#1039 Since 1967

October 12, 2023Scott Benner

Sheila is 61 years old and was diagnosed with Type 1 at age 5 - in 1967.

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Scott Benner 0:00
Hello friends, and welcome to episode 1039 of the Juicebox Podcast.

Today on the podcast I'll be speaking with Sheila. She's had type one diabetes since 1967. She has lived a full life had children been married, and been through quite a lot. This episode will discuss some of the things that Sheila has traversed. While you're listening, please remember 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. We're becoming bold with insulin, save 40% off of towels, sheets, hoodies, all kinds of clothing PJ's everything that they have at cozy earth.com. And to save that 40% All you have to do is use the offer code juice box at checkout. You can get a free year supply of vitamin D and five free travel packs with your first order at drink ag one.com forward slash to Xbox. And last but not least, the diabetes Pro Tip series has been remastered it runs between Episode 1001 1026 In your players, and there's a special offer in the contour next gen Ed's if you haven't heard it, you really should go find it. This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by us med us med.com forward slash juice box or call 888721151 for us med is where Arden gets her Dexcom and Omni pod supplies from and they have much more US med.com forward slash juice box, head over now get your free benefits check and get started with us med us med.com forward slash juice box.

Sheila 2:02
My name is Sheila and I have had type one diabetes since 1967.

Scott Benner 2:11
Sheila, you almost made me curse right away.

Sheila 2:16
Well, I know you've had other people on that have had it as long as I have. But you know, initially that was my goal. And coming on here. I wanted to basically, you know for newer people say you can do it. You can live a great life.

Scott Benner 2:32
Have you lived a great life? I have. How do you measure that,

Sheila 2:37
you know, had a wonderful childhood and did anything the other kids did and went to college and had a great career in software. Married a wonderful man had two absolutely wonderful children. And yeah, it's a great life.

Scott Benner 2:59
That sounds good. Two minutes for sure. What is the biggest difference between having diabetes now and having it 56 years ago? And how old are you? I'm sorry to task.

Sheila 3:09
I am 6161. So

Scott Benner 3:10
you got diabetes when you're five about? What's What's the biggest shift from the earliest you can remember to now

Sheila 3:19
Oh, it's completely different. I mean, when when I was diagnosed, I know they they told my parents, you know, I had a very specific diet. And I remember you know, getting the exact same breakfast and the exact same lunch and just measuring very, very carefully. And now you know I can eat almost whatever I want.

Scott Benner 3:50
Oh, what do you have the toughest time Bolus thing for?

Sheila 3:53
Oh, I mean, I love bread I do. But it can be tough. And you know, I'll try to go with like whole grains. I mean, those are easier. But if there's an occasion and as you know white bread, that can be challenging.

Scott Benner 4:10
White bread. Any white bread? Have you ever tried making sure it doesn't have high fructose corn syrup in it?

Sheila 4:16
I have not baked any although I know. I know. I asked for your recipe for pizza. No, I haven't made my own bread, but I have found a brand that you know works very well and that's what we buy.

Scott Benner 4:29
Good. I want to say I don't have a recipe for pizza as much as I use someone's and I'll give them a plug here. Because let me find it for you. It's interesting. It's called. I use a recipe that I found on YouTube by a company called Statler made and they also have a website. It's Staedtler made.com and I make a Neapolitan pizza out of that I usually use their cold fermented recipe and I let My dos said a few days before we use it, and huge shout out to them. It's a it's a great, it's a great easy recipe and then the website puts together you just tell it how many pizzas you want how big you want the balls to be, and it gives you the gives you the breakdown. So Wow, very nice. And it hits easy. That I mean, that was not on purpose. By the way. It's not like I looked at their website and it said, Hey, if you use insulin, our pizza crust recipe might be easy for you. It's just the, I think, between like a thin crust pizza, right? Without a ton of anything in it. I mean, if I'm thinking correctly, that pizza dough has flour, sea salt, yeast, water, that's all it said. And then you know, the way you dress the pizza up really ends up being, you know, the big part of it. So if it's not, you know, cheese isn't dripping everywhere. And if it doesn't make a whole link of sausage on every slice, that kind of stuff. It's it's not too bad to Bolus for. But back then. I mean, I think obviously you were were you boiling needles.

Sheila 6:02
Yes, man.

Scott Benner 6:04
Are you really paying every day to test your blood sugar? Yeah. How long do you think you did that for?

Sheila 6:12
I don't remember. It's interesting. The things I do remember, I remember hearing that the clicking noise of my mother rolling the insulin hitting her wedding ring. Interesting that would make this click, click, click, click, click, click click click in you know, I would hear that. No, I had to go, you know, get my shot. Yeah.

Scott Benner 6:35
It's really like Pavlov's dog with that. And, uh, you know, modern people don't even know what you're talking about that, like they don't roll their insulin before they inject it. They take it out of the out of the refrigerator and go, but you had to it had to get mixed. Right? Like we kind of like mixed back up again. So your mom was just telling like this, and it was hitting her ring. And you remember that?

Sheila 6:56
Yeah, yeah. The noise. And that's something. Yeah. And it's funny. I I've spoken. I mean, my parents passed a number of years ago. But I was asking, I have an older sister. And I was asking her some questions before I came on here. And, and she was telling me that I guess in the very beginning, I did have some seizures. I don't remember any of that.

Scott Benner 7:21
Interesting. So your sister remembers you have to she remember in a traumatic way?

Sheila 7:27
Yeah, I mean, she remembers, you know, my mother, like, struggling to get me to drink juice. And yeah, I mean,

Scott Benner 7:35
did she talk to you about how it felt?

Sheila 7:39
More? She was kind of? No, no, no, the straight answer. Yeah. Just know, when I was asking her questions about, you know what happened back then? I just know, I was diagnosed because at at five I had started wetting the bed.

Scott Benner 7:58
And that's how they figured out to get you to a doctor. Yeah. Is there? Has there been any other type one in your family line?

Sheila 8:04
Yes. And this is interesting. So I have a younger brother. And he has had type one. He was diagnosed when he was around 30. So he's had it for about 25 years. And my older sister, also, just in the past year, was diagnosed as type one. A few years ago, she was misdiagnosed as type two.

Scott Benner 8:34
Wow, how old is she now?

Sheila 8:36
She is 69.

Scott Benner 8:38
Wow, that's a crazy time to be diagnosed. Have you guys been? Have you been helping her with it? Like the three? Or the three of you close? I guess I should ask first. Like,

Sheila 8:46
well, we're close. We're definitely we're all the five of us. We're all very close. But my brother is just kind of like, that's a nice feel. But I'm gonna do my own thing. So okay, that's fine. My sister has been asking questions and, and so yeah, whenever, you know, I'll try to help her out. She's doing pretty well. I'm, I have you know, her Dexcom follow for her on my phone. And yeah, she's doing okay.

Scott Benner 9:18
Did it scare her?

Sheila 9:19
I don't. Only because she knows I've had it all my life. Yeah. I think honestly, she was glad. I mean, when they did put her on insulin, she started to feel better. Because she had been on Metformin and that she really struggled with.

Scott Benner 9:37
Okay, so let me ask you a quick question. Do you work at a prison? Are you letting people in and out of the yard? What is that beeping? Oh, do you hear a beeping?

Sheila 9:45
I do not okay. Doesn't mean anything. My hearing is bad. Why? My hearing is

Scott Benner 9:52
bad. I'm screwing with you. She'll I'm sorry.

