#1053 Some People Call Me Maurice

November 1, 2023Scott Benner

Justin has type 1 diabetes and is a Paramedic.

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Scott Benner 0:00
Hello friends and welcome to episode 1053 of the Juicebox Podcast.

day I'll be speaking with a paramedic named Justin who has had type one diabetes for 30 years since he was 10 years old. Justin is very much into physical fitness his family and letting people know that diabetes doesn't have to limit them. Today we're going to talk about Justin, his diabetes growing up with it, his job, and so much more. 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, or becoming bold with insulin. If you'd like to save 40% at cosy earth.com use the offer code juice box at checkout, you can get five free travel packs and a year supply of vitamin D with your first order of ag one at drink, ag one.com/juice box. And if you're looking for glucagon, the one in fact that my daughter carries check out g voc glucagon.com/juice box. If you're looking for community around type one diabetes, you must check out Juicebox Podcast type one diabetes on Facebook. It's a private group with 43,000 members. There is a conversation happening right now that you would absolutely be interested in or be able to help with this episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by Dexcom dexcom.com/juicebox. Head over now find out more about the Dexcom G seven or the GS six and you can get started with the CGM that my daughter wears Dexcom

Unknown Speaker 1:57
oh my god, can you believe it?

Scott Benner 2:06
Doe a D deer a female deer. The podcast is also sponsored by us med us med.com/juice box or call 888721151 for us med is the place where Arden gets her diabetes supplies and you can to better service and better care is what you'll get from us med us med.com/juice box links in the show notes links at juicebox podcast.com.

Justin 2:37
My name is Justin. I live in the Pacific Northwest Washington State. Have two young girls Addison and Leila Addison is five Leila is three. Married My wife's name is Lindsay and currently we both are in healthcare. I work as a first responder at a local fire fire department. And then my wife is a physician's assistant. Been a type one diabetic since the age of 10 years old, so 31 years now. Wow. And that is why I am here chatting with you.

Scott Benner 3:13
Oh, that's excellent. Oh, wow. You have diabetes for 31 years. Correct. Okay, happenstance, completely the person I interviewed yesterday was from the middle of Washington State. How weird is that? It is actually kind of strange. Because first of all, not everybody says where they're from. And now it's two days in a row and they're like I'm from Washington. I'm like, Cool. Well, you were diagnosed a long time ago you were diagnosed in a time of did you make regular and mph or were using cloudy or animal insulin? What were you doing?

Justin 3:45
Yeah, I use combination. So I remember in the mornings taking two injections one with the short acting one with the long long acting the NPH and and then everything in between when I ate and then at nighttime again. long acting NPH and the short acting if I got I was the type of person who always had a glass of milk before bed I don't know why so I'd always take a little bit then so I felt like I was taking like 10 or 12 injections a day or as frequently as I was eating but yeah

Scott Benner 4:22
was the building we did technology was the milk warm Justin was to help you drifted a dream boy

Justin 4:27
no something might my father had milk with like every meal and I think that I just like I thought it was the normal thing like milk with breakfast milk with for a snack milk with lunch milk with dinner and then for some reason I got into this like milk before bed milk was like water in my family and I learned that from my dad and I think it's just like I thought it was cool when I was little and then it just

Scott Benner 4:51
but you were done. Were you recovering it with insulin or no?

Justin 4:54
Yeah, typically I was. So in that was all dependent on what my blood sugar was. Right. So I would say nine times out of 10. Unless I was going to bed, you know, mildly hyperglycaemic or something. Yeah, I would I would cover it with a little short acting.

Scott Benner 5:09
Okay. If you hit that, that line, so what is this? Like? 1990? Was 191. Right? So yeah, you're just on the other like meters were just becoming more like things people had in their homes in the late 80s. Like, right around there. So you had you had a glucose meter like that? I did. Okay. Was it accurate? Do you think? There's no way to know, I guess, right. Yeah, I

Justin 5:33
don't think I would have known any different. Yeah, you know, it, especially at the age of nine or 10. You know, for me, I was just told, here's what you have. And here's what you have to do. And, you know, I don't think that I would have known whether it was or wasn't. And you know, as you get older, you can tell whether something is accurate or not based off of maybe how you're feeling. And I've had that with the sensors. Now. It's like, especially the earlier sensors. I'm feeling a certain way. And my sensor says something else. I'm like, I don't feel like I'm already right now. Or I'm 250. Yeah. But but with the blood glucose, that I mean, that was your that was the only thing besides a urine test script, which I just didn't use that often.

Scott Benner 6:16
What was the first did you have the G four? Did you get the very first sensor?

Justin 6:20
No, I didn't. I started with the seven Medtronic.

Scott Benner 6:24
Oh, you start with Medtronic. Okay.

Justin 6:25
I did. Yeah. What do you use? Yeah, so I have the T slim for a pump. And then I use the G six and G six was the the first sensor i i really stuck with, because I had I had heart ache with the early generations. I just never found them to be accurate. And so I was I was kind of stubborn. And I just said, You know what, I'm just gonna poke my fingers 1015 times a day and just do it that way.

Scott Benner 6:56
My recollection, because Arden had the first Dexcom g4, and then she had seven plus. And then like she's had them all. But I remember back then. I mean, they were very new. You know, like, somebody had to tell me what they were. I mean, somebody just told me, when did you ever Dexcom I was like, I don't know what that is. And she told me I was like, Well, that sounds great. Then you use it. And to your point, like I couldn't tell like is this? Like, should I be looking at the number and what what I, what I eventually learned was with the very first CGM, it's not this way any longer. But I learned to just at least the arrows, the arrows that were meaningful, like, Alright, up down, falling fast, slow, that kind of stuff was really helpful early on, then obviously, it got better as time went on, but in the beginning, and that's I just use them for the arrows. It's supplemented with finger sticks constantly. Yeah, that's interesting. So you, if you had the Medtronic CGM, you had a Medtronic pump.

Justin 7:54
Correct. I switched over to tandem about a year and a half ago. I was with Medtronic for a very long time. And I was pretty loyal to them. My endocrinologist got to the point where she felt like Medtronic was a little bit behind, especially with their sensors. And so she recommended I switch. And I switched to tandem and you know, I've been very happy especially with the the weight and the size. I do think that they have been there a little ahead.

Scott Benner 8:22
Yeah, it's a good pump. It is. Yeah. Are you using control IQ? Are you using it, Matt? You are. Okay. So yep. So you were you doing automation with the Medtronic,

Justin 8:33
I was not because I didn't like the sensor. I didn't trust it. So I had a trust issue with Medtronic. So I was just running with the standard Basal patterns that we had set, you know, over time, so I wasn't using, I wasn't using the sensor, their hybrid technology with tandem. I have been, and I've been very trusting of it. I have had some issues. It's been infrequent, but they have happened. But I like the control IQ, it's really hands off, which is super nice.

Scott Benner 9:07
Especially now that I appreciate it more now that hardens at college. Like I appreciate it before, you know be but we were still like, I don't know, connected more frequently around things. So you know, but now there have been opportunities where there's just nothing like I can't contact her and she's in a class and she's not going to do anything, you know, and she's just living. And it's a it's just very comforting to see, like, I don't know, you miss on a meal or eat something it hits harder than you expect. And there's an upward rise and you don't do anything and it goes it stops eventually like it's gone. You know? Just fantastic. Really going back to when you were first diagnosed. I find usually that people in that timeframe like pretty quickly. Your parents aren't involved anymore, right? You just doing these injections and going on your way. Is that what happened for you?

