#376 Zoe and Roxy's Wild Ride
A siblings perspective of type 1 diabetes
Zoe is the adult sibling of a person with type 1 diabetes.
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Scott Benner 0:00
Friends Hello, how are you? Welcome to Episode 376 of the Juicebox Podcast. Today's show is sponsored by the Omni pod tubeless insulin pump, and on the pod would love to send you a an absolutely free, no obligation demo of their product, they'd like to send it right to your house, so you can try it on and see what you think. Go to my Omni pod.com Ford slash juice box to get that pod experience kit sent out to you right away. To learn more about the Dexcom g six continuous glucose monitor, you're going to want to go to dexcom.com Ford slash juicebox. There are links to all of the advertisers in the show notes of this episode. And at Juicebox podcast.com. Use the links and support the show.
For the first five years of my life, I was an only child and then it happened. My parents had more kids. And then I had siblings. Well, today we're going to talk to Roxy sister Zoe. Zoe does not have type one diabetes, but she did grow up with Roxy. And Roxy does. So for all of you are always like, I want to hear from someone. Sorry, I heard you. Here it is okay. But this is only going to be one perspective. Zoe's an adult, so as Roxy and they had their experience, if you've had a different experience, we would like to shine a different light on the subject. Reach out and let me know, you might just be able to get on the podcast and tell your story. When you get on the podcast and people are listening, I'll ask them to remember that nothing they hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. And I'll further ask them to consult a physician before making any changes to their health care plan. or becoming bold with insulin. Zoe and Roxy's wild ride. Eric comes.
I think this is very nice of you to do. Thank you.
Zoey 2:16
Oh, sure. Why not?
Scott Benner 2:19
Hold on one second, let me help my daughter with insulin real quick.
Unknown Speaker 2:24
Okay.
Scott Benner 2:26
Her pump is at the very end of its insulin. We sort of we sort of noticed that in the car driving to school this morning. So the minute I'm done speaking to you, I'm gonna take her some insulin in a new pod. Okay, but we're good. We're gonna make it through this.
Unknown Speaker 2:41
Okay, don't you worry. Do whatever you have to do. Please. Are you kidding me?
Scott Benner 2:45
Alright, so you've probably don't listen to this podcast. I don't know. My sister does, which makes 100% sense. Yeah. So let me just tell you before we start, it's pretty laid back and conversational. I'm not gonna ask you anything you don't already know the answer to if I do. Just be like, I don't want to answer that or whatever. You know, it's not about Sure.
Zoey 3:09
Yeah. No, it's fine.
Scott Benner 3:10
If you and I end up getting along really well and a half an hour from now I say something and you're like, that's more like we've known each other for six months got cruise past? I'm
Zoey 3:18
usually that person. So are you really? Yeah, I am freakishly open.
Scott Benner 3:24
I am too. So I'll get into a setting with Pete. By the way. We're recording. I'll get into a setting with people who I don't know. And 15 minutes into it. They're looking at me like is there anything left about your life? You haven't?
Zoey 3:38
Yeah, I pretty much offer it all up in the beginning.
Scott Benner 3:41
Why? Do you know why? First of all, who are you tell people who you are?
Zoey 3:44
Oh, my name is Zoey. I am the sister of a diabetic. I have a younger sister. My sister Roxie got diabetes when she was nine. I believe. Okay, play. She was eight she turned nine in the hospital.
Scott Benner 3:59
No kidding. Good for her happy birthday. Yeah. How old is she out? You know? Do you remember?
Zoey 4:03
Ah, she's gonna be she's gonna kill me if I get this wrong. She's gonna be 33 I think on March 18. How old are you? 32 I'm 28 so we're four and a half four and a little bit years apart.
Scott Benner 4:14
Okay. So when she was diagnosed you were not even in school yet.
Zoey 4:18
Ah, no, I must have been like, I don't know kindergarten maybe you're like preschool or something. Yeah, right.
I was like around four so yeah, somewhere around there. But let's find out a little about you
Scott Benner 4:30
before we find out a little bit about Roxy. Okay, and you for whatever it is Roxy Did you Roxy and Zoey? Yeah, parents hippies.
Zoey 4:44
So funny. Um, they sound like hippies when I described them. But they're not really. We they're from Vermont. Actually. They're from like Long Island and New Jersey, but they have taken on their Vermont personas very seriously. They look like in the middle of nowhere. My dad was all Carhart, when I was an artist, my dad is a woodworker. So yes, they sound like hippies, but without the drugs
Scott Benner 5:08
would they have been? I didn't expect hippies are always high, but I hear what you're saying. Okay, what would they have been if they stayed on the island? Do you think? Oh over they run
Zoey 5:18
on happy, unhappy for sure. Yeah, just like development all over the place. I think my mom when she goes back to Long Island is just like, so sad to see
that it's just like mcmansions everywhere and stuff. She was
Scott Benner 5:33
looking for more open space.
Zoey 5:35
Yeah, for sure. My dad constantly says sitting on the front porch looking out at the beautiful piece of land on makes you want to live in Manhattan. He really doesn't. doesn't care for the city.
Scott Benner 5:48
You dead sarcasm was grown in Vermont. I can tell.
Unknown Speaker 5:51
Definitely.
Scott Benner 5:52
Vermont once. Here's what I know about Vermont. They don't like air conditioning for some reason.
Zoey 5:56
Yeah, we don't have air conditioning. I was living in Phoenix, Arizona this past summer, and I had to get used to it cuz it's everywhere is air conditioned. Yeah, we just have open air. Yeah,
Scott Benner 6:06
no, I know. I was there for a week. Yeah, maybe. I was near a big mountain. I remember being here. So here was my my experience. We wanted to go on a end of summer vacation. So we sort of picked somewhere close by where we wouldn't have to fly. But it would still be far enough away. rented this really beautiful house up on a mountain, you know, like and had a pool there. Like this is it right here. My son was playing a baseball game in the afternoon. So my wife left for Vermont with my daughter. And I went to my son's baseball game. And when the baseball game was over, he and I headed up. We were probably a couple of hours behind them. It was like a six. No, it's got four and a half hour drive. So I don't know where that puts us. Right. And where are you from? New Jersey. Okay, so no, no. Are you kidding? I'm actually from Philadelphia. I just live in New Jersey.
Zoey 7:05
Okay, I say hi. Just
Unknown Speaker 7:08
my wife got a really good job.
Zoey 7:11
Fair enough. Fair enough.
Scott Benner 7:14
One day, we hope to be able to afford a ton of carne heart and a place where nobody can get to us. Live in the dream. See how long we can stand each other before we murders the other one?
Zoey 7:25
Yeah, surprise. They're still perfectly happy shopping.
Scott Benner 7:29
No kidding. It does start it is starting to surprise. We're jumping around. So I the game ends and I'm on my way to Vermont with my son. And my daughter calls. My daughter's name is Arden. And she says mom says there's no air conditioning in this house. And I said that's impossible. I know how much I paid for this house. It's a vacation home. Look around harder. Maybe it's on a separate system. And
Zoey 7:56
you just open the doors. And that's your air conditioning.
Scott Benner 7:59
Yeah. Well, we didn't figure that out right away. So then we figured it out. And then everybody and by everybody. I mean the other three people in my family were so mad at me.
Zoey 8:11
Is it? I feel like I don't know. I used to just put fans in my room I guess. I don't know people are it's funny though. People bring that up often like oh, yeah, there's no, sir air conditioner. My house is always somewhere between 68 and 70 degrees here around. Minus 68. And I've been getting a lot of like, heat for that lately. Because apparently I had no people who keep their house at 55 and I was like you're a psychopath. That's ridiculous.
Scott Benner 8:39
Listen, I want the world to thrive but not bad enough to be cold. Yeah. So my highlights from my Vermont trip where was this? This is exactly the highlight. This is the thing about Vermont I will never in my entire life forget on our way to do some sightseeing. We're gonna go drive up a mountain and walk around have some Ben and Jerry's. That kind of a thing. Well, on the way to that event. We passed a what I'm going to call about a 25 foot travel trailer that looked like it was 50 years old. It was on the front yard of a home. It had a chicken wire fence around it. The doors were ripped off of it and it was being used as a giant Do you want to guess or should I say
Zoey 9:27
um I feel like it could have been definitely for some period of animal Okay, I want to say cows but I don't know if they'd fit in comfortably although they often keep cows pretty uncomfortable so I guess either chickens or goats
Scott Benner 9:44
my god you got it. It was a giant chicken coop This is
Zoey 9:48
my parents had chickens for a while.
I'm no stranger to a chicken coop.
