it works. I put up a lot of content. My website requires artwork to go with the content. And I can say to AI, like, you know, here's a transcript from today's episode. Make an image that supports it, and it does that, and in the end, it's great. Well, this person doesn't like that. I do that, and then this person doesn't like the way I moderate the Facebook group, and they don't like this, and they don't like. That. And I said, Listen, this is all very fixable, you know, I just, I need to hire a staff to moderate the group, you know, I'll need to hire some, you know, artists. And I went through the whole thing, like, I really went through the entire thing, and I was like, this is about what it would cost. I'd have to start a company to, you know, to employ these people. They're going to need health care. Like, you know, this and I said, so I'm just gonna need about $1.1 million a year to handle the staff and the costs and the healthcare and everything that will require to hire this group of people that you think I should hire. So if you wanna just like, you know, send that money over, I can get the whole thing up on its feet in a couple of weeks. And then the answer back is, like, well, you know, like, I still disagree with you. Like, oh, okay, so like, no real world conversation whatsoever. And in the middle of that response, I know that this is not like a positive apples to apples, but I kept thinking of Jack Nicholson the end of that courtroom drama in the military where he said something like, If you don't, like, in the manner I provide your protection, like, like, you know, like, I wish you just say thank you and go on your way or something. I found myself defending to the person and going, like, Look, I've helped 10s of 1000s of people. Like, if you don't like the way I'm doing it, like, that's fine. But like, why you got to come here and shit on my doorstep. Just don't like it, that's fine. But like, if you think you could do it better, like, go do it better yourself. But this is how I'm able to accomplish it, you know. And then I get on with you today, and I'm hearing your kids diagnosed. You're very carefree about it as a one season of fives, even though, for God knows why he's eating a bag of Gi knows pizza rolls every day. And I think to myself, like, yeah, I don't need to adjust what I'm doing, but Right? You know what I mean, like, but it's, it's a dip. It's a weird position to be in. And anyway, I'm glad you're here today, because it made me feel better, because I there was part of me that thought, like, oh, maybe I was too harsh when I responded, but I was really, like, insulted and pissed, I guess, to be perfectly honest. Yes, I'm

Sarah 22:01
very aware of this post. And the whole time you were talking, I could think the only thing I should say right now is, oh brother. But like,

Scott Benner 22:10
seriously, do you know what? What's the movie? It's a good movie. It's a courtroom drama about about Guantanamo and like, Does nobody by nobody? I mean, you and I, Sarah, are we not coming up with this?

Sarah 22:21
Nope, we're not. I am not that person for you. Hold on a second,

Scott Benner 22:24
hold on a second. Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson, this should get us there. I got it. A Few Good Men. You've never seen. A Few Good Men I have, yeah. All right, well, all right, sir. So like, at the end of it, like, I don't know, like, he's, listen, he's obviously the bad guy, which is why this is a bad comparison, like, but, but when he's making his argument, he's like, if you don't like the way I do the thing I do for you, golf, I had a part of that feeling like, like, I am not willfully doing something bad. Like, I'm not like, like, you think I want to use AI art. Like, I don't want to, but it's my only option. I'm churning out 240 episodes a year. Like, you want me to get somebody to illustrate those? Like, seriously, I've talked to those people. They want to be on retainer. They want to make 50, $60,000 a year. I can't pay for that. And so instead of, like, stepping back and seeing the big picture, and to me, the big picture is your son, right? Like that, that, to me, is the big picture is helping people. So I'd like to ask you, how was it helpful? You said you used the episodes and the series and everything, but like you know, how it helped you along? Or is it almost not quantifiable? It just works. And you knew it worked.

Sarah 23:37
I think once you listen and start implementing, it just works. And you see it works. You keep, you know, doing the small things, and, you know, stalking the reports. You know, whenever you dig in, because he is on control IQ tandem. And so it's like manipulating those things, like figuring out the technology that works, leaning on other people's experience. It's just like such a huge conglomeration that you can't really pinpoint one thing or another. You know that you're doing. I don't know

Scott Benner 24:05
see I think, no, no, I appreciate that, because I genuinely think that that's correct. And I'll see people online, sometimes they'll say, like, well, I don't learn like that. Like you, you know, you give me something to listen to, but I can't, I can't learn that way. And I think, what do they expect to happen? Like, did they think that people just turn the the recording on, and an hour later they go, I understand all the things in the recording. Now I'm like, that's not how it happens. These ideas kind of melt into your mind, and then one day you find yourself in a situation and you just sort of know what to do. I learned how to take care of a pet that way, like I listened to a video of a guy describe how to take care of it, and when it was over, I didn't, I wasn't an expert at it, so I listened to the video again, and I listened to it two or three times. And if you would have given me a quiz after I listened to the video, I don't think I would have been like, got 100% on it, but, you know, a couple weeks or months later, and I was like, Oh, I know how to do all this and what. Right? You know, I just think it's how you learn through storytelling. But I think some people's expectation of learning is, we sit down, I tell you, two plus two is four, I tell you why, and at the end, you can describe back to me why. Two plus two is four, and you know, it forever now, and I just don't think this works that way. Yeah,

Sarah 25:17
absolutely. There was a family that, you know, newly diagnosed, and someone referred that they talked to me, and their response was, Well, what's she gonna do? The doctor already told me how to count carbs. That's all you have to do. And I was like, oh, there is so much more right than counting carbs, you know. And it's like that was all that they wanted it to be, you know. I think it's kind of overwhelming to think that there may be more than this one thing, but people have to, you know, see the bigger picture. And I was like, oh, there are so many variables and so many things. Like, I promise if you will just listen to this, your eyes will be opened and you will expound on that do not die, advice, and your child can thrive, and it took a long time for them to, you know, even be willing to accept that this was bigger than that. Yeah, and it's hard to watch people go through that and struggle for such a long period of time. When you think it's so simple,

Scott Benner 26:14
when someone says, I don't like listening to podcasts, I think to myself, like, okay, they never say I don't like listening to podcasts. So it doesn't matter. I found a better way and everything better way, and everything's fine. Now they say I'm in significant trouble. A 1c, variability, et cetera, is a mess. I don't know what to do, and now you're offering me a podcast, but I'm not a listener of podcasts like, oh, and then I swear to you again. I know this sounds badly, but I've now found the quote, okay, I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I know that that's ridiculous, because it's not apples to apples, but some version of that, of that sentiment, yes, it's hard not to have it me, for me personally, listen, if you follow me online, you know, like, I don't talk that way to people. I don't come back and go, like, if you don't like what I'm doing, go, you know, go to hell. Like, I don't because I genuinely within the conversation. I don't know if this is confusing. I don't feel that way, right? I know some people don't like listening to things. I know some people are more visual learners, so they need to read to learn, or something like that. So I'm continuingly coming up with ways to help you with that. But that little tiny, like the ego part of you, the little guy in the middle, like in your chest, is like, off. I found a way to do this. Like, it's not okay, it just do it differently for me. And I'm like, I I'm trying anyway. Yeah. So here's one of the things I'm doing behind the scenes that I'll tell you about, and you'll be the only one who knows about it for very many months. I have a type one sign language translator translating all of the bold beginnings while she stands on screen and signs it. That's amazing. Now, yeah, it's going to be very cool for two reasons. First, it'll reach people who are, you know, hard of hearing or deaf, which will be awesome, but I don't imagine that's going to be a lot of like people. What I think is for the people who need a picture to be moving in front of them while they're listening, which is a lot of people, I think is why YouTube is so popular, like, because otherwise I don't really need to see two guys sitting down talking about something like, what would be the point of people watching us talk into a microphone right now? Like, to me, that's ridiculous. It's completely unnecessary. But for some people, they need it, so I thought maybe it will be visually interesting for those people to watch her sign while they're also getting the information. It's not a bad idea, right? No, not a bad idea at all. Yeah, you want to know what. It's expensive too. But it doesn't matter. I'm doing it because those people yelled at me and told me that they don't listen and learn. And so I'm trying something else now. They can watch and learn. They can watch and learn. And if that actually works, like if I actually see an uptick for that, or people report back, hey, that really helped me. Then I will try to raise money to do other things. I'm in contact with a company right now who might be able to animate the episodes like because I'm not gonna, if you want me to sit in front of a camera and do this, I'm just not doing it. I don't want to. I don't have the time to present myself that way. I record every day, like these people who make one video a month, like, that's not hard, you know what I mean, not that I could do, but I can't do every episode that way. I don't have the infrastructure for it. I don't have the money to pay for the editing. I don't I I'm not in a room that is visually pleasing like this is room, is room setup for me to talk into a microphone. You not see me. You know what I mean? Yeah, so you see my chameleon behind me. You're gonna think I'm insane. Maybe you really will. You'll be like, Oh, I'm listening to an insane person tell me about Pre Bolus confirmed. Now he is insane. There's a fing dinosaur behind him, and he's trying to tell us about, I. He's looking at me right now, by the way, I will feed you. Don't worry, buddy. Hey, there you go. He's literally he doesn't like the color of my sweatshirt.

Sarah 30:06
Aren't you surrounded by them? Now, how many do you have? I don't

Scott Benner 30:09
like to talk like that, because I think it's insulting to me and the people around me. But there are, there are three chameleons in this room, okay, yeah, and they're all different kinds, and that's it. I won't be a person with 10 chameleons one day or something like that. I have I have one that is incredibly active and colorful, and I have one that is incredibly sedentary and huge and literally looks like somebody just put a dinosaur in here. And I have one that's just crazy and like a voracious eater, like if anything I threw in there right now, this one would just go across the the enclosure like a shark and just annihilate it in two seconds. The truth is that last one I described you is the first one I got. And if I'm being honest, is not the one I wanted way to go. Kids, yeah, but my family got me, and I think she's awesome. Like, I really, I love taking care of her, take really great care of her and everything, but, like, it wasn't the one I wanted. So I have the one they gave me the one I wanted, and then a third one, just because, honestly, I had the space, and the space was being used already. And so I just thought, like, well, the space is sitting here empty. I should just do something with it and and then I just picked one that's just like, he's really bizarre. He never stops moving. He's just constantly moving around. And he's really awesome. Anyway, they they relax me. I turn around, I look at them. They relax me. They give me a good break, like in the middle of my work day and stuff like that. So a nice thing to step aside distraction, yeah, yeah. But I can't leave this room because I'm busy making this podcast so people online can tell me I'm doing it wrong way to go. Have you ever heard somebody say you're doing it wrong, and then wait, I'll do it myself. And like, no, they just wanted to let you know that it's this is not commiserate with how they would do it if they'd get off their ass and do something. I mean,

Unknown Speaker 31:59
it sounds like every husband wife relationship to me,

Scott Benner 32:04
really about, like, the dishes or bigger things. I

Sarah 32:08
Yeah, the dishes, you know, right? It's really not that hard,

Scott Benner 32:13
yeah and then, but the dishes get done no matter what. Yes, they do. Oh, look at you. You're so upset to admit that it doesn't matter if you load the dishwasher incorrectly or not. So funny. All right, so your kids using tandem, yes, which one control? IQ, Moby

Sarah 32:31
control IQ, he's wanting to make the switch to Moby in August when warranty is up. So okay, we will most likely be doing that

Scott Benner 32:39
to get a less connected feeling.

