#549 Pregnant in Slovenia
Katy has type 1 diabetes.
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DISCLAIMER: This text is the output of AI based transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors and should not be treated as an authoritative record. Nothing that you read here constitutes advice medical or otherwise. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making changes to a healthcare plan.
Scott Benner 0:00
Hello friends, and welcome to Episode 549 of the Juicebox Podcast.
You are going to enjoy today's show, I interviewed Katie while she was pretty pregnant. Today she has a baby. At the end of the episode, I'll tell you more about that baby. For now remember that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. Also remember that you should consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan or becoming bold with insulin. This one's fun. I remember we did this with the video on which I don't often do. I remember Katie saying she hadn't had much interaction with adults. And we had a really good time chatting. Oh, and she's living in Slovenia right now. which sounded exotic to me. Of course, I am a person who when I hear you live in Canada imagines you're being killed by a bear. So I don't have a world traveler view.
As I reflect on what I've just said, I don't even know if I count as an adult, so maybe she hadn't had any contact with adults.
This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by the Contour Next One blood glucose meter, I want you to go to Contour Next one.com forward slash juice box to learn more about the most accurate blood glucose meter that I've ever used. The show is also sponsored today by touched by type one, find out more about them at them that does not say them correctly. Find out more about them at touched by type one.org or on their Facebook or Instagram pages.
Katy 2:03
My name is Katy, I'm 32 years old and type one diabetic. And I'm seven months pregnant. And now I'm currently living in Slovenia.
Scott Benner 2:14
Nice. Okay, so Katie, when you think you're turning your head, and so you're like, Hey, I'm Katie.
Katy 2:23
Ah, okay, the microphone isn't as good. I'll just hold it. This is better.
Scott Benner 2:26
Wow, that's amazing. If you if you feel like doing that the whole time. Definitely do that. But will will will, will leave your microphone training in the episode. So how would you say you're 32. And you were diagnosed when?
Katy 2:39
When I was 1111 2000
Scott Benner 2:43
years ago? Yeah. See how quickly I did that. impressed at all?
Unknown Speaker 2:50
mazing.
Scott Benner 2:51
No, you weren't. I was I think that's the problem is that I was like, that's 21 years ago. And then this little like confetti pops off of my head. And it's like, you did it. I don't know what's wrong. I don't know why my brain doesn't grasp math the way it should. Anyway,
Katy 3:05
well, this is fairly simple math, right? It's 2021. But still,
Scott Benner 3:10
why don't you're saying but I'm just impressed it like it because you don't. Alright, look, not to get on a sideline, but my brain takes out a chalkboard and I can visually see your age. And then that happen. And then it goes oh, you just take the one off. And then there's two here. So that's 20. And then that's one. And they literally happens like that in my head, which is why I'm not good at geometry and algebra and other things. Because I think I would need more of a grasp of Math and Math to get through that stuff.
Katy 3:34
But it just sounds like you're kind of a visual person.
Scott Benner 3:36
You thanks. So yeah, you're probably right. Okay, long time then is the answer. you're originally from California. Yes.
Katy 3:45
Originally from kind of the well, originally from the Bay Area, and then I grew up in the Sierra Nevada foothills.
Scott Benner 3:53
Oh, that sounds lovely. Was it? Yeah. Yeah.
Katy 3:56
It was a small I was in a small town. Really beautiful.
Scott Benner 3:59
That's amazing. I wish but you don't live there anymore. Now, wisely. I
Katy 4:05
live in Slovenia, in the capital city Say that one more time for people. Currently I live in Slovenia. It's a in Europe. It's between Italy and Croatia and Austria, kind of
Scott Benner 4:19
nowhere near the foothills. And
Katy 4:23
we have some Alps. nearby.
Scott Benner 4:27
How did you end up there?
Katy 4:29
My husband is a Slovenian guy. So he was doing an internship in California in Silicon Valley. When we met about eight years ago. And now we've been living here for about a year and a half.
Scott Benner 4:45
And he said, I have to go home. And you were like, I'll go with you how long you've been married.
Unknown Speaker 4:51
We've been married about three years. I think
Scott Benner 4:54
so he springs this on you after you're trapped? Is that what you're saying?
Katy 4:56
No. I actually wanted to No, this is always something that we kind of planned on. That was just a matter of the timing. Gotcha. Well,
Scott Benner 5:05
that's, that's really cool. I mean, it's adventurous at the very least to. I mean, it would have been adventurous to move to Arizona in my opinion.
Katy 5:14
And you don't know me, but it's very adventurous for me. Also, I'm not a huge risk taker by nature. So
Scott Benner 5:20
that's pretty cool. And it sounds like it's going okay. Except for before we started recording the mail system in Slovenia, not good. We start with the mail system. Yeah. But that's neither here nor there. So how, yeah, so you've got diabetes. As a child, you grow up with type one being on your parents situation, imagine you went to college, and then got a job, you're on your own, and then you leave the country. I so I, before we dive into why you're on the show, I kind of want to start off with how that changes, like what happens when you leave one country and go to another? How do you manage all that?
Katy 5:56
The diabetes component or
Scott Benner 5:59
like get everything, no getting your stuff, like getting your, you know, your diabetes, tak and like, all that.
Katy 6:05
Yeah, that was kind of a scary aspect. But it turned out to not be as difficult as I thought it was going to be. The hardest part was just making sure I would have enough supplies in this interim period before I had insurance over here. But once you have insurance over here, which you get, as soon as you are registered as a resident, even if you're a temporary resident, then you are covered. So it's not a problem anymore. And it's like a universal healthcare system. So it's, it's really a lot nicer than the situation in the US. But I did stockpile supplies before coming. So I plan to have I think I had between three and six months of supplies for everything. It wasn't it wasn't so crazy, because I've had doctors in the US also, when I did, I did a three month trip to Southeast Asia and I did a three month trip around the US. And doctors are willing to help you out to cover an extra supply gap. Yeah. Loads during this kind of thing. Did you
Scott Benner 7:29
end up needing all of it?
Katy 7:31
Sorry, did you?
Scott Benner 7:32
Did you really end up needing all that backlog that you had? Or did it turn out to be more than you?
Katy 7:39
It was I was happy that I had as much as I did. And I didn't use it all up. But it was not a lot of extra wiggle room. By the time the insurance came through. There was some bureaucrat bureaucracy and I will say it's really helpful to have my husband be somebody who speaks Slovenian to help me navigate the system. Because if I were to just an American speaking English and trying to do offers
Scott Benner 8:06
me once again, this never happens. Hello. I'm recording What's up? No, I'm not kidding you. Wait, you left something in here? This is funny. Hold on was What do you say?
Okay, good luck.
So not Hey, I'm sorry, this isn't on the calendar. But I'm like it is on the calendar. No, it's not. Like it was almost like I'm not bothering you because this isn't on the calendar. And I was like, Yeah, but it is. Not only that, I understand that. Well, not only that 45 minutes ago, she was in here and I was like, Hey, I gotta record sit and she was like, Okay.
Katy 9:05
Okay, well then that's less understand.
Scott Benner 9:09
That was very interesting. Like, literally no one's ever walked in here while I was doing this before that is the first time that's ever happened. I'm sorry. I wonder if you if you were to have gotten there and didn't have stuff if you didn't prep as well as she did? It was would there have been a way for you to get what you needed?
Katy 9:27
Yeah, I think it wouldn't have been impossible. Um, I think I could have they they have a universal health care system which is great for for kind of covering everybody but I think I could have paid out of pocket to see a private doctor and just gotten a prescription and then paid out of pocket for insulin and gotcha. It might have been a difficult I might not have been able to get I don't know if I would have been able to get out because I have a continuous glucose monitor and One time. And I'm not sure if it might have been more difficult to get prescriptions for those items, but at least for kind of like, getting by I'm almost positive it would have been still okay. What if you would
Scott Benner 10:13
have said, What if you would have met a boy who is from a country where your stuffs not for sale? Like if you're pumping your CGM weren't available wherever he was from? What How would you have felt about that? Do you think?
Katy 10:27
Yeah, I mean, haven't really gone? I don't know. I haven't really gone down that
Scott Benner 10:34
is it there are places there are places all over the world that you can't get an omni Potter, you can't get Dexcom and stuff like that.