Scott Benner 9:53
That was those My favorite part of the trip. My second sounds about right. My second favorite part was finding this little tiny movie theater. That was like privately owned and had these little digital theaters that that. Yeah, pretty much it. Yeah, I would go back if it was closer to something and had air conditioning.
Zoey 10:12
Yeah. Well, you can go in the winter and then it's like really cozy You know? So yeah,
Scott Benner 10:18
please. So you guys grew up in Vermont together. You and your sister?
Zoey 10:22
Yes, we did. Yeah, my sister. Yeah, I was born in Vermont. She was technically born in Jersey. But um, yeah, we grew up in Bennington, Vermont.
Scott Benner 10:31
Okay. What is your, like, earliest remembrance of her having type one.
Zoey 10:39
I remember her getting it, which I'm realizing now I think are probably some of my earliest memories, like at all. Because, um, yeah, I was about four. She, we like realized where I didn't realize anything. But my mom realized something was wrong, because we were skiing. And I think we had like the little kid. It was like the 90s. So we had those like one z suits, which is like impossible to go to the bathroom. And my sister had to pee, like every single run. And my mom was like, What the hell is going on here? And that's like, I remember being on the chairlift and my mom being like, concerned about that. And then I remember being in the hospital because it was her birthday. I was having a grand old time. I loved hospital pudding. So that was a highlight for me. Not for
Scott Benner 11:29
your child, aren't you?
Zoey 11:32
Good times. Um, yeah, I was like, four. So I remember that. I remember like, my family crying. I never seen my dad cry before I've ever seen him cry. Um, yeah, that was I mean, yes. I remember when she got it. And then like, you know, I, she's, like, so responsible. And I don't know if it's because she had diabetes. Like she could she got it so young, or if she always would have been like that, but um, I remember like my mom giving us like, going to like this chocolate shop and Manchester, Vermont. And what is the store getting like one chocolate and like savoring it for, like, hours on end, like unbelievable self control. And I had eaten like, 17 of them by that time or something like that?
Scott Benner 12:17
Well, I'm doing the math over here. I got eight minus three minus eight. I gotta carry the one. That's 13 sit on five. And then that makes the three a two. So your sister got diabetes, like 25 years ago?
Zoey 12:31
Oh, yeah. Yeah, sure.
Not good at mad. Yeah, yes.
Scott Benner 12:37
Why do you need math in Vermont?
Zoey 12:39
I'm well, I'm in law school. So I really don't need math. But yeah, yeah, me. My dad must use a lot of math building furniture and such.
Scott Benner 12:48
I'll tell you took it took no math to rip the door off that trailer.
Zoey 12:51
Yeah, exactly. Only to count your chickens. That's all you need to do.
I really, I must have had it for like, 20 Yeah,
Scott Benner 12:59
something like that. Don't like that. Okay, so a really long time. And how long did you guys live together out of those 25 some years?
Zoey 13:06
Oh, um, let's see, uh, until she was, well, you know, I'm, you know, counting when she'd come back in the summer for college, or, you know, I don't know, up until she was 18. Okay, we always lived together.
Scott Benner 13:21
So for about a decade, you you existed together while you were aging from four or five to 14 or 15? Yeah, gotcha. All right now. Initially, I wonder when you started really being aware of impact on you, I guess I should ask is, was there impact on you that you're aware of?
Zoey 13:44
Um, I don't. I don't think so. Really. I mean, other than like, there was a phase where my mom, like, I remember having to get like a shot or I don't know, I remember like being at the doctor for them to I must have been getting like vaccinations anyway or something. But I remember being told that they were like, checking to see if I if I could also have diabetes. And realistically, like, up until, I don't know, a couple of years ago, my mom if I ever said like, I have to pee all the time or something. My mom would be like, maybe have diabetes. Like that was that's always her initial reaction to anything. Yeah, to anything. Like, oh, I'm thirsty. You have diabetes. Like, I don't really feel like I got there was that much impact? I remember like feeling. Yeah, I was the younger one too. So. I think if anything, like Rob's you just became like more and more responsible, like an older sister would anyway. Yeah, I don't remember feeling like, like definitely not jealous or anything. I don't know.
Scott Benner 14:48
Did they spend more time with her than you? Because of the diabetes?
Zoey 14:54
No, I don't think so. My um, my mom like, we're At home, she's artists, so she was like at home with us mostly. So at that point, I think when she first got it, I was still young enough that I probably was only in school like half a day or something. So I was home with her more than more than my sister was.
Scott Benner 15:12
Do you have a appreciation for how your parents felt away from your sister? Did they ever say or do or act in a way that made you realize the diabetes was concerning to them?
Zoey 15:24
Yeah, I think I remember my dad getting a beeper, because it was the 90s like I said, Yeah. And that was like a big thing. Because he needed to, like constantly be being contact. I remember, I think she had like, a couple seizures in the beginning, um, at some point that I think we're, I don't know, you could probably tell me if they were related to diabetes or not. But I remember my sister, like, pretending she had one when we were like, really young, and freaking my mom out and like, see, it's horrible. Now that I think about it. like seeing my mom's reaction really, like, kind of instilled in me like how much she was, like, constantly worried. I don't think she really expressed it. Outwardly as much as I now realize that she probably had like a constant fear filled you're already nervous when you have kids anyway. But I would know but and then, on top of that, getting diabetes is like, makes you paranoid. Probably.
Scott Benner 16:26
It does a little bit and by the way, if it helps you I feel comfort. I mean, not that you need my approval, but not having children until after your 30 huge win for you.
Zoey 16:36
Yeah, seriously. I am so not ready. So that's good to hear. You
Scott Benner 16:40
probably don't even know yourself yet. So your parents, I guess we should go back for a second. Maybe walk me through a little more your sister pretending to have a seizure to freak your mom out. So this is just a prank, right? Let's do these quick today, shall we? You want to get the Omni pod tubeless insulin pump you can you want to try it before you buy it? You can my Omni pod.com forward slash juicebox Omni pod will send you a free no obligation, pod experience kit a demo, it will come to you right in the mail. You can put it on yourself or a loved one whomever it's for, wear it live with it. frolic about take a shower, take a bath skydive if you're a skydiver, you know, I'm saying do what you do in it and see what you think. If you want to keep moving after that, I'm the pod would be thrilled to help you. If you don't, it's fine. No pressure, no harm in trying. My Omni pod.com Ford slash juice box takes about three minutes. And that thing will be on its way here. Now the Dexcom g six continuous glucose monitor, can't get your free demo with that. But I can send you to dexcom.com forward slash juicebox. to really look through the details. When you get there, you're going to find out about rise and fall alerts right find out if your blood sugar's going up or going down. If it's going up fast or going down fast, it can tell you that you can set the alarms to tell you when you want to know it's not like it always tells you at one number it tells you when you want to know. It'll also tell up to 10 of your followers, you can choose 10 people to follow your blood glucose, their phone can get alarms as well. So you have a backup, where if you're a parent, you know, it's easier to manage if everybody's seeing what's going on in real time. When we're Pre-Bolus thing with ardens Omni pod, we always use the data from the Dexcom g six to tell us how far in advance we need insulin, right? Do we have a little bit of a high blood sugar we need to get down before lunch. That's easy to do. And it's not as scary you can correct the high that's just how I do it, you correct the high and then you can still do your Pre-Bolus It's amazing. Just having that information in front of you opens up your possibilities. And it allows you to make really fine decisions or bold decisions with your art and spin around wearing it on the pod since she was four and a dexcom. Since like, I don't know so many generations index calm ago I've lost track years and years. These two tools are at the core of how Arden manages her blood sugar and be clear what that means. Arden has no diet restrictions. As a matter of fact, about three minutes ago she Pre-Bolus for macaroni and cheese and her eight one C has been between five two and six two for over six years. All that is accomplished with the Omni pod and the Dexcom can't be more precise because that's all there is to dexcom.com forward slash juicebox my Omni pod comm forward slash juice box links right there in the show notes for your podcast player. At Juicebox podcast.com have a couple seconds today and you'd like to support the show and add your voice to type one diabetes research that matters. T one d exchange.org. forward slash juice box. Check it out.
This is just a prank right?
Zoey 20:27
I'm not sure the timeline, but I remember her like not being in school because we were in the same elementary school I think briefly maybe or, but there's nothing more like gone to school that day or something like that. And people knew that like my friend My parents friends knew that because we come from like a really small town and everyone's a doctor. And so I think she had had a seizure or something. And then we were like, we're in bed. My mom would read to us before bed, and we're in my parents bed like reading and my sister. Yeah, like, I think she told me what she was gonna do. Because I wasn't freaked out. I you know, not remembering quite clearly. But she I remember her like kind of like pretending she was having like convulsions and she like roll their eyes back. And my mom was like, screaming and like jumping up and down. She called
Scott Benner 21:25
me she What did she call your dad's beeper?
