#1392 From Start to Finish
Saana is the mother and wife of a type 1.
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Scott Benner 0:00
Here we are back together again, friends for another episode of The Juicebox Podcast.
Today's guest is the mother and the wife of someone with type one diabetes, and her daughter has all five markers, so it's very possible she'll have two children with type one very soon. Please don't forget that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before making any changes to your healthcare plan or becoming bold with insulin 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. Don't forget to save 40% off of your entire order at cozy earth.com All you have to do is use the offer code Juicebox at checkout. That's Juicebox at checkout to save 40% at cozy earth.com
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Saana 2:06
name is Sana. I am the mom of a 13 year old, 11 year old and a five year old. Our 13 year old is the one with type one, and then my husband also has type one as well.
Scott Benner 2:22
And your name, I pronounce it like the box I get into to warm up sauna. Yep,
Saana 2:26
that's exactly it spelled differently, but that's exactly how you say it. Same country of origin even,
Scott Benner 2:33
yeah, oh yeah. The so you're from Tel people are from Finland
Saana 2:37
originally, but I live in the US now. I live in Louisiana now, but I am from Finland originally.
Scott Benner 2:43
How many Finnish people do you believe are rocking the Louisiana accent?
Saana 2:48
Probably not that many.
Scott Benner 2:49
This might make you pretty unique, actually, awesome. So the reason I it's funny, I kind of don't care where you're from, until I see the type one and I wonder, Is your husband finished as well?
Saana 3:01
No, my husband is from here. Originally came here as a foreign exchange student and went back, came back to visit, started dating my now current husband, who lived across the street from the family I stayed with, and we went back and forth for a while, and in 2005 we got married. So stupid, I've been here a little
Scott Benner 3:22
while now. Yeah, stupid boys, I got you Okay, so, but you know why I asked? Right? Because, yes, there's a pre a high prevalence, right?
Saana 3:32
Very prevalent. And I actually didn't know that when I married my husband, obviously, I knew he had type one, but I didn't know that about Finland being so prevalent, but Yes, apparently it is.
Scott Benner 3:44
Yeah, in hindsight, do you have any auto immune issues?
Saana 3:47
Oh, yes. So, you know, it's funny, because, you know, listen to your podcast and you're always asking people the list of, Oh, do you have this in your family, or this in your family? And I go get that, that, yep, that that too, yep. And that. When we took my son to his first endocrinologist appointment, the endocrinologist took the history, and she looked at us and she said, Oh, your kids didn't stand a chance.
Scott Benner 4:13
Well, what I was gonna say is, like, finish, people, please have a heart. Don't go knocking up people with auto immune issues. Like, really, you're asking for Yes, really,
Saana 4:21
I know, yeah. So my husband has type one. I have celiac, which actually was diagnosed after my son's type one diagnosis, okay, but my dad also has celiac. My mom has shergin syndrome, which is another autoimmune and then there is diabetes in my husband family, his grandfather had diabetes, but we're not exactly sure if it was type two or type one, or possibly type one misdiagnosed as type two. There's mental health. It's all there. You
Scott Benner 4:55
got it all.
Saana 4:56
We got it all. Yeah,
Scott Benner 4:58
you guys should moved. An island and just enjoy your lives. I think so I have that thought all the time, by the way, I'm like, why are we doing this? Let's just give up. Why don't we go sit on a beach and just live out our days? That's
Saana 5:11
right. Yeah, I like gardening. So I could just grow my own stuff and just sit there and be happy.
Scott Benner 5:18
I swear to you this morning, 6am 6am Kelly wakes me up. She goes, Hey, Arden's high, and Arden's away at college. And right before my eyes were open, I knew what it was. I was like that kid tried again to slip through the night with a pod that was almost out of insulin. I know this is what happened, right? And whereas I did wake up just as she was running out of insulin, so I was kind of wrong, but still, it was just a it was an old, beat up site, and it just wasn't working well overnight. And so I send her a text, I don't get a response, which, I mean, 6am I'm not really expecting a response. So I call, she doesn't answer. I wait a few minutes to see if she sees the text. She doesn't, so I call again, and I get the, what I now believe to be the classic text Exchange, which is stop all in capital letters. I say, your pod ran out of insulin. You need to change a pod Bolus, whatever suggested insulin there is, etc, right? And I don't hear back from her, but I can see on night Scout that she does it. So whatever it's done, yeah? But then I'm laying there and I'm like, you know, it's funny. I told you I wasn't going to curse unless you cursed. Are you planning on cursing? Because this will make me feel better.
Saana 6:32
Well, I wasn't planning on cursing, but you're welcome to. Won't judge you for
Scott Benner 6:36
okay? Because I was sitting in bed and what I thought was, and this is a quote from my brain motherfer. I was gonna sleep in today, and instead, like, not in, but you and I don't record till noon today. So I was like, I'm just gonna sleep till eight o'clock because I was gone all weekend. I don't know if you know that I'm old, but like, I had to get up on Friday morning at six o'clock. People are gonna be like, Oh, boo hoo. I have a job. I get up every day at six o'clock, but I'm a podcaster. I don't get up every day at six o'clock, so to get up on Friday at six, I had to be at the airport by seven. I had to be on a plane at eight. I flew somewhere with dirty, sneezy people. I got off the plane, I went to the hotel. I had a nice dinner with people, but still, you know, it was late. I was up all night. Then I had to get up early in the morning and then talk all day. And I know, right, all of you out there are like, I change tires on trucks on the side of the highway. Please tell me more about how talking all day is tiring, but it really is.
Saana 7:33
No it is.
Scott Benner 7:34
I agree it's exhausting. So I'm exhausted. I go have dinner with Erica. You know, Erica from the like the mental health stuff, yes, first time I ever met Eric in person. Lovely. We sat and had a nice dinner, but I had to wake up at 2:30am to get into an Uber at three to get on a plane at five, right? So anyway, I'm not going to bore you with the whole thing, but let's just say I was tired when I got home. Well,
Saana 8:01
you know, type one never takes that into consideration.
Scott Benner 8:05
And then Monday, I had to work, which is fine. I was up on time and moving, but last night, I was like, oh geez, I am getting older, you know. So tomorrow I'm gonna do the crazy thing of sleeping till 8am
Saana 8:18
right until that time. Do it, yeah, take the opportunity. And if
Scott Benner 8:22
I told Arden, what happened? If I said, Hey, if you would have just changed your pump last night before you went to bed, daddy could have slept till eight o'clock, she'd be like, stop complaining. So right, yeah. Anyway, it's I don't care. I don't know what going to an island would fix about that, but in my heart, it feels like it would.
