#1093 Drive to Birmingham

December 26, 2023Scott Benner

Heather is a nurse and the mother of a child with type 1 diabetes.

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DISCLAIMER: This text is the output of AI based transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors and should not be treated as an authoritative record. Nothing that you read here constitutes advice medical or otherwise. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making changes to a healthcare plan.

Scott Benner 0:00
Hello friends, welcome to episode 1093 of the Juicebox Podcast.

Heather had been a nurse for 15 years when her seven year old daughter Liza was diagnosed with type one diabetes. This episode has a lot. Again, I It's hard for me to, like encapsulate it all here for you, but it's a crazy diagnosis story that includes DKA, and so much more. 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. Don't forget to save 40% off of your entire order at cosy earth.com. All you have to do is use the offer code juice box at checkout that's juice box at checkout to save 40% at cosy earth.com. When you place your first order for ag one with my link, you'll get five free travel packs and a free year supply of vitamin D. Drink ag one.com/juicebox If you're not already subscribed or following in your favorite audio app, please take the time now to do that it really helps the show and get those automatic downloads set up so you never miss an episode.

Today's episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by Dexcom, makers of the Dexcom G seven and G six continuous glucose monitoring systems. dexcom.com/juicebox This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by the insulin pump that my daughter wears Omni pod. Learn more and get started today with the Omni pod dash or the Omni pod five at my link Omni pod.com/juicebox podcast perfect. Yeah, perfect. Thank you. I was making a post for the for the Facebook page while you were talking. So hold on. I'm not quite done. Let me just finish. No worries. People are like how do you do all this? And the answer is I have two computers and I'm constantly doing two things at the same time.

Heather 2:23
So are you headed to Savannah? Is that when you're going to Atlanta?

Scott Benner 2:26
Yes. We're taking we're picking Arden up? I think I'm supposed to say Arden goes to schooling? Where am I supposed to say Chicago? Yeah. But yeah. But we're going. She was on one time and she's like, tell people I'm going to Chicago

Heather 2:38
and I'm like okay, I did thoroughly enjoy her episode. Oh, thank

Scott Benner 2:42
you. She'll be back at some point. She'll be home soon. So yeah, we're going to so this started out as it started out as we're going to just record Heather. Okay, is that fine? We can just keep talking perfectly. Okay. So we'll introduce you in a minute. It started out as Arden has a car at school, and she's coming home. And that went to my wife going I don't like her driving all that way by herself for the first time. And I said, okay, and I was like, Well, what's your plan? She said, I'm going to drive down and drive back with her. And I said, Wait, you're going to drive down and then just tandem drive back with her? She's like, Yeah, I'm like, I mean, that's still driving alone. Now you're driving it to. And we had it all set up. She was going to drive like halfway. And then we were gonna put her in a hotel like not like a CD, like people get murdered hotel, like a decent place where she could sleep the night and then you know, finish up. And Kelly's like, No, I don't I don't I don't want her to do that alone. I was like, Well, why don't you fly down and drive back with her. So we told Arden that aren't goes I need all the space in my car. I can't bring a person. I have a lot of clothes to transport home and I'm like, okay, so I said to my wife, well, I'm not let you do that. So I'll drive you down there. And then you can we'll I don't know what the hell like but I'm not, you know, I'll go with you. So it's funny. Yeah. So anyway, we're telling my son and my son's like, oh, you know, the Phillies are in town that week. So if you guys just left two days earlier, you could go to a Phillies game with me hanging out, I have a day off, etc. So that's nice. So we're going to so now we're we're driving to Atlanta tomorrow, and then spending the evening getting up the next day hanging out going to the ballgame. Then we wake up on Friday morning, he's got to go back to work right away. So we're going from Atlanta to Savannah, then that's like a four hour drive still. And then we're going to spend a couple of days in Savannah while Arden finishes up like we're just going to relax a little bit there. And then help her pack up and put her stuff in storage and she's actually storing stuff and bringing stuff home. And basically

Heather 4:50
your your you are taking this trip. So you can say you were a good husband. That's pretty much why

Scott Benner 4:57
well Heather, I like the way you say that because I'm the I couldn't get that credit here. But it's

Heather 5:02
exactly what my husband did when I went skydiving, that is exactly what he went with you. Well, he went, and the whole time we were driving there, he said, I can't believe you're gonna jump out of a plane. We have two kids at home, and all of this, and I was putting my suit on and getting everything ready. And I look over there, and he's taking everything out of his pockets. And he's stepping on the scale, because you have to weigh before and I said, Babe, what are you doing? And he said, What kind of husband whatever, you let my wife jump out of a plane, and I may not do it with her.

Scott Benner 5:39
He realized you didn't have any life insurance. He's like, I might as well jump out a plane. So if I gotta take care of the kids by myself, I'm gonna wish I was dead. So no. Yeah, I mean, it's funny. Like, I don't think of it that way. But it would be nice if someone else did once in a while. Like, hey, you're doing a nice thing here. I appreciate it. Yeah, I think my wife has high expectations. I think I'm just doing what she expects of me. I don't know what I'd have to do to to like to get like a up from her. I'm not sure

Heather 6:13
that's got to be what at least a 12 hour drive.

Scott Benner 6:15
Oh, it's for its for it. It ends up being 14. Yeah, it's terrible. And nonstop and in South Carolina. People can't drive. And it slows everything down that way. And by the way, what I mean by that is it's like, they won't speed up or change lanes. It's very methodical. Like here's where Lana is the same way. Well, Atlanta is like, well, actually, Atlanta is like that video game where you like beat people up on the street. It's insane. I the last time I was in Atlanta, I saw this is not a lie. I was in Atlanta for, I want to say four days. We went down. It was hard and spring break. Arden went over to Atlanta, Arden Kelly and I stayed in the hotel and we hung out with Cole for four days. Then we went back to Savannah set Arden up for school and came home. Ice saw two I am not over exaggerating hit and run accidents in Atlanta in four days. And one of them, one of them was an SUV. So we were stuck in traffic. There was a car and an SUV behind it. And I was behind the SUV to the right. So I had like a full view of what was happening with them. The SUV got I don't know what like none of us were going very far. But they saw a gap in the left lane. And they tried to shoot the gap. So they cut the wheel hard and drove over the back left corner of the car in front of them. Like hit it went up and over it and then continue driving. Well, and I about a half a mile later saw a police officer on the side of the road who was there for the construction. And I pulled over and I like said hello. And he's looked at me and like I kept my hands up. I was like hi. And I was like there's a black SUV. It's this kind of car. It's only right there. I pointed I'm like it's right there. It just was involved in a hit and run. They were the hit the cars behind us about a half a mile. It's it can't move. And I'm telling you that car was just involved that hit and run. If you stop it, you will see a ton of damage on the front of the car. And he goes, That's not what I'm here for. Oh, well. I was like, wait, what? And I said I don't understand. I said like, I think I have the plate. And he goes, Yeah, I'm just here for the construction. Nice. And I was like, Well what about the car that's disabled behind us? And he goes they'll call nine one. Like, obviously I all I could think was but you're here. And he Yeah, he did not care. I was like, okay, heat. Well, I think he was like, buddy, this is Atlanta. Keep moving or I'll hit you with my car. So anyway, my son tells me constantly about how terrible the driving is there.