Zoey 21:28
No, there wasn't enough time before my sister like started laughing. My mom was like, she was so mad. And I don't blame her
Scott Benner 21:34
mentally. When you saw Miami Vice. Did you think your dad was like a cocaine drug lord. Oh, okay.
Zoey 21:42
But that's funny. I remember thinking his beeper was like, super cool. Because cell phones weren't really a thing yet. Definitely. Yeah, I mean that, you know, people had them but not like, I remember him getting a cell phone too. That's a big deal.
Scott Benner 21:58
So your sister was in. As you, as you recall, was she the manager of her insulin and things like that? Did she basically take care of herself?
Zoey 22:07
Yeah, well, she was pretty young. First. And I remember she had a pen, like a, that you had to like, step into her thigh every time. And that was I remember her, like, crying and being really upset that she had to do it in the earlier times, because she was only nine. So but then yeah, I don't she had a pump. She got a pump. Pretty quick, maybe? I don't know. I want to say when she was like 12 or 13, but I'm not sure. And it was like the mini med. I think, is that right? And then you got like a pumps, diesel tronic. Is that something like that? Or do
that she got a mini med one verse. I remember that one. What was the second?
Like? decent tronic or something? I don't know.
Scott Benner 22:59
Hold on a second. You're really close. It just made me laugh. That's how I wouldn't have been Medtronic maybe.
Zoey 23:06
Oh, I remember starting with a D. But now she has a different med one. So okay. Well, she had this one that I thought it started with a D? I don't know. But it had everything clear. So it looked like robotic and it was cool. And she pretty much yeah, I handled all that. Remember her like watching her like putting her say I used to want her to test my blood sugar.
Scott Benner 23:25
Do you remember why you wanted your blood sugar shocked or just cuz she was
Zoey 23:30
I think my mom wanted to do it to like, see that? Probably her like, wondering if I had diabetes. Um, but I just thought it was cool. And I want I think I want it to be like, it doesn't hurt like, you know, because you always had like little calluses all over her fingers from doing it.
Scott Benner 23:48
And you were like, I won't have calluses. Yeah. I wonder time. I'm trying to imagine if I if your mom didn't maybe pull you aside and try to be like, wouldn't it be cool to check your blood sugar? Like your sister tried to talk you into it? So she could see if you're?
Zoey 24:02
I don't know. Yeah, I remember like changing the needle and stuff. But it's funny.
Scott Benner 24:08
So this is really I know, you probably don't feel like it. But I think it's very interesting to hear that you have memories, but they're not. Like it's not horror stories or getting me like, yeah, it's interesting. It's definitely interesting. So I think your sister contacted me and said, Hey, I know you want to have on some siblings. And I think my sister Zoe would do it. Like, that's great. And then there was something about us, she's like, make sure you tell Is there a story or was that the seizure story is the story.
Zoey 24:36
Oh, no, there's another story. Okay. Um, this is probably the closest become to a horror story, but it wasn't. Roxy was just like always so cool about everything, which is funny because she's kind of a hypochondriac, and by her own admission, but I guess once you get diabetes, you're like, I can't suspect I have it. I already have it. She thought that she was always like, pretty independent and very like responsible, which I was not. So the only way in which she screwed me over is that I was a younger child and she never did anything bad. So when I did anything, as like a high schooler, it was like the end of the world. But she was in college and she had come home. I guess probably I was a sophomore in high school, I think it was like spring of my sophomore year. And she had come home for, I guess, summer break, because they get out early. And she had her wisdom teeth out, and I can't. Now remember, if it was something to do with like the medication they gave her after her wisdom teeth, or if something just like malfunction with her pump. But it her pumps stopped working. My parents were out of town. They had gone to sell North Carolina or something for my cousin's graduation. And my grandmother was still alive at that point. But she was like, practically blind. I was 15. Like I said, we live on now like a backside of a mountain. And we're about 25 minutes from town. And my sister's like, something's wrong. I don't like I can't really see very well, either. She was like, I think her trouble. something's not working in her blood sugar. Something happened was really high. Maybe or Is that right? No,
Scott Benner 26:28
no, I think really high if it's not working.
Zoey 26:30
Yeah. You know. And so I had my permit at the time, I guess, but you can't get your license at your 16. So I was I was probably like, 15 and a half. My grandmother's you only one there. She can't see anything. I only have my permit. My sister's like about to pass out. And I had to drive down into town and take her to the hospital. Because I was the only one who was like, able to drive physically. And we figured if I got pulled over, it'd be a pretty good excuse. My grandma, I guess it was fine. She was in the car. But she couldn't say anything. So it was no.
Unknown Speaker 27:07
Yes. Yeah, exactly.
Zoey 27:09
Yeah, so I yeah, that was that was. That's kind of cool, though. kind of funny. Sounds like
Unknown Speaker 27:16
diabetes brought you like a fun. Did you
Scott Benner 27:18
tell your parents afterwards?
Zoey 27:20
Yeah. Well, that later that night. Obviously, I was never neglected by Mr. Diabetes, because what I remember more is that I got sprayed by a skunk that night. Coming home. I got sprayed on like my bare leg, just like point blank got sprayed by a skunk and was home alone because Roxy wasn't there. And my grandma was with her was this and I was like,
Scott Benner 27:43
oh my god. Was the skunk at home. Biggest memory. Was the skunk at home or did you take Roxy to an animal hospital when our bugs are really?
Zoey 27:51
Nope, the skunk was at home eating cat food from our porch.
Unknown Speaker 27:55
As you do,
Zoey 27:57
yeah, sure. Makes the cat and the skunk word buddies. But skunk did not like me. Yeah, I remember. And also Rodney had to go. Apparently there was like no room, in the hospital and the normal places. So she was in the ICU, but not because she was in intensive care. And I didn't really know what ICU stood for. And so people were calling me and I was telling them she was in the ICU. And that was shocking to some people. But yeah, she was fine.
Scott Benner 28:30
almost a perfect story. I here's where here's what I thought I was so excited for half is that because you're like my grandmother was really old and almost and in the pause between almost and when you said blind I thought you're gonna say and almost dead. That's just like, I was always thinking ahead. And then you're like, blind. I'm like, that's even better. Like how are they going to like, fix this? Like the sisters losing her eyesight because her blood sugar is so high. Your child? grandma's blind? You live on a mountain?
Zoey 29:03
Yeah, it's like the perfect storm.
Scott Benner 29:06
Right to go to the hospital.
Zoey 29:08
That would have been epic. borrow the the neighbors like a horse and buggy.
Unknown Speaker 29:15
Put your
Scott Benner 29:16
grandma and your sister on. lit by what I'm assuming it's like a frayed rope. Ah,
Zoey 29:21
yeah, maybe I could have driven the john deere, we have one of those. I have to tell you again.
Scott Benner 29:26
Going into Vermont the first time because we're making some fun of it, but we shouldn't be my wife and my wife and I said to each other if there was a way to make money here, we'd move here immediately.
Zoey 29:35
Yeah, it's Yeah. And it's gorgeous. I went Yeah. What I yeah, I'm probably not gonna be able to move back there for a long time. But that's my goal.
Scott Benner 29:45
Doesn't bother you with a winter.
Zoey 29:47
No, I think I mean, sometimes it gets you know, like really bad if it's windy and like below zero, but I grew up like because there was nothing else to do. The winter we would if you got like, you know, I don't know if you're like an honor student or something you got Really cheap ski pass to not like the nicest mountain but a pretty nice mountain. And so we just go skiing every weekend pretty much for snowboarding,
Scott Benner 30:08
good students would get a cheaper pass the ski.
Zoey 30:11
Yeah.
Scott Benner 30:12
That's kind of brilliant, isn't it?
Zoey 30:14
Yeah, encouraging kids to do well, so they can, you know, pay for cheaper,
Scott Benner 30:19
you know, more suburban setting. How would you incentivize children for good grades? I'm trying to think around here. Could you give them? Yeah, I don't know. Like nothing, I don't think Yeah, I don't know what you can do. Gotcha. All right. Listen, what kind of an attorney Do you want to be?
Zoey 30:35
I'm going to be an immigration attorney.
Scott Benner 30:38
nice person.
Unknown Speaker 30:40
I try.
Scott Benner 30:41
I don't think you have to try. So it sounds like it's happening.
Zoey 30:43
Oh, yeah. It's important to me. So.
Scott Benner 30:48
Where do you live right now? Are you in Vermont?
