#187 Beauty in the Randomness
Scott Benner
Izzy survived a horrific car accident caused by a low blood sugar…
This is her story.
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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
Today's episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored as always by Dexcom on the pod and dancing for diabetes, you can go to my Omni pod.com Ford slash juice box to get a free no obligation demo of the AMI pod right now, you can go to dexcom.com Ford slash juice box to find out more about the Dexcom g six continuous glucose monitor. And of course you can go to dancing for diabetes.com that's dancing the number four diabetes.com just to see adorable pictures of children with diabetes, dancing. There's other reasons to go. But the cute kids are the best reason. There's also links in the show notes at Juicebox podcast.com. When you click on them, it helps the show.
Izzy 0:45
This is me hand and you're listening to the Juicebox Podcast.
Scott Benner 0:49
Hello, and welcome to Episode 187 of the Juicebox Podcast. As you just heard Today's guest is Izzy me. I know you recognizes his name I've spoken about a number of times. She is a high school senior from Ohio who recently had a near fatal car accident when her blood sugar got low is he's on the show today to tell us about the accident and her recovery and what she's learned since then. Please remember that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should ever be considered advice, medical or otherwise. And to always consult a physician before making changes to your health care plan.
Izzy 1:33
The first thing I do remember is waking up on Saturday morning, and the accident was on Tuesday. But the first thing I remember was waking up. They took the breathing tube out and I said what's my blood sugar? Hi, I'm Izzy me, Han.
Scott Benner 1:55
How old are you?
Unknown Speaker 1:57
I'm 17 years old 17.
Scott Benner 1:59
Okay, how long have you had type one diabetes?
Izzy 2:02
Well, I was diagnosed at 13. But I've had it for over four years. Your math is strong
Scott Benner 2:07
is a very strong.
Unknown Speaker 2:10
Thank you, sir. So
Scott Benner 2:11
you're welcome. Are you a? Seriously you'd be very proud of that some people stumble? Are you? Are you a senior in high school?
Izzy 2:20
I am. I'm a ursuline Academy.
Scott Benner 2:23
You're a senior in high school. You've had Type One Diabetes since you were 13. And you're on the podcast today? Because maybe I have to start this out. Okay, so I feel like it was just still this year. Right? It was in 2018. Your Yeah, your incident, right? It was in 2018. And, and I got a note from from your mother. She sent me a message. And very sort of briefly explained to me that you had been in a car accident, and that she was hoping for people just to sort of send you messages of like, good wishes and things like that. Yeah. And I have to tell you, like, on my end, I was sort of like, wait, what's happening? Because a lot of people listen to the podcast, and a lot of people read the blog, and I know some of their names like like, you don't mean like there's names that pop up in front of me. I'm like, Oh, I recognize that name. Yeah, and your mother's name was one of those names. So it's like, I recognize this person. And so we're talking back and forth for a second. And I'm like, wait, wait, hold on. I'm gonna get can we call each other because this is, I think I'm missing exactly what's going on. So the next thing I know very, because I didn't really understand the timeline of everything. I was speaking to your mother and she was at the hospital, I have to tell you that like, from my perspective, obviously, your situation was worse than mine. And your mother's was worse than mine. But I was really like, I felt like someone kind of like smacked me in the head with a board because suddenly sort of this person I just tangentially know, through the internet is telling me this horrible story. And I'm trying to both be supportive of what she's saying, and absorb how I like even know you guys, you know what I mean? And so on. And so it was all very, very strange for a second but, but I want you to sort of kind of fill in the space between that phone call and what happened to you. So you're at school one day, and your blood sugar gets low.
Izzy 4:21
So I went to school that day, and like I didn't get a lot of sleep the night before. Just because I was studying for a bunch of tests. I had a lot of homework, and I see healthy fat during my lunch. And that day, I had like an unusual lunch like with a bunch of carbs and I didn't treat it like I didn't treat for all the carbs properly and blood sugar went like over 300 and so I just kept correcting and like it was 300 I corrected 350 I corrected again so I kind of just kept stacking it. I wasn't getting over what my pump said to get but I just kept correcting and then my blood sugar finally came down and I stabilized at around two Hundred. Both of my parents called me before I left school to go to my AC t tutoring session just to make sure I was fine. And like I was responding and my CGM, my Dexcom still said I was like stable at 100. So I drove to my tutoring session. And I don't really remember anything about the tutoring session. Like the last thing I really remember was being at school that day. Okay.
Scott Benner 5:25
Well, let me let me let me go back for a second. Let me let me unpack a couple things. So you ate sort of an unusually large carb heavy lunch that you thought you under Bolus for at the beginning. But then as your blood sugar was going up, you're like, Oh, geez, and you kind of kept after it. You felt like you got it back to where you wanted to have it. And then you and then you drove to a tutoring session. Did you? Did you complete the tutoring session? Yeah, because those things are so boring that if you don't remember those that might have nothing to do with diabetes, first of all, or insulin. I watched my son do those in our dining room. And I would pull my wife aside and be like, That kid is a trooper. I'm like, I would be asleep on the table right now. You know? Yeah. So how far was the ride from like, so let's put some times on it. what time of day did you leave school? When the show ends, don't forget to check out dancing for diabetes.com. That's dancing. The number four diabetes.com.
Izzy 6:24
I left school around three o'clock.
Scott Benner 6:26
Okay. You went were for the session just
Izzy 6:28
to a library, which was about like 15 minutes. Oh,
Scott Benner 6:33
okay. So you're about 15 minutes away from school. And you're at the library. How long was the session with the the tutor
Unknown Speaker 6:40
an hour?
Scott Benner 6:42
How did you do on the AC T's? Have you taken them yet?
Izzy 6:45
Yeah, I took it a few months ago. And I did good. So I'm finished. Now.
Scott Benner 6:48
I just want to make sure that this was all worth it. So okay, so you've got Yeah. So So hey, you're breaking up. You're breaking up just a little bit. So let me ask you, are you on a computer or a phone?
Unknown Speaker 6:59
A computer? You're on the computer?
Scott Benner 7:00
Is there a cell phone near you? Yeah. Can you move it away a little bit? Because I think we're getting like, yeah, it's interfering a little bit.
Izzy 7:09
Yeah, I'll move it away right now. Okay, thank
Scott Benner 7:11
you. Okay, that's good. It's a break in the tension. So, so you've completed the the tutoring, which I'm assuming was an hour. And so we're driving what are we talking about? Like, 430 you leave this tutoring thing? Maybe?
Izzy 7:24
Yeah, around 430. I left and it was 15 minutes from my house. So it wasn't a long drive or any
Scott Benner 7:31
thing and I don't want to like build unnecessary suspense because your your story is gonna be terrible enough. We don't need suspense. But you didn't make it home, right. No, no. Okay. So what ended up? Well, I guess you don't know what happened to you. Thanks for real, like, you
Izzy 7:48
know, yeah, I don't remember anything that happened. But like, I know, my both of my parents have talked to witnesses. And they said that, like they saw me passed out in the cars, like in the driver's seat, and like, they like most people thought I was on drugs, and the ambulance was going to give me Narcan assuming that I'd overdosed on drugs. But my mom luckily used her find my friends app and knew that I was in a remote place of remote place in town. So she called 911 and told them that I was a type one diabetic. And they said, hell, how do you know like that she got in an accident. She's like, I just know, like, she could, she could see my blood sugar, like, stabilized around 80. And she knew that the dexcom got stuck there. Because it's done that before I've gone from like a 400 blood sugar back down to like 80 been stuck at 80 for like an hour checked my blood sugar. And it was like, you've been lower than that.