Katy 10:40
Yeah, I don't know what I mean. I'm a relatively recent convert to using CGM in the scheme of things I actually was offered when and I used the I have a mid Medtronic insulin pump 670 G, but I don't use the closed loop system. And then I have a Dexcom. Okay, CGM. And I tried the mini med CGM, maybe five years ago or so six, maybe they were trying to they were kind of encouraging me to try not with the 670 G, but with the just with the old Medtronic pump that they had. And I just hated it. It was I felt like it was inaccurate. It was beeping all the time. Driving you really crazy. And so I, I kind of thought all CGM suck. And so
Scott Benner 11:44
I don't know what to say. I don't know one person that that used that original Medtronic CGM. And that was like, This thing was great. Like, and yeah,
Katy 11:53
I used it for less than a week I think before it was like, No, this isn't for me. My blood sugar's are fine.
Scott Benner 11:59
I think in fairness to not that we need to defend anybody, but being the first through the door is hard. You know, like the first person to be like, we're gonna try a thing, you know, and then you're like, isn't work as well as I needed to? It's tough. Somebody's got to blaze a trail. And that's not Yeah, it's not usually a happy story. When you're trailblazing. That's for sure. Yeah. But so you got a little turned off to it for a while. Sorry. You were a little turned off to it for a while.
Katy 12:22
Yeah. Um, but then that, you know, I kept hearing people talk about the Dexcom. Even before I got the Medtronic CGM, people were talking about how much they love the Dexcom. But I just kind of thought It can't be that different from the Medtronic, all kind of the same, same. And so I didn't use another one for maybe three or four years after that. And then actually, I think only two and a half years ago or so. My doctor that I had just, I only had him for one or two appointments, and he was like, why are you not on a CGM? Like CGM are so great. I'm writing you a prescription just go get one. Right now this Dexcom is covered by your insurance anyway. And it really has changed my life. So if you ask me now I would really prioritize being able to get a CGM is the short answer.
Scott Benner 13:16
So it was easier to get you to Slovenia than it was to get you a CGM.
Katy 13:20
Yeah.
Scott Benner 13:23
That's hilarious. So in the note that you wrote me, you said that for a very long part of your life, I want you to really kind of dig in and explain this concept to me that, you know, I don't want to put words in your mouth, but you minimize diabetes, or tried to keep it in the background white. I want your words for it. But I want to understand how how you treated it, in that that time?
Katy 13:44
Mm hmm. Yeah, I mean, I think I was never, I've heard on some of the I listened now to a quite a few of the podcasts. And now I'm listening to them, like a couple times a week, every week. And I've heard a lot of people say, maybe they were embarrassed or ashamed. And I didn't, I think I didn't really feel that way. But um, I just really didn't want my identity to be associated with diabetes. Like, it felt like a stereotype I guess. Which is kind of crazy now to think about, but yeah, so I definitely didn't bring it up unless somebody asked. And then if somebody did ask, I always was happy to talk about it. But it's funny, especially in high school,
Scott Benner 14:33
I always think of it is. I'm trying to really listen to people and dig through what they're saying. And I wonder sometimes if that idea of like, it wasn't a big deal to me, I just didn't want to have it attached to me, is a fear reframed. Like, like, like, you must feel like that's what's going to happen or you wouldn't be concerned about it. Does that mean Yeah,
Katy 14:56
I think I thought it definitely was coming from a place of fear, I think, um, I think I thought people would maybe take pity on me or think of me as more vulnerable, or feel like they couldn't just act normally around me. Um,
Scott Benner 15:15
did you have that fear about yourself? That you were that person? Oh,
Katy 15:23
no, I don't think so. Okay, I felt like I always felt pretty confident about who I was. But you know, so I got it when I was 11. So and I also changed schools the same year. So I switched from a private, small or C, dinky school to a public school because my dad wanted a better math program in sixth grade. And I was like at that for that first year, I was giving myself insulin injections, because you had to give yourself insulin injections for a year before they'd let you get an insulin pump, right. And so I was switching to this new big school, I didn't know anybody. And I was the kid who was like stabbing themselves with needles at lunchtime. And I just, you know, at first I was really worried. And then I, then I kind of realized that maybe it's kind of a conversation starter and like, so then I kind of thought, Oh, it's like a joke. I can make a joke out of it. People will be like, Oh, are you doing cocaine? Or?
Scott Benner 16:24
Yes, that's great. These children really understand the cocaine process. Yes.
Katy 16:32
And so yeah, it actually helps me to make in the end, it helps me to make some friends. In a way. Yeah,
Scott Benner 16:39
no, I don't this I don't not understand. And I don't think like, I don't think anybody handles anything wrong. You don't need me. Like, I think whatever works, you I'm just super interested in like that. That idea of, I don't want people to see because then they attach me to it. Because I think that's obvious. I think people make snap decisions about stuff. I don't think that's an unreasonable thing. But I wonder about the juxtaposition to the people who really legit don't care. And then they're not like, it's not, like, aggro, like, don't care. They really don't care. You don't mean difference between like people who say they don't care. But that's just a position they're taking in the people who really do just drift through things.
Katy 17:23
Yeah, I definitely. Yeah, I definitely feel like I'm more on that side of the spectrum, as I've aged. But, you know, I never tried to hide it. I was always checking my blood sugar's in class. It wasn't like I was trying to minimize it in that way. Yeah. It's just socially with friends, I would never be like, hold on a second, I'm counting my carbs. Like, don't interrupt me, you know.
Scott Benner 17:51
Stop talking about Boys to Men for five seconds. Well, while while I go over how many grapes are in this bag?
Katy 17:57
And sometimes maybe I would have needed, you know, that minute, but I just didn't bring it out, you know?
Scott Benner 18:03
Don't make sense to me. And your, your management's. I mean, from what you shared with me, it's always been pretty stable, right? Like you're a one sees and things like that.
Katy 18:14
Yeah, I definitely I'm gradually, like, you've kind of talked in some of the episodes about how people kind of get complacent and don't really notice a slight drift. And so I did notice, I think I was pretty happy actually to get the CGM, because maybe in the last prior to getting it the last couple of years, I was starting to get more regular agencies in the mid to high sevens occasionally. And that's that was higher than I ever used to get. I was always kind of in the sixes, low sevens. And so I was kind of like, Ah, you know, maybe I'm, and also one of my doctors referred to me as uncontrolled diabetic on a note, and she said it was in order to be able to get better access for prescriptions of some sort. I can't remember what the context was, but it kind of just freaked me out reading. Yeah, like, even if it was her exaggerating for the sake of prescriptions, right.
Scott Benner 19:21
Let me just call you mass murder for a second, but don't worry, it's just to get your taxes lowered.
Katy 19:28
Like, Oh, God, am I am I anywhere close to an unconditioned? Maybe I kind of felt like maybe I was getting there a little bit. I was just a little too comfortable with being in the two hundreds, from time to time. Yeah.
Scott Benner 19:41
Well, it does occur to me that if the doctor was willing to say it, the numbers must have at least backed it up enough that they thought that
Katy 19:50
she wasn't like putting her license on the line by writing that
Scott Benner 19:53
it's not like you had a you know, a 5.2 a one saying she's like, this person's out of control. You know, somebody would say No, they're not and and that would have been that. Did you have all the Did you have crazy lows? Or no was your variability pretty stable?
Katy 20:08
Huh? I mean, okay, so now that I've been pregnant and on the CGM, I mean, it's all it's definitely all relative. Because looking at what my blood sugar's are like now and how stable they are now and kind of the range that they're in now and have been for almost a year, I would say that there was way too much variability, then yeah, but you know, I've heard other people talking, it's, I think I was kind of like, not really going below 40 or 50. Very often, or ever, and not really going above 250, or kind of the high 200 often or ever, but that's still a fairly good range. You know, like, that's, that's not really the healthy range.
Scott Benner 21:00
It's interesting, though, isn't it? Like talked about before the CGM before you could really see it, that all just seemed okay. Right. Like you weren't, you weren't sitting around thinking like, Oh, I have a real problem here. I have to get on top of it.
Katy 21:11
Yeah, no, I mean, I was the I was kind of like, I should start to get slightly I should hone in on my control a little bit, get back to where I was when I was first diagnosed, but then it just kind of, you know, right. never took priority.
Scott Benner 21:25
Yeah, yeah, it's, um, it's like your house is on fire and your responses, I got to make sure my smoke detector batteries are okay. Instead of we should put water on this. And it because it's not. It doesn't feel imminent. Is that why?