Heather 9:15
I do hate to drive through Atlanta, we go frequently. We're bad to go just for the weekend to Atlanta because it's about three hours from here. But I do hate the traffic driving through there. Great

Scott Benner 9:28
City really nice on my son seems like he enjoys it enough and all that stuff. But yeah, anyway, and it literally drove up over the car. And the other one was just two people in the middle of the road screaming at each other and they just run into each other. And then while they were yelling, one of them just got in the car and drove away. I was like Ah, okay, okay. This is how we're doing it now. Anyway. Heather, why are you on the show? Do you have diabetes? Does your kid have diabetes? What's the situation

Heather 9:59
I do not. My daughter has diabetes and back in I think it was August. I may have been on your books for quite a while. I cannot remember if it was you or maybe someone in the group had posted a question about were there any nurses or doctors who missed their child's diagnosis. Okay. And I commented on there that went last, her name is Liza. And when Lazar was diagnosed, I had been a nurse for 15 years. And I missed it, but so did it took three trips and three different MDS before it was called. So not only did I miss it, but two other doctors missed it before she was in. Which I know we'll get to that. But when Lazar was finally diagnosed, I had multiple doctors tell me that she would not walk out of the hospital. So she was very sick by the time it was actually found figured it

Scott Benner 10:58
out. So when is when's the first time on a timeline? That you realize something's wrong, but you don't know what it is. Today's episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by Omni pod. And before I tell you about Omni pod, the device, I'd like to tell you about Omni pod, the company. I approached Omni pod in 2015 and asked them to buy an ad on a podcast that I hadn't even begun to make yet. Because the podcast didn't have any listeners, all I could promise them was that I was going to try to help people living with type one diabetes. And that was enough for Omni pod. They bought their first ad. And I use that money to support myself while I was growing the Juicebox Podcast. You might even say that Omni pod is the firm foundation of the Juicebox Podcast. And it's actually the firm foundation of how my daughter manages her type one diabetes every day. Omni pod.com/juicebox whether you want the Omni pod five, or the Omni pod dash, using my link, lets Omni pod know what a good decision they made in 2015 and continue to make to this day. Omni pod is easy to use, easy to fill, easy to wear. And I know that because my daughter has been wearing one every day since she was four years old. And she will be 20 this year. There is not enough time in an ad for me to tell you everything that I know about Omni pod. But please take a look. Omni pod.com/juice box, I think Omni pod could be a good friend to you. Just like it has been to my daughter and my family. We

Heather 12:40
were actually it's funny. We were actually on vacation in Florida in August of 2020. And Lazarus started just saying she didn't feel good. And I was like well, we're at the beach. We're at the beach all day long. And, um, yes, she was thirsty. But hindsight, I don't think it was enough for us to, for it to really be more than it being Florida hate in August, and we're outside all day long, that kind of thing. And she complained of her, her belly hurting. And Lazar has has always had some reflux issues. So we just attributed it to, oh, she's got some reflux going on. And then her throat started hurting, which is not abnormal for her, usually her stomach would hurt and then she would sometimes throw up and then she would have strep throat that has been Laza for years. So that went on for maybe a day and a half, two days. And so the next day I got up and I told my husband, I said I'm gonna run her to urgent care. Because if it is strep throat, we need to get some antibiotics. And it was right in the middle of COVID. Nobody was seeing anybody. So we were in a town, we did not know what and we go to urgent care. And of course, they immediately are like, this sounds like COVID And I'm like she doesn't even Okay, if that's what you guys think. So, they didn't even do a strep test or blood test or anything. They told me that it was viral, most likely, and possibly COVID to watch her. And so I was like, okay, so we went back to our condo. And she progressively that was on a Wednesday, Friday. I when I got up that morning I told my husband I said we're going home. Something's not right. She's sick. This is miserable. We're going to we're going to pack our things up and we're going home. So we did and on the way home. She was just just sleepy. But she just kept saying My throat hurts mama mouth throat hurts. And so we stopped at an a different urgent care have almost halfway home. Because at this point I would really was concerned that this might be COVID because she was starting to have some of the COVID symptom. She was tired her her nose was running. She it was just not your typical strep throat sickness for her. Yeah. And so we got to that urgent care. And he's like, oh, yeah, I think this definitely is COVID. So he swapped her for COVID. And it was of course, at that point in time they there, they did not have rapid test in the building, everything had to be sent off. So he also swapped her for strip and the strip was negative. And he did bloodwork cons that again is 2020. He but they only did a CBC. If only they would have done a cmp. Right, then they would have seen in glucose. But they didn't. They just done the CBC and of course her white count was elevated. At that point in time, the COVID treatment was a zitter, Meissen and prednisone. So here we go, we leave there and we go to the local pharmacy there and get her antibiotics and her steroids. And she gets one dose of steroids and her antibiotic and we make it home. And we spend the night at home, we get everything and she's still just so tired. So tired.

Scott Benner 16:35
Yeah, the inset the steroid didn't kick her up at all. Hmm. I'd like to thank Dexcom for sponsoring this episode of The Juicebox Podcast. And at the same time, I want to remind you that seeing your blood glucose levels in real time, not only the number, but the speed and the direction is going to help you in ways that you maybe can't imagine right now. You should definitely check it out at dexcom.com/juicebox.

Heather 17:00
Oh, no. And then Saturday, she gets her second dose of steroids and per antibiotic. And she she's more thirsty, I guess. But she's like, I'm not really hungry. Mom, I just want something to drink. And of course, she's drinking Kool Aid. Because I mean, you know, it's summer. And that's what we had in the fridge and all this stuff. And fast forward to Sunday morning around three. And she wakes me up and she's standing by my bed. She says Mom, I can't breathe. And when I look at her, I immediately know something's wrong. And of course now she was actually doing like that. The classic DKA respiration.

Scott Benner 17:44
Koosman respirations. But you thought she was yeah, you thought COVID was killing her? Right?

Heather 17:50
Yes, yeah. Yes, I did. 100% Because at this point in time, and again, I'll pause there for a second Lhasa did not really she was not wetting the bed. She'd had not lost weight. It was not typical. Yeah, though, on set. But I did this past week, I went to the hospital and I asked for Lazarus records because I wanted to be able to look at them more in depth before you and I spoke today. And in May of 2020, Lazar had to have any emergency appendectomy, which was three months before she was diagnosed. And her glucose in May of 2020. Her fasting glucose, because this was at 4am. This would have been when she woke up in the middle of the night was 124. And that's not really I mean, I know that that's not extremely high, but handsets. 2020. I think, you

Scott Benner 18:49
know, also with any with an illness, you could write that off to Yes.