Sarah 32:41
No, just because it's smaller, I don't know, just in general, smaller, yeah, he doesn't seem bothered by it. He, I mean, we put like, a clunky case on it, and he still shoves the whole thing in his pocket with the clip. I'm like, why don't you take the clip off? He's like, That's fine. Like, he's not bothered by a whole lot. So

Scott Benner 32:58
Arden got low last night at like, 330 in the morning, she got low because at eight o'clock at night, when I could tell that her pod site was failing, and I said, Hey, I would change that now, before you ate, because it's failing, you can look back at the last three hours and see that the algorithm is having trouble keeping up with your blood sugar. This is the very end of the pump. I 100% sure that this is it's like occluding somehow you should just change it. Now she does not do it. Few hours later, I'm gonna say eight minutes after eating dinner, the pod just fails. And she looks at me because I think what she's thinking is sky was right about this and like but I don't say anything. She changes the pod, and I said, Look, you just had a pretty big dinner. You're gonna get a high blood sugar here. Now, for sure, I'm almost thinking that the pump, the Bolus you just made for the meal, is not gonna nearly be enough. Certainly that happened. Her blood sugar shot way up. It was hard to get down. It took a bunch of insulin to get it down. Made her low at three o'clock in the morning. And today, when we spoke about it, I said, Listen, I'm not busting your balls, but if you would have just changed your pod before dinner, you wouldn't have been up at three o'clock with the low blood sugar, like, and I didn't say it like that. I was very nice about it, like, I was like, Look, you know, hey, I'm like, I'm not giving you crap. Like, but this is a great opportunity to see that if the pod would have got changed before dinner, then it would have worked better on the meal. You wouldn't have got high. There wouldn't have been a big correction, you wouldn't have got low later. Thanks, Dad.

Sarah 34:28
Yeah, that's we had a new restaurant. Last Day. We tried a new Chinese place, and saw blood sugar in the 250s which we haven't seen for, you know, over a year and a half, you know. And it's like, oh my goodness, what are you doing? So it's like rage Bolus, that thing, and we'll catch the drop when it comes, if it comes, hopefully it comes. So, you know, we caught it with half a juice and half a granola bar, and coasted in the 90s the rest of the night. But before he went to bed, he was like, see you in the middle of the night. And I was like, No, we got this. We. You know, it's all right, but he's still counting on me to be the middle of the night person, and it's like,

Scott Benner 35:06
oh, so how do you handle that idea of transition? What do you give plans? Are you just one day of timing it? Or what are you doing?

Sarah 35:12
He does 99.9% of everything. I am not involved anymore. It kind of makes me a little sad. So he will let me do his cartridge change in his pump. He's like, do you really need to do this? You can do it. He's still letting me be a little involved and but most of the time he has taken that initiative and then, like I said, if it's this was like a one off, hasn't done this in forever. And he's like, You got this, you know, it's like, I'm not waking up for it, but I will gladly still be there. So

Scott Benner 35:46
do you think he is willfully giving you tasks to do because he knows you want to be involved, or is he offloading the crap he doesn't want to do because he knows you'd be willing to do it?

Sarah 35:56
No, he's letting me be involved. Because if he, like, changes it. He's like, I'm like, Isn't it time to do it? He's like, I already did it. I'm sorry. And I'm like, Really, I feel like I want to, like, take, you know, I don't want him to experience burnout. But so far, he's just been amazing about everything and, like, handling it all. And I'm like, you know, I'll still redo his calendar, and we have little magnets for site days and a different color for, you know, Dexcom and all that. And he's like, I forgot to change his calendar because his dad and I were on a cruise. And he's like, I did my calendar. I'm like, I'm so sorry. I feel like such a failure.

Scott Benner 36:33
Oh, you're trying to get the mom of the year trophy back. Now. I'm

Unknown Speaker 36:38
trying. I'm trying.

Scott Benner 36:41
You're like, I should have flown home for the appendix. I'm sorry. I'm

Sarah 36:45
so sorry. No, we went to the touch by type one conference this last year, and we went to Erica session, like the teenage session, and she recommended some diabetes etiquette resources. And he likes to point out rule seven, mom, rule seven. So I kind of took a step back, because that is, recognize that I'm never going to be perfect with my diabetes care, no matter how much you want this. So I used to, you know, if he's going high, which high is set at 150 I'm like, What are you doing? He's like, I've already corrected. What do you mean? What am I doing? You know? So I've tried to, like, take a step back from that, and I'll, I'll talk to him. He's been in the 150s for like, an hour, you know, I'm like, What are we doing? But, you know, I used to micromanage a lot harder than I do now, so I feel like we're slowly making that transition more on my part than his, because he's, you know, like I said, got a good handle and getting

Scott Benner 37:35
there is your first born girl or a boy, a girl. Oh, so this is your oldest boy? Yeah, he's my favorite. I was gonna say I don't want to, like, pull the curtain too far back on basic human psychology, but ladies seem to love their first son a lot.

Sarah 37:50
Yeah, he's been my favorite since birth. I'm not really sure why, but yeah, maybe it's the first burn boy thing that or raising my daughter is, like looking a mirror. It's really hard to raise yourself.

Scott Benner 38:02
Oh, really. Oh, that's an interesting point of view. She and you are very similar, yeah. What? So what does that do? Help me for a second, Sarah, does it make you have realizations about yourself that are upsetting,

Sarah 38:17
not upsetting, maybe frustrating. Like, man, you are just like me. How can I like criticize what you're doing right now? Because I am the same person. Oh, no. It's that you want better for them than you had. But when they're you, I mean, they're gonna turn out all right, because I'm pretty amazing,

Scott Benner 38:34
it's gonna be fine. Look at this package. Everything's going my way. Oh, and so the boy is, he's nothing like you. No, no, but he's like the guy, the boy that you married, who you're irritated by constantly. No, no, I don't know, half the time you were irritated by him.

Sarah 38:53
No, I've got a really good setup, you know. I've been a stay at home mom and oh, okay, I'm living the dream. I always

Scott Benner 38:59
watch it happen, like, when the kids do something that's more my personality. And Kelly's like, okay with it. I'm like, How come I don't get this pass? Oh, Sam,

Sarah 39:09
yeah, well, my husband and my son are both so easy going. Yeah, it's like, they're Arden

Scott Benner 39:14
said something like, funny but shitty to Kelly the other day, and she just it went right past her, and I looked her in the face, and I was like, Are you not going to say anything about that? I was like, because if I would have said that, my God, we would have never heard the end of it. That's really interesting. Okay, so you are using some of the stuff you heard from Erica in person. Now she and I made a series on that presentation. How did the series compare to seeing her in person,

Sarah 39:41
in person was just, there's no way to describe sitting in a room full of parents who are grieving the same thing you're grieving. I don't know, valuable or too sad. It's so valuable, valuable, okay, yeah, sad, but valuable, you know?

Scott Benner 39:56
And then hearing her do it on the podcast, was it a good reminder? Did you. Think to yourself, this is everything that I heard and more live, or was it not as good? Like, I'm trying to figure out if the content was good for you.

Sarah 40:08
The content was good, it was everything that we went over in person. It was just a different presentation. I don't know how to describe the difference, because you're sitting there in the room like tears rolling down everyone in the room's faces, you know, like as we're all experiencing this together, reliving all of those things, like trying to figure out how we're gonna put all this into practice, and then you hear it on the podcast, and it's a good reminder to take those steps and do those things for yourself. And I would say it was more powerful being in person, but the podcast was still excellent. And, you know, like I said, all the same content. That was okay.

Scott Benner 40:41
She's really lovely. I'm very lucky to have met her. So, yes, yeah, yeah, okay, oh, that's that's good to know. So what were your big takeaways from her, like, I mean, it sounds like rule seven is, like, leave me alone. This is never going to be perfect. What are some of the other

Sarah 40:55
ones? Yeah, just opening that communication between my son and I, because we went to her teen session, and then I went to her caregiver session as well. So realizing, you know, this handoff is happening, and he over communicates sometimes, whenever he's like, don't pay attention to this. Don't worry about it. I've already done this, you know, and that was him foreshadowing me getting ready to harp on him for something that he's already done. You know, opening my eyes to those things that were happening was very helpful. Yeah. Do you think

Scott Benner 41:20
it'll help in other parts of your relationship? Because, like, I imagine when he does that the foreshadowing thing, which is basically just him defending himself in the future against something he knows you're going to do. Does it give you pause? Do you think, Oh, he did that? Because I'm about to do this, and I probably shouldn't do that.

Sarah 41:38
I didn't see that until, like, I said going to Erica's thing. I didn't realize, you know, how much I was doing that, yeah, and so, yeah, I think it's, like, completely changed. You know, our relationship in reference to diabetes, which it's not a huge part of our everyday lives, just because it's kind of background noise at this point. But, you know, I could see where that was, you know, taking a major toll when he felt the need to defend himself.

Scott Benner 42:01
I will give a free piece of advice out to the moms, telling long, drawn out, detailed stories about your kids private life, to other people, they don't like that. You shouldn't do that, but you guys all do it. You all like, get on a phone call. You're like, oh my god, did I tell you the thing that happened to Billy? And then, like, you know, like, 20 minutes later, I have like, a compendium type understanding of what happened to Billy. Billy finds out and goes, I wish you wouldn't tell people that. And you go, I'm just telling people about my life like that. I see happen a lot. You're laughing, sir, this has happened.

Sarah 42:32
Don't feel like it has, but I know the moms you're talking about.

Scott Benner 42:36
Oh, okay, yeah, don't do that. That's that's not good. Or, yeah, if you're looking for a simple way to make your relationship better with your kids, literally don't do that. So it's tough, because it's hard to see the difference between bragging and just being proud or just wanting to share and what another person sees as private, right? You know that's hard. So having kids it's terrible. It sounds like you figured that out early.

Sarah 43:02
Oh, yeah, yeah. How old are you?

Scott Benner 43:06
41 oh, how old were you when you had your daughter?

Unknown Speaker 43:11
She's 18, I don't know. 22

Scott Benner 43:13
do you make any of these kids on purpose or No, no, I don't understand people

Unknown Speaker 43:18
that do that. I can't wrap my head around that.

Scott Benner 43:22
Oh, it's awesome. The third one just on his own, feral. You don't really pay much attention.

Sarah 43:26
Absolutely, he's insane. So he's the first one that ever broke a bone, you know, like climbing the walls, doing all the things. And Ian's middle name is actually danger. And our family, before his diagnosis was like, I think you name the wrong one danger, because our youngest is just insane, but then he's kind of made up

Scott Benner 43:45
for that. Your type one's middle name is literally danger,

Sarah 43:48
literally because his dad thinks he's hilarious. Oh,

Scott Benner 43:51
I was gonna call this episode A Few Good Men, but now I'm gonna call it middle name danger. It's awesome. Danger is my middle name. Danger is my middle name, okay, all right, we'll do it like that. It's a little long that way. Danger is mine. You see, I don't like to get into the five word titles, but it'll name Yeah, I'll figure it out. Don't worry. Hey, your husband like he wasn't using, like, I mean, you're from the middle of the country, like he wasn't on meth when he came up with that, or anything like that,

Sarah 44:15
right? No, but the hospital did call to verify that his birth certificate worksheet was correct. I might have been on drugs, but I had a natural birth, so I was like, yeah, that absolutely wasn't the case. How

Scott Benner 44:27
absolutely fucking jazz was your husband when the hospital called to double check the name, he must have been so proud of himself,

Unknown Speaker 44:34
yeah, yeah.

