#1400 Canadian Invaders

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Erica shares her journey navigating type 1 diabetes with her young son while managing her husband's possible LADA diagnosis.

• Raising a type 1 child while questioning her husband's diagnosis.

• How quick action saved her son from severe diabetic complications.

• The fight for clear answers when doctors won’t listen.

+ Click for EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

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

Scott Benner 0:00
Here we are back together again, friends for another episode of The Juicebox Podcast.

Erica's five year old son has type one diabetes. She has two boys. Her husband just got a type two diagnosis, but it seems clear he's Lada, and we talked today about what it's like to raise a child with type one diabetes. Nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan. Don't forget, if you're a US resident who has type one or is the caregiver of someone with type one, visit T 1d exchange.org/juice box right now and complete that survey. It will take you 10 minutes to complete the survey, and that effort alone will help to move type one diabetes research forward. It will cost you nothing to help. 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 if you or a loved one was just diagnosed with type one diabetes, and you're looking for some fresh perspective. The bold beginning series from the Juicebox Podcast is a terrific place to start. That series is with myself and Jenny Smith. Jenny is a CD CES, a registered dietitian and a type one for over 35 years. Having an easy to use, an accurate blood glucose meter is just one click away. Contour next.com/juicebox, that's right. Today's episode is sponsored by the contour next gen blood glucose meter. This episode of the juice box podcast is sponsored by the Dexcom g7 the same CGM that my daughter wears. Check it out now at dexcom.com/juice,

Erica 1:56
box. My name is Erica. I have a son who is five now, who is type one diabetic, um, he was diagnosed at three and a half, and we've just kind of been going along as we can, and I've learned a lot from this podcast, so I think more than at a doctor's office, unfortunately,

Scott Benner 2:14
oh, yeah, I know that's how it feels. It feels that way to me, even if you're if you're wondering, yeah, so wait, he's five. He was diagnosed. He's five, three and a half, three and a half, yep, so about a year and a half and yeah, other diabetes in your immediate family or your extended family, no,

Erica 2:31
real significant. I mean, some type two. My husband has some, some form of diabetes. It was very sudden after COVID, they have him treated as type two, but he's had some lab work done that they think it might be like late onset type one other than those two. No How about

Scott Benner 2:51
in his extended family? Do we see celiac, thyroid, vitiligo, bipolar disorder, anything inflammation related

Erica 3:01
some thyroid but that's really it,

Scott Benner 3:05
not him. No, not him. Okay, not that. I'm saying it's him. But the frequency in which I meet people who are like, No, I don't have a thyroid issue. They test it, though, they keep after it. I was like, oh, what's your TSH, like, What's five? But the doctor says it's okay. And I was like, How do you feel? And they're like, Well, I'm tired all the time. I have muscle aches and joint pain. My hair falls out, but it's not my thyroid, because that's in range. And I went, Yeah, okay, right? Every day, by the way, every day. And then I just sent a family friend to their doctor, because they have all these symptoms. TSH is, you know, five and a half. And the doctor, doctor goes, nah, it's not that, I was like, but you have five thyroid symptoms, and TSH is five and a half. And the doctor, okay, we're gonna, we're gonna. And, by the way, elevated liver enzymes, which are another thing that you can have happen if you have untreated thyroid and all anyway, it's just really funny how nobody I, I guess my point is, I don't know how many people are walking around with an unbalanced thyroid who think it is, I know,

Erica 4:09
and the people who even, I mean, there's a ton of people who have thyroid issues that you would think that they would more people have to have it. Why is that not?

Scott Benner 4:17
Yeah, or you have it and the doctor doesn't give you the correct medication or you don't take the medication, you know, it's, trust me, there's a lot of people dragging their ass that don't need to be, yeah, that's all. That was my point. Okay, so your husband probably has Lada, but they're telling you it's type two. Yeah,

Erica 4:34
they haven't labeled as type two. He's being treated as type two, but he wears a Dexcom just so that they can keep tabs on what happens with his blood sugar. He's lost like almost 100 pounds and still needs medication and trulicity to keep his blood sugars in range. So has

Scott Benner 4:48
he lost 100 pounds because he's been trying to lose 100 pounds? Or do you think he's been in and out of DKA? I don't know about

Erica 4:54
in and out of DK. He hasn't had any other symptoms, but since diagnosis, he had lost about 30. Pounds before he was diagnosed, just out of the blue, and then he started having similar symptoms to my son, with the urinating and the very thirsty. Then they diagnosed him with type two, I think just because he was over 30 and overweight. Then they ran some blood work, and his gad antibodies came back a little elevated. All the other ones seemed to be okay for now, but, I mean, they keep testing them, I don't know, especially now they're sons diagnosed. They're like, that's kind of weird. Yeah,

Scott Benner 5:26
I was gonna say, did that spark anybody's like, interest the

Erica 5:31
Endo, my son's endo at our Children's Hospital. Found it very interesting. And he was like, if I could test him and run things, I would his doctor. It was more, I find it kind of frustrating, honestly, because I have, we have to be the one to be like, listen, here, our son was diagnosed. I find that bizarre and completely out of the blue that now he's, you know, it was right after he was sick too. He was diagnosed. So it's been more us fighting almost. We had to ask them, Can you please rerun this blood work? And that was about a year ago. So every year we just kind of, I mean, I'll pay for it. But I would like to know I have another son who isn't right now type one, and I want to have him screened if I really do think that. I mean, if his dad has it and his brother has it, I would like to know that,

Scott Benner 6:12
can I just point you to a new sponsor screen for type one?

Erica 6:16
I just saw that yesterday that you had posted that I am gonna, I'm gonna look into that. Thank

Scott Benner 6:20
you. Feel free to use my links. Yeah. So listen, I'm not a doctor, so sometimes people think say things to me, and I'm only drawing off ever my personal experience or a conversation I've had on the podcast, right? So I did go to, uh, chat GPT 4.0 and I asked it, I said, chat GPT 4.0 what do elevated gad antibodies indicate? And it says type one diabetes, latent auto immune diabetes in adults, and that those are the two things that it indicates that goes farther into that. And I said, would that appear with type two diabetes? And it said gad antibodies are not typically associated with type two diabetes, so elevated gad antibodies typically indicate an autoimmune response against the insulin producing beta cells in the pancreas. So, yep, I don't understand, like the people not why they're questioning

Erica 7:11
it. Yeah, I don't know. And according to them, when he was first diagnosed, the cutoff is five, and his was at six. So and I, again, I'm not a doctor. I work in pharmacy, but I don't know anything, I mean, about get antibodies and all of that. I don't know if that goes up over time, if that level would go up, if that's what they're looking for. I don't know the reasoning behind Not, not thinking like, boom, yes, this is definitely type one, or if it's because, I mean, with, you know, my son, and probably most type ones, obviously, once your body stops making insulin, it's very evident where, my understanding the Lata is slower. So I don't know if it's because he's got a slower response than not making insulin, and that's why I have no idea it's well,

Scott Benner 7:55
Erica, can I? Can I tell you what the thing that some people think is going to end the world, and people think it's going to save it. Thanks. Yeah, it says the levels of Gad gad antibodies do not typically increase over time. Instead, their presence usually indicates an ongoing autoimmune process. Okay, so that's good to know, yeah. Also, I'm going to say I I've said this a couple times the podcast. I know some people probably think I'm crazy. Some of the best conversations I've had over the last couple of months have been with chat GPT 4.0 because, because everything I wonder. It's like, oh yeah, here this and here's why. I'm like, okay, cool. Like, Listen, I'm not jumping ahead. But there is some point in time in the future, where you will think a think, and your thinker will go to something else, and that thing will tell your thinker what you know, and now you'll know it. And it's just really like fascinating, how quickly and directly and completely it does this and then. And the reason I bring it up is because all I have is a web portal, and I pay $20 a month for this. And you'd think a doctor wouldn't go, Hmm, I don't know. Like they'd go, Hey, I bet you there's 1000 ways we could find out. Hold on one second. What are they managing your husband with? That was my question.