Heather 18:54
And that's what I told my husband I said, you know, I don't think the doctors missed anything because she was sick. She was we had to have her appendix out quickly. And so her whole body was an overdrive at that point. So she didn't have that in May. And then she had a horrible strep throat infection in June, back to back from her appendectomy. So all of that went on. But back to August, when she woke us up. I immediately told my husband we've got we've got to go to the hospital. And when we got to the end of our road, like I said, we kind of live in a rural area, the closest hospitals 35, maybe 40 minutes from us. My husband said, okay, we can either drive an hour and go to this bigger hospital or we can drive the 3540 minutes here, and I said she'll never make it an hour. So we went to the smaller hospital. And when we got there, we pulled under the awning. And of course they're all at The door you know, they want you bound and masked and they want you their temperature checked and all this. And when they saw Eliza and me dragging her through trying to get her out of the car, nobody asked us to put a mask on. Nobody took her temperature. She went, she was triaged quickly, in the front of the ER and they immediately took her to the back. And the ER physician actually came in her room. Immediately I, I would say that we were not in a room, two minutes before he came in. And when he came in, he was asking me questions, and he was assessing her without a mask or anything, he was all in her face, which seems so crazy, you know, to think about, but at that point in time, everybody was so obsessed with masks and all of this. So I love that he saw how sick she was. And he didn't indicate it and think about that. He just was a doctor in the moment. Yeah. Immediately. He says, How many of the glucometer. And this was a hospital that I previously worked at. And we knew each other. And I looked at him and I said, Are you crazy? And he said, Heather, give me just a second. And I'll it was say was hi. When hate when I went oh, and then it was like a ton of bricks when you see that number. And he's like, where he asked where my husband was. And I said, hey, they won't let him in. Only one person. He's in the parking lot with our son. We drove we got him out of bed. And he said he needs to take him to grandparents and come back because she's in DKA. And at that point, I'm just what DKA she has COVID You know, that's literally in my in my brain when I'm thinking and then it all starts coming together. By the time we got to the hospital. Lhasa was unresponsive. And I was doing sternal rubs on her just to get her to open her as and they came in and did a course a whole bunch of bloodwork and everything and her her lab drawl. Her blood sugar was 760. And they did the arterial blood, blood gases, and her Ph which was 6.7. And when that's non compatible with life, and I know that is she was so acidotic by the time I got her to the hospital, we got there. So he comes back in and he consults the Children's Hospital closest to us in Birmingham, he tells us that they've accepted her, they have sent orders that for them to start titrating, insulin and everything to try to get her blood sugar down. But they wanted to start her on mannitol and mannitol, if you're not aware of what that is, mannitol is a job that's given to decrease brain swelling. So they gave they started that, and then my husband is sitting at this point, he's back. And I understand what they're saying, because of my medical knowledge. And he, he's kind of really taken aback by it. So for the first time, in our marriage of at that point, I don't know even know how long we have been married 16 years, maybe I was having to be the strong one for him, because I knew what all this meant. And he didn't. And I was having to take all this in. So he comes back in and he tells us once they get all the lab results back, and they send those to Children's Hospital, that Children's Hospital, called back and said that Lazar was not stable enough for their helicopter that they were sending their jet to the airport. So that was kind of mind boggling to hear those words. Because you've mediately anybody associated submit a VAC helicopter with urgent? I don't know that I've ever known of a jet to come but um, so basically Lazar was she got two doses of mannitol while she was at the emergency room, and we waited and we traded insulin and everything with her for the most part unresponsive. She would wake up after like I said sternal rubs and I would do my best to ask, Do you know who you are? Do you know who I am? Those kinds of questions and it would take eight to 10 times for her and then she would finally get it right to tell me who she was or who I was. So when they the transport team got there she actually Lily children's transport team picked her up and they rode in an ambulance from the emergency room to the airport. And then she flew, and a jet from the airport to Birmingham, Alabama. And then the Children's Hospital helicopter picked her up at the airport and flew her across town to the hospital. Where

Scott Benner 25:22
you were there we were. No,

Heather 25:23
we were not allowed to go.

Scott Benner 25:25
How did you get there?

Heather 25:26
We drove. And then it's about from where we were about two and a half hours by car.

Scott Benner 25:33
That's terrible. Did you have any communication while you were separated?

Heather 25:38
So I am a firm believer, and my faith is very important to me. It always has been. And I believe that people are put in your path for a reason. And that day, that particular day in the emergency room, one of a very good friend of mine was the emergency room nurse that day, charge nurse, and she stayed with us. And when they were getting Lazar ready to leave in the ambulance to go to the airport. Her name is Jessica Jessica came to me and she said, Heather, you know that it's two and a half hours. And I said I know but I can't leave her. And she said, Well, the ambulance is going to have to backtrack to get to the airport because the airport was in the opposite direction from where I would be going to try to get to Birmingham. She said I promise I will not leave her. I promise I will stay by her side until she is loaded, if you if but you need to get on the road so you can get ahead of them. And you can track Yeah. And that's probably the hardest thing I've ever had to do. But imagine to leave her like that. I was in constant communication with Jessica, I knew she was I knew she was in good hands, I knew that there was nothing I could do on the on the jet. All I wouldn't be doing was standing there waiting on them to load her in the ambulance to go get on the jet. So Jessica stayed, and my husband and I live to be able to try to get ahead of them. I can't remember a whole lot. I'll be honest about the drive to Birmingham, I do know that I called a friend of mine who's also a nurse whose son has type one. And I just needed to talk to someone who was there. And she her name's Nikki and Nikki really encouraged me through the way she told me that I knew what I was doing that I was just going to have to trust that she would be taken care of and everything. And when we got to Birmingham, we had to go through all kinds of security and safety measures because of COVID. Of course, before we could actually get to the PICU that when we were walking into the PICU doors, the flight crew was walking out. Lhasa had not been there long. By the time we got there. When we got there, it was to me, I don't know what my husband would say. But in my opinion, it was more overwhelming than the ER, because there she's in the bay, they have a gallon owner, she's unresponsive. She has IV lines everywhere, going and everything. And it was just that part was overwhelming. And our Children's Hospital is also a teaching hospital. So there are tons of residents and fellows that are there, rounding and of course learning and everything. So Steven and I had only been there probably not even five minutes and the PICU doctor came in. And I will never forget her. Because she come in and she introduced herself. And she's told us in my career. I've had two children sicker than your daughter, and neither one walked out of here. And that was a lot to take in to hear in that moment. But she was very blunt with us at the time. I did not appreciate but I guess now she had to do that because she didn't want because you're

Scott Benner 29:27
Why do you think I mean, I don't see the value in it. Like do you think she was trying to get you ready for lies that a die?