Scott Benner 44:37
Is that the moment when you think like, I wish I was gay.

Unknown Speaker 44:42
Might be up there. I'm

Scott Benner 44:43
stuck with this boy. And what do you think is funny?

Unknown Speaker 44:47
Yeah, we

Scott Benner 44:48
were watching the Super Bowl, and Arden watched with us. She never watches football like ever. She doesn't understand it. She doesn't know the first thing about it. But she sat with Cole and I for the super. Ball. I don't know if people don't watch football, you don't know this, but if there's a fumble, you yell ball, you know. So everyone on the field knows the balls out and they'll catch it and pick it up, like, you know, like screaming during the game, like, you know, there's a fumble, like, ball, ball, get him, kill him, that kind of stuff. And she's like, mom, she's like, they're really excited. And then later we had this, like, very real conversation, where she goes, I don't understand how excited you are about this. Yeah? And I'm like, No, I know she goes. Is this, like, your Grammy Awards? And I'm like, what she goes? You know, when I watch what's the um, the gala at the the Met Gala, Arden watches that, like she finds a way to watch the red carpet and the whole like she watches the red carpet for the Met Gala. And she goes, this is like that for you, isn't I was like, I am not even comfortable with you making that, that comparison, to be perfectly honest. Like I was like, but I guess so she goes, You guys are so excited. And I was like, issues. I don't know why. Anyway, boys are hard to figure out sometimes. So we're girls.

Sarah 46:10
Yeah, Ian said a big football fan, but he was invited by Noah gray to go to, like, pre season practice or something. They had, like, a VIP event for type one, yes, yeah. So he went just out of well, wanting to see a girl that he had met a diabetes camp, unbeknownst to me, but so he was like, hey, they're having this thing at the Chiefs practice. You think I can go? And I was like, This is bizarre.

Scott Benner 46:39
And you're sure, then you Oh, he's just going to see a girl. Yeah for him, yeah, they're definitely going to make a baby with diabetes if, yeah,

Sarah 46:48
no, that that's ended. We're done with that.

Scott Benner 46:53
Listen, I didn't realize. I didn't do the math, actually, when you said you were from Missouri, and it doesn't sound like you're big football fans, so this probably won't mean anything to you, but I just want to let you know how apps you know how absolutely elated I was to annihilate the chiefs in the Super Bowl. It was very painful to watch no good I'm glad

Sarah 47:10
Ian was trying to sell his signed hat before the end of the game. He's like before this goes really terribly. Anyone want to buy my autograph Noah gray

Scott Benner 47:19
hat or Noah gray. Noah has type one diabetes. For people who don't know he's the I mean, I guess he's the number two tight end on the chiefs, but after what I saw this past weekend, he'll probably be the number one tight end on the Chiefs next year. Yeah. Nevertheless, also, you know what's funny? Joking aside, I spent 15 minutes last night watching Travis and Jason Kelsey talk to each other after the Super Bowl ended, and taking away all of the ridiculousness and the the football and the comp, the competition and the violence and like, and just watching two people who just, you know, this is what they do for a living, and they've been working at it since they were kids. And like to see them talking about it, it humanized it to the point where I was like, I can't watch this. It's gonna ruin football for me. I want to see them as characters in a play. I don't want to see them as people. Yeah, you know what I mean, and I guessing now, as I'm saying that that's probably how the person's able to come online and tell me that I'm doing it wrong, because I don't think they see me as a person who feels the way I feel, and they see me as a character in a play, and, God damn it, they're just the voice in

Unknown Speaker 48:26
the machine. You're not. I can't believe the

Scott Benner 48:28
conversation went this way, because now I have to apologize to that person. She doesn't think of me as a person. She thinks of me as the voice that makes the thing, yeah, because Travis Kelsey is not a person who's upset that he's old and didn't play well in the Super Bowl because he felt old. Oh my god, he could not move in a couple I felt bad for him. There was a goal line play where he was supposed to pop off and get open. I was like, He's not even moving. I'm like, like, he's Scotty slow. And to think about the drop off that must have from where he was, because, I mean, he's obviously one of the best people that's ever, like, done it performance wise, you know, and to see it fall apart so quickly, and then people start joking like it's Taylor Swift's fault. Like, you know what? I mean, that stuff's not cool. Like, I mean, it's not Taylor Swift's fault that he's older. Oh, God, all right, well, I'm sorry to the person who said that to me. I know I if we were in person and you were talking to me, you wouldn't say that stuff. And far, because I wouldn't say that, I wouldn't say that to Travis Kelsey, you know what I mean? Yeah, like, I felt bad for him. Sucked. He was terrible. There was one play where, uh, Kermit, the frog got away going to the right, and so, like, he's moving right, and Kelsey is supposed to come up and Chip somebody and then be open and kind of drift across the middle, and he just gives up on it, like you're watching the wide play, like Kelsey, I know there was a flag, and he probably thought, like, this is coming back one way or the other, but like, his amount of effort was nothing, and like, and the play is just going on and on and on. And he could have rolled towards the play and tried to help him, and he just. And I thought, wow, that's it. Made me talk with my son about the game, and I said, you know, like, you don't realize, like, how demoralizing it must be. Like, they showed up there and they were like, We're gonna win. Like, this is gonna happen. And then before you know it, it's later in the first quarter and and they're down by a lot is happening? Yeah, yeah. And they they can't complete a pass, they can't move the ball, they can't do anything, and the flags aren't helping them, which, you know, we can argue one way or the other about, but they've clearly been helped along the way in these last couple of years, here and there and like, so none of that stuff is happening, and then it's going bad again, and you're still human. Like, you know what I mean? Like, I just feel like, in his mind, he must have been like this. Just nothing's working, you know. And then, then that's what Cole and I ended up talking about like, because I related it back to other parts in life. Like, if you get up every day and do a thing and it just doesn't come together for you, and you're doing the right thing. I get how people quit or get burned out, you know. And so, and it made me think about diabetes. Then, like, in all of you, like, you get up, like, as I saw somebody say the other day, I've listened to the pro tips. I understand what you're saying. It just doesn't work out for me. And I know that if I was there, I could probably see the bit that, like, they're missing. I can't do that. I can't go live with the person for three days and figure it out, and they're not getting to it. And to me, like that message I got online is how, when I saw that message, I felt the same way I saw when I saw Kelsey throw his hands up in the air, like, like, this isn't gonna work. It's terrible. Like, you know that feeling is terrible in general. Anyway, I didn't mean to be thoughtful about football. I just want to watch them knock each other's heads off and run around and score. But it seems like they might be real people, so I guess we can't do that. Yeah. Anyway, tell me a little bit about what it was like to sit through that soup. No, I'm just kidding. Could you just live through the pain of it for me, of watching nothing now, I'm joking. What do you want people to know about diabetes? You've been it doesn't have to be hard. It really feels that way too. Yeah, yeah, that's awesome. And

Sarah 52:06
maybe that's because I'm not the one living with it. I don't know. Do you think your son thinks it's hard? No, no, he actually has aspirations to go into health care and do something with diabetes. So,

Scott Benner 52:18
oh, good. That's nice. But you don't think he doesn't struggle No, and he has never

Sarah 52:26
No, and that's what I'm just I think part of me is just kind of waiting for that to come. I hope it doesn't ever come. But, you know, the reality is that it's highly like they let he will experience burnout at some point. But I think so. I don't know. And the age of automation, maybe not. I

Scott Benner 52:45
don't know. Like, Arden's pretty automated, and I still think there are times where she's just like, like, there's only so much I'm willing to put into this. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, like that, not willing. Might even the wrong word. Like, just able. I think maybe is a better word. Like, from my, from my perspective, I just like, Forget diabetes. I think anything you have to do every day would get to you, right? You joked about marriage, like, three different times. I have to, like, it's hard. Like, and it's not hard because it's bad, or you don't love the person, or you're not motivated. It's hard because it's every it's every day. Yeah, you know, like, my wife's going away for for business, and my son's going away the same weekend with his girlfriend, and Arden's going away somewhere, like, for the night. And I was like, So you're telling me that Friday into Saturday, I'm by myself? And they were like, Yeah. And I thought, oh, it's gonna be awesome. I'm not that person, like, I love being around these people, like, and still, like, they were all just gonna be gone for a day. I was like, and I'm sure they're thinking the same thing about me. They're probably, oh, this guy just talks so much about everything. I can't wait to not talk about things like, because, I mean, look at me, my son's 24 four days after the Super Bowl. I'm talking about humanizing Travis and Jason Kelsey with him at 1130 at night last night, he's probably like, Dude, can we just laugh at this meme? Some guy sent a picture to Travis Kelsey that said, you should have stuck with the thick girls. And my son found that very funny and like, but it's not like, not on a personal level. Like, on a personal level, like you're saying, like, hey, the person you're with right now in dating and probably love like, that's a mistake. It made you bad at football, which none of that's true. But like, right? You know, you remove yourself from all the personal stuff. Anyway, I'm in there, like, trying to, like, talk about people's feelings and giving up and stuff like that. And he's probably just like, man, like, Let's just enjoy this. Yeah, yeah. So they're probably thrilled that they're leaving here. You know what I mean, yes. And how great would it be if you could just, like, because you hear people say it all the time, like, if you could just take this from me for a couple of days like this, the management of it and the thinking about it like, that's a message I get from adults a lot like, you know, it would be so cool if you could just come here for a couple of days and just just push the buttons. Yeah, don't let me have to think about it. So you're already thoughtful enough to know that as well as he's doing right now, your expectation is that he very well could trip and fall at some point. Right? Yeah. Do you have an idea of when you think it might happen?

