#159 William Gets It
Scott Benner
15 year old William could teach us all a thing or two about type 1 diabetes....
No other words are needed. This kid gets it!
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DISCLAIMER: This text is the output of AI based transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors and should not be treated as an authoritative record. Nothing that you read here constitutes advice medical or otherwise. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making changes to a healthcare plan.
Scott Benner 0:00
Hello, and welcome to Episode 159 of the Juicebox Podcast. Today's episode is sponsored by Omni pod. And by Dexcom. These two companies together make up my favorite diabetes technology on the pod of course, the tubeless insulin pump that I love so much, and Dexcom, makers of the continuous glucose monitor, that helps me make all the decisions that you hear about here on the podcast, you'll be able to learn more in the show or by visiting Miami pod.com forward slash juicebox or dexcom.com, forward slash juicebox. There's also links in the show notes. I've been really fortunate to speak with some children on the podcast, you know, people in their early teens who have really this amazing grasp of their diabetes, and even a way of understanding life that seems beyond their ears. Last summer, I was contacted by William's mother, and she said William is one of those kids. I found William to be hard to put into words really William is mature and thoughtful, focused. He's spectacular. He really is. I had a fantastic time speaking with William, I think you're gonna have an equally amazing time listening to him. Please remember that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before making changes to your medical plan.
Unknown Speaker 1:25
William? Yeah.
Unknown Speaker 1:27
Hey, man, how are you? Scott?
Unknown Speaker 1:28
Good. How are you?
Scott Benner 1:29
I'm doing great. Why don't we get started by you telling me a little bit about yourself.
William Alger 1:38
I'm William Alger. I'm about 15 years old, almost almost 16. Now, so
Scott Benner 1:47
to see in 16 years, that's pretty much all you can accumulate. Yeah, yeah. William. I'm 16.
William Alger 1:54
I mean, it's not like I can, I can declare my profession or anything. So.
Scott Benner 2:00
I I'm an aspiring 17 year old. Yeah. Well, William, so I'm, I'm, I'm really thrilled you want to do this. It's really cool of your mom and you to like, be good about this. So we're talking today because you you wanted to come on the podcast. Is that right? Mm hmm. Okay. Yeah. So you listen.
William Alger 2:19
Yeah. I listened to some, it's my mom is, is listened to the most? I think so.
Scott Benner 2:26
So does she come to you and say, Hey, I need you to listen to this part. Or how does she bother you with my podcast? How does that happen?
William Alger 2:32
Well, a lot of times, you know, we'll be doing some and she'll be like, Hey, you know, I learned I learned this today from this podcast. We should try this. We should. We should see how this works out. You know, and a lot of a lot of stuff. You You have to say it, it helps us a lot. Oh, cool. Well, that's
Scott Benner 2:50
great. Now you're younger so when you hear someone say to you, I heard something on a podcast and I think we should try that doesn't seem strange to you.
William Alger 2:57
Right? No, not it's become pretty. He you know, routine for me. So
Scott Benner 3:02
I feel like if you said that to like someone who was 55 they'd be like, tell me again, how you got something for free off the internet. And you think we should do it with our health? That seems odd. But that's a different world now, William, so that it's cool. So I really like the idea that there doesn't seem to be a barrier to you when you hear that and so. Okay, so where? Let's start at the beginning. That seems like it's usually a good place to begin. How old were you when you were diagnosed with type one?
William Alger 3:31
I was, um, I think I was about 11 years old. Okay, so I've had it for about four years, four years.
Scott Benner 3:38
And did you how soon cuz you do have a pump now? I think you do. Right?
William Alger 3:44
I have a Omni pod and a CGM. Dexcom
Scott Benner 3:49
Okay. All right. So you're using in my opinion all the best stuff and and you've and so you, when do you get an insulin pump? Is it right away? Or do they ask you to do injections for a while? How did that work? Do you remember?
William Alger 4:01
I'm pretty sure we got the the insulin pump fairly, fairly quickly. It was the CGM that at that time I'm pretty sure it was 18 and up
Scott Benner 4:14
That's right. They wouldn't you right, you're like pressure your endo to write your prescription. And that's
William Alger 4:19
what that's what we had to do. And and we got we got the CGM which, which, in our opinion is, like, the best thing that you can have, you know, to help you manage.
Scott Benner 4:32
It's amazing. It's, it really is I will frequently and always say that if you have if you have the ability to have both tools, right, and you had to give one away and this is hard to say because you you'd have to make the intellectual decision to give away your insulin pump before your before your CGM. But having said that, there's no real good argument to get rid of one or the other because all the really cool fine tuning stuff that you can do because This, what you see from the Dexcom is also very available to you to do because you have a pump and you're not injecting constantly, you can change your basal rates and things like that. So I think they go tandem in my mind. They're right, you know, a pump and CGM go together.
William Alger 5:15
Yeah. Both of them are very, like, like you said, both of them are very useful tools. But together, they just make like a whole different way of managing the easier. So
Scott Benner 5:28
it's exactly right. It's like vanilla is fine chocolates fine when you put them together, and they ask pretty good stuff.
Unknown Speaker 5:36
So tell me something.
Scott Benner 5:37
How are you going along? Because this? So tell me, I guess, start here? Like, why did did your mom say to you, you should go on the podcast and talk? Did you say I would be willing to share that? How did How were you and I speaking right now, what's the genesis of how that happened?
William Alger 5:52
I'm pretty sure my mom came to me and said, You know, there's this opportunity to talk on a podcast Would you like to do and I'm like, you know, I like, I like trying new things. So this is my first time.
Scott Benner 6:05
Nice. Well, good. First of all, that's very brave of you, honestly. And so that that's really cool. And good for your mom, because I think your mom feels like if I'm if I'm understanding her correctly, your mom feels like that you are a really good example of someone who's taken the things that we talk about on this podcast and put them into practice and have success with it. And but you're doing it on your own. Is that right?
William Alger 6:28
Yeah. Most of it I'm doing on my own. But that I can't say at all that I could do it. I couldn't have gotten to where I am without her.
Scott Benner 6:36
Sure. Oh, no. So yeah,
William Alger 6:38
I do I manage all the the daytime stuff, but she manages a lot of the nighttime. And I guess she's been she's been like training me to, to do it on my own. Yeah. But she listen, she's your mom. She's
Scott Benner 6:53
training you do like 1000 things you don't know. She's training?
William Alger 6:56
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Scott Benner 6:58
Well, yeah. And I didn't mean like, you're not like Tarzan. Like somebody didn't just like, leave you a meter and some insulin and a tree hot. And they're like, that kid will figure it out. But But you know, like,
Unknown Speaker 7:07
I get Yeah,
Scott Benner 7:08
like, like, so she's, you know, she's a good mom. And I've known your mom for a while online. And she's she's a really motivated person who wants the very best for your health, that that's that's certainly true, right? And so, so but it's, it's uncommon, if not fascinating that you're doing maybe more high level making more high level decisions during the day at your age. Right. So let's let's set a baseline for understanding this. Are you a genius?