Erica 9:15
He takes Metformin daily, and then he's on trula city once weekly. And

Scott Benner 9:21
does he have excursions at meals with his blood sugar,

Erica 9:24
certain things he does when he got diagnosed, he was originally on Humalog Atlantis, so they were doing that, and then they ran all this blood work, and they're like, oh, no, you're actually, we're not finding anything to make sure you don't need to be on insulin every day, you know, like every meal, long term insulin every night, and then they switched him. But if he eats, I mean, let's say pizza or he has a huge breakfast with toast and potatoes for breakfast, it eats very evident. You can see his blood sugar spikes, probably higher than it should. To

Scott Benner 9:56
where do you have a number around 300 OH. Oh yeah. He needs insulin. That's Yes, yeah, yeah. That's not for Metformin to deal with.

Erica 10:05
I know, like, last night, we had pizza at my grandma's, and his blood sugar when we got home was, like, this was hours after 200 Yeah? Which, yeah, I'm not diabetic. My blood sugar wasn't 200 after pizza.

Scott Benner 10:17
No. He needs, you know, a doctor who can, like, think completely, yeah, yeah, agree. I wouldn't wait,

Erica 10:25
yeah, yeah, I know, yeah, yeah. We're gonna find a new endo in a different location. I hope I don't mean that bad, but, like, especially after my son being diagnosed and talking with his Endo, it's like, man, somebody's got to know, and I don't know if it's you know, you can't teach an old dog new tricks kind of thing, where they're so set in their ways, and there's been now so many like sub categories of diabetes that people are, oh, no, it's only type one or type two. And there's that, you know, that fine line, but I it's becoming and I was told this by we live in Michigan, like Helena boss Children's Hospital, that no, that fine line is getting more blurred. And I don't know if we just have to find an endo that knows that a

Scott Benner 11:00
lot of people talk and say things, yeah, people hear things. They don't completely understand them. They pass them on. They have experiences. They let it color their you know? It happens to me. It happens everybody, right? Like I see something, and I tend to believe that that's the case. You need somebody who's willing to step back and try to just see it fresh eyes, you know? And the truth is, is that there's no world where I don't care what he eats. His blood sugar shouldn't be going to 300 Nope. I don't care if it's pizza. That doesn't matter to me. You know, I had pizza the other night, and I was wearing a CGM, yeah, and pizza combined with a GLP medication and a person who doesn't have diabetes, my blood sugar never moved off of 89 ever

Erica 11:41
see exactly? Yes, thank you. Yeah. And, I mean, that's what trulicity should be doing, right? If you're not diabetic, and, I mean, you he was on ozempic, same kind of thing. I mean, it doesn't matter, yeah,

Scott Benner 11:52
you would think, because Trulicity is a GLP, right? It is just an older one, yeah, yeah. So you would think, if he's on what did they used to call it once weekly. Truly? Is that what they call it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And Metformin. And he's, they think he's type two ish. I don't care. Like, I guess it doesn't matter to me if he's type two or type one. I don't want his blood sugar to go to 300 and stay there for hours. That's all I'm saying.

Erica 12:18
I agree. I it's and I find this I get so heated talk because I get so frustrated, because here I am, you know, as a mom of a five year old, and it's like in every bone in my body to make sure he understands how to work his insulin so he can be a kid and eat those things, and somebody go to college and be an adult and live a long, happy life and not be running around the blood sugar if 200 300 you Know. And then I have my husband who, like, because he's not a kid. It's just seems like people are like, oh, you know, it's fine. Like, well, he's I still want him to, like, die at 50. I mean,

Scott Benner 12:48
he's still young. How old are you? 35 you've lived your life. It's fine. It's like, Come on,

Erica 12:55
kid learning from that too. It's just bizarre. It's just a lack of

Scott Benner 13:00
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Erica 15:51
exactly right, and they don't like to hear that. It might be something else that someone else said, you know, because, oh, no, then I'm not right. My, uh, we go to my son's endo tomorrow, and I'm gonna just ask, like, Who do you Where can I get this figured out with fresh like, Who do you think he would have someone to recommend? I would think, yeah, I really like how he thinks and what he says, right?

Scott Benner 16:09
So, yeah, can you find a guy from me for my husband who's not going to tell him he has type two diabetes and take Metformin because and then tell him what's happening, because the he'll recognize it as type one immediately. Yeah, when

Erica 16:20
my son got diagnosed, and we were actually in the hospital in the ICU, I was talking to him, he came in, and we had a very long conversation. And he even had never even met my husband at this point, and he was like, Oh, your husband's, for sure, type one. And I was like, Okay, so, like, he's even, I've only talked to him as much as I've talked to you, and he already was like, No, you're he's type one. If you look at my son's chart, they have my husband labeled as type one. Children's Hospital does just based on what I've told them. So it's just crazy. Of course, now

Scott Benner 16:49
you have a doctor and a podcaster agreeing with you, so you must be on the right

Erica 16:52
track. Yeah, we must be right.

Scott Benner 16:55
I've given myself over to it. Erica, by the way, I'm a podcaster. I used to say, like, Oh no, I'll do this, but I have a podcast. I'm like, I gotta give that up now. Like, I gotta give it up. Yeah, I gotta embrace this thing. Like, let's it's funny when I tell young people, they're like, really to get super, like, interested. Like, you don't see young people, like, laser focused very often, and they're like, hey, you know what is your like, you'll be together with a bunch of people. Or, like, my daughter brings somebody new home or something. And like, you know, the kids, they've been trained to try to act like humans. So they ask questions. They don't care the answer for you know, they're like, What do you do, sir? And I'm like, Oh, sir, this is nice. I like this. And I say, I make a podcast. And they then they're like, What? Really? Because they're like, in my home, you know what I mean? Like, they walked past the mailbox. You're like, this guy pays his bills with a podcast. And I was like, well, the lady makes money too, but, like, you know, yeah, yeah. And then they get super interested. If I tell somebody over the age of, like, honestly, like, 28 what I do, they're like, Oh, this guy is probably homeless, you know, like, he doesn't have I can't ask him for $1 he doesn't have it. He makes a podcast because they all have friends who think they're influencers. Yeah, that's yeah, oh, it's fantastic. Eric, I swear to God, I know no one will ever hear this that can, like, drill this down, but my daughter's high school graduation, all the kids are like, you know, I'm thinking of going to this college. I might go to this one. I've got a job. I'm gonna do this, this one kid. I said, Uh, hey, what do you? What do you? What do you got planned? He goes, I'm gonna become an influencer. I was like, you're just gonna become it. And he goes, Yeah. I said, How you gonna do that? He goes, I'm traveling overseas, and I'm going to, like, go on. I figured if he said it was an adventure or something like that. I was like, Oh, this kid's gonna get killed. He's like, I'm going overseas and blah blah, and I'm just gonna document everything and put it online and blah blah. My daughter comes to me, like, eight months later, and she goes, remember that kid? And I said, Yeah. She goes, here's a picture of him in a bar with men 25 years older than him. And I was like, Oh, he is definitely gonna end up dead, for sure. There were almost 20 people following him on his, uh, his account. So I think he's, he's really funny, wow, oh yeah, he's onto something. But Erica, all I could think was, why, when I was 17, did my parents not have enough money to let me travel abroad and pretend that I was starting a career?

Erica 19:18
Right? Where are these kids getting all this? It's nuts, unreal.