Saana 8:36
It just feels better to think about that. Anyway, I'm
Scott Benner 8:41
so sorry. You're coming on the podcast today. Actually, I like your list here. History of autoimmune diagnosis in children. Husband and son are type one. You have a daughter with three markers for type one. Well,
Saana 8:53
a five, actually, now, but you know who's counting? Well,
Scott Benner 8:57
I guess you are, and I guess you got to the end. Is she like? What are they telling you? How far out? So,
Saana 9:02
of course, you know they don't. They don't know. They can't tell you. But we've done two annual visits with her now to get her antibodies tested and glucose tolerance test. And she just barely misses the mark on the glucose tolerance. So she she goes a little hide. She comes back down on her own. So she's not ready for insulin or anything yet, but we're just kind of watching it. She might, she might get diabetes for Christmas.
Scott Benner 9:28
Diabetes for Christmas. I think that's already the title of an episode, But nice try. Yep. Did they talk to you about teas, the old or a drug like that that might push it off? Would that even be something you'd be interested in if you take insulin or so faux ureas, you are at risk for your blood sugar going too low. You need a safety net when it matters most, be ready with GE voc hypo pen. My daughter carries GE voc hypo pen everywhere she goes, because it's a ready to use rescue pen for treating very low blood sugar in people. With diabetes, ages two and above that, I trust low blood sugar. Emergencies can happen unexpectedly and they demand quick action. Luckily, jivo kypo pen can be administered in two simple steps, even by yourself in certain situations. Show those around you where you store GEVO kypo pen and how to use it. They need to know how to use G vo kypo pen before an emergency situation happens. Learn more about why G vo kypo Pen is in Arden's diabetes toolkit at G VO, glucagon.com/juicebox, gvoke shouldn't be used if you have a tumor in the gland on the top of your kidneys called a pheochromocytoma, or if you have a tumor in your pancreas called an insulin OMA, visit gevok, glucagon, com, slash, risk for safety information. I don't know how you guys order your diabetes supplies, like CGM pumps and testing equipment, but at our house, we use us Med and I'm gonna walk you through the entire process right now. I'm looking at the email from us med. It says it's time to refill your prescription. Dear Arden, please click the button below to place your next order. Then you click the button. That was it. Two days later, I got this email. Thank you for your order from us. Med, we wanted to let you know that your order and it gives you an order number was shipped via UPS ground. You can track your package at any time using the link below, and then there was a link, and then it showed up at our house. Now I'm going to walk you through the entire chain of events. On the 29th which was the Saturday I clicked on the email. On that Monday, the first I got an email that said the order had been sent four days later on the fifth the package arrived. If you can do it easier than that, you go get it. But if you can't, us, med.com/juice, box or call 888-721-1514, get started today with us, med, get your diabetes supplies the same way we do.
Saana 12:05
Yeah. I mean, we did talk about teas, the old when we first did the very first gluco tolerance test, though she failed, I'm going to be the person who's going to be hated by all who hear this when I say that we actually decided against it, which sounds absolutely crazy, because when I get online, you know, and all these Facebook groups and things, everybody wants to get on T Z yield and wants to push the diagnosis further and try to extend it, but we talked about it, and for her situation, the type of child she is, I think, A the treatment to do, it would have been difficult, and then we would have had to, it's not available where we live. We would have had to move, travel, like, five hours away for like a week, stay at a hotel. You know, cost of it all that now not to say that that's the deciding factor of cost, you know, I mean, we do what we need to for our kids, but my husband, being type one and and our son, we talked about it with that as well. And kind of felt like, as crazy as it sounds to want your child to be diagnosed sooner rather than later, we almost felt like the pushing it back would maybe just push her into like the time frame of her having just left for college, being on her own for the first time, not being, yeah, we would almost rather her still be at home, where we can still help her with getting, you know, started with it, and getting comfortable and all of those things before she leaves, you know, and that type of thing. So with all that considered for right now, we chose not to do tease the old whether it was the right decision or not, I don't know. Well, we'll see. But she's seen her dad, you know, deal with this her whole life. She's now seen her brother deal with it. It doesn't scare her. She's actually waiting for her Omnipod. And so, you know, for for her, it was just the best decision for us to not, not to do teas. Listen,
Scott Benner 13:59
you don't have to explain it to me, like, I think anything you decide is the right thing to do. Also, I'm pretty sure half the things I've done in my life have been wrong. So you know, if you wake up the next morning, you figure like, oh, I guess it wasn't that bad. But no, I take your point and pushing it off to not be right around college makes sense to me, honestly.
Saana 14:19
Because from what I understand about it, it's not taking it away completely. We're just kind of extending the timeline. Yeah, you know, you're hoping
Scott Benner 14:27
to to slow it down from arriving. How about other stuff? Like, I know this will sound like out of the box, but like, have they thought about putting her, like, on a real, like, low dose of a GLP or something to help her beta cells along, or anything like that.
Saana 14:40
Well, it's funny you say that because her endocrinologist hadn't mentioned anything about that. But I spoke with another type one just last week, honestly, who mentioned that same thing, and I was they have their next appointment next month, and I was actually gonna mention it because you're now the. Second person to ask me that, so I don't know that might actually be a good option, possibly. I
Scott Benner 15:07
mean, nothing to lose, really, you know? I mean, if she tolerates it well, and you can talk to a doctor about, like, maybe micro dosing it, not exactly using as much as comes in the pen, if not necessary, because you don't want her to, like, give me, she's a kid. You're not looking for her to lose her to lose her appetite. I'm sure she's not trying to lose weight or something like that, right? No, yeah, right, so you know, but if you could take in just enough to just act as a crutch, maybe, if that would help her, who knows? I mean, there's studies about it, and plenty of people you may have heard like, there's a couple of people who've been on the podcast who have had, like, pretty significant implications, right? Like getting off
Saana 15:44
I've seen that. It's really amazing. Honestly. I don't want
Scott Benner 15:48
anybody to misunderstand GLP. Medications don't make you, like, not have diabetes or anything like that, right? But some people's beta cells are working ish, and something about the GLP for some people, you know, ads takes away a little bit of the the weight, I guess, from the job, and then the beta cells can, like, can hang longer and do what they need to do. So who knows, but yeah, I mean, listen, talk to a doctor and see what you think. Yeah.
Saana 16:16
Well, definitely, you know, it's, it's an open option, for sure. Cool.
Scott Benner 16:20
All right, so you said something that threw me off a second ago. It took you until your kid was diagnosed to know that you have celiac, but you grew up with a father with celiac, so when you had celiac symptoms, how did you not say, you know, I probably have celiac?
Saana 16:32
Well, you know, we, we tend to try to ignore our own symptoms. And you know, life is busy, and I don't, I don't know, I have no excuses. So funny thing is that I listened to the episode after my son was diagnosed with Arden supplements, and, you know, all of our gut problems, and I said, You know what? I think I need to start some supplements. And you know, I was, I was taken, and I still take some of those, actually to this day, but and it helped, and then it didn't. And finally, I said, You know what I think I need? I think I need an appointment with a GI doctor. And sure enough, would
Scott Benner 17:13
you tell me what your symptoms? What were you like? Living with just
Saana 17:17
a lot of bloating. I didn't have the throwing up, thankfully, but other GI symptoms, but then back and forth between, then not being able to digest very well and not, you know, being able to go and just just ongoing pain and bloating and Gi, you know, craziness. How
Scott Benner 17:40
do you manage now, do you just eat a certain way?
