#186 Diabetes Hiding in Plain Site

Laurie didn't tell her children that she had type 1 diabetes…

Laurie didn't tell her children that she had type 1 diabetes but she became more open when her oldest son Ryan (from episode 179 - Behind the Cheese) was diagnosed in his late twenties. 

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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, everyone, welcome to Episode 186 of the Juicebox Podcast. Today's episode is sponsored by Omni pod Dexcom and dancing for diabetes. You're going to learn more about each as the episode goes on. But for now know this Omni pod is the tubeless insulin pump that Arden has been using for a decade. We absolutely love it, you can learn more about it at my Omni pod.com forward slash juice box. Dexcom, of course is the CGM that gives us all the information that we use to make the decisions and do the things that we do with that on the pod dexcom.com forward slash juice box for more information about that. And dancing for diabetes is just the beautiful little organization that helps kids living with Type One Diabetes through dance, and all they want from you is to check them out dancing the number four diabetes.com Maybe you remember back in Episode 179. It was titled behind the cheese. And we spoke with Brian, who's a gentleman who was diagnosed as an adult, his 20s. And he spoke a little bit about how his mother also had type one diabetes, but the entire time he was growing up. He didn't know because his mother hid that from them. Well guess what? Today's episode is with Ryan's mom, Laurie. She's had type one for over 40 years, she's gonna share her entire story with us, including why she felt like it was necessary and needed to not let her family feel burdened by her type one diabetes. Two things to remember one nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should ever be considered advice, medical or otherwise. And always consult a physician before making changes to your health care plan. And to consider this if you haven't listened to Ryan's episode, behind the cheese. I think you should stop this one and go back and listen to his first you don't have to, but I would.

Laurie 1:57
Hi, I'm Laurie. I am a type one diabetic for about 42 years. And recently had a son named Ryan who was on the podcast who was also diagnosed at 27 years old. Also type one.

Scott Benner 2:13
So let's go back over Ryan for a second. How old was he when he was diagnosed?

Laurie 2:18
About 26?

Scott Benner 2:20
How long ago was that now?

Laurie 2:22
About a year

Scott Benner 2:23
about a year ago. Okay? Yeah. For people who listen to the podcast regularly, you'll be thrown off by the immediacy that you get to hear Lori's interview. So Ryan's interview was done many, many months ago, but it ran just recently, it's Episode 179. It's called behind the cheese. I think if I'm not mistaken, that's a reference to where his mom might have hit her insulin when he was little. Yeah. In the course of me talking to Ryan, he said, You know, I usually ask like, if there's family history and things like that, and Ryan really kind of took me by surprise, telling me that he grew up with a mother who had type one diabetes, but they didn't know it. Right. So that's what we're gonna get to. But first, Laurie, I don't want to out your age. I don't need that. Okay, but how old were you when you were diagnosed?

Laurie 3:09
I was about 15.

Scott Benner 3:11
Okay. Do you have any recollection of that time,

Laurie 3:15
um, it's a little bit foggy. But I do have recollection, I'm actually sitting right now in the room that I diagnosed myself, which is why it's so interesting. I just remember having extreme weight loss all of a sudden, extreme thirst like my mouth felt like I had a bowl of cotton in it. And the more I drank it, just, you know, never got better. It actually got worse. I remember back then friendlies was a very common restaurant to go to when I would get fribble, which is probably just like a thick milk milkshake filled with sugar, which made it worse. But one day, and then I just started generally feeling sick. I was in high school. And then I went to the encyclopedia, because at the time, that's all we had, I know everybody's going to be laughing at the younger generation, because I literally went to a jet encyclopedia, I opened it up. And I don't know why I knew right to go to diabetes. I don't know anybody who hasn't nobody in the family. None of my friends. Nobody. And I opened it up and there was the diagnosis. And I was like, that's what I have. And then I told my mother, we have to go I think that's what I have. And it was like, that's what I had. That's insane. Yeah, yeah. The Encyclopedia

Scott Benner 4:25
encyclopedia which you think young people are laughing young people right now are going I don't know what that is. They're going to find out what an encyclopedia is. I I am Laurie, a little younger than you I think. And I remember my parents buying encyclopedias on a payment plan that's how broke we are. So we would get we got like a through you know, whatever it was, and then they'd make payments and slowly the next and the next and next volumes would show up at the house.

Laurie 4:56
Oh, wow. Well, we we got our encyclopedia because I'm a very Close friend. We had a we had a set and then a very close friend was going through some hard times, I guess. And he was selling vacuum cleaners. So we bought a vacuum cleaner. He sold encyclopedias. So we had a second set of encyclopedias. anytime he sold something my parents were nice enough to buy it. So

Scott Benner 5:17
we had two sets. That's amazing. And a great vacuum. Yeah, so I'm guessing a Kirby cleaner? If I'm if I'm, I think it was just the

Laurie 5:25
regular regular or whatever. Yeah.

Scott Benner 5:29
All right. So so you so you died, I fascinating that you figured it out. You know, isn't it great that your parents made the payments all the way up to D? You wouldn't have known, you would have been like I might have I I don't know, if I haven't set the lightest or not, we get that we get we get? We get that volume coming. Anyway, so so you do this, go to the hospital? How did your life change then, as far as your medical procedures, because 42 years ago is before a lot of the stuff that we have now. So what did you do to manage yourself?

Laurie 6:01
Yeah, um, very little. I mean, there was not much for me to do other than not eat sugar, eat a lot of diet foods, which we now know, have carbs. But at the time, it was free, it was free. You know, you could I mean, diet, soda was always free, but you know, diet desserts, and, you know, now looking back, it's like, nothing is really free for the most part. So I remember that. I remember. Like my mother used to say, Don't stick your head in the sand because I was not really in denial, but I was determined not to let it get me down. determined not to let people know, and determine just to move forward. Almost pretend like it didn't happen.

Scott Benner 6:48
I was gonna say is that how the determination showed itself was it It wasn't like, I can overcome this because you didn't have a ton of tools to try to overcome anything with.

Laurie 6:57
I had nothing.

Scott Benner 6:58
I had nothing. So we for you. It was just like, if we just pretend this doesn't exist. That's me being determined. Is that sort of like like I wasn't there, or

Laurie 7:08
I didn't I I guess I kind of I acted to other people. Like it wasn't there. I knew myself. It was there. And I was very conscious of it every minute of every day, but it didn't. I didn't let other people know. So in that respect, yeah, it what I was in denial to other people. And which, which I still am To this day, basically.

Scott Benner 7:29
Yeah. What everyone doesn't realize yet is that this is sort of Lori's coming out party. So but we'll get, we'll get to all of that. The dancing for diabetes annual benefits show is coming up quickly. It's on November 10th. And if you live in the Orlando area, I cannot suggest strongly enough that you attend. Go to dancing for diabetes.com to find out more. That's dancing, the number four diabetes.com. And even if you don't want to go to the show, go check out the cute pictures of the kids dancing. They've got diabetes, so do you. And besides, what are you doing on the internet anyway? Just go do this dancing for diabetes.com. So let me ask you something because that long ago, I have a friend who was diagnosed when I was a teenager, and he would get up in the morning and say to himself, I think I'm gonna be a little active today. And I think I'll eat you know, and he would just kind of guess and this amount of insulin, he'd stick it in his belly in the morning, we'd be on our way and later that night around dinnertime he takes another shot. Was that I was that even what you were doing?

Laurie 8:36
or What were you doing? Know what I was doing was the doctor gave me I guess based on my age, my weight. Whatever it was based on, I really don't even know, he gave me a number. And that was the number i'd inject morning and night. Or more than that I it's really foggy, I think I definitely was on like I was on a mph and our that's what is regular an MPH. So he gives me and it sounded to made logical sense. You'll give me an amount for mph, which lasts 12 or 24 hours, that's your like bazel almost your background. And then the novolog, which was I mean, I'm sorry, that novolog it was the mph which is the long lasting and then the the regular, which you would put in the same vial. It was not the same vial of the same syringe, and you would inject at the same time. And then one would peak lunchtime and the other would peak later on. So it kind of made sense that one would take over and the other would stop and then the other would take over and the other would start. But what didn't make sense is there was no way to know what you were eating and how it was affecting you. And then you were panicking because you had to eat at a certain time. Otherwise, you know, you turn into a pumpkin. So that was life

Scott Benner 9:51
what happened when you didn't need a certain time.