Justin 10:02
Yeah, I do feel like that I felt like you know it at the age of nine and 10, though you're young, you can, you're pretty quick to figure it out. But I'll say this to back then, you know, 30 years ago, I remember them in the hospital, they just told me that you just can't have candy anymore.

Scott Benner 10:20
That was it. I was like,

Justin 10:22
I remember asking, like, I can't even have a Snickers bar. Like that's pretty, pretty huge for nine or 10 year old, right. And I just was like, heartbroken. But it wasn't the carbs were the the issue. It was just the simple sugars where the candy were. So I was told to stay away from those. And I thought, well, that's, it's heartbreaking, but it's pretty easy. And I do remember my father, because I didn't want to do the injections. He helped me with those for, like, the first summer I had it. But by the time you know, I'm going into fifth grade. He was fifth grade, I have to do those things at school by myself in you know, I, I was, as far as I know, the only one and they made me go to the office, I had to go to the office to check my blood sugar. I had to go to the office to do an injection. And the nurses and everybody were hands off. They're like, Oh, I don't know what this is. And so that was kind of weird for me. But I had to learn pretty quickly. Yeah. And you know, I'm not I wasn't nearly as efficient at managing it back then, as I am now. And that's from technology and education standpoint. But I had to learn quick, I was

Scott Benner 11:29
picturing myself in fifth grade. I was like, I didn't like my teacher. I was in trouble all the time. Like, you know, I didn't do particularly well on my classes. And I'm like, what if you gave me diabetes on top of that, like, I don't even know what I would do. You know? How did you measure outcomes? It was it just I say this a lot. But you weren't busy. And you were standing? Good day?

Justin 11:53
Yeah. Like outcomes as in when I when I took insulin, your hell? Which way? Am I trending?

Scott Benner 12:00
Yeah. Because think about think about how you think about your day to day health now, with all this data, right? And think of it back then, like, what was the golden?

Justin 12:07
I remember, and even today, I'm fairly highly sensitive to how I would feel. And so it's so weird to say, but yeah, I mean, you really learn how to listen to your body, which is, I think, good in a way right and really connected. But but I'll say this, I started really early, and I never had an issue. And I was fortunate enough to have parents who had good insurance. So I had a lot of test strips. So I have always been Intel, the GS six, I've always been a frequent tester of my glucose. So the feelings were huge, kind of understanding your body and listening to your body. But also I was a person who was testing at least 10 times a day. Yeah.

Scott Benner 12:55
So anytime you thought you notice something you would check. And that's just you, right? That wasn't instilled in you by anybody, I imagine. No,

Justin 13:03
I think it's just me. I think I think it is just me, because I'll say that, you know, as far as I remember, they wanted you to test it when I say they might my physicians, and they were recommending you test often, but they weren't telling you to do it 10 times a day. So it was just me, almost, it was probably a little bit of anxiety and a little bit of, I'm kind of a perfectionist, so So that's in me too. Like, I'm feeling a little funny, or I ate this food that I know will typically send me to the moon. So I'm going to check it and check in check it

Scott Benner 13:41
out. Sounds like common sense to me. I'm just fascinated that you figured out when you were a kid, you know, like it's just, I mean, we were doing that before CGM. Like I, I know, the doctor looked at me sideways. But we when we asked for test trips, I was like, I need at least like 12 or 13 of them a day. And she's like, for what? And I was like, Well, I'm testing. Like, at like, before meals, she was right. I said, and then like an hour after the meal, and she goes, why you're gonna be high then I was like, I think there's a way not to be high after that. I'm trying to figure it out. And I need to see all this information to figure it out. So she would she would look at Arden's logs in the beginning, and say like, I don't know how to make sense of any of this. She's like you're testing when people don't test. And I was just like, Well, yeah, because I want to know what's happening here. Like, I don't care if we started at and ended at I want to know what happened in between, you know, and well couldn't they couldn't track with that for a long time. But now they do obviously,

Justin 14:39
in reality, is there is there any such thing in my mind as too much when it comes to your data and understanding what your blood sugar is doing? Because for folks who don't have diabetes, I mean it's all time right? And so with a sensor you know, I know that the the G six and something like the libre, it It takes a peek at your blood sugar every, you know if three minutes, five minutes or even even sooner with the libre, I believe but I mean, in my mind, like, they should be applauding you Yeah, for wanting to know that right? It's

Scott Benner 15:14
always backwards no matter what you say to a doctor, they're always behind the times and you're always going like, trust me, this is a good idea. So, I mean, we were lucky enough to get them the test strips and you know, our insurance covered it which was terrific. But even now like thinking like people who don't have problems regulating their blood sugar's I don't care type one type two, you know, it's never anything you're gonna think about just you're gonna live your whole life and it's just gonna, it's gonna your, your pancreas is gonna work like your toe, like it just like does the thing it's supposed to do. But for people where it's not knowing sooner is just the key. You know, even if it's pre diabetes, for type two, like, like you want to see it, because there's something you can do. And when you're type one, it's every minute like I don't, I don't understand the idea of like, my blood sugar is gonna go up to 300 I'm just gonna ignore it. I don't feel well. I won't say anything. You don't I mean, I'm just gonna live through this and see how it goes. And it's interesting that you came to it that way where your parents particularly healthy people, exercising they eat well, everybody who has diabetes has diabetes supplies, but not everybody gets them from us med the way we do us med.com forward slash juicebox or call 888721151 for us med is the number one distributor for FreeStyle Libre systems nationwide. They are the number one specialty distributor for Omni pod dash, the number one fastest growing tandem distributor nationwide, and they always provide 90 days worth of supplies, and fast and free shipping. That's right us med carries everything from insulin pumps to diabetes testing supplies, right up to your latest CGM like the FreeStyle Libre two, n three, and the Dexcom, G six and seven. They even have Omni pod dash and Omni pod five, they have an A plus rating with the Better Business Bureau and you can reach them at 888-721-1514 or by going to my link us med.com forward slash juicebox. When you contact them, you get your free benefits check. And then if they take your insurance, you're often going and US med takes over 800 private insurers and Medicare nationwide. better service and better care is what US med wants to provide for you. Us med.com forward slash juicebox get your diabetes supplies the same way Arlen does from us med links in the show notes links at juicebox podcast.com. To us Med and all the sponsors. When you use my links, you're supporting the show. Now let's talk about the Dexcom g7. The Dexcom g7 is a small and wearable continuous glucose monitoring system. It sends real time glucose readings to your Dexcom g7 app or the Dexcom receiver. Use my link dexcom.com forward slash juicebox. To learn more and get started today, you will be able to effortlessly see your glucose levels and where they're headed. This way you'll be able to make better decisions about food, insulin and activity. Once you're able to see the impact that those variables have on blood sugar, you'll begin to make more purposeful decisions and have better outcomes. My daughter has been wearing a Dexcom My daughter has been wearing a Dexcom product for so many years. I don't even remember when she started. But today she wears the Dexcom G seven and it is small and easy. And oh my goodness, are you going to love it dexcom.com forward slash juice box you can head there now and click on the button that will get you your free benefits check or just hit that other button that says Get Started. When you use my links, you're supporting the production of the podcast. dexcom.com/juice box.