Scott Benner 8:45
Right? So so she she felt like that she had seen this process before and she had this bad feeling. Plus, you were supposed to be somewhere that you weren't, I assume, right? Yeah. Okay. So she's able to kind of jump in with MS and let them know, hey, look, you know, my daughter has taught you're gonna find her in a second. She has diabetes. So she wanted them to know that that's really cool. But you were pay, people said that you were passed out in the car. People said you were passed out in the car after the accident or they could see while you were driving that you weren't conscious.
Izzy 9:19
They could see my head. They could see my head for like leaning forward while I was driving.
Scott Benner 9:26
So you were out.
Izzy 9:28
Yeah, and they said that I was probably going over 100 miles per hour. Wow.
Scott Benner 9:32
Okay, yeah. What did what did you strike that stopped your car finally.
Izzy 9:40
It was like I had a bunch of things like, like three mailboxes and then just like a big boulder. That kind of just stopped it all together. That was
Scott Benner 9:51
a car. Yeah,
Unknown Speaker 9:52
yes.
Scott Benner 9:53
So don't Is there any part of it? I don't want to make light of this. But is there any party that wishes you could have been a little awake to see the mailboxes like pop up in the air like like in a movie or have you ever thought it through? No not really. So, so So is he It is incredible that you and I are talking It is incredible that you're talking to anybody anywhere because you drove a car unconscious very fast into a giant piece of rock that stopped stopped the clock. How have you seen the car since since the accident?
Izzy 10:25
Oh yeah, we I saw I've seen pictures of it and it obviously from what happened it wasn't a like they weren't able to reconstruct it constructed or anything.
Scott Benner 10:39
Throw new radiator on it. You're driving around nothing like that. My point is it was it terrible. It was it completely wrecked was it smashed in? Like,
Izzy 10:46
yeah, it was basically like everything was pretty smashed. And gotcha. And it's just like, I don't understand how I am how I am now. Like how I don't have brain damage. I like and walk like, I was in awe, like after my parents told me this story. And like, I like that, like I wasn't paralyzed and how none of that happened.
Scott Benner 11:07
It's crazy. So, so Okay, so this sort of takes me up to me talking to your mom in the hospital. And I'm not going to remember it all correctly, but she started running over your injuries with me. And I even remember thinking, wow, that doesn't sound promising. In any real way did do you know what the initial? Like what did they What did the hospital staff initially tell your your parents about your condition when you got in there? What were their expectations for you? The army pod tubeless insulin pump is a two part system. It is completely waterproof. And it simplifies the management of your insulin dependent diabetes. The Omni pod systems innovative design allows you to live your life and manage your diabetes with freedom, comfort, and convenience. This small waterproof pod and the handheld personal diabetes manager communicate wirelessly to deliver continuous insulin based on your personal settings. Now listen, the idea of not being tethered to something is everything in my opinion. You know, you hear people talk all the time about I wanted a pump and I didn't want to feel like a robot. Well, I get that. But with the Omni pod, you just apply the pot and you're not connected to anything. And before you know it, and I have worn one in my daughter's one one since she was born. She's 14 now. But before you know it, and this is my experience, you just forget it's there. Because it's tubeless. It allows you to swim, or involve yourself in any of your physical activities without disconnecting from your insulin. I believe that it's incredibly important to have a constant stream of insulin. When you have type one diabetes, I don't like the idea of I had to take it off and take a shower, I had to take it off to go play a sport, I had to take it off for 9000 reasons. I love the pump because it is with you all the time, constantly delivering the insulin that you need. And it's tubeless it's easy. And it rocks. Go to Miami pod.com Ford slash juicebox. To find out more for click on the links in your show notes, or Juicebox podcast.com. Oh, did I mention that demo was free, and it had absolutely no obligation attached to it. There's genuinely no reason why you shouldn't do this. It'll take you two minutes online now the pump will come to your house, you can give it a shot. What did the hospital staff initially tell your your parents about your condition when you got in there? What were their expectations for you?
Izzy 13:32
on the first night there, they didn't think I was gonna make it and they knew that they were going to have to take out one of my kidneys and take out my spleen. They thought that I broke both of my legs which
Scott Benner 13:47
I'm sorry, you cut out for a second job was broken. You cut out for a second they thought you were gonna. They thought both your legs were broken. But
Izzy 13:55
yeah, I thought both of my legs were broken, but neither are broken. And then they thought my job was broken. But it wasn't broken. Like they were just giving a whole list of injuries to my parents. And then because of you and my community, like everyone unbreached down was praying and like all these small miracles happened overnight, like the next day like they're like, oh, her lungs are getting better because I thought like I was like I wasn't able to breathe on my own but then like soon I was like all these small little miracles were happening but yeah, I still had to get my kidney taken as a sleep taken out and I broke my right wrist and I had to get surgery on that and my like, my finger and then like multiple breaks and my back and neck and I wore a back brace and neck brace but most like most of those are all temporary. Yeah. I'll have to live with one kidney for the rest of my life. But like, it's just like, that's not as bad as it could have been worse. No,
Scott Benner 14:58
it's incredibly Fortunate honestly. Okay, so you said a lot there. So first of all, I didn't do anything, I appreciate you saying that. But all I did was I put up a like a special like bonus episode of the podcast. And I asked for people to send, like, there was a link that they could go to at the hospital send you messages. And I was just like I, you know, do that. And I was even scared when I told your mom, I'll do it, you know, I'd be happy to do that. But I thought, what if people don't do it? But can you tell me about how many messages you got from the people listening to this podcast,
Izzy 15:30
it was really so nice that you made that small podcast I made because I received so many letters, like hundreds of letters when I was in the hospital, like, I got letters from Spain and different parts all over the world. And no one even knew me. And they were sending me these kind letters and by sisters read them to me at night. And it not only helped me but it helps my family to know that they weren't alone. And, and I look and I have a binder full of them. And I still look at them whenever I need inspiration. And they all just show like how the type one communities there will always be there for each other. And that reaching out helped me get through all my injuries,
Scott Benner 16:10
really happy that it had that impact. And I can't thank everyone enough Who? Yeah, who took the time to reach out to me that was really special. Yeah, I was so scared. It would be like three people. And it was like, because I just felt like I was promising in that moment. I felt like I was making a promise to your mom, like, like I will, you know, don't worry, I'll do something and people will reach out because she what she would say is that the delivery system for the for the people's notes were were sort of like they went into a queue. And then I guess the hospital actually printed them and gave them to you. Right? Yeah. And so she said, like, there'll be certain times a day where just 50 or 100 of them would shop at once. And I thought oh my gosh, that's great. And, and I just thought, thank, like, thank God that everybody did that. Like I was really pleased for you guys, because I couldn't imagine how much you needed at that moment. Yeah, you know, just a distraction, or some hope or anything like that. So after the first night, after the first night when they said, Hey, I don't even understand by the way, I don't even in my wildest dreams understand what you do when someone tells you we're not 100% sure your child's going to survive overnight. And so the next day when you're still there, and and things are slowly improving, then it became more about triage, seeing your injuries and, and getting you on different paths of you know, of healing. So did the did the spleen and the kidney come out the day of the accident, like did you come in? And were those taken out like an emergency surgeries?
