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Scott Benner 0:09
Hello everybody and welcome to Episode 430 of the Juicebox Podcast Hey show is with a young woman who has type one diabetes, and diabetes alert service dog. Esther knows a ton about this topic, and she's a lot of fun. Plus, she's got a great story. All you have to do is sit back, relax, or continue to march to the grocery store, do your dishes or ignore your family, whatever you're doing with your headphones on right now. And listen as we present to you another episode of the Juicebox Podcast. Please remember while you're listening that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan are becoming bold with insulin. If after this you want to find Esther on Instagram, she is chronically underscored annoyed, chronically annoyed, underscore in between the words understand the underscore Well, if you don't, you're not gonna find her. Or I guess you could just search for chronically annoyed and then look for dogs. And then I think you'll find her honest. Listen to my understanding of Instagram searches.

This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by the insulin pump that my daughter has been wearing for over 12 years. Omni pod, you can get a free no obligation demo of the Omni pod tubeless insulin pump by going to my link at my Omni pod.com Ford slash juice box. And to learn more about ardens continuous glucose monitor her Dexcom je six, head over to dexcom.com forward slash juicebox. The Dexcom is perfect for anyone using insulin. And of course, if you're looking to get involved, where to learn more about a great organization, check out touched by type one at touched by type one.org. We're on Facebook and Instagram.

Esther 2:10
Hi, I'm Esther, I'm a type one diabetic. I'm an artist. I'm a teacher and I'm a service dog handler.

Scott Benner 2:17
Service Dog handler that's interesting. You You're you may I'm gonna probably use the wrong words here. But I'm not sure you own a service dog. Right? It helps you with your the dog helps you with your type one.

Esther 2:28
Yes, I have a diabetic alert service dog.

Scott Benner 2:31
But the but the terminology would be service dog handler. Is that to infer. But is that what am I making sense here? like is that so you? Yeah. Tell me about

Esther 2:44
being a handler and first, I own and rely on my dog? I don't train them for other people.

Scott Benner 2:50
Gotcha. That's what I wasn't sure about. So there are people who are trainers, but not necessarily users for the lack of a better term, I guess ball handler, right. I got it. I'm finding these things out. Okay, so let's talk. Let's start at the beginning. When were you diagnosed? How old are you now?

Esther 3:09
February 10 2000. And I am almost 23. At this point,

Unknown Speaker 3:15
you were three. When you were diagnosed?

Esther 3:17
I was barely two and a half,

Scott Benner 3:20
two and a half. Wow. That must feel like not even somebody that must not even feel like your story, right?

Esther 3:28
Yes and no. I don't have the usual diagnosis story. We had just moved. I am from a military family. And we had just moved to Arkansas and my dad had gone overseas to Turkey for a year long, single deployment. Okay. So we weren't even in a house yet. We were with my grandparents. And my grandmother is type two diabetic. And my mom was really obsessed with this very popular TV show. Maybe you've heard of it. It's called mash. She was

Scott Benner 4:05
a fan. Yes, I was as well, by the way.

Esther 4:08
And she saw the episode with the diabetic helicopter pilot. So when I started drinking like an inhuman amount of liquids and wetting the bed and showing these signs, she decided to use my grandmother's glucometer to check my blood sugar

Scott Benner 4:27
because of what she saw on mash.

Unknown Speaker 4:29
Yes. Wow.

Unknown Speaker 4:31
There we go.

Esther 4:33
So we we were in a very small town, she took me to the doctor an hour away. And next thing you knew we were at Arkansas Children's Hospital. And the doctors were like, how is she not in a coma? or dead or NDK? And the answer was mash. So I got diagnosed and we didn't even stay in the hospital very long. The only downside was My father wasn't allowed to come back for the diagnosis. So my mom had to take care of my older siblings and learn the whole diabetes shebang by herself.

Scott Benner 5:09
Yeah. In 2000. Right, right in around 2000. Yes. Wow. Mash, by the way, was on in the 70s. Mm hmm. So and I remember that exact episode. I mean, I say something that might embarrass me. But I received the entire run of mash as a gift. digitally, and in the past year or so I've watched the entire and there's a lot of episodes.

Esther 5:38
I started watching it on Hulu. And I haven't even gotten through a third of it.

Scott Benner 5:42
Yeah, I don't. I want to be clear that I don't sit down and watch I watch while I'm doing something else. Yes, yeah, dishes, laundry, you know, making food, things like that. I really don't want people to think that I sat for how many episodes going on forever. And I'm thinking now that the helicopter pilots name was smiling jack. And I remember I can remember the whole thing like he was he was like one of the best helicopter pilots and didn't want to stop flying. And the only need to bring home a couple more people to like, I don't know, like reach some sort of an award or something. And they figured out he had diabetes. I I've got the whole thing. Am I so embarrassed? I believe there were I'm gonna look now because I don't I don't want to be wrong about this. There were 11 seasons of mash. And that was back when, when you made an effort when you made a television show. There were a lot of episodes every season like usually 25 or 26 or something like that. So there's a ton of them. Okay, so mash figured out that you had type one diabetes, but then we had to move forward. There were no other episodes of mash to help your mom I don't think what TV show Did she go to next to figure out type one?

Esther 7:01
That's interesting, because you know, you were already writing your blog at that time. But my mother is not very tech savvy. So she didn't you know, jump on the whole internet train. Yeah. And we moved a lot. I am the fifth of eight children, military family, we moved a lot. I didn't grow up going to jdrf events or diabetes camp. It was just kind of me and mom, roughing it changing endos every couple years with every move. Yeah. Stuff like that. She read a lot of books. We have so many copies of the Pink Panther book. So she read a lot of books. And she learned as she went. And we made it work.

Scott Benner 7:53
That's amazing. I mean, I guess that's all you can do. Really? Yeah. 2000 I mean, the technology wasn't terrible, right? What? What are you using for insulin? Do you you know, have you ever asked?

Esther 8:04
I have asked I don't know what insulin I was on originally, but a few years later, I was on I was put on novolog and I've been using novolog ever since. They started us out with pens. However, I was a two and a half year old child and the pens were scary. So we moved to using regular syringes with miles until I was in elementary school. I want to say 2005 or six I was put on the Animas 2000.

Scott Benner 8:34
That's a pump that people really loved. We did you have it right up until it was just Hey,

Esther 8:40
no, no. So I had the NMS 2000. And it was top of the line it was water resistant. It was the first one where you could detach and put a placeholder in the site and just swimming without your pump. It was really really nifty. Until I broke it. I actually broke to animals to 1000s my younger sister chewed the rubber buttons off of one and the other malfunctions going down a slide at a Burger King playplace because of the static electricity,

Unknown Speaker 9:11
homos useless. Please tell me she was like 50

Esther 9:15
Oh, no, she was a she was a toddler. It

Scott Benner 9:18
would have been more fun if she was like 23 and she got the rubber buttons off of your insulin pump. So that's that's pretty funny.

Esther 9:28
But the Burger King slide incident happened in Germany. So that was a nerve wracking. But Animas pulled through and they got us a new pump very, very quickly. And the new pump after that incident was the one touch pain.

Scott Benner 9:46
That's the one I'm thinking of. Okay.

Esther 9:48
That was the first animus pump that came with its own glucometer and it had, I don't know if it was Bluetooth but it wireless wirelessly sent your blood sugar from the glucometer to pump. So I had the one touch ping up until 2009 when I decided I was done with the pump done with the wires and I went back on pens for many years until I got on Omni pod in 2016.

Scott Benner 10:16
Excellent. You know, I just did something while you were telling me about that that ended up being really, really a huge letdown I tried to translate Burger King into German and it's Burger King. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 10:31
I could have told you that.

Unknown Speaker 10:32
What a letdown that was.