Zoey 30:51
I know, I go to school in Rhode Island. But I'm moving to Arizona in September. Ah,
Scott Benner 30:57
okay. How did you become interested in immigration law? Because there certainly aren't a lot of people from outside of the United States trying to get into Vermont, and having
Zoey 31:06
no not at all, I will probably never, probably won't be able to end up back there for a long time. I used to live in South America for about three years, I learned Spanish became fluent in Spanish, and I kind of like fell in love with the the Chilean culture. I think when you live in a different country, you kind of get, you know, a sense that like, while every culture is different, and you know, you have a better appreciation for the fact that everyone's human and, you know, ultimately wants the same thing. And human rights are important.
Scott Benner 31:40
Yeah, I said to my wife the other day, I forget what political thing we were talking about. But I said, I think everyone should have to live somewhere else for five minutes, just so they can Yeah, cuz there's, there's a world out there. That if you haven't seen it, you imagine what it's like, and you're probably pretty wrong.
Zoey 31:57
Yeah, I think so. Definitely. Yeah, I'm doing a lot of I'll probably be working with a lot of kids seeking asylum. I'm gonna be working with the
organization called the Florence project in
Unknown Speaker 32:09
Arizona.
Zoey 32:13
So they have a children's team that I'll be working on.
Scott Benner 32:15
So before I ask you a couple of serious questions, I want to ask you one more silly question that's gonna alienate another tire state of people. Are people from Rhode Island weird?
Zoey 32:25
Um, they love Rhode Island a lot. So kind of they they're just like, like, if they never left Rhode Island, they don't think they'd care really much.
Scott Benner 32:39
What is it about there? Because it My question is a is a based on the calls coming from inside the house. This is from what I hear from people who are in Rhode Island that there's like, there's something particular about them, they fit well together. And then they seem like you can as soon as you move them out of Rhode Island for five seconds, you can look at them and go, you know, I think that person was from Rhode Island. No, yeah. Why is that? What is it about? I don't
Zoey 33:03
know. Well, their accent first of all is pretty intense.
I don't know. It's so unique, I think would like that. Even the geography of it. They're like super proud of very strange things like stuffies they call them are basically just like stuffed po hogs, but they're more breading than anything else. So I don't really understand what the big to do is.
Scott Benner 33:26
I'm googling what you just said, cuz that stuff
is I think that Yeah, I do not want to end up on a website where guys are dressed like cartoon characters on
Zoey 33:38
tread lightly tried to be really careful here. Rhode Island
stuffy.
There, yeah, they're just like really, really proud of brown. But also I mean, because I've been kind of involved in the Rhode Island legal community. It's like, you have to be so careful because it's such a tiny state and everyone knows everything about everyone. It's basically like, like, high school for states. It's like very quickie
Scott Benner 34:07
stuffies stuffed. claw hugs. Ko hugs ko hugs. Yeah, hold on. Stuff co hog or stuffies are popular elsewhere in New England, but only in Rhode Island are their annual kohan festivals in Warren in a fictional town called ko hog in a popular TV show called Family Guy. No hogs, of course, are the large. Of course. I'm still wondering What in God's name is this thing and I'm looking at it and the plan and the text says Of course. Cool. Hugs, of course, are the large hard shelled clams native to this area. The ones used in the chapters and clam cakes. kohan comes from the Indian name. Wow pop up blocker chalky. And there's a lot of words here I can't pronounce cultivated and clams for food and ornaments the introduction of them the area's first European settlers. For this dish, let's finish this up. The clam meat gets chopped up and mixed with bread crumbs, herbs and finely diced onions, bell peppers and celery. The whole savory mess is then baked in the clamshell. Yeah, right then. Mm hmm. And you say they love them and they're a little too proud of them. Is that what you're getting?
Zoey 35:21
I think they're just like a little too proud of everything, maybe. Like their beaches and like, I don't know. Their beaches are like kind of crowded and have a lot of red seaweed in them.
Scott Benner 35:35
But they love it. look good. I live in
Zoey 35:38
Bristol, Rhode Island. And it's really cute. Kind of like a sweet little Harbor Town. But in the summer Yeah, it gets kind of like unbearable. There's I usually leave but there's just like people everywhere. I sound like my parents.
Scott Benner 35:53
This Long Island, it's overwrought. We got to get out of here.
Zoey 35:57
Exactly. You want to live in Manhattan.
Scott Benner 36:00
Alright, so it makes you want to live in man that easily be the title of this episode. So have you ever and I'm sorry, if I'm the one putting this into your head? Are you aware that? You know people get Type One Diabetes at all ages?
Zoey 36:17
Yes. So it seems like people. I don't think this is scientific at all. But in my experience, it's like, either got it when you're like, you're three, like nine. It's like everyone I've ever talked to has always gotten in these weird times. Or like, early teens or like early 20s. I know. I know, a girl in college who when I went to college there shouldn't have diabetes. And she got it when she was like 22 movies.
Scott Benner 36:46
I have met somebody who's been diagnosed at every age, you can imagine right up to
Zoey 36:51
six. So Wow, type one. Yes. Oh, my time is so
Scott Benner 36:58
don't lose faith.
Zoey 37:00
Yeah, I do could have diabetes. One day,
Scott Benner 37:03
of course. See, aspirational is the way to go. My question was, of course this Did you ever think about it, but your experience was that it's for younger? You feel like you You enjoy a second ago felt like you had? Sorry. It felt like you would live past the age where this could happen to you?
Zoey 37:22
Um, yeah, I guess I like don't I? Yeah, I don't worry about it. I'm like, honestly never worried about it, though. I mean, that would suck. But I guess, you know, at least I'd have an older sister who knew everything about everything to tell me. It's weird, because in our family, there's no one else in our family who has it like that we knew of ever. Hmm. So I don't know, I thought, isn't it possible to like, when you get it as like you get a virus as a kid or something like that is
Scott Benner 37:53
that? Well, my my best understanding of the medical idea is that you have genetic markers that make you more or less likely to have it. And oftentimes, something happens that sort of sparks off that solar flare in your body. And, you know, for my daughter, I think she got hand foot Mouth Disease, which is just a simple thing kids get and Yeah, probably in that moment, her immune system got confused and attacked her pancreas instead of the hand foot mouth. Uh huh. Yes, you can get it. Yeah,
Zoey 38:25
I don't remember.
Unknown Speaker 38:28
I don't know if Roxy,
Zoey 38:30
Roxy getting like a sickness or something. But she probably did. Because I remember like them talking about that being a possible way. But yeah, I don't know. I mean, I'm still not really. I always tell her that. Like, it's, it's good that she got to know me because I would probably be dead because I'm so irresponsible with that kind of stuff. And she's just like, unbelievably on it. So yeah, I don't think about it that much. I mean, maybe I will now have to call you back in a month and tell you if I'm like losing sleep over? Well, there's
Scott Benner 39:01
babies for your there is something you could do called trial net, where they would test you for the markers and tell you if you have any. Your interest.
Zoey 39:10
What do you think they would have done? Is that something that's new?
Scott Benner 39:14
I'm not new as in like today, but newer than 25 years ago.
Zoey 39:19
Oh, God. Yeah. So they probably wouldn't have done that. Because I do remember. I don't know. They probably just like tested by blood sugar or something when I was young to figure it out. But yeah, I don't know. Maybe I'll do it. So while we're heading
Scott Benner 39:31
down this road before we get off of it onto another idea ever considered what it would be like? Do you ever worry that your children might get type one?
Unknown Speaker 39:42
Um,
Zoey 39:44
no, mainly because I haven't really fun.
Scott Benner 39:49
Have you ever have you ever worried Zoey that one day you'd come on a podcast to do a favor for your sister and the host would make you freak out about your future?
Zoey 39:57
about whether or not I'm late. To the party of motherhood, Roxy and I talked about like kittens a lot and being like, we kind of go back and forth. Like I used to really, really want kids. And now I don't really do because mainly not diabetes, but I do think like, Oh my god, I would never stop worrying. And that's part of it. I think I would worry more about like, I don't know, like autism maybe or something like that
Scott Benner 40:26
getting some some money or something like that. Yeah, baby growing up in a chicken coop inside of a trailer on some guys.
Zoey 40:36
Get bucked off a horse. I don't know, run over by a tractor.
Scott Benner 40:39
I think obviously, if you if you don't have type one, there's, there's plenty of other things in the world to worry about. If you're, if you're gonna run around worrying. I don't, you know, I think to sit and think that you're going to get, you know, have some malady in the future or diseases is not a good use of your time. But I was just wondering, like, you know, if you, you would consider that. But it's interesting. You've gotten to the age, where you realize about yourself that if that baby comes out of you, you're That's it? That's the rest of your life. Like you said, Your mom. Still like, right? If you're like, I peed today, she's like, and how old your mom?
Zoey 41:19
6667?
Scott Benner 41:21
Do you really want to be worrying about a 28 year old when you're 67?