Laurie 9:54
You felt the insulin reaction. Um but you know, then you started Also panicking feels like an insulin reaction. So there were times you'd start to panic because at the time, they didn't have any testing devices for blood sugar testing. So, you know, were you really feeling low and needed to eat something? Or were you just panicking and having a panic attack, so you never really knew what was happening, you never know what was happening. And then he was supposed to go to the doctor and tell them how you were feeling? Or they would do your blood, your you know, you're a one to hike. They called it like custom lated hemoglobin? And then he would tell you how you were doing?

Scott Benner 10:36
And how do you remember how you were doing quote, unquote, like,

Unknown Speaker 10:40
horrible, horrible?

Scott Benner 10:41
I'll say to you, Laurie, you're doing horrible.

Laurie 10:44
He would say, You're not taking good care of yourself with my mother sitting in the room. And the two of them would be staring at me, you're not taking good care of yourself, you really need to do a better job, you know, you this, this is really dangerous in the long run, you could be blind and, you know, there's a lot of complications, you know, you can lose your feed, and, you know, and and he was always asking me if I could feel my feed, and, and I'm sitting there, like, you know, being being accused of not taking good care of myself. When

Scott Benner 11:14
you were right. You were you were injecting the insulin the way they told you and eating times you were supposed to avoiding sugar and things like that. Yeah, yes. So yeah. So basically, if you look, when you look back on that now, do you know what was happening back then you recognize he didn't know what he was doing. And this was just the best they had, and your numbers were probably never gonna be what he considered to be good, right? no real way to accomplish that, I imagine.

Laurie 11:39
Right? Right. So, you know, I think the revelation really came when the Dexcom the Omni pod, you know, came out and I started to use it, because all of a sudden, the light bulb went on in my head, and said, all those people that sat in those rooms and blamed me my entire life, for 30, you know, five, whatever years, that it was my fault and that I wasn't doing the right thing I was I think that's part of the reason I was hiding. It was because I was always led to believe that I wasn't doing the right thing. And so shame on me. And so I didn't want people to know, because I could never say Oh, yeah, yeah, I'm really good control. I was not in good control. But I had no way of knowing what that even meant.

Scott Benner 12:26
Luckily, for us, it is not 42 years ago. It's right now in 2018. And there are amazing ways to help you manage your type one diabetes. One of those ways, is the Omni pod tubeless insulin pump. Now, Omni pod understands that it might be scary for you to switch to a pump, or even if you already have a pop, now you might, you know, be a little weirded out to go to another one. And that's why they offer a free, no obligation demo of their product, all you have to do is go to my Omni pod.com forward slash juice box or click on the links in your show notes are at Juicebox podcast.com. When you do that, you will fill in the tiniest bit of information, your name, your address, maybe a phone number, and you will push a button. And then the Omni pod demo will come to your house. This is where in the privacy of your own home on your own time on your own terms. You can take that pump that little pod and you can wear it, wear it for days, see what you think. See how small it actually is. See how it will fit into your lifestyle. Understand that after you have it on for a little while not long at all. I've won a demo pod a number of times, you won't even realize it's there. That will be the first step into you understanding that there is a world out there that is unencumbered by tubes and allows you to make these amazing adjustments to your blood sugar that will lead to successes and ease of life and happiness that you at this moment maybe can't even imagine. Please go to my omnipod.com forward slash juicebox. To find out more. There's absolutely no obligation.

Fast forward a little bit. You got married at some point, I imagine. Yeah. And you made some little little Lori's right.

Unknown Speaker 14:20
A few of them a few. How

Scott Benner 14:21
many kids did you have?

Laurie 14:22
Well, I have twins. I have Ryan is my oldest. He's 27. And I have twins who are just about three and a half years younger than he is also boys. I have three boys. So I managed to have Ryan and I have twins and I don't know how I did it.

Scott Benner 14:38
I really don't know how you met. So was there any kind of like right now, if you went into if you were you know back then if you were that age back then you went you're obese off said hey, I have type one diabetes and I'm going to have a baby. They would tell you that you had to have your agency under control and you couldn't have any spikes or real incredible lows and you had to be like in this incredible control of your blood. blood sugar in your and your type one everything to even consider getting pregnant. But did any of that happened back then

Laurie 15:06
the only thing I was told was that I had to be in good control. And I knew that I knew that anyway, I wasn't only doing it because I was having children. I mean, I was doing it because I wanted to live and live a good life. So, I was told that that I had to be in like, really, really, really tight control. And I was actually told I had to be in tight control before I even thought of getting pregnant, which, you know, was a good, I think that was a positive thing. So I went thick, I went three months before I decided to get pregnant to the doctor, they did my a one C, I must have starved myself for the three months, because I don't know how I did it. But I think I started with the 5.9 a Wednesday, I remember that number, which was like, crazy good for not really knowing anything. So and then he told me I was all set, I could I can get pregnant. So I knew that I can get pregnant. And the one question that we asked was, is this gonna affect my children? Like, will they will my children possibly genetically be disposed to having diabetes? And his answer was no, that type one diabetes is generally not hereditary. That's type two. And that there is a slight chance, but it's like two to two to 3%.

Unknown Speaker 16:25
He said, back then I think

Unknown Speaker 16:26
that's what they told me. I

Scott Benner 16:27
think they say now that you have your children have maybe a 10% over the whatever the national average is, you've about a 10% more of a possibility, a greater possibility, but it just sounds like it sounds like anything else with health is that they learn, you know, generation after generation too. And I'm sure he was giving you whatever his best information was back then. But, but the idea of being so harsh on you, that I imagine has stuck with you most of your life. Is it still with you now,

Laurie 16:59
it's, it's with me now. But it's with me in a different way. It was with me my whole life just being really angry, because everybody told me I could do better. And I didn't know what that meant. And I wanted to do better. I mean, I wasn't rebellious, I wasn't trying not to do well and take good care of myself. It just nobody really and nobody understood that I couldn't like I didn't understand why I couldn't I just didn't, I didn't know. And then when I did get the Dexcom and the Omni pod, all of a sudden, it was like that moment of that. I just open my eyes and I said oh my goodness, all my life. People are blaming me. And it was never my fault. It was not my fault. I mean, I always say it's like put somebody in a car, put blinders on them, and tell them to go and don't hit anything. Yeah. And then

Scott Benner 17:50
Yeah, I was gonna say that it's really interesting how people's minds work. I was standing at a baseball field recently and watching this kid work out for softball and, and she wasn't very good. Like, she wasn't bad, right? But she wasn't good. She just didn't. She was fighting against ourselves. I don't think she was the most physically talented kid. I don't think she had a lot of baseball knowledge, IQ, like where to go with the ball, things like that. And as she was sort of faltering at this tryout. The the father eventually I guess, got the best of me yelled to her to just do better, basically. And I thought to myself, this is no different than if someone said to me, Scott, you have to go dunk a basketball. And if you don't, you know, we're gonna, we're gonna scream and yell at you. And because I can't, like, I can't dunk a basketball, you could tell me the right things to do. You could I could do everything as well as you could explain it to me, I would never be able to jump that high up in there. I lack I lack something that would stop me from doing this. This girl lacked something that was making what was asked of her impossible. And it doesn't seem like people care about that. They just want you to get to this place. But don't offer you either direction. Or, or the the confidence to say like, How great would it have been if a doctor said to you back then look, I see you're doing your best. And, you know, keep going like don't stop them being positive because maybe they knew in the back of their mind. There was no best. They weren't giving you good advice. They were giving you the best advice they had. And I'm fascinated constantly by by how that works in people's minds, like their expectations for other people are, are always sort of interesting, I guess. Right? Right. So, so so when you have Ryan, you're How old? Um,

Laurie 19:37
I was 20 I was just about 30. About 30 years old.

Scott Benner 19:41
Yeah, you're married to a doctor.

Laurie 19:43
Is that right? Yes, I am. Okay, I

Scott Benner 19:46
am. Do we know Can we

Laurie 19:47
say what kind of he's that? Yeah, he's a podiatrist. He's a foot doctor. Yeah.

Scott Benner 19:51
Okay. So So is now you're married to a person has been through medical school. They've this your husband's already always known that you have type one.