Heather 29:34
I think so. Um, I think there was more than one reason I think because clinically, her numbers quote unquote, were not compatible with life. And if she were to recover, clinically, there would be brain damage and there were lots of conversations had and I get that I think I probably look at that different than my husband and my Maybe even even you because the nurse and me like the clinically the clinical side of it. I'm also I'm not a nurse who likes to give bad news, obviously. But I also do like facts. I can appreciate her. I think she probably could have handled it a little better than when she did, though. And then the way she did, because we were already overwhelmed. Of course, it was, but I take that. And then like I said, I read for the first time, Scott, this, I have not had the nerve, I guess, to actually read the nurses and doctors notes from the emergency room that morning. But I went this week and asked for those records. So I could look at those. And I wanted to read those and kind of refresh my mind from maybe something I had forgotten or something from then and my husband and I were sitting last night at the table looking over them. And it's hard when you read a doctor's notes and you read him write the word death or die in his notes. And that was in Lazarus notes multiple times from that morning. I don't think there were very few people who expected Liza to recover. And I don't think they expected her. I don't maybe they expected her to recover. But I don't think they I think they expected her to have some kind of neurological deficit after

Scott Benner 31:35
Yeah. What what context were the words used in in the report.

Heather 31:41
So I actually can go get those, if any, if I need to. So basically, in his notes, he had an he had to make a note because it was critical assessment of an adolescent under 13. That was how he they had it had to be worse or how he worded it. But basically, he said that after he got the arterial blood gases back and compare those with her symptoms and everything going on, that the outcome could could result in death. And because her her carbon dioxide was 10. I think that I think they will I don't think I know, they based a lot of those decisions on clinical values, of course, and her symptoms, because she presented I mean, when we got to the emergency room, you could you could barely keep her awake, you couldn't. You couldn't get a whole lot out of her. And then in the PICU when we got to Birmingham, I mean, she was completely unresponsive when we got there. And then I did read in the note, which was surprising to me that her blood sugar dropped from 760 to 430. And they stopped her insulin drip. I started her and that was when they made the decision to start her back on mannitol. Because her she had perked up a little bit. When they first started the insulin. And she was she actually asked the doctor for something to drink. And then all of a sudden her neurological status changed in the next 30 minutes or so. And they consulted the children's hospital and they said that her blood sugar was dropping too fast that we need until they actually started her insulin drip back at a lower dose and they added fluid that had glucose in it to try to help not bring her down so fast. I really think that the second dose of mannitol just based off of what our conversations have been with her endocrinologist and her team at Children's Hospital was more precautionary than the first dose the first dose was specifically given because they truly suspected brain swelling, right because of the way she presented the second dose. I really feel like was almost preventative just because of the symptoms she was presenting at that time. So yeah, so that was that was how we got to the PICU Yeah,

Scott Benner 34:25
Heather, that's the longest I haven't talked on this podcast in a long time. That was really well I'm sorry for that. Oh, you made me cry three different times. I was glad to not be talking. Yes, something else.

Heather 34:38
I don't cry anymore. And I didn't cry. I actually didn't cry for a while. I think I was in survival mode. And the first time that I looked at Lazarus record and I saw some of her numbers that was very hard for me. Because of the I think it's the nurse and me because clinical trial, we just talked about the clinical aspect of it. I know what those numbers mean, if you read them in a textbook, and again, I have, like I said earlier, my faith is very important to me. My church is very important to me. God is important to me. I truly believe that Liza is and and let me just say that I know we haven't finished the pick up story. But Liza is 100%. All girl. She has zero neurological deficits. She plays basketball. She plays softball, she does gymnastics. There is absolutely nothing that she can't do. She puts her mind to it, and she does it.

Scott Benner 35:42
she ever talk Heather about it? Like, what is it like to know you? You just about died?

Heather 35:49
Actually, yes, um, she was I don't think we even discussed this in the beginning. But Liza was seven when she was diagnosed. And she's 10 now. So a lot of losses, day to day routine. She doesn't I don't think she necessarily remembers a whole lot of life, pre diabetes, because she was seven. There are certain there are certain things that she remembers, but this podcast was told to me or recommended to me while we were in the PICU. And I started in the hospital, listening to you. And I 100% my my endo team knows. My family know, my friends know, my church knows this podcast you, Ginni. The people that come on and speak changed the way I managed Lazarus diabetes 100% I don't think Lazarus life would be as carefree as it is right now. Had I not found your podcast? Ad? I do not think it would be like it is because yes, the pro tips are, are wonderful. The every the Scott and genies are wonderful. The afterdark are wonderful, every bit of that is great. But sometimes it is just hearing other parents, or even type ones themselves, talk about what works for them, what doesn't work for them. And one of the first episodes I listened to, and I don't know if it was the best thing or the worst thing, but I listened to Bo with insulin first. Out of everything, and I made my mind up then that I was going to be in control of lies is diabetes, not her doctors, that I'm the one who lives I will listen to them. And out and I will listen to what they have to say and take, you know advice. But ultimately, I'm the one who was with her every day. And so as far as Lhasa goes, we have discussed that she knows I have not held anything back from her will ask she'll ask questions to Steven or myself and we'll ask her. And if you were if you were to ask Laza if she were home today, what she thinks about her diagnosis story, or all of that. I can 99.9% with certainty tell you that she would say God saved her for a reason. And it's to tell other people about him. His mercy and His grace. Because in like I said, our faith is very important to us. And clinically. I should have planned a funeral Scott. But I didn't.

Scott Benner 38:47
You're making me very emotional today. I think there's something going on in my life with somebody I care about and I don't feel like I'm helping them enough. No, no. And then you you spoke about the podcast and I don't usually I usually keep a very healthy distinction between the podcast and me. And just now when you were talking it hit me more like like I helped and mail you did me upset so not upset in a bad way in a nice way but your story and then you hit me with that and I was like, Jesus, Heather I'm gonna cry in here.

Heather 39:29
Well don't I mean, no, thank you. And I don't want to know

Scott Benner 39:33
it's very listen. It's very it's lovely what you said and I swear to you on 99 Other days, I would have made some silly joke and been like oh yeah, of course I helped I'm terrific. But today I just was like oh maybe I really do help people and it was it just felt nice. So thank you you do

Heather 39:52
for and I can tell you that I have Lazarus endocrinologist is actually a type one herself. And you've helped her. We have actually discussed several things. And I have recommended the podcast to her and she actually has a list of certain episodes that she will use for newly diagnosed patients.

Scott Benner 40:15
That's wonderful. Please thank her. I appreciate that very much. Gonna call your episode drive to Birmingham, by the way.

Heather 40:23
Nice. Hey, that's better than what my work family said.

Unknown Speaker 40:27
So what did they say?

Heather 40:29
They said you would name it country as cornbread.

Scott Benner 40:34
I don't know. I find your accent soothing. So don't worry. I'm all good, right? Yeah. Country is cornbread. I don't know how you can tell that story. And then I'd make a joke about it. But no, I just to me, it's, I mean, you know, like, the first time you got me, you said you didn't think she could make the extra 20 minutes to the other hospital. And then thinking about leaving her, so that you could be there when she arrived? And I thought you must have thought, but what if I'm saying goodbye to her? Oh, 100% Yeah. And then what if she dies while she's not with me is the other thing I thought and then that was very upsetting. I had a I had a hard enough time leaving my kid at like, you know, in a safe apartment in Atlanta. And you're talking about doing that? That's one of those. Your your perspective levels up that day? You know, I bet you don't fuss with silly things. I don't know. I don't know. But you've you got different perspective than a lot of people do. That's really something else and then it then she's okay. And like, you know, it's 100% Why you're telling the story. It's like watching that movie with. With Leonardo, that Titanic movie, where I'm like, Oh, my God, I know how this ends, you know, but still, I felt like I was on pins and needles. And I haven't finished

Heather 42:01
story is definitely not for the faint of heart. It really is. No, I haven't

Scott Benner 42:05
felt like this since DK on a plane. Have you ever heard that episode? Yes,

Heather 42:09
I did. Yeah, that I listened to that. We took a 13 day road trip out west. And I listened to that while I was driving out there.