Katy 21:40
I don't know. I wasn't ever. No, I don't think that's why exactly. I wasn't really aware. Like I just wasn't, I wasn't really kind of looking into more current research and more current ideas about it, like, I was diagnosed when I was 11. And I was really up to date for at least, you know, five or 10 years after that point, kind of like, paying attention to jdrf, and really had a great relationship with my endocrinologist and finding out the latest. And then, somewhere along the way, I was just kind of doing my own thing, doing jobs separate from it. And diabetes is just becoming kind of a smaller and smaller part of my life. And so I think I just, I kind of got trained in an a little bit more of an old school mindset, and didn't totally adjust my thinking, as people were realizing more and more, yeah, how harmful the high blood sugars over time can be. And
Scott Benner 22:40
then you wake up one day, and you're like, this is how I do it. And there's, like,
Katy 22:45
really pregnancy woke me up. But then kind of listening to your podcast and doing my own research outside of that and reading some books. It's been interesting, kind of realizing how doable it is to have an overall lower range and a more consistent range. Well, and how healthy it is.
Scott Benner 23:07
Yeah, well, let's find out about that a little bit and what you figured out? So did you make the baby on purpose? Or was it a surprise?
Next time you buy a car, or a sofa, or a house or a pair of shoes, don't even bother shopping for those things. Just go to your doctor's office and say, I need a pair of sneakers. Just give me whichever pair you want. Doc pick out my sofa for me. Where do you think I should live nurse practitioner. That's not how things work. But you let those people give you a blood glucose meter. And you never asked, Are there other options? Does this one even work? Huh? Why don't you do that?
I'm gonna guess you were overwhelmed. You didn't know what you were doing. And you thought, Oh, this is a blood glucose meter. Why would you think there were other ones happened to me, somebody gave us insulin. And I thought this was insulin. But now Arden uses a different insulin because I looked into it. And I learned and I made a more informed choice. You can do that with your blood glucose meter. If I was you, I would start at Contour Next one.com forward slash juicebox. And look at the Contour Next One blood glucose meter. See what I'm getting out here. This is an ad. And I'm trying to get you to go to a link and you're going to do it or you're not going to but if I was you, I would and I'm not just saying that because someone's paying me. This is the meter that my daughter uses. It is absolutely the most accurate and easy to use meter that she's ever had that I've ever held. It has Second Chance test strips so you don't waste the strip. You If you don't get enough blood the first time, as a super bright light for nighttime viewing a screen that is easy to read and use, it fits nicely in your hand or in your pocket or in your purse. And it's really, really, really, really, really, really, really accurate. I don't know what else you'd want. So you should check it out. Contour Next One comm Ford slash juice box. They also have a test trip savings program that might be valuable to you. And the supplies could end up being cheaper and cash than you're even paying now through your insurance for another meter. I don't know. But that's where you find out Contour Next One comm Ford slash juice box it is a super informative and easy to use website that will give you all the answers you need. Do you wish that your meter was connected to an app so that all of your data can be saved in one place for later viewing. If you wish that wish comes true the Contour Next One blood glucose meter does that. But if you don't want to use the app, the meter works just as well without it. links in the show notes links at Juicebox. Podcast com Contour Next one.com forward slash juice box and while you're out on the internet tooling around getting yourself a new, amazing meter. Also check out touched by type one.org. Super simple right touch by type one.org you can do that. Let me remind you here to have you filled out the survey for the T one D exchange T one d exchange.org. forward slash juicebox. Let's get back to Katie.
Katy 26:31
It was on purpose good
Scott Benner 26:32
for you look at you. Your parents.
Katy 26:38
Yeah, he was we I had an IUD. So it was like you have to be
Scott Benner 26:46
it's tough to get around those. Lovely. So you decided to make a family? And, and I am assuming you're staying where you're at now, right? Like this is
Katy 26:56
not forever. We're actually going to be moving back to California. sometime in the next one to two years. Okay, that's the plan.
Scott Benner 27:06
Is there a language barrier for you? Are you like by yourself there?
Katy 27:11
No, it's not that everybody speaks English. Pretty much if they're under kind of a age of 40 or 50. They know pretty pretty good English. And then it's a bit of a crapshoot, depending on who you're talking to, and where you're located for kind of the older generation and also the smaller towns outside of the capital city.
Scott Benner 27:36
How much like right around like the area you live where you do what you do shop and do stuff like that, like do people like Do they look at you and go That girl's the American girl that I told you about?
Katy 27:50
Yeah, I think to some extent, you know, I'm taking I'm learning it and I try to speak Slovenian as often as I can. But it's a really complicated language with cases it's kind of most similar to Russia. And if you have to make a comparison and it's not good,
Scott Benner 28:11
you're not good. good at it. I just really imagine you wandering the street and they're like, Look, there she is. I told you there was a one there was one here it's there she and she's pregnant.
Katy 28:23
Helping it's not helping my case, but I'm pregnant and I'm really large. And I'm only seven months pregnant. I'm He's my baby is going to be really large. And I look already like I could be about to give birth so like the way I mean I guess everybody's white here but like the cute American super pregnant lady that stands out shut
Scott Benner 28:45
up and then she started making babies so I if it makes you feel better the portion of you that I can see does not look pregnant at all. You're doing your top third is rockin i would i honestly when you when you popped up, and I could see you That was my first thought. I'm like, I thought she was going to be pregnant. Like that's literally what I thought when when when you came on the camera and I was like, Oh, alright, well good. Anyway.
Katy 29:10
I'll stand up later. So you can see. It's amazing.
Scott Benner 29:16
Like two people, just like yeah, I ever see those people walking around who looked like they were made out of spare parts. Like I always imagine, you know, the end of the day, whoever's putting people together. It's like, well, we have a top half left at a bottom half left, but they don't go together and they're just like, hell let's get out of here and they stick them together and leave like I wonder if that's not what's gonna happen. I'm just gonna stand up and look like two different people.
Katy 29:40
I used to do that with my gummy bears. I'd like shoe off the head of one color and the bottom of another and glue them together.
Scott Benner 29:46
I don't understand people who don't do that. What do you think? That also works with gumdrops and other such things like you know how sometimes like, like a red gum drop and an orange gum drop tastes nice together, but you don't want to gumdrops you split them in half. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know who doesn't do that. If anyone listening doesn't do that mistake that's all fine. Get returned the gummy bears backwards. So they're like monsters?
Katy 30:12
Oh yeah, definitely. Like all kinds of Frankenstein gummy bears.
Scott Benner 30:16
Are your kids in for a lovely upbringing? I think you're super excited to have you. Do you know what kind of baby it's gonna be?
Katy 30:25
Yeah, he's a boy.
Unknown Speaker 30:27
Congratulations,
Katy 30:28
my Sorry, I I'm I am happy no matter what if he's healthy. But my family is heavily boy, filled already. So I was kind of hoping for a girl.
Scott Benner 30:39
Well, don't worry. I'm sure the fifth one will be a girl. Yeah,
Katy 30:42
I'm not having people who get stuck in your situation
Scott Benner 30:45
are always just like searching like how we're gonna do it one more time. But you don't even want to anymore? Like they they're like, do you wanna have another baby? No. But we'll do it. You don't think you're having a bunch of kids?
Katy 30:57
No way? No way. I know. I do know. And actually, once you have, I forget what the statistic was exactly. But once you have two, or possibly three of the same sex, then your, your statistical likelihood of having the opposite sex for the third or fourth. So is way way down. So like,
Scott Benner 31:18
like, this is just the soup you guys are comes out this way? Yeah, kinda
Katy 31:21
like there's some genetic components and environmental components. And some people are more prone to the environment that's good for girls or boys. So if you have this evidence backing it up already, that you have these two boys or whatever, you know, that you don't need. Don't, don't go for it. Again, if you're really hoping for it,
Scott Benner 31:40
I don't want to get too far off track. But a lot of boys in your family is there a lot of type one in your family.
Katy 31:45
There's no history of any autoimmune conditions in my family that I'm aware of
Scott Benner 31:53
just you, just me literally, like you don't have a grandma that looks tired all the time or anything like so
Katy 32:00
my grandparents have all passed away. And I do know that, you know, people weren't as aware of kind of what were the different complications that were happening to people. And so it's it's possible that there has been some genetic history that I'm not aware of, for great grandparents or grandparents.
Scott Benner 32:20
It's just interesting that on my, on my wife's side of the family, the autoimmune stuff stays with the women. Mo really mostly. But very recently, we think my son might have hashimotos, so maybe not. So I don't know. Do you have any other ones or just type one, you're only get
Katy 32:38
just type one? Yeah. My mom, my godmother has hashimotos. So I'm just starting to learn about that. But we're not really that. It's so
Scott Benner 32:49
funny when you said just type one. My inclination was to make a joke. And the joke that popped into my head, I actually stopped from coming out, which is a real life triumph for me. It's not gonna stop me from saying it. Now. I just wanted you to know that I didn't mean it. But like when when I said to Jeff, just one you said no, just one I was gonna go loser. I don't know what kind of a type one can't get another autoimmune disease?