William Alger 7:37
I wouldn't say so. Okay. I'd say I'm just like, you know, experience.
Scott Benner 7:44
Okay, so but I'm saying like you, you don't see like, angles, when you're thinking about math in the air and things like that. You're not? You're not listen now? No, it's more of like, yesterday,
William Alger 7:56
this really didn't work out. So I don't think I'm gonna do that again. Cool.
Scott Benner 8:00
And so is it just is it just the the conscious decision to think about it a little bit? That's helpful? Or are you? Are you a thoughtful person by nature? Is that something that you've had to adapt to for the diabetes? Well,
William Alger 8:14
I'd say a little bit, or I've almost come to like, try and based off past experience, I've almost kind of tried to predict what's going to happen with it so that I can, you know, get ahead of it. A little bit.
Scott Benner 8:27
I wish you could see me smiling and nodding. That's excellent. Good for you. Yeah. Because Because I'm going to fill in a font here for you. But if you see it happen enough, it's not hard to imagine that it's going to happen. Like right when you're in that situation again, so. So if for people listening, we may not listen to this part if you don't want to. Williams not afraid because he's 15. Because he's a kid, he's these thoughtless, you know what I mean? Like there's, there's not a lot he can imagine that's, that's going to go wrong in life. And so it's easier for him to take the the Wm First of all, nothing on the Juicebox Podcast should be ever considered advice, medical or otherwise, but it's easy for you to take the examples and, and to put them into practice because you're fearless. Because and that's what, that's why I wanted you to come on the podcast, because you have something it's a mix of something that you're probably not completely aware of. So you have a an ability to hear, hey, you know, maybe you should Pre-Bolus or Temp Basal here would be a good idea. You can hear those ideas. They make sense to you. You can imagine now that I've seen it, you use that kind of advice about like, you know, use your history to make better decisions in the future. You've taken it beyond that, where you're being predictive about what you think your diabetes is going to do. And on top of that, though, the X Factor for you is your age, because you are bright and thoughtful, but at the same time you have not been encumbered by decades of being an adult and Being afraid, and that you were like the you're like the perfect person to talk about this.
Unknown Speaker 10:06
So
Scott Benner 10:08
this is gonna sound I hope it doesn't sound a little self serving, but it may to some people listening, but please trust me, this is not why we're talking to William. Well, I need to know, what have you learned directly from the podcasts? And how have you put it into practice? So sort of just, you know, in any order, they pop into your head, like, what do you think the What do you think the most valuable thing you've learned from the podcast so
William Alger 10:29
far as? But you know, I don't think honestly, I could have I have you mean like techniques?
Scott Benner 10:39
Yes. Yeah, like management stuff not like about life or things like that. But like, you know, Scott, I've learned to really appreciate the little things I walk outside. Now I smell the grass, I look at the butterflies. Nothing like that. Just I mean, like, Is it Pre-Bolus? Singh? Is it the idea of how to manipulate basal rates? Like what is it you do in the course of a day that you can trace back to your mom going, please sit down and listen to this for a second?
William Alger 11:03
I think it's, I think it's been a lot of the basal rate stuff. I think, you know, a lot of nighttime, nighttime stuff. You've helped us a lot with that. I'm pretty sure that that's, that's been the main focus of what's what's helped us the most.
Scott Benner 11:18
And so just the idea of taking advantage of those hours, like, you're right, you're trying to get a good blood sugar, right, as well as you can overnight because so what is your Would you mind saying what your a Wednesday was last time?
William Alger 11:32
My last a Wednesday was a five my sex.
Scott Benner 11:36
Oh, hold on. Wait, we would clap. Very nice. That's wonderful. Okay, so let's go through your day, then, like maybe this is a better way to attack this. You, your mom's been helping you overnight. And so you're but you wake up in the morning to go to school, for instance? What's the first thing you do that's wrapped around your diabetes the morning?
William Alger 11:56
I usually get up and I'll test because, you know, after the dexcom needs calibration, right, so I want to start my day off right, knowing it's going to be accurate.
Scott Benner 12:09
Right, excellent. Yeah. I agree. Totally. So you test when you get up. Do you make like if your blood sugar is where would you? Where would you Bolus, like what blood sugar would make you think I need insulin?
William Alger 12:26
Wait, you mean where would I correct? Yeah,
Scott Benner 12:27
well, yeah, what number would you correct that in the morning?
William Alger 12:29
Right now? Like if I was low or or hours high? I'm happy if it's between 80 and 120. And that's a very, that's a very thin line. But I if I don't have any insulin on board, I'll correct if it's over 120. And I'll eat something if it's under. Probably 75.
Scott Benner 12:54
Okay, do you normally eat breakfast in the morning?
William Alger 12:57
Yeah. So when I get up, and usually, I'm homeschooled. So I usually get up and I'll eat something. And then we'll go to the gym, which is something we might want to talk about. But sometimes I'll just eat a protein shake, I'll make like a homemade shake with like peanut butter and stuff like that. But I do I do eat most of the time, I will eat something when I get up
Scott Benner 13:30
to get up in the morning, you're gonna go you're gonna work out first take care, take care of that aspect. So you Pre-Bolus for that for the shake? Or how soon before your meals Do you like to have insulin going?
William Alger 13:41
If I go to the gym and I exercise, I generally will eat I'll definitely eat my breakfast for free because then I don't have to bowls for it all I just go and exercise take care of it. Most of the time.
Scott Benner 13:55
You don't see a spike for that.
William Alger 13:57
Sometimes I do, but it depends on what I eat. And I guess that comes down to like routine. If it's more proteins and fats versus you know, I wouldn't want to get up and eat two bowls of cereal and then go to the gym and assume it's gonna be okay because it's doesn't always work that way. But
Scott Benner 14:16
right. And okay, so that's, that's spectacular. So you're saying what you're basically saying is the timing of the food and the type of food it is. If you balance that correctly around your workout, you sometimes don't even need any insulin at all besides your basal insulin to handle that, that shake,
William Alger 14:31
right? With carbs towards workouts, I've kind of played around with how much exercise I do versus what I eat and what I eat before a workout and how that's gonna affect my workout. Because some you know, if you heard of Clif Bars before, right, yeah. I found that those spike my blood sugar a lot and even if the exercise takes takes care of it, I will eat it. And then I'll go the gym and I'll go up to about 180. And they'll come back to 100. But if I ate something that wasn't so high glycemic, I could stay about 100 to 110. And I'd stay flat throughout my entire workout.
Scott Benner 15:19
That's pretty cool. So it Do you not need a lot of insulin normally, for meals, like outside of the workout, where's the workout? The key to this whole thing?
William Alger 15:27
I'd say the exercise plays a big part in like, cardiovascular exercise plays a big part in how much insulin you use.