Scott Benner 42:18
Yes, man, she told that story. And then we get to the point where the doctor is from a different country. So they misread the numbers and like if they do the wrong thing for the kid, and I'm like, having a conversation with somebody who I am fully aware, their child is fine. And, and I'm listening to the story and like it was making me crazy. And then I put it online and people or people had the same reaction like that was incredibly intense. And it's it's, it's not as much about what said, it's a it's more about what you imagine is being felt while you're listening to the story. And that's your story is really good. I swear to you like the breakdown on this is going to be Heather spoke 80% of the time, Scott was 20 and 10%. Of that's going to be me putting in the ads and like saying stuff like Welcome to the Juicebox Podcast. Oh, and I'm happy about it. That was really well told. I think there's something about the blend of your, your medical background with the fact that you were involved in the situation with your daughter, and you just told it very, very well. Do you tell people this a lot? Or is this the first time you're saying this?

Heather 43:24
I actually won't before I answer that. I am sorry that I have. I think I jumped around a lot.

Scott Benner 43:30
Oh, no, no, I'm good. Don't worry about that. I am the way I think of the podcast. Heather is. Have you ever seen Pulp Fiction? The movie? Yes. Yeah. You know how Travolta is alive, that he's dead, that he's on the toilet. That's how I think of this podcast. Don't worry. I like that very much. I like the way it keeps people. I think I think it keeps people engaged while you're talking. So I'm happy with them.

Heather 43:53
Yes. If the answer to your question is yes, I have. I have told this story to several people. I use it. Most people like I said, we live in a very small town. So and when I say small Scott, I mean, that pre K you

Scott Benner 44:12
don't have all the ingredients for the cornbread together, go out and buy it somewhere else.

Heather 44:15
I don't even have a grocery store in my town. Yeah, well, pre K through 12th graders in one building. And there's about 550 kids were tiny. We live we're very small. So most people here know Liza, they know her story. I have had the opportunity twice. friends on Facebook, that are military. They had actually an Air Force wife. She was her daughter was diagnosed. And so my friend reached out to me and asked me what I be willing to talk to her and I did. I was able to do that and of course immediately recommended juicebox and she and I still communicate back and forth. With that, there's been several other instances with people where I've gotten random Facebook messages or even text messages. I have used it. Again, this is Lazarus story, obviously. But there are several things that have happened along the journey that have helped me. I know I've said it 100 times, but I'm not sorry for it. My faith is important. And Lazar had been diagnosed about six months, maybe before I actually looked at her, her lab work and everything. And I was just looking at looking at it. And it did upset me. I think I told you that just a second ago. But I heard slash felt, the Lord tell me that all of that we had fertility issues with Lhasa, we struggled to have her. And as the amount of pace I had, in that moment, I heard plain as day your fertility struggles were preparing you for today. Because when Lazar was diagnosed, I needed to know that you would trust me and not doctors, that you would put your trust and your faith in me. And I needed to know that you could do that. And I have looked at that at different since that day. This is just a journey. Lazarus whole story from conception till now, from the fertility to everything. And it's helped people, a lot of people struggle with not just diabetes. I mean, people's mental health is real. People struggle with all kinds of things. And if I can be a light for anybody, just that tailoring the struggles we've been through and how we've overcome them overcame them than I have succeeded. That's all I want. That's, that's all I want from any of this, even today. I've been so nervous about doing this really with you. Yes. Well,

Scott Benner 47:09
I'm not even talking.

Heather 47:13
That's what my husband said. He said, You know, you're gonna just start talking. I know.

Scott Benner 47:18
Okay, that's, that's good. It's a podcast, we need people talking. It's

Heather 47:22
been fun. You know, as far as like, our when we we left the PICU. And here we go back doing another turn around. She was in pick you for a day and a half. And then she moved to step down. And then we were we were sent home. Wow.

Scott Benner 47:38
I quit three days from death's door to home in three days. Yeah, that's crazy. Good for her. That's wonderful. Yeah, good for all of you. You know, it strikes me that I'd be remiss if I didn't bring up. So this is three years ago.

Heather 47:54
Almost August will be three years. You've been

Scott Benner 47:56
listening to me for like three years. Yeah, you know, I'm not a religious person. You don't care, right?

Heather 48:01
I don't Yeah,

Scott Benner 48:03
I love that. I love I don't care. By the way. I mean, cares the word wrong word. Like I don't have a thought in the world about how people like worship or anything like that.

Heather 48:12
I know. And I respect that. Because you I love that you have been open about that, that you don't you don't stop people from sharing their faith or, or whatever you let us talk how we want to talk. No, I'm

Scott Benner 48:24
just I'm very impressed. Because I've had people like say, I'm not gonna listen anymore. Because you said that, or when Arden did her episode. I think Arden like flat out says she doesn't believe in God, right. And in one of our episodes, and I had a lot of pushback from a few people about that. And they're like, I'm not listening to this anymore. And I was like, Oh, I'm sorry. I'm like, I really think it's gonna help you with your diabetes. But if that five seconds is gonna stop you from being helped I, you know, it's there's nothing I can do about it. But now it was just very, like, I'm happy for people to share how they feel. I think that's what the point of this is, like, I don't I wouldn't understand just bringing people on who like flat out agreed with everything I thought or vice versa. It doesn't make any sense. So I'm just sure really lovely.

Heather 49:09
And at the end of the day, Scott, like religion aside. My goal, you know, like, like I said, I knew that you're that you're not religious at all, just based on the last three years of listening to you. I can't let that stop me. And what I believe you know, yeah,

Scott Benner 49:30
oh, no, I wouldn't want you to I just I'm impressed that you didn't like i It says a lot about you. I think that you listen to that. And then you didn't say Well, I'm not gonna listen to him. He doesn't he's not aligned with me on other things that are important to me, because it doesn't matter. Like if I understand one thing and you know, and but also

Heather 49:47
thought you got to look at it from my way too. That would not be Christlike. Thank you. Yes, that would not be cross like for me to to say no, I can't affiliate with him because he doesn't believe the same way I do, right?

Scott Benner 50:01
I'm a heathen and I deserve to be saved just like everybody else. Right? Heather?

Heather 50:06
Christ. Yes. He

Scott Benner 50:08
was gonna say god damn right. But I don't think contextually that's the way to go. Very nice. Thank you. It was very nice. Thank you. Wow. So how does I mean three years later? How does Liza manage what does she do? And what are your days like with diabetes?

