#246 Under the Shade Bus with Maddie

Maddie is a college student living with type 1 diabetes…

A simply delightful episode!

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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 and welcome to Episode 246 of the Juicebox Podcast. Today's show is sponsored by Omni pod Dexcom and dancing for diabetes, you can go to my omnipod.com forward slash juice box dexcom.com forward slash juice box, or dancing for diabetes.com that's dancing the number for diabetes.com to learn more. I'm not actually sure how to describe this episode. Just know. Let me give you the high level overview. Maddy is a college student. She has type one diabetes, she's a ton of fun. And periodically she throws her family under the bus, which I found delightful. Let's do two disclaimers today instead of one. First one. Nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before becoming bold with insulin or making any changes to your medical plan. And if you're part of Mattie's family, I wouldn't listen to this. And trust me, there's no reason for you to listen through. nothing bad happens. She's just I mean, you know, Mattie's confident girl, she's pretty sure she's her parents favorite child. And

Unknown Speaker 1:13
I look

Scott Benner 1:15
just take it from me. If you're related to Maddie, stop listening. Everyone else have a ball.

Maddie 1:29
Hi, my name is Maddie. I'm 20 years old. And I've had Type One Diabetes for seven years. I go to the University of Iowa, and I'm the Vice President of college diabetes network at Iowa.

My life right now consists of a lot of diabetes related things and so that I talk about a few of those things.

Scott Benner 1:55
So you got diabetes around the time around the age that Arden is now so Arden's 14 going into 1513. So but but it was in that sort of formative time, right there.

Maddie 2:07
Mm hmm. Yeah, I was in seventh grade, and middle of middle school.

Scott Benner 2:13
Just like the middle of the year. Everything's chugging along, and then one day, didn't feel Yeah,

Maddie 2:18
what happened? Um, well, it was, it was a funny start to it. My mom thinks this is what really triggered it was a Sunday morning and my friend had this weird birthday party where she came and kidnapped you and in your bed and took us all out to breakfast. And we all had I hopped on. And we all know how many carbs I have is. And so then the following week that Monday, I just didn't feel good. Like I my first symptom was just stomach ache. I felt achy. And we all thought my mom was like, oh, there's a thing, you know, bug going around. So that was our, you know, figuring for the week and I stay away from home from school on Monday. Then Tuesday, I was like, I feel a little better. I'll go and then I call my mom is like, No, I don't feel better. I came home. And as the week went on, this is actually the week of Thanksgiving. And I stayed home from school on Wednesday again. And then Thanksgiving came around and I was just kind of like, I don't know, lazy all day. I tried to eat like Thanksgiving dinner. But then long story short, I ended up going into hospital at eight o'clock on Thanksgiving evening.

Scott Benner 3:26
That sucks. I'm sorry. It's okay. I can never eat pecan pie again, because that was the last thing I ate before I went to the hospital. So here's the thing I'm trying to figure out. Oh, by the way, I once had I stopped at a Kentucky Fried Chicken one day and got like little chicken nuggets because I was hungry in the middle of the day. And then my appendix exploded later that night. I couldn't even look at a cane and I'm not a KFC. It's not like I was there constantly. I just I was rude. I was hungry. That's what was there. And then we tried to go back in like six months later, the smell of it panicked. Me, so Oh my God, I hear you on the pecan pie thing. No, but you skipped over something that I need to go back to. Yeah. You said your mom blames this that she blamed the kidnapping. Or the I hop.

Maddie 4:07
I think that I have I mean we had pancakes and we were ordering milkshakes at 10am.

Unknown Speaker 4:15
Say we just like go all out. Have whatever you want. It's like a nice birthday for somebody that age.

Unknown Speaker 4:20
Oh, yeah, it was fun. Do you know

Scott Benner 4:21
and this isn't funny, but you are now the second person on the podcast who has been kidnapped. Yours wasn't a real kidnapping. But the first person's was Did you ever hear that episode?

Maddie 4:30
No. What was that one about? It's

Scott Benner 4:31
amazing. This woman was like kidnapped thrown in a in a like,

Unknown Speaker 4:37
you know, in the trunk of.

Unknown Speaker 4:40
I thought it's great. I

Unknown Speaker 4:42
haven't listened to that. Oh my gosh, I'm so cool. I

Scott Benner 4:45
forget what it's called. It's probably called you know, me. It the episodes probably called nothing about like, what happened? It's probably it's probably like jack in the box. And you're like, what does that have to do with anything? And I'm like, Oh, you see jack in the box during the episode. But yeah, no, it's actually I think it is. So Something like somebody's pumped saved their life. I can't think of one right now. Anyway. I'm glad you weren't for real kidnapped. No. So you're growing up with diabetes 1314 1516 thinking of going to college now, are you from Iowa? Or did you?

Maddie 5:14
Yeah, I'm from Iowa.

Scott Benner 5:16
So you didn't transplant to go to college? Okay. So are you close to home? No,

Maddie 5:21
I'm, I'm five hours away. Oh, so I'm literally on the opposite sides of iosr. Everybody. So you're from I, you know, you're 30 minutes away like everyone else? No, I'm actually across the state, which I like it that way. I mean, then it this way, I can be just far enough that I can still drive home.

Scott Benner 5:38
Your answer has shone a light on my ignorance again, because in my mind, Iowa is like, as large as Rhode Island, but it's not. Yes. Okay.

Unknown Speaker 5:49
It is.

Scott Benner 5:49
You guys have like a big chunk of the middle of the country. They're like your

Maddie 5:52
Yeah, I mean, I don't know how many miles it is. But it's, it's a, you know, decent.

Scott Benner 5:58
Is it a five hour drive with an East Coast driver? Or is this a Midwestern sort of a situation because I drive? And if anyone's listening, this is just for fun for the podcast, but I like to get up to about 8590 when I'm on the highway. Yes. Now. Is that how you're driving across Iowa?

Maddie 6:13
I do not drive that way. But I had a friend who driving home last week last year, and she would be gone. 95 probably the whole time. We could make it in four hours.

Scott Benner 6:22
I mean, what are you gonna run into dust? I don't understand what I

Unknown Speaker 6:27
know. There's plenty of policemen. I used to think

Scott Benner 6:29
that my ignorance of Canada was just because it was Canada. Now. I realized, I don't know anywhere where I haven't been.

Unknown Speaker 6:36
Yeah, come to the Midwest. It's It's fun.

Scott Benner 6:37
I see. I like that. I listen, if invited, I will come. Alright, are you anywhere near an airport? See again, here. Here's my

Maddie 6:47
I'm a cedar rapids airport is the thing. But that's very, very tiny. Tiny, right?

Scott Benner 6:53
I'll drive. time for your weekly reminder to visit dancing for diabetes.com. That's dancing the number four diabetes.com. You can also find them on Facebook, and Instagram. Did you bring the college diabetes network to your university? Or was it there?

Maddie 7:10
Oh my gosh, this is kind of like works into how I'm literally like, as connected as you can as a type one diabetic. And I was part of a Facebook group, just like a general Dexcom trying to get you know, because I kind of did my own Dexcom. Like, on my own. I just said I wanted it and I got it. And so I wanted to make sure I had you know, somewhere I could ask questions. And one day, a post popped up on the Facebook page and it said, Hi, we are a small diabetes network at Iowa, University of Iowa and we're looking for ways to send supplies to Hurricane victims in Puerto or where was it in Puerto Rico? I think Yeah, like last year, but

Scott Benner 7:52
last year, okay.

Maddie 7:53
Yeah. And I literally saw that's like, what? I go to Iowa. And I was like, I like commented on it. I had all caps was like, are you kidding white? I go here.

Scott Benner 8:04
What is this? You were like Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck and like things Onomatopoeia shooting up over your head, like Iowa? I'm in Yeah,

Maddie 8:13
it was crazy. And so I mean, I was so thankful for the community online, because that's literally I mean, she was on the same campus. I was letting you know who she was. So I joined their group chat started going to their meetings, and yeah, this year, we're trying to get it. And last year was the first year that they were actually Well, we're not official really. But this year we are. So we've just been trying to get more people and Kevin events and stuff like that. But it was just a crazy, you know, happenstance, because when before I came to college, like I was, you know, I was as nervous as ever. I mean, obviously, coming to college, like, you know, being diabetic. And so I was like online, looking at every single resource there was and CDN was a really good resource online. I mean, I use their lists, you know, how to tell your roommate and I have you, like, so many different resources.