Izzy 17:41
Yeah, they were. So I came in and they perform that surgery. And they had to leave me open overnight, and go back in in the morning to see if they could if they had to take anything else out. And they expected that they would have to. But then in the morning, they went back in and everything looked fine. And they closed me up. And they told my family that it was a miracle that that happened because they're betting that there would be other injuries is a you're a tough woman.
Scott Benner 18:10
So seriously. Well, how long were you in the hospital?
Izzy 18:19
About three weeks. And I was supposed to be in there for six to eight weeks from like a normal person. Like who would go through that amount of injury.
Scott Benner 18:32
So not to I'm not gonna stick on the injuries too long. But in in just two. Why would someone try to call me now is he wrong? So um, but but broken wrist that definitely did happen, right? Oh, yeah, a thing and that needed? I'm assuming surgery and things like that.
Izzy 18:50
Yeah. And then I work cast on my right arm for
Scott Benner 18:54
six weeks after the surgery. And you mentioned a finger. Was it disfigured that it has to be fixed as well.
Izzy 19:00
Yeah. So there's, like metal, not in my finger. But like, on the back of my hand. There's metal inside because I broke a bunch of small bones and then like, my fingers were like, disfigured at the time. I bet.
Scott Benner 19:19
And okay, so I know what a kidney does, and we're gonna get to that a little bit. I have to admit, I don't really know what a spleen does. But I guess it doesn't do too much because you're talking to me pretty well.
Izzy 19:31
Yeah. Yeah, I mean, honestly, the doctors like we've asked the doctor, why do we have spleen. The doctors were just like, it's kind of unknown. Like, we don't know that much about the spleen. But we do know that it helps like with bacterial infections. So like every time I get a fever, I have to go to the doctor and get tested. If it's bacterial then then I'd have to stay in the hospital and like, get treated by the doctors there because I don't have a spleen to take care of. bacterial infection. Gotcha. Okay.
Scott Benner 20:03
Well, that's, by the way, that's horrible. But I, yeah, like the spleen doesn't do anything except keep you out of the hospital. If you have a bacterial infection structurally to your face, they thought your jaw was broken, but it wasn't. But there must have been, I'm assuming some fairly significant damage to your face at the time.
Izzy 20:22
Yeah, at the time, like, my parents had, like, my face wasn't really recognizable. Like, it was all like puffy and red and like, like, covered in bruises and like, now there's like, two small scratches that are barely noticeable on my face, which is amazing.
Scott Benner 20:40
Yeah, I saw a picture of you recently with Who are you with Ryan Reid?
Izzy 20:44
Yeah, I went to one of his race car events and met him there.
Scott Benner 20:47
Right. And I was gonna say, like, I'm looking at you in the photo. And I don't think to myself, there's a person who was in a horrible accident, like you don't, you don't look like that, which is phenomenal and fantastic. You know? Okay, so six, you so you're in the hospital. Now, I've now corresponded back and forth with your mom and this time a couple of times. And I really did struggle with how much to be supportive, and how much to leave her alone, because I don't really like No, you don't. I mean, I'm like, trying to find my spot in this. But I would, I would check in with her sometimes. And, and there was this one time that she and I spoke. And I thought, like, I'd never been more proud of a person who I never met before. And this is me feeling this way about you. And she told me that you were in the hospital, it was Susan, the beginning days of all of this, and you wanted your insulin pump back? Because you didn't like the way they were managing your blood sugar.
Izzy 21:46
Yeah. Is that right? Yeah, that's right. So when I was there, there really wasn't any cross management between a trauma patient and a patient with a chronic illness like diabetes. So the entire time, my mom was like, trying to help the nurses and trying to take over like, saying, like, she knows what to do, and like, I didn't want to ever eat because I would be 300 and they'd make me eat like 50 carbs and stuff food down me, and then they wouldn't give me insulin there till 30 minutes later. So I'd go to like 400. And, you know, you have to have a good blood sugar to heal. Like, that's it. If you don't have a good blood sugar, it's gonna be even harder to heal. Like, the nurses were great. And the doctors were great. They saved my life. And but the one thing was, there was just no cross management between by diabetes and then the trauma I went through.
Scott Benner 22:38
I just thought, well, that's a common story. First of all, I guess, most people who you hear of in extended hospital stays with diabetes, say that just no one considered my blood sugar em to your point. And it's always my point, as well as that healing is so tied to like, in control blood sugars, right? Like that's, yeah, it's just such a counterintuitive idea. Like, oh, we need this person, the heel, but we're gonna let their blood sugar be 300. Like, just okay. And so right. Yeah, but but as your mom's explaining it to me. I was just so like, I don't know what I was, to be honest. But I was like I said, I was really proud of you. Here's a person who just went all through all this happened because your blood sugar got low. And you're still saying, hey, I need more insulin. What are you people doing? Like I? They? Seriously, because this is so important for people to hear is that even me? Because I don't think much worse could have happened to you unless you ended up dead honestly, like this is pretty pretty, incredibly terrible. And so, and still, you weren't dissuaded? From what you knew you needed to stay healthy in regards to your type one. Yeah. And and I don't know how I'm so interested in how you got to that point in just four years and at your age. Like, why are you Why do you feel so strongly about it? I guess.
Izzy 23:56
So before I was really tightly controlled, and like nine months after my diagnosis, so I was like, that was a that allowed me to like micromanage and kind of act like a bionic pancreas. And like, I would see myself going though, I drink juice really fast. And again, if I saw myself creeping up, I'd like give a small dose I don't like I've always just been a perfectionist. And, and it was really hard because I also wanted to be in the perfect range. Like, I got my agency to it, like how a normal person without Type One Diabetes would be. It actually got to a 5.1 at one point. But even at that, I only had 1% of hypoglycemia because I had the deck I guess after my accident, like just having that perfectionist mindset still in my head. I just wanted to like have my blood sugar down and I just kind of knew like, I'm not going to be able to heal well if my blood sugar's this high. Yeah,
Scott Benner 24:57
well, it's just it was truly I mean You would think like from an outsider's point of view that this would happen to you and you, you would think, you know what, I'm going to just be okay with 200 for a while, but you really weren't, you were just you just really didn't lose focus of what was important. And it is really something that we talked about on the podcast once in a while, I've said it a bunch of times. And that, you know, people people will say, like, Well, what about like, overnight or this or, you know, you don't want something terrible to happen. And of course, no one wants something terrible to happen. But, but that idea of trading now for later is, is is real, you can't you can't pretend that leaving your blood sugar high for years isn't going to have some effect on you down the road? It's not going to be it's not going to it's going to be detrimental. Yeah. And and so, how do you safely do this? And do you still have any idea? How? Because I'm like, as we think back to the timeline of the accident, like, you know, what time did you give yourself? insulin? It was it was hours before, right? Like it all caught up to you at once and just kind of kind of pushed you down? Did you know, let me ask you this. Do you know what your blood sugar was when the MS got to the the accident scene. Very few times in my life has something or someone surpassed my expectations every time I've had contact with them. Years and years ago, Arjuna started using a dexcom continuous glucose monitor when they were at version like I forget what it was called, like seven plus. And it was an amazingly, it wasn't perfect, but it was so much better than what we had prior. And then they came out with a new revision, I think that was the g4, then there was the G five. And now there's the G six. And each time a new product has come to market, things have gotten better and easier and more accurate. And they've helped to make diabetes a smaller part of our life. I think that's an old tagline from Omni pod. But it really does fit in this example, the Dexcom g six continuous glucose monitor feeds back the information from my daughter that allows us to make adjustments to her blood sugar that keeps her blood sugar where we want it to be. In a life where nothing is a short, the dexcom g six is the closest thing I've seen to comfort, convenience and confidence in over a decade of living with Type One Diabetes. And I bet you the next version, whenever it comes out. I'm not saying I know. But I bet you it's better again Dexcom their employees and the products they make are absolutely life changing. And I believe that forget view for me. I want to be involved with them. As long as they're making diabetes devices. I want my daughter using them. Consider going to dexcom.com Ford slash juice box today to get started with the Dexcom continuous glucose monitor. Do you know what your blood sugar was when the MS got to the the accident scene?