Scott Benner 15:36
That was gonna be my next question, what kind of workout is it? What do you do? Um,
William Alger 15:41
so I've been doing a lot of different stuff. But weight training and resistance training and cardio affects your blood sugar entirely different. You know, for weight training, I almost don't even need to eat anything. But if I do, if I go, and I run for miles on the treadmill, I can eat a whole bowl of oatmeal with banana and stuff like that. And it's fine. It's totally situational. What's up? And I'm saying
Scott Benner 16:13
I do, what's the timing of that? So the oatmeal and the banana with the banana go into the belly? How soon does the Running Start after that?
William Alger 16:22
Ah, yeah, generally, what I had been doing was, I've been changing stuff up a little bit, but what I have been doing was, if I wasn't something highly CMYK, I could go and the, the resistance training would keep my blood sugar flat long enough. And then I do cardio after my resistance shine, right? So that and then that would take care of it. But even if it comes back down, and you'll still sometimes depending on what you eat, you'll see a spike even if you have the right amount exercise to take care of that. If you're eating something high glycemic, you're gonna see a spike,
Scott Benner 17:02
how often do you get to the gym and think I need insulin? I just have to give myself some insulin here.
William Alger 17:07
Yeah, sometimes I'll be there. And I'll be like, you know, what, I was probably not the best decision. So I'm going to add a unit, I think it's going to make my life easier for the rest, you know, it's going to make my day go a little bit better if I get on top of it. And don't just account entirely on exercise,
Scott Benner 17:24
is there a balance where you could give yourself enough insulin where you could eat the oatmeal? Not go to 180? But not be low afterwards? Have you tried to work on that? Or is that something you've,
William Alger 17:35
I think, I think generally it's I haven't tried eating something and giving myself insulin and then exercising. Because if I do a lot of cardio, no matter how much I do, I don't like to have really any insulin on board. But sometimes I've been there and I'm like, I don't think this I whatever I did previously, I don't think it's gonna work out. So I'm going to add some insulin to try and write too many carbs. Right? So I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna bolos for part of that. Because I don't think I need that many.
Scott Benner 18:18
Okay, so that's pretty cool. Because that's a little different than what I would have expected you to say. But at the same time, you found what what I'm what I'm learning when I'm listening to you is there is a balance between the timing of your food and the timing of your of your activity that it's mimicking what I usually say about the balance between insulin and the timing events, like I always say, like if the time it's on correctly, it's got to be the right amount, it's got to be the right timing, for the food you're eating and how that food is going to go through your system. And what you just said was I can I can time the food with the exercise the same way and in the end, what we're talking about, again, as a balance of it's when how much and and that's it, it's the timing of it. And so you figured something out that's way high level before? I don't know that's just It's really impressive because you're talking about having a you know, a situation where your blood sugar does go to 180. But you have a 5.6 a one c Do you have a lot of lows?
William Alger 19:18
You know, lately I've had a little bit higher blood sugar, but my standard deviation has gone down a little bit.
Scott Benner 19:25
Excellent. That's the one thing I struggle with what's your
William Alger 19:28
so my last? I think my mom checked the other day. Last standard deviation was I was 90% in range of 4% low and 6% high. It went down from my standard deviation was 35. I had a lower average blood sugar. It was like versus I think right now average blood sugar is 116. It was like 105 but my standard deviation went down. And I in my percentage and range went up. Okay?
Scott Benner 20:06
That's really great. It's it's amazing that you even understand what that is to be perfectly honest. So, okay, so Okay, so that's how you handle the merge now, do you ever get up in the morning? And like, you know, is there ever a morning where you like Williams having pancakes now? And it's it's not the oatmeal situation? Are you fairly regulated with what you eat in the morning?
William Alger 20:27
You know, there will be those days where you decide that you're going to try and tackle something you're not usually going to do. I guess you just need to kind of, like I said, use prediction to try to figure out what's going to happen if you've eaten that food previously, like pancakes or, you know, you're going to eat cereal or something like that, that's going to spike your blood sugar, you have to kind of get ahead of it before you even needed to write
Scott Benner 20:55
songs. That is do you employ ideas of like Pre-Bolus at that point, and like it's like 10 phases that are increased and things like that?
William Alger 21:03
Yeah, yeah. It's sometimes I get on a Saturday and I decide I'm gonna eat something that has a ton of carbs. And it's high that they make a bolus. I'll get up all test and I'll bolus and then I'll go take a shower, which will increase the sensitivity of that insulin even a little bit more. And then I'll go eat.
Scott Benner 21:24
What do you think the timeframe is between the Bolus and the food in that scenario?
William Alger 21:30
Average I like to have about two. It's hard because all this stuff to me is situational. I'm always like, if I if I try to answer something, I'm like, it depends. You know, what am I eating? What's the scenario? what time of day it is?
Scott Benner 21:46
So say you get up in the morning and your blood sugar's 120. And you do have enough Can you take a shower after you bolus at 120? Or just have to be higher for that to happen?
William Alger 21:56
You're asking me if I'm 120. I need to Would you be able?
Scott Benner 22:00
Yeah, if you were 120 you were gonna have pancakes. Would you Pre-Bolus and take a shower, would you Pre-Bolus and make the pancakes.
William Alger 22:06
I if I was going to eat something like pancakes, I best case scenario, I'd like to be like 100 I'd be like 80 probably right.
Scott Benner 22:17
No, I agree. I think you should be. I think the best case scenario again, it's like what you're saying like at 70. And and drifting down? Because Right, right, you Yeah, right. Oh, William, you're like my protege. This is wonderful. I feel excited to talk to you. I just it's really great to hear somebody talk about it like this at your age and for reasons that you probably don't care about. But I just I'm just very used to growing up in a world of diabetes for people don't expect people your age to understand this level of it. Yeah, it's really it's it's heartwarming to hear you talk about it. So I am just I'm just genuinely happy while you're while you're explaining all this. Okay, so you are homeschooled? Are you homeschooled because of diabetes. Are you home? You were homeschooled before diabetes.
William Alger 23:03
I have been homeschooled my whole life. So it hasn't really been a factor. I was diagnosed. I was diagnosed when I was homeschooled. So
Scott Benner 23:10
right. It's not just the decision process. Have you been there?
William Alger 23:14
We kind of came to the conclusion that, you know, if I did go to school, it would be we'd have to figure out a different way to manage it. Because it's a different, you know, scenario. Yeah. Like, I
Scott Benner 23:25
don't have the opportunity to go to the gym in the morning before they prefer that.
William Alger 23:29
Right. Yeah, certainly.
Scott Benner 23:31
And so that flexibility is a huge key for you really, right. Yeah. Yeah. And so that because that does bring something up is that as you get older and you find it, you know, you begin I don't know, you get a job and you're and you're leaving for work like that does affect things, but you do you feel confident that if your schedule got moved around like that, you'd still be able to deal with things.