Justin 19:10
My mother? Yes, my father, not so much. My father was a very active person with his job. He had a labor job in so he ran heavy equipment and did a lot of dirt work. And so he was very active that way. But he was also a smoker. And like the only good meal he would eat would be because my mother cooked it for him. Yeah. But my mother has always been cheap. You know, my mom writes bike every day. She goes on a walk every day. She's been very attuned to her health my father would not not so much. So I think I think some of it my mom's mom is very much she's still doing yoga at 85 years old now. Wow. She's she's a really interesting lady

Scott Benner 19:58
your body stuff Oh, and your is it match your mom's? Are you kind of built? Do you don't I mean by

Justin 20:05
actually, yeah, yeah. So my, I think I'm more like my father so my father was a six, four. I'm six, two, he was very lean. I'm very lean as well. My mother, though she's, I don't know both my parents are fairly tall. My mom was five, seven. So for a woman that's that's fairly tall. And she she's muscular though she's kind of built like her her father. My mom's a little more, I guess mezzo morphic. You know, she she holds a lot of muscle. My dad was a little more Ecto morphic skinny. Yeah. Kind of like an in between.

Scott Benner 20:40
Right. Well, it's interesting, though, because you have your dad's build, but your mom's mindset. Yeah, yeah, it's good mix. Yeah, there have been times when I've looked at my kids and thought, Wow, this just went the wrong way. If instead on this topic, if it wasn't this from me, and that from Kelly, if it got flip flop, they'd be a disaster. And you know, like, you just, you just get lucky, you know? So, okay, so you go do I mean, I'm gonna, I don't even ask you, but I don't. I'm not imagining diabetes was much trouble for you through high school.

Justin 21:12
No, you know, but I was a silly high school student, like a lot of people. And so I, I paid attention. I did, but I also was, my friends were very important. So going to Red Robin, and experimenting and doing those things. You know, I do remember a time in my life where I had always kept track, and I always paid attention. But I wasn't as strict with it with the diet and all that as I am now. So I definitely had a time where I was very much just being, I mean, I hate to say it as an unhealthy teenager. But But I was, you know, I like I wanted to go out and eat with the friends and I want to go out and do those things. And it wasn't extremely frequent, but it was much more loose

Scott Benner 22:05
for sure to play sports in school.

Justin 22:08
Yep, I did. So I did. I played football, I ran track. And even those, I didn't take extremely seriously, but I did participate in your

Scott Benner 22:19
little. Hey, I just think to ask, I'm gonna guess no, because of the year. But did you pick up the smoking from your dad? Do you ever try it? No, no, no.

Justin 22:30
Didn't and I'm very fortunate my actually my father, my father's seven years ago passed away from lung cancer. Oh, I'm sorry. And it was something when I was younger, I stayed up late at night thinking about like, Man, my dad's gonna get lung cancer one day, what's gonna happen? What happened? You know, it kind of, there was a lot of fear, like what happens when you die? This is my father. Um, so I think the fear of I don't know why i i was quick to understand that, hey, this is bad for you. This is gonna be bad for him. I had no interest. And I had, I had a lot of pressure in high school from like, friends like, Hey, man, just try one. But just try one. And I remember at one time, I took a little puff off of one freaking disgusting, but never have never was I interested. And I have a long, long line of alcoholism in my family as well. And I'm not gonna lie there was there was time in my life where I had fun with friends. But I've never had any desire, or any addiction to feel as if I need to keep doing that. So I'm very, very fortunate that I didn't pick up on either of those things. Yeah,

Scott Benner 23:32
you avoided a number of things. I'm pretty sure I've never had coffee because I commingle Coffee and Cigarettes together. By the smell of my father's cigarettes along with coffee. The whole thing is just like it's nauseating to me. Oh, interesting. Yeah. So I've literally never had a cup of coffee. I'm thinking of doing it on the podcast. I was gonna say, well,

Justin 23:53
coffee is one thing. I didn't start drinking it until, like mid 20s. I started doing a little construction. I had a buddy who drank coffee as well to give me one of those. And then as I got into the fire service, it's very much a morning tailboard social thing. And so now I only drink a cup. Maybe two a day. But now, coffee. Coffee is my thing. It's part

Scott Benner 24:17
of your thing. Yeah. Yeah. I'm definitely going to try it at some point. It's just I don't think it's gonna blow you away. I think I'll be like, no. All right. Less than exciting. Yeah. Alright, so you get through high school. Did you go to college?

Justin 24:30
Yeah. So I went to a local community college and got an associate's degree from Tacoma Community College. Nobody in my family went to college. Nobody was steering me to college. I went to a small high school, so it was more built for tradesmen. So I kind of followed the path. I didn't know what the heck I wanted to do. But I did get an Associate's and I ended up going down to Texas. And I went to University of Texas down there where I got my paramedic certificate, and then I came back here to Washington State and I finished my bachelor's degree through Central Washington University.

Scott Benner 25:05
I can picture myself in high school standing in the parking lot getting getting ready to get into my car after school on a Friday afternoon, when a friend of mine says, hey, I'll see you tomorrow. And I thought, why would I see you tomorrow? I'm like, I'm like, I go to work. Oil. What are you talking about? And he goes SATs. And I'm like, what? And he goes, Yeah, SATs and I, and I swear to you, I said, What's that? I was, was 1988. And I was like, I'm like, I don't know what that is. And he's like, it's a test you take, too. And he's explained to me, and I go, I'm not doing that. And he's like, What do you mean, he's like, we're all doing and I was like, I'm not. And I went through, I went to my job at a sheetmetal shop the next day and made $40. You know, and, and it's just the same thing. You said it the way you said it made me think about it. No one ever mentioned college to me when I was growing up. They never once said, like, you know, after high school, you can, or nothing, it was stay alive. And you can get a job and your uncle and get a job and your uncle sheetmetal shop and this is over. You know what I mean? And so, anyway, it's just the way you said it really made it ring for me. Okay, yeah. How about when did you meet? Maybe that's the wrong question. Let me ask you a little bit about dating with diabetes. Because what if it wasn't your wife? So? Is that a thing that you share with women? Or is it something you kind of keep private? And show him a little bit of it? How do you handle that?

Justin 26:32
Yes. So early on, I felt embarrassed, I felt it was like, I mean, there just wasn't many people that had it, especially up into high school. So I never wanted anybody to know, it's like my friends did, of course, my close friends. But when it came to dating, I kind of felt like if I told them, they would view it as like, blue or a weakness, I don't know why. So I was pretty, I was pretty quiet about it. With as time went on, and as I got into, you know, college, and in really, it was much more prevalent, like to see someone walking around with a pump, or a sensor on or whatever it may be. And so then all of a sudden, I felt like I could loosen up a little bit because it was much more out there. But for a very long time. I didn't like people to know, because I didn't want to be viewed as like, weak or different. Or something like that, especially, especially from like a female standpoint. I didn't want them to think like, oh, well, I wouldn't want to have a long term relationship with him and get married have kids because he has this thing, right. I don't want that to be passed on or deal with that. So yeah, I didn't disclose.

Scott Benner 27:49
It's in your mind, though to like it. Yeah, I think it's seems reasonable to me that that would be something you would consider. Did you run into people who were like, yeah, no, thank you, or

Justin 28:00
no, and that, you know, it's weird, and it never really clicked, but I didn't be you know, I had a few very serious girlfriends that I dated for a long time. So So I wasn't a very frequent dater to have a lot of repetitions through it to where I was ever denied because of it. Maybe I was denied because of it. But it wasn't disclosed to me that that was why or why something didn't work out. But I never was. It didn't ever seem to be an issue. I think this was all just personal.