Izzy 27:56
I'm pretty sure it was 31.
Scott Benner 27:58
Had you ever had you ever? Did you see? Do you know?
Izzy 28:03
No, I hadn't ever seen before that.
Scott Benner 28:05
Okay, and did you have a seizure then? Or did you just blacked out? Or do you? Did they not really put a description on what happened to you?
Izzy 28:13
They didn't really put a description on but I think I just blacked out in the car.
Scott Benner 28:19
Where did you feel your lows that? Like when do you start thinking oh, I need some something.
Izzy 28:23
Um, so before the accident since I was so tightly controlled, I had a really hard time feeling my lows. And that's why I use the decks calm to always catch my lows. Like it's kind of like a GPS. Like, if you learn how to drive off a GPS, you never actually learned the directions and you're kind of dependent on the machine. And that's kind of how I was with my Dexcom. So I didn't really feel them until I got in the low 50s before the accident.
Scott Benner 28:53
Okay. No dropouts. Now listen, now you fill them when I'm sorry.
Izzy 28:59
Now I've kind of feel them in the 60s because I've been trying to run myself a little higher, but obviously still taking good care of myself, especially with the one kidney. But I just find myself that I'm not spending as many hours like micromanaging everything. And I just like try to stay stable but like between 120 and 140. Just about 121 40 Yeah, yeah. Well, that's
Scott Benner 29:23
the it's you know, that's excellent. It's
Unknown Speaker 29:25
not Yeah,
Scott Benner 29:26
yeah, it's it's nothing. That's nothing to be ashamed of. Yeah, sir. Yeah. And so because you are now how many months removed from the accident?
Unknown Speaker 29:35
I'm about nine months, nine months.
Scott Benner 29:39
Wow. You bounce back faster than Carson Wentz. Which is a football reference that only people in Philadelphia might understand. But that's fine. It is essentially incredible turnaround in such a short amount of time. Are you astonished by it sometimes do you
Izzy 29:54
I am like it. It doesn't feel like it happened this year. Like I missed the whole quarter school. college applications and as he which I'm still working on my applications that mine but I'm mostly all caught up now and it just kind of feels like it never really happened even though it was like such a big part of my life. And
Scott Benner 30:15
it's so interesting to even when you're I was talking about this with my son in the last six months about the passage of time. And that idea that that sometimes a day can drag on forever. A week can feel like it takes forever, but then a month feels like it goes by in the blink of an eye. Yeah. And you know, and then you you sit down at Christmas, and you think it was just Christmas, like how did this happen? But how many days that I lived through at two o'clock in the afternoon. I was like, Oh my God, this day is never going to end. And you know, and so the time is, as you get older, you'll say as you get older, you start having a different feeling about it. But when you're younger, it things feel like it's like they're flying by constantly. And it really is it's just really kind of spectacular. how quickly you bounce back if you always and this is gonna sound like a random question but you've ever been Have you always been like a fast healer, like you get a cut and then wake up the next morning. Oh my god, it's gone. Or you like, seriously,
Izzy 31:13
like, I've never been one to complain a lot or like didn't really talk about my diabetes a lot of people because like I didn't want to be like, dramatic or anything and it was kind of embarrassing for me to talk about it. So like I never I like always tried to push through my pain and like, I wish I think like has made me stronger. But it's also taught me that being so like I feel like isolated myself because of my diabetes but from the accident I have definitely like reached out and like been more open about it and been more accepting about my diabetes. But I've But no, I wouldn't call myself a faster healer. I would just say that. I'm like going off the perfectionist thing. Like I just like, I tried like everything to get better, like right away because I do not like being independent on other people are dependent on other people.
Scott Benner 32:05
So you just willed your way through it. You were like, I don't care if I drove into a giant boulder. I have to get up now and do other stuff.
Unknown Speaker 32:12
Yeah. And
Scott Benner 32:12
what what kind of other stuff do you do? Did you play sports in school?
Izzy 32:16
I played volleyball. And I actually quit right before my accident because, I mean, I loved volleyball and I was and I like to get to be libero for my school. But like, I did not like having high blood sugar and not being able to. Or, and I was always worried about that. And now looking back on that I feel like if I ran myself a little high or just like accepted things, then it might have been different. And
Scott Benner 32:54
so you're so this is very interesting, because you mentioned a five one a one C of one point, which is insane. And, and my daughter's last day when she was five, four, the only real difference between Well, there's two differences between you with a five one 100 with a five for two things are is that I'm helping her with her management. So it's not all on her. Yeah. And and the other thing is, is that I don't worry about spikes too much if they happen, like if you if I could see most of Arden's 24 hour, like Dexcom graphs, she gets high a couple times a day, until as high as like 150 or 160. And, you know, we'll do something about it every once in a while. You know, something happens where you're like, Oh, geez, like last night, she went to get in the shower. And her blood sugar was like 73. And I said once, just wait a second, like I have a feeling it's going to try to fall. And so the arrow kind of turned diagonal down. And she's like, I know what to do. And she grabs food and eats it and goes and takes a shower. And while she's upstairs in the shower, like I see her blood sugar goes to 75 it stays it goes to 85 it stays it goes to 90 days now. It's like oh wow, she really did a good job of this. And I stopped paying attention to it. And then she's downstairs. And she in my mind. She takes really long showers. So I was like guys, it's been a while. Yeah. And all of a sudden I hear I hear like the beep beep that she's going over 120 and I look and she had her arrow straight up and I thought it's funny. I'd forgotten about I said What did you eat? And she's like, when I was like at 70 is like what each because I had two Oreos, and I was like, oh, giving you some insulin for those Oreos. And so I get I'm like, let's try this. gave her a little bit and five minutes later, you know, her blood sugar was like shooting up. And so I bolused more and it an hour and a half later, an hour, hour and a half later. She was like back to like 135 and she was in this steady decline that happened, you know 135 130 very slowly over the next hour or so. And she was really great overnight there was the blood sugar was pretty stable overnight around like 95 or 100 But, but I'm not like I don't like, unlike the way you're describing. Like, that doesn't make me mental. Like, like, you know, I'm like, I don't feel like oh my God, we screwed up or like, I just don't have those feelings. But there was a point in time where when stuff like that was happening to you were you felt like oh no, I'm supposed to be doing better than this. And you don't feel like that anymore. And that's good, by the way, because you shouldn't feel like that. Yeah, yeah. So I, you know, would have been nice if you could have figured that out without driving into a rock. Rock. But, but I'm glad that positive things are coming out of this. Yeah. Seriously, this is do this is a completely ridiculous question. What is something like this do for your overall popularity in high school? Um, do you become like that girl that lived through the car accident?