Sorry. I know that's fine. But I feel like there's I feel like there's it almost feels like a windows opening. It has an alarm. It's like a door and then it stops. And then it happens a minute or two later. There's nothing in your house that does that. No. Okay. Your pumps not making a noise. It's like muffled or muted or something. No, I just checked it. Okay. All right. Well, listen. You may be putting pulled up to the mothership by UFOs. If you disappear that's where I'm going to assume you went. Oh my god. I tell you, my kids mess with Kelly constantly. Because her hearings okay, but there's something she's gonna be pissed if she hears this one day. I don't remember exactly what it is. But there's something with her hearing with like tones or something like that. So she doesn't hear you right away all the time. And oh, yeah, it's you would think there'd be like a loving support but it's more like an unmerciful mocking. Oh, my gosh, meanwhile, meanwhile, that's a that's not they'll be laughed at like it. As as you watch her, it's tough because people have a do you do this? i My mom does it. My mom's like, I don't know what you would call her death as a doornail. Maybe. And, and she'll do this thing where she? I think it's out of I don't know, honestly, if she's embarrassed, or if she's just trying to not break the flow. But she tries to infer what's going on. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And then and then you end up saying something and people like, What are you talking about? Like, that's not what's being said right now. Do you do that? Or have you thought of it? And?

Sheila 11:42
Well, yeah, oh, yeah. No, I definitely do that. It's not intentional. It's just Yeah, I guess. certain sounds. I mean, I wear hearing aids, but even with the hearing aids, yeah, sometimes I have to guess. Okay. And I don't always get it, right.

Scott Benner 12:00
Like, I think this is what we're talking about. Have you ever gotten into a situation where someone shows up at your home and you're like, why are you here and you've made plans with them and you didn't know or something to that effect? I want to tell you about us med. This is alright. I'm gonna tell you something embarrassing about me. But it's about us med so I'll do it. Okay. I was in the how do I say this? I was on the throne. There. The other day. I was seated in my bathroom. And I got an email. Oh my God, why am I doing this? Alright, it's okay. It's okay. Just okay. Some I'm taking, and I get an email. And I look at it because I don't have anything else go on. And it's from us med. It says, Hold on a second. Give me a second. I'm sorry. You should all get a podcast you know about having to do this. Like, just be so honest. It's alright. Anyway, I'm in the bathroom. greetings card and your next order of supplies is eligible to ship within the next 14 days. Please click the button below and fill out the brief form to confirm your orders. I clicked on confirm my order. I clicked a couple more times. And that was it. It was over. I received another email it said everything was on its way. And then I took care of the rest of my business and I was on my way. And I and I actually thought one well that was actually very convenient and easy. And two, I felt a little productive for getting something extra done while I was in the bathroom. But then I guess the third thing I thought was how am I going to tell the story on the podcast. And here I am. Us med.com forward slash juice box. They carry everything from diabetes testing supplies, CGM. They've got libre two libre three Dexcom G six G seven Omni pod dash Omni pod five, tandem control IQ, the T slim, right? That one they have, they've got what you're looking for. You've got to just go get your benefits check. It's absolutely free. 888-721-1514 or us med.com forward slash juicebox. Then if they take your insurance, you're on your way and they take over 800 private insurance. They also take Medicare nationwide. So your odds of being covered are pretty good. I mean, do I get any points for this? Does anybody or you guys just like why Scott? Just say you're in your car when it happened? I can't I can't lie. All right, the US med always provides 90 days worth of supplies and fast and free shipping. You're gonna get better care and better service from us med there's links in the show notes links at juicebox podcast.com. We use us med they're fantastic us med.com forward slash juicebox.

Sheila 15:08
No, that hasn't happened yet.

Scott Benner 15:11
I'm here for the check Sheila, the what? We're going into business together, don't you remember? I thought I said, I thought I said I would buy cookies from your, from your nephew. Anyway, you know, I just find that you have to be able to. I know, it's it's a trite thing to say, but everything's so serious in life all the time, you know, and it's just easier to to laugh about it a little bit and recognize what it is. And, you know, absolutely not, don't be offended all the time. I did something recently that I haven't figured out how to talk about yet. And I thought I was gonna say it here. And I started to get it out of my mouth. And I was like, I don't know that I'm ready to admit that I've done this. Yeah. So sorry, Sheila, I almost told you a very embarrassing story, and I'm keeping it for another.

Sheila 15:58
Alright, well, maybe by the end of the episode, we'll say, Well, I

Scott Benner 16:00
don't know. We'll say it's a it's a pretty big screw up on my part. So I'm not certain. Anyway, okay. So you, you are in an interesting part of your life where as you've had diabetes for so long, then it's all just a smushed together cloud of loose memories, no different than how I remember myself being five or seven years old, like, which is to say, I don't remember it. And I don't know if younger people can appreciate that, that I don't think I could purposefully tell you a story from a specific time. Until maybe, like, maybe I'm like, I'm 51. Now. Like, maybe I could go back to like being 13 and tell you something that traumatic that happened. And maybe 16 and tell you something that fun that happened. I definitely can remember the first time I have sex. And so she was like, Yeah, I remember that one. And like and stuff like that. But I couldn't sit down and be the person who wrote about my own life, like day to day stuff. I just don't I don't remember any of it.

Sheila 17:06
Right? Yeah, yeah. No, I remember bits and pieces here and there. But I'll tell you one thing that I very much appreciate now is that I think my parents made every effort to treat me the same as my brothers and sisters. Okay. And and that, looking back, for me, that was important.

Scott Benner 17:32
You didn't want to be special. Yeah, nobody wants to

Sheila 17:35
be different. You know, and so as much as possible, they tried to make me feel, you know, like, I was, like everybody else.

Scott Benner 17:44
And that was the that was the group you wanted to belong to the just Oh, my average? No, no, I mean, like, average normal, run of the mill kid. That's the group you want it to be a party to,

Sheila 17:55
right? Yes, definitely. And even so when I was eight years old, and I've heard other people, I think even Jenny said this, but I wanted to go to Girl Scout camp. And I, you know, I asked my mother and she said, No. And I asked again, and she said, No. And then I think I bugged her enough until she said, You know what, we're going to ask the doctor, and we went to the doctor's office. And I was so shocked. I do remember this. He said, If you treat her like an invalid, she's going to become one. Let her go. Whoa, I couldn't believe he was talking to my parents like that.

Scott Benner 18:33
Don't you think to your mom just wanted the doctor to tell you know, right?

Sheila 18:37
Yeah. Yeah, so I learned to take my own shots. I went to Girl Scout camp.

Scott Benner 18:44
Tell people to that story did not happen in black and white. Everything had color on it, right? Yes.

Sheila 18:50
But the thing also that I know and they didn't even say anything to me, but when I when I think back about the situation. There was a nurse at Girl Scout camp, and I don't know if normally there would have been, but there

Scott Benner 19:05
was a wasn't that interesting. A thing you remember. How old do you think you are when you're telling the story about I was eight? Something that from eight years old? You don't remember much else? You do remember wondering? Did they put that nurse here for me? Or was that nurse always going to be here? Well, I

Sheila 19:21
actually at the time, I didn't think about it. But now it was just like, but now looking back. I'm like, oh, okay, I bet they had something to do with that. Well, listen

Scott Benner 19:32
that that lovely person made a nice income during that thing off. If it was for you feel good about that. You're making jobs creating work as you go.

Sheila 19:45
Oh, but it was I mean, oh my god, I just wanted to go to camp so bad. Oh, that was great.

Scott Benner 19:50
Yeah. And that and that's a and that's a happy memory for you something you wanted to do that you thought you weren't allowed to do that. Your mom didn't want you to do that. Luckily the doctor was like letter Do it. And all these years later that whole thing indoors in your mind? Yes, absolutely. I think I'm saying that twice Sheila so that people listening can hear it. That's, that's really interesting. I, I was talking to my wife the other day, this is not a fully formed thought yet. But that I feel like I'm seeing more and more people that want to be special. Like they want to somehow distinguish themselves as different. And that they're willing to. I mean, sometimes it feels like they're willing to just, like throw in with anything, just because it's something other than the normal. And I I'm just really touched by what you said, because what you really wanted was to be normal. Right? Average everyday fit in. And, and now I feel like some people are like, I want to be extraordinary. And you know, and you hear you hear people talk about, I don't know, sometimes you hear people talk about their children or their situations and they try to make it sound like like something extra is happening. I'm like, I don't I don't see this, but okay, and then I think when they label it, they're like, see, I'm this this is special. My kid is this. And that makes that makes them. I don't know, I just I like that. You just wanted to be just like everybody else. Yeah. So you said that you met a man and he was nice. How when did that happen? Is he with us? So?