William Alger 23:55
Right? Yeah, I think I would, you know, I, when I first started going to the gym, and I started this routine. I was actually going to the gym like about four hours every day at 4pm every day. If you save for a I'm just gonna No, no, no, I'm not. I'm not I'm not that kind of guy. But it was different and part of managing diabetes as well as is just adapting to different, you know, different scenarios. Yeah,
Scott Benner 24:28
you have to stay fluid you have to you absolutely can't just say, Well, I saw somebody online saying today like I'm in this situation. How much do I like what does this situation call for? I'm like, No, this is not that's not how this works. This is not like a this is not like a static thing. You don't I mean, like it's it right? It changes person, the person situation to situation moment to moment meal to meal, it's always going to be slightly different, but at the same time, the keys to your decision are all the same. It's Just it's the scenario is different. So it's not like you have to understand 1000 things for every scenario, you just have to say, you know, you know, there's, you know, what do you think about you think about when's the last time I had insulin? When's the last time I ate? You know, what do I expect this food to do? How quickly do I expect the insulin to work? And then, I mean, you make that decision? Do you? Could you describe to people because I think sometimes people think that what I'm saying, you know, just even what I just said now is, is a massive amount of effort. But do you feel like you're thinking about diabetes all the time? Hey, if you haven't heard it last week on episode 158, the CEO and president of Dexcom was on the show to tell us all about their new GE six continuous glucose monitors that has just been okayed by the FDA. And they are in the ramp up now to getting it out into the world. If you haven't heard that episode, you really should go back. And listen, there is a ton of really exciting stuff coming from Dexcom. Now you must be thinking, what could be more exciting than being able to see what direction my blood sugar's moving and how fast we're being able to see my child while they're at school, or playing a sport. Or if I'm a single person living by myself, you know, having a friend who can see my blood sugar while I'm sleeping, what could possibly be more excited that well, you got to go back to Episode 158. To listen, because there's a lot coming, like no fingerstick calibration necessary. That's coming in G six, as well as predictive low alerts, the ability for the device to tell you hey, you're going to be 5510 minutes from now, come on, you need that right, that's spectacular. here's the best part, you don't have to wait for G six, you could start today on the G five. And Dexcom is going to offer a beautiful upgrade program so that when you're done with your last g five transmitter, you'll transfer right into the G six. So you can go to dexcom.com Ford slash juice box today, get started have all the amazing benefits of Dexcom, continuous glucose monitoring, and not even miss out for a second, when the G six becomes available later this year. Ex cons not really able to say exactly when it's available. But I would guess, June ish. That's my guess dexcom.com forward slash juicebox? Or the convenient link in your show notes at Juicebox podcast.com. Get started today, you will not be sorry. But do you feel like you're thinking about diabetes all the time?
William Alger 27:27
I think I think about it a little bit more than most people because it's kind of like, you know, it's something I want to be good at. And it's an I might even be, you know, a little bit over the top about it. But
Scott Benner 27:46
also what what do you think you do that somebody might see as over the top?
William Alger 27:51
Well, for example, like, I have my phone in front of me, and I'm watching I have it, you know, I have my screen on I'm just, you know, glare at every once in a while. I'm constantly watching it. But we got one of those pebbles. And we've been doing that for a while. And you know, I'll have that on and I'll glance at it when it updates every five minutes. And I don't know if you'll see that is over the top. But it's I could definitely see someone describing me as you know, over the top, but
Scott Benner 28:29
let me let me ask you about that a little bit. So is it part of your personality? More? Do you feel like you need that feedback every five minutes to tell you what's about to happen? Or are you scared not to look like what is it that makes you look because I'm gonna I'll be honest with you, right, so I'm going to open up my my app here to look at art and sponsor I bolused art and for lunch 40 minutes ago. Mm hmm. She was exactly her blood sugar was exactly 100 on the CGM. When I did that, I gave her eight units. I thought it only needed seven and a half. But we ended up turning off her bazel about an hour before for a half an hour. So there was point six for her that she didn't get so I went to eight units because I thought let me put in the extra half that we lost we turn the bezel off, right and at the time that that shutting that base off was was perfect. She was coming down from a high blood sugar, which in my mind, you know was high it was 140 and she was coming down. And when she got to about 90 it was still looked like it was creeping down. So I said to her Hey, let's shut your Basal off for a half hour we did that it leveled out. And it actually when I looked at her CGM to Bolus or for to talk about the balls for lunch, she was 89 but then when it actually switched over while we were talking to jump the 90 and I thought okay, so she's it's drifting back up a little bit to take this eight units. And I tell her let's do a 30% an extended bonus, we're going to do 30% now, the balance over half for an hour, because she's still got at 1120, she's probably not really going to start eating for about 10 or 15 minutes. Since we've done that I've not looked back at the CGM. Now I just looked at now just now to talk to you, she's 68, diagonal down. I think that's perfect because she's been eating for about 20 minutes now, which means that I almost willing to bet my life, that in two more minutes when this thing adjusts, again, I'm going to see that diagnol Down Arrow disappear, she's not going to be lower than 68, she's going to be steady around 68. Or maybe on our way, probably not on our way back up yet. By the time she gets done eating, and she leaves the
Unknown Speaker 30:42
the lunchroom,
Scott Benner 30:44
my expectation is that her blood sugar is going to be about 80. I think it'll hang there for a while. And then I think it'll drift up. And then in about an hour and a half. From now on, though, if we need to address a blood sugar not I'm not gonna let her get over 130. Again. It's, but as long as this thing's not alarming to tell me that she's below 70 or over 130, I'm not going to look at it. Because I don't need to because I have the historical data. I've done this before. And you think that way, but you're still looking at it. So that's the part I want to understand. I don't understand. I don't understand what makes you look so frequently. That's all
William Alger 31:24
if you up. I think I generally I I watch it a lot more than I would do. I watch it a lot more after I eat more than any other time because that's when it is either going to it's going to change a lot. After those 15 minutes after you eat it, you know, you eat something and you just don't do it quite right. It might start going up a little bit too fast more than you want. And you want to get ahead of it. Part of the reason I have my margins on my Dexcom app, set it in between 120 and like 75 is because I want it to somehow I miss it. I want it to alert me that I'm already 120 because I don't I want to correct it at 120 if I'm going up after a meal. And
Unknown Speaker 32:15
I guess
William Alger 32:18
I watch it a lot because I might be a little bit of a perfectionist. And I might be even a little bit competitive about you know, against myself. Right? How I how good I can get it. But it it falls down between just making sure I don't miss something that's going to not go go down. Well.
