#1111 RJs Mom

January 20, 2024Scott Benner

Jessica is 32, an engineer in the military and the mother of a 7 year old boy named RJ.

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Scott Benner 0:00
Hello friends, welcome to episode 1111 of the Juicebox Podcast.

On today's episode I'll be speaking with Jessica and engineer in the military and a mother of a seven year old boy named RJ who has type one diabetes. He was diagnosed at five years old. We talked about a number of different things today, including Omnipod, five Dexcom, libre three, and some of the history of type one diabetes in Jessica's family. There's also some conversation about hypothyroidism. If you're looking for community around type one diabetes, check out the Juicebox Podcast private Facebook group Juicebox Podcast type one diabetes, but everybody is welcome type one type two gestational loved ones, it doesn't matter to me. If you're impacted by diabetes, and you're looking for support, comfort or community check out Juicebox Podcast type one diabetes on Facebook. Please don't forget that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan or becoming bold with insulin.

This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by touched by type one touched by type one.org. And find them on Facebook and Instagram touched by type one is an organization dedicated to helping people living with type one diabetes. And they have so many different programs that are doing just that check them out at touched by type one.org. This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by us med U S med.com/juice box or call 888721151 for us med is where my daughter gets her diabetes supplies from and you could to use the link or number to get your free benefit check and get started today with us met.

Jessica 2:21
I am Jessica. I am a mother of a son with type one diabetes, his name is RJ and me and his dad, my husband we do as much as we can to keep him happy while also keeping him you know safe while he's at home and at school and managing his diabetes. And, you know, just trying to make sure he has the most normal life that a kid his age should have. It's a good plan.

Scott Benner 2:52
How old is RJ?

Jessica 2:53
He is seven? Seven?

Scott Benner 2:54
How old was he when he was diagnosed?

Jessica 2:56
He was five years old.

Scott Benner 2:58
Okay. Do you or your husband or anybody in your family have type one diabetes?

Jessica 3:05
Yes. On my side actually. I have a I believe it's a second cousin. He had type one diabetes. He did not know he had it. And he actually he was he's a professional NFL player. He did not know he had it. He actually passed away due to decay. So we found this out kind of after the fact after our son was diagnosed.

Scott Benner 3:32
How long ago was that?

Jessica 3:35
That the second cousin had it? Yeah, that passed away. That was many years ago, possibly. I want to say eight or nine years ago.

Scott Benner 3:47
And he died as an adult I imagine. Yes. As an adult. Yes. So So diagnosed, and then not. Not dying. Sorry. Yeah.

Jessica 4:02
Yes. He was not diagnosed. And he ended up passing away. Wow. Due to decay. Yes. That's

Scott Benner 4:11
crazy. Oh my gosh, yes. All right. Okay, let's see. But that's not something that you were thinking about when you were having kids.

Jessica 4:23
Not at all I knew and in this happened before my son was even born and so I didn't even kind of know at the time that he had even passed away because of that reason. I knew that my family had a history of type two diabetes and pre diabetes but not type one. So at that when my son was diagnosed, I didn't even kind of know the difference between the two.

Scott Benner 4:51
So okay, okay. So talk about our J's onset. What did you notice first, and how did you figure out that he had type one So

Jessica 5:00
his onset happened around COVID. We had just, I'm in the military, so we had just was called PCs, we had just had a change of duty station from California to Tucson, Arizona. And, you know, we're wrapped up in that that transition, you know, he's in daycare. At the time, he was a young, five year old, he wasn't old enough to start school yet, due to how they, the school we had moved to the district moved to how they do the age difference, or whatever. So, um, he was, obviously during COVID, you're looking out for symptoms of COVID, during that timeframe. So he, you know, he was tired and exhausted a lot leading up to the diagnosis to him being in DKA. And so we thought that it was because of the temperatures that we were dealing with in Tucson, we were we had just came from the Bay Area in California. So very cool weather, to the complete opposite of triple digit heat and things like that. So we kind of thought that he was just really having a tough time adjusting to the temperatures to the new weather, and things like that. But yeah, he was, you know, doing the classic wetting the bed at the time. And, again, like that was, I literally, he had worked her bed, and he came in our room, in the middle of the night. And I said to my husband, he might have diabetes. I was like, half asleep at the time. And, you know, if days go on, and you know, symptoms are still happening to where his preschool teacher calls us and says, Hey, RJ, he has not been eating today. He slept through recess, which is not like him whatsoever. And I knew that too. So it was really his day, his his preschool teacher had only been with him for a few months that really made, you know, just realize like something is really wrong.