Unknown Speaker 41:24
No. But you will if you have one.
Zoey 41:28
I know I will just pretty much the the turnoff at this point. It's so funny. I every time I say that, like my aunt, I have a lot of moms. And they're always like, take it personally. They they're like very offended. Like, oh, you you want to have kids like I'm like have insulted them because they had kids. My cousins too. Like it's not something personal. I give in hard.
Scott Benner 41:50
My aunt and uncle didn't have children, one of my aunts and uncles and people were always hard on them. And I always just thought like, they don't seem like they want to leave him alone.
Zoey 41:59
Yeah, I don't know. I mean, my I'm not engaged or anything My boyfriend is I think he would be like a really lovely father. But I think he also, you know, we'd like to travel. I have a dog. She's sitting right here. That's a big
Scott Benner 42:13
enough mistake, in my opinion.
Zoey 42:15
Very, very committed to her fuzzy little face. But
Scott Benner 42:19
did your boyfriend is your boyfriend gonna find out on this podcast that he's not having kids? Is that what? No.
Zoey 42:26
We've talked about that a lot. I think it would be such a good dad, which is like the only reason I'm like, not 100%. But I'm like, but what if I'm just like a really bad mom. And then I'm like, oh, man, you know, a kid with diabetes. That'd be really hard. Especially like worrying all the time. I would imagine. I think my parents like played it really cool. But I think my mom was always probably, but Roxy was just like such a responsible teenager. I think having a kid with diabetes, I would really worry about like drinking and stuff because that would really like make your blood sugar go haywire, I guess especially if you're like, really drunk and don't know what's going on to make
Scott Benner 43:00
it lower could put you in a situation where you might misuse the insulin or something we have Yeah, episode about drinking heavily on with diabetes.
Zoey 43:08
I remember being in high school and there was a kid in my high school who had diabetes and his parents were like, very, like helicopter, always, like really, really worried. And I remember him getting a he was always just like, very sweet and kind of innocent. And I remember just getting like really, really drunk one night. And everyone was like, he was like, passed out and everyone was like, oh, what do we do like asking me we should like to I was like, literally like test his blood sugar on ours tester is like, it was scary for me. And I'm not I'm not his mom. I don't know. So this
Scott Benner 43:39
is interesting, right? And I By the way, I'm really very much enjoying this. It's not going anywhere the way I expected. But I like what you're saying. So in a highschool drinking situation, when a child who has type one passes out, you become the de facto doctor because your sister had diabetes. But in truth, you don't know what the hell you're doing.
Zoey 44:01
I have no idea. Like, this is not good. Yes.
Scott Benner 44:05
Yeah. You should never put your life in the hands of drunk people.
Zoey 44:08
No, definitely not. 100%. No.
Unknown Speaker 44:15
Oh my gosh, hey, listen, you don't have to answer this if you don't want to. But is the boyfriend coming to Arizona?
Scott Benner 44:23
Am I about to break you up? I'm sorry. Does he not know you're going to Arizona? Did you hang up? What just happened?
Zoey 44:28
Can you hear me? Okay. Sorry, um, anyway, wants to get his LLM in tax law. So the schools in Arizona don't offer that program. So we'll be we'll be doing long distance for
Scott Benner 44:43
a year or so. No kidding. That's interesting. Yeah. Listen, I'm gonna tell you this right now. This might come as a sad, horrifying shock to you. But if you do a long distance relationship for a year, you're gonna end up having a baby Why? Because that's a ton of commitment to somebody, you're gonna do a long distance relationship for a year and then not marry a girl and make her pregnant.
Zoey 45:10
Can I just marry him and not get pregnant? I mean, you could try
Unknown Speaker 45:15
doing my best.
Scott Benner 45:18
I can promise you that you can try if you want to, huh? What are you going to do? If your internal lady parts start telling you you have to make a baby, will you be able to fight them off?
Zoey 45:28
Yeah, well, I think that already happened. Like when I was like, 22. And I was like, had baby fever. And now I'm like, oh, they're so sticky. Every time they touch everything that's sticky. That's how I feel about kids. So it's very sticky. It's very interesting to hear you say that, because
Scott Benner 45:42
I'm a, a firm believer in that idea of there's like, certain times when you just, you know, the women who around you are like, now would be a great time to have a baby. And you're like, why? Yeah, I don't understand, like, what was confusing, you know, cuz your bits are really fun. And then it gets confusing. So you're like in a med tear, and we have no ability to defend that. And then you end up with a baby. That's how
Zoey 46:07
Yeah, I don't know. I just, I don't know if it's worth it for me.
Scott Benner 46:12
A lot. I have two children that I love immensely, and I'm not certain it's worth it for me. Just so you know.
Zoey 46:18
Well, that is definitely something to think about. And they're
Scott Benner 46:22
actually lovely kids, like bright and thoughtful. And not, they're not a problem. They don't create, like extra problems in my life. Just them human creates a lot of problems in my life.
Zoey 46:33
It's hard. I mean, like, like, my dog has recently decided she will not sleep on the floor, like always has to sleep in the bed in between me and my boyfriend. I'm like, this is rough. I mean, like, heart and and she's too cute. I don't want to move. I personally think she's cuter than a kid. But, you know, I might think differently if I created a human Hey, just for just so people know, when you just said this is rough. And you were talking about your dog that wasn't upon, right? No, I did make a point earlier with getting heat for keeping my thermostat at 68. But that was unintentional. Oh, no. He will be proud though. She loves buttons.
Scott Benner 47:08
What? So? Okay, so you've never really, here's what I'm learning. And this is, and by the way, I know you're gonna think oh, this is a mate, you're gonna probably think this was a waste of time after I say this. But I think the opposite. You don't know anything about type one diabetes, you weren't really impacted by it at all. You're not a different person because of it. Your sister's not unhappy because of it. You know, that's gonna be a really wonderful thing for people to hear. Because what I hear from people is that, oh, we spend more time with Billy and I know for sure that Joey's upset about it. But I think people are just projecting their, onto their younger kids. He looks upset their kids like
Zoey 47:46
oh, like their parent. The parents are worried that they're
Scott Benner 47:49
Yeah, they're worrying that they're screwing something up. See, this is interesting, because you were you were raised in a time where people didn't, I hope I hope this doesn't come to a shock to younger people. People didn't really care that much about their kids. Do you hear what I'm saying?
Zoey 48:06
Yeah, I was like, way more chill. Just like Well, no, go put in the neighborhood. Like, you're gonna get kidnapped like,
Scott Benner 48:14
nothing. Listen, growing up. I was like a little fat kid growing up. And there was a boy at the pool where I lived who tried to kill me and every other boy like every summer, he would drown us, right?
Zoey 48:27
Oh, yeah, they're like, no one gets worse
Scott Benner 48:30
round. No one said a word. My parents are watching me be drugged out, like looking at making friends. You know. And, by the way, that experience and many others, led me to figure out how to stop that kid from trying to drown me. Like I developed a personality around keeping a larger, stronger person from trying to kill me. Because I couldn't run away. Like, you know, cuz I'd had too many candies. So I had to, um, so I had to, I had to, like, talk my way. I had to be a person who he least wanted to drown. Yeah, right. And I came up with that. Because my guess what my parents looked at me and they're like, whatever, like good luck, you know. But looking back, I honestly think that's because they did. Just like, Look, we made the baby. We're paying close. Make sure it goes to school. What else do you want from me? Exactly. And you know, and so I think maybe that lack of that lack of overt concern constantly is good for a kid and it would be great for parents if they weren't burdened with it constantly. But in this sort of last generation, they really got swallowed up by everything needs to be perfect for these kids. You know, I can't let anything bad happened to them. That's a, you know, a bit of a misnomer in some things. Like Don't get me wrong, like you shouldn't want a bus hit them. But no, you might be right. Yeah, there's some things you're gonna have to defend them against. But there's some things you just let them try and Yeah, exactly. So, like, you should just, you know, chill out a little bit of heroin.
Zoey 50:10
Okay. It's okay. Yeah. Yeah, I don't think. I think my parents did a really good job. And I think like I said, looking back on it, they were probably my mom was probably like, constantly freaking out, but she didn't let I don't know. Do let me know that.
Scott Benner 50:31
She probably didn't let your sister know either.
Zoey 50:34
Yeah, I don't think she I think actually I talked about this recently, but like, you know how hard it must have been to be already you're a worried parent. And then on top of that, your tickets ivds. Like, that's a lot. But,
Scott Benner 50:47
um, because Roxy in Vermont still.
Zoey 50:49
No, she lives in Indiana.