Scott Benner 19:21
You live in Michigan, yeah? You know about working? I know where you live, yeah, yeah. So military, right, working. This the area you're from, yeah,

Erica 19:30
very blue collar. Yeah. We're in like, Western Michigan. So Grand Rapids area. There's a lot of Yep,

Scott Benner 19:37
okay, no, no, no, it's a nice place. I know people live there, yeah. So let's talk about this, this kid of yours, three and a half year how many kids do you have? First of all, I have two. Yep, two boys. Are they? What? Ages seven and five. Okay, so the five year old a year and a half ago, what? Peeing, thirsty, that stuff,

Erica 19:56
his little daycare school program. I. On Thursday started just complaining about being really thirsty, wanting more water. Thursday night, he starts wetting the bed, which he never had an issue with after potty training. So at first, I was like, oh, that's, you know, kind of weird. But okay, Friday comes, we're supposed to be leaving that Saturday to go out of town for a wedding. Friday comes, and he's more thirsty at daycare. And then Friday night, we're in our backyard having a bonfire, and he and my husband are there, and he, I'm not even kidding you, in an hour, asked me for like, at least four bottles of water and chugged them, and he probably peed like eight times. And I looked right at my husband and I said, I know exactly what this is. I said, and I am not going out of town with this kid, because I will not end up somewhere that I don't know with my kid in the hospital, right? I mean, I work at a hospital in the pharmacy, so I took him, I said, my husband, I'm just going to take him in. And I got, you know, I knew we probably aren't coming home tonight, but I took him in. They poked his finger right then in triage, and it didn't register a number. So right then his blood sugar was like over 500 sent us all back, and we didn't have to wait. Obviously, they put us in and do a bunch of work, you know, blood work. And little bit later, they come in, and his blood sugar was 794 and he was starting to spill ketones he just had, like a bedtime snack, obviously, without insulin, because we didn't know at this time, this all happened at the same time. So I think his blood sugar was probably the eye because of what he had had, had, too. Doesn't matter. So then, right then they started them on an insulin drip and ambulanced us to the Children's Hospital, and we were in the ICU. What

Scott Benner 21:29
was this? Day? 1c 8.7 you caught it very fast.

Erica 21:34
Yes, we caught it very early. The endo was like, shocked. They were like, how did you do How did you know? And I it was honestly, because I watched my husband the exact same thing. Really, I was like, yeah, it was like, spinning in my my husband even had said to me, he's like, if this is what this was with me, he's like, you could keep giving that kid water and he will not punch his thirst in between. Like me, you know, me, watching him do what my husband did, and him saying that to me, I was like, Okay. Like, I just knew in my gut, yeah, how

Scott Benner 22:01
recently prior to your son's diagnosis, did your husband go through that like, how? You know what I mean, my

Erica 22:09
husband was diagnosed January of 2021 and then my son was October of 22 so about a year and a half ish, little bit more. Okay, okay,

Scott Benner 22:19
so you it was fresh enough in your head that you remembered, yeah, and you really acted on it too.

Erica 22:24
Yeah. I think if we wouldn't have been going out of town, I don't know I say that, but I still think in my gut I knew enough to be like, even if we weren't going out of town, I still would have taken him in that night. But I just remember telling my mom and my sister, who were supposed to go into the same wedding. I was like, I'm taking him in. And they're like, Okay, like, I think they thought I was crazy. And then I remember being in the hospital and giving them an update, being like, Oh yeah, we're being transferred to children's and the ICU. And my mom was like, Oh, like that, that moment, I think they were like, you're not crazy. But I just knew, you know, like, Mom got real. I think my boy stood by that. And then once I kind of put that with watching the same thing with my husband, I was like, yeah,

Scott Benner 23:03
yeah. I say this sometimes, but I find it interesting. The Egyptians, like ancient Egyptians, they recognized diabetes. They didn't understand, like, the pathology of it, but they called it the great drain, because they believed that you were like, You were urinating yourself to death, and it

Erica 23:23
literally looks like it's insane, like watching somebody with a blood sugar that high. I mean, I'm glad I didn't wait, because who knows what would have happened. I'm glad that I knew enough. Yeah, you know, with that and some of my medical background, because it literally does, like, how does somebody consume that much water, too? It's he was three and a half. He's tiny. I mean, there's no reason you should be that thirsty.

Scott Benner 23:44
Also just can't afford it, to be honest. Like, once the fourth bottle of water comes out, you're like, Listen, I don't know what you think we got going on over here, but

Erica 23:51
it's at least two bucks, man,

Scott Benner 23:54
I'm doing the math, and we're going to be broke by Wednesday. Get you to the hospital, unless health insurance wants to start paying for bottled water, and then maybe we can keep going a little longer. Well, yeah, that is really cool that you caught it that quickly. Now, how does the hospital handle it? Because he's not that far along. Do they keep him for a while? Or how did they talk to you about it? So it was a Friday. Now you're stuck there for the weekend. Then, yeah, it was a weekend,

Erica 24:19
but they were actually really awesome. They his endo that came in. I don't know if you, I mean, I know on your website you have some lists of that, you know, Children's Hospital, but the I know that is actually his was on call that weekend. We just fucked up. He's the chief of the the department that is lucky, yeah. So he came in and we were kind of talking, and my husband had gotten brought up, and they had kind of, I mean, I work in pharmacy, and I have some medical backgrounds, so they actually only made us stay one stay one night. We met with a dietitian that day. They called one in for us, and kind of were like, here's his ratios to start with. Here's what you're going to do. And even though I knew I had the basis of it, I mean, it's he's still three and a half, it was still kind of nerve wracking to be like, oh God. Like, I'm in charge of this kid. Oh, you know, it's like the hospital with a brand new baby. We. You're like, Okay, I guess now I have to keep this kid alive. But like, more so, you know, 10 times more

Scott Benner 25:05
Erica, one of the like, enduring, horrible memories of my life is the moment it occurred to me in the hospital that I was a stay at home dad, because I like, it was such a blur. It was. We were days into it. And, you know, there's, they're giving you classes and everything, and, and I, and it hit me out of nowhere. I was like, oh my god, we're gonna go home. My wife's gonna go to work, yes, and I'm gonna be here with this two year old kid that has diabetes, and there's needles and, like, math. And I was that was overwhelming, like, I still remember how

Erica 25:40
in needles, but, like math, that's a guess. You know, they're guessing, like, okay, based on his age and his weight and how, you know, this is where you're starting with ratios. But like, my son, specifically with us, I mean, he was tiny, those little humolog Biles or, I mean, pens, you know, the doses they were he He's so sensitive to insulin that, like, we were either having to make him eat enough to make up for what insulin we're giving him, or we were just giving him food because he was it wouldn't work. So the math wasn't even nothing. You know, you're like, this math that they're giving us is not is not good enough. It was about

Scott Benner 26:15
when the nurse comes in and she says, Well, here's your blood glucose meter. And I was like, okay, she goes, we're gonna practice together. And I was like, Oh, we're practicing. That's nice. And so she's like, I'm gonna use my meter because I have to put it into charting, and you'll use your meter. And I thought, why can't you just use my meter to put it into charting? But okay. And so she tests Arden's blood sugar with her meter, and the number comes up, whatever it is. I forget the exact number, and then I test with the meter they gave us to go home with, and the number was like, 2530 points different. And I was like, well, which one's right? And I remember her saying, what? And I went, well, the meter you have said that, and the meter you gave me said this, and mine looks like it fell out of a bubble gum machine, and yours looks like it cost $20,000 so like, Is yours right and this one's wrong? Like, every time I test your blood sugar, should I just assume it's 20 points higher than this? Because that, you know what I mean, I'm like, and she's like, No, don't worry about that. And that was the end of that direction. And I was like, I still, it's funny, because still on the podcast today, when people ask me about that, I go, Yeah, I know doesn't end up being too much of a problem, like, just, it really

Erica 27:24
is so true in the beginning, you know, every little thing, it's like, I mean, we're almost two years in now, and I can kind of look at a meal, you know, and kind of, I used to be, I was counting every single carb, and I was measuring and weighing everything, because that's how in your brain, you realize, okay, I have to keep this good. But now it's like, after two years. I mean, what is 20 points difference really? Yeah, I get so, like, immune to it and comfortable, and now I can, like, Look at me. I'm like, oh, it's probably about that many carbs, and you just kind of catch a high or catch a low as you go. And, I mean, hope for the best. Kind of,

Scott Benner 27:56
I almost hate to say it, but I agree with you, if you didn't have diabetes and you were trying to, like, chart your blood sugar, and your blood sugar was really 89 and you thought it was 109 Well, that's a big problem, but if you have type one, and your blood sugar is somewhere between 89 and 109 I mean, you're just killing it. You know what? I mean, like, yeah,