Saana 17:42
I just eat gluten free. I mean, that's, that's all i That's all I do and ever
Scott Benner 17:48
did things just like, get better. Like, are you in a better place? Or is it just like, is it marginally better? Is it like, oh my god, this is amazing. What kind of person it
Saana 17:57
is much, much better. Now, honestly, I forgot to say, is it going to go I also had started to get, like, the brain fog and the inability to focus and like, couldn't look at something and have a listen to something else at the same time, and like, enough to where my husband was, like, this is not you. Like, something is off your your brain is something that's wrong with your brain. Turns out it was my gut, but all of that. So I've been gluten free since January of this year. So about, you know, nine, almost nine months. Yeah, and the brain frog is gone. I have energy back. You know, all of that. It's awesome. It is much, much better. So most definitely,
Scott Benner 18:37
Well, I'm glad you figured it. How old are you? By the way,
Saana 18:39
I am 40 at the end of this month.
Scott Benner 18:42
I'm glad you finally got it all straight. Your father stays gluten free.
Saana 18:46
He does, yep, his actually was the type where, with the skin rash, no is how he was diagnosed when, of course, you know, after that endoscopy and all of that to confirm, but he doesn't really get a lot of GI issues. He obviously doesn't eat gluten, but could and wouldn't get, you know, the GI issues. So that's kind of interesting, crazy,
Scott Benner 19:11
how different ways that it impacts different people. You know for sure, those people have, like, that silent celiac where, like, they really, like, don't have any outward symptoms, but obviously there's like damage happening inside, and just really something, yeah, yeah. Really interesting. Both your parents are from Finland, right? Yes, yes. Okay, In what world I'm sorry to go backwards. How are you in Finland? And you're like, you know, I'm gonna go to Louisiana for a little bit. How does that happen?
Saana 19:37
Wow. I just knew I wanted to do the foreign exchange student program I had, you know, a lot of people, honestly, a lot of kids in Europe do it. So most kids know about it, and you know, knew I wanted to do that. And when you sign up for the company that brings you, you don't get to choose where you go. They just place you somewhere. Oh, so it was kind of just by chance I happened to be placed over here that,
Scott Benner 20:05
oh, so you don't get to choose the place, no. Oh, and
Saana 20:09
actually, up until a week before I was leaving, I was supposed to go to Michigan, had everything bought, you know, packed for that type of that different from Finland, as far as you know, weather and stuff goes. But then last minute, they said, Oh no, it's not going to be Michigan. It'll be Louisiana.
Scott Benner 20:28
You're like, okay, more shorts. All right. All right, okay. And what did you
Saana 20:34
study? This was in high school. So, yeah, yeah,
Scott Benner 20:38
there's no real like, study. I gotcha,
Saana 20:40
no leftist High School.
Scott Benner 20:42
Is there a lot of confusion between where the chef from the Muppets is from, or, do you think people generally know it's that he's Swedish?
Saana 20:49
There's always confusion Sweden, Finland, and even Russia gets like, clumped into this. So
Scott Benner 20:55
somebody has come up to you in your lifetime and said, like, oh, the Swedish Chef is from Finland, right? And you're like, No, no, yeah, yeah,
Saana 21:02
yeah, and no. And then I tell somebody, I'm from Finland, and then the next time I see them, you're from Sweden, right?
Scott Benner 21:10
I mean, I'd like to laugh like that wouldn't confuse me, but, you know, I think it's possible that it would. How old was your husband when he was diagnosed?
Saana 21:19
So he was diagnosed in 95 he was 11, actually the same age my son was when he was diagnosed as well 11 So, and we met in 2001 so he was diagnosed in 95 we met in 2001 got married in 2005 so I've been around for the majority, really, of his type one journey. Yeah, you're saying
Scott Benner 21:40
you started dating and when he was 15, is what you're getting. I'm just joking. How old were you when you started dating? Well,
Saana 21:46
I mean, we, we met when we were seniors in high school, and then we started dating the year after. So, gotcha,
Scott Benner 21:52
gotcha. Did this boy chase you around? Or did you? Did you show interest in him? How did this end up? Oh,
Saana 21:59
well. So I think it was kind of a mutual thing when I, when I came to visit, and we decided to, you know, start dating. But then once it, you know, of course, I went back to Finland, and we were long distance. He most definitely was, he
Scott Benner 22:16
loves me. And, yeah, he was all love sick when you left and you were like, Oh my God, He came all the way to Finland to seem like the whole thing happened.
Saana 22:24
Yeah, he took me to Paris and proposed to me in Paris, and
Scott Benner 22:28
it's like, I can't let this girl leave again. My God, when you say it out loud, I think this for most people who come on and they tell their stories, when you say it out loud, do you think, oh my god, this is like a four episode arc on like a CW show, right? That's nice, though. So you guys meet as seniors in high school. What do you know about diabetes while you're dating? Like, how much does it impact your dating life back then?
Saana 22:54
This is, I guess, embarrassing to say the least, but I honestly did not know that much about it, like I knew he had type one. I knew, you know, he had his his shots, and he was still MDI until first years of our marriage, even he didn't get his first pump until right before our son was born. So I knew he had his insulin. I knew he took shots, you know, and at that point he was still on he didn't get on Landis until like, 2006 so for the first, very first years, he was still on, like, you know, regular fashion, right?
Scott Benner 23:28
SWANA, this is really interesting, though, like, because this is not me saying you did something wrong. I'm just asking the question, okay, but how does that happen? How do you say, like, I didn't really know that much about it. Is he keeping it from you? Are you willfully not sticking your nose into his health business? Like, how does that balance work? Right?