Sheila 21:28
Ah, oh, yeah. Yeah. You ever killed a man?

Scott Benner 21:33
Are you doing what my wife's doing just slowly. You just ah, well, I don't know. chipping away a little bit at a time. Just

Sheila 21:41
glad. I'll tell you, God love him for everything that I have put him through. My husband. Oh, my God. We met we work together. I think it was 8696 after we started dating up until that point, I didn't have a home glucose tester. And I don't know

Scott Benner 22:04
in 86 You still didn't have one? I didn't

Sheila 22:07
have one did Mike and he bought one for me. Oh,

Scott Benner 22:12
look at that. Yeah. That's so sweet. It's such a weird move. But it worked.

Sheila 22:18
Oh, god. Yeah. But he's just been so Oh, my God, you know, dealing with. So I didn't even get into my other. I'm doing well. But I have a number of health issues. So the first one? Well, I have something called sjogrens syndrome. You know, other people have and have rheumatoid arthritis. And that's fine. But in 2001, I was only 39. And I had a heart attack.

Scott Benner 22:51
Holy crap, Sheila. Yeah, yeah.

Sheila 22:55
And

Scott Benner 22:56
sort of a defibrillator instead of that, that meet her all those years. Wow.

Sheila 23:02
So God bless them. God bless them. I mean, we had to, you know, not super young, but I don't know, seven or nine, seven or nine year old boys. And you know, he was running around taking care of them. And, and taking care of me. And just bless them. You know, he just made everything work. And then this, this is interesting. So maybe two years after the heart attack. Because at the time, I thought, Oh, God, here we go. This is it. You know, diabetes is catching up. I'm just gonna have to deal with it. And then one day, he says, Sheila, did you see the article in the paper about Vioxx, which is a drug that I was taking from my arthritis.

Scott Benner 23:54
Oh, snap show. You got Vioxx. Yes.

Sheila 23:59
Right. Yeah, I had been taking it. And then like, even by the time you saw that article, I had stopped taking it because it really wasn't working. But they took it off the market.

Scott Benner 24:09
It was working it just not working the way they told you. It was going to right. Yeah.

Sheila 24:14
And it's so bizarre, because I felt so happy.

Scott Benner 24:19
Because it wasn't diabetes. It wasn't diabetes. Yeah. So you got good perspective. Hey, did you sue them? No, you didn't get in on that class action lawsuit.

Sheila 24:28
Oh, a lot of people said that to me. No, I did not.

Scott Benner 24:31
In 2007 Merkin company agreed to pay $4.85 billion to settle claims over its arthritis medication. Vioxx, the company faced an estimated 50,000 lawsuits filed by people who experienced serious side effects including heart attacks and strokes after taking Vioxx. This is from drug dangerous.com. And let's just real quick, Sheila. Let's just Let's just do this. Sorry. I'm gonna ask Siri. 4.8 billion divided Buy 50,096 grand you could have got Sheila.

Sheila 25:03
Oh, wow. Well, you could have bought yourself

Scott Benner 25:07
maybe six grand. Oh, my goodness, you could have get yourself a nice summer cottage.

Sheila 25:13
Well he's gonna listen to this.

Scott Benner 25:20
Yeah, at least you could have finally paid him back for that blood glucose meter, which I imagine, was pretty expensive. So, how long were you on Vioxx?

Sheila 25:30
I don't know, maybe a year or two?

Scott Benner 25:33
No kidding. Hey, didn't help with your arthritis at all.

Sheila 25:37
It really didn't.

Scott Benner 25:39
Wait to go, Mark. Oh, okay. So, you say you took it for a couple of years. You got off of it, though? How long? Were you off? How long? Were you off of it before you had a heart attack?

Sheila 25:52
No, I think I was taking it when I had a heart attack. Oh, but then after that, you know, the rheumatologist? And I told them like this, this just isn't working. And so I got off of it.

Scott Benner 26:07
Yeah, no kidding. So what was the severity of the heart attack? Was there lasting damage? Or how was that?

Sheila 26:13
They the way they worded it to us is they said that if I was you know, if my heart was a six cylinder engine, I lost one of the cylinders.

Scott Benner 26:22
Oh, that's not comforting at all. Is it? So?

Sheila 26:25
Well? I mean, okay. But then years after that. I was saying my cardiologist. And he said, and he went into to look for some reason. And he said, Oh, you have collateral vessels. And I said, What's that? And he said, Oh, new new vessels are growing in the damaged area. That's cool. So it was trying to heal. Yeah. So, and I'm good. I mean, my husband and I, I would say five out of seven days a week, we walk for three miles. So I mean, my heart is strong. And yeah,

Scott Benner 27:07
that's a long time ago now to 2000. Let me count 2017. That's 1018 1920 20. That's like 16 years ago. Yeah. Does it scare you though? Do you think about it?

Sheila 27:18
Well, yeah. Because I mean, in all honesty, I have had other heart incidents, even after that.

Scott Benner 27:24
What does that mean? arrhythmias? Well, I

Sheila 27:28
had to get stents. No, no arrhythmias, but I've had blockages blockages, and I did have to have a bypass.

Scott Benner 27:35
Do they put you on cholesterol medication? Yes. Are you on blood thinners? Yes. Does it make people uncomfortable when they're listening when it sounds like I know what I'm talking about sometimes, probably. So you think they're like the idiot? Now all of a sudden he rattles things off. Like he knows stuff. But earlier, he was giggling about something. That's right. I'm a paradox. Silla. No, no, I

Sheila 27:55
mean, no, you you, you always, you know, kind of play yourself down, but you're very sharp.

Scott Benner 28:02
Stop and chill. I'm a big moron. Now, let's keep bumping the walls all the time. And I always I'm like, who am I? Actually, you have no idea. There are days when I'm like, I can't believe I got dressed myself. Although I did. I don't want to say too much. I don't want to say today's show. That's not good news for podcasting. Maybe at the end, like you said, but they're not. Are they saying that the heart stuff is from the Vioxx. Are they saying it's from diabetes?

Sheila 28:35
Well, I mean, they're not. I'm not asking the question and then not saying why. But you know, I'm sure. Like I said, you know, I didn't, I didn't even test my blood. Until, what was it? 1986 or 87, whatever doing? Probably 86.

Scott Benner 28:52
How can you? Let's dig into that for half a second. So blood glucose meters were available, but they were really big, right? They were literally the size of like a red brick, maybe even bigger than that. And they were expensive. And not a lot of people had them in their homes. So were you still paying on strips. You

Sheila 29:11
know, at that point in my 20s. I don't know how much testing I was doing at all.

Scott Benner 29:16
Were you taking like you still doing cloudgen mph or had you gotten into like, what would it have been that were you like, when did Lantus Lantus maybe.

Sheila 29:25
So at the same time, when I met Dan, I had been taking mph and regular and then apply. The doctor that I had at the time said, Hey, there's this new humulus insulin.

Scott Benner 29:41
Oh, okay. Yeah, I skipped over that whole level. Lantus was until like, 2000. So okay,

Sheila 29:46
okay. Yeah, but the thing that happened with that, the short story is I had the first time I tried it, I had an allergic reaction. So I had to stop. So I went back to NPH and regular are. And then later, I don't remember what year but at one point, my doctor said, Sheila, that they're talking about taking these off the market. And he said, I want you to try again. Just just to be sure. And then the second time I didn't have the reaction.

Scott Benner 30:18
She'll I gotta tell you, part of me doesn't understand how you're alive. Well. I mean, that's like you just said to my 20s I don't really know how much I was. So you were in college? What were you getting a degree in, by the way? Computer Science, and you weren't testing your blood sugar? Really? So you weren't peeing on the strips anymore? Doing anything? And were you just taking insulin morning and night?