Unknown Speaker 10:37
Damn it. Oh my gosh.

Esther 10:39
He's on a military base.

Scott Benner 10:41
So I just said Burger King. Cuz you guys. I figured it'd be like a German translation for burger at least but it's not. Apparently there's not no

Esther 10:49
because it's a franchise.

Scott Benner 10:51
Such a letdown. I'm not joking with you. I was really there was a moment there. Oh, wow, this went wrong on me. Okay, why you have a lot of brothers and sisters. Did your dad just get your mom pregnant every time he came home from the military. How'd that work? Exactly?

Unknown Speaker 11:05
Yeah, pretty much. That's how it works. Yeah.

Esther 11:09
What's funny is that when my parents got married in the 80s, my mom didn't want kids. And my dad said, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. And apparently they crossed it multiple times.

Scott Benner 11:18
He crossed it about every 10 and a half months probably it sounds like

Esther 11:22
my oldest sibling is 30 now and my youngest is 14.

Scott Benner 11:27
Do you think your parents call having sex crossing that bridge? Honey, it's time to cross the bridge again. Oh my gosh. Oh. Any other diabetes in with your family with those those brothers and sisters?

Esther 11:44
Not type one. But we have the genes. Both my parents have hypothyroidism, myself and three or four of my siblings all have hypothyroidism. My 16 year old sister was just recently diagnosed with an amplified pain syndrome, which is another chronic illness. We have food allergies galore, celiac tendencies. So it's like a sensitivity not true. celiacs disease. I'm lactose intolerance. Lots of fun stuff.

Scott Benner 12:14
You guys are a party. Your dog is probably like, I gotta get out of here. I'm gonna get sick. Ever see him scratch at the door. He's like, I gotta go. How did you end up with a service dog? What was your your pathway to that.

Esther 12:30
So this was really fun. I didn't really know a lot about service dogs. I knew Guide Dogs existed. But when I was a senior in high school, somebody put it on my Facebook page, they sent me a little documentary about diabetic alert dogs. And I was like, what, this is a thing. And of course, my animal loving, teenage self jumped on that train and Dove headfirst into research. And I went to my parents about it. I was like, Guys, did you know that this existed? This is amazing. And they were like, yeah, we looked into it when you were a kid. It was just way too expensive. I was like, Oh, well,

Scott Benner 13:06
great. Thanks. We just thought maybe one day a dog would come out. We have having babies, we would train the dog. We tried to train your sister wants to do it for you. But she ended up just chewing the buttons off your

that's good. I'm having a lot of fun at your parents expense. Don't let them listen to this.

Esther 13:25
I have a lot of fun at their expense, too. Oh,

Unknown Speaker 13:28
well, Lucky them. In fact, then

Esther 13:31
I'm the middle child,

Scott Benner 13:32
I can get away it just yeah, there's too many people on either side of it, you can kind of blend in if you need to. Well, so a lot of you know, a lot of issues that are all centered around autoimmune. And so and you guys move around a ton. So it must be difficult for all of those people to find doctors to help them. Does that. Is that a problem for everybody? Or, or how to work?

Esther 13:57
Okay, so when you move to a new military base or a new station, it takes a couple months, but you generally get set up with the on base clinic with your primary care provider. The problem is getting the referral for the specialist, you know the endocrinologist Okay. And then the problem is which endocrinologist take your insurance? And is that endocrinologist good for you? Or are you stuck with them and they're not really listening to you? So

Scott Benner 14:26
are you saying that your your general practitioner is on base, but then you have to leave the base to get more specialized care? Yes, I got it. Okay. Ah, oh, so how many times? How many different windows? Do you think you've had

Esther 14:40
more than a dozen? I have moved about 13 times in my life.

Scott Benner 14:43
Okay, here's an interesting question of more than a dozen. How many good windows Do you feel like you've had?

Unknown Speaker 14:48
For me? No three.

Scott Benner 14:51
who just got knocked off the list at the end there who almost made it? I'm trying to imagine that one. Like, there was four or no, you know, I don't want to count him?

Esther 15:01
Well see, I don't always have an endocrinologist, I generally will have an endocrinologist team. The question is, do I see the endocrinologist? Or do I see the nurse practitioner? Yeah, cuz some places, I see the endocrinologist once and then never hear from them again. And I always see the nurse practitioner. And then some stations, we've had to fight for the referral, because the primary care thinks that they can take care of the type one on their own when they have no idea when what they're talking about.

Scott Benner 15:31
Well, that's interesting. Sometimes they've tried to keep you on the base for the entirety of the care. We can handle this. Have you ever tried that?

Unknown Speaker 15:39
No, no. I wonder

Scott Benner 15:41
as you're getting older and older, if you'll decide, well, I guess, you know, let's ask this question. How do you feel about your level of care? Like, are you happy with where you're at? Are there improvements you're trying to make? Are there difficulties? Where are you? Where are you right now?

Esther 15:56
Right now with my care, my I had a very good nurse practitioner. She retired, so I'm about to start breaking in a new nurse practitioner in September. And I my, as far as diabetes ago, it's pretty average, I'm getting average care. Uh, the problem is that nobody is taking care of my thyroid. And that's what's really beaten me up right now. You know,

Scott Benner 16:22
I haven't dug completely into this yet on the podcast, but I will at some point when I have complete details. But I've watched my wife struggle with hypothyroidism, and then Arden. And we're in the middle right now. of, we have just found a doctor who's a more, I don't know how to say it a less actually in the box thinker, and is making adjustments and working on other things. And I have to tell you, like really making leaps and bounds improvements for both my wife and my daughter, just by having somebody who doesn't look at the testing and say, Oh, it's in Ranger, okay. And treating the symptoms instead of the number in the test. If that makes right. You know,

Esther 17:12
my current problem is that my TSH, my number for my thyroid is out of range. And my previous nurse practitioner didn't really want to take any drastic steps

Scott Benner 17:24
to fix it. What would a drastic step have been like more medicine?

Esther 17:29
No, I've gone through two dose increases, but I'm drastic step. something other than that, something other than just increase the Synthroid. Maybe we can look at other medications. Maybe we can look at a thyroid booster to take on top of the medication. Look at it from a different angle. Yes, they

Scott Benner 17:51
don't want to talk about vitamins or other other things that might be helpful. Do you have any joint pain or muscle pain or anything like that?

Esther 18:03
Yes, but it's it's not related to the thyroid. It's related to snapping my collarbone in half in 2013.

Scott Benner 18:11
Specific pain. Gotcha.

Unknown Speaker 18:12
Yeah.

Scott Benner 18:15
Was that trying to stop the dog from escaping? Is that what we

Esther 18:18
know that was flipping backwards off of a golf cart at like 20 miles per hour? I

Scott Benner 18:22
don't think you should have done that. Just in case you're looking for my fault. It was the drivers fault driver to golf too fast.

Esther 18:29
I did not eat myself off the back of a golf cart.