Saana 23:48
And I think about it now, now that our relationship is very different, and especially since my son's diagnosis, I think the beginning part of our dating, in our marriage, you know, he experienced major, major burnout and end of high school, right when we met through the beginning parts of college and those years. And so I think for him, you know, it wasn't something he wanted to really talk about. It was something he had to do. He didn't do it very well at the time, but you know, enough to stay alive. He didn't want a relationship to be where, like, I felt like a mom, and of course, I didn't want to be the wife that felt like a mom either, sure, like I'm not your mother. And so I think it just fell into this place of he didn't really speak about it too much, and then I didn't really ask. Gotcha, you know, we would go places. He would forget his insulin at home, you know, sometimes he'd turn around and go get it, and sometimes not and, you know, and that was, I mean, hindsight. Why didn't I, of course, we didn't have internet, you know, like we do now, quite the research capability. But like, why didn't I research at that time and go, ah, like, how can I, how can I help? Been, you know, a little better through this. But can
Scott Benner 25:02
you do you have enough? I mean, memory of this to tell me if you were to go out and he's like, I don't have my insulin. Like, did you know that's bad? Or were you just like, Oh, if he doesn't think it's a big deal, it's not a big deal. Remember
Saana 25:15
I got like, I knew it was bad, was bad. And he would go high, but he would just say, Oh, it's okay. I'll just take it. When I get home, it'll be fine. Like, I didn't realize what that high meant. Long term, like, I didn't realize how bad bad was I see. So, like, I knew it was bad honestly. You know, lows
Scott Benner 25:35
weren't really an issue. He wasn't using enough insulin to be low, yeah. Like, I
Saana 25:40
didn't really learn about lows, I guess because lows really weren't that much of an issue. Highs were an issue and so, but I didn't really know what those highs would bring further down the road. So
Scott Benner 25:52
now your son's diagnosed when he's 11. How old is he now
Saana 25:54
he's 13. Now he was almost 12. So it's been a year and a half. Year,
Scott Benner 25:59
okay, year and a half. You've been a mom of somebody with type one. You've been married for, I mean, I'm gonna guess at least 13 years
Saana 26:06
20. Yeah, coming, coming up almost 20.
Scott Benner 26:09
Did you guys get married when you were 20 years old? Yes, we did. I thought we were young, and now I'm realizing, apparently you were younger. It's, I'll get back to that. But you've been the mom of a child with type one for a year and a half. Put yourself in a car. You're driving to dinner. You're gonna be gone for a while, just like an old date. You're gonna go to dinner, you're gonna see a movie, you'll be home later, and your son goes, I don't have my insulin. It's okay. I'll take it when I get home, what do you say to him? Right?
Saana 26:38
Say you turn around, right now and you come home to get it like there's no, no way I would, I would let him do that. Yeah, but
Scott Benner 26:49
why? What do you know now that you or what do you feel now know or feel doesn't matter to me that you would have that reaction.
Saana 26:57
Well, I think, and to this, I think we do need to backtrack a little bit before my son's diagnosis, because I started to learn. I started to learn what those highs met a little before, when my husband actually started having years later, but he started having some, some complications, some issues with his eyes. He's had diabetic retinopathy in both eyes, like countless related surgeries, cataract surgeries, you know, all that stuff. So sitting through all those appointments, sitting through, you know, all of those things that go with those complications. You know, obviously at that point, you know, it was very apparent, you know, that those eyes do affect you. And all of this is is happening now, but that was years later. I think it took our son being born for my husband to really, like, kind of snap out of that burnout and really start doing a little bit better. But even once he started doing better, he wasn't doing great. I listened to one episode, and there was a girl, I can't remember her name now, but she was talking about her pump being kind of like just her basal machine. I went back home, and I said, I found you. And he said, Oh, yeah, that's That's true. That's pretty much what I used to do. And so even, you know, when he finally got a pump, which wasn't until, you know, it's been 13 years ago. Now, he wasn't really doing great with it, but it was better. And so all the doctors and everyone he saw had always just said, like, this is kind of like, no one had really put out the idea that a normal, A, 1c was possible for him. It was just kind of like this idea, like, I remember going to one doctor's appointment, and the lady looked at us and said, Well, he'll be dead before 40, you know. And that was just kind of like the idea that it just it is. How
Scott Benner 28:55
old do you think you were when that happened? How old was he?
Saana 28:59
Oh, probably. I mean, in our 20s, mid 20s, maybe, oh, wow. So
Scott Benner 29:05
you got 15 years left, right? But that didn't stop him. It was the bit you think it's the baby that stopped him.
Saana 29:11
When my son was born, he did start doing a little better, obviously, you know, like I said, he got a pump finally, and but then he was kind of using the pump as a basal machine, you know, like, still not doing great with it. And I will tell you to this day that honestly, what really happened was my son's diagnosis. As crazy as it sounds and as crazy as it sounds to like, I'm not happy about my son's diagnosis, but I truly believe that it saved my husband's life.
Scott Benner 29:37
Let me cut you off and then tell me why. Okay, hold on a second. You got to be the 20th person to say this to me. I'm going to spend my whole life trying to understand this whole thing. And I genuinely believe, and I don't mean this as condemnation on the on people. I just think this is something. This is something that's just very human, and I can't figure out the origin of it. And. Why it happens, or how this is always the same story that brings people out of it. But, yeah, it really is fascinating. It really, it just, I know there's somebody's gonna say, there's a simple answer. Like, people feel, you know, like they can't, they're never gonna die, right? They're impervious and everything like that. Well, everyone always thinks it's not going to be them. But like, why? Like, why? In the face of all that information, why? In the face of being told by a doctor you're not going to live for 15 more years, having needles stuck in your eyes, then lasers, then like, and you're just like, Nah, probably not me, probably not you. It's literally you. It's happening right now. Yeah, okay. I'm so sorry. So your son was born, and you think he, how do you think he saved his life? So
Saana 30:43
my son's diagnosis finally, is what I think really, really saved my husband. Because then finally, when, you know, year and a half ago, my son was diagnosed, it's almost like at that point he had to step up. Because, you know, I mean, ultimately, no matter what you want for yourself. We might not take care of ourselves, let our own health go to to the worst places, but we want the best for our children, right? And so he didn't want our son to see a bad example, obviously. And so, you know, he had to start doing better with Pre Bolus, saying doing better, you know. And then, because of my son's diagnosis, I started doing research at that point for him, not for my husband, but for my son. And so I found your podcast and and I'll, I'll put you there as well for saving my husband's life, because had I not found your podcast, you know, and found out all of these things about the pump that my husband already has, that we then wanted for my son as well. Listening to all those episodes, all of that, I started tweaking my son's numbers. I got him to where his a 1c was 5.3 and he was level. And so my husband sees that. All of a sudden, I go home and he says, Well, could you look at my numbers? Now, mind you, he had never shared his like I was not following him. I was not following his numbers. I was not logging on to his T connect and looking at his numbers. I was not doing any of those things before, but all of a sudden, when he saw me looking at the algorithms, finding out about all this information for my son, he saw, maybe you can help me, too. And we started looking at his numbers, started changing, his basal started changing, you know, all of those things. And now he is also in the fives with this, A, 1c, and he has not ever been that way in the, you know, since 95 when he was diagnosed. I mean, are you
Scott Benner 32:39
sort of telling me because I just got also, I want to point out that I said I was tired, but I just got very misty when you when he asked, Can you look at my numbers? Because my expectation is, is that he just felt hopeless before that, and that he didn't really right, he didn't really think he could do better. He just thought he was supposed to be a better role model so that this thing that befell him wasn't going to happen to your son. He didn't actually think he could do better. He thought he could pretend to do better, so your son would try. Is that right?
Saana 33:09
Right? Maybe. And I think you you might be right. And it's just accumulation of the unfortunate events of doctors that just kind of never gave them the correct information. Never really, you know, we never knew that a glucagon type of product existed before my son was diagnosed. None of my husband's endocrinologist had never mentioned anything like that ever to him before.