Sheila 30:40
Yeah, I was taking insulin and, and I didn't see this as the other thing. That's crazy. It's amazing. I'm alive, because I never got a lot of training about what I should be eating. And basically, I avoided sugar. And I was very good. You know, I was a good girl. I mean, I did not eat any sweets, no cookies. But at the same time, like, I would eat a bag of potato chips. Like it was nothing. You know, and I didn't know anything about carbs. Until my pregnant my first pregnancy in 9091. I, you know, the doctor said, I want you to go to Jocelyn. And they gave me some training. And then I knew about carb counting, but I was. I am very lucky to be alive.

Scott Benner 31:32
Yeah, I mean, it's just like, at what point? I mean, because this guy, he I mean, it's not it wasn't like a gift. It wasn't like, here's flowers in a meter. So he's your husband sees that you're, I'm assuming, right? If I asked him, he'd say he saw that you weren't really taking care of yourself. And he got you a meter?

Sheila 31:50
Well, I think not so much that I wasn't taking care of myself, but more. It's like, Hey, did you know these things even exist?

Scott Benner 32:00
Oh, like it's a new thing. Like when my dad bought us a VCR? When he was like, Oh my God, you see this thing? We can watch a movie in the house now? Like that kind of? Yeah. Is that different? No.

Sheila 32:10
Yeah. Because back then, the other thing and this, you know, I've heard over, I've listened to all your episodes. And people say this. I mean, it's not like a doctor ever said to me, you should have a meter. Right? Because I was fortunate enough. I had, you know, good. Software job. I could have bought myself one. I don't think I knew they were out there. Okay. But Dana, and you know, it was like, oh, boy, this girl, you know, I mean, he must have done some reading. I'm sure he did. Knowing him. He wanted to know more about diabetes. And he saw that these things existed and he bought me one. And back then when he bought it, I am absolutely positive. It cost a good amount of money.

Scott Benner 32:54
Yeah, he was trying to get your parents to show 100% 100% Oh, you're not a cheap date at all. Sheila. You're like, I want medical equipment. I need medical devices if you're even gonna knock on the door and say hello.

Sheila 33:14
No, he was thought he was very caring. And the other thing is, around that same time, he bought me a cell phone.

Scott Benner 33:22
This guy working. Looking

Sheila 33:25
at and and this again was way back. You know, when I at the time, I didn't know anybody who had a cell phone.

Scott Benner 33:33
Oh, would you call your husband kind of like a tech forward person? Oh, absolutely. Is this the same cell phone I had, it was in a black canvas bag and it plugged into your cigarette lighter in your car.

Sheila 33:43
It might have I don't. God, I don't even remember. I just know what the time he gave it to me. And I was like, Damn, that's so sweet. And I was thinking, what am I going to do with this? And I just, I clearly wasn't very forward thinking. And it was just it seems so odd because I didn't know anybody who had one

Scott Benner 34:04
and the expense. Do you remember was dollar a minute, if you remember to be $1 a minute to make a phone call.

Sheila 34:10
And of course, I didn't even know that because he was paying for it.

Scott Benner 34:13
And that was an 89 When I'm talking about 8889 90 Right in there right around the time. Yeah, we had bag phones that we got for how do we get them? Oh, my God. Friend of mine was a cop. There was a special deal. They were given the police and I got in on it. I got a free bag phone. And then it came with this thing. It was like $1 so you barely used it. Like you know how now everybody's just constantly on their phone. I tell you what if it costs $1 A minute that's slow everybody down.

Speaker 1 34:42
You want to fix you want to fix people's cell phone addiction start charging them like that. But But yeah, it was $1 minutes, make a call you would use it in really, really, really specific situations. And if people started chatting,

Sheila 34:57
or wanted to know like if I was running or later something you know, he wanted me to call he worried about he still does. He's just very concerned anyone to make sure I was okay.

Scott Benner 35:09
That's beautiful. All right, nice. And he was doing well. He's got this meter I would have married him just because I thought he had money. Right? He had money and he was like buying phones. I would have been like, this guy's got it together. Did he hold it together? By the way? Are you? Are you supporting him?

Sheila 35:23
No. Yeah, no, he's he. Both of us software at the time was a great career to get into. And he's doing well.

Scott Benner 35:34
Good. Good. That's wonderful. Surgeon surgeons, how do you say that? Sir? It's so G. Why would you put a J after an o o sjogrens? sjogrens. Okay, how does that impact your life?

Sheila 35:46
Well, the main thing. I mean, for me, it's dry eyes, dry skin. So it's just annoying. But it also causes for women, your there's a higher incidence of your children having something called Congenital heart block, really. And that did in fact, happen with us. No kidding. And this is another thing that I have a little story I wanted to tell because, yeah, when, when I was 18 weeks pregnant with our second son, I went just for my regular appointment. And they listened and they could tell, and I could hear at all. So there was something wrong with his heart, he didn't have a normal heartbeat. So the doctor, you know, she she told me what she thought and made an appointment at the children's hospital with a pediatric electro cardiologist. And he explained it to me. And then of course, I made the mistake everybody makes Google was available back then, or some kind of search engine. And, and, you know, I looked at it and it did not sound good. And I said, Oh, God, I said, Do Do you have any patients? You know, whatever trial that's doing okay with this condition, and any gave me the name of a woman. And I called and this 11 year old voice answers. And and I said, you know, I'm calling Dr. Dr. Walsh gave me your number. Can I please speak with your mother? My baby has heart block. And she goes, Oh, it's fine. She's like, Oh, I you know, I play soccer. And I just, I have to stay away from the microwave. But, you know, she's, she's just like, babbling on. And she did hand me off to her mother. But she sounded great. Yeah.

Scott Benner 38:00
And that made you feel better, and then they were able to help your son.

Sheila 38:03
And yes, and he's doing great. I mean, he had to get, so he has a pacemaker. And he got his first one when he was five. And then before that, he was just when, before he got the pacemaker, if he like went to run around or extend themselves in any way, his heart rate would not speed up. So he would just get very tired. So most of the time, you know, everybody, people would make comments to me about how well behaved my son was.

Scott Benner 38:38
Just he's in a coma. Yeah, he's not well behaved, but don't worry. Yeah.

Sheila 38:43
Certain color or whatever. And, and then, when he had the surgery, I had bought this is back when people you know, it was the big cartridge movies. Cartridges when you went to Blockbuster. Oh,

Scott Benner 38:57
like VHS? Yes. Yes. Yeah. So I

Sheila 39:00
rented because they told me I rented a bunch of them. And we brought him home from the hospital. And he had never had energy. And he was bouncing off the walls. And just running around and jumping. And it was just oh my god.

Scott Benner 39:17
That was nice. Right? It just to see that happen? Yeah. And

Sheila 39:20
he was fortunate. I guess a lot of kids that have this condition. They have multiple heart problems. Okay. But he just has this one. So I mean, he's, he's 29. Now. He's doing great.

Scott Benner 39:36
Now, do his children have a chance of getting it or No, it's because you had sjogrens? No, it's because of my sjogrens. I'm going to read congenital heart block is a rare complication of pregnancy associated with children's disease that may result in death or of the fetus or infant or the need for pacing and the newborn at a later stage. So that's what happened and got a patient. Yeah, you know, I have to tell you, when you first started saying this, you said something like that. You were telling me what the effects of sjogrens was, and you said, but in women and I'm like, Oh, she's gonna say something dirty and then you and I almost I almost made a dumb joke to like, get ready for it. And then I'm like, No, let's wait and hear what she says. And then the next thing you said was my son has a congenital and I was like, Thank God I didn't do that. Because that's part of I put my foot in my mouth earlier about a thing that I didn't want to tell you about yet that I'm warming up to explaining but still anyway. Well, that's and so that's his does he have any autoimmune stuff?

Sheila 40:36
No. The only thing that's kind of weird though, is we are both very sensitive to sunlight. And I don't know that that's autoimmune. But absolutely the two of us if we walk out of a building into the sunshine, we start sneezing.