Scott Benner 18:33
Are you certain? No, wow, that's terrible. How bad how badly did but let's talk about that just for a second. How badly Did that hurt? Do you use insulin, then you need the Dexcom g six continuous glucose monitor. That is my opinion. Because when you use insulin fluctuations happen, and you're blind to them if you can't see what's going on inside of your body, but the Dexcom gives you that look, you get to see the speed and direction of your blood sugar. And it makes a huge difference. When making decisions about insulin and food. You also have to consider your safety at times. And the Dexcom g six has built in alarms to help you with that. You can set the low alarm wherever you want the high alarm wherever you want. And the Dexcom will tell you when you reach that threshold. That knowledge gives you the ability to stop a low before it becomes a problem or to stop arise before it becomes a high blood sugar that ruins hours of your day. Head over to dexcom.com forward slash juice box to learn more about the Dexcom g six continuous glucose monitor. My daughter has been wearing it for years. And that is at the core of how we keep her a one c between five two and six. For now over six years. I'm confident that the information that The Dexcom gives back to you could help you do the same. Are you using a tube pump or injecting your insulin and wish you weren't, you don't have to, you could use the Omnipod tubeless insulin pump, it is self contained. So for pumpers out there who are accustomed to getting their tubing stuck on door handles or ripping out their sets or taking off their pumps to take a shower or go swimming and then forgetting to put them back on, and their blood sugar's shooting up, none of that happens with Omni pod. You can check it out easily at Miami pod.com, forward slash juicebox. And after you're there, and you think this might be a good idea, you can ask Omni pod to send you a free, no obligation demo of the pump. And they will do that easy. You just ask and then they do it. It comes to your home. And then you can wear it or put it on your child, whoever needs to understand what it's like to wear it on the pod can before they buy. If you decide later, that only pod is for you. That's terrific. It's easy to move forward. And if you don't like it, it's not a big deal. It didn't cost you anything and there was no obligation. My Omni pod.com forward slash juicebox tubeless insulin pumping is next level. My daughter has been using an omni pod for over 12 years, she's worn one every day since she was four years old. It is an absolute friend in the journey with type one diabetes, and it could help you in your use of insulin as well. Last thing touched by type one is an organization dedicated to helping people with type one diabetes. And they would just like you to know about them to check them out. Touched by type one.org. You can also find them on Instagram, and Facebook. As a matter of fact, all of the advertisers are listed right there in the show notes of your podcast player, where there are links that you could find easily at Juicebox Podcast comm

there's a lot more left to Esther's story. So let's get back to it. First, we'll find out what it was like to be tossed off that golf cart.

Esther 22:09
It hurts so bad that I have memory loss,

Unknown Speaker 22:11
just tried to let the whole thing

Esther 22:13
out. He went into shock and I still don't remember. I remember going down. And I don't remember anything from hitting the ground to basically coming to on the way to the emergency room. No

Scott Benner 22:26
kidding. Were you actually playing golf? are you riding in a car?

Esther 22:29
No, I was at a summer camp.

Scott Benner 22:31
Ah, just going from place to place. Yes. I was gonna say How were you shooting up until then I was looking for your score. And what whole year just for the golf fans, you know, so they can understand. Wow, sorry about that. That's so terrible. I bring it up because Arden has those symptoms or had those symptoms. And we've increased her intake of some specific vitamins that have done away with them in conjunction with getting her Arden doesn't use Synthroid, she uses to rescind. And we've been increasing that slowly getting to a better level. So we finally had a doctor who was willing to look and say that, you know, by weight ardens tiersen. Those doesn't seem strong enough, her number seems in range. But her symptoms say she doesn't have enough of the hormone. And so this doctor was willing to move it up a little bit and add a significant course of vitamin B 12. And a very specific one like she moved us to a very specific vitamin and also vitamin D increasing Arden's vitamin D intake significantly. So just little things like that, and we've been at it for a couple of months. Now she just did a retest there, the tiersen is going to get adjusted again and then we're gonna move on and see if you know how that helps. But are you experiencing mostly the tired just that feeling you can't get rested? That is that your biggest problem?

Esther 24:06
My biggest problem is depression, ah, with the thyroid,

Scott Benner 24:10
and that's another thing people don't realize that if you move that up too much that thyroid the way you can go from hypo to hyper how you can tell is you'll start getting like heart palpitations, you'll get you can get sad, anxiety start crying for no reason. Like there's a lot of stuff that happens with having too much of that of that hormone, which I think is can be why some doctors are you know, hesitant to do it. But it's so necessary or you could go to a T three and T four together. I can't think of a T three name off top my head now. Damn, I'll think of it and it's so depression. Do you feel like it's really connected to the to the hypothyroidism

Esther 24:57
we can I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and about Vitamin D deficiency when I was 13. So I've been, we've been dealing with it long enough that we can clearly link depressive episodes to a lack to when my thyroid numbers are not where they should be. Okay? Now, I

Scott Benner 25:13
believe that 100% you can't, nobody would be able to talk me out of believing that. And so what happens is your needs change. But it's difficult to change with the need, you don't notice the need changing until you have the symptom is that what is that the biggest problem?

Esther 25:30
It's difficult to describe the symptoms in a way to motivate the doctors to do something about it.

Scott Benner 25:37
Ah, ah, okay, so what what ends up happening is you just do you think they don't believe you? That it's related to that and they look back and they is your tea? Or your TSH? Did you say it was out of range or in range?

Unknown Speaker 25:54
Oh, it's out of range? lower high low, I

Scott Benner 25:56
would imagine. Hi. Hi. Okay. So you appear to have too much. You. You appear hypo?

Esther 26:04
I am hypothyroidism. The TSH is supposed to be between one and four minus 12.

Scott Benner 26:11
It's so what's the plan? Like what what's supposed to bring it into range?

Esther 26:16
the centroid supposedly, but it's not doing its job doesn't do that.

Unknown Speaker 26:20
Have you tried others?

Esther 26:23
No. But I'm hopeful that my new nurse practitioner in that I see for the first time in September, will finally you know, listen to me. And maybe we can switch something up. Try something new.

Scott Benner 26:37
Is the T for not being picked up by your system? Has anybody discussed that with you? Maybe I figured out the name of the T three. It's called psycho Mal. Maybe that's it. The tough part of it is is when you make adjustments, these medications, it really messes with you. If it's Yes,

Esther 26:53
it does. Yeah. And I already struggle with insulin resistance, hypoglycemia, unawareness, hyperglycemia, and awareness, hence the dog. So my, my, I, I'm over here, like, I tweak things all the time without talking to the doctor. I've been doing this for 20 years, I tweak things. But then when I need a change in prescription or change in dose or change in medication, then the battle comes of convincing the nurse practitioner to make those changes.

Scott Benner 27:24
And it's not as easy as saying, Look, I'm doing it and it's working. I just need the medicine.

Esther 27:28
Right. It's kind of like I will tell you something my previous nurse practitioner, we had one big disagreement point. And that was your podcast. Oh,

Unknown Speaker 27:39
that's a shame. He doesn't like it. And I have lost

Scott Benner 27:43
the listener. Terrible.

Esther 27:45
I the first day I the first time I asked her Hey, have you heard of the Juicebox Podcast? She looked at me and she said yes.

Unknown Speaker 27:53
She didn't like it. That's good. I was like,

Unknown Speaker 27:55
oh, okay, then

Scott Benner 27:57
she's still listening. I'm saying it right now. That's all that's fine. hyperthyroidism definitely comes with insulin resistance when you have too much, you know, going on it definitely makes it I've seen that while we're adjusting artists medications. If she gets hyper during the medication adjustment, her needs for insulin go up pretty pretty drastically pretty immediately.

Esther 28:23
Yeah. My my second biggest symptom that I deal with with the hypothyroidism is my inability to lose weight. My not my blood sugar's could be perfect. I could be exercising, eating great. And I can't lose weight. I don't gain weight either. Yeah, it's it's just stuck, stuck.

Scott Benner 28:43
Well, that definitely, to me says your hypo. Right. So why, you know, you gotta I mean, I know it's easy to say like, you got to find a doctor that can help you but there just aren't that many of them that are willing to think outside of and be and I think you're, you're saying something that's incredibly important. It's that being flexible around care, and being willing to make a small adjustment. Look, again, make another small adjustment you know, being willing to do blood tests more frequently to see where the medications putting you and not just trying something and waiting six months or whatever and then and then going back anyone how do you feel like you know, I'm

Esther 29:20
also a very impatient person when it comes to my health I I make an adjustment and the next day I'm like, okay, is it better? But I have to slow down cuz you gotta see what the change does before you can change something else. Oh, yeah,

Scott Benner 29:35
this medicine is I think weeks and weeks to be sure like you have to you have to choose and go and stick with it and see what happens. You can't You can't three days and go it's not working. I'm going to take more like that definitely don't work. Yeah. Wow. I'm sorry. It really is. It's not fun. Do any of your siblings have better luck with it than you are having?