Izzy 35:49
I think kinda like everyone knows who I am now. Like, y'all mentioned my name and even like, people from last job be like, Oh, yeah, I know who that
Scott Benner 35:59
girl almost died.
Izzy 36:03
Maybe not in front of me. But
Unknown Speaker 36:04
I'm sure they said that. Oh, my god, you're walking down the hall at least 20 times a day somebody like that girl Miss died. You know that girl.
Scott Benner 36:14
That's to be serious about that for a second. I don't have that experience in my life. I have not come close to what you know what that's alive. And I've been in a couple of motorcycle accidents as a young person where I looked up and thought who I was at that telephone pole. But I wasn't really I wasn't hurt. Like, dude, I mean, I just flying through the air and was kind of okay. And so do you have enough distance from this? At this point? You have enough maturity enough perspective to tell me what it's like to come that close?
Izzy 36:46
I mean, yeah, like it doesn't bother talking about it or anything. It's just Alright, if I don't remember accident.
Scott Benner 36:54
I gotcha. So So you think maybe if it was more of a you like actually experiencing it consciously, like if it was just an accident that you think maybe you'd have more perspective, but you just fell asleep? woke up and were hurt?
Izzy 37:11
Yeah, um, the first thing I really remember, or the first thing I do remember, is waking up on Saturday morning, and the accident was on Tuesday. But the first thing I remember was waking up. They took the breathing tube out and I said, What's my blood sugar?
Unknown Speaker 37:29
Very good.
Unknown Speaker 37:33
Really, it just
Scott Benner 37:38
cuts my blood sugar. You guys know you people aren't doing this right? And I'm on a roll here with my did people laugh at that?
Izzy 37:48
No, like it cuz it was just because like it was the first words I talked and like, I was just confused. Like, I thought my I asked my parents like, did I go low overnight? Like I thought I was in the hospital from an overnight low or something. And then they told me I was in a in a car accident. And then I asked like, if anyone else was hurt.
Unknown Speaker 38:08
But see, how am I sure?
Scott Benner 38:12
I probably wasn't your car. Right? who lost their car in this? Your mom? Your dad, by the way?
Unknown Speaker 38:17
It was my car? Who's your car? What
Scott Benner 38:18
kind of car was it? Because it held up and kept me alive.
Unknown Speaker 38:21
It was a Ford Escape. Alright, for escape. Well done.
Scott Benner 38:26
So now here's my next question. From your, from your perspective. Did your parents do your parents, you know, have they? Do they still? Do they treat you differently? Like did life change around your house? Are people more? I don't know. Like, does everybody feel like they're on borrowed time with you? Or is it been weird? Or how do you find your interactions with your loved ones?
Izzy 38:51
I mean, like, at first, the first few months like, my dad stayed home skips a ton of work. My mom was by my side 24 seven. Both of my two older sisters like took time off of college and came home and they would come visit like every single weekend to make sure I was okay and like just spend as much as time with me. And they still do but I mean, not as not as much like like a 24 seven watch anymore, but like
Scott Benner 39:21
have you ever done that? Have you ever looked across the room and thought, oh my god, they're staring at me.
Izzy 39:27
Well, my mom might have done that before my accident. But um, yeah, I have caught them staring.
Scott Benner 39:37
So it's very, you know, obviously it's not it's not apples to apples, but you know, you have two older sisters. Right. So you have to, you're the youngest and but my son just left for college a few weeks ago. And we went and visited him for there's a family weekend, you know, three weeks into the time and we're eating, we're eating dinner before we're getting ready to drop them back off at his dorm and go home. And I had to stop myself from just like looking at him. Like, like, you know, like, in the course of a regular dinner conversation, your eyes go all over the place start talking to this dog here. And I just found myself thinking like, look at him because he's gonna leave. Yeah, you know, and it um, and then I had to stop myself because like, don't be a creepy person. Like That was my second thought, like, stare at him though, you know, don't be creepy. But but it is. I I'm just imagining that they reverted in their minds to you being an infant again. And they were just like, oh my god, like, Don't let her pick that up off the floor. Don't let this happened. Don't let that happen. Like, stare at her stare? I can't I can't really imagine your mom was I I thought when I was speaking to your mom, she was incredibly strong. And I felt like she was dazed. And that seemed very expected to me. Um, do you? So now nine months later? How frequently do you think about it? Or do you not?
Izzy 41:02
I mean, I don't think about it as much as I used to, like, when I was in my braces, like, I just had that to remind me every day. But now besides like, the scars, I have, like, I don't really think about it as often. So like, maybe like, once or twice a day, I'll just think about it. But like, not for a long time. Just like, Oh, yeah, that happened.
Scott Benner 41:27
I have this like, when I think about you, which I do sometimes. But again, not not a creepy amount. And so but but when I think about you, I always I always my brain jumps to the randomness of what happened to you. Because your blood sugar got really low and you lost consciousness. You happen to be driving. had that happen during your a one c? there you're Excuse me? So many acronyms in your urine, LSAT prep, right, when you were in your prep class, a CT prep, when you were in your a CT prep class, had it just happened then, then there would have just been a panicked like person in a library going, Hey, Can someone help me, this girl just slumped over on the table. And someone would have come and given you a little glucagon or done whatever they did. And you would have sat up and been like, Yo, what's up? And your life would have went forward from there? Yeah, it's the randomness of it. That throws me off. Because think of all the things the confluence of things that had to happen like you go have a meal that's common for you. So not as you're not sure about how to Bolus for it? Well, you do know I'm going to stop this error. I'm going to stop my blood sugar from going up, then it levels out on you. And you're in a good spot. And then you live for a long time after that with a blood sugar. That looks really great. You feel fine. Listen, Dexcom I think is an amazing tool. But it's still a it's still a machine. And I'm yeah, I mean, we've all had a moment where, you know, somebody's seen a quick drop on a blood sugar. And it takes it five minutes to catch up. And today, you know, yeah, it happens. You see even that's random. I bet you that I see that happen too hard. And once or twice a year. I'm like, oh, wow, she's lower than it says she is buying. And in a situation where it's like, well, let's do something about it. But then that had to happen to you then like in that like you don't I mean, like, yeah, there's so much randomness to it, which is sort of the beauty of life. And yeah, also what can scare some people about it. But But I want to ask you like right now today, would you consider yourself a person who sees the beauty in the randomness? Or are you afraid of it now?
Unknown Speaker 43:44
Dancing for diabetes spreads awareness through the art of dance to better educate the community, raise funds to find a cure and inspire those with diabetes to live healthy and active lives. Please join us on November 10. For the 18th annual dancing for diabetes at the Bob Carr theater in downtown Orlando. Tickets are on sale now at Dr. Phillips center.org You do not want to miss this.
Scott Benner 44:14
Would you consider yourself a person who sees the beauty in the randomness or are you afraid of it now?