Erica 28:14
all right, that'd be a risk, yeah. I mean, it is just funny how and then the doctors, I think if you don't live it, I mean, no, I and those, they're great dietitians. The diabetic educators, they all know, like book the books part of it, you know. And they've learned a lot, obviously. But I think unless one of the diabetic educators at my son's office is a type one, and like I would choose to pick her to talk to over if you live it, you just get it more, I think. Yeah. So that nurse being like, oh, that 20 bit, you know, at the beginning of a diagnosis, that's scary. When you don't know

Scott Benner 28:49
what anybody's talking about, you're like, I don't understand. Why does it not matter that these two numbers aren't

Erica 28:53
Yes, exactly, yeah, that's that's my point. Yep. And by

Scott Benner 28:57
the way, perfect world, it does matter. And it would be nice to follow the technology. And again, I want to point out Arden was dying. Arden was diagnosed when she was four, and she's going to be 20 next week, so this was 16 years ago. Yeah, I could not imagine that young nurse who told me that is 40 now, yeah, yep, because she looked like she started like the week before, and now she's literally, literally, probably 40 years old. Now I tried one time to reach out to the doctor at the diagnosis, she's like, I'm retired. And I was like, oh, oh yeah, I'm old. I forgot you get this information. I mean, I assume I don't. I'm gonna ask your situation at home. Are you a stay at home parent, or are you the one that's with your kids? Or how does it work? We

Erica 29:40
have a very weird dynamic. I work third shift at a hospital, and I do week on week off, so during the day I am home, and then on my week off, I'm home, and then the weeks I'm at work at night, my husband is home at night. So it's a very we do a very my husband I are a great team. We do a very good juggling act. I I could not do it without him. He. That do it without me. I would hope he would say, we're both home with him at all times, but

Scott Benner 30:05
we both work. So how do you do that? How do you work for a week and then not work for a week and then work for a week? Doesn't it make you mental every time you have to go back to work?

Erica 30:13
Yes, I get pissed every Wednesday. I'm like, I do Wednesday to Tuesday night, and I get very, very mad. I've actually been off for two weeks. I have one more week off because I took a week of PTO, and I am not going to want to go back next week, three weeks off. It's going to be like, you know,

Scott Benner 30:29
when Kelly and I were first married, we went on a vacation for like, two weeks, and we came back on like, Sunday afternoon, and we were sitting, you know, in the living room. We were, like, we were doing laundry that we brought back from the vacations. And we were really young, like, I want to be honest, like we were like, first of all, we were too young get married. And like, when we were really young, like, I was maybe, my God, I was maybe 24 and she was like, 22 you know what I mean, like, and we had just, like, taken off these two weeks. We're sitting there watching something on television on Sunday evening, and I spontaneously, and I mean, out of nowhere, start to cry. She's like, Oh my God, what's wrong? And I was like, I do not want to go back to work. And I wasn't kidding,

Erica 31:16
that'll be me. That'll be me. I sit there every, you know, Tuesday night before I go back and my husband, I watch TV because watched TV, kids go back, and I'm like, I don't want to go back to work. And he goes, You say this every Tuesday, I know, I know, but I feel the same every Tuesday you just

Scott Benner 31:31
feel like, which is why you're getting a very consistent response from me, right? Must be real. No, it just that just hit me. Like, once you're in the swing of it. It is what it is. But like, you stopping and starting, like, oh, I

Erica 31:44
have to just remind myself, like, between my husband and my son, they both have CGM, and my son wears an omnipot. And I'm very, very grateful where I work. I have very good insurance, so I have to work for the health insurance. I mean, yeah, it is what it is. So if I guess, if you put it in that way, like, I don't really have a choice, I have to go. I don't want to, but I have to, yeah, I've noticed

Scott Benner 32:05
things are easier when you don't have a choice, right? Yeah. Okay, so, like, is there a main caregiver of the diabetes, or are you guys, like, literally, a team on it?

Erica 32:14
As far as, like, home life, we very much are a team as now when it comes to, like, schools, because I'm home during the day, when he's in school, I am the one who trains the teachers usually, and the nurse and all of that. And when it comes to appointments, I bring him to appointments. But I mean my son or my husband, like, I have a weekend coming up where I'm going away for a bachelorette party, and I my husband will be just fine, like he he does very, very well. So we are very much 5050, he knows exactly what to do. Yeah, it which makes it a lot easier, I think, on a parent, because it's hard. It's hard being a parent of a type one and making sure everything's good. But yeah, when

Scott Benner 32:54
you signed up to come on, you didn't write a lot, but you said that there's a determination that's necessary to give your kids guidance and the drive that they need to succeed. And I was wondering, like, Is that why you wanted to come on? You want to talk about that?

Erica 33:06
Yeah, I I feel like when it's something that does make you realize, I mean, it smacks you in the face at first, you know, when you you are the parent of a kid diagnosed, and you know this, I'm sure it's your job to make sure that kid can grow up and be a full fledged adult and be able to manage their diabetes as I don't ever want my son to feel like he is only diabetes. You know, like Arden, she goes to college and she lives a very happy, healthy life. I I would assume they send a podcast doing good, and to be honest like you, with how you are with her has been such an inspiration to me that if me going on and talking about my kid and the determination that we have as a couple to make my son's life like that, I that is why I wanted to go on, really because it is possible. I mean, you have these people, and I think I'm blessed and lucky that my kid was diagnosed at three, because he doesn't remember life without diabetes, where you're diagnosed at 1415 it's probably a little harder to get your you know, they now realize, Oh, my life's a lot different.

Scott Benner 34:15
Um, that's one of those questions I don't know how to answer. I

Erica 34:18
mean, either people ask me that all the time, and I'm like, I don't know it's like, I can see it completely both ways, right?

Scott Benner 34:25
But I see the virtues. I mean, if you're gonna call them virtues, but I see the virtues of both, you know, the being young and not having this like feeling of, you know, like loss maybe. But I don't know that. It doesn't matter. When you get to a certain age, you can look around and see other people and feel like, oh, I don't have this thing they have, you know, like, like, a carefree nature, or like, you know, like, Arden and her friend got up the other morning at, like, three o'clock in the morning, and they drove to the beach to watch the sun rise right, which I thought was lovely and everything. And so she's, like, her alarms going off, and she's getting up and, you know. As she's leaving, I'm texting her, like, don't forget to take your supplies. Like, don't, you know. Like, it sucks because you know her friend's gonna roll out of bed and just like, you know, wander outside and get in the car and leave and and I'm telling Arden, like, don't forget, you know, bring a pod. You know, bring insulin. You know, don't forget to put the insulin ice. It's hot out. Like, yeah, so, I mean, I don't know that at some point you're not gonna even though you don't remember it. It's not like you can't see it in other people and go, Oh, I I'm missing something that they don't have. You know,

Erica 35:32
that sucks, and that pisses me off, actually, as a parent, because, I mean, I have nieces and nephews who like, Oh, you want a snack. Go to the pantry, get a snack. Oh, you want to go ride your bike around the campground. When we camp in the week, like, but it's always with my son. I'm like, Okay, we have to dose you for your snack. And, oh, make sure you bring your, you know, your phone with you so you hear your alarm go off and bring your fruit snacks. So if you you know, it's like, we always, yeah, we were camping with some friends a couple weeks ago, and one of them asked me. She was like, Do you ever just, like, get a break and you don't, you just don't. You literally don't. Yeah,

Scott Benner 36:03
no, you're like, I have it on my calendar. I'm planning on dying when I'm 86 right? That's gonna, I'm gonna, I'm taking the day off that day, for sure, you don't,

Erica 36:09
yeah, you don't get a break. And it made me think it's like, no, I guess you really don't. But, I mean, it just becomes second nature, I guess, yeah, back your mind. I always say I only ever really relax when my son is eating, and I know why time is Pre Bolus, right, or when he's sleeping at night, and I know that OmniPods got him all night, and we're just fine solo. Those are like, the only two times where you're not really like so in the back, it's always there, in the back of your mind.