Laurie 19:58
Yeah, because I met him when I was was 19. So I had already had it for four years. So he Yes, he knew he knew right away. Yep. So

Scott Benner 20:08
things are going good and bad, right? You've got diabetes, but you found yourself a doctor. So you're, you're on your way. Right. my buddy's a doctor, and he said, even when his boys were little he could see like neighborhood moms like buddying up their seven year old owners. Like he was like, come on.

Laurie 20:26
Well, being that it's my husband's a foot doctor, people just take off their shoes to him. Wherever we go, we could be in a restaurant. They're like, Oh, you're a photographer. I just want you to look at this. Just look at my toe. What do you think?

Scott Benner 20:38
A little less sexy version of being?

Unknown Speaker 20:41
I guess it could be worse.

Scott Benner 20:43
I hear what you're saying. He could be you know, a proctologist that would be so uncomfortable in a restaurant.

Unknown Speaker 20:49
Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Benner 20:51
Okay, so. So you you have Ryan now to back to go back to Ryan a little bit. Can you explain to me what he meant when he said, I grew up and I knew something was up with my mom, but I didn't know what

Laurie 21:04
well, I, I definitely hid my diabetes from everyone. I would never talk about it, I would never share it with anyone. I would never like nobody, nobody. I think only my best friend knew. And it was only because she was in school with me when I had to go, you know, I was in hospital for a few days, I was I was, you know, absent from school. But other than that, I never told anybody. So, um, when my kids came along, I didn't want I didn't want to show any weakness. I think that's like when I have to think about it reflect. I just didn't want them to see me any differently. Like, I didn't want them to think mommy's sick, or, you know, if mommy's eating candy. It's because she's not feeling well, I always wanted to be like, and maybe not the super woman, but you know, somebody who's somebody who's like, got their feet solidly on the ground. And just don't worry, like you don't have anything to worry about. And I really feel like if they knew they would have in some way, shape or form worried, and I just didn't want that.

Scott Benner 22:08
So your goal was just for them not to not to see you as in need in any way. Exactly. You want that you want it to be there for them. You weren't looking for them to be there for you.

Unknown Speaker 22:19
Right. Make

Scott Benner 22:20
sense? And your and your husband? What was his level of? You know, I guess, involvement, because you had kids? I mean, you were diagnosed when you were 15. But your kids when you were 30. So you would had diabetes for 15 years already? By the time you had kids. Yeah, my math is solid tonight. And so it's so anyway, and so. And so for 15 years, you've been living like this, how long have you and he'd been married prior to the kids coming?

Laurie 22:50
Um, we got married in 1980. So all before the kids like, a couple of years, three years, four years, we were together for long, like seven before we had kids, but married a couple of years.

Scott Benner 23:00
I get what you're saying? Yeah, little board. And here comes Ryan. I understand don't ya? Right. Don't let Ryan think of his life that way. But it's fine. keeping things moving. Yeah. So how like, but what was your husband's involvement with your diabetes? Was there really any? Well, I

Laurie 23:15
think he would have been very involved, and I let him but I didn't want anybody to be involved. Basically, there's nothing to be involved with. I was told to do certain thing I did it. I was told not to eat certain things. I didn't eat them. And other than that, there was no involvement. I mean, I think now the involvement is different. Because you have all these tools. Oh, what do you think? Should I decrease this? Should I it becomes a little bit more mathematical and analytical. Whereas back then it was just like, don't do this and do this and go to the doctor in three months and be you know, accused of not doing the right thing and come home. And then you know, we had to do yeah, so basically, what I did was I just didn't want to go to the doctor that became a whole big there other thing in my life is just not wanting to face the doctor because he wasn't helpful,

Scott Benner 24:03
right? So why Yeah, why go get your whipping? Right? When when not right? You're getting nothing in return? How

Unknown Speaker 24:08
right? Why would you?

Scott Benner 24:10
I don't want to put words in your mouth. But were you when it came to the diabetes? And were you lonely? Did you feel isolated? What? What was the? I'm sure that do you think?

Laurie 24:21
I didn't feel I didn't feel lonely because I mean, my husband was always there by my side if I wasn't feeling well, or, you know, just to vent to But no, I wasn't feeling lonely yet. Not at all. I didn't want to be part of that community because I didn't again, I wasn't in denial. I just didn't want to be part of a community. I just was fine. being by myself. I

Scott Benner 24:43
was doing fine. And I was just gonna go along and have nobody No, do you when you think about who you are? Like if I said you were to write down a bunch of descriptive words about yourself, how far down that list Do you think you'd get before you mentioned diabetes? very far. You just don't think about it like that, right?

Laurie 25:02
No and and yet, it's on my mind from the minute I wake up till the minute I go to sleep and and while I'm sleeping and waking up and checking my Dexcom. So it's, it's on my mind every second of every day yet. I don't want it. I never wanted it to define me. And it still, it still doesn't, you know? Yeah.

Scott Benner 25:22
So so when you talk about when Ryan talks about not knowing like, what lengths did you have to go to to keep them from knowing you had type one, like, what did you because when they're young, you're still basically sliding scale, right? Like, when did you switch to? I mean, I assume at some point, you switch to something like novolog and set and lava mirror Lantus or something like that, right? How well do you think Ryan was when you made that switch?

Laurie 25:46
Um, that was kind of life changing, because I felt like the Nova log at least gave me the flexibility if I didn't want to eat or, you know, one of the the different time I had the flexibility and again, it seemed like it made a lot of sense, you know, that, you know, you took the you took, what did I take in the morning was something like 11 in the morning, and that lasted, you know, till the night and then the novolog was just in between when you wanted to eat something. So, that kind of made sense. And that was like, one of the things that changed my life for the first time. Do you remember?

Scott Benner 26:19
That was like what, like, in regards to like year or? Or how old Ryan would have been around? Yeah,

Laurie 26:25
I don't I don't really remember. I honestly I don't.

Scott Benner 26:29
I'm just one and so because what I'm because what I'm wondering is, to what level did you have to go to kind of mask that you had type one because if it was regular an MPH, then you know, when he's little, I'm assuming you could inject right in front of them. He wouldn't even know but as he gets a little older, it's not like you're injecting 810 times a day. It's not like you're really even testing still. So you can just sort of morning and night and nobody can really see I imagine it was part of your your teeth brushing routine. Exactly.

Laurie 26:55
I always I always say that. I always say that. It was always part it was like you know you wake up you brush your teeth. I woke up I gave myself insulin. I went to sleep brush my teeth gave myself insulin. But I never let anybody see me in check anybody? Nobody? Nobody, not even my I mean, not that my husband had seen me this I'm going back way, way back. Not that he hadn't seen me but I just didn't do it in front of him just because I would just go in a private place. Um, until the pen came out then it was like I was doing it everywhere because you could just

Scott Benner 27:26
hide it was simple to do. You know, I want to point out very quickly for people that my analogy about around tooth brushing You and I have not spoken before about this. I'm very impressed with myself. Nevertheless, that Okay, so this all makes incredible sense to me. Like I I put myself in the mindset like let's for, for everybody, like who's just kind of like snowballing or spitballing. This number here, it's 2018. He said 42 years we were diagnosed what the end of the 70.

Laurie 27:56
Yeah, so I was 15. Yeah, like 77. Something like that. Yeah, yeah, it was right before I graduated graduate high school and 78. So yeah, 7677, something like that.

Scott Benner 28:07
This is the part of the conversation where if Arden was here, she told me old and I don't want to have no response to that. Along with it. So different. We're all different technology, different time. Everything's different. Right? You're you're pretty much kind of like, you know, shut out your husband, as far as you know, being around anything. You're trying really hard for your kids not to see how old was Ryan when the twins came?

Laurie 28:35
He was about almost there almost for a little less than for like three and a half, three and three quarters. Something like that. Yeah.

Scott Benner 28:43
So you're almost mid 30s then?

Laurie 28:46
Yes, exactly. 34 it was 34. Yeah.

Scott Benner 28:50
Yeah. All right. And And at this point, the Sharad of hiding the diabetes. Nothing's changed about that. Ryan's he's, he's heading off to school soon. How is it raising twins with diabetes?