Scott Benner 50:52
All right, that's good, because I'm gonna have to ask her to be on the show. And the internet's
Unknown Speaker 50:56
terrible. Yeah,
Scott Benner 50:58
it really is. It's just, there's a person I love who I want to be on the show more, but they live in Vermont, so they can't come on. Because, yeah, it's like
Zoey 51:07
a local local cybercafe. Well
Scott Benner 51:09
dial up like basically, I need Yeah,
Zoey 51:11
we have. We had dial up all through high school and our parents just got rid of it altogether.
Like DSL, I think, I don't know. Fancy.
Scott Benner 51:19
Right from 87. out of it, do you think Roxy would come on?
Zoey 51:26
Yeah, for sure. Yeah. That's
cute. Well, I love the name of this podcast, by the way, because like, some of my earliest memories are just like, juice boxes everywhere. So many juice boxes. And I think also just like glucose tablets, like rolling around in the back of the car.
Scott Benner 51:46
Always, oh, there's a juice box in the door of my car right now. And they're Yeah, they're pretty much always is. Yeah, as my daughter.
Zoey 51:56
I think in terms of being jealous, at any point, it was mainly just because like, I wanted to try her like Weird, Gross gel, like sugar packet. That was like the biggest, the biggest way in which she was favored. She had to eat gross glucose.
Scott Benner 52:13
You know, I'm gonna have to first of all, if that Roxie on to like, tell us the rest of the story. I'm also gonna have to someone's gonna reach out and be like, Yo, I was this, you know, my sibling had a terrible time. And I'm going to want to talk to them too. And, but it's interesting, because your parents are, are made for this Really? Like they're, like, seriously, look at them. They're on Long Island. Plenty of people live very happily on Long Island, not them. They're like, we need more relaxed. And so they move to a, you know, probably the most isn't the most. Come on. It's got to be the chillest place in America right for mine.
Zoey 52:48
I would. I wouldn't think so. Yeah. To be clear, my mom. Well, this current political climate is very high strung, but I think it would be way worse if she was in a city definitely would be exacerbated.
Unknown Speaker 53:03
Your mom is high strung because of the current political climate.
Zoey 53:06
Yeah, she's very angry. I don't blame her. I am too but you know, preaching to the choir.
Scott Benner 53:11
Real quick, just so that we so that we can be sure you were joking about children using heroin. Can you tell everybody for a second just in case
Zoey 53:20
definitely a joke, do not condone children and drug use. Not the coolest,
Scott Benner 53:26
because your sarcasm was really smooth air and I was like, we're gonna have to double back to that for a second.
Zoey 53:30
Because you just I mean arrow and you know, most things I say are sarcastic. My mom also doesn't get my sense of humor, which I think is frustrating for her.
Scott Benner 53:38
Art it My daughter has it. My daughter has it. My wife can't follow it sometimes my son Yeah, my son figured it out. And he's using it now. But he's a little more like my wife. So it took him longer. But yeah, the other night. I said something about so this, there's a movie called the intern with Robert De Niro. And oh,
Zoey 53:59
yeah, I saw that. What's
Scott Benner 54:00
the what's the girl's name? She's got like alabaster skin and dark hair. And
Zoey 54:06
I don't remember I don't like I can't even picture her right now. But I remember Robert DeNiro. Isn't
Scott Benner 54:11
that terrible Les Mis movie recently in Hathaway and Oh, yes. Who's so Anne Hathaway and Robert De Niro are in this movie. That's, I mean, it's not a good movie, right? Yeah. No, but I really like it. So it and I've watched it like five times when it's been on cable. And it comes on while we were helping art and get ready for she was going to a thing where she was like doing her hair and everything and it comes on. Oh my god. I love this movie is my favorite movie. And a minute later Arden goes, are you kidding about the movie? I can't know. And when she can't read my sarcasm. I'm so thrilled. Yeah, because she's so good at it. I'm like, Oh, yeah, so then I pressed it. And so I was telling the truth, but in a sarcastic tone. I'm like, I've seen this movie like five times. It's great. Right. And she and I said, I magic. Oh my god, she's freaked out because I'm telling the truth in a tone that she reads the sarcasm. And then I said this Anne Hathaway right. I said, let me tell you something. If it was 15 years ago, you know who this Hannah Hathaway would be? And my wife goes, I know. And I said, Who are you thinking, Kelly? And she goes, Julia Roberts, and I was like, that's exactly what exactly what I was gonna say, this is in the in the heyday of the 90s films, and Hathaway would have been Julia Roberts. And Arden just looks at me and goes, I cannot tell if you were telling the truth or not. And it freaked me out. I was like, thank you.
Zoey 55:40
Oh, oh, yeah, I had I had very
mature sarcasm at 15. I'm pretty sure it was fully developed. Yeah.
Scott Benner 55:49
Anyway. Yeah, I read it in you immediately. I was concerned, everyone else didn't. Because sometimes I get notes from people. Disclaimer, yeah, I once in a while, get a note from people that it's like, you're so full of yourself. And I'm like, you really have to find a sarcastic person. stay around for a couple of seconds. So you can hear that.
Zoey 56:06
You're doing a podcast on type one diabetes, like, and making it interesting.
Unknown Speaker 56:12
Yeah, just say thank you. Is that what you're saying?
Zoey 56:16
I don't know. I feel like it's just like a weird, a weird dig to someone who's doing something like this. I don't know.
Scott Benner 56:24
You know, it happens very infrequently. Right. But once in a while, and it's funny. You don't realize this, though, because you have no idea. This is an incredibly popular podcast.
Zoey 56:33
Yeah. Rocky, Rocky does a listening so.
Scott Benner 56:36
So I find a way to make this, like, I make diabetes fun should be my T shirt. Or funner, which is not a word, but really would be more like, you know, correct for people's feelings, I guess. Uh huh.
Zoey 56:51
Yeah, I don't know. I guess I because of like, how I can see how this would be incredibly interesting and helpful. I mean, you know, my sisters are listening to it. But I guess because of how responsible Roxy was. And like her, you know, aside from the, you know, almost dying, going to the ICU and having her half blind to grandma. Forever. Like, that was the biggest, you know, and you know, but to me, I also actually remember one time having to, like, go out, like, I don't know, I think her blood sugar was at like, 38 or something like that. And my dad being like, we have to go find juice, like driving around at like, 1230 at night, and some like town when we're on vacation. I only again, every time I remember something, it's because there was something about me in there, too. So if you want to talk about being self centered,
Scott Benner 57:39
no, but that, but you're a little kid, you probably you should be. So yeah, you're a little kid. And so I just think that as much as you're not gonna really feel this right now. Because you don't have diabetes, and you don't have a child who has diabetes, the people who do, we're going to be incredibly comforted by your story. And your story really? Seriously. Your story really is, I grew up with a spouse with a sibling that had type one diabetes, and it didn't hurt my life. And no, not at all. Do you think it made you in any way? Did it elevate you? That you could tell?
Zoey 58:13
Um, I, I mean, you
Scott Benner 58:15
are, I hope so.
Zoey 58:16
I guess they're being like, more compassionate, or, you know, patient, I guess. But, I mean, it's really funny. There's like a running joke in my family. Because this one time I wrote this essay that was supposed to write an essay about someone I looked up to, and I wrote it about Roxy, and I talked about how she had diabetes. And she'd, like, you know, overcome all this stuff. And of course, like every one of my family was like, That's hilarious that you're using Roxy's diabetes to get good grades. And ever since then, it's been like this running joke that I like, use her diabetes when it is.
Unknown Speaker 58:50
But
Scott Benner 58:50
officer Listen, I know I'm only 15 and a half, but my sister's got diabetes in my old grandmother's almost blind, so not a lot of options here.
Zoey 59:00
That would have been fine. Yeah, there's, um, they, like still laugh about that. And I'm like I was writing about
Scott Benner 59:07
do you? Did you really look up to her? Are you like, hey, this guy is gonna get me this internship or something like that?
Zoey 59:13
No, I think I know, oh, my God, I was so young. I don't think I was even looking for an internship. But she I think I was probably in like, sixth grade or something. No, I definitely. I mean, we're, you know, we're, we've gotten a lot closer, and we're more you know, I think we look to each other for different things now as both, you know, adults, but as a kid, especially, I think I you know, did I definitely looked up to her a lot. And I think, I mean, she's also like, she was like the valedictorian of our high school and then graduated and I came in as a freshman. Like, I think I was like a disappointment.
Unknown Speaker 59:50
Yeah,
Zoey 59:50
yeah. I'll tell you responsible, but I don't I mean, I, I guess just being like more aware, but I really I will I'd love to say that it like affected me more, but maybe I just was being you know, self centered and little kid and didn't
Scott Benner 1:00:07
seem so interested to talk to her now because I bet you she didn't think of herself as very responsible. Maybe that's how you saw it. Do we definitely need the other side of this now?