Esther 29:58
Um, so none of my other friends siblings see an endocrinologist. Um, I'm the only one because of diabetes. So there's, as the rest of my family handle their thyroid, basically seeing the primary doctor, getting the blood test every three months, I'm adjusting the medication as needed and go on their merry way. But because I have the jackpot of both, I get to work with endocrinologist team,

Scott Benner 30:29
what are they doing better? Like? Are they having better outcomes than you are? Or no, not necessarily?

Esther 30:34
Well, it's different outcomes, because the hypo and the diabetes work against each other. And the other people in my family have, they either just have hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism and something else other than type one diabetes, so their care is obviously going to look a lot different. And they're everyone else's numbers are good. Everyone else is great.

Scott Benner 31:00
How about how they feel? Or they keep weight off and things like that? Or are they in similar situation with that?

Esther 31:07
Um, I mean, we're we're basically Vikings. We're tall, broad people. But yeah, my siblings with hypothyroidism don't have as much trouble with weight fluctuation as I do. Gotcha.

Scott Benner 31:21
Okay. Well, and and, and so they don't need as much adjustment either. It's not they're not struggling to begin with. It's just working out better for them. Yeah, interesting. Yeah, that whole,

Esther 31:33
they're generally focused on the hammer collegiate migraines. So

Scott Benner 31:39
they've got a different problem

Esther 31:41
than they do we all have our issues. Oh,

Scott Benner 31:44
my gosh, wow. Your whole bloodline needs to be out in the sun more often, I think or something like that. You guys needed some vitamin D. When you were growing me. You said is what is your background? Like? Where do your parents? Where's the lineage? Run? I guess.

Esther 32:02
I'm on my dad's side is just a European and Cherokee. I'm just American. And my mom's side is mostly Irish.

Scott Benner 32:13
Yeah, that Irish is tough. It's tough on the auto immune for some reason. I don't know if everyone's noticed that or not. Yeah, the real pale people struggle with some stuff for some reason. And we've talked about stuff on the podcast before, you know, just the idea of like the potato famine, being really impactful on Irish people.

Esther 32:33
And I've heard you talk about that. And I literally, like it blew my mind.

Scott Benner 32:39
Well, you don't talk too much. Because you know, it's just a podcast, but it is definitely something I've heard about a couple of times and looked at once or twice.

Esther 32:47
I think it should warrant more like in depth study. Not by me. I don't have that.

Scott Benner 32:55
Someone besides me should look at it. I just know that there are a fair amount of people who I've met with autoimmune issues. hypo thyroid to be you know, be specific, who will tell you that they have you know, a pretty, a pretty strong Irish, you know, or that part of the world. background. And right. I don't know, is what it is, I guess, but all right. Well, let's find some good news in here somewhere. How do you find the service dog is is? Is it a good

Esther 33:29
Enzo? Um, so senior year of high school, found out about diabetic alert dog started researching kind of ignored the fact that my parents didn't really put a lot of effort into it. I'm pretty stubborn like that. And I spent three years researching, watching YouTube videos, reading articles, getting any piece of information I could get my hands on about diabetic alert dogs and service dogs. Almost got scammed out of $25,000. But I went to a religious conference, where we ran into a family with a service poodle, they gave me some information. And a year and two months later, Renzo came home. Wow.

Scott Benner 34:13
Service poodles. A great pairing of words, in case you're wondering, but I want to hear a little bit about how did you almost get scammed out of money because this is a pretty prevalent problem, isn't it with service dogs,

Esther 34:24
right. So in in the United States, dogs, service dogs, it's not a regulated industry. And there's a lot of misinformation going around. So I will not name the organization. But there was there's a prevalent service dog training organization that was placing dogs before they were actually trained. People were paying 25 plus $1,000 to this organization. And what people were getting back was an unruly untrained puppy.

Scott Benner 34:56
Wow, that's so you got a pattern. gotta feed it that and everything else. And it's right. It's costing you money, no problem.

Esther 35:05
I got I contacted the organization, thinking they were legitimate, and I was approved, and they wanted me to start fundraising the $25,000. And as I was starting the fundraising process through the company, they got sued. So, a miss, dodged that bullet, thankfully. And I actually got an even better trained dog for a fraction of the cost from a local company to me, gotcha.

Scott Benner 35:35
What did you end up paying for the dog? If I can ask you just so people can have an idea of what it really should cost?

Esther 35:41
$8,750 for a dog who has public access trained, obedience trained could detect high and low blood sugars responds to fainting episodes and retrieved at General items. Wow.

Scott Benner 35:53
Can they bring you like a remote control? Where's that above and beyond? Well, the dog look at you and be like, that's not my job, or

Esther 35:59
no, dogs aren't robots. never stops, service dogs are not a finished product. Honestly, that's how a lot of program dogs end up failing, once they're placed with their family, because the family won't keep training. And the service dogs aren't a finished product, they don't come out of training, and poof, they're perfect for the rest of their lives.

Scott Benner 36:19
It's interesting how much time in a month that you give to continued education for the dog.

Esther 36:25
So rienzo's, each dog is different, but my dog, we do tend to minute 10 to 30 minute training sessions a couple times a week, I try to make sure we go out into a public place so we can maintain manners. A few, like at least three times a week, but um, you can it's just a matter of consistency, honestly.

Scott Benner 36:49
Wow. That's, that's interesting. I hadn't considered that that there's upkeep, basically maintenance, you have to do yes, to keep it going.

Esther 36:57
I've also added on to his training. At this point, we've been together for a year and a half and two thirds of what he knows as far as commands and tasks I taught him.

Scott Benner 37:08
It's like when you buy a Tesla, and then you want it to drive itself and you give him like another $4,000 and they add it to it. They just upload it to the car. You just continuing to upload things to the car. That's really cool. Like what do you have goals for the dog that franza that he that he hasn't reached out that you're working towards?

Esther 37:25
Yes. So recently, just when we went into quarantine a few months ago, I registered Renzo with the American Kennel Club because he has a purebred Standard Poodle, and he just passed and received his novice trick dog title. There's five levels of trick dog titles. I hope that we can get all of them. I also want to get his Canine Good Citizen certification through the A Casey. I have big plans for my dog.

Scott Benner 37:52
Wow. What can he then? Sire other dogs? That would be good service dogs or is there no correlation? Oh, I got you. You don't want him wandering off looking for a girl? Oh, well. Oh, wait, no, wait, I'm joking. But is that a real thing? Like do is is a service dog always spayed? or neutered or no,

Esther 38:13
no, it's up to the owner. Except I went through a program and the program requires all of their dogs to be fixed before placement. So he was neutered long before he was even matched with me.

Scott Benner 38:23
I gotcha. Okay, well, that's interesting. Well, then he's definitely not gonna do that. Or where he'd be amazing if he did?

Esther 38:31
No, he's not up to standards, so he wouldn't be a sire anyway.

Scott Benner 38:35
Oh, really? Like, is there? Am I using this word with quotes, but are there imperfections about him that would stop that from happening?

Esther 38:42
Yes. So he's only 26 inches at the shoulder, which is within standard AK standard for the breed. But he only weighs about 50 pounds. He's a very lanky boy. He's also a party poodle, which means he's black and white and the A Casey doesn't actually recognize the multicolored poodles. So that's actually why he got donated to the service dog program because he was he came from a show line and it can't be a show dog. So he became a service dog.