Scott Benner 32:44
I don't just hear you. I completely agree with you. So now is that something that do you think came from? You? Do you think it came from your mom? Do you think it came from me through your mom? Like how do you think you got to that thought because it maybe you don't know. But I think exactly what you just said, I you know, I hear people say all the time, like oh, I don't want this thing beeping all the time. So I put my high up to 400 I never wanted to be but I'm like well then that's the that all that means is you're going to get the 400 my daughter's blood sugar has been 400 maybe twice in the last five years. And that's because when it gets to 130 I say Oh, I didn't do something I should have done let me do it. And let me do it now before it becomes 150 and then that way a spike is 150 because even if you've completely messed up, you can add more insulin and put an end to it usually pretty quickly. Right You know, and so it's just really I'm gonna say this a number of times while you and I are talking about again very heartwarming to hear you talk about it like that. It's It's spectacular. It really is and just I can't imagine I just I feel very I have no business feeling like this William you and I don't know each other You're not my son I feel really proud of for you when you're when you're talking like it's just it's an amazing leap to make at your age. It's an amazing leap to make age aside. And so you're just like I you're you're like the perfect like diabetes babysitter, you shouldn't you should rent yourself out to other people with kids. You know, I just want to get the ads out of the way now because this conversation really picks up steam and just rolls right through to the end. So let's talk about on the pod here and now on the pod couldn't be more straightforward it Prime's automatically inserts automatically and is virtually pain free. There's nothing to fuss with. Step one, fill the pot. Step two, apply the pod. Step three, press start. How would you like your insulin pump changes to be that easy. Fill the pod, apply the pod press start. Then once it's on no tubing, every other pump has tubing on it plastic tubing that goes from a device that you have to cook to yourself somewhere. I've seen people have to jam in their brows clipped on their belt. I mean, man, that's not cool. Listen, if you want to show your insulin pump to somebody, I have no problem with it. My daughter sticks out all over the place but that should be up to you on the podcast too. screen. If you don't want somebody to see it, they will not see it. And if you want some to see it, they're not going to see 18 feet of tubing wrapped around your arm. Just this little pod. And listen to that process of putting it on. Talk about day to day life being simple. Fill the pod, apply the pod press start. Then once it's on, there's no tuning. There's nothing hanging from your belt. No one's ever gonna come up to you and go Hey, 1986 called they want your pager back. And listen, summers coming up, right, this is a great time to get a demo pod, give it a try. See what you think. So you can be on the on the pod and gone by the time you're ready to go to the beach or the pool. Because you know, you can swim around the pod, you don't have to disconnect anything, always getting your insulin just the way you want to go to my omnipod.com Ford slash juice box today. And you'll be able to get a free, no obligation demo pod, they'll send it right to your house, you can apply it yourself and see what I'm talking about my on the pod.com Ford slash juicebox with the link in your show notes or at Juicebox podcast.com. What do you do for fun? Are you an athlete? Are you a movie buff for you somewhere in between? What do you what do you do that you enjoy in your free time?
William Alger 36:08
You know, going to the gym and and working out has kind of been I guess you could say it started out as like a hobby for me. But then when I started figuring out how I could like manipulate my blood sugar with it, it became more of like a like a maybe a little bit more than that, you know? Right. Right, right.
Scott Benner 36:32
And so you are so you describe yourself as maybe being more competitive with yourself than the event. I think my son's like that, actually, I think I can go play a baseball game and they can lose. And he can still talk about what he accomplished within like, I guess the game within the game within the game within himself. Yeah. And if he's accomplished the things that he set out to do, he's very satisfied by that. And so I think you're saying a similar thing, which is I'm you know, I'm just trying to I'm testing myself over and over again, do you feel stress about it? When you talk about your blood sugar? Are you just are you able to just, if something doesn't go the way you expect it to, you're able to let that go? And just use it as like an as a,
William Alger 37:17
I don't know, learning a learning, learning learning? Yeah, yeah, you know, I think I'm not. If you if you mess something up and you're high. I think while I'm high, I'm not gonna take it as best as when I'm lower. You know, when I, when I get my blood sugar down. I think I'm more able to take it as a learning experience. But when I'm high and you know, it makes you feel irritable. On top of being frustrated. You said it's a moment. Yeah, yeah. It's, it's a combination of being high and kind of I do get frustrated sometimes when it doesn't work out. Sure. But it you know, it's, it's diabetes. I mean, it doesn't always work out the way you want it. So
Scott Benner 38:02
I feel the same. There are moments where, you know, I, I'm one that I just like, when it doesn't go, I'm like, Ah, look just for a second, like, you know, like I like, right, feel like I did it right, you know, you know, and then you go, then I just think Forget it, like it's fine, you know? And I'll just do the next thing. Right? And hopefully, that'll be fine. Usually it is. And by the way, I'm going to tell you that Arden Spencer is 64 and the Darrow stopped. Right, it's happening. It's I don't want to say exactly, but it is it's happening exactly the way I wanted it that. And I would bet you because she's now been eating for almost a half an hour. If we did a finger stick here. She's probably 73 ish, right? It's probably creeping back up the other way. Which means that her blood sugar hits 60 for all of maybe five minutes. Yeah. And, and to me, when people are like, Well, how do you keep spikes away? How do you do that? That that's the goal. Because now imagine if if, if her blood sugar goes up 50 points from now, she's still only 134 you know, like, but if you if you put that insulin in late, and her blood sugar was 100, you let her start eating that her blood sugar would have went right up to 150 while she was eating and then maybe the insulin would have started working and then maybe it would have kind of maybe it wouldn't have. And then you know, an hour later if it crept up 50 more points she'd be at 200 and that's the difference. It's It's where I just had this, you know, like I had this year. I don't usually record two episodes in a day, but I'm recording back to back so I just spoke with somebody where and I said to them, there is going to be a fight with diabetes, right? You can have it now. And try to try to land the first blow and get ahead of it. Or you can wait let it beat you up for a while and then decide to put your hands up and fight. I prefer fighting now. Like I'd rather I'd rather do it now give myself the best chance then then get behind and then decide well, now I have to I'm forced into it like I'd rather.
William Alger 40:09
Yeah, you
Scott Benner 40:10
know, like you You won't understand this analogy, but some people get their electric bill and don't open it. Yeah, but you are going to open it at some point and you are going to pay it. So you might as well know on day one what the electric bill is. So you can plan for it. Rather than open it up on day 28 and then be in a panic. Yeah, you know, and so I'm a big fan of getting the bill and opening it up. And I'm the same way with diabetes. Like let's attack it, before it can attack us. Like I think at least if we keep going with the analogy of fighting, I guess if we swing first, at least we can say we did this and then this happened, we can see cause we can see cause and effect and at least feel like we're the effect we're seeing is is our cause it rather than waiting for it to do something to you. And then we're always sort of on defense and never, you're never sure if what you're doing is is what you intend, I guess. Right? Yeah. Okay. Give me brothers and sisters and the siblings.
William Alger 41:13
I have two older sisters. So it also basically I have four parents. Okay. Yeah,
Scott Benner 41:23
the sisters? Yep. Yep. Pretty Much Does everyone thinks they're in charge of your life?