Zoey 1:00:15
Yeah, yes.
Scott Benner 1:00:18
No, no, not at the same time I need. My brain needs time to ferment and as an adult, do you guys talk about diabetes? Because you said your close now? Does it come up ever? Does she not speak about it that much. Um,
Zoey 1:00:36
it comes up just because like, you know, but I mean, like, just for like logistics, like, show um, I actually recently for Christmas, I bought her a pair of nice leggings that have these really nice some pockets on the sides that are built in and I was like, Oh, this would be perfect for Roxy's pump. But, you know, other than that, I don't think she really, there were moments, I think when she would be frustrated with you know, implications of having it like, you know, you have to eat sometimes you don't want to things like that. But we don't, I don't know. I it could just be because she's like, you know, she's 32 now and has it so down, Pat, but there's other stuff. I mean, it's always changing too. And, you know, like that she has that patched thing now that like, senses your blood sugar wall like so you don't have to like test all the time. Yeah. But kind of like adjusting to those things. Like, you know, she'll mention in passing like, Oh, so frustrating. You know, my agency went up because the patch thing wasn't working. And I'm like getting used to it. But I think it's just normal for me now. So I don't really think about it as being like, Ah, yes. Today she complained about
Scott Benner 1:01:49
No, I wouldn't expect that. I'm just interested.
Zoey 1:01:52
Yeah. Yeah. That's cool.
Scott Benner 1:01:55
Were you ever aware of like, Did you go to her appointments when she was a little? Her doctor?
Zoey 1:01:59
Um, yes. Her doctor was named Jill Abel, Seth and I really liked that. And we would get to go to Albany, which is a CD. So that's why I remember that. But again, I'm like, Oh, I get to go get like I think we like went out to dinner in. We went to the pawn blossom. This was a Chinese restaurant that was better than the one that was in our town. So that's like, why I remember going to her doctor's. So two
Scott Benner 1:02:23
things able sac are Abel, Abel Seth,
Zoey 1:02:27
chill. Abel Seth, I believe was her name burger. I don't know if I'm supposed to be a broadcast. I'm looking
Unknown Speaker 1:02:33
here. How do you find it will seem to basically like her. She's actually
Zoey 1:02:37
really liked her. I remember that. Yeah,
Unknown Speaker 1:02:39
she's it all day. Um,
Zoey 1:02:41
oh, she's still there.
Scott Benner 1:02:43
She's still doing her thing and opening.
Zoey 1:02:45
Yeah, well, she was great. I don't know I Roxy was especially for like when kiddos get diabetes. I think it's probably like a hard transition. I can imagine it would be even harder the older you get. So maybe getting in at nine was a blessing in disguise. But yeah, she always seemed like, very, like, understanding and helpful as far as I remember.
Scott Benner 1:03:08
Yeah. Well, people um, you know, I think if they when they find a good doctor, or one that they get along with, they stick to it. And you obviously travel that's really far to travel, isn't it?
Zoey 1:03:21
From betting town, it was like an hour
Scott Benner 1:03:22
an hour. Okay, so for so to you. You got to see the doctor who had Did you just like her name?
Zoey 1:03:30
I remember being really nice. I think, like, Yeah, I don't know, because we'd always go in. I mean, yeah, they weren't gonna like leave me at home. Because I think so. I think I'd had no choice but I made it work. Yeah.
Scott Benner 1:03:42
And honestly, you're the bad seed. Something was gonna go wrong. Exactly.
Zoey 1:03:44
Yeah, for sure. I probably gonna burn the house down if they left me alone.
Scott Benner 1:03:48
But you're but your sister's endocrinologist visits? were basically the The doctor was nice. And I got Chinese food that was better than I had at home.
Zoey 1:03:57
Yeah, that is it. I think
Scott Benner 1:03:59
that's great. I think that's exactly how I expect it. So people ask me all the time, like, how does your son take this? And I was like, take what? Yeah, like, What are you talking about? This is just this is our This is how it goes? This is our life. Right? Like if, if Jordan was a lacrosse player instead of had diabetes, there'd be things we'd have to do for lacrosse. And it would impact Cole's life. And that would be our life, too. But yeah, I don't really see it as much different that I've tried asking him he doesn't have any He's like, you know, he actually sounds like he was like, I don't know. So I remember this one time we went to a restaurant we couldn't eat right away.
Unknown Speaker 1:04:33
Yeah, like,
Scott Benner 1:04:34
it wasn't a complaint. It was just a memory, you know? Yeah. But but he's like, other than that, like, whatever. I don't, I don't care. I don't think he I don't think he sees her like diabetes at all. Like he'll ask sometimes about her overall health, and we'll keep him filled in if something's going on with her. But no more or less than we keep her filled in if something's going on with him or Yeah, that's good. doesn't have anything to do with diabetes. Really?
Zoey 1:04:59
Yeah, I think that's I mean, that's a great, that's great that you're able to, you know, maintain that equilibrium. That's nice. Yeah, like I remember having to, like Roxy would have to order diet soda, and they'd bring them in sometimes, you know, waiters mix them up. So I would be like the guinea pig to have to taste both of them to make like, see which ones which before she drank it. I hate diet soda now, like, I think it's so because of that.
It is for us anyway. But yeah,
Scott Benner 1:05:27
it seems like your life is okay. Yeah.
Zoey 1:05:31
I got sprayed by a skunk. Thanks to Roxy's diabetes drive before you were illegal. Uh huh. I was doing that. Anyway, I hit a hay bale one time, though. And I was 13. So I was
Scott Benner 1:05:42
driving.
Zoey 1:05:43
Yeah, I was in that field. I was with like, my dad's. I was like, we called My uncle. But yeah. Yeah, he was like, I'll back up and I was like, okay, and I backed around a hay bale. And then he was like, get closer to it. And I was like, Okay, and then I hit it. So I dented the door of my grandmother's car.
Scott Benner 1:06:05
So this probation was put on you by your parents.
Zoey 1:06:09
Yeah, I mean, I was 13. So I couldn't
add it was just in the field like firehouse These are what this would you do in Vermont, you got to keep yourself occupied.
Scott Benner 1:06:18
Let me tell you, let me just tell you this is before we say goodbye, I I hundred percent certain I've never told this on the podcast before. I have been a daily driver since I was 13 years old. And I did not get my driver's license until I was 16. So we had circumstances that required it. And I alluded the law for three years to help my family and trust me, I was not growing up on a mountain and there was no fields anywhere near me.
Zoey 1:06:48
Yeah. Well in like North Dakota, you can get your license when you're like 14 to drive a tractor. You know, sometimes extenuating circumstances.
Scott Benner 1:06:56
Oh, by the way, I know because I actually tried as a 13 year old tried to get an attorney to get me a farmer's license out of state. I was Wow, I wasn't a dedicated industrious young man. I'm
Zoey 1:07:11
a chubby little industrious young man. I 13.
Scott Benner 1:07:12
I was thinning out a little bit. Yeah. I hear what you're saying. Good for you by the run away from your enemies. Well, finally, and then I didn't have as many. But they were all like this kids funny. We don't have to kill him. Like, you know what I mean? So because children have very basic ideas about how other people are treated. So I'm using guy gets to live. Yeah. Yeah, that's all. But yeah, I boy, this isn't. I'm not gonna bother you with it. But it's a good story. Maybe one day, it'll come out of here. Anyway, when I got when I got to my, my test, I took my driver's test on the day of my 16th birthday. Oh, well, because I did not want to risk one more day of driving without a license. And I had, because I was also I was a pragmatic criminal. So I didn't want to, I didn't want to be breaking the law. I just wanted to, you know, I had to mean, the grocery store was not close to our house. And my mom didn't drive. So anyway, I say, where do I get the car. That's another story now. So I go on my, on my birthday morning to get my driver's license, I talk a friend of mines older brother into letting me use this car. I had never driven this car before. So basically, he pulled it into the line for the test. And I got in the driver's seat. And I remember and this is gonna be something for you. Older people remember, but you get it. And the guy's like, you know, blow the horn. You know, dude, like, you have to do all that stuff. Put the turn signal on left, right, they make sure your hands kind of like fluidly go to these things. Yeah. Put on the high beams. And that was right at the time cars. were changing over from a button on the floor for high beams. Oh two pulling your like your turn signal back? Do you know what I mean? Yeah, so now many people have now heard that and thought I did not know there was ever a button on the floor that I also did not know, right? But there was a big metal button. Right? So I when he said high beams I simultaneously reached for the turn signal and stomp my foot and just thought one of these is gonna be running. And one of it was the turn signal. And so I did that.