Scott Benner 33:33
You know what it feels like? Like a movie where somebody takes a beating so bad that they close their eyes and just think, like, go ahead and finish me. Like, you know what I mean? Like, right? Like, like, you just take that beating over. And He's 11, he's, I mean, he might have been beef and pork, or was he, could he have been beef and pork, or was he regular and mph the whole way? Do you even know,
Saana 33:53
I think regular mph, I think so. He's
Scott Benner 33:56
that way his whole life. And then he's not taking it super seriously, because he's like, Oh, I can just take it when I get back that kind of thing. Then insulin gets more modern, etc. But he doesn't really come along with it. He's still in the old way of thinking about it. And he probably just thinks, this is diabetes, like, this is what's going to happen exactly that lady's right? I am going to die early. There's nothing I can do about it,
Saana 34:21
right? And the things that they teach you when you are on regular or MBH, all of those insulins that don't apply anymore, now that you have a pump and you have a basal, or you know that you can go long periods of time without eating, and your basal, if it's correct, is going to just keep you going, like those types of things that he just never knew, but because I started researching them for our son, you know, now, all of a sudden, he was able to almost right, hop on, hop on that train as well. So I
Scott Benner 34:54
just love that idea that he looked up one day and he was like, Wow, this thing that they told me didn't exist. It's right in front of me. Like, give it to me. I want this. So it wasn't apathy. I feel like it wasn't apathy. He just thought it didn't exist. And once he saw it, it sounds like he was excited. Like he's like, I don't know how to do this, but right this finished lady that I, that I Harang into marrying me 20 years ago, seems to have figured something out here. So, like, let me go.
Saana 35:18
Got it girl, thank
Scott Benner 35:19
God I chased her over to Paris with that ring. She could have saved my life. Does he have regret about the length of time it took him to get to it?
Saana 35:30
We haven't really talked about it in those terms. I don't think. I mean,
Scott Benner 35:35
by the way, people who don't realize you've been married for 20 years, you're like, I don't know. I don't talk to him every week. Go ahead. I'm
Saana 35:42
sorry. No, which is funny. You say that because we're the couple who do everything together like we are never separate. If someone's there the others, they're like, we're not the couple that does separate things. We do things together. But just, I guess, with that particular question I hadn't asked. But I mean, who would who would go back and say, Oh, well, I would love to have all these eye surgeries? No,
Scott Benner 36:02
and I didn't mean, I didn't mean regret, like he'd done something wrong. But I've had a lot of conversations. The one always sticks out in my head. I probably haven't spoken about in forever. But a lady got hooked up with me over Facebook before, I had a Facebook group, before this podcast was really very big. To be perfectly honest, somebody on Facebook told this person, you know, if you message that guy, he'll help you, which I don't know if you guys realize, but like, privately speaking to people was probably how I one day was like, maybe if I just spoke to one person and recorded it, other people could hear it, like, you know what I mean? Like, that thing I hadn't thought of prior. She was older. She had diabetes for a long time. She had a lot of kids. I jumped on the phone with her, and I talked to her, like, for 45 minutes, and I just kind of like, hit, like, highlighted some ideas. She messaged me the following day and asked if she could call back. And I always, like, say the same thing, half jokingly and half serious. I'm like, Oh God, I should have never given that person my phone number. Like, I'm gonna be talking to him for the rest of my life. But I was like, yeah, yeah, sure. Call back. Right. So she calls, and she's crying when I answer the phone. And of course, at first, oh, my God, did I, like, I hope I didn't make this lady upset. You know what I mean? Like, I've just said to her, I really think if you got your basal right, and, like, learned how to, like, Bolus a little bit, get into me. Like, didn't say a whole lot. She's just crying. And she says, Why didn't anybody tell me? Yeah, that's all. And then she just started talking about the wasted time and the wasted health and where she was, and the things that weren't going to get better. And the end of her, like, she was just consumed with, you mean, this was all there was to it, like, Are you fcking kidding me? You know what? I mean, like, my eyes don't work and I'm gonna die earlier and basal and Pre Bolus my meal. Like, what the hell? Right? You know, right? I've never spoken to her again. I hope she has shaken that feeling, because she's the reason why. When I talk to people who show that regret, I say, Listen, you know, now everything from here forward is going to be better, you know, I can't do anything about the past. Keep going. Yeah. Anyway, that's so awesome. Like, so you helped your son, but you consciously thought he can't do it the way my husband's doing it. Like, I gotta figure something else out, right?
Saana 38:15
I don't think it started with that mindset. I don't I don't think that's where my research started. I think I just, you know, I'm a, I'm a person who likes to research anything and try to figure out how to do it perfectly. And so when I was faced with this type one here, you know, here's this child, I just started researching, how exactly do I do this? Because up until then, I wasn't that like, I said, like I wasn't that involved in my husband's scare. I wasn't changing the pump sites. I wasn't, you know, counting the carbs. I wasn't he was doing all that. I wasn't doing any of the things. And so I just felt like I needed to research it for myself so I could do it for for my son. And so in that research, I quickly found your podcast and the Facebook page, and just started listening to episodes. And you know, then I would go home and and tell my husband about each episode. And just, I think it just naturally went that direction with me, just wanting to to know more because of my son, which I probably never would have done that type of research or, like, started looking for it if it wasn't for my son's diagnosis,
Scott Benner 39:24
because you didn't feel a responsibility for your husband, like that, right?
Saana 39:28
And that's how the relationship was set up from the beginning, like I said, like he didn't really want me to be that, that mom figure. And, you know, in the beginning, it was a lot of burnout and depression and that kind of thing affecting it, and then once he was out of that, the relationship of that still just stayed the same, right? Like I wasn't really involved in it that much. It's
Scott Benner 39:49
interesting. You said it like that. Also, I want to say, before I move on, you're low in my ears. I'm not, for people who are listening like I'm not talking over her, like I feel like she's done when she's not. So I'm. Sorry about that, no, and by the way, and what will happen too, is Rob will pump you up, and you and I'll sound like we're the same level, and then people will be like he's full of it. Didn't sound like that. But right now, while we're recording it, it's what's up. So I apologize if I step on you. No, don't okay. That all makes sense to me. That all makes sense to me. You go out, you figure it out. You get your son straight. You whip out that a one c1, after one afternoon at dinner, you're like, check this out. Suckers. Like, pull that out right on the table. Your husband's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, no more needles than daddy's eyes. Let's figure this out. And he comes to you, were you surprised? Like that wasn't a leap for him to just ask you for help, but it might have surprised you a little bit, because you hadn't been involved until
Saana 40:38
then. It did it. It did surprise me, because this whole time, it wasn't that I didn't want to be involved. He didn't really want me involved either, you know, like he didn't want me following his numbers. But I think maybe part of that was because he knew his numbers weren't great, and, you know, I mean, it's, it's, yeah, embarrassment, like I'm not doing so great, so you don't want someone looking at that, but I'm sure he didn't really know how to get out of that either, like we already established, you know. So finally,
Scott Benner 41:08
he must have just been like, Oh, this is it?