Laurie 29:05
Um, I had a very typical pregnancy with Ryan and with the twins. Um, you know, my only thing was, I just, I just made sure that I was always high. Because to me, I know I've heard a lot of people say, I haven't heard anybody feel the way I feel actually, in any of your podcasts. I've listened to pretty much every one of them when I am high. And when I was high, you know, as far as my sugar is being my blood sugar being high, I felt I felt great. Not a care in the world. Not a care in the world because, sure, maybe I was a little bit thirsty, but I not not that much. Sure. I had to go to the bathroom a little more often, but not that much. But I felt great. I felt like I had no anxiety about going low. I wasn't afraid. I was on the top of the world. So I never felt sick being hot. You know, having high blood sugar.

Scott Benner 29:57
At that point. Did you have a meter that you were using more frequently?

Laurie 30:01
Well, again, you know, having, like, kind of what I said before was that, you know, people were always telling me to do better, but I didn't know what that meant. So having a meter and having a reading, I didn't know what to do with that. So if I was high shirt, man, I had to take more insulin, but then I was worried I'd get low. And so if I got low, then what? Then I wouldn't go in a car and I know I'd start eating a lot of sugar and candy. So I'd go high again. So it almost to me felt like why am I testing I don't, I'm just going from high to low to low to high. And I also kind of tricked myself into believing or felt, you know, had my own like rules that if I saw a one in front of it, I felt good. Like, if even if it was 199, I was like, Okay, great. Great. I got a one. Exactly. That's right, exactly. It could be 199. I'm like, All right, I'm good.

Scott Benner 30:52
I'm good. It's crazy. A piece of masking tape over the screen where the other numbers were just like one though, I got a two Nevermind. Well, that's but see that that's really important. Because I hear a lot of people say, I got comfortable at 200 or I found a 200 was a number I was comfortable with my child being at and then eventually you talk yourself into believing that that numbers okay. And and you do that by you know, you do that by you know, doing what you do you hold your fear up, you go Okay, well, listen, I'm afraid. So under 150 is not okay, because that's my fear spot. Yeah, and, and I don't want to be 250. And the doctor said, I can be anywhere from 90 to 180. So 200, really only 20 points higher than 180. So I'm doing great. And then you do that lot that you know, mind twisting math in your head to trick yourself into believing it, you're okay with what you're doing. And then that becomes normal. And then and then your body becomes accustomed to how it feels at that level. And, and I know that when I spoke to Ryan, Ryan, now that he has diabetes, I think he carries a little bit of guilt, that you felt like you had to keep your blood sugar higher so that you were okay for them. It's interesting. I don't know that he used those words. But I remember talking to him and thinking that that had an impact on him as an adult, probably as a child. He had no idea and he didn't care, I think but I got the feeling like he was aware of it now like now that because now he has context like he is right. Yes, Type One Diabetes has real context. So you said when you got novolog, you don't know exactly when that happened. But you know, when you when did you switch to a pump?

Laurie 32:35
Well, that I can tell you exactly.

Scott Benner 32:37
Ladies and gentlemen, the new Dexcom g six continuous glucose monitor is FDA permitted to make diabetes treatment decisions without confirming with a finger stick. What did I just say? Zero finger sticks. No more poking your fingers. Think about it for a second. Now think about this. You are anywhere in the world. And the person you love. Who has type one diabetes is also anywhere in the world. And right there on your phone, your Android or your iPhone, you can see what their blood sugar is. And not just the number not just Hey, their blood sugar like ardens right now is 114. But I can see that Arden's blood sugar is 114 and stable. But if it was falling, or if it was rising, the arrow that would indicate that fall or rise would tell me how quickly that rise or fall was happening. Is Arden 114 and just drifting down? Where she falling? Does she need to be notified? Think about it. Think about it. Now think about this. You listen to this podcast constantly. And I thank you for it. Go download some old ones, by the way. And you hear us talk all the time about art and say one see currently art and say once he is 5.4. And it has been between 5.4 and 6.2 for almost five years. How do we do that? With the Dexcom with the information that comes back from art and CGM. That's how we make decisions. That's how we say Oh, you know what, we missed a little bit on this Bolus for this meal, put in a little more insulin. That quick decision can be the difference between a spike and nothing. I want you to go to dexcom.com forward slash juice box go right now. So you can experience that comfort.

Unknown Speaker 34:25
When did you switch to a pump?

Laurie 34:28
Well, that I can tell you exactly what happened was I know that my doctor had been recommending a pump for many years. But to me I kept saying and what is it going to do? Well it's just a different way of administering the insulin you don't have to give you shelf shots. So to me, I didn't want that I had no problem giving my show. I mean nothing no problem. But you know, I was okay with giving myself shots. I didn't want anything tethered to me. I didn't want the string. I didn't want the you know the not the string the the tubing. I didn't want to have to put it you know on myself. skin, I am very vain. And I dress with, you know, nice fitted clothes and I didn't want and because I was hiding from everyone, I didn't want either the tubing or the, you know anything to show on my body. So if the only benefit was that I have a different way of administering it.

Scott Benner 35:18
Not enough of a bang for your buck, right? Not at all. I'm

Laurie 35:20
like, I don't need to I don't want anything. I don't want to be tethered to anything, my friends.

Scott Benner 35:24
Now friend Charles, who will never listen to this would say that the juice isn't worth the squeeze. That's very new york thing to say, I think so, and so. So you were just not interested in letting people know, obviously, from what you've explained to me so far, and everything I know, you weren't looking to announce to people, hey, I have diabetes. And this guy wasn't giving you because I have to say, saying that a pump is just a different way of delivering insulin is such an incredible understatement.

Laurie 35:55
But well, I know I see that now. Which makes me realize how little is that as we you know, I knows you always say how little the windows really know. And I've, you know, have a lot of experience recently with thinking this doctor that I go to was fantastic. And I I'm now that I know so much more recently, after having it for 42 years. The past year, I learned more than I learned in 42 years and realize that she knows it's a woman now because I don't go to the other man anymore. He retired. I know so much more than her that it's scary. I don't want to know more than her. Yeah, yeah. Well,

Scott Benner 36:30
I understand that. I also, as you've been speaking for the last half an hour, I've been wondering, and I didn't know if I should ask you because I didn't want to insult you. But now that you're you know, more freely talking and that you have diabetes, and you're seeing more community even if it's just this podcast, you found some sort of a community. Is there any hindsight about I wish I would have gotten involved earlier? Like maybe I would have learned something sooner or felt a different kind of comfort? Or like do you feel like you? Do you feel like do you feel like hiding it was didn't accomplish what you want to accomplish? Or did it accomplish what you wanted to accomplish at a price?

Laurie 37:12
No, I think that it accomplished exactly what I wanted to accomplish. And I'm I don't feel at all that I should have come out sooner. I mean, if I you know, should have let people come out of the closet, but I know I'm I don't feel it at all. And I still feel like I want to hide it. I do because I still think that people that are not surrounded by it and maybe even some that are still might see people as a little weaker. And I can tell you that because I work around people and I work in a school. And there are several children that have it. And I look at them. There's one little girl that I know she's well she's Middle School, she's some high school, and she has the Omni pod and she has the pump and anytime every Oh poor, you know poor I won't mention her name. But you know, of course, poor Susie poor. So Susie, Susie is eating more cupcakes and more candy than any of those kids in the room that are gluten free, and dairy free. And she's got her pump and she's going to use it. And so when she wants to cupcakes with frosting, the nurse has to figure out the calculations with her. And she gets her cupcake. So it's not for Susie. Or for there are people that say, why is Suzy eating a cupcake? She knows she shouldn't be in it. Why are parents letting her I don't understand just because they want you know, they don't want her to feel different. And I'm sitting here

Scott Benner 38:35
and that impacts you. Right that really impact you know, do you think that's a generational thing because I let me tell you this I saw my daughter on just last week, so this is gonna be like real time last Saturday. Arden played in three softball games, we got up at five o'clock in the morning, drove somewhere. God only knows where by the way if anyone listening has children, if you put them in a sport, you're gonna see just the worst corners of the world. And so we're behind like what I think might have been a sewage treatment plan or, or where they stored the garbage trucks for this towel on this baseball field. Right. And she played at eight o'clock. She played it at 1130. She played at one o'clock. We drove home. She got something to eat. She changed, took a shower, put on a bikini went to our friend's house for a birthday party. They're in the hot tub at night. There's a fire burn in the background. She brings home some pictures. It's her and her friends. And there's Arden in her bikini with her on the pod right on her thigh and our CGM sticking off of her hip and and she couldn't possibly care less than neither. Nor could any of her friends or the people around her. And so and so. I'm totally not trying to make you feel bad. But I'm wondering if and by the way, 70, mid 70s to you know the 2000s there's a lot of growth in society since then. viously Right, right. But But do you think that? Do you think that you just grew up around a bunch of people who weren't going to? Like it? Or do you and Arden did? Or do you think that you set an expectation and C's, she set an expectation and Susie setting and expectations and whatever other people think, then I can't curse on here but FM, right? Like, who cares? Who cares what other people think? And I get it, like, I totally get it. My mom is me, you know, older than you but more of your generation. And she certainly would be very careful to hide things about her life and my life and everyone's life. Um, you know, you know, and I don't know if that's generational or not like, I'm sitting here, I can't decide that while you're talking. I'm not sure.