Sarah 55:16
I don't know. He got accepted into a CNA program for his last two years of high school. So I'm wondering if, like, the mental load of the extra, you know, college level courses while he's in high school and maintaining all of that is going to be, you know, where it's a little bit more than life right now has been pretty easy scholastically. So I'm wondering if, when he gets into more mental load with school, if diabetes, mental load will take a back seat, or you know what that's going to look like, I

Scott Benner 55:46
have an expectation that I'm going to have a conversation with Arden about two or three years from now, where she's going to have some clarity about her stress level once she got the College and I'm wondering what she's going to say about it too. So I think you're, you're smart to think about it that way. Like, yeah, today it's not that big of a deal. But, like, the extent of his problems are, I might like this girl at the you know, and I Wait, I gotta find a way to get to Kansas City. Yeah, I got, listen, I really have to get to Kansas City, and I need pizza rolls when that's your life, then the diabetes doesn't seem so bad, but Right, if you're carrying a course load and you're you know there's expectations, and those expectations are both about your future and their financial and their everything else, and like, at what point does your capacity bubble to the top? And you have to let some steam out. How are you going to get the steam to be college or my dating life, or the other things he's worrying about, it's going to be so much easier to let go the diabetes stuff. Yeah, yeah. Sucks. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sarah's like, yes, it sucks. The whole thing sucks. Yeah. I keep thinking about making a short series, like, series of, like, five or 10 minute conversations, where just somebody comes on, introduces themselves, and then bitches about one topic, about diabetes, straight through, and then it stops. Yeah, it might be a never ending list of people who are interested in doing that. You know what I mean? Like just bitch just a bitch session for five seconds to let it out. But I don't know. Is there anything we haven't talked about that we should have? I don't think so that's it. I

Sarah 57:22
didn't send anything on my list. I just thought it'd be nice to chat. So we've covered everything I included,

Scott Benner 57:27
yeah, oh, that's awesome, because your thing, you've maybe the the least descriptive, like, let me It says, what are some of the themes you hope to cover in your episode? And you said, who knows? Right? Teen years and the balance of control and independence, that's what you said. So yeah, and it's tough, because you talk about it, it makes you feel like, oh, I need to give somebody an answer. And even the people listening might be like, Oh, Sarah's gonna have the answer to this. But I think the answer to it is to just be ready for it, right? And then try to be mindful of who you are in the scenario, who they are, what the implications are, and how you can release pressure from people in certain ways. Like, you know, like, your your son's already showing you, like, here's some things, Mom, you do that I don't like, right? Like, don't do them. And then you realize that. And did you have any success stopping? Yeah,

Sarah 58:19
I feel like now I'm I'll be quiet until we hit the two hour mark of staring at a 150 and then you're gonna get up and you're gonna drink some water and you're gonna do some things, but I'll leave you alone until then. So

Scott Benner 58:34
I think that's reasonable. Is you see a person in the in the group recently say, hey, my kids, just like ignoring all my texts and like, they don't know what to do. It's funny because my initial thought was kind of what you thought, and what we've been talking about here is, like, you can't be too overbearing. That's not going to be okay. You just quit texting them. But if it's really an emergency situation, you absolutely have to hear from them. Like I said, like, I'd send to find my iPhone. They're very hard to ignore, right? Yeah, but at the same time, like, that's not a thing you do every day, like that's a thing, like, if there's a real, genuine emergency, not if the blood sugar's 160 for a couple of hours and they're not doing anything about it, you've got to balance management, long term health against psychological impacts and your personal relationship, you know, like there's a lot here to balance, really, my god, yeah, there is. I want to finish with. I just want you to go back over something with me. You said sitting in the room talking to Erica was emotional, and I'm wondering if you can put words to the why it's

Sarah 59:39
hard to describe to anyone who hasn't experienced diabetes, how life changing it truly is. And all those people understood that in that moment, I guess, feeling understood and related to

Scott Benner 59:53
Yeah, yeah, just that idea that I don't have to explain this to anybody in this room, right? They know how. I feel, yeah, and then that, that kind of feeling of, what does it feel? Supported?

Sarah 1:00:05
Supported? Yes, I would say understood. Is a big one. Have

Scott Benner 1:00:10
you ever seen the movie, Rudy? I know you said you don't watch movies you've seen Rudy, okay, right? Awesome. At the end, when they let Rudy play, it makes me very happy. Like, right? Like, but I'm not happy for Rudy, like, like, there's something about the adulation of a group of people, or the support of a group of people, or what you're talking about, like, the understanding of what this means to Rudy to go into the game. I can't believe there's so much football on this episode. Yeah, there's something about that that makes that feeling very powerful. Yeah, I would take an entire college course to understand that feeling, because it is so incredibly impactful when you have that around you. And the problem is, if you've never been through something like this before, or you're maybe a bit of an isolationist to begin with, when someone tells you how important community is you could be like, Oh, that's stupid. It freed you up by imagining, I imagine being in that room for that hour changed you somehow, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, well, I'm super happy that you were there and we met while you were there. Is that, right? Yes, yeah, that's awesome. I have such a good time at their thing. Yeah, they do a really great job. And you

Sarah 1:01:22
traveled to get there. Yeah, we flew for Missouri.

Scott Benner 1:01:26
I remember, I believe I remember you telling me that, and I wanted to go to Sea World out the deal. So, yeah, just an overwhelming thing to have somebody tell you they flew somewhere to see you. You know what I mean? Like, I once had somebody tell me they drove 15 hours to go to a thing I was speaking at, I was like, I don't think I drive from you NO and NO, and I appreciate that, because I when they said it, I was like, why? Like, I was like, my god,

Sarah 1:01:47
so much effort. They must have been scared of planes. I would have

Scott Benner 1:01:51
called you on the phone, like, if you needed to talk to me that badly. All right. Well, I really appreciate you doing this. Can you hold on for a second? Yeah. Thanks.

The conversation you just heard was sponsored by touched by type one. Check them out please. At touched by type one.org, on Instagram and Facebook, you're gonna love them. I love them. They're helping so many people. At touched by type one.org. 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 or the Medtronic extended infusion set. It all comes together to simplify life with diabetes. Go find out more at my link, Medtronic diabetes.com/juice box. I'd like to thank the ever since 365 for sponsoring this episode of The Juicebox Podcast, and remind you that if you want the only sensor that gets inserted once a year and not every 14 days you want the ever since CGM, ever since cgm.com/juice, box. One year, one CGM. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of The Juicebox Podcast. If you're not already subscribed or following the podcast in your favorite audio app, like Spotify or Apple podcasts. Please do that now. Seriously, just to hit follow or subscribe will really help the show. If you go a little further in Apple podcast and set it up so that it downloads all new episodes, I'll be your best friend, and if you leave a five star review, ooh, I'll probably send you a Christmas card. Would you like a Christmas card if your loved one is newly diagnosed with type one diabetes and you're seeking a clear, practical perspective, check out the bold beginning series on the Juicebox Podcast. It's hosted by myself and Jenny Smith, an experienced diabetes educator with over 35 years of personal insight into type one our series cuts through the medical jargon and delivers straightforward answers to your most pressing questions. You'll gain insight from real patients and caregivers and find practical advice to help you confidently navigate life with type one. You can start your journey informed and empowered with the Juicebox Podcast, the bold beginning series and all of the collections in the Juicebox Podcast are available in your audio app and at Juicebox podcast.com in the menu, the episode you just heard was professionally edited by wrong way recording, wrong way recording.com you.

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#1515 Shay and the Motorcycle

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.

Shay, 27, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at 8 and now juggles multiple autoimmune conditions—Addison’s, endometriosis, Raynaud’s, and more. When she’s not managing her health, she’s riding motorcycles.

+ Click for EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

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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
Friends, we're all back together for the next episode of The Juicebox Podcast. Welcome.

Shay 0:13
My name is Shay, and I was diagnosed with type one diabetes in 2006 so I would have been eight years old. Nothing

Scott Benner 0:22
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. 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 the podcast contains so many different series and collections of information that it can be difficult to find them in your traditional podcast app. Sometimes. That's why they're also collected at Juicebox podcast.com go up to the top, there's a menu right there. Click on series defining diabetes. Bold beginnings, the Pro Tip series, small sips, Omnipod, five ask Scott and Jenny, mental wellness, fat and protein, defining thyroid, after dark, diabetes, variables, Grand Rounds, cold, wind, pregnancy, type two, diabetes, GLP, meds, the math behind diabetes, diabetes myths and so much more, you have to go check it out. It's all there and waiting for you, and it's absolutely free. Juicebox podcast.com Today's episode is sponsored by the tandem Moby system with control iq plus technology. If you are looking for the only system with auto Bolus, multiple wear options and full control from your personal iPhone, you're looking for tandems, newest pump and algorithm. Use my link to support the podcast, tandem diabetes.com/juice, box. Check it out. I'm having an on body vibe alert. This episode of the juice box podcast is sponsored by ever since 365 the only one year where CGM that's one insertion and one CGM a year, one CGM one year, not every 10 or 14 days ever since cgm.com/juicebox

Shay 2:32
My name is Shay. I'm actually turning 27 tomorrow.

Scott Benner 2:36
Happy birthday. Thank you. And

Shay 2:38
I was diagnosed with type one diabetes in 2006 so I would have been eight years old. Eight years old. You're going

Scott Benner 2:46
to be 20, just about 20 years Yep, wow. One of my daughter's good friends when they were youngest named Shay. So it's gonna, oh, that's cool, yeah, not spayed, not spelled the same way. Hers is spelled after the stadium. Oh, okay, yeah, it's a different name, though, isn't it yours?

Shay 3:01
Yeah, it is. I don't see it that often. I was gonna say I don't either.

Scott Benner 3:05
It took me by surprise when it popped up in front of me. So diagnosed as a child, you're in your late, you know, mid to late 20s. Now, I'm sure you don't think of it as your late 20s, no. But what's it been like having type one?

Shay 3:18
Well, it was a lot different back then, before technology got so good. So I'd say for the first 510, years was pretty rough for me. I was doing probably 20 injections or more a day, and just really struggling to keep it kind of even it was, I'm always like, up and down back then, and this was when Dexcom, I think they were on, like the g4 when I started, or g3

Scott Benner 3:55
Did you have a Dexcom from The beginning? No, no, I did.

Shay 3:59
Finger prick for years, and then when they couldn't get me under control, then they were like, Okay, your blood sugars and your a 1c is bad enough. Your insurance will cover a pump and a Dexcom. And I was really scared. I mean, I I forget how old I was, but I think I was maybe 12 or 13, and I was just like, I don't want something attached to me all the time.

Scott Benner 4:26
I was gonna say, tell me what was scary about it. It was hard for me

Shay 4:30
to be okay with being like, different than kids around me. Yeah. So I would always hide the fact that I was diabetic. So it just terrified me that people would be able to see that. I guess something was different about me, just based off of stuff, like hanging on me and that mixed with, like, the technology just kind of overwhelmed me.

Scott Benner 4:53
Were you managing mostly on your own? Yeah,

Shay 4:57
that's the thing. My parents were. Very involved with my care. And it was kind of like they taught us food groups and stuff like that. And then they were, my parents were like, Okay, you can figure this out. So,

Scott Benner 5:11
Shay, let me ask you, like, were you figuring it out? Like, did you have, like, awesome, a one, CS, No, you were up and down all the time, right? No,

Shay 5:19
yeah, it was horrible. I didn't know what I was doing. I the only thing I remember from that class, when I was eight, when they found out, was that they used fake fruit. I don't remember any information like, I just remember visuals of the fake fruit and being like, scared and nervous and not knowing what was going on. Oh, literally, like someone

Scott Benner 5:39
held a fake banana up in front of you. It's like, if you're bolusing for a banana, it might be this many carbs, and that's your recollection exactly how it went. Did your parents know that? I'm so sorry to ask like this, but were they like, did they just abandon you on this? Or did they not know you were struggling?

Shay 5:55
Yeah, they kind of just didn't want to deal with it.

Scott Benner 5:59
Were you super excited to deal with it. No,

Shay 6:01
I was just confused and yeah, lost, but yeah, even to this day, they they don't know the difference between, like a Dexcom and an Omnipod. So I'm so sorry

Scott Benner 6:13
to go down this road, but I want to understand, do you have other other siblings? Yeah,

Shay 6:16
I have a brother that's 11 months older, but he has no health problems at all. Are they involved in his stuff? Yeah, he I guess so they kind of resented me for having health problems and kind of blamed me for being so expensive, I guess. Really, yeah, so I just didn't have a good childhood in general. So I really was, like, completely alone through the diabetes and the diagnosis at eight years

Scott Benner 6:44
old. What's your relationship with your parents like now?