Scott Benner 28:27
Yeah. Okay. That makes sense. So you're Are you a paramedic now? Correct? Yeah. And I've been through this before, but EMT and paramedic aren't the same thing. Just give it to me. Yeah. briefly what the difference is,

Justin 28:41
it's just a different tier of training. So an EMT basic, is several months worth of basic life support emergency training, whereas is paramedicine. It's a year and a half more of schooling. And so we can administer certain it's a little more invasive, you can you can do more skills and administer certain drugs based on what your protocol is. So it's more schooling, and it's a little bit further training. Yeah.

Scott Benner 29:07
Does the diabetes get in the way of it at all?

Justin 29:10
It hasn't? No, I actually think that there's been some benefit because when I you know, all the patients we see need to start IVs on I was very comfortable with handling syringes and needles and drying up medications and all of those things. So there was a benefit. There were it was a downside, was getting into the fire service. I had one fire job that I had applied for in particular and I had made it through to the interview stage and was actually denied because of the diabetes they were they were concerned that I wouldn't be able to handle the workload or hours of the fire service. And so when I first got this job that I currently have, I've been at for about a decade. I was really really quiet about how lenient, I wasn't quiet to the employer, I did have to disclose it. And I did have to do some extra testing to qualify. But for we respond to a lot of diabetics in the fire service, a lot of people with hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia, maybe DKA, I didn't want to be lumped into that group. So when I was first hired at the fire department, my theory was, I will prove myself, and then over time will disclose that I'm diabetic. And I don't know if that was the right way to do it. But I just was worried that people were going to look at me as a liability. Because we go see so many diabetics, I was like, I just don't want people to think that that's going to be me. Yeah. And so I didn't disclose it. And I did find that that was a weakness, because I was I was hiding it. So I found myself in my room, you know, messing with my pomp or trying to be secretive about that. Um, so that was

Scott Benner 30:54
yes, I see both sides of it, though. Because your concern mimics what happens when people go to the doctor, and, or when, you know, you hear of a person, you know, diagnosed or kids diagnosed, and they're, they're in health care. Everyone they picture with diabetes is in their worst moment. Yeah, you know, and I've made the point before that it's not unlike a friends I have, who are police officers who just they come to expect bad interactions with people, because their whole day at work is poor interactions. Right? So it's so true. Plus, it worked for you in dating. So it wasn't a completely bad plan. You know, you're, you're like, I'll get in here. I'll make them like me. If they like me, I'll let them know. So yeah, and, you know,

Justin 31:34
that's I questioned myself a lot about whether that was the right way to go about it, you know, especially if I did have an incident, people would be like, What the hell's going on? Yeah, you know, but But thankfully, you know, especially at work, I, I'm very strict on myself, like, I will definitely stay away from high carb meals and whatnot, because I never know when the when the bells is gonna go off. And we might be gone for an hour, two hours or three hours in and you know, we I always carry something with me. I'm smarter than that. But I just I did have moments where I'd be like, I was wondering if I was making the right decision, not disclosing it. And there was a couple people who knew it wasn't completely secretive. You know, but of the 100. Some people I work with, there was a fraction that didn't, there was a large fraction that didn't know. And I remember over time, when I got more comfortable. And I'd pull my pump out of my pocket or something. They're like, I didn't, I didn't know you were diabetic. And like, oh, yeah, that'd be for 30 years. Yeah.

Scott Benner 32:30
And then it's just okay. Right? Because they know you already and it doesn't matter. Listen, I had, I had a kid on here recently, he got turned down by for a job like, obviously, because of his diabetes. And the law protects him, he could have not said anything, and then disclose them afterwards, after they hired him. And then they would have been more forced to pay attention to the to the, to the law, obviously. But this is not just about that. It's about camaraderie you have at work and people's ability to trust you. And and you know, like, especially in in a vigorous setting, and it is a vigorous setting, like what you do, yeah. Yeah. How long have your shifts 24 hours you do? How many of those do you do a week.

Justin 33:12
So our schedule, now you do 24 on, you get 48 off, and then 24 on and 96 hours off. It's a pretty cool schedule. We're there. I'd say an average of eight days a month or so we have times where we work 48 hour shifts, and we do trades and we pick up overtime, but you also get vacation, all that nice stuff. So it is 24 hours at a time. So it's like a second home for sure.

Scott Benner 33:36
Yeah, that's interesting. I know that, like people I'm close with, when they first got into police work. It was it rotated three to 1111 to seven, seven to three. And then you'd have two days off. They just started over. It was like seven to three, two days off. 11 to seven, two days. And it's hard on people. Like oh, man, I think people figure it out. That's just not a reasonable way to cover shifts like that. So 24 is not bad because you can sleep if you guys aren't jumping. You can, right?

Justin 34:10
Yep, yep, exactly. And I'll say that it's, you know, you never know what your day is going to be like, you never know what it's going to bring. You never know what calls you are you aren't going to go to and that's kind of the fun. One of the most difficult parts of the job, I would say is is those late night hours when you know, I've had plenty of shifts where we were able to lay down and sleep the majority of the night and it's great you know, you're getting paid the sleep right? That's fantastic. But you're always kind of half loaded. I told my wife I get home and I'm like, you know we slept for six hours last night and I feel like trash Yeah, I think you'd you just don't really get the chance to get into that deep sleep. You know, because you're always kind of you know, you're at work you're kind of prepared to potentially get up and most nights we do get up so

Scott Benner 34:59
it Listen, I only from the time I was 16 till I was almost 20, I volunteered at a local fire department. So I cool. Yeah, so I did that for four years. And obviously you're not sleeping at the firehouse. So they had these old like God to think of how old they must look now to people, but these boxes that would just picked up radio waves, and then just set off a searing alarm in your house. And you can be dead. Like, no lie, you can be dead asleep at 3am. And at 3:10am standing outside of the house, it's it's fascinating. Like, I think back now, like I woke up this morning, it took me 20 minutes to like, know which way I was going, you know, and, and, but there's something about that adrenaline hits you, and you're like, like, Seriously, I've had moments in my life where I'm like, wrapping a fire hydrant so that we can pull hose. And I think to myself, I've only been awake for six minutes. It's, it's, it's freaking weird. And so it's such an interesting thing. Yeah, I take your point, like, it's probably hard to get into a deep sleep, because odds are, something's gonna happen. And you're gonna have to roll somewhere, right? So, yeah, 100%. And

Justin 36:11
I think, as I've gotten more, as I've gotten older, and as I've been, I've been in the job longer, it definitely seems to affect my sleep more, you know, and then I also get concerned, and I can tell the difference, even in my blood sugar. If I have a rough night, and I don't sleep much, I think there's enough stress hormone in my body to where that next morning and that next day, I feel pretty insulin resistant. Yeah. And so I've questioned the longevity of the position, simply just not even just being a diabetic. But for a lot of people. You know, you see some unfortunate things that can stick with us. So there's a mental portion to it. And then the sleep though, is the big thing. I really think that sleep is important for us. And it's one thing and I know we're not the only job that doesn't get great sleep. There's plenty of them. But it is concerning me to think about doing that for 25 some years. How I'll feel after that, that chunk of time on my life.

Scott Benner 37:10
Yeah, yeah, it's um, I was just thinking like the way you said stress hormone just now is like, when we talk about, like growth hormones, we talk about, you know, we talk about, oh, my thyroid is out of whack. So my, those hormones are off, and nobody ever says, stress, like, like that. And it uh, it's definitely worth as a matter of fact, like, you made me write a note down. I'm gonna say, All right, that's just very worth talking about because it's again, something no one, we talked about it more in the, you know, in the moment, like management, like, oh, wow, are you stressed out today? Are you blah, blah, blah. But I don't think people know when they're stressed out. You know what I mean? Like, it's Yeah, I agree. Yeah, you're not really aware of it. Your stress is different. Because anyway, I've seen a dead body. And I know what that it's not fun.