Scott Benner 36:32
I'll tell you that I don't have that overwhelming feeling any longer, but I know what it was, and I lived with it for very long time. But I do have the it doesn't stop feeling like that for sure. I don't know. It's like a noise in your house you can't find. You know what I mean? Like, you're like, what is that buzzing?

Erica 36:50
And I do think, I mean, I couldn't be 60 years old and him be married with his own kids, and if I'm on his Dexcom, which he probably won't let me be, but, you know, I'll hear I'll probably be like, oh, you know, are you okay? How's your low you know, did you eat something? But I just think, as it's just always probably gonna be there. You're always gonna worry.

Scott Benner 37:06
I think if you could see my brain like, you know, when you open up the activity monitor on your computer and it shows you where all the memories being used? Yeah, I guarantee that there's a portion of my memory that is constantly being used for diabetes, whether I'm aware of it or not?

Erica 37:20
100% Yeah, 100% yep, I would agree. And I haven't been doing it near as long as you. So I feel like, I mean, if you're telling me I'm just going in because it's forever,

Scott Benner 37:31
like, it goes away more and more. But I try to think about people with type one my daughter and other people, and maybe when people say they're burned out and they're just like, I just like, I just stopped paying attention. Like, I wonder if that's not a defense mechanism. Almost like, Oh

Erica 37:45
yeah, you know, I want that. I wondered that, yeah, it sucks. I mean, it does suck. I can't imagine those kids. I mean, even the people that aren't kids that deal with it on a daily basis. I'm like, my kid is stronger than I would, I would probably be. I mean, if you have to be, you have to be. But just even the way that these kids take it in stride and do with life, it's amazing. It's a

Scott Benner 38:09
good lesson that maybe you could ask more of your children than we do sometimes as well. You know what I mean? Like, like, look, they're handling this. They could probably handle taking out the garbage. Or, for sure, yes, working a little harder at school, or being a little more whatever. Like, we can act like, oh, you know, they need to be kids, and they need to do this. And I don't even know what that means, honestly, like, what does they need to be kids? Mean? Like, they're kids, don't worry about it. They'll be alright, yeah. And it feels incumbent to say, if you let the lessons that come from diabetes really get to you without being just pissed about it, you will see there's like, a leveling up that happens in a lot of areas of your life. That's for the people who make it. You know what? I mean, like, that's an easy story to tell if you're doing great, but if you're at home and you can't pull your head out of your, you know, blankets, then, you know, being told that there's great lessons to be learned from diabetes is not a valuable statement. So, yeah, yeah. And that's the thing you think about a lot, like, where's my kid gonna end up with all this? Right?

Erica 39:14
Yeah. I mean, you could, we could go on all day about what it costs to be a diabetic, you know? And these kids didn't ask for that. I'm very lucky now that, like, I don't pay a lot for our things because I have very good health insurance at the hospital I work at. But, like, when he gets kicked off my insurance someday, you know, it's just things like that where it's you're always wondering Maureen, about things that most I feel like most parents don't ever have to worry about their health insurance when their kid's 26

Scott Benner 39:36
you know, yeah. But feels like a time bomb in my house. It

Erica 39:39
does. Yeah, it does, you know, compared to two years ago, it's been almost two years. I breathe a lot easier than I used to, and it's just another day. And some days are great, and we have an A 1c of six currently, like you put it into the grand scheme of things, it's just life, and we're doing what we gotta do, and he's having a healthy, healthy life. And if you ever do, sit back. Back and think about it. You're like, dang, you know, this is forever for this kid. People ask me about all the time because type one's still misunderstood too, you know, I had somebody ask me this pets weekend, so he'll have that forever? I'm like, Yeah, he'll have it forever, you know? And it's like, when you put it like that, like, dang, it's got a lot of years still, they

Scott Benner 40:15
have to Yeah. Like, even when you're saving for your retirement, like, I we find ourselves in this position all the time, like, there's this party that's like, oh, I would like to retire one day. You know what I mean? Like, I wonder if I could put some money together and do that. And then my wife will say, like, shouldn't we just leave it to the kids? Like, what if Arden can't get insurance when she's an adult? Yeah. And I'm like, Oh, God, is that what we have to do? Like, you know? And then some people hear that and say, they'll be all right, and Bye, bye. And she probably will be. But what if she's not? You know what I mean, like, like, what if I'm, like, drifting away, and one day I go, Oh, I did go on vacation five times when I was retired. Or I could have left art in that money, and maybe she could have bought insulin with it for a decade, or something like that. You know what I mean, so and maybe not that long. Honestly, I don't go on extravagant vacations. At least she could have something like, what if, like, I mean, God, we say this to each other all the time, like, what if she just, again, ends up being a near to well, and she just kind of can't pull it together. Or, what if she marries a guy who takes advantage of her and takes her money one day? Or, like, like, like, all the like, nobody else thinks about that because, like, you could fall on your ass 1000 times. But if you're on your ass and you can't afford insurance and you can't afford insulin, right, that's a different falling you know? I don't know it sucks, yep, well, try not to think about it, because I will tell you this worries a waste of imagination, and that'll probably not happen. Yeah,

Erica 41:39
no, I love that. Yeah, I'm always been like a worst case scenario, hope for the best, but you'd ever know kind of person? But, and back to the diabetes lesson thing. I feel like that's a lesson that we've all kind of learned. It's like, it is what it is it it will work out. Try not to worry about it. You know,

Scott Benner 41:56
it's nice to have an actual, physical representation in your life, of what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right? But at the same time, there's that other side of you that's like, I would like to not know that lesson, yeah, yeah. I could use for some ignorance. Like, I'd like to walk around just pretending that, like life's just easy, like, that would be nice, you know. Anyway, yep, this is a bummer, Eric, did you know you were gonna be such a bummer? I

Erica 42:21
know what a Debbie Downer I am.

Scott Benner 42:24
Oh my gosh. So kid is on

Erica 42:27
a pump, right? Yes, he's on Omnipod five. Omnipod

Scott Benner 42:31
five, so he's using Dexcom g6 right now, yeah, okay, three and a half. He's always with one of you, or he goes to daycare. Well,

Erica 42:41
he goes to school now. So he was just in preschool this past year, and they did great. How'd that go?

Scott Benner 42:48
How did you get that set up? What did you do to set it up? I

Erica 42:50
started in the summer, reaching out to the school and just saying, you know, my son has type one, figuring out, is there a certain classroom he needs to be in? Which teacher Do you think he'd be best with once we kind of got all those ducks in a row. I've met with the teachers a couple times over the summer, and just kind of they met him, and we kind of went over the basis of this is what we'll do. I'll send him with I always send him like with his lunch and the carb count. They don't have to figure out the math. I try to make it as easy as possible. And it is easy with the Omnipod, you know, they just have to know how to work the controller and all of that. And then I made up folders with just some basis information, like, if this ever happens, here's this paper you can pull out, you know, pull out and talk to each other if you need to call me, text me. They had a group ride with my husband and I, so anytime they would have a question, we would just respond in a text message. But they did, what's

Scott Benner 43:42
that paper label? Does it say oh shit on the top of it?