Saana 41:12
Like, this can be done, you know? And so, yeah, did
Scott Benner 41:18
it enhance or change your personal relationship at all between the two of you.
Saana 41:22
Oh, for the better, absolutely.
Scott Benner 41:24
Yeah. Did you get a pool out of or something like that? Were you like, hey, you know, I've been talking about a pool for the last couple years. I was just thinking, No, but seriously, like, did you, like, like, how did it change your relationship? No,
Saana 41:36
I think, you know, I mean, we had a great relationship before, but when you really put yourself out there like that and ask for help, I mean, it was vulnerability from his side that, you know, obviously I hadn't, hadn't seen before, quite to that extent, you know, because, like I said, you're putting yourself out there and saying, Here's my numbers, they're not good. Like, how do I get better? Clearly, you've now figured out how to do this. How do I do that? Yeah, you know. And so it put conversations out there that, you know, just, just a closer relationship between us than, than even what we had before.
Scott Benner 42:12
Yeah? Because I keep thinking like, if he he's hiding his health, which is, to some to a large extent, not to some extent, to a large extent, is hiding who he is and what's happening to him, and then once he opens up to you about it, it must be a relief for him to just be like, Oh, I don't have to hide this stuff anymore
Saana 42:30
and right screen it out together. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like,
Scott Benner 42:34
like, do a whole little thing here where we're a bit of a team, which you probably were in other things, right?
Saana 42:40
Oh yes, absolutely. Like, we, we've had a great marriage, and our marriage was not suffering at the time, but just that part of it, you know, was that we weren't doing that part together, and so now we're doing not just my son's care together, but you know, his as well. Obviously, I don't check he changes his own site still, and I don't, you know, like I'm still not his mom, but hold
Scott Benner 43:03
still, I'll rip off that CGM for you. You're not doing that stuff.
Saana 43:08
No, no, no, but still, you know, it just really, I think did bring us closer than we were before.
Scott Benner 43:14
It's awesome. Do you ever have that feeling though? Do you ever see him not doing something you're like this, this chuckle head, if he just Bolus right here. Thank you,
Saana 43:23
yeah, but now it's almost like, because now I have the knowledge to I can, you know, whether it just be more gently or jokingly or whatever, just kind of tell them like, you know, maybe you should have Pre Bolus a little more there, you know, because I have the knowledge now, so I try not to be nagging or annoying and or any of that stuff, but I can find a way to still mention it now and and, you know, sometimes I mean, even as our children, who are type ones, grow to be adults. I mean, I don't want to micromanage my son forever either, but they need someone who's still gonna, you know, sometimes give you that nudge,
Scott Benner 44:07
I think so I tell Arden when, like, when she seems, because there's times she's, you know, obviously annoyed. She also has, she's talked about it on here before. She's like, I don't know what it is. She goes as soon as you tell me to do something I don't want to do it, right? From my experience, that might be something you got from your mom, but, but, but at the same time, like, I get her point, like she's like, I know what to do. I'm happy to do it, blah, blah, blah. But if you tell me I'm she's like, I get like, instantly irritated by it. But there are times where she still needs someone to say, hey, look, I think you should, you know, Bolus here, or do this. Or like, you know, I'm looking at your graph, and lately it seems like you're not Pre Bolus in your meals. And, like, just want to remind you to do that, like, you know, right? And I know what you're saying. Like, there's kind of ways to slip it into conversation where it feels a little less directive. Yeah, but I also, when I do that, I feel like, like, I prefer to be direct, but she doesn't love it, and so, like, we find our own language around it. Right? The other night, she was talking to Kelly on a FaceTime from school, and I popped in. I'm like, Hey, what's up? And we were just chatting a little bit and everything. And I said, Hey, I have two questions. I know you don't like me asking you about this stuff, but like, I just need a yes or a no, because I think you need some settings changed, and I need to know if this is happening or this is happening, so I know what to do with the settings, or what to suggest to you for the settings. And she's like, Dad, stop. Don't just don't say whatever you're gonna say. She goes, we need therapy over this. And I was like, you know. And by the way, what she meant was I need therapy, because every time you talk, I'm like, no, go away. And she even knows, like, when we talk about, she's like, it doesn't make any sense. I don't mind when you tell me about anything else. It's really, you know, it's interesting. And so I try to really take that into account. And I just said, okay, okay. I'm like, Listen, I'm going out to pick up a pizza right now. I looked at Kelly and I said, I need to know how much GLP she shot this weekend, and I need to know what her insulin to carb ratio is during the day. I was like, you find out those things for me, right? Yeah. I get home and Kelly goes, she said she did the things she told her to do. I was like, oh yeah. I'm like, she wouldn't be more clear about that. She goes, if you asked her, she does it, that's as much as she wants to talk about it. I'm like, That's it. I'm like, All right, whatever. But even that like is like, that could sound crazy to people, but I've been watching this adjustment happen slowly for so many years. Like, I get that she doesn't want to talk about it a lot, you know, and so I'm trying to be respectful that, and not push our relationship. Like, I would never want to push our relationship to a point where she's just like, that's it. Get away. Because, to your point, about your son and maybe about your husband too, like you, she still needs help sometimes, right? You know? And I don't want her to get to the point where she's too proud to ask, and we've gotten to some weird place where it can't happen. So I just, I played the game by her rules. Mostly that makes
Saana 46:59
sense. Yeah, oh, absolutely. And, you know, now seeing that, of course, it's a balancing act of how we deal with my son's diabetes now as well, because we've seen what it does. You know, it's just, it's different than, I guess, for a lot of first time, you know, diagnosed never has dealt with type one before, you know, and the doctors tell you, Oh, a little bit of high is okay this, long as they come back down. But now, like, we've seen what it does. And so I think that, like, even more hyper aware of highs and and, but at the same time, it's a balancing act of, how much do I micromanage and then not get onto the mental side of you know, so, right? Because
Scott Benner 47:43
the doctor's not wrong. A high one time is not going to hurt anybody, but you're like, unless it turns into a situation where you get used to being high and then you don't bring your insulin when you go out, and then you don't worry about it. Then 20 years later, I'm sitting in an office with a guy who's like, getting needles in his eyes. Like, all that happens next. Yeah, yeah. It's not that it's going to happen. It's that you now have proof that it could happen. And also, let's probably say I've been talking to you for 45 minutes now, I bet your husband's a pretty bright guy. He's probably a pretty hard worker, probably does, like a great dad all this stuff. Like he's not a guy who's running around ignoring like, he doesn't appear to be a guy who's running around ignoring his health, right? No,
Saana 48:22
absolutely not. No, he's very smart, very hard working it just, I don't even know how to explain it. That's just how it fell, like I said, between, you know, the years of doctor's appointments and, you know, not really getting that information. I mean, endos, let's be honest, don't really give you as much information as you would hope that they do sometimes. And you know, I mean, nobody said, Hey, if you eat pizza and you Bolus for it, 5050, over an hour, you might do better than Bolus for all up front, you know, like, those are not the types of things that you learn at an endocrinologist, but I learned those things on Juicebox Podcast.