Scott Benner 9:06
How do you tell your roommate about diabetes?

Maddie 9:09
Oh, my goodness, well, you, I mean, I used it, I kind of started off as like, Well, I have this diabetes and, like, the number one thing is, you're gonna hear alarms at night, and I'm very sorry. And that was the number one thing I was like, I'm really sorry. Like, it'll wake you up, but I'm just trying to live here. And then I taught her how to use glucagon. If I if she hears it going off, you know, a trillion times and I'm still not awake. You can come over, see if I'm conscious. And then I taught her how to use glucagon. And she luckily had a cousin with it. So she kind of knew but yeah, that was my number one thing because I just I always felt really bad when my dexcom alarm go off, but it's the thing.

Scott Benner 9:49
I'm laughing because I feel like I you've explained it, you know, from your, you know your angle. I'm thinking of her angle like she's, I'm packing her stuff and you're like, hey, I have this thing that's gonna be up all night long and I might go unconscious. Can you help me with this drug? Yeah, she's just like, is there it's gotta be another room for me to go to right? I mean, she seems like a nice girl, but I don't want to be involved or was she like, just like, hey, right on I can do that.

Maddie 10:18
Yeah, she was kind of like, okay, you know, like, and luckily we chatted on over you know, there's roommate matching and everything we chatted beforehand, but I actually ended up this is a good tip for people I kept an expired glucagon. And then I made her do everything except inject to make sure she understood what all goes into it because it's a complicated process.

Scott Benner 10:38
It's annoying. Sure, you didn't mean made? You're not forcing this poor girl to do things. You're just the Yep, she's not trapped in your room right now locked to something in case you get low. This year diabetes alert person?

Maddie 10:52
No, no, I'm kind of the opposite of that. I like I almost ride solo. Like, I don't share my data with anyone I, you know, sometimes I'll try to vent with my friends. And it'll be like, I don't know what you're talking about. But that's sad.

Scott Benner 11:05
So what do you I want to dig more still into the the idea of going away to school just for Yeah, yeah. You You said you did a lot of research online before you went, obviously, some of it was to set yourself up with a roommate and find somebody who you could, you know, explain things to prior to getting there so that you're not just dropping this on her while she's unpacking her pillowcases yet. Oh, hey, by the way, the happiest day of your life is not going to be happy much longer. Let me explain a couple things to you. But what else goes into moving away and managing yourself? So my first question is, were you managing on your own at home while you were in high school, or were your parents involved? Let's surf the web together. dexcom.com Ford slash juice box. Make knowledge your superpower with the Dexcom g six CGM system. That's what you're going to see when you type in dexcom.com Ford slash juice box. There's also pictures of what the Dexcom g six center looks like the receiver, what it would look like on your cell phone, if you had an apple watch all kinds of good information. But then there's a button it says get started with Dexcom g sex and you need to click on it. Once you do you fill in your name, a bit of information about yourself, etc kind of diabetes do I have? Boom, next you're not a robot stuff like that. Next thing you know you've done it, you've taken the first step towards understanding what your blood sugar's doing, how fast it's moving, what direction it's going. And once you can see that you'll be able to make treatment decisions that are not just, you know, like sloppy ham fisted like, Oh, I hope this works. I'll eat all these carbs. And I'll hope that works. I'll wait a few hours. And I'll test again like that all just goes away. When you can see the direction and speed of your blood sugar with your Dexcom g sex, things take a leap. Things get easier. Our results are ours Of course, and yours may vary. But I am 100% confident in telling you that when you can see your blood sugar in real time, it makes all the difference in the world. So why don't you start today? dexcom.com forward slash juice box. There is a whole new world waiting for you.

Were you managing on your own at home while you were in high school? Or were your parents involved?

Maddie 13:38
Parents have really never been involved. I like At first my parents were like, Okay, so this is what we're gonna do. You know, my dad gave himself his first shot and we we did everything in the hospital together. And then it kind of drifted away from like any of my parents, you know, input in in middle school, I would call them for the first like two weeks of being back at school. By the way, I went back to school, you know, it's how Thanksgiving works. It's you know, that Thursday to Sunday, like a school break. I got to a hospital like 3pm on Saturday or Sunday, and I went back to school the next day,

Scott Benner 14:13
yo, marry a girl from Iowa. Tough. That's that's what I'm learning here. So I wanna I want an Iowa girl to build my family with because you're apparently like just gonna get like the flu and then get up the next day and go to work. So I'm right back at school. Is this sort of your I know, it's hard to think back to when you're 13 but what do you think that was? You think it was it? No one made a big deal out of it. That you didn't know that it was a big deal that you were just a stubborn kid or like what got you back up so quick?

Maddie 14:43
Well, I mean, my parents have always pushed me She's like, we are fine. Go you know, but I I like went back to school and because I was just kind of like, Well, I mean, I guess I have the tools to do what I need to do. I think our school nurse and my mom I was really good friends with the school nurse. And I think she came over our house and we were like, okay, what's happening and kind of shuffled everything together with a 504 plan and got it in the file on Monday, but I think the most part was just kind of like, I'm not sick anymore. It's gonna be hard, but I can still learn, you know, was there I was healthy. Again.

Scott Benner 15:19
Was there any lack of knowledge that maybe made it easier? Like I don't, I don't mean ignorance in the classic sense of the word, but was there a little ignorance about what was going on? So you weren't, like worried about things? Or did you understand the the pitfalls?

Maddie 15:32
Yeah, definitely. Um, I mean, I didn't really grasp how scary lows where I had my first low walking out of the doors of the hospital, and I said, I feel tingly What's happening? And we tested it was like, 55. Like, I just, you know, obviously, you're given all this insulin, and then you're up from your hospital bed and boom, your blood sugar's gonna plummet. And so I was like, Oh, this is scary, but it'll be fine. You know? And then I got to school and every row for that first month was very scary, because I felt just awful. You know? And, and I would, I would take a buddy to the nurse's office, but that's that walk was never fun. And I didn't realize how scary that was

Scott Benner 16:09
gonna be not a not an upbeat like, Hey, I get to go with a girl who looks like she's gonna pass out to the nurse's office. Yeah, trust me, although there are some kids who want to go to class so badly.

Maddie 16:20
Yeah, there were always those kids. Yeah,

Scott Benner 16:22
they put up with a passing out friend to get out of class. So yeah, so that. That's interesting, because you do like, I remember being incredibly unsure leaving the hospital so unsure that we didn't make it out of the hospital. We just went downstairs to the cafeteria and fed Artem because it seemed because it seemed unsafe to put her in the car without food or stomach. Yeah. And you know, so like, I remember I can picture it in my mind right now. And I'm telling you, it was 13 years ago, the summer Yeah. And I can see my wife and her and us sitting there and looking at all this food and not having any idea what to do and then pulling out that that vial and those needles the first time and being like, Oh my god, I am I'm completely lost. But it just felt like I couldn't put her in the car if she didn't have food in her stomach. I felt like I felt like that for a long time. And so what kind of gear Did you have seven years ago leaving was it just pens or? Um, well,

Maddie 17:22
I left the hospital while I was using syringes in the hospital which I just hated. You know, he had to get the little you know, it's hard to see those little marks you know, and and i'm doing that every nail and then I got to the hospital and I had the little like cartridges that you could dial and so I was lucky I got you know, half unit sumach pens. And then I was on the air which is not really even heard of anymore. flies on that

Scott Benner 17:47
Arden use live Umberto.

Unknown Speaker 17:49
Okay, yeah,

Scott Benner 17:50
cuz land has burned. She would say when she injected Lantus, it burned. And so we

Maddie 17:54
Oh, yeah, I heard that. And it was better. Uh huh. But and so I had one of those little ones. It was like the classic meter that they gave people in that time, it was the little oval one touch meter, it was kind of small.