Scott Benner 40:53
sneezing, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, second. The sensation of sneezing when you see the sun is called Photo sneeze reflex. photic means light. Yeah, thanks a lot. photic means like, Thank you, internet. I'm a bigot. It literally means reflex. Scientists have given it another name V. Always some no autosomal dominant, compelling Helio Omnipod what up? Why are smart people stupid? Why you want to give something a name? With five words in it? I can't say. And then they call I see why were first for short. It's a choo ACH. Oh, all right. I take that back. Well done smart people. That's funny. Yeah. It but is it hold on is a can't be autoimmune. Right? That can't be

Sheila 41:45
well, you know, I don't know. But um, because the other okay. So the other thing I forgot about is so I have anemia. But it is not due to lack of iron. Was it I have autoimmune anemia? Get out

Scott Benner 42:05
of here. Haha. So second at HSU. I don't see with autoimmune. And if nobody's googling that it doesn't exist. And now you're saying you have anemia. But it's autoimmune. You know, I I was lined up with a hematologist yesterday and he had to bail because his wife's having a baby or something like that. Oh, yeah. So I'm gonna have to get him back. To do an autoimmune hemolytic anemia. AIHA is a rare immune disorder. Well, Sheila, you're piling them up here. It happens when your body mistakes red blood cells as foreign substances and attacks them. Oh, so you have it in your body like kills? The treatments include medication surgery, or in rare cases of blood transfusion, right? Highly manageable but fatal if left untreated. So how do you treat that first of all?

Sheila 42:56
Well, right now I'm actually not. In the past, I was taking something called epogen that they give to cancer patients. And it worked. And I felt great. And then again, my husband says, Sheila, did you see this article?

Scott Benner 43:19
This guy? How come this guy is always figuring stuff out African.

Sheila 43:24
These are all from the Wall Street Journal, but he reads it. And yeah, there was an article about again, heart issues with epogen. So I just made the decision I would rather be kind of tired, then then worry more about my heart.

Scott Benner 43:43
Anemia drug made billions but at what cost Washington Post 2012. So, taking iron doesn't help, you know, because it's killing the cells, right cells have plenty of iron. Have you tried a blood transfusion?

Sheila 43:59
I have had blood transfusions. But most of the time, I just kind of hover at a I mean, I forget the numbers off the top, honestly, but they've been the same for years. And I'm lower than what they want for people. But I can function. So we just kind of keep an eye on it. Okay, now when? So, are you ready? Yep. Okay. In 2020 At the beginning of it, I was diagnosed with cancer. What the fuck?

Scott Benner 44:35
Are you serious? Yeah, God, you weren't enough? How in the hell Why is it always you? Why is it always people like you who come on here and tell me I've lived a good life. And then at the end of the hour, I feel like Rocky at the end of the movie when I lost like why? But I have

Sheila 44:57
lived a great life and I was very lucky. So a couple of things. I'm going to say this one right out loud. They found it in my just regularly scheduled mammogram. So ladies, get those mammograms. Because I, you know, I never would have known. I went, they found it. You know, I had the surgery and then because it was a rare type of cancer also. So they removed the cancer and then I did chemo, which as a diabetic is challenging. Because they they have, as part of the chemo, they put steroids in it.

Scott Benner 45:36
Now your blood sugar was a problem. Yeah.

Sheila 45:39
But I actually I did pretty well. So I was able to handle that. But they were, you know, watching my blood while I was getting the chemo. And I had to have infusions with every round.

Scott Benner 45:53
Yeah, to keep it up. What kind of cancer was the show? You said it was rare?

Sheila 45:58
I had it's called triple negative breast cancer.

Scott Benner 46:02
Triple negative breast cancer. Yeah. found during a mammogram. Yep. Anything? Is that a family thing? Other people with breast cancer your life?

Sheila 46:14
I have a cousin but no other types of cancer. My dad had skin cancer. And and I have another cousin who had pancreatic cancer.

Scott Benner 46:31
Is that a mastectomy?

Sheila 46:31
Did you get no lumpectomy? lobectomy? Yeah. But the good thing is I did get the testing that they do to find out if basically if you're going to pass it on to your children. And that was all negative.

Scott Benner 46:47
Good. Oh, that's good. Yeah, yeah. Oh, now I'm gonna have to tell you my story. Okay. All right. I'm looking forward. No, I feel like an ass already. Hold on a second. This needs a tiny bit of context. Okay, because it'll make me seem I don't know. It's not gonna help. But let me just, it'll make me more comfortable. So I needed a new monitor to make the podcast with I'm looking at it right now. I found one online, was going to take too long to get I found one locally, not that local, like 45 minutes from my house, but I had to go get it. So I worked a full day I did two recordings. I made dinner, I took care of my life. And then I said to my wife, I'm going to rush to this place and try to get there before it closes. So I pulling up, and no lie. The kids out front pulling down the metal door. I parked my car and I jumped out I walked up to him and I was like, Brother, listen, I drove like an hour to get here. I know exactly what I'm buying. I'll be out of here in five minutes. I have a credit card even like, like there'll be no mess. Like he needs like a guy come in. I came in. I'm looking around where the monitors are. I don't see it. There's a kid. There's like, Can I help you? I said, I'm looking for this monitor. I told him the brand and everything. He goes, Oh, absolutely. I have that as a great. And he goes, I'll just bring it up front for you. You can go head up and I was like, oh, okay, but then I got kind of like sidelined. I was looking at something else as I was walking up. And so he comes out with a monitor. I'm not to the front. So he says why don't you just come over here to this little kiosk? And I'll bring you out here. And I said, Oh, that's so nice. Because it was like a line up front. And I was like, Oh, thank you. And as we come up, this tiny little kiosk has two places to bring people up. And I sort of came around the back of these two women. So they did not see me coming. And when I settled in at the kiosk where the kid put the monitor down. One woman was seated, but the other one was standing. And the woman that was standing was startled, I think because I came from behind her. And I just looked up at her and I was like, I'm sorry. And she goes no, no, I'm sorry. And she starts to back away from me. And I'm like, now I'm like, oh, what's happening? Like, why is she backing away? Why is she sorry? Like, you know, and then she looks at who I realized later is her mother, an older woman probably in her 60s. And the woman on the other woman's the standing woman is I don't know, she's probably in her 40s. And she the mother is like, it's okay. And she goes no, like, you know, he might not want me near him for health reasons. And then I realized she was wearing a mask and I thought, Oh, she's just nervous about COVID still. And I'm not thinking I want to be clear. I had worked all day. I just driven an hour. I was hungry. I was tired. And I tried to be funny, and not even on purpose. It just came out like I was getting my credit card out. I'm looking at the kid who's bringing me up. And I said it's okay. It's not like I have cancer or anything. Oh, and there's a pause Sheila. Oh, she goes, I have breast cancer. And the voice in my head. No, a lot of the rest of the story is the voice in my head. The voice in my head goes mother. And then and then and then and then the voice in my head goes dum dum dum. And then I look up at the kid that's helping me he's like 19 Here's the look on his face. Oh, what the fuck did you do? And like say So he's looking at me like that the voice in my head is saying the same thing. And I just bear down, and I could hear my voice go, Well, Scott, you think you're gonna talk to people? Now's a good time to prove it. And I turned and I faced her. And I said, I'm really sorry to hear that. And I didn't mean to be flippant like that. I apologize. What kind of cancer do you have? And she said, I have breast cancer. I'm about to have my breasts removed this week later, that's, I'm having a surgery. And I said, I'm glad they caught it in time. Are you okay with all that? And she said, Yeah, I'm pretty comfortable about what's going to happen. I feel good about it. And I said, Are you thinking about getting reconstruction afterwards? And she said, No, I don't think so. I've toyed with the idea of maybe doing some tattooing, but I don't think I'm gonna get an implant. And then she and I had a very real conversation. And then her mother got involved in it. And we talked some more. And I said, Well, I don't these is not an apples to apples comparison. I said, But my mother just beat cancer this year. She was at she had a huge tumor on her ovary and a couple of other places. She had a full hysterectomy. And then the mom's like, I had a full hysterectomy. That's a hard thing to bounce back from. We talked about my mom. And by the time it got all done, I said, I'm sorry, what's your name? She told me her name. i She asked my name. I told her my name. And we had had a really lovely five or six minute conversation. And I turned back to the kid at the register. And I made eye contact with them. And with my eyes. This is what I said, Sheila, I said, You I did it. Because he now he's looking at me. Like, how did you do that? And I was like, I talked to people for a living friend. And so I and so that I paid him. And I turned I just ignored him, like be clear, the transaction stopped. Because I was like, first of all being serious. I was like, What the hell did I just do? You know what I mean? Like, I don't want this lady to feel bad. I wish I just picked the biggest thing I could think of would that would be a reason why you wouldn't want someone near you during a pandemic. I could have said anything. I wasn't thinking. And normally, this is not how I would have acted in public. I think it was just all the rushing around and silliness. And anyway, not the point. So it turned back to her and we wished each other well. And as I was getting ready to leave, she said, You're such a lovely person. And I said, thank you. And she goes, I'm really glad we had this conversation. I feel better. I was like, Oh, thank you very much. And I said, I am very sorry about my joke earlier, that led to this conversation. But I'm glad that we talked. And she said me too, when the mother waved goodbye to me. And as I was walking away, I heard the mom say he was so nice. And I thought sure, like, I don't know, like whatever the noises for wiping your brow and throwing a lot of flopsweat aside because I felt like a dick Sheila,