Laurie 40:43
I don't know. I think I just think that because the technology right now is so great. And so unbelievable that I like I have never felt more normal in my life. I don't think anybody even five years ago, you know, from that generation, which is basically this generation, I don't think that they're, they're even up to speed on how fast things are and how it's moving and how people are really living like, you know, pretty normal lives with diabetes. And I feel like, there are a lot of people that have it, but not that many. I don't want to be the one to have to educate everyone, because I do like, Yeah, because I do feel like I you know, I've been around people that have told me things not knowing have diabetes, and I'm looking at them like, Are you kidding me? I don't want to be the one to go around educating everyone I'd rather just

Scott Benner 41:34
be trying to live now.

Unknown Speaker 41:35
Yeah,

Scott Benner 41:36
no, that's the goal. Right. That's everything. And I completely get that. So yeah.

Unknown Speaker 41:41
We you so you said you,

Scott Benner 41:42
you didn't want to pump? You said no to it. But what it's and by the way, people I don't pre screen what pumps people use before they come on the podcast. Okay, so when did you When did you get a pump then?

Laurie 41:55
So the first thing was the decks calm before the pump, and my dock my doctor, because so what was happening was, I decided I was going to take control, like, because the meters were better, and they were faster. And so I decided to get a better meter. And just really like I started to just think to myself, I really have to take control of this. So I'm just going to test myself. So what did I do? I tested myself, and I'm not kidding, probably 20 times a day. But guess what, I was doing a really good job, because by doing it 20 times a day, I was like a human Dexcom I could see what was happening five minutes, every half hour after an hour. So I went to the doctor and I started doing really well because I was testing all the time. And she thought I had OCD. And she thought I should maybe see Well, she didn't really say you should really see someone but I could tell that would have been the next comment. She says, That's ridiculous. You can't you just can't live your life like that. I said, Why? Because it's just not healthy. I said it actually is healthy, because I don't have the highs, the lows, or at least I'm able to catch them whatever. She said, A dex calm is for you. And so I started to listen a little bit and I said, Well, what is it? I said doesn't give you the number? She says no, no, it's not accurate. It doesn't. And this is only two years ago,

Scott Benner 43:12
which which version? Was it?

Laurie 43:15
Probably the G four or five before the G five. Okay. I think it was the G four or five. It wasn't much beyond you know, before that.

Scott Benner 43:22
I have to tell you, I was bolusing from the G five. I was Yeah, I wasn't even testing back at G five. But it's it again, you're getting it. Okay. So you get new instruments. How many years ago? Do you think? Just two years ago?

Laurie 43:34
Okay. Yeah, yeah. So what she said to me was you don't get a number the numbers and is not accurate. So don't even look at the number. But what you get is a trend. You know, you see if you're going high, you're just going low. She didn't even say there was like a margin of error. It was more like it's just not accurate. So you just could see I said, well, then what good is that? I'm actually doing better myself by knowing a number. Yeah. So um, but she said, but that's really what you need. And so the question of when I got it was when Ryan was diagnosed, because I was already like, I had already been in the motion of really taking charge and doing really well. But I didn't have any tools. So when he was in the hospital, in the emergency room, lying on the table with the 600 blood sugar and nobody was doing anything. I was sitting with him my husband and my daughter in law who is sitting on her cell phone, googling every everything there is to know about diabetes and more. And she said, Hey, Laurie, did you know and now you have to remember, I hadn't even mentioned it to her yet, or anybody. I mean, it hadn't come out. I wasn't talking like she knew I had it, but we never spoke ever right. So here he is on the table and all of a sudden, like my whole life spilled out. And she was showing me the Dexcom and the Omni pod and all of a sudden it was like, you know, like in The Wizard of Oz when it turns to color. That's what happened. That's basically what happened. My world went from black to color. And the minute that she said that we started looking, I realized I had to do this not only for myself, but I had to now do this for Brian and set a good example.

Scott Benner 45:13
So now I'm gonna cry because your whole life you were doing this one thing for him, and then it turned out the exact what you had to do. This is like an after school. Yeah. Right, right. Right. And listen, I, I have children, and I've had a child diagnosed with diabetes. And I know what it's like to sit in that room. I imagine it's no different at all. If you have diabetes, or you don't have diabetes, I think that it is. It's a defining moment in my life. I actually think harden, kind of like sarcastically a couple weeks ago, we dropped my son at college for his first year. Oh boy. And I told Arden privately I was like I said, if you didn't have diabetes, this would be the worst moment of my life. But the day you were diagnosed is still holding really strong is maybe the worst thing I've ever lived through. And so I have to ask in that moment, if she doesn't, if your daughter because what your daughter in law basically did right then is either she lost her filter about your diabetes, because she was so overwhelmed. Or she thought, Hey, lady, it's time for you to spill about this diet thing, right? Like it was one of the things she was she either wasn't thinking or was really thinking when she hit you with it. Do you think if she doesn't say anything to you, do you think you still have this moment? Dancing for diabetes.com? Dancing, the number for diabetes.com dancing for diabetes.com? Go to dancing for diabetes.com?

Unknown Speaker 46:45
Oh, have

Scott Benner 46:46
you heard about dancing for diabetes.com? I haven't. Well, you should check it out. Dancing for diabetes. Where do I find that? Well, odd us in said dancing for diabetes.com? Do you think if she doesn't say anything? Do you do you think you still have this moment?

Laurie 47:03
I think that if you just know my daughter in law, it's more about I see a problem or a situation and I will I want to help and that's with anybody, you know, any, any anything in anybody, even if you want to book hotel room or, you know you you want to buy a new pair of shoes, you tell her what you want. And she's already done the research for it for you. So that's just

Scott Benner 47:24
let her do her research. Basically,

Laurie 47:26
I was I mean, I actually I think she you know, she enjoys doing research. So I gave her something to do in a very horrible moment that actually really, really helped, distracted and just helped immensely. So um, you know, and then the minute I mentioned it, and I you know, I mentioned it to my other my boys, you know, my twins, for all about, you know, they're software engineers, they're all about technology, and you know, living in this generation, they all jumped on the bandwagon and looked it up for me. And they were, you know, telling me how wonderful it is. And I did this and that. So it just then it just became like a whole support

Scott Benner 48:01
group. For me. I was gonna say you created your own support group, right. And Ryan's diagnosis room basic. Right,

Laurie 48:06
right. And so he always says that, what happened, his diagnosis was the worst thing that ever happened to him, but the best thing that ever happened to me, that's how he always, you know, puts this whole diagnosis together. And then I always say, I don't know if you got this to help me become better? Or did I get this disease to help you to learn what to do? So it's, you know, it's all?