Justin 37:54
Yeah, there's yeah, there's those those questions, you know, how many of those slides do I want to place in the, in the slideshow there? You know, I don't know. And as you get older, you know, I have little girls now at home. And I've I've had some really unfortunate pediatric calls and they've stuck with me and they're a little scarring and and then like I said, I there's these jobs have to be done. And I'm, I'm very fortunate to have the job and be a part of it. But there are times where I question how much of that I want to do and how much of that I want to see. And they've really affected me differently. As I've gotten older, and as I have children, and yeah, I don't feel old, but I do definitely. You know, when you're 20 years old, you don't die. Right. You're invincible, right? Well, you you know now, I'm 41. And I'm diabetic, and you hear a lot of bad things that come along with diabetes, and I start to question my mortality more and then you see sick people at work. And like you said about the police officer. You start seeing all these sick people, then you start feeling like, gosh, dang, is everybody sick? I could be me.

Scott Benner 38:59
Yeah, I had that thought sometimes making this podcast where I I'm like, God, everyone doesn't have an autoimmune disease. Right? Like, like that. But I start feeling that way or, but to your point of feeling indestructible. me right now thinks back on. I can think of picturing a fire where I'm on the roof of a three storey house with a soft in the middle of the night. It just by doing? Like, that's insane. You know, it's just not a thing that it's just not a thing that you do. And you do wonder, like, how how many times can I do this? I can picture an auto accident. Where, you know, we were setting up to take the door off this car. And I just went to look in the car so I could understand what it was we were doing. And I went back to the to the lieutenant I was like, there's no one in the car. What do we pull the door off the car for? And he goes she's under the dash. Oh no. And I was like, Wait What? And there's an old, an older, frail woman that wasn't wearing a seatbelt. And the literally she ended up under the dash and that in the passenger side. I mean, I'm never gonna forget that. Yeah, I take your point. So, um,

Justin 40:14
I say I say a lot of the things that that we see, you know, and there's there's so many people in the fire service in the police service that you know, that see these things, but a lot of it you're only supposed to see on movies. You're not I mean, no, and you get the chance to see that real life real person, and everybody handles it differently. You know, but it is. Yeah, it's interesting. And like you said, those are things that you will never forget, right. And I'm sure you have the opportunity to truly help some people, right. And that's rewarding, it really is. But it also comes a little heavy, too, when when you see those folks that, you know, maybe made one bad decision, or someone else made a bad decision that this other individual may suffer for that. That's, that's huge. And that weighs on you a little bit close friend

Scott Benner 41:03
of mine, I think I've mentioned this once on here before but told me the first time he had his gun out. And he was, you know, he's a police officer. He's at this house where there was a person in the house that made their way into the basement of homeowners like they just ran downstairs. And my friend starts to descend the steps and realizes that his legs are going to be visible in the basement long before his torso, and his eyes and his gun are clear. And he said I actually consciously thought, Do I really want to be a police officer? Oh, gosh, no kidding. Yeah. And and then he said, he's like, it's just the most like, charged up he's ever felt in his entire life. Gosh, yeah. And then you get down there. And the guy went out the window. And he's like, he's like, I was just like, like, frozen for a second like this. Just a crazy thing.

Justin 41:53
I really respect the the people in the police force because I tell you what, you know, I don't know what it would be like, especially if you were initially responding alone. In every every incident they go to the individual they're responding to probably doesn't want them there. They don't want to they don't you know, so it's, I don't know, I that would be a scary job. I really respect that position. I work closely with a lot of police officers because they secure a lot of scenes for us, you know, so it's a tough job.

Scott Benner 42:25
And it's also it's not like on television, like six cars don't show up with 12 people. It's like my buddies in the house going, okay. Like, you know, I guess this is me, if it was me, I didn't turn to the lady and said, Hey, bad luck. This guy in your basement now we ought to get the hell out of here, you know, believes in Yeah, I'm sure I'll get bored. Yeah, no, it's it's really interesting. So your wife is a physician's assistant. Correct? Okay. Does she have involvement with your diabetes? Now as an adult, she listens

Justin 42:57
to me be upset every so often when you know, I, I eat something and I take my insulin and for some reason, my blood sugar decides to take off on me. Or the other day, I was at work, and I had the catheter on my site, it came out. So I had for dinner, I had some chicken thighs, and I think I put on my fire gear. I don't know if it just grabbed it, right? I'm not really sure. But I ate a salad and chicken, not many carbs, my blood sugar starts taking off. And I'm taking insulin, and it's still going up. I'm taking insulin, and it's still going and I'm like, Alright, this is not fun. Well, I just happened to check my leg. And for some reason the catheter had come out, which is really rare, weird. So she listens to those things, you know, but I'll say she's very supportive when it comes to like, the diet that we eat, you know, we tried to eat pretty carb moderate, and we were very active people. She is a partner in all of that. But fortunately, you know, I don't, I don't my management. It's so second nature to me these days, you know, having it for 30 years. There's not a lot that, that that goes her way. I will say when we first met over a decade ago before I got a sensor, and we were we were having fun, you know, like we would go out and eat, eat cheat meals and all that she she witnessed a couple of a couple episodes where I was extremely hypoglycemic and a little confused, and that scared her a little bit. So she's had to witness those things and help me a little bit at times. Yeah, but most of my management now that's just it's me.

Scott Benner 44:40
So that brings up a good point. I'm assuming Yes, but do you do it with your children too? Like, do they know how to help you with glucagon?

Justin 44:47
No, so it's funny because you know, they're three and five and I think my oldest Addison she she would understand it a little bit if I if I sat her down and in you actually bring up a great point because it's something I should probably start talking talking to her about as she gets older and I haven't they understand that oh you're you're checking your blood sugar or Oh, you're you're pumped they get it, which is really cool. But I if daddy went down, I don't I don't think they would know what to do if you know mom wasn't here in my my, my wife works 12 hour shifts, so she's gone for 14 hours. So when I'm here with the kids, it is just us for a very long time. And I'm going to take a note too, because I don't want

Scott Benner 45:31
to see anything bad happen to you. But I just had this like interesting image of like a three to five year old standing over you the spent like Jeeva Capo bed you wake back up and like we got it that don't worry about it. I mean, it's something you're gonna say to him eventually. Right? And it's Oh, absolutely. You're making me think of this video I just saw online where there's a fire in on a kitchen fire. I don't know what I don't people must have cameras all over their house at this point. I don't understand exactly. But you know, something's on fire in the kitchen, the guy that put the thing on, he's gone for a little bit. This very little kid like walks in the room like little and just assesses the situation. And turns around is like, whoa, everybody. The kitchens on fire. You know, like really like, like, sounds the alarm for everyone. I'm assuming nobody ever told him to do that. And you know, I funny? Yeah. I mean, I get your three. Your three year old is not going to help you. Five or six man. I don't know. Like he's there. Yeah. Which one do you have?

Justin 46:27
For the glucagon? Yeah. Which

Scott Benner 46:29
one do you use?