Shay 6:47
I always see them every once in a while, so I don't see them too often, but getting married soon and gradually, my mom went with me to try on wedding dresses, and she asked me if I was going to hide my Dexcom and my pump because it looked bad with

Scott Benner 7:06
the dress right back in the game. Mom was, huh,

Shay 7:09
yeah, yeah. So I'm like, Yeah, that's typical. Listen, I

Scott Benner 7:13
feel bad saying this, but are your parents generally heads, or is it just about this?

Shay 7:17
They just weren't good parents to begin with. I think, yeah, how come? Do you believe? I don't think they were ready to have kids, and they planned my brother, but obviously, 11 months later, they didn't plan me.

Scott Benner 7:32
You were the hey, you know, we haven't had sex in a while, baby. Yeah, I was the oops. Well, that's first of all, listen, you don't need me to, you know, say I'm sorry, but that sucks. I I'm sorry. It's a perspective that I think a lot of people have and don't share very often, so it's very nice of you to spend time talking about it so you don't dislike your parents or anything like that. You're just not particularly close with them. Yeah,

Shay 7:53
I mean, I was upset with them for a while, but it's just kind of the way it is. So there's no point in getting upset when I know they're going to be like that about my health. Yeah,

Scott Benner 8:04
somebody once told me that you can't ask more of people than they have to give. Yeah, that's pretty much it. You're not harboring any resentment, but you do believe that if it wasn't for diabetes, do you think you'd have a different relationship with them, or do you think they would just have found another thing to be upset about and because they weren't really looking to be parents? Yeah,

Shay 8:25
I think it would have been negative no matter what, but it did. It put such a damper on, like, taking care of myself, because I was constantly worried about what people were gonna say or think about me, because my parents weren't great with it, so I never, like, truly embraced it and wanted to hide it as much as I could, because

Scott Benner 8:46
if people realize you have diabetes, somehow the conversation leads to the fact that you're alone in all this, and then you have to tell people you don't have parents that seem to give a about you. Yeah, pretty much. How old were you when you thought about it that way? Like, gosh, they don't care enough about me to, like, help me with this. I

Shay 9:03
kind of caught on even at eight years old, because I had to give myself my own injections. And it's crazy. I look at eight year olds now and I'm like, that was me, but giving myself injections and keeping myself alive and not knowing what I was doing, yeah,

Scott Benner 9:20
there's a balance, obviously, between letting kids fumble around and grow, and I'm for that, you know, but not on this thing. Like, this is a weird place to like, you know, there's stuff like, my kids will come to me and they'll be like, What do you think of this? I'm like, you'll figure it out, don't worry. And you want them to, like, live through it and figure it out. But not when you're eight, right? Not to me, at least I it's just not how I think about it, I guess.

Shay 9:44
Yeah, and there's nobody in my family that's type one at all, so I don't know anybody. Yeah,

Scott Benner 9:50
you wouldn't have anybody to ask, right? Jeez. So, okay, so we're back to being 12 or 13. Things are bad enough that they're like, You got to use this game. Year you're like, oh God, if somebody's gonna see it, I see where that comes from. Because, you know, 15 years later, your mom's like, oh gosh, you're not gonna let anybody see this. Are you, yeah, but you get the stuff anyway. Does it end up helping? Why would you settle for changing your CGM every few weeks when you can have 365 days of reliable glucose data? Today's episode is sponsored by the ever since 365 it is the only CGM with a tiny sensor that lasts a full year sitting comfortably under your skin with no more frequent sensor changes and essentially no compression lows. For one year, you'll get your CGM data in real time on your phone, smart watch, Android or iOS, even an Apple Watch, predictive high and low alerts let you know where your glucose is headed before it gets there. So there's no surprises, just confidence, and you can instantly share that data with your healthcare provider or your family. You're going to get one year of reliable data without all those sensor changes, that's the ever sense. 365 gentle on your skin, strong for your life. One sensor a year, that gives you one less thing to worry about. Head now to ever sense, cgm.com/juicebox, to get started. Let's talk about the tandem Moby insulin pump from today's sponsor, tandem diabetes care, their newest algorithm control iq plus technology and the new tandem Moby pump offer you unique opportunities to have better control. It's the only system with auto Bolus that helps with missed meals and preventing hyperglycemia, the only system with a dedicated sleep setting, and the only system with off or on body wear options. Tandem Moby gives you more discretion, freedom and options for how to manage your diabetes. This is their best algorithm ever, and they'd like you to check it out at tandem diabetes.com/juicebox when you get to my link, you're going to see integrations with Dexcom sensors and a ton of other information that's going to help you learn about tandems, tiny pump that's big on control tandem diabetes.com/juicebox, the tandem Moby system is available for people ages two and up who want an automated delivery system to help them sleep better, wake up In range and address high blood sugars with auto Bolus.

Shay 12:23
Yeah, it completely, like changed my life, pretty much. At first it was, it wasn't like an automatic fix, but it took a while to learn, like the settings and because they didn't have closed loop back then, so we had to really be strict with the settings and everything, which my parents would take me to the endocrinologist, but they wouldn't like, they would wait outside. They wouldn't wait, wait,

Scott Benner 12:49
get the out of here, really, yeah,

Unknown Speaker 12:52
like, they pretty much just dropped me off. You're 12

Scott Benner 12:55
years old, and your parents would like, dump you out on the curb and then go get cigarettes and come back for you an hour later. Just

Shay 13:02
wait in the car. Yeah? Oh, my God, that's terrible.

Scott Benner 13:05
Yeah. I was in the car the other day with my son, and we were leaving a mall situation, and there was this old man, like, parked, like, in the fire lane by the mall, you know, just sitting there smoking a cigarette, waiting clearly, for his wife, who he, like, wouldn't have gone into a mall for for anything, you know? Yeah, I said, Gosh, when I was young, I pointed to him, and I said, when I was young, guys did this all the time, like, they'd sit outside of grocery stores, they'd sit outside of like, malls, or, like, I'm not going in there, and they just sit in their car. And my son was like, really? And I was like, hey, because I hate going to the mall, but he's like, but, you know, I go in when my my girlfriend goes, and I was like, right, right? But this old man was just, like, such a, like, a throwback to another time, like, just like that. Like, you go do it, and I'll wait here. You go do woman things, and I'll sit in the car. But they did that to you when you were a kid. Yeah, that's enough shape at the time. Did you know, like, did 12 year old Shay walk in there going, like, man, I've got crappy parents. Or are you just, like, I'm brave. I can do this on my own. Like, how does it feel to you? I

Shay 14:10
thought it was normal then, like, I really didn't see anything wrong with it until I was, like, closer to friends and talking to them and seeing how their parents were, yeah, I was like, wow, mine are not involved in anything I do at all.

Scott Benner 14:26
Did the doctor ever say to you, where are your parents? Yeah, I would just be like, Oh, they're waiting

Shay 14:30
outside and they don't want to talk.

Scott Benner 14:33
Shay, you realize now, like, if you do even the tiniest good thing as a parent, one day you're going to be like, I'm so good at this. Yeah, right. Try not to tell your kids that kind of stuff. Don't. Don't do the um, like, you're lucky. I'm doing this. My mom wouldn't even go into the doctor's appointment with me because I found myself telling my kids at times. I'm like, Oh, my God, you have no idea. The 70s, somebody would have kicked your ass for that, but that's for but you're younger, though. How old are your parents now? They're

Shay 15:00
in their 50s, really? Yeah, wow.

Scott Benner 15:03
All right, listen my last question about your parents, then we move on, unless they come up again, drinkers, drugs, anything like that.

Shay 15:10
Yeah? My dad, heavy drinker. My mom, she has, like, mental health problems. So, like, what she is, bipolar, I think type one. So she has all these medications she takes, and sometimes she gets, like, manic and stuff like that.

Scott Benner 15:27
I say they were challenged too. Then, yeah, yeah. How about you? Do you have anything else besides the type one? Oh, yeah, I have a list. Go ahead. What is it? So

Shay 15:35
I have endometriosis, which I got surgery for two months ago, and they found out it's stage four. So it was really extensive, Hashimotos, Raynaud's disease and Addison's disease. Holy Hell

Scott Benner 15:50
yeah. How does the endometriosis present? So

Shay 15:55
I had been in like, debilitating pain for like, years, and no doctor would listen to me. They just wanted to give me birth control, or, you know, tell me just eat better, or don't eat this. And nothing helped. I was in pain so much I just couldn't deal with it anymore. So I finally got someone to listen to me and said they would go in, and while they're looking, they would remove anything they needed to. So that turned up as a three hour surgery, which was supposed to be 45 minutes long. Yeah, so when they got in there, they saw it was a lot worse than they expected, and ended up getting it all out. So I've been doing really good, a lot better so far explain

Scott Benner 16:41
endometriosis to people. What were they in there looking for? So

Shay 16:45
it's like, your uterine tissue, like grows on the outside and grows on other organs, and then it causes really bad pain and other issues, because it's like growing on the nerves and I had organs attached to each other because of this, so they had to go in and cut them free.

Scott Benner 17:07
Will this happen again? They

Shay 17:09
said there's a 60% chance of it coming back within five years. But I'm pretty hopeful, because I'm really healthy and I do a lot of healthy eating and exercise, so I'm hoping that'll help. But I know that doesn't always keep it

Scott Benner 17:26
away, and if it doesn't, then the idea is they go back in and hack away again.

Shay 17:31
Yeah, pretty much do it all over again. Jesus, that

Scott Benner 17:35
sucks. Is this gonna impact you having kids? Yeah,

Shay 17:38
they said I have some like, blockage of my, like, fallopian tubes and stuff like that, so they're not sure, but I'm not that interested in having kids anyway. Oh, why not? It's just not for me. I

Scott Benner 17:54
met you know I was making fun of your parents. Is there any other like bipolar in your family is your mom the only one? Yeah,

Shay 18:03
just my mom, my dad's family. We don't know them because he's adopted. So,

Scott Benner 18:10
jeez. Well, what a show, yeah? What made you want to come on the podcast? Maybe

Shay 18:16
there's other people with just as much as a show, has me that would want to hear

Scott Benner 18:22
it. There definitely is, Shay, don't worry. Yeah, you came to the right place. Yeah? There's plenty of people out there right now going, I have all that stuff. Yeah, Hashimotos, you manage just with like Synthroid that i

Shay 18:37
They've told me for probably the whole 20 years now that I have Hashimotos, but I still don't need

Scott Benner 18:44
medication for it. What is your TSH, when they test it,

Shay 18:47
that's a good question. They do test it probably once every six months for me, and it's fine every time. So they just tell you, it's in range. Yeah, it's sometimes it's borderline, but they still say, I don't need the medication yet. Do

Scott Benner 19:01
you have any symptoms of it? Are you tired? Does your hair fall out? Are you cold? Like anything like that?