Scott Benner 18:08
They're here, she's 35 centimeter, good luck. I'm sure this works. Just I remember being in the hospital, and they testing art. And they tested our blood sugar with this meter that was like bigger than a brick. And it obviously looked very expensive. Yeah, and they test her blood sugar. And I don't remember what it came up as. And then they tested her again, with the meter. They said, Now this will be your meter. And the two numbers were nowhere near each other. And I held them up and I went, is this not problematic? And they're like, no, you'll just go with what your meter says. I said, but it says such a different number than the one that I'm assuming works really well. She's if this thing's really expensive, you can't afford something like this. And they're just for hospitals. No, wait, what? Like, which and she smiled and just left. It was like, What the hell? You don't like that's not an answer. And I've learned, I've learned since then how to deal with that, you know, and meters have gotten incredibly more accurate over time. Actually, the one we're using now is insane like that. But but but point is, it's a really frightening time. So you leave now the part that throws me off is that you said you've pretty much been on your own the whole time with it. So I see. 13 is pretty young. But maybe if I grew up in a place where I imagined I might be swept away by a tornado, something like this would not scare me. I don't know. So let's first ask how many tornadoes Have you lived through? Oh, gosh, three or four? Maybe? perspective for the people listening? He has to live through tornadoes. How do you do this? Do you hold on to a pipe in the basement? Mr. Because that's how I imagined it.

Maddie 19:44
Funny story. I have to tell you the story. Um, last. Last, I think it was September, I was out to dinner with a friend in downtown Iowa City, you know, have a nice time. And there's a tornado warning out and they're like literally there's a tornado like 10 miles away, and we're like, oh, great, so we can't have dinner. So we thought we were gonna have to leave. No, it's way too bad outside, like, it's blowing everything away. And so the restaurant as we're all sitting there, they're like, Okay, everybody go downstairs, you know, we'll keep you here, we're gonna suspend service, but we'll keep you safe. We went to the basement. And then the top of this restaurant, starts handing out bottles of beer, because we were gonna be down there for a while. And so they were handing out water and beer, and there's a little kid down there and they were hanging out. People had their food down there. We were down there for a good 30 minutes.

Scott Benner 20:34
Listen, when you're flying away in a vicious cloud of dust, debris and wind, you don't want to be straight for that. You definitely want to be a little buzzed, so that it's fun. Until you get slammed and whenever you get slammed into. Yeah, I swear to you, my knowledge of what you just said, rests solely in the Helen Hunt. Movie Twister, I don't know anything else about although I have a slightly my tornado stories not as scary as yours. But the first time I flew into the Midwest, and I was walking through the airport going to find my car. There were signs like every, I don't know. 50 yards. Yep, designated a door as a tornado shelter. Yeah, the more I saw, the more I was like, I'm gonna get back on the plane and leave. Why do they need so many tornado shelters? Are they just gonna you know, it was I didn't like it at all.

Maddie 21:29
Preparing for the worst all the time. It's fine, we'll get any any measure of bad weather. So we got to be prepared.

Scott Benner 21:35
So I am really getting to that idea like, I I don't live a life where I think I'm where there could be a tornado. Okay, and so this might be a far reach, but I am looking for the reason. I'm looking for the way your parents were able to look at unless they're just bad people, which I don't think they are because you seem nice. I'm looking looking for the way that your parents were just like, Oh, yeah, she's 13 she can handle this?

Maddie 22:01
Well, um, yeah, it's kind of I mean, I'll be honest, I'm, I'm the most responsible person to my family, child, you know, I'm very organized, well, not organized. My room is a mess all the time. But you know what I mean? Like, I'm organized, I like control over things. And, you know, a few days after I was diagnosed, my parents told me they're like, you know, we know that if any of our other kids would have been diagnosed, they probably would have had a really hard time with it. But we know that you are, you know, responsible and you can take on and we're really grateful for that. And they knew that they knew that I was, you know, taking things by the horns, they saw me doing my math beforehand, and I was doing everything right. You know, I wasn't, I've never been a kid who was like, No, I'm gonna sneak a little extra, you know, Cheez Its here or whatever to, you know, not be well, or something like that, you know, they saw me caring about it from the beginning. And so I think that they trusted me with it. And also they kind of realize how little they I mean, both my parents are our health care providers as well. But my dad's a chiropractor, my mom's a nurse practitioner, okay. And so they kind of knew a little bit, but they were also like, wow, this is really technical. Okay.

Scott Benner 23:11
I'm busy. And I don't want to do this. That's what I would have thought. But do you mind if I call this episode favorite child? your siblings won't hear this? Will they? And to find any better parents assessment of your how many brothers and sisters do you have?

Maddie 23:25
I have three. Um, and the funny thing is, when I went to college, my mom told me she'd missed me the most.

Scott Benner 23:31
Okay, so I just want to speak directly to your siblings. At some point. They hear this. I don't know what it feels like to find out. You're not only not your parents favorite kid, but that they don't miss you. But it must be heartbreaking. And I'm sorry that it happened on a podcast I really do. If you guys want to get together coordinated Lee and treat your sister really poorly over this. I think that's valid. So holidays, maybe you get the kind of junky gift and you know, they all just kind of looking Oh look, the favorite hockey stick for Christmas and she doesn't even play hockey. Okay, so I like your enthusiasm because whether or because you realize seriously that you're, you're when your family hears this, your mom's gonna be like I told every one of those kids, they were my favorite. I was gonna miss them the most. I can't believe this poor girl thought that for real, but okay. And the other ones think for sure that you're out of your mind or Yeah, worse, worse. They actually know you're the favorite. And they secretly don't like you because of it. I like this. Are they all still when I will? Well, how would they get away? There's no airport, I guess?

Maddie 24:37
No, um, my brother lives in New York and my sister lives in Chicago. So they are they're gone. I mean, they're not coming back to the Midwest.

Scott Benner 24:45
Maybe they've had the last laugh is what we're saying. So yeah,

Unknown Speaker 24:48
yeah, it's fine. You gonna be

Scott Benner 24:49
the favorite in Iowa? I'm getting out of here. Yeah. Because I'm sure it's a lovely place. Are you Do you have plans to leave or are you I do love it. There.

Maddie 25:00
I really want to like, I feel guilty because I feel like my siblings are going to sprawl them. So, you know, my brother's going to stay over on the east coast. And so I'm like, you know, if I have kids, I want them to be able to have access to them. So I'm gonna I'm gonna give them that and say, in Midwest, I'll be not in the hometown that I I grew up in because it's it's just not fun, but I'll be in a bigger city, you know, you know, Omaha, Nebraska. That's a good city.

Scott Benner 25:26
I've heard of it. They make fun of Yeah, movies a lot. Yes, no. I've decided now that the episode title is favorite child throws shade, that's gonna be that's gonna be the episode cuz you're like, I'm not gonna move away and break mom and dad's heart. My brothers and sisters did. I'm not like that. I like your enthusiasm, and you have a lot of confidence, which I enjoy. I'm also seeing too, thank you that when you You're welcome. I'm seeing too that when you were diagnosed, your parents were like, this one's like, type A and like way loony she'll be fine. And so like, they must have said it nicer to you. But I think what they were thinking was, oh, her neuroses will take care of this. No problem.

Maddie 26:04
Yeah, and I mean, I've I've never been, I mean, my whole family's been healthy, for the most part. And so this is the first diagnosis of something that's going to be chronic and you know, have to be taken care of. And so they're just kind of like, well, I've never done this kind of thing before, but I think I think it's gonna work out and it did.

Scott Benner 26:24
And that's really kind of like to be serious for a minute. That is, it's interesting, because I have spoken to as many people who have served your base personality, right? Who were like, Yeah, I was fine. And it worked out. Okay. And then a minute, I'm gonna dig into what fine meant to you. But yeah, I've also spoken to enough people who were in a different situation who say, I really needed my parents back then they weren't that involved. I attended, I was winging it. And I didn't know what I was doing. I lied a lot about my numbers so that they would feel like it was okay. Yes. So it's interesting for parents who are listening, because I, I spoke at a hospital a couple of months ago. And as I was leaving one of the nurse practitioners, that was their said, I really want to thank you for indicating to all these people that you're involved with your daughter's care, because we have a lot of trouble expressing to parents how important it is to be involved. Yeah, and what I think maybe what I think maybe parents don't understand sometimes, and I believe that's a title to a DJ Jazzy Jeff, Fresh Prince song, but I'm not 100% sure. But what I think that parents don't understand sometimes, is that when you give your kids a responsibility, and you show them look, we trust you, then when they can't accomplish what you've trusted them with, it feels like they're failing you if they tell you I'm not doing well. Mm hmm. And that, and when that happens to kids with diabetes, they turn into 35 year old people who come on this podcast and talk about their health isn't very good. And they're so it's very interesting to see how much personality plays in how kids are able to manage this this burden, and it's a burden no matter what, no matter what your personnel.