Heather 50:24
Well, she's G six and Omnipod. Five. We actually just had our endo appointment and her I would say SparkPoint nine. Oh, wow. Good for you. So her original I didn't I don't think I said her diagnosis at diagnosis. She was 10.2. Yeah, I

Scott Benner 50:41
was gonna say. So she

Heather 50:43
stopped point nine. Now we're still pre pubescent. So we haven't started a whole lot of hormones and everything yet. I'm actually researching looping. I have a lot of questions that I can't get answered yet. My endocrinologist is completely on board if we, if we want. I love Omnipod five, let me say that yeah, I just kind of like I think your experience with art and I wish the target was lower. I'm overriding more probably more than the algorithm likes for me too, when it comes to that, but I mean, our knights are perfect her are not. I mean, that in itself is been worth it all. For her. Now, I'm also an advocate at I don't even know if this matters, but I'm going to tell you anyway. So Lazar was on dash, of course. And when Omni pod fab made their release last spring, that the lip will in January, I think it was the limited release. And then in May is when they actually did a full public release for the Omni pod factory. That's

Scott Benner 51:48
about right. Yeah.

Heather 51:49
I sent an email to Lhasa has a patient advocate through our private insurance company. And I sent an email to her and I said, Hey, what do I need to do to get this added to the formulary? Because it's added? It's open to the public. Now it's full release. And she said, Oh, well, we'll just have to do a authorization. I said, Okay. So we went through the whole ordeal, getting the endocrinologist to spill everything out and all that. And then our insurance company comes back and says, No, we're not even we're not this is to new is in limited release. We can't do that. And I was like, oh, no, you did. So as I emailed the actual link from Omni pod, where they had full FDA clearance to the CEO, of our insurance company, and I said, I don't know who you pay to figure these things out for you when you make decisions that affect people's livelihoods. But you might want to get them to do better research, because here's the link where this Omnipod five is fully released by the FDA. And so it was so funny. The next morning, there was a company wide email sent out that said, not only are we going to approve the Omnipod, five, but you don't even have to have an authorization for it. We're just going to put it on our formulary. Wow, Heather.

Scott Benner 53:17
I know good for you.

Heather 53:19
Well, and it's sad, because most people would have took them at their word.

Scott Benner 53:25
Yeah, that's what happens. And it just takes it takes time for them to catch up. Like it seems so obvious from your perspective, like you know, at home, and you're getting this things out, you've been watching it and waiting for it to come and you think well, how could they not know about it, but they sometimes they don't. And the companies, it's kind of the company's job. You wouldn't think this, but it's a company's job to kind of go door to door with the insurance companies and say, hey, look, we got this new thing out here. Here's what it is. Here's like, and that's time consuming. And man, a lot of manpower. And some of the, you know, it

Heather 53:56
was and it was, you know, it was funny. I mean, it was my effort is aggravated as I was in the moment because the information was wrong. I'm so thankful now because people don't like other people, other children, their parents are not going to have to find it. They can just get the prescription for it and go the pharmacy and pick it up. Yeah,

Scott Benner 54:19
that's really that's a really kind of thing. Yeah, I mean, he did it for yourself, obviously, which was terrific, but it does end up helping a lot of people. And that's pretty cool. I listen. I told a story a long time ago, very, very long time ago about Arden getting an insulin pump when she was four. And I completely bucked the system at the hospital they did not like they tried hard not to get me to even get in on the pod. They didn't know anything about it. It was new they I think they were scared of it etc. And I was just ignored them. I went with my gut, took it and you know, never looked back and it took them almost two years. But like two years later, they pulled me aside and apologized for trying to derail me from it said They just didn't know anything about and it was hard to support for them. And that because of art and success on Omni pod, they started to prescribe it at a major Children's Hospital in the East Coast. And I've always felt really good about that. You know, we

Heather 55:14
have a similar story with that, because if it had been left up to our endo team, you know, they wanted Liza to wait six months for her Dexcom. And they wanted a year for her pomp. And so Lazar was diagnosed in August, she had her Dexcom in September, because I went and I said, she doesn't have to have any. There's no requirements by my insurance, I just need a script for it. That's it. And then her pump took a little longer, because of COVID. They were only doing three people at a three or four people at a time for the pump training class. So she but she started her pump in March, so around six months. I mean, it was not long after we were pumping, we were not in VR very long. And actually, it's because of an episode that you had. I cannot remember the name of it now. But so you interviewed somebody. Or it may have even been you when when Arlen Trad fiasco? I think, so that we've been on? Yes, ever since we have we dropped Nova login, went to the ASP, and it changed everything to that in itself helped a lot. With managing her.

Scott Benner 56:26
I would love the honestly, I would love it. If Arden could use it. It just, you know, it doesn't agree with her very well. But yeah, I mean, faster is, obviously it changes everything, you don't have to Pre-Bolus as long, you know, it digs into the spikes, it's all great. Listen, this is this is the value of this medium is sharing in a way that, you know, doesn't have to be immediate and meaning like when people put video up, like video has a very short window like it hits and people watch it and then it kind of stops and audios great because it's it's not intrusive, you can listen while you're driving or you know, any number of other things that you can't do while you're watching video. And it's just it's great that keep having all of these conversations about your daughter's diagnosis, and what insulin works for you. And I mean, you know, you're doing great with on the pod five. But But here's what I have to do to make it work. And these conversations need to keep happening so that people can find them over and over again. And this is wonderful. It's a wonderful thing. I'm a little stuck on this morning before when I recorded with you I had a business call. And and I and we were talking about do you really want to know what I was talking about? Whether I think I'll tell you. So I've seen sometimes companies do these things where they put a lot of effort and time and money into producing these videos that they put up on YouTube, right. And once in a while I'll look on one of them are and you know, they ended up having like, you know, 30 views or 110 views or something like that. And I think all that money and time and I see people wearing makeup, and there's good lighting and how long it must have taken to edit all this so that 100 people could see the video and I think just come on the podcast, I'll get you to 10s of 1000s of people in like in a like a snap of a finger. And and yet they're like, Oh no, we want to go waste a bunch of money over here. Okay, that's great. But you know, whatever, like it's fine. I think sometimes audio, it ebbs and flows. And not I'm not I'm certainly not complaining the podcast is doing terrific. But I think it can feel old to people at times like oh, that's been around forever podcasts like yeah, it works. That's why it's a valuable way to get information to people and

Heather 58:50
I don't know, I would have never drained because I was prior to August of 2020 I didn't listen to podcasts. I'm

Scott Benner 58:58
amazed you have internet access. Hey, I just thought I would tease you about that one. But if you were nadian We would have never stopped talking about you living in the middle of nowhere Yeah, just it's a great medium for all this like even your story like I don't know like you know, it just it needs to be heard and and this is a great way to do it. I really appreciate you coming on and doing this I and she's just doing so well. Like there's it's such a turnaround from you know, and you know what else I have to say? While you while you were talking? The idea that there's a medication to reduce brain swelling, and there's a medication to bring down your in your blood sugar, and they know that coming the blood sugar coming down too quickly is bad. So then there's a way to infuse glucose to slow it down. And all of the knowledge that people have from all these emergency situations in the past and I don't No, just the the fact that the tubing exists and the and the needles and the infrastructure and the I think it's easy to ignore that it's astonishing that we have a system in place that saved your daughter's life. Like it almost seems unrealistic that that, that a hospital exists like that. And, and yet there it is, and, and no live it absolutely saves lives his life.