Sheila 52:51
like, oh, no, no. I mean, no, that's we were very nice. And, and people do make that comment. I mean, you know, a lot of times in life, they'll say, well, but don't cancel, you know, I mean, but that's not

Scott Benner 53:05
usually how I roll in public. You know what I mean? At the very least, that was not indicative of how I am in public. Like, I'm not a person, I'm not a podcast host when I'm walking around a store buying a monitor, do you know what I mean? Like I was just trying to get in and out of there. And it just it was the whole interaction. It was how it was how oddly, she was shocked by my presence, and how she was suddenly worried about my health. And I don't know, like, my brain just went to the biggest thing, like, Don't worry, it's, it's not like I have, and then that word came out of my mouth. And I felt hurt. I feel bad about it now, as I'm telling you the story. But I also I also was very impressed with my ability to turn it around. Because, and you know, what I, you know, what I give a lot of credit to, I want to thank the people, it's talking to people online, like, like, it really has helped me to know how to streamline a conversation. So that so that you can have a reasonable back and forth with people and stay out of the weeds and stay out of the arguments, there is a way to talk to anybody about anything. And I and I actually am telling the story, not because I'm proud of it, because I'm, I'm embarrassed. But because I think it really proves that communication is possible anywhere because I put myself in about the deepest hole as I possibly could in that moment. And we still got to a good place and rather quick. So and, you know, and kudos to her for not just like kicking me in the balls, which is probably what she should have done. You know, they seriously she probably should have just said fuck you and hit me with something. But, but I just, I don't know, it was it was really interesting, how quickly we were able to get on a personal level like to strangers and I had a lot of empathy for obviously, and I think some of that comes from talking to people to like understanding more deeply what that means not just hearing like, Oh, I'm having breast cancer. And then but having spoken to a person like you for example and and having deeper content Anyway, if that person ever hears this, I am genuinely sorry about that. And but I thought it was worth mentioning here.

Sheila 55:06
Yeah, no, that's a good story.

Scott Benner 55:09
It's a good story. I didn't tell my wife for two days. Because I was like, I knew she was going to be like, You're a moron. I know, that's how she was gonna start.

Sheila 55:21
I mean, you handled it, you handled it wonderfully. And, and, you know, that's what people should do. I mean, that's a it's a good example for everyone. Well,

Scott Benner 55:30
I handled it wonderfully after I made the problem. So we all make mistakes. Thank you that I appreciate it. Because that was a big one. I mean, honestly, I wish you could have in the first 10 seconds heard the thoughts in my head. Like, I was like, You, idiot. Like, why that? Why anything? Why not just smile and say, Thank you, like, why did you like and Oh, my God, anyway, is there I got the car afterwards, I just sat there for a second. I was like, Oh, my God, I am so stupid. And I felt bad for her. And, you know, like the whole thing. But I got out of there. And I'm hoping she's, well, it sounds like she had a good plan. And she was going to a good institution. And I think she will probably make out pretty well, based on her her example or description of what's going on. So anyway, knock on wood for her. Okay, she was sorry. See why I didn't want to tell that. AAA actually,

Sheila 56:29
I think it's a good. I mean, it's a great story. It says a lot about you, because you are very, very good at you know, talking and relating to people

Scott Benner 56:41
use the all my talking skills in that moment. Because I just I had to, I had to speak next, right? I had put her in this awkward situation. It was on me to fix it. And I was pretty, but I was pretty sure that the next thing I said had to move us in a different direction. Like I didn't even want to start with a like, you know, like, oh my god, I'm sorry, because I felt like I would have been apologizing for her breast cancer, which I was. Oddly, that's not how I felt I was apologizing for my ridiculousness. And then it was funny, I think just making the podcast and maybe me being who I am, in some way blended. I was immediately interested in her story then. And I thought that that would probably be the most comforting to her is to just be able to verbalize what had happened to her. And so we I just I basically interviewed her in a store for like four minutes. Wow. And it was and it seemed like it she was grateful to talk about it with somebody made her really comfortable. And then we joked a little bit about my mom with with her mother and, and then she got to talk about our mom and how proud she was of her. And it was really nice, honestly, just started very poorly. Anyway, I won't be doing that again anytime soon. That was, you know, if you said you've learned you've heard this podcast, if you remember me telling the story of when I was 20. And my friends betting me that you couldn't say anything to a stranger and get away with it. You ever heard that story?

Sheila 58:09
I listened to it sounds vaguely familiar. I've listened to all of them. But I don't know if

Scott Benner 58:14
it's a lot. I don't remember all of them either. Yeah, my my buddies and I were sitting in a diner, like in the middle of the night one night, doing what kids do like talking about the world and everything. And I made the assertion that I thought you could say anything if you said it the right way. And they bet me like $20 that I couldn't. And then gave me a very, very bad word to say to the waitress. And I had to try to work it into conversation in a way that would leave the person. Comfortable still. And I failed. I failed miserably the first time. Like to the point where I think I lost the $20 in the tip later, I was like here, sorry. And then we explained it to the person. We were like, look, we were it's a thought exercise and it was dominant. We're sorry. But eventually, I did get to that point. And now like one of the nicest things people say to me is like I had somebody told me one time like you could tell me my dog died. And I think I'd thank you when it was over. And I was like, Oh, thank you. I do pride myself on being able to speak to people. So anyway, has a lot of story about nothing. And I'm sure most of the people listening now are like making pitchforks and like things to burn on my front. Because it was terrible. But a lot, a lot of good came out of it afterwards. So I'm gonna call it a wash at least. What else? Sheila? Like, I mean, you just keep saying things like did your head fall off ever or anything like that?

Sheila 59:40
But actually, alright, so I have one thing that I wanted to get in on the podcast, and what brought me to listening to the podcast. So at some point in my 40s my endo said You know, you get a metal if you have diabetes for 50 years And I thought, really, I thought, wow, damn, I want to I want to get that right. And then I started when it was getting close, and I was about to get the medal. Couple of friends said, you know, surely you should write a book. And, and so I thought I, you know, maybe I will. And I thought first I'm going to look and see what's out there already.