Scott Benner 7:16
Just to go overnight, that night, when he came to you, what made you say he might have diabetes? Like what? What triggered that in your mind?

Jessica 7:23
I knew from I cannot remember where, and I might have just googled it too. But it was just a distant memory of a sea of hearing extreme thirst. And, you know, Bedwetting, and exhaustion, I knew that that was something and I just hit diabetes and you know, kind of rolled back over and with asleep, you know, that's, and I guess it Yeah,

Scott Benner 7:54
well, that's really something though they did it occur to you like that. Exactly. So when the when the teacher reaches out to you, does that kind of put it all back together for you? Again, you'd like to know, somebody else pointing it out and saying it?

Jessica 8:07
Not? Not at the time, because you like I said it was during COVID? And I'm like, if it's not COVID? What can it be? It's like everyone's main focus, right? The time was like, he's like, he's not coughing, none of the classic symptoms of COVID. So I took him I was able to quickly get him in to see his pediatrician. And I'm thinking, okay, like, they have to know something. And so when they were, you know, checking his vitals and they did the they checked his vitals and they were doing the, you know, the flashlight, the light in the eyes, you know, movement events, when there's one one of the airmen that you that he quickly leaves and goes to get hit the actual pediatrician. And so she does some, you know, checking and she's like, You guys need to go straight to the to urgent care to the emergency room. So I'm like, okay, and that's when I'm like, okay, something's got to be like really grown. Right? So, like I said, we're new to the area. I'm trying to figure out like friends, I had that point, I was having to carry him because he just was not. He was so leak, just was not able to walk, like very quickly or even like much at all.

Scott Benner 9:29
So you get that to you. I'm sorry, you get him to the hospital, and he's in DKA. I imagined I used to hate ordering my daughter's diabetes supplies, and never had a good experience. And it was frustrating, but it hasn't been that way for a while, actually for about three years now. Because that's how long we've been using us med us med.com/juice box or call 888-721-1514 With 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, the number one rated distributor in Dexcom customer satisfaction surveys. They have served over 1 million people with diabetes since 1996. They always provide 90 days worth of supplies and fast and free shipping. US med carries everything from insulin pumps, and diabetes testing supplies to the latest CGM like the libre three and Dexcom g7. They accept Medicare nationwide and over 800 private insurers find out why us med has an A plus rating with the Better Business Bureau at us med.com/juice box or just call them at 888-721-1514 get started right now. And you'll be getting your supplies the same way we do. What do they do for him?

Jessica 11:01
So we at first we were at a an ER and er that wasn't even, like part of a hospital. Like I said, I just was like, giving to the quickest because this one, and so they did a fingerstick after I was telling them the symptoms. And I guess the one meter they had it wasn't even giving a number. It was like giving some error or high or something. And so that's when they started doing some blood work. And that's when the doctor came in and was like We suspect Yes, type one diabetes. And they were like we need to get him you know, to a pediatric hospital. I see you as soon as possible. Are

Scott Benner 11:45
you frightened at that point? Do you recollect this family member? Yeah, by the way?

Jessica 11:50
No, not even not even close? No, I Yes, I'm frightened. And I'm just thinking that this could be tied to the Type Two diabetes that's in our family. I see. So my grandmother had issues with, you know, diabetes, and I think an uncle did and stuff like that. So that's kind of still in the back of my mind.

Scott Benner 12:16
You and your husband are together at that moment. The three of you are at the hospital.

Jessica 12:21
Yes, yeah. Yep. Now, do

Scott Benner 12:23
they put him in an ambulance? Or how did they get them to the next place? Yes.

Jessica 12:27
Yes. They put him in an ambulance in my in got him to the ICU, which was about about 10 minutes away. Did you ride with him? And they waited? Yes, yes. rode with him. They kind of waited till they couldn't do much there. But they still were they want it to give him some fluids prior to, you know, him leaving, so that they can make the trip.

Scott Benner 12:52
That's amazing. Well, obviously, he's okay now, which is terrific. How long? How long was he in the hospital for?

Jessica 13:00
I think we're there for about three or four days,

Scott Benner 13:03
that seems to be about the number anymore. It's yeah, what I'm hearing from people. What do you leave with as far as management ideas go.