Erica 43:47
It doesn't, I think, when you hand it to them, though, that's what they think. Oh yeah. People's faces, you know, they're like, Oh God, I have to keep this kid alive. This is a teacher. What? But, yeah, we're actually starting that process right now with kindergarten. He'll be switching schools and going to kindergarten in the fall, so I'm actually like, updating all his papers and going to the end of tomorrow to get papers signed, and I'm hoping it can go the same way. You know, kindergarten a little more freedom than preschool was. So yeah, it'll be an adjustment, but

Scott Benner 44:17
it's going to be like that every year. Yeah, even if it's just because he gets older, or even if it's because the structure of the day changes, or all of a sudden there's more recesses. Or, you know, wait till some time, wait till they put recess before lunch. And you think, this is terrible, and then the year later they put the recess after lunch. You're like, oh my god, yeah, this is worse we

Erica 44:41
just had. So that's to figure that in, okay, after, and then after, after recess is nap time, you know? So you're running, running, running, and then all of a sudden, now you're laying down. You're like, oh, pump

Scott Benner 44:52
them full of insulin, give them some to eat, run them around and let them take a nap. Yeah, yeah, exactly. But you figured out, like, what did you do? Like, gave them basically. And if this. Then that type of a list, yeah,

Erica 45:01
if this, then that, if this and that, if you still can't figure it out, call or text me if he was ever, you know, a couple days where his pump wasn't working right. It was a million degrees, or he didn't drink lot, whatever that list of things could be, why his pump wasn't working as well and his blood sugar was higher than normal. I went up to school and changed his pump a couple times and tucked them for ketones. And if he was fine, they were very good about it, like adjusting him. It was, I mean, we maintained a a 1c of, I think it was 6.2 at the start of the year, and 6.0 at the end. So you

Scott Benner 45:32
well done. Yeah. Is that you, or is that Omnipod five? Is it a balance of the things? Omnipod

Erica 45:37
five definitely helps, but that's the only pump we've had before we were MDI, so I, I guess that's all I have to know to compare it to dosing wise. I mean, the podcast actually has helped, because I am not afraid to kind of maybe over correct once in a while if I know a highs come in, which you don't know to do until you know to do it, but his his teachers only knew what I would tell them, you know, so and we had it written. I think this actually came from one of your podcasts. You know, have the endo in the papers, right? Parents have the say, the last final say. So it doesn't matter what this document says, If I'm telling you to do this, you better. You better do it as his mom,

Scott Benner 46:18
yeah, just an out clause at the very bottom, like, here are all the rules, unless lady or guy says something different than do what they say. Yeah,

Erica 46:25
so we did that, but the Omnipod, the Omnipod is, mean, very, very good. It can't keep up with all the highs sometimes. I mean, he's five, and we have birthday cake at school sometimes for birthdays. But I don't know, we're very vigilant about it, and maybe we're too vigilant at times, but whatever I gotta Why

Scott Benner 46:44
would you say that? Why would you say maybe it's too vigilant sometimes, I don't

Erica 46:47
know. I just think maybe sometimes we're too hyper focused on it, like I've had people say, Well, I think if you just again, and this is people who aren't parents of a type one, so maybe this is just me thinking that I'm over zealous about it, but, you know, you have people be like, can't you just, won't it just come down on its own? Won't it just the pump on its own? Do it? But it's if he's riding a little high. I mean, eventually that pump will bring him down, but those little micro boluses are going to bring him down a lot slower than me just giving him a half a unit or a unit here or there. You know, I

Scott Benner 47:20
think a person who doesn't understand diabetes, I understand why they would say that, if they, if they understood the impacts of the higher blood sugar, I think they wouldn't say that. But yes, I also see a lot of people who are willing to live like that. So maybe I agree, maybe, maybe not. It's just, it's just different. It's different perspectives that people have on levels of effort that they want to put into things. Yes, that's kind of all it is, really. And, you

Erica 47:49
know, I will say I don't even think it's just diabetes. I'm kind of like that in every aspect of my life, yeah, so maybe just my personality, and that's just what I do for everything. So it's just normal for me, and it doesn't feel like extra work to me, you know? And I feel like, as a mom, that's what I signed up for, you know, I'm going to do whatever I need to do for this kid, and if that's this, is that, then I hear you. I

Scott Benner 48:09
feel the same way. I have to tell you the I was so busy yesterday, I looked at today, and I thought, I'm going to record with Erica at 10am but I've been working since seven and and the truth is, is that right before we recorded, I thought to myself, I gotta eat something like, what am I doing? So like, I'm gonna take the time to eat after you and I are finished, I have to record new ads. Today. I have a new series that I'm doing with the Arden that I have to get the microphone set up for. I'm paying more attention to my social media now, because it occurs to me that I have a really strong social media presence that I don't do anything with. I was like, Maybe I should do that. I'm setting up some paperwork for something. I just set up new things with Dr Blevins to come back on and talk again about a couple of different topics. I want to get Jenny set up for, like, the next 25 things we're going to record together, and I'll do that all day, and I'll have to remind myself tonight to stop and like, I really will, like, I'll just keep working. Yeah, and I don't feel put off by that. Now, I'm not digging a hole. Listen, I've worked in a sheet metal shop before. I wouldn't be like, Oh, I was super excited to weld 100,000 tanks today. Like, I wouldn't have said that, you know what I mean, but I get that, but I don't know what people think life's supposed to be full of. You know what I mean? Like, I'm doing a thing that I'm really good at, and it's helping people. And like, I like that. It fills my time, and I think that about kids too. Like, what? And anything else I'm not doing, by the way, I'm gonna be doing something I helped Arden last night, she's filling out an application for something. I sat with her and helped her with that kind of stuff. And she needed some feedback on some stuff she had to put in with the application. I was happy to sit with her. My son and I watched four innings of a baseball game together, like, I don't know, like, I don't find myself bored, right? And I don't get that when people are bored. I guess there's so many fun things to do or things. That people can benefit from.

Erica 50:01
Yeah, and I do think like you, how you don't get bored of the podcast, and it doesn't, it probably doesn't feel like work to you, no, because you you know it's enjoyable. You're good at it. People learn a lot from you. You have life experience. And I think you know me coming on and talking. I mean, it's not nearly as what involved is what you do. But it doesn't feel like I'm sitting here, like it doesn't feel like I'm trying to fill my time, like I'm enjoying doing it, and I feel hopefully it helps people too, but that's what I kind of feel like taking care of my son. It's like I don't it's just, what else am I going to be doing, really, with my life? I mean, those days I don't work, I might as well I'm not just going to sit on my TV and my couch watch TV all day. You know, what else is there to do? Yeah,

Scott Benner 50:45
I hear that like, people are like, well, I, you know, I don't know what to do, or I don't I'm like, Yeah, I don't know. What did you think this was? Like, I always wonder that. Like, you know, especially now, kids grow up with so much stuff to do as kids, yeah, when they stop being kids, and their times not overly managed, and they're not in 17 sports or something. They're like, what is life? I'm like, Oh, this is life. The thing you were doing before we were like, like, just holding up shiny objects in front of you. Yeah, exactly. Now, run to soccer. Now, run to this. Now, do your homework. Now do like, you know, I don't know I like tasks. I like but I don't think of them that way. And I just know I don't either. Yeah, I enjoy having things to do. That's my point. I don't know. And there's no reason why diabetes can't be one of the things you just do without feeling like, oh, this is so unfair that I have to do this. I reserve this is unfair that I have to do this for the laundry. Yeah, right, that I'm happy to be pissed at. Like, do you know I recorded an episode yesterday, like, and I I, like, two minutes before I recorded, I ran, I put a load of laundry in, and I set up a timer so that it would turn on and and be done right when I was done recording the podcast, so that I could put it the dryer and, like, even that I enjoyed. I'm like, oh, people need clean clothes. Like, I'm I'm like, yeah, like, but it's the folding. It, the folding it makes me mental. Oh, I'll fold

Erica 52:15
it, but I don't want to put it away. Oh,

Scott Benner 52:18
putting away. Do you leave it stuck Do you leave it piled around everywhere? Currently

Erica 52:22
have a pile on my dryer and in the clothes basket, and I'm hoping that we can just wear it all, and I can just and I don't have to put it away.