Izzy 44:19
No. I mean, I definitely see the beauty and the randomness because even though that is everything that could have went wrong, that day went wrong like Like you said, like the food I ate, which made me go high and then the stacking, which eventually got me down and my CGM said that I was stabilized. But I actually probably wasn't even though that was wrong and like all this random things. I still see like the beauty in it because it's made definitely made me more accepting of my disease and I've immersed myself more in the type one community before I really didn't know that many type ones and I had, there was no one at my school knowing that my volleyball all my volleyball teams, and I just, and I didn't want to go meet any type ones because I was just like, well, I don't want to, like this isn't this disease isn't me. So like, I don't really care about meeting other people. But that after I saw how the community reached out to me, and I realized that I had been missing out and meeting so many pipelines has just helped me get through so much.
Scott Benner 45:31
Well, so a couple of things. described a little bit for me before this happened, like when you said you kept to yourself about it, like you weren't, were you hiding? Like you're like, kind of pumped you have Omni pod, okay, and so like, was that something you would hide? Or he didn't care if someone saw it, you just weren't going to be the person who engaged in a conversation about it.
Izzy 45:53
I mean, like, I don't really like it was never really like an outside that people could see like, it was always under my clothes. So like, I guess it was kind of hidden, but like, I wasn't really purposely doing that. But like, I like when I like when I Bolus for food. Like I would try to like, do it like, in my pocket. So like kind of secretively like, just to like no one would make a big deal out of it. Because I'd like didn't want to have to answer all these questions like my friends knew and stuff, but even with them, like I would still kind of try to be like I was I tried to hide it a little. But now like the whole city knows, and a bunch of people around the world know. So like, you're out now.
Scott Benner 46:35
Yeah. Because so you um, did you do work with the jdrf? in your in your town prior to this?
Izzy 46:44
Yeah, I did. I was the jdrf Ambassador my sophomore year. So I did some of that. But I was playing volleyball at the time. So like, I had to miss a bunch of events and like any I went to all like the there's like a thing called type one teens dance, and Cincinnati. So I went to all those for four years. And your your chapter tell everybody which chapter you you belong to the jdrf. Oh, Southwest, Southwest,
Scott Benner 47:14
right. Yeah. And, and so somebody sent me. It was a video of you speaking at I guess the gala. Maybe? Yeah, right, a number of months ago. And I and I, what I felt was I heard this girl wasn't like talking very much about this stuff. And you were up there really, really doing a great job. And I have to ask you a question. Because I've wondered about this for a while. During your talk. I felt like you were talking about the podcast without mentioning it once. Were you? Or did I misunderstand that? Because you were talking about support you got from the community? And I thought you were talking about like the letters and everything, like at the hospital? Is that what you meant? or What were you talking about in that? When you gave that speech?
Izzy 47:58
Yeah, it was like, for sure. Like mostly, like all the letters I received from the podcast. And then just like, just like the people from the jdrf jdrf of Southwest Ohio like sent me like car, like even more cards like specifically just from that. But like, mostly just like all the people around the world who have type one or who are living with someone with type one. From you mentioning me in your podcasts that were just sending me all this love. So all I'm saying is
Scott Benner 48:27
what happened was I was watching it and my wife was working from home. And she watched it too. And I said, I think she's talking about the podcast. My wife's like, she's not talking about you shut up. I don't mean it like that. She just always thinks, anyway, we've got too long, but that's not the point. So but so yeah, you're given this big talk. And, and I was like, Wow, that's amazing is a huge group of people. And then a month or so later, your chapter contacted me about speaking at your type one nation event, which I'm going to come out and do pretty soon. So we're gonna get to meet in person, which I'm yeah, I'm really looking forward to.
Izzy 49:01
I am too.
Scott Benner 49:02
Yeah, that's just it's great that you. It's great that you found community in some way. I'm so sorry. Obviously, how it happened. But yeah, but I think it's important because you described just being alone and being the only one in your school. Like even Arden has a handful of kids with type one diabetes in the school. And even though my daughter's not friendly with the people who have type one in her school, and not for any reason other than their maybe in different grades or just not in her friends circle or whatever. But she knows they're there. You don't mean like they walk by each other in the hall. There's got to be some sort of a feeling of Hey, that kid's got diabetes like me. And yeah, and my daughter does also have a couple of really good friends that she's met online that have type one, so she has that as well, which is I see. It's interesting how I see it because I think Arden thinks about herself the way you do it. I don't believe she sits around thinking oh, I have diabetes or you know, I'm a person. I don't Don't think she has a lot of those thoughts. But I do see sometimes she'll say to me, I was talking to Jani the other day, and her blood sugar's like this. And mine was like that, like there's just this and hey, Jani. What's up? Because I think she listens that her mom does, but but there's just that nice moment where there's some sameness, you know, and I'm really happy for you that, that you have that now, too. Can you tell me are you doing? Like, what's the concern, as far as the doctors have told you about being a person with type one and having one kidney.
Izzy 50:37
So there really hasn't been too many people in the world who have experienced having type one with one kidney. So there's not that many, like, things that they can compare it to. But they said like, keeping your blood sugar under control is the main thing with having one kidney, like, that's what's gonna keep that kidney healthy. And so I can live like, just like a normal person would, which kind of makes it a little, like, even harder for me than it was before. Because I feel like I have to make my blood sugar even better. But like, obviously, I know that, excuse me. Obviously, I've know, I know that, like, I've released all like a bunch of stress of going high and stuff. But then having one kidney makes me stressed out, too, because I feel like my blood sugar needs to be more under control. But then, but the doctor said like, as long as it's, you know, and a normal anyone see, like, I really shouldn't have any complications with it.
Scott Benner 51:39
That's tell you something. Haley, if this wasn't such a sad story, I would totally call this episode, having one kidney makes me really stressed out. But I won't be doing that. But still, as you said, I was like, Oh, that's the title of the episode. Well, listen, I can't imagine like diabetes is already enough people, really, people of type one don't need anything else. They don't need health care concerns. They don't need insulin pricing concerns. They don't need one kidney cancer, they've really got enough already. Yeah. But this is, you know, as as if there was a good time to have something like this happened to you, which there's not it's not a terrible time, because I know you're like, I think you're still using the on the pod. Right? Yeah. Okay. And, you know, we are all very close to artificial pancreas world where, where your, your range should be able to be, you know, more closely controlled without so much effort from you. And, and hopefully, you know, on that on that device that's coming in the future, hopefully, that low blood sugar really doesn't happen. Maybe. Yeah, you know, like, maybe that's that that's the I mean, are you excited about that technology? Is that where you're headed? or?