Maddie 28:05
Yeah. Yeah. And, and I did one one thing that was different about my relationship with especially with my mom, my mom was, from the time when I was diagnosed until I was 17. So the first few years, you'd asked me at random times, you know, how have your blood sugar's been? And that I hated that. I hated it so much, because she almost acts like if I would say, like, oh, they've been high. She would like give this like, Oh, you need to take care of that kind of thing. Like, you know, this is your thing, but I'm going to check up on you just to make sure that you're not you know, killing yourself. You know, no,

Scott Benner 28:41
I hear you just kind of swoop in offer no real advice or help but go Hey, your

Unknown Speaker 28:45
job. Yeah.

Scott Benner 28:48
Your mom's equivalent. Your mom's like the equivalent of the person who walks by while you're painting a house and yells at you missed a spot right there. Yeah. You're up on a 40 foot ladder, like you know, defying death and they're like critiquing you from afar and have no Yeah, no, no plans of climbing up the ladder and helping so Exactly. I think we've learned I I see what's going on here. Your parents can never listen to this.

Unknown Speaker 29:09
Yeah, I don't know if it's a good idea or not.

Scott Benner 29:12
Well, you know what? You're doing well, so And listen, and no joking aside and parenting? Yeah, they pick the style. And it worked. So good. Good for them. You know what I mean? Like had it not worked, then we could bad mouth them, but we can't. And that's the that's the seriously that's the downside of the parenting, which is you have to pick a you had to pick a direction and sometimes go with it. And then sometimes you don't realize the direction you chose isn't working until it's too late. And so what whether they may you know, whether people make that decision on purpose, where they get lucky. I'll take I'll take luck. So tell me a little bit about if you're if you're interested in sharing a little bit about like a one sees through your 14 1516 years how you manage with your period and like and that kind of stuff like what so I guess Yeah, first of all, what was success? Like, what? When you were like, Oh, I'm doing great. There are so many reasons why we chose the Omni pod for my daughter's insulin pump. But top of the list, no tubing. That was just the first thing that stuck out to me when I saw the Omni pod. All the other pumps were a device that held insulin. And then that device pumped the insulin through this long, thin tubing that went into an infusion set. And I just thought, how is that going to work? I mean, I guess you'll wear the device on your belly holder. I don't know why. And then the tubing, where does it go? Like through your clothing? I just it all seemed kind of, I don't know. It seemed like someone designed it and thought how do I get insulin into a person? Not? How do I make living with an insulin pump? A great thing. So back then Arden was young, and it was our choice. To go with the on the pod. It looked to me like something that was designed from the perspective of the person wearing it, not the just not of an engineer thought, How do I get the insulin in there? But from a person who thought how do I make this a wonderful experience? Now Arden, of course was four years old when we did that. So you think well, maybe Scott chose but Arden decided later, this isn't the right thing for her except that Arden turned 15 today. And she's still wearing the army hot. Because it's everything that it promises to be. And that's really all you can ask of it. It does its job it does its well it doesn't get in your way. It makes living with diabetes a little easier. It makes giving yourself insulin a lot easier. Go to Miami pod.com forward slash juice box right now. And you can try a free no obligation demo of the Omni pod. They'll send it right to your house.

First of all, what was success? Like, what when you were like, Oh, I'm doing great.

Maddie 31:58
Yeah, um, so I feel like Well, I was in sports a lot in high school. And so a lot of my management like, revolved around that, because I was constantly, you know, testing before my practices at night and making sure that I was, you know, above, you know, at that time, it had to be above 150, or even 200. Because I was dropped because I was still on the shots and stuff. But it looked a lot like, you know, I would test enough like, I would probably test five times a day, which is, you know, adequate ish. I mean, I would you know, at times that the nurses would say that I should, but it was a lot of just kind of like, well, that number looks, you know, fine or that number like, Oh, it's a little high. Darn, you know, and I never had the inclination to, you know, like, give myself more insulin unless I was at a meal time. Because, I mean, you talk about this all the time, the fear of insulin, I mean, I would never think to correct myself, especially without a CGM. And that first month after I was diagnosed was just kind of like willy nilly, like, I'm trying here. I'm trying my best. And I tested it enough. And I always was very diligent about like, waiting before you ate, because they were told, they told me you know, you can't eat unless you've taken a shot 15 minutes beforehand. And so that was really hard. But then I did not use shots for more than a month. I was diagnosed in November, and I got my insulin pump the following New Year. So I got very quickly on on that train.

Scott Benner 33:38
Isn't it funny that it's thought of even seven years ago is a year being quickly good, because that used to be the like, Well, once you figure this all out, we'll let you have Oh, no,

Maddie 33:45
it was a month for me a month.

Scott Benner 33:46
I'm sorry. I thought you meant to the following January. No, no. Geez. Well, then, yeah, it was

Maddie 33:51
fast. Yeah. And I got lucky because I mean, I was doing so a quote unquote, well, from my under chronologist, who he was actually an adult diabetes doctor, because he there was no Pete's, and those in my semi small town, and he reluctantly took me on as patient. So I can I kind of had to be good, because otherwise I would get in trouble. And you'd be like, go to a piece and

Scott Benner 34:13
I'm gonna boot you. Well, you know, you know, I, it surprised me when I thought it was a year to the pump, because telling you to inject 15 minutes before is a is a forward thinking idea. So I thought, hmm, it's weird that he wanted you to Pre-Bolus but he didn't want to give you a pump. And then you're like, no, it's only a month like now that makes total sense. Because, yeah. Because he understood how, you know, at least at a main, you know, in a, in a basic way, how the insulin worked and then it needed time to get going before you before you could eat. Okay, yeah,

Maddie 34:44
from the beginning, it was kind of like, you're gonna get a pump, you know, literally in the hospital, but soon you're going to get a pump so you don't have to do this and they go, Okay, that sounds great. But I don't inject myself. So I was definitely looking forward to it. And from very beginning, you would have looked forward to anything they said after they stuck you that day. They stick it with the deal. And they go, hey, there's

Scott Benner 35:01
a way you don't have to do this. You're like, right on what's that way? Yeah. So So tell me. So it sounds like to me. And I'm thinking back to prior to when we kind of got it together, I guess. And and that idea of like, they'd be like, you know, inject at noon for lunch. He at three o'clock tester again, and then you know, and they they never talked about adjustments because it was always like Time to eat again, especially with a small Yeah, you know, exactly. And so I remember thinking back then, excuse me, I remember thinking back then, if we only test when we know the numbers going to be good. What's the point of testing? Like, don't we want to know what's happening in between? And I've said this, you know, I say this a lot. But when back then I would test it crazy times, like I yeah, feed Arden. And then like a half hour later, I'm like, let's test. Then we go into the windows office. They'll be like, why did you test a half hour FDA to like, I wanted to see what was happening. Yeah, and it was like they didn't, that didn't make any sense to them. And then CGM is became a thing. And suddenly my, you know, one of the windows looks back over records and goes, Oh, you were just acting like a CGM. Before they existed. And I was like, Yeah, I mean, it's calm. Isn't that common sense to like, like, you know what I mean, like, was he ever driven somewhere? And you get to your destination, you think, did I fall asleep at some point or

Unknown Speaker 36:28
whatever happened to you? Know, it's disconcerting

Scott Benner 36:30
and it happens to people. For the rest of the night. You're like, wondering about what happened during the trip that you didn't see you? I always felt like that with the blood sugar's like, how am I gonna? I can't just be okay, and go on and live my life because I somehow made it home. Like, I want to know what happened. And by the way, I want to be clear, I don't mean drinking and driving. No, actually, you know, I never talked about this here. I don't actually drink at all. And it's not not a moral thing. I just don't I just never have I probably Yeah, just didn't happen. I probably have not had the equivalent of a case of beer in my life. In total, so. I didn't I didn't mean I blackout drunk drive. I mentally there's been times I've been so tired in the middle of the night or something like you. You know, you just are like, wow, I'm farther down the road than I remember going in. It was dangerous, you know? Anyway, definitely, dude, please. What do you care about danger, you're going to get swept away to oz. One. You're gonna have a flying monkey and a friend with green skin. It's the greatest thing ever. You're gonna be you're gonna be Dorothy one day. I hope not where you'll get collecting the head with a stop sign and be like, what the heck happened here?