Scott Benner 48:59
I'm glad that's all. Listen, you know, I met a person this weekend who told me their kids a one season the elevens, and they can't figure out how to get it down. They're working with a doctor and the whole thing. And I'm like, How can a doctor not figure this out? Like, are you kidding me? An 11 like, you can't figure this out. Late ladies, very motivated, interested, like, not intelligent. Like, the whole thing doesn't matter what is in your note here about hospitals and first, endo misinformation. What did you want to talk about about that around your son's diagnosis? Well,
Saana 49:28
initially, I think I requested to be on the podcast right after my son's diagnosis, and then, you know, nine months down the road, I ended up having to cancel that appointment and reschedule for another nine months. So I think at that time, when I made those notes, I had thought to talk about his diagnosis a little bit, and the way that went the hospital that we took him to absolutely gave us horrible, horrible advice, sent us home with regular insulin for him, really, yes. Kept giving him regular in the hospital. And when I said, this is not working, like this is not just finally, I had to beg them to discharge us, and the prescription they sent for him was regular. So like this still happens, and I feel for the families who truly don't know better, because they don't have type one prior experience. You know, I knew this is not the insulin my husband is on like this is not what works for him. So why are we just 2022 yes, no, 2023
Scott Benner 50:35
in America, the United States of right around here, yes, yes. Way to go everybody, yeah, okay, jeez. Makes your head mix my brain,
Saana 50:46
yeah. Then we're sent to the closest endocrinologist that was an hour and a half away from us, and just we were given so much misinformation about the pump we wanted to put him on, which my husband wanted to my son wanted to get the same pump as my husband had, which is the tea slim. But this particular endocrinologist office only prescribed OmniPods.
Scott Benner 51:11
You know, you can write anything on the prescription. You can actually just write them if you want,
Saana 51:18
since they didn't have any experience in the teas limb. But we insisted on wanting that pump. All the information that came to us about the pump pertain to Omnipod. So they kept telling us things like, Oh, well, you just leave it alone. It's gonna it'll learn. It'll do its thing. Just don't change that. I'm like, No, I don't this pump doesn't do that. It No, it doesn't,
Scott Benner 51:41
by the way, if somebody was here right now from Omnipod, they would tell you that their pump doesn't learn either. So it's, oh my god, like we were having such a nice time zone. And now I'm gonna and now I'm gonna curse, not for fun, like, you know what I mean? Like, how, if you're listening, please, if you work in an endocrinologist officer, you're an endocrinologist or a nurse practitioner or something that's involved with helping people with helping people with their diabetes. Why don't you spend a whole Saturday morning and learn how all the pumps work? Go crazy, maybe put five hours worth of effort into it. What the fuck like, right? You just imagine, like, how ridiculous that is, that they're like, Oh, we only know how this one pump works, by the way, we don't really know how it works. We just know what, you know. I mean, we read the first page and it sounds like it learns or something. So good luck. But like, come on, when
Saana 52:30
I finally got the correct information and pushed them on it and said, I don't think that's how this pump works, they say, Well, we're so sorry. It's a learning curve for us to just bear with us. Why we learn? No,
Scott Benner 52:48
no, it's my son. Is
Saana 52:49
not your learning curve, and we will be finding another endocrinologist. Thank you very much. And we did, and we are now at an amazing office, granted. Now we drive two and a half hours to it, but we'll gladly make the drive for a great doctor's office. So there are great ones out there as well. But like, I just feel for the families who don't have the prior knowledge and they, you know, it takes so long to finally say, to find the information for yourself and say, Okay, this doctor is not giving me the correct information you
Scott Benner 53:21
should feel for me, who's gonna have a stroke, making this podcast one day because you gotta cut us a break. There's a learning curve. What did insulin pumps just come out this week? And you, by the way, are just like, if your husband doesn't have type one, maybe you say, oh, maybe this is something like, yeah, no, maybe I should cut him a break. Cut him up. Holy, Christ. It's like, if you had a house built and when it was all done the roof was on the inside. They're like, Oh, you got to cut us a break. It's a learning curve for everybody. Just just if the sprinkler goes off there, you're not going to be trouble because all the shingles are on the ceiling. How could you be that? Like clueless in your own profession, that's every day. It's every goddamn day. Like, if on Monday, Jesus Christ, if I was in charge of your health, and on Monday, someone said to me, you don't know a thing, I'd go, I am gonna go find that thing out. And by the way, I've said stuff on here before where I'm like, I should probably go learn more about that, and then I actually do it. And I'm just making a fucking Podcast. I'm not, like, I'm not your doctor. At the beginning of this, I say to you, hey, if you're listening to this, you should know something for sure. Don't listen to anything. I've said, go talk to your doctor, and then you come on and tell this story. And I don't know, I'm so upset. Now, no, my God, I know you think I'm joking for the show or something, but it's really, really, genuinely upsetting that someone can say, this is my profession, but I don't know how to do it, and you go, have poor health while I figure it out. But hey, here's the secret. I'm not really gonna figure it out, right? Unbelievable. Well, thanks to all of you crappy doctors, I have a podcast. Thank you. I appreciate it. Yeah, dummies. So,
Saana 55:00
you know, I think that's where that, that's where that note had came from. And, you know, just talking about his, his diagnosis story, which was, you know,
Scott Benner 55:08
thank God we didn't talk about that first,
Saana 55:11
no, but we've, we've moved past it. Now. I'm sure you're fine.
Scott Benner 55:15
Also, by the way, it took you 18 months to get on this podcast. Look at me acting like I'm special. I apologize that that happened.
Saana 55:21
No, not at all. I think, honestly, you know, that's that's time I needed to get to, you know, where I'm at now, with what I feel like were more important things to talk about than than just, you know, diagnosis stories.
Scott Benner 55:38
I would say also that there's part of the reason it takes time to go on the podcast is because when people reach out who are more newly diagnosed, it's my hope that they'll have more experiences before they come on. Like, because every once in a while, it's nice to hear from somebody who's just like, you know, gobsmacked by the whole thing. So you can hear that perspective, but mostly that perspective lacks some direction. So, oh, absolutely, yeah. It sounds like you guys are doing really well. I'm happy for your husband and you and your daughter, who's gonna just like cruise, because of all the stuff you figured out, yeah? But,
Saana 56:10
well, I'm sure it's not a cruise, no. But absolutely, like she is more prepared than you know, and we're watching it. It's just, it's crazy to watch it slowly happen. Whereas, you know, my son's diagnosis was very, you know, abduct DKA, you know, all those things you think that we would have known to look for the signs, but, you know, but it's, it's weird to watch my daughter slowly get there, you know.