Jessica 13:12
So if a hospital that when about, maybe a day, after, you know, once they got the confirmed diagnosis and everything, that's when they had a pediatric like nurse endocrinologist and an educator that, you know, came in, you know, and broke everything down to us and gave us some training, helping us understand what's going on why it happened, or why it could have happened, or, you know, just understanding what diabetes type one diabetes was. So, it really sucked because still, this is still I guess it's still COVID and so only one person is really allowed with the patient and that has to be paired essentially. So of course, I'm the amid Mama Bear mode, still some tilt my husband go home, I will stay. And so pretty much I'm like completely sleep deprived, because I'm not I haven't slept, you know, machines and beeping is keeping us up and things like that. So I was trying to process it as much as I could. But I was I was really getting so frustrated because I could not process anything just because my brain was was not working at all so

Scott Benner 14:34
well. Yeah, I mean, it's the same thing right? It feels like it feels like you know if anybody's ever been in a car accident before you you again you're okay you get out and people start talking to you and you just you don't process anything at all. It feels very similar to that. Exactly. Yeah. So like like having like a like just a loud band go off next to you and then somebody starts asking you algebra you know, like I don't Wow. Oh my gosh. So when you leave? Is it injections? They give you a pen, they give you a needles? Are they talking about pumps? They

Jessica 15:10
told us eventually, you know, we would, you know, hopefully be able to get on a pump. But um, yeah, we were given, you know, the the meters, the insulin pins and things like that they were able to give that to us from the hospital because our insurance was not going to be able to kick in to start paying for it. And I guess they kind of anticipated that. So, yeah, the pins, the pin needles, things like that, you know, we're given him the Lantis and hemo. Og,

Scott Benner 15:45
how did he handle everything? I mean, he's young, but was it? Like, what was his reactions?

Jessica 15:51
He was confused. He was like, what's, what is going on? You know, like, What do you mean? I have to get, you know, all these of these finger pokes and, and the shots and things like that. And at that time, we weren't even prepared to answer that question. We couldn't even, you know, like, like, why is this happening? You know, like, so I mean, he handled it as well as any, you know, five year old at the time could so no, he handled it a lot better than what what I could have.

Scott Benner 16:27
Well, how long does it take you before you feel like you understand what you're doing? Even a little bit? Like, when's the first time you remember thinking like, oh, I might have this? Oh, wow. Maybe hasn't happened, which would be completely valid, by the way? Yeah.

Jessica 16:42
It's definitely not 100%. But it sucks, because I think I had to leave for work to go to a school that I was scheduled for, like, a few months later. So I mean, we were blessed to have even before this happened, my in laws were planning to they they lived in Alaska at the time, and so they were ready to leave, leave Alaska, and come down to the lower 48 to, you know, find somewhere else to move. So they actually came and lived with us. So while I was at the school, like they were helping my husband, you know, with everything. And so that's perfect. Yeah.

Scott Benner 17:28
Yeah, kind of easy transition to have more people raise

Jessica 17:32
more hands to help. Yes, exactly. But yeah, I feel like maybe a year or so I think once. I think what he was able to get on the pop, and on a CGM. I think some months after is when we were like, okay, you know, he's reacting this way to X, Y, and Z, or he's reacting this way to this food, and stuff like that. So it took a while, maybe about a month and like, it's like, you know, better that you learn something every day. Okay.

Scott Benner 18:10
Geez, it's like it nonstop. Like, that's interesting. That's different. I should probably remember that. Yeah. It's yeah, I just thought the the point you made earlier, Jessica, about people are telling you things at the hospital, but you can't process them. I don't know that we talked about that enough. That you're being given really important information. And you're not really filing it away in a way that you can access it

Jessica 18:36
not at all. Yeah, yeah. And, and I am like, I, I, I'm a numbers. I'm an engineer. Like, that's what I do for my job. And so it was really frustrating me, because I'm like, I know this is important. Yeah. And even if it's like, my job, like is no as important as getting even more frustrated, because I'm like, when I leave here, I feel like I'm not going to know what to do. Like, because I'm just not what you're saying is so important that I'm just not grasping it. So I was really frustrated with myself and things like that. So plus,

Scott Benner 19:16
if your mind works that way, then you want one plus two to equal three. And Exactly, yeah. And that's not happening either. So you're like, well, so there are rules. VDS is the complete opposite. There are rules, but the rules don't end the same way each time. That's hard. I've been taught this while under fire. So I'm not really remembering anything and then plus the longer you get away from diagnosis, the more you start to realize that even the things you were being told back then were very elementary to begin with. And you think you're you think you're missing out on like the Holy Girl, like they've told you the secret to everything and you forgot it. And exactly, yeah, the whole situation is Back password, I think somebody would say, yeah, yeah. And, and I do get that that's why they wanted like, bring you back and tell you more later, but just your something about good.