Unknown Speaker 37:42
Oh, no.

Scott Benner 37:44
Do you know what a one C's were back then?

Maddie 37:47
Um, they test I believe they tested my AMC at diagnosis. Like I had an endo appointment. You know, that Thursday after I got diagnosed and it was like, nine or something like that. So I mean, when I when I was diagnosed with dementia, my blood sugar was like 580 I think which is high but not I mean, like we were able to come back down.

Scott Benner 38:08
Yeah. and subsequent How often did you go to the endo? Would? Did he see you six months? Or does it? Well,

Maddie 38:14
I think in the beginning, I went every month, because it was so new. And he was nice. And let us comment for a month because he was he was a very busy endo, because he was the only one with the 90 miles. Sure. So I was blessed with an endo. Who was like, yeah, it's okay. Like, we'll we'll do this, you know, we'll dive in. And so I knew that, you know, in the sevens was good, you know, like, it was something that was like, oh, we're just trying to get you down.

Scott Benner 38:41
Yeah, I did that. Did that happen? Well,

Maddie 38:44
I think my first like a one see after like being diagnosed with like, 8.1 or something. And then subsequently, it came down from there,

Scott Benner 38:54
it makes sense. Now see the problem? Not the problem. But what we know nowadays is that as you know, that a one sees pretty much, you know, it's one indicator, it's not the whole picture. And that variability is incredibly important, right? Like the idea of like, you don't want to be 300 for six hours of the day. 200 for six hours a day and 50 for the rest of the day, and then go Hey, look at this. I'm gonna say one say everything's great. Exactly. Right. And so when did you because I'm assuming I'm just this isn't it funny. I just read roundly assume you use it. Dexcom, right.

Unknown Speaker 39:28
Oh, yeah.

Unknown Speaker 39:29
That's funny. I

Maddie 39:29
mean, like, of course, you know, I in the beginning, when I first got that pump, I got, um, gosh, I don't even know what's called, but it was a Medtronic. 720 I think, and it had a sensor to it. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. That harpoon I fainted The first time I put it in a

Scott Benner 39:50
way to go Medtronic. Okay, so wait, wait and pick something that people refer to as a harpoon?

Maddie 39:57
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Great job. Yeah.

Scott Benner 40:00
Wait, hey, may I say something here? Let me editorialize for a second. This has got nothing to do with my guest. She doesn't feel this way. Maybe worry a little more about the experience of your patience and a little less about controlling the market and making money. And and maybe you'll come up with some better stuff. Sorry. Yeah, yeah.

Maddie 40:20
Yeah, um, so yeah, I use that I got, I got really excited about that, because I was like, wait, I can see my numbers every five minutes and see where they're going. You know, I was excited about, you know, being able to look at my pump, and immediately. And so I immediately was one of those people who was, you know, I'd be in class, and I'd feel so special, because I'd be able to look down and see where my number was. And I would never, you know, like, I feel like I never really thought to connect it with like, Oh, I need to give insulin because I'm over 200 or whatever. You just didn't

Scott Benner 40:51
know what you are. Yep. So interesting. So when do you what you're using right now,

Maddie 40:59
right now, um, well, I've been I had been on Medtronic, for two pumps, cycles, almost two pump cycles. So I got the 530 g when it first came out, which is the the next in the middle that of Medtronic sensors.

Scott Benner 41:15
I didn't say that Medtronic, somebody who used it said that, yeah, bad have your sensors.

Maddie 41:21
So I was using it. And I was just noticing all kinds of issues. And I was finally like, I deserve to demand better of my own devices for you. And I actually came across on Dexcom by literally following someone on Instagram. I follow up my very first Instagram account that was from the diet of diabetic was I have the sugars by Libby Russell.

Scott Benner 41:46
I know that I know that name. I can't picture anything about it. But I've I remember that's a good one. I have the sugars well done.

Maddie 41:52
Yeah, I know. And so I saw that. And she actually had the same setup. She had a dexcom. And she had a old Medtronic pump. And I was like, wait, I can mix and match. But like, I'm not I'm not like bound to this better unit. And yeah. And so I like looked into I was like, wait, well, my insurance cover this, like, this is not from my pump company, you know. So I looked into it. And this was the time that the 670 g was just coming out. And so I went to my endo. And I was like, I'm not happy with the things that are happening. Like, I need something better, something better technology. And he basically, I mean, I think he was paid by the tronic, at least a little bit. And he was like, Well, I'm going to get you on the 670. He was like, Oh, well, I better pump. Okay, okay.

Scott Benner 42:36
And it didn't happen. Let's, for a second just for Madison. You know, safety. Maddie doesn't know that. And doesn't think that Medtronic or any company pays doctors to prescribe, because that would be incredibly illegal. And she's not saying that. In fact, it's possible. You'll just hear a giant beep prior to me saying this. But But anyway, Maddie, there are laws that would preclude companies from paying doctors to prescribe whatever, right. All right. Back in the day. Before those laws were in place. companies would fly doctors to nice places like Hawaii to show them their insulin pumps and their drugs and stuff like that. And they have been known to send. I'm making air quotes, sales associates who look a little more like supermodels to the office with bagels and pens.

Unknown Speaker 43:33
Oh, yeah.

Scott Benner 43:34
But no one pays a doctor to do that. That would be illegal. And you didn't mean to say that? Anybody would?

Unknown Speaker 43:41
No, no, no. Right?

Scott Benner 43:42
That is a child. She's How old are you? 2020. She's like, basically five years old. If you think about it, I would never say that. Right? She didn't nothing. And again, let's move on. So you went to the doctor enough about

Maddie 43:58
that. I was proactive. And I said, I'm going to get something else. He didn't end up being able to get me that pump. So I said, No, I want something different. I want a dexcom because I was noticing how cute was putting her numbers to her phone. I'm like, What diabetes can be in your phone. And as a teenager that was just so appealing to me. So I said, I want that. And he's like, Okay, I guess I can

Scott Benner 44:21
so I got it. And I'm gonna give the bagels back Maddie.

Maddie 44:26
Yeah, um, and I was just so happy with it. I mean, the calibrations were fine, because the old sensors that I had ever had, you know, you had to calibrate it, like four times a day. Um, so it was an incredible freedom for me.

Scott Benner 44:39
I'm glad and so I'm gonna get back to something. I'm gonna get right back to this. Yeah, sure. I say this. I said bagels because I live on the east coast. And for those of you who live in the Midwest and other parts of the country, I've been there and eaten what they tell you as a bagel and just let me tell you it's not it's Terrible the thing they give you and if you ever come east, please get something made out of bread. A prop how good a bagel in New York bagel, some bread, that thing that they hand you in? I was in Indianapolis once. Yeah. And I said, Can I get a bagel? I was getting ready to get on a plane. And I was at my hotel. And I was like, Can I just get a bagel? I'm just gonna put a little something in my stomach before I fly home. And I'm just I don't like to have too much going on while I'm flying. Right? So the girl brings it out. And at first I stared at it. And then I was like, okay, it's just looks different, right? Probably the water. And, and I tried it. And then she came back over and she says you're not eating your bagel. And I went, listen, this isn't a bagel. I don't know what this is. But that's the bar terrible. And you should get on this plane with me and come find out what a bagel is. Because even a bagel that you would buy in a New York airport, which I'm going to assume as dirty. Is 1000 to a million times better than the things she tried to hit me. Now we've spoken too long about bread products. But let's move on to you getting a Dexcom How long ago was that?

Maddie 46:06
Um, so it was a year and a half ago. So it was that summer, June of 2017. And I went all in. I got an Apple Watch before I got my desktop. I was like, I'm gonna do all of it. That's,

Scott Benner 46:19
that's I like the leap in First of all, what? Yeah, and what pump? Did you have? then at that point?