Scott Benner 39:07
No kidding. That's super interesting. You just use the a lot of terms I've never heard before. lanky boy and party poodle party poodle, strong contender for the name of this episode, in case you're wondering, but I am afraid to Google either of those terms. Because

Unknown Speaker 39:26
it is my term okay.

Unknown Speaker 39:28
But party poodle is not right.

Esther 39:31
Party pa RT refers to the coloring of his coat. You can have solid coded poodles, party, poodles, Phantom poodles,

Scott Benner 39:42
I don't even know all of them. Well, you can safely Google just for the I would keep the lie off of it, just in case. I'm not sure where the internet will take you then. Actually it just redirects you back to p. e AR ti. Well, that's really cool. Like there's so much about this that obviously, I don't know about And it's a lot to consider. How much time do you give to, to Enzo? I mean, at what point I can ask a thoughtful question here. At what point? Is Enzo, a family member? And at what point? Is he a tool? Or do you not consider him a tool? like, Okay, you know what I mean? Like there's a, I'm trying to understand how that feels.

Esther 40:23
Yes. And I will. I'm so glad to answer this question, because it's a question I get a lot. So Renzo is a dog. He still has the basic needs of a dog, he needs stimulus, he needs exercise, he needs affection. When the vest is on, and we're in public, he's working, which means he's ignoring his surroundings, and he's ignoring other people. And he's focusing just on me, when we're at home, and the vest is off, you know, he will roam around the house, he will play with dog toys, he'll play with the other dogs, he'll cuddle with everyone in the family, he'll harass my pet rabbit. But if he smells, my blood sugar, doing weird things, he will find me in the house and still alert. So he'll still do his job, whether he is quote, on duty, or at home. He like the whole reason I have him is that he's a tool in my diabetes management toolbox.

Scott Benner 41:16
So I mean, this really seriously like so that the vest that he wears, is that an indicator to him that he's, I mean, on duty for? Or will he'll, he'll just do it no matter what, like, he doesn't have to go find the vest if he smells your blood sugar low. But

Esther 41:29
no, no, that's so he can I can literally commit, like, give him a word. And he's like, oh, we're working now. But when I put the vest on, and I'm like, do you want to, like, let's gear up, that's the word I use. He knows that we're going to be in public, that's really his key to be behaved, because the service started in public needs to be out of the way and unnoticed.

Scott Benner 41:53
Gotcha. Okay. I understand. By the way, there's a great movie in this where the dogs can talk to each other. And like, you know, they're on the job. And they take it really seriously almost like, What am I thinking of Secret Service agents, except for service dogs. there's a there's a kid's movie in there, someone can write it. I'm just telling you. I think it would be amazing if talking dogs came home from work at the end of the day. And we're taking off the rest and like they talking about their long days and everything like that. I would be very

Unknown Speaker 42:19
nice. Really cute.

Scott Benner 42:21
Thank you.

Unknown Speaker 42:22
Like I could Yeah, I just,

Scott Benner 42:23
as you said like wearing the vest. I saw the vest as the uniform. And anyway, I don't have time for that one. So anybody can feel free to pick up and run with that. I'll take a writing credit at the end. It's not a big deal. That that's really interesting. It made your life better.

Esther 42:40
Oh, yeah, my, my agency dropped in the first few months after having Renzo his alerts are on point he alerts at ADM, below 190 and above. And if it's quickly rising or falling, his his nose is rarely ever wrong. And sometimes he catches it before my Libra or my meter. Like he'll alert and it looks like he is like wrong. But actually 15 minutes later, I'm either spiking or crashing. Did you

Scott Benner 43:07
give samples during his training? Or did they can they use anyone samples?

Esther 43:12
So I had to mail saliva samples of in range high and low to the trainer to use. But what's ironic is that renza his trainer was hypoglycemic, and renzoni nose is so sensitive that he has alerted like half a dozen other people other than me.

Scott Benner 43:33
Oh, no kidding. Like, somebody can just walk by with some low blood sugar and they'll be like, and I was like, Yo, what's up your low? And how does he tell you your low? I mean, sign language. What's he do?

Esther 43:42
He will pour me if it's an emergency, like rising or falling quickly, he will jump up on me. And if I'm having brain fog, and I'm just not getting it. He will bark at me.

Scott Benner 43:55
By the way, I feel like you just explained how married guys ask for sex. Dude. go through it again. He'll Paul you have it right. It goes say to get

Esther 44:06
regular alerts as a PA that has popped up on my leg. I hear it. If it's an emergency, he'll jump up on me.

Unknown Speaker 44:13
Huh? I was

Esther 44:15
not getting it. he barks at me

Scott Benner 44:17
telling you right now you just described that. Oh my goodness. While you trust me. It's not that funny. If you've been married for a while. Sorry. Oh my gosh. We know each other. Yeah. And and it was really great to meet you the time I did. tell people where we met.

Esther 44:37
We were we met at the Kansas City jdrf type one nation summit.

Unknown Speaker 44:44
We did and where

Esther 44:45
you were exhausted.

Scott Benner 44:46
I was and how good was I told the people?

Esther 44:50
Oh, you were fantastic. It made me feel special because you knew exactly who I was when I walked up was a dead giveaway.

Scott Benner 44:57
Well, I'm gonna I'm gonna tell you for sure. Fisher that the poodle did give it away. But I appreciate you saying how fantastic it was without being prompted, I want to say about Kansas City, I had never been before, and got in the day before and went and got some lunch and had these chicken wings. That really made me happy. I just never had chicken wings to make me that happy before. And I went and did the whole the whole thing the next day. I actually have to thank people right here. Because later that night, you know, the people who brought me out from the jdrf chapter there in Kansas City, were just like, yo, let us take you to dinner and I, I get a little like, I'm like, I'm just gonna go home, like, let me just sleep and get back on the plane and get out of here, you know? But I said, No, no, that'd be great. Let me go. So they took me to this place. And as we're approaching it in the car, I think I'm gonna get off like I'm getting shot like this is it this is this is a hit, because we're like in some industrial park and the window was down a little bit and it smelled a little like cow manure. And I was like, what is happening right now? Where's our rail yard going behind? I'm like, where are we like, this is definitely like they're gonna, they're gonna pop me this is what's going on here. I don't know what I did wrong. But I've upset the Kansas City mafia, obviously. And this is what's happening. So we pull up, and I say to the person driving me, I'm like, I gotta ask you like, Where the hell are we like, you smell the Commodore? Right? Like, this is the restaurant that's not the restaurant. I'm smelling, isn't it? And she's like, no, no. And she points to this building said there's a rail yard nearby. And these shipments come in sometimes. So it smells like this once in a while. I'm like, Okay, you got to like, understand, I'd never been there before. So I'm just like, whatever. She points to this building that really is just a nondescript square, you know, building. And she's like, this is the restaurant. And then I went in and had maybe the best barbecue I've ever had in my entire life.

Esther 46:50
Yep, that's Kansas City in a nutshell, is

Scott Benner 46:52
that what I just ate and it was so good that I came home. And when the Coronavirus thing started, I spent time learning about how to make barbecue because I realized

Esther 47:03
that Kansas City barbecue is the best. Well, I

Scott Benner 47:06
don't know if I realized that what I realized was that my entire life, I didn't like ribs. And then I had ribs in Kansas City and realized that nobody had ever prepared them correctly for me. Yep. And now I know how to make them myself. And I love ribs. ribs are good. That's fantastic. Yeah, so had I not come? I would never have had that experience missing out. I seriously would have been. I'm not joking with you. I made some great ribs the other day.

Esther 47:32
I gotta tell you though, something very funny happened at that event where we met during the break between your the the other woman who spoke and your that

Unknown Speaker 47:45
I wait other people speak while I was there. I did realize that.