Jessica 20:15
And even the I think his claim I'm being no fault to them, but even his clinic that we ended up going with or to the hospital, even then we are coming back like I think maybe a few days later. And we're still sleep deprived. Because you know, you're doing the finger sticks in the middle of the night and you're cheating the lows, or you're even Bolus for the highs.

Scott Benner 20:44
And you're sad. And all the psychological stuff is magnified. You know, there's just there's so everybody feels guilty, like, I'm sure your husband's like, Oh, this is coming from my side of the family, you're thinking the same thing? You know? It's exactly it's a lot. The only real answer to all of this is time. That it's time and good information. That's it. It's the whole thing. Did you ever figure out or did you ever look, excuse me? Were there other autoimmune issues in either side of your family?

Jessica 21:17
My mom has an immune disease. And then for from me and her we are, it's not the typical art. It's just sickle cell trait for me and my mom and I'm, I get an email, she's anemic and things like that. That's really the only only thing I can you know, how

Scott Benner 21:39
do you think, Jessica, how do you handle your anemia with oral or do you get infusions. So

Jessica 21:45
it's not bad, it only gets bad during, and I can't even pinpoint it. But I can kind of understand just by based off of symptoms to where, and it's not bad. It only was bad when I was pregnant with my son. So and that's when I had to, you know, take the oral pills, but usually, you know, I can quickly, you know, alleviate symptoms and stuff by you know, eating more red meat and things like that. There's only been like a couple of times where I was taking the iron pills.

Scott Benner 22:19
Okay, that's great. I actually I get low. I get like any, like, low iron symptoms, and wow, my ferritin gets low, and it almost like shuts me off eventually. So Oh, wow. Yeah, that's crazy. Arden takes actually Arden my son, I think everybody in the house is taking some sort of an iron supplement, like a couple times. Just to try to stay ahead. Yeah,

Jessica 22:43
exactly.

Scott Benner 22:45
How about for your husband? Anything for him? His side of the family? No. Okay.

Jessica 22:49
Not that not that I can think of now.

Scott Benner 22:52
Were you planning on having more kids? And are you still

Jessica 22:56
it the time beforehand? We were considering it. But now we're not. And it's not fully because of diabetes. That that type limit my son has is, is I think that I've usually when the diagnose happened, diagnosis happened, you know, you, we definitely put that those types of talks on pause because they're like, oh, we need to figure this out first and figure out our new life. And then you know, time passes and time passes or, you know, then we're like, you know, I think I think we're fine. We've always wanted to adopt a child. So and that one that's close in age. So we took that as a sign like, hey, let's make sure we don't lose sight of, of that dream that we had.

Scott Benner 23:46
So that's a love. Yeah, hopefully lovely. I do. Yeah,

Jessica 23:49
yeah. And bonus points. If they're type one. I

Scott Benner 23:52
know what you're doing, right? Yeah, I'm adopted. Exactly. Yeah, Jessica, I'm adopted. So wow, somebody saved my life 51 years ago. So yeah, it's a really cool thing to do. That's awesome. I guess I want to ask you now like because the note you sent, like, at what point in your management style because you're using Omnipod? Five now? Is that right?

Jessica 24:14
Yes, we're using Omni pod five and the libre three. Okay.

Scott Benner 24:19
Oh, wait. You you can't use on the pod five with libre three. So well.

Jessica 24:24
Yeah. No, we're not using it with it. But we're Yeah, we're in manual mode with the five we were using Dexcom. But we had some several issues with it. So we had to go. Oh, I gotta go into manual mode for the five in the CGM is liberi.