Scott Benner 48:36
Well, Laura, you're on this podcast now you just became part of, quite literally 10s of thousands of people's support groups. So it's just building on itself. And you're doing a great thing by by talking about this because your story is so uncommon, and and far reaching as far as time goes, like you start at a place where people who are diagnosed now can't even appreciate and I'm not scolding anybody. But listen, when I see people on Facebook going, Hey, my pump was supposed to last, you know, six days or three days, and it lasted two and a half days. I can't believe this Surma, can you believe that I lost my CGM signal for three hours today. You know, who can believe that? Laurie? Who Yeah, who was at home going? I don't know what to do. Just stick this stuff in this syringe and let's get going. And yeah, you know, things have come. It's hard to picture when you're in the moment of it. These things have come so far. And to your point. It used to be I've said this in the past, but it's worth saying again, my daughter's had diabetes for 12 years. And um, you know, we're, we're amateurs compared to you, right? But But 12 years through a specific span where I can tell you that advancements from diabetes companies didn't used to come every four months. It was it was Hey, we made a meter Right, and that was it. And two years later, someone else will be like, hey, our meters a little more accurate than that meter, hey, we made a pump. And that was it. And then you didn't hear from again and again, again. Sometimes you hear people complain, hey, they have a you know, innovation in Europe is going faster, because the FDA is not just you know, isn't there and you know, the, what they do in Europe's not as strict and you'd hear that complaint, what's wrong, I'm telling you right now, I can have Dexcom word around the pod on this podcast three times a year to give you new news about what they're doing. Yeah. And their did not used to be companies didn't push innovation like this, until a my opinion until Dexcom. When Dexcom came along and said, Look, it's our goal to show you the in the you know, the reason your doctor told you it's the direction not the number is because, you know, when that technology first started that that's not wrong, you know, Arden had the Dexcom seven, or the Dexcom, seven plus, which was before the g4. And to say it wasn't accurate, is to say that back then maybe it would say your blood sugar was 90, and it was really 140. And it will catch back up eventually, you know, but it wasn't, it wasn't great, and the g4 got better. And by the time the G five came up, like I said I was making decisions off the G five. And now the G six is it's stunningly good. And yeah, and I'm about to have them back on next month for them to talk about the stuff they're going to announce over in Germany in October, and there's going to be more to talk about more, this stuff's gonna get smaller, it's going to get more accurate the wear time is going to extend this back then for me to go from G four to G six. That's 10 years of innovation back then. And now we're talking about what is it two years maybe three? Dino to map to make that leap? It's It's fantastic. And look what it did for you. It drugged you into the you saw such incredible things. You're like, I can't ignore this anymore. I have to go do this.

Unknown Speaker 51:58
Right. Why?

Scott Benner 51:59
What has the impact been? On your health? Do you think? What's the first thing you think of when I say you've got to CGM now, you're using the Dexcom you're using it on the pod? Like what's what's been the greatest benefit for you so far?

Laurie 52:13
I think I think you know, it's a toss up, it's a toss up, because mentally I feel not only do I feel feel more normal, but I also have so much less anxiety about leaving my house. I mean, I do leave my house, of course, I'm you know, I work I mean, I'm never home, I'm very, very active. But there was always anxiety around it. So if I knew I was going out, I would eat candy or eat not candy all the time. But you know, like cookies or something, or and forget about the amount of candy I have, I had my candy and my backup candy. And then like, I think you had said something to Ryan, like your mother was Willy Wonka. Because every crevice of every place, just in case, I always had candy. And so that in that respect, psychologically, I'm, I feel healthier, because I'm able to go out navigate my path and not worry so much. Um, and as far as physically, you know, the, the, you know, the fact that I'm healthier. I think it's just the, you know, the fact that I don't have the as much as high lows and as high highs. And I'm able to kind of be in the more normal range most of the time, like I think it was, I think I was it was 88%. Last time I went to the doctor exactly, which I was I was like flying, flying high. And her comment was that not that I was in range so much my my eight one C was 6.2 which I I was just like over the moon and I went in there. Thank you. I was so excited. And she was not excited

Scott Benner 53:55
too low, right?

Laurie 53:57
She said too low. And she said in order to get that low, I must have had a lot of clothes to compensate for the highs. And I said no, but I have the CGM. So I don't and I said what I said and by the way, here's my cell phone and I turned it sideways and showed her my line for the day that was pretty much a straight line with a few little bumps. You know what happened to be an extra good day because of course we know that some days are not like that. But I turned it sideways and I don't think she knew what she was looking at. And she was like, oh, okay, very like I went in there thinking I was going to get like a marching band. And I came out feeling so disappointed in her reaction happens

Scott Benner 54:37
to a lot of people or I get a lot of private correspondence from people who are like I listen to the podcast, I figured out what you were saying, put it into practice real excited, went to the endo. They yelled at me because they thought exactly what you just said. And and all that goes to show is that the advice you're getting from those people is based on the idea that they don't believe you can do what we're all doing. And and that's dangerous because they're advising you sometimes based on a fear that you don't really have anymore. You know, because you're just because let me ask you and I really don't know, are you employing the things that we talked about in the podcast? you bump and nudge? Do you? You know, are you a little aggressive when you need to be like that kind of, um,

Laurie 55:22
I struggle with the being aggressive. I, I very much struggle with that. Because as much as I am, you know, I call myself bionic, because between my CGM and my Omnipod, and my Apple Watch, and, you know, I've got it all. I feel a little bionic, I still have 40 years of baggage. And the baggage is, when I'm low, that feeling is just I mean, it's just something you don't want to ever experience. And even though I know, I see where my numbers are going, it's not going to keep going. I'm not going to like, you know, just pass out. I mean, I could, but I'm not. Because I you know, I can shut everything down and eat candy. I still suffer from that panic feeling of not knowing where I am, and Hello, I am and Hello, I'm going to keep going.

Scott Benner 56:09
So I so fast that it overwhelms you. And yeah, by yourself, I

Laurie 56:13
understand. Yeah, so being I'm, Ryan's always telling me you got to be bold. You got to be bold. And I'm like, I know. It's like we don't get it.

Scott Benner 56:22
You think you think that the day you were diagnosed, Ryan was your worst day, it's turned into my worst day.

Laurie 56:28
I know, now I really got to take care of it.

Unknown Speaker 56:31
Watch the other rescue

Laurie 56:33
now. And now I'm shared with the you know, with my family and everybody's looking at this. I'm like, this is like so not me, you know. So it's a it's just a whole different whole different world for me, but I still I do still I do struggle with that baggage of my path. Yeah.

Scott Benner 56:50
I imagine it'll get easier as time goes on. I really do. I mean, and but at the same time, you're doing it right. I mean, you're even a one C and the six is in the low six is spectacular, right? You eat Really? You eat normally, right? You're not. Um,

Laurie 57:05
I eat normally for me, you know, I'm just I like to eat. You know, I like low carb, because that's just what I you know, I want to stay thin. I eat? Yeah, I normally for me, I mean, maybe somebody else would say, you know, how come you're not eating bagels, and you know this and that. But it's for me, this is normal, the way I'm eating? I'm not denying myself anything. It's just how I choose to eat

Scott Benner 57:29
exact. Can I ask you a question? I meant, yes, or SSL or I want to go back a little bit. Brian's diagnosed, and and you guys sort of formed this relationship around diabetes now? Is that a mothering instinct? Do you think like, as much as your instinct told you not to make your kids feel like they were need to look out for you? And do you think that being more available to Ryan and talking more about your diabetes? Is that just feeling like your responsibility as a mom?

Laurie 58:00
Um, I think it's just very natural, because, um, you know, Ryan and and my other boys, you know, Greg, and Doug, also were, you know, very, very close. I talked to them pretty much Well, the boys are one of them still lives home, I talk to them every day. And I talked to Ryan, pretty much every day if not texting and back and forth. So I'm very connected to them. And And specifically, you know, speaking about speaking about Ryan, you know, we definitely have something much more in common now than we did before. And the mothering instinct does come out. But I think I also am approaching the relationship about diabetes with him from the perspective of, he knows what he has to do. He knows how to do it, he's better at it than I am. And, you know, if I see a low or a high and we're shared on this, you know, the shared situation, I might remind him what's going on, but I'm not going to point my finger like they did to me all those years, because I know that he knows what to do and how to do it with me. I got all the fingers pointed to me and I didn't know what to do.

Scott Benner 59:09
You're not doing that again to somebody else, right?

Laurie 59:11
No, no,

Scott Benner 59:12
no, it's funny how our minds react when we go through something bad. We either become you know, the polar opposite of it or we embrace it right, your parents, your parents or screamers, you either end up being a screamer, you never talk above a whisper, like that sort of a thing. And so it's it's great that it that that had enough of an impact on you that you realize like this is not the way to treat people. Now, and I'm even sorry to hear that you went back with your grade one C and sort of got pushed back because that must have been very reminiscent of when you were younger and must have felt pretty.

Unknown Speaker 59:43
Oh boy, I

Laurie 59:44
would imagine. I mean, I think she wasn't it wasn't that it was not I didn't really look at it as like negative. I looked at it as nonchalant, just nonchalant. And then and then to add in, you know, add insult to injury when I got the report in the mail because you know, I you Talk to her when I got it, but then they send the hardcopy, and everything was like, perfect, perfect. And at the bottom, she wrote her comment was, everything looks fine. Like, everything's fine. I you if you would have heard me screaming at the mailbox

Scott Benner 1:00:21
for years of getting this six, and this is everything is fine. That's it.