Unknown Speaker 47:50
The jdrf lady? Oh, yeah, I

Scott Benner 47:51
didn't know. I only hear myself. I'm just kidding. Yeah, I bet. I didn't other other people there but God.

Esther 47:59
But I went to ask a question at the jdrf table. And they had to go find somebody to get my question answered. And so I was standing there with renzoni by the jdrf. table, and a line formed. And this couple came up and started asking me about Renzo and diabetic alert dogs. And I was happy to answer all their questions. It's something I'm very passionate about. And then they were like, thank you. And they went away and another person came up a line formed people thought I was a rep there to talk about diabetic alert dogs.

Scott Benner 48:36
weird feeling, isn't it? When it is? Yeah, trust me, I I hear you. It seems like from the outside, it would just be like, Oh, it's nice, so many people, but it's hard to like wrap your head around when it happens. I had trouble getting through the that area you're discussing to go back and be private somewhere and just eat something for a second because I would take a step and it was really trust me, please. It was very nice and not necessary. But people wanted to say thank you or they want to take a picture or something like that. I would chat with him for a little while. And then I would turn and think now I'm going to go get my lunch and take one more step and somebody would go Hey, and I'm like, Okay, I'm never getting out of the spot right here. Am I so I just kind of put my back to the wall and like just was like alright, everybody, let's let's go come on over. Well, you know, we'll do it at the same time. is it's very, it's very nice. It's just overwhelming if it's never happened to you before.

Unknown Speaker 49:30
shopping with a service dog.

Scott Benner 49:32
Everybody has a question. Yes. Is that the biggest issue with a service dog is keeping people from touching?

Unknown Speaker 49:38
Um,

Scott Benner 49:40
in public, I guess.

Esther 49:42
I can't say for certain what the biggest problem is. However, it is very common. Like I would say that people with service dogs don't go to the grocery store on the weekend because they want to avoid people because you take a few steps and then then it's Oh cute doggy. Oh, my pet. What's wrong with you? Oh, are you a trainer? Oh, how do I sign up for one? Like, it's not so much the touching as the overwhelming intrusion. I'm just trying to shop for peanut butter. Like, and I'm really passionate about the topic, I could talk about it for hours. But if I'm having a bad blood sugar day, and I am just out of it, and I just want to get through the grocery store, and a dozen people stopped me to ask to pet my dog or ask me questions. I don't want to be rude.

Scott Benner 50:34
He had spent an hour and a half at the grocery store either, right? No, I, it makes sense to me. Because everyone is just having their own personal response. They don't recognize that someone just asked you for seconds before and then when they walk away, he's gonna do it.

Esther 50:48
I remind myself of that every day. Yeah, each person who asks me to pet my poodle, who I think is a unicorn sometimes, because of people's reactions, they don't realize that they're the 30th person asking that day, they just see a cute dog and they want to pet it.

Scott Benner 51:06
Pet my poodle should be a T shirt. Kiss your honor. I think I just did some music. And I liked the idea of those words all together. Well, no, I hear you. And it's it. You know, it really does make sense on both sides. You You don't you don't have that time. And they don't have that knowledge and too bad mix. Right? So you're just trying to avoid Listen, I think we all try to avoid going to the grocery store when it's too busy. know for certain. Okay, let's see. How about your outcomes? Have your outcomes with your agencies and variability and stuff like that improved with a service dog?

Esther 51:43
Yes, my variability has really improved, my agency is still like, I have an 8.6. And the insulin resistance and the hypothyroid situation I think are contributing to that. However, I didn't even know what variability was until I heard it on the podcast. And so I've been really focusing on that. And renjo really helps with it. In fact, the original trainer taught him to alert above 200 and below 70. And I actually retrained him to do 190 and 80. Because I wanted to know if it was going up before it got to the two hundreds, my range is 80 to 135. That's where I want to be. But if my dog alerted to my specific range, she'd be alerting all but he'd be alert alerting a lot more than I would need him to. Because really, he's there to prevent emergencies. What do you think is holding you back from having the one see that you're

Scott Benner 52:44
looking for?

Unknown Speaker 52:46
Um, well,

Esther 52:50
I would like the short answer would be insulin resistance. The long answer is, I was I've been switching back and forth between the pump and pens to figure out what I liked better. And I really think I like the pins. And you know, going back and forth isn't the greatest thing to do for your body. Don't follow my example. But I finally because I was listening to your podcast, and I was translating everything you were saying to the pins. Once I went back on the pump, I felt like I was relearning it all over again. Okay. Well, I went back to the pro tips and everything. And I just personally feel more comfortable on pens.

Scott Benner 53:27
Yeah, there's nothing wrong with that for certain I just was wondering if, because you're you're paying a lot of attention. And and you're, you know, you know, when you're high and when you're low from different technologies and from from Renzo. And I just wondered that you think it's the insulin resistance and that might stem back to the to the thyroid? Yeah. I just I don't want

Esther 53:50
it to be under control so badly. Yeah.

Scott Benner 53:53
I don't think enough people appreciate the impact of thyroid when it's not working correctly.

Esther 53:58
I did it for a long time. Yeah. I was diagnosed when I was a teenager. What did I know? I just took the pill and everything was hunky dory. It's not

Scott Benner 54:05
Yeah, it's, it can work well for people or not. And when it doesn't work well, it's it's not normally an easy fix. And, like you said, it's a slow, it's slow going to make adjustments.

Esther 54:17
And it has to build up in your system. It

Scott Benner 54:19
has a half life, and you don't always guess right the first time so you could you know, make an adjustment, wait a month, you know, do another blood test and find out what didn't do it. You know, and and, you know, I still don't feel any differently. And then you have to just back the other way. It's a it's a long game, and you have to see the value in it or I think it's possible that you just lose sight of wanting to play that game. And you really if you have a thyroid issue, and you're having any of the thyroid symptoms, your medications not right. And isn't Yeah, and it would be incredibly beneficial if you put some put put the effort that was needed into getting it fixed. And part of that effort. might end up being finding a doctor who isn't so cookie cutter when it comes to fine.

Esther 55:06
I will say I liked my nurse practitioner, she did a lot for me, she filled out the paperwork for my dog, she got me on libri. She got me on Omnipod the first time around. But we disagreed on some big things like dawn phenomenon, I told her, we need to address this, we need to adjust the high blood sugars in the morning because I can't function at my job with the high blood sugars in the morning. And yet, she said, Oh, it's fine. If you're high in the morning, just take a correction. I'm more worried about the 5% of lows you're having. And so we really butt heads on that. Yeah. And so even though I liked her, I'm not incredibly sorry to see her go. I'm excited to work with someone new, clean slate. That was the longest I've ever had one. Doctor for anything. I had her for four years.

Scott Benner 55:57
Yeah. And you're and you're butting heads on a pretty big issue. Because Yeah, because there's a way to not wake up high and not have a bunch of lows. It's Yeah, it's not a zero sum game. You don't have to pick between them. You know,

Esther 56:11
that's what I was saying. I was like, can we address both, but the only way she wanted to address the highest was with a correction. And I think that's where the disconnect between endocrinologist who live with type one. And endocrinologist who don't is because she doesn't understand what it does to us. Like, you can tell I'm sure with Arden, if she wakes up in range, she's awesome. And if she wakes up high, she's probably a little more snarky and sluggish.

Scott Benner 56:38
It's a big difference in how you feel. Yeah, and in some ways that determines how our mornings go, how we treat people, how we perform at our jobs or in school. And it's a big deal. It could be it could also impact the decision you make about food first thing in the morning, by the way, and then lead you down a bad road. Like if you're if you're feeling like none of this matters. And you you know you don't you don't have the energy to cook the meal that you normally would. So you grab something, it's easier. And your blood sugar goes out. And it just you know snowballs from there. And you can't get back. Yeah, no, I know. I'm sorry for you. I'm glad you're switching. But well, I hope I can find some better answers and share them on the podcast through this journey with Arden. Hopefully it'll come together. sooner than later. I actually have asked the doctor if when this is done if she would come on the show. And I'm hoping she will because she's just thinks about it in a different way, which I find to be really helpful.