Heather 1:00:25
Oh 100%. I mean, I'm thankful for everybody that was involved in her care, I'm thankful for the knowledge that they have that they that, God bless them with, that they were able to

Scott Benner 1:00:39
do it. It also like sometimes it's not angering, but it's, it's, I get that things are too expensive. Don't get me wrong, right. Like, I know, they are all over the place. But people go to college to learn how to do a thing because they want to make a living. And a private company opens up a hospital because you're trying to make a profit. And like and on and on. And if it wasn't for that, that hospital wouldn't be sitting there. Like it just it wouldn't be there. And it wouldn't exist. And there's a way to be like, I don't know why I'm mixing these ideas together. But like, I've just seen so many people say like, oh, everything's too expensive, like, Yeah, but you know what it paid for that institution that sat there when your daughter needed it?

Heather 1:01:21
Well, I can tell you, I never thought I would get a bill for my daughter to have a private jet ride somewhere. But I was not sad to pay that bill. Can

Scott Benner 1:01:33
I Can I ask how much?

Heather 1:01:36
$29,000 Wow, wow.

Scott Benner 1:01:40
But you make 4 million a year. So that's not really a problem. Right, Heather? I mean, that's nothing. Do they take payments? Yes.

Heather 1:01:49
Yes. They didn't have a choice. We're

Scott Benner 1:01:54
gonna send $5 a week. Well, that's it was, um,

Heather 1:01:58
it was good that I mean, you know, it really, um, that's funny that you said that. I mean, the amount of care she received and the amount of meds that she had to have the ambulance, the JIT, the helicopter, I'm actually amazed that my bill wasn't more than that.

Scott Benner 1:02:17
I mean, it's just, it's, it's just that it exists, I think, is the thing that I'm, I'm stunned by, and not because of where you live, but just in general like that. We've built this society. You know, it's fat. It's fantastic that it exists. And I bet that as horrible as it is to pay a $29,000 Uber bill. I bet that while you I bet it's the easiest money you ever send anybody to. Right?

Heather 1:02:45
Yeah, I think that with this is way off course. But I'll say the same thing. We We are partners of hope with St. Jude in Memphis, the St. Jude Children's Hospital. And it's the biggest hospital in the country for for pediatric cancer patients. And I donate blood there. Yeah. And I do that specifically because I know where my blood is going when I do that. And also, the blood donation lab is the same lab as the patient. So as I'm sitting there, having my blood donated, I might see a baby coming in a wagon to get her blood drawn, to see if her cancer is gone. Or something like that. I find peace in that knowing that I'm helping others there. Yeah, but we also send money every month, my husband and I have for 16 years every month to St. Judas bank drafted and everything. And if I never have to enter those doors, as the parent of a patient, it's money well spent. And I'll never regret it at all,

Scott Benner 1:03:53
I think to help bring attention to St. Jude. Yeah, there's, I think now it's like a Netflix doc documentary. But on one of those SpaceX missions to space, they sent they trained a St. Jude nurse, who was as a child of St. Jude patient. And they sent her to space on a mission like they made her into an astronaut so she could go to go to space and to draw like attention to St. Jude at the same time. And I it's a Netflix documentary. I'm going to find out what it's called to tell people. It's really interesting. Yeah, hold on a second. How we who went to space for St. Jude, physician assistant, Haley. I don't know her last name. It's a it's a southern name that I always had trouble like pronouncing even though I know somebody with this last name, AR c e n e a u x. Haley,

Heather 1:04:54
I have no idea.

Scott Benner 1:04:56
She's a pilot. She was a pilot geoscientist. Hold on Again, Jude physician, physician assistant Haley and geoscientists Sian Proctor and aerospace data engineer, Chris and brzowski. They went to drive support the life saving mission of St. Jude Research Hospital continues, they raised the i. So I think the idea was to raise a certain amount of money. With, you know, the efforts they were putting into the training, etc. Of these astronauts, they were really like, publicizing it, trying to drive money to St. Jude. At the end, they didn't, if I'm not mistaken, they didn't raise as much as they wanted. They had a two a $200 million fundraising goal for St. Jude. And they didn't reach it and Elon Musk through and $50 million to push them over the number, because SpaceX is his. His company, I guess. But yeah, they they made this great documentary about it. I'll have to look at that. Yeah, that I watched on Netflix. Let's see. I wish for the life

Heather 1:06:00
I just finished a good a good series on Netflix. Yeah,

Scott Benner 1:06:04
it's called an inspiration for Mission to Space. Oh, countdown inspiration for Mission to Space. It's a, like a five part app. So like a documentary about them. Taking these four people and just making them into astronauts and, and sending them up and St. Jude was a big part of it. So that's nice. Yeah. Yeah. So and Jesus, you're watching it and like $50 million. So first of all, like, again, like you were the airplane ride, it's just chump change to Elon Musk, I'm sure. But, but, but really like, like, just wonderful. Like, he just was like it from what I understand. He's like, Oh, we didn't make the goal. I really, I really wanted us to make that goal here. And he wrote a check for $50 million. So wow, yeah. And it helps all those kids. And I don't have the exact experience that you have. But I can say I rethought. So when I was younger, my daughter was much younger. And art and first had type one, we used to have to go into the city to go to the Children's Hospital. And now there's, there's an annex that we could go to it's closer to our house. But I always found it sad. The Children's Hospital always made me sad. The parents look sad, the kids looked sad, everybody looked tired. And it was hard for me to go there. But I think that was a little bit of my youth too. Like, I wish if I was older, I might have sat there and had more feelings like you had because I have experienced that moving forward as an older person. When I have to go get those when I talk about my iron, like getting an iron transfusion, which I've done a number of times, you are basically in an infusion center where most people are getting chemotherapy. And so it really is, like I've I've described it in the past is it feels like a holy place. Like I'm very, like, quiet and referential. When I'm in there it feels it feels like a I don't know, it just feels like one of those places. So Right. Yeah, I get your point. Anyway, are there? Is there anything we haven't talked about that we should have?

Heather 1:08:07
I don't think so. I mean, I was nervous. I don't know that I should have been because you made it pretty easy.

Scott Benner 1:08:13
I don't know that I did anything but thank you.

Heather 1:08:18
i My goal was to you know, Lazar story is definitely not your typical what I would consider a typical DKA story. And I told it and you know, she's doing great. That was my biggest thing is, you know, I wanted people to know that. Just because it looks horrible in the moment. That does not mean that the sun's not coming back out. Yeah, that it's not going to be okay. Because if you had have asked me when Liza was diagnosed if she would be playing basketball, softball, gymnastics, I couldn't see that in the moment. I could not envision that in the moment. And now as much as diabetes we know which aren't, you know, because of Arden. She has type one, okay, great. But type one doesn't consume us. It doesn't control us. We, if we fail at something, we figure it out. If Laszlo wants to try something new, we make our best guess. And if we if we fail, we make notes and we try again the next time she has practice or if it if it has to do with sports or if that has something to do with her wanting to eat something. We make our best gifts. And if that's wrong, we make note so we fix it if we overdo it, we give her some juice and don't give us much next time.