Katy 33:13
Yeah, well, you know, there's still time, you know,
Scott Benner 33:16
don't give up. That's a good at it.
Katy 33:20
I actually just, I was listening to one of your podcasts about trial net, and I forwarded it to him because I have four brothers. So I forwarded it to my parents and my brothers. And I have five nephews and a niece. And so I was just thinking, be interesting, though. Some of my brothers have kind of aged out, there's still some of them are still kind of in the range where it would really help them to potentially get tested.
Scott Benner 33:47
Yeah, that's such an interesting concept about wanting to know or not wanting to know, I think I think I know it's funny. I think I know what side of it I'm on until you really start applying it. Well, I guess I should say this. Cole was tested when he was 12. And he didn't have any antibodies, right. And when the hashimotos came up, around like, he's almost 21 like your first inclination was like, should we test him again for diabetes antibodies? So I talked to the person I know it that I'm at trial net. And I said, you know, should we do this again? Or they said if you don't have anybody's the first time it's they don't even retest for it after that, like, it's incredibly unlikely. And it made me feel it made me feel good. You know, now, yeah, I yeah, if he had them back then I guess we would retest now. And then at least you'd know, but you don't I mean, like so.
Katy 34:45
And it's Yeah, I mean, it's really interesting because I feel my first thought was, this is amazing. I think everyone in my family will want to do it. I just thought automatically like, this is like information. There's power, and there will be support for you if you have anything. Plus there's this new studies for prevention. Potentially, you could prevent it even for some years, this is absolutely worth knowing. And I don't think a single brother has acted on it at all, or even responded, which is very unlike my family, so
Scott Benner 35:21
they're just ignoring you completely. They're like, we're gonna append this text didn't come.
Katy 35:25
Okay. In their defense. It is like the season of COVID. And it's a crazy year, and everyone's children are doing school from home. And it's not really a good time to add on some other potential health crisis. But but it
Scott Benner 35:37
would have been neat to hear like, thank you. Oh,
Katy 35:42
they were just Yeah, I don't they all have little children. So I just kind of cut them slack.
Scott Benner 35:46
Well, I think that's a good look into why people don't do it sometimes is that just feels like, like, what am I going to do that? Like, there's so much going on already? Is Your Life slower there than it was in California? Like, and I don't mean, like, in a bad way? I mean, is it more paced and comfortable?
Katy 36:04
For me, it is, I'm, I'm a little bit limited professionally here, because I was not speaking the language fluently. So I'm in California, I'm an occupational therapist. And here, I'm not able to work as an occupational therapist. And unless I can pass this sort of language, competency proficiency level. And so now I'm working as a native English speaker in a kindergarten only part time because right now because of pregnancy, and everything, and just kind of doing, you know, teaching on the side taking some Slovenian classes, but my life has definitely slowed down.
Scott Benner 36:53
Did that help? Do you think did that give you did that? I was wondering if that helped with your management, like, does it help to not be rushing so much?
Katy 37:03
Yeah. And so just to just to bring up kind of the differences in the Slovenian healthcare system and the US healthcare system a little, it is really amazing. If you are a type one diabetic, over here, you can have the entire nine months of pregnancy as paid sick leave. And then you get a year of maternity leave
Scott Benner 37:26
after that. So a year and nine months if you're on type one,
Katy 37:30
and potentially you split that year with your husband, so he could have three months, and you could take nine months, something like that. But
Scott Benner 37:36
so the family gets a year and nine months to use the way they want to. Mm hmm. Wow, how much of it? Did you did you keep teaching? Are you teaching still, but just not as,
Katy 37:45
though I am still teaching now. But um, it's really very, very part time. And that my I would work at a Montessori kindergarten, and it's very sort of family oriented. And they just basically letting me say how many hours I want to work. And
Scott Benner 38:03
it's lovely. Yeah,
Katy 38:05
it's great. Actually,
Scott Benner 38:06
I not that I'm trying to game the system, but my mind wanders, say you wanted to work your first seven months of your pregnancy? Could you take off a year and seven months after you have the baby? Like, can you know, the nine was different,
Katy 38:24
it's a different kind of thing you can, you have to get the doctor to sort of sign off saying that you are in fact type one diabetic and pregnant during this time. And then it's actually it is still kind of a headache in terms of the paperwork to get reimbursement. And something in favor of living in California over Slovenia is that the salaries in general are much, much higher in California compared with here.
Scott Benner 38:50
So the point is, it's not that expensive to pay you while you're not working to begin with. Yeah, that makes sense. So I thought for sure. You know, I was like, Oh, this is gonna be one of these situations. And it kind of is the way you that you know, what you did here at home. You know, when you meet somebody who's an immigrant, they're like, you know, I used to be a doctor. And now I work at a grocery store, like that kind of feeling. And in not that either of those professions are better than the other, but it's, I can't get a job. I can't even get it. Like I have to get a job where, you know, I can come in and learn the job on you know, while I'm working. It's not like you're even showing up with any information prior to.
Katy 39:29
Yeah, well, I mean, some of the I was thinking if I lived here longer, which were sort of hoping to potentially live here again, after we moved back to California for some years, then come back to Slovenia for some years. And potentially, I could, once I kind of finished the language learning to a certain extent I could work. So I started volunteering here as an occupational therapist. And I will say also that the environment I was volunteering at was amazing compared with some of the environments that I've volunteered at or worked at in the US as an occupational therapist in terms of resources and tools and kind of ideology. It was really like, it would be wonderful to work here.
Scott Benner 40:19
So you just got to ya got to learn some more words and phrases. That's all. Yeah. Well, it's nice to see that there's a level of competency that they're not willing to sink below. You know, it's kind of great. I bet you'll be able to do it.
Katy 40:36
Yeah, it's, it's slow. But I've been working for a couple years. So little by little.
Scott Benner 40:42
Yeah, I mean, Melania, Trump was the first lady so you should be able to be an occupational therapist. You seem Yeah. You seem smarter than her. If I'm just I think you can do it.
Katy 40:56
All of the Slovenians learn English automatically, basically starting in kindergarten, and, and then they usually start learning an additional language like German or something like this. as they progress through school, so most adults, as they finished high school speak something close to three languages, and many speak more. It's
Scott Benner 41:19
so messed up here, because the way they teach a second language to kids around here is you just have to pass the test. You don't have to speak it. So right. You know, I took three years of French, I don't know a word of French, my son took Spanish forever. Like I think he was like, two classes away from having and as a minor in college can't speak Spanish at all. And right, and my daughter said that her French teacher is being yelled at by her. This is one of these zoom, like things you learned during zoom. She's like, my French teacher is being yelled at by her Russian parents, and we're watching movies. I'm like, Why now? Say it again. She said we're gonna watch a movie with you know, in, in French. And then the day comes and she's like, I couldn't find this movie in French. So you now you're just watching, you know, Finding Nemo might Yeah, my 11th graders watching Finding Nemo at 10 o'clock in the morning. And she's like, I'm like they're not teachers just know. She's busy getting yelled at by her parents. Yeah, education.
Katy 42:18
That all feels very familiar. I actually really liked my French teacher in high school. But we definitely watched Finding Nemo in French. And it is definitely true that I I took three years of French in high school and three years of French in college and I don't speak French. Now as an adult. I don't
Scott Benner 42:35
know how we mess stuff up so much. Like it's everyone's so focused on just like, you have to have a good grade so you can get your next thing. You know, I want a good grade in high school. So some good college will take me I want a good grade in college so I can get some job. Meanwhile, nobody knows what they're doing in high school. Nobody knows what they're doing in college and they get their job and they don't know what they're doing either. And everyone's just trying to pretend their way through to retirement.
Katy 42:55
Yeah, I mean, I think it would be different if, if I had moved to get back or something. And then in a place where they're speaking French it would have sunk in but yeah, um, now it's been a decade since I ever even tried to speak French and it's just gone. Yeah,
Scott Benner 43:11
Arden asked me one time she's like, What do you remember about French? I was like, I think nuff means nine.
Katy 43:18
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I
Scott Benner 43:19
was I thought I got sorry. My Damn. Like, no, I don't have much of it at all. Well, that's interesting. Okay, so you with your, I think we understand that you prior to CGM were in the mid sixes drifting into the seven sometimes, but probably had some more variability than you wanted to. You have a CGM. Now you can see it. Your How do you get yourself where you want to be? With your Awan senior variability prior to pregnancy? Or just the pregnancy shock you into doing it? How did how did that go?