Scott Benner 1:00:21
What do you find? I,

Sheila 1:00:22
I had never really said to myself, gee, could you be doing this better? Like, I was just living life, you know, working, I got my kids everything else. So I, you know, I started looking around. And I found all these books, you know, and I read, I read a bunch of them, I read, you know, sugar surfing, and I read things like a pancreas and, you know, bright spots and landmines and, and then I started, you know, finding, you know, Googling around. And I found stuff on Facebook, and I found the podcast. So, up until then, like my a one sees would be like, in the sevens. And, and my doctor would be, you're doing great. You're, that's beautiful. That's great. And they never even said, but you could be doing better. So since I started listening to the podcast, now, my agencies are in the fives.

Scott Benner 1:01:28
Wow. I appreciate you holding that story until after I told my terrible story, because it makes me seem better. And maybe it'll get people to cut me a little bit of a break on the

Sheila 1:01:39
I mean, this podcast is just wonderful.

Scott Benner 1:01:43
I'm glad. That's that's, that's really terrific to hear. I actually found an article online. Have you celebrating your 50 year Willie medal? Oh, yeah. That's really, that's beautiful. Do they still do that? Yeah, you can still get a lovely medal. That's excellent. Oh, yeah. Tell me a little bit about. So you, you mentioned three books that I I'm just gonna admit I've never read. But I've have I've had two of the three authors on and in. And I've heard nothing but great things about them. But what was the difference between reading a book and listening to the show? Like, how was one thing? I mean, how did it strike you? Like the anatomy? Like why did one thing get to? And the other thing too?

Sheila 1:02:27
Well, I mean, the books definitely, you know, they were good. And they had information. And I did, you know, get little pearls of wisdom from those. But I think with the podcast, and especially over time, like, there would be topics that you covered, you know, early on, like in the, you know, 100 200. But then, like later episodes where they would be revisited and like really going into more depth. And then also just the all the stories that people would tell, you know, almost every episode, there's some pearls of wisdom. Somebody says something, and I think, Oh, I didn't know that. Or oh, I could do that. I could try that. You know, and it just all adds up?

Scott Benner 1:03:17
Yeah, I think so the repetition is valuable. It's hearing it and building on top of it. That's valuable. Is it being spoken even better for you? Yes. Yeah, I think so too. I, somebody asked me, a publisher asked me to write a diabetes book wants I should not say this out loud, because people are always like, Scott wrote a book about diabetes, but I just don't think it's as valuable use of my time. Because I think then you put an idea down, and it's and it's stagnant then, and you can't you can't build on it. You can't like in the Pro Tip series, there's the bump and knowledge episode. And when I made it, I thought, that's good. That's perfect, that does what it needs to do. And then I watch people online, and once in a while I would hear people like I could see that in their management. They were bumping and nudging too much. And I would go say to them, Hey, look, you know, if you find yourself always making adjustments, your core settings are probably off, like you shouldn't have to be adjusting this often. And then I went back and listened to the bumper nudge episode, and I was like, Ah, I never said that in there. And, you know, you can think, well, we should have. But I think what people might not understand about the podcast, and maybe why it works in the way you just described, is because that when Jenny and I sat down that day to make a bump and nudge episode, we sat down with two words in front of us bump and nudge. And in fairness to Jenny, those aren't even diabetes terms. And so we started talking and having a conversation about it. And it's not like I don't know what you all imagine. It's not like I have a bullet list here of things I meant to talk about. So I just let the conversation take me where it does, even when we're doing the management stuff. So I was like one day I'm like, Well, this needs an appt As I need to add more context to this, and we made a bump and nudge to I call Jen, you know, I said to Jenny, hey, next time we record, I want to make an update to the bump and nudge episode, because I'm seeing people online say this thing. And I feel like they need more context. Now, I don't know if the people online who said that actually heard the bumper nudge episode, right? All I can tell you is that the information I'm putting out, it needed this addendum. And I only knew that by putting it out, and then watching people react. And and saying, Okay, well, I'm still seeing these questions in the world. We should address those questions, too. You can't do that with a book. Yeah, me. You can keep rewriting it. But I'm not gonna go back and keep rereading it. You don't I mean, like, if I added a chapter to a book, you're not gonna she'll she'll doesn't get a notification or house. It's like, Oh, they've added a chapter to a book I've liked. I'll go back and reread the entire book. That doesn't happen. And this is contextually is easier just shows up in your app, and you spend an hour doing the dishes and listening to me tell horrible stories about things I've done apparently at a store. And, and somewhere in there. Here's something that helps you. And, yeah, the format works. Yes, definitely. Yeah. It's and it's his dumb luck. Right. I mean, we talked earlier about a cell phone in a bag that costs across the dollar to us. I mean, it didn't have data. I don't know. I'm gonna look up a bag phone right now and see if I can figure it out. Yeah, there it is. I

Sheila 1:06:26
know. It was just, you know, just a phone call. No, nothing. Yeah, nothing, no internet access.

Scott Benner 1:06:35
Yeah. And so the point is that that technology came along. And I think what 2000 2006 Or seven, the iPhone. And when it came out, people didn't even know what to do with it. It didn't do anything. That's why the App Store is so important that people now would understand that. But back then, the phone came with a calculator. It came with email, it didn't even come with email, like it basically didn't do anything you could get on the internet, it was super slow. But adding, you know, beefing up cellphone towers, and making the signals faster, and allowing third parties to make apps. That's how you get a podcast. And then that happened. And then the world shifted away from reading, which made me shift away from blogging, and all these things intersected to you at you know, in your 60s, which is, by the way, pretty cool that you found a podcast and saying that my a one season the fives now and I could make a point that you're a one season the fives now because cell phone technology got better or because Apple opened up an app store or any number of reasons that lead to a podcast being a real thing.

Sheila 1:07:46
But But no, absolutely. The the pot. I mean, those things helped you to do the podcast. But the podcast has helped me.

Scott Benner 1:07:57
Yeah, Sheila, listen, I'm terrific. But I don't have a leg to stand on right now after telling that story. So I can't talk about that. I can't really, at this point, there are people calling the police on me. They're like, Did you hear what he did do something. But no, I appreciate that very much. It's, it's, it's the other part of it. Like I talk about it sometimes. But it's just being able to communicate, it's not something everyone can do. And I didn't even know that. It's funny how these stories kind of coalesce once you start telling them. But when I wrote my book, I did write a book. It wasn't about diabetes was about being a stay at home dad. Yeah. And I would go out and do media for it. And did one. And I think it's pretty clear. Like, if you've ever done business with me, you're doing business with like, this energetic version of Scott, I don't have an ability to act professional. And so my book publisher got an interview for me. I went and did it. And it came out. And she called me actually to have them call me. And they were like, You were terrific. And I was like, I don't know what you're talking about. She's like in the interview are amazing. And I was like, I definitely wasn't amazing. I just guy asked me some questions. I answered them, I talked a little. And she said, she starts then talking to the other publisher, we're on a three way call. And I'm now suddenly not part of it. They're talking about me in front of me. And the guy says, it's because he's not really an author. And I was like, I was like, Oh, this feels insulting. where's this going? And then they started saying to me that people who write books are generally speaking great at writing, but they're not terribly good at talking. And I didn't and as a general rule, and he's like, and he's like, this is working because he's not really a writer. Like he's, he's not a person who lives in his head and like, you know, like that kind of stuff. So I started doing more and more interviews, and I just having a good time, and it was going well, and everybody's probably heard the story about eventually I ended up on the Katie Couric show When she's like, you're good at talking to people, and I made a podcast, etc. But I heard someone just the other day described if you ever heard of Huberman labs, who are is that how you say it? It's a really popular podcast right now. Oh, yeah, no, I'm, it doesn't matter, it's Huberman lab. And the guy that's on the episode is just naturally, a good communicator. But he happens to also have a lot of knowledge about the things they're talking about. And I think that every once in a while, you get a mix of somebody who understands the thing, and can talk about it. And that's, that's where the value comes in. And I for whatever reason, I'm good at that. In regards to diabetes gifts, absolutely. just dumb luck, Sheila, that's all the same reason you're still alive, by the way.