William Alger 41:27
Pretty much.
Scott Benner 41:29
That sounds like a lot of fun. There's a lot of sarcasm in that way. Um,
William Alger 41:32
I don't know how much sorry. Yeah, yeah. So
Scott Benner 41:34
how old are you? How old are your sisters?
William Alger 41:37
One is, I think about 24. And one is about 26.
Scott Benner 41:43
I love when you answer any questions about about it's about you. Like I think I was about 11?
William Alger 41:49
I'm not I'm not gonna say for sure. Because I don't want to be wrong.
Scott Benner 41:52
Like that. Isn't that that's See, that's an interesting. You may have learned, it sounds like you already know that about yourself. But you've done that enough times now that that's a that's a that's a personality trait.
Unknown Speaker 42:02
Yeah,
Scott Benner 42:03
you don't want to say something? It's not right. That's so what do you want to do? Do you want to go to college,
William Alger 42:09
I do want to go to college, I think I think I want to go I want to go to college and get a Masters in Business. Okay. Because I feel a lot of people go to college. And they say that they want to do this specifically. And that's, and that's great. If you want to go and be a doctor or something like that. I feel if I get a business degree, I can do a lot of different things. And there's a lot of opportunity to explore what you want to do with that one degree, right?
Scott Benner 42:44
Yeah. And one day, you might become successful. Hire your sisters, and then tell them what to do.
William Alger 42:48
You're a Yeah. And then fire me.
Scott Benner 42:51
I only hired you to tell you what to do once and now you're out of here.
Unknown Speaker 42:55
Yeah.
Scott Benner 42:57
Well, so. So okay, we're gonna mix two ideas here for a second. But I want to go backwards just a little bit. Do you think your sisters just enjoy telling you what to do? Or do you think they really are worried about you in a?
William Alger 43:07
I think they just can't help it. They can't help
Scott Benner 43:11
a job to point out to you that you're not doing things as well as they would do it.
William Alger 43:14
Yeah, well, they don't they don't live here anymore. But yeah, one was in Colorado. But she just moved back to Cleveland. And one got an apartment in the in the city here because it's a little bit closer your work?
Scott Benner 43:36
Was it just natural that you sort of took over your own care from like, from your mom? Or did she say to you, hey, you need to do this on your own? Or is it because you guys are kind of together all day? Was the transfer sort of seamless? Did you remember how it went?
William Alger 43:49
I think as time went on, and a few years past, I kind of like it kind of got to the point where we both had conflicting ideas as to what we should do. But not like entirely different. It's just, you know, I kind of developed kind of my own algorithm of what I wanted to do. And we kind of just came to terms I said, you know, you'll manage nighttime because I sleep like a log, I don't wake up for anything, you know, and I do the daytime stuff. But we still talk about, you know, what I could have done better in a certain scenario what I what we could have done to avoid, you know, bad blood or something like that.
Scott Benner 44:43
Do you feel like is she is your mom watching your blood sugar during the day? Do you think she genuinely just lets you do it and she doesn't pay attention to it?
William Alger 44:52
95% of the time. I take care of it before you know there'll be like, she'll text me and she'll be like you're you know You're you're falling or you're blowing, blood sugar is going down. And I'll just message your back. You know, I already I already took care of it before, right? Because most of the time I got I get a notification from Dexcom. And I already correct it before she can even text me. So that's pretty
Scott Benner 45:17
cool. It really it really is. Does your father have any real input with it? Or is it something you and your mom do? Mostly?
William Alger 45:24
It's mostly it's mostly man, my mom. Now?
Scott Benner 45:30
Yeah, I know. It's just Is he out of the house during the day?
William Alger 45:33
Well, when he's at work, I guess he still watches it himself. But he doesn't really say anything about it. Because I think my mom, she she lets me know enough. He doesn't really have to do anything.
Scott Benner 45:51
No, it's a lesson. It's, it obviously works amazingly well, for you. What is your? What is your endocrinologist say about this? I mean, what's the feedback you get when you go into a doctor's appointment?
William Alger 46:05
I think a little bit confusion because I'm a little bit. We're a little bit different from your average. Average,
Scott Benner 46:15
he's probably not seen a lot of five point sizes.
William Alger 46:17
Yeah. Yeah. So um, I don't know if there's really I don't know how to put this there's, when we go and talk to them. There's not a lot I'll be honest, there's there's not a lot that they feedback wise that they can they can give us. So So you think that the doctor almost looks at you and thinks there's really nothing I could tell this kid? I they pretty much say that will walk in and will pretty much say hi. And they'll go over some stuff. And then and then we leave, you know, where's some other person might go in there and they might have a talk with them about, you know, you're really not? This isn't good for you, you need to change something just maybe that try this adjustment?
Scott Benner 47:06
Right? How are they gonna justify point sex? They can't? Yeah, right. Yeah, don't give you trouble about it being I guess they don't even bother you with the number they because you don't have lows to that would would indicate that you're getting the 5.6 kind of artificially. So I guess there just must be thrilled.
William Alger 47:26
I think it makes some, some people uncomfortable that I manage it so aggressively. I think it definitely can. But there's really nothing, nothing to say about it. You know, it's,
Scott Benner 47:40
I always wonder if, like, if I was the person who was in charge of telling someone, this is how I think you should handle things. And this person came back and they are a one suit was 10. And then there was another person who had a five and a half. And I never once gave them advice. I think, gosh, I wonder if it's my advice that's not good like that. I would I would generally think that if I was, you know me, like if I was your dad, and you were out getting in trouble all the time, I'd think guy I wonder what I'm doing wrong here. Like, I wonder what I didn't do in the past. I'm like groundwork that I not lay, you know, where I think some people are inclined to just say, well, that's that kid, he's trouble. Or you know, or they're not taking their diabetes care seriously. That's why they're a one sees high, but maybe you're not telling them what it is they need to know. Like, you know, you spoke a lot earlier about things of situational, right? So, I think that medical care is the same way. I don't think that you can't give the same advice over and over again, I'm sure they try to tailor it to the people but in fairness to the doctors, how much time do they really spend with those people, they don't really know who they are, you know, or what they're, you know, I'm sure your endo doesn't recognize that you're a competitive person that you're you know, detail oriented, like the things like that they don't probably know that about you. It's a it's a it's a hard task and at the same time very unfair for the people whose agencies are out of control, who don't know how to handle these moment to moment situations as well as maybe you do, because all they really do need is someone to give them the right advice and they would probably be in a much better situation. It's It's interesting how it shakes out differently for for different but
William Alger 49:23
I like to I like to imagine diabetes management is as you have it longer and longer. You kind of develop an algorithm yourself, the way you manage it. And your doctors can't really design that for you. It's something that comes with experience and it comes with just managing it and it's something you just build on everyday learning more information and stuff like that. So
Scott Benner 49:49
we're I don't there's not much to say other than I'm I'm interested in adopting you and not not able to homeschool you but I can give you a nice place to live. And I'm willing to kick out either one of my children that you decide to make space for you. So it's because you're really are fantastic. Um, you should. If you're not already, you should be really proud of yourself. You're welcome. And your parents, obviously, well, not your dad, he seems disconnected, but your mom is doing really great. Your mom's doing a really great job. I'm sure your dad's not this guy was just joking. I'm sure. You're from the south, right?