Izzy 52:55
Yeah, I for sure. Yeah, I really, I'm so excited about that technology. And it would make such a difference in my life. And even if like Omni pod had the low glucose suspend anytime soon, like, I'd for sure, like, get that right away. And does that would help me so much through college, and because I'm going to be leaving next year. So
Scott Benner 53:16
yeah, I just said to somebody just the other day that, you know, my short term long term goal for Arden is for the horizon system from Omni pod to be ready before she goes to college. I think that was such a big deal for her. And I have to say, I think you're right on because just watching my son for the last three or four weeks, he'd be so pissed if he knew I talked about him on this podcast, but he'll never know. But so he's, you know, on the baseball team at his at his college. And so he's an incredibly fit person. Like, he's one of those people that takes off his shirt, you're like, wow, like, he should be like a magazine, you know, incredibly athletic, incredibly fit, good eater. You know, all this stuff. But he gets the college, It's his first time living away from home. Practice starts a few days, in a week and a half later, he gets a bad head cold. He gets it into his mind that he wants to eat healthier, because while he doesn't eat badly, he still got some junk food in his diet. He doesn't eat enough greens. So he starts to flip his whole thing around. And now he's sick. He's overtaxed with with, you know, school and now, you know, practices that are now happening daily and getting up to lift weights at five o'clock in the morning. And just three weeks. I found myself thinking, how would he do this? If he had type one? Like, I know, I know, he could. But at the moment, I don't I can't imagine how like you don't even like and so I just thought oh my gosh, like this is and I thought about all of you like just all the kids who are leaving for college and have a type one and have varying levels of understanding of their of their their management. And so you have a little bit of time left. What's your like? Are you are you Is this your new normal? Where you're keeping your blood sugar and you think this is how it's gonna be? Do you think you'll start to? Like, tighten it down again? closer to where you were like, What? Do you have an idea about that? Are you just sort of going with it for now?
Izzy 55:13
I mean, I really like it. I really like where I am now. Like, just trying to stay between 120 and 140. That's where I feel my best and I have a cushion, if I will, if I drop for some random reason. Um, but obviously,
Scott Benner 55:30
let me just say, if you told me, Scott, I almost quit High School and sat in a room surrounded by pillows and sugar just in case like, I would be like, that makes sense to me. You know, like, if you said to me, I haven't driven since then. But you you're you really are pushing ahead like you drive right? You're back at it. Yeah. You get a better car. Like what do you get for this time? Like you were probably in a position to get a really good car. You know, you could have been like, Mommy, no, it would be much safer if I had a Land Rover. And so like recently, did you did you play? Have you forget all that question. Let's go back is he? How much of your adolescent brain is manipulating your parents based off of the guilt they must feel over what happened to you? Have you been shooting for better birthday presents? Better vacations? What is it you're doing to those poor people? You tell me about that now?
Izzy 56:17
Well, the biggest thing would probably be making them get me a dog.
Scott Benner 56:22
I mean, why not? Yeah, so
Izzy 56:24
we actually have two dogs now. We just got one a few months ago and she's almost four pounds now.
Scott Benner 56:32
So here's how I imagine your parents are in bed at night. It's late. You guys are asleep. Your sisters are gone. And and one of them turns the other one is the one that almost died in the car accident. Once a dog how are we going to say no to that? And then you're like in your room like like snidely whiplash, which is something you don't even understand. It's just a reference and you're like, wringing your hands together? Like a like an evil genius. Got a dog like what do I do next with this noob hour? Seriously, you're like a wizard at this point. You just need to wish for something in front of those two people. And it's gonna happen What do you want? You should test this as he tell them you want the ceiling in your room painted black and see if they don't go to like Home Depot this weekend. start buying it, you'll stop. Seriously, I think you're in a power position. So don't let too much time go by. Because they're gonna be like, Oh, you know what, we forgotten about that already? You really got to you got to strike while the iron is hot here. I should make a list of things you need and really get to it is what I'm saying.
Unknown Speaker 57:30
Are you dating?
Unknown Speaker 57:32
I am.
Scott Benner 57:33
Is this a guy? I'm sorry, girl. Is this person somebody before the accident? Or? Um, no. I
Izzy 57:40
have a boyfriend and we met after my accident. I
Scott Benner 57:44
see this accidents been a real boon for
Izzy 57:46
the spleen in the kidney thing and all the incredible injuries and pain and suffering. It's a funny story because we actually met after the gala that I spoke and he kind of just congratulated me off of that. And then we just kind of like started hanging out after that. I
Scott Benner 58:06
hear what you're saying. Listen to any any 17 year old boy who's got the wherewithal, let's say, Hey, good job on a speaking at a gala. You got to imagine is a pretty good kid. Because are you finding them to be a nice boy so far? Yeah. Yes.
Izzy 58:19
He's actually a type one diabetic to No kidding. Yeah. And does he go to your school? No, he's actually a year older than me.
Scott Benner 58:28
I say, How are our parents with that? Well, what are they gonna say you must die in a car accident, you're fine.
Izzy 58:35
So they're okay with it. They really like,
Scott Benner 58:37
yeah, you're not seeing this, right. They're good with anything. It doesn't end with you not being alive anymore. You're really in the driver's seat here. Like literally and figuratively. I'm sorry, I'm so glad you have a good sense of humor because it's such a sad story. Like if we didn't laugh I'm not sure what we would have done for the last hour.
Izzy 58:57
Okay, like even my dad's made a joke like even on the day of my accident, like I missed the turn into my house like he was driving me back from somewhere like a month ago and he's like, so you turn here to get back home?
Scott Benner 59:10
That's what you need is your Well you see, but that's a good indication that you're going to lose your magic power soon so yeah, you gotta get like really like apply to a really expensive school or something right now. Something like that. You got to get out of Ohio. Isn't
Unknown Speaker 59:22
it cold there in the winter? Um, yeah, it's pretty cold here in the winter.
Scott Benner 59:26
The South wouldn't hurt you know what I mean not that's where those those hurricanes are though. I don't know there's nowhere to live that by the way honestly, none of this matters because I don't know if you've seen the the projections today that the temperature of the Earth is gonna rise seven degrees in the next like, we're all just gonna cook the death anyway. It's not Not really. So what do you do a plan? Do you know what you want to do in college is such a silly question, I think but it maybe you have a thought.
Izzy 59:54
Yeah. So even before my accident it was I've always wanted to go into nursing. Which probably was just because I was diagnosed with Type One Diabetes and like, I've never really seen myself like, in business I've always wanted to be like, around helping people. And then just like after my accident, like that kind of made me want to be a nurse even more like to see like, how much the nurses there helped me and like, how like I could even help eventually, like with cross management between trauma patients and chronic illnesses, like especially like diabetes. So that's always been my dream to be in there. It's excellent. You think you do have the attitude like you? Are you kind of science and math minded? Yes.
Scott Benner 1:00:37
Good for you. Yeah. Me schools in mind?
Izzy 1:00:41
Um, well, I've really just been like, I've really just been looking at schools in Ohio, like OSU, Miami and UC, I really haven't toured that many out of state yet.
Scott Benner 1:00:54
You don't have to do the cold. I mean, as soon as they invited me to your thing, I was like, What month? Is it? Am I gonna freeze?
Unknown Speaker 1:01:00
That was my first question. Yeah, it'll probably be cold when you're here. And my next
Scott Benner 1:01:05
one is in a couple of months in Phoenix. So they were like, Hey, can you come out? And like, not in the summer? Not in the summer, my fingers crossed. They're like, how's February? I'm like, Yeah, I can do that. Like, take me somewhere warm. There's an actor named Michael Caine. Who you may not know, he's an older man at this point. But I heard him interviewed once. And he said, somebody asked him how he picks his his projects. And he says, in the cold, but he's British, but I don't have a British accent. He goes in the cold months, I pick warm weather locations. And in the warm months, I pick cold weather locations. And I was like, what an artist? Yeah, guys got his finger on the pulse of his art. He's like, just, I just want to be comfortable. I don't care about these hobbies. That's what I heard. Is there anything we didn't talk about that you wanted to talk about?