Scott Benner 52:30
Is there a better feeling than putting on a pair of underwear that you didn't put in a drawer? You're like, no wasted time here, baby service. Well, yeah, well, we're all living the same life. It's crazy. When you said the podcast was helpful to you, can you explain to me how you found it and what it was that you found helpful? Yes,

Erica 52:54
so actually, my the endo office told me they were like, You should really listen this podcast, you know? And then they closet where it's like, you know, it's not medical advice, you know, how they Yeah, they do that. Which I was like, No, that's okay. But for me, it was having you as a dad and the experience, and then listening to, like, Jenny talk, you know, she has diabetes, so listening to her first hand experience, and just the be bull with insulin, to me was like, it just hit home. Because I, I think it goes back to me saying, when you're when you're first the parent of a kid diagnosed, I mean, it can kill you, you it scares you. Yeah, you know, like, don't give too much, because that can kill you. But if you don't give enough, you're going to have long term offense, and that can kill you too. And it's, I think it feels like such a fine line, but for me, the podcast, it made that line, like easier to understand. You know, yeah, you can be bold and insulin if you can understand how to catch the low that's probably going to come after you're bold. But for me, like that was less scary than always having to make sure I'm counting right, or not giving my kid pizza or not letting him have birthday cake, or right? You know, we'll just figure it out. So helpful in the way that it taught me not to be afraid, really, of I mean, it is insulin, and it can be scary, but it doesn't have to be, Oh,

Scott Benner 54:12
that's interesting. I'm glad to know that I really don't know. Like, I'm just, obviously, I make a lot of content, but so I'm of the mind of just like, I know a lot of things, I'll just keep saying them, you know what I mean, and people will hear them, and hopefully they'll help. But I never, I never quite understand, because different people find different parts of it valuable, yeah, so it's interesting to hear that part, yeah? Like, so you're almost like, I'm almost like a baseball coach to you. I'm like, you can do it. Get out there, hit the ball.

Erica 54:42
Yeah, no. 100% Yes, yep. It's interesting.

Scott Benner 54:46
I didn't know all this before I started, seriously, like, before I started, I was like, here's what's going to happen. I'm going to do this, and they're going to react like that. And it like, very quickly. I was like, Oh, I guess that's not how it works. I guess I. Don't just, I don't just control what everybody thinks. It's actually freeing once you recognize that not everybody's going to take the same thing from it, because then you just, you realize, like, I'm like, I'll just dump what I know out into the world, and people can pick from it. It's like a garage for me,

Erica 55:15
like, you know, first being diagnosed when that, you know, the doctor said, oh, you should have said this podcast, you know, the the beginning series was so helpful. Then when I then I knew about the podcast. So then when we went from MDI to omnipot, I was like, Oh, well, I'm gonna listen to the omnipotent I listen to all that before we went to the training, you know. So then I, but then my favorite episodes are the ones where parents come on and just talk about their kids, and just hearing like how other people do things and how other kids are getting through life, and it I just, I've learned. I've learned a lot. I've

Scott Benner 55:46
Excellent. Well, it's working then, which is really all that matters, like, like, at some point sounds so, trust me, it sounds so stupid, and I know it does. I think of this almost, like, as an artistic endeavor, like I painted it. It's up to you to tell me what it is. Like, I don't get to tell you how the painting's supposed to make you feel, yeah, like, once I was able to let go of it like that, and then to hear it back from somebody like you, this is really excellent because, because, in the end, all I should be doing, like, there are people close to me that, you know, help me with kind of the emotional support it takes to make this thing and, oh, I can Yeah. And, like, I get from a friend, and it's a person you guys know, but it's a private thing for me, so I'm just gonna keep who it is to me. But you know, she'll say to me, like, just keep doing what you think is right. Yeah, like, it's working. And I'm like, because I'm like, Well, I don't understand. Like, what did we do here? What should we have done? Like, what am I missing? And she's like, it doesn't matter. She's like, just do what you just keep doing what you're doing. And she's like, people, people jive with what you say. Just keep talking. And I'm like, okay, because I can get caught up in like, what is it I'm doing and what am I supposed to be doing? And she's like, just whatever comes to mind, just do it. And I'm like, okay, great. So I make lists and I stare at them until I go, that's the next thing I'm going to do, and then I do it, and it generally works out well, so I should knock on

Erica 57:13
No, yeah, I kudos to you for doing what you do. And I She's right. I hope you do keep doing it, because it is very helpful as I mean, I haven't even been doing it that long, and I feel like, compared to even a year ago, like when we were six months in, I feel like I know even more. I learned more, and I don't think I even try to, you know, I think just listening and it you're you're relatable. So I think you just talking and being relatable is what makes it like, Oh, if he can do that, I can do that.

Scott Benner 57:40
That's exactly my that's exactly how I feel about it. I'm like, I'm obviously an idiot. So they must be like, he's doing it. Well, hell, you know, like, um, but, but you said something that I actually find to be true. Like, it's something I tell people all the time when they're newly diagnosed. I'm like, you know, the biggest takeaway you should have today is that a year from now, you will look back on yourself and not recognize yourself like you will, you will be so much better at this a year from now. If you just listen to the podcast and they're like, Well, what episodes? I'm like, almost like, I don't know. Like, just listen. It'll get to you. Yeah, then keep going. Yeah, right, yeah. It is that learning through it just seeps in. It's not, it's not learning the way people it doesn't

Erica 58:20
feel like learning. It's not like you're sitting school and you're taking down notes, which is, I think, what it felt like, and feels like when you're just diagnosed, you know, they hand you this binder, and they're like, here are all the foods you should eat, and here's but then when you listen to the podcast, then you I listen to an episode about the glycemic index, and then you're like, Well, I want to know more about that. You know, it's like, just listening, I think makes you want to learn more. Yeah, as somebody living with it or taking care of somebody with it. So it's yeah, keep doing it. It's I thank

Scott Benner 58:49
you. I appreciate it. I had a business call yesterday with like, a long term sponsor who's like, these, you know, a lot of these companies use, like, outside PR departments to help them, like, figure things out and stuff. And this one company wanted me to sit down with, like, like a consultant that they have, and they wanted to know what it is like. They're like, Well, what do you do? Like, basically, like, they they buy ads from you, but what is it you do? And I and I sat down, and I was like, okay, so I get on this call with this person I don't know, and she goes, What? What do you do? And I said, I trick people into taking better care of themselves. And she goes, what? And I said, and I just told her about the interview from that day. And I was like, I interviewed a lady today. This was her story that, you know, like you would think we would have went in this direction, but instead, we talked about this. And, you know, she's like, Well, none of that has anything to do with diabetes, like I know I said, But interject it into that conversation. I would take excursions into diabetes stuff, and you'll listen, because her story is insane. You won't realize that three or four times along the hour you heard stuff very specific about diabetes that helped you, and it'll stick. To you. And I was like, Yeah, right. And I was like, and that's my that's my model. It's not just, by the way, it's not a model. Like, I sat down and I thought, hey, Erica, what's going to work best here the way I make this, but this is just how it comes out of me and like, and to call it my model is reverse engineering. I'm looking back to see what it actually is. And I said to her, I'm like, I'm sure there are other people putting good diabetes thoughts into the world. I'm like, but it's so goddamn boring. Like, who would want to listen to that? No, that's for sure. Yeah, no one wants that. And I don't mean them. Like, if a person who's making a podcast right now, and it's very like, very like, every word they say is about diabetes is like, oh god, he's probably right. It's very boring, or you're mad at me, or whatever. Like, don't take it personally. I'm not talking about you. I'm talking about like, In what world do I want to live Erica's life and then sit down once a week and listen to an hour straight talk about diabetes? Horrible. I need it. I don't want it, right? That's how I think about it. So I'm like, so entertain people, or tell them bigger stories or whatever, and then slip it in, you know what I mean? So yeah,

Erica 1:01:02
and I think then too, it will go back to, if I have to sit down every week and know that I have to learn this information, it's going to feel like a chore, which, in turn, I don't want my diabetes to be like a chore, yeah, because you'll resent the whole thing, right? So let's that's why I think your podcast is up, because it just makes it it makes it easy to want to try new things. It makes it exciting, because if it works, then you're like, holy cow. Like, yeah, I can do that. I can let my five year old have pizza and ice cream and mac and cheese and keep an A 1c of six.