Scott Benner 24:40
I see. So do you think you'll go back to Dexcom or wasn't working for you? Well,

Jessica 24:46
um, we This has actually been our second flip flops which I don't know. I don't know if we'll go back. Because when when the sensors were working for us, it was only part five was great. But you know, we were, you know, barely making it to like four to five days with the sensors. And it wasn't an issue with them falling off. It was just them constantly saying he was low. So it was it was shutting off his. His Yeah, exactly.

Scott Benner 25:18
I wonder if now this is looking forward. So just for people listening who might not understand Dexcom G six at the moment is the only CGM that works with on the pod five. You can put on the FOD five into manual mode and just run it like a regular on the pod dash you would. So that's what you're doing right now because you have the script from pod five. Right? I wonder if I do wonder if when Dexcom G seven pairs with on the pod five in the future, which I assume it will sooner than later. I wonder if that's not the time to try. Because if liberi is working for you, but the G six was and I wonder if the G seven would because of the different insertion angle and other things possible?

Jessica 26:00
Yeah, yeah, we would definitely, we would definitely try it right now. We're, we're paying out of pocket for the Libras. Because they're, you know, kind of very expensive right now. And so we're just waiting for hopefully, the g7 g7 being integrated. And then, you know, we'll just look at it again, be able to once that happens quickly switch this script over to that.

Scott Benner 26:27
So you have a unique perspective, though, Jessica, because you have like you've done it manually with shots. And then after a while you were doing injections. Did you get a CGM first?

Jessica 26:38
No, no, we're still I think we got them all around the same time. So we got Dexcom as well.

Scott Benner 26:43
So what's the difference between manually handling things with injections, an automated system like Omnipod, five, and a pump that doesn't have automation, like what of your experience has been the differences and maybe the pluses and minuses. So

Jessica 26:59
obviously, a new E five or six year old is not going to be okay with the constant shots. So that helped out a lot being on the pump, for my son, and then him going back to his preschool, it helped as well. Because the you know, the paraprofessional was able to just quickly, you know, look at the Dexcom numbers and then look at the pump and, you know, just quickly push some buttons and, and, you know, give them insulin. So it's so funny, she would come outside while they were on the park and, you know, check check to get in range and everything and his friends would stop playing and they all go over it over the ParaPRO they were like Artie, you gotta get your blood check. So they would and then, you know, they made sure he wasn't left alone, like then it that they all stopped playing so that he could make sure he was good to go. So and then I think now, obviously, like I said, the integration with the CGM was, was amazing, when we left the that integration and went back to the manual mode. I had to I listened to I think two of your podcasts about essentially figuring out what that Basal rate should be and how to make adjustments. So I did that all on my own, didn't work with his endocrinologist with on that, not because they weren't capable. It was just I knew I was gonna be able to do it much quicker. And like I said, I'm a numbers person, I love looking at data. And I was just able to just look at those graphs and understand based off of, you know, what you were saying and just some other information that I knew was I was able to make those adjustments. So

Scott Benner 29:09
you got like his Basal said is insulin to carb ratio is his sensitivity all together just through the podcast and understanding it on your own. Yeah.

Jessica 29:18
Yeah. So I kept I didn't really change too much with the sensitivity. But I think the and I think I might have changed the car, but it was mostly mostly that that Basal rate, and kind of understanding, oh, there's different times of day based off of what he's doing that it needs to be, you know, either increased or throttled back and then taking it day by day, like, Okay, this is how he reacted, you know, to this time of day because he's having lunch at this time. So, yeah, it's been interesting,

Scott Benner 29:56
ya know, it's it. Listen, the truth is, is that digging in like that It is the way you get that bigger, broader understanding. And in the future things are gonna happen. And you're, you're gonna see like, you'll just, you'll just shift with it. You'd be like, Oh, I see this. Like, you know, there's I think this morning, even Arden and I got up this morning. She's home from college right now. It's her break. Oh, yeah. So it's cool. She's here. And but like, it was time, like, we went to the doctor's, you know, she went to the doctor last week. And it's time for her, like blood draw, you know, so I needed I needed one too. So we went together, we got up this morning fasting, and we went to get a blood draw. And I looked at her blood sugar. I was like, hey, like, you're, you know, the algorithms not having a lot of luck moving you off this like 130? And I said, Yeah, and I was, like, I said, let's just do an override. So we, she's using a loop, we just pushed her loop up to like, 150%. So basically it it increases the power of the of the algorithm and hurt her basil and stuff like that. And we'll do that. Yeah, until it's not until it doesn't need it anymore. But without all the knowledge that gets in your head. What ends up happening is you go I don't know, like, hi all day. I don't know, you know, you just you're like, oh, like bum Fuzzles. You know, you're like, I don't know what? Yeah, but so I love that. Yeah. You dove into it to understand that on your own. It's really cool. Yes, kind of outcomes is he having right now? What are your goals? And what are you hitting?