William Alger 50:27
Um, I live I live in Kentucky.
Scott Benner 50:29
Yeah. So do you think your parents just have a more classic sort of like, like, your dad takes care of certain things, your mom takes care of certain things.
William Alger 50:38
You know, I think I think my mom just kind of got she was the one that started, you know, she doing doing the extra work doing the extra and going the extra yard to be more than average and try and, and manage it better? Because, you know, she wanted the best for me. So she did everything she could to learn all she could about everything there is to know, and and how to manage it. So I see what you're saying.
Scott Benner 51:14
Yeah, it's a it's, it's, I think that's what happens. I think the person who's around it more often ends up being the person who is more involved, because that just makes sense. Right? You know, and I bet very much that if you're your parents had a role reversal, like at my house in your your mom was going out? In the morning, your dad said, I'm sure he would be doing a very similar thing with you be in his way, probably. But back, you know, I'm sure the same things would be happening. When you imagine college. Do you see anything really changing too much for you with your diabetes? Or does it not feel? And it's a little unfair? You're barely 16 right? But you know, when it was, I guess maybe a better question would be Do you go up? Do you leave home for any other reasons? Like do you sleep over friend's houses? Do you go to campus, anything like that going on for you? Or are you home most of the time?
William Alger 52:04
I'm home most of the time, but I have gone to one of those camps before. I think twice we went to I went to one of those college wise, I think, you know, fitting in going to the gym, which has been like the staple of my my key to having good blood sugar. It's not necessary, but it's something that really helps. And you know, you're going to college, you go to class at 8am in the morning. There's it's a, it's a whole different ballgame, right? So
Scott Benner 52:45
you think you'll be able to figure it out? Right?
William Alger 52:48
I think, like I said earlier, it kind of plays into the whole. managing diabetes is about adapting to new situations. And just and and college is just going to be another scenario where you're adapting to, you know, life and what you have to do to manage it. So
Scott Benner 53:07
I love that I love your attitude about I think it's I think it's inspirational to be perfectly honest with you, that doesn't feel like it. So there are like basic tenets of diabetes like that, you know, you can take into any walk of life and reapply them. Right? Outside circumstances change. And you've got you've were able to pull that conference together in such a short amount of time. Have you ever had a health situation that was scary? Have you ever gotten like crazy low or anything like that?
William Alger 53:38
I think as we become more confident managing it. There's never been like a scenario where we feel like we can't, we can't take care of it. But I think there have been moments where it's, you know, it's been really overwhelming. But, you know, you just kind of have to stay calm. And you know, if you're really high, you have to stay calm and not try to make bad decisions. Right? Because you're upset because you're upset. Yeah,
Unknown Speaker 54:07
they say there's a name for that.
William Alger 54:08
They call it rainbow Rainbow rainbow thing, right? It's Yeah,
Scott Benner 54:12
when you when you and you can see where that comes from, you've made as many good decisions as you feel like you can make and here you are still staring at your 350 blood sugar or whatever. And it's just like at that point, you just must be like I'm just gonna push this button until my blood sugar is not high anymore. Right? And it's it's totally understandable that the especially with what you talked about earlier, the physiological changes that happen when your blood sugar's higher, you are easier to irritate and you know, to become agitated and it is a fairly unfair situation that not only you in that spot, but you know, your faculties aren't what they would have been if you weren't there.
Unknown Speaker 54:49
It's a little weird.
Scott Benner 54:50
How are your friends with diabetes? Is it a big deal in your life day to day like Do you hear people mentioning it ever is it just sort of
William Alger 54:59
find out I wouldn't say I wouldn't say it's a big deal. Outside, you know, social life and stuff like that. I, there's never been a scenario where I feel like I couldn't go do something because, you know, I have diabetes, you know, I did martial arts for several years. And you know, I had to do with that. So,
Scott Benner 55:25
how about, um, you should almost 16 is there are you dating, at this point? Thinking about? No, no, no, I'm not. You're considering it at some point. Do you ever wonder if that'll be an issue for you, when you're dating? Does it ever pops into your head? Like, I wonder if somebody will, will react?
William Alger 55:44
I think, I think I just, I thought about, like, having to explain it to someone. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, that's the biggest thing, because, you know, some people don't even know that this thing I live with on a day to day basis even exists, right? So explaining it and how it works would be the biggest thing. So
Scott Benner 56:08
without, like, overwhelming them,
William Alger 56:11
right? Yeah. Yeah,
Scott Benner 56:13
it's an interesting balance, like, when do you tell somebody because you don't want to go too far into a relationship, and then spring it on them, like six months into it. And at the same time, on your first date, you don't want them to become overwhelmed.
William Alger 56:25
We'll walk up and say, Hi, my name is William and I have diabetes.
Scott Benner 56:31
Here's what that means. Certain lifting up your shirt. And they're like, okay, we're done. And yeah,
no, I it's a it's interesting. It really is. I think that for most people, it works out. I think when you find the right person that works out fine. I don't think it's an issue. But But there is a there's a thought process, and they're like, when do I tell this person? Like, how long can I keep this to myself? To create that comfort with them without making them feel like I'm hiding something from them?
William Alger 56:57
Yeah, it's not, it's not quite as obvious is, you know, if you couldn't walk or, you know, it's
Scott Benner 57:03
one of the things they could pick out
William Alger 57:04
right away, right? Yeah.
Scott Benner 57:06
Well, GC sits down a lot of in six months. I'm in a wheelchair. Hit that really well, in that. I hear what you're saying By the way, Arden's blood sugar, 67 and stable, like, and so I can see, and you're a bit of a data geek. So you'll appreciate this. The slight bend at the very right side of the three hour Dexcom graft. You know what I mean? Like when you just notice it bend a little. And you can tell that that's, that's where it's headed. Right? That's where she's at right now. So there's the arrow is still steady, but the bend is starting to go up. Right? So it's, it's going right where, like, I guess where I use the word predictive more, but I guess that's, that's where it's gone. We're running up on an hour. So let me ask you, my, my last question for you. So you're a person who is doing a really incredible job of taking care of their blood sugar's day to day, you're using a dexcom, you're using it on the pod. At some point in the next year or so. And I don't know anything, I'm just throwing out round numbers. On the pods gonna come out and say we have a artificial pancreas system. And it's gonna do all this stuff for you. Do you say what do you say when that's available?