Shay 19:08
I'm constantly tired, but I feel like that's because I have so many different auto immune issues, and then I am always cold, but I have anemia, so I it's, it's like, I'm not sure what is causing this symptom today, kind of thing. We're gonna

Scott Benner 19:24
get you all straightened out today. Okay. Do you have access to your labs? Yeah, I do you get them all right. Cool. We'll keep talking. So what about the anemia? Did they ever give you? Did they ever do a full iron panel? Do you know what your pattern level is? So all

Shay 19:39
they told me was that it was low, and this was at my endocrinologist, and they weren't sure like what to tell me for milligrams of iron to take every day and that I needed to go to my primary care physician for that awesome. So I just thought that was so ridiculous.

Scott Benner 19:58
What a great help they are. Yeah. We'll figure it all out together. Don't worry. So your ferritin is low, your eye your iron panels came back abnormal. They didn't give you anything for it. Told you to go to talk to a different doctor about taking an iron tablet, which you're not going to do. Do you have heavy bleeding around your menstruation? Yeah,

Shay 20:12
like so much that I would faint and stuff like that, which it's been better since the surgery. But, yeah,

Scott Benner 20:20
okay. How about your digestion? Does the food go in and come out the way you want it to? Or do

Shay 20:24
you have I have horrible digestion problems, and they can't figure it out. It's been pretty much like six months. We've been trying to figure out what's going on with my stomach. And I don't eat much at all because everything hurts. Food

Scott Benner 20:40
goes in. You have pain in your stomach. You don't eliminate every day that kind of stuff.

Shay 20:45
Yeah, it's more like constant diarrhea no matter what I eat. Awesome. Okay, yeah, yep,

Scott Benner 20:53
I'm not laughing at you. It's just horrible. So I'm gonna guess that the diarrhea is about the thyroid that nobody's helping you with. Probably tell me when you have your when you have your labs in front of you.

Shay 21:06
Oh, okay, one second. Yeah, I also the Addison's disease, which is pretty rare for humans to get. I mean, dogs get it all the time, but humans don't get Addison's disease much, so that took forever for them to figure out what it was, and no one believed me. I was down to, I'm five seven, so I'm pretty tall for a girl, but I was down to, like, 95 pounds. Oh, wow,

Scott Benner 21:33
my daughter is five seven, so sick. Yeah, you know how thin she'd be if she was 95 pounds. We've had people on that have Addison's. There's a great person in the group that has it. So there's people that we could kind of hook you up with too to try to find, yeah, that'd be cool. But dig out your labs and I'm gonna find I have them. Okay, your last TSH was,

Unknown Speaker 21:57
what? 2.65

Scott Benner 22:01
okay? And your ferritin under the iron panel, 37.4

Unknown Speaker 22:09
Ng, slash, ml, yeah, yeah,

Scott Benner 22:11
okay. How would you like to feel insanely better in a month? That would be eight. Awesome. Here's how we're going to do it. Your TSH is too high, your ferritin is too low. Now you have insurance, awesome. You want thyroid replacement hormone. You want to tell your doctor that you want to medicate. Your TSH to under two you have thyroid symptoms. And I don't care if the test tells me I'm in range, I know that if I can medicate my TSH under two that a lot of my thyroid symptoms will go away. And then list all of your thyroid symptoms for them. Okay, okay, then you have to make an appointment with your general practitioner and tell them that you have significant low iron symptoms, for instance, general fatigue and weakness, definitely, persistent tiredness, definitely you have muscle weakness. Yes, you feel sluggish or drained. Yep, you experience brain fog, dizziness, lightheadedness, mood swings, irritability or increased anxiety or depression, all of those. Okay. Do you have shortness of breath when you mildly exert yourself? Yes, a rapid heartbeat, cold hands and feet. Yep. Is your skin pale sometimes? Yeah. Are your nails brittle? Yes? Have you experienced hair thinning? No. Do you bruise easily? Yes. Do you chew ice? Yeah, actually, uh huh, frequent infection, slow healing, restless legs, especially at night.

Shay 23:49
Oh my gosh, yes, the restless legs. For sure, you have

Scott Benner 23:52
low ferritin. So I want you to tell your doctor that you want your ferritin level to be at least 70, but you'd prefer it to be higher, and you would like to get iron infusions. Okay, you're gonna have to go to a hematologist, and the hematologist is going to be where you get the infusions, depending on what your insurance will cover, you'll either get like, two infusions, one a week apart, or you'll get five, depending on the medication, like a week apart, you'll then have the iron in your system that your system needs, and the next time your blood cells regenerate. So what's happening is your blood cells are being regenerated, but you don't have enough iron to build them properly, and that's why you're having the problems you're having. So then your red blood cells will get regenerated properly, and all of that will just go away. Interesting. It's incredibly possible that you might not need the thyroid medication, that getting your iron up, your ferritin level up, might take care of the things that look like thyroid symptoms. But having said that, also know that bad iron also impacts your thyroid. Numbers. Low ferritin can impact thyroid function, particularly TSH thyroid stimulating hormone levels, but the duration of the effect depends, so that's why it's bouncing around on you. So low thyroid can lead to a higher TSH level. Oh, okay, that may be why your TSH is bouncing around. So I'm gonna say, based on everything you've said so far, and the fact that I am not a doctor, I barely got out of high school, and I only have a podcast. I am going to say to you that if you get your ferritin raised through an iron infusion, that it's possible that the next time they check your TSH, it will look better.

Shay 25:34
Okay, yeah, I know a lot of Addison's people need to get infusions too. So that makes total sense, yeah, except

Scott Benner 25:43
nobody's helping you with it, which is, of course, being an enemy. Yeah? Would this impact

Unknown Speaker 25:52
bow habits, low

Scott Benner 25:54
far Can, can absolutely impact bowel habits, including causing loose stools or increased bowel movements. Yeah, you are literally a few infusions away from all this going away. That's

Shay 26:04
crazy. I feel like my endocrinologist just doesn't want to listen at all.

Scott Benner 26:09
Yeah, skip them, go right through a hematologist, okay, yeah, that's a good idea also, because when you have low ferritin, you're going to get poor nutritional absorption, right?

Shay 26:20
Yeah, I am very vitamin deficient and like, vitamin D, um, think it was vitamin

Scott Benner 26:27
E. Your food's not being absorbed correctly, makes sense. Yeah, they're gonna say, Well, why don't we try taking an iron supplement? And you go, like this, uh, no, okay, because that'll take too long, my numbers are too low, and I'm not waiting a year to maybe raise my ferritin level 20 points, yeah, I want to get jacked back up again, like, yeah, and then you got to get it checked again, because the sadness here is Shay. If you don't figure out why this is happening, your iron levels are going to drop back down again. Now, if they were because of heavy, excessive periods, are you still getting excessive periods? No, not like that anymore. So it's possible you get jacked up one time. Your body starts absorbing your nutrients better and the minerals that you need, you're not bleeding as heavy, and all this clears up. And then you, one day, decide to buy a puppy, and you name it, Scott, because you're so thrilled with how much I've helped.

Unknown Speaker 27:22
Yeah, sounds like a plan. All right, let's do it,

Scott Benner 27:25
and don't take no for an answer. You're young, so let me tell you that. Just don't let them tell you no. Yeah, okay. You know what to tell them. You know how to how to make this happen. Yeah?

Shay 27:35
I mean, I'm gonna write all my symptoms down and tell them I have been taking iron pills, but I feel like they don't do anything. Really haven't been

Scott Benner 27:44
Oh, yeah. Oh, if you've been taking them to say, look, I've been taking these, they don't do Yeah, I need the juice. Give me the juice. That's what you say. Give me juice. I'm telling you. Like, if you have great insurance, it might cover something called injector, which you'll probably just need to get twice. If your insurance is a bunch of cheapskates, I think they're gonna give you something called Benner for maybe I forget the names. Exactly one of them, you have to take more frequently to get the same thing. But the good news is, is that there are infusion centers everywhere, and so, like, it's not really hard to, like, you just go into infusion center. They pop into your vein real quick. It takes 30 minutes to put the stuff in, and you're on your way.

Shay 28:18
Yeah, that's not bad at all, no, especially if I can feel better, it's not

Scott Benner 28:22
gonna be like eating a cheeseburger and afterwards you're like, that was satisfying. Like, you know, you're not gonna feel any different that day. But I'm telling you, like, once your red blood cells cycle one time with the proper amount of iron in your system, you're gonna be like, Oh my god, I can't believe how much better I feel. Yeah, well, now I'm excited. Yeah, good, excellent. Well, yeah, listen, I've now done more for you than your parents. Yeah, right. All right, tell me more about this. Addison, so how long have you had this diagnosis?

Shay 28:50
I got diagnosed in 2020, in January. Okay, so it's been five years. Um, like I said, I was really sick for a long time. No one could figure it out. I mean, I couldn't even stretch in the morning without collapsing and just being so out of breath from just from stretching, and I couldn't keep anything down. I would throw up every morning after waking up. And I brought these concerns to my endocrinologist, and they said, Oh, maybe you're pregnant. I said, I'm definitely not pregnant, but all they did was get me a pregnancy test and say, Well, you're not pregnant, so we're not sure. Everything else looks fine.

Scott Benner 29:35
Everybody sucks, especially in your life, Shay, yeah, but everybody, everybody just sucks. Can you give me, generally speaking, where you live in the country, Central

Shay 29:43
Pennsylvania. Oh, I know the area,

Scott Benner 29:47
yeah, all right, I'm not totally surprised. Okay, you're so close to good health care too. I know, right, yeah. Could just go a little towards Pittsburgh, a little towards Philly, you'd be okay, but you're stuck right in the middle. There.

Shay 29:59
You. Yeah, yes, Pittsburgh and Philly, they're over three hours away from me. Yeah, you're literally

Scott Benner 30:05
right in the middle. Yeah, gotcha. There's got to be somebody who can help you. And I think you just have to take it upon Listen, I know that after stuff like this happens over and over again, it gets defeating and frustrating, and you think, like, oh, somebody says no, and you just kind of give up. But trust me, if you get this iron infusion, it's going to rectify a lot of different problems for

Shay 30:26
you. Yeah, I've been just going, Okay, I guess whenever they say, we can't figure anything out, because I've I feel like hopeless, like, what else am I going to say to them to get them to believe me and look into it more? You

Scott Benner 30:40
don't need them to believe you. You need the iron like, yeah, in the form of an infusion, and you're gonna be so much better. I mean, honestly, like, we can sit here and be angry. It is very frustrating to me that somebody doesn't see a ferritin of 37 and all of your symptoms and go, oh gosh, you need an iron infusion. Like, I can't believe somebody didn't say that. But I guess we can't count on, I don't know. Maybe we can't count on people to do their jobs all the time, or to know what their jobs are. But they the Addison's is crazy. What do they do for that? So

Shay 31:10
I take hydro cortisone, so steroids and pill form every day. Take them morning, afternoon and night, and then, of course, I have to take more if I'm, like, under a lot of stress or doing a lot of exercise and stuff like that, because my body doesn't produce cortisol itself, so I'm basically giving it cortisol when it needs it, and just guessing when I need it. That's

Scott Benner 31:38
a, I would say, a crap shoot, too, right? Even understanding it's

Shay 31:42
really it was really hard to figure out at first, especially like when I turned 21 and drinking, I really struggled, and ended up in the hospital like two or three times because I just didn't know how to co exist and still go out and have fun with all my health problems, because with Addison's disease, you need a lot of sodium, and I constantly have low sodium. So if I'm not keeping up with, like, sodium and water intake, and it's like, all a balance game, then I get really sick fast, and then it goes downhill from there. Yeah, I'm

Scott Benner 32:18
sorry. I know it's not an easy thing, obviously, auto immune. So you have, we don't even know about the rest of it, like we can't even talk about your digestion until you maybe get the iron address.