Esther 57:36
That would be really interesting. Yeah,

Scott Benner 57:38
I hope so. I hope I can work that out. Actually.

Esther 57:41
You think Arden's getting older? Do you think Arden will ever be on the show?

Scott Benner 57:45
Yeah, sometimes I think she will be. And sometimes I think she won't be

Esther 57:49
like a teenager to me. So no.

Scott Benner 57:52
I asked her once in a while. And once in a while she acts like she might. And then sometimes she says she won't. And I figured it'll happen or it won't happen. At some point. There's definitely things I'd love to talk to her about on the podcast. And so I hope she comes on it just for her. I mean, you guys might find that interesting, but I would I want to do it, you know, for her?

Esther 58:10
Well, I think I mean, I respect artists choice. But being someone who grew up as a type one diabetic child, adolescent teenager, not having the support network or community that I have now through the internet. Like, I didn't know anyone like me. I didn't know there were blogs out there or podcasts out there. Yeah. And being able to connect with people who are going through the same thing, I think would have changed a lot of how I went through my teenage years with Type One Diabetes. I agree

Scott Benner 58:49
with you. You spend some time on Instagram, right? sharing some stuff about your life. tell people what your Instagram handle is.

Esther 58:57
Oh, yeah. On Instagram, I am chronically underscore annoyed on tik tok. I am chronically annoyed. And on YouTube, I am chronically annoyed s d team.

Scott Benner 59:08
Nice. Although I read this morning that this tech talk is bad. And so I will find you the article says it's on board panda.com and it says I am a nerd who figured out how who figures out how apps work for a living. I've reverse engineered tik tok. It's scary stay away from it. Like that's interesting. So anyway, I'll share that written a place where you can find it too. I thought that was really something because it is incredibly popular. But no i to your to your point about you know, being there online so somebody else can see it. I mean, obviously I'm a big believer in that or the podcast wouldn't exist so

Esther 59:49
Oh, yeah. I I got on Instagram, I don't know in 2018 to to find the Type One Diabetes community and and to build Build a support system. Never did, I think I would have 1000s of followers looking to me for advice on any social media platform, and I don't give advice. I just share my experiences, and maybe some dumb jokes along the way. But the community that exists online is amazing. And I first got into it by downloading bianche type one. That was That was my first introduction to an online Type One Diabetes community. And it was amazing.

Scott Benner 1:00:33
I agree. And they had What did they have? Like? Almost like a message board? I guess? Is that how you would describe it?

Esther 1:00:41
It's similar to Twitter. I guess it is a message board where you can follow different topics and make posts, but it's all for type one diabetics or friends and family of type one diabetics.

Scott Benner 1:00:54
Nice. Is that still running? Oh, yeah, yeah.

Esther 1:00:59
It's had multiple updates. I still have that I'm not very active on it. But I've met some really cool people through beyond type one. I even got to meet up with another type one diabetic I met on the app in Denver A few years ago, and we went to an amusement park together, where we ran into another type one diabetic.

Unknown Speaker 1:01:21
So that was fun. Mm hmm.

Scott Benner 1:01:25
What do you get out of like, on your side of it from meeting those people? Like you said, you didn't know anybody like you what happens when you do all of a sudden, no, somebody like you?

Esther 1:01:34
Well, it, I wouldn't say it backfired. But it, it didn't turn out the way I thought it would. Because I went through the diabetes journey a lot differently than other people. I found that I had a lot of insight that others were lacking. So instead of gaining encouragement, I ended up giving it because I I've been doing this for so long on my own. That I found that I had a lot of stuff to give, but I still gained, I still gain information. I gained friends. And I just think it's very wholesome, the way we can share experiences and information.

Scott Benner 1:02:21
I agree with you. I really do. I think it's a it's a wonderful platform, especially for people who are distanced and don't have connection. And who really does. I mean, honestly, a lot of people have type one diabetes, but you know, still there's not that many to where you're always gonna know, three and four people with it. And you're gonna find them, you know,

Esther 1:02:41
and, you know, as a kid, I, by the time I was 10 years old, I had spent half of my life in Europe. So, I really didn't know a lot of people like me. There weren't there were no jdrf events to go to, or, you know, diabetes camps to be to go to it was just me and mom.

Scott Benner 1:03:03
What other places have you lived?

Esther 1:03:06
Oh, this is a fun one. Let's see. I was born in Texas. And then we moved to Arkansas where I was diagnosed, and then we went to North Yorkshire and we lived in Menwith Hill, England. And then we moved to Alabama. Then we went to Kaiserslautern, Germany. Back to Arkansas for another deployment. Back to Alabama, then off to Colorado, then we were in Virginia for a while and now, I have been living in Missouri for the past five years.

Scott Benner 1:03:40
I think I'm just impressed that you said them on order, which I'm assuming they were in order, but yes. Do you speak any other languages like German or British?

Unknown Speaker 1:03:48
I speak sarcasm.

Scott Benner 1:03:52
Me too. That's the only one I have

Esther 1:03:54
to speak type one diabetes in service dog handler. Know, out of out of my my family. Some a lot of people in my family speak languages. A lot of people in my family play instruments are very musical. I'm a visual arts person. I actually hold an associate's degree in Visual Arts and an associate's degree in business. But I'm taking a break from college right now. And I'm a teacher. Cool, what

Unknown Speaker 1:04:22
do you teach?

Esther 1:04:24
I teach public speaking, digital literacy. And this coming year, I will also be teaching art and running the library.

Scott Benner 1:04:32
Wow, look at it. Good for you. That's excellent. And Renzo comes to work with you. Obviously,

Esther 1:04:37
yes. Renzo loves coming to work with me because he loves children. Well, honestly, both both my dog and my students respect each other. And it's hard for them to have self control sometimes, but they respect the fact that he's there for a reason. And the reason is not for them to love on him.

Scott Benner 1:04:57
How old are the kids you normally teach?

Esther 1:05:00
Third through eighth grade. Oh wait this year I'm also going to be teaching high school.

Scott Benner 1:05:04
Wow. That's really cool. Good for you. That's excellent. Yeah, I think big just the government must have put you guys in in country and left you here just to stop having to cart all of you around the globe. It was probably get expensive.

Esther 1:05:20
My father retired in 2015. But yeah, it um, yeah, there's a lot of us. Okay, how

Scott Benner 1:05:27
long was he in total Dino?

Unknown Speaker 1:05:29
Oh, I

Esther 1:05:32
okay. But here's the thing. He was in the army first. And then he got out of the army. And then he was National Guard. And then he got into the Air Force. So I have no idea. Wow. No, that was all before I was born. A lot of serving.

Scott Benner 1:05:43
Yeah, no kidding. That's, uh, that's interesting. Did you prefer living overseas to here or vice versa? Do you have any?

Esther 1:05:50
I would? Well, here's the thing. I lived overseas when I was a child, the last time I was out of country, I was 13. I would have a much different perspective now as a young adult than I did as a child as a kid. It was pretty stinking cool. Yeah, I would imagine. I hear that. A lot of places. I've been to Italy. I've been to Austria, Ireland, France. lots lots of places.

Scott Benner 1:06:14
That's really cool. It was really it's a it's a rich experience, just to have as a little kid, you know? Yes. No kidding. Well, listen, I we've done this for an hour. I really appreciate you being on and And is there anything we didn't get through that you wanted to? I don't want to skip anything.