Scott Benner 1:09:43
Good for you. That's wonderful. I if I have any part in that at all. I'm I'm absolutely thrilled. So

Heather 1:09:49
you 100% So Scott, yes. Thank you. Thank you for the time that you put into the podcast. Thank you for you making that decision said 17 years ago, when Arden was diagnosed, that you were going to make her life better. Because if you had not chose to figure this out, and to make it almost your life's mission, to figure this out for art, and so her life could be as normal as possible. I don't know that I could have done as much as I have for Liza, as, as quickly as I have for Eliza. Because you the information you have gathered for all of us, is right there. And you just have to want to take it, you just have to want to listen to it and figure it out. Oh, thank you. You're

Scott Benner 1:10:39
very fine. I was trying to thank you. And then you turned it back on me. But But that's very, very kind and I I'm fully feeling what you're saying you have me in a very emotional spot. So I don't have any. I don't have any sarcasm at all to fight back with right now. No,

Heather 1:10:53
yeah, I do have a question for you. Yeah. One question. Is it will it be very hard? And if you can't answer it today, that's fine. Will it be? Is it hot? Will it be extremely hard for me to move? LAHSA from Omnipod? Five to loop? Well,

Scott Benner 1:11:09
there's a couple of thoughts here I have about that. First of all, with the A one C you have? I don't know that that I don't even know that it's necessary. It sounds like you're doing you're doing terrific.

Heather 1:11:19
I think I'm more worried about her period. I think I'm more worried about the control I'll have when that starts.

Scott Benner 1:11:27
Yeah, I mean, I don't know. Like, I think people's hormonal impacts are different, obviously. And who she you know, how her body grows? And what ends up needing to be done? I don't honestly know, I also think that your I mean, what are you planning ahead by two or three years? Maybe? Or?

Heather 1:11:46
I don't know, I'm not sure. Yeah. I mean, everybody, you know, they talk about that at every visit. But yeah, um,

Scott Benner 1:11:55
I mean, the settings are, slightly, there'll be different, you know, so like, because right now you're using on the pod five, which is making, it's making all of your basil decisions for you, you don't really know, like, what it's like all of what it's doing, right? You can, you can see your total daily insulin. So you should be able to take your total daily insulin and just reverse engineer it to loop if you wanted to, and, you know, make it I'm sure you could get about to that. But if this is a thing, you know, already, I wouldn't switch just to switch. But if you if you think it's there, then you mean you can absolutely try. Like there's other things to consider with loop. Like you're going to buy, you're gonna buy in Mac computer, you're going to need to, you're gonna need to own a Mac computer, you're going to become an app developer, you're going to you know, you're using a do it yourself system. It's not supported by a company and something goes wrong. There's nobody to call and right, you know, the other day Arden's loop app, like, it just hosed up a little bit. Like it just kind of got unresponsive for a minute. And it was fine. But there's a moment where you go, oh, there is no one to call. If this stops this, there's no 800 Number Scott, she's gonna call you Oh, she was on television. And she was already on the phone with me, don't worry, I was I was in full in phone callers trying to figure it out. While she's telling me that's not working. And I'm like, I am trying. And so, you know, there's that to consider there is to consider as well that, you know, at any time, the FDA could step up and say, I don't think they will, but they could step up and say to the company, like don't allow that to happen, like block it was software or something like, I don't know, like, I don't think it would happen, but it could, you know, and like that's a consideration. You know, I don't know, like, I gotta be honest, like I wanted Arden to use on the pod five. And yeah, and she was, she's like, didn't want to carry the PDM. Like, so I don't know that by the time. The next thing comes around, she won't jump back again. Like I love I want to be clear, I love loop. It's fantastic. Like really legitimately fantastic. But a lot comes with it that I don't foresee Arden living with her whole life. Like, she doesn't want to do the things that it takes to make a loop. And now and now with I don't know if you saw the other day islet got they got FDA approval for their pump. The company. The company is called beta bionics. It's a tube pump. But the way they're describing it is you tell like you get the pump. If I'm mistaken. I might not have all the details. You tell it how much you weigh. And then you announce your meals as like small meal, medium meal, large meal. And that's it. Like that's how you that's how you Bolus. So now how is that going to work out? I don't know. I've got a call in to somebody trying to get somebody on the show to talk about it. I did have the opportunity recently. Lee, I had some private time with one of the doctors from beta bionics where we talked for probably an hour. And you know, I don't know that their outcomes are any better than the other systems, it's just the way you use them. I don't know about spikes, and like, it's not going to be perfect. Like, I wouldn't want anybody to think like, wow, it's just gonna work so much better than everything else, because I don't think it is, I think it's gonna work about the way what we have now it works. It's just that you're not going to count carbs, you're just gonna say this is like, a larger meal than I usually eat, or a smaller meal than or something like that. But so that that's even that's like, that's great. You know? So my point is, it really is, yeah, by the time she's 12, or 13, like, I don't even know what will exist, like, hopefully there'll be an omni pod six, or whatever. They're gonna do it. You don't I mean, like, I want everybody to keep going, I do love. Yeah, I love that they don't have the ability to nobody can rest on the laurels. Now, somebody's gonna come in and like, keep innovating. And I think that keeps everybody honest. And I'm a big fan of that. So I don't know, technology

Heather 1:16:07
itself. From, you know, glass has barely been diagnosed only almost three years. And the amount of things that we have watched change in three years is mind boggling. In itself. Okay.

Scott Benner 1:16:21
So yeah, no, I agree. It's just it's the way it's moving. is just, it's faster. And the leaps are bigger and bigger. And I don't know where we're going to be in a couple of years. I'm excited about where we're at. Yeah, but I don't know. That's all I don't know how to like, but if you're going to transfer from one to the other, I think you could obviously do it. I mean, you know what you're doing? So

Heather 1:16:48
keep it in the back of my brain for sure. Yeah.

Scott Benner 1:16:51
There's no reason not to stay abreast. And really, I mean, I'm a huge fan of you got to know what's going on out there. And you you jump when it's time to jump? You know, right. So absolutely. Okay, great. Well, I appreciate you doing this very much. Can you hold on one second for me? Yeah, thanks. Thank you.

I want to thank Heather for coming on the show and sharing that amazing story with us. A huge thanks to Dexcom for supporting the podcast and for sponsoring this episode dexcom.com/juicebox Go get yourself a Dexcom g7 right now using my link. If you'd like to wear the same insulin pump that Arden does, all you have to do is go to Omni pod.com/juice box. That's it. Head over now and get started today. And you'll be wearing the same tubeless insulin pump that Arden has been wearing since she was four years old. If you're not already subscribed or following in your favorite audio app, please take the time now to do that. It really helps the show and get those automatic downloads set up so you never miss an episode. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of The Juicebox Podcast.