Scott Benner 1:01:30
You know, you push the button dummy says something, it's funny, you laugh. And then and you buy mistake. You understand how to Pre Bolus when it's over, whatever. Like, how, you know, like, I swear, the the I won't bore you with it. Well, it wouldn't boring, it wouldn't bore you, but it's probably going to come out around the same time as your episode. So I don't want to just tell I don't want people to go, Yeah, I just heard that one yesterday when I'm explaining it. But the woman I spoke to yesterday had a really interesting personal story, and it had all to do with diabetes, like, just like nothing, you know, but we still talked about our diabetes interspersed into it, and that's all I got

Erica 1:02:08
that works interesting, and I think that's what's relatable. And, yeah, nuts about the podcast. Years ago,

Scott Benner 1:02:14
my son said, How long do you really think you can make a podcast about diabetes? And I said, I don't even think about it, like it's about diabetes, and he's like, what is it? And I was like, it's about people, they happen to have diabetes. That's how I think of it. Like, I'm not talking to you because your kid has type one. I want to hear your whole story. Yep, you know you're the one I'm talking to because, yeah, because your kid has type one. But I would talk to you anyway. You know what I mean? Yeah, no, of course. Well, you're from Michigan. You know what to do? Yeah, we're gonna be counting on you. People with those Canadians ever come over the border? You're our first line of defense, yeah, yeah, our partner. Can you fight them off? They're gonna come with penguins. Are you gonna be ready? Yeah, seriously, they're gonna throw penguins at you. I just want you to be ready for

Erica 1:03:02
that. I'm ready. I'm ready for anything. You guys have

Scott Benner 1:03:05
four wheel drive trucks and shotguns, right? Yes, yeah, okay. All right, you'll be fine then, all right, because we're counting on you, because if they get to us, well, then we're all in trouble. Yeah? You think, listen Erica, when they get to the podcasters, I don't know how we're gonna fight back.

Erica 1:03:23
We got lots of noodles.

Scott Benner 1:03:27
I got Texas in the south and I got you in the north. That's it. When they get to the middle in Texas.

Erica 1:03:31
So we're covered all directions. Perfect. This is perfect, yeah? Because

Scott Benner 1:03:36
whenever an invader gets to me, I'm gonna be like, Would you like to be interviewed about how you feel about something, and they're gonna kill me. Meanwhile, I don't believe that the Canadians are coming, but everybody seems pretty happy with where they live for the most part. Yeah, okay, what is there anything we didn't talk about that we should have? I don't think

Erica 1:03:56
so. I feel like I've covered my story. I don't know

Scott Benner 1:04:01
good. You think I'm going to call this episode Canadian invaders? Oh, my

Erica 1:04:05
God, that would be funny, like maybe many listeners would you get?

Scott Benner 1:04:11
I think calling it the Michigan militia is going to be weird, but I think as it's as Canadian invaders sounds like Space Invaders to

Erica 1:04:19
me, it does. Are you too young for that? No, what a fun game. Do you know Space Invaders? Yeah. I mean, my mom probably knows it more, um, but my grandma had a that

Scott Benner 1:04:31
was unheard full Erica. There's no reason to say that to me, Jesus Christ.

Erica 1:04:36
We were kids. My grandma had this little, I don't even know if you can call it a video game. It was literally, that's what it was. It was a Space Invaders game, but it was my mom's years ago, yeah, but we used to play it when we were kids.

Scott Benner 1:04:46
I guess Space Invaders is basically Tetris that you shoot at, right?

Erica 1:04:50
Yes, yeah, that's how I remember it from what a great she still has that. I'm gonna look for it.

Scott Benner 1:04:56
Well, I used to play it in an arcade. I. Whole fun. You don't know what an arcade is. Stop it. I know

Erica 1:05:04
what an arcade is from, like,

Scott Benner 1:05:05
from a movie, yeah, because you saw strangers. Yeah, no, oh my god. There was an arcade in the little mall by my house, and we'd go there and with quarters and play video games and space for a quarter. Anyway, anymore, nothing. Listen, don't get me started. I will start bitching about how people treat $20 in a second, if you like, talk to me. I'm mad. I had a long angry conversation with a stranger in a Wawa parking lot because I was like, you guys, don't He's a young guy. And I was like, I said, it must sound like such an old man. I'm like, but you got I'm like, You don't understand. You just walked out of there with 216 ounce bottles of soda that you paid $5 for. And because it was two for five, you think you got a deal? I was like, there's 18 cents worth of soda in your hand. I was like, and you just paid $5 for it, and you did it gleefully. And he's like, what? I'm like, it shouldn't cost that much. And I was like, and your sandwich was $10 you just spent $15 for a glass of poison and a sandwich.

Erica 1:06:09
Now it's, that's so true. You know, I'm 32 almost, but it's almost like, even if you look at five years ago, like, I went to the store the other day and I was gonna buy, we were going camping, so I was gonna buy, like, Diet Coke in a can, and I, like, could not bring myself to buy it because of what it costs. Good for you, I could used to buy four of these for $12 and I'm gonna buy one. You're no, not a chance. Good for you

Scott Benner 1:06:30
saying, I swear to you, I went out to dinner like my kid came home, and then, you know, his girlfriend came over, and then Arden came home from college, and she brought a friend. And next thing you know, there's six of us sitting in a restaurant, and the bill came, and I looked at the bill, and Kelly goes, What's wrong? And I was like, Is this $180 she goes, yeah. And I'm like, yeah. I'm like, You're not in charge of the money. Obviously, I was like, but I was like, this doesn't this? Like, physically, doesn't make any sense. And she goes, Well, there's six of us. And I was like, so I was like, a

Erica 1:07:04
lot of money a person,

Scott Benner 1:07:06
$30 a person. I think we've only been here for 45 minutes, and my stomach already hurts from the thing I ate. Like, I don't understand what we're doing. So

Erica 1:07:15
crazy. No,

Scott Benner 1:07:16
no, it's a very, it's very, very, very, very upsetting.

Erica 1:07:19
That's why the idiots aren't coming over either? Oh, yeah, the

Scott Benner 1:07:21
Canadians, they don't want any part of this. Like, so, yeah, they'll just filet a polar bear and eat that they can cook them on the oil fields that they work on, from what I understand from the interviews that I've done. Like, that's all that's awesome. I still, I still don't believe when people tell me they're from a city in Canada. Like, there are no cities in Canada. People tell me Toronto looks exactly like New York City. Really. I don't believe it. How can they on top of all that ice? What are they doing? Yeah, I don't see how it's possible. All right? Erica, thank you very much for doing this. Yes, thank you for having me. It's my pleasure. Hold on one second. You. Today's episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by the contour next gen blood glucose meter. This is the meter that my daughter has on her person right now. It is incredibly accurate and waiting for you at contour next.com/juice box, I'd like to thank Dexcom for sponsoring this episode of The Juicebox Podcast, and at the same time, I want to remind you that seeing your blood glucose levels in real time, not only the number, but the speed in the direction, is going to help you in ways that you maybe can't imagine right now, You should definitely check it out at dexcom.com/juice box. You Juicebox.

Okay, well, here we are at the end of the episode. You're still with me. Thank you. I really do appreciate that. What else could you do for me? Uh, why don't you tell a friend about the show or leave a five star review. Maybe you could make sure you're following or subscribed in your podcast app, go to YouTube and follow me or Instagram. Tik, Tok. Oh gosh, here's one. Make sure you're following the podcast in the private Facebook group as well as the public Facebook page you don't want to miss. Please do not know about the private group. You have to join the private group as of this recording, it has 51,000 members in it. They're active, talking about diabetes, whatever you need to know. There's a conversation happening in there right now, and I'm there all the time. Tag me. I'll say hi. The episode you just heard was professionally edited by wrong way recording, wrong way recording.com, you.

Okay, Erica has three and a half Well, excuse me. Eric is three and a half year old. Was diagnosed a year and a half ago. So she's the kid's five now. It's a boy diagnosed with type one. Talked the beginning at the husband who just got a type two diagnosis, but fairly clearly, he's Lada. And we talked a little bit about, you know, termination that goes into having to raise a kid. And this was just a nice, chatty one that I am going to call Canadian invaders, even though she's not from Canada. I just think it's hilarious. I think that's it, man, I gotta go Robbie, say it. Bye.

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