Izzy 1:01:52
Um, I mean, it really does. So I can give advice to any type ones out there is just to like, do your best to pretreat. Like, I try to do like 20 to 30 minutes before I actually eat my fit, depending on what my blood sugar is. But if you can, pretreat that'll take so much like I have like the pain away. Like, if you pretreat you won't have a high that could later cause a low and it helps keep you stable and feel good. And we didn't know to pretreat until we listened to your podcast, because Children's Hospital never said anything about that. And pre treating has made me feel so much better and just helped with my a one C and everything.
Scott Benner 1:02:34
That's excellent. And listen to I I'm gonna go into that a little bit. But I let me just preface it by saying I'm not judging anything about your situation. Okay, but but as you've explained it today, had you been more aggressive? up front with that meal? Right, then you would have gotten less of a spike, which would have would have then you wouldn't have had to have been so aggressive afterwards. And then all those hours later when that food left your system, because that's all that happened to you in that moment is that the food finally got through your system, but there was still a bunch of insulin left behind. Right? Yeah, so when you hear me tell people this whole things about timing and amount that really resonates with you, I imagine. Yeah, is there really isn't much more to it than that you just have to have the right amount in at the right time. And when the when the food or when your physiological reason for your blood sugar wanting to be higher is gone. There can't be a ton of insulin leftover. It's still working. It's pretty Yeah. Wow. My gosh, is he? I want to say that I'm really genuinely, like, touch that you came on because I thought there was a moment you know, months and months later when I was talking to your mom and I said you know and I just said defense isn't fizzy everyone's to come tell her story about this like she can but believes if she never did I would think nothing of it. And I'm not pressuring you, obviously like she could just do it and and and what I heard from your mom and actually from people, other people too, is it? I don't know how comfortable she is talking about time and you sounded so comfortable. Like I'm so I'm so pleased for you of how far you've come through this in such a short amount of time. And yeah, and that you wanted to do it here. I really, it's really like touching. So thank you very much.
Izzy 1:04:21
Of course, thank you so much for having me and I just want to help inspire others and help others learn from what happened to me.
Scott Benner 1:04:30
Well, is it I think what you said is incredibly inspirational because what you here's the crux of what you said, diabetes is not always easy. Some scary things can happen they might try to kill you those scary things. That doesn't mean that you can stop doing what you need to do. And and I think that there's so much wisdom in that and and bravery like and I really don't like the word bravery because I don't think people are brave because they want to be I think people are brave because they have to be but some Maybe bravery is not the word like there's, there's a conviction to what you're saying and the steadfastness to what you're saying that is incredibly just inspirational, like, because I've been alive for almost 50 years, and I've seen things in my life that have made me go, you know what, let's just give up on that. Because, you know, because that's too scary. And you that easily could have happened to you. And it and that it didn't is, like I said, it's just monumentally inspiring. It really, really is. So I felt that the day I spoke to your mom, like when she said in the hospital, like his, he was like, Hey, what's my blood sugar? We got to get it down. I thought, like, Good for her. Like, that's, like, wow, you know what I mean? Like, and maybe it's just your youth, like, maybe it's just your ignorance in youth? Maybe, maybe if you were 30, you'd be like, Hey, you know what, never mind. But, but to hear you talk right at the end here about how to manage a meal. I just think that's, that's spectacular. So thank you very much.
Izzy 1:06:02
Yeah. Thank you so much. No, it's
Scott Benner 1:06:04
it's absolutely My pleasure. Well, I will see you when am I going to see you hold on a second. Let's take a look. I am going to see you soon. Right. Yes,
Izzy 1:06:15
I think it's like November 3, and third. Yeah. Right. It's
Scott Benner 1:06:18
like, it's like I come Saturday night for some dinner. And then the thing happens on Sunday.
Izzy 1:06:26
That's the day after my 18th birthday.
Unknown Speaker 1:06:28
Is it Holly?
Unknown Speaker 1:06:30
Yeah. Oh, see? I'm
Scott Benner 1:06:32
gonna make people sing Happy Birthday to you during lunch? Are you gonna have to come? Are you gonna come on and do the podcast live at lunch?
Unknown Speaker 1:06:40
Probably.
Scott Benner 1:06:41
I'm gonna make everyone sing do at the end. be incredibly embarrassing. I hope you're. So you're the girl that lived? I don't know what to say like you. You're the Harry Potter for a while. It really is. Seriously, I'll let you go in a second. But your, your overall attitude about this is uncommonly sunny sonny. And I don't feel like you're hiding some horrible sadness by acting happy. Yeah, it really is a testament to I don't know exactly what but it to how you were raised or who you are, or a combination of a lot of things. But you should know that something like this. It stops most people from living well, and that and that you didn't have that reaction is such a great reflection on you. Oh, so seriously, like, Well done, you know? Yeah, no, absolutely. I know, in your mind, you don't see another way. Like, it's because that's who I get from talking to like, that's who you are. You're like, I'm just gonna keep going. I'm be I'm gonna do this. But this would have stopped a lot of people. So really good for you. I do want to ask you this one last thing, but then I'll let you go. You're still using Dexcom CGM?
Unknown Speaker 1:07:59
Yeah, yeah.
Scott Benner 1:08:00
And do you hold any like ill will about it not doing? Like you. You seem very reasonable. Because I believe it that technology is not perfect. And you can't count 100% but it won't be easy for you to be angry, but you don't seem so are you?
Izzy 1:08:17
I'm not mad at that. Because the Dexcom has saved my life multiple times. Like, after a volleyball game. Like when I'd go to like, in the 30s at night, like it always caught that. So I yeah, and I love the Dexcom it's, it really has helped me with a lot. And I just think it was because I didn't really learn my body. And I, like 100% trusted the machine, but like, now I've learned to, like, Listen to my feet, like, like, not, like, understand how I'm feeling? And not just rely on the Dexcom
Scott Benner 1:08:55
Yeah, I think that's incredibly smart. Like it just there's, there's times when you have to just say, I know what this says. But my experience tells me differently. Yeah, and you made such a good point earlier in, we were talking about how you kind of were just treating it like a GPS, and you never really learned the roads. And that is again, that's another great thing for people to understand. Because for me, if Arden would have been in that situation that you described, there would have been a time where I would have been like, Hey, we have to test here because we used a lot of insulin. And and and it's just experience like I have that thought because I have 12 years of experience with it. You're four years into it. Yeah, you know, so it's, I'm gonna think a lot about what you said about that GPS thing. So I appreciate that very much. Today's episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored as always by Dexcom on the pod and dancing for diabetes, you can go to my omnipod.com Ford slash juice box to get a free, no obligation demo of the AMI pod Right now, you can go to dexcom.com Ford slash juice box to find out more about the Dexcom g six continuous glucose monitor. And of course you can go to dancing for diabetes.com that's dancing the number four diabetes.com just to see adorable pictures of children with diabetes, dancing. There's other reasons to go but to cute kids are the best reason. There's also links in the show notes at Juicebox podcast.com. When you click on them, it helps to show
Izzy 1:10:29
this is the me hand and you're listening to the juice box plot. I messed up. This is in my hand and you're listening to the Juicebox Podcast.
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