Katy 43:56
Yeah, I guess I did get close. It was kind of gradual. I was talking about the idea of trying to get pregnant, um, but not really getting serious about it for maybe a year before we started trying. And my doctors were saying yeah, you need to get your ideally you need to get your a one c below a six. And that felt pretty daunting. I can remember thinking, I don't know if I've ever been below six. And and that was actually when I got the CGM, the Dexcom because that was Yeah, about a year before. We were really thinking about pregnancy and I was thinking I'm gonna need to wear one during pregnancy anyway. So I better start getting used to it now. And then yeah, so I think prior to conception, I was really more like, right around the six level Okay, maybe 6.1 or six point now.
Scott Benner 44:59
Like I did of moving it down like a quarter of a point or half a point seemed impossible.
Katy 45:06
Ah, no, but I will you know, prior to that I was probably more in the high sixes. So it was still I had still been moving it down noticeably with the help of the CGM. But then once I was about a six, it started to seem like okay, this is more doable. And then this is kind of interesting, actually. I started having a onesies in the fives pretty much all through the pregnancy so far. And then I think two or three months ago, I had one that was in the fours. And wow, I'm really doing doing okay. But then I talked to my sister in law, who is a nurse, and she also has studied diabetes a lot. And she was saying, Well, actually, the A onesies during pregnancy start to get a little wonky, because your blood volume increases so much that they might reflect a bit lower. Yeah, then you actually are,
Scott Benner 46:09
is that idea that you would literally dilute it would dilute it?
Katy 46:14
said, you know, that's great. Congratulations on your scores. But don't get too swept off your feet?
Scott Benner 46:21
Well, listen, I think you're making a strong argument here for staying pregnant your whole life till you can get a job. He's gonna stay 4.8 you might as well just just keep chugging them out. You're not Catholic, or you
Katy 46:37
know, and I, you know, I'm pretty much was not even sure if I wanted to have one or, you know, now we're thinking maybe we'll have to, but it's just like, I'm not having more than two kids, you know, I would have been happy having zero kids. I'm pretty sure. The other
Scott Benner 46:52
day my wife said, it was a lot more fun when they were little. And I said yes, it was,
Katy 46:59
I would think that it would start to be pretty fun. Again, once they kind of get out of your hair. And you can go travel and see the world you care
Scott Benner 47:07
about them. It sucks as soon as they can think for themselves if I'm being honest. Because now you have a being like being serious. Now you have to, like you know what it's like to have a relationship with your husband, right? And he's got ideas, and you have ideas, and you have to find a blend between them. Imagine if you were married to two other guys too. And you had to blend all three of their ideas together with yours. And one of them felt the same way about the other three instead of the other one. Everyone's just trying to like, and nobody wants chicken on the same night. I can tell you that much. And that stuff starts happening. And you're like, Oh my god, do you remember when you could just say to them? Hi, this is chicken, shut up and eat it? Oh, yeah, they'd go, okay. And then you'd say, Hey, I thought today we'd go to grandma's house and go swimming. And everybody go, okay, not one of them would go, No, I have plans. And the other one say, I don't want to swim. And then you just go, Wait, what? And why am I incorporating your thoughts into my life? And then before you know it, and then you're trying to save money to send them to college? And then you start thinking, Oh, god, what if I die? How are they going to take care of themselves? So now you're taking every extra dollar you have and sticking it somewhere? And you know,
Katy 48:26
and then when you say things like that, I just really feel like why am I moving back to the United States where college costs an arm and a leg when I could raise my kids in Slovenia? And they would have college built in for free and get paid a stipend while they're in college? Yes,
Scott Benner 48:44
well, you can thank my son's college bills for the veracity in which I make this podcast. So there are days I get up. And I'm like, I don't really but here we go. And yeah, like I'm doing this. And it's not that I don't love making the podcast, I don't want to say that. I'm just saying I might take a day off once in a while. If it wasn't for like the pressure of just making money to make money so that you can do this thing and then have money that have my son come home and tell me like that class was a waste of time. And think about how much I paid for it. And I'm just like, it sends a chill through your spine.
Katy 49:19
Yeah, it is a weird. I mean, I have four brothers, and we all have gone to college to some degree or another. And it's crazy to think about when you start doing the math on how much does one course cost? And then how many classes are in that course. And then if you're sick one day and you don't go to the lecture, like you don't want to do that math, you know, it's like
Scott Benner 49:43
no, I have already I know you don't want to Yeah, my son was telling me about a friend the other days ago, he is taking one class virtually like a lot of kids like my son skipped this semester completely. He said that virtual learning was so terrible. He's like, I'm just gonna skip a semester, cross my fingers for COVID getting better and go back in the fall and But he's got a friend who's taking one class. And they're excited that it's such an easy class. He doesn't have to go to the class. And I was like, I bet his parents aren't excited about that news. You know, oh, no, he's gonna get a great grade. I'm like, will he learn anything? He goes, I don't think so. I was like, then I'm not certain what's happening, then. Yeah, other than what I mentioned earlier, which is everybody's just trying to achieve to move. And nobody learns anything. Yeah, you know,
Katy 50:25
I have to say, I I'm definitely struggling with that mental shift a little bit as I'm taking these Slovenian language classes, because it really doesn't matter at all, what grade you get. And I was always in kind of in a little bit of a nervous a student kind of person. And,
Scott Benner 50:43
well, let me remind you that nuff means nine.
Katy 50:49
The point is not whether or not you're good or not, you know, the point is that you're learning the language so that you can freakin speak the language in the country that you're in, you know, speak with my husband's Grandma, like, this is the point. Yeah. So I'm really having to do like a mental shift
Scott Benner 51:06
cola for school, I said, Listen, you have to keep your GPA high enough to keep your money because he's getting money for a number of different reasons is a you need a GPA high enough to hold that money, you lose that money, you're coming home. So there's that. But after that, you don't need a 4.0. What I need you to do is leave college, understanding something, like having a grasp of something I just went Arden said to us. She wanted to go to fashion school. I was like, Alright, at least she'll come out with like a demonstrative like thing that she knows how to do. And then I found out that it's much cheaper. And I was like, well, then right on, this is definitely the way you should. Yeah. You know, until she said, Can I go in London or France? And then I was like, oh, Who the hell's gonna pay for that? I that seems expensive to me. But
Katy 51:55
maybe take a year off and do something with fashion, raise some money, get a job,
Scott Benner 51:59
that'd be nice. Yeah. But anyway, that's it, you're gonna get them, they're gonna, it's gonna be the cutest little greatest thing in the world. And you're gonna have all these high minded ideas about shaping them. And, and then one day is gonna turn like 12 or 13, and disappear into his bedroom for like three or four years. And that'll make you super sad. And then I'll get a bunch of friends, and then you're gonna be thinking a lot about I hope he doesn't drink too much or drink at all or do drugs, then you'll worry for that for about four or five years. And you'll think, Oh, I hope that girl doesn't stick because she's really not the right one. I don't think you'll worry about that. And then he'll leave and you'll feel abandoned. And that'll be it. Yeah, you. You're gonna have a great time. No child rearing progression. Meanwhile, it's it's the best thing I've ever done in my life.