Sheila 1:10:50
I mean, you probably added years onto my life.

Scott Benner 1:10:53
Well, I was gonna say dumb luck. But yeah, like, just doing better. Do you feel better? Do you like that difference between a seven a one C and a five? Is there like, noticeable difference?

Sheila 1:11:03
Well, I feel good. I mean, I do. I look at I don't know if you probably know this, but I mean, there are type ones that, you know, are out there that have had it for like, 85 years. Like this is starting to happen. Yeah. And, and I look at them, and I say, you know, all right. That's, that's my next goal. And I, you know, and I might make it.

Scott Benner 1:11:30
Yeah, damn, right. You might, I mean, hell, you're still alive. After all this? I think you're, it's the same way I think about my mom. So my mom, you know, people are kind of following along 79 years old, looks like literally looks like she's about to die. Can't get a diagnosis right away, we finally get one next thing. You know, doctors don't want to do surgery. You're so old. It's not going to work, blah, blah, blah. My neighbor's kid grew up to be a surgeon, he hooked me up with a friend who hooked me up with another person. My mom gets the surgery removes the cancer. She spent the next year in chemo. Not fun, you know, with this kind of eye on the prize of moving to where my brother lives. And I'm not gonna lie like we carrot and stick my mom a little bit through chemo. Like if you want to get out there to see Brian mom, like, this is what you got to do today, you know, and she gets the all clear and moves out there. And she's there for three, four months. And the other day, I just out of nowhere. I'm like, I haven't talked to mom and a couple days, then this never happens to me. I talked to my mom like every 48 hours, right? And so I texted my other local brother here. And I was like, Hey, you talked to mom, last couple days? He says no, I don't think so. And so I texted my brother out in Wisconsin. I'm like, something's wrong with mom. And he's like, what? You were just talking to her? I'm like, No, I can't reach her on the phone. Something's wrong. But she lives in a facility meaning that she lived my mom was dead. Someone would have told us we imagine, right? Like so. So I'm, like me, you'll imagine, right? But the more you learn about these facilities, no matter how nice they are, by the way, you wonder what's going on. So I say to my brother, I'm like, you gotta go check on her. He's like, alright, like, you know, so he heads over Friday, two Fridays ago. And he gets there. And my mom's like, out of it, like oh out of it. And he assesses her dresses or takes her right to the emergency room. Oh, my gosh, and sends me a picture of her in a wheelchair slumped over. And he says to me, she was awake five seconds ago. And I was like, get her there. Right, right now like go. So he gets her there. And it seems like she has a UTI. And this kills elderly people, or you have all the craziest things, right? And so they hit her with a ton of antibiotics and five hours later, and they you know, give her a bag of saline. And five hours later, I'm FaceTiming with her and she's like, fresh as a daisy. Hey, what's up? And she's fine. Right? Right. Oh, my God. But the next day she wakes up, she's slurring her words, that something's not right. No energy sleeping the whole day away. And we're like, what is happening? So they do all these scans and everything. And it takes them a day or two to figure out they think she's having a little seizures. And then she's sleeping because they're not not strokes, like seizures. And so she's having little mini seizures, where she kind of goes blank for a second. Then she sleeps for 12 hours. And they're happening pretty frequently. So she's not rebounding ever. So they put her on a couple of seizure medications. And it doesn't get better. And I make the phone call to my kids. I'm like, Hey, I You gotta find time to call grandma in the next 36 hours. I'm not sure she's gonna be okay. And so my kids call or check in on her. My son calls back he says my grandma sounds horrible. Like she's like swallowing her words. Like if she was going to say protein. She'd be like prompter like that, you know, like really like couldn't hold her thoughts. We were asking her questions over and over again. to test her memory from just minutes ago, and it looks like she's sliding off a cliff. And then about four days later, she just calls me. And she's like, Hey, Scott. And I'm like, What's up, mom? Now in the last four days, my mom's throwing trays of food on the ground in the hospital, yelling at people out of her mind, not herself at all. The hospital understands, right. It's not like she wasn't, and she just turns back on. And so the infection gets through her. The medication starts to work. She gets a couple of days of real sleep, and she's just herself and better again. Wow. And I was like, Wow, mom, you're going to live forever. Like, I just, I have now thought twice in 14 months. Everybody call grandma on this is it. And she just bounces back? It's I don't know what it is about her. She's got so many medical issues. And she's at, you know, she'll be at one this summer in August. But I believe it now. Like I think that if you can get some help. And if if you can get some people looking out for you, and a little bit of good luck. You can go for quite some time. You know, yeah, yeah, that's it. But make no mistake, and translate this back to diabetes. If you're listening. If I don't recognize that I hadn't heard from my mom and two days. I don't think she'd be alive because my brother was on. My brother was on the night shift. And he wasn't going to make it there for a couple more days. And the place she's living, you can say, well, they're supposed to take care of her. But these places are not always what you hoped them to be. Right? Yeah. So anyway, we have a meeting coming up with them where I imagine I will be unpleasant. Because people need to do their job. Sheila Don't you think?

Sheila 1:16:48
Yeah, no, you're right. You're right. I think they all you know, the state of the world right now. So many places are short staffed. Yeah. And you know, it's just it makes it very difficult.

Scott Benner 1:17:02
Oh, sure. There are people helping my mom. They're 18 and 19 years old. Right? Yeah, this is the best job they could get. They're not interested in helping people like me like it's a low paying job. They're they they probably don't even know what they're looking for. But my sister in law goes back and talks to them afterwards. And they describe my mom and the decline. But they never did anything about it. Just yeah, we noticed she wasn't herself. Your mom's slid out of bed. That's not normal for her. She seems fine. She seems fine, though. She seems fine. She was slurring her words by then and getting ready to pass out and everybody was just like, Oh, she seems fine. Like, yeah, no diagnostic ability at all with the people that she has contact with day to day. Yeah, you know, so anyway, save a lot of money if you can. Yeah. Gonna be a moment when you get older and you're gonna need to, you're gonna need to buy your way out of it. It's, it's terrible. Anyway, don't get older, right? Yeah. Okay, there you go. Unless you want to stay alive, and then you're gonna have to Oh, man, what have we not talked about that we should have? Ah,

Sheila 1:18:13
we hit the main points for me. So good. All right.

Scott Benner 1:18:18
Well, I can't thank you enough for doing this. And honestly, your story brought out my story, which I thought 45 minutes ago, I was probably never going to tell anybody. But then when you had breast cancer, I was like, Well, this is I have to tell the story now. glad you did. Thank you so much. And thank your husband for taking such good care of you. Because it sounds like he's a he's a good guy. Yes, he really is. You made me think of a post that I saw on the Facebook page. Yesterday where a guy asked if he's dating a girl, and he's worried that she's not he, like he like comes out and says I'm worried this person can't love me. You know, because of my diabetes. Oh, you know, and he got such good advice from people and made me feel like I hope he hears this. You know?

Sheila 1:19:09
Yeah, ya know, there's wonderful people like my husband out there, you know, he just loved me for who I was. It's beautiful.

Scott Benner 1:19:19
Hopefully everybody finds that. And if you hold on for one second, I will explain some stuff to you about how this goes from here. Okay, thank you

a huge thanks to Sheila for coming on the show and sharing her life story. And I also want to thank us Med and excuse me, still upset about the ad I just read. I didn't read it by the way. It's I don't know I just said it. I didn't read it. He imagined if I wrote down the story, I was in the bathroom. I didn't do that I just said off top my head. Anyway us med.com forward slash juicebox or call 888 8721151 for head over there now get your free benefits check and one day you'll be ordering supplies from the can us mint.com forward slash juice box links the shownotes links at juicebox podcast.com. When you use my links, you're supporting the production of the show and keeping all this free and plentiful. So that will get you a big thank you for me. Thank you. You know what? I haven't done the last couple of episodes. I forgot to do it. I'll do it now. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back soon with another episode of The Juicebox Podcast. I swear I put a toilet flushing sound right here if I had one