Zoey 1:09:27
Yeah, I don't know that he would have been able to tell the daytime if your high beams.
Scott Benner 1:09:31
He knew he was very, very studious. I whipped through that test. I swear to God, and we pulled up in front of the building and he looks at me. He goes well, congratulations, you passed. It's like you've been driving forever.
Zoey 1:09:45
You're like ha ha I said
Scott Benner 1:09:47
thank you. And I reached out and took the paper from I got out of the car. I felt like I stole something. I was like, thank you very much. I had to like, consciously keep both of my hands on the wheel. Like I was just shy of like Putting my arm out on the window to get a little sun. You know? I've been driving a really long time. Yeah, we needed groceries. What are you gonna do?
Zoey 1:10:09
Yeah, I mean, you're gonna drive you're gonna do and your sister needs to go to hospital. You
Unknown Speaker 1:10:14
got to get to it.
Scott Benner 1:10:15
That's right. I hope we've all learned something here. From Zoey. I know we I have and I think the one thing I've definitely learned is please tell Roxie when she asked how this went that I want her to be on the show and ask her she'll send me another email. Okay.
Zoey 1:10:28
I'm sure she will. Yes. Well, good luck
Scott Benner 1:10:30
being an attorney. And I hope you help a lot of people. I hope that I hope that boy is nice when you go to Arizona.
Zoey 1:10:40
He's pretty nice. Yeah, it'll be good. Yeah.
Scott Benner 1:10:43
I mean, in Rhode Island, who's he gonna mess with?
Zoey 1:10:45
Oh, yeah. Well, he's from Connecticut.
Scott Benner 1:10:48
Oh, my goodness. People can't drive at all.
Zoey 1:10:50
Not at all. No.
Scott Benner 1:10:53
People in Connecticut. No, you can't drive. Are you just finding out now? You terrible Really? Like you other than that, but
Zoey 1:11:00
honestly, actually a really bad driver. So that makes a lot of sense. Oh,
Scott Benner 1:11:03
100%? Yeah. Oh, no, no, that would not surprise me at all. The I took three years off of my life with stress driving through Connecticut one time.
Unknown Speaker 1:11:14
I will go to Massachusetts. Oh, that's where I was driving to.
Scott Benner 1:11:17
But by then, my brain exploded. So I couldn't tell anymore. But anyway, if I the day I die. Everyone who lives in Connecticut, just know that you stole yours from me. Mm hmm. Yeah. Your inability to speed up or change lanes? Absolutely maddening. Room. Sure you think it's safer, but it was give me a stroke. So anyway, I thank you so much for doing this. This is very kind of you. I really appreciate it.
Zoey 1:11:43
Yeah, no problem. My pleasure. I'll tell my sister, she's got to get on. Did you
Unknown Speaker 1:11:47
get your time? Yes, definitely.
Zoey 1:11:50
So funny to talk about things that I like didn't even you know, I don't know, I just didn't think about think about other people's perceptions of, you know, my experiences or any how it could have been any different than me and my sister,
Scott Benner 1:12:03
though. The truth is, by the way, anybody could have this conversation about anything in life. Like we're always impacting each other in ways we don't realize like, right, you're just living your life. You don't realize that, you know, you living your life is is is impacting someone else. Listen, yesterday. I didn't take my mom, my mom 77 I had to take her to a doctor's appointment. Right? So we don't live in the same state. Now. Don't get me wrong. We're, you know, bordering each other. We're not too long. But I'm at half an hour ride to my mom. So I get up in the morning. I take my kid to school. I'm making breakfast for I'm doing all this stuff. I got to get a shower. I gotta run out the door. I got to drive this 45 minute drive to get them my mom to drive for another half an hour to a doctor's appointment. It isn't going well for me already. Yeah. So we, you know, I get her to the appointment. Everything's fine. You know, she's great. And we're driving home. She says to me, I need Cole's address five days before his birthday. Now my son, his colon, his birthday is in February. And I was like what mom, and he shows his address at college. I need it five days before his birthday. So I can't help myself. So yeah, go, could I get it to you six days before his birthday. And she's like, what? And I said, What? Can I just give it to you? And now she goes, why don't have a pencil. And I said, Well, I was gonna email it to you. Because she had said, and I left that other story because I need you to email me his address. So I said, Mom, I'm like, I could just give it to you now and I swear she goes, I don't have a pencil. I said, Well, Mom, you won't need a pencil to receive an email. So this will be fine. She was Oh, okay, now we're driving. And I'm just like, Mom, listen, and then it gets confusing. She's like, Well, what I want to do is I'm like, Mommy, you're trying to send Cole a card for his birthday? And she's like, Yes, I was like, What is the five days have to do with it? And I couldn't like wrap my head around it and she's. But what I figured out after a painful conversation, was that five days in her mind gave her enough time to mail the card to him before his birthday. But didn't pressure me to have to come through on the ask of can you get Cole's addressed to me? Like she was? Ah, and so I'm like, Mom, you can't think about me like I'm okay. Just say I need Kohl's dress. So I said, Listen, these phones are magical. Ma'am. Let me show you something. I opened up my contacts, not while I'm driving. But you know, between me and us, oh, I've been driving since I'm 13. So pretty good. Right. And so, um, I afford my mom through a text message. My son's contact, said Mom, you'll touch that in it, do it now. Open up your your, you know, text, touch that and it's going to open it up and you're going to save it as a contact. And I said oh look here it already says that you have coals of contact. So just merge them together and you know, you'll have to address them. So then we go into our contacts, and there's a bunch of writing that doesn't make any sense in there. She's got Kohl's address twice. And I go, mom, you already had Kohl's address. No, I didn't. I was like, Yes, it look and I'm showing her and she's like, oh, okay, so I'm deleting her contacts and doing all this stuff. This process took 15 minutes. My mom doesn't realize that by her asking me for my son's address, which by the way, she already had. She put, by the time I got home, my wife goes, Hey, how'd it go? And I went, my mom. Oh, my I couldn't stop. Like, I was just like, I'm telling her the story. I'm all jacked up and everything I'm like, and she's like, what happened? I don't know. It's about close like she my mom took Can you please send me Cole's address at school? and turned it into a nightmare. And trust me, all of you are doing that to everyone around you. I'm doing it to people too. We don't realize it. There's a great story everywhere. We can have everybody sister call up and you know,
Zoey 1:16:00
just talk about growing up.
Scott Benner 1:16:01
Yeah, their side of the story. I'll be good. I will. I won't bother you with it. She asked me how to crash your apps. That was a painful 10 minutes. Oh my god.
Zoey 1:16:11
No. Oh my gosh, my aunt. This is Yeah, my my aunt is so so so sweet. My parents got her an iPad. Or maybe she got enough. My my dad taught her how to use it. But not really, because I came downstairs and I am in law school. So my life is kind of a hellscape a lot of the time. And when I'm home in Vermont, it's like, you know, very relaxing. And I try and take advantage of that. I come down and it's like, I deleted all my messages. And I'm like, and she had deleted somebody deleted her messages on her iPad. And she was like, I need to get them back. And I was like, I don't can and
I was like you
deleted them like and I was like here don't do this again. She's like, I didn't do that. And I was like, well, either way they could have disappeared. So I don't know to tell
Scott Benner 1:17:02
you. As I tried to teach my mom to swipe up to open the absolute she's stabbing at the phone. I'm like, Mom, stop stabbing it up, up. And then I'm showing her I'm like, here I close three. I'm like See that? She's like, yeah, I'm like you tried, boom. Your God. I called my brother. I called my brother with the other car. And I was like, why didn't you buy her that phone? Yeah.
Unknown Speaker 1:17:25
Oh, man.
Scott Benner 1:17:26
By the way. My mom's lovely too. She just Yeah,
Zoey 1:17:28
yeah, people. It's hard.
Scott Benner 1:17:31
And during that good.
Zoey 1:17:33
Dad is like way more tech savvy than I am. Oh, he's got a lot of time. And my mom is like, yeah, my mom is like, I send it to my iPad. And I'm like, do you mean your email?
Unknown Speaker 1:17:47
That's really fine.
Scott Benner 1:17:49
Yeah, terrific. I love this. Thank you so much. Thank you. I really appreciate this. Hey, huge thanks to Omni pod and dex comm for supporting the show, please go to my omnipod.com forward slash juice box and dexcom.com forward slash juice box. Don't forget to check out T one d exchange.org. forward slash juice box if you'd like to add your voice to some very meaningful Type One Diabetes Research. Thanks so much to Zoey for coming on and sharing her recollections of growing up with Roxy. And if you think your sibling might like to come on the show and has had a different experience than the ones that we described, reach out. Thanks so much for listening. I'll talk to you soon.
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