Laurie 1:00:25
I mean, yeah and I, I did I came in the house and I was showed my husband I was screaming, I was like, Can you believe this? And of course, you know, he being as supportive as always said, What do you care what she says, you know that it's amazing. We all know, it's amazing. We know how hard you work. Why do you care what she says? I said, because I just can't believe that she has the nerve to write doing this. Everything looks fine. I'm like, I'm better than fine. I really wanted to just go back and say, Do you know how much work this took? When

Scott Benner 1:00:55
you When? When you told her look? No, I have a nice stable line. I'm not too high. I'm not too Did you tell her how you work? You didn't say to her? I listened to a podcast right like that?

Unknown Speaker 1:01:04
I did.

Unknown Speaker 1:01:05
Did you really? Oh, God.

Laurie 1:01:06
I did. I did. I told her I mean, you you you are like and I don't even know where to begin to tell you how much your podcast has. I'm gonna now I'm gonna cry. Your podcast has absolutely changed my life. I don't I mean, words could not begin to tell you. Because every time I listen to one, and it's interesting, I see you have one about a baby and a mother and a husband and a wife and a caretaker and, you know, a dancer and I look at it. I'm saying that that's not really me. Like there's nothing, that there's nothing in there that I could really you know, I'm sure it's an interesting story. But what I realized is that every story has something I learned from. So that's amazing. And I don't there are not enough hours in the day for me to listen to all the podcasts. So I take walks I have a new puppy, I take walks with the puppy, I got those ear, bud, I you know, whatever the things I'm telling you. I'm bionic, I have the Apple Watch. I now I'm getting the brand new phone that's, you know, the whatever. I mean, I am so hooked up. But every one of them is there for me to listen to a podcast.

Scott Benner 1:02:16
So I sorry, it's costing you so much. I know. I tell people, it's free apparently cost a couple thousand dollars. Yeah, yeah.

Laurie 1:02:24
And I've had my you know, my boys listen to the podcast, and my husband listens to parts of it. And it's just I, I don't know what to say.

Scott Benner 1:02:32
Well, you didn't I wasn't setting you up to say something. I

Unknown Speaker 1:02:35
said, No, no, no, I

Scott Benner 1:02:36
but I very much appreciate that. And I have to tell you that as time goes on, I'm much better taking that compliment that I was at the beginning, that if you go back 50 episodes, I would have said something stupid after someone said that. But I genuinely appreciate that. That's how it is struck you. And that's how it's helping you. And it is totally my goal. And so it's really fulfilling to see that it's having that effect. And, and I'm just pleased that you found it. I really am. If nothing else, I'm just very happy for you. Yep. We are coming up on an hour. But I don't want to rush you off. I want people to understand that. Laurie was really very nervous to do this that I have. It's funny how it happens. Most of your scheduled recordings happen, they go off without a hitch. But I must have had to push Laurie off like 73 times at this point. And to the point where this morning I overslept through our recording, and and I could not have possibly felt worse and got ahold of her. And I said, Look, we're doing it in the evening, which I never do. And and I just wanted to I want you all to know that when you hear this this week, it was just recorded six days prior. And I'm putting it out very quickly ahead of others that I've recorded in the past because I don't want Laurie to feel nervous every day for months and months and months until this episode comes out. So we're we're getting there, right? Oh, she's getting special treatment because I because I slept through her podcast recording.

Laurie 1:03:59
I appreciate that. Because anyone that knows any one of us in my family, we can't can't wait for anything. So you did Perfect, perfect. Well,

Scott Benner 1:04:07
your son and your son is terrific, by the way. Like I really enjoyed talking to him. Like, he just he really just he amazed me like along the way, even to the point where I realized I was interviewing him. He was sitting in an airport, and I was interviewing him and I didn't even I didn't even know that. Yeah, well, he travels

Laurie 1:04:24
a lot for his business, right? He does. And, you know, nothing ever seems to knock him down. And when his diagnosis came, he was had a scheduled trip to I don't know if it was his first trip or second, I think it was the second trip to India. And there he is lying on the table with a 600 blood sugar not really knowing you know what to do about anything. And he said, all you have saying was I got to be on a plane to India in a couple of days. You know, they better get this thing figured out for me because, you know, I got to get on a plane. And I thought to myself, you know, that made me feel so good because if it were Me, I'd be thinking of how many ways I could get out of doing that until I got myself together. And he couldn't. He was like, you know, they just want to help me figure this thing out, because I'm going to India. And that, you know, that just tells me about his resilience, which I wasn't surprised about.

Scott Benner 1:05:16
Well, you have to I mean, you said, Listen, you, I'm spoken to you for an hour. Now, you don't seem in any way. Like you're like you're downtrodden from having diabetes. For all these years, you don't feel beat up, you don't say things that make me think that you are feeling sorry for yourself or suffering some sort of, you know, a depression about it or anything like that. And you made a decision just to, like you just said to yourself, I'm going to be as normal as I can be with this. And you did it. I mean, over decades with no technology, no support from doctors. I don't imagine your parents were very involved, right. And then so really, I wouldn't, I wouldn't expect anything less from from a child that you raised. And I have to tell you that what you did in the beginning, though, I think you did it in a different way than I did is very similar still in tone. You know, when we we said, I'm sorry, my wife has asked me if they want me to bring me anything from dinner. Sorry. Hold on a second. Okay, good to say No, I'm good. Thanks. Anyway, we set you know, we set about I said, my wife and I agreed early on, like, we we need to treat this like, it's common. Like, it's just it's not, not who she is, forget all that just like this doesn't really exist. It's, it is what it is it takes what it takes. And then once it gets what it needs, it's gone. right and right. And we and that is that way. And it's why I'm proud of some of the things we talked about on the podcasts, because once you figure them out, they really don't require that much upkeep. And you know what I mean? And that was purposeful on my part, because I didn't want to be thinking about this all the time. I don't you know, I Arden's had a pretty rough couple of days. I think she's, um, there's a spot and time before her period where she gets more insulin sensitive. And, and we're making it through those days right now. And still, it hasn't been all that, you know, it hasn't made that big of an impact on our life. And I'm talking about like, Oh, she's 60 Hang in there, you know, no, like, like lower lows that are holding on things like that. Not dropping that crazy lows, but but you know, yesterday afternoon, where I'm going to tell you story about the pride in my kid while I got you on. So yesterday, I had to go to the dentist. And I was in the dental chair for 90 minutes. Arden comes home from school, two o'clock in the afternoon. She says I'm hungry. I said okay, well, I gotta we got to get you set up here with something that I have to go over three o'clock dentist appointment. So she gets herself a bowl of Apple Jacks. And that's what she's going to eat. And I at that moment don't know that she's about to get into this span of lower blood sugars needing less insulin because it's this space and time around. Right. So I bought this and she and I, you know, she shows me the ball. I'm like, What do you think that issue is? It looks like seven units to me. I said I think you're 100% right? She gave herself the insulin. I go to the dentist's office. I'm you know, in the chair, I go she gets me prepped, he's bout ready to like, put me back. I look again, or blood sugar's 90. It's like 45 minutes afterwards. I'm like, this is exactly what I expected. And he works on me for a while. And I fall asleep, which I don't know how crazy that like, Yeah, it was. It was a treatment of an old root canal. I put my headphones in put in a podcast that I listened to and I fell asleep. And so they wake me up. I kid with diabetes. I sleep wherever I can. So so they wake me up. And the first thing I do is I pull myself together. I rinse my mouth out and I checked my phone to see what her blood sugar is. And Arden's blood sugar is low. Like it says l o w. Oh my god. Dexcom So she's by herself at home. And I text her. And I'm like, I don't even like it. There's nothing just like juice juice. Arden you know? Yeah, you know, and and so I'm I'm a little dazed. I don't know how long she's been low or anything like that. I'm like our need to drink a juice, turn off your bazel blah, blah. And she go I get a text back. I should find it for you. Right. Hold on one second. Let me let me let me come over over an hour now. No one cares. We'll keep going. Let me go back here.

Unknown Speaker 1:09:38
It says

Scott Benner 1:09:40
already had a juice and some chocolate. I could

Unknown Speaker 1:09:43
have more.