Esther 1:06:30
We talked a lot about hypothyroidism. Ironically. And Renzo? Do I answer all your questions about diabetic alert dogs? specifically?

Scott Benner 1:06:41
Yeah, no, I feel good about it. I think, you know, if I'm speaking from an outsider's perspective, I believe that a diabetic alert dog for somebody who wants one is amazing. And I can also see how another person might see it as another responsibility that they don't have time for, like I can, I can see both both perspectives, you know, pretty evenly. But I think the biggest problem, excuse me is that I don't want to see people spend a lot of money for something that didn't need to cost that much money and won't help them, you know, because it ends up being a shakedown, is there any central location that they can go to make sure they're not being taken advantage of? Or is it? Is it location to location?

Esther 1:07:24
It's, it's knowing the red flags to look for when looking for a program. And that is something you learn through experience and research. Unfortunately, I talk a lot about it on Instagram and Tiktok. But to what you said, it's so true, any diabetic could make use of a dog but not every but not every diabetic needs one. I honestly didn't need one until I started experiencing hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia. And awareness. That's the whole reason I got the dog. Having a dog with you. 24. Seven is a lifestyle shift that not everybody can handle,

Scott Benner 1:07:57
right? No, I can't I can imagine that being true. Hey, what are some of the red flags that that would tell me this might not be a great organization?

Esther 1:08:06
If they won't answer certain questions, like training methodology? How old are the dogs when they get placed? How long? Does it take the dogs to be fully trained? Are they public access, ready, when they're placed? Or do they just know the alerts? How closely do they work with their clients? Or do they not give you updates and stuff like that? Do they want you to pay the whole amount upfront before they start training your dog? Or will they take a down payment and start working with your dog immediately? Those are those are the questions to ask. Those are the big red flags to look out for.

Scott Benner 1:08:46
Is it just true that nowhere should it cost $25,000.

Esther 1:08:50
Unfortunately, if you go to a nonprofit organization, you're gonna spend anywhere between 15 to 50,000. It's in there in high demand, low supply, it takes up to two years to fully train a service dog. A lot of people have waiting lists, I went through a program called canine specialty training, LLC is located in Independence, Missouri, it is not nonprofit, therefore, it's first come first serve. And that's how I got my dog so quickly. So it's really it's really worth it to try and look for small local training companies or organizations rather than going to a big nonprofit organization.

Scott Benner 1:09:39
Well, let me just put this out there. I'm not a doctor, and I have no training at all. But for $50,000 I will come live at your house. Teach your kid how to keep their blood sugar, right or you as an adult, I'll stay with you for I mean, 50 grand, let's be fair, two months, and we'll make sure you're okay before I go. And that's it. 50 grand. That's I'll definitely live in your house for $50,000. If I if I ever buy a $50,000 dog, I imagined that I will need some sort of like mental health help because I'm so cheap. I can't even imagine it just that that Fried my mind would just be like when you started at 15,000 I was like, oh my god 15 pounds. Oh,

Esther 1:10:20
my dog was considered cheap. No kidding. And I actually didn't have to pay for all of them because I got a grant that is specifically for type one diabetics to get a service dog through cosmopolitan International. Everyone can find it on their website. Okay, it is application based, though.

Scott Benner 1:10:37
cosmopolitan International. Okay, I just want to go over one more time again, for $50,000 there's very few things I won't do. In case you're wondering like, do you need me to come paint your house or? I don't know, do change the oil on your car. just name it. Honestly, I'm happy to come over, just let me know. I'm sure a lot of people would fall in line with that idea as well. That's an amazing amount of money. And I'm glad you're you've shared some of those things to stop people from spending if they don't need to.

Esther 1:11:04
Well, I spent years doing research and trial and error so I'm happy to be a shortcut for people and share what I've experienced. Yeah,

Scott Benner 1:11:13
yeah. Listen, go find her on Instagram if you need not, don't go on tik tok. Apparently, that's the place where? I don't know they're stealing all your something or other. I'm not 100% sure. But the article was very interesting. Yeah, cool. Listen, thank you for doing this. I really appreciate it.

Esther 1:11:28
You're so welcome. Thank you for having me on. I was looking forward to it for like eight months.

Scott Benner 1:11:34
Sorry about that. Mark. Did you did you do you have a good time? How'd we do?

Esther 1:11:38
Oh, I had a fantastic time. Cool. I could probably could never get bored of talking to you. I love your sense of humor. And I love the information you put out there for people.

Scott Benner 1:11:46
I really appreciate that. Thank your people for introducing me to good barbecue. I really do think that it really changed my life honestly, like I I smoked a pork butt the other day. That is there not words I thought I'd ever say out loud. Had I not gone to Kansas City to speak at that event. I never would have had that thought in my life. So

Esther 1:12:04
well. I hope to see you come back.

Scott Benner 1:12:06
I would love that. I had a great time. By the way. Interesting little city like it's if you come in from the east coast, and you've been in a big city before it's a very feels like a tiny place. But it's this. It's this neat feeling. Yeah, like you know,

Esther 1:12:20
I moved here from Yorktown, Virginia. It was complete culture shock.

Scott Benner 1:12:25
Yeah. But it's it was a lovely like a little a great place to walk around and enjoy. While I had that free time in the first day and I liked it a lot. I really did. I thought it was cool. And the airport was I've never stood in a security line so short my entire life at an airport. It was where did you come in on a little It was like a little roundy is like a semi circle. Am I making sense when I say that? Yeah, I

Esther 1:12:49
Kansas City International.

Scott Benner 1:12:51
Oh my god, I got right. So I asked people, you know, what time do I need to get back in the morning to the airport to fly out here. I don't want to be late, you know, and I'm flying out of here. I want to get to the airport somewhere about 90 minutes to two hours ahead of time. And so I'm asking what time to leave. And my flights I think at 9am flight. And someone says Well, we'll we could pick you up at the at the hotel at 815. And I was like, wait, no, like, Don't Don't do that. Like, are you sure. And they were so sure. And I didn't want to argue with anybody. So I argued a little bit and I got picked up at like 745 and eight o'clock I was at the airport. And at 809 I was through security and sitting at the gate and I thought oh my

Esther 1:13:35
god. It's amazing. And they're actually redoing the airport, I saw that they can make that process faster.

Scott Benner 1:13:43
I don't imagine they can. It was it was magical, honestly. Anyway, maybe one day we'll all fly again. And I'll come back. So Alright, I am going to I'm gonna go get some things done here and I appreciate your time very much. Thank you for taking the time to do this.

Esther 1:13:57
Thank you for having me. Have a great day. You too.

Scott Benner 1:14:02
Huge thanks to Esther for coming on and telling us about her life with Type One Diabetes and her experiences with her diabetes alert service dog. Thanks to two touched by type one on the pod and Dexcom for sponsoring this episode of the Juicebox Podcast. When you support the sponsors, you are supporting the show and helping to keep it free and plentiful. Check out dexcom@dexcom.com forward slash juicebox Omnipod of course is that my Omni pod.com forward slash juice box get yourself that free no obligation demo and touched by type one.org and Instagram and Facebook. As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure Dexcom and Omnipod are on Instagram and Facebook too. But I just never seem to say that. I'll see you soon for the next episode of the Juicebox Podcast. Thank you so much for listening for sharing the show with others and for leaving your beautiful ratings and reviews wherever you listen. Subscribe in a podcast player. These well If you're listening online, really consider a podcast that they're free. And they're easy, and thank you. That was an awkward, stilted end to this conversation. I'm not gonna do anything about it. I'm just gonna leave it there. This would be an example of a smooth ending. If you're enjoying the show, please tell a friend. Thanks so much for listening. I'll see you soon. See how much better that was. Didn't get all choppy and weird. Anyway, that's that I'm out of here.