Justin 46:30
It's just the typical Well, that would be the the hard thing to you have the red box open? Yes. I

Scott Benner 46:35
have the red box. It's been discontinued. Yeah, yeah. So I don't know if it's actually happened yet, but it's happening. So your options are and full disclosure there. There are an advertiser, the G voc hypo pen, which is where all about it's super simple. I bet your kids could do that. And then there's the knees. Sam writing it down right now. Yeah, but and there's a nasal spray too, but I don't know. interested? Yeah, I'd be more. I'm looking around for it. I have a I don't know where it's at. It looks like an epi pen. And you pop the cap off. Press it against the skin. You get one click the second click means it's done. That's it. I have an episode that explains how to use it. But yeah, I don't know. Anyway, just isn't it funny? Like this is your job. And I almost think you and I are looking at each other. I don't do every episode looking at people. But I was like, Hey, how about glucagon? And I saw your eyes for all like, hell. Yeah, but no, anyway,

Justin 47:32
firefighters are the worst that were

Scott Benner 47:36
I every time a thin pretzel like like a hard pretzel from a bag, this is gonna seem like a left turn. Every time I have one of those I think about my dad, because they would, they would sit on the bar at the firehouse. My dad was a fireman. And oh, cool. They guys would get together. They drink beer on the weekend. So it always be this basket of pretzels there. And like they didn't eat those things sort of pretzels. Like I, I take a bite of one of those. And I can see my dad like leaning on the bar. And like all that stuff. It's pretty interesting. I went back there recently for an event. And the whole place had been completely just renovated. And I was looking around I was like, where's Where's where's my childhood memory? What you guys deal with it? And yeah, they're like, oh, that's over there now. And I was like, okay. But anyway, we spent a lot of time doing that. Also, people don't realize you're in a rig. And the sirens are going to you know what you're heading to? Does that hit your blood sugar? You get adrenaline from that?

Justin 48:38
Yeah, it can. It kind of it goes to its to that same as a rough night. It's the stress or I had. I had an interview the other day for lieutenant's position. And I was so nervous that I think that stress hormone was present, I became a little insulin resistant. And I'm like, I watched my blood sugar trend up and up and up. And so calls that have been intense or made me a bit nervous. It has affected my blood sugar. It's fairly rare. Now, you know, it does take a lot to get me spun up or excited. But we go to like a pediatric call or we I was on a train derailment here. Wow. That that one spun me up a little bit too. I will post a bio by an hour, two hours and all that it will start to just naturally trend up in the wrong direction. So yeah, it most certainly does.

Scott Benner 49:37
Do you have any issues? I'm assuming your algorithm kicks in, but then when the adrenaline goes away, you need to eat ever for that afterwards,

Justin 49:44
you know, you know, I haven't I haven't had any issues. The only time I've crashed after an episode like that a stressful incident has been because I've been overly aggressive self bolusing because I'm sure Trying to get it down because I'm hungry or whatever it may be. And so then all of a sudden, you know, you have your algorithm that's kicked in, it's not working fast enough for you. So then you self Bolus, and then all of a sudden you take off the wrong direction. And you start trending down pretty rapidly. I've done that several times, just out of frustration of like, Gosh, darn it I want to eat or whatever it is, or I've been high for two hours or three hours, like just come down. So your pump wants to work a little more slowly and safely than that. Me getting a little overly aggressive. Yeah,

Scott Benner 50:33
trying to get through it. Yeah, yeah, um, I take your point, though, about eventually, it just becomes like I can, I can put myself back in a cab of a truck, and you're hearing like things coming over the radio. And when you're younger, it's like, ah, but as you do it longer, you just start prioritizing in your head, like when we get there, I'm going to do this, and then this, and then I'm gonna, like it just sort of turns into, it's interesting, because something that would freak most people out eventually, you see is like, just kind of black and white. Exactly. Yeah. So we're 50 minutes into this. And I think we're covering what you did. But I want to be sure, like, why did you want to come on the podcast

Justin 51:09
I've wanted. So this was out of recommendation from people that I surround myself with friends, they're like, You need to start speaking about your experience with diabetes, and you need to, you know, and not to not to not to sound like overly cocky or confident or toot my own horn. But I feel like for 30 years, I've been pretty successful. And on the other side of that, I think a lot of us now know someone who has passed away from diabetes complications, or who's had it, or who's considered a fragile diabetic or whatever else. And so, I've told myself, I wanted to start volunteering my time, and speaking to individuals like yourself, about my experience, and what I do, and hopefully people who who want to listen, maybe we'll learn something, or even with kids, or people who feel like Man, this sucks having diabetes, and like, I feel like I may be limited or I can't do these certain things. Well, I mean, I just want people to know that that is not the truth at all, especially with all the new technologies that we have. So for me, I just wanted to you know, what you taught me, like, hey, you need to teach your daughters you need to get you need to update your glucagon. So it's kind of those things like I'm hoping to catch something, but I'm also hoping to contribute. And that's my biggest thing is like, an individual I work with his son got diabetes at the age of seven. And he saw me at the fire service. And this was when very little people knew I had it. He came up to me, he goes, Hey, I hear you have a secret. And I'm like, what, what secret you're talking about here? And he goes, Well, I know you're diabetic. And he said, Hey, I have a son who's diabetic. And he said, I want you to know that it's really cool to see you out here. Acting just as acting, participating in succeeding just like everybody else, because he's like, that's what I want for my son. And so for me, it made me feel like okay, I've done a pretty good job. Have I? Have I been perfect? Absolutely not. Am I still high? Sometimes? Yes. Do I still go low? Sometimes? Yes. Do I still eat crappy food? Sometimes, yes. But I also pay attention. I'm very involved. And I feel like if I can get out and share my story and talk to people like yourself and learn a little bit, I hope that people will just see that like, okay, I can do it, I can do whatever I want. I'm no different. It's just, you know, I always say that I'm driving a stick shift. Everybody else is driving an automatic.

Scott Benner 53:38
That's it. What do you think the keys are to the path that you're on?

Justin 53:43
I think it's just, you have to be very willing to put in the time and pay attention, right? I think a lot of us want the pill, right? Like if your blood pressure's high, just give me the pill. If your cholesterol is high, just just give me the pill we all we all want to do. The the eight minute ABS or the seven minute abs, nobody really wants to do that the hour in the gym. I think where the success comes is is you have to be willing to, to put in the time to to pay attention really put in the effort. Do a little exercise. Prep your meals, don't don't eat, don't in like I said I mean, from a mental standpoint, you got to go out with your friends and you gotta eat Red Robin every so often or whatever. I don't know why I keep using Red Robin.

Scott Benner 54:34
Every time you said it makes me think yum.

Justin 54:38
Exactly. But I think I think it's just it's just be be willing to pay attention and be willing to put in the time that it takes to manage it because it does take time and I've had frustrations all the time.

Scott Benner 54:51
And you just gotta you gotta get back to it that it's just I think so for me. The way I've learned to talk about it is that it that you just first need to understand how insulin works, right? Like, there's just nothing else is going to work if your settings are wrong, and you don't understand how the insulin actually works, from there, eliminating as many of the speed bumps as possible. That's what creates free time in your life and free space in your head. And you can actually go live the way you want to when you're always afraid. Like, I mean, honestly, the story here is you sleeping at work versus you sleeping at home, right at work, you're not sure what's going to come, you can never really relax. And if you don't know what's going to come with diabetes, you can find yourself in the same situation. So I you know, I just think that step one is understanding how insulin works. And then, you know, moving from there,

Justin 55:46
I think that that's huge, too, is kind of understanding how diabetes works. And I have been absolutely blown away by some of the people that I've talked to for the amount of time they've had diabetes. And not only them, but the people that are close to them, family members have no idea. And like I said, I have a just a quick little story. And this is what I see frequently. We went to a guy who was very hypoglycemic, we started an IV, we tuned him up, we got his blood sugar back, and within five minutes, he's up and he's feeling just fine, a little embarrassed, but neither he or his family knew how to treat hypoglycemia. This is what do we do? If that happens? Should we give him insulin? And I'm like, you want to kill them? Sure.