Jessica 31:27
Can you say the first part it kind of cut out? Oh,

Scott Benner 31:29
I'm so sorry. I was wondering how his outcomes are like, what are your ranges that you shoot for? A one sees that all that stuff? Yeah.

Jessica 31:37
Yeah. So he was consistently in a good range around the 6.0 6.5, a, one, C. And then like I said, when we were having the issues with the Dexcom and stuff, it went up to about 7.4. And so, obviously, I took that to heart. Hope we're now we're changing something. So I suddenly we went back, and we went into manual and everything. And so we're, I think we have that down to like 7.0 right now. So yeah, and so yeah. He his range. So we, we don't have it as tight. Because he any type of kind of activity, physical activity. He reacts very quickly as far as like, a lot of times his blood sugar dropping. And he was also running track for a while. So that was awesome. Just seeing him, you know, overcoming diabetes and kind of still being able to do like a physical activity is so taxing. So yeah, we we keep trying to have him around. Can you hold on one second? Okay. Do your thing. Okay, sorry.

Scott Benner 33:04
No, don't be sorry. Jessica's at work doing this? A lot of information here. But you know, I, I always throw this one up at the beginning. That's so cool. She's in a meeting. I bet. It's our turn to talk.

Jessica 33:22
Can you hear me? Yeah.

Scott Benner 33:24
Was it your turn to talk in the meeting?

Jessica 33:27
was making sure that no one was trying to.

Scott Benner 33:32
I was like, well, like, how old are you?

Jessica 33:34
I am 32.

Scott Benner 33:37
I was like, younger people are like, I could probably make a podcast while I'm in a meeting that's fit that.

Jessica 33:43
I didn't like, gosh, terrible. And I thought it was gonna be one of those meetings that you know, don't have to really pay too much attention. Oh, wait. Oh, this. Make sure

Scott Benner 33:54
it's not that important. Boy, everybody hearing that should think oh, we have too many meetings.

Jessica 34:02
Exactly. Exactly. Oh, that's

Scott Benner 34:05
hilarious. Well, okay, so you're at a set about a seven. Now, your range is a little loose because his activity is making him drop. Was that as big of a problem on on the pod five? Or was it was it was it catching loads from activity and stuff like that for you? Oh, yes,

Jessica 34:23
yes. Yes, it was. It was doing really good. He was in a light when he would have breaks from school or in summer camp. He was doing really well. With catching those lows, especially at night. We would get some amazing sleep.

Scott Benner 34:40
Yeah, no kidding, right? Because we're not

Jessica 34:43
having you know, to wake up that treat lows and stuff like that. So even right now like that's the drawback right now of us being a manual is we're having those lows and stuff like that. So yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's getting better though.

Scott Benner 34:58
Do you have any via like, oh, did you reach out to Dexcom? About the sensors not lasting for you? Yeah,

Jessica 35:04
yes, we did. And, you know, it. We were one trainer, I believe had called. And it was pretty much all this stuff that, you know, we had been told or the regulation or the guidelines if they said it was things we were already doing. Yeah. My biggest, like, what I think might be is because he's very lean and has very little body fat on them. So that's just my only like, theory of as to why it just did not work for him. So

Scott Benner 35:38
did hydration. Did you ever really, like lean on making sure he was hydrated? Yes.

Jessica 35:43
Yeah. He was very hydrated. He was drinking lots of lots of water. Yeah.

Scott Benner 35:54
It really does suck that. I mean, it's just what it is. Right? It's technology, but like, maybe he puts on 10 more pounds or something. And I help. Yeah, no kidding. How much does he weigh at seven years old.

Jessica 36:05
He's he is on the lighter in he's about 50 to 53 pounds. And he's short too. So he literally eats and eats and hit. It completely leaves his body

Unknown Speaker 36:18
to have his thyroid checked.

Jessica 36:21
And yes, his thyroid numbers have. And because his doctor he also looked at that too. Yeah, that came back normal. So

Scott Benner 36:30
do you remember his TSH level by any chance?