Katy 52:50
Yeah, I mean, that is nice to hear I spend more time thinking about diabetes, by far than I ever have. Truly ever, at any other time in the last nine months. And so I haven't spent as much time maybe thinking about how it is actually to be rearing children. And you know, once he's here, what will that be like? And
Scott Benner 53:13
they owe a lot, and then they're gonna like pee on you and stuff like that. Yeah, it's about like that one. Eventually, you get to this really cool spot where you're just like, Oh, it's happening and they start moving. And like the when the crawling happens and everything, it's all listen again. I can talk about it and sound cynical all you want, but it's the best thing I've ever done, was raising my hands. And it's absolutely fantastic. I said to Kelly the other day, it's interesting, isn't it? People who are we were talking about somebody, you're not supposed to talk about people, but we were talking about people and and these people are having marital trouble and it doesn't look like it's gonna go well. And I said, it's interesting, isn't it? Like when you're together? It's the everybody complains about how much it sucks, you know, and being married hard and all this stuff. But people who are alone complain about being alone. married people never say I'm glad I'm not alone alone. People never say, you know, I'm glad I'm not married. It's always like, the thing I have is bad. Yeah. And so you have to at some point, just realize that everything comes with complications. And yeah, being ready for what they are, I don't think is bad. Like, I think that my explanation could sound cynical to people. But I don't think of it cynically I just think of it as like, reasonably speaking. That's about what might happen, you know, yeah, along the way. being ready. Well, it's
Katy 54:35
good. And you said something that I kind of want to say something but it's it's not exactly on topic, but you may think I'm one of the reasons that I got into listening to your podcast and actually got so I just to give you a short background, I got into the podcast when I got pregnant pretty much because I was living in Slovenia and the different health care system here and I didn't really know what to expect. And I just felt like I could use some support in general, and I looked for podcasts that might talk about diabetes and pregnancy. And then you had series. Yeah. And I think I listened to that one first. And then you also had one with Jenny Smith about pregnancy and, and then I actually had purchased her book, and I didn't realize it was the same Jenny Smith. That's fine. I've been reading her book, and I like almost cried the other day, because it was so accurate to my emotional experience during the seventh month of pregnancy. But anyway, oh, shoot, did I lose my train of thought here? Oh, I was just gonna say, um, then I started listening to some of the other episodes also. And some of the ones that caught my attention were ones about complications, people who are dealing with complications. And what I was realizing is that I have had fear of complications, without wanting to do the whole thing of like, Google search, gangrene, you know, or I don't know, like, even as an occupational therapist, I've had patients who have amputated legs, and I'm helping them to work on their amputate, you know, how to walk, how to be non weight bearing in the meantime. And so I'm definitely flirting with this understanding. But it feels very, something that I just don't want to dig into too much, like, very dark and scary. And once I realized that you have these episodes with these real people talking about their real complications, and being willing to list kind of every complication under the sun, and talk about how it affected them. But still be humans still be positive, still be experiencing their lives in a normal way, and accessible, open way, just made it all so much more approachable for me. And I think that, oh, okay, I've been listening to the podcast for some pregnancy advice with diabetes. But I think this is probably the nicest thing that the podcast offered me, it's just an opportunity to expose myself in a sort of safe setting, to the to the complications, and then, and then not be afraid of finding out more not being so afraid of outcomes. And, you know, they're not very likely to happen to me anyway. So it wasn't something that was like, I really need to look into this. But I tend to be a person who likes to know, what's the worst case scenario, right? So this was kind of a weird, black hole of information for me where I was like, I just don't need to know.
Scott Benner 57:52
Yeah, like, maybe, maybe I'll just pretend and just not look over there.
Katy 57:56
Yeah, like, Okay, I have my management has been good enough. So I don't need to
Scott Benner 58:00
Yeah, sort of like complications, or the old chair in the corner where you pile things. And you just, yeah, walk into the room, you're like, isn't this part of the room? Terrific. Don't look over there. I understand. And I'm thrilled that it did that, I have to say that my understanding of how valuable that is for people, especially right in your age range, who have had diabetes for a certain amount of time, is becoming greater. I'm hearing from more people like you who are saying that. I don't know if it went out yet or not. But I interviewed somebody who I thought for certain was going to come on and talk about how they learned to help themselves, like with insulin, and how it got them there. And then she just floored me by saying I knew how to take care of myself. I just didn't do it. And she's like, in the podcast led me to want to take care of myself. And I just I never like I didn't imagine that part of it. And that's the part I can't I kind of can't imagine it because I don't I don't have diabetes. I think that's the that's the spot where I was gonna say it hurts the show that I don't have type one. But it turns out the people who come on filled in that need so it's really lovely. I'm glad to hear and Jen Jenny, that you almost cried reading the book will make me very happy.
Katy 59:13
Yeah, and I'm sure you know, I feel embarrassed. I don't have the book right here because I'm forgetting the name of the co author. And she also I connect to her.
Scott Benner 59:22
Absolutely. No, I 100% know. But it's so weird that you heard Jenny on a podcast and we're reading a book that she helped write and didn't know it was the same person. That's Yeah,
Katy 59:31
well, cuz I just you know, when I got pregnant, I was like, I'm just gonna order any book. And it turns out there are not so many books out there for type one diabetics in pregnancy.
Scott Benner 59:40
I think on our schedule coming up, Jenny and I are gonna talk about postpartum
Katy 59:46
soon so that I can listen to
Scott Benner 59:47
I will hurry up just for you and get it done. Now I think we're doing a pro tip on postpartum soon, which Oh, great. be lucky for you because I won't be saying much. I'll just be making stupid pregnancy references whenever jokes pop into my head while she's exploiting stuff.
Katy 1:00:01
Nice. Yeah, yeah, I also tells talks to a type one diabetic who, who really amazed me, she's a wife of a co worker of my brothers. So not really a connection of mine, but, but she's type one diabetic who had twins, and a couple years ago, and then had another baby after that. And so just having twins is already a very high risk kind of situation. And so I was I'm kind of like fishing for all of the wood and all the other tips for after you give birth that you can take care of. She said, Oh, yeah, you're always going to be low blood sugar when you're breastfeeding, so have pots of gummy bears or jelly beans around in the house. And I think I thought actually, that that's also listed in Jenny Smith's book.
Scott Benner 1:00:53
She just said to me a couple months ago, she's like we need to do, because it's interesting how the pro tip series started. Like, Jenny, I know, you've heard her a lot on the show, and a lot of people have, but Jenny was just a guest. She was a person who came on once and came on again. And I always thought like, I really love the way she talks about diabetes. And so when there was this day, where I thought, I want to do a pro tip series, to like, kind of take the bigger ideas out of the podcast and put them just in one place. I thought, I need somebody else with me to balance it out. And I asked her, she was really kind of do it. And I think I sent her 10 topics. And I was like, Don't worry, I know this is gonna be a lot and I appreciate it. But it's only going to be these 10 topics, then I won't bother you anymore. And then you know, I was like, Well, what about this one? And she's like, also, we should be talking about this too. And then before I knew it, she just told me privately one day, she's like, I love coming on your podcast. And I was like, Okay, I said, Well, do you want to keep doing this? And she's like, Sure. So we just, she comes on, she's on my schedule is
Katy 1:01:51
have a great dynamic. And I feel like you come at it from different perspectives. You know, she has sort of a bit of an academic approach, but it's but she's still very accessible. I don't think she makes it overly complicated. And then you have a very real life experiential approach. And, and also, it's digestible for people. And so I think you you balance each other out really well. And then you have kind of a nice report as well.
Scott Benner 1:02:18
It's just, it's perfect. I swear to you like when it got done, I I've said to her privately, I was like, I wish that this whole thing made enough money that I could just say, Jenny, I'm going to hire you. And like, let's just make this podcast forever, because she's so like, perfect. But obviously, that's not how it works. And I've recently found, and hopefully this will keep going Erica, who's a therapist who I have a really great vibe with and, and I've recorded a couple more things with her. I'm starting to find people that fit into some certain spots. Kim came on the other day and talked about different Oh my god. A very simple word just fell out of my head. Wow, don't get old. Oh, my God. So when people do sciency stuff to try to figure out if drugs do things those are called.
Katy 1:03:11
Yeah, trials. Yeah, no, I actually just listened to this. I think I just listened to this episode. Kim.
Scott Benner 1:03:17
Yeah. And should we got done. And I said, I was like, you can do this again. I was like, whenever you have more like, like stuff to fill in for people like, let me know, because she just had a good way of going through it. And I was comfortable with her. That ends up being the key sometimes is that I just need to be comfortable with the person I'm talking to. Yeah, like a one on a one off doesn't matter. You know, I can talk to anybody one time. But there are people I've had, I think great interviews with, but I wouldn't want to do it again with them. Yeah, but there are some people when I'm just like, wow, we could do this again. This would be okay. Yeah,
Katy 1:03:48
yeah. She also was very well informed, I would say and I was also thinking about whether or not to forward this episode to my family, but I don't want to like bombard them, you know?
Scott Benner 1:04:00
pasiphae ignore you twice while you're pregnant. It's gonna start. You're gonna, your emotions will start building up and you'll be like, nobody cares what I think.
Katy 1:04:08
So yeah, well, you know, one of my brothers has three kids. So it's like, okay, he gets a write off for whatever. And they're all boys. Yeah. And they're running around, and they're at home because it's COVID. You know, it's,
Scott Benner 1:04:22
oh, it's getting it's absolutely getting crazy. My son is at the end of his wits. If there's a wit's end, my son found it. Like, it's, it's been enough, you know, and but he takes the COVID thing seriously. So he's still doing what he's doing and and i think rightfully so. But the point is, is that he just, he needs to go do something. And then it snowed here. And we were like, wait, like, I came walking the yard now. Like, like, I lost that. You know what's really terrible?