Scott Benner 56:31
That happens a lot. That really does happen a lot. People say that a lot. Well,

Justin 56:35
you know what's interesting, this guy had had diabetes for 25 years.

Scott Benner 56:39
The people around him no idea.

Justin 56:42
Not a clue. Not a clue. And so maybe he was maybe he was a little more educated. But I have a feeling if the people that were around him had no idea. He's probably not far behind that. Yeah, right. Right. Far ahead of

Scott Benner 56:55
it. In the end, it doesn't matter anyway. Because when someone gets dizzy, it's him. So yeah. We don't want the Dizzy guy being the only one with the information. So yeah, well, listen, we just it just I get the vibe, but you don't actually listen to the podcast, which is actually fine. I don't I don't mind. But how did you find it?

Justin 57:14
Yeah, so I did start listening to the podcast. But you're right before that I did. And so I listened to a lot of different health related podcasts. But I have not listened to anything diabetic specific. It wasn't until I first reached out to you that I started digging in to find more specific podcasts and even there's a camp local to us that I'm going to donate my time to for children that I started listening to podcasts like yours in I don't know why. Not that I know everything about diabetes or anything. I just felt. I don't know why I didn't listen to him. But But ultimately, yes, I am new to it was because I wanted to start sharing my story and in learning and being surrounded in, in the community of of folks like myself, right to just start offering my and sharing my experiences and learning from other people how they're doing it too, because I know there's people out there that are probably doing things differently than me that I can pick up some stuff from, or maybe doing it better than me too. So I think it just it makes it makes sense. It just took me a while to get there.

Scott Benner 58:24
Yeah, I mean, I understand. I mean, the reason I make the show, the way I make it is because it's my concern that people will like if we just got on and said the stuff. People would be like, I'm not this boring. You don't I mean, like I'm okay, I got a seven and a half a one. See, my doctor seems happy, like, why am I going to listen to this. So I've tried to mix it in more with people's stories. And you know, and then we slip the management in places, and hopefully everybody kind of comes along for the ride. But there's a Pro Tip series that helps people with management, there's both beginning series that helps newer people. One of them that I'm really proud of is the defining diabetes, because there's I don't know how many at this point, like dozens of terms that people just don't know. And they get like, think about it, like how do you not know how to stop a low blood sugar if you've had diabetes, but it's fairly common. And it's people who are like, the one that always sticks with me is that a lady said until I listened to your show, I didn't know I was on MDI. I also didn't know what MDI meant. Like imagine doing something every day you don't know the name of and yeah, you know, How good can you be at it? If you don't understand when someone says Bolus or hypoglycemia that your mind doesn't right away? No, hypo means blood you don't mean like, exactly like hearing it's like hearing a foreign language so you know

Justin 59:43
that it's it like my job. I've looked back at it and I we've I've had some very rewarding moments and for yourself, you have to feel that same way. When you hear a story like that, right like that. How cool is that that you are it's a very involved disease if you want to do Well add it in, you want to pay attention, right? It is, it's not as simple as just taking a pill for the most part, especially with type type one. So for you to be educating and helping folks and you hear someone say something like like that, that's got to be pretty rewarding for you.

Scott Benner 1:00:17
It is. And here's a good example of you only know what you know, earlier, you talked about your cannula getting knocked out, but you call it a catheter, because that's what you're, that's what you're surrounded with most of the time. Yeah, right. And not that, by the way, not that either of those is wrong. But like colloquially, you'd call it a cannula and you know that for sure. Right? And but you're so if you're, if you're not surrounded by the words, when you go to do something, how do you like, and then the words are tools. So if you don't have the tools, then how do you know what to do when you get into the situations and I mean, the way the healthcare system is set up, like you're not gonna, no one's gonna tell you any of that, like, so you're on your own to hopefully glean as much of it as you can, where are you going to find that from, especially when, as you know, you pointed out with your story, and many people have before, it's not like you're running around with a million people who have diabetes, and you can all kind of like, lean on each other a little bit. You know, what

Justin 1:01:08
I really appreciate appreciate about your podcasts, especially as I started listening to it in I felt this way, when our physicians are overwhelmed, right, and whether that's a general practitioner, or an endocrinologist, or whoever it is that you see, thinking about 20 minutes with you. In my personal opinion, it's not enough time, I can't tell you how many times I've spoke with my endocrinologist, which I really enjoy. But I feel like they're not going to remember the the conversation that I just had with them. 20 minutes after I'm gone, they're on from one person to the next into the next into the next. So it's, it's our duty, as a diabetic and my duty as a diabetic to to, to be very involved myself, no one's going to do it for me, but also to share what isn't isn't working for me, because I've been frustrated with my physicians, because I can just tell that they don't have the time. They can't sit down there with you and baby you through all these things. You really have to pay attention to do these things yourself. And that's why I think podcasts like yours, where you're educating people are the people who are willing to hop on and listen and do it. I mean, it's the it's going to be the best route for you.

Scott Benner 1:02:14
I can't tell you how, in the beginning, I had a blog, and it was popular. And it helped people I could tell by the feedback, but the leap from a blog to a podcast for how many people you hear back from and how much more quickly they can absorb the information and all the all that stuff. It's been like, it's crazy. I am honestly at the point now, where if I don't hear from 20 people a day, I think the internet's broken, you know, there's nothing wrong with the internet, how come I'm not getting the emails and the notes today? Like, you know, I mean, I just take your point. It's, it's, it's a perfect distribution system for this sort of stuff. And I'm glad it exists because you meet a person who was just diagnosed. And maybe I never say hi to them, maybe I don't know them, but they know me. And they know this conversation. And I just think about 20 years from now, when their life just kind of rolling along. They'll, they'll have forgotten about me by then, which is absolutely fine. Like I don't I don't want people mired in it. I want them to, like thrive, you know. And it's just it's very cool to think that you're impacting something like that they had the real opportunity to go the wrong way. Yeah, but your, your point about the doctor's appointments. So my, my son just got his first job and left the house and my daughter's in college. And as soon as I, I was like, Alright, I'm gonna, like take care of better hair myself. Like, there are things my body doesn't do well, that I'm like, I've been ignoring this my whole life, like I'm going to figure it out. But through making the podcast, we met a integrative endocrinologist that helps my whole family with their thyroid issues. And I thought, I'm just gonna go to her. Like, she's like, don't get me wrong. She's the cache doctor. You know what I mean? But But here's, here's the difference. My initial appointment was 90 minutes long. I sat in a chair, she sat next to me, we chatted, I went over my entire life health history, she took notes she got done, she said, here are the three areas I think we need to do blood tests for I went to I mean, I can't believe I didn't run out of blood the other day when I was when I was at the lab. And when those tests come back in a couple of days, I don't have to go back and see her again. She's gonna send me an email. Your tests are back. We're gonna do the things we talked about here, here and here. Is there a place I can send a prescription to where blah, blah, blah, or do this? And it's happening, it's happening. It's happening. It's not like I see them. The test comes back four months later, I get another appointment. I cancel it because my kid fell. And then it's now it's nine months later, they ended octopus. I have to run those labs again. They're too old. Like it's that hell you get stuck in, you know? So, I mean, I don't know what we'll think You're out or what we won't figure out. But I know for certain there's an honest, focused effort going into it. And I can still turn into my insurance who will pay for most of it. So it's hard. That's, you know,