Maddie 46:24
I still had the 530 G. What do you have? And so I actually am still in warranty with that pump. But you can go to Omnipod and say, You need to pay me more because your podcast got me on Omnipod because of it was in the end of December, you released that podcast real quick and talked about the horizons are? Well horizon and whatever the other one was.

Scott Benner 46:53
Dash is coming out. Yeah. Yeah.

Maddie 46:55
And yeah. And they were I was so excited because there was no upfront cost. So I was like, Oh, that sounds nice. But just called on. We've had to be like, okay, what's my situation? It just happened to be like December 26. And they were like, you can get it right now. For $150. That was my copay. So I was like, okay, so I did it.

Scott Benner 47:14
On the pod, you can just send that money to my house and a check if you like, are joking, I'm not joking. I'm joking. Well, good for you. And seriously, you were locked into something. It felt it felt restrictive. It wasn't what you liked. And you were proactive. And you got that all the Joking aside about, you know, what pump I use, or you know, who I'm doing business with. It really is, that's amazing. Because a lot of people get pressured by that, and then just put their head down and take it over and over again. And and forget, you know, let's not crap on Medtronic, again, although we could and we should Medtronic, but we're not going to. And so, you know, any situation if you have an omni pod, and you really hate it, you should go do something else, you know, like try something else. So now. So now in the more recent time, like in the last six months, you told me before we started recording that you started listening to the podcast. So yeah, what have you done? We have 15 minutes left, I want to I want to hear about what you've done. And and how it's going with with your day to day care.

Maddie 48:20
I guess I was still afraid I would. Before I listened to the podcast, I would think I would see it on my CGM. I was at you know, 210 just chillin there for like, you know, three hours. I feel like, I'm not happy with it. But I've active insulin and I tried to correct but it was active. It was like, I'll just wait. So I would always wait. Because my pump told me I couldn't give any insulin right that. So I guess I was in this mindset of like, it has to be a full correction or nothing. And I never really thought of this, like this thing where I could just be like, I'm gonna give a unit and see what happens. Yeah. And that was a really big concept that changed a lot for me.

Scott Benner 48:58
I'm glad. And I'll tell you, isn't it interesting? You just said like my pump said I shouldn't do more. Yeah, but that pump makes that decision based on pretty arbitrary numbers your doctor puts into the pump. Yeah, it tells you, you know, for instance, for people who don't know, if I say, you know, if I'm your doctor, and I tell you, you have an insulin to carb ratio, that is two units for 100 carbs. And you tell it you've eaten 50 carbs and you put it in a unit? Well, the pump says Well, okay, you've put in enough. But that doesn't mean it's enough. It just means it it correlates with what the doctor said the insulin to carb ratio was

Unknown Speaker 49:37
Yeah,

Scott Benner 49:38
right. And so and if the end there's a insulin action time setting in your pump, you tell you tell your pump, hey, I believe that a bolus or any insulin stays active in my body for four hours, six hours, three hours, two hours, whatever it is. And because of that settings, say you had it set at four hours and you put in the correct amount of insulin, no matter what What happens to your blood sugar next? The kind of rudimentary decisions that the pumps making based on information that a person put in without knowing if it was right or not, the pumps saying, Hey, we put in enough insulin in this instance going to be live for four hours. So it's not going to tell you for hours that it's okay to give yourself more insulin. So you're just listening to what possibly could be really false information. And I yeah, this is a good time for me to tell you that. I don't even Arden doesn't even have an insulin to carb ratio.

Unknown Speaker 50:35
I know you just give you an answer like this.

Scott Benner 50:37
I don't even know, I wouldn't even begin to know. And, yeah, it's about, you know, I think of it backwards, I look at the plate. And I think that's eight units. And if we give her enough of a Pre-Bolus, then the initial, you know, the initial impact of the carbs won't be able to overpower the Pre-Bolus. And then if we start to see a drift up labor later, excuse me, I will then assume that the eight units wasn't enough. And I will stop the arrow and bump it and nudge it back down again. And Ted, ah, you know, it really is that easy. Yeah, you know, I was just speaking with someone prior to getting on with you. And she sent me a graph. And she's like, Look, I'm getting it. But she had some lows. And I'm like, well, you're, you know, not crazy lows like 65 where she was, I see that I see where it's unbalanced. And you get a shift around, you know, this, you might actually need lessons or not more insulin if you do it sooner. And we're kind of chatting about it a little bit. And it was just, just uplifting. It was just it was incredible to see the before and after. And I'm really thrilled that it worked out for you as well. So now, yeah, where where do you like you used to say you'd say to 10? And think I'm not happy with this, but it was okay, where do you correct that now? Like, what number do you see really cool, what am I doing?

Maddie 52:00
Um, I work a lot with like, the Dexcom like arrows. So like, if I'm rising above, like 160, or 170, I'll do something. But if it's a straight arrow, I'll wait, you know, like an hour or something to see if it comes back down. Because I do tend to come back down if I do spike to that, but after a meal. But, and something that's really changed since listening to the podcast is at night, I would be terrified to give any insulin at night. And like, why would I do that? You know, I'm at 160 Don't lie. It's fine, whatever. So now I have it set at 140 at night for my high. So if it's over that, I'm going to give something because I've realized how how big of a difference obliterative 140. And 80 is, as I'm waking up,

Scott Benner 52:48
yeah. Oh, how you feel?

Maddie 52:51
Oh, no, for breakfast. You know, you're setting yourself up for failure. If you're going to have a blood sugar of 140 you're gonna have to try and get that down. But also bowls for breakfast, and then your whole days thrown out?

Scott Benner 53:01
Yep. Because if you start bolusing at 80 and you miss on your blood sugar, you might end up back at 140 if you miss it 140 you're going to be at 220 and it's going to start climbing and you're not gonna be able to continue Yeah, you're gonna get insulin resistant. It's all Oh, look at you, Maddie, you are a star pupil. Although many, but to be clear, I've never given you advice because nothing last podcast is advice. I just talked about medical or otherwise, you've made decisions on your own money. Much like when you bad mouth. Medtronic, your own voice your parents, your siblings, Iowa. I talked poorly about bagels. But I mean, honestly, I've been pretty nice through this whole thing. But I should have you on more often. I like how you're willing to throw people under the bus while you're talking.

Maddie 53:49
I mean, I speak the truth. I just speak the truth.

Scott Benner 53:53
Okay, so let me let me add on to what you said for a second. Yeah, you're still pretty new into the podcast, you're about six months in? Yeah. You're gonna realize at some point, that a 140 that you dropped from later, is still a miss timing of your insulin. It's incredibly better than what you were incredibly betters probably not English. It's much better than what you had prior. Yeah, but it's not. It's not quite there yet. And so there will be a way for you to change the timing and the amount enough that not only does the 140 not happen, but the insulin is getting, for the lack of a better term used up, you'll balance the action of the insulin against the impact of the carbs better. And so you'll stop the rise, keep your line flatter. And then as you go out in time, the insulin and the food will sort of lose force. At a similar time. Yep, keeping you from getting low. So you're, you are at a point now without ever seniors laughs that I would say, You're close. Like, like, You're, you're really close to the idea. And by the way, if you never got any closer than this, you're doing great. You don't mean like, absolutely spectacular. So congratulations, good for you very happy for you.

Maddie 55:15
And I mean, I was, I was really happy because like I said, I mean, my last two a one C's have come down. And I thought that my last day once he was going to be 6.4, because Dexcom, but it turned out to be a 6.2. And that's the lowest has ever been

Scott Benner 55:31
one more time dancing for diabetes.com dancing the number four diabetes.com, d A and CING for the A b e t e s dot c o m. Good for you. That's excellent. Congratulations. That's a lot of hard work. And you deserve you deserve to feel good about that. And people who don't have a six to who are listening, don't see maddies thing as being like that girl like yes, got lucky or like being angry at her what you think is, in my opinion, you should think it's hopeful. It's possible, I can do that, too. She's describing a world where she didn't really know what she was doing. And then she figured it out. And she's got a six two, and she's calling her six to not perfect yet. Which means there's more space in there. And and I think this is the most important part. Do you feel overwhelmed by the amount of effort you have to give to your diabetes now.