Katy 1:04:50
Oh, yeah, that was really terrible for people in California. Sorry. People in California this last summer, there were a lot of wildfires, during the COVID season and so people were like, okay, don't go out to restaurants or public places ever. And also don't leave your house at all, because the air quality is so poor. Right? And I think I know a lot of people started really having some emotional difficulties
Scott Benner 1:05:18
to lock down. It's if you're just literally being, like I said, the other day, I Honest to God was standing in my kitchen, and I thought, Oh, my god, there's that wall in the living room again. Like I just looked up. And I was like, there's that wall looks exactly the same as it looked the last time I looked at it, and I was, I like my home, and I'm starting to get angry at it. Yeah, like, just yeah, I want to, and I can't imagine how he feels he lost. You know, like I said, he lost school this semester. He might have hashimotos their side effects from it, that he's still getting through, you know, like, as the medicines coming online, and it's limited his ability to work out. He's a college athlete. So everything that he does is just sort of like God took from him at once. Not that it hasn't happened to everybody. But
Katy 1:06:02
yeah, but that's a lot to take on at one time.
Scott Benner 1:06:05
That's just too much. So and tomorrow's his birthday.
Katy 1:06:10
Happy birthday. Are you gonna see him?
Scott Benner 1:06:13
When he's here?
Katy 1:06:14
He just Oh, yeah, he's here. But the
Scott Benner 1:06:16
point is, is like, having a birthday during COVID is not easy to do to begin with. And you're already bummed out about other stuff. And he can't be around your friends and your 2021 and I'm going to give you a cupcake. It's not exactly 21 Uh huh. Yeah, the whole thing is suspect he's having a bad couple of months. He really yeah.
Katy 1:06:36
But my nephew just turned 20. And it was kind of similar. Like, he's not at home right now. But he was like, yeah, we're not gonna do that much. And thinking, well, at least he's not turning 21 because that's the one where you really want to go out drinking with your friends.
Scott Benner 1:06:52
I don't think my son's much of a drinker. But there's things he would definitely think there's things he definitely wants to be doing that he's not going to be doing. And a lot of the guys from his team are in a vacation house together. And he's not there right now because of what he's going through. So it's just really terrible. Like I I've never felt worse for him, specifically. And he is one of those people for the first 20 years of his life, like nothing ever went wrong. Like I think he fractured his wrist once when he was 15. But other than that, like he's athletic and strong and excels at things and has never really had a you know, something pushing backwards like this before. So it's, I'm sorry, we skipped over the part where I wanted to ask you, and we're up on an hour, but I still want to ask you. I mean, you're in Slovenia, you have nothing to do just come.
Katy 1:07:41
Yeah. And I you know, I'm like Harley. Yeah, it's really true.
Scott Benner 1:07:44
You're like, all day, don't worry about it. You've been great. And I enjoyed the conversation. But I wanted to ask you specifically, if you can point to what you did to go from high sixes to low sixes from low sixes to into the fives, like Do you know what happened?
Katy 1:08:02
Yeah, um, you know, okay, I would attribute a lot, a lot of their success success to the Dexcom specifically, um, but it also just becomes, I think it's just a matter of attention, more so than anything else. You know, I didn't want diabetes to be such a large focus in my life. For my whole life that I've had it pretty much. I mean, I was never ignoring it. And I was taking good enough care, but, but then when I got pregnant, it became a really large part of the focus. And so now I've been kind of you, you have made jokes a number of times, like, I can't imagine being a person who's counting every card and weighing everything. And I will just add that over here to use the metric system. So I'm starting to get really good at Well, okay, I'm getting better anyway, at guesstimating how many grams something weighs, like baking with a scale? I'm usually using a scale to weigh out how many grams and what's the carb percentage. And I've started taking into consideration fats and proteins, which I wasn't paying very much attention to before. So I think it's just a lot of attention to small things. See,
Scott Benner 1:09:21
I I'm I'm always waiting for somebody to say something that's a little different. So it can it can resonate with people listening, but I have to say that I think that the those protip episodes are so valuable, because I did boil it down though, like what it is and it's just you got to stop your blood sugar from getting high and Pre-Bolus and pay attention. Yeah, get your insulin right. It's there's not really Isn't it weird to think now, from where you came from, but it really isn't much more than that. It didn't feel I
Katy 1:09:53
was people listening before and you know, but just sort of, sort of less can consistently, the stakes were just lower, I think,
Scott Benner 1:10:02
yeah. So it's you're doing it for the baby. Now, here's the question. Are you gonna do it for yourself after the baby comes out?
Katy 1:10:08
Yeah. I mean, I think that that's a cool, it's actually maybe a more difficult question, then, then it seems, because of course, my answer is yes.
Scott Benner 1:10:20
Definitely do that. And then that,
Katy 1:10:25
you know, hopefully, I can actually back myself up and, and hold my own and not kind of let myself slide. I do feel like I've learned a lot. And I feel like it's easier than I thought it was gonna be. Okay. If you had asked me three months ago, it would be really mind boggling to hear myself saying that now. Because three months ago, it felt so difficult. But I'm learning to adapt to the changes, and I'm learning a lot. I mean, it's just like these all these little small things that are not so difficult to do. They're just habit habits, that when you form them, then you can adapt more and more easily. And you know, I think for you also, it's probably hard to imagine how people could possibly not take care of themselves. But so much of the time, it's just, do you have the habits? Do you have the knowledge? Well, in the other order? Do you have the knowledge first? And then do you have the habits belt? Right?
Scott Benner 1:11:24
Yeah, I don't believe that people ignore their health on purpose, I think I think they don't know what to do. And then they start getting responses back from their health that tells them, this is untenable, and then they give up. And that's it. I don't have tools, it's going wrong. I tried again, it didn't happen. This is frustrating. This must be that's where people come up with this is just diabetes, this must just be what it is. And there's nothing I can do about it. And it's completely understandable to reach that spot. I probably would have to like, I think all the time. Like if this happened to me and not to Arden, I don't imagine I'd be very good at this. Like it was the desire to help art and that helped me push through all the stuff that I didn't understand that was you know,
Katy 1:12:10
and now you have so much knowledge, it's like, it would be hard to you can't unknow everything that you know, now, it would be kind of crazy to imagine somebody doing something like, like this person you're talking about who said Actually, she knew how to take care of herself, but she just had to make a mental shift to do it. And that I think that can be the part of the habit formation, like,
Scott Benner 1:12:32
Yeah, I agree with you too. And you have to, it's, it's sort of like anything else. Like if you see it getting away from you, you have to draw a line in the sand somewhere in the future and say, Alright, if we get to that, I have to stop myself. But at this point, now, mismanagement for Arden means more of like a 5859, a one C. And that and that I do attribute to what you're saying. Just the idea that like I, you know, in the podcast is really helped me with it, because I had all this information coming in. But there just can be no doubt that talking about it just made it stronger. Like it feels like it feels like maybe I you know, I had this strength, but now it's just multiplied over and over again. And it's from talking to people, like now messing up looks more like a five, nine. Yeah, at any point. And I don't even think about a one C and three months anymore. Like, now there's apps like I look in sugar mate, none or you know, you use Dexcom clarity and you say, Alright, where have I been in the last 10 days? You know, like, and Alright, in the last 10 days, this has happened or you sometimes you look in like the last two days, she's been a six, two. But yeah, but for the last 10 days, she's been a five, five and you just say okay, like, there's a reason for that, you know, hormones or whatever, and you just kind of can't. It's just like you're driving. Did you know what I mean? Like, you know, eventually you've been driving for so long. You don't know your driving anymore. Like you've just you've been doing it for so many years. You get in the car, the car goes, you don't hit things. You don't come close to having an accident. Sometimes you're not even looking up you feels like you know, like it's just I yeah, I know how to do this now. Just work completely autopilot. Yeah, yeah, I think that happens for people eventually, with diabetes. It's just very hard to believe that it's going to happen in the beginning, when someone says Don't worry. Diabetes is always gonna be hard, but you're going to get so good at it that one day, it's gonna feel easy.
Katy 1:14:23
Yeah, you know, yeah, of course. And I will say it helps to have things. It helps to have some, like, the podcasts can also offer for people. A little reason to kind of learn about something new or try something different or adapt so you don't get to autopilot. ish.