Shay 32:32
Yeah, they had thought it might be celiac disease, but it's not. I don't know. It came back negative, but at that point, I hadn't had any gluten for months, so that could have impacted the test too.

Scott Benner 32:45
Yeah, do you think that's a consideration? I

Shay 32:48
guess it's common, but I feel better not eating gluten, but that could be in general, because you're eating less diabetes anyway, or celiac disease. I'd be

Scott Benner 33:00
so super interested just to see what the iron does for you again. Because also, like, I mean, there's obviously overlapping stuff with Addison's low iron and thyroid, like the fatigue, your low weight, that could be a couple of different things, even the like, any irritability, muscle weakness, depression, that kind of stuff could overlap through all those things, which is what makes some of these autoimmune issues so terrible, like, they all look like each other. So, yeah,

Shay 33:27
exactly. It's so hard to tell what is giving me which symptom,

Scott Benner 33:32
yeah, but I would say that the iron is a good first step, because it's outside of these other two issues, outside of Addison's or possibly Hashimotos, like, right? And you can address it, and you will know, like I said, You'll know in four to six weeks if it was helpful. Yeah,

Shay 33:49
yeah, I'm definitely like, getting on this today. Good,

Scott Benner 33:53
good. I'm glad. What else should we talk about? What else you got on your list over

Shay 33:56
there? Well, I have kind of a horror story, awesome of the hospital a couple months ago. So Shay,

Scott Benner 34:04
you're the podcast guest that keeps on giving. Go ahead. What happened?

Shay 34:09
So this was for my endometriosis surgery. This was my first surgery ever. I've never been like, put under for surgery before, and when you're put under you need extra steroids for the Addison's disease. Well, they gave me extra during the surgery, and then when I woke up, the team called My endocrinologist and asked if they should give me more. And they said, No, I was unaware of this, obviously, because I just got surgery and was so out of it. Well, they sent me home the same day, and I got home, took a nap, woke up, had to go pee, went pee, and immediately just passed out on the bathroom floor because I was in so much pain and was just drenched in sweat. I had no idea what my. Blood sugars were luckily, my fiance is really good with blood sugars, and was looking at them for me, but it hurt so bad. I just I couldn't stand up. I was on the floor and couldn't keep anything down, not even water. So I had to be taken back by ambulance, which they told us to go to the ER, well, they made us wait four to five hours, so I couldn't keep my medication down. At this point, my blood sugar was running extremely low because I could. I hadn't had food in so long, and I couldn't. Since I couldn't keep things down, I had no pain pills in my system and this, and I'm fresh out of surgery, right? So this was like the worst pain I've ever felt, and they made us wait so long I was passing out on the hospital floor, and we made like a little bed in a really wide window, so for me to try to get some sleep, and it was horrible, but I feel like if they just would have given me more medication, then I wouldn't have had to go back and be in that situation. You think it was an adrenal crisis that you're at? Yeah, it definitely sent me into crisis, for sure. So I felt kind of like, if my endocrinologist can't tell them the the proper thing to do. Like, I really am alone in this.

Scott Benner 36:23
Yeah, no kidding, I guess, talk about that for a second. Like you have a number of different competing issues. The loneliness. Is it a thing you can over match, or is it too much to get over?

Shay 36:35
Yeah, it's really tough. Like, I've just been starting to go to therapy recently, which she's the one that told me about the Juicebox Podcast. So your therapist did, yeah, she did, yep, awesome. And yeah, it's really difficult, because having all these health problems like so young, everyone looks at me and assumes I'm healthy, or if I don't feel well, they think I'm exaggerating, because I look perfectly fine, but it's really hard, like, just to be feeling decent for one day,

Scott Benner 37:07
yeah? And so it's just a struggle to feel normal,

Shay 37:11
yeah, pretty much. And then, of course, it gives me anxiety going out of the house, like, what if my blood sugar drops? What if I need a bunch of salt? What if I start getting shaky, or I don't feel good, or I feel pain? So for a while, I would just stay in my house a lot and not go out. But I've been working on that, like I said, with my therapist.

Scott Benner 37:35
Also, I have to tell you, I mean, the Addison's, the possibility of thyroid and the low ferritin, these are all things that could make anxiety worse?

Shay 37:42
Yeah, definitely. The Addison's disease too. The anxiety gets really bad when I need extra medication. It's sad

Scott Benner 37:51
because you're young, you know what I mean, and you've been through a lot already. We've been doing a good job of laughing about it, but you had a pretty crappy start, and then, you know, you've had these issues and the endometriosis, would you say was stage four, yeah. And then, you know, you're in pain for years, and people don't like appreciate that. You don't mean pain once in a while. You mean pain constantly,

Shay 38:12
yeah? 24/7 pain for years and years, yeah?

Scott Benner 38:16
And then, you know, and then on top of that, the low iron and all that comes with that one. It's a lot, and you're on your own too, because I'm sure you have friends. It sounds like you met a boy, which is nice. It's a lot. You know what? I mean? Like to not have parents to go talk to or somebody to get your back. So glad you found the therapist. That's awesome, too. Yeah. How did you know to do that? To go to a therapist like it doesn't sound like you you grew up in an enlightened household, so I'm wondering who, like, where did you think

Shay 38:43
to do that? I guess I was just tired of feeling the same way all the time, like, just feeling like crap about myself really, like, Why do I it was always like, Why me? Why do I have to deal with these health problems? Until I was like, you know, I can change my outlook and how I look at things, and I've been through a lot, and that just means that I'm stronger than most people dealing with all of this at the same time, too.

Scott Benner 39:13
Sounds like it? Yeah, it really does. Okay. So you just were like, I need help from somewhere, and I don't know, like, nothing's going my way. I've got to go talk to somebody. Yeah,

Shay 39:23
I was feeling really down, like, borderline suicidal over the pain I was the physical pain I was feeling every day and not thinking that it would get any better. I just, I didn't know where else to go. Yeah.

Scott Benner 39:38
Like, do you ever go to your mom? I know this is a weird question because of her situation, but did you ever go to her? Yeah,

Shay 39:44
but she, she had endometriosis as well, but that, you know, that was so long ago. They don't do it the same way now. They used to burn it off, which they still do now, but they shouldn't. They should be cutting it. Out. But yeah, if I talk to her about it, she would kind of act like she knows more than me, kind of thing, and it would just irritate me, and we would get nowhere.

Scott Benner 40:10
Gotcha, gotcha, even though you're not all the way through this. Do you feel like you're in a better place than you were a year ago?

Shay 40:16
Yeah, definitely much better than a year ago, especially because going to therapy, it's not only changing, like my mental health, but it's making me realize there's other things and steps I can do for my physical health that would make me also feel better, as in, like, making more appointments, not ignoring things and symptoms.

Scott Benner 40:41
Yeah, that's tough lesson to learn, but it sounds like you have it. Yeah, yeah. Okay. So do you think you have a doctor that you can talk to about the fart and idea? I

Shay 40:51
don't think I have one currently, but I just switched over to all new providers, so it shouldn't be an issue finding one.

Scott Benner 41:00
Yeah, if you switch providers, did you have to do a physical? Yeah,

Shay 41:04
they had me go in for a physical. And the doctor was just shocked. He was like, You're so young and you have all this going on, but great.

Scott Benner 41:14
Can you help me with it? So right, can you look and see the 37 next to the word ferritin? And think to yourself, that might be a problem, which

Shay 41:22
they're the ones that did that blood work. You said everything looked fine, yeah. So

Scott Benner 41:27
nobody knows the they're talking about, right? So why don't you how long ago was that?

Shay 41:32
That was right before my surgery? So probably four months ago, awesome.

Scott Benner 41:37
So it's pretty recent. So like, yeah, I call them back and I say, Look, I've been doing more research, and I've learned that many, many practitioners believe that a ferritin level under 70 for a menstruating female is too low. Mine's a 37 I found a bunch of people who have had the same problem. They've all had it alleviated by getting an iron infusion. I'd like you to get me an iron infusion. I've tried taking the iron tablets. They're not working. Here are all of my symptoms. I want to get my iron up to where it belongs. And I want to, you know, wait a little while, and then see how I feel. I think a lot of my my symptoms, then you list off the low iron symptoms are going to go away, and the ones that don't, that's okay, because once we know my iron is higher, now we can look to see if maybe my thyroid levels could be managed better, or if this is more about digestion and the uptake of minerals and vitamins, etc. But I think that we can't figure any of that out till I get my iron higher. I've been struggling and long enough I want to go get a an infusion. Because if they try to tell you about more iron tablets, just say, Look, they're not working. They're going to constipate me. They make me sick, like, say, whatever you got to say to get your thing. You know what I mean? Yeah, I mean,

Shay 42:57
I'm going to tell them the truth. I feel like I've tried everything to feel better, and nothing is working. I mean, I don't the amount of food I eat or don't eat, really is crazy. I barely eat anything. The only thing I eat is fruits and vegetables, sometimes beans, like, everything else just hurts my stomach and just doesn't make me feel good.

Scott Benner 43:19
Yeah, don't let them like, when they start going like, well, that could be celiac. Oh, wait a minute, that's fine. Maybe it is. But first we're going to get my iron up so we can figure something out. Like, that's what you just keep them focused, because otherwise their little brains, like seeing a like a bird, they'll pivot. You know what? I mean, they're like, Oh, what was that? Did you say? Did you say your stomach hurt, you might have celiac. Stay focused. All right. We're gonna get my iron up. After my irons up, we're gonna see how I feel, and if I still have thyroid symptoms, then I'm gonna address my TSH level like so once you get my iron back up, if my thyroids come if my labs come back, and my TSH is still over 2.1 then I'm going to ask for Synthroid to manage my thyroid better. Yeah. And then for the rest of it, I think you ought to go into the Facebook group and talk about your Addison's a little bit if you want help with it, because I think people who live with it are going to have better advice. Yeah. Okay, that's pretty much where I'm at for you. You feel good about this so far. All right, what else is on your list, like, besides, go, wait, wait. So you went to the hospital, and they did all that to you, and eventually you had to go back to the hospital. You rebounded. Okay. How long did it take them to get you back from all that?

Shay 44:30
So I didn't really finish that. I just realized, yeah, they didn't give me anything but pain pills there, and they said there was a national shortage of fluids, so they wouldn't give me fluids, because my case wasn't bad enough, even though I could not keep water down, so I was extremely dehydrated, and yeah, so they sent me home. I just remember sleeping forever, maybe a whole day I slept. Left and I woke up and still didn't feel great, but just kept taking as much extra hydrocortisone that I could, and took me about a month to fully heal enough to go back to work and get out of the house again.