Maddie 56:31
Sometimes I get annoyed with the highs because I can't get them down. But overall, I feel like I can take it by the horns and just say, I know how to deal with the situation. And know what's gonna happen in the future versus like, questioning. You know,

Scott Benner 56:45
can I make a suggestion about the highs?

Unknown Speaker 56:47
So sighs

Scott Benner 56:49
move your move your alarm down lower.

Maddie 56:52
I've got it at 160 right now I

Scott Benner 56:53
know. But listen, if you if you listen, I didn't say it was bad. I'm not coming down. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 56:58
yeah,

Scott Benner 56:59
don't come at me. I don't want to hear shade about me later. You're not keeping that on your family. Leave me alone, okay, but here's what I'm gonna say, yeah, say you're 90 and you're cruising along and you're nice and stable. And you haven't had insulin in a while you haven't had food in a while you start drifting up, you get to 120. It would take a tiny amount of insulin, comparatively, to get back to 90. But once you get to 160, now your blood sugar has momentum, it's a little resistant, and you need to use more insulin to bring it down. Eventually, that insulin you put in to bring down that 160 will become unbalanced with whatever was forcing your blood sugar up. So that force will be gone, the insulin will remain and you'll get low, then you'll have to feed the low. And then yeah, then you end up on the roller coaster. Yeah, that's the cycle I get in sometimes. But if you just go to 120 and bump it back, you've only used a tiny bit of insulin for that. Yeah, you've stopped the high and you're not going to cause a low later and less of your time, effort and focus to do that, then it does the fight with the 160. Does any of that make sense?

Maddie 58:08
Yeah, yeah, definitely.

Scott Benner 58:09
All right. We'll get at it, then. Let's go. Do it. Yeah, I don't want to have to have your parents on this podcast is to throw it back at you be like, you know what Mindy doesn't. She says she's great, but she's just okay. I would love to. I would just love to talk to your mom personally. for five seconds. I would I really want to hear the story where she's like, oh, that poor girl. We told her she was the favorite. But I mean, obviously, people don't have favorites, or do people have favorites? I don't. I was saying this to my kids. Do you have a favorite? No, I like both of my kids differently and equal. Yeah, they're different people who I guess I'm lucky enough to like, and I mean, I guess they could be like a whole side be like, Oh my god, like look at this, that but I'll tell you right now, I have a very simple parenting style. Yeah, here's my goal. And maybe you want to take this into adulthood one day, if you ever meet a boy and ruin your life with a pet and a house and a dog and maybe a kid, but to two simple ideas, but the bigger one is this. I want to raise a kid that when they grow up and go out in the world, and they're around a bunch of people, and they're being themselves that when my kid walks away from that group, the group doesn't turn back to each other and be like, Oh my god, what? Like, like, you don't mean like, want to raise a kid who's not I'm gonna have to beat that out twice but but it's only one like I think the rest of it might take care of itself if he's just a decent person. Yeah, you know what I mean? And not not a not a people pleaser? Not like he's with that group of people, you know, doing everything they want and everything but he's himself and to other people on looking. That seems okay. Yeah, see how low my got my bar is, I think, if

Maddie 59:48
not low, just wanted to raise a decent human being.

Scott Benner 59:50
Thank you. Yes, it's gonna turn out to be for me. I appreciate this. Thank you very much. All right. So we're coming up on an hour. I want to make sure that we've spoken about everything you want. And if we have, I'd like to circle back around and finish up with with the college diabetes network again.

Maddie 1:00:08
Oh, I wanted to I don't know if you've heard of that of this, but this is going to come out later. But maybe by the time this podcast comes out, it'll be a safe, Omni pod and loop like, you know, you know, the one that you don't want to put together yourself.

Scott Benner 1:00:21
I know, I know somebody, somebody just so yeah, again, people were here the six months from now, but we are in February of 2019. Yeah, recording this. And Jason, who's been on the show before? No, some somebody cracked the security, I guess in an omni pod, and set up a DIY loop with Omni pod index calm. Is that right?

Maddie 1:00:45
Yes. And I'm I've been literally going as I was in class yesterday trying to learn physiology. But this news, I was just so excited. I was digging deep into Facebook groups and slack chats and all these things. And I was like, I want all the information I can have. Because so many people have success with it. You know,

Scott Benner 1:01:05
does your brain work that way? Do you think you could set up your own like? Well, I

Maddie 1:01:09
think I think that it takes a lot less effort than then. I don't know, techie person needs, but I am techie enough. And also, I mean, I follow up a lady on Instagram, she uses the system for her four year old, and it works wonderfully. If she can keep her kid alive with that, I feel like I can keep my myself alive with it, you know? Absolutely. I'm always willing to take a leap. It's very cool,

Scott Benner 1:01:35
you're gonna be Yeah, you're we're all going to be there sooner than later, there's gonna be my expectation is my hope. And I know nothing. But my hope is that when the dash comes out from the pod, that means then the communications will change inside of the self. That will and I'm assuming tide pool is working on an algorithm right now to work with rod, you'll be able to download tide pool on your phone, and pair your decks in your Omni pod together, probably Well, before on the potty even has horizon on the market,

Maddie 1:02:08
which is really encouraging because that means that these companies aren't saying no, I'm better than you know, I'm going to do it. You know, it's becoming like, No, I'm gonna do it first. But they're, they're both going to happen. And it's a really healthy place to be, you know,

Scott Benner 1:02:21
you're 100%. Right? It is a very modern way of thinking. Yeah, and I have, I've been told by people that on the pod, they want people to have choice. So I guess they, they'll hope you use their horizon system and you love their algorithm. And if you want to use tide pools algorithm in the future, then they're happy if you do that, you know, like they just they want you to be, they want you to have choice. Unlike other pump companies, Mati, who like to lock people into long contracts, force, insulin, excuse me force insurance companies to use only their product, and then make it and then make if I can, and I will, something that really doesn't make their patients happier, healthier, but yet are they're thrilled to force them to use it so that they can make money.

Maddie 1:03:07
Yeah, I actually ran into a lady last night when I was in a workout class. And she had that unnamed pump. And I showed her my dexcom. And I showed her my watch. And she's like, you can see that on your phone. What? And she was like an older woman. And now she's like, lady, you have to know your options. So many people don't know their options. Well, it's it just makes me sad, because you should be able to have the options.

Scott Benner 1:03:30
I think one day, you wouldn't want to hear something serious for me. Yeah, I think one day companies who put actual effort into innovation, and helping their patients to live better and easier, and give them healthier lives that take less focus, like less of your time up. I think that companies who have that focus will one day unseat a company who says look, our stuff isn't as good. But if we set this, you know, if we set this whole thing up correctly on the insurance side, then we can kind of keep our, our hold on the market. Yeah. And and I think that that's not going to work forever. So I'm excited because I can see, by the way, I can see why they thought that it was going to work. Because, you know, I don't know how people how aware people are this, but I thought that tandem was going to go out of business in the US like a year and a half ago. They don't it was looking like they were going to run to Europe and just and just work there. And they didn't

Maddie 1:04:39
think that people are using more. And they're choosing those two other pumps.

Scott Benner 1:04:45
It's great for people that there's choice, right? Yeah, for sure. There was a time years and years and years ago where I thought I wasn't sure what on the pod was doing. But But now a number of years ago, they there was a big switch over the top of the company and the whole focus The company changed. And now you can see a real page patient centric, people who are focused on doing better for people. And yeah, and making them making their lives better. And so I like that there's two companies doing that. But then Medtronic, the other one, you know, and yeah, we lost the atomists. And you can't you can't let those other companies get forced out, because then you're all just going to be using a pump that, you know, Maddie just described as not great. And painful, because that's the only one. That's just that's I don't think that's going to win out. I think there are a lot of I'm cynical about a lot of things. But I don't think that's going to work for them. So I don't think so. I think I think they're making a business decision that that focuses on now and money instead of long term. And I don't think they're going to win that fight. So there's, there's my prediction. Yeah, we'll see. Yes, we will. I managed to the college diabetes network is there? Is there a, what do you call it a branch? Not a branch? What is it chapter

Unknown Speaker 1:06:06
a chapter? Is

Scott Benner 1:06:07
there a chapter at every university? Or if there's not start one? Or how does that work?