William Alger 58:25
Well, what we've looked at the artificial pancreas so far is that it can have I think, they say it can manage your blood sugar at 6.81 to 6.7. And I guess right now we feel until it gets better. We can we can do better than 6.7. So I think our opinion is that we can manage it better than the artificial pancreas currently. And I guess they say there's like, it's restricted. Right? And you know, you can't you can't go in and program it seems to me
Scott Benner 59:00
that the one that's out now with Medtronic might be I guess it might have a target blood sugar that's higher than the one that you have 120 I think right. And I don't know that that's user adjustable.
William Alger 59:13
Now, it's an I don't think it is.
Scott Benner 59:15
So let's say that in every every opportunity that I've had to speak with somebody in the industry at Omnipod or Dexcom. I always I always stress to them that if they don't if they don't have the ability to make that target blood sugar user definable, and then I would have trouble using it to write and so especially for a person like you whose standard deviation is good. You don't I mean, it's not like you're it's not like you're creating right 5.6 out of crazy lows. Then you have a bunch of highs and they're just balancing out to a 5.6 What about the other side of it? What about it would would you give away a point on your a one C for your mom to sleep
William Alger 1:00:01
Yeah, yeah, I guess it depends on? Well, I guess it's unfair to say, you know, I'm totally not gonna, I'm not gonna let her sleep because I want the best blood sugar there ever was. But
Scott Benner 1:00:17
it's not fair. It's just, it does pose the question that at some point in the future, there's going to be decision to be made? Like, would I put myself on this? You know, for instance, without a pod? And is it possible to? I don't know, just use it overnight. Right? And maybe it's, maybe it's not, by the way, like, I don't know anything about it enough to talk about it like that yet. I'm hoping to learn more about it in the future, actually, this will probably come out after that. But in a couple weeks, I am talking to the CEO of Omni pod, I'm gonna ask her a bunch of questions about it, but but the point is, is that there are going to be decisions to be made, there are going to be some people who, by the way, are gonna be like, wow, a 6.7. So my agency is going to come down two points, and I don't have to do much. Right, sign me up. And that is going to be honestly, William, that's honestly gonna be for most people, that's gonna be the situation.
William Alger 1:01:08
Right? Well, you know, what we thought would be the the best application of the artificial pancreas is people who are having already struggling with blood sugar, can't manage it correctly. Can't can't get it below. And anyway, it went to like seven or something. Give it artificial pancreas, I think would be best used for someone who's really having a hard time keeping it in range. And it might just, you know, help them manage it a little bit better, because some people a 6.7 is lower than what they currently have. So
Scott Benner 1:01:49
there's, there's listening, there's other you know, there's, again, to your point earlier, there's plenty of different situations where a 6.7 is, is something I'd be happy with my entire life. And so that's going to work great for them. And the technology is only going to get better, as technology gets better than the tolerances will will tighten. And then they'll be able to tell you, Hey, you know, now we can keep we think we can keep your blood sugar at a target goal of 95. And, you know, and then the FDA will say, hey, that is working, and they'll move forward, and it's going to keep Listen, in the end. It's an amazing leap. And it's gonna get it's, it's nothing but good news. You know what I mean? But, but for someone like you, it's a specific situation, like, you're in a situation where really good isn't as good as you're doing. And so, and maybe, but even see, I as I said, I think like even if you want to take a break for a few months, you know what I mean? Or a week or so I don't know, like there's there's going to be decisions to be made going forward. So it's all very interesting. Well, I'm gonna I'm not gonna keep anymore, because I'm assuming you have to go back and be taught what are you doing today at school?
William Alger 1:02:55
Uh, everything,
Scott Benner 1:02:56
I guess. Everyday, you just do kind of a mix of,
William Alger 1:02:59
right? Yeah, just Yeah, yes.
Scott Benner 1:03:01
There's an actual, like, for people who don't understand there's a curriculum that your mom follows. So that you are that your grades are meaningful and you're eligible to go to college. It's not like she doesn't get up in the morning and say, today I'm going to teach you how to can peaches and make brick. Make press? That's a great way press really hard. Yeah, it's so and so you it's it's no different than I would expect at a public school really, without, without the lockers and the yelling,
William Alger 1:03:30
basically. Yeah, it's basically I have plenty of subjects to work on. And I do take a few outside classes of Spanish literature and I take a speech class, slash she's she's not proficient with she finds other people to help you with. Right? Well, a lot of that stuff is better to learn. And I like Spanish is better. It's conversational Spanish, so it's a lot easier to learn it if you are talking with other people your age is in Spanish.
Scott Benner 1:04:02
So I know I said I was gonna let you go. But your your 15 almost 16 How long have you been taking Spanish?
William Alger 1:04:08
For years?
Unknown Speaker 1:04:09
Do you speak conversationally?
William Alger 1:04:12
I can speak a good deal, but I'm not fluent. Right. But
Scott Benner 1:04:16
if I if I asked you to say something, you know, pretty simplistic, you could launch into it. Not that I'm asking you to but but you like
William Alger 1:04:24
Yeah, I'd say so. I'm still I still have a lot to learn. But like if I
Scott Benner 1:04:31
don't say it, but if I said you to say the kitchens on fire. Do you think you can come out with that?
William Alger 1:04:35
Yeah, probably Yeah.
Scott Benner 1:04:37
My son is a senior in high school public school. He's a in honors Spanish forever. I think this year, he's an AP Spanish straight A's for probably six years. doesn't speak a word of Spanish. So it's a it's depressing. Well,
William Alger 1:04:56
I think my idea was they would helped me a lot within business.
Scott Benner 1:05:01
So of course, that's wonderful. I mean having a second language is, is it really, I believe you are insanely impressive. I think that every younger person that I've had on the podcast so far, if I would stop and think, I think they basically have a personality similar to yours. So there's something there. There's when when people can figure this out at your age, and be thoughtful about it at your age, they do all appear to have very similar ways about them. So you may have lost the genetics lottery, but you won. You won the personality lottery. So congratulations.
William Alger 1:05:39
Oh, thank you.
Scott Benner 1:05:40
Absolutely. You really were delightful, and I appreciate you coming on. It's just amazing, isn't it? William 16th. Today, but he was 15 when he recorded that. Thank you so much. Dexcom. And on the pod for sponsoring the podcast, you can go to my on the pod.com forward slash juice box, or dexcom.com Ford slash juice box. To find out more. Don't forget, there are also links in your show notes. And at Juicebox podcast.com. A couple little things. First of all, you guys are still sharing the show. Thank you very much. I saw a big increase in subscribers this month. on my Facebook pages, there's a video of the dexcom g six, they sent me out a demo of it. And I did a little opening of the box and went through the stuff you can see how big the transmitter is what the new sensor bed looks like. There's even a working demo of the receiver if you're not a person who uses your phone. So check that out on the Facebook pages. I really appreciate that you guys are listening, that you're sharing the show and those of you that are going on iTunes and reviewing it. Very cool. I'll see you guys next week.
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