Scott Benner 45:16
Incredible. They wouldn't give you fluids. Nope. They

Shay 45:20
literally said, Your case is not bad enough because we have a shortage

Scott Benner 45:24
to get just IVs. Yep, they got

Shay 45:28
none of that. I did. They never even gave me a bed to lay in. I was in one of those upright chairs just screaming in pain. He had to

Scott Benner 45:38
move a little closer to the ocean. I don't know another way. I don't know another way to put it. And listen, I want to say, as a person who's been spending the last three days thinking, I want to move a little close to the center of the country. I'm going to tell you, like, the one thing that slows me down about that is health care. Yeah, like, it really is. It's the one thing that's like, when I say to my wife, like, can we move What did I tell somebody this morning here? I'll share, I'll share directly with you. I told somebody this morning in a text message, I'm going to find the exact wording I used, because I want to be clear. Seriously, I'm sick of food people in the weather is that I think I'm officially old. And I was talking to my daughter the other day and I said, like, I don't know. Like, I'm older now, like, I'd like to just move somewhere a little less congested with people, and, you know, I'd like the weather to be a little better, like, I'm not looking for this snow. And she's like, where are you gonna go? And I was like, I have no idea. Like, I talked about it, but places. And in the end, I said, I'm not gonna do it, though. And she said, why? And I was like, healthcare. Like, I'm just, like, I talked to too many people were like, telling me stories. I'm like, where are you at? And you're like, I'm in and they always list the places that I think it would be cool to go live, right? You know, like, I'm older, so what am I going to get there? Need health care and have somebody look at a lab, see a 37 Fer, and go, This looks awesome. Yeah, yeah. Are you sure? Because I'm dying. You sure there's nothing on here that doesn't like? Do you have any idea what you're looking you're looking at? They go, Nope, you're good. All the stuffs green. Like, you know what I mean? Like, yeah, awesome. So anyway,

Shay 47:10
we, we say the same stuff pretty much every day, because we did a trip in Europe, and it's so completely different. And we're like, we want to just go live over there. Listen,

Scott Benner 47:19
I would like a little bit of land, not a lot, right? I'd like, can I tell you what I want? I just

Shay 47:25
want a greenhouse. Oh, yeah, I would love that. I just

Scott Benner 47:29
a little greenhouse on my property where I could put my plants when it gets cold. Like, that's really all I want, like, a little bit of grass, the mess around in, like, you know what I mean? Like, a place where I walk outside I don't see another person. That's good. I don't want to be attacked by a bear or rattlesnake or anything like that. Like, I just want to, like, you know what I mean, and it's okay if it gets cool in the winter, but I don't need it snowing anymore tonight. I don't know where that place is, though. Like, some people will tell you, Oh, here's perfect. I'm like, great. It's like a million dollars to rent, like, a four foot apartment, right? Great, that's not what I want, either. So I think I'm stuck, you know what I mean, but you live in that. You live right through the like, that mountain range goes up through Pennsylvania. People don't even realize that, I would imagine, but, yeah, you're probably like, in one of those, like, horrible weather gullies, like, we're the way, yes, we are. You just found the podcast. How long ago? Maybe, like, a month ago? How'd you get on the podcast so quickly? My

Shay 48:28
therapist told me about it, so I started listening to you guys, like every day at work. And then I was like, maybe I can be on it. So I messaged you, and now we're here. I got

Scott Benner 48:40
you. I'm quick. How about that? Look at me. I'm glad you're here. Your story is insane, you know, really upsetting. How does the boy work out with all the health issues? Oh,

Shay 48:51
he's great. I have no complaints. He's a pro with diabetes stuff. Now he'll stay up late when I go to bed early to make sure I don't go low or anything, because I don't wake up to my alarms. So yeah, he's really good with everything, and it kind of radicalized him in a way, because he always thought that, you know, you don't feel good, you're sick, you go the doctor, they'll fix you, yeah, until he saw being with me and going to all these doctors appointments, and not one of them listening to me now he truly sees like, wow, they really do fail people every day.

Scott Benner 49:30
Yeah. I mean, listen, there's plenty of good doctors. You're just not finding them.

Shay 49:33
Yeah, exactly. Seriously, Katie, you and I, I'm

Scott Benner 49:38
sorry I'm picking around on the internet now I think you're riding the same motorcycle I used to ride. Ah, yeah,

Unknown Speaker 49:43
now I have a GSX 8r and an SV, 650

Scott Benner 49:46
I used to ride a GSX r7, 50.

Shay 49:50
Oh, nice. The 8r just came out this year. Yeah. Or 2024, I should say, How long have you been riding since I was 19?

Scott Benner 49:58
No kidding. What do you like about it? Well,

Shay 50:01
I really started to ride because the gas prices were crazy at the time, yeah, and I had to commute to college. I was like, I'm just gonna get a motorcycle. It's gonna be cheaper. And then I fell in love with it. And I've been working at motorcycle shops for since I was 19. No kidding, so I just let just, I love it. It's just the freedom you can really like, just take your bike and just ride somewhere and find cool spots to just hang out. Yeah?

Scott Benner 50:28
I agree with you. I am. I got my first motorcycle because I couldn't afford car insurance. Yeah? So same idea, yeah. It was $100 a year to insure the motorcycle. Yeah. I remember asking the person, why is it so cheap? And they said, Ah, because if you have an accident, you'll be dead. And I was like, oh, okay, you won't need your motorcycle replace. I was like, Is that why it's so inexpensive? My gosh, I've ridden, I've owned three different bikes in my life, and I put over 100,000 miles on the three of them together. Nice, yeah. Like I rode a lot. And I just I used to ride 24/7 365, like, in the Me too. Actually, there's days I'd get up and I'd like, I gotta go to work. I gotta go to work. I gotta go to work. I'd stand next to the heater, and I'd run outside after get the bike warm, and I'd jump on and try to ride. I only like, a 15 minute ride to work. By the time I got there, I was completely frozen, yeah, and I'd get out and stand in front of another heater until I warmed up. And then on the rainy days, you had to bring clothes to change into when you got to work, because you're going to be soaked when you got there. But, yeah, I couldn't afford any I couldn't afford anything else. So, and I had the same problem. You know, eventually, what's the fastest you've ever gone? I'd say like 180 wow, I get the 165 ones. Nice. Well,

Shay 51:41
my 180 was on a track, so, oh, wasn't on the street. I was

Scott Benner 51:46
in Philadelphia, so, um, oh, my God, it was. It's very late at night. No, there's nobody else out. I just, I lost my nerve for it one day. Yeah, I get that. I can't explain it. I was such a, like a free and Easy Rider. I was fine. I went into a store one day. This is no no lies. Exactly what happened. I went into a store, I put my I parked my bike. It was really hot out, and the kick stand melted into the black top, and the bike fell over. Oh man, and I stood it up, and there was so much damage on the side of the bike, and for the first time, like, I'm not lying to you, I've been riding for years, years and years and years, and like I said, over 100,000 miles, and I saw the damage that happened, and I had been in an accident before, like I've laid a bike down, like I've been hit by a car, like I've had motorcycle accidents. But there was something about the fact that the bike fell over, did $1,000 worth of damage and was ruined, and it wasn't moving, yeah, and I thought, and it somehow, like sparked my brain to go, oh, you should wonder what would happen if you were moving. Then I started worrying about it. I couldn't stop thinking about I had to sell the bike. I could barely ride it to sell it. It was crazy, like how scared I got in the end. So I hope that never happens soon, because I miss it

Shay 53:03
a lot. Yeah, I've had accidents too. So far, I still want to ride. Yeah,

Scott Benner 53:08
I got clipped one time. This lady said she was making a left turn, and she stopped, and she had her turn signal, and I went around her on the right. She told the cop, I remembered I wanted to go right. She said, wow. So she just, without looking, turned right, caught the rear wheel of the bike, and spun the bike out from under me, like I remember going up in the air. And I remember throwing myself away from the bike. You know what I mean? Yeah, I pushed off of it, and then I came down on the side of my head of my shoulder, and I eventually had to have my shoulder replace, like, repaired years later because of the damage from that. So were you

Shay 53:47
wearing like, an armored jacket? Oh, stop it. I had

Scott Benner 53:50
a help. I was probably wearing shorts, like, I don't know, like, yeah. Like, yeah, that was that one. And then once, just after the thaw, like, you know, there's still cinders on the road, and they send the Street Sweepers out, but the street sweeper left like this thin line of cinders in the road. I hit that thin line of cinders, and the bike just like slid out from under me. I stood up in the middle of a four way intersection with cars on every side of me, and I was like, I cannot believe I didn't get hit by a car. And that's crazy. And then I looked around, I couldn't find my bike. It must have slid for like, another 40 or 50 yards after I stopped insane, and then I picked it up, got on it, and rode it home. That didn't bother me at all. Then years later, it falls over, and I'm like, I can't do this. This is too dangerous. Every spring, you know, when it's still cool, but this it gets warm, you know, in the sun, and then the air freshens up. I miss my motorcycle that time of year. Yeah, I know exactly what you mean, yeah, yeah, I really do. So, oh my gosh, yeah. Well, that bike's awesome. Both ears are really cool. Thank you. Yeah, I don't know the does your boyfriend ride with you?

Shay 54:58
Yeah? He. Rides too. He has different style bikes, though he does like the adventure style, okay? And cafe. He has two Ducatis. Nice,

Scott Benner 55:09
yeah, I rode a Harley one time, and I hated it, Yeah, same. I got back, and the guy's like, what'd you think? And I was like, I was like, sitting up so straight. And he's like, I don't know how you lay forward. I'm like, I don't know how you sit up, like that. Those bikes, the one you ride, the one that I've ridden, is they're so comfortable that I almost feel like I could go to sleep, like, like sitting on it, like I'm so comfortable in that position. Anyway, what do we not talked about that we should have? I think that's it. You sure? Would you let me know how this goes?

Unknown Speaker 55:41
Oh yeah, for sure. Yeah,

Scott Benner 55:42
I'm super interested, because I think you're gonna feel a lot better, like, I said about four to six weeks after you get an infusion.

Shay 55:48
Yeah? That gives me a lot of hope, because I'm like, I don't even know where to go at this point. Yeah, no.

Scott Benner 55:54
I mean, again I do that, then I'd wait maybe two months after my last infusion was done, and I'd get my labs drawn again, which they're going to want to do anyway. And then when they draw your labs, to look at your iron panel again, tell them, like, let's look at my my thyroid again too. Okay. And then if you see what, where your TSH goes, if your TSH goes back under two, then awesome. But if it's above, like I said 2.1 and you're still having some symptoms of hypothyroidism, that's when I would ask for that, like Synthroid or something like that, to address your T for, yeah, you know. And then once you've got those two things set up, gosh, I don't know how to say about the digestion part, but I would think the iron is going to straighten out your digestion? Yeah, I hope so, yeah. And then from there, just like, Get get on, like, vitamins and and eating a little better than you are now, because I know how you feel, because I've, by the way, the reason I know about most of this because I've had very low iron and needed iron infusions in my life. Oh, okay, I was wondering, plus people coming on the podcast, but that whole digestion, part of it, that makes sense to me, with the low iron. So I think you could have a lot of improvements again this spring. You could feel differently. Yeah, that would be great. Yeah, okay, well, I wish you a lot of luck. I hope you find somebody to help you. Yeah, thank you. You're welcome anything, nothing else. We're good, yeah, I think we're good. Awesome. I appreciate you doing this very much. Thank you for having me. Oh, it's a pleasure. Hold on one second for me. Stay with me. Okay, okay.

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