Maddie 1:06:13
Yeah. So um, when I looked at the map, you there's a map that I looked at before I came to college, because it's like, well, maybe there's one in Iowa. And there wasn't when I first looked. So that's why I was all excited when I saw the girls Facebook post. So you can look at a map and you can pick college you're going to and it'll tell you if there's one already. And if there's not, you are always free to start a chapter. And I think that it's important that people say like, it's not there, but I'm going to do it, you know, because there's so many like at any college campus, I think we said, we were trying to do the math. How many type one diabetics are on this campus? And it had been like, a 2000 or something. Wow,

Scott Benner 1:06:55
it's a big school. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, so and, and so you guys have, you know, basically, I mean, tell people what the chapter does.

Maddie 1:07:04
We aim to do two things, educate and just advocate for diabetes and just support college students. Because I know when I came to college as a freshman, obviously, I tried to plan as hard as I could. But it was nice to have that even preliminary group chat to go to and say, Oh, my gosh, I'm, I've got six units left, and I'm stuck in class all day, does anyone have this infusion site or whatever, to help me out, or I've got ketones, and I'm not sure what to do next. Because I mean, I've met a girl who she was actually diagnosed her sophomore year of college. And I feel like this would have been such a community that could help her to, you know, battle through that and just to have support, and then also just in the world we live in today, educating more and more people about I mean, today, it's a really good platform to talk about, like the price of insulin. And just talking about, like, What Causes Diabetes and stuff like that.

Scott Benner 1:08:06
How many people do you have in your chapter? It's a fairly new and I assume, but how many people do you have members do you have? Um,

Maddie 1:08:13
so our first meeting of last semester, we have like 25 people, which is really good. We're still struggling to have like, you know, regular attenders, but I think that it can only grow. I hope. So. Um, yeah,

Unknown Speaker 1:08:28
we're just Maddie,

Scott Benner 1:08:28
let me tell you this right now. Okay. And this is a absolutely blanket offer it stands for as long as you're there. Somebody else's there. You get, let's put a number on it because I got to go to Iowa. All right. How do you put How many did you say we're at that school?

Unknown Speaker 1:08:45
Oh, there's 30,000.

Scott Benner 1:08:47
And how many people would type one you think almost 2000?

Unknown Speaker 1:08:49
Well, maybe.

Scott Benner 1:08:51
Alright. You get an auditorium and put in a few hundred people. I'll come down and do we can do a whole thing. We can do the whole board with insulin talk. Yeah, q&a, help and absolutely do that. I can't come for 25 people because of the bagels. If you have people a bag of bagels, then maybe Okay,

Unknown Speaker 1:09:09
yeah.

Scott Benner 1:09:10
But if you can get a nice group together, come out and I'll give the talk and spend send some like real time and if you want to do it over, you know, a number of hours, I won't. I won't rush in and out why I wrote that down. So we will keep that in mind. And I really appreciate it absolutely. And that by the way that offers there for anybody if you can put people together who want to who want to talk about this. I'd love to come talk about it with them. So I do it with the jdrf because the jdrf has the ability to pull together people you know I go to Ohio there were gather over 500 people at Ohio that thing was insane. Oh my goodness. Such an amazingly well run event. So cool. Yeah, I'm heading out to Arizona actually in a couple of days. Oh, fun. Yeah, it said do it there. And

Maddie 1:09:55
Arizona. I want to go to Arizona right now.

Scott Benner 1:09:58
It's only like 50 degrees there. So it's not gonna help much but

Unknown Speaker 1:10:00
it actually integrates warmer. Let

Scott Benner 1:10:02
me let me I'll leave you with this. You seem jealous about Arizona. I'm gonna go plane in New Jersey at nine o'clock in the morning on Friday. Yeah, I'll get out there five or so hours later, I get to spend an hour or two holding myself together, showering and getting changed. I have to go to a dinner to make nice with people. Yeah. And then I go to bed Get up. I do three different talks over six hours. And literally when the last ones over, I'm going to shake hands, say goodbye. They're going to stuff me in a car drive me back to the airport. I'm gonna fly five hours back home, because my son's birthday is the next day. And my and his baseball team is playing. So my wife and I and my daughter we're going to go see and play baseball and his birthday. Yeah. And then I assuming sometime after those baseball games, and on Sunday, I will pass out probably like you almost did when you saw the Medtronic CGM. Yeah, brought everything full circle and we can

Maddie 1:11:00
have fun even though it's gonna be a quick it'll be good. productive.

Scott Benner 1:11:04
I think absolutely. I'm very excited because they've got a great group of people who are really interested and I'm thrilled together. Now Maddie, before we say goodbye? Do you want to apologize to anyone in your family or tell them you were joking or anything like that? I will give you the time right now. Good.

Maddie 1:11:17
Oh, my family loves me. And they know I love them. And we have peace already.

Scott Benner 1:11:25
I'm pretty sure this episode's gonna be called Parent Child throw shade, but we'll find out.

Unknown Speaker 1:11:29
All right, we'll see in a few months, sir.

Scott Benner 1:11:31
I really appreciate you doing this. Thank

Unknown Speaker 1:11:33
you so much.

Maddie 1:11:34
Well, thank you so much for having me.

Scott Benner 1:11:36
I didn't ask you. Um, what do you give a major?

Maddie 1:11:40
Yeah, um, I'm actually in the process of applying for nursing school here at Iowa. So my goal and I'm talking a lot about diabetes in my application, because I want to be a CD. So crossing our

Scott Benner 1:11:50
fingers. Good for you. Congratulations. And I wish you nothing but love.

Maddie 1:11:53
Thank you so much. Take

Unknown Speaker 1:11:54
care. Have a good day. You too. Bye.

Scott Benner 1:11:57
Thank you so much, Maddie. And thank you Dexcom on the pod and dancing for diabetes. You can check the advertisers out at the links that I've provided earlier, or Juicebox podcast.com. And right there in your podcast app, there's shownotes just click on it. Boom. You know how the internet works. Listen, we had a huge power outage in our house while I was editing this episode. So it is now like 15 hours after I started doing this. And it's three o'clock in the morning, but I wanted you guys to wake up on Tuesday morning to a new episode. I'm a dedicated podcaster you guys are dedicated listeners. the least I can do. I hope you enjoyed Maddie. I thought she was terrific. I love the way she joked about her family. I hope you did as well. And thanks to everyone for the great reviews. You guys been leaving on iTunes. Really appreciate those. And as a small token of my appreciation, this is what it sounds like before the podcast starts to record. Testing 123

Unknown Speaker 1:13:05
Hello, howdy. Hi. How

Unknown Speaker 1:13:06
are you? Okay, I

Unknown Speaker 1:13:09
gotta turn this up. Really quick. beak again.

Scott Benner 1:13:13
Hello. Okay. Yes, that's great. Nice. So I'm, you'll laugh at me, but Arden has a snow day today.

Maddie 1:13:21
Oh my gosh, it's snowing here too. We just got a huge blizzard.

Scott Benner 1:13:24
Where are you at?

Unknown Speaker 1:13:26
Iowa? Iowa? No,

Scott Benner 1:13:28
I just assume it says in Iowa constantly during the winter, does it not?

Maddie 1:13:32
Oh my gosh, we've gotten like two feet of snow in the last month. I swear it never ends.

Scott Benner 1:13:38
I apologize. I feel badly about that. Um, I so Okay, so here's what happens here. Right? We cancel them. They cancel them. I go, I'm gonna sleep more, sleep more and I get up later. Now I'm up later. And you know, I don't have the recycling out. I can hear the truck driving around. I'm running

Unknown Speaker 1:13:52
around with everything.

Scott Benner 1:13:54
So everything gets messed up. And then I get everything taken care of. And I'm having breakfast. And I'm so pleased with myself. I'm just lollygagging around, like like, this is all good. And then I'm like, you know, it's later than I think it is. It's so I set this up like four minutes ago. So I'm like plugging things in good timing to time starting files. Like I'm like running around like crazy. And I sit down. My wife's working from home because of the weather. And

Unknown Speaker 1:14:19
yeah, I said Look,

Scott Benner 1:14:21
I have to record right now she goes you said that was like later I'm like apparently it is later now and so

Maddie 1:14:27
suddenly it's 1030 it's just crazy.

Unknown Speaker 1:14:29
Pretty quickly.

---

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