Scott Benner 1:09:44
More if you weren't texting me so much. So I said, I said hey, your blood sugar says low. How long ago did you drink the juice? And I'm like and chocolate doesn't work on low blood sugars. I need you to test your blood sugar. I tell her Right. So Lori, hold on to yourself. She tests and I'll tell you on this podcast and I say all the time, once or twice a year, Arden will have a really low blood sugar just like everybody with diabetes does. But they they really only happen once or twice a year. This this this year while I'm at the dentist's office. Oh my god meter says 38. Ah, and so I'm still sitting there. He's not done with me yet. I texted my wife. Are you home? She's like, No, I'm like, are you close? She says yes. I'm like how close she says 25 minutes I responded to her. Oh my God, that's not close. Nevermind, I go back to Arden. And I said, I need you to drink another juice to make sure your bagels off. And she goes, I don't want to drink another juice.

Unknown Speaker 1:10:41
Oh my god. And now I'm like,

Scott Benner 1:10:43
is she combative? Or did you know? So I'm like, how long did you drink the juice? She goes a few minutes ago, my blood sugar is gonna come back up. I turned my bezel off. And I'm like art and just drink another juice, please. There's no time drinking other juice. Should your blood sugar's dangerously low drink juice. And she goes, Dad, I knew I felt low. So I had a juice. And I'm feeling better now. Trust me, please. Oh, boy. So I said, Okay. Would you eat something? And there's a pause, and a pause at a pause, and she goes, I'll have Cheetos. And I said, Okay, oh, boy, it was the end of the text. It is the end of the time that we talked there. And so I waited a couple of minutes, I watched the arrow turned back up. It was diagonal download, by the way, when I first Oh,

Unknown Speaker 1:11:39
my gosh,

Scott Benner 1:11:40
so So um, I sitting in the chair, the guy's like, I can let you go in just a minute. Meanwhile, the his aide is looking over my shoulder while I'm like you're gonna die do something, right. So she's like, I think he really has to go and I'm like, I really do. And he goes, like, I can't like you can't leave like I have to finish this. And he had a company's like, just a couple more minutes. So I'm like, okay, so they're the arrow goes low diagonal down, and then suddenly, it's steady at 40. Oh, boy. And then it's 43 and 45 and 52. And then the arrow swings the other way. And I thought, okay, she's okay. Yeah, you know, she's okay. She did what she was supposed to do. None of this went the way we expect it to. And it's still she's all right, you know, and she and she handled it. So I let the dentists finish. And I got in the car and I called her and I said, Hey, you know, I'm on my way home. And she's like, whatever, I'm good. So I got home. loreena came in the door, and she's just hanging out doing her homework, just like she was when I left and her blood sugar level out and it was good. She actually treated really well. She and overtreating. She was right there. And I told her, I'm like, honey, I need you to really understand. I 100% trust you. I said, but I came into that situation, a little blind, and I was a little dazed from like being asleep. And I really didn't know how long you had been low. I didn't know if you'd address it. I said in my heart. I didn't know if you were unconscious when I started texting you. And I said, and when you said you didn't want another juice. I realized now you said that because you knew you did need it. But I didn't know if you were just being combative, because your blood sugar was really low. She goes, I was good. And I was like, okay, and that wow, that's

Laurie 1:13:24
I'm pretty impressed at the fact that she doesn't panic when she gets low. I mean, if somebody told me that I should drink another juice or eat something like wild, horses couldn't stop me because I I get so panicky, and so scared that I'll stuff my face. I'll gorge my face. I'll I'll I mean, I'll just keep eating. Um, I've gotten better with that, because now I can actually see what's happening. And I do realize that the arrow for the Dexcom takes, especially with those really low lows, takes a little while to catch up. Yeah, so I'm better. But you couldn't stop me from eating a whole box of cereal if and especially if somebody told me they thought they should. You wouldn't I mean, you know, I think right? I think Ryan once said that, you know, if he's low and he is looking for sugar, he would eat a gum drop off the bottom of somebody's shoe if he

Scott Benner 1:14:22
was really listen, I was. And this is something that I think that I'm telling the story is valuable for because like I said, first of all, this is not a daily occurrence, not a weekly occurrence, not even a monthly occurrence. This is a yearly occurrence, right, a blood sugar that low. And so, but what I was most impressed with was it she just sort of followed the steps we talked about. And one of the things I say all the time i think is what she did is what she trusted that what she knew what's going to happen was going to happen. She tried, she drank the juice. And she she is like this is going to work and look maybe you know there might have been a moment where it didn't work, but we also So, to be honest with you the seven units back to that bowl of cereal in any other, you know, time of the year, I under Bolus the little bit because I was leaving, I had no idea like, I don't track my 14 year old daughter's period. Although I guess now I should. But But, but apparently like it was just dumb luck. It was dumb timing right. But when when she handled it and she was being, you know, coherent and she told me she was eating, if I told you, I was never really upset or worried. I don't know what that says about it. About me. I think it just says that. Like I tell people all the time, like, eventually you will have so many experiences, that those experiences will inform how you feel in the future. And I would have been worried if there was a reason to write Trust me, I would have ran out the door with a dental dam in my mouth if I thought, right, right. But I watched it. And I was like, No, I can see how this is going. She's right. This is gonna go the way she said. Yes. So that kind of data and that kind of feedback from this equipment. And and it's just, I don't know, it's spectacular. Like you're really Yes. You know,

Laurie 1:16:09
yep, yep. And it's spectacular that you have a daughter that has you to model the, you know, the correct way to manage your diabetes, because, you know, I you do speak of what you're doing out loud. And I think that's, that's part of the modeling that she sees what you're doing in certain situations. So

Scott Benner 1:16:27
it's the whole plan learning. Yeah, it's just like any other parenting situation, you don't bother telling them things. Don't bother writing it down. You just you be a role model. And that's right. And they'll they pick it up.

Laurie 1:16:40
That's right. That's right. And I think that's what you're doing for all of us as well. You know, you're talking out loud of how you're both listening and what your bowl is saying. And you know, how you're managing art is modeling, modeling it for us, you know,

Scott Benner 1:16:55
everything, all of that. But now Yeah, now I will forever so thank you very much.

Unknown Speaker 1:16:59
That's very nice.

Scott Benner 1:17:01
Well, we're now way over time, so I'm gonna say goodbyes or anything. We didn't talk about that you wanted to talk. I don't want to leave anything out. Um,

Laurie 1:17:10
no, I don't I don't think so. I think we touched on touched on everything. You know? Yeah. Yep.

Scott Benner 1:17:16
I can't thank you enough. I can't apologize enough for sleeping through our time this morning. Very pleased that you were able to be flexible with me tonight. Thank you. I it means a lot. I think this was really a spectacular conversation. So I'm, I'm super excited to get it up. And I will. I won't even bother telling you what happened. You'll just open up your app. And it'll be there.

Laurie 1:17:37
I'm excited. Thank you so much. Great. Thank you. Thank you, you too. Bye, bye.

Scott Benner 1:17:43
Huge thanks to Lori for coming on and being so honest. And of course for Ryan for being back on the other episode that caused Laurie to come on this, you know, the whole thing. I don't have to tell you again. But thanks to Ryan and Lori to their entire family for being so transparent with us about their life with Type One Diabetes. Thank you all. So to Dexcom dancing for diabetes and Omni pod, please go to your app right now and click on the link in the show notes. That's where it's at in your diabetes app, or at Juicebox podcast.com. Go find out more about all of the great sponsors of the Juicebox Podcast when you support them, you support us and us is me and me as the podcast. So if you like the podcast, click on like, what else? Oh, I know what else there's one more thing. If you get the chance, go back and download a couple of old episodes just one or two a week. If you don't have the chance to listen to them right away. That's cool. Make a plan. But if you do have the chance, I think it would be amazing. I think a lot of stuff has gone by and you may have missed it. So if you liked this episode, just remember there is a ton of what you might call evergreen stories. You know, evergreen like they never go bad. Because they're not really time sensitive. You know stuff about tech from two years ago, you'll skip but you heard Laurie say it in this episode. Every week. She says something comes up on the podcast and she'll look and say oh, that's like a mom of a kid that's got nothing to do with me. And then she listens and realizes, well, this has everything to do with me. So go ahead back find it episode you haven't listened to yet and give it a try. I'll see you next week.

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