Scott Benner 56:41
Do you stare at her all the time, thinking about it? Well, I
Saana 56:45
mean, every time she's sick, every time she, you know, I'm like, This is it? This is it now, you know. And I have her check her blood, and I, you know, but I try not to think about it too much, you know? I mean, I don't want to dwell in it, right? 24/7,
Scott Benner 57:01
I'd give you that advice, but I don't think you'd be able to listen to it. So, you know, just do your best to not be consciously like in that space the whole time. Have you had conversations not about the I mean, obviously she sees everybody with the diabetes, you know, suppose that. But have you had more conversations about, like, the emotional sides of it? Like, how do you prep her for it
Saana 57:20
a little bit, not, not a whole lot. Yet it's hard, it's hard to have that conversation before it's time for it. When my son was diagnosed, kids, kids go into the hospital, and you know that somebody comes into the room and they say, Oh, your blood sugar was, you know, whatever. And I'm sure the kids in that moment don't really, necessarily realize what's happening, you know, the doctor came in to our room and said what my son's blood sugar was, and he instantly knew what that meant. And he instantly started crying and said, I don't want to be like Daddy. I don't, I don't. I don't want this, you know. And so it like, you know? Now I've seen that reaction. And so now I think I'm avoiding that conversation with my daughter maybe. But I mean, slowly we're bringing some of that into the
Scott Benner 58:10
conversation as well. That must have hit your husband hard, huh? Yeah,
Saana 58:14
oh yeah. Because, I mean, you don't want that for your for your kids, obviously, you know? And so it was just like this, yeah, weight of heat in when most
Scott Benner 58:25
kids say stuff like, I don't want to be like you, it's because they got older and they watched you get old, and they're like, you guys don't know how to think about things, so I don't want to be like that, not like, like, especially, I don't want to be like you. And it's not a thing your husband can like, control,
Saana 58:40
right? No, nothing you can do about it. Like he instantly knew what it meant when you know that that he was gonna have to do that,
Scott Benner 58:49
tell your husband that would have sent me to therapy. I would have been like, oh, okay, you know what? After we get out of here, I'm gonna go call a doctor too. Yeah, that sucks, dude. This diabetes thing is for the birds. You know what
Saana 59:01
I mean. Anyway, you slice it. But you know, all this bad stuff being said, I will say that, you know, like I said, I do believe that my son's diagnosis, like I said, saved my husband's life, but also saved his life as well, in a different way, like I see so much change in my son, positive change of, you know, being a stronger person than, not than he was before, being able to deal with situations that I diabetes is also going to teach you things and change your personality in a good way as well. So it's not, it's not all that that's
Scott Benner 59:36
going to show you who you are, that's for sure, right? Yeah. So the problem is, is when you're not a person who rises to those occasions and, you know, it sounds like your son is, which is awesome, it's just that, you know, some people, Hey, we've talked about it before, like, Why do like, we've had long conversations about, like, why do some people crumble when other people excel? And right? It's not like one of them tried harder, or something like that. Like, right? It's. Just some sort of, like, internal like, this is how my reaction is, like, this is just what it is. People could say, Oh, you gotta do this or do that, but that's not easy. Like, you know you're having the reaction you're having. It's nobody's in charge of the reaction they're having, generally speaking. So, you know, right, yeah, geez. All right. Well, do you have anything else to add, because this was great, and now all my adrenaline has gone from being mad at your doctor, so it's going to be hard for me to keep going now. But do you have anything, anything we haven't talked about that we should have? No
Saana 1:00:31
I want to thank you so much, because I mean this, this year podcast has truly, truly been such a blessing for our family. You know, I can't even begin to thank you enough, but and thank you for for letting me come on so it's been fun.
Scott Benner 1:00:47
The whole thing is my pleasure, and I appreciate you being so kind with your regards. I would just say that, you know, I said a thing on a podcast. You actually listened to it, figured it out, put it into practice, navigated your family life like you did everything. I just, I just made a podcast. So, yeah, seriously, it's, it's, it's a lot of hard work on your part and your husband and your son and but thank you very much. I appreciate it. I just, I spent a whole weekend with people saying nice stuff to me, and I think I've probably hit my limit
Saana 1:01:16
for nice out.
Scott Benner 1:01:18
I know I can't like, I tried so hard sauna this weekend to accept people's kindness, like, without feeling like, Oh, not me, or like, you know what I mean? Like, that whole thing, which just is still something that's kind of inside of me. I'm getting much better at it. I actually mentioned that I had dinner with Erica, and I don't think she'd mind me saying this one little bit of our What was our private conversation at dinner, but we were talking about that. I said I had an easier time accepting people's compliments than I have in the past. And she asked why? And I said, I don't consciously know, but if I stepped out of my situation for a second, looked at this, I would probably say it's because I've lost weight and I don't mind people looking at me. And she was like, Yeah, that's probably it. And I was like, right? Like, I'm like, you know, it's funny because I didn't, I've never, I've never consciously thought, don't look at me. Yeah, you know what I mean? I guess it just sort of happens. And you don't realize that when someone's saying something nice to you, that it is a moment where everything stops and the focus is on you. And then you get that, and I get that, like, odd feeling where I'm like, Oh no, no, it's okay. It's okay. I also don't want to be a person who is like, yes, on it pretty much I pulled your bacon out of the fire. You're welcome. Can you send a couple dollars over here? Like, by the way, please, nobody send me money. That's not what I'm saying. But like, you know, like, it's, it's hard to be I have my own baggage. And then on top of that, I really do feel like, how I said you earlier, like you did all the work. Like I just, I just sat down, and I was like, here's the stuff I noticed. Helped my daughter. I'll say it all out loud and record it,
Saana 1:03:04
you know, right? No, I totally understand. I'm the same way, but I could say something ugly to you and said, if you'd like,
Scott Benner 1:03:12
I would probably have an easier time with it. But don't worry, there's a couple lunatics online that take care of that for you. Don't need to do that either. I'm all good. Actually, I don't see what they say until somebody shows it to me. And we now have a nice, firm rule between me and them. So all of the people who report to me about stuff I just told them all. I'm like, Listen, don't tell me anymore. I don't care. And so I'm now free of that. Also, nobody start a podcast, because if it gets too popular, somebody's gonna anyway, and it's not just, by the way, here's the other problem now that I said it out loud, each and every one of them thinks I'm talking about them. By the way, if that's happening to you right now and you're listening, that's a mental illness. I'm not speaking about you. You're an amalgam of ideas in my head. I don't actually know your names or or what you've said. So anyway, now they're gonna think Ah, I got him, but you don't, you're just the flea on my ass. So anyway, thank you so much sauna for doing this. I love your name. Have you ever cold? Plunged and then done? Yes, I have
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