Justin 1:05:12
as I say, it's, it's rare that you have found that and that's why I've recently just had an appointment yesterday with the doctor who specializes in functional medicine, just because I know that I'm not completely happy with my endocrinologist, but at the, you know, where I'm at, I feel like most of the times my visit for them is just to update a prescription. And they look over my trends. But I mean, when you're looking at three months worth of blood sugar data, and you do it over a 15 minute period, I mean, what are they really? Are they really getting out of it? And he looks at me when seeing he's like, Oh, you're at 6.1. He's like, that looks really good. He's like, Oh, I see you had 40 in there. Don't be 40 anymore. I'm like, Okay, that sounds good. Was there anything else I can do for you how your how your prescriptions are they fall? Like, well, I can probably use, you know, a refill on the Novolog. He's like, okay, good. Well, hey, we'll see in three months, wherever you get your bloodwork done. Yeah,

Scott Benner 1:06:01
he's your drug dealer. Really? He's your drug dealer? Justin. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 100%, you bump into him on the corner, he acts like he cares about you a little bit gives you a prescription for a job, okay, full pen and some insulin and you're on your way. Again, you made it more eloquently stated earlier, it's not their fault. Like, it's just the whole things like this, you know, I had a Yeah, I can't say with who. But I got invited to grand rounds at a pretty prestigious hospital. So like, I'm going to give the talk at Grand Rounds. Right? And hopefully very cool. That'll all come together. And but while we were setting it up on the phone, I said, you know, can I float an idea I've had to you that I've a lot of people have like, heard and been like, oh, we can't do it. It's always around insurance. And I said type ones, type twos also, but type ones very specifically, stop seeing them 15 minutes at a time. Why don't you have them all come into an auditorium and talk to them for three hours? Why not do it that way? You know, and then run around at the end and do the personal hand, whatever you got to do for insurance. I'm like, but they all have the same questions, or they all have the same idea. You know what I mean? Like do it all at once I say let them sign something that waives their HIPAA rights if they want to, like talk out loud or something like that. But but that's a better way. It's really it's a podcast in person. And that's a great idea. And I've sent it to a couple of hospitals. Some of them are like, Oh, it's insurance problems. It's HIPAA issues. But the last time I sent it to somebody, the person on the other end of the phone said, Boy, I've thought about that, too. And I'm like, should do it should do a pilot program with 20 people, you know, and see if you can't see a measured difference. So anyway, there's a free idea for everybody. That's all I kept you longer than I said, I was going to you okay. No, I'm

Justin 1:07:54
absolutely fine. Yeah. All right.

Scott Benner 1:07:55
Is there anything that we haven't talked about that we should have? No, you know, I

Justin 1:07:58
think for me, and hopefully, in the future, I'll jump on here with you again, you know, but but for me, it was just wanting the chance to get on and just chat about being a type one diabetic and, and, you know, 30 years is or 31 years is not the oldest living diabetic out there. And not the longest by a longshot but, but I just want people to, for me, I want people to know that you can be successful. You know, there's a lot of great technology out there. You can do anything you want to do. I mean, I'm a very active person, we travel a lot, we do a lot of fun things, you're not limited by anything. And so for me, that's that's kind of my big thing is, is just being able to hop on with individuals, like yourself, learn a few things from you share a few things about my life, and hopefully, like like, you know, educating people and people say, Wow, that's great. I can't believe that. I didn't know that now. I know that. Yeah. I'm hoping hoping people will will catch something from me.

Scott Benner 1:09:02
I think they will. This is a terrific conversation. Do you have like social media where people can find you? Yeah, so

Justin 1:09:07
I just have a personal Instagram account. And it's it's at J Maurice. That's my middle name. It's J M. Au, our ice 81 My birth year.

Scott Benner 1:09:19
Give it to me again. I'm gonna look it up. J.

Justin 1:09:21
J. Maurice. 81 is J M. Au our ice 81

Scott Benner 1:09:27
for there at other J Maurices on Instagram. You wouldn't think that there

Justin 1:09:33
would be but it just just J Maurice wasn't wasn't available. And most of what I post on there is is my my young little daughters because they're they're more fun than me.

Scott Benner 1:09:43
Yeah. All right. Well, cool. I hope people can reach out and find you there. I really do appreciate you doing this. Thank you so much.

Justin 1:09:50
Yeah, Scott was nice to meet you. And I hope like I said one day in the future. I hope we can chat again and stay in touch and maybe I can bring you some information and I I can learn from you. And like I said, I've started listening to your podcasts. And I've been more focused on that. Because for me wanting to be more involved in deliver, hopefully deliver education and continue to learn things, and especially show young children that, you know, I was young too, and I had it in kind of a look at me now, I hope to stay involved. And I hope to chat with you again.

Scott Benner 1:10:24
All right. I'm going to ask you one more thing before you go. I appreciate all that. Sure. How the hell did you get more racism? middle name?

Justin 1:10:30
Oh, yeah, right. I know. Not very, not a very typical, and it wasn't that whose family did you? Well, my dad's best friend's name was Maury. And so they originally wanted to name me after my dad's not my mom. But my dad and his best friend wanted to name me, Maury. And my mom was like, No way.

Scott Benner 1:10:54
She's like, Oh, yeah, so

Justin 1:10:56
somehow they came up with Maurice and it landed is my my middle that I do have I have three first names. My My last name is also a first name.

Scott Benner 1:11:08
Well, I can't believe I'm gonna say this, but your episode title might be the pomp what does that line from that Song Pop Pop potamus of love eponymous of love or however you said is it? Yes. The Joker?

Justin 1:11:20
The Steely Dan song? I think it is.

Scott Benner 1:11:23
Is it not? Steve Miller? How do you not know?

Justin 1:11:26
Steve is Steve Miller? Yes. Yeah, yeah,

Scott Benner 1:11:29
I'm like, am I barking up the wrong tree here? I think it's in the Joker. Right? Everybody calls people call me more people call me Murray's. Yeah, well, that might be your episode title. Hey, I love it. That's really wonderful. I have said it before. And I'll say it again. My middle name is terrible. And I'm never gonna say it on here. Maybe on the last episode, but I'll tell you when we get off. So thank you very much. I appreciate it. You got it. A huge thanks to Justin for coming on the show today and sharing his story. I also want to thank Dexcom dexcom.com/juice box head over Now get yourself a Dexcom G seven or maybe a G six. Of course the podcast was also sponsored today by us med. You can get your diabetes supplies just the same way we do at US med. As a matter of fact, I'm going to do something with you right now. I got an email the other day that Arden's Omni pod supplies, were ready for filling. I found the email. I've clicked According to our records, your prescriptions or supplies are due for refill blah, blah, blah, check my address. Reorder, it's done. Us med.com/juice box or call 888-721-1514 hand to God as they say I just reordered Arden's Omni pod supplies through us mud in the time that you heard me do that. Honestly, I kind of forgotten about the email that arrived the other day. I was just downstairs a half an hour ago. My wife's like, hey, there was a phone call from us med about reordering supplies, which means the email came after I had it for a few days and I didn't reply. They started calling my house. My wife reminded me I came up here found myself making this ad completely just randomly, and you listen to me reorder the Omni pods. That's how long it took. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back soon with another episode of The Juicebox Podcast.