Scott Benner 1:14:45
Yeah. Well, you talked about earlier, like you kind of age through it to the point where you're just like, you start. It's not the right way to do things anymore. And this is a constant conversation. People are always going to come in and we're going to talk about things that are newer, I mean, I have ever We hope that maybe even by the time this goes up, Arden will be using Omni pod five. And that'll be a new way to talk about diabetes, right? Yeah. And people can keep
Katy 1:15:11
hoping to get an omni pod. Yeah. So one small point about the Slovenian healthcare versus us healthcare. If I can just list a pro and a con real quick, because I've been meaning to, I'm making a mental note of things I don't want to forget. Um, yeah, so I actually had the G six Dexcom in California, but they don't have it here. So I had it for less than a year, or maybe just over a year in California before I came here, and then had to switch back to the g4, which I had never had before. Wow. And it's less accurate. And you have to have a receiver that you carry with you instead of having it on your phone. Right. And I don't know it's bulkier. And just, you know, these are things that don't really matter. Like when you get when it's the idea of having a Dexcom or not having a Dexcom I'm very thankful. But it's a weird situation that I also can't get an omni pod here. Because unless I somehow managed to get one in California and have somebody send it, which there's no way I could do without insurance. Right. So, yeah, so there are some real limiting factors about just being in a country that's not the kind of this the basis of where things start a lot of the time. Yeah, um,
Scott Benner 1:16:42
you know, I've spoken to wealthy people who live in like, I think Saudi Arabia, and they'll get on a plane and fly here and buy stuff cash, and then fly back with it. Like that's how far they have to go to get the the insulin pump that they want, or this CGM.
Katy 1:16:57
Yeah, that's nuts. Yeah. But you're proving something really,
Scott Benner 1:17:00
I mean, have you a one see like this through pregnancy with the g4 really is a good like, wake up call for people who are, you know, always complaining like this? This? You know, where's the seven? You know, like, when's the next one coming out? Like, you got really good technology already? You know?
Katy 1:17:16
Yeah. And, you know, yeah, it works. It's not quite as accurate, but it's still pretty accurate. And I have the, you know, the fat No, I'm not freezeout. What is it? The one touch Contour? Next One? Yeah, thank you. I have this pretty good blood sugar tester. And they're usually fairly close together. Yeah. So, you know, but this is how I know that it's, this one is less accurate than the previous one. Because that's the other thing. That's a big difference, right? With the GS six. You don't have to do the calibration. So I got really spoiled. Yeah.
Scott Benner 1:17:56
But you're saying you can tell the difference between the six and the four, the Dexcom. Because you have the Contour Next One meter, and you know how it the accuracy of it goes, which learn more about contour next, come forward slash juicebox. I don't usually do that. But it felt like it fits right. I was very smooth. Thank you. Oh, yeah. Not him.
Katy 1:18:16
So that's a con I wanted to mention. But a pro of being here, for sure. Definitely. Definitely, is that when I first got here, and they said, Okay, we're gonna just run some routine tests, because you're a type one diabetic, and they did a circulation check with my put some bans on my wrists and ankles and checked out, my circulation was in my extremities. They did an EKG to check kind of my heart rhythms. They did some basic eye exams, that everything was covered by insurance, many, just a lot more preventative measures were taken. And they said, this is routine. They do it for all their type one diabetics, right. And it's, I mean, of course, they're like, yeah, it's because we care. And as if the US doctors don't care, they just do it for the money. But, but it is true that there's one payer source here. And so when there's complications, the same payer sources paying for the recovery for that transplants, for the negative outcomes, dialysis,
Scott Benner 1:19:25
they're trying to huge, its cost cut. They're literally trying to stop you from getting sick. So that doesn't cost them more money down the road. That's great.
Katy 1:19:31
I mean, the individual doctors in Asia and the US care,
Scott Benner 1:19:35
of course, yeah. But the system set up to one system set up to stop you from getting sick and the other system set up to take care of you once you get sick.
Katy 1:19:43
Yeah, exactly. And in the US, you know, I'm an occupational therapist. So I've seen it a lot. I've seen patients who they're, you know, they're deemed non compliant and they're kicked down the road to the next higher level of care. And it's just kind of crazy to think about how our system is set up that if somebody is having higher and higher level complications, you can push them down the road. Somebody else has to pay for it at that point. Yeah.
Scott Benner 1:20:13
No, it's not here. And here, you're getting a better a better thing now. Yeah. Listen, I think we should be more worried about preventative than we are about, just, you know, but it's a very American way. Right? Like, it's like getting on a ball. Like, I wonder how long I can sit on this thing before it'll throw me like, I wonder how long I can live. ignore my health until, like, the buzzer goes off, and then I'll pay attention that sort of Yeah, that's right. And I don't know that that's not a human thing. But we definitely support it here with the way things are set up.
Katy 1:20:45
And again, you know, in the US, we're all very used to it. So it doesn't seem weird at all. Like, it actually seems weird to me to come to Slovenia, and like, how can you guys, I'll just take this for granted. It's so amazing. And people here are complaining about the health care system. And they have different complaints, but they really don't appreciate it. People are not thrilled about their health care system here. Listen,
Scott Benner 1:21:08
it would be nice if people appreciated things, but at the same time, I think some of that complaining is what continues to push that forward. You already mean like it makes people your RA will make it better. You don't I mean, and then the and then you do when you do when you do it's hard. I think it's easier macro to see the success and the and the and how things are, are improving in a lot of different ways. But when you're right there in it, you just like, you know, what the hell, like do a better job for me right now. I think they both You know, there's a way to think about both things where you can be happy, but yeah, I totally agree. Not a lot of people get the opportunity to step back. Alright, well, is there anything else that we didn't say?
Katy 1:21:48
Okay, yes, sorry. There's one tiny thing that's really haunting me. I messed up my nephew's birthday. Just want it cuz he's definitely gonna listen to this. I just want to say, I'm pretty sure he is turning 21 this year, and that I messed that up before so I apologize.
Scott Benner 1:22:03
I can't believe that was the last thing but okay. First Name.
Katy 1:22:08
Anyway, yeah, sorry. Otherwise, no, I think we covered
Scott Benner 1:22:13
what's your nephew's first name? His name is Nick. Nick, happy birthday. Whether you're 20 or 21, your aunt apparently cares about you. And you got to cut her a break because she has something that they call placenta brain.
Katy 1:22:27
Yeah, he's just gonna say can I get off on pregnancy brain on this one? Totally
Scott Benner 1:22:30
let that go. I will totally let that go. 100%. All right. Well, listen, you were absolutely delightful. I'm super excited that we did this. Thank you very, very much.
Katy 1:22:40
Thank you really, for having me. It's been really nice. And I I do really appreciate having the podcast out there. And during the pregnancy, it's made a difference for me. So
Scott Benner 1:22:48
I I appreciate knowing that and I'm, I'm thrilled honestly, anytime I hear that it's been helpful for people. It makes me feel a little like jello inside so that I get a burst.
Well, I know you must be thinking, my goodness, Scott, you've done it again, another amazing episode of the Juicebox Podcast. I agree. Huge thanks to Katie for coming on the show and sharing her story. I also like to thank touched by type one.org for their support. And the Contour Next One blood glucose meter, which you can learn more about at Contour Next one.com forward slash juicebox. really dig in, figure out if you've got the best meter and check out touched by type one.org. Oh, did I did I forget to say T one d exchange.org. forward slash juicebox. Go take that survey. When you do you'll be supporting people with type one diabetes. And the show you must be a US resident who has type one, or is the caregiver of a person with type one.
I have a little update here for you. I got a lot of pictures of a very cute baby. Anyway, she ended up having a very healthy baby boy at 39 plus four weeks, at 39 plus four weeks, and he had no low blood sugars. And all of his organs and lungs were fully developed. Yeah, that being said, likely because I have diabetes and also because the baby was big to begin with. Oh wow, baby was 10 pounds six ounces and delivered by C section. After five hours of laboring and not dilating more than three centimeters you boo. Hospitals actually great. They were when I clearly communicated that I wanted to manage my own diabetes. And my blood sugar's were between 3.5 and five during the entire laboring process. She says that she forgot to turn off her Temp Basal during the surgery and ended up going high for several hours. She also thinks that might have been some adrenaline. The only funky thing she says. Is is I was in the hospital for four days after the surgery and the standard and Slovene that's a standard in Slovenia for hospitals after c section. And they put her on a type two diabetic meal plan, she said which was a bit goofy. Otherwise, I want to share just a couple of my pictures of my guy. Thanks for doing the podcast with me. Now I'm still figuring out my new Basal rates and insulin to carb ratios a little bit and having them pretty much figured out. I have to say that I remind myself often about what you were saying during the podcast. When you asked how my control will be after birth. The question is motivating me to ensure that I maintain as tight of control as possible. Now in these months despite my new and crazy schedule, okay, that's it another baby not named Scott in the books.
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