Jessica 36:34
I can look that up real quick. His most recent one? Yeah. Would

Scott Benner 36:39
you just because they'll call in range, a pretty wide range. And if he's having symptoms of thyroid issues, the medication helps a lot. You Oh, I'm not saying this is happening. But it's so worth looking if you have a second Yeah, yeah. Okay.

Jessica 36:57
Yeah, let me look right now. Yes.

Scott Benner 36:59
Okay, good. Yeah, please.

Jessica 37:01
So his TSH from October of last year was 3.850.

Scott Benner 37:11
Jessica, that's too high. He needs really needs the thyroid replacement. He does. Okay, that's it, I'm gonna send you a link. Okay, when we're done, okay, to an episode with an endocrinologist who is going to explain everything about thyroid to you, okay, and he is going to start taking that thyroid replacement. And you are going to see his blood sugar's be easier to manage. If he's experiencing any tiredness, you're going to see it go away. And I want to tell you that my daughter was the smallest person in her school. And then she was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. And she's five, seven now as a 19 year old well, so it is, absolutely can get in the way of growth and weight gain and all that stuff. So, okay, I'm going to tell you that my my doctor would medicate probably anything over about a 2.1 that came with symptoms. And really, most doctors are going to just say, oh, that's in range. But if you give us exactly what it says, yeah, so

Jessica 38:19
you have a good one question. So he had just another data point. So yeah, this recent one that was in May, and that one was 1.2700. That's

Scott Benner 38:33
interesting. So maybe it's swinging around a little bit right now.

Jessica 38:37
Okay, so this could be that could that be that there's still an issue? It could

Scott Benner 38:40
be the indication of things are coming that it got high and then it bounced low because right now he's that that the one point whatever is a great number. Yes. But even at that being how many months old now? The last one. The last one was in October was the October the three one or the one? The one that started October? When

Jessica 39:02
was it three?

Scott Benner 39:03
Yeah, I mean, I would draw that right away again, if he was over 2.1. I'd ask for medication. Another one. Okay. Yeah. Episode 413 is called thyroid disease explained it's with a doctor named Addy Benito. She's terrific. And there's an entire thyroid series explaining all of it you can find this series at juicebox podcast.com. You go up to the top and click on defining thyroid you'll see them all right there.

Jessica 39:32
Okay, yeah, yeah, that's good. Yeah, because that is something which made him kind of do a more in depth blood draw at his most recent appointment because you know, he is having the weight issues and things like that.

Scott Benner 39:48
The issue ends up becoming the doctors will most doctors will like ignore not ignore the number but the under for they're gonna be like, I don't know and then they're gonna wait for like real like they physical issues that pop up. And there's no need for that. Like if he's if this is what's happening this is listen, everybody in my family has a thyroid problem, okay? My daughter, my son and my wife, and their doctor, who is the doctor on that recording is going to, like manage them as low as they can get them without a beat without being hyper. And the I just got a blood draw this morning, because my thyroid came back like at 2.1 or 2.2. Last time, and she's checking it one more time. And I guarantee you if it's higher like that, she's gonna give it she's gonna give it to me too. So, yeah, plus, you don't want to miss out on these growing years. Exactly. If that's part of the issue, you know? Yes. 100%. Wow. Yeah, that could be the difference between some real money to play something in college and just nothing. Because by the way, I stalked you a little online. Your husband looks like a big guy.

Jessica 40:57
Yes, he played basketball in college, and I ran track. I

Scott Benner 41:02
was gonna say, we might get a little bit of college help here from this kid. He grows up. Nothing wrong with that. Nothing at all. Yeah, no, I wish you luck finding out more. And the only thing I can tell you is that if you go back and his TSH is in threes, and your doctor says that's not high enough for medication. I'd be looking for another opinion if that happened. Gotcha.

Jessica 41:23
Okay, okay. Yeah. Yeah, I will probably we'll see he was we just moved again. So we're trying to get his care set up now. So I'll talk to his endocrinologist and his PCM and kind of see what they say what? Yeah, one of them bites?

Scott Benner 41:40
Absolutely. I'll send them the episode if they don't believe you. I know. Yeah. Is your husband still in the military?

Jessica 41:47
No, he's not he. He got out after a few deployments. He was in for about six or seven years. So

Scott Benner 41:56
you were to write.

Jessica 41:58
I'm still in your

Scott Benner 42:00
your the wow. Oh, okay. Yeah. So yeah, that meeting wasn't about anything like about my safety, was it? Are you guys trying to find those people in that submarine? I'm just kidding.

Jessica 42:15
No, I will not ever on that. Topic. My true thoughts.

Scott Benner 42:22
If your true thoughts are like mine, it would be don't get into a toy submarine and try to go down to the bottom of the ocean. That was my fun.

Jessica 42:29
There's this thing called common sense. But I you know, I guess Massoud to come? I don't know.

Scott Benner 42:35
You want to see the Titanic. Watch the movie. James Cameron took pictures of

Jessica 42:39
it. Yeah, great. There's great video of that.

Scott Benner 42:42
I've heard people say like, well, who's at fault? I'm like, you're at fault for getting in the submarine. That's exactly, yeah. You gotta have a little bit of preservation in your in your heart. Yeah, I don't do I just saw a video the other day of this couple was terrible. By the way, they get up on a ledge on a building to take a picture. And though, the woman goes up first, and then she kind of gets settled, and they're on a fairly wide ledge, I mean, a couple feet wide, right. But they're clearly trying to get a photo of them being on the top of a big building. Well, he hops up, don't get me wrong, he doesn't he doesn't bump into her. He doesn't do anything. Her just natural reaction was to make space for him. And she shuffled her and fell right off the building. And I thought, like, for a picture, that three days from now, no one's going to remember. So you can get some likes on Instagram, she's, she's gone. You know? What and you by the way, you're a billionaire. Don't go into the water. If I was a billionaire, Jessica, I'd wrap myself in nine times a bubble wrap. And that's how I'd go outside. It'd be bulletproof bubble wrap. I'd be outside like the marshmallow man from Ghostbusters. Yes, please don't let anything happen to me. I get $2 billion.

Jessica 43:55
Exactly. I

Scott Benner 43:56
don't understand. Okay. I so I have. I know, you're, you're you're probably busy. And I'll wrap you up a little bit here. Okay. I want to ask if there's anything that we missed, or we didn't talk about that you wanted to know I

Jessica 44:09
don't think so. I just I just really love you know, that community that you've built and then there's some so many other ones like I mostly through Facebook, but you know, this, things like this, like it helps. But you know, just that group think is just really, you know, helps so many people just get through, you know, day by day because, you know, I'm just like I wonder if there's any other and I'm sure there is like forums like this for other you know, diseases but I don't know what I would you know, do without this this wealth of information.

Scott Benner 44:48
Very happy that it helped.

Jessica 44:49
I'm thankful Oh,

Scott Benner 44:50
I'm grateful that it's helping you and i i hope you never find out if there are other forums for other diseases. I never have to find that out. Yeah,

Jessica 44:59
yes, them So I can take

Scott Benner 45:02
at the end of my rope already. Yes, it makes you feel better. We were going to have three kids and after art and got diabetes, you're like, Okay, I think two is enough. So yeah, that's a lot. Yeah, no, really.

Jessica 45:16
And my son, he has such a big heart. And he was like mind that he's like skiing every few months. But then finally, one day, he's like, Well, we could adopt a kid that has diabetes and our help help them with it. Since I've, I've been doing mine and taking care of my diabetes. I was like, Yo, you're so sweet. Sweet his kid, if

Scott Benner 45:38
you're trying to make me cry, like you're real. All right. Yeah. Tell me that at the end. Yeah, that's really something. Okay. All right. Well, listen, you go back out and find out why those Chinese weather balloons were over Wisconsin, or whatever it is, you're supposed to be doing. It. I got Jessica, You crack me up. When we were gonna pause like we're gonna stop now. And I'm gonna say thank you very much, but just hold on one second for me that I'll let you go. Okay. All right. Thank you again.

I'd like to thank Jessica for coming on the show and sharing her story. And a huge thanks to touched by type one for sponsoring this episode of The Juicebox Podcast. Check them out on their website touched by type one.org or on Facebook and Instagram. A huge thanks to us med for sponsoring this episode of The Juicebox Podcast. Don't forget us med.com/juice box this is where we get our diabetes supplies from you can as well use the link or call 888-721-1514 Use the link or call the number get your free benefits check so that you can start getting your diabetes supplies the way we do from us med

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